vol 8 issue 8 - june 27-july 3, 2015
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8/21/2019 Vol 8 Issue 8 - June 27-July 3, 2015
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The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
excellence in journalism SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30
Vol.8 No. 8 June 27-July 3, 2015 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info
OP ED 12 BOLLYWOOD 19
New Delhi: It was an unprecedent-ed demonstration of India's soft
power as tens of thousands across
the world, besides millions in
India, performed yoga on Sunday
to mark the inaugural International
Day of Yoga.
A Guinness world record-creat-
ing 36,000 people, led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, took part
in the main morning event at
Rajpath in New Delhi.
Yoga was performed at events
across the world – from New York
to Trinidad and Tobago, from the
Maldives to Australia, from on
boa rd Ind ian nav al shi ps to theheights of Siachen glacier, at
schools and in innumerable resi-
dential localities – to mark the
event. The mega event at Rajpath
was replicated across state capitals,
cities, towns and rural areas in the
Washington, DC: The US
Supreme Court handed President
Barack Obama a huge victory by
upholding his signature healthcare
law that opposition Republicans
have tried to repeal countlesstimes, he vowed to make it even
better.
"Five years ago, after nearly a
century of talk, decades of trying, a
year of bipartisan debate, we final-
ly declared that in America, health-
care is not a privilege for a few but
a right for all," Obama said from
the White House on Thursday
shortly after the verdict.
"Americans would have gone
backwards and that's not what we
do, that's not what America does,we move forward," he said praising
the apex court's decision to uphold
the subsidies in the law, nicknamed
"Obamacare".
"The Affordable Care Act is here
to stay," Obama said of the law that
HEALTH 25
Millions world over observeInternational Day of Yoga
A big victory forPresident Obama
Prime Minister Modi led 36,000 people at yoga session inDelhi’s Rajpath creating a Guinness record.
When world cametogether at India's call
United Nations: Th e
International Day of Yoga (IDY)
celebrations here sought to sym-
bolize the unity of humani ty as
peo ple fro m aro und the wor ld
gathered Sunday in unique obser-
vance of an Indian proposal spon-
sored by 177 nations and
endorsed by all 193 UN mem- bers.
People of all races and reli-
gions, nationalities and political
persuasions joined in the spirit of
yoga at the UN visitors plaza.
School children dressed in red sat
with the powerful UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon who was
clad in a plain white yoga-themed
track suit. Diplomats and other
dignitaries rose in unison to do
the asanas, called out by the yoga
guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Ban quoted from PM Narendra
Modi's UN speech last year:
“Yoga is not just about exercise;it is a way to discover the sense
of oneness, with yourself, the
world and nature.”
The shamiana with a transpar-
ent roof had been rigged at the
UN plaza because of the rain
At UN celebration of yoga day, from left: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon and wife, Acharya Lokesh Muni,Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and India’s Ambassador
to UN Asoke K. Mukerji.
About 30,000 people performed yoga at Times Square in New York to mark the Yoga Day.
Continued on page 4 Continued on page 4
Continued on page 4
Obamacare survives challenge in Supreme Court
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(Photos: Ministry ofExternal Affairs, India).
2 June 27- July 3, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA
People across the globe celebrated IYDwith gusto. A few glimpses...
Hong Kong Peru
Turkey
COLOMBIA
Jordan
Poland
Bahrain
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New York: Friends of
Maharashtra and Indian
Consulate of New York
hosted a press confer-
ence to announce a
Gala Reception being
organized in honor of
Maharashtra Chief
Minister Devendra
Fadnavis and his dele-
gation to New York on
June 29 at Taj Pierre
hotel here.
Consul General
Dnyaneshwar Mulay
said that India's eco-
nomic liberalization
got a new energy in
Maharashtra after the
young and dynamic Devendra Fadnavis took over the reins as CM. He said that India's
development requires multi trillion dollar
funds in the coming years. Some of the funds
would need to be raised from investments
from US and other countries. Fadnavis is vis-
iting New York on June 29 to meet CEOs and
business leaders to invite businesses to invest
in India. He will be visiting several other
cities in the US during his visit.
At the reception on June 29, the chief min-
ister will discuss his vision to make
Maharashtra a leading state in the country in
terms of Infrastructure, Power, Tourism,
Water & Agriculture and Law & Order.
Kishor Gore, a core committee member of
Friends of Maharashtra, said that many
Indian organizations have come together for the CN reception, including Marathi,
Gujarati, Marwari, Sindhi and Telugu com-
munities besides Friends of BJP and Council
of Indian Organizations.
Other core committee members of Friends
of Maharashtra are: Mukund Kute, Manish
Ingle, Mangesh Karandikar, Nutan
Kalamdani, Neeta Bhasin, Jagdish Sewhani
and Pramit Maakoday.
Mukund Kute introduced the new website
www.mumbaimeetsmanhattan.org for com-
munity to register and attend the gala. Amb.
Mulay and Deputy Consul General Dr Manoj
Mohapatra unveiled the website.
For mo re in format io n:
nutan@cineviews.com
3June 27- July 3, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Washington, DC:
Louisiana Governor
Bobby Jindal, while
announcing his 2016White House bid, today
invoked the success
story of his immigrant
pare nts but once again
distanced himself from
his Indian roots by
asserting that “we are all
Americans” and not
hyphenated Americans.
Forty four years ago,
Jindal said, a young
couple who had never
before been on an air-
plane, left their home on
the other side of the world to come to a
place call ed Amer ica. Bobby Jindal was
born in Baton Rouge, soon after his Punjab- born parents Amar and Raj came to the US,
he said. “They had never seen it ,” Jindal
said referring to the journey his parents
made to the US from India. “They weren’t
really coming to a geographical place. They
were coming to an idea, and that idea is
America. To them, America represented all
that was good in the world, where you could
get ahead if you worked hard and played by
the rules. Place where what matters is the
content of your character, not the color of
your skin, the zip code you were born in or
your family’s last name,” he said.
Jindal said his parents found that the peo-
ple of Louisi ana accepted them and they
found that America is indeed the land of the
free and the home of the brave. 37 years
later, their eldest son became governor of
Louisiana, he said. As he formally launchedhis presidential campaign, Jindal reiterated
his remarks about de-hyphenating Indians
and other ethnic groups from Americans. “I
am done with all this talk about hyphenated
Americans. We are not Indian-Americans,
African-Americans, Irish Americans, rich
Americans or poor Americans. We are all
Americans,” he said amidst applause from
the audience.
Jindal had this week featured on the
Federalist Radio Hour and given his per-
spective on the state of the union. He
expressed frustration that President Barack
Obama has “been trying to divide us…by
gender, by race, by geography, and by
religion.
Washington DC: The first-ever Hindu-
American Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
had promised Prime Minister Narendra Modi
to lead an effort towards a Congressional res-
olution in support of International Day of
Yoga. Now the Democrat from Hawaii is set
to introduce a resolution to the House floor in
support of IDY and another that would
address religious freedom in Bangladesh.
On Monday, members of Congress and
staff were invited to join the Hindu American
Foundation for “Yoga on the Hill,” in com-
memoration of IDY.The UN celebrated its first International
Day of Yoga at its headquarters in New York
on June 21. “There are various different
practi ces of yoga, all of which can really
bring tremendous peace and harmony and
happiness when practiced,” Gabbard said.
She is also preparing to introduce another
resolution to the House floor that would
address the religious freedoms of Hindus in
Bangladesh. Gabbard is working on the reso-
lution with Sheetal Shah, the Senior Director
of the Hindu American Foundation. Shah
says that right now, decades after the 1947
Partition of Bengal, the situation for most
religious minorities in Bangladesh is quite
dire. “Hundreds of Hindu temples have been
burnt down. There have been kidnappings of
Hindu women and young children. Shops are
looted, homes are destroyed, so it’s kind of an
issue that unfortunately is not just taking
place by random groups but the government
that’s in power is not doing anything to really
stop it and the opposition continues to foster
this type of violence,” Shah said.
