Asian Voice

27th November to 3rd December 2010VOL 39. ISSUE 30 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

VOICEFIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE ��

�� #� ��!#��!'$��#!& ��%��!#��

��$��#��$%�#�(!&#�"�%�%�! ! ��

�!#�� #��!� �%�! �!��

'''�%��!!��!& ��%�! �!#�

��

��

020 8515 9200

FIRST & BUSINESSCLASS DEALS

[email protected]

TRAVEL

never fly ECONOMY again

IATA ABTA ATOL3348

Flat Bed, Suite, Limo, Lounge, Comfort, t&c

By Rupanjana Dutta

It is time for celebrationagain, as four otherBritish Asians join theHouse of Lords afterLord Popat, who joinedthe Tory peerage in sum-mer 2010.

Now Tariq Ahmad -businessman and formerVice Chairman of theConservative Party,Qurban Hussain- DeputyGroup Leader of theLiberal Democrat partyon Luton BoroughCouncil, Raj Loomba -businessman and cam-paigner for widows'rights from LiberalDemocrat party and SirGulam Noon MBE -Chairman and Founderof Noon Products andNoon Foundation fromLabour party join the

peerage.

They will be amongstthe 50 new peers to jointhe House of Parliament.

Infact PM DavidCameron and EdMiliband have sought topepper their lists withmore eye-catchingnames. Michael Grade,the former BBC and ITVchairman, will be a Torypeer.

Continued on page 2

Four British Asians to joinHouse of Lords soon

Sir Gulam Noon

+ MobileIndia

Get your at www.lycamobile.co.uk

��

��0 &#!/�/+

��1�%(� %(%/3�

�� ,#*��"�3.��2##'

+$$#-�./�-/�$-+)��./��*��

�� 4��

Raja to Radia: phonydeals and huge scamsWell, from A Raja to NiraRadia, the 2G spectrumscam that has rocked Indiaover the past couple ofweeks is a telling story of

alleged corruption in highplaces. The opposition,even as of Tuesday, whilegoing to the press for thisissue, seemed determinedfor nothing less than a JPC

probe in the 2G scam,forcing adjournment ofthe parliament for morethan a week without anybusiness being done.

The UPA gov-ernment andPrime Minister Dr. ManmohanSingh wererelieved when onTuesday, the apexcourt observedcontrary to theviews projectedin a huge sectionof media andlatched upon by

the opposition. Earlier,remarks by the SupremeCourt created a hugefurore, as it was for per-haps the first time in thehistory of independent

India that inaction ordelay by the PrimeMinister was under scan-ner. It was also a hugeembarrassment for the PMthat the SC categoricallyasked the PMO to file anaffidavit in response to thecourt’s observation ofinaction or delay on letterby a Tamil Nadu leaderand former law minister ofIndia, Dr. SubramaniamSwamy.

Apart from the magni-

tude of the scam, thebiggest ever, going by thefigures suggested by theCAG, an interestingaspect of the issue is a keyrole allegedly played by alady with UK connection.Nira Radia, engaged inproviding lobbying, corpo-rate communications andrelated services to Indianas well as internationalcorporates in India.

Nira Radia

Continued on page 24

A Solidarity march in Mumbai to commemorate 26/11

Prince William, Kate to tie theknot on 29th April 2011

See page 22

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 20102 UK

People

■ British Indian businessman Bhulo Kansagra waschosen to be on the top table with Anil Ambani when‘The Obama’ whirlwind hit Mumbai last week. Bhulohad a good chat with the President about businessopportunities in the USA (see photo).■ One of the key figures in 20th Century Asian pub-lishing Arif Ali celebrated 40 years of Hansib his pub-lishing house at a swish gathering at the Hilton. 40outstanding people were honoured including the pub-lisher of this newspaper CB Patel.■ Newly enobled peer Lord Dolar Popat has beenlobbying the PM about the need to support small busi-nesses at a meeting in Downing Street. DavidCameron promised to look into the issue.■ Also at Downing Street was the Annual DiwaliParty. Those attending included Vikram Solanki,Avtar Lit, Sonia Deol and Jitu Patel with MPs BobBlackman and Sarah Teather.

one to oneKeith Vaz MP with

Dr Sunny KarirSunny has extensive experience in coaching andmentoring with organisations including theWindsor Fellowship, Microsoft and AmericanExpress. She has previously worked for GoldmanSachs and The Times and is also often asked bythe BBC to feature on the radio as an expert inethics, identity, relationships and conformity.

She is a founding member of CAPP, theCentre for Applied Positive Psychology and alsoacts as International Director for theTransformative Action Institute, an organisationdedicated to training the next generation ofsocial entrepreneurs with the skills and mentor-ship needed to succeed.

Sunny holds degrees from the University ofOxford. Her doctoral findings have recently beenpublished with colleagues from HarvardUniversity. Having taught Oxford undergraduatesand worked in various leadership roles, shedeveloped a particular interest in individual dif-ferences and the theory behind human behav-iour.

1) What inspired youto begin your career inyour chosen field?

I was lucky to be oneof those people whoreally enjoyed their

university degrees. Ifirst studiedPsychology which wasa new subject for meand immediately foundit to be fascinating.Luckily I'm now in a

position where I canalso indulge my creativeside - hence the novelI've just written.

2) What are yourproudest achieve-ments?

Finishing my PhD atOxford, and getting myfirst solo client(Microsoft) even beforegraduating and startingmy company. Also, fin-ishing my novel recentlyhas been incrediblyrewarding as it's a brandnew challenge. I've writ-ten a comedy/mystery

called 'Infit High' - itshould be available tobuy next year.

3) Please tell us aboutyour current role?

I am a business coach,helping people toachieve their careergoals. My company,SilverLiningCoaching.com is different, becauseit works with clients'strengths - an approachthat has been proven asfar more effective thanjust looking to 'fix' peo-ple's weaknesses.

4) What has been thebiggest obstacle in yourcareer?

I was working inAmerica a lot last yearand so it was tough get-ting the right work-lifebalance. Anotherobstacle has been get-ting older people tounderstand that theydeserve individualised

coaching. BusinessSchools and large cor-porations hire usquickly, but smallerfamily firms are slow torecognise developmentneeds sometimes.

5) Who has been thebiggest influence onyour career to date?

I was incredibly fortu-nate to meet AnitaRoddick, the founderof The Body Shop; itwas impossible not tobe affected by herinfectious enthusiasm.Her focus on ethicaland profitable businesswas truly inspiring andso I've been careful toalways make time forpro bono work withschools and charities.

6) What are your longterm goals?

I've been surprised athow much I enjoyedbeing creative andwriting my book. Myideal future would be agood balance of writ-ing and training. I par-ticularly want to con-tinue sharing my pas-sion for body languageand to be able toinspire other youngpeople to give up jobsthey hate so they canfollow their dreams!

7) If you were PrimeMinister, what onething would youchange?

Our prison system.When I went toCriminology lectures atOxford I learnt moreabout pioneering pro-grammes on rehabilita-tion, and targetednutrition - e.g. raisinglevels of essential oilsin prisoner diets dra-matically reduces vio-lence. They've foundsimilar things by teach-ing meditation inAustralian prisons.Simple - but incrediblyeffective.

8) If you weremarooned on a desertisland, which histori-cal figures would youlike to spend your timewith and why?

I'd love to get to knowGeorge Washingtonand learn more aboutthe daily techniques heused to improve hispersonal qualities. Inmany ways he was theoriginal positive psy-chologist!Another person wouldbe Roald Dahl. Notonly was he a superblytalented writer, buthe'd also led a fascinat-ing life.

Dame Joan Bakewell,the broadcaster, is tobecome a Labour peer, andthe former Labour MPOona King will also beappointed a peer.Attention is likely to

focus, however, on thepresence of party donors asthe Lords swells to itslargest size since thedeparture of most of thehereditary peers underTony Blair.There are expected to

be 27 Tory names, 15Liberal Democrats and 10Labour on last week's list.Of the 738 current

peers, 193 areConservatives, 234Labour, 79 LiberalDemocrat, and 181 cross-benchers. There are 51 oth-ers, including 25 bishops.Labour will remain the

largest party in the UpperHouse while the combinedTory and Lib Dem rankswill increase their majorityover Labour but not overthe whole of the rest of thechamber.Though speculations

have been made aboutLord Noon's previous con-tribution to the party, whatis conveniently left unno-ticed is his other contribu-tions to social upliftmentand humane causes. Not only Sir Noon gave

£205,000 earlier this yearfor its general election cam-paign to Labour party, tak-ing to £738,000 the value ofhis total gifts to the partybut also is one of thoseBritish Indians who has

firmly stood againstBritain's unfiltered immi-gration and has openlycriticised the Islamic fun-damentalism, which creat-ed a havoc in Mumbairecently. He has so far made the

largest contribution to thewelfare of community,society and humanityamongst the peers in the

House of Lords till so far.The Noon Foundation

was established inDecember 1995 by SirGulam Noon, with a majordonation of £4 million fromhis personal assets. Over the years, the

Noon Foundation has beeninvolved in many projects,which have enhanced thelives of numerous people

Continued from page 1

Between 1999-2005 £83,750 CARE IntBetween 1999-2001 £72,191 Prince’s TrustBetween 2000-2005 £210,881 Tower Hamlets College Mentoring Programme

or their mentoring project over a period of three years

Between 2001-2009 £65,421 British Library2003- 2005 £3000 each To Prof. David Crick and Prof. Shiv

Chaudhry of the University of Central EnglandBusiness School to attend conferences for research purposes. Payment was being spread over 3 years

2003-2005 £10,000 Featherstone High School toward the construction of a new community sports centre, which is now operational

2003-2006 Rs 2.5 Lacs Jaipur Virasat Foundation for the Jaipur (approx £4,000) Heritage International Festival 2004

2003-2006 £61,000 Dormers Wells£25000 Building of a Young Adults Centre in Southall, £200,000 East London Students over 4 years for bur

saries to support Birkbeck Stratford students who fall into the poverty trap, to cover coursefees and associated study costs such as books,travel and childcare.

£500,000 Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at the Oxford University for the establishment of theThe Sir Gulam Noon Scholarship Fund to enable students of outstanding merit to study at Oxford.

£1,288,980 Noon Hospital in Bhawani Mandi, Rajasthan, India and in 2008 allocated 100 beds, state of the art equipment and facilities.

2010 £100,000 Breast Cancer Care over 2 years for their 2010programme of specialised services for women with secondary breast cancer and younger women with breast cancer.

Philanthropy of Sir (soon to be Lord) Gulam Noon

Four British Asians to join House of Lords soon

here in the UK and over-seas. Following are the listof his contributions/dona-tions made so far for thesocietal benefit (see list).Raj Loomba, the

founder chairman of theLoomba Trust, is widelyknown today as the pio-neer of widows’ rights andinstigator of InternationalWidows Day. His cam-paigning achievements arefounded on a successfulbusiness career as founderof Rinku Group, the fash-ion and clothing companyof which he is ExecutiveChairman. He receivedCBE – “Commander of theBritish Empire” award inHer Majesty Queen’s

Birthday Honours in June2008. He is a tireless cam-paigner for improving theplight of widows and theirchildren all over the world.Raj and Veena Loomba setup the Shrimati PushpaWati Loomba Trust as acharitable trust in 1997and in the ensuing tenyears the Trust has concen-trated on building a pro-gramme to educate thechildren of poor widows inIndia. Today the Trust edu-cates over 3,600 childrenthroughout India, includ-ing 500 in Tamil Nadu wholost their father or bothparents in the tsunami.(Full list of Asian

Lords next week)

Raj Loomba

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 www.abplgroup.com 3

Thought for the WeekPrince William as successor to the QueenPrince William, second in line to the Britishthrone, has been much in the news of late – andfor the right reasons. His engagement to KateMiddleton was announced to the evident pleasureand satisfaction of the Monarch and the rest of theRoyal Family, most notably the Queen's eldest sonand heir, Prince Charles, William's father. TheQueen succeeded her father George VI way backin 1952; her coronation followed a year later andwas celebrated with pomp and circumstance by anation emerging from the trauma of the SecondWorld War. It was a time of optimism, the dawn ofa more hopeful era to which Britain would adjustas she had previously to the changing tides of his-tory and to their myriad challenges. The Queen presided over the transformation of

the Empire into the Commonwealth of freenations of every race and religious faith. She pre-sides over the destiny of a new Britain finding itsway in the post-cold war age. Her experience isunmatched, her wisdom and tact equal to everytask. When Queen Elizabeth II ascended thethrone, Winston Churchill was prime minister andDavid Cameron wasn't born.Who succeeds her is an apt question. The

Prince of Wales, Prince Charles is next in line andhe is well qualified to perform the role of a futureking. The problems affecting his personal life arebehind him, his two sons William and Harry haveweathered the tragic loss of their mother PrincessDiana and are taking life in their stride. It wouldappear that popular sentiment is weighted infavour of William as the next monarch, as hisyouth qualifies him better to feel the pulse of therising generation. Should the fates intervene andPrince Charles not occupy the throne, PrinceWilliam as next in line appears well able to do so.He is well educated and trained; he is accustomedto public life, is widely travelled and has a friend-ly and engaging personality. If he does becomeking, he will have wise and experienced peoplearound him on whose counsel he can depend. Hisfuture wife Kate Middleton is equipped to be asource of wisdom and strength in all his endeav-ours.But this is to indulge in unnecessary crystal

ball gazing.The subject of succession is discussedhere because it is currently in the public domain.The people have ways of making their preferencesknown. Wisdom and common sense will prevail.

Immigration cap haunts Cameron regimeImmigration cap is proving a thorny subject for

the government, it refuses to go away, with the cap-tains of industry and business making repeated rep-resentations to the authorities of the serious conse-quences for the British economy should this meas-ure be carried out to the letter as the governmentproposes to do.The problem has arisen because of the promises

made at the hustings by Conservative candidates.In difficult times immigration becomes a usefulinstrument in handling public discontent. Issues aresimplified and the real fears of people are too easilyappeased. Controlling the entry of vast numbers ofaliens from far-off shores causes alarm at a timewhen democratic societies in the West and else-where under threat from newcomers with a differ-ent take on public life and the rule of law. Lib DemBusiness Secretary, Vince Cable, has great experi-ence of the compulsions of business and industry.He has pointed on more than one occasion that hetoo is opposed to the free flow of immigrants intothe UK. He well understands the pressure thiswould create on the country's welfare services.What he say she is against is the cap on immi-

grants with skills Britain badly needs. The move-ment of labour such this keeps pace with the move-ment of capital in a globalised world. They aretwins, abort one and you cripple the other. ChrisHumphries, chief executive of the UK Commissionfor Employment and Skills has put his finger on thereal issue – the inflow of immigrants from theEuropean Union, which the UK is obliged underlaw to permit. It is these EU immigrants who aretaking up the bulk of of low-cost jobs and compet-ing with job seekers among the loval population. Heargues that even if the Government stopped everynon-EU migrants from entering these dhoresshoresthere would no substantial reduction in numbers ofimmigrants since the vast majority are EU citizens.

Home Secretary Teresa May wishes to introduceTier I and Tier II categories among would-be non-EU entrants. She will be placing this proposal in herconsultation talks with business leaders. What con-cerns Mr Humphries is that the majority of thosewishing to come here are belonged to the highlyskilled category. Their presence is an aid to theBritish economy, their absence would impede it, hesays. Marilyn Davidson, director of the Association of

Professional Staffing Companies, said: “Worriesover immigration centre on low skilled workersbeing undercut, so capping the the flow of highlyskilled workers seems a strange policy. By imposingan inflexible cap, the Government could be damag-ing high value sectors of the economy where skillsshortages can hinder growth.” Ministers put on their thinking caps and a com-

promise on the immigration cap policy was finallysigned as went to press. Business Secretary VinceCable who fought hardest for a change in theintended legislation agreed that the revised wordingof the policy struck the right balance. His anxietieswere eased by Prime Minister David Cameron'sdecision to exempt many “intra-company trans-fers,” which would allow multinationals to bringstaff in from overseas offices provided their salariesexceeded £24,000 a year. The issue of companytransfers had emerged as one of the most c con-tentious parts of Government policy to restrict theroute to immigration into the UK. David Metycalf, head of the independent

Migration Advisory Committee recommended thatthe limit on skilled and highly skilled non-EU work-ers be increased be set at 43,700 next year, downfrom 50,000 in 2009, but this figure will be subjectfor further review in the light of fresh data.The new rules will be placed before Parliament

which will debate the issue.

India's 2G spectrum scandal underlines corruption scourgeThe disgraced former Indian Telecoms minister A.Raja sold licensee for 2G spectrum mobile phonesat throwaway prices based on 2000 prices, anotional loss to the national exchequer of some$40 billion. Mr Raja, who belongs to Tamil Nadu-based DMK party, a coalition partner of theCongress-led government at the Centre, wasreported to have been advised by the TelecomRegulator, the Law Minister and even PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh to take a different tack.Mr Raja says he acted within the law, which clear-ly did not, hence his resignation. The entire coun-try is exercised by the scam; the Indian people arerightly concerned at the levels of corruption inhigh places. They see this as a scourge that needsrouting out.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court instructed the

Prime Minister to file an affidavit on his allegedinaction or delay to a letter from Dr Subramaniam

Swamy drawing his attention to the case. TheSupre Court has absolved the Indian PrimeMinister of improper conduct, on the lines laidagainst him by the Opposition. But beyond thisthere has been dirty linen washed in public con-cerning the lobbying activities of one Nira Radia,whose telephones were tapped by the Income-TaxDepartment as her activities were under scrutiny.Ms Radia, it appears, was heard briefing wellknown media persons on how they should coverthe story. This brings a section of the Fourth Estateunder suspicion for a dereliction of duty. Instead ofremaining above the fray, they seem to be part tobe taking sides, presumably for a shaming consid-eration, in other words, for a bribe. Prime Minister Singh has assured the country

that those found guilty of wrongdoing would bepunished. We shall see. Justice must be done andseen to be done.

COMMENT

On the 26th November2008, the harbingers ofblood, murder and may-hem came to Mumbai.We know who sent them.We know where theycame from. We knowwho controlled them. Weknow what they came todo. We know who theywere. We know whatthey did. By the timethey had finished, 179people were dead andover 300 were injured.Fear and terror stalkedthe streets of Mumbai –from Café Leopold to theTaj Mahal Palace andTower, from CamaHospital to Hotel Oberoiand from NarimanHouse to ChhatrapatiShivaji Terminus.Days after, we stood

in solidarity at CanaryWharf and prayed for thevictims and survivors –from one major interna-tional financial centre toanother. The people ofMumbai showed thestrong resilience the peo-ple of London hadshown when faced withthe horror of the 7th July2005. The people ofMumbai went abouttheir business withcourage and resolve thatwas praised the worldover. The world waited for

India to react – but wiseheads prevailed. Whenthe Lok Sabha wasattacked in 2001, Indiantroops amassed on thePakistan border. Not thistime. India stared theterrorist threat down andwas stronger for it. Indiasought to work withPakistan to defeat terror,rather than take onPakistan. The worldknows that Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible forboth attacks, that theywere funded, organisedand directed fromPakistan – but Indiastayed wise and strong,and responded rationallyand diplomatically. Indialearnt lessons from theattacks, but did not givethe terrorists what theywanted – strife betweenIndia and Pakistan andcommunal strifebetween India’s commu-nities. From the time these

murderers landed atBhai BhandarkarMachchimar Colonynear Cuffe Parade at theend of their sea journey

from Keti Bandar nearKarachi until the gunsand bombs stopped threedays later, it was theworld under attack, notjust Mumbai – and wemourn the loss of ourbrothers and sisters.But Mumbai sur-

vived and now prospers.When I was in Mumbailast May, I visited CaféLeopold, as mosttourists would do. I wastold of the horror of thatmurderous day and wasshown the bullet holesthat still strafe the wallsand ceilings and tell theirown story about the hor-ror. I went and stood on

the concourse of theChhatrapati ShivajiTerminus and watchedthe world go about itsbusiness and was struckby the normality of thescene. People waiting forpeople, people waitingfor trains to Pandrel,Bandra and Kalyan. Abusy bustling station –officer workers going toand from work, peopleup from the countrysidefor a visit, a man in aManchester United shirtwho smiles as he passedby, people stopping at‘Coffee Day Express’, theNescafe vendingmachines or at the‘Refresh Food Plaza’ toeat or drink – all of it soutterly ordinary. I closedmy eyes and tried imag-ine the horror of the26th November – murderon the air and bombsand bullets everywhere.Terrorists strutting upand down platforms,throwing bombs andshooting at anyone theysaw. We have all seen theCCTV of Ajmal AmirKasab calmly taking aimand murdering at will. Icould not possibly imag-ine the enormity of thiscarnage as I looked upand down the platformsof CST and saw such anormal, busy railway sta-tion.As Mumbai remem-

bers, so do we. We mustdo all that we can totackle the scourge of ter-rorism and work closelywith India to ensure thatthere are no moreattacks like the 26thNovember or 7th July.We must remain unitedin our resolve and thedefence of our collectivehumanity.

Tony McNulty MP

Harrow East, Former

Home Office Minister

Remembering Mumbai –Remembering the 26th November

Discovery consists of seeing what everyone

else has seen and thinking what no-one else

has thought

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986)

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 20104

��

��

� ��

Please detach theform and send itwith your paymentor credit cardinstructions toaddress below

��

!��

��

�� Karma Yoga House12 Hoxton Market (Off Coronet Street)London N1 6HW

��

��E-mail: [email protected]

*Subscriptions paid will not be refunded*To Subscribe 5 ro 10 years please pay by cheque

UK EUROPE WORLD1 Year £25 £55 £70

2 Years £45 £100 £125*5 Years £110 £225 £300*10 Years £200 £450 £550

.+1,4-�$57#��9�3�)0!�.'0�0)9��$4��,1($�+5�.9$0�.6��8)0/�5$4�� 0++0$37�4��4�5��8)4�2��0)8�"2�!"0�.8+2��0)8�"2�!4'$37�*+0�'�&),4��&)4��4�!4�5$0%4$8�� .8�4�'4$8�'07� 9�� :� *�0�$4��+,4��%0%!$2��0.�$57#�*4+2�

Visit our website: www.abplgroup.com��

� 3(��%"14!16�3/��3(��!1#(�� 0��

VOICEFIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

�� Page -17

Page -19-21

��

��

� ��

Page -13

Page -30Health Watch

Page -18��

�!..6��/6,%

��

�!..6��/6,%�!.$��4").!��,)

�&1/.3��642(��!.%2(�(%$%+!1��4").!��,)��"!#+��2(/3/2(��/"/�!*)5!,!��!.!6��%1-!.3��((%$!!.$��!.')��!.%2(��/.+!1

Boyle says Mumbaidwarfed the statuette

-/1%�/.�0!'%��

Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seenso euphoric on Monday morning, as theyexpected a couple of Oscars. British Indians inthe UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township ofMumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almostthe entire Bollywood waited in expectation,glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebra-tions as one by one, their heroes, the actors ofthe British Indian film and the music maestro, AR Rahman bagged the top awards in the worldof entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won theOscar after having missed it almost five timesearlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on acleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directedby American director Megan Mylan, won theOscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar

��

��

I was brought up to understand whena girl marries she takes on her husbandsname and also the citizenships of herhusbands country. So when AntoniaMaino married Rajiv Gandhi she becameknown as Mrs Sonia Gandhi. She alsostarted wearing a sari but kept herChristian religion. Her religion allows thepope and vatican easy access to the mostpowerful person in India. Now anotherrich oxford educated girl Aung San SuuKyi who married a Michael Aris, a BritishCitizen chose not to adopt her husbandname Mrs Aung Aris nor take up Britishcitizenship, but if Gandhi's rule is appliedshe becomes Mrs Aris wife of MichaelAris and mother of Richard Aris and aBritish citizen.

So when Mrs Aris a British citizenwants to take over Mayannmar or BurmaI can have some sympathy with the gen-erals for it doesn't sound right as theBritish and Americans wouldn't haveallowed the same.

Jayesh A PatelWimbledon

Woman of power

I normally take a cursory glance atourlocal fortnightly magazine called "the-newham-mag". However, the issue for 12-26 November 2010 had an insert with asection titled "Crackdown on paan spit-ting" caught my eye.

For the benefit of those who comeshopping to Green Street from surround-ing areas, I would like to quote the fol-lowing paragraph from the "the-newham-mag":

"The council's street scene enforce-ment officers are clamping down on paanspitting, considering it a littering offence.Spit your paan on our streets and, ifcaught, you'll be handed an £80 FixedPenalty Notice fine."

I wish this was published in other lan-guages (e.g. Gujarati, Bengali and Urdu)rather than just in English.

Kiran MehtaVia Email

Crackdown on paanspitting

Your leader article (AV 20 Nov) isright that Government should do more tocombat corruption.

Anti-corruption Bills [Lok Ayuktaand Lok Pal equivalent to Ombudsman]have been laid before Parliament 8 timesover 40 years but have yet to become law.The Judiciary itself has been found to becorrupt. Freedom of Information Bill2001 has also not yet become law.

Corruption has been of three types.Public–office centred involving bribery,nepotism and misappropriation. Market-centred: maximising personal gain by dis-persing public benefits. And Public-inter-est-centred: filtering public benefitthrough various powerful social struc-tures, including family, kinship and clangroups and social affiliations.

One study [Vittal 2005] suggestedthat Rs 50 billion of the Rs 150 billionannual food grain subsidies was lostthrough corruption representing 31% offood grain and 36% of sugar.

Measures that should be taken arepreventive; punitive; transparency andpublic-private partnership programmesimilar to Seoul City’s Anti-CorruptionProgramme: Centre for GoodGovernance 2003: 10-11: deregulation;rotation of duties; zero tolerance; corrup-tion report; online procedures; jointinspection with citizen; elimination ofzone jurisdiction system; citizenOmbudsman system; direct dialogue andcreation of Transparency Index.

Nagindas KhajuriaVia Email

Corruption is India’sscourge

India is in tizzy with cascade of cor-ruption scandals. Corruption is systemic,pervading every area of life, but it is cor-ruption of the rich, to the tune of billionsof rupees hidden abroad, is inexcusable.Painfully, this loot is making the masseternal beggars, and abet corruption.

Incredibly, corruption is branded asnational sin, when 40% are below pover-ty line and 90% Indians are honest taxpayers.

Baba Ramdevji’s swabhiman mantrathat cannot generate any income, soundshollow to hungry poor folk and ridiculousto millionaires. Today, Swabhiman ismeasured as per capacity to be corrupt,donation to rich institutions abroad.

Corruption can reduce only if incomeof poor folks is raised generously to pro-tect family’s security. Create safety net oflife long welfare against unforeseen emer-gencies. Block price rise by dehumanisedtraders who might loot poor of windfallfrom government.

Award incentive payoffs to talented todeter them from becoming opportunistlooters.

Declare amnesty to lure return of lootto India. Invest recovered funds in gov-ernment’s high interest schemes andutilise interest for national progress.

Confiscate unethical wealth of sus-pected looters leaving them with ade-quate funds for vital sustenance.

Ramesh JhallaVia Email

India and its corruption

It is high time that India changed itspolicy against Pakistan with regards toKashmir.

India should tell the world thatPakistan must vacant Kashmir which isillegally occupied and that is the onlyissue for discussion. How dare canPakistan ask India for plebiscite inKashmir? Before this can be done shemust understand that the creation ofPakistan in itself was against the princi-ple of plebiscite. The majority of peopleof the sub continent never wanted todivide it into India and Pak.

In fact the great Gandhi almost gavehis life to fight againts this principle.However, on independence, the mahara-jah of Kashmir did opt for Indian rule andPakistan then illegally occupied a part ofthe Kashmir. One of the conditions of UNwas that Pak pull out its troops fromKashmir. But this never happened. Alsoone should not forget that the majority ofHindus and some peace loving Muslimshave left the valley for the terrorismexported to Kashmir by Pakistan.

Amrit LalVia Email

High time for Pakistan tolet go of Kashmir

I am delighted at the news that at lastSir Gulam Noon will be taking his well-deserved place in the House of Lords. Ithas been a long journey. I have knownGulambhai for many years as a supporterof many humanitarian causes and astaunch promoter of democratic valuesthrough his work with the Labour party.He has been articulate in promoting thetrue essence of his faith and reconcilingthis so seamlessly with his pride in GreatBritain and his motherland, India. I amsure he will continue to be a voice of wis-dom and reason at the heart of this coun-try’s polity.

