cyrus mistry was sacked as the chairman of the tata sons · 2019-11-28 · not just about his...

Vol: 24 | No. 11 | November 2016 | R20

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Cyrus Mistry was sacked as the Chairman of the Tata Sons

TaTa MysTeryCover STory

A M O N T H L Y N E W S M A G A Z I N E

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S2

O p i n i O n E x p r E s s 3November 2016

In a surprise move, Tata Sons has removed Cyrus Mistry as its Chairman, near-ly four years after he took over the reins of the over USD 100 billion saltto-software conglomerate. The decision was taken at a Board meeting held in

Mumbai. Tata Sons today announced its board has replaced Mr Cyrus P Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons. The decision was taken at a board meeting held here today,” a Tata Sons statement said. Ratan Tata, who Mistry had replaced on De-cember 29, 2012, has been appointed as interim Chairman for four months during which a search committee will look for a replacement. The search committee comprises of Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months. CEOs at the

operating company level have not been touched in the rejig. There were no reasons given for the change of leadership of the man who was brought in with much fan-fare but it is believed that Tata Sons was unhappy with Mistry’s approach of shed-ding non-profit businesses, including the conglomerate’s steel business in Europe, and concentrating only on cash cows.

In the case of Tata Sons, the target was the chairman, Mr. Mistry. The Tata issue turned legal because there was definite action by the controlling sharehold-er. Do the owners or founders have the right or obligation to an organisation that they have assiduously built over many summers? More precisely, can the board or management just brush aside the view of a ‘quality shareholder’ (Mr. Tata and Mr. Murthy in these instances)? It is never in doubt that Mr. Tata is a globally re-vered name. Events at the Tata Empire have subsequently proved that shareholder supremacy prevails in the end. The succession at Tata Sons has turned out to be a smooth affair, and the operating companies did not see any performance disloca-tion in those troubled times. Analysts also point to a core difference between these two cases. In the case of Tata Sons, the owner and quality shareholder was pitched against a chairman. Between Cyrus Mistry’s abrupt and shocking firing as chair-man of Tata Sons Ltd (on the first date) and his removal from the board (on the second), though, he has raised enough questions about the Tata group (never mind that he was part of the establishment from 2006 and only chose to raise these when things didn’t go his way) to change most people’s perception of what was once In-dia’s most respected business group.

For another, it helped the group avoid being caught in scandals that ensnared lesser companies. For instance, when the government’s auditor was looking at companies that benefited by the 2G scam by getting licences and spectrum and then partnering with a foreign firm, it ignored the only case where such a partner-ship involved a sale of equity by the Indian company’s promoters. That was Tata Teleservices Ltd’s stake sale to NTT DoCoMo Inc and the auditor thought it didn’t deserve a closer look because Ratan Tata is an honourable man.

That halo — not dented by the group’s use of C Sivasankaran as a preferred deal-maker or Nira Radia as flak-catcher and spin doctor rolled into one — is now gone. There are those who believe it should have never been there, but that is arguable. There is much to admire about the Tata group, including (and not the least), the Tata Trusts, which are the eventual beneficiaries of the profits of the conglomerate, and the work that they do. Events of the past three months have raised questions not just about his firing but also his hiring. Not to question Mistry’s abilities but it isn’t clear why the selection committee of Tata Sons thought he would make a good chairman in the first place. Maybe the committee was swayed by his family’s 18.4% stake. Or maybe it thought that the soft-spoken and young (he was 45 when he was named to the post) would listen to Ratan Tata, the then chairman of Tata Sons.

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief

Major shakeup in the house of TATA

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COVER STORY

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POLITICS

THE DIDISHOW

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S NOVEMBER 2016 I 5

Prakhar Prakash Mishra

India's next general election is almostthree years away, but the race for primeminister ship may have already begun.

Modi's springboard from which he islaunching himself as the BJP's, and pos-sibly the NDA's, prime ministerial candi-date at a time when the ruling Congressparty-led United Progressive Alliance(UPA) is battling a spate of corruptionscandals and a leadership crisis.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi iseying a bigger national leadership role andis positioning himself for a power strugglein the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sayUS diplomatic cables made public by on-line whistleblower WikiLeaks. "Modi isusing his strong base in Gujarat to posi-tion himself for the BJP power struggleand to crow about Gujarat's investment-friendly (but certainly not minority-friendly)record," says one of the cables whichwere uploaded earlier this week byWikileaks. The cables sent by US diplo-mats in New Delhi focus on Modi's risingstature in the BJP and claim that "Modihas his eyes on bigger things".

While faltering on the social harmonyfront, Modi has keenly cultivated the im-age of an efficient and pro-business ad-

ministrator.Gujarat's gross domestic product has

been growing at 11%, higher than the na-tional average of 8-9%, and it has attract-ed thousands of crores of rupees in in-vestment, mostly through the showpieceVibrant Gujarat summit, a biennial con-gregation of industrialists from around theworld launched by Modi.

The state has signed memorandums ofunderstanding worth more than Rs. 40trillion since 2003. More companies havefirmed up investments in Gujarat than inmost other states of the country. Thestate is on its way to become an auto hub,with Tata Motors, Ford, Peugeot andMaruti Suzuki eyeing investments.

Many important projects started beforeModi was sworn in as chief minister havealso materialized in his tenure. The proj-ect to build a dam on the Narmada river isan example. The state government's ru-ral electrification mission lit up even re-mote parts of Gujarat. With an aim to pro-mote clean energy, Gujarat hopes to pro-duce 200-300 megawatts of solar powerby the year-end, making it the solar capi-tal of the country.

Narendra Modi is a political enigmawrapped in a popularity chart. His inter-views are tactical. Modi is clear: what

Gujarat does today, India will follow to-morrow. The keywords of achievement -Development, Governance, Growth - areall there. Gujarat becomes the ideal stateand BJP, the ideal party. The Congress isa genealogy of hypocrisy and waste. Anyaudit will prove he delivers money'sworth, whether it is in choice of the sitefor his celebration, or the quality of in-vestments for Gujarat. He is clear he isHistory and that the future is on his side.

Does this spectacle set the stage for anational leader? The answer is ambiva-lent. Modi might be good for the BJP. Heis immaculate on attacking Congress andits hypocrisy, but does not realise that itadds little to his claims that he will beequally good for the nation. The shows ofsolidarity - stage managed - do not work atthe national level. He speaks a standard-ized language when a nation has to seeas a plethora of dialects, allowing for dif-ference.

The wonderful thing about tyrants isthey are self defeating. Modi has createda language, an idiom, a style, an earlywarning system for the future. The nationknows what it will have to avoid. A collec-tion of growth indicators do not add up toa moral vision for the future.

(Writer is our Political Editor)

IN NEWS

Modi puts PM race on fast track

C O V E R S T O R Y

It’s timeManmohanSingh mustunderstandthat silenceand inaction

can beequally

harmful asdishonesty

PRASHANT TEWARI

The expression"Caesar's wifemust be above sus-picion," is used byDr Manmohan Singhwhile addressing

the AICC session in New Delhi.Forget Caesar's wife; should thePrime Minister, like Caesar, re-main silent when people like ARaja and Suresh Kalmadi runaway with aam aadmi's money?

COVER STORY

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S8 I NOVEMBER 2016

His honesty and integrity have neverbeen on the debating table or ques-tioned. On these grounds he has beenwell above the watermarks of doubt; buthis silence has not been so. Dr Singhplace in Indian history is assured with asure credit must go to late P V NarsimhaRao who gave him a chance to become

the Finance Minister, the image as the'Deng (Xiaoping) of India' - the reformerwho liberated India from the shackles ofthe command economy and unleashedthe entrepreneurial forces that trans-formed this ancient land.

We, the people of India, know that yourintegrity is beyond question. In a world

and time when ethics and honesty are ata premium, we rest assured that we areled by a person who, in his moral convic-tions, is pure as the driven snow. This isa given. Nobody needs to tell us how.

Here are some occasions whenManmohan Singh could have acted intime, but never did:

DEADLOCK: MPS MAKING A WALKOUT FROM RAJYA SABHA DEMANDING JPC PROBE OF THE SPECTRUM SCAM

2G SPECTRUM SCAM

It took over a year for the PrimeMinister to act; it took over a year forthe CBI to wake up. Had it not been for

the PIL in the Supreme Court, the scamwould have dragged on and on. Why didSingh not act when the then Telecomminister A Raja refused to listen? Whydid the PM not act when Raja ignoredCabinet colleagues and asked them tokeep off the Spectrum turf?

Why did the government not bring outthe facts when the issue was debated inthe Rajya Sabha over a year ago? Whydid the PM act only after the SupremeCourt comments on the tardy progressand questioned the CBI on its monu-mental silence?

Another point: If the PM had nothing tohide, why not agree for a JPC probe?

On the point of the demand for a JPC


in the 2G scam by the Opposition, PMhave castigated the Opposition for dis-rupting a whole session of Parliament.

"One wonders what kind of politics theOpposition believes in when they do nothave faith even in Parliament," he thun-dered. While wasting a whole session ofParliament is 'despicable', surely theJoint Parliamentary Committee or the JPCis also a tool in the hands of Parliament.Demanding a JPC is surely not un-parlia-mentary.

It has been conceded before, notably inthe Bofors and the Securities scams. Whythe reticence now? It's not only theOpposition, but even your own allies.Mamata Banerjee for instance, has let itbe known that she would not be unhappyif the UPA accepts a JPC probe.

NIIRA RADIA TAPES

How come the Prime Minister wasnot aware of the fact that privateconversations were being secretly

taped? Such acts are allowed only for na-tional security. Even if they were taped,

who leaked it to the media and why? Theconversations were taped by a govern-ment agency and the tapes were in thepossession of this agency. How come thetapes were leaked and what was the mo-tive?

The PM was visibly upset while ad-dressing the captains of the industry thismonth. But that shows that he was not un-der control of things. Even now, he is notable to pin-point who leaked the tapes tothe media and why.

Now that the content of the tapes are inpublic domain, what action plan is pre-pared by you to hunt down culprits - inci-dentally all of them are high and mighty.Sir, this is a historic opportunity for you toact tough to ensure people have faith indemocratic values practiced by us.

COVER STORY

WELL BEYOND THE LOBBY: NIIRA RADIA HAS BEEN A COMMON THREAD

COVER STORY


CWG SCAM

For four long months, all the dirt onCommonwealth Games was out inthe open.

The stink too was there for everyoneto 'smell' and squirm. But for the best

part, the PM adopted the three wisemonkey strategy with a twist in the tale:see-no-scam, hear-no-scam, tell-no-scam. Why did the PM not step in earlyand stem the rot? He appointed an over-seeing committee only after the messhad spun out of control.

Even now, Suresh Kalmadi is talking

stupid; the CBI raided his establish-ments after full three months of uproar inthe country.

Sir, we are sure that 90 days areenough to put any house in order that weexpect Kalmadi must have done to de-stroy evidences. Surely, he plans to bidfor the Olympics.

CRASHED: THE COLLPASE OF THIS BRIDGE IN FRONT OF JLN STADIUM SYMBOLISED AVERYTHING THAT AILED CWG 2010 AND(INSET) THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE CHIEF SURESH KALMADI IS NOW A HUNTED MAN

THE CVC ROW

The Central Vigilance Commissioneris appointed by taking into confi-dence the leader of the Opposition

in the Lok Sabha. Three persons wereshortlisted for the CVC post but the gov-ernment ignored the dissenting note ofOpposition leader Sushma Swaraj andappointed P J Thomas as the CVC. Thisdespite the fact that he is an accused inthe palm oil import scam in Kerala.

Sushma Swaraj had openly said thatthe Government was free to choose anyone among the two other officers on thelist of three, not Thomas. But the PMpaid a deaf ear and went ahead. The gov-ernment knew all along that Thomas, asthe CVC, will not be in a position to in-vestigate the 2G spectrum allotmentscandal in which his own ministry was in-volved. An official with such a shadow of UNDER CLOUD: CHIEF VIGILANCE COMMISSIONER PJ THOMAS


doubt should not have been made theCVC.

Now, the matter is before the SupremeCourt which has questioned the mannerin which Thomas got the job. Why wasthe PM so keen on Thomas who was un-der a cloud of controversy? He could

have picked up the next good officer onthe list.

Well, like Caesar's wife, the PMshould be above suspicion. But fact ofthe matter is that in all the serious cor-ruption cases, it is Supreme Court ratherthan the government that is controlling

the events hence leading to an impres-sion that government has lost credibilityand strength to stop the corruptionand punish the guilty. The country haslost over Rs 2.5 lakh crore ( over $50b )just because PM choose not to act intime.

ON FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Dr Singh has argued that there multiple agencies investi-gating the various aspects of the 2G scam and thereforea JPC is unwarranted. "We have always strived to eradi-

cate corruption and we will continue to do so. Our approach tocorruption also gets clearly reflected in our actions," "These in-quiries will be pursued vigorously. And it is my promise to youthat no guilty person will be spared - whether he is a politicalleader or a government official, whichever party he may belong

to and howsoever powerful he may be." Really, Prime Minister? "No guilty person will be spared"?

Sorry to say, Prime Minister, we the citizens are not so san-guine. How many public servants have been prosecuted inIndependent India for corruption? We can't think of any. And,it's nothing to do with our collective memory. We are waitingfor your action plan to track down the culprits that are men-tioned in Radia tapes.

Therefore, if as you really say, that your "approach to cor-ruption gets reflected in our actions", what have you done toamend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - an Act that

COVER STORY

TOWER OF DECIET: ADARSH SCAM IS A BIG DENT FOR THE CONGRESS

COVER STORY


should actually be renamed the“Prevention of Prosecution ofPublic Servants". Allow me theaudacity to suggest four sim-ple amendments to giveteeth and substance to theAct and make it a real de-terrent for public servantsfrom going to the devil, nowthat your government has notthought of it.

One: Shift onus of proof on tothe public servant. If Sukh Ram or Rajaor any public servant is caught with as-sets disproportionate to his knownsources of income, make it incumbent onhim or her to show that the monies or as-sets were earned through legitimatemeans. If he can't, that should be aground for guilt and prosecution.

Two: Ensure that there will be no staysgranted or adjournments in cases involv-ing public servants. They should be onesfast-tracked with continuous hearing.Otherwise, like the case against SukhRam, even after a decade and a half, theculprits will have the last laugh to thebank, or wherever they have stashed thecache.

Three: Prime Minister, mere finesaren't enough for public servants who in-dulge in illegal gratification. Physical in-carceration should be the minimum

penalty for what amounts to looting thenation.

Just these three amendments to thePrevention of Corruption Act should go along way in instilling the fear of conse-quences in the public servants who aretempted to reach into the national ex-chequer. If you claim to be acting againstcorruption, I wonder why your govern-ment has not even taken the first babysteps. Unfortunately, Prime Minister, theimpression we get is that you arehemmed in by the allies on the one sideand the moods and whims of your partyand its President on the other. To hercredit, Sonia Gandhi has made it known

publicly that you have her full support.We wonder why the Congress party andthe allies don't get the message!

We urge you to stand up and be count-ed. And believe me, Prime Minister, weget this sense that the people of Indiawill be with you, whatever your party andyour allies may say. It's said that theonly time you acted out of conviction wason the nuclear deal with the US. Thegrapevine has it that you even threatenedto resign; if the Congress and your UPAallies don't throw weight behind the dealin Parliament. And, Prime Minister, youknow what happened. Did the heavensfall or did you get your way? Should notthat be a pointer to the way you shouldgo? And, when and if you do go thatroute, of playing by your convictions, andhounding out the corrupt and those whobring us shame, we have no doubt in ourmind that the citizens of India, to theman, will be behind you.

Sir, this is a historic opportunity foryou to act tough to ensure people havefaith in democratic values practiced by usin India, you are representing aspirationsof over a billion people that is one sixthof human population hence the respon-sibility is enormous. God has been kindto you for providing you with a platform todeliver extraordinary service to our na-tion - please act!!

Unfortunately,Prime Minister,the impressionwe get is thatyou arehemmed in by

the allies on theone side and the

moods and whims of yourparty and its President onthe other

HANDICAPPED: ARE UPA ALLIES WORKING AS A HANDICAP FOR THE PM?


