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CONTENTS

YES 87%

Last week’s result

NO 13%

This week’s question

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Bollywood ---------------------- 22-23

Classifieds ------------------------- 47

Community Post -------------- 12-20

Date Book -------------------------- 41

Edit Page --------------------------- 49

HealthScience Post --------- 36-39

Horoscope ------------------------- 28

Immigration Post ------------- 42-45

Life Style ----------------------- 24-27

Philosophy ------------------------- 48

Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate ------------------------ 40

Sports Post ------------------------ 21

TechBiz Post ------------------- 34-35

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 29-31

Was India lax in evacuatingcitizens from Libya?

Details on page 12

Details on page 7

Details on page 8

Details on page 27

Details on page 9

Washington DCopens doors to'maximum India'

Details on page 34

Details on page 42

Details on page 8

Details on page 9

Details on page 9

FIA Chicagohonors AldermanAmaya Pawar

INDIA RUSHES IAF,NAVY TO LIBYA

Big evacuation effort launched

Indian evacuees from Libya leave the international terminal at the airport in New Delhi, on February 27

India Post News Service

NEW DELHI: Facing criticism over lethargy and delayin evacuation of Indians from strife-torn Libya, the Indiangovernment has ordered the IAF and Navy into the opera-tion to bring back the stranded Indians in the North Afri-can country.

By Thursday March 3, 7,000 of the 18,000 Indianstrapped in the North African country had been evacuatedafter four special Air India flights brought 1,188 Indians

home. The Indian Air Force (IAF) also flew a transportplane to Libya to help in the evacuation.

It is the biggest evacuation effort mounted by Indiaafter the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that forcedthousands of Indians in the country to flee to Amman, thecapital of Jordan, from where they were flown home.

Three Air India flights - two Boeing 747s and one Air-bus-330 - brought back 1,045 Indians from Libyan capitalTripoli on March 2.

Details on page 6

Rajat Gupta charged for insider tradingSRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Influential Indian American businessconsultant Rajat K. Gupta, has been charged March 1 ofinsider trading, by the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion (SEC).

Gupta, 62, is the latest, and perhaps the most highprofile of the 26-odd individuals who have so far falleninto the federal investigators' dragnet since the massiveinsider trading scam began to unravel with the arrest of

Sri Lanka-born Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Managementin 2009.

The SEC announced that Connecticut-based Gupta,who has served on the boards of directors at GoldmanSachs and Procter & Gamble and was formerly managingdirector of McKinsey for almost a decade, is charged forillegally tipping Galleon Management founder and hedgefund manager Raj Rajaratnam with inside informationabout the quarterly earnings at both firms as well as animpending $5 billion investment by Warren Buffet's Berk-shire Hathaway in Goldman. Details on page 7

Ald Ameya Pawar responding

to FIA guests and members

Most TVU studentstransferring toother universities

Details on page 6

2 desi jewellersfaked robberyfor insurance

Arkansas doctorgets life sentencefor bomb attack

Indian EmbassylaunchesFacebook page

Consulate callsfor registrationof NRI voters

Gulshan Groverin PETAcampaign

‘Indian economywill beat US,China by 2050’

Congress partysummonedby US Court

US ranks ninth inimmigrantsintegration

Ameya Pawar’s triumph willinspire others

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Bollywood:Six-timerPriyanka Chopra of "7 Khoon Maaf"fame, says she would love to marry atleast six times in real life too.

1Cover Story:Libya Indians

12Community:Pawar honored

24Life Style:Immigrant IndiansThe story of the Guptas of Gujarat re-flects on the grit, determination and hardwork of immigrant Indians.

21Sports:

Led by Kevin O'Brien’s century, Irelandpulled off the biggest upset beating En-gland by 3 wickets in the World Cup.

35Techbiz:

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hasaccused the Centre of blocking invest-ment proposals worth over Rs lakh crore.

29Travel:KasauliThe beautiful hill station was built in19th century by the British and it hasan old-world charm.

Investment blocked

FIA Chicago hosted a luncheon to honorAmaya Pawar, the first-ever Asian Ameri-can Alderman elected to the City Council.

The Indian government has ordered the IAFand Navy to bring back the stranded Indi-ans in strife-torn Libya.

Biggest upset

I have nothing personal against Sarah Palin. Here's a woman, who is at besta standing joke among late night show hosts, not to mention political sati-rists - call them comedians if you will. And a headline story for the main-

stream media that covers her every move, almost paranoid that they might becaught napping while she snatches the next Presidency of the United States -irrespective of whether she is qualified for the job or not.

If anything, this woman today is a former governor and a former Vice Presi-dential candidate who lost her bid three years ago. Known more for her glaringgaffes than political acumen; more for her hairstyle and frame of glasses thanfor a coherent foreign policy, she is today just what she is: a reality televisioncelebrity.

So why am I etching this critical appreciation of this former Alaska gover-nor? Well, she has been invited as a keynote speaker at the India Today Conclavein New Delhi on March 19, to deliver a speech on 'My vision of America'. I do notexactly understand why Sarah Palin's vision of America is so important forIndia, and I understand even less why some Indian Americans are so kicked upabout her visiting India.

While the Indian American Conservative Council seems to think that sincePalin has been a strong pro-business conservative, it was only fitting that shetravel to New Delhi what with India being an economic partner with the US.What they are not highlighting is that the former governor is not necessarily agoodwill ambassador. Palin is known to charge at least $100,000 per appear-ance anywhere; and at nearly $2,000 a pop for registration, the organizers canwell afford a little celeb relief at their conclave.

Further in a statement, the IACC congratulates Palin for "making India herfirst international destination…" Wow, so that's an honor for India - like ifPresident Obama can make the Indian Prime Minister his first state guest at theWhite House, Palin makes India her first international destination, right?

Sure, Palin has the appeal of a celebrity. But that's about as much as she's got.

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India rushes IAF, Navy to LibyaBig evacuation effort launched


NEW DELHI: Facing criticismover lethargy and delay in evacu-ation of Indians from strife-tornLibya, the Indian government hasordered the IAF and Navy into the

operation to bring back thestranded Indians in the North Af-rican country.

By Thursday March 3, 7,000 ofthe 18,000 Indians trapped in theNorth African country had been

Punjab govt constitutes rehabilitationcell for immigrants

CHANDIGARH: To facilitaterehabilitation of immigrants ofPunjab origin from strife-tornLibya, the Punjab governmenthas constituted a 'RehabilitationCell' here.

The decision to constitute thecell headed by Director DisasterManagement Bhawna Garg, wastaken by Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal here in a meeting,an official spokesman said.

An apex Committee compris-ing Financial Commissioner(Revenue) A R Talwar, PrincipalSecretary (Home) D S Bains and

Principal Secretary to Chief Min-ister D S Guru has been consti-tuted under the chair of ChiefSecretary S C Agrawal to lookinto the policy issues involvedin the rehabilitation process.

The state government hasalso set up a 'help desk' at IndiraGandhi International Airport,New Delhi under the supervi-sion of Resident CommissionerPunjab Bhawan, New Delhi KSiva Parsad for extending all pos-sible assistance to the immigrantsfrom Libya to enable them to reachtheir homes comfortably. -PTI

evacuated after four special AirIndia flights brought 1,188 Indi-ans home. The Indian Air Force(IAF) also flew a transport planeto Libya to help in the evacuation.

It is the biggest evacuation ef-fort mounted by India after theAugust 1990 Iraqi invasion ofKuwait that forced thousands ofIndians in the country to flee toAmman, the capital of Jordan,from where they were flown home.

Three Air India flights - twoBoeing 747s and one Airbus-330 -brought back 1,045 Indians fromLibyan capital Tripoli on March2.

Three daily flights shall con-tinue to Tripoli over the comingdays and these may be steppedup, said the external affairs minis-try.

Responding to criticism thatthe government had been slow inevacuating its citizens from Libyacompared to countries like the USand China, Foreign SecretaryNirupama Rao tweeted that "In-dia has chartered ships and air-

craft. Please believe me when I saythis. I will not comment on theChinese statistics..."

Alarmed over the worseningcrisis, which has killed between1,000-2,000 people in a little overtwo weeks, nearly 140,000 people,Indians included, have fled thecountry, which is feared to be hur-tling towards a protracted civil war.

Jet Airways is also operatingflights to Tripoli. A Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a passenger ca-pacity of 178 is ferrying Indians.

India is dispatching two navalwarships, including its largestamphibious vessel INS Jalashwato evacuate its citizens. "We aresending INS Jalashwa along withINS Mysore from Mumbai toLibya to bring back Indians stuck

there," Navy officials said here.The two ships will take at least

eight to ten days to reach Alexan-dria in Egypt and from there launchto one of the ports in Libya. Theover 27,000 tonnes Jalashwa cancarry more than 1000 passengersand has adequate medical facili-ties.

The MEA has already hired aship Scotia Prince which can ferry1,200 passengers. "The ship is al-ready in Egypt and readying forsail to Benghazi which will be theinitial focus of the evacuationoperations," the MEA said.

Indian companies, many ofwhich are based in Libya for de-cades, have also offered to workwith the Indian Embassy in Tri-poli in facilitating evacuation.

Indian evacuees from Libya arrive at the airport in New Delhi, on February 27

Two desi jewellers fakedrobbery for insurance


NEW YORK: Two IndianAmerican Manhattan jewellerswho allegedly faked a movie styleheist in their store in an attemptto claim $7 million in insurancemoney are currently facing trial inthe Manhattan Supreme Court.

Business partners Atul Shahand Mahaveer Kankariya alleg-edly hired two men to dress up intraditional orthodox Hasidic Jew-ish clothing - apparently inspiredby the Guy Ritchie movie Snatch- with fake guns in an elaborateset up to fool their insurance com-pany and police on Dec 31, 2008,prosecutors said.

"They were going broke. Todeal with their financial problems… the defendants tried a desper-ate gamble," Assistant DistrictAttorney Eugene Hurley wasquoted as saying by local NewYork media.

Prosecutors say the conspira-tors blew their cover because of amajor misstep: in preparation forthe staged heist, the men allegedlypoured industrial strength draincleaner onto a digital video record-ing device that took electronic feedfrom security cameras inside DialiteImports on West 46th Street.

But little did they know that thechemical did not actually damagethe recording, and digital footagerecovered by investigators alleg-edly revealed the shop owners fill-ing the safe with empty jewelryboxes prior to the heist, along withother incriminating scenes, pros-ecutors said. The point of de-stroying the DVR was "so no onewould see how fake the robbery

seemed," Hurley said. "Unfortu-nately for the defendants, thedrain cleaner had to seep downinto the motherboard of the DVRin order to destroy it."

"No real robbers would ever actlike these guys," the ADA added.

The guns were found hidden

above a ceiling tile just last yearby a maintenance worker paintingthe room 511 office the defendantsoccupied, the worker testified.

During the brazen New Year'sEve daytime heist, the allegedphony robbers pointed fake hand-guns and tied up Shah and an-other employee. That employeewas not charged, prosecutorssaid.

Shah and Kankariya have beencharged with insurance fraud, at-tempted grand larceny and falsi-fying business records. They al-legedly took out a massive liabil-ity plan just prior to the allegedfake robbery, but have not beenable to collect any insurancepayouts since the incident.

But lawyers for Shah andKankariya said the robbery wasreal, and blamed the disconnecton hours of intense interrogationsby law enforcement and insurancerepresentatives. BenjaminBrafman, Shah's lawyer, said theDA's theory was the work of onedetective who had twisted theevidence to fit the story. "This isa theory without a case, yourhonor. This is a theory without awitness," Brafman told Manhat-tan Supreme Court Judge ThomasFarber.

Shah and Kankariyahave been chargedwith insurance fraud,attempted grandlarceny and falsifyingbusiness records. Theyallegedly took out amassive liability plan

It is the biggest evacu-ation effort mountedby India after theAugust 1990 Iraqiinvasion of Kuwait thatforced thousands ofIndians in the countryto flee to Amman, thecapital of Jordan

India PostMarch 11, 2011 7

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Rajat Gupta charged for insider tradingSRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Influential IndianAmerican business consultantRajat K. Gupta, has been chargedMarch 1 of insider trading, by theSecurities and Exchange Commis-sion (SEC).

Gupta, 62, is the latest, andperhaps the most high profile ofthe 26-odd individuals who haveso far fallen into the federal in-vestigators' dragnet since themassive insider trading scam be-gan to unravel with the arrest ofSri Lanka-born Raj Rajaratnam ofGalleon Management in 2009.

The SEC announced that Con-necticut-based Gupta, who hasserved on the boards of directorsat Goldman Sachs and Procter &Gamble and was formerly manag-ing director of McKinsey for al-most a decade, is charged for il-legally tipping Galleon Manage-ment founder and hedge fundmanager Raj Rajaratnam with in-side information about the quar-terly earnings at both firms aswell as an impending $5 billioninvestment by Warren Buffet'sBerkshire Hathaway in Goldman.

"Gupta was honored with thehighest trust of leading publiccompanies, and he betrayed thattrust by disclosing their mostsensitive and valuable secrets,"said Robert Khuzami, Director ofthe SEC's Division of Enforce-ment. "Directors who violate thesanctity of board room confi-dences for private gain will beheld to account for their illegalactions."

The SEC's Division of En-forcement alleges that Gupta, afriend and business associate ofRajaratnam, provided him withconfidential information learnedduring board calls and in otheraspects of his duties on theGoldman and P&G boards.

The insider trading byRajaratnam and others generatedmore than $18 million in illicit prof-its and loss avoidance. Guptawas at the time a direct or indi-rect investor in at least some ofthese Galleon hedge funds, andhad other potentially lucrativebusiness interests withRajaratnam.

Gupta is just one more spoke -albeit a significant one - in thewidespread insider tradingscheme involving Rajaratnam'sGalleon hedge funds.

In the order that institutes ad-ministrative and cease-and-de-sist proceedings against Gupta,the SEC's Division of Enforce-ment alleges that, while a mem-ber of Goldman's Board of Direc-tors, Gupta tipped Rajaratnamabout Berkshire Hathaway's $5

billion investment in Goldmanand Goldman's upcoming publicequity offering before that infor-mation was publicly announcedon Sept. 23, 2008. Gupta calledRajaratnam immediately after aspecial telephonic meeting at

which Goldman's Board consid-ered and approved Berkshire's in-vestment in Goldman Sachs andthe public equity offering. Within

a minute after the Gupta-Rajaratnam call and just minutesbefore the close of the markets,Rajaratnam arranged for Galleonfunds to purchase more than175,000 Goldman shares.

Rajaratnam later informed an-other participant in the schemethat he received the tip on whichhe traded only minutes beforethe market close. Rajaratnamcaused the Galleon funds to liq-uidate their Goldman holdingsthe following day after the infor-mation became public, making il-licit profits of more than $900,000.

The SEC's Division of En-forcement alleges that Gupta alsoillegally disclosed to Rajaratnaminside information aboutGoldman Sachs's positive finan-cial results for the second quar-ter of 2008. Goldman Sachs CEOLloyd Blankfein called Gupta andvarious other Goldman outsidedirectors on June 10, when thecompany's financial performancewas significantly better than ana-lysts' consensus estimates.Blankfein knew the earningsnumbers and discussed themwith Gupta during the call. Be-tween that night and the follow-

ing morning, there was a flurry ofcalls between Gupta andRajaratnam.

Shortly after the last of thesecalls and within minutes after themarkets opened on June 11,Rajaratnam caused certain Gal-leon funds to purchase more than5,500 out-of-the-money Goldmancall options and more than350,000 Goldman shares.Rajaratnam liquidated these po-sitions on or around June 17,when Goldman made its quarterlyearnings announcement. Thesetransactions generated illicit prof-its of more than $13.6 million forthe Galleon funds.

The Division of Enforcementfurther alleges that Gupta tippedRajaratnam with confidential in-formation that he learned duringa board posting call about

Goldman's impending negativefinancial results for the fourthquarter of 2008. The call endedafter the close of the market onOctober 23, with senior execu-tives informing the board of thecompany's financial situation.

Mere seconds after the board call,Gupta called Rajaratnam, whothen arranged for certain Galleonfunds to begin selling theirGoldman holdings shortly afterthe financial markets opened thefollowing day until the funds fin-ished selling off their holdings,which had consisted of morethan 120,000 shares.

In discussing trading and mar-ket information that day with an-other participant in the insidertrading scheme, Rajaratnam ex-plained that while Wall Street ex-pected Goldman Sachs to earn$2.50 per share, he had heard theprior day from a Goldman Sachsboard member that the companywas actually going to lose $2 pershare. As a result of Rajaratnam'strades based on the inside infor-mation that Gupta provided, theGalleon funds avoided losses ofmore than $3 million.

Gupta served as a Goldmanboard member from November2006 to May 2010, and has beenserving on Procter & Gamble'sboard since 2007.

The Division of Enforcementalleges that by engaging in themisconduct described in theSEC's order, administrative pro-ceedings hereafter will determinewhat relief, if any, is in the publicinterest against Gupta, includingdisgorgement of ill-gotten gains,prejudgment interest, financialpenalties, an officer or directorbar, and other remedial relief.

Sanjay Wadhwa, Jason Fried-man and John Henderson - mem-bers of the SEC's Market AbuseUnit in New York - together withDiego Brucculeri and JamesD'Avino of the New York Re-gional Office conducted theagency's investigation, which iscontinuing. The SEC's litigationeffort will be led by KevinMcGrath and Valerie Szczepanikof the New York Regional Office.

Rajat K. Gupta

Arkansas doctor gets life sentence for bomb attackIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Little Rock,Arkansas doctor RandeepMann who had made a bizarreattempt to kill the ArkansasMedical Board chairman in abomb attack in 2009, has beensentenced to life imprisonmentby a federal court.

The Russellville doctor con-victed of orchestrating a bomb-ing attack on Dr. Trent Pierce,will spend the rest of his life inprison, having been convictedof several charges relating to the

Feb 4, 2009 attack.Local Arkansas publication

Arkansas Democrat Gazette re-ported that prosecutors arguedMann plotted the bombing in re-taliation for the board not rein-stating his permit to prescribemedication, which had been re-voked over concerns about sev-eral of Mann's patients overdos-ing.

US District Court Judge BrianMiller sentenced Mann to life and360 months in prison on twobombing counts, 10 years on threeweapons counts and 5 years on

obstruction counts. The weaponsconvictions included counts ofowning an unregistered machinegun and possessing nearly 100grenades found near Mann's PopeCounty residence.

Mann was also given a$100,000 fine with restitution to bedetermined within 90 days.

Pierce, who claimed the bomb-ing left him with only one "remain-ing but damaged" ear and eye,said he was sure the attack wasmotivated by the board's work tokeep Mann stripped of his license.

Mann's attorney, Blake Hendrix,

argued that people convicted ofmurder often receive less thanlife sentences, but Assistant USAttorney Michael Gorden coun-tered that the fact Pierce sur-vived had no bearing on Mann's"intent to kill."

Mann's wife, Sangeeta, whowas tried with her husband andfound guilty of two counts ofobstructing the investigationbut innocent of charges shelied to a grand jury, was sen-tenced to a year in prison. She,however, was allowed to remainfree pending appeal.

Gupta is charged forillegally tipping Gal-leon Managementfounder and hedgefund manager RajRajaratnam with insideinformation about thequarterly earnings atboth firms as well as animpending $5 billioninvestment byWarren Buffet's

Gupta tippedRajaratnam with confi-dential informationthat he learned duringa board posting callabout Goldman'simpending negativefinancial results for thefourth quarter of 2008.The call ended afterthe close of the marketon October 23

Pierce, who claimedthe bombing left himwith only one ‘remain-ing but damaged’ear and eye, said hewas sure the attackwas motivated by theboard's work to keepMann stripped ofhis license


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Washington DC opens doors to 'maximum India'


NEW YORK: In a glittering cer-emony on March 1, the John F.Kennedy Center for the Perform-ing Arts in Washington DC in co-operation with the Indian Councilfor Cultural Relations and Em-bassy of India inaugurated themagnificent festival "maximumIndia" which showcases India'srich and diverse performing arts.

Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chairof the Senate Caucus on India andIndian Americans; Indian Ambas-sador Meera Shankar; DavidRubenstein, Chairman of theKennedy Center; Michael Kaiser,President of the Kennedy Center;and Suresh Goel, Director General,Indian Council for Cultural Rela-tions addressed the august gath-ering at the inauguration.

James Steinberg, Deputy Sec-retary of State; Congressman EdRoyce, Co-Chair of the Congres-sional Caucus on India and IndianAmericans; Congressmen DanBurton and Jim McDermott; Will-iam Burns, Under Secretary ofState; Bruce Reed, Chief of Staffto the Vice President of the UnitedStates; Board Members of the

Kennedy Center and other promi-nent members of the Administra-tion and society were present in-cluding many from the IndianAmerican community.

Author Suketu Mehta, in athought provoking opening ad-dress talked of the flow of ideas

between India and the UnitedStates which had influenced eachother at important moments intheir history - from Thoreau toMahatma Gandhi to Martin LutherKing.

Michael Kaiser observed that,

"India amazes with the majestyand mystery of its culture. Its bril-liance is that it is a country of ex-tremes - intellect, innovation, sur-vival, and experimentation. Indiaoffers the maximum."

Senator Warner stated that asthe head of the US-India Caucus,it was his privilege to be associ-ated with a festival that brings thediversity of Indian arts to the US.David Rubenstein recalled his 40year association with India whichhe had first visited in "the foot-steps of the Beatles" and statedthat he was particularly pleasedthat this festival was being heldat the Kennedy Center when he isthe Chairman of the center.

Ambassador Meera Shankardescribed India as "a confluenceof civilizations with diversity andtolerance as its hallmarks". Shesaid that the economic transfor-mation, which India is currentlyundergoing, has also led to enor-mous creative ferment which isfinding reflection in literature,dance, music, theatre, cinema andthe arts.

She emphasized the vital roleof cultural exchanges and connec-tions between people in nourish-

ing this partnership. She quotedMahatma Gandhi who said, "I donot want my house to be walledin on all sides and my windows tobe stuffed. I want the cultures ofall the lands to be blown aboutmy house as freely as possible.But I refuse to be blown off my

feet by any."She thanked the Kennedy

Center for their hard work overthe past several years in devel-oping this festival, the ICCR forsupporting this festival and allthe Indian artistes who would

over the course of the next 20days provide a window intoIndia's soul.

Suresh Goel, Director General,ICCR, thanked the Kennedy Cen-ter for hosting the festival andbringing under one roof not onlythe artistes from the ICCR butalso troupes from India and in-ternationally positioned Indianartistes like Ustad Zakir Hussain.

There were graceful perfor-mances by Indian dancers,Madhavi Mudgil and AlarmelValli and a dazzling Tabla recitalby Ustad Zakir Hussain, alongwith others. The invitees also gotan authentic taste of Indian cui-sine representing all regions ofthe country, which was preparedby 12 award-winning chefs fromThe Taj, specially flown in fromMumbai.

This visual, auditory and culi-nary extravaganza of India, thatpromises to be a feast to all thefive senses, is available at theKennedy Center for the nexttwenty days. The eight troupessponsored by the ICCR will alsoperform in different cities of theUS including New York, Chicago,and Houston.

Most TVU students transferring to other universitiesIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: With four moreIndian origin students of thesham Tri-Valley University inCalifornia being relieved of anklemonitors (radio tags) by investi-gating agencies, in all 11 stu-dents are now off the shacklesleaving seven more to be freed.Immigration and Customs En-

forcement officials had radiotagged the Indian students follow-ing their shutting down of thesham university which was alleg-edly running an immigration racket.

There has been a concertedeffort on part of India, right fromIndia's foreign ministry to its em-bassy and missions in the US tovarious Indian American commu-nity organizations and legal firms

to help the nearly 1500 affectedstudents to navigate and fighttheir way through the system toeither go back to India or transferto other American universities forthe past one month.

In an advisory issued for thestudents on Feb 25, the IndianEmbassy in Washington DC saidit was continuing to its work, alongwith its Consulates, with the con-

cerned US authorities to providehelp to the affected students ofthe Tri-Valley University.

The Embassy said it has learntthat the ICE's Student Exchangeand Visitor Program (SEVP) is at-tempting to assist the former TVUstudents to continue their aca-demic pursuits in the US. Atpresent, a significant number ofthose students have begun the

process of transfer to a new aca-demic institution through theSEVP directly or reinstatementthrough the US Citizenship andImmigration Service (USCIS).

The SEVP has also providedspecific guidance for the stu-dents on its website and has setup a call center, the SEVP Re-sponse Center to answer spe-cific questions (703-603-3400).

There were gracefulperformances byIndian dancers,Madhavi Mudgil andAlarmel Valli and adazzling Tabla recitalby Ustad ZakirHussain, alongwith others

Author Suketu Mehta,talked of the flow ofideas between Indiaand the United Stateswhich had influ-enced each other atimportant moments intheir history

Ambassador Meera Shankar addressing the gathering (right) at the inauguration of the festival ìmaximum Indiaî at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC


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Indian Embassy launchesFacebook page


NEW YORK: Taking advan-tage of the growing influence andreach of social media, the IndianEmbassy in Washington DC onFeb 28 launched its Facebookpage.

The move is in keeping withIndian Ambassador to the US

Meera Shankar's effort to reachout the growing and vibrant In-dian American community.

"We are happy to announcethe launch of the Facebook ac-count of the Embassy. Please jointhe group and also invite other'friends of India' to join," Embassyspokesman Virander Paul said ina statement.

Consulate calls for registrationof NRI voters


NEW YORK: The Indian Con-sulate in New York has an-nounced on its website that Non-Resident Indians, who are 18 yearsof age and who have not acquiredcitizenship of any other country,may submit application for regis-tration in the electoral roll of theirconstituency in India as per theRegistration of Electors Rules,1960.

The applicant's name should

not have been registered earlierin the relevant constituency.

The application may be eithersubmitted in person directly to theRegistration Officer of the Con-stituency concerned in the Statesof Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam,West Bengal and Union Territoryof Pondicherry where AssemblyElections are to take place in 2011or sent by post, with relevantpages of the passport, duly at-tested by the Consulate Generalof India, New York.

More state specific guidelines may be accessed on the followingwebsites:

Assam http://ceoassam.nic.in;Kerala www.ceo.kerala.gov.in;Pondicherry www.ceopondicherry.nic.in;Tamil Nadu http://elections.tn.nic.in;West Bengal www.ceowestbengal.nic.in;

Congress party summoned by USCourt for 1984 anti-Sikh riots

India's efforts for UNSC end in'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'

SRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: At the close of2010, if India managed to win it-self a United Nations SecurityCouncil non-permanent seat,much credit has to go for thesavvy and flair for the spokenword of its Permanent Represen-tative to the UN AmbassadorHardeep Singh Puri.

India's candidacy for a perma-nent seat on the UNSC is well-known as are the Herculean ef-forts it has been making over theyears to gain support from mem-ber nations as they push for ex-pansion of the Security Counciland reform of the UN.

On March 2, at the UN head-quarters in New York, at an infor-mal meeting on the intergovern-mental negotiations on the ques-tion of expanding the membershipof the Security Council, Ambas-sador Puri began by drawing on apopular Bollywood movie to makehis point.

"When I entered this room thismorning," he said on the floor, "Ithought of drawing inspirationfrom a major Bollywood movie. Iknow Indian movies used to bepopular in Kabul. And in terms ofsize, as you would all know,Bollywood is bigger than Holly-wood. I was reminded of aBollywood movie of the last de-cade called Kabhi Khushi, KabhieGham, which can be loosely trans-lated as 'Joy sometimes, despairat other times.' The title of themovie summed up our effortshere."

Further, expressing his frustra-tion over the seemingly endlessnegotiations over the same, Am-bassador Puri said: I have spent37 years in the Indian Foreign Ser-vice. During nearly half this pe-

riod of time, the international com-munity has spent considerableeffort in achieving reform of theSecurity Council. We retire asAmbassadors quite early at 60. So,I don't have many more years left.But I want to give encouragementto my younger colleagues sitting

here behind me. One has justabout one decade, is very matureand also looks quite like me. Andthe other who is younger and hasabout 25 years left in the service.

What do I tell them?Do I tell them that something

terrible and awful should happen- and I hope this never happens -for the appropriate internationalarchitecture to be put in place?How do I tell them that there aresome in the Council who were vic-tors of a past war and say well, weare permanent members and con-tinue to perpetuate their privi-leged position? Do I tell them tobe blind to the fact that in themonths of January and February2011, more than 70% of theCouncil's meetings were on Afri-can issues and in terms of theamount of time spent, more than90% of the Council's attention wasfocused on African issues. Andyet there is no single permanentmember from Africa! Do I tell themthat in the instance of the LatinAmerican region, all slots havebeen filled up for the Council'selected seats till 2034 and so thereare no further opportunities?"

