Appeals court upholds injunction on Obama immigration actions

Transcription

● NEW YORK
VOL 9 ISSUE 21
● MAY 29 - JUNE 04, 2015
● Tel: 646-247-9458
● www.theindianpanorama.com
Appeals court upholds injunction
on Obama immigration actions
International Day of Yoga
June 21, 2015
The Indian Panorama
will bring out a
special supplement
to mark the
International Day
of Yoga on June 21.
Articles and
advertisements are
welcome For more
information, visit
Activists protest for and against President Barack Obama's
immigration policies on May 19 in New York City.
www.theindianpanorama.com
Photo courtesy US News
US Congressional committee
calls for public hearing on rights
of religious minorities in India
The briefing will outline the important legal, social and cultural
issues related to the persecution of minorities in India
Congressmen
Joseph Pitts and
Jim McGovern, cochairs of the Tom
Lantos Human
Rights Commission
WASHINGTON (TIP): A key US Congressional committee
has called for a public hearing on the rights and freedoms of
religious minorities in India to be held early next month.
contd on Page 32
NEW ORLEANS (TIP): A
United States appeals court
ruled Tuesday, May 26,
against the Obama
administration, refusing to
lift a temporary hold on the
president's executive orders
to shield nearly five million
illegal immigrants from
deportation.
The US Justice
Department had requested
that the US 5th Circuit Court
of Appeals overrule a Texas
judge who had temporarily
blocked the president's plan
in February, after 26 states
had filed a lawsuit claiming
Obama's actions were
contd on Page 32
●PRICE 40CENTS
Vanya Shivashankar & Gokul
Venkatachalam declared Co-Winners
of the National Spelling Bee
Vanya Shivashankar
and Gokul
Venkatachalam cowinners of the
National Spelling
Bee 2015.
NEW YORK (TIP): Its Indian Americans again who have
done it at the National Spelling Bee. Vanya Shivashankar, 13
of Olathe, Kansas, and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14 of
Chesterfield, Missouri, were declared co-winners of the
National Spelling Bee.
contd on Page 32
INDIAN AMERICAN HOTELIER CHATWAL PLEDGES
$1 MILLION FOR DELHI SIKH STUDY CENTER
NEW YORK (TIP): New
York hotel magnate Sant
Singh Chatwal, May 27,
pledged to donate one
million dollar to help set up
a five million dollar project
for a Sikh Center for
International Studies in
Rakab Ganj Gurdwara, New
Delhi. On the sidelines of a
press conference in New
York, during which he
formally launched the
project, Chatwal said he will
give the
contd on Page 32
Sant Singh Chatwal and Daman Chatwal being honored in New York, May 27. (Left to right)
GurmeetSingh ,Paramjit Singh Rana, chairman of DSGMC DharamPrachar Committee, Sant
Chatwal, Manjit Singh, president of DSGMC, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Producer Bobby Bedi,
Puneet Singh Chandhok during the launch of MOOL project for a Sikh Center for International
Studies in RakabGanjGurdwara, New Delhi.
Photo/ Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia
104-02, 120th Street,
S. Richmond Hill, NY 11419
2
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
ADVERTISEMENT
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
NEW YORK
3
International Day of UN Peacekeepers Commemorated
Virtual Memorial Wall honoring Indian peacekeepers who laid down their lives during UN Peacekeeping Operations launched at United Nations
NEW YORK (TIP): To commemorate the
International Day of United Nations
Peacekeepers, the Permanent Mission of
India to UN hosted a somber function, May
29, for all the recipients of the 125 Dag
Hammarskjold Medals awarded this year by
the United Nations.
Ambassador Asoke Kumar Mukerji,
Permanent Representative of India to United
Nations welcomed the awardees and read out
External Affairs Minister of India's message
on the UN's commemoration of International
Day of Peacekeepers.
In her message, Sushma Swaraj said, "I
salute the professionalism, dedication and
courage of men and women who have served
in UN peacekeeping operations. I also pay
solemn tribute to those who have laid down
their lives for the cause of peace. In
particular, I extend my heartfelt condolences
to the families of the 126 peacekeepers,
including 2 peacekeepers from India, who
made the supreme sacrifice in 2014".