Manoj LadwaChief ExecutiveMLS Chase LLP

Lord Gulam K Noon

The visit of British PM DavidCameron and US President BarackObama was greeted well by Indians anddelegates. Mr Obama was keenly awareof India's economic contributions to theworld. India's security council seat forveto power is under consideration Thesecurity partnership between two coun-tries will prove useful to face terrorism.US should not involve in Indo-Pakissues- especially in Kashmir.

Ramesh MoradabadiSouthall

US should not involve inKashmir issues

I am so happy that after so much ofspeculation and unfair judgement, finallySir Gulam Noon has been awarded apeerage in the House of Lords. Nothingcould be a better news than that! But Iwas thinking if other daily newspaperscan do investigative stories on the peerswhy can't Asian Voice?

I believe Asian Voice should find outhow much each Asian peer has claimedin the last and this financial year from theparliament. They are bound to answer AVunder the public information act. AlsoAsian Voice should find out how mucheach peer has donated for worthy causes.

I am sure while Baroness Uddin, LordPaul and Lord Bhatia have tarnished thereputation of Asians in the Parliament,there are many who have done outstand-ingly well for themselves and for ourcommunity without acting as a non domor claiming falsely!

Akhilesh MehtaVia Email

Find out more

People will know that I was away inOctober and November visiting friendsand relatives in Dar-es-Salaam andZanzibar in Tanzania. While I was away,I was afraid that I will miss my favouriteAV and GS. But never fear! If you cangain access to internet, you can log intoABPL's website and keep up to speedwith the happenings in UK and all overthe world. Of course, you may not be ableto try your hand at the two crosswordpuzzles!

On my return, the Diwali issue waswaiting for me and as always, it containsa lot of interesting and informative mate-rial. This should give me enough food forthought for the next week or so. I waspleasantly surprised to see that this timeround, more space has been devoted tothe English section. The Diwali issuecontains more articles and stories inEnglish than has been the case in previ-ous years. I hope this trend will continuein future.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

Food for Thought

Before independence, the nativeFijians were in a minority and free andfair elections were won by a politicalparty that mainly attracted votes from theIndian Fijians who were brought to theislands to work in the sugarcane planta-tions, as the natives were too easy goingor rather averse to hard work.

Unfortunately the colonial powerdeliberately kept Indian Fijians out ofpolice and army with the result that everydemocratically elected government wasoverthrown by the army who put in apuppet regime that mostly representedthe native Fijians.

Banning Fiji from CWG was a futilegesture as the main sport is rugby whereFiji is allowed to participate in everyevent, in the world cup. It would reallyhurt Fiji is not allowed to participate intheir national game they love and aregood at.

If such a blatant suppression ofhuman right was taking place inEuropean country, the politicians of thecalibre of Peter Haines would be up inarm, pitching up camps outside theirembassy, as they did to topple the fascistregime in South Africa. But some howthe rights of Asian is subservient to therest of the world. For me, charity beginsat home.

Bhupendra M GandhiVia Email

Double standard in sportapartheid

DisclaimerAsian Business Publications Ltd

(ABPL) is not in any way responsiblefor the goods and services rendered byits advertisers. The ABPL managementaccepts all advertisements in good

faith and it is entirely up to readers toverify advertisers’ products and servic-es, should they feel the need to do so.

YOUR VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 www.abplgroup.com 55

For O2 mobile customers. You can call up to 3 standard landlines in selected countries from the UK. See o2.co.uk/terms for full terms and list of available countries.

Text WORLD to 61002

3000 minutes to call abroadFrom your mobile. To 3 numbers. £10 a month

We’re better, connected

(that’s “good” in Hindi)


Kapil’s

KHICHADIby Kapil Dudakia - email: [email protected]

Rahul PM by 2014 ?

As each day goes by, the power, reachand scope of Rahul Gandhi increaseswith the support of his mother, SoniaGandhi. Gradually the young man ofIndian politics and heir apparent ofIndira Gandhi is quickly learning howvarious governmental departmentswork. Do not underestimate his increas-ing influence that is already evident onpolicy and practice.

At the same time PM ManmohanSingh, who has been a great stewardholding the fort, has however taken aserious blow to his credibility in the 2Gsaga. It is obvious to even the commonman that billions have been made byshady characters connected with Indianpolitics and international commerce. PMSingh had one solid attribute that keptthe wolves at bay that being his integri-ty and the persona of the softly spokenjust man. With the total shambles of theCommonwealth Games, and now the 2Gscenario; under his watch the countryhas lost more than USD30 Billion onthese two issues alone. Someone some-where is mighty rich now!

The BJP being the official oppositionparty has still not managed to get its acttogether (apart from Gujarat of course).There are still too many old, out oftouch, power hungry individuals whobelieve that the next election is there forthe taking. This is far from the truth andsuch lax attitude will give opportunity forCongress to rise up to the challenge andpresent a young energetic Gandhi whomay well connect better with both thecash rich middle class as well as theaspiring youth vote.

So the next election in India will beall about whether Rahul becomes theyoungest Prime Minister in its history, orif there will be a credible oppositionready in time to present a challenge. Iam not a betting man, but Rahul is sev-eral furlongs ahead coming to the lastbend.

The Luck of the Irish

Luck deserted the Irish this week withthe Taoiseach having lost not just theconfidence of the financial markets, butalso the nation. The ramification ofwhat has happened should not be takenlightly by anyone, especially us in GreatBritain. Yes it is true that we do dependon cross border trade to keep thingsmoving, but more importantly our banksare knee deep in the same quicksandthat has a grip on Irish banks. RBSalone has got more than £50 Billioninvested in Ireland, and if that does notbring tears to your eyes, collectivelyBritish financial institutions are in it tothe tune of some £140 Billion!

So first it was Greece and now it’sIreland. Many predict that Portugal willbe next. So let me also add that in myview the other countries to watch out forare: Japan, Canada, Spain and France,but don’t be too surprised if the likes ofItaly and Great Britain join this illustrious

gang also. The Euro is under attackgiven the very basis of its stability hasnow been breached by so many of itsown member states. We may not bepart of the Euro zone, or even have theEuro as our currency – but the ramifica-tions of what happens across the EnglishChannel and the Irish Sea has thecapacity to sink this flagging ship ofours.

The politicians will debate whetherwe will enter a double dip or not. Thatis the wrong question to ask. The reali-ty is that we are so low on the curve thatcoming out of the first recession will bethe same as being in the 2nd one. Theworld order as we know it is comingunder attack financially, territorially,energy wise, food security and wateravailability. Add to this war, famine andterrorism and you can see that countriesthat have enjoyed power over the pastseveral centuries are increasingly findingit difficult to reconcile their grotesqueexcesses. Things will get a lot worse,and for a longer time – before we seeany positive outturn.

Mr Ed

Ed Miliband is coming back from pater-nity leave to find his party in a bit of aninternal turmoil. You know he has theunion bosses on his side, but the parlia-mentary party is not exactly welcominghim back with open arms. He promisesto re-galvanise the party with a root andbranch review that will be on the samescale as that which took place whenNew Labour came into being. Greatwords, but for that Mr Ed needs one ortwo serious and challenging policychanges that will resonate with themasses. So let’s see if we can help inthis process.

How about changing the basis onwhich a Labour leader is elected by theParty. It should remove the unionstotally from the equation since whilst intheory they might be paying members,Labour lost the election because manymembers of these same unions did notvote for them. Basically the union boss-es might like Labour, but their member-ship appears to have a different view.The new policy could have 50% basedon a simple one member one vote whilstthe remaining 50% is decided by theParliamentary Labour Party. Take theunions out of the equation and you haveyou first serious change in how the pub-lic perceives the Party.

The rest frankly will be a lot of tin-kering, no doubt smoke and mirrors willbe in the tool kit of change – but thebottom line, if you cannot present aunited coherent opposition to a coalitionthat is increasingly coming under publicscrutiny, then how on earth can youclaim to be ready to take power again?

Au revoir

As it is often said, it’s not good byebut au revoir. Kapil’s Khichadi will takea rest for a while, but I’ll be back!

Two men were jailed forlife last week for the 'sick-eningly violent' murder ofa shopkeeper who wasbattered to death withwine bottles from hisshelves during a botchedrobbery.

Gurmail Singh, 63,was attacked for just a fewpounds, some sweets,alcohol and cigarettes dur-ing a raid at his shop inHuddersfield, WestYorkshire, in February.

Muawaz Khalid, 20,was told he must spend atleast 21 years in prison bya judge at Bradford CrownCourt. Nabeel Shafi, 18,who protested his inno-cence as he was led fromthe dock, was given a 20-year minimum term.

The court was told MrSingh died as a result of a'robbery gone wrong'.

He 'did not meeklyhand over his property, hishard-earned money' to agang of robbers who tar-geted his shop, the courtwas told.

The jury heard howmembers of the publiccame to Mr Singh's aid.One man trapped twomembers of the ganginside by holding the door

shut but they got out of aback door after desperateattempts to smash theirway out of the front, pros-ecutors said.

Both were tackled byother members of the pub-lic but managed to freethemselves and get away,the court was told.

The court heard theshopkeeper came toEngland from India in1963 and raised his familyin Huddersfield. Hebought the Cowcliffe shopabout five years ago.

In July, six monthsafter Mr Singh's death, hissons Bobby and Jas Hayrereopened the shop after afull refit.

After the trial, MrSingh's family revealed thePrince of Wales had writ-ten a letter to his widowexpressing his sympathy.

Gang member RehmanAfzal, 18, was sentencedto five years and fourmonths for his part in therobbery. Umare Aslam, 20,received a six-and-a-half-year sentence for robbery.

Shoaib Khan, 18,received an eight-monthsentence for assisting anoffender but will bereleased because of timealready served on remand.

Aslam, of ConistonAvenue, Dalton,Huddersfield; Khalid, ofBlackmoorfoot Road,

Huddersfield; Khan, ofCalton Street, Hillhouse,Huddersfield; Shafi, ofPark Hill, Bradley,Huddersfield; and Afzal,of Jacinth Court, Fartown,Huddersfield, all deniedmurder.

Aslam, Afzal and Khanwere cleared of murder.

Khalid, who has a con-viction for affray, andAslam were convicted ofrobbery while Khan wascleared of the charge.

Afzal and Shafi plead-ed guilty at an earlier hear-ing to rob Mr Singh.

Khan, who wasreleased from custody 20days before the robberyafter serving a sentencefor assault, admitted thecharge of assisting anoffender.

The court was toldShafi was 'no stranger torobbery' and was part of ateenage gang who carriedout street robberies.

Speaking after thecase, DetectiveSuperintendent DavePervin said: 'The peoplesentenced will have a longtime to reflect on whatthey have done in robbingand murdering Mr Singh.

'I would like to thankthe brave people who triedto prevent those responsi-ble from getting away fromthe scene of the crime.'

A woman who had sexwith two 15-year-oldpupils while working at aschool on Merseyside hasbeen jailed.

Hina Patel,pictured, wasemployed tosupervise disrup-tive pupils atBirkdale HighS c h o o l ,Southport, butinstead flirtedwith them,Liverpool CrownCourt heard.

The 37-year-old pleaded guiltyto two charges of abusingher position of trust bysexual misconduct.

Patel, of SandilandsGrove, Hightown, wasjailed for 16 months foreach count, to run concur-rently.

Martin Decker, prose-cutor, said Patel, a single

mother of two, met thetwo boys in February andexchanged mobile phonenumbers during one-to-one supervision.

Mr Deckersaid she begane x c h a n g i n gfriendly textm e s s a g e swhich pro-gressed to con-tent of a sexualnature withinfour days.

" A f t e rabout a weekshe invited theboys to her

house," he said.Both boys attended

her house at the sametime. After one of themwent to the toilet, Patelmet him on the stairs andled him into her bedroom,the court heard.

"In his police interviewthe boy said she started

touching him and kissinghim and this led to sexualintercourse," Mr Deckersaid.

"The boy was askedhow he felt about this andhe replied that it felt'weird'."

Patel left the secondboy in her home while shewent to work at her sec-ond job, behind the bar atFormby Hall Golf Club,but had sex with himwhen she returned later.

After he stayed thenight, Patel gave the boy￡5 to get a train home.

The incidents came tolight after the boy told afriend, who was laterarrested on suspicion ofburgling Patel's home.

The arrested boy toldYouth Justice officialsabout the relationship andPatel was subsequentlyarrested.

Patrick Williamson,

Southport school employee jailedfor having sex with pupils

defending, said his clientfelt "shame and remorse"for her actions.

He described her as agood mother and a hardworker who, after splittingup with her husband, wasdiagnosed with depres-sion by her GP.

Judge John Rogers saidhe accepted the defence'sargument that Patel'sbehaviour was "out of

character"."I have no hesitation

whatsoever in coming tothe conclusion that theseoffences were so seriousonly an immediate custo-dial sentence can be justi-fied," he added.

As well as the custodi-al sentence, Patel was alsomade subject to a SexualOffences PreventionOrder.

It bans her from work-ing with children underthe age of 16, being alonein the company of chil-dren under the age of 16and bans her from usingsocial networking sites tocontact children.

Patel was suspendedfrom the school when theallegations came to lightand has since beensacked.

Two jailed for life formurder of a shopkeeper

Muawaz Khalid, 20, (left) and Nabeel Shafi, 18

Gurmail Singh

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 7UK 7

��

��

��

��

��

��

��"��

#$#�(&%(�%'((� ��!��

��

www.incredibleindia.org

��

Taxi driver held over murder of newly-wed in South AfricaA third man appeared incourt on last Monday in afurther twist in the case ofAnni Dewani, 28, a Swedishnational, who was killedafter gunmen hijacked thecar she and her British hus-band, Shrien, were travel-ling in. The taxi driver, ZolaTonga, 31, appeared atWynberg Regional Court inCape Town alongsideMzwamadoda Qwabe, 26,to face charges of murderand hijacking. Significantly,prosecutor Rodney de Kocktold the court that Mr Tongawill enter into a "plea bar-gain" with the state, indicat-ing he is likely to provideinformation in return for amore lenient sentence. Thecase has been the subject ofspeculation after it wasrevealed that the couple hadopted to drive through theGugulethu township on thenight they were attackedand police sources suggest-ed the killing was more thana "random attack".

The couple, fromWestbury-on-Trym, Bristol,had been married for a fort-night, when they were heldat gunpoint on the night of13 November.

On the unfair andunjust speculation aboutAnni's husband Shrien’sinvolvement in the murder,Shrien Dewani, told a dailymedia how he pleaded withthe men to spare his wifeand him, offering them £500and a ring from his wife’s

Tribute to Anni ShrienDewani (Hindocha)

By Hasmukh Velji ShahAdvisory BoardNational Hindu StudentsForum

In the early morning ofSunday, 14th Nov 2010,as I was informed aboutthe death of Anni ShrienDewani, I was shocked.My children also calledcrying about her death.Only 2 weeks ago all

the young people abovehad attended Anni’s &Shrien’s wedding inMumbai, which theydescribed as simply outof this world. I was supposed to

have been at the weddingbut could not attend dueto reasons beyond mycontrol.Shrien is not only a

close family friend but Iknow him since hisactive Hindu Studentdays in the University.Anni’s loss to him isimmeasurable and hastraumatised him much.This was visible at theShraddhanjali held inAnni’s honour lastSunday at ShreeSwaminarayan Mandirin Stanmore. Shrien’sheart is broken and noone can replace hisbeloved Anni. Equally

the loss of Anni toDewani family isimmense. However herloss to her parents,Vindobhai and NilambenHindocha is a millionfold more. Are there anywords that can consolethem? Only our prayerscan help heal Shrien’s,the Dewani & Hindochafamilies’ hearts andminds.The Prarthna Sabha

was attended by severalhundreds of mournersand the outpouring ofgrief was a true mark ofrespects to Anni fromone and all. I have notseen such deep feelingsof pain in our Samajsince the death ofPrincess Diana. Manycommunity leaders andfriends of both the fami-lies paid their lastrespects to Anni.We pray to Param

Pita Bhagwan ShreeParbrahma to grant eter-nal Sadgati to the Atmaof dear Anni ShrienDewani (Hindocha) andgive her abode at HisLotus Feet. We also prayto Him to grant strengthto Shrien and both thefamilies to bear thisimmeasurable loss.

(abridged version)

By Nishma Gosrani

A celebration of AnniDewani's life, a privateHindu cremation and aprathna 'prayer vigil'attended by thousandstook place this weekend.Anni’s untimely depar-ture has touched thehearts of millions of peo-ple worldwide and duringher life time she impactedso positively on her fami-ly and friends. The bondbetween the Hindochaand Dewani families wascemented together longago. Now the strength ofthat attachment is serv-ing to help both familiescope with this tragedy.

In celebration of herlife over 600 friends,cousins and relativesgathered on Fridayevening to hear devotion-

al bhajans and honourAnni in exactly the wayshe had described. AsPreyen Dewani recalled'Several months ago wehad attended a PratnaSabha. On the way backin the car, Anni’s wordswere “This was such asad and impersonal wayto remember someone,when I go I want peopleto smile and eat Pizza,Chips and ice-cream”The Dewani and

Hindocha families thankyou all for your heartfeltsupport. The family nowneed privacy to grieve theloss of their belovedAnni. May Anni's soulrest in eternal peace.

Thousands attend Prayer Vigil for Anni Shrien Dewani

Anni Dewani

finger to let them go.Mr Dewani told The

Sun newspaper: “I searchedhigh and low for my perfectpartner. Anni was the one …why would I want to killher?

“People who sug-gest this could nothave seen us togeth-er. Saying I wassomehow involveddefies logic.”

Vinod Hindocha,Anni's father told adaily news paper,“The people who didthis to my daughterare criminals whoneed to be caughtand put behind bars.

As a family, we want justiceto be done, and we feel theSouth African police shouldfocus on the truth and notbe swayed by the touristagenda.”

As the case wasadjourned to next Mondayfor further investigations, apolice spokesman said thatMr Tonga's legal team is con-sulting the director of publicprosecutions in WesternCape about a possible pleaagreement. He added:"Detectives are in contactwith Mr Dewani and at thisstage they did not give anyindication when he will beback in Cape Town."

Another person, 26-year-old Xolile Mmgeni, isdue back in court onThursday to face charges ofmurder and robbery withaggravating circumstances.

Shrien and Anni Dewani

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 20108 www.abplgroup.com

News in BriefTrade links further strengthenedbetween India and the UK Trusted man exposed as liar

A Birmingham pastor, DavidMorrison, pictured, who illegallyhelped foreigners desperate to stay inBritain has been named and shamedas a liar and a conman by a localnewspaper. Morrison, 41, fromErdington, provided false bank state-ments and letters to immigration tri-bunals deciding the fate of thoserequesting visas or applicants whose requests to stayin the UK had been rejected. He also acted as a spon-sor of applicants in other cases and forged a bankstatement which claimed to show he had more than£150,000 in his account when he actually owed theHSBC £900. Morrison, a pastor at the Word LifeCentre in Newtown, has pleaded guilty, is now on bailand is due to be sentenced at Birmingham CrownCourt on January 10.

Keeping in good companyJewish Care, the social care charity, has launched

a campaign to boost levels of ‘intergenerational con-nection’. An Ipsos Mori poll commissioned by thecharity found that 53 percent of respondents had notspent quality time in the company of anybody overthe age of 70 in the past six months or more.

I stay, you pay The leader of Birmingham City Council, Mike

Whitby, has come under attack after it emerged thathe hired out – even though he lives less than ten milesaway - a £2,000 suite at the city’s luxury Hyatt Hotelat taxpayers’ expense during the Tory Party confer-ence in October. He insists the room was needed tohold meetings with David Cameron and cabinet min-isters.

Diabetes testDiabetes UK is urging people to go online to take

the free risk score test at www.diabetes.org.uk/RiskScore. The charity estimates that 90,000 peoplein the West Midlands are unaware that they have Type2 diabetes. The main risk factor is being overweight.

Mayor praises young HindusPassers-by in

Wellingborough’sMarket Squarestopped to watchyoung Hindusrecite prayersand sing hymns,aided by the localHindu priest, aspart of the annu-al Diwali celebra-tions. Also inattendance wereWellingboroughMayor Cllr LoraLawman, PeterBone MP, teachers and parents. The vibrant andcolourful event last month was jointly organised byWellingborough District Hindu Association andBAPS Swaminarayan Temple, supported by the bor-ough council. Of the borough’s 36 councillors, twoare Hindu – Shashi Dholakia (Lab) and BhupendraPatel (Con).

Drug pair nabbedA father and son from Birmingham have been

charged with importing Class A drugs after heroinworth more than £5 million was seized by the UKBorder Agency. Gulab Mohammed, 50, and KhalidMohammed, 28, of Hugh Road, Small Heath,appeared at Telford Magistrates’ last Monday andwere remanded in custody. The estimated 80kg ofheroin is the biggest detection of the Class A drug inthe UK this year.

The aim of this all-dayconference was to pro-mote bilateral trade withsmall-to-medium-sizeenterprise (SME) in themanufacturing sector.

Attended by around200 delegates, three-quar-ters of whom were menand half of whom werefrom India, the event washeld at BirminghamCouncil House onThursday a fortnight ago.The morning sessionbegan with breakfast fol-lowed by speeches. Theafternoon saw presenta-tions and five sectoralworkshops – whichincluded advanced engi-neering, life sciences,green technologies andthe SME sector in India -feedback from which wasdiscussed in a follow-upsession. Following lunch,delegates were given theopportunity to networkduring a ‘meet the buyer-seller’ session.

Speakers includedUday Dholakia,Chairman of the Indo-British Trade Council;Anil Verma, Minister forEconomics at the IndianEmbassy; Nalin Surie,High Commissioner ofIndia; Councillor MikeWhitby, Leader,Birmingham CityCouncil, C Gururaj Rao,Consul General of Indiain Birmingham andProfessor S Banerjeefrom WarwickManufacturing Group,who stood in for col-league Lord KumarBhattacharyya. RichardHeald, CEO of UK-IndiaBusiness Council was dueto speak but “pulled outafter accepting”.

Speakers were introducedby Ian Taylor,Commercial Director atMarketing Birmingham.

Mark Prisk MP,Enterprise Minister, wasalso unable to attend buthad sent a letter to MrDholakia, who read it outin full. Mr Surie, who

managed to smile for thecamera, said: “India andthe UK agreed, duringPrime Minister DavidCameron’s recent visit toIndia, to be ambitious inseeking to substantiallyincrease trade and signifi-cantly increase invest-ment between the UKand India.” Mr Surie, inhis monotonous tone,and with the aid of notes,said he was “confident”that small businessesfrom both nations willbenefit from the advancedtechnologies expertisethat trade can offer. Whatwould’ve shone throughbetter, perhaps, is if MrSurie had highlighted tar-gets, trade aims andobjectives from last yearand since, what actionshave been taken, wherewe’re at now and nextsteps. More than 2,000small and medium-sizedmanufacturers already

either trade or invest inIndia, or are very positiveto do so and see it as a‘viable growth market’,according to recent inde-pendent research by theIndian High Commission.

Speaking off-the-cuff,Councillor Whitby spokewith pride and passion,describing India andBirmingham as “naturalfriends”. He said: “I’mproud to host this confer-ence. It gives me thechance to put substance

on the words of PrimeMinister DavidCameron,” adding,“tomorrow’s world iscompetitive. We musttrade together.” CllrWhitby said that the UKshould be India’s partnerof choice, “not simply dueto the economic sense itmakes, but because of theshared rich cultural andsocial history of our twonations, perhaps best rep-resented in the make-upof the city ofBirmingham.” CouncillorWhitby and Mr Surie,(pictured, centre) wereboth presented withshawls as a goodwill ges-ture.

Questions asked ofthe panel by delegatesduring a Q & A sessionincluded one on how theIndia-UK visa and widerimmigration processmight be simplified tohelp those wishing to go

on year-long sabbaticals,or exchanges. But AnilVerma said this was “nota real problem” and thatthe business case was“well laid out and bothgovernments realise this.”Another about the poten-tial of setting up a one-stop-shop-style portal, asopposed to the currentraft, to facilitate ‘tradenuptials’, or direct linksbetween Indian andBritish firms. Several del-egates asked about thepossibility of direct flightsfrom Birmingham toIndia. Mr Whitby said hewas doing “everythingpossible” and applaudedleading local photogra-pher and volunteer JasSansi for his efforts incollecting 25,000 signa-tures last year for thisvery cause. “We have anemotional link, a culturallink,” laughed Mr Whitby,“our minds can fly toIndia but we need thisdream to come true.” Hesaid this was an econom-ic challenge, “it is essen-tial that together welobby and lobby hard.”Paul Kehoe, CEO ofBirmingham Airport, whowas also present, said healso was doing his levelbest to campaign andannounced that his col-leagues were this weekdue to talk to Air Indiaand Jet Airways. Earlierthis month Mr Dholakiawas officially appointedbrand ambassador forAsian markets byBirmingham Airport.

The event, hosted inconjunction with theIndian High Commission,coincided with India cele-brating its 60 years ofbeing a republic this year,also with British PremierDavid Cameron’s returnleg of his summer trademission to India.

A major UK-India trade conference in Birminghamhas won the local authority praise, a rare credit, fromdelegates for showing commitment to DavidCameron’s vow to strengthen relations between thetwo countries.

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or [email protected] Katwa

Midland VoiceP

ho

to:

Ja

s S

an

si

Who are you calling poor?A major new diversity

research hub, the Aston Centrefor Interdisciplinary Researchinto Language and Diversity, orInterLanD, which aims toexplore issues surrounding lan-guage and diversity was official-ly launched last Thursday atAston University, Birmingham.Credit, in particular, to ProfessorGargi Bhattacharyya, pictured,for making this happen. The all-day conference, heldto mark the launch, saw presentations from sectorexperts. Among these, ‘Who are you calling Poor?Ethnicity, neighbourhood and politics’, highlightedfindings from grass-root research. For example, 27 percent of Birmingham’s population live in the 10 mostdeprived wards in the city, 50 per cent of the city’sBME population live in these wards.

Foreign coins donated to charityThe coffers of St Mary’s Hospice in

Birmingham have been given a boost, thanksto Dr VP Narayan Rao, pictured, president ofthe Balaji Temple in Oldbury, who has donatedthirty bags of foreign coins. The temple hadaccumulated the coins from visitors fromaround the world and, due to the huge variation in cur-rency, have been unable to convert the coins until now.With the help of currency converter specialists, StMary’s Hospice will now be able to put the coins tomuch use.

Crash kills siblingsTwo Midland brothers died and their two friends

remain in a critical condition following a horrific caraccident in Walsall last Tuesday night. Driver Asif Javed,23, was confirmed dead at the scene. His brother,Naveed, 18, died later in hospital. Crash investigatorssaid the Subaru hit two parked cars.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 9


By Rupanjana Dutta

Cllr Navin Shah AM,London Assembly Memberfor Brent and Harrow,Labour party and AsianVoice and GujaratSamachar celebratedDiwali on 17th Novemberat the City Hall on theQueen's walk near TowerBridge. Though it was avery cold, windy and a wetevening outside, thewarmth and the hospitalityof the hosts made it anextremely cherishedevening. The spectacularview of London skyline

from the 9th floor was anadded to the charm. Theevening was aimed to raisefunds for HarrowAssociation of DisabledPeople and Pakistan FloodRelief Appeal. The eveningwas attended by over 200guests from different race,community and back-grounds. It also includedpeople like Mr MuradQureshi, GLA member,Tony McNulty MP, Cllr HSingh, Mayor of Brent andthe creme de la creme of thesociety.