Shah says that imports to the US from
Bangladesh often don’t take into account the
high cost of human rights violations in the
southeast Asian country. She says that while
national news outlets reported on garment
industry worker violations following the
2013 Rana Plaza disaster, the coverage does-n’t go far enough. “I think that the resolution
is just one step in at least showing that
Congress is aware of the situation and
acknowledges that something more needs to
be done,” she sadi referrig to Gabbard’s pro-
posed resolution which is expec ted to be
introduced to the floor of the House by
week’s end.
Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, at a rally announcing his White House bid. (Photo courtesy: AFP) Friends of Maharashtra will host a gala reception for
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in NY.(Photo courtesy: Peter Ferreira)
Bobby Jindal becomes first Indian-American to run for President
Fadnavis visiting US to seekinvestments in Maharashtra
Tulsi’s resolutions in Congress on Yoga Day and on Bangladesh
Hindu Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard speaking at theUN celebration of Yoga Day June 21.
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4 June 27-July 3, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TURN PAGE
Millions world over observe ...
Continued from page 1
country. Modi described the event as the start of a
new era for training the human mind for mind-body
balance, peace and harmony.
Events were held in 192 countries, felicitated by
the Indian missions and yoga centers.
Modi is a keen yoga enthusiast on whose proposal
the U.N. last year announced a global Yoga Day to
be observed on June 21.
When world came together at India's...
Continued from page 1
forecast for the morning. But it was the Summer
Solstice sun that shone on the city as the celebra-
tions got underway at the UN and at the Times
Square, where 30,000 people attended successive
yoga sessions for the second largest yoga perform-
ance of the day, second only to New Delhi's 36,000.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj empha-
sised in her speech that yoga was not a religion and
should not be seen as belonging to any particular
religion. “It is a science,” she said.
Forty-seven of the 56 members of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation were among
those who co-sponsored the IDY resolution, and not
one opposed it. While some Christian fundamental-
ists have denounced yoga and some Catholic lead-ers have cautioned their followers about it, there
was little sign of the opposition at the UN or at the
celebrations.
A sizeable portion -- if not the majority -- of the
participants at the celebrations were drawn from
Christian traditions.
Tulsi Gabbard, the only Hindu member of the US
Congress, who spoke at the UN celebration and at
the Times Square festivities, brought home to
America the message of yoga.
The Democrat from Hawaii, who is not of Indian
origin, is also an yoga instructor and had served
with the US military in Iraq.
Wisdom and spiritual was in everyone but theymay lie dormant; yoga can awaken them, she said.
This is why the world needed yoga.
Obamacare survives challenge in...
Continued from page 1
has extended cover to more than 15 million
Americans who didn't have health insurance before
it was signed into law in 2010.
In a 6-3 decision, the court held the Act author-
ized federal tax subsidies to help poor and middle-
class people buy health insurance nationwide and
not just in states with their own exchanges to shop
for them.
Only 16 states and the American capital of
Washington have set up their own health insurance
marketplaces and over 6.4 million Americans living
in 34 Republican-ruled states which did not createsuch market places are dependent on Federal
exchanges.
"Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to
improve health insurance markets, not to destroy
them," Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative,
wrote in the majority opinion joined by another
conservative and the four liberal justices.
"If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a
way that is consistent with the former, and avoids
the latter," he said.
In a dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said "we
should start calling this law SCOTUScare," refer-
ring to the two times the Court has saved the law.
All the Republican presidential candidates have
vowed to repeal Obamacare with Louisiana's gover-
nor Bobby Jindal making it the second of his top
four objectives after "secure our borders".
Several other Republican presidential candidates
quickly denounced the ruling with a "disappointed"
front runner Jeb Bush saying "this decision is not
the end of the fight against Obamacare".
But Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton took
to Twitter to praise the decision.
"Yes!" she tweeted. "SCOTUS affirms what we
know is true in our hearts & under the law: Health
insurance should be affordable & available to all."
Printed Every Saturday by: Forsythe Media Group, LLC, ISSN 1941-9333, 76 N Broadway, Suite 2004, Hicksville, NY 11801 P: 516.390.7847
Website: TheSouthAsianTimes.info Updated Daily
Jersey City, NJ: Indians,
Pakistanis and other South Asians
gathered at the Curry On restauranthere June 11 to launch the South
Asian American Caucus of the
Democratic Party.
According to an SAC press
release, the Caucus was initiated
and formed in October 2013 by
John Curry, chairman of the State
Democratic Committee, with the
idea of getting the Asian communi-
ties involved in mainstream poli-
tics. Two Indian American trustees
— attorney Satish Poondi and Dr.
Khyati Joshi — were instrumental
in structuring the caucus with theapproval of chairman Curry.
Field directors are responsible for
the recruitment of community
members to register to vote. The
steering committee is responsible
for arranging events with the help
of directors in various regions of
the state. The advisory board has
been responsible for raising funds
and bringing issues to the attention
of the chairman.
US report highlights 'widespread corruption' in IndiaWashington: Even as it praised India for holding "the largest democratic
elections in history", the US on Thursday highlighted "police and security
force abuses" and "widespread corruption" among its "most significant
human rights problems".
"India's parliamentary contest in April 2014 was one of the largest elec-
tions in history," Secretary of State John Kerry said in his preface to the
annual Human Rights Reports speaking of "stifling of free and open
media" from China to Saudi Arabia.
"Governments in China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, and Saudi
Arabia, among others, continued to stifle free and open media and the
development of civil society through the imprisonment of journalists, blog-
gers, and non-violent critics," he said.
South Asian American Caucuslaunched in New Jersey
Satish Poondi, co-chair of the NJDSC South Asian AmericanCaucus, speaking during the launch of the South Asian American
Caucus in Jersey City June 11. (Photo courtesy: SnapsIndia)
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard join in the yoga
practice at the UN celebration of yoga day
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5June 27- July 3, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
New York: The women's network-
ing initiative LadyDrinks will host
a fashion show at the Rogue Space
Chelsea here June 25 featuring
South Asian women of note work-
ing in STEM fields (Science,
Technology, Engineering and
Math).
The event was designed to illu-
minate the jobs of the future and
the women role models who cur-
rently work in them. Participating
in the show are Akanksha Thakur,
senior consultant, technologist,
Ernst & Young; Anamika Chanda,
principal associate, technologist,
Capital One Financial; and Anuja
Kochar Singh, systems engineer-
ing manager, Cisco.
Also participating are Debyani
Chakravarty, cancer biologist,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center; Dr. Hetal Gor, Women's
Own Obygn LLC; Jaya Banerjee
Chatterjee, high school chemistry
teacher, Woodbridge Township
School District; Jaya Laxmi
Mohanan, senior research chemist,
BASF; and Jyoti Sharma, systems
engineer, Alcatel-Lucent.
Also wearing fashions are
Karina Yager, visiting associate
prof es so r, SUN Y Stonyb rook ;
Kiran Gill, founder and president,
PARS Environmental Inc.; Monica
Patel, CEO, First in Math India;
Preetha Chakrabarti, biology
teacher turned IP attorney
(Science), Crowell & Moring; and
Rima Lahiri, senior structural
engineer, WorleyParsons.
Appearing on the catwalk as
well are Shruti Kapoor, founder
and economist, Sayfty; Zalini
Bhagroo, quality compliance man-
ager, Luitpold Pharmaceuticals
Inc.; and Ree Chawla, founder,
lead researcher and director of
Brain Wellness Programs.
They will all wear sarees by
Indian American designer Mitan
Ghosh, jewelry from Mi Amor by
Mona Bangalore, shoes by Sandra
Gault of True Gault, handbags by
Alexandra Clancy.
A portion of the proceeds from
the event will go toward a scholar-
ship for a young girl from the
Boys & Girls Club of Newark who
aspires to study in a STEM field.
Sarangpur, Gujarat:
The former President of
India and world-renowned scientist, Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam
arrived at BAPS Shri
Swaminarayan Mandir in
Sarangpur, Gujarat, India
to offer a book,
“ T r a n s c e n d e n c e ” ,
authored by him to His
Holiness Pramukh
Swami Maharaj. The
book describes his expe-
riences with Pramukh
Swami Maharaj over a
period of 14 years.
Dr. Kalam expressed
that he had studied
Pramukh Swami’s lifeand worked for two years in writing the
book along with the co-author Professor
Arun Tiwari. During the dedication cere-
mony Dr. Kalam presented an autographed
copy to Pramukh Swami Maharaj and said,
“You are a great teacher. I’ve learnt to
eradicate I-ness and My-ness in life.”
