INDIA POST SURVEY [email protected]This week’s question Top Stories VOICE OF INDIANS WORLDWIDE www.indiapost.com NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA VOL 17, No. 920 May 04, 2012 50¢ Periodical Postage India Post CONTENTS Bollywood ---------------------- 38-39 Classifieds ------------------------- 47 Community Post -------------- 10-20 Date Book -------------------------- 28 Edit Page --------------------------- 49 HealthScience Post --------- 40-43 Horoscope -------------------------- 9 Immigration Post ------------- 34-37 Life Style ----------------------- 25-27 Philosophy ------------------------- 48 Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4 Real Estate -------------------- 44-46 TechBiz Post -------------------21-24 Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 29-31 US, Indian economies can flourish together? Details on page 6 Last week’s result YES 93% NO 07% Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765” Details on page 40 Details on page 21 Details on page 21 Details on page 14 Details on page 5 Kamaljit Bawa inducted to Arts Academy Details on page 10 Details on page 10 Details on page 40 Indian cancer surgeon honored by NY City LAWMAKERS PRAISE INDIAN COMPANIES 'They stimulated US economy, created jobs' NEW ENVOY: Nancy J Powell, Ambassador of the United States of America, presenting credentials to Indian President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 24. (Details on page 7) WASHINGTON: Applauding the role of Indian compa- nies in stimulating US economy and creating jobs during the tough days of economic recession, top American law- makers, cutting across party lines, pledged to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. In a rare show of solidarity, more than 20 top American lawmakers turned up for a Capitol Hill reception organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The reception was organized to release the report 'In- dian Roots: American Soil'. "This survey confirms that Indian companies are key drivers of US job creation and economic activity," said Senator Mark Warner, co-chair of Senate India Caucus. "I am excited about the growing number of R&D part- nerships with US colleges and universities, and the high level of involvement of Indian firms with community-based non-profit organizations," Warner said. Details on page 5 Hemant Patel aspiring for political pastures Prof. Dr C Palanivelu Lawmakers want crimes against Sikhs tackled IIT-Bombay in plan to set up NY sciences center Indian American team wins big for NYC app Nobel Laureate, top physicians to address AAPI Rao discusses US-India ties with Sen Feinstein Pak PM Gilani convicted in contempt case Agni-V test will earn more respect from China?
Top Stories V O I C E O F I N D I A N S W O R L D W I D E
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NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA VOL 17, No. 920 May 04, 2012 50¢ Periodical Postage
India Post
CONTENTSBollywood ---------------------- 38-39
Classifieds ------------------------- 47
Community Post -------------- 10-20
Date Book -------------------------- 28
Edit Page --------------------------- 49
HealthScience Post --------- 40-43
Horoscope -------------------------- 9
Immigration Post ------------- 34-37
Life Style ----------------------- 25-27
Philosophy ------------------------- 48
Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4
Real Estate -------------------- 44-46
TechBiz Post ------------------- 21-24
Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 29-31
US, Indian economies canflourish together?
Details on page 6
Last week’s result
YES 93% NO 07%
Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”
Details on page 40
Details on page 21
Details on page 21
Details on page 14
Details on page 5
Kamaljit Bawainducted toArts Academy
Details on page 10
Details on page 10
Details on page 40
Indian cancersurgeon honoredby NY City
LAWMAKERS PRAISEINDIAN COMPANIES'They stimulated US economy, created jobs'
NEW ENVOY: Nancy J Powell, Ambassador of the United States of America, presenting credentials to Indian President
Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 24. (Details on page 7)
WASHINGTON: Applauding the role of Indian compa-nies in stimulating US economy and creating jobs duringthe tough days of economic recession, top American law-makers, cutting across party lines, pledged to strengtheneconomic ties between the two countries.
In a rare show of solidarity, more than 20 top Americanlawmakers turned up for a Capitol Hill reception organizedby the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The reception was organized to release the report 'In-
dian Roots: American Soil'."This survey confirms that Indian companies are key
drivers of US job creation and economic activity," saidSenator Mark Warner, co-chair of Senate India Caucus.
"I am excited about the growing number of R&D part-nerships with US colleges and universities, and the highlevel of involvement of Indian firms with community-basednon-profit organizations," Warner said.
Details on page 5 Hemant Patelaspiring forpolitical pastures
Prof. Dr C Palanivelu
Lawmakers wantcrimes againstSikhs tackled
IIT-Bombay inplan to set up NYsciences center
Indian Americanteam wins bigfor NYC app
Nobel Laureate,top physicians toaddress AAPI
Rao discussesUS-India tieswith Sen Feinstein
Pak PM Gilaniconvicted incontempt case
Agni-V test will earn morerespect from China?
India Postwww.indiapost.com
May 4, 20122
May 4, 2012 India Post 3www.indiapost.com
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and responsible for all liability for their claimers
Sometimes I admire India for its sheer gall as far as its foreign policy goes.Take it or leave it, India is what it is - a sovereign nation with an uncannyvision of what is best for its people vis-à-vis the rest of the world.
Just as it doesn't believe a friend of a friend to necessarily be a friend, Indiadoesn't believe that an enemy of a friend should be its enemy too.
So, no one can tell New Delhi what it should or should not do when it decidesto keep buying oil from Iran or test a long range missile or hold the reins onforeign investors. The comity of nations, especially the US is often left scratchingits head - just when they think they have learnt all there is to understand aboutIndia, it springs a new facet to its peculiar nature.
India is like a little kid who scribbles over the living room wall and doesn'tunderstand why anyone should be upset; after all he is exerting his pent upenergies, expressing new found creativity and not really harming anyone, right?
Or shall we say like a kid that hangs a bucket of water over the door as asecurity measure to keep intruders away, and doesn't care who feels uncomfort-able about it.
Sorry, I couldn't resist making up these analogies. But truth be told, noone but India knows what it is dealing with in terms of security from withinand outside its geography; economic sustenance; and its population that'svoracious for all things good in life. One can't find fault with New Delhi -outside its borders, it essentially plays by rules framed by its own conscience.
For almost half a century since gaining independence, India struggled with itspride in having to take help from the West for its very survival. Today, havingrealized its immense potential to not only stand on its own two feet but alsomeaningfully contribute to the world, it is exerting its right to do what is best forits people and not what others think is good enough for them.
India PostMay 4, 2012 5
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Cover/Top Stories
Lawmakers praise Indian companies'They stimulated US economy, created jobs'
WASHINGTON: Applaudingthe role of Indian companies instimulating US economy and cre-ating jobs during the tough daysof economic recession, top Ameri-can lawmakers, cutting acrossparty lines, pledged to strengtheneconomic ties between the twocountries.
In a rare show of solidarity,more than 20 top American law-makers turned up for a Capitol Hillreception organized by the Con-federation of Indian Industry(CII).
The reception was organized torelease the report 'Indian Roots:American Soil'.
"This survey confirms that In-dian companies are key drivers ofUS job creation and economic ac-tivity," said Senator Mark Warner,co-chair of Senate India Caucus.
"I am excited about the grow-ing number of R&D partnershipswith US colleges and universities,and the high level of involvementof Indian firms with community-based non-profit organizations,"Warner said.
According to the CII report,the surveyed companies operatein 40 states and the District ofColumbia, and 70 per cent haveincreased the number of employ-
ees since 2005, despite the USeconomic downturn.
More than 34 per cent of thesurveyed companies have estab-lished manufacturing facilities inthe US, investing more than USD820 million in those facilities, thereport said.
Since 2005, the surveyed com-
panies have collectively con-ducted 72 mergers and acquisi-tions in the US, saving, creatingand sustaining thousands of jobsthe report said, adding that theprojected research and develop-ment investments of the surveyedcompanies are estimated to be
over USD 190 million in 2012alone.
According to the report, nearly65 per cent of companies surveyedengage in Corporate Social Re-sponsibility (CSR) initiatives, in-cluding programs that support 27universities, community collegesand high schools in developingcurriculum, establishing trainingprograms and encouraging Sci-ence-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) education.
Applauding the role of Indiancompanies in the US, lawmakerspraised the role of companies likeTata and Wipro in employmentgeneration.
Speaking on the occasion,Senator John Cornyn, Co-founderand Co-chair of the Senate IndiaCaucus said, "I welcome the factthat Indian companies are invest-ing substantial capital in the US,which has already yielded tan-gible results in Texas and acrossthe US."
The relationship between theUnited States and India will be acritical one for the future of bothof our economies, said SenatorJeanne Shaheen, the latest Sena-tor to join the 40-member SenateIndia Caucus. Referring to the factthat the bilateral trade between
India and the US has reached arecord USD 100 billion, Congress-man Ed Royce, Co-Chair of theHouse Caucus on India and In-dian-Americans, said this is just abeginning; the two countries havea long way to go.
"Indian companies are goingglobal. This CII report shows how
Indian investment is a real plusfor the US economy, especiallyCalifornia," he said.
"We welcome Indian invest-ment in the US that creates well-paying jobs for American work-ers. It is my hope that these in-vestments and jobs will continue
to increase and employ more andmore Americans," said Congress-man Joe Crowley, Co-Chair of theHouse Caucus on India and In-dian-Americans.
"From our common values toour shared vision for the future,this is one more effort the US andIndia can work on together thatwill benefit both countries. Giventhe strong ties between our twonations, our relationship is moreimportant than ever," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, theIndian Ambassador to the US,Nirupama Rao, said the rapidlyexpanding India-US trade andeconomic engagement provides akey underpinning to the StrategicPartnership between our twocountries.
"Of crucial significance is thepivotal role played by Indian in-dustry in infusing bilateral com-mercial ties with great dynamism,"she said.
"The continuous growth ofIndian investments across differ-ent states in the US, in a range ofareas of economic cooperationincluding manufacturing, ser-vices, distribution etc are inspir-ing examples of value based part-nerships between our two coun-tries," Rao said. -PTI
‘I am excited aboutthe growing numberof R&D partnershipswith US colleges anduniversities, and thehigh level of involve-ment of Indian firmswith community-based non-profitorganizations,’Warner said
Speaking on theoccasion, the IndianAmbassador to theUS, Nirupama Rao,said the rapidly ex-panding India-UStrade and economicengagement pro-vides a key under-pinning to the Strate-gic Partnership
Rao discusses US-India ties with Sen FeinsteinIndia Post News Service
NEW YORK: AmbassadorNirupama Rao met Senator DianneFeinstein (D-California) on Capi-tol Hill, Washington DC April 23,to discuss Indo-US relations.
Senator Feinstein is among thesenior-most leaders in the UnitedStates Senate and is presently theChair of the Senate Select Com-mittee on Intelligence. She alsoserves on a number of other Sen-ate Committees, including Appro-priations, Judiciary, and Rules andAdministration committees. Sena-tor Feinstein is a member of theSenate India Caucus.
During the meeting, SenatorFeinstein spoke of her confidencein the future of India-US relations.Ambassador Rao expressed ap-preciation for the Senator's con-tributions to deepening the India-U.S. partnership. She noted therecent developments in bilateralrelations, and the shared valuesand interests of the two countries.
Ambassador Rao described theUnited States as a key partner inIndia's quest for socio-economicdevelopment and inclusivegrowth, and highlighted sectors
like educa-tion andhealth asimpor tan tpillars ofthis partner-ship. Sena-t o rF e i n s t e i nemphasizedthe advan-tages inher-ent inI n d i a ' sdemocratict rad i t ionsa n dcivilizationalculture, andnoted thatIndia has"unlimitedpotential".
V i e w swere alsoexchangedon the regional situation, includ-ing the situation in Afghanistanand Pakistan, and in East Asia. Itwas agreed that the emergence ofan open, balanced and inclusivearchitecture in the Asia-Pacific re-gion was in the interest of both
India and the US.Senator Feinstein conveyed
her interest in visiting India, andmeeting old friends there. She re-called her visit to the country in1978, and fondly remembered ameeting with the then Prime Min-
ister Indira Gandhi in the Philip-pines during the 1970s.
Senator Feinstein invited Am-bassador Rao to visit California,and conveyed her interest in con-tinuing to remain in touch with theAmbassador.
Ambassador Nirupama Rao presenting a book on India to Senator Dianne Feinstein during
their meeting on April 23 on Capitol Hill in Washington DC
No change in visapolicy towardsIndian students: US
WASHINGTON: The US hassaid there is no change in its policytowards issuing visas to Indianstudents.
"I don't think we've changedour policy with regard to the waywe interview applicants," StateDepartment spokespersonVictoria Nuland told reporters ather daily news conference.
"I think what we are doing ismaking sure that the sponsoringorganizations truly are what theysay they are in the United States;that if they say that they are bring-ing students over to educatethem, that they intend to educatethem, not put them to work, etcetera," she said.
Nuland said the US supportsthe recent initiative of openingcommunity colleges in India onthe pattern of those here.
Last fortnight, education min-isters of four Indian States -Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,and Jammu and Kashmir, visitedseveral US cities to have a firsthand experience of the communitycolleges here.-PTI
India Post May 4, 20126
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Top Stories
Pak PM convicted in contemptcase; given symbolic sentence
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is escorted by security as he waves upon his arrival
at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on April 26
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan PrimeMinister Yousuf Raza Gilani hasbeen convicted by the SupremeCourt for contempt on the issueof pursuing graft cases againstPresident Asif Ali Zardari and wasgiven a symbolic sentence thatlasted briefly but questions re-mained whether he will be conse-quentially disqualified.
"For reasons to be recordedlater, the prime minister is foundguilty of contempt for willfullyflouting the direction of the Su-preme Court," Justice NasirulMulk, who headed the seven-judge bench said as he sentencedGilani "till the rising of the court",sparing him a jail term.
The court also made a refer-ence to Article 63(1g) of the Con-stitution, which lists the groundsfor disqualifications of a con-victed parliamentarian, but did notinvoke it.
"We note that our findings andthe conviction for the contempt
of court recorded are likely to en-tail some serious consequencesin terms of Article 63(1g) of theConstitution," the bench said in ashort order.
Experts said this left the dooropen for the initiation of the pro-cess for the disqualification of 56-year-old Gilani, Pakistan's longest
serving Prime Minister.However, the Speaker of the
National Assembly or lower houseof Parliament will have 30 days todecide on such a move and theElection Commission a further 90days - effectively meaning that thepremier can remain in office forfour more months.
The entire proceedings in thecourtroom number 4 lasted lessthan 10 minutes. The judges leftthe court immediately after an-nouncing the verdict, effectivelyending Gilani's sentence.
Emerging from the heavilyguarded court, Gilani told the me-dia: "We had sought justice. Thedecision was not appropriate".
A visibly dejected Prime Min-ister, accompanied by his sons,shook hands with his team andmembers of the federal cabinetafter hearing the verdict.
Attorney General Irfan Qadirdescribed the verdict as "uncon-stitutional and unlawful".-PTI
SC refuses to quash JusticeBhandari's nomination to ICJNEW DELHI: The Supreme
Court has refused to quash Jus-tice Dalveer Bhandari's nomina-tion as a judge for the Interna-tional Court of Justice (ICJ).
A bench of justices AltamasKabir, J Chelameswar and RanjanGogoi initially wanted to out-rightly dismiss the plea for quash-ing Justice Bhandari's nominationfor ICJ, but later allowed counselPrashant Bhushan to with-draw it, treating it as "dis-missed as withdrawn".
Appearing for the peti-tioner, a post-graduate lawstudent, Bhushan arguedthat Justice Bhandari'snomination should not bepermitted as it compro-mised the judiciary's inde-pendence.
Asked as to how the in-dependence of the judiciarywas compromised due tothe nomination of the apexcourt judge, Bhushan toldthe bench that JusticeBhandari was a sitting Su-preme Court judge and theGovernment of India, whichis a litigant before the apexcourt in several cases, hasbeen lobbying for his nomi-nation at various interna-tional fora.
The bench also ques-tioned the petitioner's locusstandi and wondered ifthere was any public inter-est involved in the issue.
"What is the interest ofpublic? He (petitioner) isnot a contender so what isthe public interest involvedhere," the bench asked.
Bhushan, however, per-sisted with his argumentand cited the nine-judge consti-tution bench ruling in the Advo-cate-on- Record Association case,wherein it was ruled that appoint-ment to the judiciary shall not beinfluenced by any executive inter-ference.
He said that it was like a sittingSupreme Court judge offeringhimself for a seat in the Lok Sabhaand allowing the political partiesto lobby for him. PrashantBhushan contended that in caseJustice Bhandari fails to get el-evated to the ICJ, he will have tocome back and join as a judgewhich would impinge upon hisjudicial independence.
In other words, he said, hav-ing sought the Government ofIndia's assistance for his eleva-tion to ICJ, it would be difficultfor the judge to maintain his judi-cial independence, once he re-sumes his duty in the SupremeCourt.
The bench was not impressed
with the argument and said the in-ternational posts have differentset of rules and it would havebeen more appropriate if the peti-tioner had questioned the legali-ties of the rules framed by theGovernment of India in nominat-ing a person to the post.
"You should have questionedthe vires of the rules in choosinga person. This is purely a ques-
tion connected with internationaland not municipal laws," thebench remarked.
The bench further pointed outthat after Justice Pathak's eleva-tion in 1980, India was now nomi-nating a person to the ICJ afternearly 22 years.
The apex court said in appro-priate cases it can examine theacademic issue vis-a-vis rules ofnomination for elevation to theICJ.
"Come at the right time and wewill consider it," the bench re-marked while allowing the coun-sel to withdraw the petition.
In his brief intervention, Attor-ney General G E Vahanvati soughtdismissal of the petition on theground that it was frivolous anddeliberately filed a day before thenomination.
He argued that JusticeBhandari's nomination to the ICJwas a matter of prestige to theentire country.-PTI
Justice Dalveer Bhandari
He said that it was like asitting Supreme Courtjudge offering himself fora seat in the Lok Sabhaand allowing the politicalparties to lobby for him.Prashant Bhushan con-tended that in case Jus-tice Bhandari fails to getelevated to the ICJ, hewill have to come backand join as a judge
Pak opposition seeks Gilani's resignationISLAMABAD: Pakistan's op-
position parties have sought theimmediate resignation of PrimeMinister Yousuf Raza Gilani fol-lowing his conviction by the Su-preme Court for contempt on theissue of pursuing graft casesagainst President Asif Ali Zardari.
"In light of the verdict, I thinkPrime Minister Gilani should re-sign immediately rather than pro-long the issue," Nawaz Sharif,chief of the main opposition partyPML-N said.
The PML-N would no longeraccept Gilani as the premier and
the government was "on a wrongwicket" while the Supreme Courtis "on high moral ground andpeople should back the truth",Sharif said.
Cricketer-turned-politicianImran Khan, chief of PakistanTehrik-e-Insaf took to social net-working site Twitter to seekGilani's resignation.
"After SC judgment PM haslost whatever shred of legal &moral authority he had," hetweeted.
Chief of the fundamentalistJamaat-e-Islami party Munawar
Hussain also urged the prime min-ister to quit as he had "lost moralground" after the judgment.
"The prime minister shouldhave himself declared by now thatI am no more prime minister," hesaid.
"The Supreme Court sentencedhim in an honorable manner and italso got its verdict implemented.He is now a convicted person andhe cannot remain prime ministernow," Hussain said.
Gilani was convicted and givena symbolic sentence that lastedbriefly.-PTI
The entire proceed-ings in the courtroomnumber 4 lasted lessthan 10 minutes. Thejudges left the courtimmediately afterannouncing theverdict, effectivelyending Gilani'ssentence
India PostMay 4, 2012 7
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Top Stories
Uproar in LS over Bofors issue,House adjourned for 90 minutes
NEW DELHI: The Bofors issueled to disruption in Lok Sabha withthe BJP and Left parties demand-ing reopening of the graft caseand a judicial probe into it.
BJP members trooped into theWell following heated exchangeswith Congress members, forcingSpeaker Meira Kumar to adjournthe House for over 90-minutes.
Raising the issue during ZeroHour, senior BJP leader JaswantSingh said though "the correctweapon was acquired; it was ac-quired in a wrong man-ner .... You (Congress)have paid, we have paid.The nation continues topay".
"Till you don't re-move this thorn, thepoison will continue tospread. ... Whatever ishappening in the de-fense sector today isbecause of this episode.It is a saga of continu-ing corruption. In mat-ters of corruption, thereis no closure," he said, demand-ing setting up of a judicial com-mission to probe the issue.
CPI (M) leader BasudebAcharia demanded reopening ofthe Bofors pay-offs case, institu-tion of an independent inquiry andextradition of Italian businessmanOttavio Quattrocchi.
Admitting that the NDA hadfailed to get Quattrocchi extra-dited after his arrest in Malaysia,Singh said, "Many will say whydid you not do it. You have failed,we have failed. But don't considerour failure as your success."
Observing that it gave him "nodelight" to raise this issue, he said,"25 years have passed but thestorm of Bofors refuses to sub-side and the guns continue toblaze."
Without naming Rajiv Gandhi,the BJP leader said, "The absenceof the late Prime Minister is felt. Apromising leader was taken awayfrom our polity."
The reason behind Congressbeing reduced from its "historic"victory of 404 seats in Lok Sabha
in 1984 to 114 in the next electionswas Bofors pay-offs deal, he said.
UPA Chairperson SoniaGandhi and Congress GeneralSecretary Rahul Gandhi werepresent in the House when theOpposition members raised theissue. The Lok Sabha had earlierseen brief disruption on the issueduring Question Hour.
Singh posed a series of ques-tions on the matter and asked whythe Indian investigating teamswhich went to Sweden did notmeet their Swedish counterpartsprobing the matter.
He claimedthat Quattrocchiwas "permittedthrough gov-ernment conniv-ance to escapefrom Delhi".
He sought toknow why "po-litical" dona-tions were paidto the accountof AE Services,a companyowned by theItalian busi-nessman. "Howcan it (dona-tions) be politi-cal in naturewhen it went toa businessman.We all know heworked for SnamProgetti andwhat happenedin it. We mustknow what hispolitical pur-pose was," hesaid. -PTI
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan gestures during a
press conference at his residence in Mumbai on April
25. Bachchan expressed happiness over his name
being cleared in the 25-year-old Bofors scandal but the
clean chit had come "too late", he said. Bachchan's
name appeared in a list of people allegedly tied
to the corruption scandal
Admitting that the NDA hadfailed to get Quattrocchiextradited after his arrest inMalaysia, Singh said, ‘Manywill say why did you not doit. You have failed, we havefailed. But don't consider ourfailure as your success’
MOON IN INDIA: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad meeting
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in New Delhi on April 26
China allows import of Indian basmati riceBEIJING: China has finally al-
lowed imports of basmati rice fromIndia, which comes as a big boostto exporters who would now getaccess to a huge market of 1.3 bil-lion people for their about 4.5 mil-lion tonnes of aromatic rice.
"It is a very positive move byChina ... We are in touch withbasmati producers back home tosee how to take this forward," In-dian Ambassador to China SJaishankar told PTI.
China had banned imports ofseveral Indian agricultural prod-ucts, including basmati rice, be-cause of the issues of pest con-trol and monitoring of quarantinepests in processing and storagehouses in India.
The approval came after pass-ing through testing procedures ofthe Chinese official bodies.
The Indian Embassy is plan-
ning to conduct a publicity cam-paign to push basmati rice into theChinese markets.
The diplomats here regard it asa diplomatic success consideringthat Beijing was found dithering
ever since New Delhi formallysought an opening for India's toprice in 2006.
Experts opined that to startwith, India exporters should aimfor star hotels and Indian restau-rants which are mushrooming all
over China to take advantage ofsteady increase of Indian and for-eign travelers here.
"It is good news for us. We aregetting our basmati so far fromHong Kong. We can now directlybuy it," M H Pastakia, owner of TajPavilion restaurants in Beijing said.
The move would also help inbridging the ballooning trade gapbetween India and China whichstood at about USD 20 billion.
India is looking at China, Mexicoand the Commonwealth of Inde-pendent States (CIS) as new mar-kets for its basmati rice, with a viewto expand its share in global trade.
The country's share of the glo-bal market for basmati rice is nearly60 per cent, while Pakistan ac-counts for the remaining 40 percent. This high quality rice ismainly grown in these two coun-tries.-PTI
New US envoy Nancy Powellpresents credentials
NEW DELHI: Expressing con-cern over euro zone and other glo-bal political crises, PresidentPratibha Patil has emphasizedupon improving financial gover-nance and promoting trade andinvestments.
After welcoming the envoys of12 countries including the US, thePresident also said the world isfaced with the growing pressureson the earth's resources and is-sues related to environment pro-tection and climate change.
"In such a scenario, it is veryimportant to work together andhave institutions in which thevoices of all, particularly those ofdeveloping countries, find expres-
sion," Patil said.The President said India is will-
ing to share her development ex-periences and her expertise withother countries in particular in thecontext of South-South Co-opera-tion.
During the ceremony, Nancy JPowell, Ambassador of the UnitedStates of America, Ioannis ERaptakis, Ambassador of Greece,Larbi Reffouh, Ambassador ofMorocco, Ali Illiassou, Ambassa-dor of Niger, Aashna WandaniRadha Kanhai, Ambassador ofSuriname, Waven Winslow Will-iam, High Commissioner ofSeychelles, Susan Yoyo Sikaneta,High Commissioner of Zambia,
and Feilim McLaughlin, Ambas-sador of Ireland among otherspresented their credentials to thePresident.
The other envoys includedLinus von Castelmur, Ambassa-dor of Switzerland, Maria Michael,High Commissioner of Cyprus,Alexandre Cece Loua, Ambassa-dor of Guinea and SanjaasurenBayaraa, Ambassador ofMongolia, a Rashtrapati Bhavanrelease said.
The credential presentationceremony was attended by thesenior members of the Missions,senior officials of the Ministry ofExternal Affairs and RashtrapatiBhavan, it added. -PTI
India Post May 4, 20128
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Top Stories
US, Pak officials discussIndo-Pak trade
WASHINGTON: The US andPakistan have concluded their sixth-round meeting of the TIFA (Tradeand Investment Framework Agree-ment) Council in Washington, dur-ing which they discussed bilateralissues, besides ways to improveIndo-Pak trade relationship.
During their meeting, the USand Pak officials discussed a num-ber of trade and investment is-sues including measures to im-prove market access, the US Gen-eralized System of Preferences(GSP), protection and enforcementof intellectual property, invest-ment, a number of agricultural is-sues and Reconstruction Oppor-tunity Zones (ROZs).
"Another important discussionfocused on improving regionaltrade in South Asia and removingbarriers to increased trade and in-vestment in the region, includingthe implementation of the Af-
ghanistan-Pakistan Transit TradeAgreement and improved tradeties between Pakistan and India,"an official statement said.
Both sides agreed to work to-gether to further the work of theTIFA Working Groups on empow-ering women entrepreneurs andimproving US-Pakistan privatesector engagement.
"It was further agreed that sec-tor-specific engagement betweenthe two private sectors will be ar-ranged on the margins of futureTIFA Council meetings," the USstatement said, adding that bothsides agreed to establish a TIFAWorking Group on Trade and In-vestment Promotion Initiatives.
The US agreed to share a work-ing paper on this initiative withPakistan. "The parties agreed todiscuss dates for the next TIFACouncil meeting to be held in Pa-kistan in 2013," it said. -PTI
Swamy levels fresh allegationsagainst Chidambaram
NEW DELHI: Janata Partychief Subramanian Swamy hasleveled fresh allegations againstHome Minister PChidambaram, accusing himof delaying permission forthe sale of Aircel to Malay-sia-based Maxis in 2006when he was Finance Min-ister so that his son Karti wasfinancially benefited.
Swamy shot off a letter toPrime Minister ManmohanSingh seekingChidambaram's resignationand directing CBI to includethe names of the Ministerand his son in the FIR on Aircel-Maxis deal along with formerTelecom Minister DayanidhiMaran.
If this is not done, the told apress conference, he will approachcourt seeking a direction in thisregard.
Karti, who is said to be abroad,could not be contacted for hiscomments.
Swamy alleged that there wasa "dubious transaction" betweena firm "controlled" by Karti andAircel in March 2006, just beforeMaxis' investment of Rs 4,000crore.
Chidambaram as Finance Min-ister had ensured that Foreign In-
vestment Promotion Board (FIPB)clearance on Aircel-Maxis deal begiven only after Karti-controlled
company got share in theAircel, he alleged.
He said he had alreadywritten to CBI, EnforcementDirectorate and Registrar ofCompanies regarding "du-bious financial transac-tions" during the period ofthe deal.
Swamy alleged that CBIand ED were limiting theirprobe to the role of Maranand his brother in the mat-ter.
"It is not possible for the CBIofficers who mainly belong to IPScadre to probe the Minister andhis son even though they havesolid proof...An impartial probe isnot possible for CBI officialswhen Chidambaram remains theHome Minister," he said. -PTI
Blackmoney: Eight I-T units abroadto be operational soon
'Conservative party to be first tohave British Indian PM'
NEW DELHI: The governmenthas deputed eight senior IRS of-ficers to officiate as First Secre-taries in the newly-created IncomeTax overseas units in countrieslike the US, the UK and Japan aspart of efforts to curb the problemof blackmoney and illegal fundsstashed away abroad.
