AV 03rd March 2012

Gunmen disguised in militar y fatigues hauled 18 Shiite Muslim men off buses on Tuesday and shot them dead in cold blood in a usually quiet region of northern Pakistan It happened in Kohistan, a district of Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province, when the bus was going from Gilgit to Rawalpindi This was the first ever attack in the remote area Authorities

Three Indian-American doctors, who were derogatorily called "the Indians" and treated as "second-class citizens" by the CEO of a medical center in the US, have won a racial discrimination case in a Texas court

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Citizens Medical Center in Victoria had violated the equal protection rights of the doctors

Gunmen kill 18 in Pak bus ambush

blamed the assault on Islamist militant groups, without naming a specific organisation

The attackers flagged down buses, climbed on board asking passengers whether they were Shiite or Sunni Muslim, then dragged out the Shiites and shot them Another eight people were wounded in the attack, including two women and three children

"The motive was sec-

Indian doctors win racial discrimination case in US

The court ruled in favour of Ajay Gaalla, Harish Chandna and Dakshesh Parikh, the Victoria Advocate reported

In February 2010, the medical center filed a resolution that would allow only cardiologists with contracts at the hospital to exercise clinical privileges in the cardiology department or part of the hospital's heart programme

The cardiologists fought back with a lawsuit stating they were being barred from practicing not based on their merit and expertise, but because of economical and racial reasons

This not only affected them, but their patients who were denied the right to see the physician of their choice, according to the court documents

Continued on page 26

tarian The gunmen were wearing army uniform," Mohammad Ilyas, the police chief in Kohistan said after the attack near the town of Harban, 130 miles (210 km) north of the capital

One bus and three minibuses were travelling from Rawalpindi, the city where the Pakistan army is headquartered, to the northern town of Gilgit "They checked the identity of the passengers, got the Shiites off the vehicles and shot them dead," Ilyas said "The dead were all male " Kohistan administration chief, Aqal Badshah, said 18 people were killed by eight attackers armed with Kalashnikovs and wearing military dress It was the fourth militant attack in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since Thursday, raising fears that violence linked to a Taliban insurgency is again on the rise following a decline in recent months

Continued on page 26

Doctors suspended for supporting female foeticide in the UK

India despite of its recent progress, still suffers from gender discrimination and foeticide depending on its sex, remains to be an existing practice In India between 2001-2005, 692,000 cases of female foeticide were reported It has made India initiate a law to ensure the abortion is not meant for immoral purposes and India is still criticised severely for such social practices However it has been shocking to learn that two Indian doctors may have been involved in granting women here illegal abortions based on the gender of their baby, after revelations by the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail

An undercover investigation found consult-

ants apparently agreed to terminate a pregnancy based only on the baby’s sex, with ‘no questions asked’ Some were recorded admitting they were prepared to falsify paper work to arrange the abortions, it is claimed

Health Secretar y Andrew Lansley said he was ‘extremely concerned’ about the allegations and that the abortion clinics have been referred to police to investigate whether an offence has been committed

Daily Mail reported that one of the consultants, Prabha Sivaraman, who works for private clinics and NHS hospitals in Manchester,

Continued on page 2

one to one

Keith Vaz MP with Abhishek Sachdev, Founder of Vedanta Hedg ing

Abhishek Sachdev, B A Hons SCL, ACSI – Founder and Managing Director of Vedanta Hedging Ltd

Abhishek Sachdev founded Vedanta Hedging Ltd to help businesses better understand and negotiate their Interest Rate & Foreign Exchange Rate Hedging with their Banks. He spent eight years at Lloyds Banking Group Plc where he was head-hunted to join their Executive Leadership scheme.

Abhishek read Economics at Grey College, at the University of Durham, where he graduated with the Highest First Class Honours (Summa Cum Laude) out of his entire year group

Abhishek set up Vedanta Hedging after realising that many businesses, even sophisticated large firms, did not really understand derivatives well, and were often at a disadvantage in their Banking relationship The company has since helped dozen’s of clients to negotiate with their Banks, and now has a team of over four consultants

Vedanta Hedging is fully authorised by the Financial Services Authority and the Ministry of Justice

1) Please tell us about your current position?

I run Vedanta Hedging which allows firms to understand the pricing behind the ver y untransparent derivatives and hedging products that they purchase from Banks Unfortunately, some firms may have been mis-sold these products leaving them with crippling exit fees Through being able to uniquely understand

these products, we help clients negotiate with Banks on improving their Banking terms

2) What are your proudest achievements?

I hope that my proudest days are yet to come! Being the only Asian in my Year studying Economics (rare in itself) and graduating at the top of the class I was also honoured to be the youngest ever Senior

Branch Manager at the Bank at the age of 24

3 ) W h a t h a s b e e n t h e biggest obstacle in your career?

I feel privileged to have been given such great opportunities at such a young age However, I have had a few business

ideas in the past but was unable to raise capital for them Looking back on them, I wish I had taken the plunge to leave the Bank sooner, since obstacles need to be tackled head-on to reach success

4 ) W h o h a s b e e n t h e biggest influence on your career to date?

Doctors suspended for suppor ting female foeticide in

Continued from page 1

allegedly told a young woman w h o wanted to abort a female foetus: ‘I don’t ask questions If you want a termination, you want a termination ’

The woman claimed to have had a blood test in France which had left her ‘pretty certain’ she was having a girl

She said: ‘That’s not really appropriate for us right now, we were hoping for a boy It’s the wrong gender – that’s how it is I’m positive that’s what I want ’

Miss Sivaraman, a registered obstetrician and gynaecologist who works at Pall Mall Medical in Manchester, allegedly told the woman that she could have the procedure as a private patient for 200 to 300 on top of the 500 she paid for the consultation

The consultant later telephoned a colleague to book the procedure at an NHS hospital for the following week, explaining it was for ‘social reasons’ and the woman ‘doesn’t want questions asked’

A spokesman for Pall Mall Medical said it had ‘suspended clinical contact’ with Miss Sivaraman

‘The clinic does not condone in any way the referral for termination on the grounds of gender,’ he added

The Pennine General Hospitals Trust, which runs North Manchester General Hospital, said that it was investigating the allegations but would not confirm if it had suspend-

ed Miss Sivaraman

Her husband, understood to be Manu Mathew, a consultant in ophthalmology at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, told a national newspaper: ‘We’ve both been advised not to comment ’

Women and men are equal in all aspects in every part of the world Killing unborn babies depending on their gender is a crime Do you know any case of foeticide depending on such gender biases? If yes, write to Asian Voice at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

The Calthorpe Clinic has also been exposed for illicitly completing abortion forms amid concerns that doctors are not properly consulting patients before agreeing to terminations, a Daily Telegraph report suggests A doctor at the clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was also secretly filmed offering to arrange an abortion for a woman who said she wanted to terminate her pregnancy because the baby was a girl

“It’s like female infanticide isn’t it?” said Dr Raj Mohan before agreeing to conduct the procedure Socalled “sex-selection” terminations are illegal

It is understood that the NHS watchdog that monitors the clinics, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had already alerted the Health Secretary to concerns over

I was fortunate enough to join the Bank at the same time as Truett Tate in 2003, who soon became a Board Director at the Bank (retiring this month) Truett offered to be my mentor after a chance meeting, and has given me great advice and guidance in every respect since then He has started several businesses in the Bank, and I have never met a more genuine and passionate leader

5) What is the best thing about your current role?

I genuinely get such a ‘buzz’ from helping businesses to choose a better hedging strategy / lower pricing from their Bank I love explaining technical Financial Markets concepts into relevant terms so the client can truly understand what they are doing I also get to meet so many types of businesses, from small pub owners to national Hotel owners

6) And the worst?

The biggest challenge we face is having to explain to clients routinely that they cannot just trust their Bank all the time like they may have grown accustomed to Highlighting the sore fact that their Bank may be interested in making more profits rather than helping them, is difficult at times!

the U K

the documentation being used by the Calthorpe Clinic The head of CQC, which also oversees care homes and hospitals, resigned following a Department of Health report that criticised the quango

A third doctor, Claudine Domoney, a private consultant for a clinic in west London, is also alleged to have agreed to let a woman who was 18 weeks pregnant abort a boy because her husband had a son from his first marriage

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital said Miss Domoney had been suspended pending an investigation A spokesman added: ‘We take extremely seriously the allegations made against one of its consultants, Claudine Domoney

‘The practice of “family balancing” through abortion is illegal The Trust observes this law and does not offer termination of pregnancy on the basis of gender We are investigating these very serious allegations as a matter of urgency ’ A man believed to be Miss Domoney’s partner refused to comment

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘We will be speaking to the police Criminal offences may have been committed and we will take urgent action ’

The General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission, which monitors these clinics, has been asked to investigate In 2010, 189,574 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, an 8 per cent increase in a decade

7) What are your long term goals?

I want Vedanta Hedging to be a Trusted Risk Advisor for small and medium sized firms across the UK regarding any aspect of Financial Hedging Then, I want to help businesses in Europe and the USA who also need help negotiating with their Banks on these complex products

8) If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you change?

It has been said before, but I really think that we need a much simpler tax system It takes up so much management time and resource, and is one of the most complex regimes globally I also think we need more tax incentives for microbusinesses, to encourage more young people to follow their ideas through and set up a business

9) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figures would you like to spend your time with and why?

It may sound clichéd, but without a doubt it would be Ghandi Bapu Nobody has been as steadfast in the relentless goal of pure Truth and Non-Violence as Bapu, and I think we have so much to learn from him, more now than ever

Bhavan celebrates India’s Republic day

On the 23rd February, the Mountbatten Auditorium was filled with many who came to remember the republic’s inauguration and to hear speeches by distinguished guests –including the Chief Guest, Ms S a n g e e t a B a h a d u r , Minister of Culture and Director of the Nehru Centre in London

After the Bhavan’s Prayer, given by the Bhavan’s Director Dr Nandakumara, those present were welcomed by the Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan UK, Mr Joginder Sanger In his opening remarks, Mr Sanger reminded those present that India was the

COMMENT

Mig ration remains at record levels

England surely is one of the crowded places on earth and the crowd mostly is the immigrants who keep on arriving day by day England lies sixth among the most crowded countries in the world Fewer people are emigrating while increasing numbers continue to settle here, in particular students from Africa and India The government’s hopes of reducing net migration into Britain to below 100,000 have suffered a fresh blow, with the latest figures showing that it remained at the record level of 250,000 in the year to June 2011 But it takes time to takes effect But you need the immigrants for the development of the countr y Even the big businesses need the immigrants for some particular type of work which the locals are not willing to do Some of the wealthy immigrants are setting up industries which give employment to locals also

T h e f i g u re s s h o w e d l o n g - t e r m i m m i g r a t i o n

remained steady, with 593,000 coming to live in Britain in the year to June 2011 Long-term emigration over the same period was also stable, with 343,000 people going to live abroad, giving a net migration figure of 250,000 The figures for the first year of the coalition government showed that net migration actually rose from 235,000 to 250,000 in its first 12 months in office

This increase was driven by falls in the emigration side of the equation, with the number of people going to live abroad at its lowest level since 1998

The latest quarterly migration statistics report confirms that studying remains the most common reason

to come to live in Britain, with an estimated 242,000 students arriving in the year to June 2011

The figures also show that long-term immigration of new Commonwealth citizens, mainly from the Asian subcontinent, hit a record level of 170,000 – two-thirds of them students – over the same period

A separate set of statistics shows that study, work or family visa applications to Britain fell by 6% last year The latest visa data shows a fall in the number of overseas students since a peak in June 2010

The immigration minister, Damian Green, said that there were signs of progress “Our reforms are starting to take effect Home Office figures from the second half of last year show a significant decrease in the number of student and work visas issued, an early indicator for the long-term direction of net migration

The number of people granted settlement, which is to be the subject of fresh curbs fell by 32% last year to 163,477 But it is thought this drop represents a backlog of long-term asylum “legacy” cases moving out of the system There were 177,000 new British citizens –9% fewer than in 2010

Reducing immigration is a legitimate goal – but politicians should be war y of promising what they can’t deliver There is also a risk that ministers will be tempted to take more extreme measures in pursuit of their elusive target, including on those areas of immigration which are most important to our economy, and which sur veys show the public are less bothered about, including skilled workers and overseas students

India to allow foreign investments in aviation sector

India took a major step to open up its hard-pressed aviation sector to investment by foreign airlines, with the aviation ministr y saying it would recommend that the cabinet allow foreign carriers to take up to 49 per cent stake India bars foreign carriers from buying into Indian airlines, but foreign investors are allowed to invest up to a cumulative 49 per cent stake “The question was to allow other airlines to participate in FDI I discussed it with the finance minister and he agreed,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said A decision to open up the sector to foreign carriers would be a lifeline to domestic carriers, notably debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines All but one of India’s six main airlines is lossmaking as they engage in aggressive price cutting activities

Indian airlines are expected to lose up to $3 billion in the fiscal year that ends in March State-owned Air India, operating on government life support, is expected to account for more than half of that, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has said Despite heavy losses, domestic air traffic increased 17 6 per cent to 55 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2011, government data shows The authorities should ensure that the safety of the passengers should be given utmost importance The passengers should also get direct flights from the UK to Gujarat (India’s one of the most advanced states) or connecting flights without much delay At present many a times you have to wait five six hours to get connecting flights Praful Patel was heading a private airlines before becoming the Aviation Minister Air India direct flights probably suffered due to the paradigm shift in priorities But Kingfisher or Jet with people’s support can do what Air India could not Though Ajit Singh’s statement that the government would offer no bailout to private airlines, despite pleas by Kingfisher, is welcome, but using precious taxpayer’s money to plug the leaks in failing airlines is bad

Assembly

policy, whether they belong to the private or public sector What the government should do, rather, is to make the airline sector as a whole a viable business proposition, so that the civil aviation can take off This is a dire scenario which can have major repercussions on the further growth of Indian civil aviation

Ensuring a viable aviation industr y requires that the government policy is radically reworked While the recent dilution of the public sector monopoly on bilateral traffic rights is a major gain, other steps are also urgently needed Aviation fuel prices should be sharply reduced and brought closer to global levels States should cooperate in reducing taxation on aviation fuel It’s their economy that stands to benefit, which will eventually yield more revenue W

Kingfisher? Gradual, if not immediate, passing into oblivion because the airline has not only exhausted all possible sources of funding, with the exception of FDI by foreign airlines, but also owes huge sums of money to all associates With over 50 per cent of its aircraft presently inoperative, matters have only been allowed to worsen, as revenues can’t be enhanced when fewer flights are operated and aircraft on the ground also impose a cost burden on the airline

What will the absence of Kingfisher from the India skies mean if life support is not extended? To the countr y, loss of income arising from various taxes; to the travelling public, scarcity of flights and high fare on other airlines; to the airport, loss of income; to the employees, lose of jobs If cancellation of a few flights recently could wreck havoc at airports in terms of inconvenience to passengers and result in skyrocketing airfares, one can visualize what the total shutdown of Kingfisher with 20 per cent capacity share can possibly cause

elections in India

India does not have an election-less year With 28 States and seven Union Territories, the world’s largest democracy hurtles from one Assembly election to another In 2012, over a period of three months beginning Januar y, five States - Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa- go to the polls

The Election Commission of India had more than one reason to announce all five together A shortened period is administratively convenient, but more importantly, it allows for reasoned, practical application of the Model Code of Conduct for political parties Though essential to ensure that ruling parties do not abuse power or misuse the official machiner y, and to regulate the election campaign, the model code often holds up welfare schemes and development projects Also, quite rightly, the code is binding not only on the governments in the States where an Assembly election is being held, but also on the Central government To collapse the elections into a single time frame, wherever possible, is therefore desirable and may even be necessar y But the question is whether the people get the government they wanted after the elections Mostly the powerful and corrupt people will always get elected to the assembly They use the money and muscle power to either browbeat the opponents or terrorize the electorate So ultimately the

people won’t get the government they wanted Mostly criminals and other anti-social elements are chosen by the political parties as candidates, because they have the clout to win elections All parties talk about cleaning up politics, but are not willing to do anything for that purpose Power is what they all wanted and they won’t bother about the means to it

So the same pattern is going on for a long time Common man hoped that Anna Hazare would be able to mobilize enough support to clean up politics though his movement After the initial enthusiasm, his movement is also losing momentum Some of the politicians are thinking of pocketing money for themselves or to the party at the cost of the exchequer and the development of the countr y A good example is former union telecom minister A Raja He had robed the countr y of billions by granting 2G licenses to some favoured companies The case is going on in the court but it takes a long time to deliver the verdict So the politicians know that whatever be their crime nothing is going to happen to them in the near future and also the party will also support you So for a responsible and people oriented government you must first clean up politics Unless you get rid of criminals and anti-social elements from politics you are not going to get the government you wanted

Thought for the Week

Appreciation is a wonderful thing It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well - Voltaire

Sarah

Teather MP

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central and Minister of State for Children and Families

Making taxes fairer

Liberal Democrats’ main ambitions was to make the tax system fairer We believe that when household budgets are under pressure, it is our responsibility to make sure that low and middle income families pay less to the taxman, so they can put more money towards the

them

At t h e e n d o f t h e Second World War, only around 12 million people i n Br i t a

n p a id i n c o m e tax Many working peop l e w e re exe m p t a s a result of a generous taxfree allowance Over the next 50 years or so, more a n d m o re p e o p l e w e re sucked into income tax as wage rises outpaced the increase in the threshold By 2010, the number of people paying income tax had more than doubled to almost 30 million This meant that the poorest fifth of the population were paying a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest fifth

When we formed the Government, the Liberal Democrats won concess i o n s f ro m t h e Conser vative Party that by 2015 nobody earning l e s s t h a n £ 1 0 , 0 0 0 w i l l have to pay income tax

The Coalition is well on its way to achieving this t a rg e t S i n c e 2 0 1 0 , a n additional 800,000 working people no longer pay income tax, and a further 23 million have seen their tax bills drop by £200

This is a good start B u t t h e L i b e r a l Democrats believe more can and should be done to help working families in these tough economic times This is why Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called on the Coalition to go further and faster in lifting people out of tax

Raising the threshold to £10,000 would mean that 3 5 million people

£500

year At

who works three days

week and earns £10,000

government, she paid more than £1,000 in income tax and national

When times are tight, the Government has to

responsibly with taxpay-

means making sure that we raise enough money to cover tax breaks like this To make sure that the countr y can afford to make taxes fairer, we are

avoid tax, making sure the banks pay their fair s

imitin g ta x relief on the pensions of the super-rich

I believe this is a clear

Government are on your

decade, rising food prices and higher energy bills

squeeze on the budgets of

responsibility to address Delivering on our pledge to make taxes fairer is one way that the Liberal Democrats can make a real difference for families across the countr y

Youth Conference 2012

In partnership with City Hindus Network and Akshayapatra

3 March 2012, 11:30am at Brunei Gallery (SOAS, University of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Asian Voice Youth Conference to pilot launch Young Asian Social Enterprise

The youth are the future of a country and to have a secure and prosperous future, we must invest in them today The global financial crisis has led to record youth unemployment in Britain, according to Government figures We at Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar believe that our youth need to be empowered to the right social and economic changes Educational achievements alone are not sufficient to get ahead in the ever more competitive employment market

Young people now, more than ever, need to stand out with their skills, experience and personal accomplishments

Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are organising a Youth Conference in association with City Hindus Network (CHN) at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London on Saturday 3 March 2012 for 15-25 year olds

The conference will feature leading professionals from different walks of life (including finance, law, medicine, politics, media and the arts) who will share their personal experiences and offer practical advice on how young people can fulfil their aspirations The conference will also include interactive sessions and mentoring opportunities

In this youth conference we will also be launching the pilot for a new social enterprise scheme, known as the

Young Asian Social Enterprise (in collaboration with the City Hindus Network) This innovative scheme is based on an annual national competition for students to fund raise for charities supporting free education for underprivileged children in India In return, the participants that demonstrate real drive and entrepreneurship will be awarded with a career development package This includes a youth leadership placement at a range of top firms over summer (including Accenture, Shell, PWC amongst others) The funds raised at the competition launched in our Youth Conference will be given to the charity Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, is the world’s largest NGO-run school feeding programme, serves mid-day meals that are hot, nutritious and unlimited to disadvantaged children studying in government schools in India Despite India’s stunning economic growth, a large chunk of India’s children do not have the access to schools because of poverty and malnutrition These are India’s immediate challenges – hunger and education Initiated in the year 2000, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, had started as a pilot programme by feeding only 1,500 children of 5 schools in 1 city and since then its efficacy, scalability and replicability has put it on the growth

Lord Dholakia supports the implementation of a justice board for women

speakers include: Menhaj Huda (film director, producer and writer); Divya Talwar (BBC News Reporter); Misha Patel (Assistant General Counsel, KPMG); Councillor Krupa Sheth (the youngest Councillor in Brent at the age of 20); Aekta Mahajan (Cabinet Office); Pratik Dattani (economist and Chair of the City Hindus Network); Amit Sodha (lifestyle coach and stand up comedian); Dr Pranav Somaiya (vascular surgeon); and Rajay Naik (Director of Government and External Affairs, The Open University)

Date: Saturday 3 March 2012

Timings: 11:30am- 4:30pm

Location: Brunei Gallery (SOAS University of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG (nearest tube stations: Russell Square, Euston, Tottenham Court Road)

Registration is now CLOSED

Target age range: 15-25

Other details: A vegetarian lunch will be served

trajectory and it is currently feeding almost 1 3 million children in 8,200 schools from its 18 locations in 8 states in India The vision statement of The Akshaya Patra Foundation “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” amplifies its noble sentiments and its mission is to feed 5 Million by

2020 Those that have shown a real entrepreneurial spirit and drive will b e presented a YASE award and receive expert mentoring and bespoke coaching from some of the City’s top firms

(Please note this is a free but prior registration only event and t h e re g i s t r a t i o n i s closed now)

L o rd D h o l a k i a , the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, spoke in support of an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill proposing a justice board specifically for women Whilst acknowledging the past arguments against such a move Lord Dholakia stated that a large proportion of female offenders often had more underlying problems and difficulties than men Lord Dholakia cited “a much higher proportion of female prisoners have mental health problems than male prisoners ” He also noted that a high proportion had “a psychiatric histor y before entering prison;” and that “many more had histories of selfharm than male prisoners ” Lord Dholakia continued “more have personality disorders, neurotic disorders, learning disabilities and problems of substance abuse; and often more than one diagnosis ” Lord Dholakia also emphasised how “Many more women have suffered past physical or sexual abuse at the hands of adults or partners;” additionally, “a much higher

proportion of women prisoners are the sole carers for young children,” as opposed to men in the same position Included in this matrix the scarcity of women‘s prisons gives rise to logistical problems such as visiting; whilst women prisoner numbers have increased twice as fast as the male prison population in the last eighteen years Against this “fairly complex” background and “the use of non-custodial options [that] seem to bypass female offenders,” Lord Dholakia reasoned “the establishment of a women’s justice board could be the single most important step we could take towards improving the treatment of women offenders ”

