vol.8 issue 24 - oct 17-oct 23, 2015
TRANSCRIPT
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By Parveen Chopra
New York South Asians in America
are set to witness history as icons
of cricket will be seen in action on
American soil for the first time in
November. The inaugural T20
match will be played at the Citi
Field baseball stadium in New Yorkon Nov 7.
"It's been my dream to help
bring the best of cricket to
America. Cricket is the second
most popular sport in the world
(after soccer) and we couldn't have
asked for better partners than
Sachin Tendulkar and Shane
Warne on this exciting venture,”
Ben Sturner told The South Asian
Times. He is founder, CEO and
President of NYC based Leverage
Agency, which is producingCricket All‑Stars and will also han‑
dle the marketing and promotion
for the mega event. Sturnerʼs aim
The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
excellence in journalism SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30OP ED 12 MEDIA 16 MUSIC 25
Ben Sturner (middle) is the founder‑CEO of Leverage Agency in NYC,which is producing and marketing Cricket All‑Stars series.
(Photo: Leverage)
BENJAMIN STURNER
Vol.8 No. 24 October 17-23, 2015 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info
The AmericanKerry Packer
Continued on page 4
Bringing cricket in an epic way to US shores in partnershipwith Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne.
New York The Obama adminis‑
tration is exploring a deal with
Pakistan that would limit the
scope of Pakistanʼs nuclear
arsenal, the fastest‑
growing on earth.
The discussions are
the first in the decade
since one of the
founders of its
nuclear program,
Abdul Qadeer Khan, was
caught selling the countryʼsnuclear technology around the
world.
The talks are being held in
advance of the arrival of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif in
Washington next
week. They focus on
American concern
that Pakistan might be
on the verge of
deploying a small
tact ical nuclear
weapon ̶ explicitly modeled
on weapons the United Statesput in Europe during the Cold
War to deter a Soviet invasion ̶
that would be far harder to
secure than the countryʼs arsenal
of larger weapons, New York
Times reported. But outside
experts familiar with the discus‑
sions, which have echoes of the
Obama administrationʼs first
approaches to Iran on its nuclear
program three years ago,
expressed deep skepticism that
Pakistan is ready to put any limi‑
tations on a program that is the
US mulling deal to limit Pak nukes arsenal: NYT report
Washington Unlike the frontrun‑
ner for GOP nomination, Donald
Trump, who is widely seen as
somebody who will eventually
drop out, Hillary Clinton seems to
have sealed her place as the Dems
nominee after the first Democratic
presidential debate on Tuesday inLas Vegas hosted by CNN.
Such was Hillaryʼs commanding
performance that she put the dis‑
rupter Bernie Sanders in his place,
and also blocked Vice President
Joseph R. Bidenʼs entry point, who
would have been in demand if she
kept faltering as in the past she fell
prey to revelations about her use
Hillary Clinton stronger aftercommanding debate showing
Hillary Clinton with Housing and Urban Development Secretary JulianCastro Thursday at a rally in San Antonio, Texas.
If she wins Dems nomination, she’d lookhard at a Latino as running mate.
Continued on page 4
New York The Indo‑American Press Club (IAPC) held its secondInternational Media Conference in Ronkonkoma, NY, over theColumbus Day weekend, bringing together an array of eminent jour‑nalists and media experts. The honorees were Daya Bai (originallyMercy Mathew), a social activist working for and living with the tribalsin Madhya Pradesh; and Boby Chemmanur, founder chairman of aninternational jewelry chain who shares some of the profit from hisbusiness with the poor, starting homes for them wherever there are his
jewelry stores; & VK Ebrahimkunju, Keralaʼs Minster for Public Works.
Daya Bai and Boby Chemmanur honored
by Indo-American Press Club
Continued on page 4
For the first interview of Ben with The South Asian Times,the proud Print Media Partner of Cricket All-Stars series, go to page 17.For detailed story and more pictures, turn to page 16.
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TheSouthAsianTimes.info October 17-23, 2015
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3October 17-23, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TR I S TATE COMMUNI TY
By Jinal Shah
N e w Y o r k The Asia Society on
Tuesday honored boxing champion
Manny Pacquiao and three persons
of Indian origin among its second
annual class of Asia Game Changers
for making a transformative and
positive difference for the future of
Asia and the world.
The award ceremony, held at the
United Nations, honored the CEO of
ICICI bank and the first woman to
head an Indian bank, Chanda
Kochhar, comedian and actor Aasif
Mandvi, founder, Design for Change
and the Riverside School champion
of youth volunteerism, Kiran BirSethi.
At the awards event, Josette
Sheeran, Asia Society's President
and CEO, noted the insufficient
recognition Asians receive despite
their remarkable contributions to
the world. “More than 950 Nobel
prizes have been awarded since
1901, and less than 6% have gone
to Asians ‑‑ even though 60 percent
of the world's population is in Asia
and Asia has 50 percent of the
world's patents,” she said. "We at
Asia Society want to recognize the
brilliance of Asia ‑‑ those who are
changing the world for the better."
Asia Society selected the hon‑
orees through a survey of over
1,000 global leaders who inspired
the world to do things differently.
Last year, Chinese billionaire Jack
Ma, of Alibaba fame, neurologist
Pawan Sinha and co‑founder and
CEO of Pratham Education
Foundation Madhav Chavan werethe honorees.
Kochhar was honored not only for
breaking the glass ceiling but also
for transforming the banking indus‑
try through technology and empow‑
ering the masses by bringing bank‑
ing services to rural areas.
“I stand here as a proud Indian,
proud of all the strides that my
country has made so far but even
more proud of the potential that
the country offers all of us to make
an impact to whatever we do in our
country,” she said. “I accept this
award on behalf of everybody who
works for financial inclusion
because banking and technologytogether can create a transforma‑
tional impact by bringing millions
of unbanked people into the bank‑
ing fold.”
Talking to The South Asian Times,
Kochhar said the infamous glass
ceiling is a myth. “The ceiling is
really in the minds of the girls and
the women themselves. We all haveto free ourselves up of that inhibi‑
tion and if we believe, we can do it
all ‑ have a great family life and at
the same time have a great career,”
she said.
Kiran Bir Sethi, honored for
empowering children to change the
world, spoke of the importance of
spotlighting educators. "It's because
of honors like this that the response
goes from 'oh, you're just a teacher'
to 'teachers are game changers.”
Aasif Mandvi was awarded for
using comedy to challenge stereo‑
types of Muslims and Asian
Americans. Pacquiao credited his
humble beginnings for his workoutside the boxing ring. He rose to
global stardom as a result of his
sensational performances in the
ring and has utilized his star pres‑
ence to increase awareness on
social issues such as human traf‑
ficking, poverty and the plight of
his countrymen during calamities.
New York The Network of Indian
Professionals, North America (NetIP NA)
hosted their Silver Jubilee Anniversary con‑
ference Oct 9‑11 at Marriott Marquis hotel
here. Among the 600 attendees were
keynote speaker Preet Bharara, U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District of New
York, former Miss America Nina Davuluri,
comedian Hari Kondabolu, Sree
Sreenivasan, chief digital officer at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jimmy Soni,
author and former managing editor of The
Huffington Post, and NetIP Founder Dr.
Satish Chandra.
NetIPʼs annual conference brings together
South Asian professionals, empowering
them to explore their heritage and move
beyond their traditional boundaries. The
theme for 2015 “Begin Again" aims to
inspire individuals to reinvest in the organi‑
zations and communities in which they live
and work.
For the first time organizations such as
AAPI NYC Metro, SABA NYC, SAJA, TiE and
SAALT have worked together on such a
large platform. These col laborations
allowed NetIP to feature panels on Health,
Legal Advice, Media, Technology,
Unconventional Careers, Non Profit, and
Cooking. Special events included the
screening of ʻGirl Rising ‑ Woh Padegi Woh
Udegiʼ, a health fair sponsored by AAPI NYC
Metro, Comedy Show, Fashion Show byIndiaʼs POPUP and a Shark Tank like
Startup Competition hosted by Sava360.
"What a wonderful group of individuals to
share my story about diversity, cultural
competency, and Girl Rising," said Davuluri,
the emcee of the event.
“As we look ahead into the next 25 years,
NetIP will continue its mission to serve as
the voice for the South Asian diaspora by
developing and engaging a cohesive net‑
work of professionals to benefit the com‑munity," said Dhaval Shah, President of
NetIP North America.