The Income Tax officials, hav-ing a tenure of three years, willfunction from the Indian Missionsin Washington DC (the US), Lon-don (the UK), Berlin (Germany),Paris (France), The Hague (Neth-erlands), Abu Dhabi (the UAE),Cyprus (Nicosia) and Japan (To-kyo).
The orders for the deputationof an Indian Revenue Service(IRS) officer to Japan wereawaited and the same were issuedlast evening.
The units will be operationalvery soon as these officers willjoin in some time at their desig-nated locations, official sourcessaid.
Finance Minister PranabMukherjee, during his Budgetspeech, had made a big allocationfor setting up these I-T overseasoffices.
While the initial budgetary al-location for these units was Rs2.41 crore in the last fiscal, it has
been raised to Rs 18.20 crore inthe current year.
"The officials deputed areadept at handling tax evasioncases and international tax trea-ties and will also help the depart-ment liaise with authorities ofthese countries in tax cases in-cluding various high-profile caseswhich the I-T is currently investi-gating," a senior Finance Minis-try official said.
The officials at these units willalso help investors from abroadunderstand Indian tax laws andprocedures so that they can makeinformed decisions, the officialsaid.
LONDON: The Conservativeparty is going to be the first in theUK to have a British Prime Minis-ter of Indian-origin, Premier DavidCameron has forecast as hepraised the community for theirhard work to make Britain what itis today.
"We were the first party to havea woman prime minister (Mrs Mar-garet Thatcher), we were the firstparty in (Benjamin) Disraeli tohave a Jewish prime minister andwhen I look at the talent behindme I think we are going to be thefirst party to have a British Indian
Prime Minister," Cameron said atthe launch of the ConservativeFriends of India.
He noted that "the values ofConservative party and values ofBritish Indians such as caringabout family are identical" andpraised "the excellent contribu-tions" of Sailesh Vara, MP, Gov-ernment whip and Prity Patel, MP.
At the outset Cameron told thepacked gathering at TheLawrence Hall in central London,"We would like to celebrate thesuccess of British Indian busi-nessmen and British Indian cricket
players.""There are so many British In-
dians who had put in hard workto make Britain what it is today."
Referring to UK-India tie, hesaid "first of all, the relation be-tween Britain and India is incred-ibly strong and incredibly impor-tant. But we have to make it stron-gest ever."
He said sometimes people thinkthat Indian economy was just basedon call centers. "Nothing could befarther from the truth. Indianeconomy is there as a dynamo tothe world economy," he noted. -PTI
Subramanian Swamy P Chidambaram
Sachin, Rekha recommendedfor RS membership
NEW DELHI: Cricket iconSachin Tendulkar and yesteryearsactress Rekha are among foureminent persons who have beenrecommended for nomination asmembers of Rajya Sabha.
39-year-old Tendulkar, who hasbrought many a laurel to the coun-try through his ex-ploits in the game,and Rekha, knownfor her brilliant andemotional portray-als in Hindi cinemain the 80s, will be-come members ofParliament under aprovision of theconstitution that al-lows the Presidentto nominate 12members to the Up-per House.
There is no wordfrom the Govern-ment on who the other two arewho have been nominated.
Prime Minister ManmohanSingh sent a communication to theMinistry of Home Affairs whichhas been sent to PresidentPratibha Patil for notification,sources said.
Article 80 of the Constitutionprovides for nomination of per-sons having special knowledge orpractical experience in matterssuch as literature, science, art andsocial service.
57-year-old Rekha was one ofthe top heroines of the 80s inHindi films and had won severalnational awards in her acting ca-
reer.Tendulkar's nomination to
Rajya Sabha has come as a sur-prise against the backdrop of along-standing demand for confer-ring of Bharat Ratna on him forhis contribution to the game. Hecompleted the historic achieve-
ment of scoring 100 internationalcenturies in March this year.
Earlier in the day, Tendulkar,accompanied by his wife Anjali,met Congress President SoniaGandhi at her residence.
Tendulkar would be the firstactive sportsman and a cricketerto be nominated to Rajya Sabha.
The House already has a mem-ber from the film world in JavedAkhtar, an eminent lyricist andscript writer in Hindi cinema.
On Tendulkar's likely nomina-tion, Congress spokespersonRenuka Choudhary said "it willlook nice if he comes to parliamentand will encourage sports." -PTI
Sachin Tendulkar
(March 21 to April 20)
Do not be nervous and go ahead with your plans. You will be pleas
antly surprised with the outcome. Money wise you will continue
to do well. You may take family out and relish your favorite food. You
may buy some new perfume or cloths for yourself this week. Spouse
may complain of aches and pain and feel tired due to extra work.
Your Weekly FutureMAY 4TH - MAY 10TH
by Pandit Parashar
May 4, 2012 India Post 9Horoscopewww.indiapost.com
Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also available for individualconsultations. He can be reached at: [email protected]
510-886-4370website: www.parashar.com
(November 23 to December 22)
You will finally lay your hands on something you wanted to have
very badly. Minor obstacles will be followed by quick and easy
solutions. You may be successful in getting some tricky thing done
from a government agency. Luck is definitely on your side and you
should take advantage of every opportunity.
(December 22 to January 19)
Money could go on making some changes in or outside the prop-
erty. Strong Venus will help you achieve professional goals with-
out any hurdle. Children will also do better in school. Slowly you will
be working on a long distance trip. You have some money coming
through legal channel this week.
(January 20 to February 18)
You will make big change in diet in order to get into shape. You
will be slowly working on a great plan that can take you towards
financial freedom in association with some already successful people.
Some one you knew in the past will call or send a message. You will
also finalize a small vacation with family to a new and exciting place.
(February 19 to March 20)
Be careful with money for some more time and avoid taking any
chance with law. Party will be entertaining but stay away from
nosey people. Boss will call you and assign an important project
and someone to help also. Spouse will give you some great ideas
but lack of funds will delay the launch.
(May 21 to June 20)
You have some money coming through legal channels. You will
continue to gain edge over your opponents and competition. Help
coming from an influential friend. You may successfully resolve an
issue with a government agency this week. Spouse will support your
ideas and plans. Financial juggling will reduce your liability and ex-
penses.
(July 23 to August 22)
Some of you may start another venture in partnership with some
like minded people. A tall person will be helpful and give you some
leads. Extra running around will not only be helpful in generating more
revenues but you will shed few pounds also in the process. Your past
efforts will improve your image and popularity in social circle.
(September 23 to October 22)
Stress level will increase little bit. Do not let small issues make you
loose your sleep. You may have to answer to some legal query.
Be careful as this could be the beginning of a long process if not
handled properly right now. Money wise you will continue to stay in
safe zone. You may take family out for dinner at a new place this
week.
(April 21 to May 20)
Stress about a child will increase and you will be spending time
on exploring avenues to resolve this issue. Do not rush to con-
clusions and remember that you can take better decisions and make
better choices only with a cool and rational mind. You may also give
final shape to an overseas trip. Money will come and disappear fast
as usual.
(June 21 to July 22)
Idea of adopting the legal channel to prove your point is not bad.
Money wise things will still stay on the edge but relax you have big
chunk of money coming your way in immediate future. Some of you
may entertain a guest in your house and go around with him. Any
change in career this week will prove lucky for you.
(August 23 to September 22)
Luck is definitely on your side this week too, so out and take your
chances. You will be able to recover some old debts also. You
may accept a challenging assignment or contract this week. It will
be better to dispose off money making stocks and wait for another
time to buy them back.
(October 23 to November 22)
It will be slightly expensive week and you may have to use money
out of savings in order to meet the commitments. You may person-
ally visit a government office to get some work done. Eye sight may
start giving trouble and you may start using reading glasses. Rela-
tionship will continue to move in right direction and commitment can
come any time.
2012 will bring luck, goodnews & opportunities
Kareena Kapoor has always beenin the spotlight ever since she puther first step in Bollywood. Ev-
erything she does makes headlines. Suchis the aura of this headstrong girl that themasses want to know everything that MissKapoor does, whether it is a movie whichfeatures her, the dress she wears, theplaces she visits or the men she choosesto go out with. Kareena has this inherentquality of grabbing the limelight, no mat-ter what she does and where she goes.
Kareena is a Virgo and her ruling num-ber is 3. Her lucky days are Tuesdays,Thursdays and Fridays. The planet Jupi-ter governs this number and those bornunder it are lovers of justice and love.Usually people born on the 21st of themonth are very lucky and she is the livingexample of it. She is multi-talented and isalso very confident.
2012 will bring in luck, good news andopportunities for the beautiful Kareena.Her fans will be happy with her perfor-mance and she will be appreciated by oneand all. Her hard work will pay off and theyear will begin and end on a good note for
her. She will however, need to keep a checkon what she says in public as there arechances of negative publicity and con-troversies being created by the media.
Kareena Kapoor
www.indiapost.com May 4, 2012
COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA
Details on page 19
10 India Post
BAPS Charitiesgoes green for
Earth Day
Desi News
Details on page 13
Details on page 18
Lawmakers ask FBI to collect dataon hate crimes against Sikhs
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: More than 90members of the US Congress havecollectively urged the Federal Bu-reau of Investigation (FBI) to col-lect data on hate crimes againstthe Sikh American community.
The initiative led by CongressmanJoseph Crowley (D-NY) has 92 Mem-bers of the House signing a letter tothe Department of Justice (DOJ) urg-ing the FBI to begin collecting dataon hate crimes committed againstSikh Americans, a community that isacutely susceptible to violence be-cause of their appearance.
"The more information our lawenforcement agencies have onviolence against Sikh-Americans,the more they can do to help pre-vent these crimes and bring thosewho commit them to justice," saidRep. Crowley.
"The Department of Justice andFBI have carried out importantoutreach efforts in coalition withthe Sikh community, but these ef-forts must also be paired with datacollection to ensure we are doingeverything possible to crack downon hate crimes against the Sikhcommunity."
Sikh-Americans are often tar-geted for hate crimes because oftheir distinct identity and commonmisperceptions with respect totheir attire and appearance. At-
tackers often appear to errone-ously believe that Sikh-Americansare affiliated with extremists andwere somehow responsible for theSeptember 11th terrorist attacks on
the United States.Over the past year, Sikh-Ameri-
cans and their religious institutionshave been threatened or attackedin highly-publicized incidents inNew York, Michigan, Virginia and
California, where two men weremurdered. Advocacy groups be-lieve it is likely that many otherincidents have occurred but wentunreported.
The lawmakers' letter calls forthe FBI to update the Hate CrimeIncident Report Form (1-699) toinclude crimes committed againstSikh-Americans. While the FBItracks hate crimes committed with
a bias against particular groups,there is no designation on the Re-port Form for hate crimes commit-ted against Sikhs.
The Report Form serves as theprimary mechanism for the federalgovernment to document hatecrimes committed in the U.S. andis related to the allocation of lawenforcement resources to abatesuch crimes. Excluding Sikhs inhate crime data collection effortsnot only diminishes the safety ofthe 500,000 strong Sikh-Americancommunity, but also weakens thequality of hate crime data overall.
This effort is supported bynumerous advocacy groups, in-cluding the New York-based SikhCoalition.
Rep. Crowley, a seven-term rep-resentative from the 7th Congres-sional District of New York, is arecognized leader in the US Houseof Representatives on issues re-lated to Indian-Americans and theSikh-American community.
A former six-term member of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee,he currently serves as Co-Chair ofthe Congressional Caucus on In-dia and Indian-Americans and hastraveled to India several times.Domestically, Crowley has been astrong voice opposing discrimina-tion against Indian-Americans andhate crimes committed againstSikh-Americans.
"The more information our law enforcementagencies have on violence against Sikh-Americans, the more they can do to helpprevent these crimes and bring those whocommit them to justice," said Rep. Crowley
Hemant Patel aspiring for political pasturesNALINI RAJA
Hemant Patel with President ObamaCont’d on page 12
Details on page 14
Scientificexposition ofRamayana
SURENDRA ULLAL &
ASIAN MEDIA USA
CHICAGO: A team of leadingscientists, artists and businessleaders currently touring 10 NorthAmerican cities, delivered a seriesof cutting-edge presentations en-titled "A New Paradigm: Veda,Consciousness, the Ramayana,and the Self" at Meadows Club inRolling Meadows, a north sideChicago suburb.
Even though 650 people fromacross the Chicago land had regis-tered, many more continued tostream in at various stages through-out the evening, making the eventgreatly successful and lively.
The event explored the meet-ing point of science and spiritual-ity by presenting pioneering re-search that reveals the Veda andthe Ramayana as blueprints of ourbody and the entire universe.
Communityactivist VM Gandhihonored in QueensIndia Post News Service
NEW YORK: Vasantrai M.Gandhi, community activist andformer chairman of the Commu-nity Board 3 of Queens wasamong those honored with Im-migration Heritage Award byNew York City Council MemberDaniel Dromm to celebrate theImmigrant Heritage Week as aCitywide Celebration inElmhurst, Queens.
Presenting the award, Coun-cil Member Dromm praised theservices of Gandhi to the Jack-son Heights community and hisstellar qualities as a person whocommands high respect in thesociety for his philanthropy andhelping nature.
Jaswinder Singhenthralls ghazallovers
SURENDRA ULALL
ST LOUIS: Seema Enterprises& Seema World Travel recentlyhosted a musical event "A tributeto Jagjit Singh by JaswinderSingh" at the Ethical Society of St.Louis on April 13.
Jaswinder Singh, a youngghazal maestro, was in his ele-ments and enthralled 300 plusmembers of the audience who inturn appreciated the rendering ofghazals.
Talk about coming a longway - one can only imaginewhat the world could
achieve if it was full of hard work-ing, results-driven individuals likeHemant Patel. His Gandhian phi-losophy is what made him join Ro-tary Club in Navsari, India at ayoung age of sixteen. Ever sincehe has always been ready for com-munity work.
These words may not even dojustice for the sort of impact thatHemant has made in the hotel/motelcommunity. While being an activeleader, hotelier, and community ser-vant, Hemant has developed a Bestin Class reputation for himself.
He was the first Asian-Ameri-
can to become president of theGreater Biscayne Chamber ofCommerce in 1996. In Miami, he hasserved on many city boards and isan active board member of the Up-per Eastside Miami Council, astrong and vibrant neighborhoodadvocacy group. Currently, he ispresident of "Do the Right Thing,"an association which is part of theMiami Police Department and isdesigned to encourage leadershipand good moral behavior in Dade-County public schools.
He also serves on the AdvisoryBoard of Miami County DaySchool in Miami.
India Post 11May 4, 2012 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
IAMA foundation raises $75,000 for its clinicRAMESH SOPARAWALA & ASIAN MEDIA, USA
CHICAGO: Although the bid byIndian American Medical Associa-tion (IAMA) to raise funds for itscharitable clinic run in Chicago fellshort of its target by a whisker, itdid not dampen the enthusiasm oforganizers or those attending theevent held here recently. The tar-get set was $ 100,000 and thefunds raised totaled around$75,000.
The shortfall was reflective ofthe state of economy in general inthe country and not any lack ofefforts on the part of IAMA boardor IAMA Charitable Foundationofficials, said Cris Zala, a spokes-man. "The Clinic is run by com-mitted physicians, nurses, phar-macists and health care profes-sionals and others who rendervoluntary services. They will con-tinue to offer their services probono maintaining the high qualitythat the Clinic is associated with,"he said.
IAMA CF operates a free com-munity health clinic on Peterson
Avenue in Chicago's West Ridgecommunity. It hosted aFundraising Dinner and Semi An-nual Meeting on Saturday, April21at the Waterford Banquet,Elmhurst, Illinois. Money raisedwill benefit the clinic, which is runby doctors, medical personnel,providers of medical servicessuch as free lab tests and freemedication. The event was wellattended by physicians, politi-cians, Chicago's prominent busi-nessmen, community leaders andgeneral public
The Chief Guest of this programwas Pat Basu, M.D., M.B.A. ChiefMedical Officer: Virtual Radiology,White House Fellow 2010-2011 andDr. Raju Ramanathan-Cook CountyHospital, Chicago CEO. Seasonshospice, Yoga & Veda- RamayanaIOWA, NLVS medical student andDirect express tours had set up theirbooths.
The main event started at 7p.m. immediately after the socialhour. The function started withWelcome Speech by Dr. Sanjay
Amin followed by the singing ofnational anthems of America byDr. Anita John MD and Indian na-tional anthem by Indrani Mukerji.A brief business meeting wasconducted by Secretary Elect ofIAMA Dr. Raj Aurora. A commu-
nity activist Chris Zala and TVfame Anupy Sinhla - acted asMasters of the ceremony. Bothurged the audience to "open yourheart, open your wallet". Theirrequest was rewarded by a gen-erous contribution totaling $75,000.
Aruna Vade, MD PresidentIAMA in her speech stressed theimportance of developing compre-hensive and strategic objectivesand widening the base for theorganization to grow. She encour-aged everyone to join IAMA, toparticipate, get involved and vol-unteer in the various IAMA func-tions. She pointed out that IAMACharitable Foundation's freeclinic has made a big differencewith many unprivileged lives.
Dr. Sanjay Amin, MD, Chair-man IAMA in his speech thankedall the volunteers for the remark-able support they have providedin 2011 to IAMA-CF which hashelped in providing free healthservices to an ever growing un-der-served population. "As
IAMA continues to makeprogress in the areas of wellnessand medical care through itsclinic which is critical for diseaseprevention and health manage-ment of the under-served popu-lation, we will be focusing on
three core principles," he said.IAMA will be seeking help
from other foundations, corpora-tions and young professionals toinvest in free health clinic. It hasset up an endowment fund to helpsustain and grow by expandingtheir current services and bringnew services to their patients.
As the clinic is volunteer
based, they are able to provideprimary health care services to theeconomically disadvantaged andpredominantly uninsured pa-tients. Last year, volunteer phy-sicians donated a total of 600 +hours of their time to serve thosewho are needy. 2,700 patient vis-its were recorded during 2011.IAMA will continue to recruitmore physicians to expand theirclinic services.
The clinic now has a vibrantand quite diverse geographic andethnic representation. It hasjoined Illinois Association of Freeand Charitable Clinics as one ofthe founding members to advo-cate for healthcare policy whichwill benefit citizens who do nothave access to government or pri-vate healthcare insurance.
Chief Guest and KeynoteSpeaker Dr. Pat Auveek Basu re-flected on the American dreamand observed that it turned intoreality "because of our own sac-rifices and the sacrifices made byour parents. We are today in aposition where we can serve oth-ers and make this world a betterplace not just for our children butfor all children, not just for Ameri-cans, or Indians but for all patientswho enter our doors."
He closed his remark with aquote made by Mahatma Gandhi."Happiness is when what youthink, what you say, and what youdo are in harmony." "This clinic isa mark of that harmony", he con-cluded.
The following people receivedan award for their outstanding,dedicated selfless volunteerism toadvance the goal of the organiza-tion: Dr Brij Malani, Dr RambhaRadhakrishnan, Dr Sudha Velamatiand Dr. Annita John for their lead-ership, vision & hard work in run-ning the free health clinic.
Sponsors of the event wereSeasons Hospice -Main sponsorand National republic bank,American Airlines & Medstar. DrManish Brahmbhatt MD pre-sented a vote of thanks and thatconcluded the event. Deliciousdinner was served by WaterfordBanquets catered by IndiaHouse.
Rest of the evening, the audi-ence enjoyed DJ and music bySaahil.
The Executive CommitteeIAMA has Sanjay Amin as Chair-man, Manish Brahmbhatt as Sec-retary, Rambha Radhakrishnan asDirector, Kishore Chugh as Trea-surer and Brij Malani, Ex Director.
Chief Guest andKeynote Speaker Dr.Pat Auveek Basureflected on theAmerican dreamand observed that itturned into reality"because of ourown sacrifices”
IAMA CF Board members and other activists (L-R) Anupy Singhla, Dr. Sanjay Amin -Chairman, Dr Usha Nimmagadda -Past chairperson, Dr. Pat Basu -Keynote
speaker, Dr Yogesh Gandhi, Dr. Manish Brahmbhatt - Secretary, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, Dr M Hanumandass, Dr V. Marwaha, Dr Rohit Vasa, Dr Brij Malani, Chris Zala
IAMA supporters and sponsors
Emcees of the event Chris Zala and A. Sinhala (Pics courtesy Asian Media USA)
May 4, 2012India Post12 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Along with other prominent leaders,Hemant traveled to India in 2001 with formerPresident Bill Clinton on an earthquake re-lief mission.
In addition, Hemant received a commu-nity service award from former Congress-woman Carrie Meek in Miami. However, thisreputation that he has obtained came withpreparation, planning and a few motivatorsthat helped him along the way.
Hemant credits Jay Patel of Pensacola(an author of Fair Franchise book and ahotelier himself) for his motivation in join-
ing the hospitality industry and AAHOA.He has always looked to Dr. PiyushAgrawal, national USA coordinator of Glo-bal Organization of People of Indian Origin(GOPIO) as his mentor. He also credits manyother close friends and his AAHOA boardmembers for achieving his goals during histenure as Chairman of AAHOA. From us-ing all the tools he has acquired over hisyears as AAHOA chairman and a commu-nity leader, he feels he is equipped with thepower to make a change in the political arenaof this country and beyond.
Here's how he views certain burningissues:
On Recession:Being a staunch Democrat, Hemant is
optimistic and believes that the economicrecovery is proceeding at a moderate pace.However, he said that Americans are much
more likely today to perceive the economyas growing rather than slowing down. Ofcourse, Democrats are much more positiveon the economy than their Republican coun-terparts.
Again, former President Clinton's namewas brought up because, according toHemant, Americans prospered during histime as Clinton was a fiscally conservative,socially moderate President. He says thathe is a diehard Democrat because Demsbelieve in "live and let live co-existencephilosophy from Gandhi".
Mind you, he also calls the former Gover-nor of Florida, Charlie Christ, his personal
friend and a good politician, even thoughChrist is a Republican. Recently, Hemant metwith President Obama and got a chance todiscuss current crisis in hotel industry per-taining to capital and lack of funds to smallbusiness owners, plus some regulations per-taining to Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) pool requirements which is bad regu-lation ruling made by Department of Justice(DOJ) and without sufficient research done.
Obama was aware of the ADA regulationbut Hemant brought up the issues of liabili-ties involved and safety hazards that wereoverlooked by the DOJ. Obama, however,was not aware of the serious crisis in thehotel industry regarding lack of lending andforeclosures but said that Banks will startlending once the economy improves.
FranchisingHemant is focused on burning issues deal-
ing with certain franchise companies ad-dressing critical member issues. He achieveda lot of success with resolving certain issueswith Choice Hotels Int'l. Also was very in-volved in the passing of the Fair FranchisingBill (AB2305) which passed the judiciarycommittee hearing in Sacramento, CA in April.
His strength is in Governmental affairs,and admits that better interactions withelected officials and connecting with mem-bership effectively can be a win-win situa-tion for all. Also having frequent trips toDC and holding legislative days thereshould be in every Chairman's agenda.
Contributing Political Action Committee(PAC) funds based on AAHOA's agendawould bring beneficial results to this indus-try as a whole. Also, by organizingfundraisers through members can giveawareness of AAHOA clout of 11,000 mem-bers, owning 40% of the hotels in the US. Agood example of positive result with the DCtrips - Cong Bill Posey, FL - proposed legis-
lation "Common sense recovery act" whichbrought members money for lost businessin the recent BP oil spill on the Gulf coast.
Social MediaSocial media is the biggest blessing in
modern day and time and has burst into ourlives in a big way. It carries our agenda andinitiatives to the membership and beyondvery fast. Everybody should be embracingit. In fact, it's hard to imagine life without itespecially with today's generation being sotech savvy. Personal lives aside, socialmedia for business is developing like neverbefore and at AAHOA we hold educationalseminars at our regional conferences to capi-talize on the success of social media andreaping the business rewards.
Going Green ProgramAbsolutely necessary. Rising energy
cost is an important issue of the near futureand bad for all businesses, especially thehotel industry. Globalization makes theworld become smaller, it becomes increas-
Hemant with Left Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) Hemant with former ambassador to the US Ronen Sen and Dr. Piyush Agrawal (center)
Hemant Patel aspiring for political pastures
ingly easy to see how the lives of people(and plants and animals and ecosystems)everywhere are closely synced up with oneanother.
Political AspirationsHemant is seriously considering running
for political office. That is and has been alifelong goal. He has been involved in thelocal Miami community at grassroots levelfor 24 years and instrumental in revitalizingthat community where he owns a business.Also, has done philanthropic work, in-volved with local elected officials at vari-ous legislative levels and understands thelandscape of public service and governmen-tal affairs very well.
Hemant truly believes that there is lackof representation from Indian community inUS government positions. "We have lot atstake here being the second largest com-munity after the Jewish community. If y'renot on the table, y're on the menu", saysHemant. So his message to his membership
is loud and clear - to get involved in thepolitical process of this country.
IndiaImpressed with unstoppable growth
there. With such a huge population and thelargest young force of the world, India canbe a valuable player in the world market. Itis in the best interest of both US and Indiato have constructive dialogue and best re-lationship since largest and oldest econo-mies should be working together.
Hemant has been a resident of Miami,Florida, since 1989. He was born in India andreceived his education in Bombay, India.After working for his father in the diamondand precious stones import/export businessin Bombay, Hemant opened his own garmentmanufacturing business there. When hemoved to the United States, he first workedfor a dry cleaning and supermarket companyin Atlanta, Ga. Hemant is now a full-time ho-telier and married to Jaya. Together they havetwo kids - Harshila and Milan.
Hemant credits Jay Patel of Pensacola (an author of FairFranchise book and a hotelier himself) for his motivationin joining the hospitality industry and AAHOA. He hasalways looked to Dr. Piyush Agrawal, national USA coor-dinator of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin(GOPIO) as his mentor
Cont’d from page 10
Hemant with Bill & Hillary Clinton
India Post 13May 4, 2012 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
IOWA scholars give scientific exposition of RamayanaSURENDRA ULLAL & ASIAN MEDIA USA
CHICAGO: A team of leadingscientists, artists and businessleaders currently touring 10 NorthAmerican cities, delivered a seriesof cutting-edge presentations en-titled "A New Paradigm: Veda,Consciousness, the Ramayana,and the Self" at Meadows Club inRolling Meadows, a north sideChicago suburb.
Even though 650 people fromacross the Chicago land had reg-istered, many more continued tostream in at various stagesthroughout the evening, makingthe event greatly successful andlively.
The event explored the meet-ing point of science and spiritual-ity by presenting pioneering re-search that reveals the Veda andthe Ramayana as blueprints of ourbody and the entire universe. Ex-tensive research on these break-through discoveries has also docu-mented collective benefits for so-ciety, including the potential forcreating world peace. The eventfeatured a video presentation of1,000 Vedic Pandits in MaharishiVedic City, Iowa, chanting the Veda.
The speakers at this eventcome from diverse backgrounds.Tony Nader, M.D., Ph.D., neuro-scientist and researcher, headlinedthe event as the keynote speakerwith his presentation, "Embody-ing Totality".
A new concept of one of thegreat epics of India, Ramayana,was espoused and elaborated bya team of scholars including Dr.Tony Nader. He conducted re-search in neurochemistry, neuro-endocrinology, hormonal activity,and on the role of neurotransmit-ter precursors in medicine.
Perhaps it is the first of its kindin the classical work of any coun-try in the world that Ramayana hasbeen studied, re-interpreted, andcommented upon by scholars andintellectuals with the present ef-fort embellishing its beauty further.
It is apt to agree with the opin-
James Greg & John Hagelin
ion of Maharishi, who said that"Ramayana is for full enlighten-ment; Ramayana is for perfectionin every profession; Ramayana isfor mastery over Natural Law;Ramayana is for creation of a per-fect world."
In this context Nader said thathis desire to gain total understand-ing of the human mind and body,of consciousness and physiologyled him to the study of Maharishi'sVedic Science and Technologyunder his direct guidance.
Nader explained in his addressthat his work, "Ramayana in Hu-man Physiology, is a most objec-tively studied and scientificallydescribed aspect of life: humanpsychology.
The book illustrates the corre-lation between the characters andevents occurring in the Ramayanaand the structure and function ofhuman physiology. TheRamayana, he said, is not studiedhere as a text belonging to any onereligion, nor to a particular race orbelief system. It tells the story ofNatural Law through its eventsand characters, just as NaturalLaw reveals its story in every in-dividual physiology, life, and in theever-expanding universe." It re-flects the oft-repeated Hindu be-lief, "Truth is One, Pupils (Viprah)see It as many," a typical of Hindu
attitude that imbibes unity of man-kind and imbues Oneness ofGodhood.
On the basis of his knowledgeof physiology, Dr. Nader has cor-related each aspect of the Vedic
literature to a specific area ofphysiology and concluded thathuman physiology is the expres-sion of Veda and Vedic Literature.This forms the subject matter ofhis book, Human Physiology: Ex-
pression of Veda and Vedic Litera-ture. In short this is yet anotherpoint of view about Ramayana.