Thereafter Dr. Kalam read some passages
from his book before Swamiji and asked
him to bless all those who have helped him
in making the book possible.
After the meeting Dr. Kalam was wel-
comed in an assembly of 3000 youths.
Pujya Brahmavihari Swami talked briefly
about the mutual bonds of friendship, spiri-
tuality and respect between Dr. Kalam and
Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Dr. Kalam thenaddressed the youths, “Where there is
righteousness in the heart there is beauty in
character. Where there is beauty in charac-
ter there is harmony in the home. Where
there is harmony in the home there is an
order in the nation. Where there is order in
the nation there is peace in the world. In
Pramukh Swami I saw righteousness and
therefore peace in him.”
Dr. Kalam also exhorted the youths to
become unique by having a high aim, by
increasing their knowledge, by working
hard and by not allowing problems to over-
whelm them. After a brief question-answer
session with youths Dr. Kalam departed
from Sarangpur.
Dr. Kalam’s book will be available at all
major book stores, Harper Collins’ outlets
and BAPS Mandirs.
New York: On June
11th, American Indian
Foundation held its
Annual Spring Awards
Gala at the historic
Cathedral of Saint John
Divine in New York
City. Over 500 success-
ful leaders from the cor-
porate, non-profit, gov-
ernment, and philan-
thropic sectors came
together to raise funds
and awareness for AIF's
programs, including the
Learning and Migration
Program (LAMP)
which is AIF’s signature program educating
children of seasonal migrant workers and
communities impacted by migration acrossIndia. Over $2.85 million was raised for AIF,
of which over $450,000 was raised during the
pledge drive to support LAMP.
“The Gala demonstrated how bringing peo-
ple together from across all sectors and from
all walks of life can have a huge impact,” said
M.A. Ravi Kumar, the CEO of AIF. “The
funds pledged this evening will go a long way
in educating these children and giving them a
chance at a brighter future.”
AIF honored Manoj Bhargava,
Founder/CEO of 5-Hour Energy, and George
Oliver, CEO of Tyco International, for their
corporate and philanthropic leadership, as
well as their investment in India. Both spoke
about their passion for progress in India and
the responsibility of companies to give back.
Special guest Indian cinema icon and activist
Rahul Bose commended AIF on its innova-
tive work in disrupting poverty in India and
talked about how receiving an education can
have a powerful impact in a child’s life.The emotional highpoint of the event came
when Jashobanti Mahanand, a 19-year-old
young woman from Odisha, shared her story
about working in migration sites. “Tears
come down my eyes when I remember those
days,” said Mahanand. “In the brick kilns,
children were involved in the work; my job
was to flip the half dried bricks in the hot
sun.” In 2005, LAMP gave Mahanand the
opportunity to receive an education and to
live in a hostel with other children of seasonal
migrant workers. Ten years after taking part
in the program, Mahanand is now a first-year
college student studying political science.
“Because of LAMP, I have the drive to com-
plete my education and become a teacher, so
that I can provide support to the children in
my village.”
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam presents hisbook to Pramukh Swami Maharaj
AIF raises $2.85 million atNew York City gala
Indian American women in STEM to walk the ramp in NYC
Dr Kalam presenting the book toPramukh Swami Maharaj
Over 500 people attended the gala (Inset) Manoj Bhargava – Philanthropist & Founder/CEO of 5-Hour Energy
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6 June 27- July 3, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
IN BRIEF
On June 13, over a
hundred people
came together to
participate in a workshop:
"Bridging the Gap - Opening
Communication in South
Asian Communities." Host-
ed by Share and Care's
Women Empowerment
Committee, in partnership
with SAMHIN, this work-
shop featured psychologists
and psychiatrists specializ-
ing in increasing awareness
and accessibility of mental
health services for the South
Asian community. From Nobel laure-
ates, to professional NBA athletes, to
the Surgeon General of the UnitedStates, there is no denying that South
Asians have made great strides of
progress and are considered a "model
minority" yet South Asians have one of
the highest rates of mental illness in
America. Among women age 15-24,
Asian Americans have the highest sui-
cide rate across all racial/ethnic groups.
Participants of the workshop dis-
cussed with psychologists Dr. Sudha
Wadhwani and Dr. Priti Shah, various
reasons for these mental health issues,
including pressures from academics,
family obligations, and rules about dat-ing/relationships. Dr. Lily Arora, a psy-
chiatrist specializing in bringing aware-
ness to cultural disparities in mental
health, stated that "The fact remains that
75-85% of mental health illnesses are
completely treatable, yet less than 10%
of people ever seek help. We need to
come together to reduce the stigma
against mental health problems, and
work towards creating awareness and
open dialogue."
On April 25, 2015 when the 7.8 mag-
nitude earthquake hit Nepal, it took one of the worst catastrophic tolls in
human history. Ekal Vidyalaya already had
deep roots in Nepal for years and therefore
had personal stake in rebuilding this nation
and its lives. As of April 2015, Ekal had
1,500 schools operating in Nepal’s rural ar-
eas. Ekal, was not only familiar with its peo-
ple, its culture and life’s necessities, but also
had well-established rapport with the local
governments. Shyamji Gupta, Founder-
Chairman of “Ekal-India” happened to be in
Nepal when the earthquake struck and so he
personally initiated the relief efforts after
witnessing the tragedy first-hand that un-
folded. As the news of destruction hit the
world, ‘Ekal Orgz’ under the leadership of
Ravidevji Gupta sprang into action to startcoordinating rescue, relief, and rehabilita-
tion efforts with its volunteering force of
1,600 Nepali regulars, within hours. A com-
prehensive plan for helping out victims was
charted. Food and water were made avail-
able immediately. Medicines and shelter
equipment for the displaced were dispatched
overnight from India. Considering the ex-
tent of mind-boggling human toll, Bajrangji
Bagra, President, Ekal-India immediately
allocated Rs. 1 Crore for this humanitarian
work. Besides, essential food items and
medicines, 9743 tarpaulin, and 11,500 blan-
kets were distributed through Ekal-Parivar,
which benefitted approximately 5,000 fam-
ilies in 400 villages. According to Subhashji
Gupta, past President and current Advisor toEkal-USA, total commitment of Ekal in
Nepal is likely to exceed Rs. 2 Crores. Ekal-
Pariwar’s future plans include building four
hostels for earthquake-afflicted children
where they could be appropriately looked
after and groomed and also establishing
community centers in badly affected village
for collective activities. Ekal is also explor-
ing possibilities of adopting villages for re-
habilitations. This is going to require lot
more funding.
Shelby Jain, a teenage
student of Freehold
Borough High School
arranged a charity event
through her own foundation
RoshanCare in Edison, New
Jersey on June 6th at TV
Asia auditorium to raise
funds for Nepal earthquake
survivors, underprivileged
kids in India and feeding the
hungry in USA.
“Jhoom beats” talent show
received good support from
community leaders espe-
cially Mr. HR Shah, TVA-
SIA CEO, Mayor of Free-
hold Borough J. Nolan Hig-
gins and Consul General of
India, NY Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay. Jain
founded "Roshan Care - pread the Light"
after her grandfather (Sri Roshan Lal
Jain) to support the needy.
Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation commitsRs.2 crores for Nepal victims
Teen organizes charity event for needyin Nepal, India, USA
Workshop focuses on mental healthissues among South Asians
Greater NY Seniors Celebrated
Father’s Day organized by Shashikant Patel/Gopi Udeshi on June17 at Sri Saneeswara Temple New York.
The panelists at the meet
Youth showcase their talents at “JhoomBeats”event
Ekal volunteers distributing reliefmaterial in Nepal
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8/21/2019 Vol 8 Issue 8 - June 27-July 3, 2015
7/32
Washington, DC: The shooting in
a historic US church has come to
haunt those who lost their dear
ones in a similar traumatic attack
about three years ago by a White
supremacist in a Wisconsin state
gurdwara, killing six Indian-origin
people.
"It's very similar to what hap-
pened in Oak Creek," FOX6 News
quoted Amar Kaleka, who lost his
father in the Sikh temple shooting,
as saying.