NetIP has 23 chapters across North
America with 60% of members having grad‑
uate or professional degrees and over 35%
working for Fortune 1000 companies.
NetIPʼs Silver Conference hosts over 600 professionals
(from left) Aasif Mandvi, Mariam al‑Mansouri, Kiran Bir Sethi, Li Cunxin,Manny Pacquiao and Chanda Kochhar were among the honorees.
(Photo: Asia Society)
Asia Society honors 3 of Indianorigin as game changers
Community support for Santino and Nasrin Ahmad
Prominent Indian American community members on Long Island extended theirsupport recently to Tony Santino for Supervisor and Nasrin Ahmad for Clerk of Townof Hempstead. The election is on Nov 3. Indian American Voters Forum has appealed
all to vote for Santino and Ahmad.
Preet Bharara, Nina Davuluri and comedian Hari Kondaboluat the conference. (Photos: Jay Mandal)
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Garden C ity N Y : Nartan Rang
Dance Academy of Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan hosted one of the
biggest Navratri celebrations on
Long Island on Oct 10 at MitchellField Athletic Complex in Garden
City, NY. It was a festive affair
with the full support of the com‑
munity, and people of all ages
enjoyed and joined the celebra‑
tion to worship Amba Mata. A
live orchestra led by Naishad
Pandya and his group of seven
musicians enthralled the devo‑
tees with new and traditional
garba and dandiya raas. The cel‑
ebrations lasted for over four
hours, with the attendees asking
for more. "This was the fourth annual Navratri event
and the participation and enthusiasm from the devo‑
tees has grown multifold. Almost 400 people attend‑
ed the event this year with full vigor and devotion,"
said Swati Vaishnav, Board of
Director of Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan. Most of the festivities
have now shifted to New Jersey
and it was my passion to bringgarba raas to Long Island to
make it more convenient for
people in the area to attend, she
added.
People appreciated the large
Mitchell Field venue which can
easily accommodate up to 700
people with ample room to
dance freely, as well as free
parking. The primary aim of
Nartan Rang Dance Academy
continues to be the promotion
of the awareness of Indian tradi‑
tion & culture among today's youth, as well as giving
those who miss the festivals from the motherland an
opportunity to celebrate here in the US. Next year's
Navratri will be held on October 8, 2016.
Washington: Upset over the ground
rules for the next Republican presi‑
dential debate, frontrunners Donald
Trump and Ben Carson are threaten‑
ing to boycott the Oct 28 showdown
on CNBC unless the debate format is
changed. Media mogul Trump and
noted neurosurgeon Carson, the two
non‑politician candidates, who have
been leading the Republican field in
recent polls, are seeking an overall
time limit on the debate, given that the
last one went on for three hours, and the ability to
make opening and closing statements.
According to latest Real Clear Politics average of
poll Trump leads the Republican pack with 23.4 per‑
cent votes followed by Carson with 19.1 percent.
Establishment favorite Jeb Bush has fallen to the
fifth place with 7.3 percent.
"Neither Mr. Trump or Dr. Carson
will participate in your debate if it is
longer than 120 minutes including
commercials and does not include
opening and closing statements,"
they wrote in a letter to CNBC
Thursday.
CNBC spokesman Brian Steel indi‑
cated in a statement that the net‑
work might change the format to
accede to Carson's and Trump's
demands. "Our practice in the past
has been to forego opening statements to allow
more time to address the critical issues that matter
most to the American people," he said. "We started a
dialogue yesterday with all of the campaigns
involved and we will certainly take the candidates'
views on the format into consideration as we finalize
the debate structure."
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The American Kerry Packer
Continued from page 1
is to inspire a generation in the hope
that cricket takes off in a big way in
America and to make people excited
about the sport. Undoubtedly South
Asians have been starved of cricket in
America. "A big showcase like this
hopefully will make cricket consid‑
ered as very cool. And cricket will
make South Asian culture cool inAmerica,” he assures.
“I donʼt just support cricket, but
support culture,” Sturner asserts. “I
want everyone to come out. Besides
the actual matches, there will be
galas, meet and greet events, fun mer‑
chandise and memorabilia.”
If all goes according to plan,
Sturnerʼs name will get etched in
cricketing history books along with
saviors and promoters of the gentle‑
manʼs game like the Australian Kerry
Packer, who founded World Series
Cricket in 1977 and made one‑day
cricket popular.
US mulling deal to limit Pak
Continued from page 1
pride of the nation, and that it
regards as its only real defense
against India.
The discussions are being led by
Peter R. Lavoy, a longtime intelligence
expert on the Pakistani program who
is now on the staff of the National
Security Council. White House offi‑
cials declined to comment on the
talks ahead of Sharifʼs visit.
But the central element of the pro‑
posal, according to other officials and
outside experts, would be a relaxation
of the strict controls imposed on
Pakistan by the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, a loose affiliation of nationsthat try to control the proliferation of
weapons.
“If Pakistan would take the actions
requested by the US, it would essen‑
tially amount to recognition of reha‑
bilitation and would essentially
amount to parole,” said George
Perkovich, vice president for studies
at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, who has main‑
tained contacts with the Pakistani
nuclear establishment.
“I think itʼs worth a try,” Perkovich
said. “But I have my doubts that the
Pakistanis are capable of doing this.”
Hillary Clinton stronger after
Continued from page 1
of a private email server as secretaryof state. But with Mrs. Clinton turning
her negatives into positives and show‑
ing her mettle in the CNN debate,
Democrats are now increasingly con‑
vinced that questions about her
emails are little more than a
Republican and news media fixation.
Even Sanders came to her defense on
the email issue.
On Thursday, she won the backing
of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Julian Castro and said she
would seriously consider making the
rising Hispanic leader her running
mate if she wins her party's nomina‑
tion. Clinton and the other Democrats
in the November 2016 race for theWhite House have pushed hard for
support among Hispanics, a fast‑
growing and critical voting bloc that
has moved toward Democrats in
recent elections as Republicans have
stymied comprehensive immigration
reform in Congress and disparaged
Mexican immigrants on the campaign
trail.
"I am going to look really hard at
him for anything, because that's how
good he is," Clinton said at a U.S.
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
meeting in San Antonio, Texas, when
asked if Castro might be her vice
presidential pick.
Appearing with Clinton at a later"Latinos for Hillary" rally, Castro said
he has long respected her ability to
appeal to people of all backgrounds.
Clinton condemned the hardline
comments about immigration that
have been prominent in the
Republican presidential race, particu‑
larly by Donald Trump.
Most of the festivities have nowshifted to New Jersey and it was mypassion to bring garba raas to Long
Island, said Swati Vaishnav.
Republican presidentialcandidate Donald Trump
Nartan Rang Dance Academy hostsNarvratri celebrations on Long Island
Frontrunners Trump, Carson threatento boycott next GOP Debate
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5October 17-23, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TR I S TATE COMMUNI TY
By Jinal Shah
N e w Y o r k The Giving Back
Foundation (GBF) last Thursday
honored Hollywood actress
Phylicia Rashad and Indian entre‑
preneur, author, columnist and
socialite Suhel Seth at its second
gala hosted at The Carlyle in New
York City.
Founded by philanthropist Meera
Gandhi in 2010, GBFʼs mission is to
mitigate poverty, illness and suffer‑
ing, empower women through edu‑
cation. It partners with other chari‑
ty groups and beneficiaries around
the world, in order to allocate
resources and empower underpriv‑
ileged people, and has several part‑
ners in India.
The organizat ion honored
Rashad for her philanthropic work
and Seth for his active role in social
change in India. “We do what we
do because we are part of this uni‑
verse and the universe gives and so
should we,” said Rashad while
accepting her award. Seth, who
flew from India to attend the gala,
said, “We live in troubled times in
India. GDP is not a modicum of suc‑
cess of a society. What is, is the
rule of law, what is, is the rule of
tolerance, and what is, is the meas‑
ure of giving back.”
He further talked about what the
worldʼs oldest democracy, India,
and worldʼs largest democracy,
America, can teach each other. He
even called India and America
“twins joined at the hip.”
“India is not a poor country nor
is America. India has impoverished
sections and they are impoverished
because there is a denial of oppor‑
tunity for lack of education, health‑
care…to my mind India teaches
America three things –the value of
values, the value of culture and the
value of history. What America
teaches us in abundance is the
value of law, value of giving back
and value of innovation.
