Voice of Asia Newspaper is based in Houston since 1987. We reach South Asian and Asian American families in Houston and surrounding cities in Texas. We print 10,000 copies weekly and reach 150 locations across five counties: Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria, Galveston and Montgomery. We are audited by www.cvcaudit.com Keywords: Voice of Asia. Visit us online: www.voiceofasiaonline.com for the latest in Community News in Houston, upcoming events and Job Classifieds. Sign up for our weekly newsletter that allows you access to our community events to network your business opportunities. To reach us - to subscribe to our weekly newspaper, newsletter or showcase your business, call us at: 713-774-5140.
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Connect with us today! www.voiceofasiaonline.com Visit us Online @ 713-774-5140 V OICE OF A SIA Over 26 years of dedicated service to the community Vol. 28 No. 13 Friday, March 27, 2015 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 20 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com Prime Laser Center utilizes the state of the art most advanced ND; YAG Lasers which safely and effectively treat unwanted hair for permanent removal. Call us for a Free Consultation! 2 Locations to Serve you: 2121 Sage Rd, Suite: 245, Houston, TX 77056 2655 Cordes Dr, Suite: 120, Sugar Land, TX 77479 80% OFF FULL BODY Hair Removal (package includes 6 sessions of full body treatment and Prime Laser Center’s Lifetime Warranty) $399 Full Face Laser Hair Removal (Includes 6 sessions of full face treatment and Prime Laser Center’s Lifetime Warranty) Med Spa & Laser Hair Removal Center proof (Limited Time Special) (Limited Time Special) Tel: 281-903-7470 • www.PrimeLaserCenter.com New Series on Principles, Need and Benefits of Life Insurance Read more on Page 16. Call 713-771-2900 India House 12th Annual Gala celebrates ‘Unity in Diversity’ Keynote Speaker, Dr. Latha Ramchand, Dean, Dean, C.T. Bauer College of Business, Univerity of Houston. LISTEN DAILY TO Monday - friday 4 PM - 7 PM 106.1 FM & 102.1 HD3 www.bollywoodshakeradio.com Studio line : 832-930-0742 proof BAPS 8th Annual Women’s Conference held in Stafford, TX Devi Prasad Rungta (Accepting for Amit Bhandari), Dr. Virendra Mathur, Harish Jajoo (Accepting for Pankaj Malani), Dr. John Mendelsohn, Darshan Wadhwa, Prabhat C. Sharma, Dr. Manish Rungta. Photos by Bijay Dixit. T he global advancement of women is as powerful today as it has ever been. Women are encouraged to pursue their per- sonal, professional, and humanitarian goals with the support of one another and their communities alike. This year BAPS hosted their eighth annual Women’s Conference that took place at eleven centers across North Amer- ica to inspire women of all ages to push themselves further in the pursuit of their dreams, while making a com- mitment to empower other women to Continued on Page 8 Keynote Speaker, Carl Lewis. Over 600 women attended the Conference at BAPS Temple in Stafford, TX by Shobana Muratee H OUSTON- A person- alized, handwritten donor card signed Liz, aged 7 read, “Thanks for sup- porting my education and future. I love India House.” Everything else that followed that night at the 12 annual India House gala held on Saturday, March 21 at the JW Marriot in Sugar Land seemed to resonate that power- ful message. Each of the 350 guests that attended the gala had one such note from a child that was sup- ported by the India House With this year’s theme “Unity in Diversity” India House projected its widened scope of activities to include communities of Houston’s diversity. Dr. Manish Rungta welcomed the dignitaries and guests prominent among whom were Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Al Green, Council member Mike Laster, Continued on Page 9
Transcript
VOICE OF ASIA 1 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015
Connect with us today!
www.voiceofasiaonline.com
Visit us Online @
713-774-5140VOICE OF ASIA
Over 26 years of dedicated service to the communityVol. 28 No. 13 Friday, March 27, 2015 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 20 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: [email protected]
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and Prime Laser Center’s Lifetime Warranty)
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Prime Laser Center’s Lifetime Warranty)
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proof
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New Series on Principles, Need and Benefits of Life Insurance
Read more on Page 16. Call 713-771-2900
India House 12th Annual Gala celebrates
‘Unity in Diversity’
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Latha Ramchand, Dean, Dean, C.T. Bauer College of Business, Univerity of Houston.
LISTENDAILY TO
Monday - friday 4 PM - 7 PM106.1 FM &
102.1 HD3
www.bollywoodshakeradio.com
Studio line : 832-930-0742
proof
BAPS 8th Annual Women’s Conference held in Stafford, TX
Devi Prasad Rungta (Accepting for Amit Bhandari), Dr. Virendra Mathur, Harish Jajoo (Accepting for Pankaj Malani), Dr. John Mendelsohn, Darshan Wadhwa, Prabhat C. Sharma, Dr. Manish Rungta. Photos by Bijay Dixit.
The global advancement of women is as powerful today as it has ever been. Women
are encouraged to pursue their per-sonal, professional, and humanitarian goals with the support of one another and their communities alike. This year BAPS hosted their eighth annual
Women’s Conference that took place at eleven centers across North Amer-ica to inspire women of all ages to push themselves further in the pursuit of their dreams, while making a com-mitment to empower other women to
Continued on Page 8
Keynote Speaker, Carl Lewis.
Over 600 women attended the Conference at BAPS Temple in Stafford, TX
by Shobana Muratee
HOUSTON- A person-alized, handwritten donor card signed Liz,
aged 7 read, “Thanks for sup-porting my education and future. I love India House.” Everything else that followed that night at the 12 annual India House gala held on Saturday, March 21 at the JW Marriot in Sugar Land seemed to resonate that power-ful message. Each of the 350
guests that attended the gala had one such note from a child that was sup-ported by the India House
With this year’s theme “Unity in Diversity” India House projected its widened scope of activities to include communities of Houston’s diversity. Dr. Manish Rungta welcomed the dignitaries and guests prominent among whom were Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Al Green, Council member Mike Laster,
Continued on Page 9
VOICE OF ASIA 2 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015OP-ED/COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS
Publisher: Koshy ThomasAssociate Publisher: Sherly PhilipEditor-in-Chief: Shobana MurateeAustin Correspondent: Sherine ThomasPrint & Media Marketing: Jacob DavidMarketing: Susan Pothanikat Production: AR VadlamaniOffice Manager: Priyan Mathew Columnists:Legal: Richard M. AldermanLegal: Sharlene Sharmila RichardsResearch: Prof. Meenakshi BhattacharjeeHealth Insurance: Sudhir MathuriaAstrology: Hardik Vyas
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It is the policy of Voice of Asia to publish letters to the editor which evidence a variety of viewpoints. The opinions expressed in any particular letter to the editor are not necessarily those of the management. Voice of Asia welcomes letters in reply to issues raised in letters to editor. In as much letters to the editor are not articles written or researched by members of Voice of Asia, it is not the policy of the Voice of Asia to perform any investigation or confirmation of any facts or allegations contained in letters to the editor. Moreover, Voice of Asia reserves the right to edit letters to the editor as necessary to correct errors of fact, punctuation, spelling and to comply with space constraints.
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WE BUILD
The Femina Miss India pageant has little to do with Indian women or Indian beauty
by Diksha Madhok
So tall. So thin. So fair.That is how all of
the contestants for this year’s Femina Miss India could be described. And they couldn’t be more unrepresentative of In-dian women.
The Miss America pageant, Sept. 2015.(AP Photo/Mel Evans).
On Saturday, a group picture of the 21 women participating in this year’s Miss India beauty pageant posted on Twitter high-lighted just how out of touch the pageant is:
“Who do you think will be the next #MissIndia? Vote & win vouchers worth 50,000!”
This picture hardly represents the ethnic diversity of India’s 29 states. A bunch of models in any western country would have looked similar. In fact, Miss America’s last contest seemed to have more dark-skinned contestants than the Indian beauty pageant:
Most of the finalists in Femi-na Miss India 2015 come from Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. There isn’t a single one from
south Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Andhra Pradesh. Women from north-eastern states such as Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram are also conspicuous by their ab-sence. There is one contestant from Assam.
All these women must be at least 5 feet 6 inches tall, the rules state. Whoever thought of the eligibility criteria for Miss India clearly did not know—or care—that the average height of an Indian woman is 5 feet nothing.
On the contest website, each aspirant has her own video, where she describes her inter-ests—which range from public health to scuba diving—and it is hard to overlook the fact that all of them speak in perfect English, sometimes laced with
western accents. Perhaps, in a country with almost 780 lan-guages, some linguistic diver-sity in a national contest would be a good idea.
But, the most egregious as-pect of this group picture is the lack of brownness among these models. It is hard to say if it is their natural skin colour that has been photographed, or if they have been digitally whitewashed. Both options are problematic.
It is impossible to expect avant-garde feminism, or even much feminism from a beauty contest, but it is disappointing to see Femina continue to per-petuate a toxic beauty stereo-type, and one that is decades old.
Many dark-skinned women in India have faced life-long discrimination. But lately, the
public debate about the coun-try’s insane obsession with fair skin has finally started showing some positive results. Cam-paigns such as Dark is Beau-tiful have gained prominence over the last few years, with support from Bollywood stars. Last year, the country’s adver-tising watchdog asked beauty companies to abandon dis-criminatory portrayal of dark-skinned women, hoping to put an end to ads that depict darker women as losers, unworthy of professional and personal hap-piness.
But the 51-year-old Femina Miss India pageant seems to be caught in a time warp. It is time they look around the country, and fill the gaps in their outdat-ed and out-of-touch contest.
Source: Quartz India.
Pakistani Christians Fight Backby Ali Sethi
MARCH 24, 2015, (The New York Times)
LAHORE, Pakistan — LAST Monday, this city was briefly over-
run with bands of sloganeer-ing, stick-wielding youths. The demonstrators threw stones at police officers, burned car tires and smashed windows. One gang even plundered a 7Up truck, guzzling its goods be-fore transfixed TV cameras. (I watched the footage — slow-mo jets of sparkly liquid, with strains of horror-movie music playing in the background — that night on the Internet.) There was a euphoric edge to the riots, apparent even when they took a grotesquely violent turn with the lynching of two men.
Who were these vandals? And what, if anything, did their actions demonstrate?
If you went by the origi-nal news bulletins, they were Christians reacting to a suicide bombing the day before of two churches in Youhanabad, a low-income area of Lahore that is home to some 100,000 Chris-tians. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 15 people and injured dozens. The rioters’ anger was directed at Pakistan’s state and society, which had repeatedly failed to protect them from Islamist extremists. According to one estimate, in the last two years there have been 36 targeted at-tacks on Pakistani Christians, 265 Christian deaths from sui-cide bombings and 21 “perse-cutions” of Christians under Pakistan’s blasphemy law. To their credit, several TV anchors
ran heart-rending montages of recent incidents in which Mus-lim mobs or terrorists had shot, bombed or burned Pakistani Christians.
But by last Tuesday the con-versation had changed, after it was established that the two men lynched by the Christian mob were blameless Muslims who happened to be near the churches when the explosions took place. (Police officers had apprehended the men on suspi-cion of abetting the bombers, but quickly gave them up to the rioters.) The news of their innocence gave the debates a kind of retributive equilibrium, allowing Muslim politicians to spar with Christian leaders about the other community’s excesses before rolling out their convenient conclusions: All of Pakistan was under threat from Islamist terrorists, even if religious minorities were especially vulnerable; the attack on the Christians was no different from attacks on Shi-ites and Ahmadis, two sects that have also been targeted by hard-line Sunni groups.
The message — that the bombing of two churches was no big deal in this war-torn country — was not lost on anyone.
But Pakistani Christians have a strong claim to being the country’s most anciently marginalized group, their pre-dicament made all the more intractable by the silence that surrounds it.
This silence is not just about
religion; it is also about caste. Most of Pakistan’s 2.8 million Christians are descended from low-caste tribes converted by Anglican and Catholic mis-sionaries during the period of British rule. Dwelling mainly in Punjab Province, these tribes were associated with menial occupations such as sweeping and carcass collection, and had for centuries borne the corre-sponding stigmas of ritual pol-lution and “untouchability.” By converting to Christianity — so the missionaries claimed — these long-oppressed peoples were embracing a life of salva-tion and dignity. (It is true that attachment to the church could enable access to education and the resources of the colonial state, and thereby bring about qualitative changes in the lives of former “untouchables,” many of whom took on Anglo-Saxon names to consolidate their new identities.)
But the creation of Paki-stan in 1947 — and its sub-sequent slide into the exclu-sionary politics of religion — has proved disastrous for the Christians’ security. Unlike in India, where the pressures of representative government and an ostensibly secular pol-ity have offered some protec-tion to disenfranchised castes, Pakistan’s undemocratic state has never accepted caste as a legitimate political category, preferring to use religion as an all-encompassing tool for mo-bilization. This has helped its dictators and autocrats amass power — prolonging their tenures, stifling dissent and building nuclear bombs. But it
has undermined the country’s most vulnerable community twofold: Pakistani Christians have both lost their claim to caste-based affirmative action and acquired the hazardous, Taliban-baiting title of a “reli-gious minority.”
What we have, then, is the peculiar despair of a people who are unable to articulate their real grievance, a people who have no political parties or voting blocs of their own, who have only churches and pastors and the eternal motifs of suffering and deliverance to see them through this dark period.
To live in present-day Paki-stan is to know all this in one’s bones. It is to recognize a welter of prejudices related to the word “Christian,” with its caste associations of waste and blood and a rarely acknowl-edged but ingrained sense of primordial difference. Indeed, it is to know a long-buried se-cret about this “Islamic” coun-try, a secret about how religion is used to paper over caste, class and political tensions that threaten, with ever-growing frequency, to rupture the fabric of its society.
Last week’s riots, which were instigated by a religious attack, brought a long-oppressed com-munity’s fury to the fore. In that sense they are a sign of things to come. Anyone walking the streets of Pakistan would do well to remember that.
Ali Sethi is the author of the novel “The Wish Maker.”
Shri Govindaji Gaudiya Math temple will celebrate Rama-navami in a unique way by organizing a scholarly symposium on Lord Rama and his Lila on 28th March Saturday. The sem-inar will feature ten local scholars who will speak on various aspects of life and deeds of Lord Rama. This seminar (Ram Charit Manthan) is 4th such in its annual series in Houston. This year’s seminar has the theme- Ram Ek, Charit Anek – that is, One Ram, Many deeds.
The topics that speakers will speak on are: Bhaktvatsal Ram, Guru Ram, Bridegroom Ram, Ram as a Husband, Ram as a son, Ram as a warrior, Ram as a king, Ram in exile, Ram as a friend, and Ram as a speaker. Houston community is invited to attend the seminar without any fee. For proper planning, you are requested to register for the seminar by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. The seminar will be from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and it will follow by temple Arti and dinner Prasad.
For more information, please write to [email protected] and/or call Om Gupta 713 471 7822. You may also visit www.ramacharit.org/manthan2015 for more information.