On August 5, 2012, Wade Page
entered the Sikh temple of Wisconsin and began shooting
indiscriminately. He killed six wor-
shipers, including Satwant Singh
Kaleka, who was the temple presi-
dent. Page later committed suicide
after a police officer shot him in
the stomach.
All those killed were members of
the Sikh community.
"Your heart sinks. It just -- it's
heartbroken for all those people,
because you've lived it. You know
that their life is never gonna be the
same," Kaleka said.
The US law enforcement authori-
ties have started investigating the
shooting at Charleston city's
Emanuel African MethodistEpiscopal Church, which claimed
nine lives, as a hate crime. The
church is one of the oldest in the
US, and was founded in 1816.
"I do believe this is a hate
crime," US media quoted
Charleston police chief Greg Mulle
as saying after the shooting. "You
feel for them, and you want to
reach out and hug them, and you
want to make sure that they're
okay," Kaleka said, referring to theshocked Charleston community
and victims' kin.
The uncanny similarity between
the Oak Creek and Charleston
shootings was that in both the
cases the shooting took place when
people were offering prayers.
"I'm hoping to God that we can
forgive -- we can get past the trau-
ma that this man has caused and
work on the deeper issues of socio-
economics or of racial tension thathas long been there," Kaleka said.
Kaleka is planning to visit
Charleston to reach out to the com-
munity and promote his organiza-
tion Serve2Unite, which has the
motto of "Uniting to defy hate and
build peace through creativity and
service."
7June 27- July 3, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
New York: California Attorney General
Kamala Harris added one more feather to her
cap when when Kevin Bollaert, who ran the
website ugotposted.com, was sentenced to
18 years in prison for posting more than
10,000 sexually explicit photos (known as"revenge porn") online and demanding $250
to $350 from victims to remove the images.
It was the first case of its kind in the U.S.—
and Harris has done it again: In May, Casey
Meyering, who ran the revenge-porn site
winbystate.com, pled no contest to extortion
and other charges.
In an interview with Marie Claire, Harris,
who is running for US Senator Barbara
Boxer’s seat in 2016, said, “The word
revenge suggests there is a legitimate reason
to lash out. And suggests the victim intended
[the images] would be distributed publicly.Those terms also invite judgment about the
morals of the women, when, in fact, they're
victims.”
Speaking on Kevin Bollaert's conviction
she said, “This case removes any ambiguity
about what's against the law. It also makes
clear that a computer can be as lethal as a
weapon. Anyone sitting at home with the
anonymity of a laptop should be very clear
that that will not immunize them from arrest,
prosecution, and prison.”
Harris said that she’ll be focusing on sev-
eral issues while campaigning for her nextelection. “The economy and women's issues
are economic issues. The majority of mini-
mum-wage workers are women, who also
disproportionately have a responsibility to
take care of children and senior relatives.
Also, when we talk about crimes against
women, the Violence Against Women Act is
a very important law that needs to be high-
lighted and renewed. And we need work on
universal pre-K. So there are a lot of issues.”
Kamala Harris takes the bull by the horn
As the white young
man who killed
nine people at a
historic US black church
faced a court, many vic-
tims' families forgave
him, but South Carolina's
Indian American gover-
nor Nikki Haley sought
the death penalty for him.
Dylann Storm Roof, 21,
who is reported to have
confessed to Wednesday
night's horrific massacre at
Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Charleston,
South Carolina, with vague plans
"to start a race war" appeared in
court via video Friday.
Roof, who has been charged with
nine counts of murder and posses-
sion of a firearm during the com-
mission of a violent crime, was
expressionless, as Magistrate
James Gosnell Jr.,
opened a bond hearing
in Charleston.
The judge set a $1
million bond on the pos-
session of a firearm
count but no bond on the
murder charges.
Calling the shooting
spree a hate crime,
Haley said Friday that
Roof should face the
death penalty.
"This is an absolute hate crime,"
Haley, a Republican, said in an
interview Friday with the "Today"
show. "And when I've been talking
with investigators as we've been
going through the interviews, they
said they looked pure evil in the
eye yesterday. Without question
this is hate."
"We absolutely will want him to
have the death penalty," she said.
New York: In a landmark deci-
sion, in which the concerns of
Indian American motel owners
were addressed for the first time at
the highest level of the U.S. jus-
tice system, the Supreme Court
determined June 22 that the Los
Angeles Police Department’s ran-
dom inspection of motel guest reg-
istries constituted unwarranted
search and seizure, violating
Fourth Amendment constitutional
rights, India West reported.
“This is a huge victory for the
hotel and motel industry,” Indian
American businessman Balu Pateltold India-West shortly after the
decision was released.
Patel – who owns seven motels
in south central Los Angeles and
Hollywood, Calif., and has been in
the business since 1973 — said
the LAPD has come unannounced
into his motels at any time day or
night and demanded to see guest
registries under Section 41.49(3)
of the city’s legal code. Police
have searched his motels – with-
out warrants – harassing his
employees and charging them
with misdemeanors for clerical
errors on the registries, he alleged.
In one of the most egregiouscases, Patel recalled an incident at
an acquaintance’s motel where a
female employee was pinned to
the ground late night and hand-
cuffed as police searched through
the registry. The City of Los
Angeles – which brought the case
to the Supreme Court – said such
random searches are necessary to
stem human trafficking, drug deal-
ing and other criminal activities on
motel premises.
Patel said he has always been
cooperative with police. “If they
show us a picture and say ‘we are
looking for this person,’ we will
tell them if we have seen this per-
son and help them find him,” said
the veteran hotelier.
Ray Patel, president of the North
East Los Angeles Hotel Owners
Association (NELAHOA), told
India-West: “No hotel owner
wants to see human trafficking or crime on his premises, but the tac-
tics used by the LAPD were not
preventing crimes.”
“We were unable to see the con-
nection. And the Supreme Court
saw through the LAPD’s claims,”
he said. The Supreme Court
upheld a Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling that determined
that the random inspections violat-
ed Fourth Amendment rights,
which guard against illegal search
and seizure of property. Justice
Sonia Sotomayor wrote the deci-
sion, noting: “Nothing inherent in
the operation of hotels poses a
clear and significant danger to the public welfare.”
“Section 41.49(3) is unconstitu-
tional because it fails to provide
hotel operators with an opportuni-
ty for pre-compliance review,” she
wrote, noting that hotel owners are
subjected to punishment for fail-
ure to turn over their records.
Dylann StormRoof
Cracks down on revenge porn sites
US church shooting revives 2012
gurdwara attack memories
Supreme Court rules in favor of
Indian American motel owners
Kamala Harris
Haley seeks death penalty for shooter
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8 June 27- July 3, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
St Petersburg: B. Jayant Baliga, a US-based
Indian-origin scientist, is being awarded
Russia's top technology award in recognition
of his work in energy management which
brought about huge increase in efficiency and
major savings.
The award will presented to Professor
Baliga and Shuji Nakamura on Friday by
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremo-
ny here. Nakamura, a Nobel Laureate, is being
recognized for his work on blue light emitting
diodes (LEDs). In Russia, the Global Energy
Prize is known as the electronics equivalent of
the Nobel Prize.
Professor Baliga invented the digital switch
or the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
while working at General Electrical research
& development center in New York in 1983.
The IGBT switches energy hundreds of thou-
sands of times a second, raising the efficiencyof any equipment manifold.
"Every equipment from your refrigerator to
lights to motor vehicles has the need to use
energy efficiently. If you take away the IGBT
today, almost everything will come to a stand-
still," Baliga told a visiting IANS correspon-
dent on the eve of receiving the award.
Scientific American magazine called him
among the 'eight heroes of the semiconductor
revolution', and President Barack Obama
awarded him the highest American technology
prize last year and he is the 2014 recipient of
the IEEE Medal of Honor, a rare distinction.
Professor Baliga, who now teaches to the
North Carolina university as 'distingui shed
university professor,' said that his invention
combines two streams of electronics and elec-
trical engineering and has possibly saved the
world around $24 trillion dollars by raising
efficiency, according to one detailed
calculation.