“I am not proud of the ʻrich listsʼ
that the world produces. I will be
delighted if The New York Times
ever creates a ʻgive list ,” Seth
added. At the event, a 20‑minute
PBS documentary, originally aired
on June 28, highlighting Meera
Gandhi charityʼs work at Delhiʼs St.
Michaelʼs school and hostel was
shown. Rev. Timothy Shaw of the
school blessed the guests from
New Delhi via Skype.
GBF supports many programs
including a 5‑year Giving Back
Foundation grant to the
Woodstock Film Festival in
Woodstock, New York, to encour‑
age socially uplifting films and sup‑
porting five girls at the Eleanor
Roosevelt Leadership Center in
Hyde Park, NY. The organization
will soon add another program ‑
mindfulness program to its exist‑
ing programs.
“We have added a third arm to
our foundation ‑ the mindfulness
platform. I believe that the rapid
pace in our world has left our
minds stripped of peace and joy. To
address this we will start holding
mindfulness camps every year with
gurus like Deepak Chopra and
Donna Karan. The first 500 camp
is scheduled for upstate New York
in July 2016,” Gandhi said.
There was also an auction of sev‑
eral glamorous items, all donated
to GBF.
Giving Back gala honors PhyliciaRashad and Suhel Seth
New York A new, $18 million
outpatient pavilion at St. MaryʼsHealthcare in Amsterdam, NY is
nearly ready to open, thanks in
part to a $1 million donation
from Govind and Jyothi Rao, an
Indian American couple.
According to the Daily Gazette,
the family had previously
pledged $250,000 to the facility
at the start of its capital cam‑
paign last year but increased it
to $1 million earlier this month,
according to an announcement
from St. Maryʼs.
Construction on the
40,000‐square‐foot Rao
Outpatient Pavilion, located next
to the former AmsterdamMemorial Hospital campus on
Route 30, got underway last
October.
The faci l i ty wi l l include a
Cancer Medicine Center with
radiation oncology, medical
oncology and infusion therapy,
as well as the Womenʼs Breast
Health Center, an expanded med‑
ical imaging center, laboratoryservices, outpatient registration,
pre‐surgical teaching and test‑
ing, and a new urgent care cen‑
ter.
The pavilion is set to open Oct.
12. Victor Giulianelli, president
and CEO of St. Maryʼs Healthcare,
said the Raos established “an
exceptional philanthropic pace
for others” with their initial$250,000 donation, which
spurred other six‐figure dona‑
tions.
Rao runs a pediatric practice in
Amsterdam. The family, which
includes eight other pediatri‑
cians, founded the Neena Rao
Charitable Corp. to support and
promote health care and educa‑
tion for women and children in
the United States and in India,
where Rao still has many family
members.
Rao said the donation is a way
for him to give back to the city.
“Fortunately I have been very
good in practice. God has beengreat to us,” he said. “My chil‑
dren are on their own now.
Theyʼre doing very well. And
whatever money I have, I donʼt
take it when I pass away. The
Amsterdam community helped
me a lot. So this is my time to
pay them back.
New York The Mayorʼs Office of
Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) , de
Blasio Administration officials, and
others celebrated the accomplish‑ments of the first cohort of MOIAʼs
Fellowship for Immigrant Women
Leaders in a ceremony at the New
York City Surrogateʼs Court last
week.
Renee Mehrra, TV personality
and activist for womenʼs rights,
was among the 13 fellows.
The Fellowship was established
by MOIA as part of the
Administrationʼs “One New York
Rising Together” platform to build
closer relationships between immi‑
grant women and the City and
enhance the capacity of emerging
and established leaders to promote
positive social change in their com‑munities. “It has been an uplifting
and insightful journey with kin‑
dred spirits that deepened my
emotional intelligence and leader‑
ship skills,” commented Renee
Mehrra, community activist. “The
fellowship gave me rare insights
and strategic tools to overcome
barriers to progress and advance‑
ment, including internalized
oppression, discrimination and
racism, so we can become catalysts
for change and heal, transform and
empower ourselves and our com‑
munities.”At the conclusion of the
Fellowship, Commissioner Nisha
Agarwal of the Mayorʼs Office of
Immigrant Affairs invited the 13
participants from this yearʼs inau‑
gural Fellowship to serve on
MOIAʼs Womenʼs Advisory Cabinet
starting in November.
Meera Gandhi, founder and chair of the Giving Back Foundation, with
honorees Hollywood actress Phylicia Rashad, and Indianentrepreneur, author, columnist and socialite Suhel Seth.(Photo: Mohammed Jaffer‑SnapsIndia).
Dr Govind and Jyothi Rao(Photo: dailygazette. com)
TV personality and womenʼsrights activist Renee Mehrra will
be in panel advisingMayorʼs Office of Immigrant Affairs
The Raos donate $1 millionto St. Maryʼs Hospital
Renee Mehrra amongImmigrant Women Leaders
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6 October 17-23, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TR I S TATE COMMUNI TY
New Jersey: More than 100 South‑
Asians attended the kick‑off event
for the Monmouth County
Democrats South Asian Caucus.
The event was held at Shokla
Indian Restaurant in Freehold, NJ
on October 10.
Among the public officials and
community leaders who attended
the event were the United States
Congressman Frank Pallone Jr.,
Monmouth County Democratic
Chairman Vin Gopal, MarlboroMayor Jon Hornik, State Assembly
Candidates Eric Houghtaling,
Joann Downey, Satish Poondi‑New
Jersey DSC Vice‑Chairman, Dhiren
Amin‑ President of Indian Business
Association, D.K. Patel‑ President
of Monmouth County Indian
Association and their committee
members.
"It is important for the Indian‑
American community to organize
and vote, so their voices are
heard," stated Congressman
Pallone, the founder of the Indian‑
American Caucus in Congress.
Many of those in attendance
expressed anticipation and excite‑
ment of the caucus and of
Democratic Chairman Gopal, New
Je rs ey 's fir st In di an ‑A me ri ca n
elected to head a Major Party in
Monmouth County. At young age
of only 30, Vin Gopal is also
Deputy Vice‑Chairman of the New
Je rs ey De mo cr at ic St at e
Committee.
Hicksville NY: A long‑
time resident of
Hicksville and treasur‑
er of the local
Northwest Civic
Association Subodh
Batra was honored
with the Dick Evers
Award by the
Hicksville Community
Council on Oct 8 for
service to theHicksville community.
Elected officials
Nassau County legisla‑
tor Rose Walker and New York
Senator Jack Martins were also
present at the function, with
Martins also among the three hon‑
orees of the evening.
Batra said in his acceptance
speech, “My family and I have lived
in Hicksville for the past 19 years.
I could not have found a better
place to live, raise my family, and
soon, enjoy my retirement.”
He came to America armed with
an engineering degree from IIT
Mumbai in 1972. He has been
married to Prabha for 38 years.
He explained how he learnt early
on that getting involved within the
community at grass roots level is
the way to make it a better place.
Congressman Frank Pallone Jr addressingSouth Asian Democrats. Monmouth
County DemocraticChairman Vin Gopal (inset)
Congressman Pallone meetsSouth Asian Democrats
Subodh Batra honoredby HicksvilleCommunity Council
New York NY:
Wells Fargo &
Company is celebrating Diwali
with a $50,000 donation to
Operation Smile to help provide
life‑changing surgeries for chil‑
dren and young adults in India
who are born with cleft lip and
cleft palate. To help kick‑off the
Indian New Year, the company
will participate in a series of
Diwali community celebrations
throughout the country, including
events in California, New Jersey
and Texas.
“Operation Smile is honored to
be partnering again this year with
Wells Fargo to celebrate the
Diwali season,” said Lisa
Jardanhazy, Vice President Global
Media Strategy & Public Relations
for Operation Smile. From Oct. 16,
2015 to Nov. 30, 2015, Wells
Fargo encourages customers to
send their own smiles and holiday
goodwill to those in India by mak‑
ing a donation to Operation Smile.
Customers can make a donation
and learn more about the compa‑
nyʼs collaboration with Operation
Smile by visiting www.wellsfar‑
go.com/diwalismiles.
“Weʼre very proud to support
Operation Smile, which makes an
incredible difference in the lives
of children and their families who
couldnʼt otherwise afford the sur‑
geries which cost approximately
$240,” said Rajnish Bharadwaj,
executive vice president and head
of Cross Border Strategy and
Governance at Wells Fargo.