Dementia care at Neem tree

Man convicted for stealing

A 24 year old man has been sentenced after stealing money from elderly victims

Ke t a n Pa t e l aged 24 (pictured), of Northwest London, was sentenced for four counts of Fraud by abuse of position on Monday 27th February at Blackfriars Crown Court

He was given a 14 month custodial sentence, ordered to repay the victims 1200 and has been served with a deportation order Age UK

Camden at Great Croft Resource Centre organise a ‘pension run’ every week, where they take elderly people out to the post office, Marchmont Street WC1N, to collect their pensions in an escorted group

On at least four separate occasions it was noticed, by both the elderly victims and members of Age UK, that

the amounts of money withdrawn did not match the amount the victims received This was immediately reported to police in Camden by Age UK Officers attended the post office and a member of staff was found to be carrying large amounts of cash and was arrested on 17th October 2011 The suspect was charged on 17th January for four counts of Fraud by abuse of position and pleaded guilty in court

Dementia care at The term ‘dementia’ is used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions

Symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, confusion and problems with speech and understanding The Neem Tree Care Centre understands that there is no one size fits all solution to supporting people with dementia and that it should never prevent anyone from leading a full and active life

Everyone in the care team receive training through their bespoke dementia care programmes Families and friends and form an essential support network In order to create activity programmes that mean something to the individual, they gather detailed information about the per-

son’s life -background, family and social networks, past interests and hobbies

They have designed our building to create a therapeutic dementia care environment This should enable residents to recognise their surroundings, take part in ever yday activities and take control of their own environments

Some of the features that the care centre has implemented are as following:

l Each bedroom door is unique to the individual with a memory frame to aid orientation

l Specifically designed lighting levels

l Visual cues to aid orientation

l Un-patterned carpets and upholstery fabrics to reduce confusion

l All bedrooms with easy access en-suite facilities

Rishi Kapoor opens India Week 2012

Romil Patel

Last week (20 February) saw the London School of Economics (LSE) playing host to India Week 2012

This event seeks to celebrate an assortment of India’s achievements in a variety of disciplines whilst providing a platform for students to engage in meaningful dialogue on a range of issues

Rishi Kapoor, the veteran actor who enjoys legendar y status among Bollywood fans was on hand to kick off proceedings

Armed with his perennial charm and a quick wit, Kapoor and the LSE delegation spoke to the media before addressing a crowd of LSE students and adoring fans Before answering the

media’s questions, however, Dr Ruth Kattumuri, the Co-Director of the Asia Research Centre and India Obser vator y contextualised the involvement of Bollywood at the event

“Not only does Indian cinema contribute to the economy of the country but by creating stories and telling stories in a very interesting way, it also contributes to the social development of the country It is right that LSE should be hosting some of the Bollywood stars” she said Sanam Arora, CEO of LSE’s India Week hastened to add that this event “brings an interesting and unique mix of cinema and economics India Week this year is celebrating all factors of India - film, economics, culture and much more ”

The reins were handed over to Kapoor, who answered the media’s ques-

tions The Kapoor family’s contribution to Bollywood cinema spans eighty years and the crowd were eager to hear his thoughts on this tremendous achievement

“How do I feel?

Obviously the answer would be delighted” he beamed “We have been a part of Indian cinema for just about 80 years now I am very proud of the fact that in our own capacity, we are able to keep the legacy going in whatever way We hope to continue and I am sure Ra n b i r would like his son to keep the tradition going ”

Having enjoyed unparalleled success in Bollywood, it was inevitable that someone should ask Rishi Kapoor for advice This would be the point where one would expect any celebrity to extol their own virtues “Advice? I am no one to advise anyone” he said

humbly “Whatever work you do, I feel that you must have passion There has to be a sense of sincerity, dedication and some kind of love and passion for it My kind of work [acting] is a very passionate profession You have to be very dedicated towards it Success and failure are a part of this profession but you must be able to be absolutely involved in whatever creative field you have chosen ”

India is a countr y which epitomises diversity and Asian Voice asked Kapoor why he felt that people from all backgrounds could relate to Bollywood “A simple answer is that we provide entertainment” he said “We do not preach, our films are a little over the top and they are exaggerated They are the next best thing for birth control!”

The Press Conference was supposed to be followed by an Inauguration Ceremony Unfortunately, the lamp lighting ceremony which officially declares India Week open was scrapped The subsequent panel discussion on ‘The Changing Landscape of Bollywood’ dwindled into a discussion where the highlights of Mr Kapoor’s glittering career were re-lived much to the delight of a star-struck audience

Medical student likely to face jail

A medical student has been convicted of luring a millionaire television executive to his death after she claimed he had tried to rape her Mundill Mahil, 20, admitted tricking Gagandip Singh into visiting the bedroom of her university digs in Brighton, claiming that she wanted him to receive a “religious lecture” He was beaten unconscious by two “gangster friends” and bundled into the boot of his car, which was set on fire while he was still alive, the Old Bailey heard

H a r v i n d

r , 20, who was said to be besotted with Mahil, was convicted of murder and Darren Peters, 20, of manslaughter

Mahil, a Sikh, (pictured) shook her head and swayed in the dock as she was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm Judge Pa u l Worsley allowed the student to remain on bail but warned her: “I regard a long custodial sentence as virtually inevitable ”

Shoker, a diabetic, claimed he was “confused” on the night of the killing because he

had not eaten or taken his insulin He said the plan had been to take Mr Singh to London where he would be “lectured” by a mutual friend He thought Mr Singh was dead when the car was set alight in Blackheath, southeast London, he told the court Peters claimed that Shoker had forced him to accompany him to Brighton to steal a car after threatening his terminally ill father and his girlfriend He added that he did not realise Mr Singh was in the car when it was set alight Mahil, of Chatham, Kent, Peters, of Blackheath, and Shoker, of Greenwich, southeast London, will be sentenced this week

By Spriha Srivastava

Junior B to attend Asian Film Festival

Bollywood heartthrob Abhishek Bachchan will attend the Opening Night of the 14th London Asian Film Festival hosted by Tongues on Fire from 16 to 24 March across multiple venues in L o n d o n Abhishek is scheduled to attend the opening press conference, talking about the importance of this annual festival and will be present at the introduction of the opening film of the festival Michael, starring Naseeruddin Shah on 16 March at the British Film Institute (BFI), Southbank Meera Syal has agreed to open the festival, as our patron

confirmed to attend the Q&A session after the screening

In this year of the Paralympics, the film festival has invited the acclaimed Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, from 21

be present for a Q&A after the screening An annual short film competition showcasing the remarkable work of aspiring film-makers and future stars of cinema will take place on 17 March at Apollo, Piccadilly

The festival which closes with an Awards Dinner at BAFTA on 24 March honours a range of exciting films influenced by South Asian cultures that have made waves in the international film festival circuit

Some of the other major highlights of the festival include a thrilling Pakistani film section which includes screening of the highly controversial film Bol on 18 March at BFI

The lead actress of the film Humaima Malik is

March until the closing night awards ceremony on 24 March at BAFTA TOF will be honoring him with an award in recognition of his work on disability in Indian cinema Sanjay will also be delivering the Nargis Dutt lecture at the University of Westminster (Regent Street campus) on 22 March and we will be screening critically acclaimed films Black and Guzaarish during the ten day event

The AFF will also screen Meherjaan from Bangladesh, a film across Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, starring Jaya Bachchan

The director of the film Rubaiyat Hossain will

And finally the closing night awards ceremony will be at BAFTA on 24 March The gala ceremony itself will be in the theatre upstairs, followed by a black tie sit down meal in the David Lean room The AFF is collaborating with Macmillan Cancer Support on a series of Film Making workshops and “Time to Change” to provoke debate on mental health through their short film Wedding Reception Festival director Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry says, “The 14th London Asian Film Festival has a global flavor celebrating diversity with films, special events and our annual short film competition It’s an exciting time for London and we hope the stories we have selected will move, excite and inspire you ”

H RWF F in March

The 16th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be presented in London from 21-30 March, 2012, Human Rights Watch said The international feature programme includes 15 documentaries and 4 dramas, from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Canar y Islands, Ethiopia, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, the Maldives, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA

Many of the films will be followed by Q&A sessions with filmmakers, and some by panel discussions with experts and film subjects

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival programme this year is organised around four themes: development, environment and the global economy;

migrants’ rights and racism; personal testimony and witnessing; and women’s rights

The festival will launch on Wednesday, 21 March at the Curzon Mayfair with a fundraising benefit and reception for Human Rights Watch, featuring Emad Burnat and Guy David’s 5 Broken Cameras which documents one Palestinian village’s struggle against violence and oppression The screening will be followed by a panel discussion including Burnat, Davidi and Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch It will be moderated by David Mepham, the Human Rights Watch UK director

The festival will also screen “Saving Face,” a documentar y by a British Asian doctor

The documentar y won an Oscar Award earlier this week Saving Face will screen in an extended version at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival on Wednesday 28 March and Thursday 29 March Both screenings will be introduced by Katie Piper and followed by a discussion with Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Daniel Junge and plastic surgeon Dr Mohammed Jawad, moderated by Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch

The closing night film and reception will be on Friday 30 March at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton It will feature Nadine Labaki’s drama Where Do We Go Now? - the story of a group of women determined to protect their isolated, mine-encircled community

“Our London”

CIIr Navin Shah AM

London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

London Olympic and Paralympic ONCE I N A LI F ETI M E OP PORTU N IT Y

Whatever you think of the London Olympic Games, from 1st March there will be 149 days left to the opening ceremony I, personally, can hardly wait This is truly once in a lifetime opportunity

The time to absorb and celebrate one of the world’s greatest events right on our door step is approaching ver y fast Since the successful bid to host Olympic and Paralympics in London there have been expectations, speculation and a lot more On the whole, the planning from the inception has worked well

To date the infrastructure projects and buildings, including the stadium, Games venues and the Olympic village have been completed in time and within budget Equally important is the programmed testing of the venues for the Games to ensure that the buildings and services perform without fault for the athletes and spectators This

impressed with the stadium which is pretty ordinar y and undistinguished

I have visited with other London Assembly Members the Olympic site at various stages of its development but this visit was more ‘real’ in that rather than being a conducted tour in a coach I went through the entire process as a visitor with other members of public The first hurdle, which will be key for all visitors to the Games, was the security

structure work being completed

began a couple of week ago All major sporting venues are being tested I was lucky to be able to attend an event at the Velodrome, popularly dubbed the ‘Pringle’ because of its shape!

The Velodrome and the Aquatic Centre, the latter designed by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, are the two building within the Olympic complex of good architectural design and merit – personally I’m not

First I was confronted by the inspection regime at various stages of my ticket/pass which I found diligent Then, of course, the security check including metal detection and searches was thorough and professional This was followed by a 10 minute ride by coach to the Veldodrome Along the journey there were glimpses of the major buildings nearly completed and a lot of landscaping and infra-

Approaching the Velodrome and when one arrives at the foot of the building the strong and sweeping curved form is breathtaking Ethicallysourced timber cladding of the building all along the soffit of the roof is simple but stylish and when one enters the building the 4000 seat track cycling venue is compact and cosy The brightly lit Velodrome was packed with fans and one could not escape the sense of excitement (this is true, even someone like me who hasn’t a clue about track racing) What helped the sense of excitement and being ‘part of the actual races’ was the closeness of the spectators seating with the brightly lit sweeping (‘pringle’like!) racing tracks The building works for the spectators and I understand for the participants as there were some major successes for our hopefuls during the few days of competitions held at this venue You’d ask what are the concerns and challenges leading up to the Games? There are a few, such as allocation of tickets, ability of our transport infrastructure to cope with the demand (both serving regular commuters plus visitors), security and policing of London (including those Outer London areas like Brent and Harrow) and ‘legacy’ issues (future use of the venues and ongoing – long term benefit to all Londoners) However, this is once in a lifetime privilege for us and I’d be thoroughly enjoying it

How Bankers Will Be Loved Political Sketchbook

Alpesh Patel’s

The past couple of weeks you may have noticed the 15 billion in profits by HSBC and the 12 billion by Barclays I’ve lost count after 10 billion so forgive me if I am out by a billion between friends.

Yet these massive profit making machines are not loved by the British public? £3 billion in tax Barclays paid, yet the headlines speak of how they tried to avoid a couple of hundred million Why are we not happy that British companies are so profitable? What on earth are their PR advisors advising them? As I mentioned on Sky News, Jeff Randall Live, they only need to do three things to be loved of the nation

First, stop hoarding all those profits, and spend on the young It’s easy, take £1 billion of your profits from last year and spend it on youth training programmes You don’t have to turn the young people into trainee bankers –god forbid – just train them in keyboard skills, behaviour in an office, discipline, leadership skills And pay them! Pay them minimum wage if you want.

And to the young layabouts, sorry, little darlings on street corners with immense potential, who moan about work experience – in my grandfather’s day, flipping burgers was called opportunity My uncle swept floors at Morrisons at 16 – before becoming the General Manager of their flagship store by 24 You pays your dues and make sure you have the right attitude

That’s the first thing that will make society love bankers Second, stop hoarding all that profit, and pay a decent dividend, so that pensioners who are your shareholders through

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will announce new rules this week stating that migrants working in the UK must earn at least £35,000 a year if they want to stay longer than five years The Government’s immigration advisers have predicted the policy will see the number of foreign workers granted settlement each year drop from 60,000 to 20,000

The Home Office is also planning to make it harder for nannies and other domestic workers from outside the EU to stay in the UK long term It is part of the Coalition’s wider drive to slash overall annual net migration to the “tens of thousands” Currently, migrants from outside the EU who work legitimately in the UK for five years are eligible to apply for settlement, meaning they can live here permanently and later apply for British citizenship Ministers wan t to break the almost automatic link between people arriving on work permits and settlement

Under the proposals, in future only those earning £35,000 or more will be eligible for settlement after

their pension funds get a decent return

Presently Barclays pays £2 in dividends for every £100 of shares It pays less than most of the other 100 largest FTSE 100 companies in the UK. It can pay more. Just imagine how much the nation would love them for looking after the old

So that is the young and the old –what about the rest of us? Bankers pay should be linked to the amount of tax their bank pays If paying tax is a social good – then let’s talk real incentivisation We’ll incentivise you as a society That’s the real problem with bankers pay and this notion of incentivisation –it has no link to what we understand as incentiviation No wonder people ask, ‘why would you get a bonus if you made a loss?’

Barclays made £12 billion pounds in profit I have no problem their CEO getting, say, 0 1% of that as his pay Just as long as he knows, if his bank pays less tax, he gets less pay Ultimately, you don’t work for the shareholders, who you don’t listen to, whilst you pay yourselves fat salaries –you work for the nation The banks broke the nation, now they can help build it, through paying tax All our interests are then aligned – bankers incentivised to make more profit, which is good as it means paying more corporation tax, which makes us more happy , and we then allow them to draw a bigger salary Whereas at the moment, they are incentivised to earn more salary, which leads to less profits for the company which means less tax for the nation

Government tries harder to cut down immig rants despite of initial failure

five years

Mrs May hopes that will ensure only the “brightest and best” will remain here in the long term

It echoes similar recommendations currently being considered by the Government to require those sponsoring partners or relatives arriving on family visas to earn more than £25,000

However, the settlement proposals will meet opposition from business leaders who are concerned it will damage the UK’s ability to attract the best workers

The Department of Health is also said to be concerned that the supply of foreign nurses will dry up

There are also plans to

change the rules surrounding foreign domestic workers such as nannies, au pairs, cooks and servants

Those from outside the EU will only be allowed to come to the UK with foreign visitors and must leave after six months, when the visitor also leaves

Those working for foreign diplomats, however, will be allowed to remain with the diplomat until their tour of duty ends

In 2010, almost 15,700 visas were handed to overseas domestic workers and 1,360 were allowed to settle here

These changes are proposed after the figures from the Office for National Statistics show that net immigration in the

Is selfless g iving a reasonable expectation for all Hindus?

Britain is facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, with almost one in five 16 to 24 years olds jobless1 For young British Asians, the challenges are even greater According to a report published by Race for Opportunity, ethnic minorities are less likely to find employment after graduation The report cites that “only 56 3% of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) graduates found full-time or par t-time employment within a year of graduating compared with 66% of white students ”

Given the lack of employment opportunities for this group within society, is it fair to expect those that are Hindu and unemployed to follow the Hindu practice of selfless giving or dana? We believe not

According to Hindu scriptures, Hindus should observe ten “niyamas” or “practices” One of these ten niyamas is the act of giving selflessly or dana to charity; without the expectation of a reward The concept of dharma also incorporates the act of dana as an important act for human beings

Some interpretations even go so far to say that Hindus should be “offering one-tenth of gross income (dasamamsa) as God's money, to temples, ashrams and spiritual organisations”

But what if one has no gross income to begin with? Are they automatically precluded from being considered a good Hindu? Surely not

year to June 2011 was 250,000, up 15,000 on the total 12 months earlier and only slightly below the alltime peak recorded in September The total is way above the Government’s target of cutting the migrant inflow to below 100,000

The report suggested that one of the main reasons for the continuing large numbers of arrivals is that immigration from the “New Commonwealth” rose to a new peak of 170,000

Three-quarters of these came from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka

Others arrived from African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya Two thirds came to study Statistics for migrants requiring visas show that 149,000 of those coming here last year - roughly one in four of the total inflowcame for work-related reasons This was down seven per cent

Although student visas

What if we reward and incentivise those specific groups in society to give back to charities - would that be a righteous way to encourage Hindus to give and in doing so meet the niyama? This may not be selfless giving in the true Hindu sense but it is still giving The City Hindus Network is supporting the launch of a new social enterprise scheme which will do just that

The scheme, known as the Young Asian Social Enterprise (YASE), is being launched to incentivise young people to fundraise As a reward for their fundraising efforts, the participants that show real entrepreneurial drive and raise the most funds will be rewarded with a career development package, including a placement at Accenture (one of the largest global management consultancies), mentoring by industry professionals and bespoke coaching on application forms and interviews

This scheme will not only help Hindus or indeed anyone participating to meet the niyama of giving, it will also help the youth to improve their employability prospects The funds raised through the scheme will go directly towards carefully selected grassroots projects in developing countries such as India One of the social projects selected is Akshaya Patra, a foundation which runs a school meals programme, feeding over 1 3 million underprivileged children daily in more than 8,260 schools in 18 locations, across 8

remain the biggest cause of immigration, the numbers issued have fallen

Meanwhile, other figures published today by the Home Office show that asylum applications rose 11 per cent last year to 19,804, compared with 17,916 in 2010

Ka m n a I y e r (name changed on request) who is a banker in the City said that it is extremely unwise on the government to attack non EU immigrants all the time, where as ‘there is much to do to straighten up the people living on benefits and on tax payers money’

Aman Tripathi (name changed on request), a reputed businessman told Asian Voice, “It is funny how the Home Office continues to harass people who add value to this economy It is a pity that this country has no law to control the European immigrants who take advantage of the facilities without contributing to

Aekta Mahajan

states in India

The first phase of the YASE scheme is being launched at the Asian Voice Youth Conference, taking place on Saturday 3rd March at SOAS University If you would like to participate in the scheme or for further information, email info@yase-uk com or visit www yase-uk com

The City Hindus Network endorses and promotes the act of giving through its charity stream

The Upanisads say “Give with faith Do not give without faith Give with sensitivity Give with a feeling of abundance Give with the right understanding ” Even if a reward is attached to those that are giving, surely that shouldn’t automatically undermine the act of giving Unless a person is fortunate enough to give back selflessly We’ll leave you to work out whether you fit in the former or the latter category

Aekta Mahajan is the Vi c e C h a i r o f t h e C i t y Hindus Network and cofounder of YASE

the country, whereas we get sidelined or targeted without a reason ”

The Law society welcomed the changes proposed by the MAC to continue the existing cap on Tier 2 to cut down the number of Non EU immigrants, the Law Society Chief Executive Desmond Hudson commented: “In our evidence to the MAC we said that given the poor economic starting point, it would be unwise to base future visa allocations on present consumption Like other sectors, law firms are facing significant challenges across all areas of their business as a result of the global economic recession It must make sense to afford them the greatest flexibility to be able to recruit quickly when conditions improve and business increases As the MAC report recognises, these are the very people who are most likely to contribute to the economic growth ”

Dee Katwa

Midland Voice

Cricket fans left disappointed

The Indian cricket team meets fans every day, but not vice versa. No surprise then why so many fans were left angry and disappointed when they were miserably let down by their icons.

Excited cricket fans who had bought tickets for a “spectacular” star-studded show, and had travelled to London, were left disappointed after the stars failed to show up. Among the raft of complaints received by Birmingham Trading Standards is one from Birmingham mum Amandeep Surmay. Mrs Surmay, 32, had paid almost £150 for three tickets to the Titans of Cricket show, held at London’s 02 Arena last October, as a treat for her seven-year-old son Devjot, an avid supporter of India’s cricket team. Adverts in the media and on the show’s website, which promised

fans they would see some of the world’s top players, had encouraged Mrs Surmay to buy tickets. The adverts stated the show would include performances from top Indian players, including Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa. “When we got there we were deeply disappointed,” said Mrs Surmay. “We waited for the India players to come out and it never happened. Devjot was in tears and I was furious.” Mum-oftwo Mrs Surmay, pictured with Devjot, said she complained to Titans of Cricket and asked for a refund but had no response. On website

‘Sex offender’ ex-chaplain

A former children’s hospital chaplain who posed as a teenage girl on the internet has avoided jail.

Stuart Charrington, 54, ex-chaplain at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Blakenhurst Prison, was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and banned from having unsupervised contact with under-16s for ten years.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that a psychiatric report suggested a head injury from a road smash 20 years ago had left Charrington, pictured, with a rare condition – Kluver-Bucy syndrome – which may in part explain his behaviour.