What gives credence to thisview is its application as docu-mented by original research con-
ducted by medical doctors andscientists, which shows the effec-tiveness of Vedic sounds and vi-brations for the treatment ofchronic disorders.
This is also recognition of thepower of the syllables as containedin the 'Mantras" of India's sacredworks established by the Tantricliterature, popularized by the NathTradition of India and Tibet.
In appreciation for his achieve-ment in illuminating Vedic sciencein the light of modern science, Dr.Nader was honored by Maharishiwith the title, "Maharaja AdhirajRajaraam" and was given respon-sibility for guiding the "GlobalCountry of World Peace."
Dr. John Hagelin, and RamaniAyer also spoke and urged Yogaenthusiasts to visit the MaharishiVedic City, experience and be in-spired by an entire communitywho are committed to preserve ourpriceless Vedic Heritage.
John Hagelin, Ph.D., is a world-
renowned Harvard-trained quan-tum physicist, educator and pub-lic policy expert. He is Chairmanof the Physics Department atMaharishi University of Manage-ment (www.MUM.edu). RamaniAyer was the first Indo-AmericanCEO of a Fortune 100 company.He was Chairman of the Board andCEO of Hartford Financial Ser-vices Group for 13 years, retiringin 2009. Mr. Ayer spoke on "En-lightened Leadership and WorldPeace." James Greg of IOWAMaharishi University also spoke.
Joining these speakers viavideo conference were specialguests like Hollywood directorDavid Lynch and the RamanandSagar family, of Ramayana fame,from Mumbai.
The presentation was very wellreceived as the audience listenedin rapt attention. At one point the
appreciative crowd gave Dr. Nadera standing ovation for sharingsuch profound knowledge soclose to their hearts, yet withadded scientific insight never be-fore imagined. People came awaysaying how proud they were oftheir Vedic tradition. Copies of thebook quickly sold out.
Oprah Winfrey and her staff allpractice Transcendental Medita-tion. She also went to MaharishiVedic City to see the MaharishiVedic Pandits. Oprah and her crewwere the first ones allowed in tofilm the Vedic Pandits chanting.
The tour by scientists and oth-ers includes visits to San Diego;San Francisco; Vancouver;Fairfield, Iowa; Chicago; Toronto;Montreal; Boston; New York; andWashington, DC.
Earlier, Bhailal Patel, a memberof the Steering committee wel-comed the audience and then in-troduced the members of the Com-mittee.
It tells the story ofNatural Law throughits events and char-acters, just as NaturalLaw reveals its storyin every individualphysiology, life, andin the ever-expand-ing universe." It re-flects the oft-re-peated Hindu belief,"Truth is One, Pupils(Viprah) see Itas many," a typicalof Hindu attitude
(L-R) Ramani Ayer, Tony Nader and John Hagelin
Members of the audience giving standing ovation to Tony Nader (Pic courtesy Asian Media USA)
May 4, 2012India Post14 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Community activist VM Gandhihonored in Queens
Fatima Sharma, V.M. Gandhi, Mrs. Gandhi and Dromm
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: Vasantrai M.Gandhi, community activist andformer chairman of the Commu-nity Board 3 of Queens wasamong those honored with Im-migration Heritage Award byNew York City Council MemberDaniel Dromm to celebrate theImmigrant Heritage Week as aCitywide Celebration inElmhurst, Queens.
Presenting the award, Coun-cil Member Dromm praised theservices of Gandhi to the Jack-son Heights community and hisstellar qualities as a person whocommands high respect in thesociety for his philanthropy andhelping nature.
From his humble beginningsas an immigrant in 1960s,Gandhi rose to become one ofthe top 100 Indian-Americanbusiness owners in the US to-day. He is the owner of the fa-mous New York Gold, an exclu-
sive showroom selling puregold coins and bars with salesthat touched $6.88 million in2008 and peaked to $14.18 mil-lion last year.
A community activist, Gandhiserved as Chairman of Commu-nity Board # 3 in Queens for threeyears and also served as its
member. He has served as mem-ber of the President's round tableon community affairs ofLaGuardia Community College,New York with an enrollment ofover 40,000 students and nowserves as ambassador of QueensBotanical Gardens, Flushing.
He was earlier honored byformer New York GovernorGeorge Pataki with an excellenceaward and a commendation byWilliam Thompson, Jr, Comptrol-ler of City of New York.
Speaking on the occasion,Dromm, who is Chair of the Im-migration Committee of the City
of New York, said New York Citywas and is immigrant friendlyand every effort will be made tomake immigrants living here feelsafer and happy. "I owe every-thing to immigrants and they putme in the office I am holdingnow," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Dromm, who isChair of the Immigration Committee of theCity of New York, said New York City wasand is immigrant friendly and every effort willbe made to make immigrants living here feelsafer and happy
Kamaljit Bawa inducted toAcademy of Arts and Sciences
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: India bornbiodiversity expert Kamaljit SinghBawa is one of the 220 new mem-bers inducted into the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences.
Bawa has been elected in thefield of public affairs and journal-ism along with former TennesseeGovernor Phil Bredesen, Jr.; vet-eran diplomat R. Nicholas Burns;U.S. Secretary of State; televisionjournalist Judy Woodruff; andBoston Globe editor Martin Baron.
The new class will be inductedat a ceremony on October 6, at theAcademy's headquarters in Cam-bridge, Massachusetts.
The American Academy of Artsand Sciences recognizes everyyear some of the world's most ac-complished scholars, scientists,writers, artists, and civic, corpo-rate, and philanthropic leaders byinducting them as members.
One of the nation's most pres-tigious honorary societies, theAcademy is also a leading centerfor independent policy research.Members contribute to Academypublications and studies of sci-ence and technology policy, en-ergy and global security, socialpolicy and American institutions,the humanities and culture, andeducation.
"Election to the Academy isboth an honor for extraordinary ac-complishment and a call to serve,"said Academy President Leslie C.Berlowitz. "We look forward todrawing on the knowledge andexpertise of these distinguishedmen and women to advance solu-tions to the pressing policy chal-lenges of the day."
Bawa was born and raised inIndia. His first research onbiodiversity was part of an effortat Panjab University to study pat-terns of chromosomal and morpho-logical variation in tropical and
sub-tropical tree species. He cameto the United States in 1967, andin 1969 resumed his research onthe genetic basis of species rich-ness in tropical forests of CentralAmerica. After working for manyyears in Costa Rica, Bawa returnedto research on forests in India in1990.
His current focus is the magni-tude, causes and consequencesof deforestation in the tropics. Heexamines economic, cultural andsocial forces that accelerate defor-estation and other forms of envi-ronmental degradation. Bawa isalso interested in institutional con-
Kamaljit Singh Bawa
straints and responses to solu-tions pertaining to deforestationand loss of biodiversity and heand his colleagues are testing vari-ous models of sustainable use offorest resources,
Members of the 2012 class in-clude winners of the NationalMedal of Science, the LaskerAward, the Pulitzer and the Shawprizes, the Fields Medal;MacArthur and Guggenheim fel-lowships; the Kennedy CenterHonors; Grammy, Emmy, Acad-emy, and Tony awards; the AveryFisher Prize, and election to theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The current membership in-cludes more than 250 Nobel laure-ates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prizewinners.
"Election to theAcademy is both anhonor for extraordi-nary accomplish-ment and a call toserve," said Acad-emy President LeslieC. Berlowitz
India Post 15May 4, 2012 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Baisakhi celebrated at the Consulate
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: More than 200people attended a function to
celebrate Baisakhi at the IndianConsulate in New York orga-nized in association with the
Sikh Art and Film Foundation, onApril 19.
Consul General AmbassadorPrabhu Dayal, while welcoming
the guests, said that thoughBaisakhi is celebrated all over In-dia, it is particularly significant for
the Sikh community as it was onthis day that Guru Gobind Singhhad founded the Sikh Khalsa.
Sir Mota Singh, the United
Kingdom's first Sikh and Asianjudge to be Knighted by QueenElizabeth II for his services to
the administration of justice andcommunity relations, NassauCounty Comptroller TomDiNapoli and Dr. Sat Bir Singh
Khalsa, Assistant Professor ofMedicine & Associate Neurosci-entist, Division of Sleep Medi-
cine, Harvard Medical School, aCanadian who has embracedSikhism, were the special guestswho graced the occasion.
Explaining the significance ofBaisakhi in the Sikh community,Sir Mota Singh dwelt at lengthon the establishment and rise ofKhalsa Panth. While Comptrol-ler DiNapoli highlighted the valu-able contribution made by theSikh community in USA and con-veyed his greetings on the aus-picious occasion, Dr. Khalsabriefly explained the reasons forbecoming a Sikh and the impor-tance and relevance of Sikhism.
Tejinder Bindra, President ofthe Sikh Art & Film Foundation,also addressed the gathering andappreciated the efforts of theConsulate in celebratingBaisakhi and inviting such alarge gathering, especially mem-bers of the Sikh community. Theevent was followed by aBhangra performance, which en-livened the celebrations.
Explaining the signifi-cance of Baisakhi inthe Sikh community,Sir Mota Singh dweltat length on the es-tablishment and riseof Khalsa Panth.While ComptrollerDiNapoli highlightedthe valuable contri-bution made by theSikh communityin USA
121st birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar celebrated
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: The 121st birthanniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkarwas celebrated by the Indian Con-sulate in New York in associationwith the Ambedkar InternationalMission on April 14 on the Con-
sulate premises. A large number ofacademics, social activists, localofficials and the media attendedthe event.
Ambassador of India to USNirupama Rao and Consul Generalof India in New York Prabhu Dayalinaugurated the program by gar-
landing of the photograph of Dr.Ambedkar.
In her inaugural address, Am-bassador Rao underlined DrAmbedkar's contribution towardsbringing social change in Indiathrough constitutional means. Shehighlighted his efforts in bringing
about social justice by doingaway with various divisions insociety. Praising his work towardsmaking India modern, she de-scribed Dr. Ambedkar as "immor-tal" and his contribution towardsthe nation-building as preciousand special.
She mentioned Dr. Ambedkar'sinvaluable role in making the Con-stitution of India and his empha-sis on the need for the use of con-stitutional means in the processof addressing challenges beforethe nation. She said that Dr.Ambedkar's teachings are of en-during relevance in building theIndia of the 21st century.
Consul General Dayal men-tioned that in the form of the Con-stitution Dr Ambedkar providedIndians with the document of so-cial change which gave freedomfor humanity. He informed thegathering about the Government
of India's contribution to establish"Dr Ambedkar Chair in Constitu-tional Studies" at the Law Schoolin Columbia University.
Prof. Vivek Kumar, a renownedsociologist from India and aFulbright Teaching Fellow cur-rently in residence at ColumbiaUniversity, presented keynote ad-dress titled "Ambedkar's Ideas ofa Nation and his Role in NationBuilding". He highlighted variousaspects of Dr Ambedkar's multi-faceted personality, his socialmovement and his contributiontowards building India a Nation.
Prof. Dr. Anupama Rao, an as-sociate professor from BernardCollege, Columbia University, pre-sented another keynote addresstitled "Ambedkar - In his Time, andOurs". She traced the origins ofAmbedkar's social movement andstressed that his revolution wasstill incomplete.
May 4, 2012India Post16 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Kathak combines with African 'Dance & Drums'
Anila Sinha Foundation artist group The fusion in progress
RAMESH SOPARAWALA
India Post News Service
CHICAGO: Anila Sinha Foun-dation (ASF), a not for profit or-ganization established in memoryof Kathak teacher and maestroMrs. Anila Sinha, has slated aunique program combining Kathakdance and music in its traditionalform with a vibrant group of theAfrican dancers and drummers, onMay 6 in Lemont, a Chicago sub-
urb.Dr Birendra Sinah, one of the
main organizers and a spokesmanfor ASF, said that the African danc-ers and drummers, called GroupeDaara Jee, will be performingSenegal's traditional dance, theSabar with its vibrant upbeat drum-ming. The Daara Jee members in-clude Assane Seck, artistic direc-tor, chorographer and drummer,along with Sadira Muhammad, whois a choreographer and dancer of
exceptional quality.Joining this African group will
be the members of the ASF Kathakdance company directed by MsKiran Chouhan accompanied byIndian drummer Raj Deshmukhwho will make this programunique. In addition to these musi-cians there will be a drummer play-ing western drum, Thor, a key-board player Ryan and a Guitarplayer Nicholas Metzger.
Since its inception in 1999 ASF
has presented a number of perfor-mances every year to promote themost popular dance form of northIndia namely Kathak, with its as-sociated music and stagecraft.
This event will take place at theHindu Temple of Greater Chicagoin Lemont on May 6 starting at5pm. Tickets are $30 for adults and$15 for students and seniors. Forfurther information please email [email protected] or call Dr.Birendra Sinha.
Joining this Africangroup will be themembers of the ASFKathak dance com-pany directed by MsKiran Chouhan ac-companied by In-dian drummer RajDeshmukh
2012 IIT Alumni Medal for Manu K. VoraKRISHNA RAJDA
(L-R) IIT Alumni Awards Committee Chair Jeff Karp, Dr. Manu Vora, and IIT President John Anderson (R) Dr Vora with wife Neila Vora
CHICAGO: Illinois Institute ofTechnology (IIT) presented a2012 Alumni Medal, award toManu K. Vora (M.S Che '70, Ph.D.'75) during a ceremony celebrat-ing all of the 2012 IIT AlumniAward winners held here on Fri-day, April 13.
The 2012 Alumni Medal isawarded to alumni who demon-strate an exceptional commitmentto society through service or sup-port and achieve significant per-sonal and professional success.This is the highest honor be-stowed by the IIT Alumni Asso-ciation. Nominees in this categoryare selected by the AlumniAwards Judges' Team.
Vora holds B.S. in chemical en-gineering from the Institute ofTechnology at Banaras HinduUniversity, India, M.S. and Ph.D.in chemical engineering from Illi-nois Institute of Technology, Chi-cago and an MBA with market-ing management from the DeVryUniversity's Keller GraduateSchool of Management in Chi-cago.
In 1968, he came to the UnitedStates on a J. N. Tata EndowmentScholarship to pursue his gradu-ate work at IIT, Chicago. He hasbeen a volunteer and volunteerleader at IIT in at least six differ-ent capacities over the past 20years.
Vora, who lives in Naperville,
Illinois, is chairman and presidentof Business Excellence, Inc., aglobal quality management con-sulting firm. He also serves as anadjunct professor at Northern Il-linois University's College ofBusiness. He has published morethan 40 articles in professionaljournals and conference sympo-sia, and delivered over 290 pre-sentations on business excellenceand quality management topicsaround the world.
Vora is the founding directorand president of the Blind Foun-dation for India (BFI), which hassince 1989 raised more than $3.5
million to serve over 15 millionblind people in India. BFI has sup-ported 100,000 free Cataract op-erations, donated 104 mobilevans, distributed 10,000 Braillekits to blind children, performedeye sight checkup for more thanone million people, and com-pleted child sight projects forover 450,000 school-going chil-dren.
He has served on the board ofdirectors of the American Societyfor Quality (ASQ), the world'slargest network of quality re-sources and experts. He has beenhonored with the ASQ's Distin-
guished Service Medal, GrantMedal, and Lancaster Medal.
Vora also served from 2000-2010, an executive director for theGOSUMEC Foundation to sup-port the Seth G.S. Medical Collegeand K.E.M. Hospital in Mumbai,India with over $225,000 in healthcare technology and educationalprojects.
In 2011, Vora was honored with"The US President's Call to Ser-vice Award" for his lifetime volun-teer service. In the same year, theNational Ethnic Coalition of Orga-nizations (NECO) honored Vorawith its Ellis Island Medal of Honor
in a special ceremony at the EllisIsland in New York.
The IIT Alumni Awards are di-vided into eight categories:Alumni Medal, Alumni ServiceAward, Collens Merit Award,Galvin Award, International Awardof Merit, Lifetime AchievementAward, Outstanding Young Alum-nus/Alumna Award, and Profes-sional Achievement Award.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than7,700 students in engineering, sci-ences, architecture, psychology,design, humanities, business andlaw.
India Post 17May 4, 2012 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Carnatic music viaSkype
India Post News Service
Keeping in tune with mod-ern trends, Indian musicteachers are increasingly
using technology to keep their artform thriving across the globe.
Preethe Sriram is among the starSkype Carnatic music teachers ofSouth India who has students log-ging on from different parts of thecountry and across the globe tolearn from her.
"Carnatic Music is a very com-plicated system of music with lotof intricacies compared to otherforms of music. A systematic learn-
ing of the art under a competentguru enables one to sing with lotof technical perfection combinedwith Bhaavam (emotion) whichplays a very important role in sing-ing." she says.
Technology has crossed allgeographical boundaries andthere are students from the US toPapua New Guinea who learn mu-sic through the internet videophone service Skype. Many work-ing professionals, school and col-lege students within India are alsochoosing Skype tutoring whichcan be availed at their conve-
nience to suit different workschedules and timings.
Although it is a virtual class-room, students build a good rap-port with the teacher and showimmense interest during the class,Preethe Sriram added.
Learning via Skype is especiallybeneficial for those who may havemoved out of India for employ-ment or other reasons and are re-siding in a place where there areno good music teachers, saysSriram.
For the future, "My dream isvery simple," says Sriram. "… toimpart quality learning in music
through innovative methods whilehaving a great deal of fun.Whether you are just starting tolearn music or someone pas-sionate about learning the art, Ican assure you that this jour-ney of music learning and ap-preciation will be fun and veryrewarding."
Sriram graduated in CarnaticMusic from the holy place of arts -The Kalakshetra Foundation. Shehas substantial experience in lend-ing vocal support for Indian clas-sical dance performances and ren-dering vocal concerts.
Preethe Sriram
Learning via Skype is especially beneficialfor those who may have moved out of Indiafor employment or other reasons and areresiding in a place where there are nogood music teachers
Andhra youth found deadin apartment
PRASAD THOTUKARA
DALLAS, TX: Nikhil Karanam(28) of Visakhapatnam was founddead in his apartment on April 21in Trophy Club City, a suburb ofDallas.
As per the Police Department,Nikhil might have died almost tendays before they found the body.Unfortunately, he doesn't havemany friends and was living alonein his apartment. The TarrantCounty Medical Examiner's Officeand the crime investigator RobertCorley are investigating the case.As per preliminary reports, thereis no foul play found and he mighthave died of medical reaction.
Nikhil graduated from NITAllahabad with MS (IndustrialEngineering) in 2006. He workedwith Perot systems from 2006 to
2008 in Noida, India. He joinedA&M University, Texas in 2008and graduated with MS in 2011.He has worked with Fidelity In-vestments from April 2011 till Janof 2012. He is survived by parentsVenkateswarlu, Sudha Rani andbrother Vineet. VenkateswarluKaranam is working as a schoolprincipal in Visakhapatnam area.
TANA President PrasadThotakura is in touch with the In-dian Consulate officials, police,investigative authorities and fu-neral home staff to expedite thesending of the body to his homein India.
On behalf of the Telugu com-munity, Prasad Thotakura, TANAPresident, expressed his condo-lences to Nikhil's family.Nikhil Karnam
HAF condemns Pak courtruling on Hindu girls
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: Hindu Americanswidely condemned a decision is-sued by Pakistan's Supreme Courtlast week in the case of three Hindugirls who were reportedly kid-napped, forcibly converted to Is-lam, and married to Muslim menagainst their will.
A special three-judge panelruled that the girls, Rinkel Kumari,Asha Kumari, and Dr. Lata Kumari,were free to decide whether they
wanted to return to their parentsor live with their new Muslim hus-bands. Shortly thereafter, the Su-preme Court Registrar announcedthat the girls had decided to livewith their husbands. The girls' of-ficial statements of decision werenot made in open court, raisingconcerns by the girls' familiesabout the fairness and transpar-ency of the process. In addition,the families were not allowed to
meet with the girls at any pointduring the latest court proceed-ings.
The Hindu community andmany rights activists in Pakistanmaintain that the girls have beencoerced, threatened, and intimi-dated by their alleged abductors.
The April 18 hearing was origi-nally scheduled for March 26, butpostponed by the Court to osten-sibly give the girls more time tothink about their decision. Duringthe three week interlude, the girls
were ordered to stay at the Dar-ulAman, or shelter, where they beenstaying since March 12. BothRinkel Kumari and Dr. Lata Kumari,however, reportedly declared thatthey wanted to go home with theirparents, and Rinkel stated that shewould rather die than return to theDar-ul Aman, and proclaimed thatthere was no justice for Hindus inPakistan, a press release by theHindu American Foundation
(HAF) said."The Pakistani Supreme Court's
decision is a clear miscarriage ofjustice," said ArvindChandrakantan, M.D., HAF Execu-tive Council Member. "The entirejudicial process has been highlybiased and prejudicial from thebeginning, and has failed to takeinto account the immense pressureand duress the girls have facedfrom their powerful and highly in-fluential abductors."
According to numerous media
accounts, a conservative Muslimpolitician and Member of the Pa-kistan National Assembly fromSindh province, Mian Mitthoo,was involved in the kidnappings.Mitthoo was seen celebrating theconversion of Rinkel Kumari withseveral armed tribesmen outsidethe Sessions Court in Ghotki,Sindh in February, after legal ac-tion was first initiated.
Rinkel Kumari
Cont’d on page 20
The Hindu communityand many rightsactivists in Pakistanmaintain that the girlshave been coerced,threatened, andintimidated by theiralleged abductors
Also elected in the Northsidewas Ahmed Khan, who earlier hadrun as a candidate for Alderman inthe 50th Ward. He was elected asCommunity Representative atStone Scholastic Academy located
at 6239 North Leavitt Street.Ahmed Khan also placed first in afield of 3 candidates.
Both Khans were endorsed byProgressive Alliance Political Ac-tion Committee (PA-PAC) of CookCounty. After the election, theyboth offered a big thanks to allcommunity members, parents andvolunteers
May 4, 2012India Post18 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com
Ahmed Khan wins Chicago SchoolCouncil elections
HARISH RAO
ST LOUIS: Seema Enterprises& Seema World Travel recentlyhosted a musical event "A tributeto Jagjit Singh by JaswinderSingh" at the Ethical Society of St.Louis on April 13.
Jaswinder Singh, a youngghazal maestro, was in his ele-ments and enthralled 300 plusmembers of the audience who inturn appreciated the rendering ofghazals. "I'm getting a very goodresponse and that makes me notonly happy but spurs me to dobetter all the time," he said in atalk with this paper.
Accompanying Jaswinder onstage were a team of talented mu-sicians: Vishal Dhumal, among thefastest keyboard players in India;Ojas Adhiya, listed in the Indian-origin Limca Book of Records asthe youngest tabla player;Harshvardhan, among the mostsought-after percussionists in In-dia; and Pandit Ramesh Misra, asenior sarangi player.
The concert began on a rever-ent note with half a minute of si-lence in memory of Jagjit Singh.His young successor then pro-
"Tumko dekha toh yeh khayaalaaya", "Hoton se choo lo tum","Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho","Kal chaudvin ki raat thi", "Terachehra kitna suhana lagta hai","Sarakti jaaye hai rukh se naqaab"and "Baat niklegi toh".
Jaswinder sang not onlyghazals but Punjabi songs as well.
The audience applauded each
note and each word sung bypounding of the tables.
On stage, Jaswinder was in fullform: an entertainer, performer, ar-tiste, born to sing! He regaled theaudience with ghazals, geet andfast-paced Punjabi numbers. Hehas three albums to his credit:'Yours Truly', 'Dilkash' and 'IshqNahin Aasan'. From these albums,he rendered romantic ghazals:
"Yun toh kya kya nazar nahin aata,koi tumsa nazar nahin aata"; "Dilko thaama unka daaman thaam ke,Mere dono haath nikle kaam ke";and "Jo kiissi par fida nahin hota".
Jaswinder revealed that hehails from a musical family and iseternally grateful for being guidedby his father Kuldip Singh, a giftedmusic director in his own right. He
is credited with composing time-less numbers like "Tumko dekhatoh yeh khayaal aaya" (SaathSaath) and "Itni shakti hame denadaata" (Ankush).
Under his father's tutelage,Jaswinder has made singing hisfull-time career. "I can only sing. Idon't know anything else besidesmusic. Music is my bread and but-ter. Music is for my soul", he said.
Jaswinder Singh with organizer Ashwin Patel
Under his father's tutelage, Jaswinder hasmade singing his full-time career. "I canonly sing. I don't know anything else be-sides music. Music is my bread and butter.Music is for my soul", he said
ceeded with a heartfelt tribute tothe legend by rendering a numberof his timeless ghazals, beginning
with "Jaane woh kaun sa deshjahan tum chale gaye". This wasfollowed by "Pyaar ka pehla khat",
CHICAGO: The Chicago Pub-lic Schools (CPS) recently heldtheir Local School Council (LSC)elections at 540 schools withnearly 6,500 candidates runningfor the school-based seats. TheLSC election is one of the largestmunicipal elections in the UnitedStates.
Local School Councils consistof six Parent Representatives, twoCommunity Representatives, twoteacher Representatives, one non-teaching staff member, the princi-pal, and (in high schools) a stu-dent.
The Northside of Chicago hadmany strongly contested LSCraces. Liaquat Ali Khan, owner ofPar Birdie Foods, ran as Commu-nity Representative from DewittClinton Elementary School locatedat 6110 N. Fairfield Ave. Khan wasvictorious being placed first outof a field of three candidates with98% of the vote.
The largest demographic ofstudents at Clinton Elementary isAsian at 40%. "Clinton Schoolwas ranked 161 in the entire cityby Chicago Magazine. This is anissue of concern and I will workhard with my fellow LSC officialsto improve and raise the school'sstandard," said Liaquat Ali Khan.
Local School Councils werecreated by the Illinois General As-sembly in 1988 to empower localcommunities to have greaterpower in deciding how schools arerun. The LSC has the right to
choose the school's principal fora four-year contract and help de-velop, approve, and monitor aschool improvement plan andschool-based budget. Researchindicates that active cohesiveLSCs have helped schools signifi-cantly improve student achieve-ment and increase parent and com-munity involvement.
Liaquat Ali Khan,owner of Par BirdieFoods, ran as Com-munity Representa-tive from DewittClinton ElementarySchool located at6110 N. Fairfield Ave.Khan was victoriousbeing placed first outof a field of threecandidates
Talented singer Iqbal Quassimpasses away
MADHU PATEL
Slain student's bodyflown to family in India
Ahmed Khan
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: The body ofSeshadri Rao Kanagala, themaster's student of Boston Uni-versity who was shot dead byunknown assailant(s) has beensent to his family back home inBhubaneshwar, India.
According to MohanNannapaneni, Executive VicePresident of the Telugu Associa-tion of North America (TANA), theDeputy Consul General at the In-dian Consulate in New York andTANA's Team Square volunteersworked tirelessly to send
Seshadri's body by an Air Indiaflight to India on April 23.
Seshadri was shot dead by uni-dentified person/(s) in the earlyhours of April 19, in Allston, Mas-sachusetts.
Nannapaneni, who headsTANA Team Square, saidSeshadri's shocked parents con-tacted the Indian consulate andTANA for assistance. "Ever since,TANA Team Square has been in-tensively involved and made allnecessary arrangements to sendSeshadri's body to India," he said.
CHICAGO: Hindi/Urdu musicworld and music lovers, especiallyhis fans in the US, Pakistan andIndia lost a talented artist in IqbalQuassim, who died here at a rela-tively young age.
A great singer, a friend, a tal-ented artist and enthusiastic sup-porter of all that is music, he was aself made person. On April 22around 11am he had a massiveheart attack. Emergency crew re-vived him but on his way to hos-
pital he bid "Al Vida" to the familyand the friends, who loved himdearly.
Born in Bombay on Nov 18,1949, he was taken to Karachi atthe age of two.
Listening to the Ustads, he gotinterested in music and withyounger brother Ali AhmedKhasim and friends formed a groupand began singing. He also playedTabla and Harmonium.
Cont’d on page 20
Cont’d on page 20
BAPS Charities goes green for Earth Day
India Post News Service
CHINO HILLS, CA: Earth Dayis a global annual event aimed atpreserving the environment bypromoting green initiatives. Since
the first gathering, in 1970, EarthDay Network (EDN) has gatheredmore than 1 billion people to takepart in Earth Day activities each year,making it the largest civic obser-vance in the world. Volunteersaround the world gather locally toplant trees, recycle, and spread the
word about Earth Day's significance.This year, BAPS Charities vol-
unteers from Chino Hills, CA, par-ticipated in a local tree-plantingevent at the Veteran's Park onChino Hills Parkway. BAPS Chari-
ties youth volunteers planted ap-proximately 25 trees of four differ-ent types: Elderica pines, Easternredbud, Cinnamon camphor, andLiquidambar. "Today was a hugesuccess, we planted a good num-ber of trees" said Mike Curtiss, theLandscaping Inspector for City of
Chino Hills. "Thanks to the greatturnout of volunteers from the girlscout and BAPS Charities, wewere able to accomplish a lot."