"I got zero out of it. But then I did it all for
humanity." Of course, says Prof Baliga that he
did make some money when he started three
companies, but these were financed by ven-
ture capitalists who exited with enormous
profits at the right time. Baliga passed out of
IIT Madras before going to the US for his MS
and PhD after electrical engineering after
which he joined GE where he spent over 15
years.
By Preya Sundaram
Austin, TX: What a nice way to spend an
evening with a group of likeminded people -
the 3rd Annual Bollywood Meets Borscht Belt
fundraising event is a coming together of
Indian & Jewish community to do the good-
ness of helping over thousand homeless chil-
dren with school supplies for upcoming school
year in Austin, Del Valle and Manor for the
third year. The event was organized by Hindu
Charities for America and Jewish Federation of
Greater Austin.
The evening started off with comedy show
by the worl d’s first Jewish Indian standup
comedian, Indian and Jewish dance perform-ances by local talents in vibrant hues and deli-
cious Indian food donated by local Indian
restaurant owners. The event was attended by
many notable guests that included former
Mayor Gus Garcia and Manor ISD
Superintendent Kevin Brackmeyer. The Hindu
Charities work with Texas Homeless
Education Office to identify the school dis-
tricts and they work with the district officials
directly to find out the specific counts and
grade levels that need help.
Many of these families cannot afford to buy
the much needed school supplies. Some fami-
lies skimp on their life balancing medicine to
save for their children's school supplies.
All proceeds go to purchasing of school sup-
plies for over thousand homeless children in
Austin, Del Valle and Manor area. On Sunday
August 16 at 1pm, volunteers will meet to
pack the scho ol supp li es at De ll Jewi sh
Community Campus. Harish Kotecha, Founder
of Hindu Charities, was recognized by Jewish
Federation of greater Austin and honored for
his selfless efforts by the White House signed by the President this year. Though $20 will get
the school supply for a needy kid to start the
school year, no amount is a small amount and
the Hindu Charities accepts any amount of
donation as long as there is a willingness to
give and help the needy children. Please visit
HinduCharitiesForAmerica.org or call
512.994.4638 for more information.
Tokyo: India-born former
Google executive NikeshArora has been appointed
the president of Japan's
telecommunications giant
SoftBank Corp that paid
the "rising star" a whop-
ping $13 5 mi ll ion from
September last year to
March this year.
Arora, 47, was appointed
company president and
chief operating officer at a
general meeting of share-
holders here on Friday. In a management
reshuffle last month, Arora - investments
head at the time - was named as a poten-
tial successor to company chairman and
CEO Masayoshi Son, as the telecomsconglomerate steps up its overseas
expansion.
Arora joined the Japanese company last
September.
He was previously chief business offi-
cer at Google Inc, which he entered in
2004 as a telecom industry analyst before
being recruited by Mr Son.
He was Google's highest paid execu-
tive in 2012 with $46.7 million in total
compensation. Hailed by Mr Son as a
"rising star", Mr Arora received 16.556
bil lio n yen (nearly $13 5
million) for the periodthrough March 2015.
Of the total, 14.6 billion
yen was paid as an entering
bonus and com pen satio n
for his work as an execu-
tive at a SoftBank sub-
sidiary, the Asahi Shimbun
reported on Saturday, citing
the conglomerate's latest
financial report. Unlike
elsewhere in the world,
there are few business
executives in Japan who are paid several
billions of yen a year and it is rare for a
Japanese company to pay more than 16
billion yen annually to an executive, it
said.In less than a year at SoftBank, Mr
Arora has already directed about 200 bil-
lion yen ($1.67 billion) worth of deals
that include investments in Indian tech-
nology start-ups - Snapdeal, an online
marketplace, and taxi-booking service
Ola Cabs, Nikkei Business Daily report-
ed. Arora has an MBA from Northeastern
University, a master's degree in finance
from Boston College and graduated as an
electrical engineer from IIT-BHU (Indian
Institute of Technology, Varanasi).
Los Angeles: Kishore Lulla,Executive Chairman of Eros
International plc, a leading glob-
al company in the Indian film
entertainment industry was hon-
ored with the Entertainment
Visionary Award at the 2015
Annual Gala Dinner organized
by As ia So ci et y So ut he rn
California on June 20.
Lulla was recognized for
being a game changer and for
his efforts in taking Bollywood global. The
Gala evening honored Kishore’s quest to con-
nect the Indian diaspora through films and
br id gi ng of cu lt ur es by in tr od uc in g
Bollywood to non-Indian audiences.
Commenting on the achievement, Lulla
said, “It is an honor to be recognized by thereputed Asia Society Southern California and
I’m grateful to my family, the Eros team, our
associates, investors and the Indian film
industry for their unstinted support. It contin-
ues to be a remarkable journey for us at Eros
and I would like to offer my sincere thanks to
the Asia Society in appreciating our endeavor
to bring Indian cinema to the forefront global-
ly.” Thomas McLain, Chairmanof Asia Society Southern
California & of McLain Partners
LLC added, “Kishore Lulla is
much more than a head of a suc-
cessful film studio, who controls
40% of the Hindi language film
market in India; he’s also a phi-
lanthropist who is seeking to
bring 250 million Indian children
out of poverty through his educa-
tional initiatives and a visionary
who is promoting equality for women in the
workplace in India. His personal story of
starting his business in Israel and Germany
inspired all, and at the same time he kept the
audience laughing with his great sense of
humor. Kishore’s goals are synonymous with
those of the Asia Society – we are both build-ing bridges between the East and West
through education, culture and business initia-
tives.” Jonathan Karp, Executive Director of
Asia Society Southern California, said,
“Kishore epitomizes Asia Society’s mission of
forging understanding between Asia and the
world, as well as among Asians, by champi-
oning the power of popular culture.”
Nikesh Arora appointedSoftBank Corp president
Asia Society honors Eros International’s Kishore LullaCommunities work together to raise over
$20,000 for homeless children
Dr B Jayant Baliga
Nikesh Arora
Kishore Lulla
Dr B Jayant Baliga to get Russia'shighest tech award
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9/32
9June 27- July 3, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info US AFFAIRS
Washington, DC: President
Obama announced a new nation-
al security policy Wednesday
aimed at helping families of
hostages seized abroad bring
their relatives home, declaring,
“We will not abandon you. We
will stand by you.” Obama also
said his administration would not
threaten to prosecute private
families for paying ransom to
hostage takers, although he
vowed that the U.S. government
would continue to refuse to make
such payments. The announce-
ment comes after a surge in the
taking — and killing — of
American hostages by terrorist
groups and complaints frommany families that the govern-
ment had not dealt with them
openly, politely or helpfully.
Obama, who spent part of the
morning at what he called a
“very emotional” meeting with
families of hostages, said many
of them “often felt like an after-
thought.” That, he said, was
“totally unacceptable,” adding
that “we are changing how we do
business.”
The president issued orders
creating a special envoy, a new
coordinator of government
efforts and a fusion cell of FBI,
State Department and Pentagon
officials to deal with hostages
and their families. He said gov-
ernment officials would work
with families and, if necessary,
communicate directly with
hostage takers.
Obama also defended his
administration’s efforts to free
hostages, noting that many had
come home safely and that U.S.
military personnel had risked
their lives to rescue captive
Americans.And to those who would try to
take more hostages, Obama said:
“We do not forget. Our reach is
long. Justice will be done. . . . We
will not give up no matter how
long it takes.”
Lisa Monaco, the president’s
chief counterterrorism adviser,
said in a briefing that more than
30 Americans are currently being
held hostage overseas.
Obama outlines changes topolicy on hostages, vows
to ‘stand by’ familiesWashington, DC: As SouthCarolina's Indian-American governor
Nikk i Haley channeled the outrageover Charleston church massacre with
a call to remove the Confederate flag,
the campaign against the slavery-era
secessionist banner intensified.
Heeding Haley's call, lawmakers
Tuesday made debating whether to
remove the flag from the State House
grounds an urgent matter as protestors
rallied at the South Carolina capitol in
Columbia. The House voted 103-10 to
debate the flag this summer. The 45-
member state Senate voted by voice to
join the debate that could begin as
early as next Tuesday.