Dodgy lights on sale

ticketmaster.co.uk, dozens of disappointed fans left scathing reviews, giving it an average of 1.8 out of five stars. One reviewer said: “Bought two VIP tickets for £330 – absolute waste of money!” Another wrote: “This was the worst organised event I’ve ever had the misfortune to

attend. The players looked less excited than the crowd.” At the time, Ingenious Media, the venturecapital company behind the events, sa id cancellations were not related to ticket sales but player availability. Paul Bedford from Ingenious Media, which part-funded the show promotion, said: “I can only apologise on behalf of the Indian team who did not turn up because of injuries.” He explained: “We acknowledge communication wasn’t at its best and that the Indian players had to drop out at very short notice. But the frustration was shared by everybody.” Did you go to the show? What was your experience? Email me.

News in Brief

Call for breastfeed volunteers

A Breastfeeding Peer Support volunteer programme has been introduced in Nottingham. Currently 82% of new mothers are putting their baby to the breast at birth. The programme encourages individuals in the local community who have breastfeeding experience to step forward to help new mums. Interested in becoming a Peer Supporter? Contact Theresa.Drozdowska@nottshc-chp.nhs.uk

Disability Awards

Birmingham Trading Standards have launched a crackdown on city traders after a six-year-old boy received an electric shock from dodgy lights being sold to mark religious festivals. Officers found shops in Alum Rock which have been importing potentially deadly lights from India and selling them, at around a fiver each, to unsuspecting customers. The investigation is continuing, no arrests have yet been made. To report dangerous goods on sale call 0121 303 6031. Photo: Hannah Davies from Birmingham Trading Standards holding one of the dangerous lights seized

Debate on human trafficking

A film about the exploitation of textiles workers in India was screened at Costa Coffee in the Bullring, Birmingham last Sunday. Blood, Sweat and T-shirts, a BAFTA-nominated documentary, prompted a panel discussion on the rising menace of human trafficking and slave labour. The event was organised by antitrafficking charity Unfounded, The Adavu Project and the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership.

Lawyer, ‘mayor candidate’

Dr Mirza Ahmad, Birmingham City Council’s ex- highest-ranking legal officer, has announced he could stand as an independent candidate for Birmingham mayor if citizens vote to create one in May’s referendum. Father-of-three Dr Ahmad, pictured, said he would “encourage people to vote for change from the current stale party political system that is totally out of touch with people.” Dr Ahmad, a self-glorifying and multi-award winning lawyer, knows exactly how to stay in touch with people, particularly through Facebook, an activity he spent considerable time on during working hours in his council role. For this, he even made headlines in the local press in 2009.

Speeding striker

Birmingham City striker Marlon King, pictured, has been banned from driving after being caught speeding at 130mph in his Mercedes. King, 31, was also handed a £1,600 fine. The London-born forward has a string of other crimes against him name, dating from 1997, including theft from a vehicle, using cloned credit cards, drinkdriving and driving without insurance.

Nominations are being sought for inspirational people in Walsall who deserve to be recognised for their achievements. Winners will be announced at the Walsall Disability Awards event at Bank’s Stadium on May 2. Chief guest will be Dan Biddle, pictured, the most severely injured survivor of the July 7 bomb attacks. To nominate a person or organisation, or for more information visit www.walsalldisabilityforum.com

Technicolour India

A live performance of traditional Indian music, titled Technicolour India, will take place at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham (B15 2TS) on Tuesday 6 March at 6pm. Artists will include table maestro Mohinder Singh, aka Mendi, Leighton Hargreaves on violin and Dan Wilkins on the kora. Tickets, a fiver each. For more information visit www.sampad.org.uk

Cut in courses

A third of university courses in the West Midlands have disappeared in six years, according to the University and College Union. The UCU poll found that there are now 2,200 fewer courses on offer at regional institutions, compared to nearly 6,80 0 in 2006.

Cash boost for Asian women

An Asian women’s group in Wolverhampton is celebrating after receiving a cheque for £300 from West Midland Police Authority’s Communities Initiatives fund. The money will help a group of women, pictured, who meet at the Sewa Centre in All Saints, to hold awareness raising sessions to educate Asian women about issues relating to community safety.

‘Self-repairing’ pavements

A total of 42 pavements, all in Sparkhill, Birmingham, listed last year as needing repair by Amey, the council’s £2.7 billion highways contractor, have disappeared from the latest list. Flagging up this omission, Jerry Evans, pictured, chairman of the council’s transport watchdog committee, said he believes the situation has been repeated throughout 40 wards meaning missing repairs could top 1,000. Amey claims the alterations were a result of better survey information and changing priorities and the pavements will eventually be repaired.

Lead ing Lights

by Rani Singh Special Assignment Editor

Shashank

Shashank Joshi, 26, is a doctoral student of international relations at Harvard University’s Department of Government and an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Whitehall, London RUSI has a military and defence focus Shashank holds Masters degrees from Cambridge and Harvard He has worked at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Moscow, Citigroup New York, and in RUSI’s Asia Programme on India and global security issues

During 2007-8, he was a Kennedy Scholar from Britain to the United States He comments on international affairs on radio, television and in print

Q; Shashank, compare your experience of C a m b r i d g e w i t h Har vard.

A ; C a m b r i d g e a n d

H a r v a rd a re a l i ke i n

m a n y w a y s - b o t h o f them compact, cerebral

u n i v e r s i t i e s B u t Har vard is, of course, richer and bigger than any of its British counterparts or indeed anyone else!

As a student of polit i c s , I f o u n d t h e t w o places had a quite diff e re n t a p p ro a c h At

C a m b r i d g e , p o l i t i c s was seen as an outgrowth of histor y - it

w as a subject infused

w i t h p h i l o s o p h y a n d

e t h i c s At H a r v a rd , politics is more of a sci-

e n c e - s o m e t h i n g where you tested theor i e s A l o t o f w o r k there is based around

s t a t i s t i c s o r c o m p l ex

m a t h e m a t i c s B o t h

a p p ro a c h e s a re v a l uable, and it’s been useful to be exposed to each of them

Q; Why have you chosen to base yourself

i n L o n d o n w h e n y o u could be at Har vard?

A; Having grown up in London, I missed the rhythm of British life Small things, like Radio 4 and weekend football, tend to be missed greatly!

Being in London has allowed me to occasionally return to Cambridge to teach politics It also means I can ser ve as a fellow at RUSI - means I get to write analysis that goes out to a wider audie n c e , s o m e o f w h o m might even be powerful enough to make a differ-

e n c e L a s t y e a r, f o r

i n s t a n c e a n a r t i c l e I

wrote was quoted during the parliamentar y debate on Libya More recently, I co-authored an article on Syria with former foreign secretar y Malcolm Rifkind

Q ; W h a t i s y o u r opinion of India’s foreign relations?

A; I think we sometimes forget how drastic

t h e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f India’s foreign policy has b e e n - f ro m a c r u s t y,

s o c i a l i s t S o v i e t a l l y twenty-five years ago, to a rapidly rising power

t y i n g u p t h e b i g g e s t d e f e n c e d e a l s o n t h e planet

That said, the tradit i o n a l c a u t i o n i s s t i l l apparent - as with the re c e n t c o u p i n t h e

M a l d i v e s , w h e re I n d i a d i d n’ t re a c t I t ’ s a l s o clear from India’s polic i e s o n p l a c e s l i ke Burma and Iran that it’s happy to defy Western p re s s u re a n d p re f e rences

Q; Who will gain the s t ro n g e r p o s i t i o n i n Af g h a n i s t a n ? I n d i a o r Pakistan?

A;Pakistan has unass a i l a b l e a d v a n t a g e s i n Afghanistan in terms of g e o g r a p h y a n d e t h n i c links It’s going to have a lot of sway over how n e g o t i a t i o n s w i t h t h e Taliban play out But I think India has adopted a m o re c o n s t r u c t i v e approach that will pay o f f i n t h e l o n g - t e r m , assuming that the countr y avoids civil war

Q; What do you add to your world and to the world at large?

A; I think that the public debate on foreign policy issues can b e p o o r l y i n f o r m e d and simplistic Yet, the s t a ke s a re h u g eB r i t i s h p i l o

s were at risk flying over

l that the public understands these decisions

W h a t I ’ m p ro u d o f doing is using my acad e m i c b a c k g ro u n d , and the luxur y of having time to read as a student, to make that debate slightly better and balanced

Q; Where would you like to be in five years and 25 years’ time?

A; I don’t mind what I do - whether it’s teaching, journalism, or policymaking - as long as I can keep exercising the skills I use now I am fascinated by foreign policy, and will always want to focus on that I’m lucky enough to work on areas that don’t go out of fashi o n A s a s t u d e n t o f Indian foreign policy as well as the Middle East, you can be pretty sure that your work will be in demand in five or twenty five years time!

Alleged rapist exploited 13-15 years olds

year-old girl that he was doing nothing wrong by delivering her to numer-

have sex with girls from the age of 11”, a court was told last week

The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named, is one of 11 men accused of

offences over a two-year

g teenagers from Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Five vulnerable girls, aged from 13 to 15, are

alcohol, food and money by men whose aim was to use them for sex before sharing them with their

friends and relatives

On the second day of

Liverpool Crown Court

inter views from 2008 in

c

sions when the 59-yearold forced her to have sex with him or other men

The court was told that after they heard the girl’s child abuse allegat

looked into the matter didn’t take the investigation further”

Despite speaking to detectives, the girl continued to be subjected to regular sexual abuse by a widening group of men Her exploitation is finally said to have ended when she became preg-

nant

The

Asian head of state ‘funded Al Qaeda’

A Parliamentar y committee published a document revealing the details of one of Britain’s last remaining super-injunctions, a daily newspaper has reported In the submission to t h e 26- m e m b e r c o m m i ttee, Mark Burby, a busin e s s m a n b a s e d i n t h e Channel Islands, claimed that he had been gagged by the “ex-spouse of an Asian head of state” in 2009

H e s a i d t h e “A s i a n head of state” who he does not identify was a “substantial” backer of alQaeda, and had advance w a r n i n g o f t h e s u i c i d e b o m b i n g s o n L o n d o n’ s transport system in 2005

Mr Burby alleged the u n n a m e d ex - s p o u s e ,

whom he described as one of the wealthiest women in the world, had a sexual relationship “with one of her two solicitors”, as well as two other men, one of which resulted in her having to have an abortion

O n l a s t Fr i d a y n i g h t lawyers for the claimant ha d allegedly threatened

The Daily Telegraph with an injunction, but failed to make any application

T h e d e c i s i o n b y t h e c o m m i t t e e t o p o s t t h e claims on the parliament a r y w e b s i t e , re p re s e n t s another challenge to the supremacy of the courts after injunctions involving Ryan Giggs, the footballer, and Sir Fred Goodwin, the banker, were also exposed by MPs

Ac c o rd i n g t o M r Burby the super-injunction governed six general areas including “information/ allegations concerning any personal relationship of any kind between the claimant and a man who is not her ex-husband” Mr Burby said he felt compelled to provide the i n f o r m a

Pa r l i a

n d injunctions after Kenneth C l a r ke , t h e L o rd Chancellor, had told MPs a n d p

iods” and

long-running secret litigation”

Akram Khan promises solo in Olympics despite of injury

The dancer chosen to choreograph part of the o p e n i n g c e re m o n y o f the Olympic Games has re v e a l e d t h a t h e w i l l perform a solo despite suffering a major injur y last month

A k r a m K h a n , p i ctured, has provided a r a re i n s i g h t i n t o t h e secret preparations for

the 27 million spectacu l a r t h a t w i l l b e watched by an estimated television audience of more than a billion people Khan, 37, said that he was still “not sure” how he would dance, b u t h e re v e a l e d t h a t there will be a team of performers on hand

India and it s c or r upt ion

India is marching ahead and at the same time the corruption is creating havoc It is not confined within India but even the Indian government apparatus abroad Allegations against nefario u s a c t i v i t i e s o f s o m e i n d i v i d u a l s , directly or indirectly connected with India House London- whether true or false, tarnish the image of the hard w o r k i n g o f f i c e r s o f I n d i a n H i g h

Commission

I n C B ’s c o l u m n a n d i n t h e

“Comments” section (AV 11th Feb), he has correctly criticised Barr y Gardiner MP and some others for inappropriate criticism of the Ministr y of External Affairs in Delhi “Commets”

Indian authorities here and in India ought to be warned that suspended officers or those on leave in India are allegedly involved in some ‘illegal’ activities connected with the projects aimed at the non resident Indians

Maintenance work of the properties of the Indian government, transportation for the visiting dignitaries, ‘emergency problems’ of visa regime, tourism promotion are some of the situations giving scope for corrupt practices India House supremo should take a ver y careful look at such misuse of power

N a m e w i t he ld

Prayer as a part of agenda in Parish council

A test case brought against Bideford Council by the secular society wanted a ban on prayer from the official Parish council meeting agenda and Judge Ouseley decided to initiate a ban on such practices In one way the judge has ensured every faith has equal importance in a Council meeting, but broadly speaking the judgement to some extent will go against the concept of ‘freedom to religion and expression ’

The Conservative party Chairperson Lady Warsi is the latest to raise the alarm and spoke of her fear that ‘a militant secularism is taking hold of our societies' claiming that ‘at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant’ and ‘demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes’ David Lemmy who is a devout Christian said ‘an aggressive secularism is drowning out the ability of people of faith to live with that Faith’

Lady Warsi as a Muslim should know that Muslim Children in schools do not take part in Christmas nativity play or Christmas Carols or any other activity concerning other religions Muslims withdraw their children from assembly since they do not want to take part in Christian prayer Muslims consider ‘Allah’ is their only God

I consider both Lady Warsi and David Lammy are wrong to criticise the secular society as ‘aggressive secularist’ and on the other hand fundamental Islam and Christianity is increasing very rapidly in Britain which threatens the very fabric of the multi faith British society

Arun Vaidyanathan By email

The power of prayer

For the Christian judiciar y, banning Christian prayers in a Christian country is incredible Fortunately, the decision has been reversed rapidly If reversal is challenged in higher courts, Hindu leaders must boldly support the prayer lobby instead of timid philosophy, indecisive both for godless atheist and pro-prayer group

Earlier, Hindu spokesperson should have supported reversal campaign by Christians and should have emphatically denounced atheists who want to rob humanity of final refuge and haven

Hindus must remember that pious Christians sheltered Hindu refugees from Uganda; have done humanitarian work in India, to merit outright support Continuation of aid in spite of India buying French fighters denotes Christian goodness What good have the atheists done for any country? If secularists and indecisive philosophising supporters had dominated, humanity might have been deprived of heritage of magnificent places of worship

Ban has potential to pervade places which conduct prayers, e g schools, parliament, gatherings of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Jews, but not Muslim prayer gatherings, as has happened when Muslims boldly prayed on roads, in Spitlefields

Prayer is involuntary and essential life sustainer a la breathing, heartbeat, digestion etc ; is like God steering humans in times of calamity, thus a matter of innate piety rather than courts

Ramesh Jhalla By email

Admiration for India

Much has been written and talked about on the subject of India's poverty, aid, militar y spending, corruption and other issues, however as a senior who witnessed where India was during it’s Independence struggle and where it is now the country has my admiration

I can remember when a sub-Saharan type of famine was wide spread in India, but today the country is able to not only feed itself but is managing to be generous in its aids to other countries

India never wanted to be a military power The founding fathers deployed a non-aligned policy, but was forced to arms to protect its sovereignty There are a lot of critics today asking why are they spending so much on Defense and Space? Are the rest of the developed world not doing the same? This hypocritical attitude must end

I have traveled to many countries including developed ones and seen both poverty and hardship but in India proportionately it seems magnified due to its population

India is going to look after its own interest like the rest of the world peacefully and won't be bullied and its educated youth are going to ensure that all the wrongs are put right It will take time, I have faith

Mohan Kara By email

Child Benefit

Next year the Chancellor of the Exchequer is planning to stop payouts in child beenfits to parents if one or both was earning £42,475 or more – the threshold for the higher rate of tax

The pressure groups say that the way in which the Government was targeting high earners was ill considered They say that stripping child benefit from these families is unfair and could encourage them to work less

At present, all families with young children are given the benefit and – for a couple with two children – it is worth £1,752 a year A couple who both work and each earn £42,000 will continue to receive the benefit while having a family income of £84,000 But a couple where one parent earns £43,000 and the other earns nothing because they stay at home to look after the children will lose it all So how could the funds earmarked for child benefit be equitably distributed?

In India, a slogan used to be advertised on bill boards and hoardings which stated “we two, ours two” If we adopt that policy and restrict child benefit for the first two children, it would be a great help to young couples who are struggling to make ends meet in the early years of their life There were proposals to make the benefits means tested

However, it could be unweildy to implement that and may not be worth the expenditure The money that is given out in foreign aid to undeserving countries could easily pay for the cost of continuining child benefit in its present form It could probably also pay for the costs of other services like the tuition fees for university students and pensions for the elderly

Dinesh Sheth By email

Compensation Culture

Compensation culture is a worr ying development that is fast gaining ground in this country, an unsavoury import from US Fuelled by lawyers, drastic drop in moral and ethical standard and negligence in NHS hospitals all play their part in driving up insurance premiums as well as consuming huge NHS resources that is badly needed for patient care

Negligence, arrogance and severe drop in care, dedication and professional standard all play their part in encouraging such a culture

Some time back, a friend was admitted to NHS hospital for a routine breathing problem He was neither seen by a specialist nor received the right treatment accorded to him in the past for the same problem Sadly he passed away the next day The family received a dismissive reply full of inaccurate information and when they demanded a detailed, step by step reply, supported by photocopies of notes, log book and medication, etc we knew it was a failure on the part of NHS that led to this tragedy

So far, after two years and several letters, including intervention by their MP, no reply has been received, although the file has been handed over to their legal

Is religion under threat?

Lord Popat’s excellent letter (AV 25 February 2012) about the decision to outlaw prayers at council meetings highlights once again how a tiny minority can succeed in adversely affecting the sentiments of the majority

In the opinion of Clive Bone, a confirmed atheist and former councillor of Bideford town council in Devon who successfully launched the action against the council, the practice of saying of prayers at council meetings was ‘outdated, antiquated and a turnoff ’ What troubles me personally is why do atheists always have to interfere in the religious beliefs of the majority? After all, the majority do not question their rejection of belief in God and indeed respect their independence to do so Secondly, should the law impinge upon the moral rights of people to say scriptural prayers the aim of which is essentially to pray that the business of the meeting goes smoothly?

Britain is a Christian country with a long established church governed by the Queen Are we now to say that National Anthems at football matches, for instance, should be banned? On the whole, the spectators, old and young alike, zealously participate in the Anthems and those not wishing to do so remain silent So, how can the question of prayers being a ‘turnoff ’ arise? At council meetings that I have attended as a volunteer, I have yet to see anyone withdrawing when prayers are being said although they have a personal right to do so Even if anyone has withdrawn, they do not make fuss I do sincerely hope that the Court’s decision to outlaw prayers is overturned in due course if the wider moral context of religious faith in public spheres is to be cherished and preserved in this country

department This is not an isolated incident, as I have myself suffered through hospital negligence when my two hour stay in a day ward turned into a 22 night nightmare that has ruined my health Yet I neither sought nor received any compensation

Government should legislate to curb the activities of ambulance chasing lawyers but at the same time they should admit the mistake and make amends ASAP when it is obvious rather than drag it on that inflate the cost

Bhupendra M Gandhi By email

Asian Business Publications Ltd (ABPL) is not in any way responsible for the goods and services rendered by its advertisers The ABPL management accepts all advertisements in good faith and it is entirely up to readers to verify advertisers’ products and services, should they feel the need to do so

GCSEs in four key subjects to be made tougher

Exams boards have been

o rd e re d t o t i g h t e n u p GCSEs in four key subjects amid fears they are becoming easier to pass

E x a m s w a t c h d o g

Ofqual wants changes to English literature, maths,

h i s t o r y a n d g e o g r a p h y GCSEs to ensure students cover the full breadth of the subjects

E d u c a t i o n S e c re t a r y

M i c h a e l G o v e h a s s u ggested some GCSEs can be passed with too narrow a grasp of the subject

Ofqual said it wanted to ensure students covered the whole curriculum Its

c h i e f exe c u t i v e G l e n y s

Stacey said: "We are tightening GCSEs in these key subjects to make sure students cover the whole cur-

r i c u l u m We w a n t o u r young people to have the best possible educational experience, with qualifications that prepare them for t h e f u t u re T h e ex a m b o a rd s h a v e w e l c o m e d this steer from the regulator and are to look again at

t h e s e q u a l i f i c a t i o n s a n d how the rules are interpreted to make sure that young people taking them have to study an appropriate range and depth of the subject "

The move to toughen up exams comes after an investigation by the Daily Te l e g r a p h w

m boards giving secret advice t

o achieve better grades for their pupils It is also follows long standing concerns that some teachers have been "teaching to the test"

Ofqual wants to see pupils encouraged to learn ever ything on the course rather than concentrating o n a n a r ro w r a n g e o f areas

T h e D e p a r t m e n t f o r

Education has said that m o re t h a n 9 0 % o f t h e answers in one of the most popular GCSE English literature exams are on the same three novels - Of Mice and Men, Lord of the F l i e s a n d t o K i l l a Mockingbird Just one in 200 pupils studies a book

written before 1900

O f q u a l ' s m o v e a l s o comes after the Telegraph released video footage of a conversation between an undercover reporter and a chief examiner at Edexcel who claimed the compan y ' s G C S E g e o g r a p h y tests were not as difficult as those from other exam boards

announced that an internal review, analysing data from all five awarding bodies for GCSE geography, histor y and English had

were "no more or less like-

boards It said that it had also assessed the "breadth and depth of the exam s

confident they were of the appropriate standard set by Ofqual

Clamp down in prog ress on dangerous Henna inks

Newham Trading Standards officers are redoubling their efforts just months after they seized 6,700 of the cosmetics from one shop alone, in the Green Street area

Officers are targeting black Henna which they believe is being imported from Pakistan It is particularly popular among Indian and Pakistan communities and often used for weddings and religious celebra-

tions It is dangerous because it contains high levels of benzene and lead

Last year, Sallyha Din, 17, from Cambridge, was scarred for life after using buying black henna from a Newham store She said: "It was just getting more and more intense burning to the point the pattern had raised and started to blister My hand went red and I was in a lot of pain "

Cllr Unmesh Desai,

Newham Council's Executive Member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour, said: "Parents and young people must be very vigilant for this henna Newham is taking the lead in London by cracking down hard as we believe it is circulating across the capital Anyone who comes across it should contact their local council's trading standards office immediately "

Leicester City Council to develop plans for new indoor market

Plans to replace Leicester’s indoor market with a modern new food hall will are set to be developed following public consultation on market improvements