In an effort to go beyond the24-hours dedicated to Earth Day,
the BAPS center in Chino Hillsutilizes green energy from solarpanels which results in a carbonfootprint offset of approximately1,220,000 pounds of CO2 per year.Additionally, BAPS centers arecontinuously finding new ways tocreatively harness cutting edge
environmental designs and mate-rials in their activities. Currently,many facilities utilize power sav-ing fiber optics, LED lighting andmanagement practices to ensureenergy consumption is both opti-
mal and efficient.Every year, BAPS Charities par-
ticipates in events like Earth Dayto offer individuals and families anopportunity to spend time improv-
ing the environment of their com-munity, making it safer andhealthier for generations to come.Globally, BAPS has recycled over10,000 tons of paper and 7 millionaluminum cans, planted 1.5 million
trees and conducted 497 rainwa-ter-harvesting projects. These ef-forts highlight the necessity ofmaking every effort to conserveour planet's precious resources.
This year, BAPSCharities volunteersfrom Chino Hills, CA,participated in alocal tree-plantingevent at theVeteran's Park onChino Hills Parkway.BAPS Charities youthvolunteers plantedapproximately25 trees
India Post 19May 4, 2012 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com
Fundraiser & fashionshow for Akshaya Patra
India Post News Service
LOS ANGELES: The AkshayaPatra Foundation has announcedits first major fundraiser and fash-ion show in the Los Angeles area.The luncheon event will be heldon Sunday, May 6 from 10:30 amto 3 pm at the Sheraton Hotel inCerritos, CA. Clothing by reputedIndian fashion designers Shyamaland Bhumika will be showcasedand available for sale, with a partof the proceeds going towardsAkshaya Patra.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation,a not-for-profit organization, cameinto being in the year 2000 to addresstwo of the most immediate challengesfacing India - hunger and education.The Foundation began its work byproviding quality mid-day meals to1500 children in 5 schools in Banga-lore with the understanding that themeal would attract children to schools,after which it would be easier to re-tain them and focus on their learningand development.
More than 10 years later, theFoundation has expanded its foot-print to serve over 1.3 million chil-dren daily from 21 kitchens across10 states in India. The mid-daymeal program is currently being
provided to over 9,000 schoolsacross the country.
Akshaya Patra combines goodmanagement, innovative technol-ogy and smart engineering to de-liver school lunches at a fraction
of the cost of other mid day feed-ing programs. It costs AkshayaPatra $15 to feed a child for theentire school year.
Akshaya Patra's next milestoneis to serve five million childrendaily by 2020.
The Sessions Court Judge ruledthat Rinkel had converted out ofher own free will, disregarding herearlier testimony that she had beenforced to do so. She also report-edly informed her mother during abrief meeting that the conversionwas not voluntary. The PakistanHindu Council subsequently pe-titioned the Supreme Court to con-sider the case.
Rinkel's parents later receivedthreats and were forced to fleetheir hometown in Sindh for neigh-boring Punjab province, wherethey sought temporary shelter ina gurudwara.
"The abductions and forcedconversions of Hindu girls in Pa-kistan continues to be used as aweapon of subjugation and ameans to intimidate the Hindu mi-nority into submission," saidSamir Kalra, Esq., HAF Directorand Senior Fellow for HumanRights. "The Pakistani govern-ment, police, and courts are allcomplicit in this phenomenon, andmust be held accountable by theinternational community for theirabject failure to protect the funda-mental rights of Hindus."
Human rights organizations,
including the Asian Human RightsCommission (AHRC), assert thatat least 20 - 25 Hindu girls are kid-napped and forcibly converted toIslam every month in Sindh prov-ince alone. The Hindu AmericanFoundation (HAF) has docu-mented such incidents in its latest
HAF condemns Pak courtruling on Hindu girls
human rights report, Hindus inSouth Asia and the Diaspora: ASurvey of Human Rights, 2011.
HAF has also collaborated withthe Pakistan Hindu Post to raiseawareness of Rinkel Kumari's caseand the plight of Hindus in Paki-stan through a petition to Secre-tary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Foundation be-gan its work by pro-viding quality mid-day meals to 1500children in 5 schoolsin Bangalore with theunderstanding thatthe meal would at-tract children toschools, after which itwould be easier toretain them and fo-cus on their learningand development
Rinkel's parents laterreceived threats andwere forced to fleetheir hometown inSindh for neighboringPunjab province,where they soughttemporary shelter ina gurudwara
Cont’d from page 17
California Muslim Day inSacramento on May 7
ADEL SYED
As one of the nation's mostintegrated and educatedfaith communities, Ameri-
can Muslims have an importantrole to play in our society's socialand political fabric. To that end,on Monday, May 7, the Councilon American-Islamic Relations,California (CAIR-CA) will host thefirst-ever California Muslim Day atthe Capitol.
American Muslims from all overthe state will gather in Sacramentoto meet and speak about issues ofconcerns with their legislators.The daylong event aims to intro-duce community members to thepolitical process and help them beactive in shaping the work of ourstate legislature. This event is de-
signed to equip community mem-bers with the tools and experienceneeded to have our voices countwhere key decisions that impactour lives are made.
During this first year, commu-nity members will focus on twoimportant pieces of legislation.The first piece of legislation, theWorkplace Religious Freedom Act(AB 1964), seeks to strengthen the
religious rights of minorities in theworkplace. The second piece of leg-islation, the TRUST Act (AB 1081),would keep immigration enforce-ment at the federal level and en-sure immigrant communities cansafely report crimes without fear ofdeportation. Both these pieces oflegislation are necessary to keep
California a place where diversityand equality remain at the forefront.
Furthermore, recent trends showthat the American Muslim commu-nity could be the largest swing votein this election. While such statis-tics are noteworthy, AmericanMuslim voter registration numbersare unfortunately still the lowest ofany religious community in the U.S.As American Muslims, translatingvalues that we hold into larger dis-cussions around issues at the lo-cal, state, and national level are para-mount.
In a recent study entitled "TheAmerican Mosque 2011," evidencesuggests that higher levels of reli-giosity and mosque attendancelead to higher levels of politicalparticipation. This can be seen inmosque participants' higher votinglevels, increased awareness of is-sues, correspondence with electedofficials, engagement with candi-dates running for office, and othersuch indicators.
As we near the 2012 electionprimaries, it is important for thecommunity to step up our civicengagement efforts. This can bedone by mobilizing communitymembers to register to vote, work-ing directly on political campaigns,or hosting candidate forums. Mus-lim Day at the Capitol is a greatfirst step down this path.
[Adel Syed is Government Re-lations Coordinator for CAIR-Greater Los Angeles Area]
In a recent study entitled "The AmericanMosque 2011," evidence suggests thathigher levels of religiosity and mosque atten-dance lead to higher levels of political par-ticipation. This can be seen in mosque par-ticipants' higher voting levels
Nannapaneni coordinated withBoston University officials, the In-dian Consulate, the funeral homeand the City of Boston for doingthe needful.
"The (shooting) case is stillunder investigation and we do notknow who and why they killedSeshadri as of now," Nannapanenisaid. It has also not been estab-lished whether it was a hate crime.
Seshadri was a BTech gradu-ate from NIT, Karnataka and wasdoing his MBA in MathematicalFinance in Boston University. In astatement posted on the Univer-sity website, President Robert ABrown offered condolences to thevictim's family and friends. ThePolice said that he was shot in thehead and leg and was pronounceddead at the scene. There has beena series of killings in Boston thatweek, say reports.
In 1988, he moved to New Yorkand started mesmerizing audi-ences with ghazals, geets as wellas folk songs in Punjabi, Gujarati,Bengali, Sindhi and Baluch. Herepresented Pakistan with his mu-sic in 55 countries of five conti-nents. He provided music in TV,
Talented singer IqbalQuassim passes away
Slain student'sbody flown tofamily in India
films as well as gave live stageperformances.
He is survived by his wife andfive children - two sons and threedaughters - besides his grandchil-dren.
Iqbal Quassim was a great en-tertainer for Hindi/Urdu Diaspora.May God grant strength to thebereaved family to bear this loss.
Cont’d from page 18
Cont’d from page 18
May 4, 2012India Post20 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com
21 India Post May 4, 2012www.indiapost.com
TechBizTech News
IIT-B part of consortium to set up appliedsciences center in New York
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: The Indian Insti-tute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) is part of a consortium led byNew York University (NYU) to setup the Center for Urban Scienceand Progress (CUSP), an appliedscience institute offering degreeand research programs in the areaof urban science. The campuswould be set up in Brooklyn, NewYork.
The academic and private-sec-tor consortium will create theNYU-CUSP, the next step in theNew York City's Applied SciencesNYC Initiative. New research andtechnologies developed at CUSPare expected to generate $5.5 bil-lion in overall economic impact and7,700 jobs over the next three de-cades.
CUSP would be a leading, state-of-the-art academic center and eco-nomic engine that will benefitDowntown Brooklyn and the en-tire City for generations, with aprojected completion date of 2017.CUSP will immediately begin op-erations by leasing and renovat-ing 60,000 square feet in Down-town Brooklyn for Phase 1 of itsprogram, which will accept its firstclass in September of 2013.
Approximately 150,000 squarefeet space will be designed forclassrooms, offices and laboratory
space, with an additional 40,000square feet programmed for thecreation of an incubator for busi-nesses spun off by CUSP orCUSP-related research.
The other institutions that arepart of the consortium are CarnegieMellon University, the Polytech-nic Institute of New York (NYU-Poly), the University of Toronto,City University of New York, theUniversity of Warwick, IBM andCISCO, among many others.
CUSP will be a second program
that is part of New York MayorMichael R. Bloomberg's plans tobuild strong ties with leading re-search universities around thenation and the world.
Mayor Bloomberg, with leadersfrom the various partner organiza-tions, announced the historicagreement among the city, theMetropolitan Transit Authority(MTA), and a consortium of world-class academic institutions andprivate technology companies, to
set up CUSP in Brooklyn. Led byNYU and NYU-Poly, CUSP willfocus on research and developingtechnologies for the critical chal-lenges facing existing cities, in-cluding infrastructure, tech inte-gration, energy efficiency, trans-portation congestion, publicsafety, and public health. The con-sortium will grant academic de-grees in engineering and/or sci-ences.
The consortium proposes tak-ing the MTA building at 370 Jay
Street, an underused, run-downbuilding in the heart of downtownBrooklyn, and renovating it into amajor hub for research. A pro-jected completion date of 2017 isbeing targeted, although CUSPwill immediately begin operationsin space in Brooklyn.
Steven E. Koonin, a formerundersecretary in the Departmentof Energy and provost of the Cali-fornia Institute of Technology, willbe CUSP's inaugural director.
In December, MayorBloomberg announced thatCornell and Technion universitieswould develop a technology cam-pus on Roosevelt Island. This an-nouncement is the next milestonein Bloomberg's Applied ScienceNYC initiative, which seeks to in-crease New York City's capacityfor applied sciences and dramati-cally transform the city's economy.Bloomberg said CUSP was se-lected through this highly com-petitive process "due to its uniqueand bold vision to provide solu-tions for the world's growing cit-ies."
"The Indian Institute of Tech-nology Bombay welcomes the in-ception of the Center for UrbanScience and Progress with thesupport of the New York City Eco-nomic Development Corporationand the appointment of Prof. SteveKoonin as its first Director," saidDevang Khakhar, Director of theIndian Institute of TechnologyBombay. "The Center presents agreat new opportunity to addressthe challenges of mega cities bythe generation of new knowledgeusing New York City as its labora-tory and by imparting educationwith a focus on the planning,building and managing mega cit-ies.
CUSP would be a leading, state-of-the-artacademic center and economic engine thatwill benefit Downtown Brooklyn and the entireCity for generations, with a projectedcompletion date of 2017
Contíd on page 23
Indian American team wins big for unique NYC travel appIndia Post News Service
NEW YORK: New York TripBuilder, an app developed by anIndian American team won thegrand prize in the Popular ChoiceAward of the NYC BigApps 3.0contest.
Launched by NYC MayorMichael Bloomberg three yearsago, NYC BigApps 3.0 is thethird annual competition for soft-ware developers and members ofthe public to create web or mo-bile applications using officialCity data.
Team members Mukul Pal,Shefali Sarangal, Charu Malhotra
and Vivek Puri developed NewYork Trip Builder, a travel site thathelps users personalize a trip injust a few quick steps. Users will
be able to easily create a person-alized itinerary, which will not onlyinclude "Must See" locations, butwill also include recommended
places by NYTripBuilder.com thatare specifically personalized forthe user. The itinerary can be re-trieved at any time and any place
simply by just logging intoNYTripBuilder.com through eithera user's Facebook or Foursquareaccount.
A total of 11 winning applica-tions were selected from a record96 eligible applications that weresubmitted for this year's contest.
The Best Overall Applicationwas awarded to NYCFacets,which seeks to streamline andsimplify the process for access-ing, understanding, and utilizingthe tremendous amount of dataavailable in the City's NYC OpenData portal. Additional winningapplications focused on simpli-fying trips to New York City,travel on the City's subway sys-tem, and finding the best loca-tions to do work around the City.
Team members Mukul Pal, Shefali Sarangal,Charu Malhotra and Vivek Puri developedNew York Trip Builder, a travel site that helpsusers personalize a trip in just a few quicksteps. Users will be able to easily create apersonalized itinerary
Contíd on page 22
Airport chargesraised by 346percent
NEW DELHI: Air travel costfrom Delhi is set to go up soonwith airports regulator AERA de-ciding to raise airport charges bya whopping 346 per cent for twoyears, as airlines said the passen-gers would have to face the bruntof this massive hike.
The approximate increase inticket pricing on account of pas-senger fee alone would be aroundRs.290 in the domestic sector andRs.580 in the international sector.
The ticket prices can go up fur-ther depending on to what extentthe airlines pass on the additionalburden on them due to variouscharges to the passenger.-PTI
Over 2,00,0000 women addicted to Angry Brides
Angry Brides, an initiative toraise awareness against
dowry in India was launched ear-lier this year by Shaadi.com, theworld's largest matrimonial site.
The anti-dowry game hosted onShaadi.com's Facebook page hasreceived an incredible responsefrom people around the world. An-gry Brides, has been played byover 500,000 people in over 35 countries. What is even more remarkableis that over 200,000 of the total players are women. This strongly re-flects the changing approach of women against the social evil of Dowry.
Nokia launchesAsha 302 withfree music
Finnish mobile device manufac-turer Nokia has announced the
launch of yet another powerful yeteconomical feature phone underits Asha series in India. The newNokia Asha 302 is based on S40operating system and comes witha very comfortable and userfriendly Qwerty keyboard and abigger 2.4 inch display.
To power this device Nokia hasadded a 1 GHz processor whichmakes sure that users get theirwork done faster, without any hic-cups. After the Asha 303, the Asha302 is the second phone to offer aspeedy 1 GHz processor despiteof being a budget friendly device.
Google startsselling GalaxyNexus
Google has started selling Galaxy Nexus smartphones on
Google Play. This is the secondtime that the internet giant hasdecided to sell smartphones aftera failed attempt earlier in 2010.
The Galaxy Nexus is availablefor US $399. It runs on Android 4.0,which is popularly called "IceCream Sandwich". The device alsosupports NFC (near field commu-nication) technology and comespre-installed with Google Wallet,which enables users to use thephone as a method of payment andredeem offers at select retail shops.
22 India Post TechBiz Post May 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
Originally launched in 2009 aspart of the City's ongoing effortsto increase transparency in gov-ernment, as well as improve thequality of life for New Yorkers andvisitors, BigApps 3.0 has growneach year and this year includedmore than 230 new datasets frommore than 60 City agencies, com-missions, and Business Improve-ment Districts, for a total of nearly750 available data sets for devel-opers.
"New York City is home to themost creative people, the most tal-ented engineers, and the fastestgrowing technology community,"said Mayor Bloomberg at the awardceremony held at IAC Headquarters.
"Thanks to ourAdministration's work on initia-tives like BigApps, our technol-ogy incubators, and the newCornell NYCTech campus onRoosevelt Island, we're makingsure New York City has a brightfuture as a tech capital."
The winning applications forBigApps 3.0 will receive cashprizes totaling $50,000. In addition,several non-monetary prizes wereawarded, including two NY TechMeetup demo slots, two TechStarsfinalist spots, and membership in
Indian American team wins big forunique NYC travel app
the inaugural BigApps FoundersNetwork, which will providementorship, networking and busi-ness support services to helpthose selected launch or build theirstartup businesses.MyCityWay
Since its inception, NYCBigApps has become a catalystfor launching successful start-uptechnology companies, including
MyCityWay - also founded byyoung Indian American entrepre-neurs - which won a number ofawards including the Investor'sChoice award at the first NYCBigApps. Since 2010, the companyhas grown to over 70 cities and isnearing 5 million activations. Thecompany itself has received tworounds of investor funding and
grown to 15 people in the NewYork office and additional teammembers around the world.
Along with Mayor Bloomberg,MyCityWay announced thelaunch of its newest mobile app,MyCityWay NOW, which wasunveiled first for users in the NewYork City metro-area. MyCityWayNOW will feature a live, personal-ized dashboard, which is updatedin real time and provides informa-tion including news, weather, traf-fic, food and deals around the City.The innovative new interface willprovide users an experienceunique to mobile devices, includ-ing the use of color psychology,the first ever hyper-local smart ra-dius search and a question-basedvenue mapping.
"NYC Big Apps encouragedus to convert our idea into real-ity, and literally put it into thehands of millions of New York-ers," said Puneet Mehta, Co-Founder, of MyCityWay. "Now,we're helping both residents andtourists navigate, explore andenjoy over 70 cities globally.Today, we are thrilled to unveilMyCityWay Now, our newmetro-licious, comprehensiveand always connected mobiledashboard that personalizes ur-ban experiences worldwide."
Contíd from page 21
MyCityWay NOW willfeature a live, per-sonalized dash-board, which is up-dated in real timeand provides infor-mation includingnews, weather, traf-fic, food and deals
S&P cuts India's outlook to negative, warns of downgradeNEW DELHI: Global agency
Standard and Poor's (S&P) haslowered India's rating outlook tonegative and warned of a down-grade in two years if there is noimprovement in the fiscal situationand the political climate continuesto worsen.
The lowering of outlook fromstable (BBB+) to negative (BBB-)is expected to make external com-mercial borrowings expensive for
Indian Inc. It may also have impli-cations for the capital market.
"The outlook revision reflectsour view of at least a one-in-threelikelihood of a downgrade if theexternal position continues to de-teriorate, growth prospects dimin-ish or progress on fiscal reformsremains slow in a weakened politi-cal setting" said S & P's credit ana-lyst Takahira Ogawa in a statement.
BBB- is the lowest investmentgrade rating.
Commenting on the rating ac-tion, Jagannadham Thunuguntla,strategist and head of research atSMC Global Securities, said
"Indian (new) sovereign ratingis just one step away from junkbond status...Somehow I feel thedream of India growth story iscoming to an end".
The negative outlook, the rat-
ing agency further said, signalslikelihood of the downgrade ofIndia's sovereign within the next24 months. "A downgrade is likelyif the country's economic growthprospects is dim, its external posi-tion deteriorates, its political cli-mate worsens, or fiscal reformsslow", it said.
The lowering of rating outlookcomes despite Finance Ministry
pitching for an upgrade at the re-cent round of meetings betweenthe officials and representatives ofthe S&P.
S&P said India's real GDP percapita growth will likely remainmoderately strong at 5.3 per centin 2012-13, compared with about 6per cent on average over the priorfive years.
"India's favorable demographyand the increasing middle- classpopulation will undergird its me-dium-term growth prospects,which in turn will support the sov-ereign ratings," Ogawa said.
India's favorable long-termgrowth prospects and high levelof foreign exchange reserves sup-port the ratings, the agency said.On the other hand, India's largefiscal deficits and debt, as well asits lower middle-income economy,constrain the ratings, it added.
"High fiscal deficits and aheavy debt burden remain the mostsignificant constraints on the sov-ereign ratings on India. We expectonly modest progress in fiscal andpublic sector reforms, given thepolitical cycle--with the next elec-tions to be held by May 2014--andthe current political gridlock,"S&P said.
Such reforms include reducingfuel and fertilizer subsidies, intro-ducing goods and services tax(GST), and easing of restrictionson foreign ownership of varioussectors such as banking, insur-ance, and retail sectors, it said.
On the other hand, S&P saidthe ratings "could stabilize againif the government implements ini-tiatives to reduce structural fiscaldeficits and to improve its invest-ment climate".
Fiscal measures could include
an increase in domestic prices anda more efficient use of fuel and fer-tilizer subsidies, or an early imple-mentation of the GST.
Reacting to the rating action, asenior Finance Ministry officialsaid India's growth rate is intactand robust and it is not going tohave any major impact on the coun-try.
"We are not overtly concernedabout revision. Other nationsmake India look good," the offi-cial added. -PTI
S&P's rating providestimely warning, says Pranab
India's favorable long-term growth prospectsand high level of foreign exchange reservessupport the ratings, the agency said. On theother hand, India's large fiscal deficits anddebt, as well as its lower middle-incomeeconomy, constrain the ratings, it added
NEW DELHI: Terming Standardand Poor's decision to lowerIndia's credit rating outlook tonegative as a "timely warning",Finance Minister PranabMukherjee has said there is noneed to panic as the governmentis committed to economic reforms.
"I am concerned but I don't feelpanicky because I am confidentthat our economy will grow at 7per cent, around 7 per cent if notplus. We will be able to control fis-
cal deficit and it will be around 5.1per cent", he told reporters here.
The Minister, however, saidthat government will take note ofthe S&P's decision to lower India'srating outlook to BBB- (the low-est investment grade rating) andwork for achieving higher eco-nomic growth.
"So economic reforms will beon track. The reform process andnecessary administrative deci-sions required to ensure that fis-cal deficit is retained at projectedlevel (will be taken).
"We should continue to workfor higher GDP... We will take note.It is a timely warning", the Minis-ter said.
Standard and Poor's,Mukherjee said, lowered India'srating outlook on two counts --inability to achieve 7 per centgrowth rate in 2012-13 and failing
to stick to the fiscal deficit targetof 5.1 per cent of the Gross Do-mestic Product.
"Perhaps because of these tworeasons and delay in the processof legislation particularly (those)...related to financial sector reforms,might have been the reasons forcoming to this conclusion. How-ever, they have not downgradedthe sovereign debt rating thoughthey have indicated that there is apossibility", he said.
Mukherjee inhis Budget for2012-13 projected agrowth of 7.6 percent and proposedto bring down thefiscal deficit to 5.1per cent, from 5.9per cent a year ago.
As regards theprojections, theMinister said, "I amconfident that wewill be able to stickto the numbers...
Situation maybe difficult, butsurely we haveconfidence that we
will overcome these difficulties."Admitting that there has been
delay in passing of certain finan-cial sector reforms bills, the Min-ister said, "we will try to get theselegislations enacted with a broadconsensus and I do hope some ofthe legislations may be enactedduring the latter part of the ses-sion and surely in Monsoon Ses-sion."
The government would dis-cuss the Direct Taxes Code (DTC)Bill in the next session of Parlia-ment, he said, adding that certainother legislations which had re-ceived approval of the StandingCommittee too would be taken upsoon.
The government has not beenable to push reforms in insurance,pension, banking and multi-brandretail because of political reasons.-PTI
Pranab Mukherjee
23India PostTechBiz PostMay 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
The work of the Center will ben-efit New York City directly and willprovide a template to addressmany issues of mega cities. Welook forward to contributing ac-tively as a consortium member ofthe Center through the partici-pation of our faculty who spe-cialize in the fields of engineer-ing and science related to urban
IIT-B part of consortium to set up appliedsciences center in New York
studies. The issues of our homecity, Mumbai, will provide uniquenew insights and will be a sourceof ideas for the work of the Cen-ter."
One of the three FoundingConsulting Partners, Arup, willprovide up to $150,000 per yearof consulting services at cost.CUSP will continue to seek toadditional private partners as itbegins operations. "We look
forward to contributing to thesuccess of what is arguably themost significant educational ini-tiative in the region," saidMahadev Raman, Regional Di-rector of the Americas for Arup.
The New York City EconomicDevelopment Corporation(NYCEDC) selected the NYU-ledconsortium to set up the appliedsciences campus in the City inexchange for City capital.
Contíd from page 21
Paul decries under the tablestyle of business
LONDON: The old, cozy, fam-ily and favorites and under thetable style of doing businesscould destroy India's commercialpotential as it taps Africa's vastmarkets, leading NRI industrialistLord Swraj Paul has warned.
"India and Africa must under-stand that professionalism andtransparency is the only path toprogress in business," Paul saidwhile inaugurating the 10th An-nual India Business Forum of the
London Business School here.With the economic and politi-
cal landscape of the world chang-ing in ways unimaginable a decadeago, he underlined that it is in-creasingly evident that profes-sional business training is one ofthe essentials for the globalisedeconomy.
"India has changed consider-able in this respect - professionalmanagement has transformed In-dian business - and for the better.I believe that lesson is not lost onAfrican entrepreneurs," he said inhis speech at the event titled 'In-dia and Africa: Getting down toBusiness'.
"For too long both our societ-ies have been burdened with thisold, cosy, family and favorites,under the table style of doing andmanaging business," he noted.
Recalling his personal experi-
ence, Paul, Chairman of UK-basedCaparo Group, noted that one ofthe biggest challenges in his ca-reer came when, some three de-cades ago, he confronted two ofthe largest companies in India busi-nesses.
"It was evident then that thecommercial potential of India wasdestroyed by these unprofes-sional managements," he saidwithout naming the businessgroups.
Paul, Chancellor of two BritishUniversities - Wolverhampton andWestminster - pointed out that inthe past 10 years, the global eco-nomic and political landscape haschanged dramatically with a re-markable transfer of wealth fromWestern world to the non-West-ern world.
"We have seen the powerfulgrowth of countries that have hada long history of mediocre perfor-mance. We have seen how theworld's leading economies havestumbled and lost considerabledynamism.
"All this suggests that we areliving in an era of unlimited possi-bilities- an era of great opportuni-ties for regions that did not dovery well for a long time," he saidnoting that Indo-African trade hasrisen 10-fold to USD 50 billion andthis figure was poised to increase
to USD 70 billion.Paul noted that India itself has
opened the doors of economicsuccess.
"Of course, there are pitfalls andpotholes along the way.
But a pattern and a pathway hasbeen set. There is no going backto the days of the Control Raj. Theissue now is how we go forwardand how we can speed up andbetter define a process that hasbegun. The obstacles are many but
the vision is clear," he said.He said India's success has
been, and will be, in the ways thatit interacts with global markets andthat some enterprises have alreadycompeted very effectively in themature markets of Europe andAmerica.
"But perhaps we have not giventhe attention we should to areaswith such significant potential asAfrica. Now, happily, that ischanging," he said.
"I am encouraged by the wayin which the Government of Indiais now beginning a planned inter-action with African countries andAfrican markets," Paul said whilerecalling the vision of former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi and Afri-can leaders like Nelson Mandelaand Julius Nyerere who sought tonourish Indo-African trade andeconomic ties. -PTI
“There is no going backto the days of the ControlRaj. The issue now is howwe go forward and howwe can speed up andbetter define a processthat has begun. Theobstacles are many butthe vision is clear"
Lord Swraj Paul
24 India Post TechBiz Post May 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
FinMin hits back, says Vodafoneknew of tax liability
NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry hashit back at Vodafone's claim that it was nottold of the tax liability on the Hutchison deal,saying that the British telecom giant wasprovided a copy of the notice.
"We have provided copies of the letter(about tax liability) to the concerned par-ties," Hutchison Essar, which was latertaken over by Vodafone, had said in its com-munication to the tax department on April 5,2007, a finance ministry official pointed out.
Vodafone in a statement had claimed that
it had never received any communicationfrom authorities to withhold tax while mak-ing payment to the Hutchison and de-scribed the comments of Finance SecretaryR S Gujral in this connection as "untrue".
The Income Tax Department had in March2007 advised the Vodafone to withhold taxwhile making payments to Hutchison to ac-quire its stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd in theUSD 11.2- billion deal. The deal happened inMay 2007, well after the tax demand wasraised in March 2007, the official said. -PTI
India launches earth observation satelliteSRIHARIKOTA, AP: Achieving yet an-
other milestone in its space program, Indiahas successfully launched its first indig-enous all-weather radar imaging satelliteRISAT-1 that will boost its remote sensingcapabilities and facilitate agriculture anddisaster management.
The perfect launch of the satellite cata-pulted India into a select band of countrieshaving indigenous radar imaging technology.
"Only the US, Canada, Japan and the Euro-pean consortium have the technology so far,"P S Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram SarabhaiSpace Centre, Thiruvananthapuram said.
Hailing the launch, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said it was an important mile-stone in India's space program and congratu-
lated the ISRO scientists for displaying mas-tery of the complex launch vehicle technology.
In a textbook launch, the 1,858 kg space-craft, the country's first microwave remotesensing satellite, was injected into preciseorbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLVC-19 about 19 minutes after a perfect lift offat 5.47 AM at the end of the 71-hour count-down from Satish Dhawan Space Centrehere, around 90 km from Chennai.
PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle ofIndian Space Research Organization,achieved its 20th consecutive successfulflight when it launched RISAT-1, the heavi-est satellite ever lifted by it, in a missiondescribed as a "grand success" by the spaceagency chief K Radhakrishanan.-PTI
www.indiapost.com25 India Post May 4, 2012
PREM KISHORE
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles is a magnetfor actors, models, writers, designers, musi-cians and dreamers. Magda Marcella is ayoung talented actress (American Nudist, TheObsession) who made her dream happen. Sheis on her way to the most prestigious 65thFilm Festival in Cannes next month. Her shortfilm Miracle Mile Girls of 13 minutes has beenselected for viewing by the jury.
The Festival de Cannes created "CannesShort Film" with the belief that young tal-ents of this generation will be the illustri-ous names of cinema in the future. AtCannes, short films are represented at theCompetition, at the end of which the Juryawards a Palme d'Or, and in the Short FilmCorner. Films arrive from all corners of theworld created by short film professionalsand they are stimulated by workshops andconferences during the Festival.
How did it happen?"I have always had an obsession to act.
I did small roles but it was tough. I faced somuch rejection and dead ends but I neverstopped waiting for the Big One. Suddenly,I was struck by the idea that perhaps I couldmake a film of my struggles."
And so with the help of a few closefriends who were also trying to scrabble atoehold in the harsh world of agents, audi-tions and heartbreak, Magda started writ-ing a script. She had always been enthralledand enamored with films and now shewanted to depict the raw honesty, the uttergritty harshness of the struggle and theactor's desire to bring her own special indi-vidual quality to a film.
LA actress's film selected for CannesMiracle Mile Girls follows the lives of two
aspiring young actresses who live togetherfired by idealism, hopes, ambitions only tobe thwarted by chilling reality and the hard-ships of focusing on a career that broughtfew rewards instantaneously.
"All of a sudden, my dream became big-
It all began in Austin Texas, when thetoddler Magda arrived from Germany (al-though she is Polish) with her parents. Soonacting became a passion and she went toMoscow to pursue her goal. Her parentswarned her about the dangers of the filmindustry, and even frightened her by say-
acted in a few independent comedies includ-ing Summer Resort Girls. She studied com-edy writing at the Upright Citizens Brigade(UCB) all the while developing an intensepassion for the craft of acting andstorytelling, studying Method Acting atIvana Chubbuck Studios.
And it was when she was on the rounds ofauditions and connecting with other hope-fuls in the film circuit that she felt this urge towrite about the trials and tribulations of youngpeople who keep banging on doors and wantto tell casting agents that if they only get oneshot they will not regret it. All they wish for isto find a presence on celluloid.
The film was made. Her first. From thefirst word on the page to packaging theDVDs. "It was the most difficult endeavorand I almost gave up the idea many times.
Location rentals, money were huge prob-lems. I am an actress and had to learn every-thing about production.
Once I had the raw footage, I went on asearch of a good editor. And that's wheneverything fell apart. The tension, frustra-tion and rejections took a heavy toll, I had anervous breakdown. I left for Poland to bewith my family. And that's where the miraclehappened. I found my editor KamilRutkowsk!"
The Festival has been held since 1946,except in 1948 and 1950, and this year's Fes-tival has attracted entries from 97 countries.Magda Marcella will be networking with in-dustry professionals and international rep-resentatives in the film business.
What has the producing experiencetaught her?
"How strong I can be. Never give up. Staytrue to yourself. It was joyful to create some-thing through my work and passion and con-nect with people who brought their own pas-sion and commitment to the work"
ger and bigger and I began to fundraise,make connections, get equipment to make afilm that expressed my experiences. Now thefilm has inspired a web series by the samename and we look forward to filming moreepisodes."
ing she would be kidnapped or murdered.They wanted her to do law or diplomacybut the theater was the place where sheknew she belonged.
She returned to the US and enrolled inthe American Academy of Dramatic art and
Cont’d on page 26
Magda Marcella
Sid Veda
A scene from the film
And it was when she was on the rounds of auditions andconnecting with other hopefuls in the film circuit that shefelt this urge to write about the trials and tribulations ofyoung people who keep banging on doors
May 4, 2012India Post
www.indiapost.com
26
First ever Oak Tree ShoppingFestival in May
India Post News Service
NEW JERSEY: Touchdown Media Inc.,in conjunction with Star India Plus and LifeOK announced the launch of the first-of-itskind annual Oak Tree Shopping Festival totake place over the Memorial Day Week-end. This 2-day extravaganza will be held inthe heart of the original 'Little India' in Iselin,New Jersey.
Developed by Touchdown Media, theevent is being organized to boost local busi-ness and bring all that Oak Tree Road hasto offer to the forefront and once again es-tablish it as the premier South Asian shop-ping destination.
Featuring deep discounts and special dealsat Oak Tree Road's finest shops and restau-rants, this first annual festival expects to drawfamilies from the East Coast and beyond.Merchants will offer discounts anywhere from30% to an unprecedented 70% on clothes,jewelry, fashion along with a unique promo-tion on food - a Restaurant Weekend withvaried specials for the throngs of shoppers. A$5 loyalty card can be purchased on thewebsite www.OakTreeShoppingFestival.comso customers can get free items at participat-ing restaurants at each visit.
"Unlike a carnival, this event is focusedto bring value to consumers as well as mer-chants on this bustling strip. It's a win-winfor all involved and we are excited to sharethis with the community," says Rahul Walia,CEO, Touchdown Media Inc.
To add to the excitement, Star India Pluswill be bringing in popular soap stars fromIndia to shop at this exclusive event.
"We are proud to be a part of the launchof what we expect will become an annualevent. This event reiterates Star Network'scommitment to the local community, i.e. ourviewers; it is also our way of expressing grati-tude to the small business advertisers whohave brought tremendous value to the gen-eral entertainment space with their support.We have been an integral part of such eventsin other countries and are pleased to nurturethe growth of this new initiative in the US,"says Rajan Singh, Executive Vice President -International Business for Star India.
Verizon FiOS has jumped on board as theAssociate Sponsor for the event. "Verizonis proud to sponsor the Oak Tree ShoppingFestival in the heart of New Jersey's LittleIndia," said Oscar Madrid, MulticulturalMarketing Director for Verizon. "We arethrilled to be part of this event with StarIndia Plus, a popular channel available onVerizon FiOS TV, and to showcase FiOS TV'samazing picture quality as well as the in-credible speed you get with FiOS Internetand Verizon's 4G LTE network."
This event will be free to attend andopen to the public May 26 and May 27,11am - 8pm.
LA actress's film selected for Cannes"I had an amazing group of people who
believed in my dream," she says. "An-drea Harrison, co-executive producer andactress, cinematographer HarrisonReynolds, Kristin West, Armin Nasseri theline producers, Sid Veda, Brooke Heatley,Jennifer Mather and Houda El Idrissi whocame up with the original theme song, 'YouNever existed.' All brought talent, skills,a vision, dedication, energy, excitementand enthusiasm. It certainly was a col-laborative effort and that is what the in-dustry is about. Creating art, entertain-ment, to feel you are part of a team where
every member leaves a mark on the fin-ished product. That is the only way tolive and the only way to work"
Magda is joyful, expectant and successhas come to her at a time when it is ratherearly for a young woman to get to Canneswith a first offering. But she is cooler thancool and is looking forward with excite-ment, to more work and bigger dreams asshe takes the LA-Cannes route
As the Artistic Director Thierry Fremauxsaid, "Cannes must be open to new ideas,while remaining faithful to its past, of course.Diversity can only enrich it. That´s whatmakes the Festival de Cannes our festival."
Cont’d from page 25
Merchants will offer dis-counts anywhere from 30%to an unprecedented 70%on clothes, jewelry, fashionalong with a unique pro-motion on food
May 4, 2012 India Post
www.indiapost.com
27
The new Indian woman has arrived: Shabana AzmiIndia Post News Service
MUMBAI: India has evolvedsince independence and so hasthe new Indian woman. Tracing,celebrating and to remove theroadblock to the evolution of thiswoman Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) organized a seminaron 'The New Indian Woman'.
Actor Shabana Azmi, Co-Chair, CII National Committee onMedia & Entertainment, said,"The new Indian woman has ar-rived and she is here to stay. Shehas found a voice and is speak-ing out. She is asking for her placein the sun without fear and at all
levels. This new Indian womendeserves more strength andneeds to be supported. When thisis done, the new Indian man willemerge and together the two willtransform society. They willchange notions of power so thatpower does not remain about op-pressing the powerless but ofsharing power and partnerships."
She further added, "The truemeasure of a country's progressis not just its GDP, but its humandevelopment index where empow-erment of women is an importantconstituent."
Mr Amit Khanna, Chairman, CII
National Committee on Media &Entertainment & Chairman, Reli-ance Entertainment expressed hisregret that while much haschanged since independence,much still needs to be done.
"What saddens me is that af-ter so many years of progressivethought and some affirmative ac-tion within the many India's thatcoexist in our nation, there's stilla lot more to do. Out of the ex-tremely poor in the world, 70% arewomen. 50% of all women and60% in South Asia are illiterate.Hence to me, the greatest prob-lem is gender bias which takes rootat the beginning of gender identity
formation.“This bias is so deeply in-
grained in our DNA that at su-perficial levels there might besymbolic changes, but a lotneed to be done on ground."
He further went on to saythat, "If we need to feel proudas a human race, it has to startwith the way we treat and honorour women who hold 50% of thesky with us."
In a lively discussion be-tween Shabana Azmi andBarkha Dutt both reiteratedthat their view of the world isinformed first by their identityas women.After Shabana Azmi said that she
was surrounded by feminists includ-ing her father, father-in-law and hus-band, and when asked if he was afeminist, Javed Akhtar said, "Soci-ety should be just and fair andpeople should get equal respectwithout regard for their caste, gen-der or religion. If that makes a femi-nist then I guess I am one."
Shabana Azmi consistentlysaid that the New Indian Womancan't emerge or exist without theNew Indian Man and togetherthey can make a modern, progres-sive society.
Munizae Jahangir, Journalist
and Documentary Filmmaker,gave a Pakistani perspective tothe position of women. She said,"A lot of change has happenedbut we have not had the chanceto understand the change. In Pa-kistan things are changing qui-etly and a silent revolution hasbeen brewing."
Director Kiran Rao said thatprofessionalism has helpedwomen in cinema. "When I began
14 years back, far cry from wish-ing to be able to make a film, I didn'tknow whether I could be on a set.There has been a sea change sincethen in the film industry and to-day women are practically in ev-ery space from the studio floor topost production." She added,"Women are attracted to spacesthat are professional and safe andwhere they would be judged notas a woman, but by their skills."
Actor and director Nandita Dassaid that the change is really slow."The cinema where I find less hier-archy and more democratic spaceas a woman is regional cinema.
“When I started doing regionalcinema, at some level the journeywas somehow different. The kindof stories and women charactersthey have, are far more layered andnuanced. There were more com-plex images of women," she said.
Shabana Azmi
May 4, 2012India Post28
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DatebookNEW YORK
UpcomingILLINOIS
UpcomingNORTHERN CALIFORNIA
U p c o m i n g
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAU p c o m i n g
Sat May 5
• Vaisakhi 2012 CelebrationVenue: Birminghuam Charter High School,17000, Haynes Street, Van Nuys, CATime: 3pmContact: 818-835-3374
Fri May 11• Moments with Pankaj UdhasVenue: Donald Wash Auditorium, 11271,Stanford Ave, Garden Grove, CATime: 7pmContact: 562-274-6588
Sat May 19• Crazy Mohanís Chocolate
Krishnaí in Aid of Akshaya,
MaduraiVenue: David Starr Jordan High School, 6500Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CATime: 5:30pmpm
Sun June 10
• Songs & Dances from Vibrant
GujaratVenue: Palace Theater, StamfordTime: 8pmContact: 203-322-9862Highlights: Gujarat, the Land the Legends:Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,Vikram Sarabhai, Jamshedji Tata and visionaryDhirubhi Ambani go down in history.But, Gujarat also stands for its literary traditionin the form of folk songs, narratives and theater.
Thurs Sept 27
• Ballet Folklorico De MexicoVenue: Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic St. Stam-ford, CT 06901Time: 8pmContact: 203-325-4466
Fri Oct 19
• Royal Drummers and Dancers
of BurundiVenue: Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic St. Stam-ford, CT 06901Time: 8pmContact: 203-325-4466
Sat May 5• Musical MelangeVenue: JP Stevens Hingh School, 855 GroveAvenue, Edison, NJTime: 4pmContact: 732-800-2336
Sat May 19• Baisakhi Celebration by GSCAVenue: South Brunswick Senior Citizen Cen-ter, 540 Ridge Rd, Monmouth Juction, NJTime: 712:30pmContact: 908-583-0422
Sun May 6• Kathakaanjali of Dance
Karishma Anniversary 2012Venue: De Anza College Visual & PerformingArt Amphitheater, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd,Cupertino, CATime: 4:30pmContact: 40257-2436
Fri May 11• Freshman Days: Ohlone Col-
lege Orientation
Venue:Ohlne College Newark Center, 39399Cherry Street, Newark, CATime: 3:30pm to 6:30pmContact: 510-979-7941
Sun May 6• Grand QawwaliVenue: Chinmaya Mission Auditorium, 1Union St, Andover, MATime: 5pmContact: 978-681-5678
Sat May 19• Hindu Heritage DayVenue: Marlborough Middle School, 26 UnionStreet, Marlborough, MATime: 3pmContact: 508-789-3548
Fri May 11• Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan LiveVenue: Atlanta Civic Center, 395, PiedmontAve, NE, Atlanta, CATime: 8:30pmContact: 404-718-0009
Sat May 5• Desi Speed Dating NYCVenue: Pranna NYC, 79 Madison Ave, NewYorkTime: 7:15pmContact: 732-444-8781
Thurs May 10• The Luxury ReviewVenue: The Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West18th Street, New YorkTime: 6pm
Sat May 12• India Property ShowVenue: Antum’s, 244 W Old Country Rd,Hicksville,New YorkTime: 10pmContact: 646-216-9090
Cont’d from page 30
Among the few exceptional hill resorts in India, is Pachmarhiin Madhya Pradesh. It is not on the usual beat of hillstation buffs and therefore, not over-developed. Though
considered a hill station, it does not offer the predictable moun-tain fare of awesome heights and spectacular scenery, for theSatpuras are low lying weathered hills. Pachmarhi's appeal islow key. Peace, seclusion and a quiet unobtrusive beauty are itsprime attractions.
Best time to visit: Throughout the yearA derelict church and houses with a perceptible colonial am-
bience are vestiges of the British Raj. It was in fact ColonelForsyth, a Bengal Lancer, who discovered Pachmarhi in 1857,and the point where he first sighted and fell in love with the areawas named after him and earlier called Forsyth Point. Today thishas been renamed Priyadarshini Point.
This enthralling feeling of Forsyth was echoed by other En-glishmen who, finding the town pleasant throughout the year,settled here and developed Pachmarhi into a cantonment whichit still is today. Development has come by way of governmentaided projects which are geared more towards cottage indus-tries.
Cont’d on page 30
May 4, 2012www.indiapost.com29 India post
India Post May 4, 201230 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com
Pachmarhi: Peace, seclusion and a quiet beautyTribal life: One can easily en-
counter the tribals, the Gonds andthe Korkus, busy gathering fire-wood. These are the native inhab-itants of the area who live in smallhuts or in almost primeval rockshelters.
They are a happy people con-tent with a simple lifestyle, fond ofsong, dance and the local brewmahua. Their distinct lifestylemanifests itself in a number ofquaint customs like the memorialblocks they carve for their deadwhich are rather like woodenslates, each with a figure carved inrelief representing the dead personriding a horse.
This is surprising becausehorses are hardly visible in the area.Perhaps the horses signify a jour-ney to the other world.
Pachmarhi is a place for walks,along the short or long chakkars,along the predictable way or alonglesser known routes where onecan come across rock shelterssuch as those in the Maradeo hill.
These are covered with paint-ings depicting warfare, food gath-ering and hunting, some dating asfar back as 1000 BC. Walks takeone through forests and mead-ows, to hill tops such asDhoopgarh, the highest point inthe Satpuras where the sunsets arequite spectacular, or down gorgesand valleys where water and shadehave led to a luxuriant growth ofvegetation in every conceivableshade of green.
Few sounds are heard otherthan the chirping of birds or thatof water trickling, flowing or thun-derously cascading into falls thatend in large azure pools.
Tourist attractionsThe Apsara Vihar or Fairy
Pool, is perhaps the most beauti-ful of pools in Pachmarhi. The de-scent is easy, the location ideal fora picnic and the pool shallowenough for a paddle. Some dis-tance away the Rajat Parbat or theBig Falls, true to their name gushdown from a height of over threehundred feet. Close to the RamayaKund, or Irene Pool, are the Duch-ess Falls, ideal for swimming.
These are not quite so spec-tacular but the setting makes themone of Pachmarhi's most beautifuland picturesque waterfalls.
Perhaps the beauty and seclu-sion led people to believe thatPachmarhi was a preferred placeof the gods, for the area aroundabounds in pilgrim spots.
The Chota Mahadev, a narrowpoint in the hills; Maradeo, thesecond highest point in theSatpuras, which comes alive dur-ing the annual Shivratri celebra-tions; Chauragarh, where a pilgrimpath leads to a sacred summit withseveral images of Shiva, and theJata Shankar cave where Shiva isbelieved to have hidden himselffrom the demon king Bhasmasur.
This is a sacred cave under amass of loose boulders which re-
semble the matted locks of LordShiva, hence the name. HandiKhoh, today a deep ravine, wasbelieved to be a huge lake whichwas guarded by a snake who ter-rorized all who came tovisit the sacred spots inthe vicinity. Shiva cameto the rescue and suc-ceeded in imprison-ing him in solidrock. Theflames ofw r a t h
ensuing from this divine battledried up the waters of the lake andthe empty space assumed the sau-cer-like shape of a handi or pot.
Priyadarshini Point, fromwhere Captain Forsyth first caughta glimpse of Pachmarhi, is an oftvisited spot. Lanjee Giri is of inter-est to rock-climbers as it offerssome easy scalings near the sum-mit. Jalwataran or Duchess Falls isanother important site and one cantrek to this picturesque water-fallwhich descends in three distinctcascades. Pandav Caves are fre-
quented by the tourists. ThePandav brothers are believed tohave spent a part of their exile inthese famous caves from whichPachmarhi takes its name.
Rail: Pipariya (47 kilometers),on the Bombay-Howrah mainlinevia Allahabad is the most conve-nient railhead.
Road: Pachmarhi is connectedby regular bus services withBhopal, Hashangabad, Nagpur,Pipariya and Chhindwara. Taxis are
available at Pipariya.
Walks take onethrough forests andmeadows, to hill topssuch as Dhoopgarh,the highest point in theSatpuras where thesunsets are quitespectacular
Cont’d from page 29
Haryana to promote heritage tourismNEW DELHI: Noting that Haryana was
witness to several historical battles, ChiefMinister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said herethe state government is maintaining oldmonuments which could help promoteheritage tourism.
Speaking after releasing a book titled"Heritage of Haryana, the chief ministersaid there is vast diversity in Haryana'shistory.
"It was here that the battle ofMahabharata was fought and the messageof Bhagavad Gita was delivered. It washere that three battles of Panipat werefought, which gave a new direction to thehistory of the country," he said, addingthat there were still many places in thestate where historical remains were foundduring excavation.
S K Mishra of Rural Heritage Organi-zation spoke about excavations con-
ducted at Rakhi Ghari and Rakhi Kalanvillages and said that Saraswati River hadits course in that area. Such places couldbe developed as centers of tourist inter-est, he said.
The book, authored by Yashpal Gulia,provides information not only about heri-tage of the state, but also about its cul-ture and history.
The government would send a copy ofthe book to all Deputy Commissioners soas to acquaint them with the monumentsof archeological significance in their re-spective areas.
Written in English, the book has color-ful illustrations of ancient monuments lo-cated in the state and provides descrip-tion of historical forts, royal palaces andtombs of archeological importance andancient "bawaris". -PTI
India PostMay 4, 2012 31Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com
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the revered Hindu shrines ofBadrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotriand Yamunotri,popularly knownas the 'Char DhamYatra', has begun.
Flagging off theyatra, UttarakhandChief Minister VijayBahuguna said thesix-month-long pil-grimage is the back-bone of spiritualtourism andeconomy of thestate.
Special accom-modation and elaborate securityarrangements have been made forthe pilgrims, expected to be around50 lakh this year, officials said.
Last year, in spite of the late startof the yatra due to inclementweather, large number of devotees,
both from the country and abroad,paid their obeisance at the fourdivine destinations. -PTI
No woman takers for lifeguard's position in Goa
S Africa buoyed by rise of Indian touristsJOHANNESBURG: South Af-
rica, buoyed by 26 per cent rise inthe number of Indian tourists vis-iting the country, will targetyoungsters as part of its campaignto tap the rapidly growing market.
Hanneli Slabber, Country Headof South African Tourism in India,is passionate about the 26 per centgrowth of tourists from India inthe past year.
"It's something to be excitedabout," Slabber told PTI.
"The nice thing about thegrowth is that the length of stayhas increased and the spendinghas not been affected by the eco-nomic downturn," she said.
"The huge increase was a cul-mination of hard work on both theSouth African and Indian sides,"Slabber said.
"The travel industry in India ismaking money out of South Africa
as a destination and the customerat the end of the day is happy aboutthe value that is retained in thepackage that he pays for," she said.
Slabber said although some ofthe growth was from businesstourism as trade between the twocountries continues to increase,the larger part of it was leisure tour-ism.
"We also find a lot of peoplecoming in for business travel andthen extending their stay for a holi-day.
"Surprisingly, Durban with itshuge Indian population is not afavorite destination for Indian tour-ists," Slabber said. Indians appearto prefer Cape Town and the Gar-den Route up to Port Elizabeth.
"What was also very interest-ing for us is that we are picking upthe younger market who go foradventure activities," she added.
"It's India's young people, andthe best part for me is that it isdriven by women. It's not the menbut the women who push theshark-cage diving and the bungee-jumping," Slabber said.
There were plans to push muchmore of South Africa to Indian tour-ists than just Cape Town, she said.
A lot of hope is being pinnedon a major annual conference ofIndian travel agents which will beheld in Durban in October this yearfor the first time.
Slabber said although officialfigures are still to come out, feed-back from tour operators and air-lines suggest that a campaignlaunched in January in India bySouth Africa's Tourism MinisterMarthinus van Schalkwyk has re-sulted in greater tourism to thecountry than in the correspond-ing period last year. -PTI
PANAJI: A fresh recruitmentdrive to appoint lifeguards on theGoan beaches has failed to attractwomen candidates once again, asenior official said.
The trend of women not com-ing forward for the coveted job isnot new. Goa Tourism DirectorSwapnil Naik told reporters here
evinced interest in the positionbut none of them were "up to themark".
DSRS held swimming test toselect 130 lifeguards, who will bepatrolling various beaches in ad-dition to the existing ones.
"House is open for women be-tween age of 18-30. But we are notgetting the response from them,"said DSRS CEO V K Kanwar.
The private firm has covered allbeaches in the picturesque stateby posting over 400 lifeguards whoare equipped with modern rescuegadgets.
The coastal state has seen adownfall in the number of deathsdue to drowning after the life-guards demarcated the beachesinto swimming and no-swimmingzones. -PTI
that not a single woman appliedfor the vacancy at the recruitmentdrive held by the Drishti SpecialResponse Services (DSRS) whichhas been guarding the beachessince 2008.
Naik said that there were twelverecruitment drives held in the pastduring which only three women
DSRS held swimmingtest to select 130lifeguards, who willbe patrolling variousbeaches in additionto the existing ones."House is open forwomen between ageof 18-30. But we arenot getting the re-sponse from them"
TOPEKA, Kan.: The tradegroup for travel and tourism busi-nesses in Kansas has joined aneffort to start a state program toplace some illegal immigrants inhard-to-fill jobs.
The Travel Industry Associa-tion of Kansas says it joined acoalition pushing state legislatorsto create such a program becauseit wants to address worker short-ages in some industries. The coa-lition includes the Kansas Cham-ber of Commerce and agriculturegroups.
The travel association alsosays it wants to prevent harm tothe tourism industry that mightoccur if legislators enact toughlaws aimed at cracking down onillegal immigration. -AP
WASHINGTON: The numberof Mexican immigrants living ille-gally in the U.S. has dropped sig-nificantly for the first time in de-cades, a dramatic shift as many il-legal workers, already in the U.S.and seeing few job opportunities,return to Mexico.
An analysis of census datafrom the U.S. and Mexican gov-ernments details the movement toand from Mexico, a nation ac-counting for nearly 60 percent ofthe illegal immigrants in the U.S. Itcomes amid renewed debate overU.S. immigration policy as the Su-preme Court hears arguments thisweek on border state Arizona'stough immigration law.
Roughly 6.1 million unautho-rized Mexican immigrants were liv-ing in the U.S. last year, down froma peak of nearly 7 million in 2007,according to the Pew HispanicCenter study. It was the biggestsustained drop in modern history,believed to be surpassed in scaleonly by losses in the Mexican-bornU.S. population during the GreatDepression.
Much of the drop in illegal im-migrants is due to the persistentlyweak U.S. economy, which hasshrunk construction and service-sector jobs attractive to Mexicanworkers following the housingbust. But increased deportations,heightened U.S. patrols and vio-lence along the border also have
18 arrested duringimmigrationraids in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa: Federalauthorities say 18 people havebeen arrested in Iowa on warrantsfor immigration violations.
A news release from the officeof U.S. Attorney NicholasKlinefeldt says the 18 were arrestedin Newton, Oskaloosa and Pella.
They're accused of administra-tive immigration violations. Theviolations include illegally resid-ing in the United States and vio-lating terms of their legal entry intothe country.
Klinefeldt's office says none ofthe 18 was arrested on criminalcharges.
The 18 people are likely to bedeported. -AP
played a role, as well as demo-graphic changes, such as Mexico'sdeclining birth rate.
In all, the Mexican-born popu-lation in the U.S. last year legal andillegal fell to 12 million, marking anend to an immigration boom dat-ing back to the 1970s, when for-eign-born residents from Mexicostood at 760,000. The 2007 peakwas 12.6 million.
Christian Ballesteros, who has
been at a shelter for immigrants inMatamoros, Mexico, across theborder from Brownsville, Texas,pointed to stiffer U.S. penalties forrepeat offenders as well as brutalcriminal groups that control theMexican side of the border as rea-sons for the immigration decline.Ballesteros, who has been de-ported four times, was recentlycaught after hopping the borderfence near Nogales, Arizona.
Man accusedof transportingillegal workers
MINNEAPOLIS: A 46-year-oldSt. Peter man faces federal chargesof transporting and harboring ille-gal immigrants, and an affidavit al-leges he provided some workersto larger companies in Minnesota.
The affidavit by an Immigrationand Customs Enforcement agentalleges Juan Arrazolo ran a poul-try business that contracted withcompanies including Gold'nPlump, Michael Foods and Crys-tal Farms.
The affidavit says one witnesstold authorities Arrazolo had asmany as two dozen workers, someof which were undocumented.When one worker told Arrazolo hewas undocumented, Arrazolo said``it was not a problem,'' the affida-vit says. -AP
``The Mexican cartels are tak-ing over, are actually being like theborder patrols on this side,''Ballesteros said. ``They threatenthem, ̀ if you don't pay, what we'regoing to do is we're going to cutyour head off.' That's the worst,the worst, the worst part,' 'Ballesteros said.
After his last apprehension byU.S. authorities, Ballesteros wassent to a detention facility in LasVegas for 21/2 months. He fears itcould be six months if he is caughtagain. ``You can lose money, butif you lose time there's no way youcan recover that time,'' Ballesterossaid, noting that many immigrantshave families to support.
Jeffrey Passel, a senior demog-rapher at Pew who co-wrote theanalysis, said Mexican immigra-tion may never return to its heightduring the mid-decade housingand construction boom, even withthe U.S. economy recovering. Hecited longer-term factors such asa shrinking Mexican work force.
He noted that government datanow show a clear shift amongMexican workers already in theU.S. who are returning home. Hesaid that data is a sign that manyimmigrants are giving up on life inthe U.S., feeling squeezed by in-creasing enforcement and limitedopportunities that they don't seeimproving anytime soon.
Use of employment firms for recruitmentCORA-ANN V. PESTAINA
(Continued from last week)
Under 656.17(e) (1) (ii), whenconducting recruitmentfor a professional posi-
tion, the employer must conductthree additional recruitment stepsto advertise the position. The em-ployer may choose from ten formsof recruitment including the useof a private employment firm orplacement agency. 656.17(e) (1) (ii)(F) states:
The use of private employmentfirms or placement agencies canbe documented by providingdocumentation sufficient to dem-
onstrate that recruitment has beenconducted by a private firm for theoccupation for which certificationis sought. For example, documen-tation might consist of copies ofcontracts between the employerand the private employment firmand copies of advertisementsplaced by the private employmentforms for the occupation involvedin the application.