During the commemorative function a
unique initiative was undertaken by the
Indian Mission to UN, whereby a Virtual
Memorial Wall was launched and dedicated
to those Indian troops who gave their lives
while doing active service as UN
peacekeepers.
The wall of honor includes details of 161
Indian peacekeepers who made the supreme
sacrifice in 16 UN Peacekeeping Missions so
far. The Virtual Wall, launched on the
occasion of the International Day of UN
Peacekeepers on 29 May 2015, will be hosted
on the website of the Permanent Mission of
India to the United Nations
(www.pminewyork.org)
Virtual Memorial Wall
This Indian initiative is a precursor to the
eventual construction of a UN Peacekeepers
Memorial Wall on the premises of the United
Nations Headquarters in New York. India
had proposed the construction of the UN
Peacekeepers Memorial Wall as an
appropriate way to commemorate all the
troops from member states of the United
Nations who had given their lives while on
duty under the Blue Flag of the United
Nations. The proposal for the establishment
of the Memorial Wall at the United Nations
Peacekeepers Memorial at Headquarters has
been recommended by the Special Committee
on Peacekeeping Operations in its report
A/69/19 (Para 19). The recommendation is
under consideration in the Special Political
and Decolonization Committee as a part of
draft proposals in the Fourth Committee
document A/C.4/69/L.19.
Since attaining independence in 1947, India
has steadfastly responded to calls from the
United Nations Security Council to
contribute troops as UN peacekeepers for
maintaining international peace and
security. India's consistent and substantive
response over the past seven decades of UN
peacekeeping operations has resulted in
Senator Tony Avella, Chair,
Ethics applauds JCOPE
ALBANY, NY
(TIP): Senator
Tony Avella,
Chair, Ethics,
has applauded
the Joint
Commission on
Public Ethics
(JCOPE).
In a
statement on
May 29, he said,
"As Chair of
the Senate
Senator Tony Avella says: "For too
Ethics
long, consultants have taken
Committee, and
advantage of their close relationships
author of the
with legislators and policy makers,
Consulting Act, I
while simultaneously representing
applaud the
outside clients, all without being
subject to the same scrutiny as their
Joint
lobbyist counterparts".
Commission on
Public Ethics for
joining me in working to shed light on these 'lobbyists
in consultants' clothing'. For too long, consultants
have taken advantage of their close relationships with
legislators and policy makers, while simultaneously
representing outside clients, all without being subject
to the same scrutiny as their lobbyist counterparts.
New York is long overdue in addressing this issue, and
these proposed guidelines are a strong step in the
right direction. I urge JCOPE to adopt these new
guidelines as regulation, so we can continue to build
transparency between our legislators and the
consultants who work with them."
Memorial Service to Indian UN Peacekeepers
more than 180,000 Indian troops having
participated in 44 of the 69 UN peacekeeping
operations mandated by the UN Security
Council so far. India is proud of being the
single largest contributor to UN
peacekeeping.
The high degree of professionalism and
courage displayed by Indian UN
peacekeepers have extracted their costs in
terms of human lives. 161 Indian UN
peacekeepers have made the supreme
sacrifice while on active duty with the United
Nations.
In order to keep their memory alive, and to
highlight the significant contribution these
dedicated professional troops have made to
the objectives and purposes of the United
Nations Charter, the Permanent Mission of
India to the United Nations has been actively
engaged in enhancing the commemoration of
the International Day of UN Peacekeepers on
29 May every year.
Two years ago, on 29 May 2013, to mark the
10th anniversary of the International Day of
UN Peacekeepers, the Permanent Mission of
India to the United Nations had organized a
photo exhibition showcasing the historical
origins of India's UN peacekeeping
participation and scenes from the various
areas of operation where Indian
peacekeepers have been deployed over the
past 60 years.
In 2014, at India's initiative, the UN
General Assembly agreed for the first time in
its Resolution No. A/67/287 to request the
Secretary General of the United Nations to
place a wreath at the UN Peacekeepers
Memorial, located on the UN Headquarters
premises, on 29 May every year. That same
day, for the first time, an inclusive
commemorative reception was hosted by
India at the United Nations Headquarters in
memory of all the 106 UN peacekeepers from
different member states of the United
Nations, who had laid down their lives in
service of the United Nations during 2013.