Special Correspondent

The population of Uttar Pradesh(UP) is equal to that of Brazil,the fifth most populous country.It sends 80 members to the LokSabha and 31 members to the

Rajya Sabha. Unsurprisingly, it has a de-cisive influence on national politics. TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged asa national party because of its spectac-ular performance in UP during the1990s, when it successfully hawkedHindu nationalism.

Ironically, by the late 1990s UP alsodemonstrated the limits of Hindu nation-alism, when caste-based provincial par-ties began to cannibalize BJP's supportbase. In fact, by the late 1990s, othernational parties had also been marginal-ized in UP. In recent times, UP has

served as a passive constraint on thefreedom of national parties, forcing themto follow coalition dharma in the face ofimpossibility of attaining majority on theirown.

However, the forthcoming assembly elec-tion is likely to mark the return of UP tonational politics as an active player.There are two reasons for this. First, itwill significantly influence the choice ofprime ministerial candidates of non-Congress coalitions. If KumariMayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)loses then Nitish Kumar will gain in in-fluence because he is one of the veryfew mass leaders, acceptable to boththe Left Front and BJP. Recall the easewith which Nitish resisted Hindutva in2010 Bihar election. BJP hadn't forgot-ten Navin Patnaik's effortless leftwardswing in 2009 Orissa election after itplayed the communal card. However, acomfortable majority for Mayawati willerode Nitish's bargaining power by pro-viding the Left Front-led Third Front withanother prime ministerial candidate.Once his outside option is vitiated Nitish

POLITICS

Importance of 2012 UP assembly polls

Ironically, by the late 1990s UP also demonstrat-

ed the limits of Hindu na-tionalism, when caste-

based provincial parties be-gan to cannibalize BJP's

support base. In fact, by thelate 1990s, other national

parties had also beenmarginalized in UP.

will lose his bargaining power within theBJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA), giving BJP a freehand to chooseNDA's candidate.

Second, the forthcoming election willhave an enormous impact on whether po-litical parties across India will rely on goodgovernance to win elections. Nitish's suc-cessive electoral victories in Bihar, one ofthe strongholds of politics of authenticity,have raised hopes that good governancecan help win elections. However, this hopemight be premature because his successwas driven among other things by factors

not obtained elsewhere, which is why theforthcoming election in UP is important.

But who can play Nitish in UP? KalyanSingh (BJP), who began his career with aclean, develop mentalist image, is unableto get off the Hindutva-Secularism merry-go-round. Ageing Mulayam Singh(Samajwadi Party), who almost implement-ed the Bihar model in UP, is unable to holdtogether his party. As per its own admis-sion, the UP Congress leadership is noth-ing sans Rahul Gandhi. This leaves us withBSP's Mayawati, presently serving as thechief minister for the fourth time. For rea-sons beyond the scope of the present dis-cussion, she began her career with mostdivisive and foul sloganeering. But slowly

and steadily she graduated from a leaderof the lower castes into a mass leader. Inthe 2007 assembly election, her rainbowteam of lower and highest castes and mi-norities promised good governance andfair representation to all communities todefeat Mulayam's internally divided mid-dle caste-minority coalition.

However, once in power, she recklesslyspent public money on memorials dedicat-ed to cherry-picked Bahujan icons, includ-ing herself, and quickly lost focus. This haschanged over the last year or so. As cor-ruption cases related to her previous

terms faded from public memory she be-came more confident in fighting corruption.However, the turning point was the grue-some murder of a young engineer, unableto pay a huge contribution for Mayawati'sbirthday bash, on December 24, 2008 bya BSP legislator. Stung by criticism her gov-ernment threw the legislator behind bars.Since then she has willingly or unwillinglypunished corrupt officials and party mem-bers.

Mayawati knows very well that good gov-ernance alone can return her rainbow coali-tion to power and no longer relies solely onher identity to answer her critics. Parallel,Rahul Gandhi, a prime ministerial candi-date, is putting together a centrist agenda

for the forthcoming UP election, focusingon good governance and addressing com-munity disabilities as broader develop-mental rather than ascriptive problems. (Iam deliberately ignoring Digvijay Singh'scounter-rant.) If a developmentalist agendahelps Mayawati's return to power and re-juvenation of the UP Congress then inneighbouring Madhya Pradesh (MP) ShivrajSingh Chouhan (BJP), another prime min-isterial candidate, will be encouraged torely on his good governance credentials in2013 assembly election.

Some small and medium-sized

provinces have already shown preferencefor good governance in elections. Oncegood governance is established as the de-cisive factor in elections in Bihar, UP, andMP, which account for a fourth of the par-liament, national politics has to change forgood. So, let us hold our breath till 2012.

Unique featureIt will be first serious elections in the

country that will witness a four corner con-test hence the margin of victory is likely tobe extremely thin in majority of the 402seats. Normally the assembly electionsare two or three cornered ( For e.g. Bihar -JD(U)+BJP Vs RJD+LJP & Congress OrTamil Nadu - AIDMK Vs DMK Or Maharastra- Congress+ NCP Vs BJP+SS)

COVER STORY


ACES UP HER SLEEVES?: MAYAWATI IS LOOKING FOR A SECOND TERM


Congress / RLD Combine: UP Pollspose challenge to Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, faces challenging times ahead with Uttar PradeshAssembly polls not far away. Gandhi has set his eyes on UttarPradesh where Assembly polls are due in a year's time to helphis party capture power in a state where he led revival of the or-ganisation by securing 22 of the 80 seats in Parliamentary elec-tions in 2009.

After nearly four decades of vir tually uninterrupted rule,Congress is in political wilderness in the state since 1989 in thewake of the Mandal and the Mandir surge. Gandhi is being pro-jected by the party as the potential prime minister and futureleader with senior leaders like Digvijay Singh noting that he hasall the "qualities and capabilities" that are needed for a "good"prime minister.

The year gone by was not good for Gandhi as Congress faredpoorly in Assembly polls in Bihar despite the young leader virtu-ally leading the campaign there. In Tamil Nadu too, Congressturned a flop even though he campaigned and also made a pitch

COVER STORY

HIGH-STAKE GAMEWHICH ARE THE MAIN PARTIES AND THEIR KEY PLAYERS

WILL AJIT SINGH’S (ABOVE) DEAL WITH CONGRESS PROVETO BE A CLINCHER?

for some young candidates. Rahul FactorUP has been Rahul's focus of attention

from even before the last Lok Sabha elec-tions. In fact, his charisma was believedto be largely responsible for the party'stally going up from 1 to 21 in the 2009general elections. No wonder then thatRahul's frequent visits to the state aremaking the other main parties -- the BSP,the SP, and the BJP -- jittery.

While the leaders of these parties dis-miss the Rahul charisma as a figment ofCongress's imagination, the protestsagainst the Amethi MP by their workers

and supporters betray their nervousness.At least, this is what the Congress claims.The party's UP spokesperson AkhileshPratap Singh said: "The 2012 electionwould be a matter of life and death forthese political parties.

Claiming that the people of UP werelooking at Rahul with great hope, stateCongress president Rita Bahuguna Joshisaid: "He has decided to attend our meet-ing on Tuesday, within a week of his pre-vious programme in the state capital, be-cause he wants to bring change in UP nextyear.

"So we can understand the frustration

of Mayawati and other parties.... And theSP and the BJP are organising violentprotests against Rahul in presence of thestate police because they don't see anyhope in constructive politics." THEOpposition parties pooh-pooh theCongress's claims. Justifying theprotests against Rahul, the BJP's statechief, Surya Pratap Shahi, said:

"Protest is a democratic instrument.Rahul himself admitted during his interac-tion with the students in Varanasi that the(UPA's) poverty measures have failed.So, we will keep on protesting against themisrule of the Congress-led UPA."

SP's Shivpal S.Yadav denied thatRahul's stature was growing. "He is acelebrity because he belongs to Nehru-Gandhi family. He has failed to impressthe students and his party, which is inpower at the Centre, is playing in thehands of hoarders and black marketers."

The BSP state chief S.P. Maurya said:"Rahul's politics will not work in UP be-cause the Congress is responsible for itsbackwardness. We don't take him seri-ously." Will the rivals explain why they aretargeting the Congress scion if they don'ttake him seriously?

To revive the party fortune in WesternUP, Congress is likely to finalise arrange-ment with RLD - party led by Ajit Singh.Tactically, it may tilt balance in CongressRLD combine because Muslims of west-ern UP may prefer to vote for this allianceagainst a direct contest with BJP in cer-tain urban seats.

But Congress is suffering tremendousin UP because of the lack of grass rootleadership and workers. The last massbased Congress leader that UP had was ND Tewari ( 1990 ) but post Babri Masjiddemolition and emergence of BJP, none ofthe state Congress leader has emerged torally on the various communities for theparty. Party lost Muslims to SawajwadiParty, Dalits to BSP Party and UpperCaste to BJP hence the vote share of theCongress came crashing down from about40% ( 1947-1989 ) to less than 10% insuccessive election post 1990. Congresscentral leadership is trying to hard sellRahul Gandhi in UP but electorate knowsthat his interest in confined to Nationalpolitics hence to shift them from regionalparties ( SP, BSP ) would be extremely dif-ficult for the Congress policy makers.Congress must has to build a strong vi-brant state leadership if it wants to re-main a strong political force in UP.Forging strategic alliances, tieups, andfriendly fights will lead to more erosion ofcore Congress votes.

Important state leaders| Beni PrasadVerma, Pramod Tiwari, Rita Bahuguna

COVER STORY


WILL HE MAKE A DIFFERENCE: RAHUL IS ALL SET TO LAUNCH HIS UP CAM-PAIGN FROM PHULPUR, THE CONSTITUENCY OF PANDIT NEHRU


BJP rope in Uma BhartiAhead of UP Elections

With Uma Bharti who is projected as the backward face ofBJP, BJP is trying to revive its Upper caste+OBC (back-ward classes) vote bank. The rise of BJP post 1991 was

largely based on the synergy formed between Hindu vote bankthat comprises of upper caste with backwards classes. It wasthe unique formula that led to BJP vote bank almost reached35% of popular vote bank in UP ( 1991-2004 ) but exit of KalyanSingh forced backward classes to slip to various different verti-cals namely SP, BSP, RLD, RKP etc hence crippling the formida-ble vote bank of BJP.

Bharti who has launched a campaign to clean river Ganga said"The BJP also has a resolve to steer the country in the right di-rection," she said. On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's march tohighlight problems of farmers, Bharti said "there is a governmentof his party at the Centre. The Prime Minister also belongs to hisparty. Why can't they enact a strong law for the purpose?" Onland acquisition, she said the affected persons should be ade-quately compensated.

Slamming the Mayawati government, Bharti, who rejoined theBJP recently, said the law and order had collapsed in the state.

But Kalyan Singh factor may dent BJP prospects in the com-ing 2012 elections because backward class in UP identify them-selves with babri masjid demolition poster boy. UP elections:Kalyan Singh rules out merger with BJP.

Another factor that BJP is lacking in is the lack of mass basestate leadership emerging from UP. Rajnath Singh and KalrajMisra are the top contenders for the Chief Ministerial post but

both lack charisma to attract communities outside their own re-spective community hence limiting scope of vertical expansionin terms of votes to be polled. BJP and RSS has forced UmaBharti entry to garner backward votes, leading to neutralizationof Kalyan Singh factor though it is highly unlikely that she will tiltmajor percentage in favour of BJP. Though the emergence of re-gional outfit namely Peace Party will benefit BJP tactically where-in in it will divide crucial Muslim vote in the east UP hence lead-ing to direct loss to SP / CONG / BSP.

Important state leaders - Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Misra, VinayKatiyar, Yogi Awadhnath

SP desperately woos Muslimfor electoral gains

With less than a year to go for the UP Assembly Electionsa mud- slinging match between the poll players has be-gun. While the four main parties-Congress, BJP, SP and

BSP-blame each other for all the ills in the state the smaller out-fits hold these four responsible for the slow rate of developmentin the state. Every decision and action of the parties is governedwith an eye on elections. As elections in the state are fought ba-sically on caste and communal lines, the parties are trying tooutwit each other to woo a particular caste or community. AndMuslims who constitute about one-fourth of the electorate andare a deciding factor in 130 Assembly and 24 Lok Sabha con-stituencies in the state, so parties particularly the SamajwadiParty and Congress are leaving no stone unturned to woo thecommunity in showering their largess on them.

Muslims who traditionally supported the Congress were alien-ated by the party after its dubious policy on Babri Masjid, the shi-lanyas etc. and finally the Muslims deserted it in favour of theSP after the demolition of the mosque. Ever since all efforts bythe Congress to win back the community's trust and loyalty faithhas failed except in the last Lok Sabha elections when angry with

COVER STORY

COMEBACK MAN: AZAM KHAN

SAFFRON POWER: UMA BHARTI

the Samajwadi Party for hobnobbing with Kalyan Singh, thearchitect of the demolition, a section of Muslims voted for theCongress. Much water has flown down the Ganga since. Now re-alizing his mistake, and the importance of the Muslim vote theSP has distanced itself from Kalyan and has expelled former gen-eral secretary Amar Singh, allegedly responsible for bringingKalyan Singh close to the party. With Azam Khan, the Muslimface of the party back in its fold, the party now hopes to win backthe Muslim electorate. On the other hand Congress is pinning itshope on the secular and clean image of its young leader RahulGandhi and disillusionment of the community with regional out-fits.

But some Muslim outfits which have decided to jump into thepoll fray may play spoilsports to the SP and Congress plans. Thethree main parties-Peace Party, Ulema Council and newly formedWelfare Party-encouraged by the pattern of Muslim voting in re-cently concluded elections in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala,consider their prospects bright in UP as the Peace Party presi-dent Dr. Mohammad Ayub has said 'It is only natural thatMuslims feel let down by parties like Congress and SP which theytrusted for years but in return did not get any concrete rewardsfor their loyalty. No issues of the community was ever solved bythese parties which is why there is a plethora of Muslim outfitscoming up and doing well in elections. The voting pattern in UPelections is bound to change given these changed perceptions.'

With this objective in view and also to consolidate non-Congress and non-BJP votes the Peace Party has already forgedan alliance with the Lok Dal, Indian Justice party, Lok KrantiMorcha, Bharatiya Lokhit Party and Janawadi Party to form LokKranti Morcha. While the alliance and also the Ulema Councilhave decided to contest all assembly seats the Welfare Party hascommissioned a survey to identify the pockets where it would beat an advantage because of concentration of Muslim population.

The party is also trying to bring together Deobandi and Barelvisects besides other minorities, SCs and OBCs under one politi-cal umbrella.

All the three parties have a similar agenda--to give Muslimsand other minorities and weaker sections their due which has solong been denied by the Congress and other parties who haveused them as vote banks-but pursuing it separately. In the pastalso a number of parties tried to achieve this goal but failedmainly because each of them claimed to represent the commu-nity without having the infrastructure and support base requiredto win an election and the leaders' larger than life ego prevent-ed them from providing a united front as was seen in recentlyheld elections in Assam and Kerala. But the Muslim leaders, itseems have not learnt from past experience. Ulema Council thatwas formed by Amir Rashadi of Azamgarh in the aftermath of theBatla House encounter could not even win the Lok Sabha by-election in the district but only facilitated the victory of the BJPwhich won the seat for the first time due to the division of Muslimvotes engineered by the council. Still the party feels that it willwin the elections and has decided to contest all assembly seats.

The Peace Party, with its good performance in theDumariyaganj byelection and alliance with some smaller outfitsis better placed. But its support base too does not go beyondsome districts of eastern UP. As for the Welfare Party it is stillsurveying the constituencies but its mission to unite all Muslimfactions to form a united platform is laudable. But how far it suc-ceeds in its mission only time will tell. Elections are still about 6months away. Alliances will be made and broken during this pe-riod. If the Muslim leaders belonging to whichever party are re-ally pained at the plight of Muslims and have the same missionand goal to help the community they must rise above their nar-row self interests and come together on a single platform toavoid a split of Muslim votes. In unity lies strength and it is with

COVER STORY

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S18 INOVEMBER 2016

CYCLIST ON MISSION: AKHILESH YADAV HAS LAUNCHED HIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN


this mantra they can get maximum benefit in elections and be-come a force to reckon with. Otherwise they may end up uncon-sciously helping the communal and divisive forces.