“At Wells Fargo, weʼre commit‑
ted to support the diverse com‑
munities where we live and work
and I encourage everyone to join
us this year as we celebrate
Diwali and support such a worthy
cause.”
WELLS FARGO CELEBRATES DIWALI WITH$50,000 DONATION TO OPERATION SMILE
Della NG‑VP, Rahul Baig‑MD from Wells Fargo, William & KathleenMagee, CoFounders of OperationSmile at
Diwali Celebration press conference.
Subodh Batra with his wife, Prabha, andNassau County legislator Laura Schaefer at theawards function.
Pradip Peter Kothari addressing the crowd at Patel Brothers and Indo AmericanReligious & Cultural Centerʼs Navratri 2015 held at Garden State Exhibition Center.
Rang Tarangʼs Kashyap Sompura seen next to him. Hundreds dancing to the garba tunes. (Photos: Facebook pages)
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7/32
New York: Indian‑American yoga
guru Bikram Choudhury is not
entitled to copyright protection
over yoga poses and breathing
exercises he uses in hot rooms
developed by him, a US appeals
court has ruled.
In an order by the Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in
California yesterday, a bench of
three judges ruled in favor of city‑
based Evolation Yoga, against
whom Choudhury had filed a law‑
suit in 2011.
In the lawsuit, Choudhury had
claimed that Evolation founders,
the husband‑wife duo of Mark
Drost and Zefea Samson had set
up a "copy‑cat yoga system that
offers classes that utilize and
infringe" on his copyrighted
sequence of yoga postures.
The appeals court ruled that the
sequence of yoga poses and
breathing exercises developed by
Choudhury was not entitled to
copyright protection because "it
was an idea, process, or system
designed to improve health, rather
than an expression of an idea."
"Because the Sequence (of yoga
postures) was an unprotectable
idea, it was also ineligible for
copyright protection as a compila‑
tion or choreographic work," it
said. Choudhury founded the
'Bikram Yoga' form of exercise,
which is among the most
renowned forms of the art, with
participants performing yoga pos‑
tures in rooms heated to 40.6
degrees Celsius.
The court noted that the Indian
practice and philosophy of yoga
date back thousands of years and
"derived from ancient Hindu
scriptures, including the
Bhagavad Gita" and that the prac‑
tice of yoga teaches students to
attain spiritual fulfillment through
control of the mind and body. The
judges said that the quest ion of
whether the sequence of 26 yoga
poses and two breathing exercises
developed by Choudhury "impli‑
cates a fundamental principle
underlying constitutional and
statutory copyright protection ‑
the idea/expression dichotomy.”
"Because copyright protection is
limited to the expression of ideas,
and does not extend to the ideas
themselves, the Bikram Yoga
Sequence is not a proper subject
of copyright protection," they
said, adding that by claiming
copyright protection for the
sequence of yoga postures,
Choudhury "misconstrues" the
scope of copyright protection for
compilations.
"Our day‑to‑day lives consist of
many routinized physical move‑
ments, from brushing one's teeth
to pushing a lawnmower to shak‑
ing a Polaroid picture, that could
be... characterized as forms of
dance," the judges said.
Washington DC: Indian‑American Bhagwati
Agrawal is listed among CNN's Top 10
Heroes of 2015, for bringing safe drinkingwater to more than 10,000 drought‑strick‑
en people in his native Rajasthan.
Each of the ten "everyday people doing
remarkable things to make the world a bet‑
ter place" will receive $10,000 and be hon‑
ored at "CNN Heroes: An All‑Star Tribute," a
globally broadcast event on December 6.
The CNN Hero of the Year chosen on the
basis of readers' votes will receive an addi‑
tional $100,000 for his cause, CNN
announced Thursday.
Spurred by a water crisis in his homeland,
Agrawal's nonprofit Sustainable
Innovations created a rainwater harvesting
system that now provides life‑changing,
safe drinking water across six villages in
Rajasthan, the driest region of India.His system, called Aakash Ganga ‑‑ Hindi
for "River from the Sky" ‑‑ is a network of
rooftops, gutters, pipes and underground
reservoirs that collect and store the mon‑
soon rains, which fall from July to
September, CNN reported.
The system frees women and children,
who had to walk miles to get water and
clean dishes with sand to conserve it, to
spend time doing more valuable activities.
Not having to fetch water allows children,
especially girls, to spend more time inschool, CNN said. People report fewer
health problems. Dairy cows have become
twice as productive. "The way I look at it,
I'm 70 years old" Agrawal told CNN. "I only
have maybe 10 years left of active life.
Right now I'm like Usain Bolt, the sprinter.
... And I will run very fast to accomplish this
mission."
Washington DC: Two Indian‑American
teenagers figured among 10 finalists of
NASAʼs national 3‑D Space Container
Challenge which asked students to design
models of containers that could help
astronauts keep things in order in space.
However, both Rajan Vivek from Arizona
and Prasanna Krishnamoorthy from
Delaware failed to win the prestigious
competition which went to Ryan Beam of
California.
Rajanʼs Hydroponic Plant Box contain‑
er tackles the challenge of containing
water in a microgravity environment
while still allowing plants to grow roots
in it. Hydroponics, growing plants with‑out soil, would be very effective in space‑
crafts because it requires less space and
plants grow faster and stronger, NASA
said. Prasanna on the other hand devel‑
oped a Collapsible Container. In order to
use the limited space on international
Space Station, the Collapsible Container
can expand and compress to perfectly fit
its contents. When empty, it can com‑
press fully for easy storage, NASA said.
“The simplest tasks on earth can be
quite challenging, and even dangerous, in
space,” said Niki Werkheiser, NASAʼs In‑
Space Manufacturing project manager.
NASA, in partnership with the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers
Foundation, which managed the competi‑
tion, announced the winners of the
Future Engineers 3‑D Space Container
Challenge on Thursday.
The winning designs focused on mak‑
ing life in space a little more comfortable
for astronauts, NASA said. Studentsacross the US spent part of their summer
using 3‑D modelling software to design
containers that could be 3‑D printed,
with the ultimate goal of advancing
human space exploration on the
International Space Station, Mars and
beyond.
Houston An Indian‑American bil‑
lionaire plans to distribute 10,000stationary bikes to India in a bid
to provide electricity to millions of
homes.
By 2016, Manoj Bhargava plans
to test the first 50 bikes in 15 or
20 small villages in Uttarakhand,
before larger distribution of the
bikes.
According to Bhargava, the
bikes will keep lights and basic
appliances going for an entire day
with just one hour of pedaling.
"This is going to affect a few bil‑
lion people," Bhargava said. The
main challenge is expected to be
distribution.
While he doesn't intend to givethe bike away, he'd prefer to
incentivize distributors with prof‑
its.
He says a village can also pool
its resources, buying one bike but
multiple batteries that can be
swapped out to power individual
homes.
Michigan‑based Bhargava
whose family moved to the US in1967, is set to distribute 10,000
free electric battery‑ equipped
bikes in India in 2016.
The 62‑year‑old billionaire is
also the creator of the famous 5‑
hour Energy drink.
7October 17-23, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info NAT I ONAL COMMUNI TY
Billionaire to distribute10,000 bikes to power
homes in India
Manoj Bhargava
Bhagwati Agrawal
No copyright protectionover Yoga poses: Court
Bhagwati Agrawal listedamong CNN's top ten heroes
2 Indian‑American teensamong NASAʼs 3‑D space
contest finalists
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8/20/2019 Vol.8 Issue 24 - Oct 17-Oct 23, 2015
8/32
8 October 17-23, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NAT I ONAL COMMUNI TY
New York:
An Indian‑
American judge, along with
four other attorneys, has
been named for National AsiaPacific American Bar
Association (NAPABA) Daniel
K. Inouye Trailblazer Award.
Amul Thapar will be hon‑
ored at a NAPABA convention
in New Orleans on November
6, India‑West on Monday
quoted a NAPABA statement
as saying.
NAPABA, in a statement
released on October 8, con‑
gratulated the recipients for
paving the way for the
advancement of other Asian Pacific
American (APA) attorneys.
"NAPABA recognizes the
demonstrated vision,
courage and tenacity, andmade substantial and last‑
ing contributions to the
APA legal profession, as
well as to the broader
APA community," the
statement said.
Thapar became first
South Asian American
Article III judge in the US
when country's senate
appointed him in 2007.
For the post, former US
President George W. Bush
nominated him to the US district court.