On 2 October 2014, Sushma Swaraj, External
Affairs Minister of India, became the first
foreign minister from any member state of the
United Nations to place a wreath at the UN
Peacekeepers Memorial in New York.
The May 29 function to honor the memory
of Indian peacekeepers was also attended by
Mr. Atul Khare, Under Secretary General for
Field Support along with Mr. Herve Ladsous,
Under Secretary General for Department of
Peace Keeping Operations, who both paid
glowing tributes to the sacrifices made by
Indian peacekeepers in UN peace keeping
operations.
Indian American Scientist creates
first Single-Molecule Device with
Practical Applications
NEW YORK (TIP): An IndianAmerican scientist Latha
Venkataraman has led team of
Columbia engineering researchers to
develop a single-molecule electronic
device which holds the potential of
real-world technological applications
for nano scale devices.
Latha Venkataraman has created a
single-molecule electronic device which
has a potential of real-world
technological applications for
nanoscale devices.
Under the direction of
Venkataraman, researchers created a
single-molecule diode which performs
50 times better than all prior designs.
Constructing a device where the
active element is only a single
molecule, has long been a tantalizing
dream in nanoscience.
Venkataraman said, "Our new device
represents the ultimate in functional
miniaturization that can be achieved
for an electronic device."
With electronic devices decreasing in
size day by day, the field of molecular
electronics has become more
"Our new device represents the ultimate in functional miniaturization that can be
achieved for an electronic device": Latha Venkatraman
interpretative in solving the
problematic miniaturization.
Single molecule denotes the limit of
miniaturization.
It was Arieh Aviram and Mark
Ratner who suggested the idea of
creating a single-molecule diode when
in 1974 they theorized that a molecule
could act as a rectifier, a one-way
conductor of electric current.
The next goal of the team is to
understand the fundamental physics
behind their finding and try to
intensify the rectification ratios that
were observed, using new molecular
systems.
The report was featured in the
journal Nature Nanotechnology.
4
NEW YORK
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
IDNYC CARD ENROLLMENT CENTER TO
OPEN AT QUEENS BOROUGH HALL
For limited time, by
appointment only
QUEENS, NY (TIP): There is a "tremendous demand for
the IDNYC card", says Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz who announced that Queens Borough Hall will serve as
an IDNYC Pop Up Enrollment Center from June 2 to 16. All
New York City residents age 14 and older are qualified to
apply for an IDNYC card, regardless of immigration status.
"From the 'World's Borough' of 2.3 million residents of over
130 languages, we are pleased to offer Borough Hall as a
temporary satellite location to help address the tremendous
demand for IDNYC," said Borough President Katz. "The
IDNYC program has proven itself as an effective tool to
ensure equal access to municipal services - from benefits at
the culturals to parents visiting their kids at school - and we
can't register New Yorkers fast enough."
"We are very excited about the extraordinary response of
New Yorkers from Queens to the IDNYC program, and we
thank Borough President Katz for taking the initiative of
opening a pop-up enrollment center in Queens Borough Hall we are thrilled to see our city government working together
to make the IDNYC program as strong as it can be," said New
York City's Immigration Commissioner NISHA AGARWAL.
The IDNYC card is an accessible and secure document that
enables residents to access City services and grant admission
to City buildings, such as schools. In addition, the card can be
presented as proof of identification for interacting with the
police and is an accepted form of identification for opening a
banking account at select financial institutions. An IDNYC
card can also be used at all branches of all three of New York
City's public library systems and be used to obtain discounts
and other benefits at museums and cultural institutions,
entertainment venues, pharmacies and fitness centers.
All IDNYC applicants can make an appointment at Queens
Borough Hall or at any other IDNYC Enrollment Center.
Appointments can be made either by calling 311 or online at
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/idnyc/card/make-anappointment.page. Applicants are required to present proof
of identity and residency in New York City. Many types of
documents are accepted, all of which are listed at
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/idnyc/card/documentation.page.