And he adds: My delegationis of the view that it will not augurwell for the reform or for the pro-cess if we were to try and containit, in which case it can take thewrong shape. I recall whatMachiavelli had said "The massis wiser and more constant thanthe Prince." I feel that reform willnot come about because of thewishes of a few, but only throughtraction from the floor in the Gen-eral Assembly. It will not happenbecause India wants it, but be-cause there must be real equitablerepresentation."

In conclusion, AmbassadorPuri said that India was both readyand willing to reach out to othercountries and to work in closecooperation with them with rea-sonable flexibility towards thegoal of achieving urgent reformof the (Security) Council in keep-ing with the changing realities ofthe current times.

NEW YORK: A US court hasissued summons to India's Con-gress party in connection with the1984 anti-Sikh riots, acting on aSikh rights group's petition charg-ing it with "conspiring, aiding andabetting" organized attacks on thecommunity.

A federal district court in NewYork issued summons to India'sruling party in a classaction lawsuit filedby Sikh organization'Sikhs for Justice'which has offices inNew York and India.

The Sikh grouphas charged theCongress with "con-spiring, aiding, abet-ting and carrying outorganized attacks onSikh population of India in Novem-ber 1984".

A statement issued by 'Sikhsfor Justice' said that the killingscould not be described as riotsand they were not confined toDelhi alone but were led by Con-gress leaders in 18 states and 100

cities."The gravity, scale and spe-

cially the organized nature of theseattacks was concealed by the In-dian governments' portrayingthem as 'November 1984 Anti-SikhRiots of Delhi,'" Gurpatwant SinghPannun, legal advisor to Sikhs forJustice said.

According to the government

of India's record a total of 3,296Sikhs were killed while a total of35,535 claims for deaths and inju-ries were received throughout In-dia, the group said.

The proceedings are still at thepre-trial stage here in New York. -PTI

Pravasi Bharatiya DivasConvention in Toronto

ANUPAMA PATEL

CHICAGO: The Indian Govern-ment has announced hosting aregional three-day PravasiBhartiya Divas in Toronto thisyear beginning June 9. It will beinaugurated by Vyalar Ravi, theMinister for Overseas Affairs, ac-cording to a release from the Chi-cago Consulate.

Regional conventions are heldon the lines of the PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) in differ-ent parts of the world. Four such

conventions have been held since2007. The first event was held inNew York in 2007, then inSingapore in 2008, The Hague in2009 and in Durban in 2010.

The Toronto event will focuson the Indian Diaspora in NorthAmerica and the Caribbean. Thisevent is being organized in part-nership with the Government ofCanada and the Indo-CanadaChamber of Commerce. Besides,the Indian Minister Ravi, the

Prime Minister of Canada is alsoexpected to attend the event.

The theme of this conferenceis "Building Bridges: PositioningStrategy of the Indian Diaspora".Other areas of focus will include aseminar on "Synergistic coopera-tion in Arts, Culture and Visualmedia", India Development Fund,Global Indian Network etc., andplenary sessions will specificallyfocus on comprehensive eco-nomic Partnership with India.

Hardeep Singh Puri

Do I tell them to beblind to the fact that inthe months of Januaryand February 2011,more than 70% of theCouncil's meetingswere on African issues.And yet there is nosingle permanentmember from Africa!

‘The gravity, scale and speciallythe organized nature of theseattacks was concealed by theIndian governments' portrayingthem as 'November 1984Anti-Sikh Riots of Delhi’


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Thomas quits as CVC as SC quashes appointment

File picture of President Pratibha Patil administering oath to Central Vigilance

Commissioner P J Thomas at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt has ruled that PJ Thomas'appointment as Central VigilanceCommissioner (CVC) is illegal.After the verdict was delivered,Mr Thomas resigned as thecountry's top man in charge offighting corruption.

The PM is now in the directline of fire of the Opposition sincehe headed the committee thatchose Mr Thomas.

Mr Thomas was selected inSeptember by the Prime Ministerand Home Minister. The thirdmember of their committee, Leaderof the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj,had objected strongly because MrThomas is accused of corruptionhimself in a criminal case that goesback to the early 90s, when he wasa senior bureaucrat in Kerala.

Like Ms Swaraj, the SupremeCourt has stressed during the trialthat Mr Thomas cannot be incharge of fighting corruption asthe Central Vigilance Commis-sioner when his own integrity isbeing questioned. Today, in itsjudgement, the court said, "Thetouchstone for the appointmentof the CVC is the institutional in-tegrity as well as the personal in-tegrity of the candidate."

The government, in its de-fense, had argued in court that thebiodata for Mr Thomas consid-ered by the PM did not refer tothe corruption charges against

him. The Supreme Court has re-jected that stand, stating that thecommittee headed by the PMshould have "gone beyond thedocuments" presented to it.

The court also said that the

government was incorrect in sug-gesting that because the post ofChief Vigilance Commissioner is aconstitutional one, the SupremeCourt is not entitled to review the

appointment. The court said that"the legality of the recommenda-tion can be brought under judi-cial review."

Ms Swaraj, who has voiced heropposition to Mr Thomas' ap-

pointment at different public fo-rums, tweeted after the verdict,"The dignity of the office of CVChas been restored." The Left andthe BJP now also want a debate in

Parliament on why the governmentinsisted on Mr Thomas as itschoice.

As Food Secretary in Kerala inthe early 90s, Mr Thomas cam-paigned aggressively for the im-

port of edible oil from Malaysia. Itlater emerged that the price paidfor the oil - palmolein - was un-justifiably high. He has since beencharged with corruption and con-spiracy.

Those charges are the reasonwhy his appointment has beenchallenged in the Supreme Courtby different Public Interest Litiga-tion cases.

Mr Thomas had repeatedlytold the court that the fact that hewas promoted over the last fewyears by the Vigilance Commis-sion proves that the chargesagainst him are incorrect andshould not affect his career.

His unceremonious exit comesat a time when the governmenthas been bruised black and blueby a flood of corruption scandals.

Mr Thomas was Telecom Sec-retary till he was made Central Vigi-lance Commissioner. The SupremeCourt, which is also monitoring theCBI's investigation into the spec-trum scam, suggested that it wouldbe inappropriate for Mr Thomas topreside over an inquiry that couldsubject his own actions in theTelecom Ministry to scrutiny. MrThomas then recused himself fromthe 2G investigation.-Agencies

I respect SC verdict, says PMNEW DELHI: Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh has said he re-spected the Supreme Court ver-dict on the quashing of the ap-pointment of P J Thomas as Cen-tral Vigilance Commissioner.

"I respect the Supreme Courtverdict," he said when asked tocomment on the apex Court judg-ment.

Parliament sources said that astatement would be made on be-half of the government in both theHouses.

A high-power committee,headed by the Prime Minister, hadcleared the appointment of Tho-mas, the then Union Telecom Sec-

retary, to the Constitutional post.Leader of the Opposition

Sushma Swaraj, a member of thethree-member high-power com-mittee, had made known her dis-agreement to the governmentproposal of appointing Thomasas CVC. Home Minister PChidambaram is the other member.

Dealing a big blow to the Cen-tral government, the SupremeCourt struck down the appoint-ment of Thomas as CVC, holdingthat the recommendation made bythe high-powered panel did notconsider the relevant material and,therefore, its advice "does notexist in law".-PTI

Nitish criticizes Centerover Thomas verdict

PATNA: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar has hailed as "his-toric" the quashing of the appoint-ment of CVC P J Thomas by theSupreme Court and said the Cen-tre had never faced such an em-barrassment.

Welcoming the judgment as"historic and important", Kumarsaid, "Never before such situationoccurred at the national level. TheCentre has also not faced such anembarrassment before."

The chief minister said the ver-dict had proved beyond doubtthat the democracy of the coun-try was "very very strong."

"The Centre in this case has de-liberately overlooked the facts andlater defended the decision. Now itis for the Centre to decide what stepsit wants to take in future."

Ridiculing the Centre, Kumarsaid, "The judgment is like kirkiri(particle of dust) falling in theeyes of Centre." -PTI

PM, Sonia morally responsiblefor SC ruling: BJP

NEW DELHI: The BJP has saidPrime Minister Manmohan Singhand Congress President SoniaGandhi are "morally responsible"for the Supreme Court ruling de-claring the appointment of CVC PJ Thomas as illegal.

"In the last 60 years, it hasnever happened that an appoint-ment made by the Prime Ministerhimself has been declared illegalby the Supreme Court. The PMand Sonia Gandhi are morally re-sponsible for it and they shouldaccept this," Chairman of BJP Par-liamentary Party L K Advani toldreporters here.

BJP president Nitin Gadkarisaid the quashing of the appoint-

ment of Thomas by the SupremeCourt is a "slap" on thegovernment's face.

He said whatever wrong hasbeen committed in the appoint-ment of the CVC cannot be recti-

fied now."Sushmaji had raised this issue

before the PM but they did notlisten to her. If the governmenthad considered it then theywouldn't have to face the quash-ing of the appointment," he toldreporters.

Sources in the party said BJPis not likely to demand the resig-nation of the Prime Minister onthe issue which has proved to bean embarrassment for the govern-ment.

The BJP chief also said thathad the UPA government adoptedan e-tendering policy, corruptionwould not have taken place in the2G spectrum allocation.-PTI

‘Honest PM to defend dishonest acts’KOLKATA: A top Bengal CPI-

M leader has said it is unfortu-nate that a "good and honest"Prime Minister like ManmohanSingh has to defend all sorts ofdishonest acts and shoulder the"misdeeds" of Congress and otherUPA constituents.

Reacting to the Supreme Courtjudgment quashing the appoint-ment of P J Thomas as CVC, CPI-

M Central Committee memberMohammad Selim told reporters,"It is unfortunate that as an aca-demician, economist, good bu-reaucrat and good prime minister,he has to defend all sorts of dis-honest acts. I feel pity for him."

He said being a good man wasnot enough, though it had giventhe Congress an additional ad-vantage during the Lok Sabha

election."One is judged by his work,

particularly when one is holdingthe post of prime minister," Selimsaid.

Selim, a member of the party'sstate secretariat, said one felt pitythat he sought to defend the in-defensible while interacting witheditors of the electronic media re-cently. -PTI

The court also said thatthe government wasincorrect in suggestingthat because the post ofChief Vigilance Com-missioner is a constitu-tional one, the SupremeCourt is not entitled toreview the appoint-ment. The court saidthat ‘The legality of therecommendation canbe brought underjudicial review’

Sources in the partysaid BJP is not likelyto demand theresignation of thePrime Minister onthe issue


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INTERACTIVE SESSION: US Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard (R) talks with Confederation

of Indian industry (CII) National Committee chairperson Chanda Kochhar during an interactive session in New Delhi

on March 3. Brainard participated in a moderated discussion on India, US and global economic and

financial sector development

PAC may summon Radia,some prominent journalists

NEW DELHI: Parliament's Pub-lic Accounts Committee may sum-mon corporate lobbyist NiiraRadia and some prominent jour-nalists who figure in the tapedconversations with her relating toportfolio allocation in the UPA-IIcabinet and the 2-G spectrum con-troversy.

Sources said Radia and at leasttwo journalists are likely to beasked to appear before the PACat its next meeting. However, thedate has not been fixed for themeeting and the PAC has not yetintimated the persons to be called.

The complete list of persons tobe summoned by the PAC has also

not been finalized but some morenames may be included, thesources said.

In the taped conversations,which were leaked to the media,Radia is heard talking to seniorjournalists about how the TelecomMinistry should be given toDMK's A Raja. She is also askingthem to take up the issue with se-nior Congress leaders.

The PAC, which is examiningthe CAG report that pegged theloss in the 2-G spectrum scam atRs 1.76 lakh crore, has, among oth-ers, heard the CBI director whowas asked to appear before thepanel. -PTI

1000 copters being boughtfor armed forces

NEW DELHI: In a massivemulti billion dollar acquisition pro-gram, the Indian Armed Forcesplan to induct more than 1,000 in-digenous and foreign helicoptersfor attack, transport and utilityoperations by the end of this de-cade.

The choppers to be inductedinto the Army, Navy and Air Forceinclude around 450 light utility, 12VVIP, over 200 attack, 139 Mi-17transport and 15 heavy-lift heli-copters and over 50 multi-role he-licopters for the Navy, DefenseMinistry officials toldPTI here.

Giving details of thevarious deals, they saidthe contract to replaceand augment the exist-ing Cheetah and Chetakfleets of the ArmedForces is expected to befinalized by the end ofthis year.

"The trials havebeen completed and af-ter analyzing the evalu-ation report, a vendor would bechosen to supply 197 LUHs to theArmy and the Air Force," an offi-cial said.

Another 187 similar chopperswould be produced indigenouslyby the Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL) and its design hasalready been completed, he said.

The Navy is also planning toprocure more than 60 twin-enginechoppers to replace its vintageCheetah and Chetak helicoptersand has already initiated the ac-quisition process for the purpose.

To strengthen its fleet of Rus-sian Mi-35 and Mi-25 combat he-

licopters, the IAF is planning toacquire 22 attack helicopters forwhich Boeing's Apache 64-D andRussian Mi-28 are the contend-ers.

"Trials for the tender have beencompleted and the report has beensubmitted with the Air Headquar-ters and the deal would be signedin the near future," the official said.

The HAL is also developingthe Light Combat Helicopter(LCH), 200 which will be suppliedto both the IAF and the Army tomeet their demands.

By mid-2011, India will alsostart inducting 139 Mi-17 helicop-ters from Russia, which would beinducted in batches within two tothree years.

The first 80 choppers wouldaugment the present fleet and theremaining will take care of theones to be phased out in the nearfuture, the officials said.

They said the IAF is also in fi-nal stages of trials for procuring15 heavy-lift helicopters to replacethe fleet of Russian-origin Mi-26.

Russian Mi-26 and the Boeingtwin-rotor Chinook 47D are in therace for the tender.-PTI

Mamata not to contestBengal Assembly poll

KOLKATA: Trinamool Con-gress chief Mamata Banerjee hassaid she would not contest theAssembly elections in West Ben-gal and campaign for her party.

In case her party wins, shewould get elected to the Assem-bly within six months, the RailwayMinister said.

"It is not mandatory to contestthe elections. I will campaign formy party," Banerjee told report-ers at her Kalighat residence be-fore leaving for Delhi.

Asked what she would do if her

party is elected to power andforms the next government,Banerjee said in that case shecould get elected to the Assem-bly within six months for whichthere is a constitutional provision.

"Now if I devote myself tocampaigning, I can concentratemore on my work. I will continueas Railway Minister and fulfill mycommitment," she said.

Banerjee had said earlier thatthe list of her party candidates forthe Assembly elections wasready. -PTI

Pakistan's Minority Affairs MinisterBhatti shot dead

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Mi-nority Affairs Minister ShahbazBhatti, a Christian who hadsought changes in the controver-sial blasphemy law, was assassi-nated in a gun attack here, thesecond top leader of the ruling PPPto be killed this year for demand-ing reform of the harsh statute.

42-year-old Bhatti's car wasambushed near his residence bythree to four gunmen in Sector I-8at about 11.20 am local time in abrazen attack.

Only Bhatti and his driver GulSher were in the car and the min-ister was not accompanied by anysecurity guard at the time of theattack, police said.

Bhatti, the only Christian mem-ber of Pakistan's Cabinet, was thesecond senior leader of the rulingPPP to be assassinated in nearlytwo months. On January 4, PunjabGovernor Salmaan Taseer wasgunned down by a police guardwho was angered by his opposi-tion to the blasphemy law.

"There were three to four at-tackers who intercepted theminister's car a short distance fromhis home. The attackers targetedonly the minister and not thedriver," Islamabad police ChiefWajid Durrani told reporters.

The driver ducked below thedashboard as the gunmen firedindiscriminately at the minister. At

least eight bullets hit Bhatti,Durrani said.

The attackers, who were trav-eling in a white car, were clad insalwar-kameez. The gunmen es-caped after the brazen attack.

The gunmen threw severalpamphlets in Urdu at the site ofthe attack that linked the attackon Bhatti to his opposition to thecontroversial blasphemy law.

The pamphlets, issued by'Tanzim Al Qaida Tehrik TalibanPunjab', said any one who insultedProphet Mohammed would begiven the death sentence.

The pamphlets also said anysort of blasphemy or change inthe blasphemy law would not betolerated.

Bhatti was rushed to Shifa In-ternational Hospital, where he wasdeclared dead on arrival.

Hospital spokesmanAzmatullah Qureshi said Bhattiwas hit by several bullets.

Though Bhatti had been pro-vided two escort vehicles withpolice and paramilitary guards, hehad instructed the security detailto wait at his office as he visitedhis mother, police chief Durranisaid.

He acknowledged that therewas a threat to Bhatti's life andthat was the reason why he hadbeen provided two escort vehicleswhile other ministers were givenonly one.

Reports said Bhatti visited hismother, who lives a short distancefrom his official residence, everymorning.

Bhatti was attacked shortly af-ter he drove out of his mother'shome. -PTI

‘The trials have been com-pleted and after analyzing theevaluation report, a vendorwould be chosen to supply197 LUHs to the Army and theAir Force,’ an official saidShahbaz Bhatti

India Post www.indiapost.com March 11, 2011

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Edison groups fight over permit tohold India Day Parade



NEW JERSEY: In what has be-come an embarrassing - althoughnot surprising - situation for theIndian American community inNew Jersey, rivalry between twogroups is likely to jeopardize theIndia Day Parade in August thisyear.

However, claiming to be therightful organizers of the parade,the Indian Business Association(IBA), an umbrella organization ofthe various Indian businesses onOak Tree Road between Iselin,Edison and Woodbridge, has fileda lawsuit in the Superior Court ofNew Jersey, against the EdisonTownship and its Mayor for de-nying them the permit to hold theparade this August.

Edison Mayor AntoniaRicigliano has purportedly deniedIBA the permit when IBA and arival group failed to reconcile andarrive at a compromise to work to-gether.

On March 2, Attorney for theIBA Frank C. Fusco said the IBAwas forced to file papers in court,

to guarantee the right of the In-dian people to celebrate their In-dependence Day. Court papersstate that the Township has placedunreasonable restrictions on theIndian people to celebrate theirIndependence Day, which action,it is alleged, has violated the freespeech and assembly rights of theIndian community, as well as theirrights of due process.

The controversy has been inthe making for over six months

now. Following the Parade on Aug8, 2010, organized for the sixth con-secutive year by the IBA and over100 of its supporting organiza-tions, one Bimal Joshi under thebanner of the Oak Tree BusinessAssociation (OTBA) applied for apermit from the Edison Township

to conduct the 2011 parade.However, as the court papers

show, Fusco said that on the dateof applying for the permit, OTBAwas a non-existent entity underthe NJ State law.

When IBA attempted to file itsapplication for the permit, it wastold that permits were granted ona "first come first serve basis" andthat someone else had alreadyapplied for it.

Sometime in September, OTBA

was granted conditional approvalby the Township, despite the factthat their application was defec-tive and incomplete.

The IBA, which had meanwhileobtained approvals from theMiddlesex County andWoodbridge Townships, reap-

plied in November for a permit fromEdison.

Interestingly, in December,Edison Township withdrew itsapproval given to the OTBA for,among other things, having failedto obtain Middlesex County ap-proval; and by January 2011, IBA'sapplication was the only one onthe table having obtained eventhe Police and Health Departmentapprovals.

Last month, Mayor Riciglianocalled for a meeting at the Town-ship offices between representa-tives of the IBA, OTBA, whichwas also attended by their respec-tive attorneys and other Townshipofficials. At the meeting, the IBAwas notified that unless the twoparties worked together on thisyear's parade and reached anagreement, no permit would begranted and that there would beno parade.

Fusco said that the IBA waswilling to work with the OTBA andinclude them in the parade, if it wasgranted the permit. OTBA cat-egorically rejected the offer, hesaid.

Contíd on page 15

FIA Chicago honors Alderman Amaya PawarMOHAMMED GHOUSE

CHICAGO: The Federation ofIndian Associations (FIA) Chi-cago, headed by Sunil Shah,hosted a luncheon on February27 at Viceroy of India Banquetsand Restaurant on Devon Av-enue in Chicago to honor thefirst-ever Asian American Alder-man elected to the City Councilfrom Chicago's 47th Ward.

The Alderman Elect, AmayaPawar, 30, was born and raised inChicago. Sunil Shah said his elec-tion has created history in Chi-cago politics and the FIA decidedto honor him and offer him theirsupport and congratulations.

Several local politicians andIndian and Pakistani communityleaders and Indo-Pak ethnic me-dia were also invited.

FIA group with newly elect Alderman Ameya Pawar during a luncheon reception on Devon AveContíd on page 14

Yoga teacher &community leaderpasses away

MADHU PATEL

DELAWARE: A prominent In-dian American and a Dupont tex-tile scientist, Bharat J. Gajjar, passedaway in his Hockessin condo-minium on February 24. He was 79.

A founding member of Delawaretemple, Gajjar worked for Dupont for46 years and retired in 1992, accord-ing to his daughter Meeta Parker.For his neighbors, close associatesand Delawareans, he was known asthe Yoga teachers offering lessonsin yoga, meditation and the essen-tials of Hinduism to scores ofpeople. He was one of the first yogateachers in the State. Linda Letson,a student, said he had a profoundeffect in the region by helpingpeople use yoga practices to changethemselves.

Community hostsLunar New Yearcelebrations

RAJINDER SINGH MAGO &

SURENDRA ULLAL

ROSEMONT, Illinois: IndianAmerican community of Chicagohosted the Asian American Coali-tion of Chicago's 28th Annual Lu-nar New Year celebration on Feb-ruary 26 at the Hyatt RegencyO'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. Thetheme of the event was "One Vi-sion, Many Voices." Over 840people attended.

The program started with a re-ception and open microphone fo-rum in the foyer, followed by din-ner, cultural entertainment andaward ceremonies.

Hindus join eventto honor pagantraditionsIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Over 2300 peoplefrom around the world gathered atthe Double Tree Hotel in San Jose,CA this past President's Day week-end to attend PantheaCon 2011,an event dubbed to celebrate andhonor the Pagan and Ethnic Reli-gious Traditions. This year's pro-gram also featured presentationsby the Hindu American Founda-tion (HAF) on Hinduism, theHindu American community, howHinduism and Paganism convergeand differ, pluralism, predatoryproselytization, and commongoals for future collaboration.

Indian companiesactive at Home& HousewareShow

When IBA attempted to file its application forthe permit, it was told that permits weregranted on a ‘first come first serve basis’ andthat someone else had already applied for it

March 11, 2011 India PostCommunity Across America 13

Teachers question DOE's anti-bullying effortsIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: The New YorkCity Department of Education isproviding teachers insufficient re-sources and training to protectstudents from bullying and bias-based harassment, according to anoverwhelming majority of cityteachers surveyed in a report bythe Sikh Coalition, the AsianAmerican Legal Defense and Edu-cation Fund (AALDEF), and theNew York Civil Liberties Union.

"We have long known that toomany students suffer from bully-ing in their schools because oftheir race, ethnicity, religion orsexual orientation," saidAmardeep Singh, director of pro-grams at the Sikh Coalition."Today's report tells us why: Fewteachers know that they have anobligation to protect students frombias-based bullying. The Depart-ment of Education must invest re-sources into ending this dynamic.Otherwise the city's good inten-tions to combat bullying are merelygood intentions lacking sub-stance."

The report, Bullying in NewYork City Schools: EducatorsSpeak Out, summarizes the resultsof a survey conducted during the2009-2010 school year of 198 cityteachers and school staff repre-senting 117 public schools in fourboroughs. It assesses the Depart-ment of Education's (DOE)progress in enforcing Chancellor'sRegulation A-832, which was is-sued in September 2008 to addressstudent-to-student bullying and

bias-based harassment.The report also assesses the

effectiveness of the DOE's "Re-spect for All" program, a diversitytraining initiative launched in 2007primarily to combat homophobiain city schools that was expandedlast year.

"Any staff training on harass-ment that my school did last yearwas conducted in a lackadaisical,perfunctory manner," said PatCompton, a former teacher atLafayette High School in Brook-lyn who retired at the end of the

2009-10 school year. "While someinformation on harassment andbullying is presented as a singleitem at the staff conference at thestart of the school year, it is al-ways done very briefly, as a singlepoint on the agenda. Not muchhas changed since theChancellor's Regulation waspassed."

The vast majority of respon-dents reported that their schools

have inconsistent procedures forresponding to reports of bullying,leave it up to individual teachersto respond, or ignore incidents en-tirely.

"Given the lack of consistentprocedures to implement theChancellor's Regulation, it is criti-cal that the DOE provide strongerguidance and more resources toensure safe learning environmentsfor our city's 1.1 million students,"said AALDEF Executive DirectorMargaret Fung.Among the report's key findingsare:

Only 14 percent of teachers andstaff surveyed said they believethat the Chancellor's Regulationand the Respect for All programare "effective" or "very effective"in addressing bullying and bigotryin their schools.

Although the DOE's two-dayRespect for All training is avail-able to all k-12 teachers, only about30 percent of respondents saidteachers at their school were evenoffered training.

Only about 31 percent of re-spondents said students in theirschools received diversity or Re-spect for All training.

Respondents who were offeredRespect for All trainings reporteda lack of specific training on howto respond to bias incidents.Teachers also expressed concernsthat they would be unable to makeuse of the training because of alack of commitment from adminis-trators.

"While the Chancellor's Regu-lation is a good beginning, it only

becomes meaningful if it's fullyenforced," said NYCLU ExecutiveDirector Donna Lieberman. "Teach-ers must have the training and sup-port they need to take on the chal-lenge of protecting students frombullying and creating a safe learn-ing environment for all."

In June 2004, the City Councilpassed the Dignity in All SchoolsAct, legislation that prohibits ha-rassment and discrimination in theschools; requires regular anti-ha-rassment training for staff andteachers; and requires regular re-

porting and tracking of incidentsof bullying and harassment.Mayor Bloomberg and the DOErefused to enforce this law.

Four years later, following a pairof high-profile attacks againstSikh students in the city schools,the DOE issued Chancellor'sRegulation A-832, a step towardaddressing bias-based harassmentand bullying.

In June 2009, the Sikh Coalition,

the Coalition for Asian AmericanChildren and Families, andAALDEF released a survey ofmore than 1,000 students and edu-cators in city public schools thatshowed a wide gap in theregulation's promise and the real-ity of student experiences. Thesurvey found that many studentsdidn't know how to report bully-ing incidents; schools were fail-ing to implement the regulation'sharassment-prevention measures;and educators were failing to in-vestigate reports of bullying.

In response to these findings,the DOE and City Council SpeakerChristine Quinn in October 2009announced several important ex-pansions to anti-bullying mea-sures in city schools. Among theimprovements, DOE made two-dayRespect for All teacher trainingsmandatory for two staff membersin every public school. Unfortu-nately, the latest survey resultscast doubt on the success of thesemeasures.

The report makes the followingrecommendations to the DOE:

Fully implement Chancellor'sRegulation A-832, and allocate re-sources for its use.

Follow state law; ExpandChancellor's Regulation A-832 soit is in compliance with the recentlyenacted New York State Dignityfor All Students Act by prohibit-ing staff-to-student bullying andexpanding public reporting re-quirements; Expand student andstaff training to maintain the DOE'sstanding as a statewide leader infighting bias-based harassment.

Austin Sikhs fight to keep Gurdwara from demolitionIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Sikhs in Austinface imminent danger to their re-ligious freedom of assembly andpractice if the Texas SupremeCourt does not agree to reviewand subsequently overturn theAppellate Court's judgment thatrequires the removal of the newGurdwara, according to the Sikhadvocacy group United Sikhswhich has filed an amicus briefto the Texas Supreme Court.

The United Sikhs, which saysit was compelled to intervene bysubmitting the amicus brief('friend of court' brief) to theCourt on two major arguments:

The impact on non-parties(Sikh Community) and their FirstAmendment rights (religious as-sembly/ practice) implicate animportant public interest andmilitates against issuing such anextreme and overly broad injunc-tion;

The unclean hands of Plaintiffsfueled by racial/ religious animusshould be taken seriously in lightof recent legal challenges to thebuilding of houses of worship (spe-cifically for minorities) that are mo-tivated by religious discrimination.

In a 2010 Report by the Depart-ment of Justice (DOJ) on ReligiousLand Use and InstitutionalizedPersons Act (RLUIPA) cases, theyfound that 8 of the 18 RLUIPAcases since 9/11 have arisen sinceMay 2010.

The Report went on to statethat these types of cases are a "so-ber reminder that, even in the 21stcentury, challenges to true reli-gious liberty remain", points outUnited Sikhs, stating that the pur-pose of the amicus brief was toaid the Court in its decision mak-ing process by raising argumentsthat reveal the broader public in-terest at stake.

Litigation over the AustinGurdwara Sahib (AGS) has been

ongoing for over 3 years.* 2003: Austin Gurdwara Sahib

(AGS), a mobile home, became a

temporary Gurdwara for Austinsangat.