In Credit Suisse Securities,2010-PER-103 (Oct. 19, 2010),BALCA rejected the employer'sargument that 656.17(f), requiringthat advertisements placed in
newspapers of general circulationor in professional journals statethe name of the employer and pro-vide a description of the vacancyspecific enough to apprise U.S.workers of the job opportunity,was not applicable to the addi-tional recruitment steps for profes-sional occupations, and held thatthe regulation in fact governs allforms of advertisement.
However, not all the additionalrecruitment methods for profes-sional positions readily lend them-selves to these requirements. Forinstance, when recruiting through
private employment firms, it makesno business sense to indicate thename of the employer because anapplicant could then bypass theheadhunter and apply directly tothe employer.
Indeed, in Credit Suisse Secu-rities, BALCA acknowledged innote 7 that the requirements of656.17(f) only applies to advertise-ments, and that it was not makinga determination with respect to jobfairs, on-campus recruiting, pri-vate employment firms and cam-pus placement offices.
Cont’d on page 36
Alabama bill makesimmigration lawchanges
MONTGOMERY, Ala.: The Ala-bama House has passed a bill thatmakes some changes to the state'simmigration law in response to com-plaints from some who said the lawinfringed on some civil liberties.
Cont’d on page 36
End of US-Mexico border fence
Details on page 36
Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer atPew who co-wrote the analysis, saidMexican immigration may never returnto its height during the mid-decade housingand construction boom, even with theUS economy recovering
India Post 35May 4, 2012 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com
ASTON, Pa.: Republican presi-dential candidate Mitt Romneyhas embraced a student loan pro-posal that President Barack Obamais selling on the campaign trail andrefused to endorse Sen. MarcoRubio's conservative immigrationplan aimed at helping young ille-gal immigrants.
The two policy positions sig-naled an effort by Romney to moveto the political center as he worksto court critical general electionswing voters including youngvoters and Hispanic voters after abrutal primary fight.
``I think young voters in thiscountry have to vote for me ifthey're really thinking of what's inthe best interest of the country andwhat's in their personal best inter-est,'' Romney said as he stood nextto Rubio, R-Fla.
Romney was campaigning inPennsylvania and answered re-porters' questions for the first timesince effectively securing the GOPpresidential nomination.
House Republicans have saidthe estimated $6 billion annualcost of extending low-interest ratesfor student loans isn't affordablewithout offsetting cuts but thatthey are still deciding whether tosupport a temporary extension.
Obama has started pushingCongress for the extension andplanned a three-state tour to warnstudents of the potential financialcatastrophe they will face if Con-gress fails to act.
Interest rates are set to doubleon July 1, from 3.4 percent to 6.8percent, on a popular federal loanfor low-and middle-income under-graduates.
``I support extending the tem-porary relief on interest rates forstudents,'' Romney said, thoughhe did not offer specifics on howthe extension should be paid foror how long it should last. He saidhe supports the extension because
of ``extraordinarily poor condi-tions in the job market.''
Romney refused to embrace aRubio proposal that would allowyoung illegal immigrants to remainin the United States to work orstudy. He did say there were provi-sions to ̀ `commend'' it and that hiscampaign would ̀ `study the issue.
Romney said during the SouthCarolina primary that all illegal im-migrants should return to theirhome country and get in line to beeligible for U.S. citizenship. Rubio'sstill-evolving bill would allowyoung illegal immigrants who
graduated from high school andhave no criminal record to obtaina nonimmigrant visa.
They could stay in the UnitedStates, obtain a drivers' licenseand work or continued their stud-ies but would have no special pathto citizenship.
Romney's answers illustrate thecareful line he has to walk as hetransitions from the primary to thegeneral election, where he'll haveto tussle with Obama for supportfrom the Hispanic, female andyoung voters who propelledObama to victory in 2008.
Obama, meanwhile, has to hangon to those constituencies. Histour through North Carolina, Colo-rado and Iowa is intended to rally
young supporters.Romney's language on loans,
for example, was distinctly differ-ent from the answer he gave whenhe was last asked about the is-sue. Prior to the Illinois primaryon March 20, he told a youngwoman concerned about studentdebt to ``get ready for PresidentObama's claim.''
``I know he's going to comeup at some point and talk abouthow he's going to make it van-ish. And that's another, ̀ Here, I'llgive you something for free.' AndI'm not going to do that,'' Rom-ney said. During that same an-swer, he said he wanted to keepinterest rates low.
Romney also tacked to the righton immigration during the primary.In recent days, he's been high-lighting Hispanic concerns atevents while leaving out much ofthe rhetoric he embraced earlierthis year. He said he would out-line additional changes to the im-migration system in the comingmonths, particularly with the visasystem that governs who is al-lowed to work in the U.S.
``I anticipate before the Novem-ber election we'll be laying outwhole series of policies that relateto immigration, and obviously ourfirst priority is to secure the bor-der, and yet we also have verysubstantial visa programs in thiscountry,'' Romney said. ̀ `How weadjust our visa program to make itfit the needs of our country issomething I'll be speaking aboutdown the road.''
Still, he wouldn't go so far asto embrace Rubio's immigrationproposal. Rubio has said his goalis to craft a Republican compro-mise on the so-called DREAMAct that Romney could support.The DREAM Act, which has lan-guished on Capitol Hill, wouldprovide a path to citizenship forsome young illegal immigrantswho attend college or serve inthe military.
The Cuban-American senatoris considered a top potential pickfor vice president. He's the latestin a string of possible runningmates to campaign with Romneyand is the first to get an auditionsince former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., left the race and Romney staff-ers formally began organizing theprocess of searching for a No. 2.
Romney declined to say ifRubio was on his list of vice presi-dential candidates. He said hiscampaign is still setting up the in-frastructure that's required to scru-tinize potential nominees, includ-ing hiring legal and accountingstaff. -AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney
Romney also tackedto the right on immi-gration during theprimary. In recentdays, he's beenhighlighting Hispanicconcerns at eventswhile leaving outmuch of the rhetoriche embraced earlierthis year
India Post36 May 4, 2012Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com
About 1.4 million Mexicans leftthe U.S. between 2005 and 2010,double the number who did so adecade earlier. In the meantime, thenumber of Mexicans who enteredthe U.S. sharply fell to about 1.4million, putting net migration fromMexico at a standstill. More recentdata suggest that most of themovement is now heading back toMexico, accounting for the dropin the illegal immigrant population.
During the same period, thepopulation of authorized Mexicanimmigrants edged higher, from 5.6million to 5.8 million.
Among the Mexican immigrantswho leave the U.S., an estimated 5to 35 percent are deported whilethe rest opt to go back voluntar-ily, often taking U.S.-born childrenwith them. Those who were in theU.S. illegally and returned toMexico also are increasingly say-ing they will not try to come backabout 20 percent, compared to 7percent in 2005.
The Pew estimates come amidheightened attention on immigra-tion in an election year where thefast-growing Hispanic population,now making up roughly 16 percentof the U.S. population, could playa key role. Arizona's law, beingchallenged by the Obama admin-istration in the Supreme Court,seeks to expand the authority ofstate police to ask about the immi-
Number of illegal immigrantsfrom Mexico drops
gration status of anybody theystop on the rationale that federalenforcement has largely failed.
Since Arizona's law passed in2010, five other states - Alabama,Georgia, Indiana, South Carolinaand Utah - have passed similarmeasures.
Steve A. Camarota, director ofresearch at the Center for Immigra-tion Studies, a Washington groupthat advocates tighter immigrationpolicies, said the latest numbersshow that immigration policies do
make a difference.``The bottom line is that immi-
gration is not the weather. It issomething that ... can bechanged,'' he said. ̀ `The economyis worse but enforcement is alsohigher, making it more difficult forimmigrants to get jobs in stateslike Arizona. They are now mak-ing new calculations and chang-ing their views.''
Other findings:
Illegal Mexican immigrants whohave stayed in the U.S. for longerperiods of time are now more likelyto be sent back by authorities thanbefore. About 27 percent of immi-grants sent back had resided in theU.S. for a year or more, up from 6percent in 2005.
Despite an increase in BorderPatrol agents, apprehensions ofillegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border have droppedsharply - from 1 million in 2005to 286,000 in 2011, a sign thatfewer illegal immigrants are try-ing to enter.
About 30 percent of all currentU.S. immigrants are Mexican born,by far the most from any singlecountry; that's down from its peakof 32 percent in 2004-2009. Thenext largest share comes fromChina (including Hong Kong andTaiwan), accounting for 5 percentof the nation's 40 million foreign-born residents.
A typical Mexican woman isprojected to have an average of2.4 children in her lifetime, com-pared with 7.3 children in 1960.
By region, Mexican-born immi-grants in the U.S. are mostly likelyfound in the West (51 percent) andSouth (33 percent). About 58 per-cent now live in California andTexas, down from 63 percent in2000 as immigrants spread outover the past decade in search ofjobs in other states. -AP
Now, employershave to be alert tothe fact that the DOLcould then use thatsame Kellogg lan-guage against themto argue that theyunlawfully rejectedUS workers
Cont’d from page 34
Use of employment firmsfor recruitment
In World Agape MissionChurch, 2010-PER-01117 (Mar. 23,2012), the employer conducted re-cruitment for the professional po-sition of "Pastor (Associate)" re-cruiting through a private employ-ment agency as one of the threeadditional recruitment steps forprofessional positions.
The CO issued an audit notifi-cation and, as part of its responseto the audit notification, the em-ployer submitted a letter from theprivate employment agency certi-fying that the agency had checkedits database for any qualified ap-plicants and had posted the jobposting online.
The job posting listed the jobtitle, salary information, a job de-scription, experience and educa-tion requirements, and that theposition was full-time.
The job posting was identifi-able by a job number. The CO ar-gued that the employer's namemust be included in an advertise-ment to ensure that the results ofan employer's test of the labormarket are legitimate. The CO cited656.17(f) (1), requiring that adver-tisements placed in newspapers ofgeneral circulation "name the em-ployer."
BALCA noted its decision inCredit Suisse Securities but heldthat an advertisement placed by aprivate employment agency is dif-ferent than one placed directly bythe employer. BALCA referencedits decision in HSB Solomon, 2011-PER-2599 (Oct.25, 2011) that656.17(f) does not apply to adver-tisements placed by private em-ployment firms.
However, World Agape Mis-sion Church makes it clear that theemployer still has a duty to recruitin good faith and to make the jobopportunity clearly open to all U.S.workers even when using a privateemployment agency.
Of particular note was the factthat the job posting provided ap-plicants with sufficient informationlike the job title, job duties, andeducation/experience require-ments, and even if it did not listthe name of the employer, it listeda job number which matched thejob number listed in the letter fromthe employment agency certifyingits recruitment.
This allowed the CO to matchthe listing to the agency's adver-tisement even without the inclu-sion of the employer's name in theposting.
Supervised RecruitmentAs the supervised recruitment
train keeps barreling through, wehave to keep on the lookout forany BALCA decisions to helpguide us through the process.
* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or
BALCA recently issued two deci-sions worth reading.
In Kennametal, Inc., 2010-PER-01512 (Mar. 27, 2012), BALCA heldthat the employer had improperlyrejected U.S. workers because itdid not consider the possibilitythat certain applicants could be-come qualified after a reasonableperiod of on-the-job training.
But most interestingly, BALCAheld that the employer's rejectionof applicants for not possessingthe requisite bachelor's degreewas unlawful and specificallylisted examples of applicants whohad an associates' degree and 10to 24 years of experience.
BALCA held that because theemployer indicated in its adver-tisements that it would "accept acombination of education, trainingand experience" (well-known topractitioners filing PERM applica-tions as the Kellogg languagebased on Matter of FrancisKellogg, 94-INA-465 (Feb. 2, 1998)(en banc), the employer shouldhave considered these applicants
and interviewed them to furtherevaluate their skills.
This is particularly interesting inlight of the fact that the DOL rou-tinely requests that employers listthe Kellogg language in the super-vised recruitment advertisementseven where it is not applicable.
Now, employers have to be alertto the fact that the DOL could thenuse that same Kellogg languageagainst them to argue that they un-lawfully rejected U.S. workers.
In JP Morgan Chase & Co, 2011-PER-00635, BALCA upheld theCO's denial of the PERM applica-tion under supervised recruitmentbecause the employer did not listthe addresses of the U.S. workerapplicants in the body of its re-cruitment report as required underthe supervised recruitment regu-lations at 656.21(e)(3) despite thefact that the employer had sub-mitted copies of all the resumeswhich listed the U.S. addressesof the applicants.
Cont’d from page 34
Alabama bill makes immigration law changesMONTGOMERY, Ala.: The Ala-
bama House has passed a bill thatmakes some changes to the state'simmigration law in response to com-plaints from some who said the lawinfringed on some civil liberties.
The bill passed on a 64-34 voteand now goes to the Senate fordebate.
The legislation makes changesto the law that supporters andopponents have called the tough-est crackdown on illegal immi-grants in the nation. The votemostly broke along party lines withRepublicans voting for it andDemocrats voting ̀ `no.''
The sponsor, Republican Rep.Micky Hammon of Decatur, saidthe changes were aimed at remov-ing confusing language and mak-ing the law easier to enforce.
Changes included giving ajudge the option to suspend abusiness that hires illegal immi-grants for up to 60 days instead ofthe 10 days in the current law.
Religious leaders had com-plained about a section of the lawthat that made it a crime to pro-vide or lodging or shelter to a
known illegal immigrant.The new law adds language
that says the law would not pre-vent a church or church-affiliatedorganization from ministering to orproviding help to all individualsregardless of immigration status.
Hammon said the bill does notmake massive changes to the im-migration law it just clarifies cer-tain sections.
``If we have a law that is con-fusing, it won't be enforced. I feellike we are going to have a stron-ger law and a more enforceablelaw,'' Hammon said.
Opponents of the immigration
law argued that it needed to berepealed and not rewritten.
``There is nothing about thisthat makes it okay,'' Democratic Rep.Patricia Todd of Birmingham saidof the changes the bill would maketo the immigration law. ̀ `''We are acountry based on immigration.''
Lawmakers debated the bill formore than five hours before de-ciding shortly before 5 p.m. to cutoff debate. A vote was delayed forabout an hour so that the 83-pagebill could be read at length.
The debate was sometimesemotional and lasted throughoutthe day
At one point more than 70 pro-testers gathered in the hallway out-side the House Chamber on the fifthfloor of the Alabama Statehouse.The protesters sang songs in Span-ish, prayed and urged legislators torepeal the immigration law.
One protester, Nancy Santillan,said she left Mexico because shecould not find a job and providefor her daughter, who was 2-year-old at the time. She said she cameacross the border holding herdaughter in her arms. -AP
About 30 percent ofall current US immi-grants are Mexicanborn, by far the mostfrom any singlecountry; that's downfrom its peak of 32percent in 2004-2009
At one point morethan 70 protestersgathered in thehallway outside theHouse Chamberon the fifth floor ofthe AlabamaStatehouse
India Post 37May 4, 2012 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com
Immigrant tuition bill moveson in Colo. House
DENVER: A bill that would al-low illegal immigrants in Coloradoto attend college at a discountedtuition rate is moving on in theHouse.
The bill is moving on to anotherHouse committee after the HouseEducation Committee narrowlyapproved it. The measure couldrun into more opposition later inthe Republican-led House, wherea similar measure failed last year.
The proposal would let illegalimmigrants who graduate fromColorado high schools attend col-lege at a rate lower than the out-of-state price but slightly higherthan the in-state rate. The studentsmust sign an affidavit saying theyare seeking legal status.
The bill has already passed theDemocratic-led Senate.
This is the sixth time Coloradolawmakers have debated the issue.
Thirteen states - includingTexas, California, Illinois and Con-necticut - have passed legislationgranting in-state tuition for immi-grant students, according to theNational Conference of State Leg-islatures.
Under this year's bill, Colorado
students who are illegal immi-grants would not get in-state tu-ition, which includes a state sub-sidy. An illegal immigrant studentattending the University of Colo-rado at Boulder, for example,would pay about $9,500 annually,compared with an estimated
$7,700 for Colorado residents andabout $28,850 for non-Coloradoresidents.
The proposal allows collegesand universities to decide not toparticipate. But many have ex-pressed support, including theUniversity of Colorado, ColoradoState University and the state sys-tem of community colleges. -AP
Fla. AG backs Arizona in immigration battleTALLAHASSEE, Fla.: Florida
Attorney General Pam Bondi issupporting Arizona in its battlewith the federal government overimmigration.
But the state's chief legal officeris changing her stance on whetherFlorida needs the same type of lawthat triggered the showdown be-tween Arizona and the administra-tion of President Barack Obama.
In February, Bondi signed onto a legal brief submitted by Michi-gan and 14 other states that sup-ports Arizona's right to pass itsown immigration law. The federalgovernment challenged the lawand the case will be argued beforethe U.S. Supreme Court this week.
She said she supports Arizonabecause each state should have
the right to enact its own laws.She said, however, that does
not mean Florida should pass itsown law that requires police, whileenforcing other laws, to questiona person's immigration status ifofficers suspect that person is inthe country illegally.
``I'm not saying that's right orwrong for Florida,'' Bondi said.
Bondi added that Arizona tookaction because the federal govern-ment has not adequately enforcedimmigration, but stressed ̀ `I'm notsaying Florida is in an identicalsituation.''
Her position now is differentfrom when she was a candidate forattorney general.
While campaigning back in2010, she said Florida lawmak-
ers should pass an Arizona-styled law.
``We have a constitutionalright to deal with the immigration
problem plaguing our state,''Bondi said in a campaign pitchthat she sent voters right beforethat year's Republican primary. ̀ `I
fully support the Arizona law andI strongly urge the Florida Legis-lature to follow suit and pass asimilar law.''
Since Arizona first enacted itslaw, federal courts have refused tolet four key provisions take effect,including one that requires all im-migrants to obtain or carry immi-gration registration papers.
Five states Alabama, Georgia,Indiana, South Carolina andUtah - have adopted variationson Arizona's law. Parts of thoselaws also are on hold pendingthe outcome of the SupremeCourt case.
Florida lawmakers in 2011 con-sidered a tough immigration bill,but the Republican-controlledLegislature could not ultimatelyagree on what should be in-cluded in the legislation. Thisspring lawmakers did not con-
sider any immigration legisla-tion. Bondi did not include animmigration bill on her list of toppriorities that she wanted legis-lators to consider this year.
The American Civil LibertiesUnion of Florida has sharply criti-cized Bondi for supporting Ari-zona, saying she was endorsingthe use of racial profiling by sign-ing onto the legal brief. HowardSimon, executive director of theACLU of Florida, said the Arizonalaw ``open the door for wrongfularrests, harassment and otherabuses.''
``As Florida's principal legalofficer, the attorney generalshould know that racial profilingis bad policing, and that it drivesan unnecessary wedge betweenlaw enforcement and the commu-nities it protects,'' Simon said in astatement. -APHigh court hears Arizona
immigration disputeWASHINGTON: The Supreme
Court is refereeing another majorclash between the Obama admin-istration and the states, this oneover Arizona's crackdown on ille-gal immigrants. The case could addfuel to the partisan split over toughstate immigration laws backed byRepublicans but challenged bythe administration.
Like last month's argumentsover President Barack Obama'shealth care overhaul, the immigra-tion case is expected to be decidedat the end of June.
The arguments will focus onwhether states can adopt their ownimmigration measures to deal withan estimated 11 million illegal immi-grants, or whether the federal gov-ernment has almost exclusive au-thority in the area of immigration.
Arizona was the first of a half-dozen states to enact laws intendedto drive illegal immigrants else-where, a policy known as ̀ `attritionby enforcement.'' Even whereblocked by courts, these laws havealready had an impact on farm fieldsand school classrooms as fewerimmigrants showed up.
``If the federal government hadbeen doing and would continue todo its job in securing the border herein southern Arizona, this would notbe an issue. Unfortunately, theyfailed to do that so Arizona steppedup and said, `We want to be part-ners. Here's a role we think we canplay,''' said Sheriff Larry Dever ofCochise County, which shares an83.5-mile border with Mexico in thestate's southeastern corner.
The administration says it hasboth increased border enforce-ment to keep people from enteringillegally in the first place and
picked up the pace of deporta-tions. In its first two years, theadministration deported nearly800,000 people, far higher on ayearly basis than President GeorgeW. Bush's administration.
The Obama administrationsued to block the Arizona law soonafter its enactment two years ago.Federal courts have refused to letfour key provisions take effect:requiring police, while enforcingother laws, to question a person'simmigration status if officers sus-
pect he is in the country illegally;requiring all immigrants to obtainor carry immigration registrationpapers; making it a state criminaloffense for an illegal immigrant toseek work or hold a job and allow-ing police to arrest suspected ille-gal immigrants without warrants.
Five states - Alabama, Georgia,Indiana, South Carolina and Utah- have adopted variations onArizona's law. Parts of those lawsalso are on hold pending the out-come of the Supreme Court case.
Civil rights groups thatmounted legal challenges indepen-
dent of the administration's say thelaws encourage racial profiling andethnic stereotyping. ̀ `It blurs whatused to be a very bright line, thatyou can't stop someone and askfor papers based just on how theylook,'' said Anthony Romero, execu-tive director of the American CivilLiberties Union. ̀ `But the impact ison citizens as much as immigrants.It's a dragnet approach that sweepsup law-abiding American citizensbased on the color of their skin orethnic origins.''
And the state laws alreadyhave had a marked effect onpeople's behavior, whether or notthe laws ever went into force, thegroups say.
In some states, crops rotted infields for want of workers to pickthem. In Alabama, where a provi-sion required schools to checkstudent's citizenship status, morethan 2,000 students stayed homethe first week the law was in effect,said Karen Tumlin, managing attor-ney for the National ImmigrationLaw Center. Foreign employees, in-cluding a German Mercedes-Benzexecutive, have been detained orticketed for not carrying immigra-tion documents. -AP
The American CivilLiberties Union ofFlorida has sharplycriticized Bondi forsupporting Arizona,saying she was en-dorsing the use ofracial profiling
Five states - Ala-bama, Georgia,Indiana, South Caro-lina and Utah - haveadopted variationson Arizona's law.Parts of those lawsalso are on holdpending the out-come of the Su-preme Court case
Thirteen states - in-cluding Texas, Cali-fornia, Illinois andConnecticut - havepassed legislationgranting in-statetuition forimmigrant students
May 4, 2012India Post www.indiapost.com38
1 Chikni Chameli: Agneepath2 Hosanna: Ek Deewana Tha3 Jhoom Jhoomta Hun Main
: Players4 O Saiyyan: Agneepath5 Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
: Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu6 Aromale: Ek Deewana Tha7 Kal Chalna Shuru Tu
: Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu8 Zara Dil Ko Thaam Lo: Don 29 Dil Yeh Bekarar Kyu Hai
: Players10 Sharminda Hoon
: Ek Deewana Tha
TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS
She's fast climbing up the ladder and mak-ing all the right moves. Sunny Leone who is currentlyshooting for Jism 2 is making headway in Bollywood. The adult star has reportedly signed onwith none other than Ekta Kapoor for her next film which is a sequel to Ragini MMS.
The film which will be a B-horror film will scare the audience while at the same time have themcoming back for more. The production team feels that Sunny Leone fits the role perfectly.
While the original film revolved around the video footage of Ragini and was loosely inspiredfrom the real story of a girl from Delhi, the sequel is also be inspired by a real-life story. However, thescale of the sequel is much bigger and it will be much scarier, sexier and more sensuous. Theshooting of the film will begin after Sunny finishes shooting for Jism 2.
Read the headline clearly, it'sChikni Kamar and notChikni Chameli. After
Katrina Kaif's hit Chikni Chameli,it's Sonakshi Sinha's turn to dancein an item song titled Chikni Kamar!
The song is a part of AkshayKumar's upcoming film RowdyRathore and Sonakshi is all chargedup to set the screen on fire with heroomphy gyrations in her first everitem song.
Sonakshi Sinha prefers to call thetrack - "a complete masaledaarsong". The song is choreographedby Vishnu. From the sidelines, di-rector and ace choreographerPrabhu Deva will also provide valu-able inputs. Though Sonakshi hasshown some jhatka-matka in her filmJoker, her item song for RowdyRathod will be in a different leaguealtogether.
Sonakshi has not been asked toshed weight for the song, nor is shedieting. "Prabhu Deva and every-one else I'm working with like methe way I am," claims Sonakshi.
She also confided that she hasperformed some of the action se-quences herself in the film.
India Post 39May 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
Bollywood
She is already shooting for a challenging role in MadhurBhandarkar's film Heroine, and now Kareena Kapoor hasbagged the role of queen Arundhati in the Hindi remake of
2009 Telugu blockbuster Arundhati.The Telugu Arundhati was one of its kind women-centric film
set in the ancient times with awe-inspiring graphics and technol-ogy. It was also Telugu cinema's biggest blockbuster. The movie'ssuper success made Anushka Shetty the top heroine of Telugufilms.
It's said that many top actresses like Katrina Kaif and RaniMukherjee were in the race to essay the role of queen Arundhatiwho kills a devil played by Sonu Sood, but the role has finallygone to Kareena Kapoor. Sonu Sood will play the villain in theHindi version as well. Gemini Film Circuit has acquired the Hindiremake rights of the film Arundhati and wants to give the samegrand feel to the Bollywood version.
Speaking about the role, Kareena Kapoor says, "I am excitedto do this film which gives importance to the female character."Arundhati is an action thriller with a few gory scenes as well.Anushka Shetty excelled in the character of Arundhati whichgot her Filmfare Best Actress Award of the year.
Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit has confirmed that shewill play the lead in Vishal Bhardwaj's "DedhIshqiya".
Directed by Abhishek Choubey, "Dedh Ishqiya" is asequel to 2010 film "Ishqiya", which starred Vidya Balan,Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi.
"Hey guys, back in action. Am doing 'Dedh Ishqiya'and 'Jhalak...' is right around the corner. More to come!Thanks for all ur patience and support!," she posted onher Twitter page. The sequel retains Naseer and Arshadin prominent roles.
In 2007, Madhuri, who is married to US-based SriramNene, was seen in the film "Aaja Nach Le", after which sheshifted back to US. The actress returned in 2011 to be ajudge on dance reality show "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa". And laterdecided to shift permanently to India with family. This willbe Madhuri's first film after shifting back to India.
Mallika Sherawat is all set to addanother feather to her cap. Theactress will be unleashing her
singing talent along with co-star SonuSood in her upcoming film Lucky Unlucky.
The song composed by Santokh SinghDhaliwa will have Mallika crooning in hernative language Haryanvi.
The movie will also have songs inPunjabi, Haryanvi, Telugu, Tamil andMarathi. Lucky Unlucky, directed by AfzalRizvi, is a road movie and the music for thefilm will be in the languages of the citiesthat the characters of Mallika and Sonuwould visit. The film also marks SonuSood's debut as a producer.
MALLIKA THESINGER
www.indiapost.com40 India Post May 4, 2012
Health ScienceHealth Line
Nobel Laureate, top physicians toaddress AAPI Convention
India Post News Service
NEW YORK: The 30th annualconvention of American Associa-tion of Physicians of Indian Ori-gin (AAPI) will be held in LongBeach Convention and Entertain-ment Center, California betweenJune 27 and July 1.
Dr. Sunita Kanumury, Presidentof AAPI, said more than 3,500members representing academi-cians, researchers, clinicians, medi-cal students, residents, and fel-lows will be addressing varioushealthcare related issues duringcutting edge educational seminars,panel discussions and lectures byworld renowned speakers fromacross the globe.
Thought provoking speeches,Continuing Medical EducationPrograms (CME), Women's con-ference, yoga for adults, alumnimeetings, entertainment by emi-nent artists and networking will besome of the highlights of the con-vention.
AAPI has many members inexecutive positions at their medi-cal institutions. These leaders are
product discussions and hands-ondemonstrations. Additionally, theconvention offers a range of mar-keting and educational opportuni-ties, such as CME sponsorship,publications, exhibitions, and sym-posium, Dr Kanumury said.
The star speaker at the conven-tion will be Nobel Laureate BruceBeutler, an American immunologistand geneticist. Together withJules A. Hoffmann, he received2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology orMedicine, for their discoveriesconcerning the activation of innateimmunity.
US Representative Ed Royce(D-CA), and a member of the Con-gressional Caucus on India andIndian-Americans will also be aguest at the convention.
The convention will offer over10 hours of CME credits. "Our pro-gramming will feature state-of-the-art clinical content from dynamicworld renowned speakers. Thesecarefully selected topics representareas of medicine that are of highinterest and importance to ourmembers," Dr. Kanumury said.
Indian cancer surgeon honored by NY City CouncilIndia Post News Service
NEW YORK: In a rare gesture,the New York City Council hascommended the service of Prof. DrC Palanivelu, founder-chairman ofGem Hospital and Research Cen-ter in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu forhis service to medicine and obe-sity control leading to better andhealthier life of people.
A Certificate of Recognitionsigned by New York City CouncilMember Peter Koo (District 20) onbehalf of the City Council was is-sued to Dr. Palanivelu. The CityCouncil hailed his contribution tomedicine and for creating aware-ness on lifestyle diseases and forbeing a pioneer in weight loss sur-gery in Asia.