A two-thirds majority vote in both
chambers of the Legislature will be
necessary in order for the measure
reach Haley's desk and subsequentlyremove the flag from the Capitol
grounds. South Carolina was the first
state to break away from the American
Union in 1860, six weeks after the
election of anti-slavery Republican
Abraham Lincoln as president. The
first shots of the American Civil War
too were fired at Fort Sumter in South
Carolina in April 1861 after ten other
states followed in secession to form
the Confederate States of America.
The controversial "Stars and Bars"
flag was actually the battle flag of
Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of
Northern Virginia.
Public pressure to remove the red
flag with a blue diagonal cross with 13
white stars representing the secession-
ist states has been growing after pho-
tos of the alleged white shooter Dylan
Roof, 21, with a gun waving the flag
emerged. The governors of Virginia
and North Carolina quickly declared
that they would remove the flag from
state license plates. One after another,
several of the country's top retailers --
from Walmart to eBay to Amazon and
Sears -- announced that they would
stop selling Confederate flag merchan-
dise. The debate in South Carolina
over the Confederate flag also seems
to be spilling over to neighboring
southern states. in Kentucky,
Republican Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell and Republican
gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin
have both called for the removal of a
statue of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis that stands in the state
capitol building. In Mississippi, the
state's Republican House Speaker
Philip Gunn has called the state flag,
which includes the Confederate flag in
the left top corner, "a point of offense
that needs to be removed."
New York: Authoritiessay the prison employee
charged with helping
two murderers escape
from a New York prison
smuggled tools to them
by hidi ng the items in
frozen hamburger meat.
Clinton County
District Attorney
Andrew Wiley has told
reporters that Joyce
Mitchell told investiga-
tors she put hacksaw
blades and a screwdriv-
er in the meat, then placed it in a refrigerator
in the tailor shop where she worked at
Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. Wiley says a corrections officer brought
the meat to David Sweat and Richard Matt,
who were housed in a section of the maxi-
mum-security prison where inmates are
allowed to cook their own meals. The DA
says the guard didn’t know the tools were
inside the meat. He has been placed on paidleave.
Sweat and Matt used power tools to make
their escape June 6 and remain at large
Wednesday.
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385
718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.com
Boston: Boston Marathon bomber
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Wednesday ended
his long silence, asking Allah to help his
victims and their families and apologizing
for the pain and suffering he caused two
years ago.
"If there is any lingering doubt ... I did it
along with my brother," he said, referring
to the bombings carried out by him and his
older brother, Tamerlan. "I ask Allah to
have mercy on me, my brother and my
family."
Tsarnaev, 21, standing at the defense
table and speaking in a low voice, said he
was sorry but he never turned to face his
victims -- whose names, faces and ages, he
said, he has come to know.
Judge George O'Toole formally imposed
the death sentence on Tsarnaev -- a deci-
sion already made by a federal jury.
Boston bomber says sorry before
given death sentence
After Nikki Haley's call, campaign to removesecessionist flag intensifies
Indian American governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina and (Inset) the controversial confederate flag
NY prison escapees got tools in meat
The prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat;(right) the prison official Joyce Mitchell
who helped them escape.
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10 June 27- July 3, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: Former Indian Premier
League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi said
he signed the Kochi franchise bid
under pressure.
“I signed the Kochi bid under
pressure minutes,” Modi tweeted.
Along with the tweet he attached
a letter where details of the insights
of the meeting during the Kochi bid
on April 11, 2010 at 12 a.m. were
mentioned.
According tho the letter, the per-
sons present at the meeting were,
Lalit Modi (Chairman IPL), Akhila
Kaushik (Legal Advisor, BCCI),
Sundar Raman (COO,IPL),
Shailendra Gaikwad (Rendevouz
Sports world Pvt Ltd), Mehul Shah
(Anchor Earth Pvt Ltd), Chintan
Vora (Anchor Earth Pvt Ltd), Vipul
Shah (Parinee Developers &
Properties Pvt Ltd), Saket Mehta
(Anand Shyam Estates &
Developers Pvt Ltd), Kailash
Singhal (Filmwaves Combines Pvt
Ltd), Vivek Venugopal and Keshav
P T (Filmwaves Combines Pvt Ltd).
The minutes of the meeting with
bidder of Kochi Franchise as given
by Modi are as follows.
The meeting was called to vali-
date and authenticate the bid docu-
ments related to the Kochi
Franchise (unincorporated JV) bid.
The documents submitted on the
day of tender opening in Chennai
was found to restrict the liability of
the owners in the shareholders
agreement and the chairman had
asked for submission of all valid
documents in the presence of all
owners.
New Delhi: The Karnataka govern-
ment has moved the Supreme Courtchallenging the state high court's
verdict acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J. Jayalalithaa, her aide
Sasikala Natrajan and two others in
a case of disproportionate assets.
The Karnataka government has
urged the apex court to stay the
operation of the May 11 verdict.
"Pass an ex-parte ad-interim order
of stay, staying the operation of
impugned final judgment and order
of May 11," a petition by the
Karnataka government said in its
prayer for interim relief.
The Karnataka government con-
tended that the high court commit-
ted a "grave mistake" in arriving at afigure of Rs.24,17,31,274 while a
total of 10 loans taken by
Jayalalithaa and others and the com-
panies they were associated with
was Rs.10,67,31,274.
It is because of this "grave mis-
take" in the calculation that the high
court erroneously concluded that the
disproportionate assets were only to
the extent of 8.12 percent of theincome whereas it was 76.7 percent.
Contending that the reversal by the
high court of the trial court verdict
convicting Jayalalithaa had resulted
in "miscarriage of justice", the
Karnataka government said thatapart from other infirmities, the
"grave mistake" had led to the
acquittal of Jayalalithaa and others
including V.N. Sudhakaran and J.
Elavarasi.
The Karnataka government has
questioned whether Jayalalithaa's
appeal against the trial court order
convicting her and others was main-
tainable without making Karnataka
a respondent.The state has contend-
ed that because Jayalalithaa and the
others did not make the Karnataka
government a party to the case, it
could not appoint a public prosecu-
tor to pursue it. The trial court in
Bengaluru on Sep 27 convictedJayalalithaa of possessing assets dis-
proportionate to her known sources
of income and awarded four jail
terms and fined her Rs.100 crore.
New Delhi: HRD Minister Smriti
Irani faced embarrassment this week
after a court took note of a com-
plaint against her for allegedly dis-
torting facts about her educational
qualification, prompting theCongress and the AAP to demand
her resignation from the cabinet.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
was taken aback by the develop-
ment, but it vehemently defended
Irani who had contested the Lok
Sabha election from Amethi, assert-
ing that the distortions presented
before the court flowed out of typo-
graphical errors.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
ruled out the resignation of Irani as
well as External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief
Minister Vasundara Raje over their
alleged links to former IPL chief
Lalit Modi who is in London whilefacing charges of financial irregular-
ities in India.
Metropolitan Magistrate Akash
Jain considered a private complaint
against Irani and fixed August 28 for
recording pre-summoning evidence.
"The arguments made on behalf of
the complainant (Ahmer Khan) holdmerit," the court said.
A complaint was filed by Khan in
April alleging that Irani, in her three
affidavits before the Election
Commission (for the Lok Sabha and
the Rajya Sabha polls), gave differ-
ent details about her educational
qualification.He sought action against the min-
ister for allegedly lying on oath.
His lawyer K.K. Manan told the
court that Irani declared herself to
be a 1996 batch B.A. graduate from
Delhi University's School of
Correspondence in her affidavit
filed for the 2004 Lok Sabha elec-
tion. But in her 2014 Lok Sabhaelection affidavit, she stated she had
done B.Com Part 1 in 1994 from
Delhi University (open learning). In
another affidavit of July 11, 2011 for
the Rajya Sabha election, she said
her highest educational qualification
was B. Com part I from Delhi
University's School of
Correspondence.
"It is evident from the contents of
the affidavits filed by Irani that at
best only one of the depositions by
her on oath in respect of her educa-
tional qualifications is correct," said
the counsel.
The petition claimed that Irani
also lied on oath about her assetsand it sought action against her
under the Representation of the
People Act. Soon after the court
order, Congress spokesman R.S.
Surjewala sought Irani's resignation.
"Irani has no moral or constitu-
tional or legal right to continue in
her post even for a day. Either she
should resign or she should besacked by the prime minister.