Ram Charit Manthan – A symposium on Lord Rama and Ramanavami
by Padma Golla
PEARLAND - Manmatha Nama Samvatsaram had a great start at Sri
Meenakshi Temple. Despite the inclement weather, Ugadhi was celebrated by over 2000 people throughout the day. The day started with Sri Venkateswara Abhishekam attended by over 300 people. During the Alan-
Ugadhi Celebrations at Sri Meenakshi Temple
karam Panchangam for the New Year was read by Priest Pavan Kumar in Telugu and Executive Officer Vatsa Kumar in Kan-nada. After the Puja ended, Ugadhi Pachchadi prepared by the Mutyala family was served. A nice buffet lunch was served by the temple to the attendees of the puja. Devotees who brought Prasadam distributed it during lunch.
Devotees kept coming through-out the day until the temple closed. There was second big Pooja at 6.30 PM followed by a second Panchanga Sravanam in Telugu for those who could not make the morning event.
Ugadhi follows the lunisolar calendar and marks the begin-ning of the new astronomical cycle or the new year in several
States in India. Each State fol-lows a slightly different astro-nomical cycle and this date sig-nifies the beginning of the year for Telugu, Kannada and Mara-thi communities. Sri Meenak-shi Temple serves the religious needs of a diverse group of peo-ple from India and will be cel-ebrating the New Year for Tamil and Malayalam communities on 14th of April.
Devotees listen to the reading of Panchanga Sravanam at MTS
by Abey
Due to rain, ICECH cricket tournament games scheduled on
Saturday, March 14 was can-celled. On Sunday we changed the venue of the games from Shadow Creek ground in Pear-land to Glenn Lakes Parch ground in Missouri City. The game started with a prayer led by Abey Mathew. The first game started at 1:40 p.m. be-tween Immanuel Mar Thoma Church and St. Thomas Or-thodox Cathedral. The captain of the Immanuel Mar Thoma Church won the toss and elect-ed to bat. They scored 68 runs in 12 overs and lost 6 wickets. Captain Sam Alexander scored 24 runs for Immanuel team. To chase 69 runs to win the game, St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral team were all out after scoring 65 runs and Priyan Mathew scored 17 runs for the team. Immanuel Mar Thoma Church won the game by 4 runs. Cap-
tain Sam took 4 wickets for Immanuel Mar Thoma Church team and Priyan Mathew took 3 wickets for St. Thomas Or-thodox Cathedral team. Sam Alexander is the man of the match of the game.
Second game was between Immanuel Mar Thoma Church and St. Mary’s Malankara Or-thodox Church. The captain of the Immanuel Mar Thoma Church won the toss and elect-ed to bat. They scored 92 runs in 12 overs and lost 3 wick-ets. Melwin Abraham scored 23 runs for the Immanuel Mar Thoma Church. To chase 93 runs to win the game, St. Mary’s Malankara Orthodox Church team were all out af-ter scoring 74 runs. Immanuel Mar Thoma Church won their second game by 28 runs. Mel-win Abraham is the man of the match of the game.
Third game was between St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral
and St. Mary’s Syrian Ortho-dox Church. The captain of the St. Thomas Orthodox Cathe-dral won the toss and elected to bat. They scored 106 runs in 12 overs. Swithin Stephen scored
1st Annual ICECH Cricket Tournament59 runs for St. Thomas Ortho-dox Cathedral. To chase 106 runs to win the game, St. Mary’s Syrian Orthodox Church team were all out after scoring 38 runs. St. Thomas Orthodox
Cathedral won the game by 68 runs. Blesson Abraham took 4 wickets for the winning team. Swithin Stephen is the man of
the match of the gameThe last game ended at 7:15
p.m. Abey Mathew was the umpire of the 3 games.
Players who took part in the Cricket Tournaments with Rev. Roy A. Thomas
VOICE OF ASIA 4 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015
Q. I was driving into a parking space to park my car. As I got halfway into the space, a woman in the car parked next to me opened her door hitting my outside mirror. The mir-ror broke-off, damaging the side of my car. Is she responsible for the repair of my car?
A. The woman who opened her door is responsible for your damages, if she was “neg-ligent.” She is not responsible simply because it was her door that hit your car. In simple terms, the issue is whether it was her fault that she broke your mirror?
Negligence means not acting as a “reasonable person” would. My opinion is that when you open your car door you should look to see if there is anything next to you. If she didn’t look, and that is why her door hit your mirror, she could be considered negligent and responsible for the damage. On the other hand, as a driver, you also have a responsi-bility to look to both sides when parking your car. If a reasonable person in your situation would have seen her opening the door and stopped the car, you may have been negligent by your failure to stop.
The bottom line is that her liability depends on the facts of your situation, and who, if anyone, acted unreasonably. It may be that both of you acted unreasonably and contrib-uted to the accident. If that were the case, no one would be responsible for the damage. Small claims court may be the place to get this resolve if you believe she was negligent and she won’t pay.
Q. My son was over at a friend’s house and the friend’s dog bit my son in the chin/mouth. Is the friend legally responsible for all expenses incurred, such as medical treat-ment? This took place inside the friend’s house.
A. From a legal standpoint, your question is very similar to the one above. Your friend is not responsible simply because it was his house and his dog. The legal issue is whether this was merely an accident, or whether someone was at fault in causing it. For the friend, to be responsible, he must have been “negligent.” Negligence means not taking reason-able steps to protect someone from injury. For example, if the friend knew the dog bit people in the past, and did not warn your son to be careful or did not take steps to keep the dog away from him, he could be negligent and responsible. On the other hand, if the dog had never bitten anyone and the bite was just an accident when your son was playing with the dog, my opinion is no one has any liability.
Q. I want to file for divorce but I do not know where my husband is. We have been separated for five years and even his parents don’t seem to know where he has gone. Can I get a divorce?
A. Contact a local family law attorney. Even if you do not know where your husband is living, or if he is still alive, you can still file for and obtain a divorce. I suggest you speak with a few attorneys and compare the cost.
Q. I let a fried borrow the extra key to my apartment and he lost it. Can I require my landlord to change my locks?
A. Under the law, a landlord has an obligation to change the locks at his expense, when a new tenant moves in. After that time, the landlord must change the locks whenever the tenant requests, as often as the tenant wants. The tenant, however, must pay the costs of installing the new locks. In other words, you can require your landlord to change your locks, however, you must pay the costs.
Do you want to know more about your legal rights and keep up with the most recent consumer developments? Subscribe to my free newsletter, The Consumer Alert, sent three times a week to your email mailbox. Subscribe at www.peopleslawyer.net
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COMMUNITY
Sharlene Sharmila Richards
YOUR IMMIGRATION LAWYER Answers to your Immigration Questions by Sharlene Sharmila Richards, Immigration
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT GREEN CARDS FOR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF US CITIZENS
Q: I am a US Citizen. I want to sponsor my sister who lives in India. Is there an age requirement for sponsoring her for permanent residence?
A: Yes, there is. A US Citizen must be at least 21 years old to be eligible to sponsor his or her sibling(s) for permanent residence.
Q: I am a Permanent Resident and I wish to sponsor my siblings for green card. I am over the age of 21 years old and have been a Permanent Resident for more than 10 years. Can I do so?
A: If you are a Permanent Resident, you are not eligible to sponsor your siblings for Per-manent Residence. In your situation, it is best that you first file for your naturalization. Once you become a US Citizen you can then sponsor your siblings.
Q: I wish to sponsor my two sisters for permanent residence. They are both married and each have three children. Their children are all under 18 years of age. How many green card peti-tions do I need to file?
A: You will need two separate petitions – one for each sister and her family. In each peti-tion, you will need to include your sister’s husband and her children as they can immigrate as derivatives.
Q: What immigration Form do I need to use to sponsor my sister for Green Card or Perma-nent Residence? What are the main documents which I will have to submit?
A: The Form to use is Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. The Filing Fee is $420.00. The documents you will need are proof of your US Citizenship, such as a copy of the biographic page of your valid US Passport or a copy of certificate of naturalization or a copy of your US Birth Certificate. In addition to that, you will need a copy of your Birth Certificate as well as the Birth Certificate for your sister. The Birth Certificates must show similar parentage.
Q: I understand the process for my sibling to become a permanent resident is a long one which will take quite a few years. Please can you explain why this is the case?
A: Sponsoring a sibling, like all family sponsorships, is a two stage process. The first stage is when you file the Immigrant Visa Petition or Petition for Alien Relative. This stage merely establishes that the qualifying relationship exists between you, the Petitioner and your foreign national sibling. Once the Petition has been approved, then you can move to the second stage. The second stage is the Department of State must allot a visa to your sibling. In most cases in-volving sibling petitions, several years could pass between the time the immigrant visa petition has been approved and the Department of State providing your sibling with a visa number. This happens because there is a limit on the number of immigrant visas for siblings each year and the limit is also determined by the country of your sibling’s birth. If your sibling was born in Mexico, India, Philippines or China, the wait for the visa number to become available can be more than 10 years. Please bear in mind, the sibling cannot immigrate or become a permanent resident until the visa number or priority date becomes current.
Q: How do I know if the priority date for my sister’s case is current? A: You will need to know what the Priority Date is for the immigrant visa petition which
you have filed on your sister’s behalf. This is typically the date of the filing of the visa petition. You will be able to find this date on the I-797 receipt or approval notice of the I-130 Petition which you filed for your sister. You will then need to wait for the priority date to become ‘cur-rent’. In order to check the present priority date for the case, you will need to go to the Depart-ment of States Visa Bulletin which is published monthly. To check the Visa Bulletin for the month of March 2015 for example, just Google “Visa Bulletin March 2015” and scroll to the section which says Family Sponsored Preferences. You will need to look at the row marked ‘4th’ (for the preference category of siblings of US Citizens) and the column that indicates her country of birth. If she was not born in China, India, Mexico or Philippines, then you will look at the first column identified as “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed” for the row marked ‘4th’. The Visa Bulletin for March 2015 4th preference shows the date of May 15th, 2002 for ‘All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed’. So, for example, if your sister’s priority date is May 15th, 2006, then her priority date is still not current in March 2015 as it is showing the date of May 15th, 2002 as being current.
Q: Can I sponsor my step-sister and adopted brother if I am a US Citizen over the age of 21?
A: Yes, you can.Q: My sister filed a visa petition for me several years ago and the priority date looks like
it will be current this year. I am presently on L-1 status which will expire in 2017. My employer is not willing to sponsor for my green card. Can I file for adjustment of status in the US if the priority date of my sister’s visa petition filed on my behalf becomes current this year?
A: Yes, you may as you are presently maintaining a valid nonimmigrant status.
Disclaimer: Any advice provided in this article is general in nature and not intended to con-stitute legal advice for any specific case. Please consult with an immigration lawyer about the specific circumstances of your case.
My BioSharlene Sharmila Richards is a licensed Immigration lawyer practicing in Houston, Texas.
She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2000 and is a member of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and a member of the US Supreme Court. You may contact her at telephone number 713-623-8088 or by email at [email protected] to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case. www.richardsim-migration.com
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K. V. Doraiswamy Bhattar281-489-0464 or 281-948-8368
narayana puja, and all kind of Homas (Havans) and more. I can drive to your place.
VOICE OF ASIA 5 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015COMMUNITY
by Jeemon Ranny
In the midst of thunder-ous applause Rev. Saju Mathew, vicar of Immanu-
el Mar Thoma church, Houston, has received this year’s presti-gious Merlin Award instituted by International Magicians Society for the “Best Gospel Magician’ category from its founder and CEO Tony Hassini.
Dubbed as the Oscar in the field of magic, this is the first time that a clergy receiving this coveted Merlin Award also known as Oscar in the field of magic.
International Magicians Soci-ety, with a sizable membership of over 37,000 magicians, was set up in 1968.
Rev. Saju Mathew has also received the certificate for Doc-tor of Magic at this occasion. He is the third Indian who received doctoral degree in this and the fourth to receive the award after famous magicians P.C Sorcar, Gopinath Muthucad and Samraj.
In this award meeting several dignitaries of church and the Malayalee communities offered congratulatory notes includ-ing Vice President Immanuel Mar Thoma Church Jojy John, Stafford City council member
Houston’s Rev. Saju Mathew receives Doctorate and Prestigious Merlin Award for Magic
Ken Mathew, Azhchavattom news chief editor Dr. George Kakkanattu, Indian Christian Community Council of Houston secretary Dr. Anna. K. Philip, representing the clergies Rev. Kochukoshy Abraham Vicar of Trinity Mar Thoma Church. Representing the Chachipun-na, Pathanapuram, Rev. Saju Achen’s hometown, Mr. Shaji-mon Idiculla adorned Saju achen with a ponnaada.
Saju achen thanked God for the manifold blessing He has showered in the past in install-ing Christian values in young
children through the medium of magic. He also thanked his fam-ily especially wife Bincy and children Joel and Johanna and his parents and dedicated the Merlin Award to them. He also thanked all his well-wishers and said he is dedicating this award to them and Immanuel Mar Tho-ma Church Family.
Rajan Daniel welcomed the guests and Immanuel Mar Tho-ma Church Trustee Joy N. Sam-uel offered vote of Thanks and the award meeting ended with prayer and benediction by Rev. KB Kuruvilla.
Rev. Saju Mathew receiving the Merlin Award from Tony Hassini
Dignitaries of church and members Malayalee communities.
Dr. Krishna Dronam-raju, President of the Foundation for Ge-
netic Research at Houston, has been invited to help in estab-lishing a new Science Center at Bhubaneswar. In a recent
visit to Odisha, he met with the Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik to promote
the project. The Center was first discussed by the former Chief Minister Shri Biju Pat-naik
with Dr. Dronamraju several years ago. Its main focus will be Biotechnology and related
sciences initially but other sciences such as Nanotechnol-ogy will be added later. Prof. P.P. Mathur,
Vice-Chancellor of KIIT Uni-versity has invited Dr. Dronam-raju to be actively involved in planning and leading the proj-ect.
Former Chief Minister Biju
Patnaik had plans to develop a Science City in Bhubaneswar. He invited the famous British scientist J.B.S. Haldane to Bhu-baneswar to build a Science In-stitute but because of Haldane’s untimely death that project was put on hold. Dr. Dronamraju,
who was a disciple of Prof. Haldane, is now continuing the project with the support of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Once the Center starts functioning, it will become an active center for teaching and research in sciences in India.
Dr. Krishna Dronamraju is
President of the Foundation for Genetic Research since 1980, is the author of 20 books and 200 research papers in Genetics
& Biotechnology. He is a Visit-ing Professor of the University of Paris and was awarded the Nayudamma Prize in Science. He was a Member of the U.S. Presidential delegation to India in 2000 and has been actively promoting U.S.- India Coop-eration in Science and Technol-ogy for many years. He served as a Member of the National Advisory Boards for Health and Agriculture, U.S. Govern-ment, Washington D.C.
Dr. Dronamraju to advise the establishment of a New Science Center at Bhubaneswar
Dr. Krishna Dronamraju and Michele Wambaugh with the Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik.