Sponsored by Chak 89,HDFC, The Regency Club,Citibank NRI Business andRational FX, the eveningstarted with a welcome bythe moderator for theevening- Dr Ananda Gupta,from Federation for IndianArts UK. After deep light-ing by Cllr Navin Shah, CllrAsad Omar, His WorshipfulMayor of Harrow, CllrRekhaben Shah, CB Pateland Dr Gurdeep Gujral,Director, Gujral, and open-ing prayer recital anddance, Cllr Navin Shah AMwelcomed the audiencewith a short and crisp mes-sage. He said, "I am delight-ed to welcome Brent andHarrow's CommunityLeaders and businesses to

celebrate the Diwali. Addedvalue to the occasion thisyear is fundraising for twovery worthy causes, namelyHarrow Association ofDisabled People andPakistan Flood ReliefAppeal.I take this opportunity

to express my appreciationto the sponsors and theFederation of Indian ArtsUK. A special thanks to LGeorge (Asian Voice &Gujarat Samachar), DrAnanda Gupta and SophieKimber for their drive tomake this event a success."After Cllr Shah's

speech, former Mayor ofLondon, Ken Livingstonespoke about London and itsdiversity. He was the firstMayor from the Labourparty who started a Diwaliat the City Hall, during hisoffice term. He said,"London's greatest strengthis its diversity and thevibrancy provided by themulticultural, multifaithcommunity that London is.Navin's Diwali reception atthe City Hall was a true tes-timony of the trmandouscontribution made by theHindu Community inLondon and the UK. Thevalues of peace, harmonyand non-violence enshrinedin Hindu religion areimportant to all of us - notjust Hindus. I was pleasedto be part of the Diwali cel-ebrations with the commu-nity leaders and stakehold-ers from Brent and Harrowand fund raising for bothHarrow Association ofDisabled People andHarrow Mayor's Appeal forPakistan Flood victimswhich added another dime-

sion to the celebrations." Next invited on the

podium was Mr JitendraKumar of the Indian HighCommission who spoke

about the Indians and theimportance of the theme ofDiwali. He emphasised thatdeep or diyas erased dark-ness from our lives throughtheir light. In the same con-text he explained about the

contribution of the Indiansin Britain and the rate oftheir growing prosperi-ty. The speeches were

given a short break andthe artists of IndianArts UK were invited toperform yet anotherbrilliant show. Aftertheir performance themicrophone was takenby our Publisher andEditor Mr C B Patel. Healso talked about thediversity of Britain andthe growing influenceBritish Indians in all thefields. Before a delicious buffet

dinner was served by Chak89, the Harrow associationof Disabled People made asmall presentation. HAD isa user led organisation, setup, and led by disabled peo-ple for disabled people. Itsaim is to create a worldwhere disabled people haveequality as a right, not aprivilege. To do this HADcarries out awareness rais-ing and campaigning activi-ties, and provides a range of

services. All their servicesand activities aim toincrease the independenceand choices available todisabled people. HAD is apan impairment organisa-tion which means it workswith anyone with any kindof disability. After dinner, everybody

gathered to hear about thethe Pakistan Flood ReliefAppeal followed by somemore entertaining musicand dance. The PakistanFlood Relief Appeal wasHis Worshipful Mayor ofHarrow Cllr Asad Omar'sinitiative and was estab-lished in August with aclear goal in mind. This wasto make a direct, long termdifference in the Kohistandistrict of Pakistam helpingthose suffering as a result of

the floods. So far ￡37,773has been raised. The nextfundraising event is on the4th December 2010(www.harrowfloodappeal.org.uk).Before the evening drew

to a close Rajesh Agrawalof Rational FX spoke aboutsafe driving and followed bythe vote of thanks, given byNeil Shah, son of CllrNavin Shah.

photo courtesy: Raj Bakrania

Diwali celebrated at theCity Hall with great success

Rajesh Agrawal, Chairmanand CEO RationalFX

CB Patel andFrank Khalid, Chak89

Jitendra Kumar from IndianHigh Commission

Cllr Rekha Shah, Cllr Navin Shah, Dr Gujral, Cllr Asad Omar and CB Patel lighting the lamp

Navin Sharma, The Regency Club, Ken Livingstone, TonyMcNulty, MP, CB Patel with others

Dr Hardeep Gujral, Cllr Asad Omar, Dr Dak Patel, Cllr H Singh, CB Patel, Cllr Navin Shah,Cllr Rekha Shah and others

At the recent Diwalifunction at held atNumber 10 DowningStreet, His GraceSrutidharma Das thePresident ofBhaktivedanta ManorHare Krishna Temple,presented a copy of theBhagavad Gita, India'sbook of spiritual wisdom,to the Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.On receiving the

Bhagavad Gita the PrimeMinister said, “I remem-

bercoming to BhaktivedantaManor and I enjoyed myvisit immensely. Thankyou, I shall keep thisBhagavad Gita in 10Downing Street.”

A compromise deal onthe government’s flag-ship immigration cap pol-icy was due to be signedoff by the cabinet, afterVince Cable agreed thatit struck the right balancebetween addressingthe worries of thepublic and safe-guarding the inter-ests of business.The business

secretary’s fearsabout the economicimpact of the caphave been eased byDavid Cameron’s prom-ise to exempt many“intra-company trans-fers”, which allow multi-nationals to bring staff infrom overseas offices.Theresa May, home

secretary, was still work-ing on the finalannouncement onMonday night, whichwas due to be unveiled toparliament on Tuesday.But people involved inthe talks said theyexpected companieswould be free to transferstaff from overseas if theyearn more than £40,000 ayear.It is expected that

those earning less than￡24,000 a year will bebanned from the transferroute, as the governmentseeks to stem the flow ofIndian IT workers enter-ing the country by thismeans. Those earning£24,000-£40,000 mayonly be allowed into theUK for a year. Ms May is thought to

have accepted many ofthe recommendations

made last week by theindependent MigrationAdvisory Committee onhow to implement thecap, including liftingrequired earnings andeducational standards

across most categories.David Metcalf, head

of the committee, recom-mended that the limit onskilled and highly skillednon-EU workers be set at43,700 next year, downfrom 50,000 in 2009.However, peopleinvolved in the talks saidthe final figure would bedifferent because thecommittee’s calculationdid not take into accountMr Cameron’s exemptionfor transfers and otherfactors.Ms May will also

announce a consultationperiod ahead of imple-menting deep cuts to thenumber of foreign visasissued to non-EU stu-dents each year. TheHome Office says theroute is abused by peoplelooking to come toBritain to work. But min-isters such as Mr Cableand David Willetts, uni-versity minister, want tomake sure the restric-tions do not damagelegitimate universities orhinder bright students.

Margaret Hodge,Member ofParliament forBarking, was theChief Guest forthe opening of anewly refur-bished TexacoForecourt PetrolStation on Friday(5th November 2010).The owners of

Kennford Limited havespent over £750,000 onthe redevelopment of thesite and employ 20 localstaff from Barking &Dagenham.The newly developed

site has has also installednew LPG tanks in col-

laboration with Autogas.The fully fitted out

brand new Spar Shopserves full range of gro-ceries, fresh fruit andvegetables and “to go”hot lunch snacks byCuisine De’France. A 24Hour Premises Licensehas also been granted bythe local authority.

The Prime Minister receivesthe Bhagavad Gita

Immigration cap deal‘strikes right balance’

Margaret Hodge inauguratesTexaco Forecourt Petrol station

Vince Cable, MP Theresa May, MP


Euducation/Council Voice By Kartik S Raval

<%2161)1,- 47)3*:7)(+47$ # 8 :(-47$ ! >353.63+

#!?7*$37 ?0 #I E4.<=?8< G.<5/<DC?224-DCGI !E@F450?>0+ B291:5? A:?:+!&H"6 H"H#!(%95;4,143:/1945)>47

4 ")+&"/ *32/* .(%/3$#/%) +)$'+%/0 1*(#,+)-

###"%'&+$%*'(",')

<%5/(*1'3;<9

?,//35)1,--,& 1-"

:)$/1*2 ;<9 )+,(*3+ *(1)*= 7-7+07/1*= *7+33* 7-4 )(-15*

��1..(*(��1$'��$4419��,''.(5(:��

�+,5�),4/�,5�4(*7.$6('�%;�6+(��1.,&,6145��(*7.$6,10� 76+14,6;

!(�&$0�52($-�$0'�$55,56�,0��-%�*�,$��$( $��-(%��$��* -��'$&��( ��*!)&!�

��

�+$.,0,��+$4*$8$�� 105��056��:�,5�$�37$.,),('$0'�(:2(4,(0&('��1.,&,614�9+1�52(&,$.,5(5�,0�24,8$6(��//,*4$6,10��$9��+$.,0,�%(.,(8(5�,0�2418,',0*�$�.(*$.5(48,&(�6+$6�,5�+10(56�$0'�64$052$4(06�5+(�%(.,(8(5�+-��!++��)'!+�.$,#��&$!(,�+�,$+"��,$)(�

�*!!��'$(-,!��)(+-&,�,$)(

�!&��,0)1�$0'(4510415551.,&,6145�&1/999�$0'(4510415551.,&,6145�&1/

0'(4510��155��1.,&,6145�&$0�1))(4�$55,56$0&(�,0�6+(�)1..19,0*�$4($5�1)��//,*4$6,10��$9�

� �� #�� "�� "�� !�� "�� "��

� �� "��,(4��<��,*+.;�5-,..('�914-(45��064(24(0(745��08(56145��156��67';�!14-�,(4��<��(0(4$.��,0,56(4�1)��(.,*,10��214652(4510��064$��1/2$0;��4$05)(4�,(4��<��67'(06� ,5$5��(:6(05,10�$22.,&$6,105��59,6&+,0*

� ��"��

Following the visit ofDavid Willetts, UK minis-ter for Universities andSciences, India and theUK have agreed to worktowards recognising eachother's professionaldegrees in various aca-demic areas and also sig-nificantly increase theflow of students from theUK to India as there areonly 500 students goingfrom Britain to India topursue higher educationon the contrast of 40,000Indian students comingto the UK.The UK minister who

attended the FICCI high-er education summit saidthat Indian institutionsare good in mathematicsand this will be of greatinterest to the UK stu-dents. Moreover, Indiaand UK agreed on threedifferent agendas likeskill development, leader-ship programme in sec-ondary school and highereducation sector, partner-ship of UK varsities with

proposed innovation uni-versities of India.On the other hand

Construction andHospitality are the twoareas where Indianschools will learn fromUK. The UK academicinstitutes will also helpdeveloping leadershipamong school adminis-trators including princi-pals. "Skill developmentand leadership pro-gramme will be of greathelp as we realise thatemployability of studentsmust grow. The leader-ship programme will helpreduce the shortage ofquality teachers in India,"claimed Kapil Sibal,Minister of HumanResource Development. David Willetts said

UK higher educationinstitutes would like tohave relationship withIndian varsities in themodel of the ErasmusMundus AcademicCooperation programme.Under this scheme sever-

al universities in Europerecognise each other'sdegrees and credit trans-fers, thus help the hugestudent mobility. At theconference David Willettssaid “Indian industriesare doing very well andwe want our students toget exposed to it.Industry exposure andstudying at each othersuniversities will be ofgreat use.”In some areas Indian

degrees are lengthier thanthe UK degrees while in afew its other way aroundand hence Ministers fromboth countries agreed toreach a common point totake up a similar pattern.Though the recognitionof professional qualifica-tion is targeted to beextended to almost all theacademic areas, profes-sional degrees in engi-neering and managementare the initial areas whereboth countries will workfor mutual recognition bythe next academic year.

Number of students com-ing to the UK to pursuehigher education fromoutside the EuropeanUnion is likely to be cutby half if ministers are tomeet their promise toreduce net immigration.

Global recession, econom-ic meltdown, sky-scrap-ping inflation rates andmost importantlyGovernment implyingsevere cuts in public jobshave all added to the mis-ery of the youth who fin-ish their academic tenureand looking to enter thework force. Thus, as thegovernment's priority isclear cost-cutting, stu-dents are aiming for uni-versities that can offerthem highest gurantee ofjobs after they graduate.In the last academic

year the recession left onein 10 university leaversout of work and nearly 70graduates were vying forevery job going on aver-age. This made the rate ofgraduate unemploymentreach a 17 year high. Asthe times are just gettingtougher with more cutsimplied recently, youthunemployment is likely toremain high making com-petition for places furtherstiff and it is believed onein five graduates are leftwithout a job this year.The data released by

Higher EducationStatistics Agency(HESA) has highlightedthe top and bottomUniversities in the UKin terms of employment

rate. University ofSurrey topped the tabeas it recorded anemployment rate of96.9pc, with just 30 ofits 935 graduates leftout of work last year.

While at the bottomLondon South BankUniversity had anemployment rate of only74.4 pc as one in four ofits students were leftwithout work.

India-UK linked withrecognition of each other'sprofessional qualifications

Immigration cuts to affectNon-EU students

Cuts to force youth to prioritiseuniversity's employment rate

According to various coun-cils across the capital, clos-er working arrangementsbetween council servicesand the health service willbe vital in meetingLondon’s health and socialcare needs.The warning comes fol-

lowing the publication ofresearch by LG Futuresinto social care costs inLondon which reveals thatLondon’s local authoritiesspend about £2.3 billion toprovide care services.But because of a pre-

dicted rise in client num-bers, the characteristics ofLondon’s population andthe high costs of deliveringservices in the capital, thisexpenditure is predicted torise by as much as 20 per-cent which comes down to£460 million by 2016/17.London spends 46 per

cent per head more thanthe national average on car-ing for older people and ahigher proportion ofLondon’s older peoplerequire care than thenational average.

Theresa May, the HomeSecretary is reviewing thecuts pattern and willannounce the cuts innumber of students nextweek.She has promised that

degree-level courses willnot be affected, therestrictions will aim atstudents seeking to studybasic courses or Englishlanguage. Apparentlyabout 163,000 students

from outside the EUcome to the UK for high-er education and if thecuts are implied the wayit is most likely to be, thecoming year will see nomore than 87,000 Non-EU students.Mrs May will be pub-

lishing a consultationpaper next week along-side the Government'sdecision on the cap forskilled migrant workers.

London Councilsurge a better

coordination withHealth department

High marketperformance

Ewan Thompson, head ofemerging market equities atNeptune, says: “India remains inrobust health. Its economy iscurrently growing at 8.8 per centyear on year and this economicstrength has translated into con-vincing market performance,with India outperforming bothits developed and developingmarket peers in the year todate.”Teera Chanpongsang, man-

ager of Fidelity India Focus

Fund, adds: “Investor confi-dence is high because a stablegovernment has steered theeconomy out of the global reces-sion relatively unscathed. Nowit continues to push forwardcrucial economic reforms in abroad range of areas.”Mark Atherton again: “One

thing that has held India backfor many years was its poorinfrastructure. Its roads, rail-ways,telephone system andpower stations were inferior tothose of its rival, China. But theIndian Government has nowembarked on a huge programme

of infrastructurespending.” PinakinPatel, of JP Morgan,the fund manager,says, “ Between1950 and 2000 thecountry built 6,800miles of roads eachyear. Since 2000 ithas built 6,800miles of roads eachday.”Returning to his

theme, Mr Athertonwrites: “In the fiveyears to 2012, Indiais planning to spend£377 billion oni n f r a s t r u c t u r e ,which will includethe building ofports, power sta-tions, railways androads. In the follow-ing five years to2017, theGovernment isplanning to doublethis spending to£753 billion.This isa massive leap for-ward.”Mr Atherton

pointed out to “Themobile phoneindustry [as] anoth-er Indian successstory. It is signingup more than 10million subscribersevery month – morethan any othercountry in theworld – and there isstill plenty of scopefor future growth.”Indeed, there is.


Scrutator’s“A few bumps, but India's on the right road to growth” was thetitle of Mark Atherton's extensive report in the Money sectionof The Times (November 23). He writes: “It was no accidentthat David Cameron chose to visit India at an early stage of hispremiership. No accident, either, that President Obama fol-lowed him only a couple of months later. India is a growingeconomic superpower that has announced its arrival on theworld scene....The Indian stock market has given investors ahighly profitable, if fairly bumpy, ride in recent years. BetweenJune 2004 and January 2008 the market went up fivefold. Itthen lost two thirds of its value over the next 14 months,before bouncing back by 167 per cent from its low point inMarch 2009.

“So what has India got going for it? A key element is demo-graphics. India has a young population - much more so thanthe developed West, and considerably more so than its rivalAsian economic superpower, China.....This generation willswell the ranks of India's middle class, which already totalssome 200 million.....and which is forecast to grow to 500 mil-lion by 2015. As wealth trickles down to the rural and tradi-tionally poorer sections of society, more people will be acquir-ing credit cards, eating out and spending money on healthcare,travel and luxuries. India has weathered the global down-turnbetter than many countries, helped by the fact that 70 per centof its economy is based on domestic consumption.”

India has nothing to fear exceptfear itself.

India, China growth

A recent StanChart report saysemerging economies will be thedrivers of global growth in thecoming decades. Living stan-dards in China and Indis willgrow tenfold during this period.China is likely to grow by 6.9 percent during the next two

decades, with India registeringan average of 9.3 per centgrowth over the same period. By2030, China will overtake theUS as the world's largest econo-my, with India in third spot afterthe US. James Lamont, of the

Financial Times (November 18),quoted India's cautious ReserveBank Governor DuvvuriSubbarao as saying the countryneeded far more foreign directinvestment if the Indian govern-ment's ambitious goal of 10 percent annual GDP growth was toto be realised. India needed toincrease its quantum of invest-ment to the level of China's.However, investment bankssuch as Nomura and JP Morgan“predict India's domestic con-sumption boom can propel itsgrowth rate past China's.” RobSubbaraman, chief economist atNomura, said “India stood astrong chance of surpass-ing China's growth asBeijing rebalanced itseconomy from investmentgrowth to growth support-ed by local consumerdemand.”Adrian Mower, JP

Morgan's chief Asianstrategist agreed that Indiahad a real “real possibility”of growing faster thanChina. “When you look at

risk-adjusted growth, Indiais looking pretty attractivecompared to China,” saidMr Subbaraman. “It'smuch more difficult for China tosustain growth rates.” We shallsee soon enough.

Kaveri enginetest success

According to Zeenews.com(November 4), India's indige-nous aircraft engine, Kaveri, hadbeen successfully flight tested atMoscow's Gromov FlightResearch Institute. The test was

conducted at the Institute'sFlying Test Bed, with the enginerunning right from take-off tolanding, flying for one hour to analtitude of 6,000 metres Theengine helped the IL-76 aircrafttest bed at speeds of 0.6 mach inits maiden flight. India's Defence Research &

Development Organisation(DRDO) chief controller(Aeronautics and ServicesIntegration) was present duringthe Kaveri test. The Kaveri is

being developed for India's fight-er aircraft at the Gas TurbineResearch Establishment (GTRE)in Bangalore with the active par-ticipation of several DRDO labs,academic institutions and indus-try partners.During its development

phase, the Kaveri engine hassuccessfully registered various oflevels of progress including com-ponent testing, safety tests,ground-based engine tests, andendurance tests, both at GTREas well as test bed facilitiesabroad.

Indo-UK spacecooperation

The Hindu carried a `Press Trustof India (PTI) report (November15) which told of a visit toIndia's Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) centre in

Bangalore by David Willitts,Britain's Minister forUniversities and Science, wherehe told reporters: “We are look-ing forward to closer coopera-tion with India.” This followedthe visit of British PrimeMinister David Cameron toIndia in July during which thetwo countries decided to taketheir collaboration in space to ahigher level. As a first step towards this

goal, Mr Willetts invited India topartner with the UK in its

TechDemoSat programme, anindustry-led technology demon-stration satellite which aims toprovide a low-Earth orbit testbed to demonstrate the technicaland commercial viability of thisinnovative space technology.This low-cost satellite platformwill provide payloads packagedfrom a range of industrial andacademic institutions. Director of the ISRO

Satellite Centre Dr T.K.Alexinvited the UK to partner Indiain the training of the next gener-ation of space scientists throughacademic exchanges betweenthe Indian Institute of SpaceScience and Technology, IndianInstitute of Remote Sensing andkindred organisations. Mr Willetts replied: “I am

delighted that Dr Alex shares myvision of much closer coopera-tion and collaboration betweenthe UK and India on space sci-ence and innovation and I lookforward to welcome an Indiandelegation to the UK in the nearfuture.”

China's cyber

Google Mail (November 18)posted an extraordinary newsitem telling of a Chinese “hijackof 15 per cent of the world'sinternet traffic for 18 minutesearlier this year, including sensi-tive ermail exchanges betweensenior US government and mili-tary figures, a report to the USCongress said.”Goggle explained: “A state-

owned Chinese telecommunica-tions firm re-routed around 15per cent of the web trafficthrough its own servers during abrief period on April 8.... Theincident has raised fears thatChina may have harvested high-ly sensitive information from itsre-routed emails. Another theoryis that it could be testing a cyberweapon that could disrupt inter-net traffic from foreign servers.The traffic included emailexchanges from websites of theUS Senate and the Departmentof Defence and SecurityCommission's annual report sug-gested the hijacking could havebeen 'malicious' .”

Whatever itspurpose, this willserve to deepensuspicion of Chinain its neighbour-hood and beyond.

Japan armsexports

The Times AsiaB u s i n e s sCorrespondent,Leo Lewis(November 19),

produced an extensivereport on the likelihood

of Japan lifting its longstandingban on arms exports. “Thechange could begin a shift in thecompetitive landscape ofdefence for the first time sincethe 1960s...... India and Brazilare regarded as highly attractivemarkets by Japanese contrac-tors, which have been quietlylobbying for an end to the banfor years.” China's aggressive posturing

has clearly oiled the wheels ofchange.

David Willitts in Bangalore

D. Subbarao Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

MEDIA WATCH

Mukesh Ambani's high rise mansion inMumbai, with its spectacular view of theArabian Sea, is the world's first $1 bullionhome complete with three roof-top helipads,six floors for parking, a swimming pool,health centre, gym and cinema, lounges andspacious apartments for guests and a staff of600 to service the entire complex, is a mon-ument to the wealth of the fourth richestman on the planet. Mr Ambani and his sib-lings grew up in a chawl (slum) within sightof his new residence.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 13UK

Exactly a year ago Iwrote these words:“Now I am become thedeath, the destroyer ofworlds’. These werefirst words uttered inawe when man first sawthe devastation of anatomic detonation.They were spoken bythe scientist that led theManhattan Project tocreate the atom bomb –J Robert Oppenheimer.He spoke them as themushroom cloud roseon July 16th 1945 uponthe detonation of thefirst ever atomic bomb.He was of course quot-ing from the BhagavadGita.

I was reminded ofthis quote again thisyear, as I was a year agoin this column, becauseas the North Koreanfired their missiles onSouth Korea, we mustremember the reasonthis is alarming is thatNorth Korea hasnuclear weapons and ithas those because of acertain Pakistani physi-cist.

The Pakistaninuclear physicist AQKahn, father of thePakistani nuclearbomb, admitted a yearago this week, in aninterview with theWashington Post thatthe ChineseGovernment had pro-vided Pakistan withboth the raw materialsto make atomic bombsand the DIY kit withwhich to do it. He then

provided these to theNorth Koreans. ThatAQ Kahn, Pakistan andChina are nuclear pro-liferators leaves theUnited States power-less. After all the for-mer is an ally in the waron terror and the latterthe bank to America.

When I was anintern in the USCongress forCongressman EliotEngel in 1995 I usedthe extensive facilitiesof the Library ofCongress to researchthe lobbying work ofthe Government ofPakistan in Washingtonas part of my degreethesis. I stumbled upona document in whichAQ Kahn boastedPakistan had the bomb– a document I stillpossess. Working withthe Congressman andwith the then MinisterPolitical and FirstSecretary at the IndianEmbassy, myCongressman spon-sored resolutions inCongress and to theWhite House and StateDepartment to havePakistan declared a ter-rorist State. Thoseefforts fell on deaf ears.Make no mistake – theUS Government knewin 1995 if not earlierthat Pakistan not onlyhad the bomb but Kahnwas proliferating.

And make no mis-take had the Burmesethe capability, they astotalitarian military

rulers too would haveloved to have got theirhands on nuclearweapons. What worriesme about the Burmasituation is just howlittle India, so willingto project economicmight, is willing toproject military mightover Burma.

For those who areinterested the full ver-sion of whatOppenheimer said is,"If the radiance of athousand suns were toburst at once into thesky, that would be likethe splendor of themighty one. We knewthe world would not bethe same. A few peoplelaughed, a few peoplecried, most people weresilent. I rememberedthe line from the Hinduscripture, theBhagavad-Gita. Vishnuis trying to persuadethe Prince that heshould do his duty andto impress him takeson his multi-armedform and says, "Now Iam become Death, thedestroyer of worlds." Isuppose we all thoughtthat, one way or anoth-er. Oppenheimer isquoting from the1944 Vivekananda -Isherwood translationof Bhagavad Gita. Thisis a line spokenby Krishna, who isrevered in Hindu tradi-tions as one of themajor incarnationsof Vishnu.

Nukes, Korea, Burma and India

Alpesh Patel’s

Political Sketchbook:

Global Indians may own property in every corner of the world but if it is inIndia, chances are that the property is lying vacant. Mrs. Shah from WestLondon, who owns a flat in a popular suburb of Mumbai, told us, “I have aflat in India but I would rather leave it empty than take a risk and let itout. I have heard horror stories about tenants in India. They can take yourflat and refuse to pay rent. Or they can refuse to vacate my flat when I needit. How can I find reliable tenants who will pay my rent on time, not cre-ate problems and vacate the flat when I need it?”

The most important factor in this instance is reliable tenants. How canyou check the background of potential tenants when you are based in theUK? Unesta Property Services is a unique offering started to solve suchproblems when it comes to India property. We market your property and findyou the cream of the crop. We help you find the right tenant through our rig-orous vetting process. We have designed our tenant screening process suchthat it follows UK best practices and answers your concerns about reliabletenants. We highly recommend and find you educated professionals with asteady income. We get you quality references from employers and bank state-ments. Unesta Property Services works hard to ensure that your property islet quickly and that it remains hassle-free.

If you have any questions about our services, the property market inIndia or would like to get a free, no obligation valuation of your property inMumbai get in touch with us. The Indian real estate market can be a minefield or a gold mine depending on how you approach it and who you workwith. Talking to the right people can make your property ownership experi-ence a joyful experience.

Unesta Property Services79 College Road, Harrow HA1 1BD

Ph: 0207 125 0425 Fax: +44 207 125 0426

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.unesta.com

India Realty CornerVikram Goyal, Managing Director

Finding ReliableTenants

Property ownership in India can be heaven or hell – your tenants are the key

By Kartik.S.Raval

Books on India byLondon-based writersKishwar Desai and AatishTaseer are up for the chaseof UK’s prestigious CostaBook Awards 2010.Kishwar Desai’s WitnessThe Night and AatishTaseer’s The Temple-Goers are both short-list-ed in Costa First NovelAward Category. EvenNikesh Shukla’s CoconutUnlimited is nominatedunder the same categorytaking the toll of Indianauthors wanting to bag theaward to three.

Desai’s Witness TheNight addresses issues likeunwanted girl child, gen-der prejudice and bias andimbalance in men-womenequality. Kishwar Desai isthe wife of House of LordsMember Meghnad Desaiand she also deals withfemale foeticide or ‘gen-dercide’ and her intense

description surely calls forhigh level attention to thisprevailing problem inIndia.

While Aatish Taseer’sThe Temple-Goers isabout a young man return-ing to his home in Delhiafter living several yearsabroad and resuming hisplace amongst the city’scosmopolitan elite. On theother hand CoconutUnlimited follows thestory of three Asian boyswho form a band withcomic consequences.

The judging panel forthis year are Anita Rani,Anneka Rice and MarkThompson. After review-ing these books the judgescommented that Desai’sWitness The Night pulls

off a remarkable trick,transplanting a country’shouse murder to modern-day India in book that isnot afraid to tackle seriousthemes. They also highlypraised Taseer’s audaciousand disturbing multi-lay-ered story of modernDelhi.

The Costa BookAwards is one of the mostprestigious and popularliterary prizes in the UKand recognizes books ofthe year by writers basedin the UK and Ireland. Ithas five categories namely,First Novel, Novel,Biography, Poetry andChildren;s Book.

Winner in each of thefive category will receive£5,000 and will beannounced on 5thJanuary. Also, one of thesefive books will also beselected as the overallwinner of the Costa Bookof the year 2010 and willreceive a further £30,000.

Two books on India nominatedfor UK’s Costa Book Awards

35,000 TEMPORARY CENSUS JOBS

Temporary Census JobsLocations across England and WalesFrom £7.41 to £13.03 per hour (depending on location)

We need temporary staff in your area to help make the 2011 Census a success. 35,000 full and part time roles are available in all locations, so it’s a great opportunity to earn extra cash close to home.

If you are a good communicator, well organised and have sound knowledge of the local area, we can offer fl exible working patterns, a boost to your income and the satisfaction of helping out your local community.

For more information or to apply visit www.censusjobs.co.uk


Infrastructure sector inIndia comprises as oneof the most importantsectors contributing tothe economic growthand GDP. As part ofcelebrating the 60 yearsof Indian Republic, theHigh Commission ofIndia joined hands withthe City of London toorganise a full day con-ference on FinancingIndia’s Infrastructureat the beautifulMansion House.

India’s FinanceSecretary AshokChawla made the open-ing and closing remarksfollowed by a numberof brilliant presenta-tions on the infrastruc-ture commitments ofboth India and UK.Chawla said India isdoing everything toensure that the coun-try’s infrastructure sec-tor achieves its set tar-get. The government ofIndia has set a targetinvestment of $1 tril-lion by 2017 in itsinfrastructure sector.Out of this $1 trillion, alarge sum of money isexpected to come fromthe private sector.