"It is apparent the country's educa-
tion minister is lying about her own
education. What will happen to the
future of millions and millions of
the children of this country?"
Surjewala asked.
Surjewala also attacked the
Narendra Modi government.
"It is most unfortunate that the
degrees of both the education minis-
ters are under question," he said,
referring to allegations against
Minister of State for HRD Ram
Shankar Katheria. The Aam Aadmi
Party, whose then Delhi Law
Minister Jitender Singh Tomar wasarrested over his allegedly fake law
degree, targeted Irani and the
Bharatiya Janata Party.
New Delhi/Jaipur:
Stepping up pressure for
resignation of Rajasthan
Chief Minister Vasundhara
Raje over her help to for-
mer IPL chief Lalit Modi,the Congress showed doc-
uments purportedly con-
taining her signature
which, it said, made clear
she had testified for a
"fugitive".
Bharatiya Janata Party's
Rajasthan unit president
Ashok Parnami defended
Raje and accused the Congress
of trying to defame her.
At a press conference in
Delhi, senior Congress leader
Jairam Ramesh accused Raje of
"lying" and said that BJP leader-
ship should seek her immediate
resignation as the documentswith his party were real and and
not fake.
"In August 2011, Vasundhara
Raje had given a statement and
on the basis of that she had
demanded that Lalit Modi, who
is a 'fugitive' should be allowed
to stay in England only,"
Ramesh said.
He alleged that Raje had lied
again and again and denied the
documents. "Today those papers
are in front of the country and
there are her initials in them. I
want to tell BJP president Amit
Shah that these are not fake,
they are real."
"Today it is clear that she hadmade a statement in favour of
Lalit Modi and the BJP had said
that if the documents have her
signatures then we will surely
demand her resignation," he
said. Ramesh said for a govern-
ment which preaches a corrup-
tion-free governance and a
prime minister who says there is
zero tolerance for corruption,
there was only one way out thatRaje should resign immediately.
"Nobody should deny this.
There is no need for any probe.
The Rajasthan chief minister
should resign right now,"
Ramesh said.
"Not only has she violated
laws, she has lied. The docu-
ments are there, they are not
fake but real. There is need for
no more evidence. Raje stands
thoroughly exposed," he added.
"Actually, it is three ministers
who should given their resigna-
tion. Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje, External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
and HRD Minister Smriti Irani."Ramesh said the case against
Sushma Swaraj doesn't disap-
pear.
Congress mounts pressure onRajasthan CM, BJP backs Raje
Irani in education row; AAP, Congress want her sacked
A complaint alleged that Union minister Smriti Irani gavedifferent details about her educational qualification.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Former Indian Premier League(IPL) chief Lalit Modi.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
I signed Kochi bid under pressure: Lalit Modi
Karnataka moves SC against Jayalalithaa's acquittal
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8/21/2019 Vol 8 Issue 8 - June 27-July 3, 2015
11/32
11June 27-July 3, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
Kolkata: Braving heavy
showers, hundreds of peo-
ple from India and abroad
ba de ad ie u to Moth er
Teresa's successor Sister
Nirmala here, recalling the
nun's dedication and
courage.
Sister Nirmala's body,
pl aced in a glas s casket
with candles and wreaths
at her feet, was kept at the
Missionaries of Charity's
global headquarters
Mother House where the
funeral mass was attended
by pol itical and reli gious
leaders, as also the poorest
of the poor.
Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa's successor
as superior general of the Missionaries of
Charity, died following renal failure andheart complications.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee recounted her affable personality
and service to the poor.
"Sister Nirmala always had a smile on her
face. Physically we may have lost her but she
will be alive through her ideology and phi-
losophy," Banerjee said as the nuns sang
songs, including Rabindra Sangeet.
Sister Nirmala became the second head of
the order after its founder Mother Teresa
stepped down from the post in March 1997.
During her 12-year stewardship of the
Kolkata-headquartered order founded in1950, Sister Nirmala visited a large number
of countries, opening new houses and draw-
ing more people to the Missionaries of
Charity, which now has under its fold over
4,500 religious sisters and activities spread
across 133 countries.
She was honored with India's second high-
est civilian order 'Padma Vibhushan' in 2009
for her services to the nation.
New Delhi: India is unlikely to see
the imposition of another
Emergency due to changes made inthe Constitution and people being
more vigilant, veteran journalist
and political commentator Kuldip
Naya r has sai d, no ting that the
Congress should have learnt the les-
son of not pursuing dynastic poli-
tics from the period that saw a curb
on civil liberties under Indira
Gandhi.
Na ya r, 91 , wh o sp en t th re e
months in jail during the 1975-77
Emergency, said that system was
still dependent on the goodwill of
the ruling party and there should be
propo rtiona l representation in the
Lok Sabha so that the opposition
has a stronger voice in the house."There should be proportional
representation for at least 50 per-
cent of the seats. Still we are
dependent on the goodwill of the
ruling party and the prime minister.
The opposition will get a stronger
voice if there is proportional repre-sentation," Nayar told IANS in an
interview on 40 years of
Emergency.
Nayar, a veteran journalist who
has written several books, including
a gripping account of the time,
"Emergency Retold," said the coun-
try had learnt its lessons from the
Emergency that lasted from June
25, 1975, to March 21, 1977, and
saw over 100,000 people being put
under detention, civil liberties being
curbed and imposition of press cen-
sorship.
Asked if the Congress had trans-
formed itself after the Emergency,
Nayar, a former high commissioner to Britain, said the party was still
stuck in the dynastic mould and this
was working to the advantage of the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Till the time they come out of dynastic politics, what can happen.
Mrs (Sonia) Gandhi and her son
(Rahul). Then people also talk of
Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra). Dynastic
pol itic s is now a feudal thing. It
does not go well with democracy.
The Congress should also havelearnt (from Emergency) that
dynastic politics does not go well
with democracy," Nayar said.
Indira Gandhi, who imposed
Emergency, was widely seen to
have worked under the influence of
her son Sanjay Gandhi. She was the
daughter of India's first prime min-
ister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and her
other son, Rajiv Gandhi, also
served as the country's prime minis-
ter. Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law,
Sonia Gandhi, is the Congress pres-
ident and her grandson Rahul
Gandhi is Congress vice-president.
Asked about senior BJP leader
L.K. Advani's remarks in an inter-view that forces that can crush
democracy were now stronger and a
repeat of an Emergency-like situa-
tion cannot be ruled out, Nayar said
Emergency has become almost
impossible because to ratify the
measure, a prime minister who triesto impose it will need a two-thirds
majority in each house of parlia-
ment due to amendments made in
the constitution.
"What he (Advani) is saying is
that environment is such where
power is get ting concent rate d in
one person. Just like at that time it
was getting concentrated in Mrs
(Indira) Gandhi, now it is getting
concentrated in (Narendra) Modi,"
Nayar said.
At the same time, he said there
were now stronger safeguards for
civil liberties in the constitution and
its basic structure can also not be
changed. Na ya r sa id hi s advi ce to the
younger generation was that inde-
pendence, democracy and secular-
ism should not be taken for granted.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has said that the Emergency rule in India
was "one of India's darkest periods".
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of
the Emergency, Modi took to Twitter and
urged people to do "everything possible tofurther strengthen our democratic ideals and
ethos".
Modi described the Emergency - from
June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977 - as India's
darkest period, when the then political lead-
ership "trampled over the democracy".
"We mark 40 years of one of India's dark-
est periods - the Emergency when the then
po li ti ca l le ad er sh ip tr am pl ed ov er ou r
democracy," Modi tweeted.
"A vibrant liberal democracy is the key to
progress. Let us do everything possible to
further strengthen our democratic ideals and
ethos," another of his tweets said.The then prime minister Indira Gandhi
imposed Emergency in India citing grave
threat to her government and sovereignty of
the country from both internal and external
forces.
Modi said that inspired by the call of social
reformer and political leader Jayaprakash
Narayan, seve ral men and women across
India selflessly immersed themselves in the
movement to safeguard the democracy.
"We are very proud of the lakhs of people,
who resisted the Emergency and whose
efforts ensured that our democratic fabric is
preserved," Modi said."Personally, the Emergency brings back
many memories. As youngsters, we learnt a
lot during the anti-Emergency movement."