* 2005: City Council of Bee

Cave approved site plans for a newpermanent Gurdwara Sahib. Noneof the neighbors in the subdivi-sion challenged the building of anew permanent Gurdwara.

* 2008: Plaintiffs, who movedinto the neighborhood in 2008, fileda lawsuit against AGS claiming thatAGS had violated its deed restric-tions. They also called the policeand accused AGS members of "ter-rorizing" the community whenAGS members were merely seek-ing to get majority support

* 2009 (April): Trial Court foundin favor of AGS based on a find-ing of affirmative defenses

* 2010 (July): Appellate Courtoverruled the Trial Court and is-sued a permanent injunctionagainst AGS

* 2010 (Nov): AGS counsel,Jane Webre with the law firm ofScott, Douglass & McConnico,L.L.P., files a Petition for Reviewwith the Texas Supreme Courtseeking to overturn the Appellate

Court's judgment* 2011 (Feb 18): United Sikhs

filed the amicus brief with theTexas Supreme Court

Reaching out to interfaithgroups to join the amicus brief,United Sikhs has also urged theSikh community to stand in soli-darity with AGS and to alert theirelected representatives that ra-cial/ religious discriminationagainst minorities cannot be al-lowed to go unchecked.

The loss that the Austin Sikhcommunity would face if theTexas Supreme Court does notoverturn the Appellate Courtdecision cannot be understated,says the Sikh organization; AGSrepresents the only permanentGurdwara within approximately100 miles. Thus, it becomes evi-dent that the Austin Sikhcommunity's right to religiousassembly and to practice theirfaith will be severely compro-mised.

‘We have long knownthat too many studentssuffer from bullying intheir schools becauseof their race, ethnicity,religion or sexualorientation,’ saidAmardeep Singh

In response to thesefindings, the DOE andCity Council SpeakerChristine Quinn inOctober 2009 an-nounced several im-portant expansions toanti-bullying measuresin city schools

The loss that the AustinSikh community wouldface if the TexasSupreme Court doesnot overturn the Appel-late Court decisioncannot be understated,says the Sikh organiza-tion; AGS represents theonly permanentGurdwara within ap-proximately 100 miles

March 11, 2011India Post14 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

FIA Chicago honors Alderman Amaya Pawar

The local politicians included50th ward Alderman Bernie Stone,Alderman Joe Moor, Cook CountyCommissioner Larry Sufferdin,Illinois State Senator IraSilverstein, 50th ward Aldermanicrun-off candidate DebraSilverstein, and 45th ward Alder-manic run-off candidate JohnGarrido. All these politicians ad-dressed the gathering and con-gratulated Amaya Pawar for his

stunning victory.FIA president Sunil Shah wel-

comed the audience, executivesecretary Shahid Rizvi receivedthe guests and Mrs. Rita Shahpresented a bouquet of flowersto Amaya Pawar. Neil Khot in-troduced Amaya Pawar who re-ceived a standing ovation.Pawar, in his remarks thanked thecommunity and his supporters,and shared his forward lookingvision to make things better forall Chicagoans, especially his

constituents in 47th ward.Executive vice president

Onkar Singh Sangha gave thevote of thanks. Rajinder SinghMago of Punjabi Cultural Soci-ety of Chicago was invited as aguest to emcee the proceed-ings." We underestimate the po-tential of our community, and wedon't support our own people.Amaya Pawar has proved us allwrong, he has made history inChicago, we are mighty proud ofhim," said Rajinder Singh Mago.

Contíd from page 12

FIA president Sunil Shah welcoming Ald Pawar and guests Ald Ameya Pawar responding to FIA guests and members

Emcee Rajinder Singh Mago conducting the meet

Sikh temple participates in'A-Maizing' lunch

KP SINGH

Volunteers who prepared and served A-Mailing Lunch

In Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS: The SikhSatsang participated in the In-terfaith Hunger Initiative's latestfundraising at "An A-maizingLunch" at the Sikh Temple(Acton Road) Indianapolis onSunday Feb.27. It was essentiallyan awareness event about theproblem of hunger in the com-munity and the world.

"An A-Maizing Lunch" wasrecognized as a follow up of theIHI call and instructions to in-clude black-eyed peas and maizein the Sunday meal at places ofworship. At the Sikh Temple vol-unteers made a delicious black-eyed peas vegetarian curry andthe Punjabi winter favorite: un-leavened maize bread (MukkeeDe Rotee) and served to the en-tire (nearly 200 people) Sundaycongregation and visitingfriends.

There were, in addition, theusual rice, salad, yogurt, a veg-etable curry and Punjabi dessertto compliment the communitylunch menu.

Yoga teacher & communityleader passes away

MADHU PATEL

DELAWARE: A prominent In-dian American and a Dupont tex-tile scientist, Bharat J. Gajjar, passedaway in his Hockessin condo-minium on February 24. He was 79.

A founding member of Delawaretemple, Gajjar worked for Dupont for46 years and retiredin 1992, according tohis daughter MeetaParker. For hisneighbors, close as-sociates and Dela-wareans, he wasknown as the Yogateachers offering les-sons in yoga, medi-tation and the essen-tials of Hinduism toscores of people. He was one of thefirst yoga teachers in the State. LindaLetson, a student, said he had a pro-found effect in the region by help-ing people use yoga practices tochange themselves.

Gajjar emigrated fromAhmedabad, Gujarat in 1952 and hadbeen quite active in community af-fairs. He went on to serve as presi-dent of the Berlin Hindu Temple inSouth Jersey, where he helped writethe constitution.

As head of the Sivananda YogaCenter of Delaware, he obtained a

license to marry people and per-formed 50 weddings. There beingno Hindu priests in Delaware at thetime, he also did more than 200 man-tra initiations for new meditators. Hestarted a Wilmington Hindu centerat Baynard Boulevard with his wife,

Rupal, in 1965.Gajjar also be-

lieved in religiousfreedom and washurt when Christianscriticized Hinduismas inferior to Chris-tianity. "We need tostop the name-call-ing," he wrote in anews journal op-ed in1993.

A longtime member of Toastmas-ters, he often used humor and jokedat Sunday satsangs (devotionals)that students should not make hima guru, and if they did, that was"their bad karma." He had a guru -Swami Vishnu Devananda. Gajjar allthe time felt that his guru's guru,Swami Sivananda, offered him guid-ance from the other world. Hisdaughter said that as in the case ofa true Yogi, there was no decompo-sition of his body before cremation.

Gajjar is survived by his children,Ajay and Meeta.

Bharat Gajjar

March 11, 2011 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

15

A suggestion by Edison Township thatthe two parties take turns in organizing theparade, in which case, the permit would begranted, was also rejected.

Fusco insisted, when questioned by In-dia Post, that the issue was not betweentwo Indian American groups but betweenthe Edison Mayor and the IBA. "TheMayor's actions are jeopardizing the pa-rade," he told India Post. "She's creatingan issue to divide the Indian community."

Fusco accused Mayor Ricigliano of po-litical payback. "This is simply a case ofthe Mayor jerking around the Indian com-munity to settle some old political resent-ment," he said. "The Township has noright to deprive the Indian community of

Edison groups fight over permitto hold India Day Parade

the right to celebrate Indian Indepen-dence. I will not let anyone or anythingstand in the way of this most celebratedday."

The IBA has held the permit for the pa-rade for the past six years, during whichtime the event has grown bigger each yearwith the participation of well-knownBollywood celebrities as grand marshal andlocal lawmakers as well as from parademarchers, corporate float sponsors and thecommunity at large.

Last year's parade, which cost upwardsof $130,000 to put together, was attendedby over 35,000 people, several local law-makers and Township officials.

Perhaps by way of having the last word,Fusco said: "I'm telling you, we will havethe parade this year. I'll fix this."


Community hosts Lunar New Year celebrationsRAJINDER SINGH MAGO & SURENDRA ULLAL

ROSEMONT, Illinois: Indian Americancommunity of Chicago hosted the AsianAmerican Coalition of Chicago's 28th An-nual Lunar New Year celebration on Febru-ary 26 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare inRosemont, Illinois. The theme of the eventwas "One Vision, Many Voices." Over 840people attended.

The program started with a reception andopen microphone forum in the foyer, followedby dinner, cultural entertainment and awardceremonies.

Every year a different Asian communitytakes turn playing host of the Lunar NewYear gala. This year it was the Indian Ameri-can Community's turn, which has thrice be-fore (1988, 1995 and 2003) hosted this event.

Iowa State Senator Swati Dandekar wasthe Keynote Speaker. Chicago businessmanShalli Kumar was the chief guest. Alsopresent on the occasion were Indian CGMukta Tomar, Air India Regional Manager

Jude Crasto, ABC7's Ravi Baichwal and hostof other community leaders.

Numerous dignitaries attended the fes-tivities and Chicago TV personalities emceedthe program.

Steve H. Kim, an attorney, received theCoalition's prestigious Pan Asian AmericanPing Tom Memorial Award - its highest. Illi-nois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford was

honored with the Coalition's Grand AsianAmerican Sandra Otaka Memorial Award.This award is periodically presented to some-one of non-Asian descent who has made sig-nificant contribution to the Asian PacificAmerican community. The Coalition renamedits Grand Asian Award in 2010 after the lateCook County Circuit Court Judge SandraOtaka.The Coalition's 2011 Community ServiceAward recipients were as follows:

1. (Mr) Nafees Ahmed, Deputy Com-missioner, City of Chicago Department ofAviation Finance; founder of the Job Bank, aBangladeshi American job data bank (cre-ated in the 1990s); Bangladeshi AmericanCommunity Awardee

2. (Mr) Ernest C. Wong, Principal, SiteDesign Group, award-winning landscapedesign firm for Chicago Chinatown's PingTom Memorial Park; Chinese American Com-munity Awardee

3. (Ms) Cecilia Buenaflor, En-trepreneur; Founder/Owner, LifeHome Health Care, Inc; FilipinoAmerican Community Awardee

4. (Mr) Zul Kapadia, Sopho-more, Northwestern University; Vol-unteer, Chicago Partnership Walkand Cub Scouts; Indian AmericanCommunity Awardee

5. Dr Hondojo Tjondro Kusumo,Research Scientist, Neurobiology ofAlcoholism at the University of Illi-nois in Chicago; Indonesian Ameri-can Community Awardee

6. (Mr) Shigeo Ito,Horticulturalist; Creator/Caretaker,Japanese Garden at Heiwa Terracesenior citizens residential facility;Japanese American Community

Awardee7. (Ms) Celine Thum, Medical Student,

Model and Musician; Vice President, Ma-laysian Club of Chicago; Malaysian Ameri-can Community Awardee

8. (Ms) Sahar Ali Dar, Attorney andNon-Profit Consultant, President-Elect, Pa-kistani American Bar Association; PakistaniAmerican Community Awardee

9. (Ms) Busra Thepjatri, Director, ThaiClassical Dance School of the Thai BuddhistTemple in Chicago, Thai American Commu-nity Awardee and

10. (Dr) Jackie Conley, Vice President ofMarketing, Citrine Home Health Care, Inc.,Skokie, Vietnamese American CommunityAwardee.Among the Coalition's 2011 Youth WhoExcels Award recipients, there were follow-ing three from the Indian subcontinent:

1. (Ms) Serena M. Taj, 16, Junior, JamesB. Conant High School, Hoffman Estates, Il-linois, Bangladeshi American CommunityAwardee

2. (Ms) Aisha Wadhwani, 17, Senior,Downers Grove South High School, Downers

Grove, Illinois, Indian American CommunityAwardee

3. (Ms) Zahra Fatima Lalani, 17, Senior,Adlai E. Stevenson High School,Lincolnshire, Illinois, Pakistani AmericanCommunity Awardee.

Held on a grand scale once a year, LunarNew Year is traditionally the single largestorganized annual event in Chicago's AsianAmerican community. According to the lat-est Census, the Asian Pacific American popu-lation in Illinois numbers approximately428,213 or 3.4% of the statewide population.

The Thai American community of Chicagowill be the next year's host of this event.

The AACC 2011 Indian American Host Com-mittee was headed by Nadja P. Lalvani, Chair.

Ald Ameya with a group of Indians at AACO Dinner

Indian artists performing at AACO

March 11, 2011India Post16 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Hindus join event to honorpagan traditions

Driving license-yoga classesin Chicagoland

SURESH SHAH

Yoga retreats a rage world overSURESH SHAH


NEW YORK: Over 2300 peoplefrom around the world gathered atthe Double Tree Hotel in San Jose,CA this past President's Day week-end to attend PantheaCon 2011,an event dubbed to celebrate andhonor the Pagan and Ethnic Reli-gious Traditions.

This year's program also fea-tured presentations by the HinduAmerican Foundation (HAF) onHinduism, the Hindu Americancommunity, how Hinduism andPaganism converge and differ, plu-ralism, predatory proselytization,and common goals for future col-laboration.

Among the weekend's high-lights were a vibrant Pagan andHindu ritual, showcasing DeviComposition sung by SangeethaVenkataraman, sacred chanting ofSuktams, performance of a bhajanby Sunil Shukla on the sitar, andtraditional Bharatanatyam dancingperformed by students of SugandaSreenath Iyer, director of JayendraKalakendra of San Jose.

"I thought the chanting, sing-ing and sitar all sounded so beauti-ful. Like an uninterrupted river flow-ing majestically...they all soundedperfect with one flowing after an-

other," commented Sundari Katir,HAF Working Group member.

Pluralism was the focus in theHindu-Pagan Dialogue, whereEasan Katir and Dr. Mihir Meghanijoined Thorn Coyle and SelenaFox as panelists in addressing astanding room only audience oncommon civilizational themes,shared historical challenges, such

as a history of Christian and Is-lamic proselytization and con-quest, pluralism, and current is-sues facing the communities, suchas usurpation of religious sym-bols, and civil and human rights.

Katir highlighted the challengeof dealing with followers of what

he termed "OnlyMyGodIsm", or"OMG", who as he stated, "believethat their path is the only correctpath to God or Truth, and seek toconvert people to their beliefthrough force, fraud, or coercion."

During another panel entitled"Are Hindus Pagan and are PagansHindus," Madhulika Singh, SwamiVenkataraman, Raman Khanna,and Samir Kalra continued the dia-logue with discussions on Hindu-ism in the United States, common-alities between Hinduism and Pa-ganism, conversions and Chris-tianity, and the need to work to-gether.

The session concluded with alively question and answer period,where enthusiastic audience mem-bers expressed their support formany of the points raised by thepanelists.

"It was wonderful to see somany Pagans supporting theHindu perspective, and viceversa," noted Raman Khanna, oneof the panelists. "United as we arearound pluralism and self-directedspiritual experience, it is high timewe start collaborating, and thisconference was an important stepin that direction. PantheaCon de-serves special thanks for its im-portant work in this regard."

CHICAGO: Yoga fever seemsto be catching up globally. Yogaretreats, some charging as muchas $4495, are attracting hundredswho like to learn and practice theancient Indian technique for medi-tation and good health.

Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat inQueensland (Australia) is reportedto be a destination sought afterand it may cost up to $4265 forseven days. Semperviva YogaHolidays in Kythira (Greece), be-sides twice-a-day yoga, also offersunrise meditation. Krista CahillYoga retreat in Bora Bora (FrenchPolynesia) is called "Yoga in Para-dise" and this "exclusive" retreatfrom June 11-18 costs $2950 perperson upon double occupancy.Fiji Yoga Retreat is a "week of re-laxation and restoration" and in-cludes "Yoga Nidra" and sun salu-tations. Ashtanga Yoga inTuscany is a weeklong retreat inTuscan countryside in Italy.

There is a "Yoga for FoodiesRetreat" in Napa Valley of Califor-nia (USA). "Eat.Pray.Move" re-treat on the border of Tuscany &Umbria in Italy is luring for pump-kin risotto, pasta al forno, slow

roasted fennel with red onions,salads with wild rocket, pecorinoand fresh figs.

"Yoga, Bike & Wine Retreat" inLoire Valley of France claims to be"relaxed, experiential and sen-

sory" and includes cyclingthrough the Loire Valley. "Yoga &Service Retreats" are organized byan American yogi in Haiti, Peru,India (Kerala), and Bali, and willpractice "uplifting" yoga and ser-vice to the community where theseare held. There is a weeklong

"Yoga Ski/Ride Adventure" inChamonix (France) besides "ladiesonly" "Yoga & Surf Retreats" onAustralia's east coast.

Acharya Rohit Joshi of NorthEastern Illinois University in Chi-cago said that practicing Yoga ona regular basis has proved to beof immense help to recouping men-tal and physical health, and an In-dian guru Acharya Telang with ahalf a dozen facilities across Indiahas demonstrated that it can alle-viate many a physical ailment andis a near sure cure for overcomingmental diseases like depressionand negativism. However, he cau-tioned against its random use tomake a quick buck.

In a similar vein, Rajan Zed,President of Universal Society ofHinduism, in a statement in Ne-vada (USA) termed these a "mis-directed" approach to yoga formercantile greed. He said that yogawas one of the six systems of or-thodox Hindu philosophy whosetraces went back to around 2000BCE.

About 16 million Americans,including many celebrities, aresaid to practice yoga.

CHICAGO: Om Johari, a promi-nent Indian community activist,will be holding Driving License andYoga-Meditation classes at differ-ent centers in Chicagoland.

Some of the classes for drivinglicense will be conducted in Hindialso for the benefit of seniors.Those interested may contact OmJohari at 847-985-6677. The classesschedule is given below:

Sat. Mar. 12 and Sun. Mar. 13:Midwest SwamiNarayan Temple,Itasca: 1 to 5 pm each day. AARPDriver Safety Program Class inHindi (registration required) Free,must attend both classes to receivecertificate

Sun. Mar. 13: MidwestSwamiNarayan Temple, Itasca: 1 to5 pm - AARP DriverSafety Program Class inHindi (second session ofclass started on Mar. 12)

Mon. Mar. 14 - NilesSenior Center: 11 A - 12N - Sudoku Club (regis-tration required, Free;contact: 847-588-8420)

Mon. Mar. 14 - NilesSenior Center: 12 N - 1:30PM - Meditation (regis-tration required, a small fee; con-tact: 847-588-8420)

Mon. Mar. 14 - Arlington HeightsSenior Center: 2:15 PM - LaughterClub (registration NOT required,FREE; contact: 847-253-5532)

Mon. Mar. 14 - ArlingtonHeights Senior Center: 3-4:30 PM -Meditation and Pain Management(registration NOT required, FREE;contact: 847-253-5532)

Mon. Mar. 14 - Elk Grove VillagePark District (at Rain Bow FallsCommunity Center): 7-8:30 pm -Mon. Mar. 14 - Arlington HeightsSenior Center: 3-4:30 pm - Medita-tion and Pain Management (regis-tration NOT required, FREE; con-

tact: 847-253-5532)Mon. Mar. 14 - Elk Grove Village

Park District (at Rainbow Falls Com-munity Center): 7-8:30 pm -Medita-tion Experience (registration required,FREE; contact: 847-437-9494)

Tue. Mar. 15 - Bridgegate Build-ing, Friendship Village, Schaumburg:10 - 11 am - Laughter and its Ben-efits (registration required, FREE;contact 847-884-5539)

Tue. Mar. 15 - ELA TownshipSenior Center, Lake Zurich: 12 noon- 1:30 PM - Sudoku for Beginners(FREE; registration required, con-tact: 847-438-9160)

Wed. Mar. 16 - Indian Trails Pub-lic Library District, Wheeling: 1 - 2pm - Guided Meditation with OmJohari (FREE; registration NOT

needed, contact: 847-459-4100)Wed. Mar. 16 - Campanelli

YMCA, Schaumburg: 3 to 4:30 pm- Laughter, Meditation and Grati-tude (registration required, FREE;contact: 847-891-9622)

Thu. Mar. 17 - Cancer SurvivorGroup of the Village of Niles: 1 - 2pm: Laughter and its Benefits(FREE; Registration Required,Contact: 847-588-8442).

Fri. Mar. 18 and Fri. Mar. 25 - ElkGrove Village Bank: 12:30 to 4:30pm each day - AARP Driver SafetyProgram Class (registration re-quired, FREE, must attend bothclasses to receive certificate; con-tact: 847-985-6677)

The sessionconcluded with alively question andanswer period, whereenthusiastic audiencemembers expressedtheir support for manyof the points raisedby the panelists

Some of the classes for drivinglicense will be conductedin Hindi also for thebenefit of seniors

Acharya Rohit Joshi ofNorth Eastern IllinoisUniversity in Chicagosaid that practicingYoga on a regularbasis has proved tobe of immense helpto recouping mentaland physical health

March 11, 2011 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

17

Indian companies active at Home & Houseware ShowSURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Eighteen Indiancompanies participated at thethree-day International Home andHouseware Show 2011 atMcCormick Place, Chicago re-cently.

India pavilion was set up byExport Promotion Council forHandicrafts (EPCH) and PlasticsExport Promotion Council(PLEXCONCIL) who displayedvarious products of their memberexport houses at the Internationalexhibition.

Handloom Export PromotionCouncil members had participatedin this exhibition in 2010 also. Ondisplay were a variety of Indian

handloom fabrics and furnishingswhich are presently being ex-ported to several firms in USA andSouth America.

The Export Promotion Councilfor Handicrafts also was at theExhibition

with five master craftsmen fromIndia who showed their woodenand other intricately designedhandicraft products. The mastercraftsmen also demonstrated theirintricate skills in carving and en-graving during the exhibition attheir stalls.

The PLEXCONCIL was partici-pating in this exhibition for thefourth time this year with several

of their participants. They are inthe export business of plastic fur-niture, plastic mats, disposableplates, cutlery items and kitchenplastic wares.

Besides the eighteen compa-nies, there were some other Indianexporters who participated in theexhibition on their own out of theExport Promotion Councils. They

covered products like thermoskitchen ware and hot cases, cas-seroles and table ware, pressurecookers, stainless steel cutlery andutensils.

Readers Write...www.indiapost.com

D i s c l a i m e r : - I n d i a P o s t d o e s n o t e n d o r s e o p i n i o n s e x p r e s s e d i n t h e l e t t e r s .

A meeting with Dr Abdul KalamLast July I had the rare plea-

sure of visiting the formerPresident of the Indian Repub-lic, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, inhis official bungalow in NewDelhi. The Indo-American Cen-ter had extended an invitationto Dr Kalam to visit Chicago;my task was to tell him aboutthe Center and its work.

Dr Kalam was talking tosome other people when I ar-rived, accompanied by mygood friend and colleague formany years, Dr Pradeep R.Mehendiratta, Vice Presidentof the American Institute ofIndian Studies. DrMehendiratta had visited DrKalam on an earlier occasionto carry the Indo-AmericanCenter's invitation to him per-sonally.

The two of us sat in thecomfortable waiting area untilthe previous visitors left. DrKalam had been talking tothree teenagers and he did notsend them away just becausetwo senior people were wait-ing. I mention this fact be-

cause it is an indication of whatDr Kalam thinks is most impor-tant in today's world.

Our reception was warm andthe face that greeted us was avery familiar one, although I hadcertainly never met him. He waswell known because he was seenso often in open public settingsand never hesitated to make him-self available to people from allsectors of society.

He famously opened thedoors of Rashtrapati Bhavan toall visitors, and became knownto all of the staff of that vastbuilding, from gardeners andsweepers to the charged'affaires, as a personal friend.

I had the pleasure of describ-ing the Indo-American Center toDr Kalam as a rare example of aphilanthropic enterprise entirelyproduced from within the Chi-cago Indian community. A non-profit, secular institution thatserves all immigrants regardlessof religion, race, or national ori-gin with programs that help themadapt to living in the U.S., de-velop English language skills

and literacy, learn about the ben-efits to which they are entitled,study U.S. history and the re-quirements for citizenship, andget advice on a wide variety ofmatters. I explained that, as asenior citizen, he is entitled tojoin the Senior Milan and to en-joy lunch with other Golden Din-ers.

While he listened intently tomy description, his questionswere all about young people andwhat the Center is doing to serveyouth. I encouraged him, whilehe is in Chicago, to meet withChicago students so that he canaddress them directly with thechallenges he sees for their gen-eration.

He wants to encourage youngpeople to study more scientificsubjects and to apply theirknowledge and commitment topreservation of the natural envi-ronment.

Dr Kalam will come to Chicagounder the auspices of the Indo-American Center April 23-25 tobring this message to us in per-son. He will speak at the Marriott

Oak Brook Hotel at 6 p.m. onApril 24. More informationabout Dr Kalam's visit to Chi-cago, including the public re-ception and ticket purchase,is available online at IAC'sw e b s i t e :www.indoamerican.org.

The Indo-American Centeris a not-for-profit communityservice organization servingthe South Asian immigrantpopulation.

The mission of the Indo-American Center is to pro-mote the well being of SouthAsian immigrants throughservices that facilitate theiradjustment, integration andfriendship with the wider so-ciety, nurture their sense ofcommunity, and foster appre-ciation for their heritage andculture.

Prof Ralph W. Nicholas,Chairman, Board of

Trustees, Department ofAnthropology, University of

Chicago, Member of theBoard of Directors, Indo-

American Center

Prof Nicholas

While he listenedintently to mydescription, hisquestions were allabout young peopleand what theCenter is doing toserve youth

March 11, 2011India Post18 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Details on page 19

Charming 'Go Goa' tourism eventin LA & and Bay area

JS BEDI


LOS ANGELES: The "Go Goa"tourism presentation events weresuccessfully completed in LA andBay area on Feb 23, and Feb 28respectively. More than 50 main-stream and Indian travel agents,tour operators and Airline repre-sentatives were invited to learnmore about Goa, one of the world'sfinest vacation destinations.

In LA the event was emceed byMamta Narula. Coming all the wayfrom New Jersey, Mamta con-ducted the entire evening withgrace and poise. Adding to theradiance of her personality is herbeauty and confidence. Indeed anexcellent choice for an emcee.

"This event is being recog-nized as the essential platform toget first experience on Goa fromthe delegation visiting speciallyin the West Coast to promote thisamazing tourist destination" saidone of the representatives from"Redefine Vacations", a Philadel-phia based travel company. Theywere the local coordinators of theevent.

Present at the Los Angeles

event amongst other tour opera-tors were Jessie and RoshiDhillon of Labors Travel. Basedon Century Blvd near LAX,Laxpress Travels has over threedecades of experience in the busi-

ness. The Dhillons were accom-panied by their associate TatianaEsperanza who specializes inCentral and South America. "Yesit's a great vacation stop but itwould help immensely if Goa hada full fledged international air-port" commented Jessie Dhillon.

The Air India delegation wasled by Nilaj Sharma, RegionalSales Manager.

The Goa delegation includedMinister of Tourism NilkanthHalankar, Swapnil Naik, DirectorGoa Tourism and SanjaySrivastava, Chief Secretary GoaTourism

The events kicked off with at-tractive audio visual on Goa andshort films followed by inaugura-tion by Minister of TourismHalankar. A 30 minute presenta-tion by Naik included places tovisit in Goa, food, beaches, inter-national fair, nightlife, annual filmfestival glimpses, shopping,temples and much more. The pre-sentation was very well receivedby the mainstream tour operators

as some of them learned aboutGoa for the first time.

In Los Angeles, Karmagraphydancers presented a fast beatmedley including music from Goa.

A similar performance was

done in the Bay area depicting thebeats of Goa, but this time the per-formers were nine young Goangirls.

A raffle ticket was drawn atboth the places and the an-nounced winners will get a chanceto visit Goa in the month of Octo-ber to be part of International fair,an annual attraction of Goa.

The evening concluded with apress conference and dinner

hosted at Tanzore in LA and NewDelhi Restaurant, in San Francisco.The LA dinner featured an openbar and Goan delicacies.

L to R: Jessie Dhillon, Roshi Dhillon and Tatiana Esperanza of Laxpress Travels

Winner of the First Prize in the raffle

Emcee Mamta NarulaMeet the media

Mamta Narula with delegates from Goa and Air India

Contíd on page 19

Correction

Mr Ashok Kumar is a part-ner of Mr Raj Sharma

and co-owner of Punjab Pal-ace Restaurant, Riverside. Heis also the Chief ExecutiveChef and leads the kitchenteam. In a story few weeks agoin the community section ofIndia Post, Mr Ashok Kumarwas inadvertently referred toas the Head Chef. That is in-correct and incomplete.

We regret the error andapologize for the distress thatit may have caused.

-Editor

New DelhiSpicelandreopens after fireJS BEDI


NORTHRIDGE: Three monthsafter a devastating fire, New DelhiSpiceland has reopened for busi-ness. The newly remodeled storecum restaurant is fully functionaland it's back to business as usual.