Chawla also saidthat developmentthrough public-privatepartnerships (PPP) is avery innovativeapproach. He said inorder to welcome moreforeign investment inthe country the govern-ment has relaxed rules,set up dedicated debtfunds among others.He said in the last fouryears, 60 infrastructureproposals involving atotal project cost inexcess of USD 8 billionhave been grantedapproval under the gov-ernment's viability gapfunding scheme.

The discussions inthe conference revolvedaround four areas –Power, Roads &Highways, Ports &Shipping and UrbanInfrastructure. Theseareas form the coregroup of the country’sinfrastructure sector.Apart from contribut-ing heavily to the eco-nomic growth andGDP figure, these areasalso ensure that mil-lions of people have abetter and more effi-cient life. By joininghands with the privatesector, the government

ensures that these proj-ects are delivered in amuch more efficientfashion.

However, the infra-structure sector inIndia suffers from fund-ing problems. FinanceSecretary AshokChawla highlighted theasset-liability mismatchthat the infrastructureprojects suffer from.This happens becauseinfrastructure projectslike roads, highways orelectric grids have along life of 25-30 years.These are known aslong-term projects.However commercialbanks in India like theState Bank of India andothers can only providea short term loan of 5-7years due to restric-tions from the ReserveBank of India, thecountry’s central bank.

In a situation likethis it becomesextremely difficult forthe infrastructure proj-ects to get funding. TheIndian government hasset up debt funds inorder to help financethese projects. The gov-ernment has also intro-duced the option oftax-free infrastructurebonds that can beraised by a few finan-cial institutions namedby the Indian govern-ment. The bonds, witha minimum tenure of10 years, have thepotential to raise about$6.5 billion in 2010-11.The purpose of thefunds is to encourageinvestment and bridgethe gap in India’s infra-structure sector.

"The extent of for-eign participation --both through debt andequity -- in the financ-ing of India's infra-structure has been ofthe order of 8 to 10 percent in the recent past.I expect, in the future, amuch greater degree ofinvolvement of foreigninvestors in this sector,"Chawla said.

One of the keynotespeakers, MichaelQueen, the ChiefExecutive Officer of 3i,a London-based privateequity fund made aremarkable speechabout India’s growinginfra sector. 3i has adedicated IndiaInfrastructure Fundthrough which it makes

investments in Indianprojects. The fundrecently invested closeto $182 million in GVKEnergy, an Indianpower company.

One of the remark-able points MichaelQueen made was hissupport to India infighting terrorism. Hethen went on to men-tion his own experiencewhen he was held cap-tive for 40 hours duringthe Mumbai attacks inNovember 2008.

The conference hadbig names from bothIndia and UK who werequite interested inlearning about eachother’s infrastructuresector. James Stewart,CEO of InfrastructureUK (IUK) made a pres-entation about UK’sside story. He said UK’sinfrastructure sector isstill developing. Onlyrecently British PrimeMinister DavidCameron launched a$200 billion NationalInfrastructure Plan thatlooks to attract invest-ments from private sec-tor to invest in areaslike high speed rail,ports, wind farms andso on.

A participant at theconference who wishesto remain anonymoussaid: “India’s infra-structure sector isgrowing at this stageand with heavy privateinvestments it willsurely be a success. Butwhat governmentneeds to do at thisstage is to ease downthe bureaucratic hur-dles so that it is an easyentry for the privatesector. Presently, manyprivate investors arereluctant of enteringthe Indian marketbecause they are waryof the hurdles androadblocks. The gov-ernment needs to workon that front.”

The conferencebrought together ideas,opinions and discus-sions to help both Indiaand UK find a solutionto save its infrastruc-ture sector from fallingdown. Both the coun-tries have a heritage oldinfrastructure but nowit’s time for them tojoin hands and discussa new-age infrastruc-ture.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at [email protected]

India, UK discussInfrastructure

By Spriha Srivastava

By Kartik.S.Raval

Lavasa Corporation whichhas one of the biggesttownship in India nearPune is to receive £30,000compensation from TheTimes Newspapers ofLondon after the newspa-per accepted violation oflibel law as it had carriedan article with incorrectinformation.

The Sunday Times hadearlier reported in an fea-ture investigative articlethat while constructingthe Lavasa City project,Lavasa had cut down mil-lions of trees, benefitedfrom the fraudulent landprocurement and mostimportantly highlightedthat the corporation hadused armed employees to

force unwilling farmers inthe area to sell their land.

But, the Times soonsaw itself being dragged tocourt of Justice and inabsence of any strong evi-dence to prove the claims,it had to accept the faultand withdraw. The out-of-court settlement of£30,000 as compensationwas reached in front of theRoyal Courts of Justiceand the Times agreed to

publish a correc-tion to its firstarticle headlined‘Oxford draggedinto Indian land-grab row.”

Lavasa, acompany of lead-ing constructionfirm HindustanC o n s t r u c t i o nCompany Ltd

said the compensationmoney will be donated tothe Christel HouseSchool, Lavasa which pro-vides education to thepoor and underprivilegedchildren from villagesaround Lavasa and Pune.Lavasa Corporation willalso be receiving the pay-ments towards all the legalfees incurred by the com-pany.

By Kartik.S.Raval

Monsoon that ranks in thetop notch amongstBritain’s leading fashionchain has been accused ofusing suppliers in Indiawho allegedly employchild labour and payworkers much below theminimum salary band.

The revelation hasbeen attached with a lot ofirony as Monsoon had pio-neered ethical shoppingearlier and hence it hasnow caused a lot of embar-rassment to the company’sbelief.

Monsoon, Britain'sleading fashion chain thatpioneered ethical shop-ping has been accused ofusing suppliersin India who employ childlabour and pay workersbelow the minimumwages. The facts came tolight following the compa-ny’s own general supervi-

sion procedure. The highstreet brand discoveredthat there are many chil-dren working in its supplychain and women workingfrom home were paid lessthan the minimum wages.

The company ownedby Peter Simon has about1,000 stories in 54 coun-tries including 400 in theUK and the report hassuggested that just likeother retailers operating inAsia, it is struggling or notputting enough efforts to

tackle the problem of childlabour.

Except child labourand poor wages, very lowhealth and safety stan-dards and excessive work-ing hours are also amongstthe issues that Monsoonsaw itself get wrappedwithin. In a public state-ment released by the com-pany it accepted theclaims and said it is takingnecessary and adequatesteps to regain its ethicalstandards.

UK’s Sunday Times loses defamationcase against India’s Lavasa

UK’s leading fashion brandlinked with child labour in India

The Rt. Hon. The LordMcNally, Deputy Leader ofthe House of Lords andMinister of State at theMinistry of Justice was theChief Guest at theBharatiya Vidya Bhavan’sannual fund-raising DiwaliBanquet on Wednesday10th November 2010. TheHigh Commissioner ofIndia, His Excellency SriNalin Surie was also pres-ent as joint Chief Guest.

The MillenniumMayfair Hotel in Londonwas the setting for the din-ner which was attended bymany distinguished guestsfrom all walks of life,including members of bothHouses of Parliament.

In his speech of wel-come, the Bhavan’sChairman, Mr ManeckDalal OBE, paid tribute tothe close co-operationbetween the Indian HighCommission and the

Bhavan.In his address, the High

Commissioner of India, HisExcellency Sri Nalin Suriepraised the work of theBharatiya Vidya Bhavan inLondon and said thatDiwali sent a message ofvictory of good over evil; ofthe faith in hope, and thejoy that flows when suchhopes and dreams cometrue, and is common to allof humankind.

In his speech, LordMcNally said how pleasedhe was to be giving anaddress on the occasion ofthe important festival ofDiwali. He then went on tosay that celebrations of fes-tivals such as Eid,Hannukah, and Diwali aswell as Christmas, were tes-taments to a diverse andtolerant society. The Indiancommunity contributedgreatly to our economy, andculture. It was often asked

if economic developmentcould go hand-in-hand witha society which espousesthe rule of law, democraticelections and a free media.The answer to such a ques-tion was simply to look atIndia, which sets an exam-ple to the world of how eco-nomic goals can beachieved without the sacri-fice of the basic libertiesand human rights. Britainand India were natural part-ners with a shared history.

After the loyal toasts ashort cultural programmeinvolving Bhavan’s teachersand students followed. TheVote of Thanks was givenby the Bhavan’s Vice-Chairman, Mr JoginderSanger, who was responsi-ble for arranging the fund-raising Banquet. The con-cluding prayer was given byBhavan UK’s formerDirector, Sri MathoorKrishnamurthi.

Lord McNally praises contribution ofIndia to modern Britain


Sushmita Sen turned unapologetic onher 35th birthday recently. Every yearshe would bring in her birthday in Goawith her daughter and the man in herlife. This year it is Dubai whereSushmita brings in her birthday.

This year there is no man on thescene and now there are two daughtersinstead of one. The two girls Renee andAlisah keep the single mom so busyshe has no time for anything as mun-dane as dating.

So yes, Sushmita has decided tostay supremely single for the timebeing.

In fact the Goan birthday holidaywas this year relinquished. InsteadSushmita headed for Dubai with hertwo daughters to be with her mom forher birthday.

Just before leaving Sushmita said,“It’s going to be an all-girls’ birthdayfor me this time. Three generations ofSen women all together. I’m so excitedabout it.”

When asked about the absence of a

man in her life, Sushmuta laughed herthroaty laughter and said, “At themoment my entire attention is on mytwo girls. By God’s grace my elder oneRenee is turning into quite an accom-plished little lady. As for the newestSen in the house, Alisah is so brightand inquisitive. My mom says I wasexactly like her in my childhood.”

The three girls seem to be havingthemselves a ball. Men not allowed.

In fact the next man in her lifewould probably be the one Sushmitamarries.

“I’m in no hurry. But I do knowmarriage will happen only once in mylife. Whoever I select will be with mefor keeps.”

Interestingly Sushmita plays a psy-chotic suspicious wife who wants tokill her husband (Anil Kapoor) in hernext release “No Problem.” Says theactress, “Now that’s a role that couldscare you off marriages forever. No butseriously. I do believe in the institutionof marriage.”

As for turning 35 withpride Sushmita says, “Isthere any point in claim-ing to be a few yearsyounger? My life andcareer are an openbook. Anyone who hasfollowed my journeyfrom the age that Iwon the crown (forMiss Universe) wouldknow exactly how oldI am. I am very happyto tell the world I am35 now - that is, forthose who areinterestedin suchthings.”

Saif Ali Khan and KareenaKapoor refused to perform atthe wedding of a gutkha kingwhere everyone from Salman toSRK will be dancing. The duohas decided as a rule not to per-form at weddings, no matterwhat fee is offered.

Most of B-Town, includingShah Rukh Khan, Salman Khanand Katrina Kaif will be at theDelhi wedding. But one couple,Saif and Kareena, has decidedto stay away from it in spite ofbeing offered big bucks.

Says a source, "The cou-ple was Rs 40 million to per-form at the weddingbetween two gutkha fami-lies but they turned it down.They had taken a decisionover a year ago that no mat-ter what the price offered,they would not dance at

wedding functions of strangers.That is strictly reserved for fam-ily and friends."

The reason for the star cou-ple's non-performances at wed-dings is parental disapproval.Mainly his. The chote nawabcomes from a royal family, andit is belittling for them to per-form at weddings for cash.

Even Bebo's parents weren'texactly thrilled with the idea ofthem dancing at private func-tions. While shows and eventslike award functions are fine,

they drawthe line atweddings.

While Saif and Kareenatook the decision not toperform at weddings a yearago, Ajay Devgn and hiswife Kajol have never per-formed at weddings.

It's a stand they hadtaken right in the begin-ning of their career and tillnow, haven't changedtheir minds though theyhave been offered bigmoney to perform togeth-er.

In fact, Devgn hasoften expressed his dis-pleasure of stars perform-ing at shows, events andweddings. Sunil Shetty alsodoesn't perform at wed-dings.

New Hindi movies releasing this week

Top 2 Bollywood movies for the week No. Film Last Week Total Weeks

1 Golmaal 3 1 22 Action Replayy 2 2

1. Allah Ke Banday 2. Break Ke Baad

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 1716 Asian Voice Saturday 27th November 2010

‘Munni’ becomes a showstopper in Pakistan Hrithik hospitalized for allergic reaction When Dev Patel punched Freida Pinto'Munni Badnam Hui, the hit song ofSalman’s “Dabangg” picturised onMalaika Arora Khan, has become therage in Pakistan.

If the Bollywood hero is charmingaudiences in the superhit film, so isMalaika, who has almost become ahousehold name here after the songcomposed by Lalit Pandit.

No wedding or function is consid-ered complete without the song. It alsoblares from audio systems in cars andmusic shops while FM radio stationsare swarmed with requests to play'Munni Badnam Hui'.

Comedy king Umar Sharif, who isequally famous in India for his rib-tick-ling stage performances, returned tothe stage this Eid after several yearswith a play titled 'Munni Badnam Hui'staged in Karachi's arts council the-atre.

Sharif himself donned the avatar of

'Munni' in the play and had the audi-ence in fits with his funny lines and sit-uations. The storyline of the playrevolved around a household with a'Munni' who is the cynosure of atten-tion in her locality.

Bushra Ansari, considered an iconon Pakistani television, also penned a

play 'Doli ki aayegi baraat' for Eid.The playrevolved aroundtwo families, oneliving in Karachiand the other inF a i s a l a b a d ,whose kidswanted to marryeach other.

The play,aired by Geo TV,was a huge hitand was re-run.

But the showstopper was a dholkisequence where both the familiesdanced their hearts out to 'Munni bad-naam hui'.

When the star cast of the play satin the studio on Eid day to narrate themaking of the play, they were againasked to perform to the hit tune.

Hrithik Roshan has been hos-pitalized for an allergic reactionand is better now though headmitted that he reached thehospital just in time and a delayof even 15 minutes could haveproved fatal.

'It was an allergic reactionto the antibiotics I was taking.Lungs and throat went intospasm. I reached hospital justin time...All cool now. I'munder observation,' Hrithiksaid from the hospital onSunday night.

On Sunday evening, theallergic reaction was so violentthat the star gave his family thescare of their life.

Hrithik was rushed to hospi-tal at around 4 p.m. and wasput under immediate surveil-lance by a battery of doctors.

Freida Pinto remembers howco-star and boyfriend DevPatel once accidentallypunched her in the face whilepromoting “SlumdogMillionaire.”

The 26-year-old actresstook a blow from Dev whilethey were promoting “SlumdogMillionaire” together in the year2008.

She, however, seemed toenjoy it. "Small things bring somuch joy to us, like when wewere first doing interviews,there was one time when Devpunched me in my face by mis-take," femalefirst.co.uk report-ed Freida as saying.

This accidental punch wasone of the many intriguingevents that took place on thesets of the movie and the

actress believes only she andPatel can understand them.

"The only two people whocan understand what hap-pened on Slumdog... are the

two of us. Even our families,who appreciate and supportus, are still on the outside andthat is why we hold it so verydear to our hearts," she said.

Bollywood

John Abraham wants tobecome a director

John Abraham is not content with his actingcareer. He wants to wield the megaphonesoon and is sure of doing a good job as adirector.

"I have good friends around mewho are directors and writers. Theyare all willing to sit with me, helpme and formulate screenplays. Ihave ideas and I want to become adirector very soon and when Ibecome one, I will be damn goodat it," John said in an interview.

"Probably, five-eight years downthe line, I'll direct a film. I'm justseven years old in theindustry. I want tofirst settle downproperly ands i n g u l a r l yprove myselfin a big wayand then Iwill getinto direc-t i o n , "added thea c t o rwho willturn 38n e x tmonth.

John hasworked in allgenres - fromOscar nomi-nated perioddrama “Water”to comedies“Garam Masala” and“Dostana” to issue-based “New York.”

Explaining his evo-lution as an actor, hesaid, "After all theseyears, I think I'vebecome very comfort-able with the medium,but more than myselfI've seen a change in theperception of the audi-ence towards me."

"I've always been anunderstated actor. I'm

not into over-projection. When I joined theindustry, there was a section of the audiencethat felt I was too understated. Today the

same audiences have a different percep-tion and somehow that same style of

acting is working for them now.""I really haven't changed. I'm fol-

lowing my director's brief and I'mdoing exactly that. But people's per-ception has changed. The sense ofreality has prevailed in the mind ofthe audience and I think that's the

change I have seen."His nerdy look in “Jhootha Hi

Sahi” failed to set the cash registers ring-ing, but the Bollywood hunk has not

given up. He is all set to play boy-next-door in a new film.

"I'll be starting the film inMarch, which will be directedby Kapil Sharma, a first timedirector. He is the best chiefassistant director we havein the country," said John.

"The film is about just aregular guy who gets bust-ed by all the women in hislife. It's about a guy wholearns life through the

women he is with - hismother, sister, hisboss, his neigh-bour, his girl-

friend, his ex-girlfriend. It's

just aboutthis journey.

It's amaz-ing."

Currently, he is busywith director NishikantKamat and producerVipul Shah's Hindiremake of Tamil block-buster “KaakhaKaakha.” The actionmovie also starsGenelia D'Souza.

I am single and not ready to mingle, says Sushmita

Money could not entice Saif, Kareena

‘Aanmai Thavarel’gets UA

Producer Kamal Nayan is a happy man. For his ven-ture ‘Aanmai Thavarel’ has won a UA certificationfrom the Censor Board besides appreciations from theofficials for handling a social theme.

Says the producer, “We wanted the film to reflecton an issue that is affecting the society. And we alsowanted to offer a solution to it. At a time when kid-napping of children is hogging the headlines, thismovie talks about the same.”

Director of the film Kuzhandhai Velappan says,“Though India is seventh largest country in the worldand the eighth most unsafe place to live. This pro-pelled me to make a script and we are elated whenCensor officials gave us a pat watching the movie andsaid the attempt is very genuine.”

The movie travels from Chennai to Goa and it isnot just loaded with message but also has commercialelements including romance and comedy. A greatadmirer of Mani Ratnam, Kuzhandhai Velappan says,“I wish to continue doing films that are useful andproductive for the society.”

With Dhruvah, Shruti, Sampath, Dharan, PanchuSubbu and John Vijay playing pivotal roles, music for‘Aanmai Thavarel’ is by Mariya Manohar. All thesongs have grabbed the attention of the music lovers.

Kamal & Rajni launch Vaalee 1000

Veteran actors KamalHaasan and Rajinikanthlaunched Vaalee 1000, abook compiled with 1000film songs by the lyricist,recently in Chennai. Theevent took place atVaalee’s 80th birthdayparty in Brahma Gana Sabha.

Veteran musician M.S. Viswanathan, Suriya, film-maker Shankar, singers P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, TM Sounderrajan, P B Srinivas and S PBalasubrahmanyam also attended the function.

Aishwarya Dhanush’s fake ID

Aishwarya Dhanush, daughter of superstarRajinikanth and wife of actor Dhanush, is now con-cerned about her fake ID on a social networking site.

It seems a user has been uploading pictures andposting threads on her under this ID.

Break Ke BaadA flick joingly produced by Kunal Kohli Productionsand Reliance Big Pictures, Break Ke Baad is a moviethat portrays the way the present day generations lookat their love lives and careers. A drama and romancemovie, it is produced by Kunal Kohli and directed byDanish Aslam. Abhay Gulati and Aaliya Khan haveknown each other since they were four years old. Theirfriendship turned into love at the tender age of 15,when Abhay realises Aaliya is the girl for him.

Aaliya's life is dominated by her burning desire tobecome an actress and she is unmindful of what or whocomes in her way. Abhay is unsure about what he wantsto do finds himself competing with Aaliya's incessantplans and projects to fulfil her dreams. While their rela-tionship blooms because of their personality differ-ences, the baggage because of these differences alsogrows silently. Things come to a head when Aaliyadecides to go to Australia to study and Abhay has todeal with the prospect of a long term relationship,secretly fearing that he will lose Aaliya forever. He takesa leap of faith and they decide to take this time off fromeach other to figure out what they want to do. Thechoices Abhay and Aaliya make from here on tests theirrelationship. Aaliya risks everything and everyone sheloves only to realise that there is no joy in achievingone's dreams if one has no one to share it with. Abhayrisks losing every shred of his ego, dignity and selfrespect only to realize that there is no bigger high thanseeing your dream come to life, brick by brick. Theymake mistakes, deal with disappointments, even loseeach other–and become stronger individually.

BREAK KE BAAD is not just a coming of age film,but a film about couples growing up together. The leadcast of the film consists of Imran Khan, DeepikaPadukone, Sharmila Tagore, Shahana Goswami,Yudishtir Urs, Navin Nischol and Lillete Dubey.Director Danish Aslam shares the credits for story withRenuka Kunzru, while Renuka has the solo credit forscreenplay and dialogues. Prasoon Joshi has penned thelyrics, while Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani havescored the music.


Alpesh PatelConsultant Editor

Financial Voice

‘Ash Wills’ can prepare one for you1. At a fixed fee 2. In the comfort of your home.For the security of your loved ones - make a will today.

Contact: Manu Thakkar 020 8998 0888 / 020 8248 5785

‘ae ivLs’ aApnA œre aAvI, aApnI anuku�tAae, aApnI�A¿AAmAù smÀvIne VyAjbI wre ivl bnAvI aAp e. aApnApirvArjnAenI surxAA mAqe aAje j ivl bnAvAe. sùpk#: mnu „Kkr - 020 8998 0888.

ˆuù aAp ivl bnAvvA ivcArI rHAA �Ae?

Thinking of Making A Will?

BANK INVESTMENTSOn behalf of Joint LPA Receivers

Brighton BN1 2HASantander Bank, 56 Western Road Tenant: Bradford & Bingley plc (t/a Santander)Rent £47,300 per annum

Farnham GU9 7NJHSBC Bank, 33 The BoroughOn behalf of Joint LPA Receivers Tenant: HSBC Bank plcRent £90,000 per annum

Hove BN3 3YESantander Bank, 103 George StreetTenant: Bradford & Bingley plc (t/a Santander)Rent £21,000 per annum

London SW9 8EQSantander Bank, 496-498 Brixton Road, BrixtonTenants: Santander UK plc with offices let to Solicitors and a vacant possession 3 bedroom self-contained flatRent £115,539 per annum (subject to annual fixed 2% retail increase)

Torquay TQ1 4NDHSBC Bank, 14 Fore Street, St MarychurchTenant: HSBC Bank plc

Rent £18,750 per annum

MOTOR TRADE INVESTMENT

Luton LU1 1XLKwik-Fit, 32 Cosgrove WayTenant: Kwik-Fit (GB) LtdRent £80,000 per annum

LEISURE INVESTMENTSHounslow TW3 3LFGala Bingo Unit, 80/82 Staines RoadTenant: Gala Leisure Limited, with suretyRent £174,124.60 per annum (rising)

Bradford BD7 1AL20-32 Great Horton RoadTwo city centre night clubs. Tenant: Whitbread plcRent £66,825 per annum plus Vacant Unit

GROUND RENT INVESTMENTManchester M60 1TADebenhams Department Store, Rylands Building, 109-127 Market StTenant: A subsidiary of The British Land Company plc. Let until 2867Rent £50,755.20 pa.

PUBLIC HOUSE INVESTMENTSLondon SE10 8RTThe Prince Albert Public House, 72 Royal Hill, GreenwichOn behalf of Enterprise Inns plc. Tenant: Enterprise Inns plcRent £60,000 per annum

London SE5 8TRThe Recreation Ground Public House, 65 Camberwell Church StreetOn behalf of Enterprise Inns plc. Tenant: Enterprise Inns plcRent £65,000 per annum

London SW19 1ANThe Horse & Groom Public House, 143-145 Haydons Road, WimbledonOn behalf of Enterprise Inns plc. Tenant: Enterprise Inns plcRent £70,000 per annum

Cheltenham GL50 2XEThe Beehive Public House, 1-3 Montpellier VillasOn behalf of Enterprise Inns plc. Tenant: Enterprise Inns plcRent £65,000 per annum

Commercial Property Auction9th December 2010Millennium Hotel, 39-44 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 2HP

49 lots to be offered, including:

www.acuitus.co.uk+44 (0)20 7034 4850

20-32 Great Horton Road, Bradford

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

I write to you having returned from Malaysia. Do you

watch Dragon’s Den. Well in Malaysia, at entrepreneur

events I’ve been looking on behalf of the Government

for companies ready willing and able to establish in the

UK. And for the companies to be able to do this they

often need angel investors.

We are looking for companies which have already

got some seed funding from friends, family or fools

(the 3 ‘f’s), who have a protected intellectual property

based product, with sales, the ability to scale and look-

ing to raise realistic amounts of money which is not

simply for marketing but which would really catalyse

the company forward – accelerate it.

At UK India Business Angel Network (UKIBAN) for

instance we have a simple 1 page form which we invite

companies to fill in which is a standardized form all our

angels wish to see and that allows us to do the initial

screening. The step beyond that is then to move

things forward with filling in any gaps of information

and undertaking more due diligence to ensure the

company is telling the truth about its product, the cus-

tomers it has and so on.

Entrepreneurs, with untested business models or

innovative ideas, seek financial back up in the form of

capital or the early stage finance from Angel investors.

What is the most preferred investment structure by

the Angel investor and the investee? For those com-

panies from India, or Malaysia, looking to go global via

the UK, but still having an India operation as their

competitive edge, we look to establish a separate UK

company with the relevant UK tax breaks for the UK

angels.

Does any Angel Investor participate actively in the

management of investee/portfolio company? Are they

offered any seat on the board? What equity stake is

generally offered to the investor?

Most angels do not want to be passive. If they put

$500,000 into a company, they want to do it knowing

that with one phone call they can get a big order for

the company and so recoup their investment. Given

the angel is looking for a return of 30% minimum pa,

then the stake they take is such that they estimate the

value of the company at exit based on earnings at that

point and a market cap based on a multiple of those

earnings would mean their stake at that point would

leave them with such a return – after all dilution.

So for example, if I am investing $1m, and in 5

years expect with the company earning $10m at that

point and a valuation on a multiple at that time of 3,

so a valuation of $30m, and I want my $1m to have

become $3m, then I would need to ensure in 5 years

I owned 10% of the company. Which would also be

10% of the company today if no other investors came

in, but since they will, I would need to calculate that

today I may need 30% of the company or more

because it will be diluted to a mere 10% in five years.

So now you know those calculations going through

a dragon’s mind.

Mahindra signsagreement for

Ssangyongtakeover

India auto majorMahindra & Mahindrasaid last week it hassigned a definitive agree-ment with SsangyongMotor Company Limitedof South Korea to acquire70 per cent stake at a totalcost of USD 463 million.

The deal is likely to beconcluded by March2011.

“The coming togetherof Mahindra andSsangyong will result in acompetitive global UVplayer. Together with itsfinancial capability,Mahindra offers compe-tence in sourcing andmarketing strategy whileSsangyong has strongcapabilities in technolo-gy,” M&M President,Automotive & FarmEquipment Sectors,Pawan Goenka said.

M&M said it has alsosigned a tripartite agree-ment the labour union ofSYMC and SYMC, whichcontains provisions foremployment protection,long—term investmentand commitment for nolabour dispute.

Ssangyong Motors is apremier manufacturer ofsports utility vehicles(SUV) and recreationalvehicles (RV), with mod-els such as Musso andKorando C, which waslaunched in export mar-kets in October 2010.

Vedanta to offer stake in Zambian Copper businessVedanta Resources, theLondon registered Indianmetals and minerals busi-ness owned by AnilAgarwal has announcedplans to raise cash by offer-ing a stake in KonkolaCopper Mines, Zambia.Vedanta acquired a 51 percent stake in Konkola wayback in 2004 for just $48mn. Now, the companyaims to mobilise $1.1 bn inthe London float.

Konkolais the secondbiggest cop-per miner inA f r i c a .Vedanta has raised itsstake in KCM later, cur-rently holding 79.4 shares,while the remaining stakeis held by ZCCM, a com-pany controlled by theZambian Government.

According to KishoreKumar, KCM’s chief exec-

utive, the London offeringwill help to raise cash topay off debts and fund aninvestment programme toboost output.

The listing is the nextstep. Anil Agarwal, 56,Vedanta’s founder, born inBihar, started out in busi-

ness in 1976 as a scrapmetal dealer in Mumbai.He is now worth an esti-mated $6.4 billion (£4 bil-lion), according to Forbesmagazine. After the float,Vedanta will retain amajority shareholding ofat least 51 per cent. Thelisting is expected to valuethe Konkola group, whichwill also be listed inLusaka, Zambia’s capital,at about £4 billion.