The writer, Chetan Patel a well-known MahaVastu Expert of Houston is also CEO of MahaVastu Houston. He is fully dedicated and well equipped to guide people on every problem related with Vastu Shastra.
Chetan Patel
Office Color scheme and the effect it creates on business: Ancient wisdom and doctrines like Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra have documented that our negative thoughts and unpleasant happenings could be due to our surroundings. Amongst the most powerful elements that could be emanating negative energy in the surroundings are the colors. So, all those offices that are painted in happy and joyful colors usually see fruitful results in whatever business they may be doing.
Most of the unsolicited effects and negative effects of unpleasant surroundings can be negated through the right usage of colors. A right color in the right direction (Vastu zone, to be more precise) has the power to absorb the negative vibes and convert them into positive vibrations. It is not just the color of the walls or the curtains, but also the color of the furniture and the paintings or the small flower vase that can make a difference.
For instance, when choosing colors for a painting placed in a particular Vastu zone, you should not only go by how a certain color would match the wall, but also as to what kind of effect it will have on your employees’ subconscious mind. After all, you would want your employees to remain in a good mood while working, as only then will your company attain its goals and make profits.
Understanding the significance of five basic elements- water, air, fire, earth and space- and their respective positions in the 16 directions, play a great role in deciding the right colors. “Each element is represented by various colors. When colors are at peace in their respective places designated by the universe, they emanate positive energy result-ing in positive attitude and excitement” he advises.
By simply suggesting right colors for right directions, Certified MahaVastu Consultants have been able to transform their workspace sometimes in as little as a fortnight’s time. Various organisations have understood the importance of colors and MahaVastu Mum-bai Centre is inundated with requests from top companies to change the color scheme of their entire branding — beginning from the color of their company’s logo to all stationery, to the office building and even staff uniforms in some cases — in the hope of turning around fortunes.
Right Color in Right Zone: According to MahaVastu, North is the Vastu zone of money and opportunities. Documented research in Vastu Shastra shows If North zone has pantry or red or pink colors in your office, you will face problems in payment recovery. You will also not receive new orders which form the backbone of finance for small and medium enterprises. Similar situation happens when there is blue color in South-East zone. When you learn Vastu yourself in a case studies based Vastu Course, you will come to know that just placing some green plants with right color of pot gives miraculous results to relieve such situations.
Similarly, if you have waste products (especially, metals) lying in East direction in your office or factory, you will face problems with government departments and influential persons which will not be a good thing for your financial growth.
Colors have their potential effects and before actually going ahead and changing the color palette of your house or office, it is recommended that you should properly learn significance of colors as per Vastu Shastra or seek an expert’s advice.
Part 2
Contact for 2-Day Vastu Foundation Course which is going to be held on April 11-12, 2015.
Nupur Shah ,Suriya Sharma , Dr. Lata Ramchand, Ramesh Bhutada, Elliot Gershenson, Hejal Soni, Kavia Gupta, Shivang Shah and Advaith Ram. Picture of 2013 Awardees
Hindu Youth Awards Gala’ on Saturday, April 11
The Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH) is proud to announce the
‘Hindu Youth Awards Gala’ on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at Chinmaya Mission, 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX 77498.
The objective of the Youth Gala is to identify and recog-nize the future Hindu leaders, to encourage them to preserve and persevere its proud legacy, and to groom them with the needed understanding, tools and resources to achieve that goal. The highlights of the eve-ning would include listening to the inspiring stories of the win-ning youth and recognizing the donors and organizations for their commitment and support of the important cause and en-joy a cultural program.
“To unite we must have a common goal. There is no higher goal than our quest for spiritual SELF. Let us unite as Hindu organizations in quest of this SELF through understand-ing of our scriptures”, said Acharya Gaurangbhai Nanava-ti Chinmaya Mission Houston, and member of HGH advisory board.
The keynote speaker for the evening is Asit Shah, an exem-plary youth and member of the Board of Regents, University of Houston, who is appointed
by Hon. Governor of Texas. Our own young Attorney, Mr. Amit Misra is going to be spe-cial guest, encouraging our youth with his mesmerizing speech. They will also meet in a youth only session from 5:15-5:45 pm.
Hindus of Greater Hous-ton organizes this event every
year. It was hosted last year by Arya Samaj, and in 2016 Sri Meenakshi Temple, Pear-land is scheduled to have the privilege of hosting it. Sanjay Jain, co-chair of the event last year, had this to say: ‘While reducing the cost and efforts by HGH, it also brought the best from Arya Samaj and we
will have a great program this year as well as years to come. Working with Arya Samaj and Chinmaya Mission this year, I feel each of these organizations is hosting the event with pride.’ He added, ‘As Hindu leaders, it is our responsibility to encour-age youth and recognize them for their service. This is an ex-
cellent event supporting that purpose.’
To quote Neeraj Salhotra, a recipient of the award ‘The HGH Youth awards program is an excellent way to recognize youth engaged in service. It was truly a humbling experi-ence to be selected as a winner, and I know that this experience
further inspired me to continue serving my community.’
Chairman of the Board of Advisors, Dev Mahajan com-mented: ‘In 2013, the Board of Advisors made the decision to host the Hindu Youth Awards at the venue of a different Hindu Temple or organization each year, to inspire solidarity.’
‘We celebrate them as torch-bearers of tradition in upholding our Dharma and being proud of their heritage. We dedicate the evening to their celebration. This year we will recognize six youth who have provided out-standing service to community in education and development of youth’, said Gala co-chair Richa Dixit.
Please save the date, Septem-ber 12, 2015 for Janmashtami, a signature event that Hindus of Greater Houston has been cele-brating for the past twenty-five years. They also host and sup-port a variety of events on an ongoing basis, with the gener-ous help of patrons in the com-munity. We are always looking forward to more sponsors and support.
For more information visit Hinudusofhouston.org or call Richa Dixit at 832.451.7206 or Sanjay Jain at 281.565.5246.
Sugar Land Rotary donates $30,000 to support Literacy Program at Ridgemont Early Childhood Center
FORT BEND ISD - The Sugar Land Rotary donated $30,000 to the Literacy Council of Fort
Bend to fund a GED project at Fort Bend ISD’s Ridgemont Early Child-
Picture on left: L-R: Mitchel Rahim, Sugar Land Rotary Vice President; Kelli Metzenthin, Executive Direc-tor, Literacy Council of Fort Bend County; Dr. Charles Dupre, FBISD Superintendent of Schools; Tammie Rankin, Outreach and Program Coor-dinator, Literacy Council of Fort Bend County; and Patrick Bullard, Sugar Land Rotary President.
hood Center. The donation will help fund the project for the next five years. Executive Director Kelli Metzenthin and Outreach and Program Coordina-tor Tammie Rankin accepted the dona-tion on behalf of the Literacy Council.
“The Literacy Council of Fort Bend County is proud to partner with FBISD, Head Start and the Sugar Land Rotary to provide services to students in the Ridgemont area that want to improve the quality of life for their families and their community,” said Metzenthin.
The Literacy Council has been in partnership with FBISD for the past three years. The organization began
providing GED preparation classes at Ridgemont in September 2014. Cur-rently, 15 adults take part in the eve-ning classes that focus on the math, English Language Arts and civics por-tions of the test.
The Sugar Land Rotary donation will fund five years of teacher compensa-tion (at $5,000 per year) and scholar-ship awards ($1,000 per year for five years). The Literacy Council presents an annual $1,000 scholarship to a stu-dent who received the GED tutoring and obtained his/her GED. The schol-arship assists the recipient with tuition costs at a college, junior college or vo-cational school.
VOICE OF ASIA 7 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015DIASPORA
PANAJI, India: The number of Indian stu-dents in the U.S. has
been rising every year as in-dicated by rising visa applica-tions processed by the Ameri-can Embassy in India, a senior U.S. envoy has said.
“Last year, the number of visa applications increased by almost 20 percent, but the number of visas applications by students increased by more than 20 percent,” Thomas J Va-jda, the U.S. consul general in Mumbai, told reporters Thurs-day. He said Indians are the second largest student group in the U.S. after the Chinese.
“There has been a particular increase in the number of stu-dents studying in the U.S.A. There are 100,000 Indians
U.S. Issued 900,000 Visas to Indians in 2014
Thomas Vajda, the U.S. consul general in Mumbai. (Courtesy U.S. State Department)
NEW YORK: Nine Indian-Americans are among 126 US and
Canadian scholars awarded with a prestigious American fellowship worth USD 50,000 to further their research in eight key scientific and technical fields.
“The Alfred P Sloan Founda-tion is pleased to announce the selection of 126 outstanding US and Canadian researchers as recipients of the 2015 Sloan Research Fellowships. Fellows receive USD 50,000 to further their research,” a statement said.
The Indian Americans who were awarded the fellowships are Vivek Shende, Nandini Ananth, Hemamala Karunada-sa, Prabal Dutta, Neal Mankad, Padmini Rangamani, Shyam Gollakota, Shantanu Jadhav and Suresh Naidu.
The fellowships were insti-tuted annually since 1955. It honours early-career scientists and scholars whose achieve-ments and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders, the foundation said.
“The beginning of a one’s ca-
reer is a crucial time in the life of a scientist. Building a lab, at-tracting funding in an increas-ingly competitive environment and securing tenure all depend on doing innovative, original high-quality work and having that work recognised,” said Paul L Joskow, President of the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.
“For more than 50 years the Sloan Foundation has been proud to celebrate the achieve-ments of extraordinary young scientists who are pushing thethe boundaries of scientific knowledge,” Joskow said.
The fellowships were award-ed in eight scientific and tech-nical fields which includes chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, com-putational and evolutionary molecular biology, neurosci-ence, ocean sciences and phys-ics.
In the past, Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to no-table careers and include such intellectual luminaries as phys-icist Richard Feynman and game theorist John Nash.
studying in America and it is the second biggest group after the Chinese,” Vajda said.
As the Indian economy im-proves, more people would travel to America, he said, adding that the U.S. facilitates travel for business, investment, tourism and education.
“For India, we issued almost 900,000 visas and in Mumbai alone it was 300,000 last year. So visa allocation last year was 20 percent more than the pre-vious year. We have spent hun-dreds of million dollars in India to create new facilities for visa services,” he said.
The U.S. embassy in India gets 1,500 to 2,000 visa appli-cations a day, he said.
“Most of them are issued a
Nine Indian-Americans awarded US fellowships worth $ 50,000
Rs 25 crore for rehabilitating of Gulf returnees to Kerala
TH I R U V A N A N -THAPURAM, March 23, 2015: An amount of
Rs 25 crore has been earmarked for rehabilitation of the Non-Resident Keralites (NRK), who had to return home after a new labour law was implemented in some Gulf countries, Finance Minister K M Mani told the as-
Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law Rishi Sunak leads Indian-origin MP list in UK
LONDON: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law is
leading the list of ethnic minor-ity MPs expected to win seats for the Conservative party in the May 7 General Election in the UK.
The UK-based Rishi Sunak will contest from former foreign secretary William Hague’s con-stituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire.
The Oxford University and Stanford MBA graduate, who co-founded a 1-billion pound global investment firm and spe-cialised in investing in small British businesses, is expected to make the “class of 2015” as the most high profile new Indi-an-origin MP.
“I’m over the moon. It’s an incredible privilege to repre-
The UK-based Rishi Sunak will contest from former foreign secretary William Hague’s constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire. Image rishisunak.com
sent this really special part of the world, and to follow in the footsteps of William Hague,” the 34-year-old had said in ref-erence to his selection for the Tory party.
A new study found that the Conservatives overall could have more ethnic minority MPs elected than Opposition Labour for the first time in the next par-liament.
The Tories could see more new black and Asian MPs en-tering the House of Commons in three out of five possibilities considered for the general elec-tion by British Future, a think tank specialising in immigration and integration.
In the best outcome for Prime Minister David Cameron -- a Conservative majority -- the party could leapfrog Labour
with 19 ethnic minority MPs overall compared with 15.
At the moment the Tories have 11 black and Asian MPs, while Labour has 16.
The Liberal Democrats have no non-white members in the Commons -- a situation which the think tank predicts will re-main unchanged after the May poll, ‘The Sunday Times’ re-ported.
Whatever the outcome of the election, experts believe the to-tal number of ethnic minority MPs will hit a new high, most likely to be around the 40-45 mark, paving the way for a potential black or Asian prime minister in future.
“Ethnic diversity is the ‘new normal’ in British politics,” says the British Future report.
MPs like Sajid Javid (the cul-ture secretary) and Chuka Um-unna (the shadow business sec-retary) are tipped as future party leaders.
While parliament still needs about 65 black and Asian MPs to make it representative of modern-day Britain, the think tank is all praise for the Tories for making significant progress.
The study says Labour has been more likely to select non-white candidates in seats the party hopes to gain.
If Labour leader Ed Miliband were to end up with a majority, it predicts Labour could have 30 black and Asian MPs, compared to 15 Tories.
sembly today.
Mani, in his reply to the Ker-ala Financial Bill-2015 tabled in the House, said more funds would be allocated for Kerala diaspora who return to state.
He also reiterated the with-
drawal of 1 per cent tax im-posed in the Budget on rice, wheat, coconut, 5 per cent tax on maida, wheat, suji rava and 2 per cent tax on sugar.
With this a total concession of Rs 260 crore has come into force, he said, adding, that the tax were rolled back in the
wake of criticism that it would lead to rise in prices of essen-tial commodities.
Among other things, for the development Hill Palace Muse-um in Tripunithra an amount of Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned, he said.
Kottayam Press Club got Rs 20 lakh for the completion of a Media Complex in the Budget.
The House passed the Bill amidst protest by CPI-M led LDF Opposition, demanding Mani’s resignation in the wake of an FIR registered against him in the bar scam. PTI
ten-year visa, 65 percent of those getting H-1B visa are In-dians,” Vajda said. (PTI).
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do the same. The conference, themed “Moving Forward,” focused on creating positive change that starts from within.
On Saturday, March 21, 2015 over 600 women gathered at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Stafford, TX to par-ticipate in this annual confer-ence. Focusing on three key concepts of compassion, for-giveness, and perseverance, the conference provided a theme that all in the audience could relate. The tone of the confer-ence was set by the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Latha Ramchand, Dean, C.T. Bauer College of Business, who connected with the audience through her pas-sion for the theme of moving forward. Using examples of strong women and even sto-ries of her own childhood, she encouraged and challenged the audience to move out of their comfort zone by listening to their inner voice. Dr. Ramchand elaborated on how the quality of forgiveness can help release the
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baggage that many carry and can provide the freedom needed to move ahead in life.
Mrs. Avani Thakkar shared her touching personal story with humorous and practical examples of potential struggles. Mrs. Thakkar illustrated the tools all can imbibe to endure life’s ups and downs.