It was in the early hours of Dec3, 2010 that a short circuit igniteda fire in the roof. Luckily the firedepartment arrived within a flashand the fire was put down beforeit could do any serious damage.The structure was safe but therewas extensive smoke and waterdamage. Being early morning, thestore was yet to open so therewere no employees inside.

Holi at the Beachfor 4th year insuccessionIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Holi, cel-ebrated by millions of peopleacross the world is one of the mostcolorful festivals of India. Al-though, there are numerousmythological stories detailing theorigin and significance of the fes-tival, the common thread is thelegacy of enjoying, sharing andhaving fun - and this is exactlywhat the Association for India'sDevelopment's Los Angeles(AID-LA) chapter promises toprovide the community at WillRogers State Beach, Pacific CoastHighway and Temescal CanyonRoad on March 19.

AID-LA will be organising'Holi at The Beach' for the 4th suc-cessive year.

Details on page 20

The events kicked offwith attractive audiovisual on Goa andshort films followedby inauguration byMinister of TourismHalankar

March 11, 2011 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

19

At the Los Angeles press meet,India Post asked the visiting dig-nitaries about the dark side of Goa- the drug cartels, human traffick-ing, the overall sleaze and the in-

Charming 'Go Goa' tourismevent in LA & and Bay area


San Diego Indians organize DandiMarch II against corruption


LOS ANGELES: A group ofNRIs, inspired by the historicmarch led by Mahatma Gandhi inIndia's fight for freedom from for-eign rule, conceived Dandi MarchII to fight corruption and thosewho seek to plunder and enslavetheir own country.

Dandi March II involves a 240mile walk that starts March 12 atMartin Luther King Jr. MemorialPark, San Diego, goes throughLos Angeles and ends on March26 at Gandhi Statue, San Francisco,California.

Every major city in the US, 10major cities in India and 8 othercountries globally are joining themovement by organizing support-ing events on March 26.

The Dandi March movement,organized by a group of 'NRIsconcerned about corruption in In-dia' led by volunteers Srihari Atluriand Jawahar Kambhampati, is in-spired by the "Dandi March" (Mar12-Apr 6 1930) led by MahatmaGandhi against the tax imposed onsalt by the British. This landmarkevent escalated India's fight forfreedom from foreign rule.

"With Dandi March II, we aim

to revive the soul-force and spiritof dissent of those great Indiansof generations past, to fight thosewho seek to loot and enslave theirown country," they say.

The primary objectives of theDandi March II, coinciding withthe dates Gandhi undertook thehistoric march in 1930, are to push

the government to enact JanLokpal bill and ratify UNCACwhich are designed to free Indiafrom the clutches of corruption,and to bring back the hiddenmoney from foreign banks.

The recent scams involvingunimaginably big amounts of

money, such as the 2G scam, arewell known, the organizers say. Itis estimated that more than trilliondollars are stashed away in foreignhavens, while 80% of Indians earnless than $2 per day and everysecond child is malnourished.

While this rampant corruptionis a cause for serious concern, thegood news is that movementsagainst it have arisen all over thecountry, they say.

Dandi March II is an attemptby NRIs to bring together and es-calate these movements into apowerful force.

This effort now has supportfrom the stalwarts in anti-corrup-tion movement and other progres-sive groups in India such as LokSatta Party (Jaya Prakash Narayan,National Chairman), India AgainstCorruption (Kiran Bedi, ArvindKejriwal, New Delhi), The 5th Pil-lar (Vijay Anand, Chennai), YouthFor Better India (Hyderabad)Saaku (Bangalore) and Save IndiaFrom Corruption.

Organizers urge the communityto participate and walk any dis-tance as they may choose if notthe entire distance. For details ofthe March visit:www.dandimarch2.org.

Los Angeles Getty Museumexhibiting Indian gods


LOS ANGELES: Prestigious J.Paul Getty Museum of Los Ange-les (USA) is currently exhibiting13th century Lord Ganesha in its"Gods of Angkor" exhibition,which will continue till August 14.

This exhibitioncontains intricatelydetailed 26 histori-cal bronze statuesand ritual objectsfrom Cambodia, in-cluding 11-12thcentury LordVishnu, LordShiva's bull Nandi,etc. Ganeshastatue, in a sittingposture, is shownwith snakes form-ing his armbands.

A son of Shiva,Ganesha, with an elephant headon the body of a boy, is one of themost popular Hindu gods, serv-ing as an icon of protection and aremover of obstacles. In this rep-resentation, the snakes forminghis armbands and cord over hischest symbolize water and fertil-

ity, while a hoe and a broken tusk(serving as a plow) in his handssymbolize agriculture. Ganeshawas absorbed into the larger Bud-dhist pantheon, a role he retainstoday in Cambodia and Thailand.

The Angkor period began inthe year 802. Khmer rulers estab-

lished a sequence of capitals inthe Angkor region, culminating inthe walled complex of AngkorThom built by Jayavarman VII(ruled 1181-about 1218). Succes-sive monarchs built temples andmonasteries to honor their ances-tors and their own reigns-the

monuments that visitors toAngkor see today.

The J. Paul Getty Museum atthe Getty Center in Los Angeleshouses European paintings,drawings, sculpture, illuminatedmanuscripts, decorative arts, andEuropean and American photo-

graphs. The Museum at the GettyVilla in Malibu houses approxi-mately 44,000 works of art fromGreek, Roman, and Etruscan an-tiquities.

David Bomford is the ActingDirector while Mark S. Siegel isBoard Chair of Getty Trust.

Images of Indian gods at LA Museum

New Delhi Spicelandreopens after fire

JS BEDI


NORTHRIDGE: Three monthsafter a devastating fire, New DelhiSpiceland has reopened for busi-ness. The newly remodeled storecum restaurant is fully functionaland it's back to business as usual.

It was in the early hours of Dec3, 2010 that a short circuit igniteda fire in the roof. Luckily the firedepartment arrived within a flashand the fire was put down beforeit could do any serious damage.The structure was safe but therewas extensive smoke and water

damage. Being early morning, thestore was yet to open so therewere no employees inside.

Sunil and Savita Khullar are verygrateful for the support they receivedfrom the community and the suppli-ers. "We would like to express ourheartfelt gratitude to all our friends,customers, fellow business owners

and our suppliers for their supportand encouragement," they said.

New Delhi Spiceland is nowbuzzing with activity and onceagain the corner of Roscoe andWilbur has come to life. We atIndia Post congratulate theKhullars and wish them success.

cidents of rape and murder involv-ing sons of politicians and minis-ters. Minister Halankar admittedthere was criminal activity at thebeaches frequented by foreigntourists but it has been exagger-ated by the media in India.

While this rampantcorruption is a causefor serious concern,the good news isthat movementsagainst it havearisen all over thecountry, they say

March 11, 2011India Post20 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Fundraiser for Harshad Modi

Holi at the Beach for 4thyear in succession


LOS ANGELES: Holi, cel-ebrated by millions of peopleacross the world is one of the mostcolorful festivals of India. Al-though, there are numerousmythological stories detailing theorigin and significance of the fes-tival, the common thread is thelegacy of enjoying, sharing andhaving fun - and this is exactlywhat the Association for India'sDevelopment's Los Angeles(AID-LA) chapter promises toprovide the community at WillRogers State Beach, Pacific CoastHighway and Temescal CanyonRoad on March 19.

AID-LA will be organising'Holi at The Beach' for the 4th suc-

cessive year. This is the first inthe string of many communityevents during the year 2011. Eachyear an increasing number offriends and families from theSoCal community join us for afun-filled day at the beach.Through all the fun and frolick-ing, AID-LA will also raise fundsto promote and sustain develop-ment work supported by variousNGOs working at the grassroots,that AID as an organization sup-ports.

AID endeavours to bring com-munities together to create aware-ness, gather support and promotechange in India and what betterway to do this than to 'paint thecity red' on the day of Festival ofColours- Holi!

JS BEDI


ARTESIA, CA: Dr Fresh of DrFresh Inc hosted a fundraiser forHarshad Modi who is running forCerritos City Council. The pictures

alongside are a glimpse of the din-ner that was attended by leadingcommunity members.

The election will be over by thetime this issue hits the stands butwe wish Harshad good luck andsuccess.

SPORTS21 India Post www.indiapost.com March 11, 2011

Ireland shock England asO'Brien smashes fastest 100

BANGALORE: Kevin O'Brien smashedhis way into record books with a fastestever century in a World Cup match off 50balls as Ireland pulled off the biggest up-set beating England by 3 wickets in a groupB encounter of the World Cup here.

It also turned out to be the highest suc-cessful run-chase ever in the history of thetournament with the previous best being313 by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe at New

Plymouth in 1992.Ireland, who earned the tag of giant-kill-

ers after ousting Pakistan from the previ-ous edition chased a stiff target of 328 in49.1 overs courtesy an unbelievable 113 off63 balls (13x4, 6x6) from O'Brien. No praisewill be enough as Ireland were down in thedumps tottering at 111 for five when O'Brienand Alex Cusack came together.

He added 162 runs for the sixth wicket

Cusack (47) and then 44 with JohnMooney (33 not out, 30 balls, 4x6).By the time O'Brien was run-out,Ireland were within sniffing dis-tance of their best-ever win.

The moment Mooney hitAnderson for a boundary of thefirst ball of the 50th over, it sparkedwild celebrations in the Irish dress-ing room as the 'Men in Green'rushed out to con-gratulate the twounbeaten bats-men Mooney andTrent Johnston (7

not out).O'Brien reached his cen-

tury in 50 balls and hit 13boundaries and six sixes inthe process. He eclipsedMathew Hayden's previ-ous record of hundred in 66balls against South Africaat St Kitts during the pre-vious edition.

Ireland lost their fifthwicket at 111 and it lookedas if England will be wrap-ping up the proceedingsfairly easily.

But O'Brien had otherideas.

When he started by hit-ting England's best bowlerGraeme Swann for a couple of sixes over

deep mid-wicket,little did anyonehave an inkling asto what was tofollow. Before onecould realize, theO'Brien carnagestarted.

He reached his50 in only 30 ballswith a pulled sixoff Anderson.With an able allyin Alex Cusack(47, 58 balls, 3x4,1x6), O'Brienadded a whop-ping 162 runs inonly 17.1 overs atan average of over

nine per over.The turning point was the batting

Powerplay in which Ireland scored 62 runsin five overs courtesy O'Brien. He hit Ander-son over deep mid-wicket for the biggestsix off the tournament which traveled a dis-tance of 102 meters.

When O'Brien tapped Michael Yardy fora couple, the entire stadium gave him stand-ing ovation.

It was brutal assault at its best. Althoughhe hit a few cross batted shots but the burlyIrish backed his instincts as he kept on as-saulting the English bowlers. The win willalso make ICC take a note about the perfor-mance of the minnows after some prettylopsided contests.

Earlier it was Jonathan Trott's run-a-ball92 that enabled England to score 327 butlittle did they expect what would follow inthe evening.

South Africa-born Trott equaled therecord for the fastest 1,000 one-day inter-national runs en route to his 92-run innings,which helped England post a commendabletotal at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

The 29-year-old Trott, who had made hisODI debut against Ireland in August 2009,added 167 runs off 156 balls for the fourth-wicket along with Ian Bell (81) to lay thefoundation for the score.-PTI

England skipper Andrew Strauss gestures

during the World Cup match against

Ireland in Bangalore

Ireland fans celebrate their win over England

Kevin OBrien celebrates his century against England during their

World Cup match in Bangalore

Ireland cricketers celebrate their victory

BCCI slams ICCofficial for criticizingDhoni

NEW DELHI: The BCCI has slammedICC General Manager Dave Richardson forcriticizing Indian captain Mahendra SinghDhoni as the latter had expressed his grouseon the UDRS system.

In a hard-hitting letter to the ICC ChiefExecutive Haroon Lorgat, BCCI SecretaryN Srinivasan said Richardson has no busi-ness to criticize Dhoni and he should beinstructed not to do so in future.

"BCCI takes strong objection to DavidRichardson criticizing Dhoni. Richardson'scomment that the Indian captain shouldknow the rule is out of place. The Indiancaptain only highlighted the inadequacy ofthe system and rightly so. It was there forthe world to see. Mr Richardson has noright to do so," Srinivasan said in the letter.

Dhoni had questioned "adulteration oftechnology with human thinking" whenEngland batsman Ian Bell was ruled not outoff a Yuvraj Singh delivery even after TVreplays showed that the ball would havehit stumps, leading to Richardson askingthe Indian captain to read the rules relatedto UDRS first before criticizing it.-PTI

Dalmiya accuses ICCof double standards

KOLKATA: Taking his battle a step fur-ther, a miffed Jagmohan Dalmiya has accusedthe International Cricket Council of doublestandards and claimed that the Wankhede Sta-dium, venue for the World Cup final, cannotget clearance by hosting a Twenty20 match.

Reacting to reports that ICC chief execu-tive Haroon Lorgat was satisfied withWankhede's progress after it hosted a T20match recently, the Cricket Association ofBengal chief argued it's not a yardstick asper the Stadium Agreement of World Cup.

Having already accused ICC of con-spiracy to take the India-England matchaway from the Eden Gardens, Dalmiya said,"It's in bad taste to criticize. But the factremains that they are yet to host a Test,ODI or a first class match. You all knowwhat is a first class match."-PTI

It was brutal assault at its best. Although hehit a few cross batted shots but the burly Irishbacked his instincts as he kept onassaulting the English bowlers

March 11, 2011India Post22 www.indiapost.com

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS

1 Baby When You Talk To Me:

Patiala House

2 Darling: 7 Khoon Maaf

3 Kyun Main Jaagoon: Patiala House

4 Utt Pataang: Utt Pataang

5 Laung Da Lashkara: Patiala House

6 Tum Hi To Ho: Tum Hi To Ho

7 Tinka Tinka:

Turning 30

8 Abhi Kuch Dino Se:

No One Killed Jessica

9 Dilli: No One Killed Jessica

10 Awaara: 7 Khoon MaafPriyanka Chopra seems to have taken her role in "7Khoon Maaf" a little too seriously! The versatileactress, who gets married seven times in the thriller,

says she would love to marry at least six times in real life -but to the same man.

"I have been planning my wedding since as far back as Ican remember! My ideal scenario is getting married six times

(to the same man of course)," Priyanka revealed in the second anni-versary issue of fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar.The 28-year-old, one of the most eligible singles in tinsel town, al-

ready has elaborate plans set in her mind about the six spots and types ofceremonies she would like to have.

"My Dadaji's (grandfather's) house in Ambala for my 'big, fat Indian wed-ding'; underwater at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; a church in Las Vegas- wearing a short black dress and with the priest dressed as Elvis; the intimateceremony - at a small, beautiful church in Locarno, Switzerland. It's on top ofa hill that overlooks parts of Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

She also wants to go in for a nikah."Only very close family and friends will be present; a nikah

I think it's a beautiful, romantic ceremony - the curtains, the stolenglances, the words, and finally the acceptance... 'Kabool hai'; and lastly,

the groom's choice! If my future groom survives all that, then we'llsurvive anything!" she added.

After sweeping the awards this year right from NDTV's Enter-tainer of the Year, Screen's Most Popular Actress, Stardustand Apsara's Readers Choice Awards - Katrina Kaif's seen a

meteoric rise in the industry. Apart from being the most sought afterstar in Bollywood, Katrina Kaif is also one of the industry's leadingbrand endorsers.

The actress is now getting selective in her choice of films andother commitments she plans to take on. This year she has animpressive bunch of films on her plate right from Zoya Akhtar'sZindagi Milegi Na Dobara, Yash Raj's Mere Brother Ki Dulhanand Dostana 2.

Amidst controversy surrounding her, the star has always main-tained a dignified stance and has always allowed her work to speakfor itself.

Says a trade analyst, "Critics had written her acting skills off butshe was back with a vengeance in Rajneeti and proved them wrong.Hers is truly a success story - not only is she a beautiful face butshe sells and how - all her films have seen great box office success."

"Katrina appeals to the masses; she has a thriving fan base notjust here but abroad as well. And enjoys the popularity that veryfew actresses have. In fact scripts are written now keeping her inmind like Sita and Gita," adds the analyst.

It's an adrenaline packed season forAbhishek Bachchan who takes on thebiggest action films of the year start-

ing with Dum Maaro Dum, Game, Playersfollowed by Dhoom 3.

The star who is known for his versa-tility and mass and class appeal is readyto take on the adventure and action genrepromising his fans performances noth-ing short of spectacular.

Abhishek who is training for a monthin New Zealand, with a renowned Holly-wood trainer, however, has decided totake the road less traveled and opt for alean look in his forthcoming films muchon the lines of the trend abroad.

While the rest of the industry goesthe 6 and 8 pack way, Abhishek who hasdecided to do most of his own stuntshas taken inspiration from Hollywoodstars like Jhonny Depp, Colin Farrell andRobert Pattinson and structure his fitnessplan to achieve the lean look.

Lean look

India Post 23March 11, 2011

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

Kareena Kapoor has been namedthe sexiest woman by Stardustmagazine.

Kareena beats actresses like KatrinaKaif, Deepika Padukone and PriyankaChopra to win the title. The decision hasbeen made on the basis of an extensiveresearch and readers responses.

The latest issue of Stardust magazinefeatures the list of top 10 sexiest women.

Last year, it was Katrina who toppedthe list.

Amrita Rao was once in the news for be-ing artist MF Hussain's muse. Later,Bollywood was abuzz with rumors about

Amrita dating different men but most of the ru-mors fell flat after a point of time.

But this time she seems to have finally foundlove. Amrita has been dating a certain NeilKulkarni, an NRI orthopedic surgeon based outof San Francisco.

In August, last year, the actress was in themidst of her Rajshri Production shoot for LoveYou Mr Kalakar in San Francisco. She also par-ticipated in promoting a charity event there,during which she apparently met Neil.

Neil Kulkarni works for one of the top hospi-tals there. According to sources, he too wasquite smitten by Amrita.

The source added, "Amrita has tried hard tokeep her personal life under wraps. Though it isa long-distance relationship, both Amrita andNeil are trying their level best to keep the ro-mance alive.

If buzz is to be believed, Neil made a trip toMumbai to bring in the New Year with Amrita.

Weddingbells

Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee has become aproud father as his actress wife Shabana, known asNeha, gave birth to a baby girl in a private nursing

home. The baby was born Feb 23 and Manoj is very happyand excited.

"They have named the baby Ava Nayla Bajpayee. Theykept quiet about it because that is the way they wanted it.Manoj has always been a very private person about hispersonal life and everybody knows this. In fact, they shiftedfrom a bigger hospital to a private nursing home in Santacruzto enjoy this moment with close family," a source said.

"Manoj had come to Mumbai for the delivery and nowhe is back in Bhopal for the shoot of 'Aarakshan'," addedthe source.

Proud father

Latest tiffShahid Kapoor is apparently trying to win his ladylove

Priyanka Chopra, back once again. A lot of peoplefrom the film industry turned up to wish Shahid Kapoor

on his birthday. Many leading ladies of his films, includingRani Mukherjee, Anushka Sharma, Genelia D'Souza andSonam Kapoor, were there. But conspicuous by her absencewas Priyanka, who reportedly had a fight with Shahid andthen flew to the US.

Shahid and Priyanka's on-off relationship has been ahot topic recently, but sources closeto the couple claim that Shahiddoesn't often express his af-fection for Priyanka and thisticks her off.

That's apparently also thereason behind their latest tiff,following which Priyankapacked her bags and left tothe US, caring not ahoot to return on hisbirthday.

Shahid did try topersuade her tochange her mind andreturn to Mumbai forhis birthday bash. He kept trying till the last hour, but whenPriyanka did not give up, Shahid gave up.

www.indiapost.com24 India Post March 11, 2011



When Mohandas KaramchandGandhi was thrown out of a'Whites Only' compartment of a

train in South Africa more than a centuryago, he had launched - in his mind first - amovement that eventually led to the inde-pendence of his motherland India from theBritish and decades later, emulating thesame non-violent Gandhian methods oneNelson Mandela helped bring an end to thescourge of Apartheid in South Africa.

But Gandhi was not the only 'coolie' whosuffered that indignity at the hands of the

ruling Whites in South Africa those days.Tens of thousands of Indians who had mi-grated to that faraway land in search of abetter livelihood, suffered worse fates, manynot living long enough to even tell their tale.

However, the story of the Guptas of Gujarat,reflects on the lives of all those Indians who,in a bid to escape dire poverty in their owncountry, made the fateful journey on boardships that sailed to hitherto unknown shoresand not only survived brutal authority thatlegally sanctioned racial discrimination, vis-ceral hatred of the Whites and jealous retalia-tion from the Blacks and other 'coloreds' to

make a success of their lives through sheergrit, determination and hard work.

Spanning centuries, one has heard count-less stories of migrant Indians - tomes havebeen written of the many who sailed afar merelyto escape poverty, some who went in searchof adventure, driven by wanderlust, and well,others who simply wanted to become rich.

Still, despite their predictability, eachstory never fails to fascinate, making onewonder what it is about human nature thatrisks heavy odds to travel to uninvitinglands, endures hardships and manages toemerge victorious.

Author Fred Gupta is third generationAfrican-Indian - now a naturalized Ameri-

can citizen - who in his book 'The Guptas'takes the readers on a journey that his grand-father Gani Gupta undertook along with histwo older brothers and an uncle to SouthAfrica in the last quarter of the 19th cen-tury, their trials and tribulations, their manysuccesses and personal losses, and theirfamilies that took root in what became theirhome under the ominous shadow of apart-heid, to his own life that in the late 1970stook a destiny different from his grandfa-ther and father breaking free of the limita-tions of a discriminatory regime to find suc-cess in the United States.

That the author had suf-fered early on, an indignity

similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi, of beingthrown out of a 'Whites Only' train compart-ment in South Africa, may seem clichéd; butthat in no measure is the mainstay of thisbook, rather, one of the contributing factorsfor his leaving the country of his birth.

The story highlights the unique family his-tory of migration and poverty, which the au-thor creatively expands into a story aboutconflicts from India, to South Africa to theUnited States. But in that, through most ofthe narrative, Gupta recounts his family his-tory from the innocent and almost naïve per-spective of a child - whether it was Gani Guptawho is only 10 where the story takes off; orhis son Ali who takes on adult responsibili-ties at the age of 17; or Fred himself whorealizes that he cannot spend the rest of his

life merely trying to 'fit in'.Thus, uncannily, the reader is spared

the many horrors of that dark period inhistory and is served the unpalatable ineasily digestible kids' portions.

Although spanning three generations,the book does not fall into the tedium of anepic, but moves quickly through time wherethe reader literally traverses from darknessto light. What also amazes one about theGuptas is their unshakable positivity wherethey simply plough through hardships andobstacles; dwelling on losses whether thatof life or wealth seeming a waste of time.What also endear are the values of trust,friendship, love and bonding of the Guptafamily through the generations.

Above all else, the story of the Guptasreflects the story of the many families that areformed of people from multiple backgrounds.Gupta understands how it feels to lack a senseof belonging especially with his grandfatherbeing from India and his father from SouthAfrica, and later his own children born intothe many freedoms and privileges of America.

As he transcended from living in a smallrural town in South Africa to being a suc-cessful accountant owing his own firm inthe United States, he realizes the impor-tance of understanding the parallels ofstruggles faced by multiple generations.

Despite his achieving of the 'Americandream', the author does not rest his caseon his laurels, but is honest in what seemsto be a core value of the Gupta family foun-dation, when he recounts how he ironi-cally loses everything at age 56 and isgiven no choice by his family but to startall over again instead of moping in remorse.

"I want people to know that success cancome even amidst difficulties," says the au-thor. "It was important for me to capture notonly my family history but a story that trulyshowcases the struggles faced through mi-gration across multiple generations."

The book is more than just a fictionaladaptation of his family history, the au-thor says. It is a dynamic and engagingstory that he hopes will capture a glimpseof issues faced across generations of mi-grants. And one, which in parts, tells thestory of every migrant who has ever lefthome in search of greener pastures abroad.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa,Fred Gupta currently lives in Fort Lauder-dale, Florida with his wife. Apart from run-ning a CPA firm, Gupta spotlights a quirkierside to him - doing Elvis impersonations atkaraoke evenings!

(The Guptas, available in paperback,published by Author House)

BOOK REVIEW

India to AmericaIndia to AmericaIndia to AmericaIndia to AmericaIndia to Americavia Africavia Africavia Africavia Africavia Africa

That the author had suffered early on, an indignity similar tothat of Mahatma Gandhi, of being thrown out of a 'WhitesOnly' train compartment in South Africa, may seem clichéd;but that in no measure is the mainstay of this book

March 11, 2011 India Post

www.indiapost.com

25

Miss India-Canada belongs to both countriesNEW DELHI: Anchal Sharma,

Miss India-Canada 2010, was inDelhi, eating Indian food anddancing to desi beats at a familywedding. "I last came here sixyears ago. I can't express my hap-piness on visiting my homelandagain," she says, "Since I was bornand bred in Canada, it makes me ahardcore Canadian, but becauseof my Indian roots, I am a pakkaIndian too. I'd rather put it like this- I have a Canadian heart that beatsfor India."

With Canada and India play-ing in the Cricket World Cup,Anchal is caught between twoloyalties. "I've made up my mind,I will go with India," she laughs.Among the cricketers, her favor-ite is Yuvraj Singh. "Before I goback, I want to see a WC matchlive," she says.

Currently, Anchal is raisingfunds to open an educational in-stitute for displaced children."The idea is to impart quality edu-cation to needy children. Thebeauty pageant just happened by

do more," she says. However, shecan't deny being charmed byBollywood. "I'd want to be a partof the action, but I have certaindreams which I am working on."

chance. Though I was floodedwith offers from showbiz after thecrown, I decided to do what I like.

Even today, if I'm invited to anevent, I urge people to do some-thing for society."

Anchal is associated with NGOFree The Children, which openeda school near Udaipur. "I want to

And when she does step intoshowbiz, she'd want to work in across cultural venture, she says,adding, "People in Canada loveBollywood music. "Munni","Sheila Ki Jawani" and "Desi Girl"are a rage." -Courtesy TOI

Currently, Anchal israising funds to openan educationalinstitute for displacedchildren. ‘The ideais to impart qualityeducation toneedy children’

March 11, 2011India Post

www.indiapost.com

26

Salman falls forBritish beauty

The latest rumor has it that HazelKeech has entered Salman Khan'slife after Katrina Kaif stepped out.

The young starlet is starring in Sallu'snew film Bodyguard, directed by hisbrother-in-law Atul Agnihotri.

It seems like Salman is pretty happy withthe actress, and she is the latest entrant inthe Khan family.

the ad-film circuit.Our Londoner has also trained in

Kathak, Bharatanatyam, jazz, tap dance,ballet, hip-hop and the basics of bellydancing. At the age of 19 she earnedpraise for gyrating to Kahin Pe Nigahen(the Suga Candy version)

Hazel, like Sallu's ex-flame Katrina Kaif,is currently taking Hindi diction classes fromVidur Chaturvedi for Sallu's brother-in-lawAtul Agnihotri's remake of the Malayalamsuper hit Bodyguard; she plays the secondlead opposite Sallu.

Hazel Keech

So just who is Hazel Keech?Hazel was actually christened Rose

Dawn. Born in Essex, north-east London,Hazel took inspiration from her Indianmother's roots and enrolled into a localBollywood dance academy.

Rose Dawn, aka Hazel, was an extra onHarry Potter's second, third and fourth se-ries of films. Probably that's where she learnthow to cast her spell on Bollywood's mosteligible bachelor, Sallu!

While holidaying in Mumbai six yearsago, she chanced upon several opportuni-ties to pursue her acting career. Ever sincethen she has appeared in the Tamil film,Billa (2007) and in some of the top commer-cials on air, garnering a lot of popularity in

Sholay editor living in slums

After veteran character artist A.K.Hangal, comes news that 81-year-old M.S. Shinde, editor of the cult

film " Sholay", is living in poverty in Asia'sbiggest slum Dharavi. The Cine and TV Art-ists Association (CINTAA) has come to hisaid.

FOOD CHANNEL: Madhuri Dixit and masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor address journalists during

a press conference for the culinary reality show "Foodfood Mahachallenge"

in Ahmedabad on March 2

Shinde, who edited over a hundred hitfilms including " Shaan", "Shakti" and"Seeta Aur Geeta", had to move to the PMFPcolony in Dharavi after the building in Parelwhere he lived for 48 years collapsed andthe owner refused to help him. His wife diedin 2006 and he lives with his daughter Achla.

Shinde recently had tumor surgery andcataract operation.

"We are helping him. We have sent him acheque," Gajendra Chauhan, vice presidentof CINTAA, said.

"The federation (CINTAA) is the high-est body that controls 23 associations andthey all are sending money to federation tohelp Mr. Shinde," he added refusing to dis-close the amount of money given.