Aging sole leader Mulayam Singh Yadav is the last hope for SPrevival in the UP2012 elections, unfortunately he is unfit to car-ry on hectic campaign for the party. His son Akhilesh Yadav isthe face of SP in the coming elections wherein he is canvassinghard since last two months. It is highly unlikely that in a four cor-nered contest, SP performance will be more than average ( 100seats ), hence a post election collision with other secular parties( Cong / RLD ) can be a likely scenario.

Important state leader | Akhilesh Yadav, Md Azam Khan

Bahujan Samaj Party: Will Mayawatihold on in 2012 UP Elections?

After erecting massive statues of herself all over UP and thatissue about garlands Mayawati now proceeds to use hersecurity men as a tabalchi - a name for shoe cleaners and

menders in the Army during the British Raj. It may have been going on for some time now but this act was

caught on camera yesterday. Yes, that is what it is, prior to rally,Mayawati has been caught on camera clearly pointing to herfootwear, the effect of which is that the Deputy Superintendent

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WAITING IN THE WINGS: MULAYAM SINGH YADAV

of Police rushes to her, produces a pieceof cloth and then proceeds to clean hersandals. Sigh! wish we could have suchloyal DSP's for ourselves, but we don'tbecause well..

This at a time when there are seriousissues being raised about Mayawati'sgovernment (at least at the national level- people who are out of her spell... if thatis what she has cast on the people of UP)and well one has to wonder really if all ofthis will make an impact on Mayawati'sand her party BSP's chances of winningthe 2012 elections in UP.

First there was the Banda rape case,where an MLA of her party had raped a mi-nor Dalit girl and then had the local policeimprison the girl on charges of theft. Onlywhen the national media got whiff of thisand played the story continuously didMayawati eventually wake up, a case ofrape was registered and the MLA wassent to the lockup, however the girl onlycame out after spending 30 days in jail.Where else in the world would you findsuch a thing - a politician rapes a girl, thegirl goes to the police to register an FIRbut the police charges her wrongly with

theft and throw her into jail? I guess onlyin B grade Bollywood movie scripts anddictatorships in very very backward coun-tries in Africa is the answer. - No commentthroughout from Mayawati.

Yes, Mayawati with her social engi-neering has managed to capture the peo-ple's imagination for some time now butwill all of these incidents which have justhappened one year before the electionsraise the voter's ire beyond the tippingpoint? It definitely should but some feelthat Mayawati enjoys the support of peo-ple of UP of the kind that Narrendra Modienjoys from the people of Gujarat. I don'tthink that is the case however, whileGujarat has continued to prosper and asneighboring Bihar races ahead, UP hasbeen stuck in a complete godforsaken rut.

In fact it has been stuck in a rut sinceit was Congress's bastion. People of UPare forced to migrate elsewhere and lookfor livelihoods, build cities and towns bytoiling behind the scenes for years andwhat do they get in return? Ridicule andsometimes the ire of people from otherstates for actually no fault of their own. Itis governments like that of BSP,

Mayawati, Lalu Yadav, Paswan's andMulayam Singh Yadavs of India whichforces UP's people to have to take thebrunt of other people's illogical and un-grateful ire and ridicule.

It is in fact because of this rut which UPwas stuck in even after 20 years afterIndependence that the people of UP al-lowed their loyalties to sway from theCongress party. Corruption along with antiincumbency and the certain law and orderissues should be enough for the voter todrift from BSP but, Dalit to press a buttonother than the Elephant when he goes tovote in the 2012 assembly elections ishighly unlikely.

Now of course one reason forMayawati's dominance of politics in UPhas been a lack of formidable opponents.Samajwadi party's politics is even pettierthan the politics of Mayawati andCongress and BJP have no major super-stars amongst their ranks who come fromUP. Plus Mayawati enjoys core support ofher caste ( Dalit ) that forms about 20% ofthe entire population of UP. Important state leaders | NassemuddinSiddiqui, Swami Prasad Murya

The fifth factor

UP 2012 elections will throw hugeelected members from small unknownoutfits and independent candidates be-cause of part disillusionment with themainstream political parties. Anna move-ment has consolidated this perceptionthat main political outfits in the countryare selfish and corrupt.

People are gradually asking questionson the family run political outfits, truedemocracy within democracy, lack oftransparency in the political setup, cor-ruption, nepotism etc . The recent suc-cesses of certain regional parties are thereflection of people growing concern onthe above stated subjects.

It is expected that UP 2012 electionswill have sizable numbers of independent/ small parties elected members leadingto unpredictable post elections scenario.

RKP party led by former BJP CM KalyanSingh is likely to hit BJP comebackprospects badly. RKP is strong in Westernbelt of UP and a swing of 5% vote againstBJP in 121 western seats in favour of RKPis expected to cost 15-17 seats to BJPthat it would have surely won if RKPmerge itself with BJP.

Peace Party led by Dr Ayub is likely tohurt Samajwadi Party in Eastern UPwherein it is likely to swing over 10%Muslim vote away from SP party, hencecosting over 18-20 seats to SP.

Important leaders| Kalyan Singh, Dr

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SPOILER?: KALYAN SINGH WILL DENT BJP’S PROSPECTS


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The UPA government headed byMr clean Dr Manmohan Singhis sitting over a historic oppor-tunity to clean up the corrup-tion mess that is prevailant inthe country. But rather than

gunning for the corrupt and corruption,government's Lokpal seems to be gun-ning for those who complain against cor-ruption. It is true that Lokpal panel shouldhave accountability to the system andelected government sovereignty shouldnever be undermined, but government ofthe day looks like opposing the entireprocess is not doing justice to its owncause.

How will Government's Lokpal work?Suppose some citizen files a complaint

to Lokpal against some corrupt govern-ment servant. Before the investigationsactually start, the government servantcan file a cross complaint against the cit-izen straight to the special court, withoutany preliminary enquiry by any agency,that the complaint is false or frivolous.The government will provide free advocateto the government servant to file thiscase. The citizen will have to defend him-self on his own!

Then there is stiffer punishment for thecomplainant than the corrupt governmentservant. If the Special Court concludesthat the complaint is frivolous or false, thecitizen faces a minimum of two years ofpunishment. But if the corruption chargesagainst government servant are proved,

The great Lokpal Bill 2011 debate...

... a historic opportunityto clean up the mess but?

GOVT FIREFIGHTERS: KHURSHEED, SIBAL AND MOILY

Before the investigations actu-ally start, the government ser-vant can file a cross complaintagainst the citizen straight tothe special court, without anypreliminary enquiry by anyagency, that the complaint isfalse or frivolous. The govern-ment will provide free advo-cate to the government ser-vant to file this case. Thecitizen will have to defend him-self on his own!

COVER STORY


there is a minimum of six months of punishment for the cor-rupt government servant!

Government's Lokpal will have jurisdiction over all NGOs inthe country but it will have jurisdiction over less then o.5% ofall government employees.

Government argued that the Lokpal would get overwhelmedwith too many cases if all public servants were brought underits ambit. So, government has restricted its jurisdiction only to65,000 Group A officers. Also, state employees will not be cov-ered by Lokpal. There are 4 million central government em-ployees and 8 million state government employees.

In sharp contrast, all NGOs are covered under government'sLokpal, small or big, whether in state or centre. Even unregis-tered groups of people in remote villages are covered under theambit of Lokpal. So, in a remote village, if a group of young-sters detect corruption in panchayat works using RTI, theyoungsters can be hauled up by Lokpal but Lokpal would not

have jurisdiction over Sarpanch, BDO or their corruption.Whereas Lokpal would not have jurisdiction over Delhi gov-

ernment officials, it would have jurisdiction over all RWAs inDelhi. All small neighborhood groups who raise donations to doRamlila or Durga Puja would be under Lokpal's scanner.

Lokpal could haul up activists from any of the farmers,labour, anti-corruption, land, tribal or any other movements. Allthe movements - whether registered or not, are under the ju-risdiction of Lokpal.

There are 4.3 lakh registered NGOs. But there would be sev-eral million unregistered groups across the country. Lokpalwould have jurisdiction over all of them.

No one can dispute the fact that corruption in NGOs needsto be addressed. But how can you leave most public servantsout of Lokpal's purview but bring NGOs upto village level with-in its purview? Here are the points of stand-off between thegovernment and the civil society on major issues:

PRIME MINISTER

OUR VIEW: Lokpal should have power to investigate allegations of corruption against PM. Special safeguards provid-ed against frivolous and mischievous complaints

GOVT VIEW: PM kept out of Lokpal's purview.COMMENTS: As of today, corruption by PM can be investigated under Prevention of Corruption Act. Government

wants investigations to be done by CBI, which comes directly under him, rather than independent Lokpal

JUDICIARY

OUR VIEW: Lokpal should have powers to investigate allegation of corruption against judiciary. Special safeguardsprovided against frivolous and mischievous complaints

GOVT VIEW: Judiciary kept out of Lokpal purview.COMMENTS: Government wants this to be included in Judicial Accountability Bill (JAB). Under JAB, permission to en-

quire against a judge will be given by a three member committee (two judges from the same court and retd Chief justiceof the same court). There are many such flaws in JAB. We have no objections to judiciary being included in JAB if astrong and effective JAB were considered and it were enacted simultaneously.

MPs

OUR VIEW: Lokpal should be able to investigate allegations that any MP had taken bribe to vote or speak inParliament.

GOVT VIEW: Government has excluded this from Lokpal's purview.COMMENTS: Taking bribe to vote or speak in Parliament strikes at the foundations of our democracy. Government's

refusal to bring it under Lokpal scrutiny virtually gives a license to MPs to take bribes with impunity.

GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

OUR VIEW: Violation of citizen's charter (if an officer does not do a citizen's work in prescribed time) by an officershould be penalized and should be deemed to be corruption.

GOVT VIEW: No penalties proposed. So, this will remain only on paper.COMMENTS: Government had agreed to our demand in the Joint committee meeting on 23rd May. It is unfortunate

they have gone back on this decision.

CBI

OUR VIEW: Anti-corruption branch of CBI should be merged into Lokpal.GOVT VIEW: Government wants to retain its hold over CBI.COMMENTS: CBI is misused by governments. Recently, govt has taken CBI out of RTI, thus further increasing the

scope for corruption in CBI. CBI will remain corrupt till it remains under government's control


SELECTION OF LOKPAL MEMBERS

OUR VIEW:1. Broad based selection committee with 2 politi-cians, four judges and two independent constitutional authori-ties. 2. An independent search committee consisting of retdconstitutional authorities to prepare first list. 3. A detailed trans-parent and participatory selection process.

GOVT VIEW: 1. With five out of ten members fromruling establishment and six politicians in selection committee,government has ensured that only weak, dishonest and pliablepeople would be selected. 2. Search committee to be selectedby selection committee, thus making them a pawn of selectioncommittee. 3. No selection process provided. It will completelydepend on selection committee

COMMENTS: Government's proposal ensures that the gov-ernment will be able to appoint its own people as Lokpal mem-bers and Chairperson. Interestingly, they had agreed to the se-lection committee proposed by us in the meeting held on 7thMay. There was also a broad consensus on selection process.However, there was a disagreement on composition of searchcommittee. We are surprised that they have gone back on thedecision.

WHO WILL LOKPAL BE ACCOUNTABLE TO?

OUR VIEW: To the people. A citizen can make a complaint toSupreme Court and seek removal.

GOVT VIEW: To the Government. Only government canseek removal of Lokpal

COMMENTS: With selection and removal of Lokpal in gov-ernment's control, it would virtually be a puppet in govern-ment's hands, against whose seniormost functionaries it is sup-posed to investigate, thus causing serious conflict of interest.

INTEGRITY OF LOKPAL STAFF

OUR VIEW: Complaint against Lokpal staff will be heard byan independent authority

GOVT VIEW: Lokpal itself will investigate complaints againstits own staff, thus creating serious conflicts of interest

COMMENTS: Government's proposal creates a Lokpal,which is accountable either to itself or to the government. Wehave suggested giving these controls in the hands of the citi-zens.

METHOD OF ENQUIRYOUR VIEW: Method would be the same as provided in CrPC

like in any other criminal case. After preliminary enquiry, an FIRwill be registered. After investigations, case will be presentedbefore a court, where the trial will take place.

GOVT VIEW: CrPC being amended. Special protection beingprovided to the accused. After preliminary enquiry, all evidencewill be provided to the accused and he shall be heard as towhy an FIR should not be regd against him. After completion ofinvestigations, again all evidence will be provided to him andhe will be given a hearing to explain why a case should not befiled against him in the court. During investigations, if investiga-tions are to be started against any new persons, they wouldalso be presented with all evidence against them and heard.

COMMENTS: Investigation process provided by the govern-ment would severely compromise all investigations. If evidencewere made available to the accused at various stages of

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investigations, in addition to compromising the investiga-tions, it would also reveal the identity of whistleblowersthus compromising their security. Such a process is un-heard of in criminal jurisprudence anywhere in the world.Such process would kill almost every case.

LOWER BUREAUCRACY

OUR VIEW: All those defined as public servants inPrevention of Corruption Act would be covered. This in-cludes lower bureaucracy.

GOVT VIEW: Only Group A officers will be covered.COMMENTS: One fails to understand government's stiff

resistance against bringing lower bureaucracy underLokpal's ambit. This appears to be an excuse to retain con-trol over CBI because if all public servants are brought un-der Lokpal's jurisdiction, government would have no excuseto keep CBI.

LOKAYUKTA

OUR VIEW: The same bill should provide for Lokpal atcentre and Lokayuktas in states Only Lokpal at the cen-tre would be created through this Bill.

GOVT VIEW: According to Mr Pranab Mukherjee, some ofthe CMs have objected to providing Lokayuktas through thesame Bill. He was reminded that state

COMMENTS: Information Commissions were also set upunder RTI Act through one Act only.

WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONOUR VIEW: Lokpal will be required to provide protection

to whistleblowers, witnesses and victims of corruptionGOVT VIEW: No mention in this law.COMMENTS: According to govt, protection for whistle-

blowers is being provided through a separate law. But thatlaw is so bad that it has been badly trashed by standing com-mittee of Parliament last month. The committee was head-ed by Ms Jayanthi Natrajan. In the Jt committee meetingheld on 23rd May, it was agreed that Lokpal would be giventhe duty of providing protection to whistleblowers under theother law and that law would also be discussed and im-proved in joint committee only. However, it did not happen.

SPECIAL BENCHES IN HCOUR VIEW: High Courts will set up special benches to

hear appeals in corruption cases to fast track themGOVT VIEW:No such provision.COMMENTS: One study shows that it takes 25 years at

appellate stage in corruption cases. This ought to be ad-dressed.

CRPCOUR VIEW: On the basis of past experience on why anti-

corruption cases take a long time in courts and why do ouragencies lose them, some amendments to CrPC have beensuggested to prevent frequent stay orders.

GOVT VIEW: Not included

DISMISSAL OF CORRUPT GOVT SERVANTOUR VIEW: After completion of investigations, in addition

to filing a case in a court for prosecution, a bench of Lokpalwill hold open hearings and decide whether to remove thegovernment servant from job.

GOVT VIEW: The minister will decide whether to removea corrupt officer or not. Often, they are beneficiaries of cor-ruption, especially when senior officer are involved.Experience shows that rather than removing corrupt people,ministers have rewarded them.

COMMENTS: Power of removing corrupt people from


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jobs should be given to independent Lokpal rather thanthis being decided by the minister in the same department.

PUNISHMENT FOR CORRUPTIONOUR VIEW: 1. Maximum punishment is ten years2. Higher punishment if rank of accused is higher3. Higher fines if accused are business entities4. If successfully convicted, a business entity should be

blacklisted from future contracts.GOVT VIEW: None of these accepted. Only maximum

punishment raised to 10 years.

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCEOUR VIEW: Lokpal 11 members collectively will decide

how much budget do they needGOVT VIEW: Finance ministry will decide the quantum of

budgetCOMMENTS: This seriously compromises with the finan-

cial independence of Lokpal

PREVENT FURTHER LOSSOUR VIEW: Lokpal will have a duty to take steps to pre-

vent corruption in any ongoing activity, if brought to his no-tice. If need be, Lokpal will obtain orders from High Court.

GOVT VIEW: No such duties and powers of LokpalCOMMENTS: 2G is believed to have come to knowledge

while the process was going on. Shouldn't some agencyhave a duty to take steps to stop further corruption ratherthan just punish people later?