Speaker Dr. Pinki Bhatt, highlighted the importance of compassion and focused on the practical and relatable methods to help enhance the compassion that already exists within. In closing the conference, Dr. Pur-vi Desai spoke about the impact of forgiveness in our lives. Us-ing personal stories as well as global examples, she provided the means to create a more for-giving nature. Ms. Khushboo Bansal shared her thoughts in saying, “I really enjoyed the conference as it really made me think about how these con-cepts of forgiveness persever-ance, or even compassion help me or hinder me in my own life.” Sharing her thoughts on
the conference, Mrs. Bijal Ja-dav stated, ““Today’s theme of Moving Forward was excellent particularly because it is so uni-versal in application. The audi-ence was comprised of mem-bers of varied backgrounds, whether its different education levels or simply being in dif-ferent stations in life. This not only helped me to identify with the speaker, but also with those audience members around me, which naturally strengthens the bond we all have as women and which positively impacts the greater community at large.”
After the conference, attend-ees also enjoyed the opportu-nity to network and share their perspective on the talks of the day. Many also felt enriched and inspired by the conference and conveyed their motivation to share the message with their family and friends. All left the conference with a profound feeling of unity in woman-hood, knowing that change and growth are possible with the help of perseverance, compas-sion and forgiveness.
BAPS 8th Annual Women’s Conference held in Stafford, TX
Continued from Page 1
Special guests light the traditional lamp to start the Women’s Conference at BAPS.
VOICE OF ASIA 9 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015COMMUNITY India House 12th Annual Gala celebrates ‘Unity in Diversity’
Council member and Mayor Pro-term City of Sugar Land Harish Jajoo accompanied with his wife Shashi Jajoo, Consul General of India Parvathane-ni Harish and his wife Nan-dita, Council member Richard Nguyen and Dr. John Mendel-sohn, former president of The University of Texas MD Ander-son Cancer Center. Dr. Rungta read out the message of India House president Jugal Malani who could not be present and conveyed that India House had a successful 2014 with its pro-grams and had boost in rentals from $60.000 to $200,000 in revenue. For health and rec-reation the India House has the Bal Sareen: Harris Health System, a walk-in clinic that provides timely health assis-tance to the community and very soon an eye care clinic with state of the art technology will be opening, he mentioned. The yoga classes are currently having 360 participants ev-ery month. For sports, cricket is played every Saturday and Sunday on the well-maintained grounds. India House is grown to be the community’s arts and cultural hub where celebrations as well as serious workshops and seminars are held. The Ur-ban Youth program to children
Continued from Page 1
from ages 4 to 16 years is a boon to families as it provides discounted tuition rates, tutori-als, homework assistance and meals. All proceeds of the gala were intended to support this
program. Keynote Speaker Carl Lewis,
former Olympic Gold Medalist, a staunch vegan, gave an inspi-ration speech about his dream
that started in 1981 when he went to his coach and asked, “You think I can set a world record” and his coach replied, “I don’t know”. Carl went on to win 10 Olympic medals, in-
cluding nine gold and 10 World Championships.
General Manager, Vipin Kumar presented spoke his passion for India House and
presented a short video on its history and programs. This was followed by Awards presenta-tions and honoring of commu-nity members. Consul General P Harish. Among the honorees for Community Award were: Dr. Manish Rungta, gastroen-terologist, Prabhat C Sharma, Co-Founder, Hindu Worship Society (HWS) and Darshan Wadhwa, CPA. The Young En-trepreneur Award was awarded to Pankaj Malani and Philan-thropist Award to Amit Bhan-dari. India House Trustees and donors were also recognized and lauded for the pioneering work and leadership on the oc-casion.
The entertainment segment organized by Vanshika Vipin enhanced the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’ with its colorful dances representing the differ-ent regions of India. This was followed by Dinner catered by Narin’s Bombay Brasserie Restaurant. Earlier, the USA National Anthem was sung by Chloe Chowdhury, and India’s National Anthem by Malika Ghei. Gala Chair Devi Prasad Rungta concluded with his thanks and message, “Let me assure you that the funds raised during the gala will be used to enhance India House and its mission.”
Dr. John Mendelsohn, former president of The UT, MD Anderson Cancer Center addressing the gathering. Photos by Bijay Dixit.
India House Trustees were honored: Durga Agrawal, Bal Sareen, Chowdary Yalamanchilli, Virendra Mathur, and Gopal Savjani. (not all Trustees were present on the occasion). Also seen are Hon. P Harish, Gala Chair. Devi Prasad Rungta, and Council member Harish Jajoo.
Staff members of India House (not in any order) with Carl Lewis and General Manager Vipin Kumar. Photo credit: Bijay Dixit, Unique Images Studio.
VOICE OF ASIA 10 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015WORLD/US
WA S H I N G T O N , 3/25/2015 - US aircraft launched
bombing raids to support Iraqi forces fighting to recapture Tikrit from the Islamic State group on Wednesday, after Baghdad is-sued a request for air power.
The offensive to take back Tikrit -- the home town of ex-ecuted dictator Saddam Hus-sein -- has stalled over the past week with jihadists defending their positions with homemade bombs.
“I can confirm that the gov-ernment of Iraq has requested coalition support for operations in Tikrit,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
“Operations are ongoing.”
An Iraqi special forces lieuten-ant colonel told AFP: “Interna-tional coalition forces bombed four areas in the centre of Tikrit city.”
According to the Iraqi of-ficer, the bombing began after nightfall and was continuing periodically.
Strikes hit an area around a palace compound area and near the Tikrit hospital, he said.
Over the weekend, US air-craft -- including drones -- be-gan carrying out surveillance flights to support the Tikrit op-eration on the ground against the IS militants.
Other countries in the US-led coalition were taking part in the air strikes, officials said.
“These strikes are intended to destroy ISIL strongholds with precision, thereby saving in-nocent Iraqi lives while mini-mizing collateral damage to infrastructure,” said Lieutenant General James Terry, who over-sees the command in charge of the US war effort.
Although the United States and its allies have conducted air strikes elsewhere in Iraq, the Baghdad government had not previously asked for American help for the Tikrit offensive.
Instead, long-time US foe Iran has played a prominent role, providing artillery and deploying advisers to the Iraqi Shiite militias also taking part in the operation.
But the assault has become bogged down, even though the Iraqi forces far outnumber the IS militants.
- A belated request -
US officials and military of-ficers made no secret of their view that Iraq had made a mis-take in not asking for American air power from the start and relying solely on Iran’s assis-tance.
“Now the operation to take Tikrit really begins,” one US defense official told AFP.
At a Pentagon briefing ear-lier on Wednesday, spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said the US-led coalition was the most capable and “reliable” partner for Iraq.
He said the Iraqis had made confident predictions when the offensive on Tikrit was launched earlier this month, but he said “urban combat is diffi-cult and slow” and the coalition had unmatched military power to offer.
“I think it’s important that the Iraqis understand that what would be most helpful to them is a reliable partner in this fight against ISIL,” he said.
“Reliable, professional, ad-vanced military capabilities are something that very clearly and very squarely reside with the coalition.”
- US, Iran in common cause
President Barack Obama’s administration has insisted it does not coordinate military operations directly with Iran and until this week the two countries have operated in sep-arate areas in Iraq.
But the American surveil-lance flights and air raids in Tikrit illustrate how Washing-ton is moving towards greater collaboration with Tehran, al-beit indirectly, despite the in-tense distrust between the two arch-foes.
The bid to retake Tikrit, which involves thousands of Iraqi sol-diers, police and forces known
US launches Tikrit air strikes to support Iraqi forcesas Popular Mobilization units, which are dominated by Shiite militias, began on March 2.
The operation is seen as a test for the Iraqi forces, which collapsed in retreat last year against the IS group, despite
billions of dollars worth of weapons and years of training by the US military.
The battle for Tikrit could clear the way for a much larger offensive to eventually retake the northern city of Mosul,
which US and Iraqi command-ers view as a pivotal fight that could alter the course of the war.
Spreading beef bans hit Indian farmers, traders - and lions
by Meenakshi Sharma and Rajendra Jadhav
Indian farmer Nitin Tarode wants to sell his old bull to help pay for his sister’s wedding after his in-
come was hit by patchy rainfall.But he has struggled to find a buyer
who will pay a decent price because of a ban on slaughtering cows, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra, the western state run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.
“Now I will have to take a loan for my sister’s wedding,” says Tarode, the oldest of five siblings and the only earning member of his family in Ako-la, nearly 600 km (370 miles) inland from Mumbai.
A renewed thrust by Modi’s Bharati-ya Janata Party (BJP) to protect cows, worshipped by majority Hindus, has closed abattoirs in Maharashtra, mak-ing it hard for farmers to sell their ani-mals, and restrictions are spreading to other states.
Even lions, tigers and leopards in Mumbai’s national park are being fed chicken and mutton rather than their usual beef because the city’s main ab-attoir has been shut for the past two weeks, said S.D. Saste, the park’s as-sistant conservator.
Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, extended a ban on the slaughter of cows to bulls and bullocks this month and other BJP-led states such as Jharkhand and Haryana have
also tightened restrictions on trading beef.
Critics say tougher anti-beef laws discriminate against Muslims, Chris-tians and lower-caste Hindus who rely on the cheap meat for protein, and fear they could pave the way to a nation-wide ban that would threaten thou-sands of jobs.
NO WINDFALLTarode had hoped to pocket 12,000
Indian rupees ($190) from selling his bull - more than half the money he makes each month from farming and other paid labor.
Drought in central India has hit farm-ers, and many want to sell livestock due to a lack of fodder and water.
But prices of buffaloes and cattle have fallen by 20-30 percent in Maha-rashtra due to the ban and could drop further if more states follow its lead.
Several thousand people, mainly from the Muslim community, will be rendered jobless in the beef trade and related industries like leather goods, leaders of the business community say.
“My business is ruined. Farmers are offering cattle at much lower prices but I can’t buy because slaughtering is illegal now,” said Asif Qureshi, a cattle supplier based in Baramati, Ma-harashtra.
The supply of hides to tanneries across India would also be hit, pushing
Saudi women express reluctance to marry men in blue-collar jobs
In this file photo, Saudi women walk inside a mall in Riyadh. (AFP)
JEDDAH: Nadim Al-Hami (23 March 2015) - Some Saudi women look down at the idea of
marrying a man practicing trades such as mechanic or electrician, but others believe that anyone earning money in an honorable work is good enough.
A photographer, Mansurah, claims that while she does not object to the idea of marrying a man practicing some trade aside of his primary job, she states she wouldn’t want her hus-band’s main profession to be that of a blue-collar one. The reason is mainly financial, she states, since she fears that such men would not be able to provide her with a comfortable lifestyle. She also wants her groom to be a university graduate like her.
Medical student Nadiah Jowhar has no objection in making a man with a blue-collar job her life’s partner pro-vided he is making a decent earning. However, she added he hopes his proj-ects may grow as time passes on and he will be able to provide for the family.
Photographer Abeer Bajanduh said some women are not keen on marry-ing men who work on certain trades because of material considerations and because of the poor social status asso-
ciated with such jobs. Painter Taghrid Wazna is not will-
ing to marry an electrician or plumber because these days material needs are expensive.
“I would consider marrying a interior decorator or dress designer because he will be working for a company unlike an electrician or trader who will be on his own,” she said.
According to Wazna it is not the trade that matters but the money a man earns. Ghadah Shatibi, who works in Public Relations, said she did not mind marry-ing a mechanical engineer if he can set up a home for her and raise a family.
Wafa Mokhtar concurred with her, arguing that any man with an hon-est job and a decent income is good enough for a husband. She preferred a man with a freelance job, rather than an office employee because she believes that such a man can reach the top if he likes his job.
She added that one of her friends refused to marry a man working in a restaurant with a good pay and who had a promising future in his job, out of fear of what others would say. (Arab News).
up prices. Tanneries buy and process animal hides and sell leather to makers of shoes, handbags and accessories.
“Around 10 percent of my hide sup-plies coming from Maharashtra would be hit. Prices of hides may rise in the short term,” said Ashish Das, director, Hides International, a tanner and mak-er of bags in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Slaughterhouses in Maharashtra are now refusing to slaughter buffalo in protest at the ban, cutting off all beef supplies in a bid to put pressure on the government. Hindus do not consider buffalo to be sacred.
Not all BJP-led states are pushing for tighter restrictions on beef. The chief minister of Goa, another BJP-led state, has refused to back the ban, saying that two-fifths of people there eat beef and he respected the rights of minorities.
Meanwhile, Hindu nationalist groups affiliated to Modi’s BJP want to set up more cattle camps and cow shelters to house animals no longer wanted by farmers.
India has some 300 million cattle, and animals foraging for food are a familiar sight on the rubbish-strewn streets of towns and villages. Their numbers could swell by 200,000 in Maharashtra alone as farmers aban-don animals they can’t sell, according to the beef trade.
($1 = 62.4300 Indian rupees). Source: Reuters.
by Khurram SHAHZAD
When doctor Mehmood Jafri gets ready for work in the morning, the first thing he
does is put his AK-47 in the car.Then, after briefing the armed guards
at his home, he sets off for the hos-pital where he works in the troubled northwestern city of Peshawar with his most trusted relative beside him as an escort.
After surviving one murder attempt and one kidnap bid, Jafri takes no chances with his personal safety.
He is one of hundreds of Peshawar doctors living with the daily threat of being killed or abducted for ransom by Taliban militants or criminal gangs.
The doctors’ association in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Pe-shawar is the capital, estimate that in the past three years around a dozen doctors have been killed and more than 30 kidnapped, while up to 3,000 have fled in search of a peaceful life else-where.
Guns have become as important as stethoscopes at clinics and guards watch over doctors’ homes.
Doctors are seen as relatively easy targets in Pakistan. They are well paid, but often lack the protection of influen-tial connections that wealthy business-men might enjoy.
“I was lucky that I survived two at-tempts because I sensed the threats mo-ments before they tried to attack me and I escaped,” Jafri told AFP as he finished surgery at Peshawar’s main hospital.
“Many other colleagues were not so lucky and they were either shot dead or kidnapped.”
Provincial health minister Shehram Khan Tarakai confirmed the kidnap-ping of 30 doctors and the killing of “a couple”.
The problem is not confined to the northwest -- the medics’ association in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, says 20 doctors have been killed in targeted at-tempts in the past 14 months while 10 have been kidnapped in two years.
AFP has changed the names of all the doctors in this story for their own safety.
- Fear and trauma - Kidnapping leaves most of the med-
ics deeply traumatised after their re-lease and unwilling to speak about their experiences for fear of retribution from their abductors.
“They stop interacting with others and restrict themselves to their homes and clinics as the kidnappers tell them they will find them if they ever reveal any details at all,” Doctor Amir Taj Khan, senior vice president of the Provincial Doctors Association, said.
“They don’t even come to our meet-ings. It’s impossible for them to tell their stories publicly even if you pay them 100 million rupees ($1 million).”
Khan said that of the 32 doctors who had been kidnapped, only two had confided in him what had happened to them.
They told of being tied up with ropes and taken to lawless North Waziristan, for decades the stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The abductees were isolated from hu-man contact, suffered illness and went untreated, Khan said.