Upon submitting an application, the IDNYC Card will be sent
Indian American first vegetarian
contestant on ‘MasterChef US’
NEW YORK (TIP): An
Indian-American
contestant on the
competitive cooking
reality show, "MasterChef
US" season six, is the first
ever vegetarian
participant on the
program.
Hetal Vasavada, 28,
enjoys making desserts
with traditional Indian
spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander and garam
masala, to create something uniquely Indian and American,
India West, a leading publication for the Indian diaspora,
reported.
She cleared the MasterChef audition with an apple
pastry cup with cardamom whipped cream.
Vasavada's interest in cooking was piqued while studying
at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where
most of the students were Indian and longed for good,
home-cooked meals.
Inspired, she began cooking for the other students in her
dorm.
The Indian-American contestant said she ultimately
would like to start her own cookie business and conduct
consultations regarding different recipes and their
potential for success in business ventures.
The ongoing season six started on May 20. It has a total of
22 finalists and they are being judged by three world
renowned chefs, including Gordon Ramsey.
applicant's date of birth.
No expired documents will be accepted except machine
readable passports that expired within the last three years.
Only original documents and copies certified by the issuing
agency will be accepted.
Age Requirement:
The minimum age to apply for an IDNYC card is 14.
Applicants age 14 and older may apply on their own with a
photo ID.
If you are an applicant between 14 and 21 years old and do
not have a photo ID please check this box.
Identity and Residency Documents
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio displays his IDNYC Card at the launch
of the ambitious project of providing City ID to all residents
to the resident via regular mail.
The IDNYC card is free for all New Yorkers who apply
before December 31, 2015. Cards are valid for five years from
the date the application is approved. The IDNYC application
is available in various languages including English,
Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified),
Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian-Creole,
Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean,
Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Serbo-Croatian,
Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Yiddish.
The City will protect the confidentiality of all IDNYC card
applicants to the maximum extent allowable by applicable
federal and state law, and in accordance with Local Law 35. In
addition, the City will not ask applicants for information
about their immigration status for purposes of obtaining the
card.
To get an IDNYC card, you must meet the following
criteria:
1)
2)
3)
At least four (4) points of documents with:
- At least three (3) points of documents proving identity.
- At least one (1) point of documents proving residency.
At least one (1) of the documents submitted must have a
photo of the applicant, unless the applicant is 21 years
old or younger and is accompanied by a caretaker who
can demonstrate proof of relationship.
At least one (1) of the documents submitted has the
If you have one of the following documents, you are not
required to bring any further proof of identity or residency:
New York State (NYS) Department of Motor Vehicles
Driver's License or Learner's Permit with a New York City
address (4)
NYS Department of Motor Vehicles Identification Card
with a New York City address (4)
NYC Handgun License (4)
Identity
U.S. Passport
Foreign Passport
U.S. Visa / Permits
U.S. Government ID Documents
U.S. Driver's License
Foreign Driver's License
Foreign ID Documents
U.S. Professional / Education Documents
Residency
Bills
Letters
Property
Other
No Stable Address/Survivors of Domestic Violence
Queens Borough Hall is located at 120-55 Queens Boulevard
in Kew Gardens. It is adjacent to the Kew Gardens-Union
Turnpike subway station on the E and F lines.
Follow Borough President Katz via @melindakatz or
www.facebook.com/queensbpkatz
2 INDIAN-AMERICAN DOCTORS TO PAY
OVER $3.6 MILLION FOR FRAUD
NEW JERSEY (TIP): Two IndianAmerican doctors and their
cardiology firm have agreed to pay
more than $3.6 million to resolve
allegations that its facilities falsely
billed federal health care programs for
tests that were not medically
necessary.
Jasjit Walia and Preet Randhawa
and their New Jersey-based
cardiology practice Garden State
Cardiovascular Specialists will pay
the amount to resolve allegations that
they submitted claims to federal
insurance program Medicare for
various cardiology diagnostic tests
and procedures. The tests included
stress tests, cardiac catheterizations
and external counterpulsation, which
were not medically necessary, US
Attorney Paul Fishman for the
District of New Jersey said.