Credit flow to small businesses getting scarce, banks admit

Credit flow to smallercompanies and small busi-nesses is getting scarce, aleading UK lender hasadmitted to UK MPs. Theissue is bound to stoke adebate over the issue.

Speaking at a House ofCommons inquiry into thesupply of credit to smallbusinesses, PeterIbbetson, chairman of thesmall business division ofthe Royal Bank ofScotland group, whichincludes NatWest, waspressed by MPs onwhether customers werebeing turned away morereadily because of ques-tions over the viability oftheir businesses.

“We have not tight-ened up the [lending] cri-

teria but we are askingmore questions than wedid three years ago,” hesaid. “It would be irre-sponsible of us if we werenot asking these questionsat this point of the cycle ofthe downturn.”

Mr Ibbetson said thatthere was sometimes a“chasm of understanding”with customers over short-term demands for loans

from small busi-nesses — forexample, to coversalary costs —and a bank’sdesire to knowthe longer-termviability of a busi-ness customer’scashflows.

Mr Ibbetson’sadmission came underquestioning from MPs onthe Business SelectCommittee, which isinvestigating allegationsfrom the small businesslobby that, contrary to theclaims of the leadingbanks, Britain’s lendersare not open for business.

Brian Binley, aConservative committeemember, said: “The small

business sector believes itis engaged in a dialogue ofthe deaf, a dialogue withthe don’t-want-to-hear.”

Mr Ibbetson respond-ed: “We have been througha programme of rebuildingthe confidence and trust ofcustomers. We have to tryand remove the perceptionthat the banks are notopen for business. That isnot true. We are doing allwe can to support viablebusinesses.”

Nadhim Zahawi,another Conservative MPon the committee, said hebelieved that the bankswere hiding behind a moreaggressive “viability quo-tient” when consideringbusinesses’ borrowing cre-dentials.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th November 2010 19FINANCIAL VOICE

What is the main contrast betweenIndia and china? In India everybody isan entrepreneur and wants to progressand the government is the reason whythings don’t progress. In china it is thegovernment who is the entrepreneur.

This is why the infrastructure inchina is extremely well organised and inIndia it is poorly organised.

The key to India progress is that theinfrastructure must be implementedand well managed on a large scale.

If we look at the first model projectin china which started in 1980 inShenzhen we can discover the reasonswhy this country has progress hasbecome a model for the world to follow.Shenzhen was the first SEZ- a SEZ is aspecial economic zone - to be set up inChina. It developed from being a smallshipping village into a global industrialand financial centre. The reason for itsprogress was replicated all over China.The speed of growth in Shenzhen hasbeen phenomenal from its first openingin 1980 the GDP growth has been anaverage 44% every year for its first 6years.

Why are we concerned about whathappened in China in 1980? The reasonis to show parallels between Shenzhenwith what is currently happening inGujarat.

The Indian government has passedan act known as the special investmentregion (SIR) Act -2009. This act cameinto effect on the 6th January 2009. Theaim of this act is to set up a world classhub along the lines of the fastest grow-ing country’s of the world.

This Act has the power to designateregions to be SIR. These sections willthen be earmarked for high rates of eco-nomic growth based on policies andjoint partnership.

Dholera has been designated a SIRzone, the region will be 2360 Sq Km,360 Sq Km bigger then shenzen.

The development of Dholera is partof the ambitious Delhi- Mumbai corri-dor. The bigger aim of this project is todevelop a industrial infrastructure over6 states of India including industrialclusters and rail, road, port, air connec-tivity in the states along the route of thecorridor. It has been conceived to be aglobal manufacturing and trading hub.The project is expected to doubleemployment potential, triple industrialoutput and quadruple exports form the

region within a 5 year period. The project will be funded through a

private-public partnerships and foreigninvestment.

This legislation recognises the needfor the Indian government to link withboth private and foreign firms to ensurethe development of India’s infrastruc-ture is holistic. It shows it recognises itsweakness and in doing so this becomesa strength. It makes much more senseto follow the polices and already provenconcepts by countries who have beenthrough these stages.

This is the reason we have chosen to

bring this exciting and grossly underestimated project to your attention.

The plots we are offering lie withinthe SIR region of Dholera and willexperience tremendous uplift in price ofthe back of the development . The plotsin Dholera are ideal investments, Firstlypurchasing plots dispense with mainte-nance and service charges secondly theentry levels start from £15,000 all third-ly rise in property prices are actuallyrises in land prices not property fourth-ly you willbe entering in the earlieststages of this project. Dholera will bedeveloped beyond the imagination ofthe guajaratis mind. Indeed it is Humannature to react to change once it hashappened rather then prepare andbenifit from it in advance. The maxi-mum growth is made in the earlieststages of the development. We havealready done full due diligence in thisproject so you do not need to worry. Ifthe area in china went up by 44% perannum what will this region go up by?

Call now to invest in Dholera. As plots are limited and time is of

the essence we taking £1,000 bookingdeposits in our client accounts. If with-in 7 days you are unhappy to go aheadwith the purchase will give you a noquibble money back guarantee call ouroffice now to book on 0203 384 5323.

Suresh Vagjiani

Managing Director of Sow & Reap,

a Property Investment & Financing company.

Property Focus

31 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ

Registered in England No. 05083823

T: 0207 706 0187 E: [email protected]

F: 0203 014 8484 W: www.sowandreap.co.uk

n Mortgages n Commercial Finance n Property Sourcing n Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale

Dholera to model China

This week was the annual release of theEstates Gazette Rich List showcasingthe richest 250 property people.

Many of these, such as John Hunt –former owner of central London estateagency Foxtons, The Rueben brothers -Jewish brothers from Mumbai rankedno. 2 on the list and AndreasPanayiotou , an East End former boxer,all sold at the right time foreseeing theproperty crash.

Interestingly enough many of theindividuals in this list are now looking toexploit the UK downturn and are nowgetting ready to enter the property mar-ket. These individuals are obviously notthe majority, they are the few. They arethe successful few who know how toread the UK property market and whento exit and enter. If you do not knowsomething you either learn about it oreven simpler follow those who do.Clearly this will not be the major-ity opinion of the market as thenthe majority would be wealthy.

Information like this is onlyworthwhile if followed, other-wise it is only interesting read-ing.

The main point is to see howinformation can be used for per-sonal benefit. It is important toapply these learnings for our ben-efit.

When these property mogulsare readying to enter the marketit doesn’t take much discrimina-tion if you want to make moneyfrom property - simply follow those whoknow more than you.

The properties we are sourcing areunlikely to decrease in price because thethree most important points in propertyis LOCATION, LOCATION and LOCA-TION. And these properties are in theprime locations.

If the pound weakens this will fur-ther increase foreign investment. Peopleoften forget the global reach centralLondon has, cities like China andMalaysia have a lot of mileage in themand many of these wealthy individualswant property in Central London as asafe and stable haven. Some becausetheir children study here.

So let us consider the possibilityproperty prices will not increase in thenext few years.

Let’s assume the worst – Let’sassume henceforward Property priceswill go down. First is is important tonote that properties do not crash, mean-ing their value will never go to zero. This

is because they exist and they are a tan-gible form of wealth. What is actuallycalled a crash is a reduction in propertyprice. Therefore a drop of 10-15% couldbe classed as a property crash by themedia.

The properties we are bringing toyour attention have positive yields earn-ing you around 12% on your moneyinvested and is paid monthly, in line withrental income.

The money deposited in the propertyis returned to you when and if you sell,or when you remortgage. Therefore inone sense what happens in the interim isirrelevant.

These are cash cows. Generally youdo not sell a cow which is giving youmilk daily.

The properties are roughly priced at£300,000. These properties are produc-ing £12-13,000 net income per annum.

Due to this income the propertywould need to decrease at a rate of 4%every year from the time you purchase tothe time you sell in order for the deal toresult in a loss. Generally when pur-chasing these we encourage ourinvestors to take a 5 year plus view forholding on to these properties. So theproperties would need to decrease invalue by more than 20% over the next 5years in order for the investor to be in aloss.

We are of course making assumptionsof the rental figures and mortgage prod-uct rates staying constant. This is not anunreasonable assumption as the currentmortgage product rates are around 5%for Buy To Let. They have not decreasedin line with the base rate, the marginsapplied have instead been increased.

In summary these are safe buys:l Given in the last credit crunch thesesame properties have not decreased inprice.

Why You Shouldn’t Sell A Cash Cow

l Given a reduction in the pound rela-tive will lead to foreign investors invest-ing into central London l Given many of the property big gunsare getting ready to invest in london

It is a good time to enter the CentralLondon property market. Sow & Reapwill execute and manage this investmentfor you fully. We have an ARLA regis-

tered lettings member and an FSAapproved mortgage person all in house.We look forward to growing with youinto the future. We have a Central London Property sem-inar on the 8th December 2010 inCroyden. Call our offices to registeryour attendance 0207 706 0187 or email [email protected].

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 201020 finanCial voice

[email protected]

Maria Fernandes

A man joins a monasteryand takes a vow ofsilence - he’s allowed tosay two words everyseven years. After sevenyears, the elders bringhim in and ask for histwo words. "Cold floors,"he says. Seven moreyears pass. They bringhim back in and ask forhis two words. He says,"Bad food." Anotherseven years pass. Theybring him in for his twowords. "I quit," he says."That’s not surprising,"the elders say. "You’vedone nothing but com-plain since you got here."

Most of the time werevere silence and relateit to serenity and evenspirituality; however, onoccasion it can becomesomething less than pure.One of the headlines thisweek covered the storyabout the Telecoms min-ister, A Raja’s involve-ment in a corruptionscandal (is corruptionreally a scandal any-more?). But even moreintriguing is the storyabout how the SupremeCourt of India hasordered the government

to explain, under oath,why Prime MinisterManmohan Singh failedto respond to a petitionlodged in 2008 by veteranpolitical leaderSubramanian Swamy.The petition sought theprime ministers’ authori-ty to prosecute A Raja forhis involvement in the2G spectrum scam.Swamy stated before thecourt that to this day, hehas not received a replyfrom the prime minister.

The whole issue hasbecome a massive embar-rassment for the PM andis becoming a biggerstory than the scam itself.But the best bit is thatthe PM himself has notyet said a single word.Remember the man in themonastery? Is the PMbeing harshly judged forsaying nothing or is heguilty of not sayingenough?

Silence can be astrength - soldiers aretrained to maintainsilence if they are cap-tured and interrogated. Itcan also be a weakness –why did western govern-ments say nothing during

the genocide in Rwanda?Silence is a right - as any-one who has been arrest-ed is reminded. It is alsoa privilege – we do nothave to vote for someonewe do not believe in.Silence is sometimes ablessing - ask any newparent; it is also a pun-ishment - ask anyonewho forgot an anniver-sary.

In essence, silence ismany things but why is itgolden? Because likegold, it is precious; andjust as people wear goldto enhance their appear-ance, silence, when usedwisely, enhances our dig-nity.

The immigration cap has resulted in asevere reduction of available certifi-cates for use and so far most requestsfor additional certificates are beingrefused without reasons and with noclear indication of when this logjam islikely to be cleared if at all.

What is different in this system isthat the goal posts for the interim limitseem to be changing endlessly withoutnotice. Under new rules recentlyintroduced it is becoming clear thatthe higher the salary the greater thechance of securing a certificate. Highlyskilled jobs of which there is an acuteshortage ( such as skilled chefs andsenior care workers) are being pushedaside in favour of those working ininternational business.

There are a few additional certifi-cates (although it is not known howmany) which have been reserved fornew shortage occupation posts withsalaries above £20000.

Recent report by Migration Advisory Committee

The Migration Advisory Committee(MAC), set up by the government toadvise on labour trends published itsreport yesterday.

It pointed out that the Governmentcannot meet its intention to reducemigration to tens of thousands byreducing the number of Tier 1 and Tier2 applicants. It will have to look atother routes and this includes chang-ing the post study work rules, andthose in relation to students and fami-lies

It found that migration has a posi-tive impact on the Gross DomesticProduct of the UK. Tier 1 and Tierapplicants are young and healthy andtherefore make a greater fiscal contri-bution. It is acknowledged that areduction of staff will have a signifi-cant impact on the micro economy ofthe country.

However to some extent theemployers will adjust by training andupskilling.

One of the main concerns of theGovernment was the impact ofmigrants on public services. MACfound that they are light users of pub-lic services as they are young andhealthy. They exert upward pressureon rents and on house prices. The evi-dence suggested that there was neithera strong nor negative net effect onsocial cohesion.

The suggestions for reducingmigrant numbers is to reduce numbersof visas issued to between 29400 to32600 but to exclude those who comeover for less than 12 months from thelimit.

Finally it has suggested that thegrant of criteria for settlement shouldbe reviewed.

Maria Fernandes has been in prac-tice exclusively in immigration for thepast 25 years and is accredited inImmigration Law by the SolicitorsRegulation Authority. Fernandes Vazis based at 87 Wembley Hill RoadWembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on02087330123, by email on [email protected].

Silence is Golden

Leadership Matters By Amit Patel

Amit Patel has over15 years experience inthe field of Leadershipand Human Resource

Management

The latest on the temporaryimmigration cap

I recently had the privi-lege of attending the“Women of the FutureAwards” in London.Hosted by Riz Lateeffrom BBC news andattended by over 500 del-egates including NickClegg and Cherie Blair,the awards recognise ris-ing stars, women under35, from business, arts,science, technology andmedia.

I was thrilled to benominated in the knowl-edge that my parentswould be proud that Iwas shortlisted.Growing up in a ruralpart of India, I had neverimagined that 30 yearson, I would share thestage with the DeputyPrime Minister. As excit-ing as it was to be short-listed, I was really hum-bled to be invited onstage as the winner ofthe Technology category,stunned in the presenceof some spectacularlyimpressive women.

Having fumbled myown acceptance speech,I was left breathlesswhen TabithaManzuangani, the“Young Star Award”winner from NorwoodCollege, came on stage.“My recognition is noth-ing but proof that hardwork always pays off. Iencourage others towork hard and if you dothat, the rest will follow.”What a heartwarmingdeclaration of confi-

dence. As worried as Ifeel when I look at cur-rent news about theworld our children willgrow up in, it is inmoments like these that Ifeel excited about thepromise of the future. Icould see tears of prideand satisfaction rolldown the eyes of awoman at the next table.I could tell she wasTabithas mum, a veryproud night for herindeed.

At the end of the cer-emony, all the winnerswere invited on stage fora group photograph. Imade a bee-line towardsTabitha to congratulateher on such a greatachievement at such atender age. Wanting tokeep my interaction ‘sim-ple’, I casually remarked“Tabitha, your speechwas superb, it put therest of us to shame!”Without rushing into anequally clichéd response,Tabitha paused, and thenanswered, “You shouldnever be ashamed, chil-dren need role modelsthat are proud of thework they do, I am smil-ing for the cameras sothat others working hardcan see that in the end,smiles await those thattry their best”. Its notoften that I am speech-less but this responsesimply floored me.

I reflect at theGovernments efforts to‘reward’ young people to

attend college, ‘bribe’them to lose weight andeat healthy food. I reallycouldn’t help but wonderwhether it is simply theart of recognition that weare missing in the West.Bribes work but where isthe ‘pride’ and ‘achieve-ment’ in that? Whatabout the simpleparental responsibility ofensuring your childrenWANT to do things thatyou can be proud of?What about ensuringyour children act andthink like Tabitha.Perhaps the art is to‘deprive’ children ofthings they want, ‘makethem work’ for things sothat they learn to appre-ciate what they get, nottake things for granted.As hard as it is, I make apledge to raise Ria withthis view in mind. Afterall, looking ahead, I wantto be the mum at anawards ceremony andnot the mum campaign-ing for the government toput their hands in theirpocket to make my childachieve basic things likeeat well and study!

For more informationon these awards and tonominate future candi-dates for Women of theFuture Awards, pleasevisit; http://wof.realbusi-ness.co.uk/

“Don’t worry whenyou are not recognised,but strive to be worthy ofrecognition” AbrahamLincoln.

“Chote Muh Badi Baat”

By Radhika Madlani

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on [email protected]

IPRO 2010: Indian propertyshow in London this weekend

After an overwhelmingresponse every year in theMiddle East, Pan-EasternTrade and ExhibitorsWorldwide presents yetanother property expo,IPRO 2010, Londonwhich is one of the mostimportant exhibitions forIndians keeping our prom-ise of bringing joy to theNRI families in London.

IPRO 2010 is beinghosted at the AlexandraPalace, London on the27th (Sat) and 28TH Nov(Sun) 2010 (10 am to 7.30pm) to showcase exclusiveproperties from India. The

show features reputedbuilders with propertiesfrom various parts ofIndia.

“Pan-Eastern Tradeand Exhibitors has a cut-ting edge over its competi-tors, because we take

pride in offering personal-ized service to our clientsby motivating and inspir-ing them to explore theglobal market ” said MsSayali Chawla, M.D, Pan-Eastern Trade andExhibitors Worldwide.

Pan-Eastern Trade andExhibitors Worldwide isscheduled to conduct theINDIA PROPERTYSHOW SERIES in Muscat,Oman in March 2011 andAnnual National CareerEvent and ExhibitionCAREER WORLD 2011 inMauritius in February,2011.

Pan-Eastern Trade and Exhibitors show at Alexandra Palace, Wood Green

Sayali Chawla

TCS pension deal with UK govt okayedBritain’s PersonalAccounts DeliveryAuthority (Pada) recentlyconfirmed the 10 year dealwith TCS, Indian softwaremajor for administeringNEST, ending the uncer-tainty over the deal afterthe new coalition govern-ment came to power. The

deal was award to TataConsultancy Services bythe previous Labour government.

“I welcome this con-tract as the next signifi-cant milestone for work-place pension reforms andautomatic enrolment. Weare on track for delivery of

the reforms from 2012.NEST will offer access to agood quality workplacepension scheme to manypeople who would nototherwise have the oppor-tunity to save for theirretirement,” said SteveWebb, the country’s minis-ter for pensions.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 21FINANCIAL VOICE

GBP - INR = 72.601

USD - INR = 45.72

EUR - INR = 61.55

GBP - USD = 1.59

GBP - EUR = 1.18

EUR - USD = 1.3450

GBP - AED = 5.8512

GBP - CAD = 1.6228

GBP - NZD = 2.0804

GBP - AUD = 5.84

GBP - ZAR = 11.22

GBP - HUF = 326.04

www.rationalfx.com

Foreign Exchange

Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail [email protected]

Information provided by RationalFX.

None of the information on this page

constitutes, nor should be construed

as financial advice. The exchange

rates used are the commercial foreign

exchange rates provided by

RationalFX. For a live quote or to find

out more about how RationalFX can

help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

WeeklyCurrenciesAs of Tuesday

23rd November 2010 @ 3pm

When the Euro was first intro-duced it received many plaudits,they thought it was the start ofa real unification of Europe as awhole and would aid Europe asa centre in world trade. Theidealists thought that one gov-erning body namely the ECBwould be able to run and deter-mine the interest rates of allparty members. In theory itseemed a perfect system but inpractice it doesn’t appear to beworking.

Many of the smallereconomies have been devastat-ed by the recent world recessionand have been looking to theECB for assistance which was-n’t the design of the unification.Greece, Portugal, Spain and

Ireland to name a few haverecently had the biggest slumpin their economies history.Their alliance to the Euro alsomeans their options to aidrecovery are limited by theirunion with the Euro. So theyhave to abide by the rules oftheir affiliation.

It has been well document-ed that many believe that theEuro is being run and proppedup by the Germans and Frenchand that if either pulled out anddecided go alone the Eurowould automatically collapse asa unit. In recent times their twoleaders Merkl and Sarkozy have

been heavily criticized by theirown people for not putting theirrespective countries first on theroad to revival before assistingothers. Germany especially isthe country that everyone looksto first as a yardstick to gaugewhat is happening as to regardsthe Euro revival. The reason forthis is that Germany is such as abig part of the European econo-my that what happens in someof the smaller nation’seconomies is such a small partof Europe as a whole that it isalmost insignificant. A smallblip down in the German econ-omy has a much bigger effect on

the strength of the Euro thanone of the smaller partner’s hav-ing loan problems. If the cost toGermany and France appears tobe too much to prop up theEuro then you may see theunprecedented move by one ofthe two main players to pull outof the Euro altogether.

It is doubtful that this wouldhappen but it has been men-tioned more and more recentlyin some areas of the media. Itmaybe just scaremongering butis an option that mustn’t beoverlooked and for the sake ofthe Euro must be avoided at allcosts.

Is The New Currency Doomed?

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 201022 INDIA

PM’s authority definitely under cloudWell, after the Supreme Court ofIndia heard submissions by Dr.Subramaniam Swamy on Tuesdaythat he never had any doubts aboutthe integrity or the probity of PrimeMinister Dr Manmohan Singh in the2G spectrum scam, the issue hasbeen settled to a limited extent, butthe larger issue of position of DrManmohan Singh under a cloud vis-à-vis his authority in the UPA andthe cabinet still remains very muchunder a cloud. The broadsidelaunched by the then leader of oppo-sition and BJP stalwart, also calledby some of his supporters as the“PM in waiting” L K Advani againstDr. Singh of being a “Weak PrimeMinister” sounded a rhetoric, butevents leading to the telecom scamhave made people believe that thePM is indeed spineless.

The 2G scam, as per an estimateof the CAG has caused a huge loss ofRs. 1.76 trillion to the exchequer.The findings of the CAG are categor-ical to the extent that A Raja, thesacked former Telecom ministerignored notes of caution and advisesfrom the PMO, the finance and the

law ministry among others on theallocation of 2G spectrum licencesto telecom companies in 2007-08.

It is also worth highlighting thefact that the man behind the politicaltremors, Dr. Swamy has alleged thatA Raja may be the key player in thescam, but he cannot be the sole ben-eficiary. M Karunanidhi, the DMKsupermo and Raja’s political boss,his party and even keen of Congressleader, two sisters of Sonia Gandhiare alleged to have benefited fromthe spoils of the 2G scam.

Manmohan Singh was wary fromthe beginning during the formationof the UPA II government. He wasvery insistent that he would not haveA Raja and T R Balu of the DMK inhis team. Reasons were very clear –Raja was facing the 2G storm. But,the PM’s hands were tied down bythe Congress leader and UPA chair-person Sonia Gandhi. Had Sonianot budged to Karunanidhi’s dic-tates, Dr. Singh could have savedhimself from the stinging remarksfrom the Supreme Court. Further, he

also had to allow another taintedleader Suresh Kalmadi continue tillthe CWG were concluded.

Further, questions over theauthority of the Prime Minister per-sist over the facts that while SoniaGandhi walks away with all the cred-it and praise for the populistschemes and successes, Dr Singh isalone left to face the criticism andcarry on the baggage that he wouldhave liked to dump, had he been onhis own! Sonia Gandhi is enjoying asort of unfettered privileges andback seat driving without any consti-tutional obligations. She maydeserve all the credit for electoralsuccess of the UPA, but her politicalacumen is not established. There arealmost no takers for the rhetoric of“no one guilty will be spared” dishedout off and on by the Prime Minister,Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.

The most tangible way of reiningcorruption in a country like India isindependence and autonomy ofinstitutions like the CAG, the CBI,the CVC and likes along with goodgovernance, and more importantly,the political will.

America’s Facade on TerrorismBy Vipul Ladwa

The Asian Voice wrote a very good editorial (6thNovember) entitled ‘Serious action, not ritual breast-beating on terror, is needed’. On the one hand the UScondemns terrorism and on the other it inadvertentlyfunds it by forming alliances with the Arab world. So isformer President George W Bush’s “generational chal-lenge” to instil democracy into the Arab world in thehope of stopping anti-American terrorism just a façade?In other words, is the security rationale for promotingdemocracy in the Arab world based on a sound premise?Unfortunately, the answer appears to be no. Terrorismstems from factors much more specific than regime type.Al Qaeda and like-minded groups are not fighting fordemocracy in the Muslim world; they are fighting toimpose their vision of an Islamic state. It therefore begsthe question of whether the US is doing enough to fightterrorism or are there other agendas at play?

The Arab Lobby in USThe US has always been aware that Saudi Arabia, the

leader of the Arab world, is the biggest funder of Islamicterror activities. The 9/11 attacks brought this into sharpfocus when it was revealed that 15 of the 19 hijackerswere Saudis. Yet the US turns a blind eye on this factwhen it comes to forming US-Arab ‘business’ relations.A recent publication, Mitchell Bard’s The Arab Lobbyisttalks about an invisible alliance of groups working in theUS promoting a pro-Arab agenda. The book explainswith startling evidences how Saudi Arabia has recruitedover two dozen US firms as foreign agents, and havespent nearly $100 million on American lobbyists, con-sultants and public relations firms to rebrand the Saudisas allies in the war on terror.

Other than Kennedy no other US President before orsince has ever tried to pressurise the Saudis to introducesocial reforms. During the 2008 presidential campaign,Barack Obama made several pro-Israel statements.According to the book, 80 per cent of Jews voted for him.Within a few weeks of taking office, “Obama seemed topick a fight with the Israeli government over its settlementpolicy … When Israeli officials brought up the fact thatcertain understandings had been reached with Obama’spredecessor regarding what the US considered to beacceptable construction, Secretary of State Hillary Clintondenied any such agreements had been made.” Obama’sfirst interview as President was to an Arab publication andhis first visit to the Middle East omitted Israel.

America has a habit of speaking in terms of ideals inlieu of speaking in terms of reality. The grave reality ofUS foreign policy is that they misuse military and eco-nomic might to coerce other nations into adopting poli-cies that will favour the US, and in return they turn ablind eye to abiding nations which imprison dissenters,maintain tyrannical regimes, and abuse human rights. Aslong as countries like Saudi Arabia maintain policies thatsuit US interests such as oil trade and allowing US baseson Saudi soil, the US will remain content. On the flipside, if a country deviates from the straight and narrowpath that the US has bound them to, they will not be sogentle in return. India is developing close relations withUS in the hope of fighting terrorism in the country. Itneeds to be cautious and not optimistic in the outcome.

This flawed approach to foreign policy won't be reme-died overnight, and more than likely not at all. Theunfortunate reality is that there is too much capital atstake, both in the government and business sphere, tonot embrace the current doctrine.

India to soon witness an inbound flow of British studentsBy Kartik.S.Raval

The plans of making UK students more employable bygiving them opportunity for international education in abooming economy like India was discussed and launchedby David Willetts, Minister of Universities and Sciences.Mr. Willetts recently visited to India, launched the sec-ond phase of UK India Education and ResearchInitiative (UKIERI) along with Shri Kapil Sibal, India’sMinister of Human Resource Development.

There are currently more than 40,000 Indian studentsreceiving education at various universities in the UK,whereas only 500 students from the entire Britain go toIndia to pursue further education and this has been anissue of major concern amongst the education leaders inthe UK.

Mr. Willetts visited Mumbai, New Delhi and Puneduring 11 to 17 November, pledged to support the newphase of the programme for the next five years from April2011 to April 2016. It is comprised of four strands ofeducation collaboration focusing on building a new gen-eration of leaders, innovative partnership, skills develop-ment and finally building harmony and enhancing mobil-ity.

David Willetts met Indian Ministers Sharad Pawarand Kapil Sibal and also the officials at the Ministry ofScience and Technology in Delhi and also delivered theinaugural address at the FICCI Higher Education

Summit. Prior to his visit to Pune, Mr. Willetts revealed“I am delighted to be visiting Pune, which is known forits high quality academic profile. In addition to its wellrespected University, Pune is home to some of the lead-ing research institutions in India and some of the coun-try’s top healthcare, engineering, IT and energy compa-nies, which have a very strong R&D base. There are sev-eral successful academic and research links betweenPune and the UK and I am keen that they should be

taken to the next level.” He also visited reputed instituteslike ITI in Gurgaon and ISRO in Bangalore.

The ministers also signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on UKIERI and a Joint Statement on thework of the Forum. The Forum discussion also identifieda number of particular ideas for future collaboration,including in areas of school leadership, vocational edu-cation through use of technology, distance learning, skillsdevelopment, universities for innovation, teacher andfaculty development.

This was David Willetts’ second visit to India in ashort span of four months as in July he was a part of thePrime Minister Cameron's Cabinet's delegation for theirfirst overseas visit since coming to office. Hence theintent has been made clear by David Willetts with yetanother essential visit to India which highlights theimportance of Education and Research partnershipbetween UK and India.