M S Shinde shows off his Filmfare

award for Sholay

Shinde, who edited over ahundred hit films including‘Shaan’, ‘Shakti’ and‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, hadto move to the PMFPcolony in Dharavi

While holidaying inMumbai six years ago, shechanced upon severalopportunities to pursueher acting career


www.indiapost.com

27

Gulshan Grover in PETA campaign


LOS ANGELES: Well-knownBollywood actor Gulshan Grovershot two campaigns in Los Ange-les recently for PETA (People for

the Ethical Treatment of Animals).One campaign was against wear-ing Leather and the second one tocontrol the number of dogs (thephotographs with dogs).

The campaign was shot by LA

based Studio 838.All models, crew, photogra-

phers worked free for the love ofanimals.

Mr. Grover replaced HollywoodActor Mickey Rourke (Earlier this

campaign was done by MickeyRourke).

Grover said, "Don't kill some-one for looks instead kill by yourlooks. If you wear leather an ani-mal has to be killed for that, if youwear Pleather it looks the same &nobody has to be killed. We are allwearing pleather in the shoot.Models biknies and GG clothes arepleather."

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirkpersonally was involved in ap-proving the concept, creativityand guiding the shoot.

‘If you wear leatheran animal has to bekilled for that, if youwear Pleather itlooks the same& nobody hasto be killed’

March 11, 2011India Post28 Horoscope

Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also avail-able for individual consultations.He can be reached at: [email protected]

925-833-7170website: www.parashar.com

Your Weekly FutureMARCH 11TH TO MARCH 17TH

Presence of helpful planets in fifth will bring big relief.

Issues stuck for some time and giving big headache

will clear and once again everything will start moving in

correct direction. You will make few intelligence choices in

career. Expenses will come under control finally. You will

finish some important paperwork.

You will have couple of chance to make some easy

money. Expect less pressure at work. Boss will

appreciate your work and send a favorable report.

You will make new friends and enjoy a small get to-

gether this week. It will be a wise idea to get rid of

money making stocks.

If you play your cards right and ready to accept

the challenges, you will be rolling into big money

soon and for a long time thereafter. You may also

visit a holy place with family this week. Plans to

buy a property for investment purpose will need

to be put on hold.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20)

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUGUST 22) VIRGO (AUGUST 23 TO SEPTEMBER 22)

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23 TO OCTOBER 22) SCORPIO (OCTOBER 23 TO NOVEMBER 22)

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 22 TO JANUARY 19)SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 23 TO DECEMBER 22)

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 20 TO FEBRUARY 18) PISCES (FEBRUARY 19 TO MARCH 20)

by Pandit Parashar

www.indiapost.com

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)

TAURUS (APRIL 21 TO MAY 20)ARIES (MARCH 21 TO APRIL 20)

There will be few positive developments at work. You

will be in line for a dream assignment or promotion.

An overseas or long distance trip is also in the air. Health

issues will continue to bother. Ongoing legal matters will

take a favorable turn. You will get a big check from an

insurance company in near future.

You are really going to enjoy this week. Choice will be

in between opportunity poles apart in benefits and

risks. You will have few other reasons to celebrate this

week. You will hear from an almost forgotten friend. Some

of you will start a new relationship with a wonderful per-

son. Bank balance will shot up suddenly.

Do not feel disheartened if things do not happen on time.

If you stay focused and have patience, you will accom-

plish a lot soon. Planets help you make money through stocks.

You will get to meet very old friends this week. You will be

studying some very useful material. Spouse may feel little ex-

hausted and need extra rest for few days.

In order for you to implement your plans, you will

need to confront someone you like very much. Luck

is on your side and as a result you will accomplish a

lot this week. Journey will be fruitful. No harm in going

for a new venture in partnership. You will receive a

very interesting phone call.

You will not only receive good advice but also get a

chance to learn little diplomacy. You will attend an in-

teresting get together and win a small bet too. There will be

tension at work but you will continue to stay strong and

keep doing your job right. Spouse may feel exhausted and

need extra rest. A long distance trip is in the air.

Try to deal with issues diplomatically rather than get-

ting frustrated and angry. You will try to stay focused

on real issues and try to forget about past incidence.

Few issues involving children will get resolved. You will

be in touch with a fatherly figure for some advice and

encouraging words. Keep an eye on credit cards.

You may have to settle for lot less than what you really

deserve. Some one from distance will call to give you

some good news. You will travel to a nice area with family

to meet few old friends. People on the other side will re-

spond quickly to your mail. Spouse will continue to give

good ideas. Bank balance will grow suddenly.

People prone to litigation should be careful for next

few weeks. Running around will increase and the

results will come very slow. It is a favorable week for job

seekers as strong planets in sixth can help them achieve

their goals. You will meet a very interesting person this

week. There will an addition in the family soon.

You will try to dodge unnecessary stress at work as

well at home. You will be working really hard to ob-

tain a new assignment. You may need to use some part

of your reserves to meet your commitments. Itís not a

bad idea to contact the person who was always helpful

in the past.

www.indiapost.com March 11, 201129 India Post

Kasauli is a beautiful hill station located just 77kms from Shimla. The small town wasbuilt in 19th century by the British and it has an old-world charm. The CentralResearch Institute in Kasauli set up in 1900, is the old-

est in India, taking care of pet, police and army dogs as well astheir masters. It was also featured in the Time's best of Asia listunder "Best Literary Excursion".

The narrow roads of Kasauli slither up and down the hill-side and offer some magnificent vistas. Directly below is thespread of vast plains of Punjab and Haryana which as dark-ness falls, unroll a gorgeous carpet of twinkling lights. At 3647m, the peak of Choor Chandni (also called the Choordhar) pow-erfully dominates the lower hills and across the undulatingranges, Shimla is visible.

The upper and lower malls run through Kasauli's lengthand one can enjoy long walks on it. A mixed forest of pine, oak

and huge horse-chestnut encircles thetown. Its colonial ambience is

reinforced by a stretch ofcobbled roads, quaint shops, gabled

houses with charming facadesand scores of neat little

gardens and orchards. This picturesque hill-station, oozing old-world charm is coveredwith tall Deodar, wild flowers, rhododendrons, wild roses, flame of the forest, and flower-

ing Kichnar in summer and is a popular hub for bird-watchers.Winters, with snowfall, are beautiful too. What to see

Monkey Point: 3 ½ Km from Hotel Ros Common a hill whichderives its name from Rishi Man-ki who used to worship anidol of Lord Hanuman and later the summit is crowned with asmall temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman and presently beinglooked after by the personnel of Air Force, stationed here. Thearea being restricted from security point of view, no belong-ings like camera, bags are allowed. Legend has it that Kasaulicame into being when Lord Hanuman, on his way to gettingthe Sanjeevani herb, stepped here for jumping on to theSanjeevani hill. At Kasauli there is a Hanuman Mandir atop the300-mt high hillock, called Monkey Point, where Hanuman issupposed to have rested his feet.

The other attractions: An ancient Church is worth seeinglocated on the Upper Mall Road. A little above this place, there isa Central Research Institute established in 1906 by Dr.Sample, It prepares vaccines for treatment of ty-phoid, cholera, smallpox, and snake-bite andis only of its kind in Asia.

Cont’d on page 31

Local market in Kasauli

Monkey Point

India Post March 11, 201130 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Win a family eco-adventure in Costa RicaIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: The Greater Los Ange-les Zoo Association (GLAZA), the CostaRica Tourism Board (ICT) and the National

Aquarium have announced the Get GoingCosta Rica Family Adventure Sweepstakesthat will send two lucky families of four onan all-inclusive family eco-adventure toCosta Rica for six nights and seven daysduring the summer of 2011.

Winners will be accompanied by conser-vation experts to learn more about thebiodiversity of Costa Rica's rich lands, faunaand flora, as well as gain insight on existingresearch being done to preserve Costa Rica'snatural habitat. This partnership reflectsshared values of promoting conservation,biodiversity and environmental sustainability.

The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gar-dens is home to more than 800 species ofplants and more than 250 species of ani-

mals, many of which represent Costa Ricaincluding the spider monkey, scarlet macawand harpy eagle. In addition to caring foranimals here, the Zoo also participates inpreservation of some of the world's most

critically endan-gered speciesthrough in-volvement in anumber of con-s e r v a t i o nprojects andSpecies Sur-vival Plans.

The Get Go-ing Costa RicaFamily Adven-ture Sweep-stakes in LosA n g e l e sopened March1and remainsopen throughJune 30, 2011, at5:00 p.m. EST.

Participants can register exclusivelyonline on a weekly basis by visiting the L.A.Zoo's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/losangeleszoo, the Visit Costa RicaFacebook page, or www.visitcostarica.com,and by opting in while registering to receivebi-weekly email reminders that will includea sweepstakes registry link. Winners fromthis sweepstakes period will be announcedon www.visitcostarica.com in August 2011.

Sweepstakes winners will be flown toCosta Rica's capital, San Jose, and begintheir adventure by enjoying the sun andbeach in Manuel Antonio National Park, oneof Costa Rica's top rated coastlines.Throughout the week, the families will ob-serve dolphins and whales in Costa Ballena,

explore the wildlife and pristine beaches ofCorcovado National Park, and spend timewith conservation experts learning aboutthe important preservation work being donein Costa Rica.

While Costa Rica covers only .03 per-cent of the Earth, the country has five per-cent of the world's plant and animal spe-cies, which makes it the densest region ofbiodiversity on Earth. With more than 25percent of its landset aside in re-serves, refugesand naturalparks, the CostaRican govern-ment protectsmore of its landthan any othercountry.

"This part-nership with theCosta Rica Tour-ism Board is anideal opportunityto help inform ourvisitors andmembers aboutthe wondrousvarieties of ani-mal and plant lifein Costa Rica andto introduce themto the terrifictravel opportuni-ties available," commented Connie Morgan,president of the Greater Los Angeles ZooAssociation, the non-profit organization thatsupports the Los Angeles Zoo. "I was fortu-nate to have visited Costa Rica with a groupof supporters from the Zoo, and the entire tripwas enchanting from beginning to end. Ev-

eryone who participated was moved by thecountry's natural beauty, warm hospitality andvariety of tourist activities," she added.

The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association(GLAZA), a private non-profit organization,raises money for Los Angeles Zoo exhibits,plant and animal species conservation, capi-tal projects, and education and communityoutreach programs. For nearly five decades,GLAZA has successfully supported the Los

Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens as aninternational leader in the preservation of en-dangered species and conservation centerfor the care and study of wildlife. GLAZAhas the largest membership base of a cul-tural organization in Los Angeles, with72,000 member households.

Air travel, hotel stays to be costlierNEW DELHI: Air travel and hotel stays

will be expensive as the government raisedservice tax on air travel in economy classby up to Rs 250 and brought hotel accom-modation, among others, under the tax netin the Budget.

The measures would result in a net rev-enue gain of Rs 4,000 crore. The govern-ment, however, retained therate of service tax at 10 percent.

Finance Minister PranabMukherjee proposed rais-ing the service tax on airtravel by Rs 50 to Rs 150 inthe case of domestic airtravel and by Rs 250 to Rs750 on overseas journeysby economy class.

The service tax on travelby higher classes on domes-tic sector would be at 10 percent to bring it on par withjourneys by higher classes on internationalair travel, he said.

The Budget proposes to include sec-tors like hotel accommodation with a roomtariff of over Rs 1,000 per day and air-con-ditioned restaurants serving liquor underservice tax ambit.

"My proposals relating to service taxare estimated to result in net revenue gainof Rs 4,000 crore for the year," Mukherjeesaid.

"It will mostly affect the airline and ho-tel sector. They may go for rate hike. But Ithink the fallout will be short-term and thesectors will not face any serious prob-

lems," KPMG Executive Director VikasVasal said.

Other experts also expressed similarviews. "The hotel and airline sectors are ar-eas generating larger revenues and the ma-jority of the intended Rs 4,000 crore wouldcome from it," an expert of Deloitte said.-PTI

Focus on development oftourist infrastructure

NEW DELHI: With a view to promotingtourism, the government has allocated Rs1170 crore in the General Budget for 2011-12, marking an increase of Rs 104 crore over

last year.The budget made provision of Rs 499

crore for development of tourist infrastruc-ture including budget accommodation, way-side amenities, tourist reception centers, re-furbishment and illumination of monuments.

For promotion of tourism, Rs 347.75 crorehas been earmarked in the budget.

Promotion and marketing activities areundertaken through a network of India Tour-

ism offices located inIndia and abroad. Socialawareness campaignsare also released to sen-sitize the masses andtourism stakeholders.

The Ministry hasgot Rs 123 crore for itstraining programs.

Training manpoweris an essential featurefor development oftourism in the country.At present there are 41institutes of hotel man-agement and five food

craft institutes which are conducting vari-ous courses.

Keeping the special requirements of thenortheast region in mind, Rs 110 crore hasbeen earmarked for the NE region and Sikkimin the budget. -PTI

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjeeproposed raising the service tax onair travel by Rs 50 to Rs 150 in thecase of domestic air travel and byRs 250 to Rs 750 on overseasjourneys by economy class. Theservice tax on travel by higherclasses on domestic sector wouldbe at 10 per cent

India PostMarch 11, 2011 31Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

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Picturesque hill-station, oozing old-world charm

Close to this there is PasteurInstitute founded in 1900 to pro-duce anti-rabies vaccine againstdog-bite. There is a sanatorium forTB patients who benefit by its

Cont’d from page 29 healthy environment. TV Tower isanother landmark. Baptist Churchestablished in 1923 is also worthseeing.

Baba Balak Nath Temple: Onthe Graner Hill top is a famoustemple of Sidh Baba Balak Nath. It

is believed that Baba Balak Nathone night appeared in dreams to alocal resident named Vijay Kumarand told him to build a temple atthe place. This temple is one of itsown kind where issueless couplesvisit to be blessed with a child.Baptism ceremony of children isalso performed in this temple. Pho-tographs of such blessed childrenare kept as record by Baba VijayKumar in the Temple.

Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir: Builtin 1989 by Sai Sudha Trust, it is afamous temple located half kmaway from Garkhal. The idol of SaiBaba was built in Jaipur and theburning flame in this temple signi-fies the divine power of Sai Babaof Shirdi.

When to go: Best time to travelto Kasauli is between April-Juneand September-November.How to reach:

Air - From Kasauli the nearestairport is Chandigarh. Shimla is

nearest airport for Solan.Rail - Nearest railhead is Kalka

in Haryana, which is 40-km fromKasauli and 44-km from Solan.Solan is also connected with nar-

row gauge railway line from Kalka.Road - Solan and Kasauli are

well connected by road. Buses,coaches and taxis are easily avail-able from Chandigarh and Delhi.

Baba Balak Nath Temple Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir

Need to fully exploit tourism potentialNEW DELHI: The

government's several incentives topromote tourism in India notwith-standing, the sector needs moreimpetus to fully exploit its poten-tial, India's Economic Survey says.

Various fiscal incentives havebeen announced by the govern-ment for the hospitality sector suchas the five-year tax holiday for two,three, and four star category ho-tels.

"Despite these efforts, there isa lot more to be done, given thepotential of this sector," it said.

In fact at 11.5 per cent, the shareof travel in India's exports of com-mercial services in 2008 is lowerthan that of many other exportersof services and USA, EU andChina, it said.

The Survey pointed out that thegovernment has launched ascheme for development of nation-ally and internationally importantdestinations and circuits throughmega projects.

"So far, 38 projects have beenidentified, out of which 23 havebeen sanctioned," it said.

Other initiatives include con-tinuation of promotional effortsunder the 'Incredible India' cam-paign, visa-on-arrival for touristsfrom Singapore, Finland, New

Zealand, Luxembourg, Japan,Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Philip-pines, Myanmar and Indonesia.

Also, the government has putin place a multi-pronged strategy,including strengthening and ex-panding institutional infrastruc-ture for training and education in

order to meet the huge skill gap inthe hospitality industry, it said.

The Survey said India's foreignexchange earnings from tourist ar-rivals grew 24.56 per cent in 2010at USD 14,193 million, comparedto USD 11,394 million in 2009.

Total foreign tourist arrivals in

India increased to 5.88 million in2010, up from 5.11 million in theyear-ago period.

"During the period 2004 to 2009,the CAGRs of foreign tourist ar-rivals and foreign exchange earn-ings from tourism in rupee termswere 8.1 per cent, and 14.5 per cent,respectively," it said.

The hotel industry saw goodtimes coming back. After falling in2009-10, the hotel sector's sales arelikely to grow in 2010-11 by 18.1per cent due to both, higher occu-pancies and Average Room Rate(ARRs).

"However, fresh room addi-tions in 2011-13 will keep the ARRsunder check. Sales are expected togrow by 15.1 per cent in 2011-12,"the Survey said.

As far as foreign investment isconcerned, the hotel sector saw adecline in FDI in terms of numberof projects in 2009 with 370projects, compared to 553 in 2008.

Presently there are 1,593 classi-fied hotels with a capacity of 95,087rooms in the country.

Domestic tourist visits in-creased to 650 million in 2009 ascompared to 562.98 million in 2008,witnessing a growth of 15.5 percent in spite of various adversefactors during this period. -PTI

The hotel industrysaw good timescoming back. Afterfalling in 2009-10, thehotel sector's salesare likely to grow in2010-11 by 18.1 percent due to both,higher occupanciesand Average RoomRate (ARRs)

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TechBizTech News

Indian economy will beat U.S., Chinaby 2050: Citigroup report


NEW YORK: India will be theworld's largest economy by 2050leaving China in second place andthe United States a sorry third, ac-cording to a new Citigroup report.

The report, authored by WillemBuiter, Citigroup's chief economistwith Ebrahim Rahbari and JuergenMichels, Citi Economics, GlobalEconomics View, Feb 21, 2011 fo-cuses on what the authors call theGlobal Growth Generators or the3G countries.

The report draws on a system-atic research of the global genera-tors of growth for the future to ef-fectively conclude that Chinashould overtake the US to becomethe largest economy in the worldby 2020, then be overtaken by In-dia by 2050.

The report lists Bangladesh,China, Egypt, India, Indonesia,Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philip-pines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam thathave the most promising (percapita) growth prospects as 3Gcountries.

Reflecting on what to expectfrom the fast-growing Asianeconomies in the short term,Buiter says consumer spending inthese countries is likely to exceedtotal consumer spending in theEuro area during the next twoyears. "It could exceed the totalconsumer spending in the US

within a dozen years," he says."The proximate driver of this con-sumption boom is the growth ofthe middle class in fast-growingAsia. The number of householdswith an annual income of at least$10,000 per annum in India andChina combined is likely to exceedthat in the US from 2011 on andthat in all of Western Europe 2 or 3years later. There are already wellover 100 million households withincome over $10,000 in India andChina combined.

The report further states thatdeveloping Asia and Africa will bethe fastest growing regions, drivenby population and income percapita growth, followed in terms ofgrowth by the Middle East, LatinAmerica, Central and Eastern Eu-rope, the CIS, and finally the ad-vanced nations of today.

For poor countries with largeyoung populations, growing fastshould be easy, they say. But theyadvise these countries to open up,create some form of marketeconomy, invest in human andphysical capital, adding on a cryp-

tic note: "Don't be unlucky anddon't blow it. Catch-up and con-vergence should do the rest."

Buiter and his co-authors ex-pect strong growth in the worldeconomy until 2050, with averagereal GDP growth rates of 4.6% pauntil 2030 and 3.8% pa between2030 and 2050 - as a result of which,world GDP should rise in real PPP-adjusted terms from $72 trillion in2010 to $380 trillion in 2050.

Buiter warns, however, thatgrowth will not be smooth. "Ex-

pect booms and busts," hewarns. "Occasionally, there willbe growth disasters, driven bypoor policy, conflicts, or naturaldisasters. When it comes to that,don't believe that 'this time it'sdifferent'."

"Boom and bust cycles havebeen a constant companion ofgrowth and development in virtu-ally all economies. It will not bedifferent this time, so beware ofany proclamations of an end ofvolatility and the 'next sure thing'.Prospects for many poor nationstoday are more promising than

Airtel launches3G servicesin Jaipur

JAIPUR: Leading telecommuni-cations company Bharti Airtel haslaunched 3G services in Jaipur.

It is the first launch in NorthIndia and following this, the ser-vices will be rolled out across allmajor cities in the states in weeksto come, Bharti Airtel President(Mobile Services) Atul Bindal said.

"Having successfully launchedAirtel 3G services in six cities, weare launching the service in NorthIndia from the city of Jaipur, withexciting Hindi and regional mobileTV content," he told reporters atthe launching ceremony here.

Powered by 3G, the Airtel mobileTV services allows customers toenjoy their favorite TV shows ondifferent channels on the go. -PTI

Haripur nuclearplant to startin 2014

KOLKATA: The data, neededfor environmental clearance for theproposed nuclear power plant atHaripur in East Midnapur districtof West Bengal, would be com-piled by March 2012 to make theplant operational by 2014, a topNPCIL official said here.

"Data collection on oceanog-raphy and meteorological aspectis going on, except the geo-tech-nical test that can wait. All dataneeded for environmental clear-ance would be at hand by March2012," Nuclear Power Corporationof India Ltd Chairman and Man-aging Director S K Jain told report-ers on the sidelines of 'Frontiersof Science' event.

According to the proposal,the first phase of the commis-sioning of the Haripur projectwould have 2000 MW out of atotal 6000 MW being proposed,with two pressurized water reac-tors from Russia. -PTI

Payments to Iran forcrude oil imports resume

NEW DELHI: More than three months after RBI scrapped along-standing payment mechanism used to pay for Iranian crudeimports, India has resumed payments to the nation's secondlargest oil supplier using an alternative system.

"Pending dues of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) arenow being cleared and as of March 1, 2011, payment of Euro 1.5billion has been made to the Central Bank of Iran," Oil MinisterS Jaipal Reddy told the Lok Sabha in a written reply. -PTI

probably at any time in human his-tory and we expect many countriesto grow fast and catch up substan-tially, but 'growth disasters' in-duced by poor policies, internalconflict or bad luck are sadly notunlikely.

The report's authors took asstarting point for the investigationof countries that could be poten-tial future Global Growth Genera-tors by making use of Citi's posi-tion as a global bank, with a physi-cal presence in 109 countries. Citi'seconomics team has more than 50economists based in 19 countries.They cover 60 countries, account-ing for over 85% of 2010 worldGDP measured in US dollars. Theauthors collected long-termgrowth forecasts from Citi econo-mists from around the globe, forthe countries covered by them.

Report indicates the followingwill be the 10 largest economies inthe world in 2050:

1. India: $85.97 trillion2. China: $80.02 trillion3. United States: $39.07 trillion4. Indonesia: $13.93 trillion5. Brazil: $11.58 trillion6. Nigeria: $9.51 trillion7. Russia: $7.77 trillion8. Mexico: $6.57 trillion9. Japan: $6.48 trillion10. Egypt: $6.02 trillion.Not a single European nation

(other than Russia) will qualify tobe among the first 10.

Indian in NASA research explains missing sunspotsWASHINGTON: A joint re-

search sponsored by India's topscience body and NASA and doneby a scientist from Kolkata has ex-plained the "puzzle" of recent pe-riod of decreased solar activityduring the Sun's 11-year cycle.

Solar scientists around theworld were puzzled by the ex-tended disappearance of sun-spots in 2008-2009.

The recent solar minimum, aperiod characterized by a lowerfrequency of sunspots and solarstorms, was the deepest ob-served in almost 100 years.

The solar minimum has reper-

cussions on the safety of spacetravel and the amount of orbitaldebris our planet accumulates, aNASA release said.

"Plasma currents deep insidethe sun interfered with the forma-tion of sunspots and prolongedthe solar minimum," said lead au-thor Dibyendu Nandi of the IndianInstitute of Science Education andResearch in Kolkata.

Funded by NASA's Livingwith a Star Program and the De-partment of Science and Technol-ogy (DST) of the Indian Govern-ment, the research revealed thatduring this deep solar minimum,

the sun's magnetic field weakened,allowing cosmic rays to penetratethe solar system in record num-bers, making space a more danger-ous place to travel.

At the same time, the decreasein ultraviolet radiation causedEarth's upper atmosphere to cooland collapse, it said.

"This research demonstrates howobservations from Heliophysics Sys-tem Observatory missions stimulatenew theories and advance modelingtechniques," said Richard Fisher, di-rector of the Heliophysics Divisionin NASA's Science Mission Direc-torate at the agency's headquarters

in Washington.The solar cycle, or the solar

magnetic activity cycle, is a peri-odic change in the amount of ir-radiation from the sun that is ex-perienced on Earth.

It has a period of about 10.7years (approximately 11 years),and is one component of solarvariation, the other being aperi-odic fluctuations.

Solar variation causeschanges in space weather and tosome degree weather on Earth.However, changes in solarbrightness are too weak to ex-plain recent climate change. -PTI

Sibal blames NDApolicies for hugerevenue loss

NEW DELHI: Under attackover the 2G scam, Telecom Minis-ter Kapil Sibal sought to put theblame on BJP saying the NDAregime’s revenue-sharing method,instead of a fixed license fee,caused a revenue loss of about Rs1.50 lakh crore.

The license fee charged at thattime was Rs 623 per subscriber andif that regime had continued foranother 20 years, it would haveearned the government over Rstwo lakh crore whereas only Rs80,000 crore was collected. -PTI

The report lists Bangladesh, China, Egypt,India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria,Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam that havethe most promising (per capita) growthprospects as 3G countries

35India PostTechBiz PostMarch 11, 2011

www.indiapost.com

Center blocking investmentin Bihar: Nitish

PATNA: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar has criticized theCentre for allegedly blocking hugeinvestment proposals worth overRs one lakh crore in thermal powerand ethanol sectors.

"Fate of investment proposalsworth over Rs one lakh crore inBihar in the fields of thermalpower and ethanol hangs in bal-ance following non-cooperationfrom the Centre," Kumar said at aprogram here.

He said the state had receivedinvestment proposals of Rs 90,000crore for setting up ethanol manu-facturing units and Rs 20,000 forraising thermal power plants.

"The state government hassought clearance from the Centrefor removing restrictions in manu-facturing of ethanol from sugar-cane juice, but no decision hasbeen taken as yet," he said.

Similarly, the Center's dilly-dal-lying attitude towards providing

gram organized by a business daily.While the Centre has become a

stumbling block in development ofBihar, the state government hadaccorded top priority to help de-velop basic infrastructure.

"We have to make roads, de-velop the state and fulfill basicneeds of the people and the state,"he said and rubbished the chargesof "jugglery" of figure in showingthe state's growth rate.

In 2010, the media had pro-jected the state's growth rate at11 per cent and when the final fig-ures were compiled it was at 16.59per cent in 2008-09 itself, Kumarsaid.

"Officials of the state are notso clever to distort and forge sta-tistics," the Chief Minister saidadding that Union Finance Minis-ter Pranab Mukherjee too had ad-mitted that the state's growth ratewas pegged at 16 per cent during2006-08. -PTI

adequate coal linkages to Bihar forutilizing the proposed investmentsto generate 2000 MW power wasalso blocked, he alleged at the pro-

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Raw material imports hitby Egypt situation

NEW DELHI: India's imports ofraw materials for fertilizers arelikely to be "adversely" affectedby the uncertain political scenarioin Egypt after long-time dictatorHosni Mubarak was forced to fleethe country, the government in-formed Parliament.

"Due to the current situation inEgypt, it is apprehended that im-port of fertilizer inputs may be ad-versely affected for some time,"Minister of State for FertilizersSrikant Kumar Jena said in a writ-ten reply to the Lok Sabha.

The Suez Canal, one of theworld's busiest maritime routes,which passes through Egypt, is oneof the major transit routes for ship-ment of raw materials used by theIndian fertilizer industry, he said.

India imports nine lakh tonnesof fertilizers, including urea, sul-phur and ammonia, from Egyptannually, he added.

The minister noted that thedomestic fertilizer industry willsource these inputs from other al-ternative sources to minimize theimpact of the Egypt situation ondomestic output.

The government has allowedmanufacturers of single super

phosphate (SSP) and phosphaticfertilizers to import raw materialsunder the open general list.

In a separate reply, the ministersaid the minimum retail price (MRP)of indigenously produced fertiliz-ers increased marginally during the2010-11 Rabi season starting Oc-tober due to rising global prices offertilizers and their inputs.

Replying to a query on the re-vival of closed PSUs HindustanFertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL)and Fertilizer Corporation of IndiaLtd (FCIL), the minister said theEmpowered Committee of Secre-taries (ECOS) has finalized recom-mendations and "based on it, adraft Cabinet note has been circu-lated for inter-ministerial com-ments". -PTI

New rehab package forJaitapur nuclear plant

Ban proposed on futures tradingin essential items

NEW DELHI: As part of stepsto control high food prices, PM'sWorking Group on Consumer Af-fairs - led by Gujarat Chief Minis-ter Narendra Modi - has called forban on futures trading in essen-tial items and favored liberalizingagri-markets via organized retail.