TAP PHONESOUR VIEW: Lokpal bench will grant permission to do soGOVT VIEW: Home Secretary would grant permission.COMMENTS: Home Secretary is under the control of pre-

cisely those who would be under scanner. It would kill inves-tigations.

DELEGATION OF POWERSOUR VIEW: Lokpal members will only hear cases against

senior officers and politicians or cases involving hugeamounts. Rest of the work will be done by officers workingunder Lokpal

GOVT VIEW: All work will be done by 11 members ofLokpal. Practically no delegation.

COMMENTS: This is a sure way to kill Lokpal. The mem-bers will not be able to handle all cases. Within no time, theywould be overwhelmed.

NGOsOUR VIEW: Only government funded NGOs coveredGOVT VIEW: All NGOs, big or small, are covered.COMMENTS: A method to arm twist NGOs

FALSE, FRIVOLOUS AND VEXATIOUS COMPLAINTS

OUR VIEW: No imprisonment. Only fines on complainants.Lokpal would decide whether a complaint is frivolous or vex-atious or false.

GOVT VIEW: Two to five years of imprisonment and fine.The accused can file complaint against complainant in acourt. Interestingly, prosecutor and all expenses of this casewill be provided by the government to the accused. The com-plainant will also have to pay a compensation to the accused.

COMMENTS: This will give a handle to every accused tobrowbeat complainants. Often corrupt people are rich. Theywill file cases against complainants and no one will dare fileany complaint. Interestingly, minimum punishment for cor-ruption is six months but for filing false complaint is two years.

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The entire world is watching asIndians attempt to purge India ofcorruption using classically Indian

means of protest. Hindutva andSanatana Dharma represent the only vi-able cures to the cancer of corruptionwhich is destroying the entrails of ourcivilisation

Corruption in India is now a major con-cern because of the gigantic and mindboggling amounts illegally appropriated

in the Satyam, IPL, CWG, and 2GSpectrum scams. By all objective criteria,India today has by far one of the mostcorrupt governance. The 2G SpectrumScam, the title of my new book releasedon June 11, is the most shocking rip-offof all.

As I have pointed out in the book, mycuriosity was first fired by the fraud andforgery that became apparent in the sud-den divestment of equity stake in Swan

Capital Company by Anil DhirubhaiAmbani, the owner of ADAG who strate-gically controlled Swan, in favour of theShahid Balwas-run DB Realty Company,and reportedly on then Telecom MinisterA Raja's behest. DB Realty then sold thecontrolling shares of Swan toEtisalat.This latter company was consid-ered in a Home Ministry report to be afront for ISI and Dawood Ibrahim. ShahidBalwas was held by the Ministry to be an

Why fight againstcorruption is

important: Swamy


undesirable person. Yet, Etisalat was allowed by the UnionHome Minister P Chidambaram to buy out the Swan Telecom ateight times the price paid by Swan for the 2G spectrum licence.National security was seriously compromised for greed of mon-ey.

I had written to the Prime Minister a letter dated November29, 2008, for sanction under Section19 of the Prevention ofCorruption Act (1988) to prosecute Telecom Minister A. Raja byfiling a private complaint before the Designated SessionsCourt. Thus began my venture into the 2G spectrum scam. ThePM's procrastination led me to the Supreme Court.

Thereafter, a Bench of Justices Singhvi and Ganguli, by theirmeticulous reading of the briefs and documents filed and bytheir crisp orders and directions have changed the national pub-lic mood from despair and despondency to hope and expecta-tion. This judicial intervention came none too soon. An inter-national watchdog committee conducted a study on the illicitflight of money from India, perhaps the first ever attempt atshedding light on a subject steeped in secrecy, and concludedthat India has been drained of $462 billion (over Rs 20 lakhcrore) between 1948 and 2008. The amountrepresents nearly 40 per cent of India's grossdomestic product.

The unanimous view throughout the worldtoday is that corruption is no more the in-evitable grease or speed money to be tolerat-ed in any system, but a cancer that couldcause the death of a society by continuous de-bilitation - unless it is cured at an early stage.

The Indian financial system also suffersfrom a hangover of cronyism and corruptionthat have brought the government budgets onthe verge of bankruptcy. This too needs fixing.India's infrastructure requires about $ 150billion to make it world class, and the educa-tion system needs 6 per cent of GDP insteadof 2.8 per cent today. But an open competitivemarket system can find these resources pro-vided the quality of governance and account-ability is improved. Obviously a second gener-ation of reforms is necessary for all this.

One of the worst problems with corruption in India is the cre-ation of "black money"- money that is used in such transac-tions and is obviously unreported, hence is neither taxed nor isspent openly. It travels to secret bank accounts abroad, or,worse, is used by the corrupt to indulge in gross luxurious con-sumption and bribery. Such black money stock also creates in-flation by enabling easy finance for hoarding of supplies evenas the GDP growth rate accelerates.

Corruption, therefore, impacts on economic development ofa nation in five dimensions:

1. Decisions taken for corrupt motive sub-optimises the al-location of scarce national resources and hence in the long runlowers the rate of growth in GDP.It also encourages buccaneersinstead of innovative entrepreneurs.

2. By the use of bribe money which escapes the tax net andis mostly stashed away in banks abroad or in trunks in safehouses, is deployed in luxury goods purchase, ostentatiouslife, splurging in five star hotels, real estate, and on partying.This raises demand for luxury production and services, and inturn distorts investment priorities. In India, 70 per cent of theinvestment goes directly or indirectly to sustain the luxury sec-tor.

3. Unaccounted bribe money is lent to hoarders and specu-lators who then cause artificial shortages and thus inflation

and property bubbles.4. Since the most in corrupt activities would be in public of-

fice, they enact laws to not only to safeguard the booty by laxcriminal investigations and prosecutions, but to enable earninginterest or return on the bribe money. The invention ofParticipatory Notes (PNs) and the Mauritius Tax & Capital Gainsexemption treaties is aimed at that sordid objective (see be-low).

5. Corruption enables beneficiaries to involve foreign gov-ernments seeking influence and criminal gangs resident abroadto launder money and provide protection.

The view of Integral Humanism as propounded by DeendayalUpadhaya or what we have for centuries have called asSanatana Dharma is that a society is healthy only if there is aharmonisation of material pursuits and spiritual advancementin a human being. The social structure called Varna, till it de-generated into a birth-based social cartel, was designed todowngrade wealth as the indicator of status and elevate sacri-fice and simplicity as a desirable value.

But now greed is driving all of us as it has become in the glob-alisation process.Materialistic progress alonehowever does not guarantee national securityof a nation. What is essential is the characterand integrity of its citizens. Hence, besidesthe objective of acquiring knowledge and get-ting employment that require cognitive intelli-gence, the youth must be motivated in otherdimensions of intelligence that of emotional,moral and social.

In the United States, as Business Weekhas recently reported, these concepts havebecome highly popular in the corporate world,and have been incorporated in the best-sell-ing books written by Daniel Goleman, DeepakChopra, Anthony Robbins, among others.

In brief, our National Policy for integratingspiritual values and organisation leadershipcan be achieved by measures by which wecan create a modern mindset in the youth ofIndia, not only to motivate the youth to ac-

quire technical competence, but to develop emotional, moralsocial and spiritual values that will make that person a self-re-liant individual of high character, patriotic, and possessing a so-cial conscience.

Our goal has to be thus the efficient use of resources, hu-man and physical, hardware and software by an able and hu-man spiritually guided and ethically organizational leadership ina framework of competitive market economies.

Hence, concisely stated, for a corruption free society to beachieved on a long term basis the Indian economy should befounded on a harmonisation of efficient organisational leader-ship and abiding spiritual values which we call asSanatanaDharma. That can be nurtured only bottom up i.e., educate ourgrowth accordingly - to synthesise material pursuits with spiri-tual values which lauds simplicity and eschews greed.

Ultimately it will also be decided by how we vote in elections.But we need a new ideology to combat the cancer of corruptionin our system. For this we need a new breed of Indian leaders-educated, courageous, and rational risk takers. That we can getonly if the ethos of our people changes from the purely individ-ualist pursuit of material pleasures and goals, to an integraloutlook. Corruption is the cancer today in our society butHindutva (Hinduness) or Sanatana Dharma imbibed characteris the cure.

The writer is president, Janata Party

COVER STORY

DEVELOPMENT


Japan is coming; rather they are con-solidating their presence in India withan aggressive trade policy. Buoyed by

a landmark free trade pact and thelaunch of nuclear negotiations, India andJapan are set to scale a new frontier inbilateral ties by launching 24 green citiesin the proposed Delhi-Mumbai IndustrialCorridor (DMIC). 'Japan and India areplanning to set up 24 green cities in theDMIC area,' Aftab Seth, a former Indianambassador to Japan and a driving forcebehind the green initiative, told us in aNikkie Eco meet jointly organized byIndia-Japan trade associations.

The green cities will include optimisedenergy supplies, 24-hour drinking watersupply, bicycle and walking tracks, andwaste and water recycling systems.Preparatory work has already started onpilot projects in seven green cities that

will be part of the DMIC, which is biggerin area than Honshu, the largestJapanese island, said Seth. DMIC, span-

ning six Indian states, is the most ambi-tious infrastructure project India haslaunched with Japan, a world leader ingreen technologies, and is expected tocost $50-90 billion.

Envisaged as a global manufacturingand trading hub, DMIC is expected to becompleted in five to seven years. 'Greencities and green technologies will be animportant part of the DMIC. It will be likeforging a sort of green alliance betweenIndia and Japan,' said Seth. The first ofthese cities will be developed in theDholera investment region in Gujarat,110 km from Ahmedabad.

Top Japanese companies like Hitachi,Mitsubishi and Toshiba shall be involvedin designing and building eco-friendlytowns along the DMIC that will passthrough Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana,Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Envisaged as a globalmanufacturing and tradinghub, DMIC is expected tobe completed in five toseven years. 'Green citiesand green technologieswill be an important part ofthe DMIC. It will be like forg-ing a sort of green alliancebetween India and Japan,'said Seth.

NEW TIES: NEW ERA IN INDO-JAPANESE TIES HAS BEGUN

Japan to make India green:24 green cities planned

HHeemmaanntt SSeettyyaa reports for OPINION EXPRESS from New Delhi

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S NOVEMBER 2016 I29

'Basically,every place in thiscity will be in walking orcyclable distance, thereby cut-ting the need for pollution-spewingpublic transportation systems,' saidSeth.

To boost green business collaboration, India andJapan organised a high-profile Global Eco Business Forumon Nov 30 that saw the participation of top Japanese compa-nies like Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi. Senior Japanese of-ficials, including Masakazu Toyoda, and Ryuji Yanagihara, an ex-pert on green cities, participated in the summit.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath,

Commerceand Industry

Minister Anand Sharmaand DMIC Development

Corporation CEO Amitabh Kant repre-sented Indian side.

'The Japanese are 10 times more energy efficientthan India,' said Seth, also chairman of Sun andSands Advisors, Japan's biggest strategic manage-

ment and financial advisory for cross-border business be-tween India and Japan. 'It will be an opportunity for theJapanese to display to an influential and practising audiencetheir talent in energy-saving devices and environment-friendlytechnologies,' he added.

The expanding green collaboration between India and Japanalso has a larger geo-strategic di-mension as Japan looks atIndia's business potential afreshto counter China.

'The Japanese are steadilycoming to the realisation thatthey have put too many eggs inthe Chinese basket. There is anun ease with China. India is seenin Japan as a more lucrative mar-ket than Vietnam or Indonesia,'said Seth, adding the signing ofthe Comprehensive EconomicCooperation Pact (CEPA) nextmonth is going to give a big boostto business ties between the twocountries.

Japan has focused India to bea strategic investment point be-cause the growth story of Indiahas just began, there is an esti-mate by the world bank thatIndian economy is expected togrow at over 9% in the entire nextdecade hence leading the GDPexpected to cross $3 trillion by2020. The growing economy isseeking huge investment in infra-structure sector to keep up withthe over-all growth story of thecountry. Japan is strategicallypromoting trade and commerceinterest in India to participate inthe tremendous investment op-portunity of life time.

DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT


QPost recession, the strategicshift of global trade attentionhas shifted to Asia. China and

India are the main growth engine ofthe global recovery. Japan is pioneer ofcutting edge technology with surplusfunds looking to for ideal investmentopportunities. Now why India is havingan advantage viz China if we put Japanstrategic long term interest in loop?

A.Japan has a good deal of historicalbaggage with China on account of thewar and the the exploitation of Chinafrom 1895 and the Sino Japanese waronwards till 1945.

Yet in cultural terms Japan is indebtedto China . The script , the Confucian eth-ic and much of the technology relating tosilk , pottery , lacquer ware and weavingcame over the ages from China.

There is therefore a grudging admira-tion from historical times for China com-

pounded in recent years by the meteoricgrowth rates.Japan has exploited thenew advantages presented by theChinese market and has poured in many

billions of Dollars in investment in China.Until recently the Japanese were not

uncomfortable in doing business withChina .

The growing assertiveness of Chinaover the last 4 or 5 years has frightenedmany Japanese.The manner in whichChinese crowds attacked the Japaneseembassy and consulates 5 years ago , inwhat appeared to be an orchestrateddemonstration , combined with continu-ing friction over joint exploration for oiland gas has made the Japanese sit upand think.

In September 2010 the manner inwhich the Chinese bullied the Japaneseinto returning an arrested Chinese shipcaptain accused of ramming Japanesecoast guard ships and then proceeded tostop the export of rare metals has reallyalarmed many Japanese.

India in comparison seems a lessthreatening country and equally a coun-

Envisaged as a globalmanufacturing and tradinghub, DMIC is expected tobe completed in five to sev-en years. 'Green cities andgreen technologies will bean important part of theDMIC. It will be like forginga sort of green alliance be-tween India and Japan,'said Seth...

ASSEMBLY LINE: A JAPANESE WORK PLACE

How do the Japanese do it?AAffttaabb SSeetthh disseminated extremely valuable information for our readers about the Japanese

work culture, style, preferences and mind set to our editor PPrraasshhaanntt TTeewwaarrii. Excerpts


try of rapid growth.The Japanese are diverting some of

their atttention and their money towardsIndia for these reasons. The existence offlagship projects like the DMIC , itself theproduct of a growing political and strate-gic realtionship makes investment inIndia more worthwhile.

QThe Japanese are perfectionisthence the technology used bythem is build of high cost, India

on the other hand is a highly cost con-scious market, how do you see thetwo fundamental difference creatingsynergies for mutual benefit?

A.Yes Japanese costs are high be-cause they value the product of theirlabour . But service for Japanese prod-ucts, their long lasting qualities and thereliability of Japanese equipment out-weighs the higher cost in the long run.

QTop Japanese brands are household names in India but at peo-ple to people level, Indian are

close to North America, Europe block,why Japanese government in the pasthave not attempted to translate com-mercial success in comprehensive suc-cess to improve bilateral relations?

A.The reason for Indian focus on theUSA and the UK is clearly the result oflanguage and the existence of a diaspo-ra of 4 to 5 million Indians in both terri-tories.This has meant more students , a100000 in the USA alone and more col-laborative research for both the pure andthe applied sciences. In contrast thereare only 25000 Indians in Japan and a lit-tle over 500 students.

The Japanese are fully aware that theyneed to heighten the connections in ac-ademia and so have made concerted ef-

forts to attract young talent from coun-tries like India where the demographicgraph is a rising one in contrast to Japanwhere the population is declining . Thebirth rate at 1.2 is not even replacementlevel so Japan is shrinking in numbers.The need to attract bright young Indiansis obvious and universities like Keio havebegun undergraduate classes in Englishin some campuses.The quality ofJapanese technical education is high andIndians would benefit by going to studythere.The trend must be encouraged byboth sides.

QDMIC is a most ambitious proj-ect undertaken by our govern-ment with external support,

What role Japan is playing to structurethe project - via government, quasigovernment and private sector initia-

tives?

A.The Japanese embassy have recent-ly added a title to the exisiting one fortheir Minister Economic and Commercialby calling him the MinisterInfrastructure.This is significant in viewof the important role being played byJapan in building India's infrastructure,underground raliways and the entireDMIC.Jetro , JICA and METI in Japan areall equally engaged in promotingJapanese trade and investment. JETROgives free accomodation to SMEs to helpthem set up offices here in India.

QTell us about the insight ofJapanese work culture from thevast experience of working

closely with them in the past?