New York:
American Banker recently
released its “Women to Watch” and
“25 Most Powerful Women in
Banking” lists and Indian Americansappeared on both.
Ranjana Clark, the head of transac‑
tion banking at MUFG Union Bank
North America, made it into the most
powerful list coming in at No. 25.
Clark, a graduate of Lady Shri Ram
College in Delhi, the Indian Institute
of Management in Ahmedabad and
Duke University, took advantage of an
opportunity to help grow the
Japanese‑owned bank by switching
out an approach that was limiting its
potential, according to American
Banker.
She safely expanded deposits
aggressively by carving out a niche
holding deposits from other financial
institutions which, according to someresearch, she found to be most effec‑
tive. It allowed her to convince senior
management she could make a signif‑
icant profit from this method.
Nandita Bakhshi, North America
head of director channels at TD Bank,
came in at No. 21 on the “Women to
Watch” list.
Bakhshi moved to New York from
Kolkata nearly three decades ago, and
her experiences in life, according to
American Banker, have taught her
how to read any room and tailor her
management style accordingly.
Amul Thapar
IndianAmerican judgeto be felicitated
New York NY: Luxury retailer
Neiman Marcus unveiled its
2015 Christmas Book this
week, and one of the 11 fanta‑
sy gifts includes a 12‑day, five‑
city luxury excursion through
Northwest India priced at
$400,000. The 89th edition of
this legendary book continues
Neiman Marcusʼ unmatched
tradition of offering its cus‑
tomers a selection of spectacu‑
lar and unique holiday giftssure to make even their wildest
dreams come true.
Curated by OʼHarani Luxe
Experiences, a luxury travel concierge
company co‑founded by New York and
Dallas entrepreneurs Jitin Hingorani
and Patrick OʼHara, the “Dream Trip
to India” covers everything from leg‑
endary Delhi and the Taj Mahal to
artistic Jaipur, romantic Udaipur and
bustling Mumbai. The lucky couple
who purchases the trip will travel in
private planes and vintage cars to the
finest hotels, restaurants and experi‑
ences, which include dinners hosted
by royalty, a private cricket game at
the Cricket Club of India and aBollywood dance lesson by famed cho‑
reographer Ashley Lobo on a movie
set in Film City, followed by dinner
with a Bollywood movie star. Neiman
Marcus will donate $15,000 from the
sale of this trip to The Heart of
Neiman Marcus Foundation, which
brings enriching art experiences to
youth in communities nationwide.
“We are thrilled to be included in
this yearʼs Neiman Marcus Christmas
Book,” said Hingorani. “As someone
who moved to the U.S. from India in
my youth, it is heart‑warming for me
to be able to share my country of ori‑
ginʼs culture, hospitality and warmth
with Americans on such a massive
scale. India is really on everyoneʼs
radar right now, and we want to show‑
case the decadence and first‑class hos‑
pitality that this country has to offer.”
First published in 1926 as a 16‑page
booklet, the Neiman MarcusChristmas Book was initially intended
as a Christmas card to the storeʼs best
customers.
Building on tradition through the
years, the book has maintained its
personal touch, while evolving into a
legendary source for alluring and
mystical gifts.
N e w J e r s e y The
thought of periodic
health check‑ups is
daunting for many,
however, early
detection and pre‑
vention is the key
to a healthier life.
Nonetheless, pre‑
ventable ailments
such as cardiovas‑cular diseases and
diabetes are stil l
largely prevalent
across the United
States. Recognizing
early detection and prevention as vital for the
well‑being of communities, BAPS Charities hosted
its 9th annual Health Fair in Parsippany on
October 4. The Health Fair saw participation from
40 medical professionals, including specialties
dentists, nurses, physicians, and specialists in the
fields of Internal Medicine/Family practice,
Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Ophthalmology,
Podiatry, Dentistry, Physical Therapy,
Chiropractor and OBGYN. These professionals vol‑
unteered to provide individual consultations to
over 320 community participants who benefitedfrom various screenings offered free or at subsi‑
dized costs. Screenings included blood pressure,
dental exam, glaucoma screening, glucose screen‑
ing, eye exam. In an ef fort to encourage preventive
care and disease management health awareness
lectures were also organized. These lectures pro‑
vided participants with insights on high choles‑
terol, diabetes, preventive health, obesity and
heart disease. Doctors that volunteered their time
at the Health Fair came from a diverse set of local
hospitals and private practices.
“I was very much impressed with the turnout
and the professionalism of all of the volunteers in
putting together such a great community event,”
said Dr.Kamal Patel. “I will definitely be back next
year.”
“We are pleased to be able to provide this serv‑
ice and thank all the physicians, phlebotomists ns,
Carol G Simon Cancer Centre who volunteered
their time to make this event a success,” TejasPatel , BAPS Charities volunteer, said. BAPS
Charities hosted similar community Health Fairs at
over 40 locations across North America benefiting
over 15,000 participants. Extending that senti‑
ment throughout the year, BAPS Charities hosts
medical fairs, walkathons, education & career
development seminars, disaster relief operations,
blood drives & much more.
American Banker honorstwo women bankers
The $400,000 luxury trip to India
ʻDream Trip to Indiaʼ isNeiman Marcus fantasy gift B PS Charities hosts health
fair in Parsippany
Over 40 medical professionals volunteered for the event
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8/20/2019 Vol.8 Issue 24 - Oct 17-Oct 23, 2015
9/32
Washignton Hillary Clinton has passed her first big test at the
Democratic presidential debate held here on CNN Tuesday and has
momentum going into the upcoming ones.
As candidates faced off for the first time, Clinton, without offer‑
ing any specifics, said she would be different than President
Obama, even as closest rival Bernie Sanders promised a "political
revolution."Asked how her presidency would not be a "third term" for
Obama, Clinton said: "I think being the first woman president
would be quite a change."
But the former first lady and secretary of state could not specify
if there would be a policy difference even as she insisted
she would build on Obama's policies in some areas, and go further
in others.
Self‑proclaimed socialist senator Sanders, on the other hand,
claimed he would bring about a "political revolution," in which far
more Americans would turn out to vote, and in which the balance
of power was shifted sharply away from the rich. Clinton also
sought to combat suggestions that she is too closely aligned with
Wall Street banks by saying she had personally scolded Wall Street
bankers to "cut it out," months before the financial crisis of 2008.
"I respect the passion and intensity. I represented Wall Street, as
a senator from New York," Clinton said, after hearing Sanders out‑
line a plan to break up big banks.To that Sanders countered, "Congress does not regulate Wall
Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. Going to them and saying
please do the right thing is kind of naïve."
But on Clinton's use of a private e‑mail system while serving as
secretary of state, an issue that has dogged her campaign, Sanders
appeared to come to her defense, arguing that Americans are sick
and tired of the controversy because we should be discussing real
issues affecting middle and working class Americans.
Amid loud and sustained applause, Clinton turned to thank him
with a handshake.
Clinton cited a statement made by Republican House Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy, in which he implied that the committee's
best outcome was to undercut Clinton's poll numbers.
Clinton also cited the judgment of Obama to whom she lost in
the 2008 party primary as a testament to her skill on foreign poli‑
cy. "He asked me to be secretary of state," she said, after being crit‑
icized for her vote in favor of the Iraq War in 2002. "He valued my
judgment," she said, and trusted her advice in situation‑room dis‑
cussions, Clinton said.
Denying she flip‑flopped on key issues for political gain, Clinton
deftly parried questions on the depth of her political convictions
and insisting she is a "progressive" despite the doubts of some on
the left of the party.
Three other candidates‑ Chafee, Webb and former Maryland
Governor Martin O'Malley‑whose campaigns are languishing in the
single digits, failed to create any buzz.
And if Vice President Joe Biden was looking for an opportunity
(and rationale) to jump into the race, he didn't get it at the debate.
9TheSouthAsianTimes.info
India figured just once in the two‑and‑a‑
half‑hour long Democratic presidential
primary debate ‑ and that too negative‑
ly ‑ when long‑shot candidate Jim Webbsaid the US must have "highest polluting
countries" like China and India on board
in a climate deal. On the climate‑change
issue, the former Virginia senator said
unilateral action by the US wouldn't mean
as much when many of the highest poll ut‑
ing nations in the world are China and
India. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton jumped
on his comments, saying she was part of
the White House's effort to force China to
make concessions on climate change. She
said more should be done, though, at the
upcoming Paris conference on climate
change.