The group has made 20 recom-mendations with 64 action points,ranging from banning futurestrade in essential items to makingoffences under the Essential Com-modities Act as non-bailable. Ithas also suggested setting up ofspecial courts for early trials.

The Working Group, set up inApril 2010 to find ways to controlretail prices, submitted the reportto Prime Minister ManmohanSingh here.

Apart from Gujarat, Chief Min-isters of Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu and Maharashtra were mem-bers of the group.

"Considering lack of stronglinkages between spot and futuremarkets at present, the Modi Re-port suggested that for the timebeing, essential commoditiesshould be kept out of the futuresmarket," an official release said.

The report suggests delistingessential commodities like rice,pulses and edible oils from the Fu-ture Markets, to contain inflation.

Food inflation rose to 11.49 percent for week ended February 12from 11.05 per cent in the previ-ous week.

Commodity markets regulator

FMC has already suspended fu-tures trading in rice, tur and urad,but wheat and sugar are still traded.

The Working Group has alsorecommended liberalization of ag-riculture markets for improving ef-ficiency of distribution channelsby increasing participation of theorganized sector and coopera-tives in retail, agro-processing andpost-harvest infrastructure.

The report has called for "pricestabilization fund" for governmentintervention when prices becomeunreasonably high.

To stop the hoarding and blackmarketing of daily necessities, thePM's Group has recommendedsetting up of Special Courts un-der the Essential Commodities Act(ECA) for speedy trials.

"Offences under Section 10-Aunder the ECA should be madenon-bailable and Special Courtsshould be set up for speedy trialof offences," the release said.

It also recommended raising thedetention period to one year fromsix months for black marketing

under the Prevention of BlackMarketing and Maintenance ofSupply of Essential CommoditiesAct, 1980.

Identifying farm infrastructuregrowth as sluggish, the report hassuggested time-bound develop-ment of agri-marketing infrastruc-ture like storage capacities in fooddeficit regions, cold chains andagro-processing.

It has emphasized upon theneed to prepare a 10-year Perspec-tive Plan for improving Agri-infra-structure of backward and forwardlinkages for agriculture productionand marketing.

Besides, it has suggested thatthe government evolve a single"National agriculture Market" bysetting up ministerial coordinationmechanism at national and re-gional levels for policy making.

The report has further recom-mended that the government en-large the scope of priority sectorlending to agri-marketing activitiesand speedy reform of APMC Actacross the country.

It has also asked the government"to explore unbundling of FoodCorporation of India (FCI) opera-tion in terms of procurement, stor-age and distribution functions."

The report has said that thereshould be an extensive use of thetechnology to disseminate infor-mation to stakeholders on pro-duction, imports, stocks and over-all availability of essential com-modities. -PTI

KOLKATA: The NPCIL has fi-nalized a new Rs 650 crore rehabili-tation package--"10 times" moreeffective than the existing one - fordisplaced persons at the proposedJaitapur nuclear power inMaharashtra in a bid to address thegrowing opposition to the project.

The package for land and homelosers worked out by the NuclearPower Corporation of India

(NPCIL) will be announced anyday, a top official said. The 6,000MW plant is an Indo-French jointventure.

"We have improved the reha-bilitation package 10 times the ex-isting one. This would be an-nounced any day," NPCIL chair-man and managing director S KJain said here on the sidelines ofan event. -PTI

‘Officials of the stateare not so clever todistort and forgestatistics’

The report has calledfor ‘price stabilizationfund’ for governmentintervention whenprices becomeunreasonably high

India imports ninelakh tonnes of fertiliz-ers, including urea,sulphur and ammo-nia, from Egyptannually, he added

www.indiapost.com36 India Post March 11, 2011

Health ScienceHealth Line

An experience of donating bone marrowKRISTEEN SINGH

This past holiday season,I donated bone marrowfor a 17-year old boy with

Leukemia. I was blessed to begiven the chance to help him andpotentially stop him from dying.I want to mention that you toocan save a life by visiting:asianmarrow.org

It's a wonderful irony that Ishould be contacted to donate,as from '06 to '07 I worked at A3M(Asians for Miracle MarrowMatches, affiliated with the Na-tional Marrow Donor Program)as the South Asian Outreach andRecruitment Coordinator. In '06,I got hired and the first thing Idid was register. In September of2010 I was contacted by A3Mand told I was a match. The re-cipient is the same age as mynephew, and I knew I would wantto save my nephew, so of courseI want the same for this boy. Itfeels appropriate that as a match,I am connecting everyone whohas been in this fight to save

patients' lives. As a donor it feelslike yes, we are doing it, and yeswe are life savers.

After the initial call, I had myblood tested which confirmed thatI matched. I was excited that this

holiday season, I would get toshare the gift of life. Informationsessions were followed by aphysical exam to confirm my abil-ity to donate. I had a choice of

doing the PBSC or Marrow proce-dure. 70 percent donate usingPBSC, but I decided on the mar-row procedure.

To learn more about the proce-dures, visit: asianmarrow.org. Reg-istering is easy and all you need isfour cotton swabs with salivasamples and a completed form.

Remember if someone you knowor your family needs a match, thisregistry will be there for you too.

Registering South Asians fromall religions between the ages of18-60 has brought people together

to save lives. My experience atA3M will forever stay in my heart.

Those I met and connectedto and the many thousands thatregistered to save lives give mefaith in the power of communityand the realization that people docare. Many were saved and I willalso remember those that didn'tmake it, but know that their legacylives on. The struggle to find amatch continues to help patientsfight for life through matchesfound thanks to those who reg-istered. The Help Vinay andSameer Campaign are some trueexamples of giving, support andcompassion that I witnessedfirst hand. The Dragonfly Ef-fect, a book inspired by thecampaign, states that of 24,611that registered in a three monthperiod, over 266 were matchesin one year alone.

Thanks to all who were thereto support while I was at A3Mand those who continue to sup-port today.

Lawmakersconsidering cordblood bank

HARTFORD, Conn.: Some statelawmakers are gathering support tocreate a public umbilical cord bloodbank in Connecticut.

North Haven Republican Sen.Len Fasano has scheduled a newsconference to discuss legislationhe's proposed to create such a bank.

In 2009, the General Assemblyvoted to require health care pro-viders to inform expectant moth-ers about the option to bank ordonate their newborn baby's um-bilical cord blood, which is rich instem cells that can be frozen andused to treat various diseases andconditions.

Connecticut parents can nowpay private banks to store theblood. A public bank would be free.

Fasano is expected to joined bystate Rep. Jason Perillo and doc-tors from Yale University, Univer-sity of Connecticut and the YaleBlood Bank. -AP

Colon cancerscreening needemphasized

CHICAGO: Doctors who spe-cialize in colon cancer screeningare using March to highlight theimportance of getting tested.

March is National ColorectalCancer Awareness Month.Deaths and diagnoses of thiscommon cancer have declined re-cently, but it still claims more than50,000 lives yearly.

The American Society for Gas-trointestinal Endoscopy in OakBrook includes doctors who docolonoscopies. Endoscopy grouppresident Dr. Brian Fennerty saysbe sure to contact your doctor im-mediately if you have symptoms,including bleeding or unexplainedabdominal pain. -AP

Bill would aidNevada campaignto stop crib death

CARSON CITY, Nev.: Propo-nents of SB172 hope no more Ne-vada babies die because of anunsafe sleep situation.

The bill, up before the SenateHealth and Human Services Com-mittee, aims to create a more struc-tured campaign teaching parentsnot to let their baby sleep next toanother person, or with too manypillows of stuffed animals.

Statistics from the Nevada StateHealth Division show that in 2009,218 Nevada babies younger thana year old died. Of those, eight diedof suffocation from an unsafesleeping arrangement and threedied of Sudden Infant Death Syn-drome (SIDS). -AP

Ark. panel backsprescriptiondrug monitor

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.: A Senatepanel has backed legislation tocreate a statewide database fortracking some prescription drugpurchases, despite concernsraised by opponents who say it'san invasion of privacy. -AP

Better think positive: Pessimismcan block therapy

WASHINGTON: Spine surgeonAnders Cohen puts a lot of stockin patients' expectations of pain re-lief. He prefers to operate only onthose who ̀ `grab you by the collarand say, ̀ I can't take it anymore.'''

New brain research provesdoctors like Cohen are onto some-thing: Pessimism can override theeffectiveness of even powerfultreatments.

You've heard of the placebo ef-fect, the healing power of positivebelief. This is the ̀ `nocebo'' effect,the flip side, almost its evil twin.

And while the self-fulfillingprophecy of negative thinkingisn't nearly as well studied, somescientists say it's time for doctorsto start paying a lot more atten-tion to their patients' outlook.

``We all know that many treat-ments work for some people butnot for others,'' says neuroscien-tist Dr. Randy Gollub of Massa-chusetts General Hospital. Instead

of stressing only the percentages,``say, `I have every reason to be-lieve that you could be one of thepeople who will respond.'''

Scientists already know the pla-cebo effect is real. They can measureit in studies that compare real drugsto dummy pills, where those giventhe fakes have noticeable improve-

ments to pain and other symptoms.But could a gloomy outlook re-

ally harm? British and German re-searchers performed the most so-phisticated study yet to tell. Theystrapped a heat-beaming deviceonto the legs of 22 healthy volun-teers, zapping it until people ratedtheir pain at nearly 70 on a scale of

1 to 100.Then the researchers hooked

up an IV to give them the power-ful morphine-like painkillerremifentanil. Typically used forsurgery patients, it works rapidlybut also is metabolized rapidly,able to be switched on and off asresearchers alternated between

giving the drug or plain fluid.The volunteers' brains were

scanned as they described howmuch pain, and pain relief, theyexperienced at different times.When the researchers induced theburn and surreptitiously turned onthe drug, the volunteers said theirpain improved a fair amount. The

painkiller was working, expecta-tions aside.

Here's the mind over matter: Theresearchers next told the volun-teers they were about to inject thepainkiller even though they'dnever turned it off. Those pain rat-ings dropped even more meaningexpectations of relief doubled thedrug's painkilling benefit.

Finally, the researchers liedagain, saying they were stoppingthe drug and that pain wouldprobably increase. Sure enough,the volunteers' pain levels soaredback up to almost their pre-treatedlevel as grim expectations can-celed out the effect of a provenand potent painkiller. Anxiety lev-els fluctuated similarly.

Why? The brain scans tell thetantalizing tale showing changesin neural pain networks that provethe people really did experience thechanges in pain that they reported.

Cont’d on page 37

Kristeen Singh

Pessimism can override the effectiveness ofeven powerful treatments. You've heard ofthe placebo effect, the healing power ofpositive belief. This is the 'nocebo' effect, theflip side, almost its evil twin

Registering SouthAsians from allreligions between theages of 18-60 hasbrought peopletogether to save lives

age trust in recommended treatments, saidMass General's Gollub.

``Building these strong, positive expec-tations for doing well are part of what comesfrom believing in your treater as someonewho cares about you,'' she said.

Directly managing patients' expectations- spelling out exactly what will happen atdifferent points to take away some of thefear also can help, said Cohen, chief of

Cont’d from page 36

Better think positive: Pessimismcan block therapy

Moreover, expecting more pain fired upsections of the brain that control mood andanxiety, the researchers recently reportedin the journal Science Translational Medi-cine. In contrast, anticipating pain relieffired up different regions previously foundactive in people given placebos.

It's a small study, dealing just with pain.But the results may apply to a range ofdrug therapies, especially in chronic dis-eases because so many of those patientsare conditioned by months or years orfrustrating treatment failures, concludedlead researcher Dr. Ulrike Bingel ofHamburg's University Medical Center,who teamed with Oxford University re-searchers for the study.

Learning how anxiety influences painis crucial to understanding this noceboeffect - how you get the pain you expect,said co-author and Oxford neuroscientistIrene Tracey, in a recent review of the sci-ence of expectations in the journal NatureMedicine.

It's by no means a novel concept. Previ-ous research has found people given adummy pill can experience the side effectsof the medication they thought they weregetting.

While there's a lot yet to learn, for nowdoctors should at least try building closerrelationships with their patients to encour-

spine surgery at Brooklyn Hospital Centerin New York. He teaches new doctors notto promise surgery patients they'll wakeup free from pain because while the oldback pain may be fading they're going tohurt from the operation.

When someone says, ```Wow, it's justlike he told it was going to be, this guy toldme the truth,' now you've got this bond ofconfidence,'' Cohen said. ̀ `You're partneringwith your patient.'' -AP

India PostMarch 11, 2011 Health Science Post 37

www.indiapost.com

Noncommunicable diseasesthreaten S-E Asia


JAKARTA: Noncommunicable diseasessuch as cancers, diabetes, cardiovasculardiseases and chronic respiratory diseasescause 3 out of 5 deaths in WHO's South-East Asia Region, some 8 million peopleannually. Since these diseases are closelylinked to poverty, they pose a serious pub-lic health threat to the Region and also im-pede development. For instance in India,eliminating noncommunicable diseaseswould increase the GDP by 4-10% accord-ing to the World Bank.

More than 22% of deaths worldwide dueto noncommunicable diseases occur in the11 countries in WHO's South-East Asia Re-gion. A third of these deaths are expectedto be among middle-aged adults under theage of 60 years. This epidemic of noncom-municable diseases can be largely pre-vented through cost-effective publichealth measures.

"Noncommunicable diseases pose athreat to the global economy and are im-poverishing to both families and individu-als. These diseases are the major cause ofpoverty at the individual and householdlevel," said Dr Samlee Plianbangchang,WHO's Regional Director for South-EastAsia. "Diabetes, hypertension, stroke andcardiovascular diseases have increased inthe Region. Costly in terms of long-termcare, they demand a type of social and fi-

nancial investment that many countries willhave difficulty making unless they quicklybegin to re-prioritize their efforts and fund-ing", he added.

Many of these diseases can be pre-vented, delayed or alleviated throughsimple lifestyle changes. By improving diet,increasing physical activity and quittingsmoking, 80% of heart diseases and stroke,80% of type 2 diabetes and 40% of cancers

can be prevented. 150 minutes of moderatephysical activity a week could reduce therisk of ischemic heart disease by 30%, therisk of diabetes by 27% and the risk ofbreast and colon cancer by 21-25%. Pre-venting noncommunicable diseases ischeaper than treating them.

The UN General Assembly will convenea High-level Meeting in September 2011 togalvanize action to halt premature deathsfrom noncommunicable diseases.

Sugary drinks linked to highblood pressure

WASHINGTON: In one more reason whyone should avoid or reduce taking sugarydrinks, a new study has claimed that sodaand other sugar-sweetened beverages suchas fruit drinks may lead to increased bloodpressure levels in adults.

The international research, published inthe journal Hypertension, found that everyextra sugary beverages per day increaseshigher systolic blood pressure by 1.6 mmHgand diastolic blood pressure by 0.8 mmHg(millimetres of mercury).

The researchers, who looked at 2,696participants in the US and Britain for theirstudy, found higher blood pressure lev-els in individuals who consumed moreglucose and fructose, the most commonsugar sweetener used by the beverageindustry.

Higher blood pressure was also foundmore pronounced in people who consumedhigh levels of both sugar and sodium.

Study author Paul Elliott of the ImperialCollege London said: "These findings lendsupport for recommendations to reduce theintake of sugar sweetened beverages, aswell as added sugars and sodium in an ef-fort to reduce blood pressure and improvecardiovascular health.

"This points to another possible inter-vention to lower blood pressure," he sug-gested.

For the study, the researchers ana-lyzed consumption of sugar-sweetened

drinks, sugars and diet beverages of theparticipants, aged between 40 and 59years, in eight areas of the US and twoareas in the UK.

Participants reported what they ate anddrank for four days via in depth interviewsby trained observers. They also underwenttwo 24-hour urine collections, eight bloodpressure readings and responded a detailedquestionnaire on lifestyle, medical and so-cial factors.

The researchers found that sugar intakein the form of glucose, fructose and sucrosewas highest in those consuming more thanone sugar-sweetened beverage daily.

They also found that individuals con-suming more than one serving per day ofsugar-sweetened beverages consumedmore calories than those who didn't, withaverage energy intake of more than 397 calo-ries per day. -PTI

Learning how anxietyinfluences pain is crucialto understanding thisnocebo effect - how youget the pain you expect,said co-author and Oxfordneuroscientist Irene Tracey

The researchers analyzedconsumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, sugarsand diet beverages of theparticipants, aged be-tween 40 and 59 years, ineight areas of the US andtwo areas in the UK

Many of these diseasescan be prevented, de-layed or alleviated throughsimple lifestyle changes.By improving diet, increas-ing physical activity andquitting smoking

India Post March 11, 2011Health Science Post38

www.indiapost.com

Barack Obama offers concession on health lawWASHINGTON: President

Barack Obama has offered to bringforward the date by which USstates can frame their own healthcare plans, in an apparent conces-sion to critics of his historic re-form law.

Obama's mammoth health re-form legislation, passed after amonumental political effort lastyear, aimed to expand health cov-erage to most Americans, cut downon abuses by private insurancegiants and cut ballooning costs.

But Republicans have brandedthe law, the most sweeping sociallegislation for decades, as a gov-ernment power grab and are chal-lenging it in the courts, and thebill continues to divide public opin-ion ahead of the 2012 election.

At a meeting with governors atthe White House, Obama said hewould let states opt out of his lawin 2014 instead of 2017 - if they

could come up with plans to fulfillthe same goals as his effort.

"If your state can create a planthat covers as many people as

affordably and comprehensivelyas the Affordable Care Act does -without increasing the deficit - youcan implement that plan," Obama

told the governors."We'll work with you to do it.

I've said before, I don't believe thatany single party has a monopolyon good ideas. And I will go to batfor whatever works, no matter who

or where it comes from."Under Obama's plan states

could make the decision to opt outof the federal health care reformrequirements by 2017.

But three senators, DemocratsRon Wyden of Oregon and Mary

Landrieu of Louisiana, as well asScott Brown of Massachusetts in-troduced a plan, which Obamabacked, to bring forward that dateto 2014.

The president warned howeverthat his concession would not al-low states and governors that op-posed his law for political reasons,to simply roll it back.

"I am not open to re-fightingthe battles of the last two years,or undoing the progress that we'vemade," Obama said.

Republican critics of the healthcare law are mounting multiple le-gal challenges, alleging the fed-eral requirement for Americans tobuy health insurance is uncon-stitutional.

Many observers believe thatthe fate of Obama's signature do-mestic achievement will eventuallybe decided by the US SupremeCourt. -PTI

Mich. children overprescribed antibiotics

Wyoming health care pilotprogram cleared

CHEYENNE, Wyo.: Up to 200Wyoming residents who can't af-ford health care on the open mar-ket could get limited coverageunder a bill that has cleared thelegislature.

The House voted 37-22 to ap-prove a bill that calls for puttingup $1 million to expand a healthcare pilot program the Legislaturecreated last year. The Senatevoted earlier to concur withHouse amendments and the billnow heads to Gov. Matt Mead.

The pilot program marks an ef-fort by the Legislature to explorecheaper ways to offer health careto needy citizens than the federalMedicaid program. Sen. CharlesScott, R-Casper, has pushed foryears to create and expand thestate program.

Wyoming's Medicaid budgetfor the two-year budget cyclethat began last July is roughly $1billion, including state and federalfunds. The Legislature has ap-proved supplemental Medicaidspending of more than $43 millionin the budget bill that's now await-ing action by Mead.

Scott has warned Wyomingfaces even higher Medicaid costsas more people become eligibleunder changes enacted in lastyear's federal health care reform.Currently, about 60,000 people inthe state, more than one-tenth ofWyoming's population, are en-rolled in the federal program.

Wendy Curran, health policyadviser to Mead, said there arenow only 15 people enrolled in the

state's health pilot program sinceregistration started in recentmonths. She said enrollment gen-erally is limited to people whohave participated in a state jobtraining program. They must beworking at least half-time, but can'tmake more than 200 percent of thefederal poverty level and can't beeligible for Medicaid.

Participants will meet with par-ticipating doctors who will empha-size tests and screenings to catchhealth problems before they re-quire expensive emergency care,Curran said.

The state will put $500 into ahealth savings account for eachplan participant to cover ex-penses, Curran said. Participantsthemselves will pay a small fee.The state is capping its total ex-posure at $50,000 per plan partici-pant and the bill calls for settingaside a $1.5 million reserve fundto pay claims.

The House vote came after along debate that saw some mem-bers question whether the state

would ever be able to stop pay-ing for the program once it getsestablished.

House Speaker Ed Buchanan,R-Torrington, voted against thebill. Although it specifies the pro-gram will expire in a few years, hesaid he has his doubts.

`Ìf you vote for it today, it willnot be politically feasible you willnot have the political will to cut itoff,'' Buchanan said.

Buchanan said the state won'tbe able to shift program partici-pants to Medicaid because theywon't be eligible. ̀ `They'll have tosay, `sorry, we were paying for aportion of your health insurance,now you have nothing,'' 'Buchanan said.

But Scott said he doesn't ex-pect the program will get out ofhand.

`Ì'm glad to see it going, gladto see it prevails,'' Scott said afterthe House vote. `Ànd what itmeans is that we're developing analternative to the just blind expan-sion to the Medicaid program thatis in the national reform.''

Scott said Wyoming must beprepared to make changes in theprogram to make it work. But hesaid he won't hesitate to pull theplug if the program fails despitethe state's best efforts.

`Ìf it just doesn't work, if youdon't get quality health care at lessthan the expense of expandingMedicaid, we'll kill it. I guaranteeyou we'll kill it,'' Scott said. ̀ `We'lltake the funding away and that'sthe end of it.'' -AP

DETROIT: A study says chil-dren are among Michigan residentswho continue to be over-treatedwith prescription antibiotic drugs.

The Ann Arbor-based Centerfor Healthcare Research &Transformation's report saysthat's despite a 15-year federalcampaign to educate consumerson how overuse lowers responseto future infections.

The report says children out-state received slightly more pre-scription antibiotics than kids insoutheast Michigan.

The study found a 4.5 percentincrease between 2007 and 2009in antibiotic prescriptions for chil-dren with Blue Cross Blue Shield

of Michigan health insurance.Adult use dropped 9.3 percentduring the same time.

The Detroit Free Press says thenonprofit, which is funded by theBlues and the University of Michi-gan, analyzed Blues data for thereport. Blue Cross Blue Shield isMichigan's largest insurer. -AP

'I am not open to re-fighting the battles ofthe last two years, orundoing the progressthat we've made,'Obama said

The report says chil-dren out-state re-ceived slightly moreprescription antibiot-ics than kids insoutheast Michigan

Scott has warnedWyoming faces evenhigher Medicaidcosts as morepeople becomeeligible underchanges enacted inlast year's federalhealth care reform

India PostMarch 11, 2011 Health Science Post 39

www.indiapost.com

Miss. Bill to ban smoking is deadJACKSON, Miss.: Mississippi

lawmakers won't pass a bill this yearto ban smoking in public places.

House Public Health Commit-tee Chairman Steve Holland saida proposal that passed the Sen-ate last month had ``no sub-stance'' because it would haveduplicated a state law that alreadybans smoking in governmentbuildings and on college cam-puses. It also would have ex-panded the smoking ban a bit byeliminating designated smokingareas in state-run veterans' homesand banning smoking in vehiclesowned or leased by the state.

Holland, D-Plantersville, saidhe chose not to bring the bill upfor a vote because there wasn'tenough support for it.

The deadline was over forHouse and Senate committees toact on general bills that had al-ready passed the other chamber.Without a committee vote, thesmoking ban died.

``The advocates of personalfreedom, those politically fright-ened in an election year, those whofeel the local option method isbetter than a statewide policy andthose who simply don't feel thislegislation is necessary rule theday,'' Holland said in a writtenstatement.

``I have thoroughly consultedwith smoke free advocates and, re-grettably, this bill will not advancethis year,'' Holland wrote.

In signing the statement, Hollandput a frowning face in the curve ofthe S that starts his first name.

The bill, backed by the Ameri-can Cancer Society and otherhealth advocacy groups, startedas a broad ban on smoking in res-taurants and other non-govern-

mental buildings that are open tothe public. The Senate PublicHealth Committee voted in Janu-ary to limit a smoking ban to gov-ernment buildings. Several sena-tors said government shouldn'ttell private businesses what to do.

It's highly unlikely the smok-ing ban will be revived this ses-sion because doing so would takea two-thirds vote of the Houseand Senate. -AP

Air travelers may have beenexposed to measles

WASHINGTON: Public healthofficials are warning travelers andworkers present at four U.S. airportson two recent days that they mayhave been exposed to measles froma traveler arriving from London.

Authorities said that a NewMexico woman later confirmed tohave measles arrived at Washing-ton Dulles International Airport latein the afternoon of Feb. 20. Two dayslater, the measles-infected travelerdeparted from BWI ThurgoodMarshall Airport near Baltimore onan evening flight to Denver, Colo.,and then on to Albuquerque, N.M.

The traveler became sick and wassubsequently diagnosed withmeasles in New Mexico, said TomSkinner, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Controland Prevention. He said that authori-ties in those states are trying to no-tify travelers who sat close to the in-fected passenger on the flights.

The New Mexico Departmentof Health's scientific laboratorydivision didn't identify the travelerby name but said she was a 27-year-old Santa Fe, N.M., womanwho had not been immunizedagainst measles.

``The appropriate steps are be-ing taken to reach out to those pas-sengers on the plane that were inclose enough proximity,'' Skinnersaid of those seated five rows in frontor behind the infected passenger.

Although most Americanshave been vaccinated for measlesor are immune because they'vehad the disease, public health of-

ficials are concerned about thosenot immunized, including babies.Pregnant women and those withweakened immune systems arealso more at risk.

Authorities say people whowere at the airports at the sametime as the infected traveler anddevelop a fever or other symptomsshould contact their doctors.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infec-

tious disease specialist at theVanderbilt University School ofMedicine in Nashville, said thepotential exposure of so manytravelers in airport terminals is acause for concern.

He said measles is ``highlycommunicable'' and can be asso-ciated with complications leadingto death. ̀ `We don't want measlesto be imported back into the U.S.once it gets a foothold,'' Schaffnertold The Associated Press.

Although vaccinations havereduced measles cases in the U.S.to fewer than 150 annually since1997, it remains a common diseaseworldwide with an estimated 10million cases and 164,000 deathsglobally each year, according tothe CDC. That's why the centerrecommends that U.S. citizens trav-eling or living abroad remain up todate on immunizations.

The CDC says on its websitethat despite vaccinations in theU.S., health officials still see spo-radic cases when visitors from othercountries or Americans travelingabroad become infected and spreadmeasles to those not vaccinated orunprotected against the virus. -AP

'The appropriate stepsare being taken toreach out to thosepassengers on theplane that were inclose enoughproximity'

The deadline wasover for House andSenate committeesto act on generalbills that hadalready passed

India Post March 11, 2011www.indiapost.com

Real Estate40

FM pushes for affordable homes;full tax rebate to builders

NEW DELHI: Giving a thrust toaffordable homes, the governmenthas proposed full tax rebate on de-veloping such projects under anotified scheme and raised the ceil-ing of one per cent interest sub-sidy on home loans upto Rs 15lakh from the current Rs 10 lakh.

In the Budget for 2011-12, Fi-nance Minister Pranab Mukherjeeproposed 100 per cent tax deduc-tions on capital expenditure to de-velop affordable houses undergovernment scheme, thus pro-moting builders to focus more onsuch homes.

"Considering the importance ofhousing, I propose investmentlinked deduction to businesses,which develop affordable housingunder a notified scheme," he said.

Currently under the section35AD of the Income Tax Act, a hous-ing project for slum re-developmentand rehabilitation is incentivisedwith 100 per cent tax exemption.

The incentives are extended to"developing and building a hous-ing project under a scheme for af-fordable housing framed by thecentral government or a state gov-ernment, as the case may be, and

notified by the board in this be-half in accordance with the guide-lines as may be prescribed".

This was stated in the budget-ary document.

Mukherjee also raised the limitfor one per cent interest subsidyon home loans to up to Rs 15 lakhfrom the current level of Rs 10 lakh,a move that could encourage buy-ers of low cost houses. He alsoincreased the value of houses eli-gible for availing such subsidy byRs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

"To further stimulate growth inhousing sector, I am liberalizing theexisting scheme of interest sub-vention of one per cent on hous-ing loans by extending it to hous-ing loan up to Rs 15 lakh, wherethe cost of the house does notexceed Rs 25 lakh from the presentlimit of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakhrespectively," he said.

The government also en-

hanced the existing housing loanlimit to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 20 lakhunder priority sector lending onaccount of increase in prices ofresidential properties in urban ar-eas, he added.

On the development of homesfor poor, Mukherjee said: "Creditenablement of economically

weaker sections (EWS) and LIG(low income group) households isa serious challenge. To addressthis issue, I propose to create aMortgage Risk Guarantee Fundunder Rajiv Awas Yojana.