Nassau County Executive Ed-ward Mangano has also issued anofficial signed proclamation tocommemorate Dr Palanivelu's visitto the US and for his service tothe cause of suffering humanity.
Mangano said Dr. Palanivelu was
the first Indian professor with privi-leges to operate and teach abroadwithout formal training and licensein the respective host countries.
The third award - "Living Leg-end of Laproscopy Award" - forhis pioneering works in the fieldof medicine and enhancing theimage of Tamils and Tamil Nadu in
global arena was also presentedat a function held in New York onApril 21 where a galaxy of speak-ers showered praise on ProfPalanivelu and his contribution tothe world of laproscopy.
Dr. Vellore S. Parithivel, Associ-ate Professor of Clinical Surgery/Albert Einstein College of Medi-
cine/ Deputy Chairman Departmentof Surgery/ Bronx Lebanon Hospi-tal Center and founder of Associa-tion of Tamil Medical Association(ATMA) said Dr. Palanivelu is con-sidered one of the top surgeons ofIndia especially in his field SingleIncision Laparoscopic Surgeriesand colorectal procedures. Hepresented the award to Dr.Palanivelu on behalf of New YorkCity Council.
Albert Chelladurai, advisor toNew York Tamil Sangam, in his ad-dress said Tamils in the US are proudthat Dr. Palanivelu received thehighest honor of the Royal Collegeof Surgeons of Edinburgh, UnitedKingdom in appreciation of his sci-entific contribution in the field ofminimally access surgery at globallevel. Also, Dr Palanivelu was thefirst Indian doctor to get Interna-tional Olympic Surgery SilverMedal conducted by the AmericanGastro-intestinal Endoscopic Sur-geons in Phoenix, Arizona, he said.
Cholesterollevels continueto drop
ATLANTA: US health officialssay only 13 percent of U.S. adultshave high total cholesterol. Thatmay seem incredible in a nationwhere two-thirds of adults areoverweight.
Experts believe it's largely be-cause so many Americans takecholesterol-lowering drugs, butdropping smoking rates and otherfactors also contributed.
The Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention released thereport whose numbers come frominterviews and blood tests ofnearly than 6,000 U.S. adults in2009 and 2010.
Cholesterol is a fat-like sub-stance in the blood. Too much to-tal cholesterol is a risk for heartdisease. -AP
Bid to improveblood pressuremeasurements
HONOLULU: The Hawaii stateDepartment of Health is launchingprogram to improve the accuracyof blood pressure measurements.
The department said the pro-gram will reduce errors in every-day diagnosis and treatment.
High blood pressure is one ofthe leading risk factors of heartdisease and stroke. The state saysone in three adults in Hawaii hasheart disease or has had a stroke.
The department it's beginningblood pressure measurement train-ing sessions this week. It's relyingon the help of the Hawaii MedicalAssurance Association, UniversityHealth Alliance, AlohaCare, the Ha-waii Medical Service Association andother private sector partners. -AP
Whooping coughepidemic in Wash.worries Oregon
PENDLETON, Ore.: Publichealth officials in Oregon are soworried about the whooping coughepidemic in neighboring Washing-ton State that some nurses are giv-ing out free vaccinations in shop-ping center parking lots.
The East Oregonian newspaperreports (http://bit.ly/I6Sl7Y ) thatOregon has 120 reported cases ofwhooping cough since January,most in Multnomah and Washing-ton counties. Oregon had fourpertussis-related deaths since2007, all infants.
Washington has 897 reportedcases so far this year, and thosehigh numbers are worrying publichealth officials in Umatilla County.The county is offering free vacci-nation clinics next month inPendleton and Hermiston. -AP
If Obamacare fails:employers & insurancefirms will take charge
WASHINGTON: If the SupremeCourt strikes down PresidentBarack Obama's health care law,employers and insurance compa-nies - not the government - will bethe main drivers of change over thenext decade and maybe even longer.
making decisions about medicaland pharmaceutical products, de-vices and equipment, and practice-related services at multiple levelsin hospitals, medical schools, out-
patient centers, and health carefacilities, she said.
The convention will offer anopportunity to engage a large in-fluential audience in personalized Cont’d on page 43
Congressman Ed Royce Nobel Laureate Bruce Beutler
Albert Chelladurai and Dr. Parithivel look on while Zahid Syed presents
the Nassau County proclamation to Dr Palanivelu
-Pic Ramesh Ramanathan/New York
Cont’d on page 42
Details on page 43
The star speaker at the convention will beNobel Laureate Bruce Beutler, an Americanimmunologist and geneticist. Together withJules A. Hoffmann, he received 2011 NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine
India PostHealth Science Post 41
www.indiapost.com
May 4, 2012
Measles deaths have plummeted over a decadeLONDON: The number of measles
deaths worldwide has apparently droppedby about three-quarters over a decade, ac-cording to a new study by the World HealthOrganization and others.
Most of the deaths were in India and Af-rica, where not enough children are beingimmunized.
Health officials estimate about 9.6 mil-lion children were saved from dying ofmeasles from 2000 to 2010 after big vaccina-tion campaigns were rolled out more than adecade ago. Researchers guessed the num-ber of deaths fell during that time periodfrom about 535,300 to 139,300, or about 74percent.
But the figures come with a big grain ofsalt; scientists only had solid data for 65countries. For the 128 others, they usedmodeling to come up with their estimates.
Despite the major dent, the progress failsto meet a WHO target to cut measles deathsby 90 percent by 2010.
``This is still a huge success,'' said PeterStrebel, a measles expert at WHO and oneof the authors of the study. ``You don't re-duce measles deaths by three quarters with-out significantly accelerating efforts.''
He noted that the global 85 percent vac-cination coverage rate was the highest everrecorded.
The study was paid for by the U.S. Cen-ters for Disease Control and Prevention andwas published in the journal, Lancet.
Measles is one of the most infectiousdiseases that exists and mostly affects chil-
dren. It causes a fever, cough and a rash allover the body. The disease kills about oneto two children for every 1,000 it infects andcan also cause pregnant women to have amiscarriage or premature birth.
Past progress in reducing measles hasled some health officials to consider whetherthey can eradicate it. Smallpox is the onlyhuman disease to have been wiped out.Other initiatives to rid the world of diseasesincluding polio and guinea worm remainlargely stalled.
``I am cautious about adopting too manyeradication campaigns at once,'' said NancyLeys Stepan, author of a book on disease eradi-cation and a professor at Columbia Univer-sity. She was not linked to the study.
Stepan said problems like getting good dataand the challenges of eradication make it morereasonable to stick to deadlines for reducingmeasles rather than trying to eliminate it.
In recent years, the disease has surgedin Europe _ the number of people infectedsince 2007 has tripled. Doctors say measlescases are rebounding in Europe becausepeople don't realize how serious the disease
is and are skeptical of the vaccine.The first measles shot was licensed in the
U.S. in 1963 and is now widely included inroutine childhood immunization programs indeveloped countries. Last year was the worstyear for measles in the U.S. in 15 years, with222 cases - mostly imported by foreign visi-tors or by U.S. residents infected overseas.
Daniel Berman, a vaccines expert atMedecins Sans Frontieres, noted there hasbeen a massive increase in measles acrossAfrica in the last two years, largely because
of backsliding on immunization campaignsand declining funds.
``The challenge is to find ways to makemeasles campaigns happen in countries withweak systems,'' he said.
Berman said it would be hard to dramati-cally improve the 74 percent drop in measlesdeaths and that it would probably plateau.
WHO's Strebel said just maintaining thedecline in measles still requires a major effort.He added experts are not ready to set anyeradication deadlines. ̀ `Let's wait until we geta bit closer to the top of the mountain beforewe say if we can get there,'' he said. -AP
The ticket to soothing endometrio-sis pain could be a daily bowl ofoatmeal. Endometriosis occurs
when little bits of the uterine lining de-tach and grow outside of the uterus. Ex-perts say these migrating cells can turnmenstruation into a misery, causing somuch inflammation that they trigger se-vere cramping during your period, plus aheavy ache that drags on all month long.
Fortunately, scientists say opting fora diet rich in oats can help reduce en-dometrial pain for up to 60 percent ofwomen within six months. That's be-cause oats don't contain gluten, atrouble-making protein that triggers in-flammation in many women, making en-dometriosis difficult to bear, explainsPeter Green, M.D., professor of medicineat Colombia University .
End endometrialpain with oats
TIP OF THE WEEK
Despite the major dent, the progress fails to meet a WHOtarget to cut measles deaths by 90 percent by 2010."This is still a huge success,'' said Peter Strebel, ameasles expert at WHO and one of the authors of thestudy. "You don't reduce measles deaths by threequarters without significantly accelerating efforts''
India Post Health Science Post42
www.indiapost.com
May 4, 2012
Cont’d from page 40
Prakash M Swamy, president ofNew York Tamil Sangam said Dr.Palanivelu brought laurels to In-dia, especially Tamil Nadu with hisresearch and scientific pursuit andput Tamil Nadu on the global map.He also recalled the Sixth WorldCongress of Laproscopic and En-doscopic Surgery in Rome, Italywhere Prof. Palanivelu was theonly Indian physician to be hon-ored for his contribution to thefield.
In his acceptance speech, ProfPalanivelu thanked the New YorkCity Council, Nassau County andNew York Tamil Sangam for hon-oring him and said he chose toserve his motherland despite lu-crative offers from the US hospi-tals and teaching institutions af-ter graduation.
Dr. Palanivelu has been invitedas a faculty for the 13th WorldCongress of Endoscopic surgery
Indian cancer surgeon honoredby NY City Council
to be held at Peurto Vallarta,Mexico April 23 to 26. The WorldCongress is a bi-annual affair or-ganized by International Federa-tion of Surgical Endoscopic Soci-eties (IFSES), a conglomeration ofdifferent laparoscopic associa-tions of the world.
Dr. Palanivelu's CoimbatoreCenter has tremendous experiencein treating certain cancerslaparoscopically. He has the larg-est published series oflaparoscopic Whipple's procedurein the world, a procedure whichwas once considered insurmount-able for treating pancreatic can-cers.
Dr. Palanivelu is also renownedfor his work widely known asthorocolaparoscopic esophag-ectomy for the treatment of cancerof esophagus. This procedure,called the 'Indian technique' waspopularized by Dr. Palanivelu thatimproved the survival of esoph-ageal cancer patients substantially.
Debate on letting parents say no to vaccinesMONTPELIER, Vt.: For Jenni-
fer Stella, it's a question of in-formed consent. Her son had aseizure after getting childhoodvaccinations and her daughtersuffered a ``head-to-toe'' eczemaoutbreak; she says parentsshould research the risks and ben-efits of immunizations and decidewhich ones are appropriate.
For Jill Olson, a mother of two,it's a matter of trusting the ex-perts. ``There's not really anyway that as an individual I cando more scientific study and re-search than the American Acad-emy of Pediatrics or the Centersfor Disease Control.''
For Vermont House SpeakerShap Smith, the state motto sumsit up: ``freedom and unity'' indi-vidual choice versus the publichealth benefit of having a highpercentage of kids vaccinated.
``It's a balance between indi-vidual rights and our obligationsto each other in society,'' theDemocratic speaker said.
For much of the legislative ses-sion, Vermont has been embroiledin a debate over whether to endthe ``philosophical exemption''essentially a right of refusal forparents who want to enroll theirchildren in school or child carewithout immunizations. The list ofshots called for by the stateHealth Department and the CDCis roughly 20 by the time a childenters kindergarten.
The CDC and state health offi-cials say Vermont is among thestates with the highest exemption
rates for childhood vaccinations.Some say it's no coincidence thatVermont recently has seen an out-break of one of the diseases thevaccines target: pertussis, orwhooping cough.
In 2010-11, the latest schoolyear for which data is available,an Associated Press analysis ofstate health department datashowed Alaska with nearly 9 per-cent of kindergarten children ex-empted. Colorado's rate was 7 per-cent and Vermont and Washing-ton state each had 6 percent.
As the 2012 legislative sessionwinds down, lawmakers are at log-gerheads: The Senate voted 26-4in early March to eliminate thephilosophical exemption; theHouse voted 93-36 earlier thismonth to keep it.
If no agreement is reached, thelegislation will die and Vermontwill remain among the 20 statesthat allow some form of philo-sophical exemption from requiredchildhood immunizations. All buta handful of states offer religiousexemptions, and all allow medicalexemptions for kids.
Many of Vermont's more vocalvaccine skeptics are active in al-ternative health and natural foodmovements and are critical ofwhat they see as a profit-drivenpharmaceutical industry. Stella, ahomeopathic health practitioner,works at a clinic that also offersmassage and herbal medicine.
Critics of the philosophical ex-emption say Vermont's immuniza-tion rates have been dropping, a
slide that must be halted to pre-serve what public health officialscall ̀ `herd immunity.'' That's whenmost of the population is immu-nized against a specific disease tokeep outbreaks from occurring.
Christine Finley, immuniza-tion program manager at thestate Health Department, saidthe percentage of Vermontkindergarteners with all their re-quired immunizations droppedfrom 93 percent in 2005 to 83 per-cent in 2010.
Aside from pertussis, Finleysaid, Vermont has not seen bigincreases in other vaccine-pre-ventable diseases, but she arguedprevention is necessary. ̀ `Do youwant to wait until you've got ameasles outbreak?'' she asked.
Stella's group, the VermontCoalition for Vaccine Choice,says the rate of vaccination de-cline is exaggerated, since kidsare counted as unvaccinated if
they miss just one of the re-quired shots.
Finley said Vermont and otherstates with high exemption rateshave seen recent outbreaks ofpertussis, or whooping cough, asometimes fatal bacterial infectionof the upper respiratory tract. Per-tussis vaccine is part of the re-quired childhood immunizationschedule. And because the immu-nity wears off over time, the CDCadvises everyone 11 and older toget a booster shot, Finley said.
Vermont saw 102 pertussiscases between January and thefirst week of April, Finley said, morethan were reported in the state alllast year. Washington State had 640cases of pertussis from Januarythrough March, up from 94 for thesame period last year.
One of the most vocal Vermontlawmakers pushing to end thephilosophical exemption has beenRep. George Till, D-Jericho, anobstetrician-gynecologist. He hascomplained bitterly of parents fail-ing to get their children immu-nized and putting other childrenat risk.
``The question is whether theyhave the right to endanger otherchildren in the school setting,'' hesaid during a recent House debateon ending the philosophical ex-emption.
Stella dismissed that criticism,saying vaccines aren't always ef-fective in all children and thatsome who have received shots areas susceptible to disease as thosewho have not.
One hot spot for the immuniza-tion debate in Vermont has beenMiddlesex, just outside the capi-tal of Montpelier, where 41 of 157elementary children at RumneyMemorial School come from fami-lies filling out a state form and ex-empting them from vaccines.
Rumney school nurse MarthaIsrael who was quick to say shewas speaking only for herself andnot for the school said she doesnot want to see kids kicked out ofschool because their parentswon't have them vaccinated.
``I don't think we deny our chil-dren in Vermont a public schooleducation because we don't agreewith the medical choices their par-ents make, when we're not in apublic health crisis,'' said Israel, aschool nurse since 1989.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has sidedwith the House's push for moreeducation on immunizations overthe Senate's push to remove thephilosophical exemption _ a 180-degree turn from the position hishealth commissioner, Dr. HarryChen, pushed for earlier in thisyear's legislative session.
``I do not believe that in theend the government should dic-tate to parents what inoculationstheir kids have to get in order toget a public education in Ver-mont,'' the governor said. Hesaid he wants Vermont to ``startwith more education, to separatethe myths that you read abouton the Internet with the facts thathealth care providers will giveyou on this.'' -AP
Many of Vermont'smore vocal vaccineskeptics are active inalternative healthand natural foodmovements and arecritical of what theysee as a profit-drivenpharmaceuticalindustry
Senators knock heads overyouth concussions
MONTPELIER, Vt.: A debateover health care reform grew toits most passionate when Vermontsenators turned to an amendmentdealing with high school athleteswho suffer concussions duringgames.
The debate ended with theSenate giving preliminary ap-proval to a bill earlier passed bythe House that sets up a regu-lated health care marketplacecalled an exchange in compliancewith the federal Affordable CareAct of 2010.
But the House-passed versioncontained a provision containinga standard saying that coachesneed only to have reason to be-lieve a student athlete has suf-fered a concussion before pullinghim or her out of a game or prac-tice.
Sen. Dick Sears wanted tochange that standard to the coachneeding to have actual knowledge
that a concussion had occurred.``I feel that's a fairer thing,'' hesaid, calling the ``reason to be-lieve'' standard too open to inter-pretation.
That drew a heated responsefrom Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, who said he had coachedyouth sports. ``There's no way acoach could ever have actualknowledge ... There would be nooccasion under which the coachwould not have to put that kidback in that game.''
``The question has been are wegoing to protect the safety of ourathletes ... because a second hitcould be catastrophic'' for a stu-dent athlete sent back into a gamewhile suffering from a concussion,Mullin said.
The exchange set off a lengthydebate in which senators de-scribed their own experiencesplaying or coaching sports.
Sen. Tim Ashe of Burlington
said the ̀ `reason to believe'' stan-dard would leave coaches pullingkids out of football, hockey andother rough games even after tak-ing minor hits. Tackle footballwould be reduced to ``two-handtouch,'' he said. ``We're going toreplace the ice (in hockey) withrubber mats ... They'll be reluctantto put kids back into games forinstances that are really not thatbig a deal.''
Sears and Mullin agreed onone thing: Parents often put tre-mendous pressure on coaches toput their children back intogames even when that should nothappen.
The House last year passedlegislation containing the ̀ `reasonto believe'' language; the Senatechanged the language to saycoaches would have to pull stu-dents out of events when theywere showing symptoms of a con-cussion. -AP
India PostHealth Science Post 43
www.indiapost.com
May 4, 2012
If Obamacare fails: employers & insurancefirms will take charge
Noted singers Sonu Nigam, Amit & SumitKumar, and comedian Navin Prabhakar willprovide the entertainment.
Deepak Rao, recognized as a Star Per-former, Conference Energizer and corporatecelebrity will also be present to entertainthe convention attendees. Rao is Asia'sleading Corporate Edu-tainer. Rao's showis structured to baffle and delight distin-guished gatherings with stunning demon-strations in Extra-Sensory-Perception, Te-lepathy, Déjà Vu, Tele-kinesis, Premonition,
Nobel Laureate, top physiciansto address AAPI Convention
and Intuition etc. Applauded as the singlemost classy form of interactive and edu-taining session in Asia today the 'E S P'Rao's show is expected to shock and awethe AAPI convention participants.
At the end of the convention, Dr.Narendra Kumar, currently AAPI president-elect and Michigan-based Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgeon in Saginaw, Michi-gan and Medical Director of an AccreditedSleep Diagnostic Facility will take over fromDr. Sunita Kanumury as president for theyear 2012-13.
Cont'd from page 40
WASHINGTON: If the Supreme Courtstrikes down President Barack Obama'shealth care law, employers and insurancecompanies - not the government - will bethe main drivers of change over the nextdecade and maybe even longer.
They'll borrow some ideas fromObamacare, and push harder to cut costs.
Business can't and won't take care ofAmerica's 50 million uninsured, but for themajority with coverage, here's what expertssay to expect:
* Workers will bear more of their ownmedical costs as job coverage shifts to planswith higher deductibles, the amount you payout of pocket each year before insurancekicks in. Traditional workplace insurance willlose ground to high-deductible plans withtax-free accounts for routine medical ex-penses, to which employers can contribute.
* Increasingly, smokers will face finan-cial penalties if they don't at least seriouslytry to quit. Employees with a weight prob-lem and high cholesterol are next. They mayget tagged as health risks and nudged intodiet programs.
* Some companies will keep the healthcare law's most popular benefit so far, cov-erage for adult children until they turn 26.Others will cut it to save money.
* Workers and family members will besteered to hospitals and doctors that canprove to insurers and employers that theydeliver quality care. These networks of medi-cal providers would earn part of their feesfor keeping patients as healthy as possible,similar to the ``accountable care organiza-tions'' in the health care law.
* Some workers will pick their health plansfrom a private insurance exchange, anothersimilarity to Obama's law. They'll get fixedpayments from their employers to choosefrom four levels of coverage: platinum, gold,silver and bronze. Those who pick rich ben-efits would pay more. It's an approach thatRep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP budgetleader, also wants to try with Medicare.
``Employers had been the major force driv-ing health care change in this country upuntil the passage of health reform,'' said TomBillet, a senior benefits consultant with Tow-ers Watson, which advises major companies.``If Obamacare disappears ... we go back tosquare one. We still have a major problem in
this country with very expensive health care.''Republican proposals for replacing the
health care law will help some businessesand individuals, but aren't likely to solvethe problem of the uninsured because ofthe party's opposition to raising taxes. TheGOP alternative during House debate ofObama's law would have covered 3 million
uninsured people, compared with more than30 million under the president's plan.
After the collapse of then-President BillClinton's health care plan in the 1990s,policymakers shied away from big health carelegislation for many years. Many expect some-thing similar to happen if the Supreme Courtinvalidates Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Starting in 2014, the law requires mostAmericans to obtain health insurance, ei-ther through an employer or a governmentprogram or by buying their own policies. Inreturn, insurance companies would be pro-hibited from turning away the sick. Govern-ment would subsidize premiums for millionsnow uninsured.
The law's opponents argue that Congressoverstepped its constitutional authority byrequiring citizens to obtain coverage. Theadministration says the mandate is permis-sible because it serves to regulate interstatecommerce. A decision is expected in late June.
The federal insurance mandate is mod-eled on one that Massachusetts enacted in2006 under then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Thatappears to have worked well, but it's un-likely states would forge ahead if the fed-eral law is invalidated because health carehas become so politically polarized. Rom-ney, the likely Republican presidential nomi-nee, says he'd repeal Obamacare if elected.
That would leave it to employers, whoprovide coverage for about three out of fiveAmericans under age 65.
``With or without health care reform,employers are committed to offering healthcare benefits and want to manage costs,''said Tracy Watts, a senior health care con-sultant with Mercer, which advises manylarge employers. ``The health care reformlaw itself has driven employers, as well asthe provider community, to advance some
bolder strategies for cost containment.''First, employers would push harder to
control their own costs by shifting more fi-nancial responsibility to workers.
Data from Mercer's employer survey sug-gests that a typical large employer can savenearly $1,800 per worker by replacing traditionalpreferred provider plans with a high-deduct-ible policy combined with a health care account.``That is very compelling,'' said Watts.
It won't stop there. Many employers areconvinced they have to go beyond hag-
gling over money, and also pay attention tothe health of their workers.
``As important as it is to manage thecost of medical services and products, andeliminate wasteful utilization, there hasbeen a strong recognition that ultimatelyhealthier populations cost less,'' said Dr.Ian Chuang, medical director at theLockton Companies, advisers to manymedium-size employers. His firm touts pro-grams that encourage employees to shedpounds, get active or quit smoking.
Employer health plans were already al-lowed to use economic incentives to pro-mote wellness, and the overhaul law loos-ened some limits.
A Towers Watson survey found that 35percent of large employers are currentlyusing penalties or rewards to discouragesmoking, for example, and another 17 per-cent plan to do so next year. The averagepenalty ranges from $10 to $80 a month, butone large retailer hits smokers who pick itsmost generous health plans with a surchargeof $178 a month, more than $2,100 a year.
Overall, one of the most intriguing em-ployer experiments involves setting up pri-vate health insurance exchanges, marketssuch as the health care law envisions in eachstate. Major consulting firms such as Mer-cer and Aon Hewitt are developing ex-changes for employers. -AP
A Towers Watson survey found that 35 percent of largeemployers are currently using penalties or rewards todiscourage smoking, for example, and another 17 per-cent plan to do so next year. The average penalty rangesfrom $10 to $80 a month, but one large retailer hits smok-ers who pick its most generous health plans with a sur-charge of $178 a month, more than $2,100 a year
NEW DELHI: The Hongkongand Shanghai Hotels Ltd that op-erates luxury hotels under 'Penin-sula' brand has said it is in talkswith interested parties for partner-ship to enter the Indian market.
"We have looked at severalproperties and held discussions inIndia to have a presence in thecountry," Hongkong and Shang-hai Hotels Ltd Director and ChiefOperating Officer Peter C Borertold PTI.
The company is scouting forassets in India to start operationsin Delhi and Mumbai. Unlike otherinternational chains, it will look toinvest in properties as ownerswith a majority stake.
Senior company officials havebeen visiting India for the last fourto five years to scout for potentialpartners, he said but did not disclosethe parties with which the companyhas been having discussions.
When asked why the companyhas not made progress so far, he
said: "We are looking for the rightpartnership for long term and wewant to go slow and steady in themarket."
Borer, however, did not com-ment on the timeline for openingits first property in India as well as
possible investments to be madein the country.
Commenting on the company'sbusiness model, he said: "Our phi-losophy worldwide is to invest inproperty and manage rather thanonly managing it."
The Hong Kong-based hospi-
tality chain currently operates ninehotels in Hong Kong, Tokyo,Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Ma-nila, New York, Chicago and Cali-fornia with an average room ofabout 200-300 per property. Theseproperties are positioned as busi-
ness as well as leisure destina-tions. The company is currentlydeveloping its 10th property inParis and is likely to be operationalby 2013.
When asked about room tariffof the chain, Borer said it variesfrom location to location but
ranges between USD 150 to USD900 per room per night.
The average occupancy levelacross the chain is about up to 75per cent.
Commenting on the Indian mar-ket, The Peninsula Shanghai Gen-
eral Manager Joseph W Y Chongsaid: "We are still learning aboutthe real estate situation in India.We will not compromise on loweror cheaper substitutes and ideallywe will go for a location which isculturally connected and centrallylocated." -PTI
India Post May 4, 2012www.indiapost.com
Real Estate44
Realty Tidbits
Details on page 46
Ministry working on safeguardsagainst abuse of ECB
The Finance Ministry isbuilding safeguards to en-sure realty companies do
not misuse the external commer-cial borrowing (ECB) window an-nounced in the Budget by divert-ing the money.
According to sources the mo-dalities are being worked out forimplementation of the Budget an-nouncements. These were likely tospecify the projects and also thedevelopers who would be allowedto utilize the ECB facility. The Fi-nance Ministry has cleared theway for implementation of the ECBannouncements for power, roadsand airlines. For affordable hous-ing, the go-ahead is expected intwo weeks.
Noting ECB is not allowed inreal estate as a general rule but theBudget had proposed to allowthese for low-cost and affordablehousing projects so that the costof borrowing could be lower forthe segment, the official said theguidelines would be framed to en-sure this.
Track2Realty has learnt that anescrow account may be made man-
datory to check that ECB fundsgo only for affordable housing andare not routed elsewhere. The min-istry is talking to various entities,such as the Housing Ministry,NAREDCO, the National HousingBank (NHB) and RBI. ECB is mostlikely to be routed through a chan-nel, like the NHB.
NHB CMD R V Verma has con-firmed that ECBs may be routed
through it, as it had an apex roleand aggregate lending would pro-vide 'economies of scale' to NHB,ensuring no risk was transferredto the sector. Verma did not divulgedetails, saying the matter was be-ing looked into by the Ministry ofFinance.
Real estate bodies want a cleardefinition of affordable housing."There needs to be clarity on the
definition and eligibility criteria,and the guidelines should be prac-tical. Otherwise, allowing ECBswould just be another statementto please people," says Lalit Jain,Chairman, CREDAI.
However, Sachin Sandhir, Man-aging Director-South Asia of RICSis not convinced with the argu-ment to allow ECB in the segment."First, the government needs to
give incentives to developers togo for affordable housing, such aslow development fees, stamp dutyexemption and tax rebate." Allow-ing additional sources of fundsthrough ECB is step two. Step oneis not complete, so step two doesnot seem to be of a great benefit,and attracting funds for low-costhousing will be a challenge, hesays.
The Ministry of Housing andUrban Poverty Alleviation(MHUPA) defines affordablehousing where the size of a unitranges from 300 sq ft to 1,200 sqft, and 25 per cent of the 300 sq ftunits are reserved for economi-cally weaker sections (300 sq ft forEWS, 500 sq f for the low-incomegroup (LIG) and 600-1,200 sq ft forthe middle-income group (MIG).
Section 35 AD of the IncomeTax Act defines affordable hous-ing; a couple of the criteria being"at least 90 per cent of the totalallocable rentable area of theproject shall comprise of afford-able housing units of EWS, LIGand MIG categories", and "at least30 per cent of the total allocablerental area of the project shall com-prise of affordable housing unitsof EWS category".
NAREDCO has recommendedthe finance ministry apply the af-fordable housing definition ofMHUPA for allowing ECB, as theI-T 35AD definition talks about 30per cent of the floor area ratio forEWS, and does not define size ornumber of units for these.
The Finance Ministry has cleared the way forimplementation of the ECB announcementsfor power, roads and airlines. For affordablehousing, the go-ahead is expected intwo weeks
Hongkong hotel scouts partner to enter India
Xander buysChennai officepark for $ 40 mn
NEW DELHI: Private equitycompany Xander Real Estate Part-ners has said it has acquired anoffice park in Chennai fromAppaswamy Real Estates for USD40 million.