Her closest rival Bernie Sanders said he
agreed with Pope Francis, who called it a
"moral issue."The influential Washington Post, ,
joined issue with what it called "Webb's
grandstanding over India and China as
the 'world's worst polluters." "It's simply
not fair to pin the blame on these coun‑
tries, given the size of their populations,"
wrote columnist Ishaan Tharoor. "Of
course, India and China are faced with
huge questions over how to manage and
grow their economies in a sustainable
fashion," he wrote.
New York A federal appeals court on Tuesday
reinstated a lawsuit challenging the New York
Police Department's surveillance of Muslim
groups in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 ter‑
rorist attacks, saying any resulting harm came
from the city's tactics, not the media's report‑
ing of them.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
reversing a judge's decision last year to dis‑
miss the case, found the Muslim plaintiffs
raised sufficient allegations of religious‑free‑
dom and equal‑protection violations and put
the case on track for trial. The court com‑
pared the spying to other instances of height‑
ened scrutiny of religious and ethnic groups,
including Japanese‑Americans during WorldWar II. In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District
Judge Wil lia m Martin i had concluded the
police could not keep watch "on Muslim ter‑
rorist activities without monitoring the
Muslim community itself" and concurred with
the city in blaming reporting by The
Associated Press, which exposed the surveil‑
lance program, for any harm.
The appeals court said the attempt to blame
the AP was akin to saying, "What you don't
know can't hurt you. And, if you do know,
don't shoot us. Shoot the messenger."
The lawsuit revived Tuesday was among
legal actions that followed reports by the AP
that revealed how city police infiltrated
Muslim student groups, put informants in
mosques and otherwise spied on Muslims as
part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist
attacks. The reporting was honored with a
Pulitzer Prize. Plaintiff Farhaj Hassan said he
was "extremely ecstatic" about the court's
decision.
"I'm very happy we will get our day in
court," said Hassan, a U.S. Army sergeant who
served in Iraq. "Muslim‑Americans were theinnocent community in this matter, and lo and
behold their civil rights should be protected
like everyone else." The city called the intelli‑
gence gathering an appropriate and legal
anti‑terrorism tactic and said it never spied on
people or businesses solely because they were
Muslim. Such a practice would be contrary to
its values, a spokesman for the city's Law
Department said.
Climate change to bring spring three weeks earlier to USNew York Driven by rising global temperatures, winter will be shorter and the onset of
spring plant growth will shift by a median of three weeks earlier over the next century,
scientists have projected. The findings have long term implications for the growing season
of plants and the relationship between plants and the animals that depend upon them.
"Our projections show that winter will be shorter ‑ which sound great for those of us inWisconsin," explained one of the study authors Andrew Allstadt from University of
Wisconsin, Madison. "But long distance migratory birds, for example, time their migration
based on day length in their winter range. They may arrive in their breeding ground to
find that the plant resources that they require are already gone," Allstadt noted.
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385
718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.com
India just a blipin debate
Court reinstates lawsuit over
NYPD surveillance of Muslims
October 17-23, 2015U S AFFA IRS
Bernie Sanders gave Hillarya boost with his comments on the email controversy.
HILLARY DOMINATES DEMS DEBATE
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10 October 17-23, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info I ND IA
Mumbai Maharashtra chief minis‑
ter Devendra Fadnavis said his gov‑
ernment will go in appeal, shortly
after the Supreme Court stayed a
2014 amendment to the state
police act banning dance perform‑
ances in bars and some other
places.
“Although SC interim order man‑
dates regulation instead of ban on
dance bars, Govt still favors ban.
We will examine & press our
demand in SC, “ Fadnavis tweeted
shortly after the apex court
removed the ban and allowed
licencing authorities to regulate
indecent dance performances.
The bench of justices Dipak Misra
and Prafulla C Pant said it is
“appropriate to stay the provision”
that prohibits the dance perform‑ances and noted the said provision
was brought back in the
Maharashtra Police Act in 2014
after being held ultra vires in 2013
by the top court.
“However, we have a rider that no
performance of dance will be
remotely expressive of any kind of
obscenity...the licensing authority
can regulate such dance perform‑
ances so that individual dignity of
woman performer is not harmed,”
the bench said.The apex court fixed the petition
filed by Indian Hotel and
Restaurant Association for final
hearing on November 5 adding that
a similar matter had already been
decided in 2013.
The Maharashtra government
had reintroduced the law in 2014
to bypass an SC judgment which
had struck down a similar law a
year ago. The SC had in April 2013
upheld the right of women bar
dancers to follow their professionand dismissed the state govern‑
mentʼs appeal to ban them.
The court had then questioned
why Maharashtra did not find it
indecent or derogatory to the digni‑
ty of women if they worked as a
receptionist, waitress or bartender
at such bars and backed the
Bombay high court verdict quash‑
ing the 2005 ban.
New Delhi Prime Minister
Narendra Modi paid tributes to
former president A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam and said a memorial for
him will be built at his birthplace
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
"The government has acquired
land at Kalam sahab's birthplace
to build a memorial for him. We
want it to be an inspiration for
future generations," Modi said at
a function to mark Kalam's birth
anniversary.
The prime minister went on:
"Soon after quitting the presi‑
dent's post, he took a flight to
Chennai and started teaching."And look at his last moments...
Where is Rameswaram, where is
Delhi, and where is northeast...
Going there at his age and spend‑
ing time with students reflects
his commitment," he said.
Modi said Kalam was commit‑
ted to enriching India's human
resource.
"India must be powerful, but
not just by weapons... This was
not Kalam sahab's thought.
Weapon power is important, and
he contributed to it, but hebelieved a nation is not identified
by boundaries, but by the people.
"So he took up both together,
defence research and ... enrich‑
ment of human resource," Modi
said.
The prime minister was speak‑
ing after unveiling a bust of
Kalam at the DRDO complex here.
A scientist‑turned‑politician,
Kalam was born and raised in
Rameswaram and studied physics
and aerospace engineering.
He spent four decades as a sci‑entist and science administrator,
mainly at the Defence Research
and Development Organisation
(DRDO) and the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO),
and was intimately involved in
India's civilian space program
and military missile development
efforts.
Kalam was the 11th president
of India in 2002‑07. He died on
July 27 this year.
Mumbai The Shiv Sena said that since
every person who arrives here from
Pakistan is "a messenger of peace", so
the three terrorists who have reported‑
ly sneaked into the country should also
be treated similarly.
According to recent intell igence
reports, three Pakistani terrorists have
sneaked into Mumbai and preparing to
carry out attacks similar to 26/11
here.
The central government has warned
Maharashtra and a red alert has beensounded for the terrorist trio who
could strike in the crowded festivals
like the ongoing Navratri or the forth‑
coming Diwali, the Shiv Sena said in an
edit in the party mouthpiece Saamana
today.
However, it assured that people of
the state have no cause for worry as a
new "Pakistan‑loving ambassador of
peace" has taken over responsibility to
protect the nation from them, referring
to its latest bete‑noir, Sudheendra
Kulkarni, chairman of think‑tank,
Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
"Since every person who arrives here
from Pakistan is 'a messenger of
peace', these three terrorists must also
be treated similarly. We lay out the red
carpet for them and accord them high‑
est security," the Sena sarcastically
demanded.
N e w D e l h i The CBI moved the
Supreme Court to challenge a
Himachal Pradesh High Court order
restraining it from interrogating
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister
Virbhadra Singh and his wife in an
alleged disproportionate assets
case and sought their custodial
interrogation.
The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) also filed a peti‑
tion in the apex court to seek trans‑
fer of the case against Virbhadra
Singh from Himachal Pradesh to
Delhi, where a similar case is pend‑
ing against him.
An apex court bench headed by
Chief Justice H.L. Dattu said the
plea would be heard on the opening
day after the Dussehra holidays.
Additional Solicitor General P.S.
Patwalia mentioned the matterbefore the court in the morning and
sought early hearing. The high
court order of October 1 has virtu‑
ally stalled the investigation
process, he said.
The high court has asked the CBI
not to arrest the chief minister and
his wife in the disproportionate
assets case. However, it directed the
central agency to go ahead with the
investigation.
"...by way of abundant precaution,
it's made clear that the petitioners
shall not be arrested," a division
bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and
Jus tic e Suresh war Sin gh Thakur
said while hearing a writ petition
filed by Virbhadra Singh.
In his petition, Virbhadra Singh
said the CBI's action of raiding his
residences on September 26 in
Delhi and Shimla was mala fide and
political vendetta.