The programme, if applied and executed properly cansurely benefit British students to enhance their interna-tional exposure and achieve higher job prospect in thisshrinking global economy and cut-throat competition.But it is likely to be a two way learning process as eventhe Indian students who either could not travel or optedto stay in India will have a lot to learn about UK's culture,education and socio-political environment as they will beaccompanied by the British students in the lecture hallsand in the academic learning process.

Kapil Sibal and David Willetts co-chaired the third UK-India Education Forum

Prince William to marryKate Middleton on April 29Prince William willmarry KateMiddleton on April29, 2011 atWestminster Abbeyand the governmenthas declared it as abank holiday.

Prime ministerDavid Cameron wel-comed theannouncement of the wedding date, which he saidwould be a "happy and momentous occasion".

The Prime Minister added: "We want to mark theday as one of national celebration - a public holiday sothat people will have a chance to celebrate on the day."

The timing of the wedding will mean there will betwo four-day public holidays, two weekends in succes-sion. The Monday after the wedding, May 2, is alreadya designated bank holiday; and the previous weekendis Easter, which also has two bank holidays on theFriday and Monday. The couple, who revealed theirengagement to the world last week, were described as"over the moon" about their forthcoming wedding.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the prince's private sec-retary, said: "They’re on cloud nine like any othernewly engaged couple and they’re now getting stuckinto organising their wedding.

A solidarity march tocommemorate 26/11

Prominent personalities from all walks of life haveplanned a solidarity march to commemorate the sec-ond anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks.Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have sounded highalert in Mumbai and New Delhi based on inputs thatLeT is planning to launch spectacular attacks like theMumbai strikes. Governments have been asked tomount strict vigilance in crowded places and deployadditional police forces.

Bollywood stars, industrialists, politicians, reli-gious heads, and social activists will participate in therally on Friday. It will start trom Trident Towers atNariman Point and conclude at Gateway of India.

Film actors Ajay Devgn, Raveena Tandon, MahimaChaudhary and Rajan Varma, who played terroristAjmal Kasab in the film Ashok Chakra, will participate.

“We are propagating the message of peace and sol-idarity since we believe that patriotic fervour needs tobe kept alive in our hearts,” said Charan Singh Sapra,an MLA who is lending support to the event. Sapraadded that the organisers have been inspired byGandhi’s peaceful marches during the freedom strug-gle. K Unnikrishnan, father of National SecurityGuard commando, major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, whodied fighting terrorists at the Taj Hotel during the ter-ror attacks, will be felicitated. He is on a cross-coun-try bicycle trip to show solidarity with martyrs andvictims of the terror strikes and to mark the secondanniversary of the attacks.

The royal couple have selecteda 'first choice' date, thought to

be in the final week of April

High alert for the second anniversaryof Mumbai terror attacks

• Perspective •


Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 201024 INDIA

Gujarati singer sets world record in non-stop singing

Gujarati singer DhariniPandya, popularly knownas SawradhikaPanchamda, has set a newworld record for non-stopsinging by performingaround 101 hours.

She achieved the rarefeat on Monday, the open-ing day of Swarnim Tana-Riri Mahotsava atVadanagar in Mehsanadistrict of north Gujarat.The festival is organisedevery year in the memory

of Gujarat’s classicalmusic duo Tana and Riri.

She was felicitated forher record-breaking feat ata function organized inVadnagar on Mondayevening to present LataMangeshkar and UshaMangeshkar the Tana-RiriSangeet Samman for theircontributions in the fieldof music. Bhagyesh Jha,secretary, youth, sports &culture, said Dharini’sachievement made thisannual music festival aworld class event.

Dharini Pandya beingfelicitated by Narendra Modi

In divine lightBy Rajen Vakil

Sisupala, the childishness withinFor today’s story we willtake the setting of the‘Rajasuya Yagna’ per-formed by Yudhisthira.The Pandavas had creat-ed a beautiful kingdomcalled Indraprastha fromKhandavprastha, adesert (more a waste-land). The Yagna waspreceded by great cele-brations and all the kingsof the country had cometo support the Pandavas.The final act of the cele-brations was to name aguest of honour fromamong the distinguishedguests present there.Yudhisthira took theadvice of his grandsire,Bhishma, on this matter.Bhishma told Yudhisthirathat in that great gather-ing of so many princesand sages, it was onlyKrishna who, like a greatsun, shines in his ownrays – his light comesfrom within and so in thatgathering, it would onlybe appropriate thatKrishna be the guest ofhonour.

Yudhisthira was veryhappy as he lovedKrishna dearly and heasked Sahdeva to comeforward, wash Krishna’sfeet, and honour him.With great love, Sahdevaperformed the actionshonouring Krishna but agroup of the assembledprinces were not satisfiedwith what had happened.The whole hall, whichwas silent, was suddenlyaroused by a loud andeerie laughter. Sisupala,Krishna’s cousin whohated him from the coreof his being, started rain-ing insult upon insult onKrishna.

He called Krishna acowherd and Yudhisthiraa bastard. He furtheradded that everythingthat Krishna hadachieved in life wasthrough deceit and kepton insulting him. Thegrandsire Bhishma toldYudhisthira not to worryas it was ordained thatSisupala’s death wouldbe at the hands ofKrishna and the time hadcome. Bhishma then nar-rated to Yudhisthira thestory of Sisupala’s birth.

When Sisupala wasborn, he had three eyesand four arms. His par-ents were horrified atwhat they saw but aheavenly voice told themthat whenever the childwas placed in the lap ofthe person who was tokill him, the extra eye andarms would fall off. WhenKrishna and Balaramawent to see the child, hismother (Krishna’s aunt)put him in Krishna’s lap.

Immediately the third eyeclosed and the arms felloff. Sisupala’s motherrequested Krishna tospare Sisupala. Krishnareplied that he wouldallow Sisupala to insulthim a hundred timesbefore killing him.

Now in the hall asSisupala kept on shower-ing insults upon Krishna,the time had come forKrishna to kill him.Krishna recounted all theevil deeds of Sisupalaand after a long battle,severed his head with hischakra called‘Sudarshana’. As soon asSisupala fell, the forcesof nature were suddenlyaroused and the windblew in the trees sug-gesting omens of futurediscord and destruction.The seed for the greatMahabharata battle hadbeen sown.

Now let us try to seethe above events throughthe eyes of a disciple.The first step a discipletakes is to be free ofunnecessary leakages ofenergy. He realises thatthe chief source of leak-age is excitement and hepractices hard to be freeof it. Excitement is chaot-ic or Khandavprasthawhich the Pandavastransform toIndraprastha. This is thetransformation of excite-ment into sensitivity. Thestudent then starts usinghis consciousness(sudarshana) to observethe workings of his ownpsychic nature. It is atthis time that we observethe workings of theSisupala within ourselvesand eventually killinghim.

‘Sisu’ means a childand ‘pala’ means to lookafter, that is to look afterthe child within us. Whenthe child is young heplays with his toys. If aneighbour’s child wantsone of the toys, the childholds it tightly and doesnot part with it. Say, thesame child grows up andbecomes a great politi-cian, or a

member of parlia-ment. If from within hisown party someonewants his seat then themember will hold his seattightly saying he won’tstep down. The body hasgrown but nothing withinhas matured. When peo-ple come closer to death,they become like infants.This is the tragedy of ourlives that we never really

grow up – when we die itis the same child (whenwe were three years old)that dies. This childish-ness within us is theSisupala and he must bekilled. ‘Rajasuya Yagna’means that point in ourspiritual journey when westart looking inside.Krishna symbolises con-sciousness and it is thisinner light of conscious-ness (sudarshana) thatkills the Sisupala within.Before killing him heallows him a hundredinsults; this shows thatthis inner childishness ofours must first be studiedover a period of timewithout any interferenceand only then defeated.

When Sisupala wasborn, he had three eyesand four arms. Thisshows that that childish-ness within us is neverbound by normal ethicsand morality. A youngchild loves to peepthrough holes and dothings which he shouldnot be doing, depicted byan extra eye and twoextra arms.

Sisupala was the kingof Cedi (pronouncedChedi) and on his death,his son Dhristaketubecomes the king. ‘Dhris’means bold and ‘ketu’means chief. This signi-fies a new boldness onthe part of the disciple.As a child, he was fright-ened to go into darkrooms alone and in med-itation he was frightenedto enter into the darknessof the mind. Now thatSisupala was dead, withhis new boldness, he candelve deeper into his ownpsyche without fear.

This new boldnessgives him the power ofmental resilience. Thechild in us would alwaysbe hypnotised by someevil thought but now wehave the power to resistsuch hypnoses. Eventhough the Pandavaswere responsible for hisfather’s death,Dhristaketu overcomesthe urge for revenge andbecomes their friend. Inall of us, this urge toavenge lies deeply root-ed and it is with the killingof the inner Sisupala thatwe have the maturity torise above this. When thedisciple is free from theurge to avenge, he hastaken a big step forwardin his journey.

(Edited by

Chintu Gandhi)

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

Even the CBI, the apexIndian investigationagency has submittedbefore the supreme courtthat Nira Radia was underthe scanner of the IncomeTax department and herphones were tapped. Herconnections were alleged-ly right upto the high andthe mighty and she isbelieved to have played abig role in ensuring thatthe now sacked minister,A Raja got a cabinet berthin the UPA II, just wheninitially Dr. Singh wasalmost bent upon notaccommodating himatleast.

That was perhapslargely due to the fact thatthe 2G spectrum alloca-tion, which was alreadyover by then, was seen as a

clear act of defiance andcorruption by the sameminister who held theTelecom portfolio in theUPA I.

Nira Radia, a Britishcitizen of Indian originand married to JanakRadia, a native of Kutchdistrict in Gujarat movedto India after her divorce.She has many firms work-ing in the area of strategicconsulting, PR and corpo-rate communicationsdomain. Her business his-tory is also allegedly a bitchequered, as one of herbusiness associate wasallegedly involved in kid-napping one of NiraRadia’s three sons andwas also arrested.

According to a submis-sion by the CBI, 5,851phone calls made andreceived by Nira and

82,665 pages of docu-ments relating to her areunder scrutiny. Theagency has also indicatedof a possibility of someinternational ramifica-tions.

The client list of enti-ties owned by Nira Radiainclude RelianceIndustries (MukeshAmbani), Tata GroupCompanies, SingaporeAirlines, Star Group,Nortel, Siemens and more.

The transcripts of herphone calls, as exposed bya little known magazinereveal that even big namesin the Indian media werehooked up by her inattempts to serve interestsbusiness of lobbying andhelping A Raja gettingback the cabinet berth andthe Telecommunicationsdept.

Raja to Radia: phony deals and huge scamsContinued from page 1

Mother Teresa award for Dalai LamaDalai Lama, the Tibetanspiritual leader and headof the Tibetan governmentin exile received theMother Teresa MemorialInternational Award forSocial Justice last week inNew Dellhi. The Tibetanleader was honoured forhis contribution towardshumanity, promotinginter-religious discoursesand welfare of Tibetans.

Responding to thehonour, Dalai Lama said,“I am one of the admirersof late Mother Teresa. Ihave met her. I reallyadmire her work and herspirit”.

He also welcomed therelease of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Suu Kyifrom prison in Yangon onNovember 13 after sevenyears of house arrest.

Dalai Lama to retire fromgovt-in-exile role

The Dalai Lamaintends to retire as head ofthe Tibetan government in

exile next year as he looksto reduce his ceremonialrole and scale back hisworkload, his spokesmantold reporters.

Dalai Lama receives the Mother Teresa MemorialInternational Award for Social Justice from Bollywood

actress Rani Mukherjee at New Delhi on 18th November

Navi Mumbai airport to take offEnvironmental clearance received

Finally, the Environmentministry of India hasaccorded clearance to theNavi Mumbai airport, orthe second internationalairport for Mumbai, thecommercial capital ofIndia.

Plans for the secondairport faced problemsover change of course fortwo rivers and destructionof mangroves.

"Formally the environ-mental clearance has beengiven to the Navi MumbaiProject. The provisions ofbuilding the airport will

start now," EnvironmentMinister Jairam Rameshsaid.

Planned as a public-private partnership, theproject is proposed with74 per cent equity withthe private players andthe remaining 26 per centdivided equally betweenthe state-run AirportsAuthority of India and theCity and IndustrialD e v e l o p m e n tCorporation (CIDCO) ofMaharashtra.

The project, proposedat a distance of some 35

km from the existingChhatrapati ShivajiInternational Airport inMumbai, is expected toabsorb the load due tofuture growth in popula-tion, business and com-mercial activity of theregion.

It is expected to handle10 million passengers inits first operational year,doubling to 20 million ineight years. The aim isthat the airport wouldhave a handling capacityof 40 million passengersby 2030.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 25World

US resolution backs India’s UNSC bidWashington: LaudingIndia's commitment toglobal peace and develop-ment of the South Asianregion, a resolution intro-duced in the US House ofRepresentatives hasappealed to the UnitedNations to take necessarysteps to make New Delhia permanent member ofthe Security Council.

The resolution byCongressman GusBilirakis gives the senseof the House of

Representatives that theUN should forthwith takethe procedural actionsnecessary to amendArticle 23 of the Charterof the United Nations toestablish India as a per-manent member of theUN Security Council.

The resolution, whichhas been sent to theHouse Committee onForeign Affairs for neces-sary action, noted thatIndia is the largest demo-cratic country in the

world in which all politi-cal views are freelyexpressed and respected.

India is the world'ssecond most populouscountry, with over onebillion citizens residingwithin its borders and isone of the largest contrib-utors of troops to UN-mandated peacekeepingmissions, it said.

The resolution alsosaid that India hasdemonstrated a strongcommitment to global

peace and promotion ofthe peaceful developmentof the South Asianregion.

"... it is the sense ofthe House ofRepresentatives that theUnited Nations shouldforthwith take the proce-dural actions necessary toamend Article 23 of theCharter of the UnitedNations to establish Indiaas a permanent memberof the United NationsSecurity Council," it said.

Air India Kanishka bomber says sorry to victims’ familiesVancouver (Canada):Inderjit Singh Reyat, theonly man convicted in the1985 Air India Kanishkabombing, has offered anapology to the families ofthe 329 victims of thebombing.

According to the Globeand Mail, Reyat's letter ofapology was read out byhis lawyer, Ian Donaldson,at his sentencing hearingon a conviction for perjurylast week.

"No words in any lan-guage can ever bring clo-sure to those who havelost loved ones as a resultof the Air India and

Narita tragedies. Neithercan words bring backthose who perished insuch tragic circum-stances. I sincerely apolo-gize to each and everyone of the victims whohave been left with suchgrief of burden to bear,"Reyat said in the state-ment.

Reyat was convictedof perjury in Septemberafter a jury ruled that hehad made untruthfulstatements during the2003 Air India trial ofRipudaman Singh Malikand Ajaib Singh Bagri,who were acquitted of

masterminding the bombplot.

Both Malik and Bagriwere acquitted of allcharges, but Crown prose-cutor Len Doust has saidthat the outcome of thetrial might have been dif-ferent if Reyat had toldwhat he knew about theAir India disaster.

The 58-year-old, whowill be sentenced onJanuary 7, faces up to 14years in prison.

Reyat was earlier sen-tenced to five years inprison for manslaughter inconnection to his role inacquiring bomb parts used

in the explosive devicethat brought down an AirIndia Flight 182.

Flight 182 had crashedinto the Atlantic Ocean offthe coast of Ireland afterleaving Montreal on June23, 1985, killing 329 people.

Reyat also served a 10-year sentence for a blaston the same day at Tokyo'sNarita airport, where twobaggage handlers diedwhen a bomb-laden suit-case exploded before itcould be transported toanother Air India plane,which was carrying 250passengers.

Four Indian-Americans selected for Rhodes scholarship

Houston: Four Indian-American students havebeen selected for theRhodes scholarships for2011 for studying at theUniversity of Oxford, UK.The award is widely con-sidered the "world's mostprestigious scholarship".

The Rhodes Trust onSunday named Aakash KShah of New Jersey,Prerna Nadathur & PriyaM Sury, and VarunSivaram of California.Aakash K Shah, CliffsidePark, graduated fromUrsinus College and isnow in his first year atHarvard Medical School.

Prerna Nadathur,Roseville, is a senior at theUniversity of Chicago

where she majors in math-ematics and minors in lin-guistics and philosophy.

Priya M Sury,Roseville, graduated fromWashington University inSt. Louis in May inanthropology andSpanish.

She is currently study-ing for an MD degree atthe University ofMinnesota.

Varun S Sivarum,Monte Sereno, is a seniorat Stanford majoring inengineering physics andinternational relations.

A Truman Scholar andjunior mentor at Phi BetaKappa, Varun has wonStanford prizes for excel-lence in humanities and

political science, as well asin engineering.

The 32 chosen fromthe United States will joinan international group ofscholars chosen from 14other jurisdictions aroundthe world.

In addition to the 32Americans, scholars arealso selected fromAustralia, Bermuda,Canada, the nations of theC o m m o n w e a l t hCaribbean, Germany,Hong Kong, India,Jamaica, Kenya, NewZealand, Pakistan,Southern Africa (SouthAfrica, plus Botswana,Lesotho, Malawi, Namibiaand Swaziland), Zambia,and Zimbabwe.

Rajapaksa unveils new Lankan cabinetColombo: Sri Lankanpresident MahindaRajapaksa on Mondayunveiled an expanded 59-member cabinet for hissecond six-year term as hekept with himself the keydefence and finance port-folios and retained primeminister D M Jayaratne.

The president's brotherBasil Rajapaksa, the mainpolitical strategist of hisadministration, also

retained his post of eco-nomic development minister.

Newly-appointed min-isters along with 31 other

deputy ministers took theoath of office beforeRajapaksa at the presiden-tial secretariat, ahead ofthe presentation of the firstbudget of his second term.

Ministerial portfolioswere offered to severalMPs who pledged theirsupport to the governmentduring the crucial vote on18th amendment to theConstitution whichremoved the term limits

for the presidency.The previous Cabinet

under Rajapaksa had 41ministers in it. Sri LankaMuslim Congress, theleading party representingthe Muslim minoritywhich had supported thenow jailed common oppo-sition candidate SarathFonseka during the presi-dential election in January,also become a partner ofthe coalition government.

Indian cultural festival opens in BangladeshDhaka: An India culturalfestival with art exhibi-tions as well performancesby Indian artists opened inBangladesh, this week.

‘Ananda Jagya’, aweek-long dance, music,crafts and film festival,and fortnight-long artexhibitions was heldsimultaneously in manycities including Dhaka,Chittagong and Rajshahi.

The festival was beingorganised jointly by theIndira Gandhi CulturalCentre (IGCC) of theIndian high commissionhere and the BangladeshShilpakala Academy(BSA).

Veteran Indian artistslike Pandit DebuChaudhury, Ustad RashidKhan, Pandit JayantaBose, Pandit Kumar Bose,

Pandit Debojyoti Bose,Manoj Mitra, RitaGanguly, RajendraGangani and others wereexpected to perform dur-ing the festival.

The art exhibition,titled ‘Harmony andRhythm’, which begins onSunday, will showcaseworks of four contempo-rary Indian painters. Itwill also highlight styles

and techniques, represent-ing Indian folk and tradi-tional culture, the DailyStar said.

Films like ‘Nayak’,‘Shaptopadi’, ‘Jai Jayanti’,‘Harano Sur’,‘Chhaddobeshi’ and ‘Path-e Holo Deri’ featuringpopular Bengali actorUttam Kumar will also bescreened in Chittagongduring the festival.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

N Korean artillerystrike worriesworld powers

Washington: Washingtonpledged to defend SouthKorea after North Koreanforces shot artillery shellsat a southern island onTuesday, prompting graveconcern in capitalsaround the world.

In a powerfully-word-ed statement, the WhiteHouse said the UnitedStates "strongly condemnsthis attack and calls onNorth Korea to halt itsbelligerent action."

Pyongyang's attack onthe island near the Koreanborder killed at least twoSouth Korean marines.

US ally Japan, as wellas China and Russia, alsovoiced their deep concernover the incident.

378 killed in Cambodia stampedePhnom Penh: At least 378 people were killed and hun-dreds injured in a stampede in Cambodia on Monday.The tragedy took place when the panic-stricken crowdcelebrating the end of the rainy season on an island ina river tried to flee over a narrow bridge in the capitalPhnom Penh and many people were crushed underfootof fell over its side into the water. Disoriented victimsstruggled to find an escape hatch through the humanmass, pushing their way in every direction. The primeminister called it the country’s biggest tragedy sincethe murderous 1970s reign of Khmer Rouge. Rescuerson Tuesday searched a muddy river for more bodies asthe country prepared for a day of mourning.

After the stampede, bodies were stacked upon bod-ies on the bridge as rescuers swarmed the area. Thesearch for bodies along the Bassac River continued asstate television showed horrific footage of twisted andwrithing bodies - both alive and dead - piled on eachother. Some desperately reached out with their hands,screaming for help and grasping for hands of rescuerswho struggled to pull limp bodies from the pile as ifthey were trapped in sand or snow.

Catholic University offers Hinduism classes

Nevada (US): Catholic University Leuven (Belgium),oldest existing Catholic university in the world found-ed in 1425, is offering Hinduism classes in English andDutch. These Hinduism courses will acquaint studentswith Veda, Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, epics andPuranas, tantric and bhakti traditions, concept of sal-vation, philosophical traditions, etc. On the oral exam,students are supposed to be able to explain citedSanskrit terms. It is included in Master of Theologyand Religious Studies and some other programs.

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded by PopeMartin V, has about 37,000 students from all over theworld and offers 120 postgraduate academic programswith revenue of about $890 million. Mark Waer is theRector. Prominent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in astatement described Catholic University's action as "astep in the right direction".

Branson to work as air hostess after losing bet

Kuala Lumpur: Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Bransonwill don a striking red skirt and play a stewardess on arival airline AirAsia flight after he lost a bet with thecompany's owner.

Branson lost a friendly bet to AirAsia boss TonyFernandes as his Formula One Virgin Racing teamended behind Lotus Racing in the overall team rank-ings. "We want him to shave his legs. We are going totry and get him to shave his legs and wear some make-up," The Star quoted Fernandes, the Indian-originchief of the Malaysian budget airline, as saying.

If Richard is sporting, so is Tony. He is prepared tomake a concession to his British friend as he seeks hispound of flesh. "But we will leave his moustache aloneas it is his trademark," said Fernandes, who is theLotus Racing team principal and AirAsia Group chiefexecutive.

Myanmar cracks the whip on mediaover Suu Kyi coverage

Yangon: Eight magazines in military-controlledMyanmar were suspended by government censorsafter they prominently published news and photosabout pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's releasefrom detention. An editor of one publication said thePress Scrutiny board cited the size of a supplementarysection about her as a violation of regulations. Themagazine Weekly Eleven, a publication that was notsuspended , reported in its latest issue that the sus-pension order for the magazines did not say in whatmanner the rules were violated.

Mother meets sonMeanwhile, Suu Kyi met her son after a decade.

Kim Aris flew into Yangon on Tuesday after beinggranted a visa by the military regime and was greetedby his smiling mother at the airport. The 33-year-oldson resides in Britain.

Haneef returning to Australia forcompensation talks

Canberra: Indian origin doctor Mohamed Haneef,who was falsely accused of terrorism and deprived ofhis working visa three years back, is reportedly return-ing back to Brisbane in Australia next month for com-pensation talks with the Government.

Haneef, who for the past two and -a- half years hasbeen working as a GP in the United Arab Emirates,would be accompanied by his wife Firdous and daughterHaniyah. The Australian quoted him as saying that he isscared at the thought of returning to Brisbane, where hewas held for 12 days without charge after his mobilephone SIM card was linked to the failed terrorist attacksin London and Glasgow in 2007. But he also said that hewould love to return to that country permanently.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 201026 Pakistan

In focus60 Hindu couples tie the knot at masswedding in Karachi Karachi: Sixty Hindu couples from poor families tiedthe knot at a mass wedding in Karachi on Saturday.The Pakistan Hindu Council, an NGO, which organisedthe event, bore all expenses; it even chipped in with thedowry. The couples sat in colourfully designed man-daps at the YMCA Lawn. Each couple was allowed tobring in 20 guests, and the bride was given jewellery, abed set, quilts and blankets, a television set, an ironbox, clothes and utensils, Hindu Council presidentRamesh Kumar Vankhwani said. Some of the coupleshailed from Karachi, while the others were from differ-ent parts of the Sindh province. A pundit deliveredinstructions over the microphone, and all couples per-formed the rituals in unison. The couples circumambu-lated the fire seven times, while rituals unique to eachfamily were held in the individual mandaps.

Blasphemy accused Pak-Christianwoman seeks President's mercyLahore: A Christian woman sentenced to death inPakistan on charges of blasphemy has appealed toPresident Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her, saying that shehad been wrongfully accused by neighbours due to apersonal dispute. "I told the police that I have not com-mitted any blasphemy and this is a wrong accusation,but they did not listen to me," the Daily Times quotedAasia Bibi, as saying to reporters, after meeting PunjabGovernor Salmaan Taseer. "I have small kids. I havewrongly been implicated in this false case," she saidfrom the prison. "It was just the outcome of a rivalry. Iwould never even think of blasphemy," Aasia saidweeping. "I have small children. For God's sake, pleaseset me free," she appealed. It was just a dispute overwater but the people accused her of blasphemy andimplicated her in a false and fabricated case, Aasiasaid, adding that she respected the Holy Prophet, andwould never think of passing blasphemous remarksagainst Him. The case has drawn huge attention in themedia, and there is deep sympathy for her. SeveralNGOs have called for repealing the blasphemy lawbecause it was "being used by illiterate masses in ruralareas to hoodwink the minorities". Meanwhile, Zardarihas stayed Aasia's execution, and directed the federalminister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, to submit areport in this regard.

Sikh pilgrims’ tents guttedIslamabad: At least 20 tents of Sikh pilgrims wereburnt to ashes in Pakistan's Nankana Sahib city wherethey had gone to participate in the 542nd birth anniver-sary celebrations of Guru Nanak, a media report saidlast week. No casualties were reported. 'Rescue offi-cials and fire brigade have reached the spot and thesituation was brought under control,' Dunya TV report-ed adding that there was no loss of life or injury.Regarding the cause of fire, there were conflictingreports. Some people on the spot said that the 'tentscaught fire during the process of cooking food in one ofthem' while some others claimed that 'children playingwith fire-crackers caused the fire'. 'Most of the pilgrimshad already left for Gurdwara Sacha Sauda by the timethe tents caught fire,' the channel said adding that onlya few women and children were left behind whoremained unhurt. Some 4,000 Sikh pilgrims hadreached Pakistan boarding special trains through theWagah border to attend the birth anniversary celebra-tions of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith.

India not involved in terror activities,admits Rehman MalikKarachi: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik hasruled out India’s involvement in carrying out terroristactivities in the country, admitting that the locals weresupporting terrorism. “We should put our own house inorder before blaming any other country, includingIndia,” the News quoted Malik, as saying. “Terroristscannot carry out any activity without local help,” headded while highlighting that the “traitors of the country”should be eliminated. The interior minister furtherclaimed that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), alQaeda and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were coordi-nating with each other and were trying to destabilisePakistan.

LeJ splits into 8 smaller cellsIslamabad: The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a notoriousanti-Shia militant group accused of having links with al-Qaida, has split into at least eight cells to better coordi-nate its activities across Pakistan, according to a newsreport. "The creation of the cells is aimed at coordinat-ing the banned group's activities in the area rangingfrom the southern port city of Karachi to Waziristan inthe restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan," reportssaid. "With scattered cells, they have better chances ofsurvival by diverting the focus of law enforcementagencies," an intelligence official said.

Politicians helping Taliban, claims terror suspect Islamabad: Some influen-tial Pakistani politicianshave been patronising theTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP), a terror suspecthas revealed during hisinterrogation.

Mohammad Rafique,an alleged terrorist, whowas caught by theIslamabad police followinga foiled terror strike at theCIA Centre, made somestartling revelations during the course of inves-tigations, The Newsreported.

He disclosed that thesepoliticians, some of whom

were very important andinfluential, were com-pelled to help the PakistanTaliban either becausethey were quite vulnerablebecause of their links withthe terrorist-infestedTribal Areas or they weremade to believe by theTTP that they or theirfamilies could suffer, nomatter where they are inPakistan.

According to sourcesprivy to the interrogations,the alleged terrorist hasbeen cooperating anddishing out informationwhile answering the ques-

tions put to him."This piece of informa-

tion that some of theimportant and influentialpoliticians are practicallyhelping the TTP to carryout terror strikes in thecountry, whether becauseof their sympathies orunder some sort of duressis quite startling," theinvestigators said.