"The real estate private equityarm of the global investment firm,The Xander Group Inc, has com-pleted the buy-out of a 'Grade A'office park in Chennai for USD 40million from Appaswamy Real Es-tates Ltd," the company said in astatement.
The office park is leased tomultinational tenants and Xanderis in advanced talks to lease theremaining space to other compa-nies, it added.
"This transaction is in line withour strategy to build a portfolio ofwell-located, income yielding In-dian assets. The purchase high-lights Xander's ability to identifyand acquire quality assets at at-tractive prices," Xander Invest-ment Management Pte PartnerRohan Sikri said. -PTI
Philippines sellsoff Marcosproperty
MANILA: The Philippine gov-ernment has auctioned off a primeproperty once owned by the latedictator Ferdinand Marcos formore than USD two million.
The 41,000-square-foot lot inthe mountain resort city of Baguiowas acquired by a real estate firmfor USD 2.16 million, said NickSuarez, of the Presidential Commis-sion on Good Government.
"It was a very successful,transparent bidding," and the fi-nal price was more than threetimes the minimum bid, addedSuarez, whose agency is taskedwith recovering the ill-gottenwealth of Marcos.
However, another Marcosproperty failed to sell after no bid-ders showed up, he said.
Both properties were surren-dered to the government byMarcos crony Jose Yao Camposin 1986 in exchange for immunityafter a popular revolt toppled theregime earlier that year.
Marcos ruled the Philippinesfrom 1965 to 1986, much of the timeas a dictator. His family and theirhenchmen are accused of stealingbillions of dollars in state fundsduring this period.
Although Marcos died in exilein 1989, his family has since re-turned to the Philippines. Hiswidow Imelda and their son, alsonamed Ferdinand, were elected toparliament in 2010. -PTI
Bengal seeks30% reservation
for low-costhousing
45India PostReal Estate PostMay 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
Govt mulls tax sops to revive SEZ boomNEW DELHI: It could be a second in-
nings for special economic zones, especiallythose held up for years, with the commercedepartment proposing fresh tax concessionsand a cut in the minimum area requirementto a quarter of the present specifications.
The department has suggested that anyzone that is not built around the identified40 million-plus cities and state capitalswould be eligible for duty benefits on capi-tal investment for construction of hotels,hospitals, schools and colleges, residentialand business complexes and training, lei-sure and entertainment facilities in what isbilled as non-processing area (NPA) infra-structure. Sources said that the zones willbe eligible for the tax concession if they arebuilt 50-100 km from an urban conglomerateand facilities have to be for exclusive use ofSEZ employees.
In case of SEZs constructed in 123 back-ward districts, this infrastructure can alsobe used by those who are not part of thezone, a 48-page note said. At present, therules specify that NPA can't exceed half thearea of an SEZ.
In addition, the department wants to ex-tend the benefits of export schemes to SEZunits, that are already available to entitiesoutside the zone, to make up for the levy ofminimum alternate tax and other tax conces-sions that were withdrawn by finance min-ister Pranab Mukherjee last year.
Further, nearly half the funding availableunder Aside, a scheme to build infrastruc-ture for exports, may be allocated for build-ing connectivity and infrastructure in SEZs.
Amid a flurry of SEZ development, whichmany had termed as real estate activity, thegovernment decided to withdraw tax con-cessions and phase out several of them.According to the commerce department,since February 2006, 585 SEZs have beenapproved and 381 have been notified, witha majority of them related to information
technology and IT-enabled services.Exports from SEZs are in of Rs 3 lakh
crore and account for over 28% of the ship-ments from the country. In all, over Rs 2lakh crore has been invested in SEZs so farand over 7 lakh people are employed in de-velopment and running of the zones andcompanies located there.
The number could have been much morebut several projects ran into land acquisi-tion hurdles. To tide over the land problem,the commerce department has proposed not
just cutting the minimum area requirementbut also changing the rules for contiguity.If the department's proposal goes through,a multi-product SEZ could be built over 250hectares instead of the minimum floor areaof 1,000 hectares at present (see table). Incase the zones are planned in the special-category states, which include the NorthEast and the hill states, the minimum arearequirement is proposed to be cut from 200hectares to 50 hectares.
Further, within the multi-product zones,
more flexibility is proposed to be given increating sector-specific areas if the land areais exceeded. For instance, if a multi-productdeveloper has 270 hectares, it can have onemulti-product zone and two others of 10hectares each for, say, handicrafts and gemsand jewellery. There will also be the optionto build four sector-specific zones of 10hectares each in case a developer has 40hectares land.
There is concession planned for IT SEZstoo with the commerce department suggest-
ing that the minimum land requirement of 10hectares be done away with. Also, the re-quirement of one lakh square meters of built-up area would be insisted upon only if theIT or ITES zone is in Delhi (NCR), Mumbai,Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune andKolkata. In case of 15 category B towns,this requirement is proposed to be fixed at50,000 square meters and 25,000 for all othercities.
There are other provisions too which areaimed at helping developers tide over theproblem of land acquisition. For instance,the commerce ministry has suggested thatcontinuity between the processing area,which houses the manufacturing units andrelated logistics, and NPA may not be in-stead upon.
"You can have several gates which aremanned by SEZ personnel to allay fears re-lated to physical contiguity in case thereare highways or water bodies," said an offi-cial.
If the move goes through, developerscan have over 50-60% of the processingarea in one plot of land, while residentialquarters, hospitals and schools can be builton another patch even if it is at a distance.
A commerce department official said theland norms were being changed as acquisi-tion had become difficult and the govern-ment was trying to push for setting up ofthe zones in smaller towns and cities.
The department wants to extend the benefits of exportschemes to SEZ units, that are already available to enti-ties outside the zone, to make up for the levy of mini-mum alternate tax
Hyderabad 3rd most affordable office locationNEW DELHI: Hyderabad has
emerged as the world's third mostaffordable office location in 2011in a list prepared by global realtyconsultant DTZ, which has alsonamed Chennai and Pune amongthe top five such positions.
According to DTZ's lateststudy 'Global Occupancy Costs -Offices', Surabaya in Indonesiaand Qingdao in China were placedin the top two positions of the chartas the most affordable office loca-tions in the world last year.
"While Tier II cities in India andChina dominate the list of top 10most affordable markets globally,Surabaya in Indonesia remainsnumber one," DTZ said in the re-port.
The consultant said HongKong, London, Geneva, Tokyo
and Zurich were the five most ex-pensive office markets in 2011.
DTZ said Surabaya andQingdao saw average rentals of $1,680 and $ 2,380 per workstationa year, respectively in 2011.
Hyderabad, Chennai and Punefollowed the top two places withrentals of $ 2,430, $ 2,570 and $2,590 a year per workstation re-spectively, it added.
The study showed that HongKong was costliest office placewith an annual rental of $ 25,160per workstation in 2011, followedby London and Geneva at $ 22,590and $ 18,740, respectively.
DTZ, however, said many cit-ies across the world are likely towitness decline in their rentalsduring this year.
"Under the downside scenario,
2012 offers occupiers a window ofopportunity in which to realizecost savings as rents decline… Inthe top five least affordable cities
are likely to benefit from fallingoccupancy costs over the nextfive years as sharp decreases inrents are expected in 2012 and2013, DTZ said.
of Paris, Tokyo, Geneva, Londonand Hong Kong, office rents fallin 2012 under the euro break-upscenario," it added.
Occupiers in Rome and Milan
The study showedthat Hong Kong wascostliest office placewith an annual rentalof $ 25,160 perworkstationin 2011
ous note of the inordinate delaybeing caused in payment of com-pensation to landowners inPunjab, the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court has told the stategovernment to ensure that nofurther delay is caused in thisregard.
If the state fails to do so, adivision bench has held, then theerring official will have to pay apenalty of Rs 1 lakh in each such
case which reaches the HighCourt. The High Court has alsopassed strictures against Punjabfor causing "unnecessary de-lay".
The directions have beenpassed by the division benchcomprising Justices HemantGupta and A N Jindal. The benchhas clubbed all such petitions to-gether - around nine - some ofwhich pertain to Mohali.
The petitioners, landowners,
in different petitions have movedthe High Court alleging that de-lay is being caused on petty andfrivolous grounds. This, the HighCourt observed, is "avoidable".
The petitioners also allegedthat despite conceding the factthat there is no dispute with re-gard to possession or ownershipof the property, the landownerswere being forced to approachthe High Court for demandingtheir compensation. -PTI
46 India Post Real Estate Post May 4, 2012
Bengal seeks 30% reservation for low-cost housing
Single-screen theatres find value as malls, apartments
The promise of Ma, Mati,Manush governance byMamata Banerjee may fall
short of the second M-word,meaning land - at least for real es-tate developers in the state's capi-tal city.
For, the West Bengal govern-ment has now decided to bring inan amendment to the Urban Land(Ceiling and Regulation) Act(ULCA), 1976, an eyesore of de-velopers for quite some time. Theproposed alteration will stipulate
the developers to reserve 30 percent apartments in big housingprojects for the low-income group(LIG). Industrialists have beenseeking a total repeal of the Act,introduced in 1976 to preventhoarding or excessive holding ofland in urban centers.
West Bengal is one of the fewstates in the country to have a leg-islation like the ULCA. The moveis in sync with the apprehensions
of the chief minister. After all,Banerjee had once wondered,"What will happen if someonewants to buy the city?"
According to the Act, the ceil-ing limit on vacant land in a cat-egory 'A' city like Kolkata is 7.5cottah or about 500 square meters.
The demand for repealing theULCA was raised for the first timeby Godrej Properties chairmanAdi Godrej, at an industry meetwithin the first month of Banerjeetaking over the chief minister's
office.Much to the disappointment of
the developers, urban develop-ment minister Firhad Hakim hasnow totally ruled out the possibil-ity of repealing the Act. "We arenot going to abolish the Land Ceil-ing Act," he said. "Instead, we willgive permission to developers forpurchase of land beyond ceiling,provided they reserve 30 per centhousing for low-income housing
segment."The amendment will be a part
of a bigger urban developmentpolicy that the government is ex-pected to announce next month.
For West Bengal, which hasnot seen the launch of any majorreal estate projects since theTrinamool Congress governmentcame to power 11 months ago, themove is seen as a dampener foralready sluggish real estate mar-ket.
Prominent city-based devel-oper Santosh Rungta says it is not
feasible to reserve 30 per cent ofthe project size for the LIG seg-ment. "The responsibility of thestate is being thrust upon the pri-vate developers," according toRungta, who is a former presidentof the Confederation of Real Es-tate Developers Association ofIndia.
The body is now set to hold ameeting with government, insist-ing that not more than 15 per centof the reservation was possible forLIG segment.
As for the Trinamool dispen-
"We are not going to abolish the Land CeilingAct," he said. "Instead, we will give permis-sion to developers for purchase of landbeyond ceiling
sation, it has also decided to doaway with the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) - an ideapioneered by the earlier Left Frontgovernment under BuddhadebBhattacharjee. Instead, "the gov-ernment will allocate land to thehighest bidder and for the rest ofthe big projects the state will buildon its own," according to Hakim.
Notably, in spite of the LandCeiling Act, the earlier governmenthad windfall gains by allottingland in prime areas of city.
For example, three prominentgovernment agencies involved inland deals in and around Kolkata- the Kolkata Metropolitan Devel-opment Authority (KMDA),Kolkata Municipal Corporationand West Bengal Housing Board-signed deals worth more than Rs18,000 crore, for over 5,250 acresof land during the period in littleover two years.
In fact, KMDA was creditedwith signing deals, worth morethan Rs 800 crore with real estatedevelopers on a single day.
"The process of land allotmentslowed substantially over the lasttwo years. First, it was due to elec-tions," said a city-based real es-tate developer. "second, it wasdue to lack of vision and policyof the new government."
BANGALORE | CHENNAI: Thesomber story of projectors whir-ring to a halt at old cinema the-atres is taking a heartening turn,with appreciating land prices of-fering hapless owners not able tocompete with multiplexes a way outof the dark.
Abdul Rehman, owner ofBangalore's Galaxy Theatre, hasconverted his single-screen the-atre to a mall that will sell premiumand luxury products. "There was
no point running a single-screentheatre. We were losing businessto multiplexes," says Rehman,whose newly-built Embassy Gal-axy Mall has 189,762 sq ft of up-scale retail space on a 1.1 acre plot.
Much like Rehman, owners of AloChhaya in Kolkata, Thangam inMadurai, Ashoka and Elphinstonein Patna, Majestic in Delhi, Anandin Chennai and City Light in Mumbaihave also brought down the curtainson their theatres to convert them to
commercial or residential complexes."The old theatres are losing color
as they are not able to compete withthe technologically superior multi-plexes. So theatre owners are nowcashing in on escalating landprices," says Jehil Thakkar, whoheads the media and entertainmentpractice at KPMG India.
Even as single-screen theatresare proving increasingly unviable,turning them into multiplexes iseither not possible or too expen-
sive in many cases. That explainswhy, according to the Film Fed-eration of India, the number ofsingle-screen cinema theatres hasdwindled to 10,167 from 13,000over the past five years.
In cities such as Mumbai, wheremore than 30 single-screen the-atres have shut shop, thegovernment's exit policy is hurt-ing the business, says Punit Shah,general secretary of Cinema Own-ers & Exhibitors Association of
India. "The lack of planning andregulations for redevelopment ofcinemas according to new stan-dards is also causing hardship forthe owners and landlords," saysShah, who also owns Mumbai'sDeepak Talkies.
While Shah's theatre is amongthose that continue to operatedespite dwindling margins, AloChhaya in Beliaghata, amongKolkata's oldest cinema halls, ismaking way for apartment blocks.
Cyrus Mistry was never with SD Corp:Pallonnji Group
MUMBAI: The city-basedconstruction major ShapoorjiPallonji Company has denied thatCyrus Mistry, the chairman-des-ignate of Tata Group, was a direc-tor of SD Corporation, as allegedin a PIL.
"Our attention has been drawnto reports in a section of mediaseeking to implicate Cyrus Mistryin a litigation filed by KetanTirodkar in the Bombay HighCourt against Maharashtra stateconcerning the redevelopment ofSamata Nagar by SD Corporationat Kandivli in Mumbai.
"Cyrus Mistry has never beena director of SD Corporation,
which is a joint venture betweenShapoorji Pallonji Group and theThacker group. As such he hasnever been concerned or involvedwith the affairs of SD Corpora-tion," a company statement said.
All the business transactionsthat Shapoorji Pallonji and SDCorporation have entered into arefully compliant with the law, itsaid.
The HC had issued a notice toPallonji Shapoorji Mistry, Cyrus'sfather, on the PIL which alleges thatthe real estate company had givenover Rs 250 crore to a firm ownedby Nitesh Thakur, a former deputycollector.
Nitesh has been arrested by thestate anti-corruption bureau oncharges of corruption. Accordingto the PIL, Nitesh and his brotherNilesh had formed a companycalled PRS Enterprises, to whichPallonji Shapoorji's real estatecompany paid Rs 258.88 crore.
The IT department inquiry hadconcluded that the parties failedto substantiate the reasons behindthe payment, the PIL alleges, seek-ing a further probe.
It also says that Thakur broth-ers disbursed bribe to governmentofficials on behalf of the Pallonjigroup for facilitating real estateprojects. -PTI
India Post 47
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Philosophy
If I am also changing I can'tobserve change
An important core teachingin Buddhism is self-love.Buddha teaches that you
love the self before extending thelove to others. In other words,before you are able to be a loveluminary, you must have the ca-pacity to embrace yourself fully.
Buddha observes, "You cantravel around the world to searchfor someone more lovable thanyourself, and yet that person isnever to be found." In otherwords, the search is not externalbut internal. You first find it fromwithin. To love the self is to be incontinuous connection with yourtrue essence. You learn to accept,appreciate and affirm who you are.
Unconditional love and compas-sion are divine qualities of your in-trinsic nature. When you connectfrom the inside, you experience theunfolding of wisdom. An inability toexperience true self-love leads to loveas something conditional.
You love yourself if and only ifyou fulfill a certain expectation of theself. Your love for others also be-comes conditional. Clouded by fil-ters and perceptions, the ability fortrue knowing of the self and othersbecome lacking.
Self-realization is key. Thismeans that you are to awaken intolove on an experiential basis. Youare to actualize it with your ownexperiencing. As it has been oftenpointed out, "the finger pointingto the moon is not the moon". All
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
Charms of technology haveenthralled the public al-most as a danseuse will. If
we carefully look back on the his-tory of the world, it is clear we arethe saddest generation of human-ity. But why?
The caveman had his laughterand was happy. The modern daysof rat race show improvementsonly on the outside surface. In theabsence of a set of values for our-selves how can there be happi-ness for human living?
The over-development of onecell to the exclusion of others iscalled cancer in medical terms. Thefaster development of one facet ofcivilization irrespective of the otherfacets is the cancer of modern times.
Instincts and impulses rule us.Each one of us is honestly search-ing for happiness in the wrongdirection. Desire after desire iswhat makes us unhappy. What isthe purpose of existence? Thereis an infinite variety in nature.
Who created this variety?Why? Such questions do not arisein the animal mind. Question, En-quiry, Discovery - this should beour style of living.
Everything is conditioned byTime and Space. BMI is constantly
changing. So is FET. At our presentlevel of evolution man cannot ob-serve the world objectively.Einstein himself despaired becauseof two changing factors. 'Jagat', theuniverse, itself comes from the rootword which means change or flux.
So to the question 'What is un-changing?' you cannot answerfrom your experience. Only the
Rishis can answer. There existssomething which does not change.Who is knowing that everythingis changing?
When you watch the roadside traf-fic, you are the Subject; everythingelse is the Object. Is there not in youa centre which is observing, know-ing and becoming conscious of allchanges? If I am also changing I can-not observe the change. If you arepart of the system of movement, you
cannot be a witness to the move-ment. But you are conscious that ev-erything is changing. Therefore youmust be the changeless.
There exists something in youwhich is changeless - in your BMI.This subjective essence in me ischangeless, because it is not con-ditioned by space and time. Thisimmortal essence, essential 'I' in
my true nature, is the pure Con-sciousness, Light or Awareness.All our experiences are dancingabout because of this.
They are all shining because ofthis Awareness. That which you arenot aware of does not exist. Thatthere exists such an essential Real-ity is the theme of all scriptures.There exists something higher inevery one of us. It is called Brah-man. That is not a thing in itself. It
is represented by AUM. It standsfor the changeless centre fromwhich one picks up all his con-scious experiences.
Matter is inert (no locomo-tion) and insentient (no aware-ness). "I" am also matter but "I"have locomotion and sentience.Therefore there exists some-thing other than matter. In the
bulb there exists something otherthan the bulb which makes itglow. In the steam engine thereexists something other than theengine which is propelling it. Itis the Power, Shakti. It expressesyou in you, me in me, the bird inthe bird and the plant in theplant. Life is one.
The 125th birth anniversaryof Swami Chinmayananda willbe observed on May 8
in, Buddha's teachings involve anexistential approach, rather thanthrough fuzzy understanding via areligious abstraction.
From self love, you lay theground for the expression of com-passion for others. You tune intothe sense of shared humanity. Yourecognize that others are no dif-ferent from yourself. Everyone isgoing through essentially thesame pain and sorrow - regardless
of the specific packagings of ex-ternal circumstances. You extendto others what you would extendto the self. By opening your heart,you gain a gentle-yet-powerfulconnection with all others.
Loving the self enhances yourability to send metta, generatingenergy that is real, pure and trans-formative. Many Buddhists practicethe sending of metta in their prayers.The Buddha shares insightfully,""Hatred can never be ceased byhatred; it is ceased by love alone."
Metta is the radiation of lovingkindness towards all beings. Thewish is this: may all beings be welland happy. True metta is a warmfeeling of generosity, compassion,abundance and love that extendsbeyond all human-imposedboundaries (such as political, ra-cial, social and gender barriersand the divide between humanand all other things).
Love is a practice. It is some-
thing that can be worked upon. Themore you practice, the greater yourability to love and be compassion-ate. Buddha encourages you toshare your light, "Thousands ofcandles can be lighted from a singlecandle, and the life of the candlewill not be shortened. Happinessnever decreases by being shared."
The Buddha concluded that put-ting our energy in grasping for tem-porary pleasures is not only useless,it creates many problems, also karmicactions which we had better avoided.
"Let me tell you about themiddle path. Dressing in rough anddirty garments, letting your hairgrow matted, abstaining from eat-ing any meat or fish, does notcleanse the one who is deluded.Mortifying the flesh through exces-sive hardship does not lead to atriumph over the senses. All self-inflicted suffering is useless as longas the feeling of self is dominant.
"You should lose your involve-
ment with yourself and then eat anddrink naturally, according to theneeds of your body. Attachment toyour appetites - whether you de-prive or indulge them - can lead toslavery, but satisfying the needsof daily life is not wrong. Indeed,to keep a body in good health is aduty, for otherwise the mind will notstay strong and clear."
Buddha Purnima, or the2575th birth anniversary ofGautama Buddha will be ob-served on May 6
Swami Chinmayananda
Love the self beforeextending love to others
Buddha
"You can travel around the world tosearch for someone more lovable thanyourself, and yet that person is never tobe found." In other words, the search isnot external but internal
That which you are not aware of doesnot exist. That there exists such anessential Reality is the theme of allscriptures. There exists somethinghigher in every one of us
49Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com
May 4, 2012 India Post
Agni V missile: What is itsstrategic significance?
PR CHARI
The successful launch ofAgni-V, with its 5000+ kmrange and 1500 kg payload,
has generated great euphoria inIndia. Manmohan Singh describedthe event as "another milestonein our quest to add to the credibil-ity of our security and prepared-ness…" Significant choice ofwords, since the Army Chief's in-dictment of defense preparednessto ensure the country's nationalsecurity is agitating the parliamen-tarians and strategic community inIndia.
Agni-V's successful launchingwas given extensive publicity bythe media and talking heads in the24X7 TV channels; they are gen-erally supportive of this successof the UPA government, as it stag-gers from one crisis to another.
In truth, the strategic directionof India's missile program was setin the mid-eighties; it was de-signed to traverse the route fromshort-range to medium-range tointermediate-range to inter-conti-nental range ballistic missiles.
It has taken unconscionablylong to reach the Agni-V milestone,which is classifiable as an inter-mediate-range ballistic missile; itwill take some more time to attainICBM (over 10,000+ km range) ca-pabilities.
Moreover, further tests, howmany is difficult to estimate, arerequired before Agni-V can befielded. Currently, it can only bedeployed overground or in silos.India would like, however, to de-ploy the missile in a road and railmobile mode. Then again, it wishesto develop a nuclear triad; henceAgni-V would ultimately be placedon land, aircraft and submarineplatforms to yield a failsafe deter-rent.
Claims, incidentally, aboutAgni-V's accuracy are unverifiablesince the precise splashdown areawas not identified before the test.Further developments would in-clude developing a version thatcould attack enemy satellites inspace, or be equipped with miniand nano satellites for civil or mili-tary purposes, or with multiple-warheads to attack several targets.Agni-V could also be equippedwith maneuverable warheads toevade attack.
Much could be argued for andagainst the proposition that Indianeeds to establish ICBM capabili-ties, which is subsumed in the criti-cism that India has not revealedthe strategic objectives underly-ing the Agni-V. Nationalists arguethat India must join the Nuclear
Club to dine at its strategic hightable. But, slight introspectionwould reveal the fecklessness ofseeking an extended-range Agni-V with an ICBM radius of action.
Does it wish to target Wash-ington, Moscow, Paris or London?That would ensure India being tar-geted, in turn, by all these coun-
tries. Strategic objectives need notbe expressed; they can be inferredfrom actions. Agni-V's strategicobjective is clearly to primarilydeter China. Indeed, Prime Minis-ter Vajpayee had clearly namedChina and Pakistan, and their stra-tegic links, to identify the nuclear
threat driving India's nuclear testseries in May 1998.
Reactions abroad to the Agni-V launch were muted, unlike thecacophony that erupted beforeand after North Korea's attempted
satellite launch, generally inter-preted to be a long-range missiletest. Such comparisons are whollyinvidious. India has not infractedany international norms bylaunching Agni-V.
In contrast, North Korea vio-lated its recent agreement with theUS prohibiting it from undertak-ing long-range missile tests in re-turn for food aid.
There are nuances in thesemuted reactions of various coun-tries to the Agni-V test that areworth noticing. The US responsewas mild, restricted to pointingout that India had a 'solid' non-proliferation record, which was inmarked contrast to its sharp criti-cism of India's nuclear tests in 1974and 1998 that occasioned a raft ofsanctions being imposed.
China's state television ex-pressed doubts about Agni V'sprecision and capabilities, notingthat its weight would only permitits being fired from a silo. It would,therefore, be easy to attack. How-ever, the Chinese government alsodownplayed the strategic signifi-cance of Agni-V, while expressingthe need to "cherish the hard-earned momentum of coopera-tion," consolidated at the recentBRICS Summit meeting in NewDelhi.
Pakistan showed concern overIndia's plans to take its Agni-V outto sea for making it invulnerableto a first strike, which is central toPakistan's launch-on-warning stra-tegic posture. International ob-servers are worried that the Agni-V seems designed to contain andnot merely balance China; Sino-Indian competitive co-existencecould hence deteriorate into stra-tegic rivalry. A bilateral arms racebetween India and China thatcould include Pakistan and acquiretriangular dimensions would beinherently unstable.
Agni-V can reach any part ofChina and of course, Pakistan;hence India does not need to pro-ceed further if its objectives areonly to strengthen its deterrent.However, great power seekerswould urge that India must haveICBMs to join the Nuclear Club; itcould never be a de jure member,unless the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-tion Treaty (NPT) is amended - thechances of this happening arezero.
A seminal decision cannot beevaded now on the strategic logicfor extending or not extending therange of the Agni-V. India cannotproceed serendipitously forever.
The writer is Visiting Profes-sor, IPCS
India Post
Pakistan showedconcern over India'splans to take its Agni-V out to sea for mak-ing it invulnerable toa first strike, which iscentral to Pakistan'slaunch-on-warningstrategic posture.International observ-ers are worried thatthe Agni-V seemsdesigned to containand not merely bal-ance China
Time for Agni
It is said, symbolically, that the sword that great king Ashokathrew into the river (renouncing violence) was picked up centu-ries later by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs. It
implies that strategies of pacifism or use of force depend upon thetimes and circumstances. Seeing the futility of conquests by thesword and the human cost of bloodshed, Ashoka took to Bud-dhism. Conversely, seeing the atrocities being committed daily ontheir subjects by the Mughal rulers, Guru Gobind Singh picked upthe sword to fight on behalf of the oppressed.
A pacifist India was rudely shaken in 1962 by the Chinese mili-tary attack and the Indian defense was shown up in really poorlight. Mistaking India for easy fodder, a few years later Pakistanlaunched an attack which was rebuffed. India began shoring up itsdefense and in 1971 used force to free the area then called EastPakistan from the clutches of the murderous Pakistani army. Paki-stan never took its defeat in the right spirit and unable to meetIndia's might on the battlefield, took to terrorism to harm India.China also kept up its pinpricks to keep India on its toes. Both itsadversaries are now nuclear armed and the strategies of defensehave changed from war to containment. Like Guru Gobind Singh,India had no choice but to go nuclear to face any eventuality in itsconflict with Pakistan and China. If Pakistan has not forgotten itsdefeat at the hands of India in 1971, India has also not forgottenearly humiliation by Chinese aggression. Since war and aggressionis no longer an option, India is nevertheless keeping itself warready in case of any eventuality. With the rapid advance in Chinesemilitary power, India has been way behind in comparison. Althoughboth India and China have both proclaimed their preference forresolving disputes through dialogue and peaceful means, the threatperception remains. The recent launch of the Long Distance Ballis-tic Missile Agni V by India reduces the gap a little. It extends India'smissile reach to 5,000 kilometers which would include Chinese cit-ies of Bejing and Shanghai in its target range.
The official reaction from Beijing was conciliatory: "We are notrivals but cooperative partners." But the Chinese media bristled:"India should not overestimate its strength. Even if it has missilesthat could reach most parts of China, that does not mean it will gainanything from being arrogant during disputes with China."
It seems Beijing is a bit perturbed. So the message has gonehome that China cannot take unilateral aggressive postures andget away with it.
Interestingly there has been no criticism of India's missile testfrom anywhere in the world, unlike the condemnation of warlikenuclear preparations of countries like Iran and North Korea. TheUS has in fact welcomed India's efforts to close the missile gap withChina. Although in its reaction, the US called on all nuclear capablenations to exercise restraint but it also noted India's record on non-proliferation and its cooperation with the international communityon nuclear issues.
India has openly declared its policy of no first-use in the case ofnuclear weapons. But that doesn't absolve it of the responsibilityof constantly upgrading its arsenal. It doesn't pay in today's worldto be caught unprepared in strategic defense matters. It is unfortu-nate in this context that the present UPA government gives theimpression of not trusting its defense forces and keeps them starvedof necessary replenishments. Even in the case of Agni inductioninto the armed forces, there are avoidable delays.