A major offensive launched against militant strongholds in North Waziristan last June brought fresh anxiety.
With the military wading in with ar-tillery barrages and air strikes on in-surgent positions, kidnappers and kid-napped became scared, never knowing if the next shell would kill them.
One detainee was moved repeatedly, Khan said, until finally an $80,000 ran-som was agreed for his release.
- Extortion - Even the best-laid security arrange-
ments do not always work. One doctor said his kidnappers simply disarmed him and he ended up paying $130,000 for his release.
Most doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkh-wa now simply pay off the Taliban and criminal gangs, Khan said, making the extortion and kidnapping business a hugely lucrative revenue-earner for militants.
“Almost 100 percent of senior doc-tors pay extortion to avoid kidnapping and killing -- they know there is no other way to survive,” Khan said.
Hanif Afridi, a successful eye special-ist with clinics in several cities, pays $2,500 each month to Mangal Bagh, a feared warlord in Khyber tribal region.
“I am paying extortion since 2010. I know I am doing wrong but there is no other solution, security forces are un-able to protect us,” Afridi told AFP.
“I have to keep Taliban happy for my own security and security of my busi-ness. Besides the monthly fee, I pay them around $5,000 when they demand more money for ‘special assignments’,” he said.
Afridi says he is sometimes taken to the tribal areas for the treatment of Tali-ban commanders.
Militants pick their targets carefully, carrying out sophisticated undercover surveillance before striking.
“They know everything about every-body. Many Taliban visit our clinics in the disguise of patients and assess how rich we are, so we have to abide by their demands,” Afridi said.
The pressure has become too much for many doctors and a steady stream have left Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, put-ting further stress on an already weak healthcare system serving an extremely poor part of Pakistan.
“They have migrated to the Gulf, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, UK, USA, Cana-da, Islamabad and Punjab,” Khan said.
“Up to 20 doctors are moving out ev-ery month. I think around 3,000 have left (the province) within three years.”
Aside from the extortion, there is a sectarian aspect to the doctors’ plight.
Most of those targeted, including Ja-
Stethoscopes and AK-47s: Pakistan medics face kidnap epidemic
People walk past a police checkpost outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi on March 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Rizwan Tabassum).
fri, are members of the Shiite Muslim minority that makes up around 20 per-cent of Pakistan’s population, which is predominantly Sunni.
Sectarian violence, mostly perpe-trated by Sunni extremists, has risen sharply in recent years, with attacks on professionals such as doctors fuelling fears of a Shiite “brain drain” from the country. AFP.
VOICE OF ASIA 12 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015HEALTH, SC & TECHInstagram releases collage-making app called Layout
SAN FRANCISCO - Instagram has released a stand-alone applica-
tion that makes it easy to create collages of iPhone pictures.
The move by the Facebook-owned smartphone photo shar-ing service was in keeping with a strategy by social network co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to field separate, specialized applications aimed at ways people like to use mobile de-
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers his keynote address at the Facebook f8 Developers Con-ference in San Francisco, California in this 2011 file photo. (Reuters)
vices.“When you open Layout, we
automatically show you pre-views of custom layouts as you chose photos from your camera roll,” Instagram said in an on-line post introducing Layout.
Layout features include the ability to automatically find pictures containing faces, and the option of share collages at leading social network Face-
book as well as at Instagram.The Layout application re-
leased on Monday was tailored for mobile devices powered by Apple software.
A version of the app for use on Android gadgets should be available in coming months, according to Instagram.
Instagram finished last year with more than 300 million us-ers.
It is a hard personal choice, but removing healthy fallopian tubes and ovaries effectively slashes the cancer odds for women like Angelina Jolie (above) who carry a risk-boosting gene mutation, experts said Tuesday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS.
Paris, France | | Tuesday 3/24/2015 - 16:10 GMT | 691 words
It is a hard personal choice, but removing healthy fallopian tubes and ovaries effectively slashes the cancer odds for women like Angelina Jolie who carry a risk-boosting gene mu-tation, experts said Tuesday.
Carriers like the Hollywood star, who has had the surgery two years after a selective dou-ble mastectomy, face a “sky-high” risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer, said Per Hall, an oncologist at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet.
Hall told AFP he would “ab-solutely” advise women who carry the inheritable BRCA1 gene alteration to consider pre-emptive surgery.
“It is of course an extremely sensitive issue, because as soon as you remove the ovaries you can’t get pregnant anymore and if you remove the breasts you can’t breastfeed,” he told AFP by telephone.
“I would say any woman who is a carrier of these genes and has delivered the children
Jolie surgery ‘dramatically’ lowers cancer risk: experts
she wants to deliver during her lifetime, she should definitely be encouraged to discuss the issue.”
Carriers of the BRCA1 muta-tion, which is more dangerous than BRCA2, have a lifetime risk of about 80 percent of de-veloping breast cancer, com-pared to about 10 percent for women without it.
For ovarian cancer, the el-evated risk was about 40-50 percent -- compared to about 1.5 percent for the general pop-ulation.
About 15 years ago, the risks were not well understood, fuel-ling debate about the wisdom of removing perfectly healthy organs.
But today, “there is absolute-ly no dispute,” said Hall.
Removing the fallopian tubes and ovaries limits not only low-ers the odds of developing ovar-ian cancer but also of breast cancer, he added, by curbing the release of risk-boosting fe-male sex hormones.
Even women who have had a mastectomy remain at risk, as
some tissue often stays behind.
Thus by opting to follow her mastectomy with a dual fallopian tube-ovary removal (salpingo-oophorectomy), Jolie has “dramatically” reduced her risk, said Hall.
“You can say she has a very, very low risk” -- even lower than that of women without the genetic alteration.
About 0.2 percent, or one in 500, women carry a harmful mutation in the BRCA1 or BR-CA2 gene (BRCA stands for BReast CAncer susceptibility).
The genetic flaw accounts for a small number of cancers overall, but has been found in half of families with multiple cases of breast cancer, and in up to 90 percent of those with both breast and ovarian cancer.
BRCA1 carries a higher risk than BRCA2.
People of Ashkenazi Jew-ish descent are more likely to carry a BRCA mutation, as are certain Norwegian, Dutch, and Icelandic individuals, accord-ing to the US-based National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Carrying a gene mutation does not mean a woman will necessarily develop cancer, and lifestyle factors like alco-hol use, overweight, physical inactivity, delayed pregnancy and not breastfeeding may also contribute.
Breast cancer is the leading cancer killer of women aged 20-59 worldwide, causing about 1.38 million new cases and claiming some 458,000 lives every year, according to the UN’s World Health Organi-zation (WHO).
Getting ovarian cancer is less common, with a lifetime risk of about one in 75.
But it is also more difficult to find because it develops deep inside the body with few symp-toms.
- More genes in future? -
“It is harder to diagnose ovarian tumours than breast tumours and the treatment is more complicated,” said Domi-nique Stoppa-Lyonnet, a genet-ic oncologist at Paris’s Institut Curie.
“These are the reasons why we recommend ovary removal” much more easily than a mas-tectomy, for which the alterna-tive is regular mammograms and physical examinations, she added.
Cancer survival rates vary greatly between developed na-tions and poor countries, which have fewer early-detection pro-grammes.
But the cost of genetic screen-ing can be prohibitive, ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars for a test, ac-cording to the NCI.
The WHO advises against mass genetic screening for BRCA1, focusing instead on women whose close family members have developed can-cer.
“We are expanding beyond these two genes and probably in the future we will add maybe 100 to 150 markers that also influence the risk of breast can-cer,” said Hall.
“It is getting more complex in trying to understand the risk. But this is where we’re head-ing.”
By Elahe Izadi March 24 at 2:25 PM
(iStock) (iStock)Amy’s Kitchen has volun-
tarily recalled about 74,000 cases of frozen food items because they could contain listeria-tainted spinach, the or-ganic prepared-food company announced in a statement
“While we are unaware of any illnesses, we immediately contacted FDA and out of an abundance of caution are vol-untarily recalling the specific lots of some of our frozen foods identified below,” the company said.
A number of lasagna, brown rice and pasta meals are being pulled from shelves after an or-ganic spinach supplier notified Amy’s Kitchen that the North-ern California-based company could have received spinach tainted with listeria.
The items under the recall have been distributed through-out the United States and Can-ada, and Amy’s Kitchen has contacted retailers about the problem, the company said. Consumers who have already bought these products can re-turn them for a full refund.
Listeria outbreaks are rare but can be dangerous; older adults, pregnant women and newborns in particular are at risk of be-coming sick after listeria ex-posure. Symptoms include fe-ver, muscle aches, nausea and sometimes diarrhea. Listeria can also lead to miscarriages.
Listeria is rare as an illness, but the bacteria is found in soil, water and certain animals, and can survive cold temperatures.
A listeria outbreak linked to prepackaged caramel apples earlier this year killed three people and sickened 29 others. Blue Bell Ice Cream expanded its recall this week after an ice cream cup in a Kansas hospi-tal tested positive for listeria. The company is now recalling 3-ounce ice cream cups with certain codes, weeks after it voluntarily recalled some nov-elty ice cream products.
The Blue Bell ice cream cups under the new recall were dis-tributed to 23 states, but they aren’t available for purchase in grocery stores.
Five patients in a Kansas hos-pital who consumed Blue Bell had become sick with listeria earlier this month. Three of them died, and though listeria was not the cause of death, the Kansas Health department said it was a contributing factor.
The affected Amy’s Kitchen items include certain packages of these products (check here for the exact code numbers and expiration dates):
Amy’s Kitchen recalls frozen food over possible listeria-tainted spinach
World’s first anti-organ trafficking treaty opens
STRASBOURG, France | 3/24/2015 - Start-ing Wednesday nations
will be able to sign what back-ers say is the first ever interna-tional treaty to take on human organ trafficking.
The agreement would make it illegal to take organs from peo-ple living or dead without their free and full consent, according to the text drafted by members of Europe’s top rights body, the Council of Europe. The treaty also bans making money off transplants.
It will “fill in the gaps (in leg-islation) and puts in place pro-tection for the victims,” council Secretary General Thorbjoern
Jagland said Tuesday.
The World Health Organi-sation estimates that some 10,000 black market trans-plants are carried out every year, a problem that frequently involves international crime and desperate victims.
Fourteen nations -- including Britain, Spain, Italy and Tur-key -- are expected to sign the treaty Wednesday at an inter-national conference devoted to the topic in Santiago de Com-postela, Spain.
At least five countries have to ratify the agreement, which is open to all countries, before it takes effect.
Under the treaty, victims would be eligible for com-pensation, but would also be the focus of prevention efforts which are intended to guar-antee the transparency of and equitable access to transplant services.
Governments will be allowed to decide whether to prosecute organ donors as well as if they should be considered as accom-plices in the trafficking.
Other countries expected to sign Wednesday include: Al-bania, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lux-embourg, Norway, Moldavia, Poland and Portugal.
Read these stories & more on
www.VoiceofAsia-Online.com
VOICE OF ASIA 13 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015LEISURE
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PARIS - Iran’s media censorship is notorious-ly strict -- but it is not
absolute, as a top Tehran-based caricaturist showed Thursday with a Paris exhibition of his often political cartoons.
Bozorgmehr Hosseinpour, whose drawings have appeared in major Iranian newspapers for the past 20 years, has managed to deliver incisive commentary without attracting the ire of Iran’s clerical-led regime.
How does he get away with it?
“If you use subtlety and com-monsense and apply your mind to what you draw, you can ex-press mainly what you want to say, usually,” he told AFP through an interpreter ahead of the exhibition opening.
Some of his cartoons seem to skate close to the edge, but with just enough distance to keep the identity of the butt of the joke open to interpretation.
One, for instance, shows a speaker at a podium talking about a man in a cage, and then the man being released and the cage empty. The punchline frame then shows the speaker being led away by police to a cage.
Another depicts a speaker de-scribing a simorgh, a semi-di-vine bird in Iranian mythology of extraordinary plumage, only to ignore its legendary beauty and to warn the crowd about its
by Glenn CHAPMAN
A broken arm as a boy led Cosmin Mihaiu and some in-ventive colleagues to turn te-dious physical rehabilitation exercises into a game that they hope can make it easier for peo-ple to recover from injuries.
The Romania-born software engineer demonstrated the game Thursday at the presti-gious TED Conference in Van-couver, showing how it can be played on the motion-sensing video game platform Kinect for Micosoft’s Xbox.
“We need to come up with solutions to get patients mo-tivated to get better,” Mihaiu told AFP.
“No one likes treatment, but if we can make it in a way where people don’t think it is cumber-some they will get better faster and save costs.”
Mihaiu and colleagues de-vised the software application to work with physical therapists to customize motion-control games to reward patients for doing prescribed movements.
The system, which is called Mira (Medical Interactive Re-covery Assistant), is currently designed for play offline in clinics. Its makers plan to cre-ate an online version that peo-ple could use at home, with performance data shared with therapists.
“We don’t want to replace the physical therapists,” Mihaiu
Software engineer and TED Fellow Cosmin Mihaiu shows off a MIRA Rehab game designed to make typically tedious physical rehabilitation exercises fun
said.
“We want to develop a digi-tal pill that can be prescribed to help the patient get better.”
Mira is being tried in clinics in Britain and Romania, with an annual subscription price of several thousand dollars, Mi-haiu said.
He said that there is a large market in the rehabilitation industry because unlike con-sumer-focused fitness games, medical games come with en-
dorsement and follow-up by doctors, nurses or therapists.
Other game makers have caught on.
Ubisoft early in March un-veiled a tablet video game crafted as a prescription for a medical condition known as “lazy eye,” blending the worlds of play and treatment.
The France-based video game titan created “Dig Rush” in collaboration with US health technology startup Amblyo-
tech, using treatment technol-ogy from innovators at McGill University in Canada.
The game targets amblyopia, a condition in which a person’s eye and brain are out of sync. It is reported to affect three per-cent of the global population.
The game is like a “syringe of the future; where you use a visual display to administer a drug to a patient,” Amblyotech chief executive Joseph Koziak said at a game developers con-ference in San Francisco.
Software developer hopes to turn rehab into video game
sharp claws.
“In my work there are some very sensitive aspects, and we have to work around them with savvy,” the 37-year-old artist said. “This is what the art of caricature, in fact, is about.”
- Softening restrictions -
Still, the display of Hossein-pour’s caricatures at a Paris mu-seum and technical institution called the Laboratoire Aero-dynamique Eiffel appeared to be another sign of a loosening of Iran’s sharp restrictions on freedom of expression under its relatively moderate president, Hassan Rouhani.
“I was able to draw whatever comes to mind and to express the very harsh or contradictory aspects of policies over there” without encountering prob-lems, said Hosseinpour, a care-fully-spoken man with shaved head and glasses.
The technique for tackling a tricky social or political topic, he said, was “not to confront it directly”.