Rafique said that theOrakzai Agency is 'hot'these days, from wherethese terrorist outfits andthe TTP are feeling com-fortable to operate, theinvestigators told the

newspaper."He told us that these

days Amjad, Yasin andJamal Shah (names mighthave been changed) arelocated in the OrakzaiAgency and they arepreparing and dispatchingthe explosive laden vehi-cles to be used in the ter-ror activities all over thecountry," the sources privyto the investigations said,adding that three persons-natives of OrakzaiAgency- were training andpreparing suicide bombersusing intoxication andother techniques.

Prof Samuel Burke, Pakistan’s first envoy to UK is no more

London: Professor SamuelBurke, who died onOctober 9 aged 104, wasone of very few Indians tobecome a senior official inthe Indian Civil Serviceunder the British Raj; fol-lowing partition, hehelped to set up theForeign Office in Pakistanand became an ambassa-dor for the country, serv-ing in 11 different capitals.

After retirement fromthe diplomatic service hebecame an academic in theUnited States, publishinga number of books on thehistory of India and thepolitics of Pakistan.

Samuel Martin Burkewas born on July 3, 1906at Martinpur, a smallChristian village nearFaisalabad in what is nowPakistan. Samuel took afirst class degree inHistory and a masters atthe Government Collegeof Lahore before passingthe Indian Civil Service

(ICS) exams in 1931.He rose to be a High

Court judge and, in theclosing phase of Britishrule in India, served aschairman of the three-manelection petitions commit-tee for the Punjab, set upto consider appealsagainst the results of thegeneral election ofDecember 1945, whichhad pitted the CongressParty, supporting a unitedIndia, against the MuslimLeague, campaigning foran independent Pakistan.

While the commissionwas still sitting, Indianpolitical parties agreed tothe formation of Pakistan,and a circular was sent to

members of the ICS ask-ing whether they wishedto serve India or Pakistanor to retire. Burke felt thatthe only way he couldassure leaders of all thepolitical parties of his con-tinued impartiality andaccordingly, he decided toretire on August 15, 1947.After partition bothCongress and Leagueurged him to come out ofretirement. Since he hadbeen born in what becamePakistan, he decided toserve in Pakistan. Thoughhe was offered a ministry,he chose to join the newly-created Foreign Service.

His first appointmentabroad was in 1949 ascounsellor to the HighCommission in London. In1952, he was transferredto Washington as counsel-lor, but was soon promotedto the rank of minister.

After Washington, heserved as Chargéd’Affaires in Rio de

Janeiro, and as DeputyHigh Commissioner inLondon. He then becamethe first Christian head ofa Pakistani diplomaticmission, as Minister toSweden, Norway, Finlandand Denmark from 1953to 1956.

After a spell in south-east Asia as first residentambassador to Thailand,Burke was appointed tohis final diplomatic post-ing, as HighCommissioner in Canadafrom 1959 to 1961.

Burke retired fromPakistan’s Foreign Serviceto take up a new chair inSouth Asian Studies cre-ated for him at theUniversity of Minnesota.

His books includeForeign Policy of Pakistan,and he also advised on thecompilation of AHistorical Atlas of SouthAsia. Burke continued towrite after he and his wifemoved to England.

Chinese missiles for Pak jetsBeijing: Pakistan will buyChinese air-to-air SD-10missiles and avionics toarm its 250 JF-17 Thunderfighter fleet, the country'sair force chief has said,amid signs that the Frenchhad spurned an offer toequip them.

"Islamabad is seekingto deepen military cooper-ation with Beijing," airchief marshal Rao QamarSuleman, chief of thePakistani air force, toldthe Global Times, reveal-ing that his country mayalso opt to acquire otheradvanced defence missilesystems including Chinesesurface to air missiles

(SAM) systems. Pakistan has opted to

go in for full Chinesearmament systems for thejointly developed fightersand Suleman, currently ona visit to China, told thepaper that the advancedactive radar and homingmiddle-range missiledeveloped by China, calledthe SD-10 , will becomethe standard BeyondVisual Range (BVR)weapon of the JF-17.

"PAF has no plans toinstall western devicesand weapons on the air-craft for the time being,"the Pakistani air forcechief said. The Global

Times, quoting unnamedsources, claimed that theFrench consortium haswithdrawn from a report-ed 1.2 billion euro con-tract to supply radars andmissiles for the first waveof 50 JF-17 fighters,allegedly after pressurefrom India.

The Pakistan air forcechief visited China toattend the Zhuhai airshow in southern China,where the JF-17s were amajor attraction.

The SD-10(ShanDian-10 ) is a radarguided air-to-air missiledeveloped by China in2002.

Pakistan lists names of soldiers killed in Kargil warIslamabad: Proof of theinvolvement of regularPakistani soldiers in the1999 Kargil war has comefrom an institution thathas been for years denyingits role in the hostilitieswith India - the PakistanArmy.

Eleven years after theKargil war, the PakistanArmy has quietly includedthe names of 453 soldiersand officers who werekilled during the conflicton its website.

The 453 Pakistani sol-

diers are shown as killedin the Batalik-Kargil sec-tor in Jammu andKashmir.

The names of thosewho died in Kargil aretucked away in a list ofthousands of personnelkilled while on duty post-ed in the “Shuhada'sCorner” (Martyrs Corner)of the website.

The very first page ofthe long list includes thenames of Captain KarnalSher and Havildar LalakJan, who were both killed

on July 7, 1999 in Kargiland awarded Pakistan'shighest military award, theNishan-e-Haider. Severalothers were posthumouslygiven other gallantryawards like the Tamgha-e-Jurat (Medal of Courage).

The Army also revealsthe codename given to theoperation to occupystrategic mountains andheights on the Indian sideof the LoC - “OperationKoh-e-Paima” orMountain of Resolve. Insome cases, the campaign

is also referred to as“Operation Kargil.”

A majority of thosewho died in Kargil weresoldiers from the NorthernLight Infantry, a formationthat was made a regularregiment of the PakistanArmy because of its per-formance in the 1999 con-flict.

It was earlier a para-military force formed bythe amalgamation of sev-eral militias from theNorthern Areas or Gilgit-Baltistan.

Samuel Burke

Mush to be queried in

Benazir murder probeIslamabad: The Pakistangovt has decided to includeformer president PervezMusharraf in the investiga-tion into the assassinationof former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto.

Federal InvestigationAgency's (FIA) joint inves-tigation team (JIT) has pre-pared a detailed question-naire that will be forward-ed to Musharraf in Britainin a few days, Dawnreported on Tuesday. "Wehave prepared a question-naire for the former presi-dent to record his state-ment," Dawn quoted FIAdirector general WaseemAhmed as saying.

AfricaAsian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 27

www.dimpleselfdrive.comEmail:[email protected]

Mini Bus (8-17 Seater)8 Seater from £6012 Seater from £6515 Seater from £7017 Seater from £80Small Cars from £25Medium Cars from £30Large Cars from £35Large Vans from £40

Competitive prices No hidden extras Unlimited mileage 3 days & overSpecial weekend rates Minibuses 8, 12, 15 & 17 seaters Vans & estate cars

Tel: 020 8205 1200 / 7898 Fax: 020 8200 7426

19 Varley Parade, Edgware Road, London NW9 6RR

DIMPLE SELF DRIVE HIRE LTDDIMPLE VANS - CARS - MINIBUS

��

��

��

��

�Wedding �Birthday

�Parties

�Specia

l Occasio

n

India to set up higher education institutions in AfricaNew Delhi: India is poisedto set up a string of highereducation and traininginstitutions in Africa - inareas ranging from dia-mond polishing to foreigntrade - that differentiate itsd e v e l o p m e n t - c e n t r i capproach from that ofChina, says Jean-PierreEzin, a top African Union(AU) official.

'The AU looks to Indiato set up higher educationinstitutions in Africa.India is doing a lot for thefuture of the continentand can transform thecontinent through educa-tion,' Ezin, commissioner

of the African UnionCommission for HumanResource and Science andTechnology, said in aninterview.

'What we need inAfrica is higher educationto face global challenges.Per capita investment oneducation has to increase,'said Ezin, who visitedIndia recently to discuss ahost of training institutesthat India plans to set upin the continent.

'If we can put educa-tion and research at theheart of the India-Africapartnership, it will behugely beneficial for the

African continent,' hesaid, adding: 'India canplay a key role in thistransformational process.'

'At the next India-Africa Forum summit, wewould like to focus oncapacity building,' he saidwhile alluding to the sec-ond India-Africa ForumSummit next year.

India will also beassisting in setting up apan-African university, anetwork of five proposedregional institutions devot-ed to specific disciplines.

Disclosing the con-tours of the proposed pan-African university, Ezin

said the AU is looking topartner India in setting upa regional institute on Lifeand Earth Sciences. 'Thisis an area where we planto develop traditionalknowledge medicines.India is very strong in thetraditional knowledgeindustry,' he said.

In March this year,India and the 53-nationAU, the pan-African bodyheadquartered in Ethiopiancapital Addis Ababa,launched an action planthat outlined a detailedstrategy for acceleratingbilateral engagement forthe next four years.

Pirates free British couple after over a year in captivityNairobi: A British couplewho had been kidnappedby Somali pirates andheld in captivity in aremote, sweltering patchof central Somalia formore than a year wasfinally released, Somaliofficials said recently,apparently after a ransomwas paid.

The couple, Paul andRachel Chandler, werehijacked in October 2009while sailing in a smallyacht in the Indian Ocean

in what they haddescribed to friends as"the trip of a lifetime."

At a news conferenceshortly after their release,Ms Chandler said, "We arehappy to be alive, happyto be here, desperate tosee our family, and sohappy to be amongstdecent, everyday people,Somalis, people from any-where in the world whoare not criminals, becausewe've been a year withcriminals and that's not a

very nice thing to bedoing."

Somali elders said thecouple's friends and rela-tives paid the pirates sev-eral hundred thousanddollars in ransom. TheChandlers said in earlierinterviews, from captivity,that the pirates hadwhipped them and keptthem apart from eachother, in solitary confine-ment, for months. MsChandler is in her mid-50s and Mr Chandler is

about 60. They were released in

central Somalia, and flewto the capital, Mogadishuwhere they met the primeminister of Somalia'sweak transitional govern-ment.

That government haslittle influence over thepirates, or much else inSomalia, though theprime minister quicklycalled a news conferenceand stood side by sidewith the Chandlers.

Kenyan judiciary set for major overhaulNairobi: In just under sixmonths, Kenya’s judicialsystem is set to experiencea major transformation asit relocates to an ultra-modern complex with acapacity to house over 100courtrooms and judgeschambers.

Fully fitted with anelectronic record manage-ment centre for capturingcourt proceedings as theyunfold, the new complex isset to speed up the deliveryof court rulings, thereforereducing the huge backlogof cases that has been thebane of the country’s judi-ciary to date.

Officially handing overthe complex, which for-merly used to house theheadquarters of the EastAfrican Community andmore recently, the IncomeTax department, to ChiefJustice Evan Gicheru,

Public Works ministerChris Obure described thenew courthouse as thebiggest and most modernin Eastern Africa.

The complex, situatedin the community area inNairobi, will accommodatea total of 57 court rooms, asimilar number of judgesand magistrates’ chambersand 74 cells to serve asholding grounds for sus-pects as they go throughthe judicial process.

The four-storey com-plex also has separaterestaurants for judges,magistrates, lawyers andmembers of the public, aswell as a state of the artoffice for the Chief Justice.

It also boasts a modernlibrary, five boardrooms,the electronic record man-agement centre for captur-ing court proceedings, agate screening house with

public toilets and a cere-monial hall with a seatingcapacity of 500 persons.

The cells, the court’sarchives and the publicrestaurant are located atthe complex’s basementwhile the court’s regis-trars, the magistrateschambers, some of thecourtrooms and the cere-monial hall are on theground floor.

According to CJGicheru, it should nottake more than six monthsfor the entire judiciary torelocate from its currentlocation at the NairobiLaw courts to the ultra-modern complex to paveway for the establishmentof the supreme court andother judicial structures asset out in the new consti-tution.

�#��"��,#)&�"��&�'(��&�"��#&��#&�!#&��"�#&!�(�#"$ ��'��#"(��(��,��(��"�� +�"��#��"� ��&��'(&,� ��

� ��

�� )&�)"�&� ��&*��'��*�� (#�,#)�� )"�&� ��&&�"��(�#)&�$&�!�'�'�#&��"�,#)&��#!�� !��#��(��)"�&� ��(��!� ��'��#��

��)(�#&�(��'��#�)!�"(�(�#"�$�&!�((�"�� &� ��#)'�&�(�'��"��+�'��'�&�'$��(��"��!�"�'(�&�� #&'��&�+"��&&��&&�"��&�%)�&�� #��&"��) ,��%)�$$��+�'��"��"��&�''�"�� (��'�� &�,�&�&##!��#&�$�&�#&!�"��(��)"�&� ��(�'�#&��#&�$�,�"�� '(�&�'$��('�� )"�&� ��&�!#",��(�!'�$&#*�� &��'(��&&�"��#&�$�&�#&!�"�� '(�&�(�'�� $�(&��(�#"�'�&*��'�(#��"��&#!��",�$�&(�#��(��+#& �� '��'��'$�&'� ��"��"�� "��

��

Mass break-out atCongolese jail

Kinshasa: Nearly 200 pris-oners in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo haveescaped from a jail in theremote north-west of thecountry. The mass break-out occurred as a hearingwas taking place in theirprison in Gemena to try toreduce the backlog ofdefendants awaiting trial.

Lawyers said theinmates began throwingstones as the court satthrough cases scheduledthat day. Mutinies are fre-quent in Congolese pris-ons. "It looked like acrowd walking out of achurch or a stadium,"Francis Wombali, a lawyerassisting a defendant atthe hearing that was tak-ing place inside theprison, said.

Madagascar mutinyends without bloodshed

Antananarivo: An attempted coup on this troubledIndian Ocean island has been defused without blood-shed, the Madagascar regime's prime minister said.

Camille Vital told reporters late on Saturday that16 officers surrendered, ending an impasse that beganrecently when a faction of officers declared they weretaking over from Andry Rajoelina. Rajoelina, a formermayor and disc jockey, himself had the military's sup-port when he toppled an elected president last yearafter months of violent protest.

Earlier on Saturday, reporters had seen hundredsof soldiers loyal to Rajoelina converge on a base nearthe capital's airport where the mutineers were holedup. Officials had said talks were planned, but shotscould be heard inside the base. Col. JulienRavelomihary, a high-ranking member of the HighTransitional Authority's military, told reporters thatmutinous officers were ready to hand themselves over,but some junior officers initially resisted.

Oil discovery leads toland grab in Uganda

Kampala: Oil has not even started flowing but,already, it is causing conflict in Bunyoro, westernUganda where land disputes have erupted. The twobillion barrels of oil discovered in the Lake Albert areahave drawn speculators hoping to cash in on risingland values in the area and sparked conflicts in manyvillages, particularly in the district of Buliisa.

Already oil has changed the fundamental nature ofpeople's relationship to land, according DickensKamugisha, the head of the African Institute forEnergy Governance. Before oil brought speculators toBuliisa, people were unaware that land was somethingto be bought and sold, he says.

"Land [used to be] a free good owned and enjoyedequally by all," Kamugisha says. Now it is a commod-ity. "Oil has monetised things such as land which usedto be free, and because people are not used to that . .. the whole social fabric is likely to change."

S Africa turns apartheid-eranukes into medicine

Johannesburg: South Africa has transformedapartheid-era nuclear weapons into a tool for detect-ing cancer and heart disease, with a new technologythat could ease global worries about nuclear armstrafficking. After voluntarily dismantling its weaponsprogramme, democratic South Africa used the left-over nuclear fuel to produce medical isotopes used bydoctors for imaging technology.

South Africa is one of the world's top three pro-ducers of molybdenum-99, better known as moly,used in 80 per cent of the 50 million nuclear medicalprocedures performed globally each year.

Normally, moly is created with the same type ofuranium as used to make nuclear arms, creating aheadache for efforts to corral weapons-grade urani-um. But a new technique designed by the SouthAfrican Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) allowsscientists to create moly using low-enriched uranium,rather than the highly enriched type needed forbombs.

Having all the majorplanets above the horizon

chart shows that the general pattern of events will focusyour attention on the need to make an impact on the world.Although the very practical affairs of life continue to be high-lighted, this does not mean that there will be all work andno play. In fact, you will be very much in demand socially.

It is a particularlyfavourable time for dealing with financial interests with a

long-term basis. You will be able to sort out any difficultiesby taking immediate action. There may be a certain amountof unfinished business to be dealt with.Therefor, you needto be flexible in order to accommodate the odd twists andturns of everyday life.

If lately you have had allsorts of demands being placed on you from all sides, don'tdespair; take some time out to reflect. Once you know, don'thesitate to implement it systematically. A tremendousamount of planetary activity in your chart signals a time ofmixed emotions as well as personal issues to be dealt with.

All close ties of loveand affection will benefit from the gentle influence of

Venus. If you have a well-founded relationship, it seemsthat the pattern of events will somehow draw you closertogether emotionally. Cancerians who are not yet whollydecided on what direction to take careerwise, this is a finetime to do some serious thinking.

With Venus traversing yoursign of desires for some time to come, it will put you in

the right mood to indulge your pleasure-loving instincts.Venus, the planet of love and romance throws a pleasinglight on affairs of the heart. Existing emotional differencescan be easily sorted out now. Your creativity is also ridinghigh.

You will have the distinctfeeling that everything is moving ahead at a very satisfy-

ing pace. You will be in a forward-looking mood, moreinclined to reflect on the future and its potentials. The powerof destiny is very much in your own hands and that anymajor decision you make will have a profound effect on yourfuture.

You will make your bestprogress by focusing your mental and physical energies

on what you want to achieve. The underlying trend seemsto be pulling you into a much wider social circle now. This isbound to enrich your life and give you a deeper sense ofpurpose. The prevailing pattern of planets gives you a mar-vellous opportunity - take advantage.

The cash situation con-tinues to be rather erratic. However, problems can be

avoided if you can curtail extravagant impulses and keepeverything well organised. However, there are indications offavourable changes and developments in the areas of careerand employment. Keep away from any emotional tensionswith your partner.

You will feel ener-getic and confident as the week begins. New begin-

nings are favoured around now, as long as you do not biteoff more than you can chew. Your thinking is inspired, solisten to your thoughts. This may be a time of expansionand improved opportunity and it would be unwise to letyourself become complacent.

Sun's transit of your12th Solar House indicates that experience will put you

in a deeply reflective mood. This is a favourable time forgetting away from usual routines and seeking a retreat fora few days. All the better if you are interested in suchthings as meditation, yoga and therapies that help you toget in closer touch with your inner self.

If you're currentlyromantically involved, your

lover could well go from strength to strength in the areaof passion. The work that you are involved with at thistime is likely to demand a great deal of energy and initia-tive from you. This will also involve a lot of movingaround and a need to establish a wider network of con-tacts.

This is not a time to takeundue risks with money yet it

is certainly favourable for those who are working towardsimproving their earning potential. It is not only career andemployment that come under this fortunate trendbecause your creative energies will be very much to thefore, too. Tread carefully where legal matters are con-cerned.


ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500

UK

To ask questions please call on: 020 8963 1001

For more information e-mail: [email protected]

Only on CB Live - MATV Sky 793 - Thursday 7:00pm to 8:00pm

Don't miss !!!

If you do not have a tv, go to www.tvunetworks.com and

watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

� ��

� � ��

��

��

This week on CB Live- Mr and Mrs Ranbir Singh Suri, J.P, will speakfor a few minutes in Punjabi on the occasion of Guru Nanak DevPrakash Divas. Most of the program will be, as usual in Gujarati andthe couple are fluent in the language. Tanzania, Kenya, India and UKare the wide vista of the deliberations.Also taking part will be Mrs Trupti Patel, Manchester based, engi-neer, an entrepreneur, a consultant and she has been a senior officerin the Highways and Traffic Management. She is also involved withArtistic and Woman's projects in a fully voluntary capacity.

Coming Events

l Saturday 27th November, 18:30 onwards:

Diwali and New Year Celebration @ Shree

Sanatan Mandir, LE4 6FQ.

Contact: 0116 2661 402

l Saturday 27th November, 19:30 onwards:

Meera Dance drame @ Djanogly dance academy,

NG7 7AR. Contact: 07968480796

l Sunday 28th November, 11:00 – 17:00:

Hanuman Chalisa Maha Yagya @ Social Club

Hall, HA1 3UJ. Contact: 0208 459 5758

l Sunday 28th November, 15:00-18:00:

85th Birthday of Sathya Sai Baba @

Archbishop lanfranc School, CR9 3AS

l Sunday 28th November, 15:00 – 17:30:

Yoga and Bhajans @ Aadh Shakti Mataji Temple,

UB8 2DX. : 253 540

Editor: CB Patel

Associate Editor: Rupanjana DuttaTel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: [email protected]

Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa

Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter

Chief Financial Officer:

Surendra Patel Tel: 020 7749 4093 - Mobile: 07875 229 220


Accounts Executive:

Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:[email protected]

Advertising Managers:

Alka Shah Tel: 020 7749 4002 - Mobile: 07944 151 893


Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07875 229 088


Media Consultant:

Rovin John Goerge - Email: [email protected]

Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 07875 229 219

Business Development Managers:

Urja Patel - Email: [email protected]

Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 - Email: [email protected]

Nikhil Gor - Email: [email protected]

Tel: 020 7749 4009 - Mobile: 07875 229 200

Design and Layout: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086


Customer Service: Saroj Patel

Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: [email protected]

(BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd.

207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar

Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel: +9179 2646 Fax: +9179 6061

Chief Executive Director: Kamlesh Amin Tel: +91 922 710 4308


Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO):

Suresh Samani (M) +91 9898441330


Dy. Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO):

Nilesh Parmar (M) +919426636912

Consulting Editor (BPO):

Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142

Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah

(Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing:

205 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar,

Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad

Tel / Fax: +91 79 2646 5960 (M) +91 9913346487


Neeta Patel, (Advertising Manager) (M) +91 98255 11702

International Advertisement Representative:

Jain Group(South India)

Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973

Mumbai: +91 222471 4122 Email: [email protected]

Asian Voice Main OfficeKarma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW.Tel: 020 7749 4080, Fax: 020 7749 4081www.abplgroup.com

© Asian Business Publications

Asian Voice switchboard: 020 7749 4000Gujarat Samachar switchboard: 020 7749 4080Sales: 020 7749 4085

To take our mindsaway from the gloom anddoom of the current aus-terity measures, CapableCommunities Ltd, a newsocial enterprise inHarrow, has organisedtwo family events to beheld at 6pm, 5 Decemberat Byron Hall, HarrowLeisure Centre and 7pm11 December at PatidarHouse, London Road,Wembley.

Drawing inspirationfrom the classic Ian Drury1979 hit, this new compa-ny has organised theevents to celebrate the cre-ative work of youth, com-munity and small creativeenterprises across Brentand Harrow.

It’s not so much aboutwhat they have achieved,though this is certainlysizeable, as realising thepotential through oppor-tunities offered by the riseof the social enterprise’says Steve Porter, fromCapable Communities.

Social enterprises are

companies that are setapart from other business-es because they have asocial or environmentalaim, with any profits putback into the business orgiven directly to the com-munity, rather than goingto owners or shareholders.

The Harrow event,described as the firstindoor London Mela,gives young people achance to perform along-side pop idols such asMumzy Stranger and PopIdol Sham D of Rishi Richfame and offering olderpeople the chance to hearShahid Abbas Khan.

The Brent event pres-ents the IDMC GospelChoir. The programme hasthe support of the Cllr.Navin Shah AM, TheI n t e r n a t i o n a lSiddhashram ShaktiCentre, and Asian Voice.

In keeping with thesocial enterprise ethosproceeds will be donatedto the Pakistan Floodrelief appeal.

Social Enterprise celebratesreasons to be cheerful

CEO of New India AssuranceCompany promoted to GMMr. M. Vasantha Krishna,

CEO of the New IndiaAssurance Company in UKhas been recently promoted tothe cadre of General Manager.His services have beenretained in UK and he willcontinue to head the compa-ny's UK operations till thecompletion of his term.

Across1 Freezes

10 Crenshaw or casaba

15 1965 hit by the

Zombies

16 Where Aesop Shpped?

17 Backing

18 __ Gras

19 Zodiac butter?

20 NASA’s ISS partner

21 Melatonin gland

22 Warriorrs org.

23 Argue noisily25 Fleur-de-___26 Draw forth28 Nest-egg initials29 Writing-on-the-wall

word30 Excavated again31 Financial specialist33 Spar alone35 Pool game38 Insults wittily42 WWll milestone43 Linguistics suffix

44 Exam cramming45 Sundial three46 Annoyed48 Nashville-based

awards org.49 Six feet of water51 Curly poker?52 911 responder53 “That is to say...”54 Retaliation57 “Odyssey” sorceress58 Mske slender59 Exalt tothe heavens60 Cut

Down1 Less flexible2 Rationally defensible3 Children’s card game4 Arafat’s org. for 36

years5 Wall St. unit6 Skp out on7 Tax act lettes8 1993 playmate to the

Year9 Boxer or pug10 First Lady of the ‘50s11 Alaska’s first governor

12 Marilyn’s blonde part?

13 Confers holy orders

upon

14 Carpenter’s tool

21 Second course?

23 Isile of __

24 Canine warning

27 Undemanding

29 2014

31 Dutch cheeses

32 Seeped

34 Crosswise, nautically

35 Imposing structure

36 Ugandan despot

37 Old-fashioned

footwear

39 Comment toa sun

worshiper

40 Having buds

41 Dealt with flies

44 Sailor’s jacket

46 Hive product

47 Keno’s cousin

50 Unrespected writer

54 Univ. employees

55 Prov. bordering NY

56 Wish otherwise

29

C R O S S W O R D - 114

HOW TO

PLAY

Each row,

column and

square 3x3

box is a sub-

grid of 9

cells. Fill in

the grid so

that each

s u b - g r i d

contains the

digits 1 to 9.

Every puzzle

has one

solution.

Sudoku-114

Solution of sudoku-113

2 3 5

8 4 7

5 2

6 7 2

3 6

1 3 8

9 7

6 8 5

8 5 1

20

12

The numbers in the pink squares refer to the sums of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces directlybelow or to the right of the pink square containing the number. For instance, in the given example, the 2 boxes below12 must contain 2 digits that add upto 12, whereas for 20, the 3 boxes places horizontally next to it must add upto 20.No zeroes are used here, only the digits one through nine.

Example

Solution of KAKURO - 113

Note: A digit cannot appear more than once in any particular digit combination. For instance in the example, we cannot have the combination of 8+4+8 for 20.

E

DL

U

L

A

M

How many words of four or more letterscan you make from the letters shown intoday’s puzzle? In making a word, eachletter may be used once only. Each wordmust contain the central letter. Thereshould be at least one seven-letter word.Plurals, foreign words and propernames are not allowed. British EnglishDictionary is used as reference.

Solution of Crossword-113

MINDBENDER - 114In a singles tennis tournament, 111 players participated.

They used a new ball for each match. When a playerlost one match, he was eliminated from the tournament.

How many balls did they need ?

Solution of 113 :Maverick, subtle or bustle, pique, golfer, jink,

wrap, brazen, and holiday.

time pass

Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this

arrangement of letters.

RulesConnect adja-cent dots withvertical or hori-zontal lines,creating a sin-gle loop.(Fig A).

Crossoversor branchesare not allowed(As shown by dot-ted lines in Fig B).

Numbers in thepuzzle indicate thenumber of linesthat should surround it, whileempty cells maybe surrounded byany number oflines.

You can’t drawlines arroundzeroes.

Each puzzle has just one unique solution.How to begin: Example (Fig A) - Begin with the zero nextto 3. Since no lines can be drawn around zero, markcrosses around it, as shown. Now there is a cross in onespace around 3. So we know the three lines of 3 can onlybe drawn in the remaining three spaces. Next these linescan only be extended in one direction each. Continue,

using the samelogic.Hints: Keep elim-inating possibili-ties by markingcrosses inspaces betweendots where a lineisn’t possible,i.e., if you havealready complet-ed required linesor where a lineextension maycreate a branchor cause a dead-end (Fig B)

2 2 2

1 3 1 0 3

3 2

3 3 2

2 2 1 2 1

2

2 1

How to playNow arrange the letters inthe circles to form theanswer to the riddle or tofill in the missing word asindicated

Solution of Scramble - 67

Words: Creed, surge, livied, queers..