Regarding interrogation of
Virbhadra Singh and his wife
Pratibha Singh following the regis‑
tration of the case on September
23, the high court said: "It's also
made clear that as and when the
dossier is complete, it shall be open
for the CBI to approach this court
for permission to interrogate thepetitioners in accordance with law."
It clarified to the CBI that it shall
not file a challan without the
express leave of this court. "These
observations shall have no bearing
on the pendency of any case,
including before the Delhi High
Court."
The next date of hearing in the
high court is November 18.
The Maharashtra government had reintroduced the law in 2014 tobypass an SC judgment which had struck down a similar law a year ago.
Narendra Modi said Kalam was committed to enriching India'shuman resource.
Maharashtra to appeal SC decisionallowing dance bars reopening
Government to build Kalam
memorial in Rameswaram
CBI moves SC seeks to
question Himachal CM
Government
booster for
affordable
housing in
Rajasthan
y Prakash handari
Jaipur The Tata HousingDevelopment Corporation Ltdwill invest Rs 2000 crore inbuilding affordable and mixeduse housing in Jaipur.
Tata Housing signed an MoUwith the state governmentunder which the company willbe allocated 10.17 hectares of land. The MoU was signed byBrotin Iannerjee, CEO of theTata Housing.
In the run‑up to the“Resurgent RajasthanPartnership Summit”, theRajasthan Government signed27 MoUs worth Rs 12,478crore in the presence of UnionMinister for UrbanDevelopment Venkaiah Naidu,Chief Minister Vaundhara Raje,and state's urban developmentminister Rajpal SinghShekhawat.
The investments shall pro‑vide a boost to the urban devel‑
opment, tourism and socialdevelopment sectors in thestate, and are expected to cre‑ate employment for over38,950 people.
Honor Pakistani
terrorists as
peace doves:
Shiv Sena
tells BJP
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11October 17-23, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info I ND IA
New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has announced that the government willstart de‑classifying files related to Netaji
Subhas Chandra Bose from January 23 ‑ his
birth anniversary.
Modi said this in a series of tweets after
meeting 35 members of Netaji Bose's
extended family at his official residence
here.
The prime minister said the government
would also request foreign governments to
declassify their files on Bose, whose report‑
ed death in a plane crash in 1945 in
Formosa, now Taiwan, is widely disputed.
Modi said he will begin the process
involving other countries with Russia in
December when he visits Moscow.
During the hour‑long interaction, the fam‑
ily members requested for declassificationof the files relating to Netaji, available with
the government of India.
They also suggested that the government
of India initiate the process to get declassi‑
fied the files on Netaji available with for‑
eign governments.
Bose, a leading light of India's freedom
movement who at one time was elected the
Congress president, was said to have been
fleeing to Russia when his plane reportedly
crashed and caught fire. This version has
been challenged for decades by innumer‑able Bose fans who have held varying ver‑
sions of what happened to him after 1945.
Bose's family members met Modi in the
light of the West Bengal government's
declassification of official files related to
the last days of Bose, who set up the Indian
National Army (INA).
"It was a privilege to welcome family
members of Subhas Babu to 7 RCR. We had
a remarkable and extensive interaction,"
Modi said.
"I told Subhas Babu's family members ‑please consider me a part of your family.
They shared their valuable suggestions
with me," he added.
The prime minister said he found the sug‑
gestions of the family members of Netaji to
be similar to his own thinking and the view
of the union government.
Modi said: "There is no need to strangle
history. Nations that forget their history
lack the power to create it."
Chandigarh The Punjab gov‑ernment ordered a probe bya high court judge into dese‑cration of Guru Granth Sahib,as a clash between Sikh pro‑testors and police over theissue left two people deadand many others injured inKotkapura area of Faridkotdistrict.
Sources said police and
Sikh protestors exchangedgunfire in Behbal Kalan areanear Kotkapura, 230 kmfrom here, leading to thedeath of two people and
injuries to nearly 70 othersin the wake of protest overthe desecration of the Sikhholy book.
Police used batons andwater cannons and even firedin the air to disperse hun‑dreds of protestors whohurled bricks, stones andother things at them. Most of the injured included protes‑tors and around 30 police
officials. They were rushed tohospitals.The Sikh protestors were
up in arms against the dese‑cration of a 'bir' (holy book)
in Bargari vil lage, 15 kmfrom Kotkapura.
Tension mounted inKotkapura area on Mondayafter over 100 pages of theSikh holy book were foundscattered in a street near agurdwara. The holy book wasstolen from a gurdwara in
June.Following Wednesday's vio‑
lence, Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal in the eveningordered the inquiry by a highcourt judge to probe the des‑ecration and the incidents of
violence in its aftermath.Condemning the incident
and the violence, Badal said"exemplary punishmentwould be gien to the perpe‑trators of this dastardly act".
In a statement issued here,Badal said: "The desecrationof Sri Guru Granth Sahib is adeep‑rooted conspiracyaimed at inciting communaltension and destabilizing the
hard‑won peace in Punjab. Iappeal to the people to bevigilant against such ele‑ments and keep calm despitegrave provocation."
It's authors' wish toreturn Sahitya Akademi
awards: MinisterKolkata With eminent authors returning
Sahitya Akademi awards to protest rising
intolerance, union minister Bandaru
Dattatreya said it was their individual
right and intellectuals were free to act asper their wish in a democracy.
"It is their individual wish and India is
a democratic country," the minister of
state for labour told media persons while
attending an event organised by the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Nearly two dozen authors have
announced their decision to return their
awards as a mark of protest since a man
was lynched in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri
area allegedly for consuming beef, and in
the wake of murders of writers in the
country.
Asked about Monday's incident of Shiv
Sena cadres pouring black paint on
Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the
think‑tank Observer ResearchFoundation, Dattatreya said, "The politi‑
cal leadership of BJP has already com‑
mented on it and my stand is the same as
that of the national leadership."
A group of Shiv Sena cadres poured
paint on Kulkarni to protest launch of a
book by Pakistan's former foreign minis‑
ter Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri at a func‑
tion in Mumbai on Monday.
Patna Forget development... It is
caste factor that will play the domi‑
nating role when 32 of the 243 con‑
stituencies go to the polls in the sec‑
ond round of assembly elections.
About 8.58 million voters will be
eligible to elect 32 legislators from
among 456 candidates. Six districts
will see balloting, including poverty‑
stricken Kaimur and Rohtas.
Most of the 8,849 polling booths
on Friday are in rural areas.
The districts covered are Gaya, the
birthplace of Buddhism, Aurangabad,
Jeha na ba d, Ar wa l, Ka im ur an d
Rohtas, which saw some horrificcaste massacres in the 1980s and
1990s.
Some of these areas are also known
as Maoist hubs, and officials admit
security will be a major concern.
The stakes are high both for the
Grand Alliance of the JD‑U, RJD and
Congress led by Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar as well as the BJP‑led NDA of
Prime Minister Narender Modi, the
two main contenders for power.
The second of the staggered five
rounds will decide the political fate
of former chief minister and HAM
president Jitan Ram Manjhi, Speaker
Uday Narayan Choudhary and BJP
leader Prem Kumar, one of the con‑tenders for the chief minister's post.
Manjhi, a BJP ally, is contesting from
two seats: Makhdumpur in
Jehanabad and Imamganj in Gaya .
His son Santosh Kumar Manjhi is also
in the fray from Kutumba and his
son‑in‑law Devender Kumar Manjhi is
contesting from Bodh Gaya as an
independent.
The Grand Alliance is banking on
OBCs and Muslims and sections of
Dalits and EBCs to capture most of
the 32 seats.
But the BJP is confident of the
overwhelming support of upper
castes along with sections of OBCs
and EBCs along with Dalits, mainly
Manjhi's castemen Mushahars as
well as Paswans, who owe allegiance
to LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan,
another BJP ally.The BJP is keen to make its pres‑
ence felt in the wake of the euphoria
created by Modi's rallies in Jehanand,
Aurangabad and Bhabhua. This is
also the strongest base of the Janata
Dal‑United (JD‑U) and the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD).
The region is home to a sizeable
number of Yadavs, Lalu Prasad's
community, and Muslims ‑‑ the two
communities who helped the RJD to
emerge as a major force in Bihar.
"The OBC‑EBC‑Dalit votes along
with Muslims will be a decisive caste
arithmetic," political analyst Soroor
Ahmad said.