The organisers behind the Paris exhibition, a cultural communications agency called “Generation I am”, described the cartoonist as an Iranian equivalent of the biting cari-caturists of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper tar-geted by Islamists in a bloody rampage in January.
But Hosseinpour himself shrugged off the comparison, though a version of his cartoon in support of Charlie Hebdo -- showing a black-clad gunman breaking a pencil in two -- is featured in his exhibition.
Instead, he spoke of the ne-gotiations under way between Iran and, principally, the United States that are aimed at boxing in Tehran’s nuclear programme and thus permitting a lifting of sanctions that have badly hurt the Islamic Republic’s econo-my.
“The Iranian people and cul-ture have many things to say and to express to the world, and if there is a positive outcome (to the talks) we would be able to export our culture and ex-press ourselves more easily,” he said.
‘Savvy’ caricaturist gets around Iran’s censors
Bozorgmehr Hosseinpour’s drawings have appeared in major Iranian newspapers for the past 20 years (AFP Photo/Bertrand Guay)
SAGE launches Indian language publishing program
NEW DELHI, Mar 15 (PTI) - SAGE India has launched its Indian
language publishing program in which it will roll out translated works in Hindi and Marathi this year and plans to publish origi-nal content in the regional lan-guages from 2016-17.
“SAGE Bhasha is a natural
extension of our English lan-guage publishing program. Our core focus is social sci-ence publishing and in business and management and we plan to extend this vision and fo-cus into the regional language program,” says Vivek Mehra, Managing Director and CEO of SAGE India.
The content will be devel-oped to fulfil the aspirations of universities and academia in In-dian languages and the primary focus is to target libraries, stu-dents and the discerning reader in each of the Indian languages it will publish.
The house had first ventured into Indian language publishing
in 2008 under a co-publishing with regional language publish-ers.
“The co-publishing though moderately successful didn’t give authors the value they de-served. We therefore decided to have a separate Indian language publishing program and SAGE Bhasha was born,” Mehra told PTI.
Some of the titles that are be-ing translated to Hindi this year include “Hindi Easy Money, Volume 1” by Vivek Kaul; “Challenge and Strategy: Re-thinking India’s Foreign Poli-cy” by Rajiv Sikri; “Lost Years of RSS” by Sanjeev Kelkar; and “Buddhism In India” by Gail Omvedt.
“Public Administration in a Globalizing World” by Bidyut Chakraborty; “The Winning Manager” by Walter Viera; and “Body
Language: A Guide For Pro-fessionals” by Hedwig Lewis are some of the Marathi titles.
In 2008, SAGE India released the first set in Marathi under a co-publishing arrangement with Diamond Publications of Pune.
“We found that where our products were available the market reacted favourably but there were too many segments that were not receiving the con-tent. In addition our co-pub-lishing partners had different strengths and target markets, the result was intermittent de-ployment of content.
There lacked a regularity in the process, in some years we published many books and in others there was a complete void. “The arrangement with them was of SAGE providing the content and Diamond was to take care of the translations, printing, sales and marketing. SAGE Bhasha is the reverse of this arrangement. It will own every segment of the publishing pipeline,” Mehra says.
The academic and profession-al publisher will not be publish-ing any fiction or poetry under
its new initiative. This year, SAGE will be using its 50th anniversary to communicate its distinctiveness as a global publisher. Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE in 1965 from a one-room office at 150 Fifth Avenue and the corner of 20th Street in New York City.
“We will be celebrating the authors, editors and societies who publish with us and our belief that high quality content still sits at the heart of good publishing; talking about the growing range of new types publishing beyond books and journals that we now undertake, including videos, archives, datasets and reports,” says Ste-phen Barr, president of SAGE International.
OICEV AOF SIAThe Leading South Asian Weekly Newspaper from Texas since 1987
w w w. v o i c e o f a s i a o n l i n e . c o m
by Shalini Narayan | Mathura (March 20, 2015)
All he wanted was to ensure that his stub-born seven-year-old
daughter appeared for her maths exam. But all that got him was a night in a police lockup, a challan and a criminal case reg-istered in his name.
For, in his desire to see his daughter take another step to-wards a life he couldn’t have, this security guard from a vil-lage near Mathura tied her to his motorcycle and took her to school. Unfortunately for him, this bizarre journey was cap-tured on camera by a group of journalists visiting the neigh-bouring village.
Last Saturday, Bhagat Singh, who is employed with a public school in Nagla Mana village in Mathura, was arrested under Section 323 of the IPC (causing hurt) after the visuals quickly went viral over the Internet. A day later, the 40-year-old was let out on bail.
On Thursday afternoon, sit-ting on a charpoy outside his one-room house, his daughter by his side, Singh said, “Mein sirf yahi chahta tha ki woh exam dede. Shayad mera taree-ka sahi nahi tha (I only wanted
her to appear for the exam. Per-haps, the method I used was not right).”
He added: “All through that night in jail, I thought about what I had done and why I did it. If she failed, my monthly income of Rs 7000, with six mouths to feed, would not have allowed me to help her in any way… I only want her to study. I don’t want her to end up like me. I want all my children to do well and escape this life of poverty.”
As he spoke, his daughter asked him to help her cut pic-tures out of her science book and paste them on a chart pa-per, for her craft class.
“Her exams are on. Both her elder sister and her younger brother are studying and per-forming well. She doesn’t learn from them. She only seems to enjoy her craft class. She is difficult to tackle, this one,” said Singh, turning to tease his daughter, who laughs before hiding behind him.
For the last ten years, Singh has been employed as the secu-rity guard, putting in 12 hours a day just so that his five chil-dren can get good education. “My wife is ill and I shell out at least Rs 3,500 a month. I could
easily have put them in a gov-ernment school. But I didn’t do that thinking the education at a public school would be more beneficial. Which is why I push them everyday to study,” he said.
Last Saturday, he added, the three children were woken up at 6 am by their mother Raj-vati. While the elder sister and brother got ready, the seven-year-old wandered off into the field nearby.
The child’s elder sister then picks up the story. “Our mother kept calling her, but she refused to go to school. When she in-sisted, my sister bit her hand. This angered our mother who slapped her and told her that she would have to take the exam or else she would tie her up. When my sister still didn’t listen, our mother tied her hands with a rope. Me and my brother left for school and informed our father who came back home to collect my sister,” she said.
But when Singh came, the little girl threw a fit, prompting Singh and Rajvati to drag her to his motorcycle. “I looked everywhere so that I could find someone to ride pillion, with my daughter in the middle, just so that she could be taken
WASHINGTON, (AFP) 3/23/2015 - Children just hate all veg-etables, no mat-ter how tasty you make them, right?
Wrong, says an influential study out Monday that found US children in Mas-sachusetts ate up to 30 percent more vegetables when school din-ners were made more palatable with the help of a professional chef.
The research, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association’s web-site, provided an encouraging sign in the battle to fight child-hood obesity.
But it also found that the pre-sentation of fruits and vegeta-bles did not have a long-term impact on their consumption.
“The results highlight the importance of focusing on the palatability of school meals,” said lead author Juliana Cohen
Kids eat more veggies when tasty: study
of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University.
“Additionally, this study shows that schools should not abandon healthier foods if they are initially met with resistance by students.”
About 32 million children eat meals at American schools each day and many low-in-come students get up to half their daily calories from school meals.
Researchers conducted their
trial during the 2011-2012 school year among 14 elemen-tary and middle schools in two urban, low-income Massachu-setts school districts.
A total of 2,638 children par-ticipated in the study.
The findings “really illus-trated that through persistence, school-aged children can learn to like healthy whole grains, fruits and vegetables, espe-cially if they taste good,” said senior author Eric Rimm, a professor at Harvard.
Father jailed for taking daughter to math exam, tied to his biketo school. But I couldn’t find anyone. So I tied her to the mo-torcycle, fearing that she might jump off and get hurt,” Singh said.
At the same time, a group of journalists and policemen had assembled at a nearby village where the statue of a freedom fighter had been decapitated. The journalists were returning at around 9:30 am when they
saw Singh on his way to the school about a kilometre away from his house, with his daugh-ter tied up and bent over the motorcycle.
Later, police also came to know that Singh had locked his daughter inside a room in the school for a brief while when she again refused to appear for the exam. “I hate maths,” his daughter said.
Eventually, Singh was taken into custody for a day. “We also issued him a challan under sec-tion 151 CrPc. He was kept for one night in the lock-up and re-leased on bail thereafter,” said SP City Shailesh Pandey.
But amidst all this, there was a silver lining for the father: a school official told The Indian Express that Singh’s daughter would be given another chance to appear for the math test.
A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found children ate up to 30 percent more vegetables when school meals were made more palatable with the help of a profes-sional chef. AFP | Photo by Diptendu Dutta / AFP/File
NEW DELHI, (3/24/2015) - A two-year-old Indian girl
groomed from birth to be an ar-chery champion after the tragic death of her older siblings set a new national record on Tues-day, according to the India Book of Records.
Dolly Shivani Cherukuri was
Two-year-old Indian archer Dolly Shivani Cherukuri takes aim during a world record target attempt at The Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada some 250kms south-east of Hyderabad on March 24, 2015. (AFP).
conceived through surrogacy after the death of her brother, an international archer and coach, in a road accident in 2010. The couple’s eldest daughter had died in 2004.
On Tuesday -- nine days be-fore her third birthday -- she became the youngest Indian to score 200 points over five and seven-metre distances accord-ing to Biswaroop Roy Chowd-
hury of the India Book of Re-cords.
“She has become the young-est in the country to achieve the feat,” Chowdhury told AFP by telephone from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, where the successful record attempt was made.
“It’s a record which will be difficult to break.”
Indian toddler sets national archery record
MARCH 24, 2015: Both Watson and 10-year-old Xu are defending Masters champions. Wat-son won in 2012 and again in 2014. He’s known for his extraordinary shot-making, epic drives and colorful personality. Girls 7-9 winner Kelly Xu first female champ at Augusta. Now, Watson is teaming up with the PGA of America through a program called Drive, Chip & Putt. Watson and Xu join “CBS This Morning” to discuss the new program and upcoming Masters in less than two weeks.
Kelly Xu, 9, of Santa Monica, Calif.
Bubba Watson and Kelly Xu on inspiring new generation of golfers
Dolly’s parents said they had arrows specially made for her out of carbon when she was first learning the sport to ensure she could carry them.
“When we came to know that the baby was on her way we
decided to mould her as an ar-cher,” said her father Cherukuri Satyanarayana, who runs an ar-chery academy.
“The preparations started when she was in the womb itself,” he told AFP by tele-phone.
Pictures showed the toddler posing for photographers with her golden medal and certifi-cate after she fired 72 arrows in all in 24 attempts over the 5-metre and 7-metre distances.
India boasts a strong record of success in archery.
VOICE OF ASIA 15 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015BOLLYWOOD MASALA Friday, March 27, 2015 Section 2 Page 15 Email: [email protected] Tel: 713-774-5140
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Romance with Gere very mature in ‘Marigold’ sequel: Lillete Dubey
Lillete Dubey with Richard Gere in a still from the film “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
She was seen as a domineer-ing mother in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” but for its se-quel actress Lillete Dubey has shed her over-bearing image and will be seen romancing Hollywood heartthrob Richard Gere.
The 61-year-old actress, how-ever, says the romance between her character Mrs Kapoor and Gere in “The Second Best Ex-otic Marigold Hotel” is not the head-over-heels, teenagers-like love story but mature and subtle.
“The romance with Richard happens within the framework of my character. Just because an attractive guy like Richard Gere is showering her with attention it is not going to set her swoon-ing and falling madly in love. She is not a young teen, she is a mature woman, who despite losing her husband has been on her own terms and managed on her own. That sort of a woman is not going get into a childish romance,” Dubey told PTI.
“But she is no longer that domineering mummy. Some-thing more develops for her character. People will know that she has a vulnerable side,” she added.
After the success of the first film, original stars Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Ron-
ald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Tena Desae, Dev Patel and Dubey return for the sequel, which released today, along with new additions Tamsin Greig, David Strathairn and Gere.
Dubey said that there were no apprehensions about join-ing the second film directed by John Madden as her role is meatier and better sketched than the original movie. Be-sides that she did not want to lose out on working with acting greats like Dench, Smith and Nighy again.
“As an actor before signing a movie, you want to know how big your part is and if you have something new to do. This op-portunity was presented to me in ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. I love John Madden. I am a huge admirer of Maggie and Judi as actress-es. Bill Nighy is a rock star. It is such an amazing cast,” the actress said.
Dubey, who has starred in ac-claimed films like “Zubeidaa”, “Monsoon Wedding”, “My Brother Nikhil”, “The Lunch-box”, said even though the film consists of an older cast, it is not meant for an elderly audi-ence as the theme of hope and possibilities is universal.
“I think the the film is very cute. I don’t see it as a film only
Filmmakers should make movies show-casing Indian heritage: Subhash Ghai
‘Showman’ Subhash Ghai says he would like to see directors making more
films that showcase Indian heritage to the international au-dience.
The 70-year-old filmmaker said he regrets that several Oscar-winning films based on India-related subjects were not made by directors from our country.
“I am not fascinated by the Oscars, but we are happy that a film on Mahatma Gandhi got the Oscars. Through ‘Gandhi’ the foreign audience saw India, but sadly that was not made by any Indian director. It was made by Richard Attenbor-ough,” Ghai told PTI.
“We want our filmmakers to internationally showcase our heritage with Indian sensibili-ties,” he said.
Ghai runs a film school Whis-tling Woods International Insti-tute for Film, Fashion & Com-munication which was founded in 2006.
Asked about the progress in setting up a branch of his film school in Kolkata, which he had announced about a year back, Ghai said, “We are keen to see it functioning in the east.”
The filmmaker, who produced and directed some very popular Hindi films said, “After making 19 movies and 14 blockbusters,
Actor Shashi Kapoor to get Dadasaheb Phalke Award
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar March 23, 2015
Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award for 2014, the govern-ment announced on Monday, becoming the third in his family
Filmmaker Anand Gandhi condemns muzzling freedom of expression
Filmmaker Anand Gandhi says his works will always be centred around issues like freethinking and freedom of expression.
Protesting strongly against increasing censorship and at-tempts to silence rational voices by wanton killings, filmmaker Anand Gandhi has said his works will always be centred around issues like freethinking and freedom of expression.
“Every film I work on is an extension of my concerns …I would be making films that demand more and more free-thinking, critical thinking and sceptical reasoning from the audiences, and hopefully par-ticipate in encouraging my con-temporaries and the next gen-eration to be able to question and challenge and reflect on the reasonable,” he told PTI.
The killing of rationalists like Govind Pansare is a “complete and disgusting collapse” of the state machinery and we should hit the streets against it, Gan-dhi said on the sidelines of the
second atheist summit in the city, held on the eve of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s death anniversary.
Gandhi, whose debut film ‘Ship of Theasus’ won rave re-views, said artists should make data findings or thoughts ac-cessible to society with strong
narratives.With the Censor Board mired
in controversy after some of its members belonging to certain ideological inclinations and more and more works getting banned, Gandhi said such acts are “profoundly detrimental” to the interests of the society.
for old people. It is a story of hope, possibility, there are so many sub-themes. It would be injustice if we say that it is a film only for mature audience of the age of 60 and above,” she said.