Garden State owned and operated
several facilities in New Jersey under
Dr.Jasjit Walia and Dr. Preet Randhawa of New Jersey will pay $3.6 million to resolve
allegations that they submitted claims to federal insurance program Medicare for
various cardiology diagnostic tests and procedures.
the name NJ MedCare/NJ Heart.
The allegations resolved by the
settlement were raised in a lawsuit
filed under the whistleblower
provisions of the False Claims Act,
which allows private citizens with
knowledge of fraud to bring civil
actions on behalf of the government
and to share in any recovery.
The whistleblower, Cheryl Mazurek,
will receive more than $648,000 as part
of the settlement.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
ADVERTISEMENT
5
6
NEW YORK
Mangano presents floral
wreath to honor Veterans at
Memorial Day Ceremonies
EAST MEADOW, NY (TIP): "Today,
we gather to remember the brave men
and women in uniform who served
our nation in the United States Armed
Forces," said County Executive
Mangano, as he presented a floral
wreath to honor veterans at 2015
United Veterans Organization's
Memorial Day Ceremonies at Veterans
Plaza in Eisenhower Park.
"We must never forget what the true
meaning of Memorial Day is; to reflect
on all that our veterans have done for
us, mourn those who we have lost and
thank those who are still protecting us
each and every day. It is a measure of
our continued greatness that, amid
the comforts of modern American life,
so many of our young men and women
continue to affirm the devotion to our
nation in this, most noble, of ways. I
am truly humbled to be in the
presence today of so many great men
and women. I thank you for your
service to your country and for
ensuring that our great nation
remains free."
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
Nassau County Executive Mangano Joins
Habitat for Humanity in celebrating
Dedication of 17th Home
At the dedication of 17th home. Pictured (left to right): Mike
Pfeiffer, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity; Terryl,
Michelle and Jahkobe Walden; County Executive Mangano;
and Madeline Squeglia, President of Habitat for Humanity
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano (2nd left), County Legislator Laura
Schaefer, keynote speaker Colonel Anthony Hartmann and United Veterans
Organization's President Rick Gales present a floral wreath at the 2015 United
Veterans Organization's Memorial Day Ceremonies at Veterans Plaza in
Eisenhower Park.
ROOSEVELT, NY (TIP): Nassau County Executive
Edward P. Mangano joined with Habitat for Humanity at an
official dedication ceremony in Roosevelt to celebrate the
construction of their 17th home. The new homeowners, the
Walden Family, were present as well and together they
thanked those who worked so hard to help them reach their
goal.
"I commend the countless volunteers and good corporate
citizens who helped make this home a reality for the
Walden Family," said County Executive Mangano. "I am
glad we were able to assist with such a great program such
as this that helps individuals achieve the dream of home
ownership while also helping beautify our neighborhoods.
I look forward to working with Habitat for Humanity on
future projects."
Through donations of money, materials and volunteer
labor, Habitat for Humanity was able to build the home and
sell it an affordable price. In addition, Nassau County
assisted by providing $250,000 Federal Neighborhood
Stabilization Program funds for this project.
The Walden Family has performed over 100 hours of
sweat equity of their home and will continue to finish the
required 300 hours at Habitat's next build which is
currently underway in the Village of Hempstead,
Mangano Proclaims May
Syringomyelia Awareness Month
MINEOLA, NY (TIP): Nassau County
Executive Edward P. Mangano (4th from left)
proclaimed May Syringomyelia Awareness
Month in Nassau County at a ceremony held in
the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and
Legislative Building. Members of The NY-Long
Island Chapter of The American Syringomyelia
& Chiari Alliance Project, Inc. (ASAP) met with
County Executive Mangano and discussed the
problems facing Syringomyelia (SM) patients
and their families.
Syringomyelia (SM) is a rare and devastating
neurological disorder that over time can damage
the spinal cord and result in serious disabling
symptoms. It affects tens of thousands of
children and adults and has limited treatment
options.