In October 2011, City Mayor Peter Soulsby invited people to give their views on the future direction of Leicester Market in a public consultation The findings of that consultation have now been published online

Over 800 people responded to the consultation questionnaire which was carried face-to-face with market traders and city centre shoppers and was also available online

The consultation asked for people's opinions on a range of possible improvements including the option to demolish the indoor market hall and relocate the current fish, meat and

cheese traders to a new covered location

A majority of respondents (44 2%) agreed with this option, with 32 per cent disagreeing and 23 8 per cent saying they didn't know Of those who responded in favour of the option to demolish the existing indoor market, there was general support for the building of a new food hall

Support for the option to demolish and relocate the indoor market was greater (49 8%) among online respondents, who generally shopped at the market less often, than among regular shoppers (41 1%) who were questioned in the city centre

The consultation findings also show which other areas of improvement people thought were most important for the market

These included a cleaner environment, better signage and promotion, better quality of produce and improved access

Council officers will draw up a full options analysis for the demolition and relocation of the indoor market hall, and carry out a second round of public consultation, before any firm proposals are put forward

Patrick Deevey, chair of the National Market Traders Federation Leicester branch, said: "This is positive news for customers and traders The indoor market is poorly designed and clearly in need of regeneration We need better access for shoppers, improved conditions for traders and a higher profile to attract new customers We look forward to seeing what the council comes up with "

Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Political & Public Life Awards 2012

Prominent contributor s celebrate community success

The next award was Business in the Community award Chairman of Lyca Mobile Subhash A irajah received the award on behal of the company whi e he thanked his team or th s great success Af er a short break the leader of Her Ma esty’s Opposit on Ed Mil band MP was invited on to he stage to g ve the Local Government Award to Cl

ce and Gujarat Samachar

Rt Hon Andrew Mitche l MP was the rec pient of the award- Cabinet Minister of the year Rece ving the award he to d the audience, “There are many young children who die a ver y pa n u and s ow death due to star vation It s not fa r ” He sa d he was dedicating prestigious award to that f rst generat on o people who have the wi l and abi ity to do something extraordinar y for the have nots

The next award was for the Asian broadcaster of the year and the rec pient was ATN Bangla Cha rman Mr Rahman, CEO Mr Hafeez and the Cha rman of the British Bang adesh Socie y received the award Mr Rahman added “It was the f rst pr vate satell te channe in Bang adesh and first tv channe for the Benga i commun ty We are a so the voice of Asia ” Mr Peter Hami ton rece ved the School

C lr Sharma told the aud ence “I am real y humbled by th s award and it is a real p easure to be here Th s community is very close and I en oy working with he community ” John Hannett, General Secretar y of Usdaw received the D vers ty in the Pub ic Ser vices Award, whi e he professed his de ight to be a rec pient and Dav d Gauke MP won the award for Jun or Minister o the year Gav n Bar we l MP received the award for the Conser vat ve Backbencher o the Year Anushka Asthana was the next rec p-

ient and was awarded the Parliamentar y Journal st of the Year award She said, “I am much more comfortable in wr ting than speak ng But I wou d just ike to thank the Asian Voice or th s award ” Shadow Cabinet Minister of the Year award was g ven to Rt Hon Yvette Cooper

MP She told the aud ence “Thank you so much or this recogn tion from As an Voice I am honoured to be awarded and acknowedged by such a pioneer of the Asian commun ty that represents a d verse and w de section of th s British society ” Yvet e Cooper joined the guests on the p o d i u m o a w a rd R i z L a t e e f o r t h e Journal st of the Year award Riz sa d

“Thank you so much I really am honoured Th s year we have ots going on It’s an year o f L o n d o n M a y o r a E e c t i o n , Q u e e n’ s Diamond Jub lee and the O ympics I genuinely don t fee worthy of this award though I am extreme y proud of what I do, but in the ight of the recent events I feel we are just foot soldiers Rea journalists are those who pay ult mate pr ce to shed ight on some of the atroc ties and n ustices that happen to others May this wor d become a better p ace to ive ” The next recipient for the award was Jameela Jamil or the TV persona ity of the Year Jamee a n her usual humorous self added “I have never even won a raff e let

Political & Public Life Awards 2012

Prominent contributor s celebrate community success

hort Story by Neha Garg

The Story So Far: Brian, Issac and Robyn were holidaying in the mountains when they discovered a waterfall with stepping stones leading right into it Excited, they decided to explore They got closer and closer until they were almost under the waterfall They should have been soaking wet but were not Curious, Brian stepped right into the waterfall leaving Issac and Robyn stunned. Without a moment's thought, the other two decided to follow him ..

They were standing in a huge cave It rose for miles and miles above their heads until the rooftop disappeared in the darkness They could still hear the w

m Ahead, the cave twisted and turned out of sight Brian was nowhere to be seen ' B

d R

, looking this way and that, expecting Brian to walk out of a corner

There was no answer

'I say, do you feel that?' Issac asked Robyn He was looking at his hands His fingertips were tingling It was a curious sensation

'Yes,' said Robyn, looking around 'It's almost as if this cave is full of some ancient, long forgotten magic '

'Let's keep going, shall we?' said Issac, with a nervous look at Robyn.

She nodded. Her face set and eyes staring straight ahead

Together they walked down the rocky path, trying to find a way out of the winding cave Presently, they came upon a door set in the cave wall and stopped

'Where do you think this leads?' asked Robyn, examining the door 'Dunno,' answered Issac 'Doesn't look locked Shall we try it?'

Robyn slowly turned the door handle A flood of light rushed into the cave, blinding them both for a minute Once their eyes adjusted, they looked t h r o u g h t h e d o o r w a y a n d w e r e stunned to find themselves looking into a sunlit garden

With a quick look at each other, they stepped out of the cave and onto the grass.

'Hey Issac! Robyn! Come look what I found.'

Robyn rubbed her eyes It was Brian She rushed over to where he stood talking to a little girl She looked to be their age, yet only came up to about Brian's waist

'Robyn, say hello to Silky,' said Brian with a grin

Robyn extended her hand

'Hel ' began Robyn and stopped She had just noticed something

'But you you have wings,' said I s s a c , w h o h a d c o m e u p b e h i n d Robyn

'Yes,' said Silky with a smile 'I am a faerie, after all '

Robyn and Issac looked at each other and then at Brian, who stood

grinning behind Silky

'Where is this?' asked Issac, still bewildered

'This is FaerieRealm,' said Silky 'The home of all the faieries, pixies, elves, witches and wizards of the world ' Issac whistled

'So that's why we didn't get wet when walking through the waterfall and why we felt tingly inside that cave?'

'Yes,' said Silky, looking grave 'There is a problem, however '

'What problem?' said Robyn, looking around, wishing she had 3 pairs of eyes. Now that she had had a chance to properly look, she noticed the trees nearby abuzz with faeries busily flying in and out, visiting friends and bringing shopping home A few of them had noticed the 3 children and were now flying in their direction They landed a few feet away and stood looking at them with curiosity

Brian extended a hand towards the nearest faerie and smiled She backed away with a frightened look on her face

Silky pointed to the faeries around them

'You see, they have never seen humans before You are the first ones to set foot here '

Issac was beginning to feel uneasy Unnoticed by Robyn or Brian, who were talking to Silky, the faeries had gathered to form a big circle around the 3 children and Silky.

'You see children,' said Silky with a grave look at them. 'We cannot afford to have the humans in the mortal world find out about us They will never let us live in peace They will come through the waterfall in crowds, want ing magic al solut ions t o t he ir problems They might even put us in cages and display us in their zoos I am sorry, but we cannot let you go ' Robyn screamed and Issac and Brian stood aghast What did this mean? Were they prisoners? Never able to go back home?

What Happens Next: Will the children ever be able to go home? If so, will the faeries ever be able to live in peace knowing their secret is out?

by Debasree Ghosh fashionista

TrendLoving: Leather Trousers fashionista

We a re g o i n g t o t a l k about a trend that I will never be caught dead in E v e r A s e r i o

verging on classic that I w

bargepole Not because I

because unfortunately I neither posses the genet-

l y

HOT on the fashion scene, and have been f o r a f e w s e a s o n s now nd this season, e v e n t h e G a p h a s declared that leather i s " b e c o m i n g y o u r new jean " The Rock ‘ n’ Ro

trend

a n to Rihanna to The O l s e n Tw i n s rockin’ the trend! The conventional way seems to be to go all out on t h e s ex a p p e a l front, and rock a p a i t

a whole lot of convincing to give our tootsies

though, ever yone’s wearing ‘em! Sexy, skinny-fit l

/

ro u s

r s (depending on what side of the pond you reside

Dear Financial Voice

Reader: How the Rich Get Richer

Ever wonder what the rich invest in? What it is their private bankers and wealth managers are selling them. Surely they are not getting 0.5% returns like the common man and woman?

When I used to sit on ICICI B ank’s Private Banking Division’s Advisory Board, I would with the Board oversee the various products being issued for the ultra high network Indian market Today, I get them via all the major banks including Goldman Sachs and Kotak So what are these products?

Well let me tell you what the banks have been issuing and their wealthy clients snapping up As Bloomberg put it, ‘As the Fe d e ra l Re s e r ve h o l d s i n t e r e s t ra t e s a t a b o u t zero for a fourth year, G o l d m a n S a c h s G r o u p Inc , Citigroup Inc and other banks are selling record numbers of struc-

t u r e d c e r t i f i c a t e s o f deposit to savers Banks sold a record 1,271 of them last year, according t o S t r u c t u r e d Re t a i l

Products com, with some offering potential annual returns of as much as 24 percent by tying rates to everything from gold to Brazil’s real ’ 24%! No wonder the rich get richer

As you would expect, such products tied to Gold also have done well as people chase performance e- but the rich don’ t just buy gold That is not good enough for them They buy products which leverage the returns – after all if you think something is going up, why not get double the return?

Banks sold $139 1 million of the securities linked to gold in January, the m o s t i n 1 5 m o n t h s , according to data compiled by Bloomberg Investors

a l s o a d d e d m o re t h a n $86 5 million in market capitalization last month to t h re e e xc h a n g e - t ra d e d notes that gain when the precious metal does. The Po w e r S h a re s D B G o l d Double Long ETN, which uses two times leverage, added $83 million to reach $585 9 million

What about India and I n d i a r e l a t e d p r o d u c t s ?

What is going on behind the scenes between rich

Indians and their private

explain, ‘Sales of creditlinked notes (ie bonds) tied to the Indian government surged to the highest in at least a year in

country ’s slowing inflation may help spur a bondmarket rally (As inflation drops, you need less risk to make a return to beat inflation, so you buy safe

Issuance of the notes rose to $119 3 million, more than five times the $22 4 million monthly average of 2011, according to global

Bloomberg that excludes U S sales The securities were tied to Republic of India bonds and the debt o

lenders including the State Bank of India, Bank of India and Export-Import

attracted to the country ’s debt, as the central bank predicts that inflation will slow.’ Because as inflation

s

f bonds will go up, as people buy more bonds

So now you just need to call up your wealth manager at Standard Chartered, UBS, Goldmans, Barclays, Kotak, Bank of Baroda!

TIME TO ACT

We are now two months into the New Year and very close to the end of the tax year. This is the most important time that individuals should ensure their finances are in order, that they take advantage of the available tax allowances and that they are on track to achieve financial independence. We have listed below some of the main considerations that should be taken into account.

ISAs – for tax-free income and growth

It is possible to pay £10,680 into an ISA in the current tax year of which 50% can be cash. This limit will increase to £11,280 from 6 April 2012. Therefore an individual can save nearly £22,000 over the course of the next year. For couples, that is nearly £44,000 shielded from the tax man.

Pensions – for upfront tax relief, tax efficient growth and potential inheritance tax savings

The maximum pension contribution has been set at £50,000 gross per annum and it is possible to carry forward “unused” allowances to make a higher contribution. Tax relief is available at your highest marginal rate making it very cost effective to save into a pension plan. In addition, anyone can pay into a pension and still receive tax relief – and that includes setting up a pension for your children.

Investments – for long term capital growth or a rising income

Those with existing investment portfolios or any investment-linked savings, including pension plans, should review these investments on a regular basis. It is often the case that investments used in the past may no longer be appropriate. The most common example is where certain investment funds are under performing and carry high charges. There is a considerable difference between the best and worst performing funds. In addition, it is important to ensure you have a spread of investments in order to diversify the risk and if they are tax efficient.

Cash – for emergency purposes, expenditure and security

The most common mistake we all tend to make is not moving existing cash savings when an introductory rate expires. Most banks offer an introductory savings rate in order to entice new savers but they only pay the rate for 12 months and thereafter reduce it to the standard variable rate – which tends to be quite uncompetitive.

Protection – for you, your loved ones and your assets

It is important to make sure that you have enough protection in place to cover life events such as repaying the mortgage on death, replacing your income through sickness or provide a lump sum in the event of a major illness. It is especially important to protect your hard earned wealth against inheritance tax.

The above areas of planning are some of the main factors that affect most individuals. There is now very limited time left to make pension and ISA contributions for the 2011/12 tax year. Eden Financial Advisers can help to make sure your finances are in order and that you are making the most of your hard earned wealth. If you would like to discuss making the most of your finances then please call me on 020 7138 1871 or email me at nero.patel@edenfinancial.com or complete the attached form and return in the post.

Kingfisher Airlines in rescue funding talks

budget airline controlled by billionaire Vijay Mallya,

with cancelled flights and

authorities in India

The company cancelled more than 30 flights on Tuesday after tax authorities froze its bank accounts Reports in India suggested Kingfisher was being investigated over the non-payment of employee-related taxes Since the flights' cancellations, India's directorgeneral of civil aviation has stepped in On Tuesday the airline was given 24 hours to report to the regulator on its situation after breaking rules about informing the

body on flight cancellations

Kingfisher's shares fell 20 pc on news of the tax investigation and flight cancellations However, reports later said that it was to receive a cash injection from its banks meant the shares closed slightly up

The airline was reported to be close to finalising a 10 bn rupee (£128 3m) loan to tide it over The Mumbai-listed airline has 70bn rupees of debt held with a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India

In total 30 flights were cancelled on Monday, with a further 34 on Tuesday

Mr Mallya apologised to those customers affected by the cancellations

Pound dives on fears Bank of England will print more money

Bank of England’s ratesetting meeting this month showed that two members

d

d a n

b

g g e r stimulus than the £50 bn i n j e c t i o n a g re e d Ad a m

Posen and David Miles, both external MPC members, voted for £75bn of quantitative easing (QE) –setting them against their seven colleagues who all

voted for an extra £50bn, taking the total QE since 2009 to £325bn

The decision surprised analysts, who had expected some members to have voted for a smaller rise, and caused the pound to fall 1 52 cents to $1 5668 a n d b y 1 0 2 c e n t s t o €1 1825 Miles said he had decided to vote for a larger s u m b e c a u s e " t h e U K economy is still in a ver y precarious situation

week said that the global

conditions were likely to

during the year and as a result, the economy was estimated to grow in the range of 7 5 to 8 per cent in 2012-13

The council said that

growth for 2011-12 would

Therefore, it was important to keep a vigil on food prices and focus on production as well as rolling out of adequate food logistics network

cent for the year, the council said The countr y needed to make adjustments on sale of refined petroleum

huge subsidy burden The

there was a greater need to invest in infrastructure in coal, power, roads and railways

The current account deficit in 2012-13 is estimated at 3 per cent of GDP

The council said that efforts were required to keep the current account deficit between 2 to 2 5 per cent over the medium term Indian economy to grow 7.5 to 8% in 2012-13

Free Investment Review Offer

Eden Financial Advisers Ltd are offering a free, independent, review to help readers of Asian Voice. The report will comment on the fund performance, competitiveness of the plan charges and the level of investment risk applying. The review would be suited to those with existing pension funds, stocks & shares ISAs or directly held investments. This offer is a limited offer which can be withdrawn at any stage. There is no obligation to act on the report. Please complete the form below and return it in the post to Eden Financial Advisers or alternatively contact us for more information.

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& Reap

Sweetening The Deal

This week we present a very lucrative deal which is sitting with us The properties are two freehold blocks consisting of three and four flats

One block is situated in Shepherds Bush and the other in Harlesden

Both properties have been in the same ownership for over 30 years

The reason for the sale is the partners who hold the blocks have split up and this is the last link they have with each other and they are desperate to break it

The block in Harlesden consists for four flats, three on AST’s and the other on a regulated tenancy It has been valued realistically at £1 05m The second is a block in Shepherds Bush consisting of three flats valued at £750,000, again this is a realistic open market valuation

Regulated tenancies though they may scare most people, can be sold on the market, the price of the property is typically 50-70% of the value of property The main factor which determines the percentage applied is of course the age of the tenant If the tenant is 90 years old the property is worth more, as the tenant is likely to pop off soon The other big factor is whether someone else can inherit the tenancy, as this means the tenancy will not end on the death of the tenant, and of course the amount of the rent also comes into play though not much as they tend to be miniscule There are many investors who only purchase these types of properties, usually with cash Their money is made on the death of their tenants

We have negotiated the price of both these blocks down to £1 5m on the condition of a quick exchange There are two ways this deal can be done, one is plain vanilla and the second is a more creative way which will yield more funds

Firstly the properties can be picked up for £1 5m and then the individual flats can then sold in the open market piece by piece Both the blocks are generating £67,000 and are under rented The stamp duty on both these properties will be £15,000, moderate given the purchase price This is due to the change in the way stamp duty is calculated, covered in previous articles

The second method is to exchange now for 10% equating to £150,000 and then make use of the extras we have agreed on this deal

The first is we have agreed a six month completion period, so we do not have to pay the remainder of the funds until after this time is up The purpose of this is to allow us to resell the flats on individually We can do this because we have been granted leases on the individual flats and secondly we have arranged for the leases to be reassignable, meaning we can transfer them to someone else

All of these conditions allow us to sell the leases on before completion This means we do not potentially have to come up with further

funds for completion The aim is to sell the flats on individually at their market value for a total of £1 8m, giving you a gross profit of £300k from a £150k investment This would be the ideal scenario

If you manage to sell only half, the others can be purchased with a regular mortgage as individual flats on a 75% LTV loan

One option to resell these properties is simply to put them in an auction This will give you a sure sale within a specified time period Generally people go to auctions to pick up bargains, so you may end up getting less but at least the sale is confirmed

If the seller is very caught up in price you can play with other factors such as the time period, the amount of the exchange money - it doesn't have to be 10% You can even allow the seller to keep the exchange funds, normally these funds would be held in the solicitors account until completion This is a very strong factor in getting a deal agreed if the seller is desperate for the money As mentioned above you can ask for the contracts to be reassignable You can also ask for access into the property to start works if required prior to completion This will save on your mortgage interest

If the property is not mortgagable due to its condition, this time period can be used to bring the property up to scratch prior to the valuer coming in Time to time when investors purchase properties they do not realise mortgages are given on a Buy to Let basis only This means the loan has been granted not on the income of the purchaser but the letability of the property The property has to be rented a short time after completion and this is what will service the mortgage If you purchase property which requires work or is completely dilapidated to bring it to the standard of being lettable the property does not meet the criteria required for the mortgage company In this scenario, two things may happen: one is the mortgage will be outright refused, the other is the lender will retain some of the funds until the works are done and a re inspection occurs by the valuer to ensure this

So as you can see there are many variables which can be exploited for profit in a property transaction Deals become all the more lucrative when other factors besides price are used to enhance the transaction

This is a live deal and is on the table now, if you’re interested call the office for further details

The practical and the altruistic changes to immigration

I m m i g r a t i o n l a w h a s

always been an area of

r a p i d c h a n g e T h e

c h a n g e s t h a t a re b e i n g rolled out are not only confined to changes in law but are also operat i o n a l a n d re q u i re a degree of computer literacy It appears that the p re m i u m s e r v i c e , i e a ser vice that costs a great deal more is being rolled out in different counties

t h e re b y c re a t i n g o n e queue for the rich and one for all others With t he introduction of online ser vices there are likely to be problems

Within the UK those applying to extend their

Ti e r 2 o r Ti e r 5 v i s a online could in theor y do so from the 14th Februar y 2012 However at present this facility is unavailable

a s t h e U K B A n e e d t o

u n d e r t a ke e s s e n t i a l “maintenance work” The advice on the website is that once this ser vice is resumed it will be posted on the website So much for the new process For those interested in this process once it is back up and running is as follows The application is made online but only complete after the supp o r t i n g d o c u m e n t s a re submitted If the applicant is sending supporting documents by post

S h a re s o f E s s a r E n e rg y, the FTSE 100 Indian oil and power group which is

m a j o r i t y - o w n e d b y i t s f o u n d e r Ra v i Ru i a a n d brother Shashi Ruia, fell by nearly 15 per cent on Monday after it said it was

the time limits for submitting this is 15 days

invited to attend

bio-

tion through the premium ser vice the applicant has

careful when submitting evidence of the English

not request the concise information required

Abroad, as of the 5th March 2012 all applicants in India will need to make their applications online In Bangladesh, there are plans in hand to introduce a premium service for Tier 2 applicants and business visitors to enable them to

w e re announced by the British H i g h C o m m i s s i o n e r i n Bangladesh in recognition of the trade relationship between the 2 countries but full details of this are n o t y e t a v a i l a b l e T h i s service already exists for visitors in India (excluding s tudent visitors) who have not in the past been

re f u s e d E x t e n d i n g t h i s facility to Tier 2 appli-

c a n t s i n I n d i a w o u l d speed up the process

As for the latest development on the numbers

g a m e , o f t h e

G o v e r n m e n t ’ s a i m t o bring the numbers down the latest figures showing a rise in the number of immigrants is up mainly as numbers leaving the UK has declined and it takes account of student numbers Students are not migrants as they have no long term status and a r i s e i n t h e i r n u m b e r s would be good for the educational institutions If the Government adopted a sensible approach of taking these numbers out of the equation the true numbers would be within their reach The danger o f t r y i n g t o re a c h t h e numbers will be to stifle growth and play rough shod (even more) with f a m i l i e s G o v e r n m e n t s come and go but the of the changes t hey introduce can affect families for generations

Maria Fernandes has been in practice exclusively in immigration for t h e p a s t 2 5 y e a r s Fernandes Vaz is based at 8 7 We m b l e y H i l l Ro a d Wembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 02087330123, by email on info@fernandesvaz com