Dubey said that working with such a great cast was a learning experience for her and watch-ing them do their scenes im-peccably sometimes made her doubt her own acting abilities.
“I was performing with peo-ple who are super talented and wonderful. It makes you want to up your game and you want to rise to it. I thought I was a decent actor but I think I am quite lousy when I am put with people like these. Watching them perform was like a master class for me,” she said.
Dubey is seen in “Indian Summers”, an English drama series which airs on Channel 4 in Britain, set in 1932 follow-ing the final years of British co-lonial rule in India. The actress plays one of the 15 principal characters on the show.
Besides that she is also star-ring in an Indo-Italian produc-tion and awaiting the release of Indo-Canadian film “Dr Cab-bie”, which also stars “The Big Bang Theory” star Kunal Nay-yar, Vinay Virmani, Isabel Kaif and Adrianne Palicki.(PTI).
sensitive portrayal of human emotions has touched many a heart !,” Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, tweeted.
Kapoor also set up Mumbai’s iconic Prithvi Theatre that is synonymous with experimen-tal and avant-garde theatre. His daughter Sanjana now runs the venue.
Kapoor’s easy charm and intense demeanour made him an instant hit with audiences in the 60s and 70s. He acted in blockbusters like “Deewaar” and “Kabhie Kabhie” along-side Bollywood superstar Am-itabh Bachchan. Kapoor is also a three-time winner at the Na-tional Film Awards.
to receive the country’s highest honour in Indian cinema.
Kapoor, 77, is known for his myriad roles in both mainstream and experimental cinema in In-dia and in several international projects, most notably for his collaboration with Ismail Mer-chant and James Ivory, who directed him in films like “The Householder” and “Heat and Dust”.
Kapoor, one of the Hindi film industry’s three Kapoor broth-ers (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor), is part of what is known as Bol-lywood’s first family.
“Congrats to Cinema Leg-end Shashi Kapoor for Dada Saheb Phalke Award. His
Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor.
it was important to share the success with others.
“While the government spends Rs 37 crore on insti-tutes like SRFTI, Kolkata and FTII, Pune annually, we run the entire project, having all high-tech global facilities from our own corpus. I am happy my daughter Meghna has made it the number one institute in Asia,” Ghai said.
Asked why his last all-India release “Kaanchi” did not taste half as much success as films like “Karz” (1980), “Hero” (1983) to “Pardes” (1997) and “Taal’ (1999),” Ghai said, “I am quite happy with all my films.”
Asked if there was a hit film formula, Ghai said, “At times a film clicks because of it’s sub-ject.”
To the observation about he
launching female leads with new names starting with M, (like Mahima and Misti), Ghai said, “But I had not changed the names of Katrina or Karee-na though they had just started their film innings.
“My changing some names is a coincidence. I don’t always change names,” he said.
Ghai has been roped in by ‘Khushhi’ World Action Forum (WAF) initiative to support implementation of CSR visions on issues including disability, “I do appreciate their work in various fields,” he said.
An admirer of Ritwik Ghatak films, he said that his Mukta Arts production would like to collaborate on future film proj-ects in Bengal after “Noukadu-bi” made by Rituparno Ghosh and its Hindi version “Kash Ma Kash”.
Subhash Ghai
VOICE OF ASIA 16 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015HEALTHHEALTHY LIVING Friday, March 27, 2015 Section 2 Page 16 Email: [email protected] Tel: 713-774-5140
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1,000 posts of specialist doctors lie vacant: Chhattisgarh
More than 1,000 posts of specialist doctors lie vacant in Chhat-
tisgarh, state health minister Amar Agrawal told the assem-bly on Monday.
Agrawal said 1,201 posts of specialists doctors were sanc-tioned till January 31, of which 192 posts were filled while 1,009 remain vacant. In a writ-ten reply to the House on a
question from Congress legisla-tor Brihaspat Singh, the health minister said as against 3,257 posts of staff nurses, 2,011 posts have been filled while 1,246 posts lie vacant.
Singh also sought to know the number of posts sanctioned for Block Medical Officers (BMO), Chief Medical and Health Of-ficers (CMHO), staff nurses, Auxiliary Nurse Midwifes
(ANMs), and pharmacists as on January 31 in the state and how many of these were vacant.
Agrawal informed the House that “all 163 sanctioned posts of Block Medical officers and all 27 posts of Chief Medical and Health Officers are vacant till 31 January this year.” The min-ister said that in-charge officers have been deputed wherever BMO and CMHO vacancies
JAMMU, March 23, 2015 - More than 1,700 people have died of vari-
ous types of cancer in Kashmir Valley while over 13,000 have been diagnosed with the dis-ease in last three years, Jammu and Kashmir health minister Chowdhary Lal Singh said to-day.
In a written reply to a ques-tion by National Conference leader Shehnaz Ganai in the Legislative Council, Singh said the data collected by the department indicate that there has been an increase in the number of cancer patients in the state.
“Analysis of the data of can-cer patients of the state indi-cates increase in their number,” he said.
Giving details, he said, “at Government Medical College Srinagar, 784 people have died of cancer from a period of 2012 to 2014 whereas 2,692 were di-agnosed with the disease.”
“At Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS) at Soura in Srinagar, 987 people have died of cancer from a pe-riod of 2012 to 2014 whereas 10,622 people were diagnosed with the disease,” he said.
He said while during the same period at Government medical college Jammu 6,220 cancer cases were detected, however the “GMC Jammu does not maintain record of death details,” he said.
He held several reasons re-sponsible for increase in can-cer cases in the state.
Over 1,700 people died of cancer in Kashmir in last 3 yrs: Minister
“The reason for the rise in cancer patients is due to change in lifestyle (food hab-its etc), smoking, obesity, lack of necessary exercise coupled with other ecological changes, imbalances caused due to steep rise of pollution in the atmo-sphere,” he said.
“Financial assistance is be-ing provided to cancer patients through number of government run schemes,” he said.
He said that the Centre has announced setting up of two state cancer institutes, one each at Jammu and Srinagar.
“After the cancer institutes are established, quality of patient care will further im-prove,” he said. Source: (Press Trust of India).
by Zoom Dosso
MONROVIA, Liberia (AFP 3/20/2015) - The people of
Monrovia’s Peace Island ghet-to, refugees of civil war who found themselves suddenly overwhelmed and outmanoeu-vred by the deadly Ebola epi-demic, are used to life under siege.
Yet with Liberia emerging from the worst outbreak in his-tory a year to the day since Eb-ola was first identified in west Africa, the slum-dwellers are facing an even deadlier threat -- the measles virus.
Experts say Liberia and its neighbours Guinea and Sierra Leone are ripe for an outbreak that could infect hundreds of thousands, dwarfing the car-nage wrought by Ebola.
Death once again stalks im-poverished communities like Peace Island, a cramped spit of land surrounded by swamp where 30,000 people sought refuge behind the abandoned Ministry of Defence after Li-beria’s 1989-2003 civil wars.
By mid-March, coastal Libe-ria is already mercilessly hot and healthcare workers sweat as they pass through the slum in a mini-truck, calling out to mothers via a loudspeaker to bring out their babies.
“I am happy to have the op-portunity to bring my child for the measles vaccine because in this community children are dying,” Marie Bassa, 32, tells AFP after climbing down
Roll over Ebola: measles is the deadly new threat
One consequence of the Ebola crisis in Liberia has been a dramatic drop in measles vaccinations, with overburdened hospitals unable to keep up, leaving millions of children potentially at risk, experts suggest (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle)
from the vehicle with her nine-month-old baby.
The government said on Friday a woman in Monrovia had tested positive for Ebola, but the case was the first in the country for more than a month and officials said they were not concerned that it would lead to a wider outbreak.
Despite the setback, Liberia is considered to be well on the road to recovery from an out-break that brought the country to its knees, claiming more than 4,000 of the 10,000 lives lost across west Africa.
- ‘Serious threat’ -
One consequence of the cri-sis has been a dramatic drop in measles vaccinations, with overburdened hospitals unable to keep up, leaving millions of children potentially at risk, ex-perts suggest.
Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders -- known by its French initials MSF -- be-lieves that of Monrovia’s myr-iad slums, Peace Island faces the greatest risk.
“We did a survey and we found out that measles is be-coming a serious threat to the Peace Island community... So we decided to launch this campaign in response,” MSF vaccination supervisor Denis Besdevant told AFP.
MSF’s initial target is to get 700 children aged nine months to five years into its makeshift community vaccination centre, says Besdevant, adding that
250 infants were seen on the first day of the campaign last week.
Aid workers say convincing mothers, already deeply suspi-cious of Western healthcare, to hand over their children is one of the biggest challenges they face.
“It is not an easy task. Most of the people are saying that the government is trying to bring Ebola back and that is why they are talking about a measles vaccine,” MSF’s Al-fred Godfrey explains.
“We take our own time to ex-plain to them that the sickness that is killing the kids after Eb-ola is measles. Some of them agree but others don’t.”
Measles causes fever and a rash, and complications can include pneumonia, fatal brain swelling, blindness and hear-ing loss.
- ‘I was afraid’ -
Outbreaks often follow hu-manitarian crises, as vaccina-tion rates decline because of violence, fear of infection and health systems that are over-whelmed with casualties.
The west African Ebola outbreak has infected around 25,000 people. Crucially, some 852 of those cases have been healthcare workers, 492 of whom have died.
Researchers estimate that measles immunisations in the region -- typically ranging between 60 and 80 percent of
children -- had fallen by 75 percent because of the Ebola crisis.
As a result, 100,000 more children could get measles, in addition to the 127,000 cases already anticipated among children who have not been vaccinated in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Researchers forecast that on top of the 7,000 measles deaths that the countries would normally anticipate, up to 16,000 additional children could die from measles thanks to Ebola-related disruptions to healthcare.
Many mothers in Peace Is-land have refused help, God-frey said, but MSF is slowly changing minds by using the mothers of vaccinated children to persuade the others.
Rita Kpepka, 46, told AFP around 10 children in her part of the slum had recently died of measles, many wrongly thought to have been struck down by Ebola.
“First I was afraid. My friend encouraged me to come. She explained to me that it is the real measles vaccine they are giving here, not an Ebola vac-cine,” said Kpepka, who has a three-year-old.
“I am happy because my kid took the vaccine and she is OK.”
Let us understand decreasing term in-surance coverage in
later years. To overcome that propensity of policy own-ers to lapse their decreasing term insurance coverage in later years, some insurance companies sell a mortgage protection policy on which premiums are paid for less than the entire term. For ex-ample, a 25-year decreasing term policy may provide for premiums to be paid for only 20 years.
A typical decreasing term life insurance policy, usu-ally referred to as a straight-line decreasing term policy, has a death benefit that re-duces equally over the term of the policy. For example, the death benefit under a $100,000 20-year decreas-ing term insurance policy reduces by 1/20th each year until it expires at the end of 20 years.
Mortgage balances, how-ever, do not decrease in the same way; instead, they de-crease far more slowly in the early years of the mortgage and much faster in the later years. To more closely fol-low the principal balance in a mortgage, many insurers of-fer decreasing term life insur-ance coverage under which the death benefit coverage in force at any time during the policy’s life mirrors the remaining principal balance under the mortgage. They normally offer coverage that emulates a 7 percent mort-gage, a 6 percent mortgage, a 5 percent mortgage, and so forth.
This second type of de-creasing term insurance, sometimes referred to as mortgage decreasing term in-surance, usually costs slight-ly more than otherwise iden-tical straight-line decreasing term coverage offering the same amount of initial death benefit, but is more likely to provide sufficient funds to pay the outstanding balance if the insured dies at any time during the mortgage term.
Life insurance is not nor-mally thought of as an invest-ment in the sense that stocks or bonds are. Rather, life in-surance is purchased mainly to provide protection against
dying too soon while accumu-lating cash value that can be used as a living benefit. Life insurance must not be sold strictly as an investment with-out regard to its death benefit component, and life insurance is suitable only if the insured needs the death benefit.
While certain features of life insurance resemble other types of investments, they also have major differences:
• Death benefits—Life insurance provides guar-anteed death benefits, gener-ally free of income taxation, that are not available in other types of investments.
• Liquidity—Life in-surance has liquidity features that may not be available in other plans, such as the ability to take policy loans and with-drawals.
The life insurance policy’s cash value offsets some of the risk to the insurance company and is part of the policy’s face amount paid as a death ben-efit.
As cash value increases with the payment of premi-ums and the accumulation of interest, the risk to the insur-ance company, referred to as the net amount at risk, is re-duced. At age 100 in a whole life insurance policy, the cash value equals the policy’s face amount and the policy en-dows. A traditional life insur-ance policy’s face amount is its initial death benefit.
To evaluate your needs, compare quotes from all ma-jor life insurance companies contact 713-771-2900 .
One in 68 children born in the United States has autism spectrum
disorder (ASD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With prevalence on the rise, it’s important to learn more about the condition.
April, which is National Au-tism Awareness Month, is an ideal time to learn more about the potential of people with autism, as well as support orga-nizations that research the risk factors and provide services to patients.
To learn more about autism or how to host your own event, visit www.autism-society.org.
Be a better friend, neighbor or colleague to someone you know by becoming savvy about ASD. Source: (StatePoint).
April is National Autism Awareness Month
are vacant.As against the sanctioned
6,105 posts of ANM, 5,539 posts have been filled and 566 posts are vacant, he said. He said out of 1,197 sanctioned
posts of pharmacists, 985 posts have been filled, while 212 posts are vacant.
Singh also sought to know how many primary health cen-tres and sub health centres are
being run from its own build-ings. The minister said that 174 primary health centres and 1,429 sub-health centres do not operate from their own build-ings.
Air India hosted a job fair earlier this week in hopes of filling at least
some of the 197 vacant pilot spots for its Airbus fleet, alone. Not a single applicant showed up. Not. One.
Air India’s shortage of cabin crew is well known. The prob-lem is so severe that it’s faced frequent flight delays and cancel-lations, and even been forced to hire retired crews on short-term contracts.
The job fair, hosted in India’s fourth largest city, Hyderabad, was open to qualified applicants. They didn’t even have to make an appointment. They could just walk right in. While the occa-sional rabble-rouser was reported
to wander through the door of the five-star hotel, none met the re-quirements. But it might’ve had to do more with Air India rather than a lack of interest pilots, ac-cording to the Hindustan Times:
“This is the first time in recent memory that the airline orga-nized walk-in interviews for captains and it was completely mismanaged,” said an AI offi-cial.
Hiring captains from outside the company instead of offer-ing promotions from inside has caused strife with the pi-lot’s union as well as attempts from the government to prevent poaching of captains from other airlines.