Officials say five hel icopters,
drones and 993 companies of para‑
military forces have been deployed
for Friday, Additional Chief Electoral
Officer R. Lakshaman said. The stag‑gered elections to pick a 243‑mem‑
ber Bihar assembly will end on
November 5 . The result wi l l be
known three days later.
Netaji files to be declassifiedfrom January 23: Modi
The family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose meet PM Narendra Modiat 7 Race Course Road in New Delhi.
In the firstphase onMonday,
polling washeld in 49
constituencies. The third roundwill be held on
October 28.
Caste major factor in Bihar
second round voting
Punjab orders
judicial probeinto desecration
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12 October 17-23, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED
By Vir Sanghvi
Images of Sudheendra Kulkarni,
his face and body blackened by
the ink flung at him by protest‑
ers, are now being flashed all over
the world. As the protest was over
Kulkarniʼs willingness to help a for‑
mer Pakistan foreign minister
launch a memoir, the message that
has gone out is this: How can there
ever be peace between Pakistan
and India when there are extremist
groups within India that are bitter‑
ly opposed to any contact ̶ let
alone the peace process ̶ with
Pakistan?
This tears a gaping hole in the
Indian messaging ̶ carefully cal‑iberated over the years ̶ that
India wants peace but that the
Pakistani regime is in the grip of
extremists, fundamentalists and
terrorists. What makes it worse is
that, till recently, Kulkarni was a
pillar of the BJP establishment. He
was a senior member of the
Vajpayee PMO and an adviser to
LK Advani. Worse still, the people
who doused him in ink were not
extremists from some little‑known
fringe organization.
The Shiv Sena is the BJPʼs ally
and a part of the Maharashtra gov‑
ernment, the same government
that is supposed to protect citizens
against such attacks.
Every way you look at it, the
Kulkarni‑Kasuri incident is a disas‑
ter for India. It does not help that it
comes on the heels of the Shiv
Senaʼs refusal to allow Pakistani
singer, Ghulam Ali, to perform in
Mumbai.
On that occasion, the chief minis‑
ter of Maharashtra had promised
security to Ali. But the organizers
decided to abandon the concert
anyway; one indication of the
importance people attach to the
state governmentʼs guarantees. The
general view was that even if the
government had provided security,
the Shiv Sena would still have been
able to disrupt the performanceand perhaps harm those who per‑
formed or attended.
The two incidents, on the heels of
each other, in what was once
Indiaʼs most liberal and cosmopoli‑
tan city, illustrate the dilemma that
Narendra Modi now faces.
In the case of the Shiv Sena he
can distance himself by arguing
that he cannot be held responsible
for everything an ally does.
But this position seems weaker
when the violence, intolerance, and
hatred emanate from closer home.
The murders and attacks on liberal
writers, the hysteria over beef, and
the abuse of Muslims, that havedominated the headlines, all
emerge from the Hindutva right
wing, from members of the extend‑
ed Sangh Parivar, from the BJP and
even, from Modiʼs own ministers.
The prime minister can claim,
with some justification, that he
does not condone such attacks or
such statements. He can point to
his own record at South Block and
say that he has never said or done
anything that could be construed
as communal.
But his critics will ask the obvi‑ous questions. Does he not see that
there is now a mood of Hindu tri‑
umphalism in which a Hindutva
fringe believes that the BJPʼs victo‑
ry in the last general election gives
them the right to reshape the idea
of India to match their own bigoted
vision? Does he not notice or mind
when his avowed supporters ask
people who believe in the old liber‑
al idea of India to emigrate to
Pakistan? Does he not worry when
so many writers return their
awards, resign from the Sahitya
Akademi, and declare that they are
distressed by the rising hatred and
intolerance in India?Modi has said nothing. But my
guess is that he must be very wor‑
ried. If India becomes a cauldron of
intolerance, will Modi still be treat‑
ed as a respected global statesman
the next time he meets a world
leader?
The answers are clear. Sooner or
later, Modi will have to speak out
for tolerance and act against those
who spread hatred.
If not for Indiaʼs sake, then for his
own.
Rise of intolerant India threatensPM Modiʼs global image
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
Shiv Sainiks flung ink at Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of theObserver Research Foundation, to protest the launch of former
Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book.
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Public lynching over a slab of meat, coldblooded murders of writers, rational‑
ists and a wave of crimes of intoler‑
ance has led well‑known Indian writers andwinners of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi
award, to innovatively script their dissent.
Their protest is against what they call thegrowing intolerance within the country and
the muted response of the establishment,including the Akademi, to the series of hate
crimes.
Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal's decisionlast week to return her Sahitya Akademi
award over the public lynching in Dadri last
month and the murder of rationalists inMaharashtra and Karnataka has triggered a
wave of similar reactions from other
awardees across the country.Sahgal, a 1986 Sahitya Akademi awardee,
said she was disturbed at the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq,52, by a public mob at
Dadri last month, after accusing him of stor‑
ing beef at his home and the murder of rationalists like Narendra Dabolkar, Govind
Pansare and Kannadiga writer M.M.
Kalburgi over the last couple of years."I have decided to return the award as I
felt that it's time to speak up. I am disturbed
at the Dadri killing and the killing of ratio‑
nalists," Sahgal told IANS, adding that shewas upset over Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's silence on the issue.Since her renouncement, nearly two dozen
winners of the Sahitya Akademi award have
emulated Sahgal, a niece of India' first primeminister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
In Modi's home state of Gujarat, poet
writer Anil Joshi joined another Vadodara‑based writer Ganesh Devy, in returning his
award."There is no breathing space and no free‑
dom of expression for literary writers. It is
like losing oxygen because we are writers
who wish for free breathing space. I do not
need an oxygen cylinder in the form of awards to live. The attack on the brood of lit‑
erarians is unfortunate and has taken awaythe freedom of expression," Joshi said in a
statement.
In Punjab, as many as seven writers andpoets Surjit Patar, Jaswinder Singh, Baldev
Singh Sadaknama Darshan Bhuttar, Ajmer
Singh Aulakh, Atamjit Singh, GurbachanBhullar and Canada‑based writer Waryam
Sandhu also gave up their respectiveawards, which were instituted in 1955.
In the southern state of Kerala too, poet
Satchidanandan, writers P.K. Parakkadavuand K.S. Ravikumar quit all posts in the
Akademi over Kalburgi's killing, while
Malayalam writer Sara Joseph, who alsoreturned the award, said that India was
passing through a phase "worse than the
black days of the (1975‑77) emergency"."There is a fear that has engulfed in what
one eats, when one expresses love, and thereis some sort of curb on what one wants to
write and speak. This does not augur wella
Our prime minister is a frequent flyer and
gives big speeches on his trips abroad. Thesad thing is that while he was away a man
was beaten to death because he ate beef,"
Joseph said, referring to the Dadri lynching.
In New Delhi, former head of the Lalit Kala
Akademi Ashok Vajpayi also returned hisaward, in Kashmir poet‑writer Ghulam Nabi
Khayal also followed suit , while in
Bengaluru, well known author ShashiDeshpande has resigned from the Sahitya
Akademi general council.In Goa too, over 30 winners of the Award
are expected to deliberate on Wednesday
over the issue of mass renunciation.Akademi president V.P. Tiwari, who has
been criticized by the writer fraternity for
his silence, insists that the situation isunprecedented.
"We are facing an unprecedented situa‑tion. At present, we do not know how to
respond to those wanting to give back their
awards," Tiwari said, adding that a meetingof the Akademi's council would be held on
October 23 to discuss the issue.
Adding to the fire, as it were, CultureMinister Mahesh Sharma, who is emerging
as the government's stormy petrel, told theIndian Express on Monday: "This is an
award given by writers to writers. It has
nothing to do with the government. It is
their personal choice to return it...we acceptit." One thing is for sure: this is an issue that
is unlikely to die down soon.
Indian writers renounce awards;script dissent against intolerance
Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal.
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The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
14 October 17-23, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP - ED
By Minhaz Merchant
Suleiman Khan returned to India from
Saudi Arabia last week. He was appre‑
hensive. Suleiman confided his fears to
his friend Anwar Shaikh: "Nayantara Sahgal,
Jawaharlal Nehru's niece, says that things in
India are worse today than they've been
since the partition riots in 1947."
Anwar replied grimly: "Yes. They are. The
government tells us what to eat, what to
read, what to watch. They even blackened
Sudheendra Kulkarni's face before Khurshid
Mahm