Old is Gold

email from a 61 year old man who was struggling to find a job and wondered if his age was a bar-

prevent age from being a factor in just about anything, the fact remains that no amount of legislation can stop employers

c

r s o n s age True, the law says you no longer need to put your date of birth on your CV, but you still have to l is t w he n you obt aine d

q u a l i f i c a t i o n s

Now I don’ t know if he was expressing his view or just voicing the common perception that older people are harder to train, slower to adapt and gene ra l l y m o r e d i ff i c u l t t o manage as they tend to be set in their ways. Ye t t h e r e a l i ty c a n often be quite the oppos i t e Fo r e x a m p l e o n e could also argue that older staff are considerably less likely to call in sick on a M o n d ay m

i n g M o r e often than not they appreciate the importance of being professional and not to cut corners in work T h e y a l s

m

r e e x p e r i e n c e w h i c h h e l p s them deal with issues in a more considered manner

In truth, age really has very little bearing on a p e r s o n ’s c a p a b i l i t i e s o r reliability But all too often we write people off due to their age. Why do some employers feel that older people are considered to be more of a ‘risk’ than younger people? Why do others think that young people cannot be trusted? Is it true that the ideal employee is aged between 27 and 40?

d e t a i l yo u r e m p loy m e n t history This is more than enough for someone to r o u g h l y f i g u r e o u t t h e applicants’ age And let’s face it, many employers (although they can never admit it) are reluctant to hire someone w h o i s c l o s e r t o t h e i r retirement than they are their graduation. But why? Dale Carnegie once said, “Men of age object too much, consult too long, a d ve n t u r e t o o l i tt l e , repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a m e d i o c r i ty o f s u c c e s s ”

Vedanta founder ’s

dream a step closer to reality

T h e c o m p a n y, w h i c h l a s t y e a r b o u g h t Ro y a l

D u t c h S h e l l ’ s S t a n l o w re f i n e r y i n C h e s h i re f o r

d e l a y i n g c o n s t r u c t i o n o f planned coal-fired power stations following the loss of a tax dispute with government

$350m, saw its shares fall by 18 4p to 107 6p

At its current market

c a p i t a l i s a t i o n o f £ 1 4 b n

E s s a r E n e rg y, w h i c h i s three-quarters owned by Mr Ruia’s Essar Group, faces demotion from the FTSE 100 at its next quarterly reshuffle

E s s a r E n e rg y, w h i c h

r a i s e d £ 1 2 b n w h e n i t floated in May 2010 at 420p a share, said it welcomed signals made by the

I n d i a n g o v e r n m e n t l a s t month aimed at “clearing the logjam” in the countr y’s power i ndustr y which had led to severe domestic c o a l s h o r t a g e s T h e s e could include the acceleration of forest and environment clearances required for more coal mines to be developed

Anil Agar wal, founder and exe c u t i v e c h a i r m a n o f Vedanta Resources, is not a man for small dreams T h o s e w h o k n o w n t h e s c r a p d e a l e r - t u r n e d - b i llionaire for many years say his ambition has always been the same: to build a g l o b a l n a t u r a l re s o u rc e s group, an Indian national c h a m p i o n t o r i v a l B H P Billiton and Rio Tinto

After a decade of rocketing growth and a spate of acquisitions, culminating in last year’s $9 6 bn Cairn India deal, investors now take this dream seriously The latest step came this week with the consolidation of various subsidiaries into Sesa Sterlite, a new o p e r a t i n g c o m p a n y w i t h an implied market capitalisation of about $20bn

“We are like a growing child, but we have done w h a t o u r L o n d o n i n v e s t o r s w a n t e d ” , h e

s a y s “ T h e y w a n t e d Sterlite to be an operating company They wanted a

simplified structure They wanted consolidation We have done ever ything ” Having announced the move, Mr Agar wal seems to have a point to prove to investors in his Londonl i s t e d h o l d i n g c o m p a n y, who often complain that Ve d a n t a ’ s l e g e n d a r i l y impenetrable structure is matched only by its scant regard for corporate governance

H e s t ro n g l y d e f e n d s the much-criticised model of combining a Londonl i s t i n g h o l d i n g c o m p a n y with operations in highg ro w t h m a r ke t s , d e v e lo p e d b y Ve d a n t a a n d copied by Nat Rothschild’s Bumi among others

“Investors were hungry to put money into India, and this was the best vehicle,” he says “This is a real model In the first world why would you want to create an aluminum smelter or a power plant? It has to be created in India, where there is need ”

By Amit Patel

each of us

know everything.” Oscar Wilde Age should never be used to judge a person, but for those of us who encounter people who do think our age is an indictment of who we are and write us off, do not be dis-

“Nobody grows old merely

years We grow old by deserting our ideals Years may wrinkle the skin, but

wrinkles the

Samuel Ullman

Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the

Development and Human

He has delivered speeches

throughout Europe, North America, and Asia To contact Amit, email amitpatelmail@gmail com

ONGC, GAIL eye UK's Cove Energy

I n d i a ’ s g o v e r n m e n towned oil majors ONGC and GAIL plan to outbid Ro y a l D u t c h S h e l l a n d Thailand's PTTEP with a $2-billion offer for UK's Cove Energy, which has been put on the block Cove Energy has explor a t i o n a n d d e v e l o p m e n t assets in Africa The combined bid of the Indian f i r m s m a y v a l u e t h e London-listed firm at 245 pence, which is 11% more than the Thai rival's offer and at an almost 20% prem i u m t o t h e S h e l l b i d OV L , O N G C '

s arm, and GAIL may place the offer as early as this w

n

c e s s a

y approvals from the Indian government, said sources familiar with the matter C o v e E n e rg y

% stake in Rovuma gas fields

makes its one of the juiciest energy assets for the international oil majors

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX, Currency Specialists

Boosting the European firewall is the next big mission ahead

At a summit to be held on March 1st and 2nd, Eurozone officials will go over the different options being currently present on the table Up until then, a warming up exercise was conducted as the world's largest economic powers - the G20 - met in Mexico, starting to touch the subject with yet many questions unanswered

After enough reports emerged, it still looks as though the road will get bumpier as concerns remain on how Europe will go about it Germany continues to resist strengthening the Euro zone firewall, and despite there is talk that they may soften its hardline stance to instead be willing to discuss the bolstering option, it’s all rumors up in the air so far

The Head of the European Council Mr Ollie Rehn was optimistic that an agreement on improving the firewall will come by the end of March Other G20 superpowers such as China and Japan stated that negotiations aimed at increasing the contribution towards the IMF resources were under way, although with the conditionality that Europe makes a move first to beef up their internal firewall Brazil"s Finance Minister said

that "Europeans agreed it was necessary to strengthen the firewall, adding that a G20 deal on IMF financing could be reached in April

U K house prices held their value for a second month in February, boosted by a seasonal increase in demand and a rush to beat the expiration of a property-tax exemption, Hometrack Ltd said

The average cost of a home in England and Wales was unchanged from January and 1 4 percent lower than a year earlier

The number of potential buyers registering with estate agents rose 18 percent over the month, the largest gain for five years which is of course very positive for the UK Pound

The figures partly reflect people looking to take advantage of a two-year stamp-duty exemption for first-time buyers purchasing a home for less than 250,000 pounds ($396,000) before it ends next month Hometrack said the supplydemand balance suggests property prices will resume their decline in the coming months as banks restrict lending and Britons are squeezed by government budget cuts and rising unemployment

Chancellor George Osborne is under pressure to find ways to boost a stagnant economy

Borrowing more money to lift spending or cut taxes was off the agenda for the budget statement he will deliver in March

The Conser vative and Liberal Democrat coalition has made erasing the countr y s budget deficit - which was at a peak of 11 percent when they came to power in 2010 - a cornerstone of their economic policy

But Osborne has been facing calls from business and across the political spectrum for tax cuts to stimulate growth after the sluggish recovery from a 2008-2009 economic slump

The Liberal Democrats want him to raise the threshold at which people start paying taxes, while there are demands from within his own Conser vative party to cut business taxes

The Labour party has urged him to make a temporary cut in value-added tax, a levy on purchases

The biggest business lobby group CBI has called on the government to consider changes to the tax system to encourage investment in infrastructure

But a choppy growth out-

look for the rest of this year is likely to make it harder for Osborne to reduce borrowing further out, leaving little leeway for giveaways in the March budget

Gathered in Washington for the National Governors Association winter meeting, Republicans and Democrats said yesterday they saw signs of improvement in the states mending from the 18-month recession that ended almost three years ago Some Republicans said the recovery is negligible, or faulted Obama for restraining growth Democrats voiced confidence in the president’s prospects of winning another term in November

“I just don’t see how you win an election by convincing the American people that things are terrible and we don’t have a future,” Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said in an interview “I keep saying to these guys, ‘Cheer up: Revenues are coming back Jobs are returning We’re making slow and steady progress ’”

The U S has gained more than 3 million jobs since February 2010 Still, there are still 5 6 million fewer than at the beginning of 2008, according to the Labor Department

9 killed in Afghan airport bomb, NATO base attacked

Kabul: A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people in an attack on a militar y airport in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, the l a t e s t i n c i d e n t o f v

o

c e and protests since copies of the Koran were inadvertently burned at a NATO base last week

There was no official indication the explosion at the gates of Jalalabad airport was l i n ke d t o o t h e r d e a d l y protests and riots, although the Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack as "revenge" for the Koran burning

A n t i -We s t e

y h a s deepened significantly since

Afghanistan

Tw

re wounded by the suicide bomb

at the airport and casualties appeared to be civilians and

Interior Ministr

statement

A spokeswoman for the

(

province, of which Jalalabad is capital, said the explosion did no damage inside the mil-

Gilani seeks result-oriented talks with India In

Islamabad: Seeking "sustain-

a b l e a n d re s u l t - o r i e n t e d "

t a l k s w i t h I n d i a , Pa k i s t a n

Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani

said he had "great regard" for his counterpart Manmohan Singh who is a "sincere person" desirous of friendly and cooperative bilateral ties

Gilani made the remarks at a reception he hosted for visiting Indian parliamentar y delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar

Pakistan is a peace loving countr y that wants good relations with all its neighbours, including India, he said

The premier said it was his cherished desire to have a constructive? sustainable and result-oriented dialogue with

India, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on its website Such a dialogue will usher in development and prosperity in the region, he added Gilani noted that the first round of the resumed dial o g u e b e t w e e n I n d i a a n d Pakistan was held last year and expressed the hope that the second round of talks this year would "bear fruits"

H e s a i d h e h a d " g re a t regard" for his Indian coun-

t e r p a r t M a n m o h a n S i n g h , who accepted his initiative for dialogue Kumar, who is the first Speaker of Indian Parliament to visit Pakistan, said India wished to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Pakistan "There was consensus in t h e I n d i a n Pa r l i a m e n t o n b u i l d i n g a re l a t i o n s h i p o f trust and mutually beneficial co-operation between India and Pakistan in an atmosphere free of terror and violence," a statement issued by her office said

itar y airport, which is used by ISAF troops

Riots have raged across

apologies from US leaders, including President Barack

manders On Sunday, seven

was thrown at their base in Afghanistan's north

America" have been common at protests and some demonstrators have raised the white Taliban flag

With few signs of the crisis abating, the US ambassador to Afghanistan said the United States should resist the urge to pull troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule

The groundswell of anger o

Koran, which Muslims revere as the literal word of God, has

ahead as Western forces try to q

g about some form of reconciliation with the Taliban

The protests have killed

s t 2 0 0 , including two US troops who were shot dead by an Afghan soldier who joined rallies in the east

Pakistan to tap Interpol for Pervez Musharraf's

I

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been directed to w

n g agency Interpol for issuing an arrest warrant against former Pa k i s t

z Musharraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said Malik said the FIA would approach the Interpol within a few days for a warrant to a r re s t t h

y leader and bring him back to the countr y to face charges of involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto

"We have started the proc e d u re a n d w e w i l l b r i n g Musharraf back to the countr y soon," Malik was quoted as saying by the Daily Times

A U N re p o r t i n 2 0 1 0 a c c u s e d t h e M u s h a r r a f - l e d government of failing to prot e c t B h u t t o, w h o h a d re t u r n e d t o Pa k i s t a n f ro m exile to run for parliamentar y elections and the prime minister's post

arrest

Musharraf, who has been living in exile in London and Dubai since resigning in 2008, has denied the allegations He has also been charged with involvement in the killing of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Bugti, detaining judges of several courts as well as abducting a nuclear scientist

B u g t i w a s w i d e l y p e rceived to be creating a wave of terrorism in Balochistan in 2004 He went into hiding in 2 0 0 5 a n d w a s k i l l e d i n August 2006 in a cave in Kohlu, about 240 km from Q u e t t a T h e B a l o c h i s t a n High Court in November last year issued arrest warrants for Musharraf in the Bugti murder case

Khar and Hague continue the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue

O n 2 1 Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 , Pa k i s t a n i Fo re i g n M i n i s t e r Hina Rabbani Khar met with t h e U K Fo re i g n S e c re t a r y William Hague “to continue t h e E n h a n c e d S t r a t e g i c Dialogue” between the two countries Their talks encom-

p a s s e d a w i d e v a r i e t y o f issues such as trade, investm e n t , e d u c a t i o n , re g i o n a l and global security and cultural cooperation

H a g u e h i g h l i g h t e d t h a t “ t h i s D i a l o g u e i s a b o u t s t re n g t h e n i n g t h e p r a c t i c a l

c o o p e r a t i o n b e t w e e n o u r countries and unlocking the a b u n d a n t p o t e n t i a l i n o u r relationship ” This is not surprising, given the substantial ties between Pakistan and the UK, which are based upon “shared histor y, culture, values and enormously rich people-to-people links ” Indeed there are over one million people in the UK who are of Pakistani ancestr y and this was not lost on Khar, who noted that above all, the

friendship of the two nations stems from “the repositor y of goodwill that exists between the peoples of Britain and the peoples of Pakistan ”

Referring to Pakistani-UK relations, Hague was frank in his address, stating that “we v a l u e i t s m a n y d i s t i n c t i v e characteristics such as the close personal ties between hundreds of thousands of our citizens, our crucial partnership against terrorism, our important trade ties and our c o m m i t m e n t t o Pa k i s t a n’ s development and to its democratic future For all these re a s o n s Pa k i s t a n’ s f u t u re matters greatly to us and so we will be an enduring friend to the government and people of Pakistan ” B o t h M i n i s t e r s u n d e rlined their commitment to u n i t i n g a g a i n s t t e r ro r i s m , which has been particularly rife in Pakistan Hague said that Britain understood the t e r r i b l e l o s s e s w h i c h terrorism has inflicted upon Pa k i s t a n “ T h e p e o p l e o f Pakistan will always have our

sympathy, our understanding and our robust support in addressing these problems” he added

Inevitably, the situation in A f g h a n i s t a n w a s d i s c u s s e d and Khar said that “peace, s e c u r i t y a n d s t a b i l i t y ” i n Afghanistan is a key priority for the Pakistani people “We want to make sure that we a re w e l l u n d e r s t o o d ” s h e ex p o u n d e d , “ o u r g o a l i n Afghanistan is to be able to p ro m o t e w h a t e v e r t h e A f g h a n s c h o o s e f o r t h e mselves ”

Similarly, Hague accepted that “it is vital that further progress is made this year to c o n s o l i d a t e t h e p ro c e s s o f transition to Afghan security control, to agree a long term international commitment to

A f g h a n i s t a n b e y o n d 2 0 1 4 , and to support Afghan-led efforts towards reconciliation and a lasting political settlement ”

A ke y o b j e c t i v e o f t h e Enhanced Strategic Dialogue is to increase bilateral trade to £2 5 billion by 2015 Trade

Focus

Release my 80-year-old father, Pakistani to India

Islamabad: An 80-year-old man who is languishing in an Indian prison since 1971 should be released, pleaded the prisoner's son in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Gul Rehman of Batkhela town said that his now 80-year-old father, Abdul Jalil, and his uncle, Ghulam Sarwar, had gone to Bangladesh to earn a living before the fall of East Pakistan They disappeared in 1971 and were later reported to be in an Indian prison Rehman demanded that his father should be set free He said his grandmother, Bibi Hawa, had been waiting for her son's homecoming for over four decades US ready to get back to business with Pak: Hillary Clinton

London: The US is "ready to get back to business" with Pakistan after a diplomatic row following a cross-border Nato attack on Pakistani troops, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said Khar, on an official visit to the UK met Clinton on the sidelines of London Conference on Somalia to iron out differences between the two countries "We respect parliament's right to take time to do this in a sensible way, but we had to get ready to get back into business with Pakistan" on bilateral counter terrorism issues including Afghanistan, a senior state department official said Clinton told Khar Hindu girl kidnapped, forced to convert in Pakistan

Islamabad: A Hindu girl was kidnapped and allegedly forced to convert in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, prompting President Asif Ali Zardari to direct authorities to investigate the incident The reports said that the Hindu girl was kidnapped from Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district The Pr esident had called for a report on the incident from the Sindh government, officials said Zardari also called for "transparent and expeditious investigations" in the matter and for action in accordance with the law, regardless of the influence and status of anyone involved in the criminal activity, the officials said In Pak, Meira Kumar talks peace in flawless Urdu

between Pakistan and the UK

c u r re n t l y s t a n d s a t £ 1 9 billion

H a g u e w e l c o m e d t h e W T O s ( Wo rd Tr a d e O rg a n i s a t i o n ) d e c i s i o n t o grant a waiver for an EU trade package for Pakistan and Khar applauded the UK for hearing Pakistani cries “for trade and not aid ” The declaration of friends h i p b e t w e e n B r i t a i n a n d Pa k i s t a n , w h i c h K h a r d e s c r i b e d a s “ u n

a n i t a r i a n re s p o n s e t o natural disasters in Pakistan

“Ever y time the resolve of the Pa k i s t a n i p e o p l e h a s b e e n tested; we have found our British friends to be right behind us” she said Fo re i g n M i n

e r K h a r and Foreign Secretar y Hague have agreed to meet ever y six months to review progre ss and “to further cement our unbreakable bond of friendship and cooperation ”

Islamabad: India’s Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has floored an audience that included her Pakistani counterpart, senior ministers and parliamentarians by delivering a speech in flawless Urdu laced with couplets from Firaq Gorkhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Faiz Ahmed Faiz Kumar praised the natural beauty of Pakistan and said: The parliaments of both countries have an important role to play in fostering better relations between the people Indian film stars are loved in Pakistan, while Pakistani musicians and singers have huge followings in India More exchanges in all fields including cricket would help send a message of peace to the people’ she said before concluding her speech

Pakistan gets upgraded F-16s from Turkey

Islamabad: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has received three F-16 fighter jets after the aircraft were upgraded in Turkey The aircraft were sent to the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for "mid-life upgradation" In October 2010, the PAF signed a contract with the TAI to upgrade all its F-16 Block 15 aircraft Under the programme, the TAI is performing structural modernisation of F-16 aircraft that have been on the inventory of the PAF since 1982-83 The project is expected to be completed by September 2014 Pak director wins Oscar for film on acid attack victims

Islamabad: Pakistani filmmaker and firsttime Oscar nominee Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won an Academy Award on Monday for her documentary about acid attack victims, a first for a Pakistani director Her victory shines a spotlight on a subject which affects thousands of women in Pakistan and elsewhere, but is seldom discussed at home Chinoy dedicated the award to the women of Pakistan The women's "bravery and resilience in the face of adversity inspires me every single day," she said "They are the true heroes of Pakistan "

In Focus

Britain begins preparations for Afghanistan withdrawal

Britain has signalled the start of the withdrawal of its vast military infrastructure from Britain is preparing to begin the immensely complex operation of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, signed a new defence cooperation agreement with Kazakhstan which the British Government hopes will enable an estimated £4 billion of equipment – including tanks and armoured personnel carriers – to be shipped out of northern Afghanistan Britain and its Nato allies have been desperately seeking alternative routes following Pakistan's decision to close the vital supply route from Karachi to Afghanistan Army Major given suspended jail term for secret documents

An Army major who received the Military Cross after allegedly exaggerating his heroics was dismissed and given a suspended jail sentence recently Major Robert Armstrong who was awarded the MC for gallantry three years ago, faced a court martial for separate charges, including the possession of secret documents which the judge said could have undermined national security He pleaded guilty to three other charges, including unlawful possession of an automatic pistol, ammunition and a morphine injector Judge Advocate General of the Forces, Judge Jeff Blackett, told him: “In the wrong hands these documents threatened the internal security of the United Kingdom and could have led to widespread loss of life Britain tops European league table for fuel tax

British motorists pay more in tax on fuel than in any other European country Taxes and duties account for 60 per cent of the price of unleaded petrol and 58 per cent for diesel –the highest percentages in the European Union It means that Britain is the most expensive place in the EU to fill up with diesel and the eighth dearest for unleaded

The 30 plants that can help protect your home against burglary

L

Police has published a list of 3

gardens from thieves, including giant rhubarb and gooseberr y bushes

g

Blue Spruce - Picea pun-

blue, spiky needles And the height is 1-1 25m x 75cm - 1

gone one step fur ther by listing dozens of recommended

home'

The guidelines on "How to stop garden thieves" state that people can 'make their home more secure' by planting giant rhubarb - which has 'abrasive foliage' - and '

Costa cruise liner adrift into Indian Ocean

Seychelles: A cruise liner from the same fleet as the stricken Costa Concordia was adrift in the middle of the Indian Ocean after a fire broke out in its engine room The Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the tragedy-struck Costa Concordia is adrift off the Seychelles with more than 1,000 people on board The tragedy stuck near Desroches Island Passengers, including Britons, and crew were left stranded on board the Costa Al legra as it drifted, without engine power, 200 miles to the south-west of the main Seychelles archipelago Two French fishing trawlers, each 295 ft long, were on their way to the 600ft-long liner last night with the aim of giving the vessel emergency power before tugs reach the ship and tow her to safety The general region where the cruise ship was adrift - off the coast of Tanzania - has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, but

they have never hijacked a cruise ship Claudio Izzi, the Italian consul in the Seychelles, said a security detachment of nine Italian marines were on board and were “well trained and ready to protect civilians”

Janosevic added: “If pirates attack, the armed guards onboard will respond But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area ” The incident comes just six weeks a

aground and then capsized off the Italian island of Giglio, with the loss of at least 25 lives Both ships are owned by the Genoa-based company, Costa Cruises

even gives the Latin name for the plants and bushes states: "Your garden, as well as your house, has valued p o s s

would love to steal "It also h

help them break into your house

M ost burgl ars are l azy They look for easy ways of getting into a house or gar-

den (and) by taking a few simple precautions you can reduce the risk of being burgled and make your house and garden more secure It adds: "One of the best ways to keep thieves out is to use nature's own defence mechanisms to stop intruders A barrie r of prickly hedge may be all the protection you need around your property " It lists all 30 plants