Syringomyelia Awareness Month is being
held in May across the United States. It was
created to increase awareness and support for
research and treatments for syringomyelia
patients. Syringomyelia (SM) is condition
occurring when a fluid-filled cyst or syrinx
forms within the spinal cord. This is often
caused by a congenital defect known as Chiari
malformation (CM) and can also be caused by
trauma to the spinal cord (i.e. whiplash),
hemorrhage, meningitis, tethered spinal cord
and spinal cord tumors as well as many other
spinal disorders. It can affect anyone, at any time
during their life. As the cyst grows,
syringomyelia causes the damage and
destruction of spinal tissue, which results in
chronic and severe pain, neuropathy, paralysis,
stiffness, loss of bladder and bowel control,
Mangano proclaims May Syringomyelia Awareness Month. Pictured (left to right): John
Caemmerer, ASAP Board of Directors; ASAP Member Maureen Routledge; Patrice Schaublin,
President Board of Directors; County Executive Ed Mangano; Shananne Hutter, LI-NY ASAP
Support Group Leader, along with her family Katie, Sara and Stephen Hutter.
muscle atrophy, headaches, loss of sensation in
different parts of the body and more.
Symptoms and their severity vary from
patient to patient. Syringomyelia is often
progressive, causing the symptoms to worsen
and new symptoms to appear. Progression may
occur very suddenly or a patient may deteriorate
very slowly over a period of years. There is no
cure for syringomyelia.
Surgery is the only way to halt growth of the
syrinx, but such procedures are high risk and
are not always viable. For many patients, the
only treatment option is pain relief. Due to the
nature of the condition, treating pain associated
with SM is very difficult.
It is the hope that Syringomyelia Awareness
Month will generate awareness about the
condition and will raise desperately needed
funding and support for research into more
effective treatments for syringomyelia, and
eventually a possible cure.
This year ASAP will hold their annual
conference in Ann Arbor Michigan, hosted by
Dr. Cormac Maher, Board Certified Pediatric
Neurosurgeon and associate professor at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Maher
has assembled more than 25 neurologists,
neurosurgeons and other medical professionals
and specialists to speak regarding Chiari
Malformation, Syringomyelia and related
disorders. The three day event will take place
form July 22nd through July 25th at the Ypsilanti
Eagle Crest Hotel in Ann Arbor. Over the course
of the three days, speakers will educate persons
affected, parents, children caretakers, loved ones
and peers of new research, latest treatment
modes, and alternative therapies support
resources etc. There will be a children's
program where children too young for general
session will take part in fun and educational
activities while their parents learn about the
disorders. This is a one of a kind event open to
all people, not just medical professionals. For
more info please visit www.ASAP.org
The NY Long Island ASAP support group has
been led by Mrs. Shananne Hutter for the past 3
years. Mrs. Hutter was diagnosed with
Syringomyelia, Chiari 1 Malformation in 2003.
Through the support group, she provides
support, raises awareness and funding for
research. For information on upcoming
meetings in Nassau County, visit the NY ASAP
Chiari, Syringomyelia and Related Disorders
Support Group on Facebook or email
nyasapsg@yahoo.com.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
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7
8
EDITORIAL
COMMENT
AS I SEE IT
Prof I.S.Saluja
Dark Money in Politics
The Disconnect Must End
here are around 350 ethnic and community
newspapers in scores of languages which reach
out to millions of immigrants living in New York
City. The City school system claims that 182 languages
are spoken in the City schools. The ethnic and
community media reaches out to 37% population of
New York which has an immigrant population of 1.4 to
1.8 million. They have little or no English. The only
source of information for them is their language
newspaper. They depend on ethnic and community
newspapers to get to know of what is happening here
and "back home". It is these newspapers which carry to
these millions the policies and programs of New York
City and the multiple administration agencies and keep
them informed on various political, social, economic
and cultural issues. Exercising great influence over the
minds of their readers, they help them form healthy
opinions. Thus, the City administration and its
numerous agencies are greatly benefited from ethnic
and community newspapers which have a wide reach
among populations to whom the mainstream
newspapers mean nothing, as they do not understand
the language.
The ethnic newspapers are happy to play the role of
bridge builders between the mainstream and the diverse
communities. With meager resources, out of a
passionate desire and commitment for the welfare of
the communities and the administration, publishers of
these newspapers strive to reach out to the ethnic stock,
on the one hand, and the mainstream, on the other,
serving as a bridge between the two. Establishing this
linkage is absolutely necessary for the health and
strength of a society.