"This would guarantee hous-ing loans taken by EWS and LIGhouseholds and enhance theircredit worthiness".

Mukherjee also announced en-hancing the provision under Ru-ral Housing Fund to Rs 3,000 crorefrom the existing Rs 2,000 crore toprovide housing finance in ruralareas at competitive rates.

Welcoming the moves, analystand real estate developers saidthese proposals are likely to en-courage builders to give more em-phasis to projects costing up toRs 25 lakh. -PTI

Realty Tidbits

Realty sector resentsSEZs under MAT

MUMBAI: The real estate sec-tor is unhappy at special economiczones (SEZs) being brought un-der the purview of minimum alter-nate tax (MAT) in the Budget pre-sented to Parliament by Union Fi-nance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

This "basically diminishes thebenefits that SEZs offer for devel-opers over other commercial realestate asset classes," Jones LangLaSalle India Chairman & Coun-try Head Anuj Puri said.

MAT on SEZ developers is ad-vanced by one year, while it wasto be implemented under the Di-rect Taxes Code from April 1, 2012,the advancement of this tax by oneyear could be a dampener for de-velopers of SEZs.

"This will increase the skepti-cism in the minds of SEZ develop-ers about the future tax benefits ofdeveloping an SEZ," Knight FrankIndia Vice-Chairman and ManagingDirector Pranab Datta said.

Leading developer NiranjanHiranandani said "already some ofthe SEZs have started closing

down and being surrendered.With the imposition of MAT,

more will surrender".According to him, projects

where the government has givenlong-term commitments and wheredevelopers and industries haveinvested money, the tax should notbe imposed.

"Imposition of MAT is unfair asit is directly opposite to the statedpolicy of the Government which hasencouraged setting up of SEZs... it(tax) could be imposed where newprojects are undertaken so that theycan be based on the new tax rate,"Hiranandani said. -PTI

MAT on LLP willdiscourage newplayers

NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee proposed to levya 18.5 per cent minimum alternatetax on Limited Liability Partnerships(LLPs), a move that experts believemay discourage players to adoptthis new form of business.

Companies pay MAT on thebook profits that do not come un-der the tax net because of variousexemptions and incentives.

"...where the regular income isless than the alternate minimum taxpayable for such year, the ad-justed total income deemed to bethe total income of such limited li-ability partnership and it shall beliable to pay income tax on suchtotal income at the rate of eigh-teen and one-half per cent," thememorandum to the Finance Bill2010-11 said.

According to experts, the im-position of MAT would make theLLP unpopular as this was a majorexemptions that they had beenenjoying.

"It (exemption from MAT) wasa major tax holiday the LLPs wereenjoying. It seems that the impo-sition of MAT will discouragemore and more LLPs to be formed,"KPMG Executive Director GirishVanavari said. -PTI

Tata invests Rs3,000 crore onaffordable houses

Tata Housing DevelopmentCompany would invest up to

Rs 3,000 crore next fiscal to de-velop affordable homes across thecountry. The company already hasfive projects in the affordable seg-ment and plans to launch 7-8 moreprojects next fiscal. Tata Housinghas formed a subsidiary SmartValue Homes to develop afford-able houses in the price range ofRs 5-35 lakh.

"We plan to invest Rs 2,500-3,000 crore in 2011-12 to developexisting and new projects in theaffordable housing segment," TataHousing Development Companymanaging director Brotin Banerjee,said. Smart Value Homes is devel-oping two projects each in Mumbaiand Pune, and one in Chennai witha total saleable area of 10-12 millionsq ft, Banerjee said.

"We will launch three moreprojects in Mumbai, Bangalore andAhmedabad during the first quar-ter of 2011-12," he said, adding thatthe company is looking at moreprojects in other parts of the coun-try. The company plans to buildaffordable homes in Ludhiana,Jalandhar and periphery ofChandigarh on public-private-part-nership (PPP) model in the wake ofhigh land prices in the state.

Sale of luxury apartments down

An estimated 40% of luxury apartments comingup in India's financial center are unsold, sayanalysts and brokers. These apartments cost

anywhere from $1 million to $12 million, and range from5,000 square feet to 13,000 square feet in size. Sales haveslowed down in the last two to three months, thanksmainly to the steep prices. In December, the number ofapartments registered in Mumbai - an indicator of sales- fell 50% from the same month the previous year, ac-cording to research from investment firm PrabhudasLiladhar Pvt. Ltd.

Mukherjee alsoannounced enhanc-ing the provisionunder Rural HousingFund to Rs 3,000crore from the exist-ing Rs 2,000 crore

‘This will increase theskepticism in theminds of SEZ devel-opers about thefuture tax benefits ofdeveloping an SEZ’

March 11, 2011 India Post 41

www.indiapost.com

DatebookNEW YORK

UpcomingILLINOIS

UpcomingNEW JERSEY

UpcomingNORTHERN CALIFORNIA

U p c o m i n g

WASHINGTON DC

Upcoming

Sat March 19• Westchester County Home ShowVenue: Westchester County Center, 148Martine Avenue, White Plains, New YorkTime: 5pm to 6pmContact: 860-918-0891

Sat Mar 19• Rang Barse on Peking ShipVenue: Peking Ship, Pier 16, South StreetSeaport, New YorkTime: 12:00 pm to 3:30 pmContact: Rohika Hardas, 6462266557

Sun Mar 26• Spring Craft Beer FestivalVenue: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum,1255 Hempstead Tpke, Uniondale, NY 11553Time: 5:30 pm to 9:00 pmContact: 631-940-7290

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAU p c o m i n g

Sun March 20• HoliVenue: Knights of Columbus Hall, 116 GrandSt., Iselin, New JerseyTime: 10am to 11:30amContact: 732-207-7592

Sat Mar 19• The only holi party with dry

colors!Venue: Dorrians Jersey City, 555 WashingtonBlvd, Jersey city, 07310Time: 10:00 pmContact: Rajeeta, Phone: 2016001120

Sun April 10• Maywood Springtime Family

FestivalVenue: Maywood Market Place, 78 West Pleas-ant Ave, Maywood, New JerseyTime: 10am to 5pmContact: 201-998-1144

Sat March 12• Rajasthani AssociationVenue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago,10915 Lemont Road, Lemont, IllinoisTime: 5pm to 10pmContact: 630-886-3106

Fri March 18• Art of Living CourseVenue: Westmont, 127 Whote Birch Lane,Westmont, IllinoisContact: 630-654-0852

Sun Apr 3• South Asian Bridal Expo 2011Venue: Meadows Club, 2950 W Golf Road,Rolling Meadows, Chicago, Illinois, 60008Time: 11:00 am to 6:00 pmContact: 630-277-9273

Sun Apr 10Yoga, Meditation & Spiritual Discourses

by Swami Mukundananda

Venue: Shri Mangal Mandir, 17110, NewHampshire Ave SilverSpring, WashingtonDC, District of Colum-bia, 20905Time: 4:00 pmContact: 323-286-0452

Mon July 4• Rathyatra, Festival of IndiaVenue: National Mall (in front of Air & SpaceMuseum), Washington, DCTime: 10:30am to 9pmContact: 301-299-2100

Wed March 9• Ohlone College Community

Band Winter ConcertVenue: Smith Center at Ohlone College,43600 Mission Boulevard, FremontContact: (510) 659-6031Highlights: Celebrate Women's HistoryMonth with the Community Band's perfor-mance of Julie Giroux's Journey Through Orion.Other featured works include Jerry Brubaker'shomage to highways-American Road, HarryAlford's Purple Carnival March and MortenLauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium.

Thu May 5• Fund raising Volleyball

tournamentVenue: Ponderosa Park, Sunnyvale, CATime: 8am to 5pm

Sat Nov 12• Hello Namaste Salaam

Satsriakal MastiVenue: Chandni Restaurant, 5748 MowrySchool Rd, Balentine Plaza, across HiltonHotel, Newark, CA 94560Time: 7pmContact: 510-299-1138

SAT MARCH 12

Scarlet Night

"An Affair of the

Heart"Venue: San Jose Convention Center,150 W San Carlos St, San Jose, CATime: 6pm to 11:30pmContact: 650 940 7242Highlights: The South Asian HeartCenter's fundraiser, Scarlet Night, is anentertainment extravaganza featuringa fashion show, casino and a banquet.Join dynamic emcee Prakash Vaswanito show your support for the cause.

Sat March 12• Disco DeewaneVenue: Chakra, 151 S Doheny Dr, BeverlyHills, CaliforniaTime: 9pm to 2pmContact: 818-977-3472

Sat 19 March• Holi at the BeachVenue: Will Rogers State Beach, PacificCoast Highway and Temescal Canyon Road(between towers 5&6), Pacific Palisades,CA 90272Contact: For paper tickets and other details,please contact Khyati @ (714) 269 3081

Sat April 16• Pediatric Feeding SeminarVenue: Embassy Suites Hotel, 2053 Grant RdSuite 158, Los Altos, Los AngelesContact: 650-752-4993

Sat April 30• Festival of Books

Venue: University of Southern California,3551 Trousdale Pkwy, Los AngelesContact: 866-790-5813

on Aug 1• Yogalicious!Venue: Art of Living Center Los Angeles, 948W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CaliforniaTime: 6:30pm to 9pmContact: 310-820-9429Highlights: Its programs teach a blend of an-cient eastern breathing techniques and wis-dom that help eliminate stress, restore thehighest human values and encourage peoplefrom all backgrounds, religions and culturaltraditions.

42 India Post March 11, 2011www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationUS ranks ninth in immigrant

integration policiesIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: The UnitedStates is ranked ninth among 31countries for its immigrant integra-tion policies, a new study shows.

In cooperation with the Immi-gration Policy Centre (IPC), theBritish Council and the MigrationPolicy Group released a new studyFeb 28, which reviews and ranksUS immigrant integration policiesagainst other countries.

The Migrant Integration PolicyIndex (MIPEX) contrasts andcompares integration policies forlegal immigrants across countriesin Europe and North America. TheUnited States is ranked ninthamong 31 countries. This is thefirst year the United States hasbeen part of the study, and IPCsaid it was pleased to be chosenas the US partner for this impor-tant study.

The MIPEX compares andranks countries across 148 policyindicators, providing objectiveand comparable data presented ina reference guide and an interac-

tive online tool to helppolicymakers, advocates and re-searchers assess and compare in-tegration policies around theglobe. The policy indicators aredivided into seven categories:employment opportunities, familyreunion, education, political par-ticipation, long-term residence,access to citizenship and anti-dis-

crimination. Countries include all27 EU member states, Norway,Switzerland, Canada, and the USA.

Overall the US ranked ninth interms of integration policies, andfirst in terms of its strong anti-dis-crimination laws and protections.The US also ranked high on theaccess to citizenship scale be-cause it encourages newcomers tobecome citizens in order to fullyparticipate in American public life.

Compared with other countries,legal immigrants in the US enjoyemployment opportunities, educa-tional opportunities, and the op-portunity to reunite with closefamily members.

However, MIPEX also acknowl-edges that the US's complex immi-gration laws, limited visa ability,high fees, and long backlogs may

make it challenging for immigrantsto integrate into the fabric ofAmerican life.

MIPEX also highlights the factthat several US states are taking thelead on immigrant integration. Statesincluding Illinois, Massachusetts,New Jersey, Maryland, and Wash-ington state, as well as major citieslike New York, Chicago, and SanFrancisco have offices dedicated towelcoming newcomers.

Michigan moveon immigrationdrawing protest

DETROIT: A proposal to allowMichigan police to try to deter-mine the immigration status ofpeople who are stopped on a vio-lation is sparking protest.

The legislation was the subjectof a protest at a Detroit church.Opponents say it's modeled aftera much-debated Arizona immigra-tion law.

The Michigan proposal dealswith cases where police havestopped or arrested someone fora violation who could ̀ `reasonablybe suspected'' of being illegally inthe U.S. Providing a valid driver'slicense or other state-issued iden-tification card would be sufficientproof of legal status.

The bill's supporters say pro-visions guard against racial pro-filing. -AP

"As the United States contin-ues to struggle with its own immi-gration policies, the MIPEX indexoffers policymakers and the pub-lic a framework for analyzing ourbest and worst practices on immi-grant integration compared toother countries in the world. Wehave much to learn from othercountries as well, but perhaps thegreatest lesson that comes fromMIPEX is that the very things thatdistinguish the United States areworth preserving as we move for-ward into the next decade of the21st century," said MaryGiovagnoli, Director of the Immi-gration Policy Center.

"As the UK's international cul-tural relations organization, theBritish Council fosters the net-works, cooperation and dialogueneeded to build trust betweenpeople worldwide. We hope thethird phase of MIPEX research willencourage dialogue and debateon best practice and enable betterfuture policies," said SharonMemis, Director of the BritishCouncil North America.

Fla GOP leadersback stricterimmigration bills

MIAMI: Tallahassee lawmak-ers are pushing for a watered-down version of Arizona's toughillegal immigration laws, sayingit's part of a broad effort by statesto enact laws that will force Wash-ington to create a uniform set ofimmigration reforms. -AP

Comprehensiveimmigration lawpasses committee

SALT LAKE CITY: A Senatecommittee has passed a compre-hensive immigration reform billwhile holding a separate enforce-ment bill.

Republican Sen. Curt Brambleof Provo says Senate Bill 288 in-corporates enforcement provi-sions and a guest worker programinto one bill to ensure the lawscoordinate.

The bill removes the more strin-gent enforcement provisions as-sociated with an immigration lawpassed in Arizona last year.

Bramble says the bill, whichpassed the Senate Revenue andTaxation Committee 7-1, worksbetter for Utah. While it still pun-ishes illegal immigrants who breakthe law, it offers an avenue forpeople already in the state illegallyto remain with their families asworkers. -AP

The LCA in the age of telecommuting-IICYRUS D. MEHTA AND MYRIAM JAIDI

(Continued from last week)

These definitions are vagueand do seem to leave roomto argue that an H-1B

worker who can be anywhere butworks through the employer's lo-cation via the internet (thus thework arguably "actually is per-formed" at the employer's loca-tion), is always within "normalcommuting distance" so long asthe employee has proper internetaccess.

If all that the worker needs is acomputer and an internet connec-tion to perform the work, then itwould be most logical to post theLCA where the employer's serveris located! To go back to our hy-pothetical and show how absurdit can be, imagine our H-1Btelecommuter embarking on a voy-age on a cruise ship for more than30 days from San Francisco, CAto Anchorage, Alaska.

Each time the ship enters a lo-cation, which is not within com-muting distance from the originallocation posted on the LCA, a newLCA will need to be posted on thecruise ship. So, her employer, whois a stickler about compliance,posts an LCA with a San Fran-

cisco, CA location, which is wherethe ship starts its voyage.

By the time, the cruise shipsails up the waters adjoining Or-egon and Washington, new LCAswill need to be obtained andposted on the cruise ship. Oncethe cruise ship is in Canada, wecan assume that the DOL's LCA

regulations do not apply in foreignterritories, but with the DOL youcan never tell as it passionatelyattempts to expansively interpretits rules. Once the ship reachesAlaska, more rounds of LCA's willneed to be posted (as Alaska is ahuge territory) until its final desti-

nation in Anchorage, Alaska.Nevertheless, using the

employer's address even wherethe employee telecommutes be-cause the work is being done vir-tually at the employer's locationhas not been tested. This problemdoes not arise in the PERM laborcertification process with roving

employees, because an employercan obviate the problem by usingheadquarters as the base fromwhich to conduct recruitment. SeeCora-Ann Pestaina's article PERMand the Roving Employee, avail-able at http://tinyurl.com/64dhcv5.

A DOL auditor who reviews acompany's LCA public access filesmay not accept this 21st centuryapplication of the policies and defi-nitions. Therefore, however ab-surd it may sound, it might still beadvisable to file an LCA for theworker who telecommutes, andhave the worker post the LCA intwo conspicuous locations in hisor her home or the location fromwhich he or she is telecommuting.In the alternative, the LCA noticeprovision may be satisfied by anelectronic posting directed to em-ployees in the relevant occupationclassification.

Cont’d om page 43

Bishops opposeimmigration bill inMississippi

JACKSON, Miss.: Leadersfrom four Christian denominationsare calling on Mississippi lawmak-ers to reject an Arizona-style im-migration bill.

Bishops from the Catholic, Epis-copal, Lutheran and United Meth-odist churches in Mississippi sayresidents must be willing to forgiveimmigrants who enter the UnitedStates without permission.

The bishops say the U.S. immi-gration system is ``broken andoutdated,'' but should be reformedby the federal government, not bystates. -AP

The US also ranked high on the access tocitizenship scale because it encouragesnewcomers to become citizens in order tofully participate in American public life

By the time, the cruise ship sails up thewaters adjoining Oregon and Washington,new LCAs will need to be obtained andposted on the cruise ship

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India Post 43March 11, 2011 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Community welcomes HRCreport to end profiling


NEW YORK: The Asian LawCaucus (ALC), a member of theCoalition for a Safe San Francisco,has commended the San FranciscoHuman Rights Commission on thepassage of its historic report andrecommendations to end racial andreligious profiling of SF Bay AreaArab, Middle Eastern, Muslim,and South Asian (AMEMSA)communities.

At its hearing last week of Feb-ruary, by unanimous vote, theCommission officially adopted itsreport, "Community Concerns ofSurveillance, Racial and ReligiousProfiling of Arab, Middle Eastern,Muslim, and South Asian Commu-nities and Potential Reactivationof SFPD Intelligence Gathering."

This report was based on agroundbreaking hearing at theCommission last September wherescores of AMEMSA communitymembers bravely gave testimonyon their personal experiences be-ing harassed, profiled, and sur-

veilled by local and federal lawenforcement.

"ALC commends the Commis-sion for taking these steps, andwe hope that others in San Fran-cisco - particularly San FranciscoPolice Dept - will take note," said

Veena Dubal, Staff Attorney at theAsian Law Caucus. "The Coali-tion and the ACLU-NC have beendealing directly with the SFPD tofind out more about their relation-ship with the FBI, but we havefaced a lack of transparency. Thisreport's recommendations are the

first step in the right direction."The adoption of this report is

rendered all the more timely by theannouncement that the ACLU ofSouthern California and CAIR-LAhave filed a major federal class ac-tion lawsuit against the FBI for ille-gal surveillance of the Muslimcommunity in Southern California.

The complaint and the infor-mant involved in the operationallege that a local Joint TerrorismTask Force (JTTF), a partnershipbetween local or state law en-forcement and the FBI, illegallytargeted innocent Muslim Ameri-cans for intrusive and demeaningsurveillance and investigationsbased solely on First-Amend-ment protected activity, ratherthan any suspicion of wrongdo-ing or criminality.

As a next step the HRC and com-munity plan to take the report andrecommendations to the Board ofSupervisors for endorsement andto form a diverse taskforce to workon implementing the adopted rec-ommendations.

Pursuant to 20 CFR655.734(a)(ii)(B), such elec-tronic posting may be accom-plished:

"by any means [the employer]ordinarily uses to communicatewith its workers about job vacan-cies or promotion opportunities, in-cluding through its "home page" or"electronic bulletin board" to em-ployees who have, as a practicalmatter, direct access to these re-sources; or through e-mail or an ac-tively circulated electronic messagesuch as the employer's newsletter.

Where affected employees atthe place of employment are noton the "intranet" which providesdirect access to the home page orother electronic site but do havecomputer access readily available,the employer may provide noticeto such workers by direct elec-tronic communication such as e-mail ( i.e., a single, personal e-mailmessage to each such employee)or by arranging to have the noticeappear for 10 days on an intranetwhich includes the affected em-ployees (e.g., contractor arrangesto have notice on customer'sintranet accessible to affectedemployees)."

The benefit of electronic post-ing is that it may protect an em-ployer in situations where the em-ployee is working remotely fromvarious locations (not officesites, but locations such as arelative's home or vacation spot)

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

The LCA in the age of telecommuting-IICont’d from page 42 for more than 30 days per year,

based on the argument that theelectronic posting covers all po-tential locations.

There are some general prob-lems with electronic notification -it does not obviate the need toobtain a new LCA when the H-1Btelecommutes, nor does it obviatethe need to pick an address to in-dicate on the LCA. Electronicposting only obviates the absurdsituation of having an employeepost the LCA in his or her home.

Furthermore, the rules govern-ing electronic posting are quitevague and thus fraught with risk.The rules do not make clear whohas to be notified - all employeeseverywhere and anywhere who fallwithin the same "occupationalclassification" (and the rules donot indicate how narrowly orbroadly that should be inter-preted) or only those in the "areaof intended employment." Whereis that in an economy increasinglycharacterized by telecommuting?

The DOL's framework is loca-tion-focused, and gives no clearguidance on whether the work atelecommuting employee does is"actually is performed" at theemployer's address as listed on theLCA, and not where thetelecommuting employee is lo-cated. What is clear is that onewho works remotely for less than30 days (or in some limited circum-stances, up to 60 days, see 20 CFR655.735((c)) in a one year periodneed not have a new LCA to coverthat employee's new location.

Even if the DOL has not takena position on the issue, it is hopedthat the DOL auditor who wishesto rigidly apply this 20th centuryrule on work locations in the 21stcentury may exercise discretion innot imposing a penalty if the em-ployer has complied in every otheraspect. The DOL auditor may de-cide that given the lack of clarityin this area, the employer took agood faith position.

However, to ensure againstsuch risks, employers may wish toprepare a new LCA indicating theaddress from which the individualwill be telecommuting, and havethe individual post the LCA in twolocations at that address. Until theregulations catch up with realityin the 21st century, this would bethe appropriate course of action.

‘ALC commends theCommission for takingthese steps, and wehope that others in SanFrancisco - particu-larly San FranciscoPolice Dept - willtake note,’ saidVeena Dubal

The benefit ofelectronic posting isthat it may protect anemployer in situa-tions where the em-ployee is workingremotely fromvarious locations

India Post44 March 11, 2011Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Bill would make hiring illegalworkers a felony

AUSTIN, Texas: A Texas billthat would make it a state felonyto knowingly hire an illegal immi-grant, unless the person is a do-mestic worker, has faced someopposition from critics who say itwould crack down on businesseswhile allowing households to usesuch workers.

Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Hous-ton, authored the bill that wouldpenalize those who knowingly orrecklessly hire or contract with anundocumented worker. But jobslike maids, landscapers and otherdomestic positions within a fam-ily home would be exempt.

Critics of the measure, filed ear-lier this month, say it exposes thehypocrisy of lawmakers who vowto crack down on illegal immigra-tion but want to create a loopholefor Americans benefiting fromhousehold services.

Back to Basics, a political groupdedicated to holding politiciansaccountable, called the bill a``laundry loophole.''

``That's not sensible immigra-tion policy,'' the organization said

in a news release. ̀ Ìt's indenturedservitude.''

Riddle's chief of staff, Jon En-glish, said Riddle didn't want tocreate a bill that would make resi-dents afraid to hire a company todo work around the house. English

said homeowners shouldn't haveto fear being punished if the com-pany employs illegal workers.

The bill aims to crack down onthose who knowingly break thelaw without fear of the conse-quences.

``The goal of the bill is to pun-ish businesses creating an eco-

nomic environment that's based onillegal behavior,'' English said.``Businesses have standards theyhave to meet in their employmentpractices and, quite frankly, theyare the ones seeking largeamounts of illegal employees.''

He admitted the exceptionopens up a loophole forhomeowners to knowingly hire anundocumented worker.

`Ìf someone is trying to hirepeople illegally to just work at theirhouse, the language would allowthat,'' English said. ``We are opento suggestions about how to closethat (loophole) without putting alot of homeowners in jeopardy.''

Those found guilty of hiring il-legal workers could be fined up to$10,000 or face 180 days to twoyears behind bars.

Riddle has long fought for atougher stance on illegal immigra-tion. She camped out in the Capi-tol on the first day of pre-filing forthe legislative session so shecould be the first in line to file herbills, many of them dealing withillegal immigration. -AP

Immigration legislation sparksdebate in Michigan

LANSING, Mich.: A proposalthat would get police more involvedin checking the immigration statusof people they pull over sparkedcriticism at the Michigan Capitol,with an immigrant rights group andsome pastors saying it would cre-ate a climate of fear and division.

Republican Rep. Dave Agemaof Grandville said the bill he intro-duced last week was a ``commonsense'' measure to help ensure thatfederal immigration law is enforcedin Michigan.

The measure would require lawenforcement officers to make a``complete, full and appropriate at-tempt'' to verify a person's immi-gration status after the person isstopped for another offense andofficers have probable cause tosuspect the person is in the coun-try illegally.

People who don't have a driver'slicense or other documentation andare suspected to be illegal immi-grants could be turned over to fed-eral custody. Agencies or officialsthat adopt policies limiting or re-stricting the enforcement of federalimmigration law could face fines.

The Alliance for ImmigrantsRights and Reform Michigan saidthe proposal would allow policeto stop and arrest people solely

on the suspicion they may be inthe U.S. illegally and deportable.

Agema said that wouldn't be thecase, and that the immigration sta-tus check would come only aftersomeone had been arrested orstopped on suspicion of violatingstate or local law and didn't haveproper identification.

`Ìf they were drunk driving orthey were caught stealing, that'swhen they'd do it,'' Agema said.``They don't just pull them over be-cause `hey, that guy looks like he'san illegal.' No. That's not in the bill.''

Agema said illegal immigrationis costly to Michigan throughhigher costs for health care, edu-cation and human services.

Opponents say the bill wouldhurt Michigan's business climateand reputation by creating an at-

mosphere where even legal immi-grants feel unwelcome. Oppo-nents said the Michigan bill is pat-terned after one in Arizona thatsparked national criticism.

``The future of Michigan'seconomy relies on attracting thebest and brightest from across theworld,'' Rev. Fred Thelen, pastorof Cristo Rey Catholic Church inLansing, said in a statement. `Ìtwould be foolish to pass this lawand signal to the world that Michi-gan does not welcome the world,but treats it with suspicion.''

Opponents said the bill ̀ `virtuallymandates'' racial profiling, but billsupporters said protections againstracial profiling are in place. The pro-posal states that it would be enforcedin a manner consistent with federalimmigration laws and ̀ `protecting thecivil rights of all persons.''

Michigan's law enforcementofficers already have the power tocontact federal immigration offi-cials if they've stopped someonethat they have probable cause tobelieve is in the country illegally.But Michigan State Police saythere's no state immigration lawthat makes that a requirement orspells out procedures to follow ifthey suspect they've stopped anillegal immigrant. -AP

Immigration officials announcenew gang arrests

WASHINGTON: The largestroundup of street gang memberswith ties to international drug traf-ficking groups since 2005 hasyielded more than 600 arrests, Im-migration and Customs Enforce-ment said here.

ICE agents, working with stateand local authorities in 168 cities,made 678 arrests from Decemberto February in an effort dubbed``Project Southern Tempest,'' ICEDirector John Morton said.

The latest roundup is part of amore than 5-year-old effort aimedat U.S. street gangs with ties toMexican drug cartels and otherdrug traffickers.

Morton said that nearly halfthose arrested in the last threemonths were also connected tostreet gangs with known ties toviolent drug cartels in Mexico.Those cartels are battling eachother and the government inMexico in a struggle that has killedmore than 35,000 people sinceMexican President Felipe Calderonlaunched an offensive against thedrug gangs shortly after takingoffice in late 2006.

Federal authorities have an-nounced the results of more than

half a dozen such operations in thelast 21/2 years and touted them asblows to Mexican drug gangs. Butan Associated Press review ofthose sweeps last year showedthat the arrests have done little tostymie the drug trade or do morethan inconvenience the majorMexican-based cartels.

ICE officials did not identify allof the gang members arrested orsay which cartels they or their re-spective gangs were aligned with.But Morton said 13 gangs whosemembers were caught up in thelatest operation are connected tothe cartels. As a group, he said,the gangs have ties to all ofMexico's cartels.

All told, members of 133 gangswere arrested.

Morton said 447 suspects facecriminal charges, while 231 peoplewere arrested on administrativeimmigration charges.

The announcement of the ar-rests comes less than a week afteragents from ICE, the Drug En-forcement Administration andother federal, state and local au-thorities launched a nationwidesearch for suspects with ties toMexican cartels. -AP

Utah senator unveils broadimmigration reform

SALT LAKE CITY: A Utahsenator has unveiled an immigra-tion reform bill he says balancesenforcement provisions with eco-nomic realities.

Many conservative Republi-cans, however, oppose the billbecause it offers amnesty for ille-gal immigrants. Among the mostvocal critics are sponsors of en-forcement-only bills that alreadyhave passed the House.

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo,said Senate Bill 288 combines lan-guage from most of those Housebills, to ensure the different lawscoordinate. Bramble said it's alsokinder and doesn't carry thestigma of Arizona-style enforce-ment, although enforcement is acore element.