A.Maruti and TVS in Chennai are just 2examples of Indian organizations tryingto acquire the Japanese work ethic. loy-alty to the company, pride in one's work,however humble or lowly it may be, a de-sire for perfection in execution and anabilty to relax after work in the companyof colleagues are just a few aspects ofthe Japanese work culture.

They have highly developed vocationalschools and so the quality of electri-cians, plumbers, packers, restaurantworkers, chefs , railway or bus workersand a host of other professionals ismuch higher than most developed coun-tries. India has much to learn from thisaspect of Japan.

DEVELOPMENT.Maruti and TVS inChennai are just 2 ex-amples of Indian or-ganizations trying toacquire the Japanesework ethic. loyalty tothe company, pride inone's work, howeverhumble or lowly it maybe, a desire for per-fection in executionand an abilty to relaxafter work in the com-pany of colleaguesare just a few aspectsof the Japanese workculture.

PEOPLE’S

C.M.


The firebrand leader is now the peo-ple's chief minister. Since May 20,when she walked into Writers'

Buildings to take over the reins of thestate, Mamata Banerjee has played therole zealously, often throwing protocoland norms out of the window to take upissues close to her heart. She workslate, calls frequent meetings, keeps topofficials on their toes, makes surprisevisits to hospitals and government of-fices and takes decisions with an ur-gency rarely seen in the governmentheadquarters.

As CM, she is just as unpredictableand at times restless. She springs sur-prises like the Darjeeling treaty, takeskey decisions in haste only to roll themback, such as Singur ordinance. Sheshocked doctors when she stormed intoBangur Institute of Neurosciences and

POLITICS

MAMATA DURING AN ELECTION RALLY

Mixed-bagbeginningfor Mamtain Kolkata

POLITICS


suspended its director, SP Ghorai,without issuing him a showcause notice,on grounds of "insubordination".

Mamata is yet to take firm steps oncurbing political violence with the oppo-sition Left Front knocking at the gover-nor's door to stop atrocities against itscadres.

She hurriedly introduced an ordinancefor returning land to Singur farmers onlyto be called back due to procedural laps-es. Later, the Singur Land Bill waspassed by the Assembly to enable her re-turn land to unwilling farmers in Singur.

The first month in office has beeneventful, to say the least. She has man-aged to make ministers proactive, bu-reaucrats prompt with files and senior of-ficials anxious about being ticked off forinaction. On her very first day in office,she worked well past midnight. She fol-lowed it up with a major announcement -of an imminent merger of the Salt Lakemunicipality with Kolkata. The next day,

she went on a sudden tour of the city. She has also managed to throw up so-

lutions. The separatist movement inDarjeeling, for instance, which has beenfestering for the last three years, was"solved". Gorkha Janmukti Morchaagreed to withdraw its demand for state-hood for the time being. Critics may stillquestion the pact, but the peace pact leftthe Hills euphoric.

On the way to office from her resi-

dence, Mamata's convoy has been tak-ing a different route every morning andhalting at a new destination. Her securi-tymen have been kept guessing. She haspaid a series of surprise trips to hospi-tals on the way to Writers'.

Apart from the return of Singur land -an issue that was key in catapulting herto power - she has invited Justice Sacharto the state for a fresh status report onthe minority community, aimed at im-proving their condition and finding morejobs for them.

She has announced setting up of a 25-member core group to sort out problemsfaced by the industry and work out plansfor investment. The panel will have 17members from various chambers - in-cluding three from CII, FICCI and AS-SOCHAM - apart from state finance min-ister Amit Mitra, industries ministerPartha Chatterjee and six departmentalsecretaries.

JOY OF VICTORY: MAMATA SUPPORTERS AFTER TRINAMOOL WIN

She hurriedly introduced anordinance for returning land toSingur farmers only to becalled back due to procedurallapses. Later, the Singur LandBill was passed by theAssembly to enable her returnland to unwilling farmers inSingur


Soumen Acharya

RETURN OF SINGUR LAND It was Mamata's first decision after

taking over as CM. The issue had pro-pelled her to power and Singur Land Billwas passed in the Assembly

EDUCATION GETS PRIORITY Amartya Sen and historian Sugata

Bose chosen mentors of PresidencyUniversity. A panel set up to revamp high-er education. Mamata announces re-cruitment of 46,000 primary teachers.All teachers to now get their salaries onthe first day of the month

HEALTH WATCH West Bengal Health Service

Recruitment Board set up to recruit staffand doctors. Mamata makes surprisevisits to government hospitals.Announces plans to set up four super-specialty hospitals in Birbhum, WestMidnapore, Purulia and Bankura (the lastthree are Maoist-hit ), plus a neuro-science hospital in Rajarhat township 4

CITY UNIFICATION Salt Lake's Sector V (tech hub) and

Joka (where IIM Calcutta is located) onthe outskirts of the capital brought underthe jurisdiction of Kolkata MunicipalCorporation

FINALLY, BEAUTIFICATION A project to beautify the Hooghly river-

front. The stretch from Dalhousie toEsplanade will be redone in tune with theBBD Bag heritage zone. Laldighi, a 300-year-old lake in front of Writers'Buildings, will be illuminated

DARJEELING ICE-BREAKER Within three weeks of taking charge,

Mamata persuades GJM to sign a treatyfor a hill council with greater powers. TheLeft Front government had tried thesame solution but could not get GJM toagree. Mamata succeeded. Her educa-tion minister Bratya Basu already metUnion HRD minister for an IIT or IIM inDarjeeling

TRANSPARENCY Paid Rs 2 lakh from her own account

on renovation of CM's chamber atWriters' Building

NEUTRAL ADMINISTRATION Senior bureaucrats asked to function

in a neutral manner; police told to workimpartially in the wake of political vio-lence across the state

AND THE MISSTEPS Hurriedly pushing with an ordinance on

return of Singur land to unwilling farm-ers. The ordinance fell through becauseof procedural lapses. Later, the SingurLand Bill was passed in the Assembly

Says she will make public the Singurdeal struck by the Left Front govt, whena case is pending in the Calcutta highcourt over the disclosure of the contentsof the deal

Suspends Bangur Institute ofNeurology S P Ghorai without issuing ashowcause notice

CommentMamata Banerjee popularly known as

Mamata Didi has just started her politi-cal innings in West Bengal, ironically the

state of WB is with left since last 34years but a tremendous effort byMamata Banerjee has forced a newregime there. The domestic and over-seas observers are watching the initialprogress and her style of governanceclosely largely from an investors prospec-tive. WB in general and its capitalKolkata in specific were the center ofbusiness hub post independence but thescenario forced industry to get shifted toother states due to labour unrest andlock outs instigated by left governments,now Mamata Didi with an economist asthe finance minister is trying to turn thetables. Already, she gas achieved a ma-jor break through in settling the Gorkha-land issue via talks with good results.WB government has listed priorities inEDUCATION, INDUSTRY, HEALTH CAREhence Japan G 30 initiative, JapanBusiness Chamber of Commerce &Embassy must draw a strategy to coordi-nate with the state government..

(Bureau Chief - Kolkata)

POLITICS

DIDI'S MAJOR STEPS...

FASHION


Starrydreams

Urvashi SharmaABOUT MYSELF: I always had a dream to

be a part of this huge industry ie. film indus-try since my chilhood. I grew up with this dream

silently as I belonged to a family where educationwas of prime importance.I wanted to be a part of

Miss India contest when I turned 18 but didnt happencause of my family. Soon after completing my

Graduation , I applied for my MBA degreeagain from same University. And now

after completing my studies got intothis profession which is now wellknown as an entertainment indus-try. As I loved studies equally Iam still persuing one. I am since3 to 4 months in this indutry.

EDUCATION: Graduate fromMumbai university

MBA in finance from Mumbaiuniversity; Pursuing CFA (Indian);A student of law in !st year fromMumbai university

INSPIRATION: An inbuilt thoughtthat this is what I am

and this is what I wouldlove to do all my life.

INDIAN AND GLOBAL MARKETS:I believe fashion is perpetual. So lots

to learn from indian fashion and lots togrow with global industry.

Modeling for me Passion or business:- It’spassion + business = reality , attainement of

goal

HOBBIES- Dancing, swimming , basket ball, lawntennis....

MOTTO: To be a better "Me" each day

WORK: Prints, Catalog's and ad

WORK PROFILE: Bharat matrimony elite, CokePakistan, Garden Varelli

TVS vego, kathak saree, Digjam suitings, Mobilink

ACTING: Nadira Babbar theatre worshop

DANCE: Bollywood, shiamak davar, ashley lobo andkathak

HEIGHT: 5'6"VITAL STATS: 32-26-35


REV IT UP

First Drive

2011 BMW 5 SERIES IS A SMOOTH OPERATOR

The outgoing BMW 5 Series mayhave ushered in a dramatic leapforward in terms of dynamics,

technology, safety and creature comforts,but it's the previous generation – the E39– that Bimmerphiles still speak of inhushed tones. The departing E60 mayhave been a more capable package, but itwas also the source of much controversyand hand wringing. Blame Chris Bangle.Blame byzantine iDrive menu structures.Blame spirit-muffling layers of electronics.Hell, blame improved competition or hide-bound brand loyalists who refuse to ac-cept the new. No matter whose camp youpoint the finger at, the 2004-2010 5Series was a polarizing creature, bothaesthetically and from behind the wheel.Despite (or perhaps because of) all this,BMW enjoyed record-setting global salesof the Fiver, suggesting that that the tra-ditionalists had it all wrong.

Still, one look at the new-for-2011 F10model might reasonably lead you to be-lieve that a bit of mulligan has occurred atthe hand of Adrian van Hooydonk and hisdesign team – a toning down of the E60'smost divisive elements. To be sure, the

E60's Dame Edna spectacles have beenconsigned to a dusty drawer and theraised "Bangle Butt" has kept its datewith Celebrity Fit Club. In the not-so-dear-ly departed's place is a handsome newsedan that appears simultaneously morein line with the 5 Series' lineage yet firm-ly set on the future. But to label the sixth-generation Fiver as an aesthetic or strate-gic regression would be incorrect, vanHooydonk tells us. As he points out, BMWdesign has a tendency to periodicallymuscle in with big, bold, design state-ments – to knock down walls – and in thefollow-up model, its stylists can moveabout a bit more in the clean air madepossible by its predecessor. Fair enough– we prepared to check our Weltschmerzat the door and give this new Fiver a shot.Has it all been worked out for the better?BMW invited us to hop a couple of planesto Portugal in order to find out.

As he points out, BMW designhas a tendency to periodicallymuscle in with big, bold, designstatements – to knock down walls– and in the follow-up model, itsstylists can move about a bit morein the clean air made possible byits predecessor. Fair enough – weprepared to check ourWeltschmerz at the door and givethis new Fiver a shot.


REV IT UPIn person, a lower roofline and a

stretched wheelbase (at 116.9-inches,it's 3.2 inches longer than the E60, mak-ing it the broadest in the segment) havecombined to give the 2011 5 Series amarkedly sleeker appearance. The swageline that originates from just behind thefront fenders and gets progressively moredefined as it moves rearward lends direc-tional thrust, as does its more aggres-sively shaped greenhouse.

Wide, nearly vertical kidney grilles areattached to a snub nose, and even if theheadlamps are now more conservative,the more upright grilles suggest that BMWis pondering a return to the forward-lean-ing, shark-like front end that defined itshistory. Indeed, AvH tells us that thesportier the model, the more pronouncedwe can expect this design hallmark to be(see the E89 Z4 for guidance). Overall,this is a confident, well-balanced shape, aclear design unencumbered by the shoutydetails of its antecedent. All-in, BMW saysthat the automatic-equipped 535i weighsin at 4,090 pounds, about 100 poundsportlier than a comparably equipped out-going model – remarkably little in view ofits added size, rigidity (+55 percent overthe E60) and technology.

Overall, this is a confident, well-balanced shape, a clear designunencumbered by the shouty details of its antecedent. All-in,BMW says that the automatic-equipped 535i weighs in at 4,090pounds, about 100 pounds portlier than a comparably equippedoutgoing model – remarkably little in view of its added size, rigidity(+55 percent over the E60) and technology.


REV IT UP

Underneath its controversial skin, theoutgoing E60 ushered in a new era ofhigh-tech solutions for the 5 Series in vir-tually every arena, from driving dynamicsto creature comforts to safety and overallefficiency.

In this regard, with the F10, BMW hasburied the throttle more firmly into the car-pet than ever before. New engines, gear-boxes, suspension architecture, rear-wheel steering, user-selectable adaptivedrive settings, brake energy regeneration,and yes, another generation of iDrive havebeen whipped up in a bid to keep the 5out in front of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6 and Jaguar XF.

The new single-turbo N55 engine justplain works, with eager revs and a won-derfully flat power curve.

Interestingly, it wasn't more than a fewmonths ago that we found ourselves onmany of these very same Portugueseroads behind the wheel of another new 5Series – the 2010 Gran Turismo. Visually,

the 5GT may be something of an automo-tive platypus, but dynamically it proved be-yond reproach, setting lofty expectationsfor this new sedan in the process.Appropriately, a quick ride from the airportin the back of the 5GT before we tuckedinto the 535i sedan reminded us why thebifold hatchback model exists – space.The longer wheelbase of the 5GT createsepic, limo-like accommodations for rear-seat passengers, with palatial legroomand commanding visibility. Its straight-laced new brother?

Comparatively tight back there (albeitclass competitive), a situation that figuresto be the same with the Touring – a mod-el we're no longer likely to get with thisnew generation.

Of course, a sport sedan like the 5Series isn't purchased for the measure ofits back seat, so with the keys (okay, fob)to the new 535i firmly in hand, we head-ed out onto the lilting coastal roads and

motorways northwest of Lisbon to see

if we could rekindle a lost LoveConnection.

As we slipped aboard for the first time,all was at once familiar yet utterly new.From its three-spoke steering wheel to itsBrobdingnagian 10.2-inch navigationscreen, sturdy switchgear, iDrive porkpie,finicky drive selector and general shapesand materials, the 535i reminds of the5GT and the new 7 Series, yet it carriesits own dashboard design. While evolu-tionary, it's a beautifully executed space,with long, clean lines and ergonomicallysound primary and secondary controls.As with its newer stablemates, the 5Series receives a much more intuitivefourth-generation iDrive all-in-one con-troller, and with its rationalized menustructures and direct-function buttons sur-rounding the central controller knob, it'sa system that's finally beginning to makesome sense.

While we liked (okay, adored) the out-going 5 Series' N54 3.0-liter twin-turbo in-line six, the 535i receives a new singleturbo engine dubbed N55, and it offersexactly the same 300 horsepower and300 pound-feet of torque. So why bother?Because BMW's smarty-pants engineershave imbued the new motor with superiorpackaging, cleaner emissions and betterthrottle response. About that last bit – ifyou're wondering how a single, larger tur-bo can be quicker to respond than a pairof smaller units, BMW has cracked thecode with the combination of a dual-scrollelement and the company's Valvetronicthrottle-less intake technology. Suffice itto say that the N55 just plain works, witheager revs and a wonderfully flat powercurve (the engine's torque cup runnethover from just 1,200 on through 5,000rpm). BMW says 60 miles-per-hour can becracked in 5.7 seconds and top speed islimited to 130 mph – 150 mph if youspring for the Sport Package.


REV IT UP

On the track in Sport + mode, the bigFiver's mid-corner stance is flatter thanyour first girlfriend.

For the gluttonous, a turbocharged 4.4-liter V8-powered 550i with 400 hp and450 lb-ft. will be offered, along with a late-availability 528i with 240 horses. Whilewe're sure that the 550i's extra power isnice, the lighter weight, viceless perform-ance and presumably superior fuel econ-omy of the N55 (no EPA numbers areavailable yet) has us convinced that it'sonce again good to be the middle child. Asever, European customers will get a rangeof diesel offerings, but there are no plansto offer any such models in NorthAmerica. All-wheel drive variants, however,are in the pipeline for later this year.