Laden was in touch with Pak military intelligence

London: Osama bin Laden was in routine contact with several senior figures from Pa k

gence agency while in hiding in the countr y, according to a large cache of secret intelligence files

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused Stratfor of involvement in wide range of legally or morally questionable research activities for private corporations The disclosure was contained in e-mails from the private US security firm, Stratfor, which were published by WikiLeaks website after being obtained by the Anonymous hacking group

Stratfor provides analysis of world affairs to major corporations, militar y officials and government agencies and w a s o n c e

ke

e d b y a n American business magazine to a "shadow CIA"

According to one of the emails, the firm was shown the

information papers collected from bi n Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's InterS

The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials

could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid n egotiations with Islamabad

A

always believed it was impossible for the ISI not to have known that Bin Laden was sheltering in a garrison town

Pakistan has repeatedly dismissed the charge

The email said of the officers involved "I get a

( U S

) know names and ranks "

Indian dowry deaths on the rise

The number of Indian brides burned to death for not bringing adequate dowry payments is on the rise Dowry was banned by law in 1961 but never seriously enforced In 2010, 8391 dowr y death cases were reported across India, meaning a bride was burned every 90 minutes, according to statistics recently released by the National Crime Records Bureau

A decade earlier this

n u m b e r w a s 6 9 9

y, although banned by law in 1961 but never seriously enforced, is an ancient tradition prevalent amongst most Indian families

Wi t h p ro s p e r i t y b u r -

g e o n i n g a f t e r t h e e a r l y 1990s when India's statec o n t ro l l e d e c o n o m y

opened up to a free market

acute with greedy grooms backed by their families seeking to get rich through their hapless brides

But if a bride refused to satisfy incessant demands by her husband a nd inlaws for money and goods, d e s p i t e h a v i n g b ro u g h t with her the mandator y dowry at the time of marriage, she was subjected to inhuman treatment

Thereafter, the luckless girl was either star ved, administered frequent beatings or simply "jailed" inside her bridal home and denied all contact with her family

If her family either declined to pay or were simply unable to do so, many in-laws in connivance w ith their sons forced the bride

into an flammable nylon sari, doused her with paraffin and set her alight, claiming she had caught fire whilst cooking

In the early 1980s such dowry deaths became so commonplace – climbing up to even five a day in the federal capital New Delhi-that anti-dowry activists forced the government in 1986 to change prevailing laws stacked against the bride "On one hand people re g a rd w o m e n a s d e v i (goddess), on the other hand they burn them alive This is against the norms of civilised society It's barb a r i c , " f o

s t i c e M a r ka n d e y Ka t j u remarked in response to an appeal filed by a husband handed a life sentence by a Sessions court for burning his wife

Going Miles, Spreading Smiles

Purvi Apurva Shah

Bhavini Jani

Bhavini Jani believes in spreading the virus called ‘smile ’ ‘Humor is infect i o u s , ” s h e s a y s T h e sound of roaring laughter

i s f a r m o re c o n t a g i o u s than any sniffle or sneeze

When laughter is shared, it binds people together and c re a t e s h a p p i n e s s I t diminishes pain and protects you from stress Ahmedabad- based Bhavini, a distinguished stand-up comedian, believes in using her talent to make people laugh She travels to London for her comic shows and whatever funds she collects, she uses it for the welfare of orphaned children, women and HIV patients in India She gives laughter to get laughter for the needy and downtrodden In order to experience smile on the face of orphaned and poor children who get a home, shelter and family- like atmosphere, for this purpose she opened 'Mavjat' that serve s as home to many " C h i l d re n a t M a v j a t may not be my biological children but they are child re n b o r n o u t o f m y heart,” says Bhavini who gets immense satisfaction

i n g i v i n g m o t h e r l y l o v e and warmth to this children She also works for uplift of women and HIV affected people She is also a successful film and television actor Till now she h a s a c t e d i n a b o u t 8 0 Gujarati films, 30 dramas and 30 TV serials She h as won best comedian actress

a w a rd e i g h t t i m e s S h e also won awards for TV

s e r i a l s l i ke ' Ka k i b h a re paki", Paranya atale pati gaya' She has won best actress award for Gujarati drama 'Mane ek chance

a p a u ' a n d k h a n d a n m a k h a rc h o c h e a ' S h e

re c e i v e d b r a v e r y a w a rd from Gujarat Government in 1997 for saving a girl from rowdy men who were misbehaving with her She has been a strong

woman throughout her life as her paren ts died when s h e w a s y o u n g S h e became the bread-winner for the family Despite the burden of running the family, she did not forget to stand for the children and women in need She felt that, “I should not allow other children to crave for a mother as I have craved ” She lost her mother at a very young age, so she had a l w a y s c r a v e d f o r t h a t motherly warmth and care, pamper and bonding She felt happy when some one a f f e c t i o n a t e l y p u t t h e i r hand on her head “I want to give love, joy, happiness, h o m e a n d f a m i l y t o orphaned children ”

That is the reason why she performs comedy so that she can collect funds which ultimately goes to the welfare of the needy She travels miles, as far as London to perform standup comedy for the last few years She has been doing shows at BAPS, Brahmakumaris, Lions Club East, City Pavillion, Care Education Sanstha, Harrowlaser Centre, Dharmaj Society, Meghani Mahotsav, Baldi Samaj, Swarnim Gujarat etc in UK

She actually wanted to be an actress since her c h i l d h o o d S h e s t a r t e d showing the creative curve while studying in school in Ahmedabad She was more i n c l i n e d t o w a rd s d a n c edrama than to academics Once there was ‘nrityanatika’ in school and she wanted to participate in it but did not get a cha nce Such hope led her towards the-

atre activities She was a fat girl who did not know how to act but her sheer desire and passion towards acting led her from one step to another She took p s y c h o l o g y a s h e r m a i n subject in an art college and concentrated on stage activities Then there was no looking back, she won the best actress award for three years continuously "Acting is meditation a n d a w a y t o c o n n e c t mot ion and emotions", she says Previously she was an amateur artist, but later in order to earn for the family she started to do commercial drama Once she was at a wedding in L o n d

d t h e a u d i e n c e w i t h h e r mimic skills Later she was also invited to perform in S

m m e i n L o

n i n 2010, where the audience really enjoyed her comic skills The funds she collected were used for the w e l f a re o f c h i l d re n a n d women in need

She is grateful to C B Patel, Editor/Publisher of

G u j a r a t S a m a c h a r a n d

A s i a n Vo i c e f

r U Kbased well wishers who has helped her in achieving her mission - Bhanu

Pa n d y a , J i l u Pa t e l , B K

J a i m i n i Pa t e l (Brahmakumaris), Rehna

A m i n , D

Club, Mr Nitin of Care

M a d h u s u d a

& Harendra Patel She calls

and Mayur Patel as her anchor She also expresses

best pal Parul Patel

B h a v i n i w i

l b

n London in March for the shows and if anyone is i n t e re s t e d i n o rg a n i z i n g her shows they may contact her on phone num-

b e r s

In divine light

By Rajen Vakil

The Story of Yavakrit (Part 2)

In the previous article, we saw that Yavakrit started laughing at Indra when he saw Indra, disguised as a B ra h m i n , a tt e m p t i n g t o dam the river Ganga with handfuls of sand He said, “O Brahmin what you are d o i n g i s a n i m p o s s i b l e task, you cannot dam this mighty flow in this stupid way ” Indra replied, “Just as you are practicing these terrible austerities so you can get the knowledge of the Vedas directly?”

Yavakrit realized that the Brahmin was Indra, he said, “O lord of the gods, how can you compare my severe penance w i t h yo u r i m p o s s i b l e effort If you do not give my father and me the knowledge of the Vedas, and also the boon that we will be better than others, I will die practicing tapas ” Indra relented and told Yavakrit that both his father and he would get knowledge of the Vedas and all his desires would be fulfilled Then, Indra left for his heavenly abode Yava k r i t wa s ve r y h a p p y a n d ra n t o h i s father to give him the good news He told him that both of them would get the knowledge of the scriptures and they would e xc e l a l l t h e o t h e r

B ra h m i n s H i s fa t h e r, B haradwaj, who was a mature rishi, became very sad He spoke to Yavakrit, “ Yo u h ave a c q u i r e d k n o w l e d g e i n a w r o n g way This knowledge will only make you proud and haughty and one day will b e t h e c a u s e o f yo u r destruction ” H e a d d e d “A s a n example, let me tell you a s m a l l s t o r y w h i c h t h e devas repeat very often Once there was a learned muni called Baladhi He was very attached to his only son and started practicing severe tapas with the aim of acquiring the boon of immortality for his s o n T h e g o d s w e re pleased with his effort and granted him a boon When the gods realized what he wanted, they told him that immortality could not be given to any soul born in h u m a n fo r m b u t t h e y would grant him a long life. While they were saying these words, the rishi saw that he was standing near a mountain so he said that his son should live as long as the mountain stood there The gods granted his request ” H e c o n t i n u e d ,

“Baladhi’s son grew up to be a proud and angry young man He knew that he was nearly immortal and this only increased his haughtiness He started roaming the earth and troubling rishis who were deep in meditation and austerity. Once he came u p o n R i s h i Dhanupakshya, who was not only learned but also had acquired power from his tapas Baladhi’s son tormented the rishi, who, in turn, cursed him to be burnt to ashes Even after being cursed nothing happened to the rishi’s son D h a n u p a k s hya t h e n d

d

s t o w hy h i s curse had not touched the young rishi’s son He then recited some mantras and created a herd of powerful buffaloes and he ordered them to break the mountain which was the cause of the boy’s long life. The minute this happened the b o y wa s r e d u c e d t o ashes ” H e a d d e d , “ R i s h i Baladhi, the boy’s father was thrown into deep sorrow and cried out so loud that the gods could hear him ” Continued next week

All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessed from http://epaper asianvoice com or from http://www 3stepbreath com/mahabharata html

Drunken Potatoes

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes

Ser vings: 4

Categor y: Veg

Ingredients: Potatoes 4 large, onion 2 medium, button mushrooms 5-6, olive oil 5 tbsp, butter 1 tbsp, garlic 2-3 cloves, refined flou r (maida) 2 teasp, red wine 1 cup, tomato puree 1 1/2 tbsp, black pepper powder 1/2 teasp

M e t h o d : Peel potatoes and halve them Trim the sharp edges to soften them Cook them in 3 cups of water with salt Roughly chop onions and mushrooms Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and butter in a non stick pan, add onions and sauté Finely chop garlic and add it with

mushrooms, and continue to sauté for 4-5 minutes

Add refined flour and mix well and sauté for 2 minutes Put some red wine and cook When the potatoes are done, drain all the water and let them dry a bit Add remaining oil and pan-roast the potatoes on high heat Add tomato puree, salt and black pepper powder to the sauce and mix well Add the sauce to the potatoes and cook on low heat till the sauce permeates the potato pieces and thickens Adjust salt and pepper powder and serve hot

Nutritional value: Potato ensures a good supply of water and ions to our body; it is also rich in potassium and contains calcium, iron, and phosphorus

Typically, 100 gm of potato will contain about 17 mg of

Vitamin C It also has vitamin A, B and P

Wa t e r c o n t e n t : Potato looks ver y big in size, but water accounts for about 70-80 per cent of the weight of a potato So the belief that you b e c o m e f a t b y e a t i n g potatoes is a misconception Of course if your potato ser vings contain large quantities of butter, or those high-in-fat-andcholesterol French fries, you are bound to become over weight

S t a rc h c o n t e n t : Po t a t o c o n t a i n s a b o u t 17% starch and is one of the best natural sources of starch Potato sprouting leads to conversion of s t a rc h i n t o s u g a r a n d hence you should avoid eating sprouted potatoes

In Focus

16 army men killed, 9 injured as avalanches strike Kashmir

Sixteen army personnel, including five officers, were killed and nine others injured in t w o a

Massive avalanches hit two Army Posts in Central and North Kashmir, resulting in the death of 16 soldiers Three jawans are still missing The first avalanche hit the workshop area of the 109 Infantr y Brigade, which guards the LoC in Gurez sector, in Dawar area in Bandipora This particular area is not normally avalanche prone and is cut off from the rest of the Valley in winter months Rescue operations are being hindered by heavy snow and bad weather conditions A specialised team from High Altitude Warfare School along with two avalanche rescue dogs have reached the spot," the spokesman said WHO takes India off its polio list

India’s name has been struck off a shame list that the countr y hopes will not include

n ( W H O ) h a s

I n d i a , which in 2009 had more polio cases than any other nation in the world, off its polio endemic list after not a single case of the crippling disease was reported for over a year Now, only Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are on the list For the next two years, if India does not report any polio cases, it will be officially called “polio free” WHO has taken India’s name off the list of polio endemic countries in view of the progress that we have made during the past one year

Sonia refuses to disclose details of her I-T returns

U PA c h a i r p e r s o n S o n i a G a n d h i h a s refused to disclose details of her income tax returns under the Right To Information Act Sources say party leaders have also defended her stand Congress leaders supported Sonia saying that all details were with the I-T department and there was no need to go public with them Sources also say that the details could be misused if made public Chennai-based RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan had sought details of her IT returns from 2000 to 2011

Mumbai Cong chief quits after HC order

Kripashankar Singh resigned as Mumbai Congress chief, an announcement that was made by the party hours after the Bombay high court ordered his prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act and attachment of his immovable properties

The former minister of state for home in Maharashtra had sent in his resignation last week after the party’s poor showing in civic elections, senior leader in charge of p a r t y a f f a i r s i n M a h a r a s h t r a M o h a n Prakash told reporters The resignation has been accepted and the party is looking for a “new face” to succeed him The AICC had already hinted that Singh could be on his way out in the wake of the defeat of the Congress-NCP alliance at the hands of the S h i v S e n a - B J P- R P I c o m b i n e i n t h e Mumbai municipal corporation polls

Mirage 2000 fighter plane crashes, both pilots eject safely

A Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), flown by a senior Air Marshal-rank officer crashed near Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, five minutes after taking off from an air base in Gwalior but both the pilots managed to eject safely The pilots, Air Marshal Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar got airborne from Gwalior airbase for a routine flying sortie at 1201 hours and within five minutes, the plane developed a snag in the engine after which the two pilots ejected safely The IAF has ordered a court of inquir y (CoI) under a senior officer to ascertain the reasons behind the crash Since the plane crashed in a deserted place, no loss or injur y to human life or property was reported

Jet Airways denies wheelchair to disabled woman; inquiry ordered

Days after SpiceJet offloaded

a

n from a flight, Jet Air ways has been accused of showing apathetic behaviour towards a disabled woman, even as the airline and aviation regulator

D G C A

probes into the incident

when Anjalee Agar wal, who s

Muscular Dystrophy a progressive neurological condition in which a person is unable to stand or move and is confined to a wheelchair, was allegedly denied a wheelchair to get off the plane and threatened to be bodily lifted by male loaders

occurred a day after differently-abled woman Jeeja Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight “ C o m p a n y h e a d q u a r t e r s is investigating the issue by approaching concerned airports and will revert with the findings on the matter,” the airline spokesperson said

Ordeal from Delhi: Ms Agar wal, a frequent flier and executive director of an NGO that works on creating accessibility awareness, said her “ordeal” began from Delhi airport when she was asked by the airline staff, “if ‘I am fit to fly’ When I asked ‘what do you mean’, he asked me to sign an indemnity bond

“When I refused, he said ‘it’s our rule and you can’t fly

Fishermen killing: Kerala HC suggests out of court settlement

Ke

Tuesday asked the owner of I

Enrica Lexie and the families of the two fishermen allegedly killed by the marines whether they were willing for an out of cou rt settlement for determining the compensation

A division bench compris-

B

Radhakrishanan and Justice C T Ra v i k u m a r p o s e d

question on a petition filed by the fishermen's families complaining of inadequacy of the b

directed by a single bench

While Doramma, wife of Va l e n t i n e J

n

h a d sought a compensation of Rs

Ajeesh Binki, another fishermen had approached the high court for Rs 20 million relief

The owner of the fishing boat, Freddy has also sought Rs 7500,000 compensation for the damage caused to his boat The single judge had ordered the ship owner to submit a bank guarantee of R s 2 5

e families of the two killed and Rs 1000,000 for the damage caused to the boat

The court also wanted to know who had ordered the firing and who was in charge of the marines who were providing security to the vessel The bench also directed that t

d i n Kochi, shall not leave till a decision is taken on the issue of compensation

T h e m a r i n e s L a t o re Massimiliano and Salvatore G i ro n i h a v e b e e n a r re s t e d and charged with murder for allegedly shooting the two fishermen dead on Februar y 15 off Kollam coast, an incident that has led to a diplomatic row between India and Italy, which is making hectic efforts for their release

without signing this’ I had to sign it, as I could not afford to miss the flight ” When she reached Raipur, M s A g a

despite the crew assuring her of getting a wheelchair, flight s u p e r v i s o r N i r a n j a n S e n pressurised her to be bodily lifted by four male loaders with the “excuse that while deboarding at Raipur they do not have aisle chairs in smaller cities ”

“Hence I was ordered to be bodily lifted till the gate of the aircraft, then transferred to the big wheelchair and then carried down the steps,” Ms Agar wal, who has filed a

with Disability, the Director General of Civil Aviation and

Civil Aviation Ministr y, said W h e n M s A g a r w a l protested at being bodily lifte d b y m a l e l o a d e r s , “ S e n threatened me that they will not deboard me instead take me back to Delhi as the flight was going back to Delhi,” she alleged, adding that in the midst of the commotion, the airline allowed boarding of passengers even before she got off

Meanwhile, junior supervisor allegedly told her that she had not put a request for wheelchair while booking the tickets

“When I said, I did make a wheelchair request at Delhi airport and also while booking tickets, he said, ‘wheelc h a i r s u s e r s c a n n o t b o o k tickets through web booking’

India objects to China's reaction to Antony ’s Arunachal visit

China's objection to his visit t o A r u n a c h a l P r a d e s h o n Februar y 20, India’s Defence Minister AK Antony made it clear that this strategicallylocated state is an integral part of India, and it is his duty to ensure that all borders of India are safe

Arunachal Pradesh to take p a r t i n

jubilee celebrations, asking India to refrain from taking any action that could complicate the border issue "I was surprised to read the Chinese reaction It is very sad and highly objectionable Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India As the Defence Minister of India, it is my duty to ensure that all the borders of India are safe," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Annual Maritime Power Conference 2012 "Statements by China are o b j e c t i o n a b l e A r u n a c h a l Pradesh is a part of India like J and K Northeast and any

o t h e r s t a t e o f I n d i a A s

Defence Minister, I can visit anywhere within my countr y," Antony added Antony also said that he has been associated with the state for the last 27 years since 1984

Earlier, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said: "India will not tolerate external interference of China into the Indian territorial affairs," re m i n d i n g B e i j i n g t h a t Arunachal Pradesh is a "part and parcel" of India

A n t o n y h a d v i s

d Itanagar on Februar y 20, and said that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India India has been keeping close tabs on China's massive b u i l d - u p o f m

a

y i n f r astructure all along the 4,057km Line of Actual Control A range of issues pertaining to the disputed 2,000 km long b o u n d a r y h a

n d

scussed from time to time by Indian and Chinese officials a t v a

and China share a 1,080 kilometre-long border

560 tons of human hair makes £25 million from Indian wig makers

More than 560 tons of human hair offered by Hindu devotees over the past five months at India's richest temple in

£25 6 million from wig makers around the world

O v e r 4 0 , 0 0 0 p i l g r i m s , including women get themselves tonsured daily at the Tirumala Temple, 370 miles south-east of the state capital Hyderabad in the centuries old practice of offering their h

presiding deity credited with granting their wishes

According to recently released data, the Temple trust e-auctioned 561 tons of hair collected since last September via global tenders, nearly quadrupling its earnings to Rs2 billion compared with the same period last year

Temple officials said the hair, divided into five categories based on its length and

texture was sold to European, America and Chinese wigmakers in two lots, the last one being auctioned at the weekend

Domestically, Turupati hair was popular with wigmakers in Mumbai who sold their product to Bollywood film stars for use either as props or as fashion accessories

Tonsuring at the temple which is by far India's most visited Hindu shrine, is car-

ried out in 16 massive halls –two of which operate round the clock- by some 650 barb e r s i n c l u d i n g 6 0 w o m e n

Each one shaves an average of 60 heads in a six-hour shift, harvesting around 1,760lbs of hair everyday Other than hair the temple also faces another problem of plenty: masses of gold and jewels donated daily b y d

massive hundi's' or container for offerings that is emptied

several times a day receives around 220lbs of gold mostly in the form of bars, coins and ornaments and some 264lbs o f s

wads of cash, including a basket of foreign currencies, were offered alongside as tens of thousands of devotees lined up for hours-up to even a day on holy days-for a few fleeting seconds in front of the temple deity

To m a n a g e

h i s c o r n ucopia the temple trust regularly sen ds a portion of its gold collection to the mint in Mumbai to be melted down into 22 carat "Dollar coins" which are then sold off to Ve n ka t e s h w a r

finances numerous charities, runs schools, hospitals and universities and feeds millions of poor and destitute people ever y day

In Focus Norway custody row ends; uncle to get custody of Indian kids

Chennai police gun down five suspected bank robbers

Five men suspected to be behind two bank robberies in Chennai in the last one month were killed in a gun battle with the city police at Velachery Two days after the gang struck a branch of Indian Overseas Bank in Keelkattalai on city police commissioner J K Tripathy had held a press conference to release a video of a suspect allegedly doing a recce at a nationalised bank "With people's cooperation, we will nab them soon," he had said Police sources said the robbers stayed in the house since last December after paying an advance of Rs 20 000 Though the incident happened in a residential area, no one in the neighbourhood appeared to know what had happened Reporters who reached the spot soon after the incident were kept at bay till 5 45am Police commissioner J K Tripathy said the gun battle lasted for 15 minutes, the suspects were identified as Chandrika Rey from West Bengal, and Vinod Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Abhay Kumar and Harish Kumar from Bihar Two of them are former students of an engineering college in the city suburbs Police recovered five guns and bundles of cash from the suspects

Judge booked for attempt to rape

A junior civil judge from Khammam district was booked for allegedly trying to outrage the modesty of his domestic help of woman A case under Section 354 ( attempt to rape) of IPC was registered against additional first class judicial magistrate Kuravath Balachander Town deputy superintendent of police K Rangan Goud told that the complainant alleged that the magistrate attempted to outrage her modesty while she was working in his house Balachander called her to his room and asked her to fulfill his carnal desire When she refused Balachander allegedly dragged her into his bedroom The woman, however, managed to flee from the house Mustering courage, the woman, a resident of Langapally village in Pinabelly mandal, approached the town police Meanwhile, Balachander has gone on leave Man kills daughter for refusing marriage