Law enforcement will be re-quired to check the immigrationstatus of anyone stopped for aclass A misdemeanor or a felony,Bramble said. Businesses will alsobe fined for hiring illegal workers.

But enforcement is balancedby compassion, Bramble said. Il-legal immigrants would be able toregister as guest workers and usedriving privilege cards. Their chil-dren would qualify for in-statecollege tuition.

The guest worker permits

would not be available until July1, 2013, and the state would needa federal waiver.

The federal government, infact, is a hurdle for most reform,Bramble said. Enforcement mea-sures, for example, need the fed-eral government to deport peoplethe state arrests.

``Dealing with the federal gov-ernment is difficult, and we don'thave all of the tools,'' he said.

The sponsor of the primary en-forcement bill, Rep. StephenSandstrom, R-Orem, said he willprobably vote against the compre-hensive bill. Instead, he prefersindividual bills to stand on theirown merits, and he cannot sup-port amnesty for illegal immigrants.

``This is saying (illegal immi-grants) are above the law,''Sandstrom said. -AP

Those found guilty ofhiring illegal workerscould be fined up to$10,000 or face 180days to two yearsbehind bars

Illegal immigrantswould be able toregister as guestworkers and usedriving privilegecards

‘The future ofMichigan's economyrelies on attractingthe best and brightestfrom across theworld,’ Rev. FredThelen said

India Post 45March 11, 2011 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Oklahoma immigrant bill touted as tax-saverOKLAHOMA CITY: The au-

thor of legislation that would letOklahoma law enforcement offic-ers identify and detain illegal im-migrants says he's trying to help thestate save money in a tight budgetyear, but an advocate for illegal im-migrants says the lawmaker isn'tseeing the whole picture.

Rep. George Faught is behinda bill that incorporates languagefrom an Arizona anti-illegal immi-gration law into a measure ini-tially passed by Oklahoma law-makers in 2007.

`Ìt's about state resources,''said Faught, R-Muskogee.``Those who are not here legallyare costing society. It's our re-sponsibility as state legislators tomanage that.''

But the head of an organiza-

tion that provides guidance andservices aimed at Latino resi-dents said legislation such asFaught's ignore the many con-tributions illegal immigrantsmake to the community includ-ing their own tax dollars.

`Ì think there is a tremendousmisunderstanding of the role ofundocumented workers,'' said PatFennell, president and CEO of theLatino Community DevelopmentAgency, headquartered in a pre-dominantly Hispanic area of southOklahoma City.

``Many of the people do paytaxes,'' Fennell said. ``They paysales taxes. They pay propertytaxes. They are consuming.''

Without those workers, thecost of construction, food, enter-tainment and other services would

be higher, Fennell said.`Ì think that political aware-

ness is evolving,'' she said.Faught's bill was approved by

the House Judiciary Committeeand is awaiting action on theHouse floor. Faught said it helpsempower law enforcement in the

fight against illegal immigrationand includes language from billsfiled previously by several Housemembers. Similar legislation hasbeen approved by the Senate Ju-diciary Committee.

`Ìt's a work in progress,''Faught said. `Ìt may or may notwind up looking like this.''

Four years ago, Oklahoma law-makers passed House Bill 1804, ananti-illegal immigration bill that atthe time was among the nation'stoughest. Among other things, itmakes it illegal to knowingly trans-port illegal immigrants, createsstate barriers to hiring illegal im-migrants and requires proof of citi-zenship before a person can re-ceive government benefits.

Parts of the law have been chal-lenged in court, including provi-sions that subject businesses thathire illegal immigrants to financialpenalties and require contractorswho withhold taxes for workerswithout proper documentation.

Faught said his anti-illegal im-migration bill is not an attempt tooverhaul House Bill 1804.

``We're maybe enhancing it,'' hesaid.

Fennel said illegal immigrantsdo not qualify for public benefitsexcept for emergency medical careand questioned the motivations oflawmakers who support the bill.

``For some it is politically expe-dient,'' she said. ̀ `The sad thing ispeople are hurt in the process.''

Among other things, Faught'sbill includes a provision similar toArizona's law that allows state orlocal police who pull a vehicleover for a traffic violation to ques-tion the vehicle's occupants abouttheir immigration status if the of-ficer has a reasonable suspicionthey are in the country illegally.

Critics accused the Arizonastatute of being a form of racialprofiling, and a federal judgeblocked part of the law after theJustice Department and othergroups asked that it be thrown out.Faught's measure specifically pro-hibits racial profiling.

The measure also prohibitsemployers from stopping their ve-hicles in public roadways to hireand transport pedestrians to aworksite elsewhere a practiceFaught said is common in Texasand authorizes law enforcementofficials to confiscate vehiclesand other property used to trans-port and house illegal immigrants.

In addition, the measure repealsa state statute that permits illegalimmigrants who live in Oklahomato enroll in a state college or uni-versity and pay resident tuitionrates instead of higher non-resi-dent rates. -AP

GOP: Illegal immigrants takingminorities' jobs

WASHINGTON: Black lawmak-ers have accused Republicans oftrying to ``manufacture tension''between African-Americans andimmigrants as Republican membersof the House of Representativesargued in a hearing that more mi-norities would be working were itnot for illegal immigration.

Democratic Rep. EmanuelCleaver II chairman of the Congres-sional Black Caucus, criticized thehearing's premise in a statement.Several other Democratic lawmak-ers echoed that argument, sayingRepublicans were ignoring theirlack of support for job training, af-firmative action, college financialaid and other programs more criti-cal to employment of minorities.

`Ì am concerned by themajority's attempt to manufacturetension between African-Ameri-cans and immigrant communities.It seems as though they would likefor our communities to think aboutimmigration in terms of ̀ us versusthem,' and I reject that notion,''Cleaver said in his statement.

Rep. John Conyers of Michi-gan, ranking Democrat on theHouse Judiciary Committee, is-sued a warning at the start of thehearing against any attempts to pitblacks against Latino immigrants,a notion that he said he found ̀ `soabhorrent and repulsive.''

The Republican takeover of theHouse has given the party a chanceto shape the immigration debate thissession. Republicans have beencouching their immigration agendain the context of the slumpingeconomy and consistently highunemployment. The hearing by theimmigration and enforcement sub-committee was the third focusing on

jobs, the economy and immigrationenforcement.

Republican Elton Gallegly, thesubcommittee's chairman, arguedthat the ̀ `real victims of the failedimmigration policies'' are low-skilled legal workers. Gallegly saidthe topic is often ignored by immi-gration supporters.

`Òur focus should be on en-suring every U.S. citizen Americanwho is willing to work has a jobinstead of (filling) jobs with for-

eign laborers,'' Gallegly said. Im-migrants often compete for jobswith low-income laborers, he said.

Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Re-publican, pointed out that afterImmigration and Customs En-forcement raided Georgia CriderInc., which had 600 jobs filled bypeople not working in the countrylegally, the company raised wages$1 an hour and attracted legal work-ers, primarily black Americans.

``With unemployment at over 9percent for 21 months, jobs arescarce. And that is especially truein minority communities across theU.S.,'' Smith said.

The GOP has been trying tobalance its immigration enforce-ment agenda with its need for

greater Hispanic voter support towin the White House in 2012. Re-publicans hoped to show someminorities support deporting im-migrants and oppose granting le-gal status to those who are in thecountry illegally.

The three witnesses support-ing the Republican view at thehearing were Hispanic and black.Lawmakers and witnesses pre-sented their own studies and sta-tistics supporting their positions.

A recent Pew Hispanic Centerreport found immigrants were re-turning to work more quickly thannative-born workers but earningless than they had before the re-cession, stoking views among ad-vocates for tough immigration en-forcement that jobs held by Ameri-cans were being taken by immi-grants. Studies indicate that thecorrelation is not as direct as somewould suggest.

The Economic Policy Instituteissued three reports on the lowwages of black workers. One reportfound that the average annualwages of jobs in which black menare overrepresented is $37,005, com-pared with $50,333 in jobs wherethey are underrepresented. -AP

‘I am concerned bythe majority's attemptto manufacturetension betweenAfrican-Americansand immigrantcommunities’

‘Those who are nothere legally arecosting society. It'sour responsibility asstate legislators tomanage that’

March 11, 2011India Post46 Perspectivewww.indiapost.com

Terrorism & insurgency related violence down in IndiaAJAI SAHNI

As repressive regimes of long standing crumble across the Arab world,raising the specter of anarchy, there

is rising concern among leaderships inSouth Asia that the 'jasmine revolution' maywaft across parts of this long troubled re-gion as well.

On many counts, South Asia is a tinder-box. As in the Arab world, demography is arising concern. With some of the highestpopulation densities in the world, the re-gional giants India, Pakistan andBangladesh alone will add at least 226 mil-lion people to their combined 2010 popula-tion of about 1.52 billion in just a decade(on a 'medium variant projection), bringingunsustainable pressure on already stressedresources and the environment.

Between 35 and 45 per cent of the popu-lations in these countries subsist belowfairly modestly defined poverty lines. Ad-ministrations in these countries have failedto accommodate a burgeoning 'youthbulge', with over 20 per cent of their popu-lations in the volatile 15-24 years age group.

Corruption, collusion, ineptitude and crip-pling deficits in capacities for governancehave kept alive, and often compounded, vio-lent movements of political dissent, even asthe state demonstrates significant evidenceof withering away across vast territories.

Against this troubling backdrop, thereis a surprising mix of news relating to the

major movements of political violence inSouth Asia. After a trend of continuous es-calation since 2005, total annual fatalitiesrelating to terrorism and multiple insurgen-cies in the region have dropped from theirpeak of 29,638 in 2009, to 9,431 in 2010.

India is a qualified success story in SouthAsia, with total terrorism and insurgency re-lated fatalities collapsing from a peak of 5,839in 2001, to 1,902 in 2010. Indeed, the two prin-cipal movements drivers of violence in thecountry - the Pakistan-backed Islamist ex-tremist insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir(J&K) and the multiplicity of ethnic extremistinsurgencies in the country's Northeast -appear to have succumbed substantially tosheer exhaustion and the transformation oftheir proximate and enabling environments.

There has been a significant decline inIslamist terrorist incidents outside J&Ksince the peak of 2008, the year that also

saw the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, account-ing for 157 fatalities in this single incident.There were no major (resulting in three ormore fatalities) Islamist terrorist attacks out-side J&K in 2009, though 2010 recorded atleast two such attacks, including the GermanBakery bombing at Pune, which killed 17.

Total fatalities in J&K have fallen fromtheir peak of 4,507 in 2001 to 375 in 2010,though another 111 persons were killed instreet violence, principally in Police firing,in an orchestrated campaign of militant-backed stone pelting that escalated betweenJune and October 2010. Indeed, the successof the stone-pelting campaigns in 2010 andthe paralysis they inflicted across the Kash-mir Valley have provoked anxieties that theevents of Tunisia and Egypt could be repli-cated in this insurgency-riven region in thesummer of 2011.

This is far from likely. For one thing, de-spite the utter confusion of state responsesto the stone pelting campaigns of 2010, thereality is that institutional strengths and thedemocratic constituency in J&K are fargreater than anything that could be imag-ined under repressive Arab despotisms.

Moreover, the insurrections of Egypt andTunisia will find little resonance in J&K forthe simple reason that, despite their sloganof 'azadi' (freedom), the reality is that the sepa-ratists are fighting against a democracy toestablish a theocratic dictatorship, at the be-hest of a rogue state with a hideous record,both of rights violations and of failure to ad-here to the very theocratic vision it hasinstrumentalised and exploited throughoutits existence.

The principal difficulty in J&K remains asuccession of spiritless Governments inSrinagar and New Delhi that have sought todesperately woo the most extreme separatistelements in the Valley, rather than tostrengthen and empower the democratic con-stituency to effectively counter the perverselogic of the Pakistan-backed separatists.

In India's chronically troubled Northeast,fatalities fell from 1,051 in 2008, to 852 in

2009, and further to 322 in 2010. Manipurand Assam, still the worst affected State inthe Northeast, registered the most signifi-cant drops, from 416 and 391, respectively,in 2009, to 138 and 158 in 2010.

It is in the Maoist insurgency that themost dramatic escalation of the recent pasthas been recorded, and it is in theatres ofMaoist violence that the most visible indi-ces of the state's confusion and incompe-tence are visible. February 2011 saw a nine-day crisis in Odisha, after the abduction ofthe District Collector of Malkangiri and aJunior Engineer, with the State Governmentsimply conceding all Maoist demands tosecure their release, exemplifying the widerinfirmity and incoherence of responsesacross much of the Maoist afflicted belt -with the notable exception of AndhraPradesh. Naxalite (Maoist)-related fatalities,at 1,180 in 2010, now significantly outstripthe combined total of all other terrorist andinsurgent movements in the country.

Divergent assessments of the intensityof Maoist activities have been provided byofficial sources from time to time. What isevident on the facts, however, is that theMaoists have not been pushed out of any ofthe areas where they had established theirdisruptive dominance prior to the launch ofthe Center's "massive and coordinated op-erations" in late 2009 (abruptly suspendedafter the Maoist ambuscade at Chintalnad inChhattisgarh on April 6, 2010, in which 76security personnel were slaughtered), andthere is reason to believe that they have sub-stantially expanded their areas of subversion.

Unsurprisingly, Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram conceded, on February 1,2011, that "The Communist Party of India-Maoist remains a powerful and determinedadversary."

The broadly positive trends in India -with the exception of Maoist violence - donot, however, provide an accurate index tothe quality of the State's responses. In-deed, in all spheres, it is a range of com-plex extraneous factors that has led to dra-

matic improvements, where these havebeen registered.

The institutional apparatus of SouthAsian states remains infinitely stronger thanthat of the Arab world, even in countriesthat have been systematically undermining,

if not dismantling it, over decades. Capac-ity deficits in security and governance, nev-ertheless, remain endemic across much ofthe region, and the potential for conflictcontinues to augment.

The realization of such potential, however,is integrally linked to the quality of gover-nance in each constituent state, and even theapparently worst of these can abruptly beturned around under determined leadership.

This, then, is the obvious and immediatelesson of the present South Asian experi-ence - as of much of history: where statesdemonstrate a modicum of wisdom and re-straint, nations flourish; where states andnational leaderships are undermined by cor-ruption, opportunism, weakness, or eventhe mere absence of sagacity, nations suf-fer, decline, and sometimes perish.

The writer is Editor, SAIR; Executive Di-rector, Institute for Conflict Management

The insurrections of Egyptand Tunisia will find littleresonance in J&K for thesimple reason that, despitetheir slogan of 'azadi'(freedom), the reality is thatthe separatists are fightingagainst a democracy toestablish a theocraticdictatorship, at the behestof a rogue state with ahideous record

It is in the Maoist insurgencythat the most dramaticescalation of the recentpast has been recorded,and it is in theatres ofMaoist violence that themost visible indices of thestate's confusion and in-competence are visible.February 2011 saw a nine-day crisis in Odisha, afterthe abduction of the DistrictCollector of Malkangiri

KIDNAPPED AND FREED: R V Krishna, Collector of Malkangiri in Orissa, seen after his release by Maoists

after nine days in captivity. (Right) Maoist cadre parade in the jungle

India Post 47

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Philosophy

'Woman and gold' aloneare the obstacles

The life of sensation andlife of peace

Hazrat Inayat Khan

RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHANSA

God can be realized throughall paths. All religions aretrue. The important thing

is to reach the roof. You can reachit by stone stairs or by woodenstairs or by bamboo steps.

A little spiritual discipline isnecessary in order to know whatlies within.

Mahendra: Is it necessary topractice discipline all throughlife?

Master: No. But one must beup and doing in the beginning.After that one need not workhard. The helmsman stands upand clutches the rudder firmly aslong as the boat is passingthrough waves, storms, highwind, or around the curves of ariver; but he relaxes after steer-ing through them.

As soon as the boat passes thecurves and the helmsman feels afavorable wind, he sits comfort-ably and just touches the rudder.Next he prepares to unfurl the sailand gets ready for a smoke. Like-wise, the aspirant enjoys peaceand calm after passing the wavesand storms of 'woman and gold'.

Some are born with the char-acteristics of the yogi; but theytoo should be careful. It is'woman and gold' alone that isthe obstacle; it makes them de-viate from the path of yoga anddrags them into worldliness.

Perhaps they have some desirefor enjoyment. After fulfillingtheir desire, they again directtheir minds to God and thus re-cover their former state of mind,fit for the practice of yoga.

'Woman and gold' alone is theobstacle to yoga. Always ana-lyze what you see. What is therein the body of a woman? Onlysuch things as blood, flesh, fat,entrails, and the like. Whyshould one love such a body?

Mahendra: May I know if onecan realize God while performingone's duties? Can 'Rama' and 'de-sire' coexist? The other day I readin a Hindi couplet: 'Where Ramais, there desire cannot be; wheredesire is, there Rama cannot be.' "

Master: All, without exception,perform work. Even to chant thename and glories of God is work,as is the meditation of the non-dualist on 'I am He'. Breathing isalso an activity. There is no way

of renouncing work altogether. Sodo your work, but surrender theresult to God.

Mahendra: Sir, may I makean effort to earn more money?

Master: "It is permissible todo so to maintain a religious fam-ily. You may try to increase yourincome, but in an honest way.The goal of life is not the earn-ing of money, but the service ofGod. Money is not harmful if itis devoted to the service of God."

Mahendra: How long shoulda man feel obliged to do his dutytoward his wife and children?

Master: As long as they feelpinched for food and clothing.But one need not take the respon-sibility of a son when he is ableto support himself. When theyoung fledgling learns to pick itsown food, its mother pecks it if itcomes to her for food."

Mahendra: How long mustone do one's duty?

Master: The blossom dropsoff when the fruit appears. Onedoesn't have to do one's duty af-ter the attainment of God, nordoes one feel like doing it then.

If a drunkard takes too muchliquor he cannot retain con-sciousness. If he takes only twoor three glasses, he can go onwith his work. As you advancenearer and nearer to God, He willreduce your activities little bylittle. Have no fear.

Finish the few duties you haveat hand, and then you will havepeace. When the mistress of thehouse goes to bathe after finish-ing her cooking and other house-hold duties, she won't comeback, however you may shoutafter her.

Excerpted from The Gospel ofSri Ramakrishna

The 175th birth anniversary ofSri Ramakrishna Paramhansawas celebrated on March 6

HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN

The secret behind the wholemanifestation is vibration,vibration which may be

termed movement. It is the differ-ences of vibration which, when di-vided by lines, form planes of exist-ence, each plane being different inthe rhythm of these vibrations.

When we take life as a wholewe can draw one line, the begin-ning and the end, or spirit andmatter, or God and man. And weshall find that the rhythm whichbegins the line is free and with-out disturbance, and the rhythmwhich is felt at the end of thisline is gross and disturbing. Andthese two rhythms may be namedthe life of sensation and the lifeof peace.

These are two oppositethings. The life of sensationgives a momentary joy; the lifewhich is the first aspect of lifegives peace and culminates inthe everlasting peace.

The joy, however great, is ris-ing and falling; it must have itsreaction. Besides, it dependsupon sensation; and what doessensation depend upon? Sensa-tion depends upon the outer life;there must be something besidesyou to cause the sensation. But

peace is independently feltwithin oneself; it is not depen-dent upon outer sensation. It issomething that belongs to one,something that is one's own self.

If one were to ask someonewho lives continually in a kindof excitement of worldly plea-sures, whom Providence hasgranted all pleasures imaginable,

if that person were asked, 'Whatdo you wish besides all this thatyou experience?', he will say, 'Tobe left alone.'

When madness comes, whenhe is out of balance, he will cravefor sensation, but when thatpassion has gone, what he islonging for in reality is peace.

Therefore there is no pleasurein the world, however great, noexperience, however interesting,

that can give one that satisfac-tion which peace alone can give.

A sovereign may be happysitting on the throne with hiscrown, with many attendantsbefore him, but he is only satis-fied when he is alone by himself.All else seems to him nothing; ithas no value; the most preciousthing for him is that moment

when he is by himself.I have once seen the Nizam, a

great ruler, in all his grandeur,enjoying the royal splendoraround him, and then again I sawthe same sovereign sitting aloneon a little carpet; and it was atthat time that he was himself. Itis the same thing with everyone.

Delicious dishes, sweet fra-grance, music, all other plea-sures of line and color, beauty

in all its aspects, which seem toanswer one's life's demands, failin the end when compared withthat satisfaction which a soul ex-periences in itself, which it feelsits own property, its own belong-ing; something that one neednot seek outside oneself, thatone can find within oneself, andsomething which is incompara-

bly greater and more valuablethan anything else in the world;something which cannot bebought nor sold, somethingwhich cannot be robbed by any-one, and something which ismore sacred and holy than reli-gion or prayer. For all prayer anddevotion is to attain to thispeace.

Excerpted from The Sufi Mes-sage of Hazrat Inayat Khan

Ramakrishna Paramhansa

What is there in the body of a woman? Onlysuch things as blood, flesh, fat, entrails, andthe like. Why should one love such a body?

Sensation depends upon the outer life;there must be something besides youto cause the sensation. But peace isindependently felt within oneself

49Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com


India PostElection prospects

Elections have been announced to five states in India to beheld in a prolonged span of two months in April-May. The

long duration has been caused by the staggered six-phase poll inWest Bengal, necessitated because of the "law and order situa-tion," an euphemism for the Maoist insurgency and the politicalbloodshed that has stained the run-up to the elections in thiseastern state. Three states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry -will have a one phase poll and Assam alone will have a two-phasepoll.

Of all these states, there has been greatest hype about theWest Bengal poll where the end of the 35-year rule of the commu-nist parties seems imminent. The Left parties face the most formi-dable challenge ever from the Trinamool Congress-Congress com-bine. Since the 2009 parliamentary polls, Trinamool has swept allthe elections - bypoll and civic bodies - in the state. Although theprospect of the mercurial Mamata Banerjee as the next chief minis-ter does not enthuse - she has made a mess of the Railway ministryportfolio that she holds in the central government in Delhi - shecontinues to excite the imagination of Bengalis keen to get rid ofthe long repressive rule of the communists. The CPM in its propa-ganda has been trying to put the fear of Mamata in the minds ofpeople but it seems to be proving counter-productive. Mamata'sexhortation that if the Left can get seven terms, she deserves onechance has caught the people's imagination.

Adding further gloom to the prospects of the communists isthe situation in Kerala where the ruling CPM-led LDF coalition isin danger of losing to the Congress-led UDF because the trend inthe state has been never to give two terms to a coalition. Theresult could be a wipeout of communists in electoral terms.

Thus the Congress and its coalitions hope to bag three states -West Bengal, Kerala and Assam. In Assam the Congress has anedge as the BJP and AGP are not allying. The Assam United Demo-cratic Front (AUDF), a newly born political party of the Muslims,can hurt the Congress but after the peace talks with separatistULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) led by chief minister TarunGogoi the Congress is believed to enjoy an edge.

In Tamil Nadu, where the Congress and DMK of Karunanidhiare struggling over a seat sharing deal, the party seems to realizethe AIADMK's alliance with film star Vijaykanth's DMDK mayhave given the latter a slender edge. Following the tarnishing ofits image by the 2G scam involving A Raja, its leading member inthe Union Cabinet now in jail, the DMK is in a subdued mood. TheCongress hopes to cash in on this and is demanding 70 plus seatsin the alliance whereas the DMK is willing to concede only 50plus. The Congress had contested 48 seats in the 2006 Assemblyelections. But this time the Congress has put forward some otherdemands including power sharing in the event of the alliance win-ning the elections. The deal is still in the making.

Puducherry is a small assembly of merely 30 seats. The Con-gress here is well placed although it must deal with a former chiefminister turning rebel.

Overall however the Congress cannot take things for granted inthe scenario following popular uprisings by people against theirrulers in the Middle East and Arab countries. Also, the messagefrom the Bihar elections of good politics paving the way to goodeconomics has gone home. In the new budget therefore, instead ofits normal urge to raise taxation and go on a spending spree in thename of the poor, the Congress has chosen to control expenditure.

India-Japan relations: Potentialand possibilities

MAJ. GEN. (RETD.) DIPANKAR BANERJEE

Quietly and without fanfare,India-Japan relationshave deepened and ma-

tured in the recent years. This isdespite frequent changes in theJapanese government, rapid geopo-litical changes in Asia and an inter-mittent US policy. However, verylittle of this relationship finds men-tion in the Indian media; constrainedas it is with continuing scams, ob-session with Pakistan and anxiety

about China's encirclement of India.Yet, nurturing and developing a re-lationship with Japan will signifi-cantly enhance India's all round re-silience as well as contribute topeace and stability in Asia.

Much has been written recentlyabout China's overtaking of Japanin gross GDP terms while no rec-ognition has been given to the factthat Japan's per capita income isstill 10 times that of China. Tokyostill remains the global leader in cru-cial technologies which are essen-tial for future innovation andgrowth. And with the growth inGDP and stabilization of its politicsthere is likelihood that Japan willovercome the current stagflation.

The current upswing in India-Japan relations can be traced backto the annual summits initiatedsince April 2005. A set of visits,three from each side, has led to theestablishment of a 'strategic andglobal partnership'. Five pillars thatconstitute the current architectureof cooperation are: (a) political, de-fense and security cooperation, (b)a comprehensive economic partner-ship, (c) science & technology ini-tiatives, (d) people-to-people ex-changes and (e) cooperation in re-gional/multilateral fora.

All these are recent formula-tions and entail time for maturity.An important element of the secu-rity cooperation is the nine pointaction plan that was signed on 29December 2010 in New Delhi dur-ing Prime Minister Nato Kan's visit.It is a plan for comprehensive en-gagement designed to advancestrategic cooperation and take it tonewer levels. It includes an annual

strategic dialogue at the foreignministers level with regular consul-tations between the National Se-curity Advisors, a maritime secu-rity dialogue and a track 1.5 dia-logue on security related issues.

It aims to enhance defense co-operation through regular defenseministerial meetings, maritime en-gagement and an annual maritimeexercise in each other's shores al-ternately. Cooperation between

coast guards on anti-piracy mea-sures will also continue while mili-tary student exchanges will be in-creased in training establishmentsas well as the sea. This agreementis a recent development and actu-alization will be a steady process,but a significant potential hasbeen created.

It is also important to note thegeopolitical conditions whichhave acted as drivers for thischange. China's rise, not appar-ently peaceful and which can do

with greater transparency, is a casein point. Giving up DengXiaoping's policy of "keepingone's head low", China has em-barked on a three pronged ap-proach to declare its rise. This isevident in its recent policies on theKorean peninsula, tensions over

the South China Sea and theSenkaku or Daiyutao islands andrapid military modernization in-cluding development of majorasymmetric military capabilities.

Yet, the substance of India-Ja-pan relations lies in the compre-hensive engagement on economicand trade relations. While it is truethat the relations have not reachedits true potential, recent agree-ments promise a major transforma-tion. Since 2004-05 India has beenthe largest recipient of Japan'sOfficial Developmental Assis-tance. This has translated intosupport for macro infrastructureprojects like the Delhi Metro andthe forthcoming Delhi-Mumbaiindustrial corridor. This project ifsuitably implemented has the po-tential to redefine industrializationin India in the coming decade.

The potential for further coop-eration remains high and major ef-forts need to be made to achievedesired results. Only two recom-mendations are suggested here.First, is to develop and strengthenpeople-to-people contact particu-larly among young people, in allspheres and in all possible ways. Inthis context the recent liberalizationof the visa rules, minimum though itis, is a step in the right direction.

Very few Indians visit Japan forrecreation or on holidays. The glo-bal annual exodus of Japanesetourists around the world largelybypasses India in spite of its richBuddhist heritage and cultural di-versity. Interaction betweenpeople in today's world is a pow-erful force for increasing under-standing and cooperation, but thisis largely neglected.

Second, India today possessesa very large, young, educated andscientifically trained talent poolthat is second to no other in theworld. They are adventurous, seekopportunities abroad and contrib-ute to the wealth of their host na-tions. They have done so in a re-markable manner in the US, Canadaand even in Australia, for example.They are law abiding, secular andare willing to adapt to the hostcountry's traditions and way of life.

Over time, if they can be per-suaded to move to Japan in somenumbers it may address Japan'sageing problem by providing themwith a high quality of talentedyoung professionals. This is ahuge challenge for Japan also asit has not been very welcoming toforeigners for several reasons, butthe economic benefits for both thecountries from this exchangewould be enormous and hence theendeavor deserves an attempt.

The writer is Mentor, IPCS

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

Five pillars that consti-tute the current archi-tecture of cooperationare: (a) political, de-fense and securitycooperation, (b) acomprehensiveeconomic partnership,(c) science & technol-ogy initiatives, (d)people-to-peopleexchanges and (e)cooperation in re-gional/multilateral fora


March 11, 201150


March 11, 201152

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