A six-speed manual will be available inthe 535i and 550i, but at the launchevent, we were limited to torque convert-er-equipped 535i models. For 2011,there's a new ZF automatic with fiveclutches(!) and eight forward gears(!!) thatoffers a wider ratio spread. In the past,we've found that transmissions with thismany speeds are prone to hunting, as iftheir software logic is somehow trying tojustify the inclusion of so many cogs. The5 Series largely avoids this trap, although

we did notice a tendency to cycle annoy-ingly between gears at very low speedsunder shallow throttle openings (think:nudging forward in bumper-to-bumper traf-fic). Notably, BMW is ditching the chromepush-pull paddle-shifters used on othermodels in favor of traditional pull tabs(right to upshift, left to downshift) – ap-parently some people found the old AnishKapoor chrome thumbsculptures hard touse. The new ones work just fine, but wemiss the older version's dual +/- actionand subtle artistic quality.

For 2011, the 5 Series has discardedits long-serving Macpherson strut frontsuspension in favor of a new multi-linkarrangement.

The rear end is now also under thesway of a new five-link system, and cou-pled with BMW's Dynamic DampingControl (read: adaptive suspension) andActive Roll Stabilization (dynamic anti-rollbars), the whole works is at once at easeand eager to please. By that we mean thatthe ride quality is free from harshnesswithout being floaty, yet it's ready to boo-gie at a moment's notice.

Word that the F10 would be the first 5with electric power steering didn't exactlywarm our enthusiast cockles, nor did

news that all 535i evaluators at thelaunch would be equipped with optionalIntegral Active Steering, a variable-ratiosystem that first made its appearance onthe outgoing model. Thankfully, this is anew IAS system, as the first-generationsetup never won any prizes for its com-municability. Still, we were concerned thatEPS and IAS' new active rear steering fea-ture might contribute to feel-free handling,or worse, spooky dynamics. Nope. TheBavarian boys and gals have worked dili-gently to assuage all fears, and whetherwe were zipping along the littoral moun-tain roads, drumming along the motorway,or hammering around all 13 turns ofPortugal's 2.6-mile Autódromo do Estoril,the 535i was rock solid, predictable andforgiving. Unlike many other EPS systemswe've used, this one doesn't feel likethere's an Internet's worth of siliconrybusily rearranging ones and zeros to turnthe driver's inputs into action. The vari-able ratio shouldn't be off-putting duringdaily commuting, and on serpentineroads, it's a genuine ally – there's actu-al linearity, weighting and more than amodicum of feedback for one's fingertipsto process as you spin the wheel just 2.1turns from lock-to-lock. Hallelujah.


REV IT UPOut on the track, with the optional

Driving Dynamics Control rocker switchtoggled to its raciest Sport + mode (theother three settings: Comfort, Normal andSport), this big Fiver's mid-corner stanceis flatter than your first girlfriend. Thesteering gains weight and speed withoutfeeling artificial, the gearbox's marchingorders are rejiggered to keep engine revsup and reduce shift times, and the elec-tronic limited-slip tech and relaxed trac-tion and stability control algorithms yielda surprisingly frisky big sedan. Whileyou're never going to convince yourselfyou're dive-bombing in a Z4, this is a carthat shrinks handily at speed, in part be-cause the brakes are pleasingly firm and18-inch Dunlop Sport Maxx GT runflats of-fer credible grip with surprising compli-ance.

One fly in the enthusiast's ointment: Toborrow from an old Western, the 535i isquiet... too quiet. Unless you really stompon the gas and/or cascade down a hand-ful of gears to get the engine on boil,you're not likely to hear much. That pauci-ty of drivetrain noise is great for when

you're cuing up Wagner on the surroundsound sound audio, not so great whenyou're trying to set your enthusiast driv-ing neurons alight.

That said, we're happy to report thatwind and tire-noise are similarly muted.

Safety-minded options include a braceof cameras to provide a bird's eye park-ing view (think: Infiniti'sbrilliantAroundView Monitor), night visionwith pedestrian detection, active cruise

control and a nifty heads-up display.There's even a self-parking option, a fea-ture that one German BMW official as-sured us will be sure to please your wife.Oh, yes he did.

The new 5 Series is better looking,more luxurious and more capable – yet itis also safer and cleaner. So is it ready topick up the E39's torch anew? Well, notreally. Without going so far as to suggestthat that car was a primitive instrument ofjoy, BMW has moved too far down the fieldtechnologically to simply allow its engi-neers to pour old wine into new wineskinsand call it a day. Besides, BMW's cus-tomers, competitors and various worldgovernments have all gone and moved thesegment's goalposts in the meantime.Having said all that, the 2011 5 Series iseasier to use, easier on the eyes and fareasier to find the magic in than its imme-diate predecessor. That might not be suf-ficient to proclaim it a neo-E39, but itmight just be enough to move the Roundelto the head of the pack all over again.

Inputs from Gopal Chopra, DelhiBureau

That paucity of drivetrainnoise is great for when you'recuing up Wagner on the sur-round sound sound audio,not so great when you're try-ing to set your enthusiastdriving neurons alight. Thatsaid, we're happy to reportthat wind and tire-noise aresimilarly muted.

N ANO W O N D E R


MUMBAI, India: When it was introduced in ear-ly 2009, the egg-shaped Tata Nano was billedas a modern-day people’s car, an ultracheapvehicle that would bring greater mobility to themasses of India and, eventually, the world. Butthose ambitions have stalled — for now, atleast.

A Tata Nano LX in a suburb of Mumbai. Only509 were shipped to dealers in November,down from 9,000 in July.Deeksha Dhawan, astudent, in her Nano LX. Satisfied owners likeMs. Dhawan cite its fuel economy and roomyinterior. Though car sales have shot up acrossIndia, because of an economy that is growingat nearly 9 percent annually, sales of the Nano

have been falling for the last four months. Itsmaker, Tata Motors, sold only 509 Nanos to itsdealers in November — a stark contrast to the9,000 it delivered in July. Last year, when me-dia coverage and auto writers’ praise werestoking demand, Tata had orders for more than200,000 Nanos, which has a list price startingat about $2,900.

But as Tata has struggled with problems likeproduction delays and fires in some of thecars, rival cars like the Maruti Suzuki Alto haveovertaken the Nano. The Alto, which starts at$6,200 here, had sales of more than 30,000in November, making it India’s best-selling carlast month.

On Thursday the Tata company announcedthat it would extend the warranty on the Nano,including those that have already been sold, tofour years, from 18 months.

The Nano’s celebrated rollout had helpedprompt other big automakers, like GeneralMotors and Renault-Nissan, to announce plansfor ultracheap people’s cars of their own forsale in India and other developing countries.Those would-be competitors are still expectedto appear in the next two years.

But the Nano’s poor showing could givepause to corporate executives and policy mak-ers, eager to see goods and services sold topeople of modest means.

DREAMin flames

An overview of foreign press

Tata’s Nano, The Car That Few Want To Buy


N ANO W O N D E RAnalysts say the Nano situation demon-

strates it may not be sufficient to make cheap-er, smaller versions of existing products to winover that broad base of customers.Companies, they say, must also make sure theproducts are widely available and are seen assafe, useful and alluring.

“The bottom of the pyramid continues to bewhere the action is,” said Hormazd Sorabjee,editor of Autocar India, a magazine. “But theaspirations of people are moving up. Peoplewant to jump into something more substan-tial.”

That seems evident from the booming carmarket in India, where total sales climbedmore than 22 percent, to nearly 203,000 inNovember. The most popular cars here aresmall, fuel-efficient hatchbacks that sell for$10,000 or less. Maruti Suzuki, a division ofthe Japanese auto maker Suzuki, now sellsnearly half of all cars here.

Tata Motors, which is part of India’s biggestbusiness conglomerate, the Tata Group, ranksthird behind Hyundai of South Korea, whosetop seller is the i10, a small car that starts at$7,800.

Tata, which started as a locomotive andtruck maker, has gradually built market sharein the car business over the last 20 years onthe strength of modestly priced cars and sportutility vehicles. The Nano was Tata’s big bid toshake up the car market in India and then goglobal — first in other developing countriesand then, if all went as planned, Europe andpossibly even the United States.

The idea had been to sell the same Indianversion of the Nano in other developing mar-kets, but offer a more powerful and costlierversion in developed countries. The Indianmodel is a four-door car that can seat up tofive people; its air-cooled engine is in the back,like the original Volkswagen Beetle.

The Nano was the brainchild of Ratan Tata,the chairman of the Tata Group, who told hisengineers to build a car that would sell for100,000 rupees ($2,200) to people whowould otherwise be making do with motorcy-cles and scooters. It is common to see Indianfamilies of four riding on motorcycles with thefather upfront, the mother sitting sidesaddlewith a baby in her arms and a child sand-wiched between them.

But the Nano has been troubled almostfrom its inception. The company’s productionplans were thrown off kilter in 2008 whenfarmers, led by regional politicians, protestedthat the state of West Bengal had forcibly ac-quired land at low prices for a factory wherethe Nano and its parts would be made. Tatahad to relocate the factory to another state,Gujarat — causing it to take more than a yearand a half to fill orders for the first 100,000cars.

More recently, the Nano has been hurt by re-ports of fires in a handful of cars. In one wide-ly publicized instance, a family was taking itsnew Nano home from a dealership in Mumbaiwhen smoke started billowing from the back ofthe car. Soon, the entire car was engulfed inflames. There were no injuries — other than tothe Nano’s image.

Tata Motors has steadfastly denied thatthere was anything wrong with the car’s designor its parts. It has said that fires were causedby “foreign electrical equipment” found on topof the exhaust system. It has offered to retro-fit Nanos with extra safety features and hastaken pains to say that its offer does notamount to a recall.

But analysts, customers and others havefound those explanations and the company’soffer wanting. What were these foreign ob-jects? What is the function of the new safetyfeatures, and why weren’t they part of the carin the first place? “The company has just mis-handled the whole thing,” said Darius Lam, ananalyst at J.D. Power & Associates. “First, thecompany said it was no big deal. Then, it wasjust some foreign objects.” Mr. Lam addedthat it was still not clear what had caused thefires and whether the problem had been fullyaddressed. In a written response to questions,the company said that it had thoroughly inves-tigated the fires and found that the car wassafe, but that it had decided to improve the ex-haust and electrical systems to reassure cus-tomers.

A spokesman says sales of the Nano arenow back on the rise, as the company makescars available for immediate purchase in moresites around the country, rather than takingonly orders. The company has also started dis-playing the car and offering test drives throughnew small showrooms in smaller cities toreach people who may not be comfortablewalking into conventional car dealerships.

“As we began open sales, our learning wasthat, even though the Tata Nano is affordablefor thousands of customers who do not own acar, it is still a significant decision to enter thefour-wheeler category,” Debasis Ray, a com-pany spokesman said in a written statement

for this article. Recently, the company beganrunning advertisements for the car that stressits power and durability. One newspaper ad, forinstance, features an owner who says he tookhis car to the Himalayas, climbing steepslopes with ease.

Some Nano owners — there are now morethan 71,000 — praise the car’s performance,its fuel efficiency (41 miles or more to the gal-lon) and its surprisingly spacious interior.

“I have really enjoyed driving the car,” saidDeeksha Dhawan, a 21-year-old architecturestudent whose father bought the top-endNano, which she has decorated with stickersof Mickey Mouse, for about $5,500. The fam-ily’s primary car is a WagonR, a bigger hatch-back made by Maruti Suzuki, which starts at$7,400. But many small-car buyers said thatthey preferred the Alto, which has a bigger en-gine, more storage space and a longer trackrecord than the Nano. Jatin Layazawala, aMumbai businessman, recently bought an Altoafter considering a fully equipped Nano, whichhe said would have cost only $800 less.

Mr. Layazawala said he had driven a friend’sNano. “I was happy, but then I said I was look-ing for a car that would be sturdy for longdrives,” he said. “I think it’s a dinky car.”

Despite the Nano’s rough road so far, ana-lysts say that Tata Motors, which also ownsJaguar and Land Rover, has the financial andtechnical resources to turn the situationaround. But first, they say, Tata has to moreclearly answer questions about the car’s safe-ty. And then it has to come up with a bettermarketing and sales strategy.

“The sales numbers don’t really reflect whatwill be the long term potential for it,” said Mr.Sorabjee of Autocar. “It’s early days.”

Kainaz Amaria for The New York Times

Ratan Tata handing over the keys to the first buyer of Tata Nano


T ROPHY TA L K

President and founder of AsianAmerican Coalition USA (since1988) Dr. Parveen Chopra who is a

well known celebrated leader in Americanpublic life with many prestigious and na-tional awards like Liberty Bell Award onLAW DAY USA 2010 for his civil rightswork in America, Haywood BurnsMemorial Award for 2009 for civil rights,Dr. Martin Luther King Award for 2005 forcivil and human rights movement inAmerica for twenty years as a commis-sioner of Human Rights and as it’s chair-person, Ellis Island Medal of Honors for2005 for significant contributions toAmerican public life, One HundredBlackmen Award for 2003 for improvingIndian and African-American communityrelations etc. among many other awardssaid we had to create a national AsianAmerican Coalition USA Hall of FameAwards to honor outstanding Americansand Asians to the AACUSA Hall of Fame.Americans have recognized and honoredthe work of so many outstanding Asiansthat we felt obliged to honor and inductoutstanding Americans for their nationaland international contributions on a na-tional Asian platform. We appreciate whatother great Americans have done for usand new we want to do the same in a mu-tually appreciative way.

It is astonishing that Indians as part ofAsians community have lived in USA forover four decades while other Asians havespent over one hundred years that theystill do not have any national platform tohonor Americans and other Asians.African Americans who account for overthirty million have powerful national plat-forms like National Association for theAdvancement of Colored People, UrbanLeague, Dr. Martin Luther KingFoundation, One Hundred Black Men Inc.etc. where even the President of USA willattend and honor outstanding Americanson their behalf annually. Similarly the thir-ty four million Hispanic Americans have astrong coalition in the form of Coalition ofAmerican Spanish Associations whichprovides strong advocacy for their causesand recognizes contributions of others.When it comes to the Asians who accountfor 14.9 million in the recent census ofAmerica there is no known national plat-form either for their own Asian advocacyor to relate to other communities or to rec-ognize their leadership or contributions to

America and international community. Weare trying to build a dirt road that will leadto an airport to take off from AACUSA INC.The Fourth Conglomeration of fourteenAsian countries in America inducted sev-en outstanding Americans to the AACUSA Hall of Fame Awards for the secondtime in 2010 in New York.

Asian groups have fascinating culturesthat they have brought with them and per-fected it to suit their tastes and haveachieved so much in America profession-ally and entrepreneurially, but they arestill absorbed in themselves at their owncountry level. The fascinating and thrillingstories of their achievements and their

fascinating cultures need to be spreadout beyond their own community andshared with the larger world in America.The information technology now has givenus the tools to add a certain degree of im-mortality to the work and contributions ofsuch communities that could last fordecades and centuries and give a senseof glorious history to immigrant communi-ties in future.