In a series of tweets, Modi said:
"Emergency was a great opportunity to work
with a wide spectrum of leaders and organi-
zations fighting for the same goal - the return
of democracy."
Narendra Modi described the Emergency - from June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977
- as India's darkest period.
Hundreds pay homage to Sister Nirmala
Kathmandu: India has announced an aid
of $1 billion for rebuilding Nepal, External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced
at an international donors meet here.
The aid will be used in the reconstruction
of physical infrastructure as well as some
key heritage sites.
At the International Conference on
Ne pa l' s Re co ns tr uc ti on , Sw ar aj sa id :
"Nepal is not alone. Today I convey to you
the deep and abiding commitment of the
government of India and 1.25 billion peo-
ple of India to stand shoulder to shoulder
with you."
Referring to the operation India under-
took to help Nepal soon after it was hit by a
massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake in April,
Swaraj said: "Operation Maitri was our largest ever disaster assistance effort
abroad valued at nearly Rs.400 billion."
"From the debris of destruction a stronger
united and more confident Nepal will rise,"
she said.
Swaraj hailed Nepal's efforts in making a
major bid to rebuild the nation and said
raising $6.7 billion was a challenging task."As the oldest and closest friend, India is
ready to stand with Nepal," she said.
India announces $1 billion aid forrebuilding Nepal
Emergency was India's darkest period: Modi
Dynastic politics does not go well with democracy: Kuldip Nayar
People participate in the last journey of Sister Nirmala on way to St. Jone's Church, Sealdah in Kolkata.
Veteran journalist andpolitical commentator
Kuldip Nayar.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj arrives to attend the International
Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction2015 in Kathmandu.
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8/21/2019 Vol 8 Issue 8 - June 27-July 3, 2015
12/32
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
By Rajendra Shende
Except for the quiet perennial flow of
waters in the Rhine every ambiance of
the city of Bonn has undergone a
change over the last two decades. A smaller
office of Secretariat of the United Nations
Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
which began functioning on banks of the
Rhine, while coordinating the global efforts to
reduce the emissions of Green House Gases
(GHGs), has now been expanded to include a
multi-storeyed building and is a part of UN
Complex. To say that the climate negotiations
have become more and more 'complex' isunderwhelming.
The utter failure in the implementation of the
Climate Convention of 1992 that aimed at 'pre-
venting dangerous anthropogenic interference
with Earth's climate system' does not augur
well while building a new foundation. The
Kyoto Protocol of 1997 will come to an end in
2015 without developed countries achieving
its goal of reducing the GHGs by five percent
from its 1990 levels. The emissions instead
have now been nearly 45 percent higher.
Complexity and mistrust among negotiators
have even increased disproportionately.
The objectives of the negotiations in the
Bonn meeting were very clear. First, to carve
out from a draft of 'Geneva Negotiating Text',
which was developed in Lima last year andupdated in Geneva early 2015, into a stream-
lined and shorter negotiating text for the world
leaders to take a final decision on a new 2015
climate agreement at the Paris. The agreement
to be reached by December 2015 will enter
into force in 2020. Second, to pursue a trail of
ambitious targets in emission reductions,
financial and technology pledges that were
agreed in 2009, as part of the Kyoto Protocol,
to enhance pre-2020 action. Overall objectiveof the new Protocol would be to keep the rise
in temperature below 2 deg C as compared to
Pre-industrial level.
ADP, short for 'Ad Hoc Working Group on
the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action,' is
one of the key acronyms that has become the
cynosure for climate negotiators and night-
mare for the media reporters. This working
group is tasked to streamline and consolidate
an extremely bulky negotiating text of 86 page s, 103 para grap hs - each havi ng five
options in average. In Bonn, 12 groups with
two facilitators each and battalions of UNFC-
CC secretarial staff made gallant efforts in
streamlining the text. Unfortunately, at the end,
the text was reduced to 85 pages (one page
less) with 223 paragraphs (100 added).
To judge the work of ADP by simply
reduced numbers of pages and paragraphs will
be unfair. It was expected that negotiations
would be used as an opportunity to generate
mutual trust for the collective actions ahead.
There was mixed reaction if such an opportu-
nity was availed. One delegate indicated "Trust
will be put to test when real issue of providing
financing and climate-friendly technologies to
the developing countries would be negotiated.We are not there yet."
Climate negotiators in Bonn appeared to be
out of pace with happenings around them. And
now even Pope Francis has appealed to all to
combat climate change on moral grounds.
Pressure on state-negotiators is building due to
two reasons: just about 25 weeks are remain-
ing for the finish line for new legally binding
treaty. Second, with or without state negotia-
tors, the non-state actors are racing ahead leav-
ing behind archaic negotiating issues.
As one delegate suggested, state negotiators
need to regularly perform yoga for developing
a mindset for building a mutual trust. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations
last year had said, "Yoga embodies unity of
mind and body. By changing our lifestyle andcreating consciousness, it can help us deal with
climate change."
By Amulya Ganguli
T
ill the quicksand of indis-
cretions enveloped Sushma
Swaraj and b VasundharaRaje, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) had the advantage over its
principal rival, the Congress, of
not being the victim of any major
scandal.
Hence, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had the chutzpah of telling
an audience abroad that while he
was associating India with "skill",
the previous government had
shamed the country with the
appellation of "scam India". Only
a few months after this display of
effrontery which ignored the tradi-
tion of not raising domestic issues
on foreign soil, the Modi govern-
ment has had its comeuppance.
Instead of focusing on ways to
emerge from the "prudent gradual-
ism", in economist Jagdish
Bhagwati's words, of the reforms,
which the government's critics
interpret as a dragging of the feet,
the prime minister and his govern-
ment are immersed in an episode
which, according to the Congress,
is marked by "nepotism, abuse of
authority and violation of proce-
dure".
Notwithstanding the attempts to
emphasize the Good Samaritan
aspect of the external affairs min-
ister's intervention on behalf of the
former Indian Premium League
(IPL) administrator, Lalit Modi's
ailing wife, the fact that Lalit
Modi is a fugitive from Indian jus-
tice has undermined Sushma
Swaraj's acts of "good intentions",
as finance minister Arun Jaitley
has said.
To make matters worse for the
BJP, Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje has joined
Sushma Swaraj in demonstrating
her proximity to Lalit Modi. Their
explanation for their camaraderie
is that Modi is a family friend. But
the acts of hobnobbing recall the
adage that a person is known by
the company he or she keeps.
Interestingly, the BJP is seem-
ingly keener on standing by the
external affairs minister than the
chief minister, who has apparently
been left to fend for herself over
an allegation that she endorsed
Lalit Modi's application for immi-
gration to Britain on the condition
that the Indian authorities should
not know about it.
Considering that Narendra Modi
had once taunted Congress leader
Shashi Tharoor for having a Rs.50
crore girl friend because of
Sunanda Pushkar's IPL deals, the
reports about how prominent BJP
leaders have gone out of their way
to help the tainted former IPL czar
cannot but be an embarrassment
for the prime minister.
The BJP rode to power not only
on the basis of promising econom-
ic growth but also by stressing its
commitment to a clean public life.
No w, bo th th e pl ed ge s ha ve
failed to materialize. Unless
Narendra Modi demonst rates his
fabled capacity to act decisively,
the daily unfolding of the bon-
homie between ministers and a
person unde r the scanner of the
Enforcement Directorate will only
pro vid e more juicy gri st to theCongress's mill.
Taken together with the disquiet
among farmers about the proposed
amendments of the land acquisi-
tion law, and among ex-service-
men over the delay in implement-
ing the one-rank, one-pension
rule, the Sushma Swaraj-
Vasundhara Raje-Lalit Modi saga
can have damaging consequences
for the BJP on two fronts.
First, the inevitable stalling of
parliament on the issue will be a
further setback to the prime minis-
ter's reforms agenda. Secondly, the
BJP will not find it easy to launch
an effective election campaign in
Bihar when its hands are not clean
and when it faces various disaf-
fected groups.
Moreover, in view of the attacks
from multiple fronts, the BJP
seems to have lost some of its
fighting instincts. Otherwise, it is
not clear why it backed off from
attacking the Congress on th
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