A 55-year old man who killed his daughter and surrendered to the police on Monday will be produced in court again on Wednesday Shishir Shinde admitted to killing his daughter for allegedly rejecting a marriage alliance Shinde claims he hit his daughter Asha on the head with an iron rod on Sunday when she was asleep The incident happened in Satara's Aundh village Though Asha's mother, elder brother and his wife were also present in the home, nobody went to her rescue as Shinde hit her head repeatedly, leaving her in a pool of blood Asha was a science graduate and had a post-graduation degree in social work She was working with a private organization in Pune

In a huge relief to the NRI couple, the Nor wegian Child Welfare Ser vice has decided to award custody of their two children to the brother of the kids' father, Anurup Bhattachar ya The kids will be able to return to India by end of March

The child welfare ser vice will make its submission to a local court in Nor way which will on March 23 take a final decision T

release said, "This week the C

talks with the uncle in the child welfare case concerning two Indian children It

should be awarded to the

father enabling him to take the children back to India

requires, however, that the

ensures that the necessar y legal f ramework and followup procedures are in place in order to safeguard the child re n’ s b e s t i n t e re s t

enable the uncle to deal with the situation in the best possible way "It's the moment we've been waiting for," the children's father was quoted as saying in the media

Three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya have been placed in the care of two different foster families in Norway The authorities in Norway have said that the children were taken away, as their parents, Sagarika and Anurup, were not taking

proper care of them

Earlier on Tuesday, the grandparents of the children m e t E x t e r n a l A f

a

r s Minister S M Krishna who assured them that the brother and sister would be repatriated "at any cost"

T h e g r a n d p a re n t s t o l d reporters that the minister had assured them that the government would get the kids back to India "at any cost"

Monotosh Chakraborthy,

M Ganapathi, secretar y (West), sent to Nor way to resolve the case was returning to India soon

Call centre debts scam lifts lid on India’s outsourcing business

sophisticated scam was the first of its kind to involve c

another countr y Call centre operators in India pretended t

from unwitting Americans in a phone scam that has raised new questions about t

growing outsourcing business

David Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the US Federal Trade Co mmissio n (F TC), described the scam, which was overseen by American Credit Crunchers, a US company based in California, as a “brazen operation based

on pure fraud”

Federal investigators say a b o u t 1 0 , 0 0 0 A m e r i c a n s were contacted by call centre staff in India over a period of two years They were falsely told that they had unpaid debts which needed t o b e re p a i d i m m e d i a t e l y, and callers frequently resorte d t o i n t i m i d a t i o n a n d threats to force them into paying

In a legal filing, the FTC said that consumers in the US had received as many as 20 million collection calls from India over the past two years

The agency also claimed that since Januar y 2010, victims had handed over more than $5 million (£3 2 mil-

Gunmen kill 18 in Pak bus ambush

Continued from page 1

Human rights groups have

failing to crack down on sectarian violence between the

and minority Shiite Muslim communities that has killed thousands Local MP Abdul S

ambush to the murder of two Sunni Muslims a few days ago in Gilg it

Some of Tuesday's victims were from Gilgit, where

offices and schools to close as a safety precaution, and a

tion chief Tariq Arqam said

Re

and $2,000 per call

Va

operation, had used address details, bank account and social security numbers submitted by consumers who had applied online for shortterm loans, to assist in the deception

These were suppl ied to call centre staff in India, who then told their victims they risked losing their job or being jailed if they did not p a y u p O

i g a t o r s s a

d t h e sophisticated scam was the first of its kind to involve

Baker, the FTC ’s Midwest director, said the scam had arisen partly because of the falling cost of international c a l l s , w

v e m a d e international phone scams like this possible A s p o ke s m

r Nasscom, the industr y association in India for the IT a n

declined to comment on the case

Las Vegas, said: “The gentleman who called knew ever ything about me I don’t think I’m stupid, but I fell for it I agreed to set up instalments because I didn’t want attorneys coming to my place of work I didn’t want to be arrested ” I n v

Indian doctors win racial discrimination case in US

Continued from page 1

Hussain blamed the attack on militants

"The people behind this attack are terrorists They wanted to trigger sectarian violence in the country We don't want to go into the details because we don't want them to succeed in their nefarious designs," he said

"We will give cash compensation to the families of the victims The bodies of the dead have been sent to Gilgit for burial," he added Au t h o r

i e s h a d e a r l i e r i n s i s t e d I s l a m i s t m i l i t a n t s were not active in the area, although Kohistan borders

S w a t , w h e re Pa k i s t a n i n 2009 managed to put down a two-year Taliban insurgency

tense and roads deserted Shops in most areas were closed and traffic ver y thin, they added P

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The hospital claimed the resolution was based on the doctors' disruptive behavior and issues with Dr Yusuke Yahagi, a cardiovascular surgeon at the hospital

C

showed that the three cardio

y referred to as "the Indians " T

cited a comment from David B

ef executive officer, as saying the hospital was working on a

Indians off the reser vation " The cardiologists said the resolution hospital placed violated their equal protection rights - and now the Fifth Circuit has voted in their favor Brown would not comment until he could become

familiar with the details, a hospital spokesperson said The three doctors said they were consistently treated like second-class citizens, removed from committees and pushed out of laboratory posts arbitrarily, or overlooked in favor of "less-qualified" cardiologists CMC hired For now, the case is in stay, or on hold, according to Monte James, the lead attorney for the cardiologists

He expects the federal court will take it off hold, and it will proceed to trial

International Women’s Day is annually held on March 8 to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations It is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. The day celebrates Women’s equality and achievements. Asian Voice will carry articles and special stories regarding women in the next issue. International W omen’s Day special

By Purvi Apurva Shah

Purvi’s travel bag

If you ever get a chance to be a home guest in Kerala, then do not ever miss it

Because staying with the locals and in home atmosphere, you will get the raw appeal of Kerala Usually the homes are built in a ver y Keralian style and are surrounded by lot of green and wood The people of Kerala are ver y hospitable and friendly and savouring their home cooked food is a must indulgence

Next best option is living in a houseboat, it is

p l e n t y i n b a c k w a t e r s They are fully equipped and it’s great fun sipping coconut wine while floating The other option is Tre e H o u s e S t a y i n

Vythiri Staying in these one-of-a-kind wood houses located on trees, one

c a n e n j o y l i p s m a c k i n g Kerala food besides the relaxing Ayur vedic spa

Ever y corner of Kerala seems like being crafted by God’s own hands It is this quietude and mesmer-

i z i n g p e a c e t h a t m a ke s

y o u f e e l t o c o m e b a c k again and again There is not much of commercial-

i z a t i o n b u t o n e g e t s a chance to live life around b a c k w a t e r s a n d a m i d s t

coconut trees

Ac t u a l l y Ke r a l a reminds much of Venice, Venice-like shady streets of Alappuzha are set around a grid of canals that spill into the watery highways of Kerala Gliding through the waterways of Keral a is even better than rowing t h ro u g h t h e c a n a l s o f Venice, as in Venice they are all man-made It is nature itself with coconut

t re e s , r i c e f i e l d s , b i rd s , forests, small villages, sunshine that glitters through the leaves

Some of the magnific e n t p l a c e s o f t o u r i s t interest and the picture p e r f e c t w a t e r w a y s o f

Ke r a l a a re Ku m a r a ko m , Alleppey, Kochi, Kollam, Kuttanad and Kasargod

M u n n a r w i t h ro l l i n g tea gardens p roduces the world famous Nilgiri tea Further on to Kumarakom, a small scenic village with cluster of little islands and v i s i t t h e exo t i c

Ku m a r a ko m B i rd

S a n c t u a r y A m u s t - s e e event is the snake boat races or Vallamkali which is something of a cult, just as bull fighting is in Spain

A n d , f i

beautiful beach paradise,

beaches adjacent to one another, considered to be one of the finest beach resorts in the world It is perhaps the most famous one as it offers host of

Fort Kochi beach Some other popular beaches in Ke

beach known for its beautiful lagoons

Best time to visit the s t a t

December and March

What to buy: Kerala is a shopper’s delight, especially for its ivory carvings, gold and silver brocaded fabrics and pottery and ceramic products Bring home souvenirs of carved rosewood, masks, and a wide range of attractive and unique handmade items

Some of the most popular Ayur veda ashrams are

Shala in Malappuram district Enjoy some of the

grown herbs and oil

Gujarat’s Gaurav asha Parekh women achievers

By Dr Anil Mehta

history in the making - the role of the monarchy in modern Britain

Given that this year is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (ascended to the throne 62-1952), it seems like a good time to assess the role of the monarchy in Modern Britain

For good or ill, monarchy has remained a constant thread throughout the long – well over a thousand-year history of Britain It has survived by a process of adaptation to change In the 20th century it survived when most others fell because it came to terms with parliament a r y d e m o c ra c y E a r l y monarchs (Middle Ages) wielded supreme powers but with time they lost t h e i r d i r e c t p o w e r a n d b e c a m e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r u l e r s w i t h c e r e m o n i a l duties

I n B r i t a i n , Q u e e n Elizabeth II, as Head of State, is formally supreme head of Armed Forces, and head of the executive and judiciary branches of the government, but in practice her role is limited to the a d v i s o r y a n d c e r e m o n i a l S o m e o f h e r

Empire. In 1969 she instigated a new era of openness when she allowed the BBC to film a documentary about the private lives of the Windsors The prestige and the popularity of the royal family were seriously damaged during the 80s and the 90s by the scandalous events surrounding it (royal divorces and so o n ) F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e royal family was accused of being cold, uncaring, and out of touch with the mood of the nation when t h e y fa i l e d t o r e s p o n d u n r e s e r ve d l y t o t h e untimely death of Princess Diana in 1997

The Queen is aware of public perception, though. To diffuse criticisms of her enormous wealth she has recently agreed to pay tax on her private income and s o m e m e m b e r s o f h e r family to be removed from the civil list (annual subs i d y f r o m t h e g o ve r n -

cal matters. However, his devotion to his two sons William and Harry especially after their mother’s tragic death, his concern for the environment and the disadvantaged young people, and his participation in c h a r i t a b l e c a u s e s h ave earned him great respect Likewise, his sons (and now elder daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton) are also involved in the humanitarian projects initiated by their late mother and are popular with the public Re c e n t l y i t wa s announced that moves are to be made to allow the e l d e s t c h i l d o f t h e m o n a r c h t o i n h e r i t t h e throne regardless of gender (until now the eldest son took precedence irres p

e had an elder sister), and to allow the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic if he/she wishes Thus centuries of old traditions will give way to

gender equality and religious tolerance Monarchy is

By av Correspondent

A s h a Pa re k h i s a Bollywood actress, director and producer and a name that does not need an introduction She was one of the top stars of Hindi films from 1959 to 1973 She was born into a m i d d l e - c l a s s G u j a r a t i family on 2 October 1942 in Mahuva, Gujarat, to a H i n d u f a t h e r a n d a

M u s l i m m o t h e r H e r m o t h e r e n ro l l e d h e r i n classical dance classes at an early age

A s h a s t a r t e d h e r career as a chil d artist

u n d e r t h e s c re e n n a m e Baby Asha Parekh in the f i l m “A a s m a a n” ( 1 9 5 2 )

maker claimed she was not star material The ver y next day, film producer

S u b o d h M u k h e r j e e a n d w r i t e r - d i re c t o r N a s i r Hussain cast her as the h e ro i n e i n “ D i l D e ke Dekho” (1959) opposite S h a m m i Ka p o o r w h i c h made her a huge star

Famed film director Bimal Roy saw her dance at a stage function and cast her at the age of 12 in “Baap Beti” (1954) The film's failure disappointed her and she quit acting to resume her studies At 16, she decided to tr y acting again and made her debut as a heroine, but she was rejected from Vijay Bhatt's “ G o o n j U t h i S h e h n a i ” (1959) in favour of actress Ameeta, because the film-

The film also led to a long and fruitful associat i o n w i t h H u s s a i n H e went on to cast her as the heroine in six more of his f i l m s H e a l s o g o t h e r involved in distribution of films She was primarily known as a glamour girl in most of her films, until director Raj Khosla gave her a serious image by casting her in tragedienne roles in his films Director Shakti Samanta gave her more dramatic roles in his films She also won the F i l m f a re B e s t Ac t re s s Award for her role in ‘Kati Patang ’ Many important d i re c t o r s s u c h a s Vi j a y Anand, Mohan Segal and J P Dutt a repeated her several times in their films

S h e a c t e d i n t h re

Kannada film

After the end of her hay days, she became a tele v i s i o n d i re c t o r S h e formed a production company Akruti and produced serials She was the president of the Cine Artistes' Association from 1994 to 2000 Asha was the first female chairperson of the C e n t r a l B o a rd

Board) of India Later, she became the treasurer of the Cine and Television Artists Association (CINTAA) and later elected to be one of its office-bearers She received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and continued to receive other Lifetime Achievement Awards She received the Living Legend Award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Asha remained unmarried There were rumors that she was romantically involved with her married director Nasir Hussain Now she concentrates on her dance academy Kara Bhavan and the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz, Mumbai

d u t i e s a r e : Opening of the P a r l i a m e n t , a p p o i n t i n g P M , signing the Acts o f Pa r l i a m e n t , weekly meetings with the PM at h e r r e s i d e n c e ( B u c k i n g h a m Palace), making state visits overseas, and entert a i n i n g fo r e i g n Heads of State

M i n d fu l o f

B r i t a i n b e i n g m u l t i - fa i t h a n d m u l t i - c u l t u r a l society she also v i s i t s t e m p l e s a n d mosques In all these roles she is ably assisted by members of he r immediate family

T h e Q u e e n i s t h e longest reigning monarch (since 1952) after Queen Victoria, and is utterly professional and ever mindful of the seriousness of her role She is an embodiment of national identity, s t a b i l i ty, a n d c o n t i n u i ty Being Head of State for nearly 60 years, she has worked with 12 PMs (starting with Winston Churchill) and paid official visits to well over 100 countries

A l s o, s h e i s H e a d o f Church of England and of the Commonwealth

D u r i n g t h e Q u e e n ’s

l o n g r e i g n , B r i t a i n h a s

e x p e r i e n c e d a ra p i d change at political, economic, and social fronts not to mention the dism a n t l i n g o f t h e B r i t i s h

ment) Moreover, after a disastrous fire at Windsor Castle, she opened parts of Buckingham Palace to public to use money to pay for the repairs instead of taxpayer picking up the bill. Thus, she has tried to make up for some criticisms she received in the media, and now in her e i g h t i e s s h e i s w i d e l y admired for hard work, understanding, and devotion with which she is carrying out a difficult job What’s more, she does not reveal her own political v i e w s a n d d o e s n o t attempt to influence her government in any unconstitutional way

Like the Queen, Prince C h a r l e s ( h e i r t o t h e throne) has also shown willingness to change He is sometimes criticised for being cool, distant, and c o n t rove r s i a l , a n d fo r expressing views on politi-

tution Within its

y, culture, and heritage It has also become a good s o u r c e o f i n c o m e a s tourists flock to s e e m o n a r c hy related ceremonial events and

above party polit

i n iti on, majority of the people seem to regard it as a useful and desirable institution rather than having a republic with some dubious or unconvincing figurehead. It provides the country political stability and continuity and there is no reason why it should not continue as long as it shows willingness to adapt to life in 21st century such as to be more caring and f r i e n d l y ( t h e c o m m o n touch) and less remote The public image of the monarchy will now be as important to its survival as its constitutional role The Queen in her 60year reign has attempted to modernise the monarchy without weakening its a u t h o r i ty H e r D i a m o n d Jubilee will be celebrated in a grand manner with street parties, a concert at Buckingham Palace, and a flotilla on the Thames.

Vijay as encounter specialist

For the first time Vijay donned the role of a police officer in the film “Pokkiri” but only in the climax scene we will come to know that he is a police officer He has not acted as a police officer in a whole fi l m t i l l no w Vi j ay i s d o nni ng t h e ro l e o f an encounter specialist in the film ‘Thuppakki” directed by A R Murugadoss The first schedule of shooting took place in Mumbai for 40 days Major portion of the stor y happens in Mumbai A sequence where Vijay in the police uniform comes to see his bride Kajal Agar wal was shot recently The shooting of this film has been temporarily stalled because of the problems between the Producers Council and FEFSI

Deepika clears the air on

‘Kochadaiyaan’

Marriage would have to wait: Tamanna

“I still fee like a novice in the film industr y; I have miles to go in achieving my goal of becoming an actress of substance In this context, it’s not proper on the part of the pres to report that I’m getting mar ried when there is not even a

Deepika Padukone has been facing an allegation that, she abruptly walked out of Hindi film ‘Race 2 to accommodate herself in Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Kochadaiyaan’ The actress has denied this charge, saying she was forced to do so “The makers of Race 2 delayed the shooting for more than one and half years This put me under pressure as I had other commitments to honour When the Kochadaiyaan offer came, I had no other option other than walking out of Race 2,” she says Reiterating that she was forced to take a decision on ‘Race 2 , Deepika says she is aware that those behind the project have filed a complaint against her

Tammu was in love with a c star and was getting ‘mentall prepared to enter into wedloc For the past six months, thoug Tammu has been staying aw from Kollywood and had o b

Te l u films She has many projects Telugu She is even said to h refused a Bollywood offer This to the speculation that she planning to settle into matrim When queried about it, Tama says, “I have three films in var

That’s why I refused the Hind offer I’m really thankful to media for showing a lot of inter my marriage which is not likely held in the next few years,” sh

ot Garam masala

Isha Koppikar turns to business

Actor Isha Koppikar who married hotelier Timmy Narang in 2009 is all set to launch her own chain of restaurants The actor, who confesses to being health conscious all her life, decided to set up her own chain of health restaurants and promote a healthy lifestyle to ever yone The actor is currently away in the US for a two month professional hospitality course "I don't understand anything about business To begin anything from scratch, I had to obviously learn ever ything about being an entrepreneur so I decided to take up the course in US to make sure I get my basics right,” she said

Rohit Shetty gets mad at Kareena, Asin & Deepika

The usually easy-going director Rohit Shetty is fuming at three top actresses creating speculation that they are acting in his film “Chennai Express,” starring Shah Rukh Khan The ladies in the firing line are Ka re e n a Ka p

approached any of the actresses for the film “I want to tell people to please stop this circus! I have a film to complete right now, so I want to focus on that Till I return from Panchgani, I won t approach anyone I don't know where these rumours are coming from In all probability, none of these actresses will be signed for the role But yes, this is a performance-oriented role and we need a beautiful face, so we will definitely sign an established name "

Big B back home, upset with paparazzi’s insensitivity

Amitabh Bachchan is relieved to be back home after a 12-day stay at the SevenHills Hospital in Mumbai However, the megastar says he had a tough time reaching his home thanks to "insensitive" paparazzi "The paparazzi, though kept away from the premises of the hospital, were there at the entrance and throughout the journey home, blocking the movement of the car by standing in front and on top of the vehicle, which was disturbing I have yet to see them understand the sensitivity of a situation such as this," the 69-year-old posted on his blog bigb bigadda com

Shah Rukh's loss is Ranbir Kapoor's gain

won most of the best actor awards this season, over King Khan who was also nominated in the same categor y for ‘Don 2 ’ It was found that SRK has been replaced by the versatile Ranbir in the much-talked about project, “Two States,” produced by Sajid Nadiadwala

Bhagat's bestseller of same title, will be co-produced by Karan Johar Earlier, it was supposed to be directed by Vishal Bhardwaj who wanted Shah Rukh to take on the lead role, but due to some reason Vishal put the movie on hold and Karan stepped in, to complete the project with Nadiawala

While Sajid Nadiadwala confirmed the news, Karan Johar still wants to keep it under wraps, could there be something more to it?

Patel, whose alleged girlfriend

recently made headlines for posing nude on the cover

seems to be following in her footsteps The 34year-old actor has also

for a men's health magazine The black and white picture sees the bare 'Silsilay' star hiding his private part with an undergarment. Ashmit has posed in the buff which helps guys pick the right underwear

Kangna Ranaut to play Mandakini?

If the buzz around tinsel town is any indication, it seems Ekta Kapoor has finally found her heroine for the sequel of her runaway hit, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai” (OUATIM)

After Kareena Kapoor reportedly opted out of the film toplining Akshay Kumar as an under world don, it is learnt that Kangna Ranaut has been finalised to play his actress moll Interestingly, she played the actress-girlfriend of Ajay Devgn's Mafiosi Sultan Mirza in the first outing also

It is believed that Kangna's character is inspired from Mandakini, who got involved with the Dubai based don after her career in Bollywood that started on a high with Raj Kapoor's ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ stagnated A well-placed source said that producer Ekta and director Milan Luthria were looking for a suitable replacement after Kareena opted out of the sequel earlier this month

A couple of names were considered, but somewhere they felt that a performing actress was more needed than a starr y name Initially they weren't considering Kangna Guess the talk of Kangna doing the OUATIM sequel is due to the fact that she s also playing the leading lady opposite John in “Shootout At Wadala,” which is also their production "

Besides, Akshay-Kangna is a novel combination

g g success at the box office but the same cannot be said about her love life After staying in Salman Khan's shadows for several years, problems had hit paradise Following the big Khan fallout on Kat's birthday, the actress too had decided to give up on her romance with the Khan Following her first big breakup, the actress who was having a good time in Ranbir Kapoor's arms on screen was reportedly enjoying it off-screen as well

Tired of her romantic failures, Katrina has now decided to stay away from industry wallahs in matters of the heart In fact, sources have learnt, that the actress has asked her mother to 'arrange' a suitable boy for her A close friend of the actress revealed, "Katrina has told her mother to find her a guy She has decided to go with whate ver 'momma says' "

This decision comes in the wake of rumours

a b o u t Ka t r i n a a n d h e r ex - f l a m e Ra n b i r Kapoor rekindling their romance Katrina, currently in London, is not amused with the stories about her and Ranbir floating around And though the actress was unavaila

, "Katrina is done with Ranbir She didn't want to spend time with him and that's why decided to opt out of Ayaan Mukerji's film In fact, Katrina will not consider offers to be cast opposite Ranbir in the near future "

AR Rahman performs at Oscars again

Indian composer AR Rahman performed at the 84th Academy Awards as part of the Oscar band in his third performance at the prestigious award ceremony "Oscar sangamam - if you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar super band headed by Hans Zimmer perform," Rahman posted on his Facebook page for his fans He even posted a picture with all members of the band, which performed throughout Sunday night's ceremony Last year Rahman had sung his tracks from '127 Hours' at the Oscar ceremony In 2009, the 46-year-old performed for the first time at the Oscar stage and in the same year he won two golden statuettes for best original score and best original song ("Jai ho") for the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

Romancing at 42 feels amazing: R Madhavan

R Madhavan

R Madhavan, who is paired opposite Bipasha Basu in ‘ Jodi Breakers’, says he feels lucky to play a romantic hero at the age of 42

The ‘3 idiots’ star, who will be seen in a ver y stylish avatar in the film, insists that the movie is not an attempt for an image makeover

"All my films have seen me as a nice guy but in this film I am a little naughty But it is not an attempt for an image makeover It`s just that I always like to do something different and I think I have been ver y lucky to have done that without having to change my looks I am doing romantic films at 42, a solo lead which I think is great," Madhavan said Madhavan, who started his Bollywood career with ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ in 2001, has given hits like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Guru’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu’

The actor, however, says he still can t believe he has achieved so much without having a strong filmy background Despite being in the industr y for more than a decade and having an equally well off career down South, Madhavan insists that he is still being criticised by people for his acting abilities

"I am still proving to people that I can act I am not the typical Hindi film hero with six pack abs but the public has endorsed me and I think as long as I a m

nobody can say that I

The industr y dwells on predictions and t r e n d s , " M

s , the actor said, "I love sports and travelling ”

I have no time to date: Bipasha Basu

Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu, who ended her nine-year relationship with actor John Abraham last year, says she is currently single as she has no time to date The 33-year-old model-turnedactress has been busy lately with backto-back releases Beginning the year with 'Players', her next release was 'Jodi Breakers "Right now anyone who will date me, will be in trouble Because I don't have a single minute for anybody," Bipasha said to a fan while chatting via Airtel Talk2Me To another caller, Bipasha dished out some advice on how to become an actress "Becoming an actress is not an easy job It needs a lot of talent, hard work and luck You must have a lot of patience "Moreover its always beneficial if you know somebody in the business You must not feel defeated ever in this field," she said

This week in CB Live, CB Patel will report on his recent 2 weeks visit to Sri Lanka.