The AAC USA 2010 Hall of Fame in-ductees included a galaxy of stars whohave done very distinguished work notonly in America but also internationally byimproving the lives of so many people inso many ways: by bringing change througha successful strategy to use governmentresources to change the lives of millionsof people and create a climate to fosterentrepreneurship and by cutting taxes forthe common man, creating more than15,000 jobs during his seven terms as alegislator, creating a senior citizen andcommunity center, and receivingCongressional Award for community serv-ice (Life Time Achievement Award forNassau County Executive HonorableEdward P. Mangano, AACUSA Hall of FameHonoree-USA); or by giving judicial deci-sions at supreme court level on leadingcase laws to guide the judicial system inboth civil and criminal cases that removethe inequities in the social, economic andpolitical systems (New York StateSupreme Court Justice Honorable DanielPalmieri, Hall of Fame Honoree-USA ); or

by setting up a great Institute of IndianCulture in the form of Bhavan USA, or-ganizing eighth World Hindi Conference atthe United Nations, authoring over sixteenbooks in several languages, organizingmost elegant functions at Lincoln Center,Avery Fisher Hall to showcase Indian cul-ture and being honored with nationalawards like Padma Shri in 2009 andBharatiya Samman Award in 2006 (Dr.Panchapakesa Jayaraman, Hall of FameHonoree-India); or by superbly leading theactivities of the largest mosque inManhattan as Imam, presiding over theaffairs of Indonesian Muslim Communityin New York, founding Universal ClergyCoalition International, becoming“Ambassador of Peace” for InternationalReligious Federation in 2002, beingawarded 2009 Ellis Island Medal of Honorfor building bridges of understanding andrepresenting in The White House on inter-faith discussions (Imam Shamsi Ali, Hallof Fame Honoree-Indonesia); orby illumi-nating minds by outstanding researchand teaching at world famous institutionslike Columbia, NYU, New York PublicLibrary, Nanging, Chanchun, Tamakang,East China Normal Univ., advisor toBeijing, China and other countries, pre-siding over Books for China Fund, alsopresiding over U.S.-China Cultural andEconomic Council, New York (John T. Ma,Hall of Fame Honoree-China); or by lead-ing as a professor in RehabilitationMedicine at Albert Einstein College ofMedicine, creating many patents includingsafety cannjula, pneumatic limb exsan-guinations device etc., mitigating the ef-fects of natural calamities by helping floodvictims in Dhaka, BanglaDesh in 1987and in Nepal in 1993, running charity clin-ics and medical camps in Nepal, Bronxand upstate New York, presiding over theAmerica-Nepal Friendship Society as wellas Association of Nepali Terrain inAmerica (Dr. Binod P. Shah, Hall of FameHonoree-Nepal); or by earning a rare Ph.D.in music education in Japan and trainingmany teachers at the Taichung TeachersCollege and assisting many colleges toconduct their choruses in Taiwan. Givinghighly successful performances withTaiwan Center Chorus and Tenafly Singersat the Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Centerand at Alice Tully Hall several times (Dr.Ping-Heng Chen, Hall of Fame Honoree-Taiwan)

And the award goes to...Fourth conglomeration of Asian American cultures & hall of fame awards for 2010

HALL OF

FAMEawards2010


T ROPHY TA L K

America Life Time Achievement Honorable Edward P. Mangano: Nassau County

Executive representing 1.3 million people since2010. Served as Nassau County Legislator for 17thLegislative District for seven terms. Created morethan 15,000 jobs. Created Senior Citizen andCommunity Center. Congressional Award for commu-nity service among many others. On the Board ofmany charitable organizations like Children’s HouseInc. etc. Cut down $22 million in taxes in the veryfirst 100 days in office. Has plans to reduce $100million more and decrease property taxes.

America Honorable Justice Daniel Palmieri: Judgein Nassau County Court and Acting Justice of theNew York Supreme Court presiding over civil andcriminal cases. Serving judiciary since 1994.Previously served in District Courts and JudicialHearing Officer in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Abrilliant scholar and speaker on jurisprudence.Excelled in academics, and editor of monthly law jour-nal. Published many trend setting legal decisions inNew York State Official Reporter and New York LawJournal. Previously served in well known law firms.

China Mr. John T. Ma: Extensive teaching and re-search at several world known public libraries anduniversities: Columbia, NYU, New York Public Library,Nanjing Univ., Chanchun Univ. Tamakang Univ., EastChina Normal Univ., etc. Advisor to Foreign Languageand Teaching Research Press, Beijing, China and oth-er countries. President, Books-for-China Fund,Flushing, New York. President, U.S.-China Culturaland Economic Council, New York.

India Dr. Panchapakesa Jayaraman: Founder ofBharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA in New York City a pre-mium Institute of Indian culture and Languages.Organized eighth World Hindi conference at theUnited Nations in partnership with Government ofIndia. Organized several programs at Avery FisherHall, Lincoln Center etc. Authored 16 books in sev-eral languages and still writing more volumes.President of India honored him with highest presti-gious national awards: Padma Shri (2009) andParvasi Bharatiya Samman Award (2006) and manyothers.

Indonesia Imam Shamsi Ali: Chairman ofIndonesian Muslim Community in New York and Imamof the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. BoardMember of many inter faith organizations. FoundedUniversal Clergy Coalition International. AttendedWhite House interfaith discussion in 2007.Appointed “Ambassador for Peace” by InternationalReligious Federation in 2002. Awarded 2009 EllisIsland Medal of Honor for building bridges among re-ligious communities.

Nepal Dr. Binod P. Shah:Asst. Prof. of RehabilitationMedicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.Helped flood victims in Dhaka, BanglaDesh in 1987.Ran a charity clinic and medical camps for those whocould not afford in Nepal. Helped flood victims inNepal in 1993. Helped under served Americans inBronx, Queens and upstate New York. President ofAmerica-Nepal Friendship Society. President ofAssociation of Nepali Terrain in America. Holds manypatents including Safety Cannula as well asPnuematic Limb Exsanguination Device. Taiwan Dr.Ping-Heng Chen: Earned Ph.D. in music education inJapan and worked as a professor of music at theTaichung Teachers College. Assisted many collegesto conduct their choruses around the country. Hismajor accomplishments include performances withthe Taiwan Center Chorus and Tenafly Singers atAvery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center and at Alice TullyHall at Lincoln Center several times.

Asian American coalition USA 2010 hall of fame inductee awards

Honorable Tom Dinapoli,Comptroller for the State of NewYork while addressing the Hall of

fame 2010 inductees, leaders of four-teen Asian countries and cultural groupspresent representing Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Burma, China, India,Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lankaand Taiwan congratulated the honoreesand commended the Asian AmericanCoalition for acting as such a strongfoundation of cultural and ethnic identity.Honorable Dinapoli said, “the rich her-itage of the Asian American communityin New York has had a deep and lastinginfluence on our entire state. He saidyour commitment to nurturing relation-ships and promoting understandingamong diverse cultural groups is ad-mirable and serves as an example to usall”. New York City CouncilmanHonorable Peter Koo said, “I commendthe great work done by the leadership ofAAC USA who are bringing great honor tothe Asian American community in NewYork as well as America.”Assemblywoman Honorable Grace Mengalso supported the pioneering work ofAAC USA and congratulated the hon-orees for their great accomplishments inbuilding the bridges of understanding inAmerica.

New York State Governor Hon. DavidA. Paterson indicated, “Since its found-ing, the Coalition also has been commit-ted to increasing the visibility of AsianAmerican communities across this Stateand Nation by fostering the positive de-velopment of Asian culture and identity,and strengthening relations with othercommunities and countries. In providinga voice for the entire Asian population,you cultivate greater understanding andappreciation of your shared heritage.”New York City Mayor Hon. Michael R.Bloomberg said, “ …and I commend AA-CUSA for ensuring that hard-working peo-ple of many different backgrounds havethe opportunity to pursue their dreamshere in the United States.” United StatesSenator Charles E. Schumer said, “Sinceits founding the AAC has dedicated itselfto promoting the social, cultural, and en-trepreneurial endeavors of the Asian-American community in New York andaround the country. Through working withgovernment officials, local agencies, andcommunity groups the AAC has improvedthe quality of life for many New Yorkers.I applaud and commitment and dedica-tion the Asian American Coalition hasprovided to the Asian-American commu-

nity and New York.” New York CityComptroller Hon. John C. Liu indicated,“The AAC continuously strives to improveunderstanding and relations amongAsian countries and your commitment toexcellence, service and leadership hasmade an impact on all communities.”Senator Frank Padavan pointed out,“Thanks to the vision of President andFounder Dr. Parveen Chopra and count-less members, the Asian AmericanCoalition USA, Inc. has embodied thedistinct characteristics that make ourcommunity great.” Honorable JohnVenditto the Town of Oyster BaySupervisor said, “For over two decades,your wonderful organization has mademany meaningful contributions towardthe advancement of this nation and its

ideals and for this, I thank you. On behalfof the Town of Oyster Bay, I commendPresident Chopra and the officers, staffand supporters of the Asian AmericanCoalition Inc. for their tireless work inbringing greater diversity and promotingunderstanding among cultural groups inall of our communities at large.”

The fourth cultural extravaganza pro-gram was a great hit and had many starsfrom various countries performing on thesame stage in New York City. Traditionaldance of Sri Lanka was performed byVigneshwari & Group. “A LittleUmbrella” was presented very gracefullyby Taiwan Center Chorus Dance Groupand “Taiwenese Folk Song Medley” byJack Hsu, Erhu Virtuoso of Hsu-namiHard Rock. Ridgewood Nepali Societypresented national song – Pashchim KoiPurva Ghar (Your calling has brought youto the west but your home and heart arein the east) brought many nostalgic mo-ments across cultures. AnotherNepalese dance was presented to theheart warming sounds of audiencewhere the dancer obliged their most ap-preciative sections by throwing smallrubber balls to them that were receivedwith great reverence with heart warmingsounds from the audience.

The fourth cultural extrava-ganza program was a greathit and had many stars fromvarious countries performingon the same stage in NewYork City. Traditional dance ofSri Lanka was performed byVigneshwari & Group.

FACE OF INDIA


Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is an annual affair,which is organized by the Government ofIndia to recognize the contributions of

NRI's and PIO's who have excelled in theirchosen fields. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is anInternational event held every year in the firstweek of January. The event offers a platformwhere all discusses issues concerning theIndian Diaspora. As India marches ahead tobecome a global player, the role of PIO com-munity becomes extremely important becausethey remains the face of India to the globalcommunity.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs andFICCI sponsored the first Pravasi BharatiyaDivas. The event was celebrated in the year2003 from January 9 to January 11. The mainhighlight of the first event was to create 'con-sciousness of Global Indian Family'.

The second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas aimedat having close interaction of the IndianDiaspora with the Central and State govern-ment to define new policy initiatives for theDiaspora and exploring business opportunitiesin India within the Diaspora.

The third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was heldin Mumbai and attended by large number ofIndian political and business leaders, profes-sionals, scientists and innovators from IndianDiaspora. The third Pravasi Bharatiya Divasprovided a unique networking opportunity andalso strengthened India's relation with theIndian Diaspora.

The fourth one was held in Hyderabad in theyear 2006 with the focus on Indian Diasporaknowledge network, opportunities in educa-tion, Indian Diaspora youth and a lot many top-ics.

The History of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas heldannually clearly shows that main highlights andobjectives of the events so far has been to pro-mote understanding and relation of the IndianDiaspora with India and benefiting both in the

process. The event has also attracted largenumber of celebrities like political leaders,business leaders etc. making it more interest-ing and enriching for the participants. It offeran opportunity to create networking withinDiaspora and interaction with the policy mak-ers in India provides an opportunity to comecloser to policy makers for facilitation eradica-tion of grievances, bottle necks and redtapism.

The Diaspora Services Division of theMinistry deals with all matters related toOverseas Indians, comprising Persons ofIndian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians(NRIs) which are not specifically allocated toother Ministries/Departments of theGovernment of India or other Divisions of the

Ministry. These include organization of PravasiBharatiya Divas conventions and Mini-PBDs,conferment of Pravasi Bharatiya SammanAward, dissemination of information concern-ing admission of NRI/PIO students to variouseducational, technical and cultural institutionsin India wherever discretionary quota forNRI/PIO students exists and issues related toNRI women. The following schemes are run bythe Diaspora Services Division: OverseasCitizenship of India (OCI), Know IndiaProgramme (KIP), Scholarship Programme forDiaspora Children (SPDC), Tracing the Roots,Establishment of PIO/NRI Universities in India,Legal And Financial Assistance to IndianWomen Deserted by their Overseas IndianSpouses.

India acknowledge PIO roleNATION BUILDING

Mini PBDs are essentially Regional PBDsorganized to reach out to a vast majori-

ty of our Diaspora, who for various reasons,are unable to attend the main event in Indiaand benefit from its deliberations. This is inresponse to a strong and persistent demandfor holding such events regionally.

PBD-New YorkThe first mini-Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

(PBD) was jointly organized by the Ministry ofOverseas Indian Affairs, Confederation ofIndian Industry and Overseas IndianFacilitation Centre on 23rd September, 2007at New York, as part of the India@60 event.The central theme for PBD-New York was‘Engaging the Diaspora: The way Forward’.This was subsequently carried-over as thetheme for PBD-2008 and it has since beendecided that this will be the central theme toanchor-on for all future PBDs.

PBD-SingaporeA mini PBD titled ‘PBD Singapore’ was or-

ganized on 9-11 October 2008 in Singaporein partnership with the Singapore IndianChamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI)and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

and support of the Government ofSingapore. The tagline for the event was“PBD Singapore : Towards a Dynamic IndianDiaspora”. The tagline for the event was“PBD Singapore: Towards a DynamicDiaspora”. Plenary sessions were plannedon: “India : Scenarios for the NextGeneration”, “Sustainable Development”,and “Asia Pacific Diaspora – Towards aDynamic Diaspora” while concurrent ses-sions were held on “Science & Technology :from Lab to Market”, “Tourism & Hospitality”,“Finance & Banking”, “Youth & Education”,“Arbitration & Business Dispute Resolution –The Way Forward” and “Infrastructure –Access, Connectivity & Growth”.

GOING REGIONAL

GOPIO International Chairman Inder Singh with GOPIO Regional Vice President ( NorthAmerica ) Dr Piyush Agrawal with members of newly formed chapters GOPIO Los AngelesEast and GOPIO Los Angeles South West

NEW GOPIO CHAPTERS IN USAAND CANADAFour new GOPIO chapters have been established with-

in the last month in the USA and Canada: GOPIOEdison , New Jersey (Contact: Arvin Sood, President [email protected]); GOPIO Los Angeles East,California (Contact: Mahesh Parekh, President at [email protected]); GOPIO Los Angeles South West,California (Contact: Ashok Madan, President [email protected]); GOPIO Toronto East, Canada(Contact: Jay Banerjei, President at [email protected])

GOPIO International Regional Vice President (NorthAmerica) is enthusiastic about the new chapters formedand "look forward to more GOPIO chapters being estab-lished" to service the NRI/PIO community in USA andCanada .


FACE OF INDIA

By Dave Makkar

Like America, India is also run byUnionized Gangsters posing asPoliticians, Bureaucrats, Judiciary,

Big Businesses, Religious leaders andMedia in the name of Democracy. The onlydifference is the Unionized Gangsters inAmerica has legalized Corruption &racism with the help of Zionist and IndianGang Members have yet to learn how tolegalize Corruption & Racism whereZionist have only Zionised the IndianDefense Department and Parliament only.

Just for example take state of NewJersey in America. It is the only state inthe entire world where in 8,000 sq milesfor 8.5 mil people there are 587 local gov-ernments and 1 state government in 566Racialy carved out 566 Kingdoms withover 9,000 Elected Scoundrels and over466,000 Employees with little or no workappointed for political reasons. The statebudget is $38 bil and local governmentbudget is 37 billion and state has a deficitof $150 billion in unfunded liabilities likeemployee pension, medicare and trans-port fund. This state has the highest prop-erty tax which is double the US NationalAverage and highest cost to educate a

student 3-5 times the US national aver-age as well as highest in the world.$18,000/ student in rich Kingdoms and$28,000.00 in poor Kingdoms and still250,000 can not read and write andUnionized Politicians say Oh! These kidscan not comprehend in basic education.

In last 9 years my Property tax hasgone up by 160% and my medical insur-ance for a family of 4 has gone up by225% and my real wages has gone downby 35% . This drop could have been moreif I had not fired my 3 full time Employeesand have not refinanced my house twicein last 2 years first for 15 years then for30 year mortgage when I was left withless than 9 more years to pay. Now mywife & myself put in 140 hours and nowwe have 1 part timer only. In the meantime CEO salary has gone up by 300%-1500%, cost to operate our Bank account(interest not included on borrowings) hasgone up by 400% and cost to run for USCongress has gone up from $1-5 mil to$15-70 mil which is an increase of 500-1300%.

In US Democracy Gangsters are gettingrich day by day and common people aregetting poor day by day. Banks can getmoney from Federal at practically 0% and

lend it to common people at 32-35% an-nualized interset. This year Bankers havegot only 35-65% pay raise; my heart goesout for these poor Bankers! TodayAmerica has more than 50 mil poor whichis 17% of US Population that includes 20mil unemployed and 44 mil on foodstamps.

Indian Gangsters can come to NewJersey to take training in how to avoid in-cidents like Radia Tapes and how to startthe Neta Ji Rojgar Yojna where more than470,000 Political Leaders and theircronies can be gainfully employed legallyin the name of “New Jersey Style HomeRule” for every 8.5 mil residents. Thequestion of demanding bribes can besolved legally and how to make sure peo-ple of different income group and racesdo not interact can also be solved by cre-ating Kingdoms based on financial andracial status. The Indian Gangsters canlearn the art of how not to show the worldlargest population of 800 mil poor of Indiaincluding 85 mil world’s largest Child la-bor Army. It is the only country in the worldwhere filthy rich and filthy poor live side byside and 667 mil Indians defecate in theopen on the face of those who are callingIndia is shining.