The ethnic and community papers have been playing
their part, in all fairness. But has the City
administration ever tried to give them back for their
work and services? One would say, without hesitation,
"NO". The City spent in 2013, $18 million on
advertisements and 82% of it went to mainstream
media, numbering just a few. Imagine, 350 small ethnic
and community publications got a meager 18%. Here is
the disconnect. It must end.
We only want the City administration to understand
that there has to be a fair distribution of the available
resources with it. The ethnic publications should not be
deprived of a fair share just because they are small or
because they are not organized as a trade group. Each of
these small papers is making a singular contribution to
the growth and strength of the City. Let the City under a
fair minded and liberal Mayor end this discrimination
and the disconnect. The sooner, the better.
T
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
've admired the Clintons' foundation
for years for its fine work on AIDS
and global poverty, and I've
moderated many panels at the annual
Clinton Global Initiative. Yet with each
revelation of failed disclosures or the
appearance of a conflict of interest
from speaking fees of $500,000 for the
former president, I have wondered:
What were they thinking?
I
"I've covered corrupt regimes all over the world, and I
find it ineffably sad to come home and behold
institutionalized sleaze in the United States", says the
author.
But the problem is not precisely the
Clintons. It's our entire disgraceful
money-based political system. Look
around:
o
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey
accepted flights and playoff
tickets from the Dallas Cowboys
owner, Jerry Jones, who has
business interests Christie can
affect.
o
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
has received financial assistance
from a billionaire, Norman
Braman, and has channeled
public money to Braman's causes.
o
Jeb Bush likely has delayed his
formal candidacy because then he
would have to stop coordinating
with his "super PAC" and raising
money for it. He is breaching at
least the spirit of the law.
"For meaningful change to arrive,
'voters need to reach a point of
revulsion.' Hey, folks, that time has
come."
When problems are this widespread,
the problem is not crooked individuals
but perverse incentives from a rotten
structure.
"There is a systemic corruption
here," says Sheila Krumholz of the
Center for Responsive Politics, which
tracks campaign money. "It's kind of
baked in."
Most politicians are good people.
Then they discover that money is the
only fuel that makes the system work
and sometimes step into the bog
themselves.
Money isn't a new problem, of
course. John F. Kennedy was accused of
using his father's wealth to buy
elections. In response, he joked that he
had received the following telegram
from his dad: "Don't buy another vote. I
won't pay for a landslide!"
Yet Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's labor
secretary and now chairman of the
national governing board of Common
Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group,
notes that inequality has hugely
exacerbated the problem. Billionaires
adopt presidential candidates as if they
were prize racehorses. Yet for them, it's
only a hobby expense.
For example, Sheldon and Miriam
Adelson donated $92 million to super
PACs in the 2012 election cycle; as a
share of their net worth, that was
equivalent to $300 from the median
American family. So a multibillionaire
can influence a national election for the
same sacrifice an average family bears
in, say, a weekend driving getaway.
Money doesn't always succeed, of
course, and billionaires often end up
wasting money on campaigns.
According to The San Jose Mercury
News, Meg Whitman spent $43 per vote
in her failed campaign for governor of
California in 2010, mostly from her own
pocket. But Michael Bloomberg won his
2009 re-election campaign for mayor of
New York City after, according to the
New York Daily News, spending $185 of
his own money per vote.
The real bargain is lobbying - and
that's why corporations spend 13 times
as much lobbying as they do
contributing to campaigns, by the
calculations of Lee Drutman, author of
a recent book on lobbying.
The health care industry hires about
five times as many lobbyists as there
are members of Congress. That's a
shrewd investment. Drug company
lobbyists have prevented Medicare from
getting bulk discounts, amounting to
perhaps $50 billion a year in extra
profits for the sector.
Likewise, lobbying has carved out the
egregious carried interest tax loophole,
allowing many financiers to pay vastly
reduced tax rates. In that respect,
money in politics both reflects
inequality and amplifies it.
Lobbyists exert influence because
they bring a potent combination of
expertise and money to the game. They
gain access, offer a well-informed take
on obscure issues - and, for a member of
Congress, you think twice before biting
the hand that feeds you.