Many pilot’s have left the company due to corporate mis-management. Air Alliance, the company’s regional subsidiary is in the process of replacing its aging fleet of Canadair Re-gional Jets (CRJ) with ATR turboprop commuter aircraft. This has left a slew of pilots not qualified to fly the new fleet and no positions available to upgrade. With no planes to fly, they’ve been forced to leave the airline and look elsewhere for work.
This debacle is just the lat-est in a string of problems that have plagued Air India, and for the nation’s airline industry as a whole. The airline, owned by the government of India, has received multiple government bailouts in the last few years, and has struggled with hun-dreds of pilots calling in sick.
Air India Airbus A320 at Delhi International Airport Calfier001 (Flickr / CC Commercial License). Getty Image.
FORTUNE ranks Houston Methodist among “100 Best Companies to
Work” for the 10th year in a row
HOUSTON – (March 19, 2015) – For the 10th year in a row,
Houston Methodist has been named to FORTUNE maga-zine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, and is one of only four Houston companies ranked.
Houston Methodist is ranked No. 57 and is the only Hous-ton health care organization to receive the prestigious dis-tinction. FORTUNE listed 11 companies in Texas on its 2015 list.
Among the other U.S. com-panies listed, Houston Meth-odist ranked No. 2 for the hiring of minorities, No. 11 in percentage of women and No. 16 in job openings available in February of this year.
“Our employees and physi-cians make it possible for us to appear on this prestigious list 10 years in a row,” said Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Method-ist. “Their complete and self-less dedication to our patients and to our values make Hous-ton Methodist a great place to work.”
The full list can be found at http://fortune.com/best-com-panies/.
Houston Methodist, which includes a flagship teaching hospital, six community hos-pitals, emergency care centers and a top-ranked research in-stitute, was included on the list for providing an exemplary workplace for employees.
Houston Methodist was se-lected based primarily on a confidential survey sent to randomly selected employees, who were asked questions on the level of trust, pride and camaraderie within their work-place.
Houston Methodist also sub-mitted documentation about its work environment, from bene-fits to corporate policies to em-ployee demographics. Houston Methodist offers competitive benefits, diversity in the work-force, recognition for employ-ees and a unique environment focused on integrity, compas-sion, accountability, respect and excellence.
Houston Methodist Hospital consistently is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best hospitals, ranked in 11 of 16 adult spe-cialties for 2014, the most in the state. Houston Methodist Hospital also was ranked by the magazine as the No.1 hos-pital in Houston and in Texas.
Houston Methodist employs more than 17,000 employees, and is comprised of Hous-ton Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, Hous-ton Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital, Hous-ton Methodist West Hospital, Houston Methodist San Jacin-to Hospital, Houston Method-ist St. John Hospital, Houston Methodist St. Catherine Hos-pital and Houston Methodist Research Institute. Houston Methodist is affiliated with Weill Medical College of Cor-nell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital.
About Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital
Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is committed to serving the health care needs of our community. We have some of the most advanced technol-ogy and medical capabilities in the area and have maintained the highest quality of care for which Houston Methodist is known internationally.
For more information on Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and services visit houstonmethodist.org/sugarland or call 281.274.7500 for a physician referral.
India raises record $17.6 billion from telecom airwaves auction
by Aman Shah
MUMBAI, (Reuters) - Mar 25, 2015- In-dia raised a record
$17.6 billion from the sale of mobile phone airwaves in its latest telecom spectrum auction after 19 days of fierce bidding, telecoms minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.
Prasad said the government received bids worth almost 1.10 trillion rupees ($17.6 billion), topping the 1.06 trillion rupees it raised in 2010. The amount is a third higher than the govern-ment expected to raise.
Victorious bidders need to pay a quarter to a third of the winning price initially, and the rest by 2027. Spectrum revenue is key for the government to plug its fiscal deficit.
However, the government’s payday could be delayed as the final allocations to operators will take place after Thursday, when the Supreme Court issues its ruling on multiple cases questioning the auction guide-lines and criteria.
The government did not dis-close winning bidders and the regions in which they had won spectrum, but the country’s
top operators -- Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Group Plc’s In-dia unit and Idea Cellular Ltd -- are expected to have bought the major chunk of the 20-year licences on offer.
The bidding underscores the fierce competition in India’s mobile phone market and the
operators’ big bet on the po-tential for mobile data in the world’s fastest growing smart-phone market.
“(The) competitive landscape in the telecom sector is becom-ing favourable for large tele-com companies as they have consolidated their leadership over the last few years,” Morn-
A labourer works amid rolls of underground telephone cable pipes on the side of a road in Mumbai January 9, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui/Files
ingstar analyst Piyush Jain said in a note.
Cash-rich conglomerate Reli-ance Industries is also among bidders expected to spend big on airwaves as it looks to roll out pan-India 4G services, five years after buying its licence.
($1 = 62.3350 Indian rupees)
First Fruit and Spices Candy in Texas MarketFirst Fruit and Spices
Candy, a Classy Karma Candy in Texas Mar-
ket. Karma Candy is in Indian Shops. It’s our Amla (Indian Gooseberry) candy with spices. First such candy and made in America. It is all natural with-out any color, chemical and preservatives and very afford-able $1.99 a bag.
First American Candy with spices cinnamon, clove, ginger.
pipper and Indian Gooseberry. You will delight with Karma Candy which is ‘one-of-a-kind’.
Now we are in about 30 In-dian stores in Houston and 8 Indian stores in Austin. And the best candy shop in Houston Candilicious in Hights and Uni-versity Blvd. Our popular pack 2.1 ounce bag is only $1.99
Karma Candy is worth try-ing and must in a candy dish at
home and office both.
You can get it in Houston and Austin, Indian stores or at http://classycandy.us
I love clean eating. You should.
Classy Candy Company founded by Mukesh Shah to make all natural candies in Houston. Karma Candy is the first product.
For details contact Mukesh Shah: Phone: 281-870-0508 email: [email protected]
Houston Methodist
VOICE OF ASIA 18 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015HOROSCOPEYour Horoscope for the Week of March 27, 2015
Aries (A,L,E) 21 March to 20 AprilYou need to get a better perspective on things. Make the effort to understand what is going
on by having sensitive discussions. You need to get ready to accept all the good things that are coming your way, because this is a perfect time for new starts and there are indications of fabulous financial conditions. Your mate could seem unpredictable to you. You might be
tempted to let go of the relationship for all the wrong reasons. Look deeper in order to understand motiva-tions. Start projects that bring more beauty into your home and lifestyle.
Taurus (B,V,U) 21 April to 20 MayLet your natural enthusiasm take you into uncharted territory. Explore the waters of
new partnership activity as well. Life may be more abundant than you could have ever imagined. Don’t put on the blinders just yet. Sensitivity can be a positive and valuable commodity but when those feelings are close to the surface, they can turn into feelings
of insecurity. Your sensitivity may come in handy when it comes to an appeal to others for aid. You may be called to distant shores.
Gemini (K,CHH,GH) 21 May to 20 JuneRealize your ability to collect additional income that is owed to you. Financial mat-
ters demand your careful attention. To avoid going down the garden path of unfulfilled dreams, take care of all practical matters. Keep your eye on your goals, but take pre-cautions. Secure the situation with practical measures. Partnership projects could seem
uncertain. If someone you depend on lets you down or acts in an unpredictable manner, you may need to discuss the situation more thoroughly.
Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 JulyYour partners may paint a rosy picture but if matters don’t work out the way you
expect, you could be very upset. Take a look at the truth of any situation, no matter what anyone else might say. Try not to go overboard with promotional efforts or the additional expenses. Be sure you don’t let flattery lead you down the wrong road. You
may be counting on unreliable sources of income now. If you trust that checks will arrive on time, hedge your bets and make sure they were mailed as promised.
Leo (M) 23 July to 22 AugustSome questions about areas of your life that come under fire. You may be unwilling to
confront the cost of an entertainment project until it’s too late. If you are disappointed as a result, you may blame yourself and may even become ill over it. Anything that is related to partnership activities or your home life could be a source of uncertainty. You may be
uncertain whether you should take the next step toward a more exciting life or maintain the status quo. Some situations could be very beneficial to you, but you may be tempted to zig when you should zag.
Virgo (P) 23 August to 22 SeptemberSomething or someone that tends to get under your skin. If you are resentful toward
friends or associates, you may have to struggle with those feelings. You may find it dif-ficult to keep a smile on your face when you see funds slipping through your fingers. A partner or your mate may appear to take the easy way out and ignore your struggle to
balance everything that’s going on around you. Don’t let stress tempt you to play games or plan ways to get even. Do yourself and others a big favor by investing in some background checks & research. Your deep emotional feelings are apparent to you.
Libra (R,T) 23 Sept to 22 OctFriends and associates could prove to be very unreliable. New responsibilities could
seem burdensome now. You need to make an effort to adjust to the demands of you. If you’re under too much pressure, your health could suffer. You need to be needed and you may have to carefully structure your time to accommodate everything you want to do. With some patience and understanding on your part, however, you’ll realize what
could occur in the lives of others to cause them to have to completely re-adjust their routines.
Scorpio (N,Y)23 Oct to 21 NovWorking situations could seem very stressful. Others may try to give you more than
your share of the load. Learn to say no, especially if you’re tired and need rest. You may need to get extra rest to keep nervous reactions under control. Try not to get upset over misunderstandings. Others may tend to think out loud & cause you to lose your temper.
You may need to blow off some steam. Utilize your natural sense of humor to help yourself to see things from a different perspective. Look for humor everywhere, especially in those who are closest to you.
Sagittarius (BH,F,DH,TH) 22 Nov to 21 DecChanges even though you want your life could stay exactly the same. After all, that makes
you feel safe and secure. Change doesn’t have to be frightening, in fact, major changes tak-ing place in your creative life, could awaken you to new talents and abilities. Remember that there is always another step to take and that things may not actually be as they seem. Don’t
resist these changes. You are developing new levels of consciousness, and these changes are part of that development. You’ll enjoy work projects that relate to the communications field.
Capricorn (KH,J) 22 Dec to 20 JanUncertainty in your career. You may want to bury your head in the sand. Your awareness
of something that is not fair or just at your job could make you want to walk away from some career situations. Be sure you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. If some as-sociates behave like traumatized children, treat them that way. Give people the attention
they require. Then you’re free to go on your way, unfettered and clear of resentments. You should have good luck selling or purchasing property.
Aquarius (G,S,SH) 21 Jan to 19 FebStrong emotional & physical ties. You may be so high on life that you forget to look
at the reality of some things. Be especially careful with financial matters, because you could be overconfident of your success. You may be very vulnerable and sensitive, es-pecially when it comes to your own creativity and your need for self-expression. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do. Show your leadership and avoid overly
aggressive behavior.
Pisces (D,CH,Z) 20 Feb to 20 MarchNeed to get yourself organized, You need to prepare for changes in your personal life
as well as in public or professional situations. Your social consciousness could lead you to situations that might help resolve 360 degree of problems. You may feel as if you are plugged into a source of very high energy. Considering the opportunities that await you, you have good reason to be excited. Pay attention to gut instincts that tell
you where the treasures/happiness of the world are buried. Even the best-laid plans can go awry and you could feel that your equilibrium being disturbed unless you find alternatives.
by Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950
READ YOUR COMPLETE HOROSCOPE ONLINE WWW.VOICEOFASIAONLINE.COM
VOICE OF ASIA 19 FRIDAY, March 27, 2015CLASSIFIEDS
HOME IMPROVEMENT
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MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY FROM HBR.ORGApologize Quickly If You Send an Embarrassing Email
Most people have made the mistake of hitting “reply all” on a private email or sending an in-sensitive message to the wrong person. After the panic sets in, you need to own the mistake. Ap-proach the offended col-league quickly and apol-ogize: “I’m sorry I did it and even more sorry that I hurt/showed disrespect for you.” Seek forgive-ness: “I wrote without thinking, and if I could take it back I would. I can only ask you to forgive me.” Avoid in-sincere language like: “mistakes were made” or “I’m sorry if you were offended.” Apologize in person or by phone — you don’t want to risk getting it wrong again via email. And as awful as it feels having to make an apology, recognize that you may have done real damage. You might need to take additional steps to show that you actually care about the issue and are taking it seriously.
Adapted from “When a Private Message Ends Up in the Wrong Place” by Karen Dillon.
Houston Community College Request for Competitive Sealed
Proposals (CSP) RigOne Drilling Training Center
Project No. 15-11Documents can be ob-tained at: www.hccs.edu/d i s t r i c t /depar t-ments/procurement. Sealed proposals will be received in Procurement Operations (3100 Main Street, Room No. 11A06, Houston, Texas 77002) until 2:00PM (local time) on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Pre-proposal meeting will be held on March 26, 2015 at 10:00 am at 3100 Main Street, Seminar Room B, Hous-ton, Texas 77002.
contemplating an upgrade, when choosing siding, there’s a lot more to consider beyond color. The type of material you use can impact durability, beauty and even energy effi-ciency.
Since siding is a long-term investment, you’ll want to make a decision from an in-formed place, especially with more options now available in the marketplace. With that in
What to Know Before You Replace Your Home’s Siding
mind, here are some things to consider about different siding materials:
Weather
Extreme weather events, in-cluding high winds and hot and cold temperatures can dam-age or destroy siding. Look for a product that is certified to withstand these conditions. No matter where you live, this should be an important con-sideration, as weather patterns have become more unpredict-able across the country.
Rot
Fiber-based materials (such as fiber cement planks) absorb water, which over time can make siding more prone to rot, decay and even disintegration. At the store, ask to see sid-ing options made of polymer-based materials, which are im-pervious to moisture.
Environmental Impact
For improved energy effi-ciency, choose insulated sid-
ing, which will prevent undue loss of warm air in winter and cool air in summer. Where environmental impact is con-cerned, vinyl is a good bet, as it complies with environmen-tal standards known as LEED and ICC 700 National Green Building standards.
Maintenance
A certain amount of upkeep will be required to keep your siding looking great. Howev-er, vinyl siding requires only
occasional soap and water, whereas fiber cement requires re-caulking and repainting to maintain color and help pre-vent moisture absorption.
First introduced in the 1960s, vinyl siding is the most popu-lar home siding material today, due to its overall low cost, easy installation, durability and minimal maintenance. New products are particularly ver-satile, and easy to install and maintain, such as Heartland Siding by ProVia. Their super
polymer vinyl siding comes in a number of styles, colors and price points. Additionally, the energy efficiency of the com-pany’s CedarMAX line can help you save money down the line. Visit www.proviaprod-ucts.com/vs for more informa-tion.
Whenever making a major home upgrade, learn more about your purchase for smart-er, sounder investments.
Source: (StatePoint)
Siding - PHOTO SOURCE: (c) Heartland Siding by ProVia
PROJECT: City of Houston
- LLPS Direct Connect
and PRS at EWPPP
BID DATE: April 16th, 2015 @ 10:30am . Gar-ney Construction is looking for SBE, MBE, WBE, & DBE Contractors and Suppliers. Con-tact Bret Crandall at PHONE: 816-278-5950 ext 622 FAX: 816-278-2932