Indian Rulers Must Take Lessons From USA ToAVOID FUTURE RADIA GATES

Media persons waited outside the farm-house cum residence of high-profile corporate lobbyist Niira Radia recently as a CBI team questionedher in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam, in New Delhi


GIVING ALL

By Inder Singh

“We make a living by what we get, but we makea life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

Philanthropy is an act of contributingpersonal wealth, goods, time, and/oreffort to charitable or similar causes topromote the common good. People do-

nate for a variety of reasons – to promote aworthy or favorite cause, reduce income andestate taxes, or simply share with the societywhich has given them the opportunity toachieve and earn. There are several examplesof Americans who have given back to commu-nity for worthy causes. Andrew Carnegie, theFord family, the Rockefeller family, WarrenBuffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and manymore who gave substantial amount and alsotook advantage of deductions that reduce thehigh tax rates on their income.

Among Indian Americans, there are somesocially conscious individuals who have donat-ed liberally for various causes over the years.In 1912, there was Jawala Singh who had be-come a successful potato farmer in the SanJoaquin valley of California. Singh had startedas an unskilled farm laborer in America andwithin a short span of a few years, he workedhis way up to become a wealthy potato farmer.He was motivated to fund the Guru GobindSingh Sahib Educational Scholarships, whichwere given to students through a competitionheld in India for higher studies at an Americanuniversity. He also contributed towards the pur-chase of a hostel in Berkley, California by thePacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society, whereIndian students could stay rent-free. Singh’sscholarships helped some Indian students, in-cluding Gobind Behari Lal who came for gradu-ate studies at the University of California,Berkeley in 1912. Gobind Behari Lal later be-came the science editor of San FranciscoExaminer from 1925 to 1982 and in 1937 wasthe first Indian to win the coveted PulitzerPrize.

After the liberalization of United States im-migration laws in 1965, Indians who migratedto the USA were previously educated and qual-ified as doctors, engineers, accountants andhigh-tech professionals. A majority of the stu-dents from India also adopted America as theirnew home after acquiring higher educationfrom American universities. Thus, higher edu-cation and professional qualifications helpedthem to secure high level jobs providing a gate-way to middle-class life. Over a period of time,several became successful professionals andentrepreneurs resulting in some donating gen-erously towards community causes. These af-fluent Indian Americans have been transform-ing the Indian philanthropic landscape by fund-ing educational projects, establishing hospi-

tals, and supporting medical research thatbenefit the public at large. Some have giftedpart of their wealth for local causes in the USwhere they have earned their wealth while oth-ers reached back to their roots and gave forIndia-centric projects. There are some whohave directed their contributions to both Indiaand America. These donors first used their en-ergy, abilities and time to acquire wealth andthen they walked away from part of it if not all,to give back to the society that had given them.Almost all the wealthy philanthropists whohave given large donations have gifted to es-tablished institutions benefitting the society atlarge. But, whether the beneficiary is Indian so-ciety or American, Indian American philanthro-pists are making a noticeable difference withtheir increasing level of generosity.

Rajendra Vattikuti made his fortune resolv-ing computer software problems connectedwith Y2K and donated $40 million in 2001 tosupport cancer research. That gift establishedthe Vattikuti Urology Institute at the Henry FordHealth System and the Vattikuti CancerInstitute at William Beaumont Hospitals inDetroit. Monte Ahuja, like most of the studentswho came in the 1950s and 1960, broughtbarely enough money to buy food for a day.Monte founded Transtar Industries and built itinto the most successful after-market trans-mission parts distributor in the world. He do-nated $30 million to University Hospital inCleveland for the Ahuja Medical Center in theCleveland suburb of Beachwood. The dedica-tion ceremony of the first phase of the 53-acrehealth care campus on November 13, 2010 in-cluded ribbon cutting featuring Monte Ahuja,his wife Usha, daughters Ritu and Manisha,and son-in-law Neil Sethii. Monte and UshaAhuja’s donation was the largest single dona-tion in the 140-year history of that university.

Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder and chair-man of Sycamore Networks in Boston,Massachusetts, and his wife JaishreeDeshpande, established the DeshpandeCenter for Technology Innovation at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)School of Engineering with a $20 million gift in

2002. The Deshpande Foundation funds over50 NGOs in India in the areas of agriculture,microfinance, livelihood, education and health.Dr Kiran Patel and his wife Dr Pallavi Patel gave$18.5 million in 2005 to the University ofSouth Florida to build the Kiran C Patel Centerfor Global Solutions on that university campus.The large donation entitled the university to getstate matching funds of $16 million totalingthe donation worth $34.5-million. Both thePatels have contributed generously to severalother philanthropic projects in Tampa, Florida,such as a performing arts conservatory and aresearch center at Pepin Heart Hospital. InIndia they have set up a rural village restora-tion project in Gujarat while in Zambia theyhave set up Patel Hospice Center in Lusaka,Zambia and a heart hospital in Dar-e-Salaam,Tanzania.

Vinod Gupta, founder and CEO of InfoUSA,has set up Vinod Gupta Charitable Foundationand established the Vinod Gupta School ofManagement and the Rajiv Gandhi School ofIntellectual Property Law at the Indian Instituteof Technology in Kharagpur and Shrimati RamRati Gupta Women's College at his birth placeRampur, William Jefferson Clinton Science andTechnology Center, and Hillary Rodham ClintonMass Communication Center for Journalismand Media Management. Raj Soin, chairman ofMTC Technologies in Dayton, Ohio, through hisRaj and Indu Soin Family Foundation donated$20 million to establish Raj Soin College ofBusiness at Wright State University, supportsthe Soin Scholar Program, which funds theMBA education at Wright State University forthree graduates every year from Delhi Collegeof Engineering, his alma mater and has estab-lished a non-profit 55-bed Sukh Dev Raj SoinHospital in rural Haryana. In September 2009,the Soin Foundation donated $3 million toDayton, Ohio’s trauma and emergency centerfor children which was also renamed, SoinPediatric Trauma and Emergency Centerii.

Krishan Joshi, founder and chairman ofUES, Inc, a high-technology research companyin Dayton, Ohio established the Krishan andVicky Joshi Research Center in 2006 at the

PHILANTHROPY RULESIn Indian American Community

Over a period of time, several became suc-cessful professionals and entrepreneurs

resulting in some donating generously towardscommunity causes. These affluent Indian

Americans have been transforming the Indianphilanthropic landscape by funding educational

projects, establishing hospitals, andsupporting medical research that

benefit the public at large.

NOVEMBER 2016 I 49

GIVING ALLWright State University College of

Engineering and Computer Science with his do-nation of $10 million. John P. Kapoor, a nativeof Amritsar, who came to the USA for graduatestudies with a fellowship from the University ofBuffalo, in Buffalo, New York, gave $11 milliontowards the construction of new building forthe School of Pharmacy and PharmaceuticalSciences in 2008. Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, aSilicon Valley entrepreneur with over twodecades of leadership and management expe-rience in the technology industry, donated $5million in 2008 for bioscience center to hisalma mater Indian Institute of Technology,Bombay where he had received a bbachelor’sdegree in Electrical Engineering.

Anand Julka and his wife, Dr. Neeraj Julkadonated $6 million in May 2010 for scholar-ships to graduates of Cleveland's highschools to pursue degrees in teaching, nurs-ing, engineering and computer science. Julka’sgift is the largest in Cleveland State University(CSU) history. The university will name the ed-ucation and human services building as JulkaHall. Julka obtained a master's degree in in-dustrial engineering from CSU in 1974. Heserves on the board of the CSU Foundation.He is a mechanical engineering graduate ofIndian Institute of Technology in India. He isthe president and founder of Cleveland, Ohiobased information technology company SmartSolutions Inc. Dr. Prem Sagar Reddy, a cardi-ologist in Victorville donated $1 million toVictor Valley Community College DistrictFoundation to support School of Allied Healthand Nursing in 2003. He has also donatedabout $8 million to various health care caus-es. Bhupesh Parikh and his wife Kumud con-tributed $1 million for the Bhupesh ParikhHealth Sciences and Technology building atGlendale Community College, California. Dr.Ushakant Thakkar and his Indonesian wife Dr.Irma Thakkar donated $1mllion to Simi Valley(California) Hospital in August 2010, for theexpansion of emergency room services. Theyown and operate Kidney Center of Simi Valley– a renal dialysis center – near the hospital.iii

In the past few years, the number of Indiarelated chairs or programs in the notable uni-versities have increased several folds.Presently, such programs are in existence atColumbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania,University of Texas at Austin, and University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, University of Californiaat Los Angeles, University of Chicago, IndianaUniversity, State University of New York atStony Brook and at many more universities.

The primary goal of funding a chair or pro-gram at a university is to establish an endow-ment to create awareness and understandingof some aspect of India’s culture such as arts,music, literature, drama, philosophy, religion,languages, social and political system. The in-come from the grant is used in a variety ofways such as hosting of lectures, seminars,research conferences, publication of books,offering courses to students, encouragingstudy abroad and similar activities to achievethe objectives outlined by the endowment. In1992, the Indian community made contribu-tions for an India chair at University of

California, Berkeley. At the same time, Prof.Thomas Kailath established Sara Kailath Chairin India Studies at the University of California,Berkeley. Narpat Bhandari, a co-founder of TheIndus Entrepreneurs (TIE) in Santa Clara,California, endowed the Chandra BhandariChair in India Studies at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz, in 1997. Silicon Valleyentrepreneurs Talat and Kamil Hasan estab-lished the Kamil and Talat Hasan Endowed

Chair in Classical Indian Music with their do-nation at University of California, Santa Clara.

Navin Doshi donated funds to create Doshichair of Indian History in University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles (UCLA), and an an-nual Bridge Builder Award of $10,000 atLoyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.Uka Solanki funded the Yadunandan IndiaCenter at California State University, LongBeach. Dr. Mohinder Sambhi, ProfessorEmeritus at David Geffen School of Medicineat the University of California donated $2 mil-lion in 2007 to John Hopkins University inWashington for setting up the Centre of IndiaStudies in memory of his wife Minno. Dr.Sambhi who was born in Ludhiana, had donat-ed $1 million for a chair in Indian classical mu-sic in UCLA in memory of his late wife.

Drs. Amrik Singh Chattha and JaswinderKaur Chattha of West Virginia endowed a chairfor Sikh Studies at the University of Michiganat Ann Arbor in the memory of their parents.Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany established theKundan Kaur Kapany Chair of Sikh Studies atthe University of California atSanta Barbara in 1998 andendowed a Chair of

Opto-Electronics at the University of Californiain 1999. He also has established SatinderKaur Kapany Gallery of Sikh Art at the AsianArt Museum in San Francisco. Dr. Jasbir SinghSaini Endowed Chair in Sikh and PunjabiStudies has been set up at University ofCalifornia, Riverside, with donation from Dr.Jasbir Singh Saini Trust. Dr. Harish RawalNeurosurgeon Jackson, Michigan gave $1 mil-lion in Feburary, 2008 to Jackson CommunityCollege for Rawal Center for HealthProfessions. Dr. Rawal and his wife Sudha,also donated $50,000 to Jackson High Schoolfor a scholarship in memory of his mother whobecame widow when he was only nine yearsold.

Dr. Awtar Singh established a fully fundedannual fellowship at the University of Californiaat Berkeley for a top student from PunjabEngineering College in Chandigarh for graduatestudies. He also established a fully endowedfellowship with the University of Colorado atBoulder that pays $5,000 annually to a gradu-ate or an undergraduate student with a parentor grandparent of Indian Origin. Lajpat RaiMunger of California donated land worth Rs 20crores to the Punjab University in 2006 for set-ting up law and nursing institutes. JagdishKhangura, an electrical engineer turned busi-nessman, started “Baba Kartar Singh DukkiHigher Secondary School in village Larata, dis-trict Ludhiana, Punjab in memory of his grand-father. He created “Baba Kartar Singh DukkiEducational Trust with endowment of Rs. 30lakhs to meet the needs of students for books,bicycles, clothes, scholarships, etc. KartarSingh Dukki was an active member of theGadar Party and worked in the Gadar Printingoffice in San Francisco during the beginning ofthe Gadar Movement.

Darshan Singh Dhaliwal who operates over1000 gas stations has donated $2.5 million toCardinal Stritch University (Milwaukee,Wisconsin), $1 million for a chair at theUniversity of Wisconsin, (Milwaukee,Wisconsin), $200,000 for Modern LanguageLaboratory at the University of Wisconsin,(Parkside, Wisconsin), $100,000 for a soccerpark and the list of his beneficiaries runs long.California native Hardit Singh Aurora has gift-ed an endowed chair in Sikh and Punjabi stud-ies at the History Department of the University

of California in Santa Cruz inmemory of his son

Sarabjit Singh Aurora.

O P I N I O N E X P R E S S

In the past few years, the number ofIndia related chairs or programs inthe notable universities have in-creased several folds. Presently,such programs are in existence atColumbia, Harvard, University ofPennsylvania, University of Texas atAustin, and University of California atBerkeley, University of California atLos Angeles, University of Chicago,Indiana University, State University ofNew York at Stony Brook and atmany more universities.

SEXIEST KAT!FHM 100 Sexiest Women - the definitive and most democratic

search for the sexiest women in the world crowned Katrina Kaif asthe winner…again! Katrina is the only woman in the world to win

the title three times - a first across all 28 FHM editions around theworld.

Marc Cain, the international luxury brand joined hands with FHM tocelebrate the success of the edition. Katrina Kaif unveiled the cover ofthe magazine in the presence of Kabeer Sharma, Editor, FHM India andPunit Agarwal, MD, Marc Cain. FHM International has been making the100 Sexiest List for the last 17 years, in India the list has over the last4 years grown to be an authoritative and unapologetic poll of womenIndian men love. Katrina has before this been polled the sexiest womanin the world in 2008 and 2009 and replaces the 2010 winner DeepikaPadukone. The List is based entirely on SMS and online polling and sawmore than 35,000 votes being cast this year.

Canvas, the venue saw the swish set of Mumbai rub shoulders withone other while sampling the delectable hors de oeuvres. Attendees in-cluded the likes of Narendra Kumar, Vinay Khosla, Angad Bedi, GauravChopra, Karishma Tanna, Hanif Hilal, Alex O'Neil and many more, whohad a great evening.

"Katrina Kaif seems to have become a permanent feature on the topof our 100 Sexiest List...we might as well dub it the Katrina Kaif issue.FHM and Katrina Kaif are a match made in magazine heaven. Her av-erage is more than Sachin Tendulkar's which in itself is quite a feat,"says Kabeer Sharma, Editor FHM.

Punit Agarwal, MD, Marc Cain said "Marc Cain as a brand exempli-fies beauty, class and panache and The FHM 100 Sexiest Women wasa property which fits the prospect right. Katrina Kaif is a global icon andwas a worthy choice as coronated by the FHM team. It has been a won-derful association and we hope to look forward to many more such oc-casions"

The event was managed, coordinated and executed by ApexEntertainment.

The 100 Sexiest List 2011FHM's top 100 Sexiest Women in the World has only grown from

strength to strength year on year. It is sexier and hotter than ever be-fore. This rarity of an event was much appreciated and welcomed by all.The wowed positions of 'sexiest women' are awarded by readers. Thisyear as the event got bigger and better the competition got tougher too.Breaking all boundaries the list included names from across the conti-nental borders and beyond the worlds of glamour and fashion.

Katrina Kaif has been voted the Sexiest Woman in the world 2011 byFHM. The FHM 100 Sexiest Woman poll is based entirely on online pollsand SMS the winner of which goes on to appear on the cover.

It becomes even more significant because no woman in the worldacross all 28 International editions has ever won the Sexiest Woman inthe World title three times in the last 17 years that FHM Internationalhas been making the list. In India though she's achieved this in a merefour years - at par with Sachin's average. She replaced DeepikaPadukone who won the title in 2010.

Other interesting faces on the list are Priyanka Gandhi (21), FatimaBhutto (34), Shereen Bhan (78).

The top 10 winners are2. Deepika Padukone3. Kareena Kapoor4. Vidya Balan5. Rosie Huntington Whiteley6. Sonakshi Sinha7. Priyanka Chopra8. Aishwarya Rai9. Mallika Sherawat10. Anushka Sharma

cyrus mistry was sacked as the chairman of the tata sons · 2019-11-28 · not just about his...

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