Mr Anilbhai Bhagi from Skylink tour and travel will talk about Hindu Pilgrimage with Alka Shah Advertising Manager of Gujarat Samachar

If you do not have a SKY, go to www tvunetworks com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

Bhavan celebrates India’s Republic day

from page 2

largest and most successful democracy in the world He then welcomed the Chief Guest and said that Ms Bahadur had only recently taken up her post in London and had had a successful career as a diplomat with service in many parts of the world

Chief Guest Ms

S a n g e e t a B a h a d u r said that she was happy to be at the celebration and she conveyed good wishes from the Acting High Commiss ioner of India

She then paid tribute to the closeness of relations between Britain and India which had become even closer in recent years

The Vote of Thanks was given by the Bhavan’s Joint Chairman, Mr Shantoo Ruparell MBE

It was followed a short programme of patriotic songs and dances performed by Bhavan students The programme was compèred by Mrs Par vati Nair

Greetings were then extended by Lord Hameed of Hampstead, The Hon Sir Mota Singh QC and Pa d m a S h r i Dr J o h n Marr Dr Marr pointed out that 2012 was the year of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee He noted that recently, Her Majesty had met with nine religious leaders He then recalled that The Prince of Wales had said that the monarch was the ‘Defender of Faiths’ – not just the ‘Defender of a Faith’

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Please note the winner will be chosen on first come first basis from list of correct answer

Q: Who has composed the music soundtrack for ‘London Paris New York’?

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There are subtle transformations taking shape in you life and a feeling of helpful influences in the background There is much to suggest that you are in tune with your inner self and in touch with those hidden forces which often seem to take a guiding hand in one's life Focus on essentials and establish a solid foundation, so that you feel secure

Co-operative ventures are likely to generate financial success So, if hoping to drum up support or backing, it would certainly do no harm to adopt a more pushy and outgoing approach to life As social life will tend to draw you into a wider circle, the chances of meeting someone attractive are greatly increased

At home, be at your diplomatic best and try not to tread on anyone's toes. Passions will run from hot to cold, and relationships may suffer Even the most strong-willed Geminians will be more open to compromise to keep the peace Plan your spending and set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals

It seems that you will be in gregarious mood, intent on cultivating a wider circle of acquaintances Mentally you will be in good form to make on-the-spot decisions and also get your ideas across to the right people Ideas that you have been juggling with for quite some time will now be easily pulled into shape, allowing you to push ahead

The focus is on finances this week, but that doesn’t mean you should worry yourself sick Rather, it is about finding new and improved ways to boost your earnings potential Don’t let nebulous tendencies interfere with your plans It’s fine to consider several options but don’t get caught up in indecision. Schedule networking opportunities later this week.

Your horizons have most certainly expanding Jupiter in the area of your chart ruling long-distance travel and philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild There will be many romantic opportunities Your financial affairs are looking up Do not miss out on opportunities coming your way

Long-term partnerships are reinvigorated by Jupiter's transit of your solar 8th house Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have a busy time ahead of you With Venus in your opposite sign of relationships, expect this to be a romantic period in your life with lots of opportunities arising for you to find someone special

Social commitments are liable to increase considerably At times this could lead to a conflict of loyalties and perhaps a degree of resentment that others are taking advantage of you. 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

With Venus transiting your 5th house,this promises to be very romantic week where some of you might even tie the knot with your loved one This is a good time to buy or sell property or to renovate existing ones The atmosphere at home will be calm and amiable with everyone at their best behaviour

There will be increased scope for varying your activities, widening your network of contacts and getting out and about It is an excellent time for exercising your mental energies, clarifying your and other people's ideas and getting involved in discussion Exercise caution when it comes to making financial decisions as being hasty will cost you !

It is essential that you adopt a very open attitude now for this is a time of lucky opportunity and a chance to greatly enrich your life. New windows on the world are about to open and this is bound to have a maturing effect on you from now into the future There is a rather secretive aura surrounding new romance, which could turn into something very special

Either you or your partner have been going through a phase of inner doubts and uncertainties, and perhaps the main source of tension has simply been the need for breathing space in your relationship and a need to look at things more objectively Wait before going full steam ahead with grand actions and gestures

Kohli ton keeps India alive in Tri-series

Vi r a t Ko h l i s m a s h e d a n unbeaten 133 as India chased down a mammoth 321-run t a rg e t i n u n

s against Sri Lanka in Hobart on Tuesday to stay alive in the

Tr

series To retain any hope of q u a l i f y i n g f o r t h e b e s t - o fthree finals against an already q u a l i f i e d Au s t r a l i a , I n d i a needed to reach their target in 40 of the 50 overs allocated to earn a bonus point victory

India now require hosts Australia to beat Sri Lanka in t h e l a s t g ro u p m a t c h i n Melbourne on Friday to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on points

" I w i l l b e ro o t i n g f o r Australia on Friday This is a special feeling, and this is

p ro b a b l y m y b e s t o n e - d a y innings so far," Kohli said during a pitch-side inter view

"To be able to execute everything I wanted in that situation is really very satisfying " Kohli, 23, hit 16 boundaries and two sixes in his 86-ball knock as the 50-over world champions reached 321 for three wickets in 36 4 overs

The right-hander added 115 runs for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir (63) and then stitched together 120 runs with Suresh Raina (40 not out) for the unbroken fourth wicket to ensure India won with a bonus point

again failed in his bid to score his 100th international ton,

India but it was left to Kohli to guide the team to victor y The Delhi batsman displayed some sublime stroke-

Malinga (one for 96), whom he hit for 24 runs in an over, i

b o u n d a r

n c o n s e c u

deliveries "I committed a few mistakes in the last games I was hitting the ball pretty well until I was getting to 20 I was

India qualify for men's hockey in London Olympics

Eight-time champions India secured their place in the men's hockey event at this year's London Olympics after ro u t i n g Fr a n c e 8 - 1 i n t h e final of a qualifying tournament on Sunday

D r a g - f l i c ke r S a n d e e p

S i n g h c o n t i n u e d h i s g o a lscoring spree, slotting five more in the final as India, who won the last of their eight gold medals in 1980,

re t u r n e d t o t h e O l y m p i c s after missing Beijing in 2008

South Africa qualified for

Pathan

Irfan Pathan said he was keen to fill in the position of the m e d i u m - p a c e b o w l i n g a l lrounder in the Indian team that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni craves for all too often Dhoni has often rued the absence of a medium-pace b o w l i n g a l l - ro u n d e r w h o

c o u l d l e n d b a l a n c e t o t h e side, and Pathan feels he is good enough to bowl 10 overs and hit some lusty blows

"I think I am a bowler who can bat If you look at me in the nets, I always make sure I give equal importance to both aspects When I am bowling, I make sure I need to bowl length with the start, use variations and try to finish it off with death over bowling and

the women's event, having b e a t e n h o s t s I n d i a 3 - 1 i n Saturday's final India went to the final with an unbeaten record, having scored 36 goals in the first five games, and they went on to better their 6-2 victor y against the Frenchmen in a pool match earlier

trying to middle every ball, which is not possible in international cricket," Kohli said "I told myself to just play myself in, and stick in there no matter what and it paid off "I have the self-belief that if you keep working hard and keep the mind in the game and stay positive and get in the face of the opposition, results are going to come "

Kumar Sangakkara powered Sri Lanka to 320 for four D i l s h a n ( 1 6 0 n o t o u t ) equalled his highest score in o n e - d a y i n

Action at a Glance

PCB to summon Kaneria over spot-fixing allegation

opted to field after winning the toss

Sangakkara was the more attacking of the duo and his 13th one-day hundred was studded with eight boundaries and two sixes, coming off 87 balls

Dilshan was watchful at the start but opened up after completing his 11th hundred He hit 11 boundaries and three sixes during his 165ball stay at the wicket

final: Shane Watson made

emphatic 87-run victor y over India on Sunday and ensuring the hosts a place in the final of the one-day international Tri-series

SL beat Oz: Earlier, Sri Lanka threw India's prospects of a berth in the tri-series finals into jeopardy with a thrilling three-wicket victory o

Au

Australia's 280 for six built around Peter Forrest's maiden ODI centur y, the islanders overhauled the target with four balls to spare in a match which went down the wire

After Sunday’s victory over India, Australia are in the No 1 spot

Sachin must quit ODIs, say 57% respondents in a poll

After former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, is it time for the world's greatest runmaker to bid adieu to one-day cricket? As many as 57% of respondents in an online poll have answered with a 'yes', i n d i c a t i n g t h a t t h e p u b l i c anger over Team India's dism a l p e r f o r m a n c e s

B i re n d e r

I n d i a o p e n e d t h e i r a c c o u n t w

Lakra's 17th minute strike but France did well to restrict them to 3-1 at half time

Singh, having scored from two penalty corners in the first half, returned to convert three more to enhance his reputation as a leading dragflick expert and finish with 16 goals from six matches

S i m o n M a r t i n - B r i s a c scored the lone goal for the French side while S V Sunil a n d V R Ra g h u n a t h w e re India's other goal-getters

variations," said Pathan "Same in batting, I make sure that I finish my batting with regular bowlers I try to do some extra bowling, thrown by coaches, and bat extra In a match, when I bowl

n Under also extends to Sachin Tendulkar's poor ODI form

Almost 47,000 people had responded to the question, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of t

2 % (817) people were undecided

came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the m

his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket

I'm a bowler and when I am batting, I try to think as a batsman " Pathan admitted that when he is able to chip in with some wickets, his batting also improves and vice-versa "The best thing for me would be to take wickets When I keep taking wickets, it helps my batting and viceversa When I look at myself, I feel its 60-40 - 60 bowler, 40 batsman "

T h e 2 7 - y e a r - o l d a l s o claimed that he is ready to bat or ball wherever his team requires him to "I am ready to bat wherever the team demands It is not an issue for me In terms of bowling as well, I am willing to bowl wherever the team

Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs" The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deser ves to decide on his own if and when to leave internat i o n a l c r i c ke t o r o n e - d a y cricket I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go "

wants me to, with the new ball or old ball As long as I am playing, I am happy " I n p re v i o u s m a t c h e s , Pathan was once sent in at number seven, while in the other game he batted at number nine "I want to be ready to bat at any position as I have batted at all positions What is important is what the team m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p t a i n think I want to let things come to me than keep using my mind a lot It is better to b e re l a xe d a n d l e t t h i n g s come Sometimes you bowl good balls and don't get wickets and sometimes you bowl bad balls and get wickets," he said

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ordered leg- spinner Danish Kaneria to reappear before its integrity committee and respond to spot-fixing allegations "Danish Kaneria will again be called to appear before the integrity committee to explain his position," the Dawn quoted a PCB statement, as saying Essex police had cleared Kaneria of charges of his alleged involvement in spot-fixing during a county match against Durham in 2009

But the PCB's integrity committee has directed Kaneria to provide copies of tapes of his Essex police interview The move comes after a judge in London sentenced Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield to four months in prison for on-field corruption and accused Kaneria of pressuring county players to indulge in the match-fixing Kaneria has however, denied allegations and claimed that he had been cleared by British police, the England Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council Both cricket organizations denied his claims and added that Kaneria has never been granted a clearance certificate Shoaib Akhtar escapes unhurt in car crash

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar rammed his car into one of the barricades placed in front of the PM's Secretariat in Islamabad on Saturday night According to The Express News, Akhtar was heading towards his house from a five-star hotel when he lost control of his speeding car and slammed into a barricade of the PM Secretariat The front portion of the car was badly damaged, but Akhtar was unhurt The police did not register any case over the incident and allowed the former cricketer to return home Sania Mirza most searched tennis star Sania Mirza was the most Googled female tennis player in 2011 leaving behind bigger names like Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic Despite her lowly world ranking of 113, the 25-year-old tennis star can count on an army of fans in the subcontinent to cheer her on as she flies the flag for India on the women's tour Mirza is married to Pakistan cricket star Shoaib Malik Speaking to CNN's Open Court, India's No1 talks of the obstacles she has faced in her career, which include having a fatwa on her head for wearing a short skirt on court "When I started playing tennis, I don't think many people believed playing tennis could be a profession for a girl from Hyderabad," she was quoted as telling the news network "When I used to say, 'One day, I want to play at Wimbledon', it was treated as a joke because it had never happened before Dhoni denies rift with Sehwag India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday asserted that there was neither any dissension nor any communication gap in the dressing room but conceded that such reports at times create a brief awkwardness among the players "If you listen to the press conference on tape, you would get the answer yourself as to what actually I said and what I meant," said Dhoni on the eve of the India-Australia tri-series match "You can't particularly see the same question, it might be a build up to the first question and often what we don't answer, because of the first part of the question we answer, it actually is the answer to the second or third question," added Dhoni in his typical longwinding manner Dhoni, while denying the reports of rift between Sehwag and him and asserting that the dressing room atmosphere was perfect, admitted it still caused uneasiness between the players

Action at a Glance

Pakistani held over spot-fixing

A Pakistani has been questioned by police over his suspected involvement in spot-fixing during the Bangladesh Premier League (

,

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official said on Sunday Karachi resident Sajid Khan arrived in Dhaka on Februar y 10 and BCB security chief Mesbahuddin Serniabat said they had been watching him since the BPL's Chittagong phase from Februar y 1822 "His movement was ver y suspicious and we followed him from Chittagong," Serniabat said "We immediately took him to the visiting ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit official before handing him

Pakistan ever y time a six was struck while watching the game from a VIP area on top of a dressing room, Serniabat said He also attempted to enter the players zone on several occasions Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza alleged three weeks ago that he was approached by a former cricketer over spot-fixing

Clarke named Australia's Player of the Year

Australia captain Michael Clarke won the Allan Border Medal as his countr y's Player of the Year for the third time on Monday Clarke also won the award in 2005 after scoring 151 on his test debut against India in Bangalore and shared it with Ricky Ponting in 2009

The 30-year-old assumed the captaincy from Ponting in March last year and led Australia to a 1-0 test series win in Sri Lanka, 1-1 draws with South Africa and New Zealand before the 4-0 sweep of India around the turn of the year In addition to his leadership of a team apparently in crisis when he took over in the wake of a 3-1 home Ashes defeat, Clarke has performed brilliantly with the bat

He has scored five centuries in 11 tests since becoming skipper, hitting 1,167 runs at an average of 68 65 with his high score of 329 not out coming against the Indians in the second test at the Sydney Cricket Ground last month

Pietersen helps England whitewash Pakistan 4-0

Kevin Pietersen hit his second successive centur y to help a resurgent England beat Pakistan by four wickets in the fourth and final day-night international last week for a 4-0 whitewash

The 31-year-old right-hander held the innings together during his 153-ball career-best 130 - his ninth one-day hundred - to help England chase down a 238-run target in 49 2 overs at Dubai Stadium

Pietersen hel ped Eng l and recover from 68/4 with a 109-run stand for the fifth wicket with Craig Kieswetter (43) to maintain his team's domination in the series in which they won the first match by 130 runs, second by 20 and the third by nine wickets

By virtue of this win England overtook Pakistan at number five and pushed t h e i r r i v a l s t

C C (International Cricket Council) one-day rankings and partially made up for their 3

series

Pietersen hit Junaid Khan for a six and took a single in the next over to reach his hundred off 136 balls and finished with 12 fours and two sixes His previous best of 116 came against South Africa at Centurion in 2005

Pietersen had lost his opening partner Alastair Cook - who hit back-to-back hundreds and 80 in the first three matches - off the second ball of the innings to paceman Khan for four

Jonathan Trott (15), Eoin Morgan (15) and debutant Jos Butler fell in the space of 18 runs before the PietersenKieswetter stand lifted them from 68-4 to 177/5

W

England still needed 61 but Samit Patel (17 not out) in the company of Pietersen brought England within two runs of the

,

win when Pietersen fell to Saeed Ajmal Tim Bresnan hit the winning boundar y Pakistan promised more than what they made after half- centuries by Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali but were pegged

back in the final overs with paceman Jade Dernbach taking a career-best 4-45

Shafiq made a 78-ball 65 for his sixth one-day fifty while Ali notched a 89-ball 58 for his first to help lift Pakistan from the early loss of opener Mohammad Hafeez (one) after they elected to bat Skipper Misbah-ul Haq chipped in with a 52-ball 46 which included one four and a six Shafiq, who hit six boundaries, repaired the early loss during his second wicket stand of 111 with Ali but England pegged back Pakistan when Bresnan dismissed Shafiq off an inside edge and debutant left-arm spinner Danny Briggs accounted for Umar Akmal, who made 12 Dernbach had Ali caught off a miscued drive by Morgan to leave Pakistan at 144/4 in the 34th over T20I: England beat Pakistan to take series England bowlers kept their ner ves in the final overs to pull off a sensational five-run win over Pakistan in the third and final Twenty20 on Monday to take the series 2-1

Set 130 to win Pakistan were going along nicely at 107/4 with 23 needed off the last three overs and 17 off the remaining two but Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach did not lose courage and pulled off the win in the final over Broad dismissed a well set Umar Akmal (22) off the third ball of the penultimate over and gave away just four runs, leaving Jade Dernbach to defend 13 in the last, which he successfully did, removing Misbah-ul Haq (28) off the final deliver y Dernbach finished with 2-24 and most importantly gave World Twenty20 champions an unexpected win Pakistan won the first match by eight runs while England won the second by 38 runs - both played in Dubai

E o i n M o rg a n h a s b e e n dropped by England for the t o u r t o S r i L a n ka a n d replaced by Samit Patel after the selectors announced two

c h a n g e s f ro m t h e s q u a d

w h i t e w a s h e d i n t h e Te s t series by Pakistan

Morgan pays the price for a dreadful tour to the Middle

E a s t w h i c h y i e l d e d a t o p score of 31 in 17 innings in all forms of the game at an average of 14 21

AJ Strauss, JM

A n d e r s o n , I R Bell, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, SCJ

Broad, AN Cook,

S T F i n n , M S Panesar, SR Patel, KP Pietersen, MJ

Prior, GP Swann,

J C Tre d w e l l , I J L Trott and Patel is included for his first Test

t o u r a l o n g w i t h the Kent off-spin-

n e r J a m e s

Tre d w e l l , w h o p l a y e d o n e Te s t a g a i n s t

B a n g l a d e s h i n

2 0 1 0 , a n d re p l a c e d t h e injured Chris Tremlett England also announced this morning that seven members of the squad – Andrew

S t r a u s s , I a n B e l l , S t e v e n Davies, Monty Panesar, Patel, Ma tt Prior and Tredwell - will travel to Sri Lanka ahead of t h e m a i n p a r t y a s A n d y Flower, the team head coach, attempts to avoid the mistakes made against Pakistan w h e n t h e t e a m a p p e a re d under-prepared Geoff Miller, the national s e l e c t o r, s a i d : “ We h a v e selected a squad that we feel will be able to make best use of the conditions we are likely to encounter in Sri Lanka There is no doubt that this Test serie s will be a challenging one but it is exciting that players have an opportunity t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t t h e y have learnt from the disapp o i n t m e n t o f t h e Pa k i s t a n Test series and can make further strides in developing the skills needed to succeed on the subcontinent ” Morgan’s technique against spin was undermined

by the brilliance Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman in the Test series but unlike other England batsmen he failed to improve in the one-day format

E v e n Tw e n t y 2 0 c r i c ke t provided little solace with a series average of 10 costing h i m h i s r a n k i n g a s t h e world’s number one batsman in that form of the game, a title now owned by Kevin Pietersen The omens were not good for Morgan at the weekend when Flower admitted he had a lot of work to do to adjust his game to the rigours of Test cricket

Morgan has managed two Test centuries, one on his

debut against Pakistan in 2010, in 16 Tests for England at an average of 30 43 He was not the only England batsman to suffer at Ajmal’s hands but unlike others he did not have a recent back story of success in Test cricket to save him from being dropped

The inclusion of Patel, 27, in the 16-man squad is final proof of acceptance for a player who has spent most of his international career on the fringes of the national side, outcast as a young man with a poor fitness record and attitude

Patel has worked hard on improving his fitness by funding his way to Australia last winter for sessions with a kick boxing instructor A recent diet has helped him lose a little weight but his selection for the Sri Lanka tour does not mean England are fully satisfied with his progress

Pa t e l ’ s f i t n e s s w i l l b e monitored on the pre-series training camp Patel travels as a back up all rounder with Tredwell surprisingly recalled a s c o v e r f o r Pa n e s a r a n d Graeme Swann