Answer: The end of labor is to gain Leisure. --Aristotle

A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true

secret, the grand recipe for _____. - Thomas Jefferson (8)

BINGE

VILES

TELCOS

HISTFY

Solution of LTL No. 67

Solution of Spellathon - 113:sign, SIGNIFY, sing

Sollution-113:sign on the

dotted line.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20 21

22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29

30 31 32

33 34

35 36 37 38 39 40 41

42 43 44

45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52

53 54 55 56

57 58

59 60

��

��

� �

�

�

�

�

�

��

�

�

��

��

�

��

��

��

�

��

��

�

�

�

��

��

�

��

��

��

�

�

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

�

��

��

�

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

�

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

�

��

��

��

��

��

KAKURO - 114

WHATZIT? - 114

Rearrange the letters in the four word jumbles, one letter to eachsquare/circle, to make four ordinary words

SCRAMBLE - 68

SPELLATHON -114Today’s Ratings: 09-average | 12-good | 15-outstanding


x x x

x

x x x x x

x x

x x x x

x x x x

x x x

x x x x

x x x x

x x x x

x x x

x x x x

x x x x

x x

x x x x

LOOP THE LOOP - 68

3 2 2 2 2

3

1 1 2 3

2 2 1 2 2

1 2 2

3 1 2 0 3

3 3 3

6 5 3 7 8 9 4 2 1

8 2 1 4 3 5 7 9 6

9 7 4 2 6 1 8 3 5

4 3 2 5 1 8 6 7 9

7 1 8 6 9 2 3 5 4

5 6 9 3 7 4 1 8 2

1 9 6 8 5 3 2 4 7

2 8 7 9 4 6 5 1 3

3 4 5 1 2 7 9 6 8

A C M E S G A P S B L O T

T R A D E R I O T R A K E

B A N D L E A D E R I N R E

A S S F A N T A G T E A M

T H E B I R D S T A I

A S P P R E S S B O X

F R O T H C R A G H A M M

R A P T R E O N Y O B O E

O V A L R O U T S P Y O N

M I L E P O S T U K E

F I B S T R E N G T H

S P A R T A N U A W U R I

T A C O B O B B L E H E A D

O V E N L O L A R U S S E

P E S T E N T S S E T H S


It was not too longbefore when swine flutook about 10,000 livesin its grasp. But still thisyear people have beenhighly ignorant in takinginfluenza vaccine. It islinked to a much milderweather making peoplenot thinkabout possi-ble develop-ment of theflu and alsodue to ongo-ing miscon-c e p t i o n sover theswine fluvaccine.

But thegovernmenthas urgedthat peopleshould gettheir vaccineor else they will remainvulnerable to flu thiswinter. It is essential thatthe effects of the virus isnot underestimated. Atthe end of October, 48per cent of people overthe age of 65 had so faraccepted the jab against54 per cent at the samepoint last year. Whereasonly 26 per cent of peo-ple under the age of 65have accepted it against31 per cent last year.Only one in ten frontlinehealthcare staff whohave been offered the jabhave had it, the figuresshow.

For the first time

pregnant women arebeing offered the season-al flu vaccine becausethe H1N1 swine flu virusstruck this group partic-ularly hard during thepandemic and is expect-ed to be the dominantform of flu around this

winter also. It is evenmore essential to takethe vaccine as there ismore than one virusaround and the vaccinecan protect you fromabout all the commonone's and swine flu inparticular as accordingto World HealthOrganisation, it will bethe most common thisyear.

Around 15 milliondoses of seasonal flu vac-cine are available for usein the UK, which mustbe administered everyyear as it is altered tomatch the flu strains incirculation.

HealthWatch By Kartik S Raval

A small glass of red wineevery day can keep adultdiabetes under control,latest study by Universityof Natural Resources andApplied Life Sciences,Vienna reveals. Also takenup in the Royal Society ofChemistry journal Foodand Function, the findingsstate that red wine con-tains high concentrationsof chemicals that help thebody regulate levels ofsugar in the blood.According to the researchjust a small glass of redwine contains as many ofthese active ingredients asa daily dose of an anti-dia-betic drug.

But, as red wine ishigh on calories many sci-entists say it could lead toweight gain and outweighthe benefits of the chemi-cal presence and henceaccording to Diabetes UK,

the research work is stilllimited. However, theauthors of the researchbelieve moderate drinkingas part of a calorie con-trolled diet could protect

against type-2 diabetes.“Moderate consumptionmeans a small glass eachday. The big problem withthe research is to conveythe right message as one

needs to maintain ahealthy lifestyle becausetoo much wine cause dia-betes and obesity andhence if you have wineyou need to cut the calo-rie-consumption fromfood by the sameamount”, claims ProfessorAlois Jungbauer, lecturerfor Protein Technologyand Downstream andmember of editorialboards from numerousjournals in the area ofBiochemical Engineering.

About 2.6million peo-ple suffer from type 2 dia-betes in Britain. The dis-ease occurs when thepancreas is unable to pro-duce enough insulin - thehormone that regulatesblood sugar - or when itsinsulin does not workproperly.

High levels of sugar inthe blood can cause tired-

ness, heart disease,strokes, blindness, nervedamage and kidney dis-ease. Past studies haveshown that natural chem-icals found in grape skinand wine calledPolyphenols can help thebody control glucose lev-els, and prevent poten-tially dangerous spikes ordips in blood sugar.

The new study com-pared the polyphenolcontent of 12 differentwine varieties and theresearch showed thatlevel in red wine was thehighest.

The Researchers haveeven claimed thatpolyphenols in wine bindto the receptor and that asmall glass of wine con-tains enough to rival theactivity of the potent andthe most consumed dia-betes drug Avandia.

A new handheld devicecalled 'Drugalyser' is soonto be distributed acrossthe government bodiesand will be used as aweapon to clampdowndrug driving.

The portable devicecan detect drug abuse inunder two minutes andthis means police officerscould carry out tests onsuspected drug drivers atthe roadside. A positiveresult would mean offi-cers would no longerhave to wait for permis-sion from a doctor beforea blood test could betaken to be used as evi-dence in court. Theportable handheld devicecan detect cocaine andheroine from a salivasample within 90 secondsand other form of drugswithin minutes. It is alsoable to detect drugs in thebody at far lower levelsthan existing testing

devices.The government of

UK has since long urged aneed of a way that canalter down and furtherrestrict the high level ofdrug driving across thecountry. The governmentalso announced plans inAugust to install a deviceto catch motorists drivingunder the influence ofdrugs at every police sta-tion within two yearsafter a survey revealedearlier this year that ninein 10 drivers support a

tougher stance on drugdriving.

Last year, in a govern-ment-sponsored study, 10per cent of drivers aged18-29 admitted gettingbehind the wheel aftertaking illegal drugs. But,the new system will offersignificant operationalbenefits to police andhealthcare professionalsas it is also going to beused at hospitals and doc-tor's surgeries to detectpatients with substanceabuse problems.

According to NHS Directand Health protectionAgency, millions of peoplein the UK will suffer fromwinter vomiting bug as theofficial figures are showinga rapid spread of the dis-ease. Termed asNorovirus, the diseasecauses violent vomitingand diarrhoea which nor-mally resolves over 48hours but it can be fatal ininfants, elderly and peoplealready suffering fromsickness.

In the first two weeksof November there were12 outbreaks in hospitalsin England and Wales,leading to nine wardsbeing closed for a periodof time. Research hasshown that around two

million people are likely tofall ill with it this winterand in the last two weekscalls to NHS Direct aboutvomiting have exceededthe threshold level of 4.8percent of all calls.

Dr. GeorgeSummerville, a North-London based GP tellsAsian Voice, “The bug ishighly contagious andthere is hardly a chance toavoid it if one of the fami-ly member fall sickthrough norovirus.Moreover there is no treat-ment to it except fluidsand taking proper rest.People who are unwellshould take a lot of drinksto replace lost fluids as inthe case of lower immuni-ty level they are more like-

ly to get affected.” NHShas requested that peopledon’t just go down to theirGP surgery, NHS or hospi-tals as this could spreadthe illness to vulnerablepeople and healthcareworkers and the outbreakcan lead to the closure ofwards.

Since the summer,when norovirus recordingbegins, there have been atotal of 71 hospital out-breaks leading to 58 wardclosures. In the first twoweeks of November therehave also been 16 out-breaks in nursing homesand GPs are reporting ris-ing cases of the diseasesacross all age groups. Thisincludes a fifth of childrenunder the age of five.

Last winter noroviruscases rose sharply in theNew Year and peaked inFebruary before fallingaway in April. Norovirusis one of the reasons whythe NHS is busier andunder greater pressureduring the winter monthsas more elderly people areadmitted from nursing andresidential homes withcomplications caused bythe disease, outbreaksoccur in hospitals amongpatients being treated forother reasons leading toward closures and medicalstaff are likely to fall sickwith it too. Hence, it ishighly advisable to keepyourself and your familymembers well hydrated.

Red wine holds scope of competingwith anti-diabetic drug

NHS and GP's warn people against winter vomiting bug

Drugged drivers beware: Cops now Know

According to a reportreleased by the depart-ment of Health, GP'ssupport team should bestreamlined to help incost-cutting, which mostdefinitely seems to be theGovernment's only prior-ity. By this plan patientswill be forced to makedoctor's appointmentsthrough remote call cen-tres.

NHS claimto spend about£2.8 billioneach year onb a c k - o f f i c efunctions andif the newmethod isimplied thenabout £ 600million can besaved from thevery first year.The plan includes cen-tralising appointmentbookings through anational call centre andclearing thousands ofGP's support staff. Italso states that all NHSbody needs to simplify,standardise and sharemedical support to savemoney.

However, Doctorsare ridiculed by thismethod of streamliningback office functions andhave hit back at theHealth Department say-

ing the call centres can-not provide them withthe adequate and appro-priate assistance. Theyhave also raised con-cerns as these call centreexecutives would not beable to give the personalservice that patientsneed. According to doc-tors and surgery staffthe proposal is flawedand is totally hilarious.

Unison, the publicsector trade union hasalso given its support tothe doctor as it believesthis is not the right wayof saving money andcost-cutting. In the fieldof healthcare, if there is alack of attention or careit can have fatal out-comes and hence it hasbecome yet another con-troversial implication ofcuts, raising doubts onimportance laid by thegovernment on healthand well-being.

Ignorance can pave way toyet another flu outbreak

Now call centres to bookyour GP's appointment

A private jet carrying thedonor organ crashed andcaught fire on the runwayof Birmingham airport.The crash seemed fataland the liver transplantsurgery seemed to be injeopardy but both pilotand the donor organ wererescued and the operationwent ahead successfullyat Queen ElizabethHospital.

The pilot was serious-ly injured and trapped inthe wreckage but wassaved by an air ambulancepilot arriving on the scenewho climbed into theburning fuselage to cutthe engine’s fuel supply.

No damage was doneto the donor liver and theoperation was the sixthsuccessful liver transplantperformed at the QueenElizabeth Hospital withinfive days.

Liver at threatfrom crash, now

safe andtransplanted

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th November 2010 31Sport worLd

EPL matches this weekSaturday, 27 November Aston Villa v/s Arsenal Villa Park 12:45Bolton v/s Blackpool Reebok Stadium 15:00Everton v/s West Brom Goodison Park 15:00Fulham v/s Birmingham Craven Cottage 15:00Man Utd v/s Blackburn Old Trafford 15:00Stoke v/s Man City Britannia Stadium 15:00West Ham v/s Wigan Boleyn Ground 15:00Wolverhampton v/s Sunderland Molineux 15:00Sunday, 28 November Newcastle v/s Chelsea St. James Park 13:30Tottenham v/s Liverpool White Hart Lane 16:00

China Asiad Medals Tally (After 11 days)Country G S B TotalChina 165 85 79 329South Korea 64 55 74 193Japan 34 64 68 166Chinese Taipei 12 11 29 52Iran 12 9 15 36Hong Kong 8 14 14 36Kazakhstan 7 14 26 47India 7 12 20 39Thailand 7 7 26 40Malaysia 6 13 8 27Pakistan 1 2 1 4Bangladesh 0 1 0 1

OZ prefer Doherty for Hauritz against EnglandAustralian selectors havepicked up Xavier Doherty,a rookie spinner in placeof experienced NathanHauritz to play the first ofthe five test Ashes clashstarting on Thursday atBrisbane.

Doherty, the left-armorthodox from Tasmania,is a surprise inclusionafter a bright start to thesummer and the selectorshope he will be a threatfor the right-handers inEngland's order.

Michael Hussey was

selected after hiscentury for WesternAustralia on Fridaywhile Marcus North,the other under-pressure batsman,was also included.

Four men werecut from the inflated17-man unit chosenearlier. Hauritzstruggled during thetwo Tests in Indialast month and hasbeen under-bowledsince returninghome.

Doug Bollingerreturns to the squad afterrecovering from the stom-ach injury that ruled himout of the second Test inIndia last month.

Australia team: SimonKatich, Shane Watson,Ricky Ponting (capt),Michael Clarke, MichaelHussey, Marcus North,Brad Haddin (wk),Steven Smith, MitchellJohnson, Xavier Doherty,Peter Siddle, BenHilfenhaus, DougBollinger.Xavier Doherty

Sri Lanka manage to draw Galle test

Poor fielding and overall, alack luster show afterlunch on the final day sawSri Lanka take the firsttest match at Galle to adraw. West Indies pickedup two wickets early in thesecond session, but laterthey let off the home teameasily and settled for a noresult contest on Saturday.Rain cloud further helpedSri Lanka to safety.

The debutant seamerAndre Russell lacked thefire and intensity to causeany concern after lunch asthe well-set pair ofTharanga Paranavitanaand Mahela Jayawardenenegotiated the early oversof the afternoon with rela-tive ease in comparison tothe discomfort caused byKemar Roach in the morn-ing. While Russell main-tained a consistent lineand length, he lacked thepace and movement topose a threat, and even thereturn of Roach could notmake an impact.

Shane Shillingford too,was handled confidentlyin the afternoon, despitethe offspinner's dismissalof Paranavitana for 95,midway through the ses-sion. Darren Sammy, whohad dropped Paranavitana

off the same bowler earlieron, held on to this one atslip, after the batsman hadlooked edgy in the 90s.

Mahela progressed tohis second half-century ofthe match with a straightsix off part-timer BrendanNash, but fell to him twoovers later, tamely chip-ping back to the bowlerwhen he had looked goodfor a long innings.

It was not always suchsmooth sailing for SriLanka on the final day,though. An electric spell

from Roach in the morn-ing had blasted outTillakaratne Dilshan andKumar Sangakkara. Roachsizzled through that open-ing burst, hurling downtwo hostile maidens toParanavitana before send-ing Dilshan's off stumpcartwheeling with a fieryyorker. Sangakkara fell inRoach's next over, edgingoutside the off stump, toleave Sri Lanka totteringat 110 for two beforeParanavitana and Mahelacombined to claw and

scrap their way to lunch.The pair survived a tensespell from Shillingford,whose fizzing, biting deliv-eries did everything butmake the crucial break-through for the visitors,and took control of the sit-uation after the lunchbreak.

Despite the stalemate,West Indies had positivesto take into the secondTest following theirimpressive work in thefirst innings. Sri Lanka'ssecond-innings battingand Ajantha Mendis' spellon the second day was thesilver lining in what wasotherwise a bleak Test forthem.

West Indies' strongshow completed the weekof the underdog in worldcricket as they came awaywith laudable drawsagainst more fanciedopponents, just as NewZealand and Pakistan didagainst India and SouthAfrica respectively.

{Brief scores: WI 580for 9 dec (Gayle 333,Mendis 6-169) drew withSL 378 (Sangakkara 73,Mahela 59, Shillingford 4-123) and 241 for 4(Paranavitana 95, Mahela58)}.

West Indies enforce follow-on, SL resist

Darren Sammy catches Tharanga Paranavitana at Galle on November 19

Delhi’s Kotla will now stage World Cup cricket matchesICC lifts one year ban after SL ODI fiasco over ‘dangerous pitch’

Ferozeshah Kotla, the ren-ovated cricket stadium atNew Delhi is finally backinto the international cir-cuit. ICC announced lift-ing of the one year banslapped on the Kotla pitchafter the One day interna-tional against Sri Lankawas abandoned inDecember last year as thepitch was termed as ‘dan-gerous’ following com-

plains by the visitors. Based on a detailed

report from their pitchconsultant AndyAtkinson, who spent thelast week carefully moni-toring a first-class gamebetween Delhi andGujarat, ICC announcedthe decision on Monday.The re-certification nowclears the way for Kotla tohost all four scheduled

World Cup 2011 matches.“Yes, the DDCA has

been informed verbally bythe BCCI that ICC has lift-ed the ban on FerozeshahKotla stadium. We will begetting the written reporttomorrow,” DDCA secre-tary Sneh Bansal said.

“The ICC has studiedAtkinson’s report and arevery happy with the newpitch and the facilities pro-

vided. They have told usabout a few shortcomings,especially with thesightscreens. We will takecare of that as well,” headded.

Sundaram, the chair-man of BCCI pitches com-mittee, who supervisedthe entire reworking of theKotla pitch over the last12 months was happy withthe final outcome.

Indian origin lawyer todefend Salman Butt in

UK spot fixing caseBarrister Yasin Patel, a lawyer of Indian origin and spe-cialising in human rights, money laundering and sportsrelated matters will defend Salman Butt, one of thetainted Pakistani trio of cricketers in the spot fixingcase in UK. The Pakistani lawyer for Salman Butt,Aftab Gul confirmed that Barrister Yasin Patel wouldbe representing the player in all matters. He said ifneed arose Patel could also represent Butt at the fullhearing of the International Cricket Council code ofconduct commission in Doha in January.

"At present the plan is that myself and KhalidRanjha will represent the player at the ICC hearing butif we feel the need Patel can also be part of the hear-ing," Gul said. Patel with a Gujarati background hasbeen involved in some high profile criminal and humanright cases in the UK.

Interestingly, Gul a former Test player had earlierannounced he would no longer be representing Butt inthe spot-fixing case as he accused the ICC of injusticeand of having already decided to ban the players.

Dhoni, Sachin, Sehwag, Bhajji rested for two ODIsGautam Gambhir to lead against New Zealand

After skipper M S Dhoniasked for rest, the BCCIselectors responded posi-tively, leaving the skipperas well as SachinTendulkar, VirenderSehwag and HarbhajanSingh from the team forthe first two ODIs againstNew Zealand. The first one is to beplayed at Guwahati on28th, while the second willbe played at Jaipur on 1stDecember.

Gautam Gambhir has

been named as captain tolead the side. WriddhimanSaha will make his ODIdebut. Yusuf Pathanmakes a comeback for thetwo ODIs.

2 ODI team: GautamGambhir (capt), M Vijay,Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh,Suresh Raina, SaurabhTiwary, Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, PraveenKumar, R Vinay Kumar,Munaf Patel, Sreesanth,Yusuf Pathan, RavindraJadeja.

Jaidev Unadkat in teamfor SA test series

For the Indian tour ofSouth Africa, starting inthe second half ofDecember, selectors haveopted to rope in UmeshYadav and Jaidev Unadkat,seamers and WriddhimanSaha as the second wicketkeeper for the three tests.

First test begins onDecember 16 inCenturion. Zaheer Khanmakes a return to thesquad after being ruled out

of the ongoing third Testagainst New Zealandbecause of a groin strain.

Squad for SouthAfrica Tests: MS Dhoni(capt), Virender Sehwag,Gautam Gambhir, RahulDravid, VVS Laxman,Sachin Tendulkar,Harbhajan Singh, SureshRaina, Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth,M Vijay, CheteshwarPujara, Wriddhiman Saha,Umesh Yadav, JaidevUnadkat, Pragyan Ojha.

Venky’s takeover ofBlackburn Rovers complete

Poultry giant from India, Venky’s completed thetakeover of English Premier League football clubBlackburn Rovers last week. Venky’s have becomefirst Indian corporate to own an EPL club. Further,there are indications that Ewood Park, the stadiummay also be renamed like Arsenal have their stadiumname changed to Emirates, after their main sponsors.

The new owners also intend to organise exhibitionmatches in India and have an Indian footballer play-ing in the team to strengthen the links with the coun-try’s market.

“Arsenal named their stadium ‘The Emirates’ aftertheir main sponsors. Our stadium could be called theVenky's Stadium or could adopt the name of anothersponsor,” Venky’s chairperson Anuradha Desai wasquoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.

“We are also looking to start workshops where wefly down coaches of the Blackburn academy andarrange training sessions for kids in India,” Desai toldanother Indian newspaper. Venky’s acquired 99.9 percent of the club in a deal with the trust set up by for-mer owner Jack Walker to own the club, paying £23million and taking on a debt of £20 million.

Ewood Park may be rechristened,indicates Anuradha Desai


Somdev bags historic Asiad gold in tennis

��!�%��"�+�� '��##��"�&��*#% �*��%��%��'%�)� ��"&(%�"��

�88�$-/7-31��8534?�<=5/1>�-=1��:/8@>5A1�;2��5=<;=?�'-C1>�950�B117�?=-A18��88�#221=>�-=1�>@.61/?�?;�-A-58-.585?51>��0-?1�;2�?=-A18�01?1=95:1>�2-=1>�$-/7-31�$=5/1

�� 1-3=-A1�%;-0�� @?;:� ( ��,

'18��

��# ��+��#!�&��$�%'!�"'&��%(�&��# ��+&��&��%�&

�@>5:1>>��;@=>��!;:�?;��=5��?;��&-?@=0-D��?;��

��9-58��5:2;�<-:0=?=-A18�/;�@7�� BBB�<-:0=?=-A18�/;�@7

$��%�'%�)� � '�

[email protected]� 2=�E� � �4910-.-0� 2=�E � �D01=-.-0� 2=�E ��%-67;?� 2=�E �� $;=.-:01= 2=�E � �4@6 2=�E ��-=;0-� 2=�E � �1845�� 2=�E�� ;- 2=�E��-9:-3-= 2=�E � �-:3-8;=1 2=�E �� 41::-5 2=�E ��

';=;:?; �=�E�� "-5=;.5 �=�E��"1B�+;=7 �=�E�� 45/-3; �=�E � ;>��:3181> �=�E �� &-:��=-:/5>/;� �=�E��)-:/;@A1= �=�E �� -83-=D �=�E ��!;:?=1-8 �=�E� � �-=��>�&-8--9 �=�E��

�88��@.-5�$-/7-31>�:;B�/-==D�-�$=5/1�$=;95>1��$81->1�A5>5?�;@=�B1.>5?1�2;=�5:2;��'1=9>��;:05?5;:>

!;9.->-�� "534?>�2=��E��<�<��8534?�;:8D�2=�E�

��:534?>��!5:59@9�?B;�<1;<81�&4-=5:3��'=-:>21=>��=1-72->?�� %1<=1>1:?5A1&1=A5/1�5:��@.-5�-:0��#!$ �!�"'�%+�� #�%��)#(��%&

��*#% �

*��#'�

��##��"�&��'%�)

� ��"&(%�"��#%�#)�%&��&�)�&�'#%&��'�� #%�!��#"�+!##"��# ��+

&

��

#��%��(��#'� ��58?;:��@915=-4��:534?>��%'

'=-:>21=>�2=�E��<�<

#��%��"'%��# ��+��!� )(�!$�!-@=5?5@>��'�$��"#�'��!� )(��%""��(!��$��*��!��=�E��<�<��!� )(�!$�!-805A1>��'*��("�$��!� )(��%""��(!��$��*��!��=�E��<�<�

#��%� ��*#% ��*��# ��+&��#�� "534?>��2=;9 E��<�<��#��'��&�*��&$�� %�'(%"��%��%#! E��<�<

#��%��(��'+��#'� &��=�E ��<�<�

&<1/5-8�$-/7-31>�B5?4��%��>?;<;A1=�5:��@.-5��5:/��;?18��'=-:>21=>��

�4910-.-0� [email protected]��!� )(��'�+�&�&�� !� )(��'�+�&�&��!� )(��'�+��&�&�� !� )(��'�+��&�&��$!� )(��'�+ &�&�� !� )(��'�+�&�&�

��&$�� %�&��#%�&�"�#%��'�,�"��#"#!+��( ��%&'�� &&�&$�� %�'�&��%#($��##��"�&��)�&��&�%)��

While Somdev Devvramanand his partner SanamSingh bagged two goldsfor India in tennis, hopesfor a hockey gold weredashed were Malaysia onTuesday after the under-dogs beat India 4-3. Indiawill now have to play for a

bronze with South Korea,while Malaysia andPakistan will battle for thegold and silver. Earlier,Sania Mirza too wonbronze in women’s singlesand silver in mixed dou-bles. India were at the 8thspot in the medals tally.

Somdev won the men’ssingles gold on Tuesday,beating top seed and worldnumber 44 Denis Istomin6-1 6-2 in the lop-sidedsummit clash here. It is forthe first time that anyIndian played in the battlefor gold in Asiad tennis.

In the hockey game,India came for the matchunbeaten, but poor showended the regulation timeat level 3-3, while the 15thranked rival banged theboard for the golden goal.

Penalty corner conver-sion turned out to be thedifference between thetwo sides as Malaysia con-verted three out of thefour short corners theyearned in the match, whilethe Indians could utiliseonly two out of four.

In the first semifinalearlier in the day, Pakistan

got the better of Korea inpenalty shoot-out afterboth sides were locked 1-1at the end of regulation aswell as extra time.

Krishna Poonia and GG Pramila won a bronzeeach in women's discus

throw and heptathlonrespectively to save Indiafrom ending the third dayin track and field competi-tions without a medal inthe Asian Games here onTuesday.

Indian had begun their

track and field campaignin spectacular fashionwinning two gold and asilver on Sunday. WithTuesday's bronze medals,the Indian athletes have sofar won two gold, a silverand two bronze.

India rounded off itstennis campaign with fivemedals, two more thanwhat the country had gotat the Doha Asian Gamesin 2006.

At Doha, Leander Paeshad won two gold medals -- in men's doubles withMahesh Bhupathi and inmixed doubles with SaniaMirza.

While 11 countries,including Sri Lanka,Nepal, Bhutan, Maldiveshave yet to find a place inthe medals tally, Pakistanand Bangladesh stood atno. 21 and 31 respectively.

India ranks eighth in the medals tally, hockey hopes dashed

Somdev Devvarman with his gold medal at Guangzhou on Tuesday

Somdev Devvarman (L) and Sanam Krishan Singh withtheir gold medal at Guangzhou on Monday

India beat NZ at NagpurThree match test series under the belt 1 - 0

Finally, the man in charge– Nagpur groundsmandelivered. With the wickethelping, India dominatedthe New Zealand reponseto a huge first inningsdeficit. The bowlers madethe most of the offer andhelped India score a hugevictory against the blackcaps with more than a dayand half on Tuesday.

For the home team,though, Sachin Tendulkarcould not reach his uniquelandmark, of scoring the50th test century, whileHarbhajan Singh emergedas the new Indian herowith the bat, helping theteam avoid defeats in boththe previous tests.

On the final day, Indianbowlers were all over theNew Zealand batsmen,who were surrounded byall kinds of close-in fields-men. The umpires felt theheat too, which is expectedwith the ball dancing and agang of fielders around thebat. As the three spinnersshared the wickets withIshant Sharma, this wasalso India’s third-biggestvictory.

Pragyan Ojha showedat Nagpur on Tuesday he

can attack too. He startedby outsmarting BrendonMcCullum, who tried theold bullying tactic of hit-ting early boundaries andtrying to get the fieldersout of his face. Ojha keptpitching the ball up, flight-ing it, giving it the bestchance to turn andbounce. McCullum playedback, and Ojha did thething to do on a turner,slip in the straighter one.Dead plumb.

However, because thepitch was offering somuch turn, the decision togive Martin Guptill lbwwas ordinary. Being Ojha'sregulation offbreak, it

could either have pitchedwithin the stumps or hitthe stumps. As the replaysshowed, it was hitting thestumps all right, but afterhaving pitched outside leg.

Tim Southee swungthe bat a little bit, hittingthree sixes, but he onlydelayed the inevitable.

India have not lost anyof their last nine series.

{Brief scores: India566 for 8 dec. (Dravid191, Dhoni 98, Gambhir78, Sehwag 74) beat NZ193 (Ryder 59, Ishant 4-43, Ojha 3-57) and 175(Ishant 3-15, Harbhajan3-56) by an innings and198 runs}.

Indian cricket team poses with a trophy at Nagpur on Tuesday

Documents

Asian Voice