The Supreme Court is partly to blame
for the present money game, for its
misguided rulings that struck down
limits in campaign spending by
corporations and unions and the overall
political donation cap for individuals.
Still, President Obama could take one
step that would help: an executive order
requiring federal contractors to disclose
all political contributions.
"President Obama could bring the
dark money into the sunlight in time
for the 2016 election," notes Michael
Waldman of the Brennan Center for
Justice at the New York University
School of Law. "It's the single most
tangible thing anyone could do to
expose the dark money that is now
polluting politics."
I've covered corrupt regimes all over
the world, and I find it ineffably sad to
come home and behold institutionalized
sleaze in the United States.
Reich told me that for meaningful
change to arrive, "voters need to reach a
point of revulsion." Hey, folks, that time
has come.
(NY Times May 28, 2015)
Lookout for news, views and reviews, log on to
The Indian Panorama New York and Texas editions
are available on website
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
PERSPECTIVE
9
Why Is Pakistan Such a Mess? Blame India
After a year in office, Modi's gestures of conciliation toward Islamabad have gone nowhere.
That's because India's founding fathers set Pakistan up to fail.
"With rabid 24-hour satellite channels seizing upon every cross-border attack or perceived diplomatic affront, jingoism is on the
rise. Indian strategists talk loosely of striking across the border in the event of another Mumbai-style terrorist attack; Pakistani
officials speak with disturbing ease of responding with tactical nuclear weapons. From their safe havens in Pakistan meanwhile,
the Taliban have launched one of the bloodiest spring offensives in years in Afghanistan, even as U.S. forces prepare to draw down
there. If he truly hopes to break the deadlock on the subcontinent, Modi needs to do something even Gandhi could not: give
Pakistan, a nation born out of paranoia about Hindu dominance, less to fear", says the author
By Syed Naqi
f all the hopes raised by Narendra
Modi's election as prime minister of
India one year ago, perhaps the
grandest was ending the toxic, decades-long
rivalry with Pakistan. Inviting his
counterpart Nawaz Sharif to the swearing-in
- remarkably, a first since their nations were
born out of the British Raj in 1947 - was a
bold and welcome gesture. Yet within months
of Modi's inauguration, Indian and Pakistani
forces exchanged some of the most intense
shelling in years along their de facto border
in Kashmir. Incipient peace talks foundered.
And in April, a Pakistani court freed on bail
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, operational
commander of the militant group Lashkar-eTaiba (LT) and the alleged mastermind of the
2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, infuriating
many in India.
Most Indians believe Pakistan's generals
have little interest in peace, and they're not
entirely wrong. For decades now, hyping the
threat from across the border has won the
army disproportionate resources and
influence in Pakistan. It's also fueled the
military's most dangerous and destabilizing
policies - from its covert support of the
Taliban and anti-India militants such as LT,
to the rapid buildup of its nuclear arsenal.
One can understand why Modi might see no
point in engaging until presented with a less
intractable interlocutor across the border.
But however exaggerated Pakistan's fears
may be now, Indian leaders bear great
responsibility for creating them in the first
place. Their resistance to the very idea of
Pakistan made the 1947 partition of the
subcontinent far bitterer than it needed to be.
Within hours of independence, huge
sectarian massacres had broken out on both
sides of the border; anywhere from 200,000 to
a million people would ultimately lose their
lives in the slaughter. Pakistan reeled under a
tidal wave of refugees, its economy and its
government paralyzed and half-formed. Out
of that crucible emerged a not-unreasonable
conviction that larger, more powerful India
hoped to strangle the infant Pakistan in its
cradle - an anxiety that Pakistan, as the
perpetually weaker party, has never entirely
been able to shake.
Then as now, Indian leaders swore that
O
they sought only brotherhood and amity
between their two nations, and that Muslims
in both should live free of fear. They
responded to charges of warmongering by
invoking their fealty to Mohandas K. Gandhi
- the "saint of truth and nonviolence," in the
words of India's first prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, Nehru, and
Gandhi himself - the sainted "Mahatma," or
"great soul" - helped breed the fears that still
haunt Pakistan today.
There's little question, for instance, that
Gandhi's leadership of the Indian nationalist
movement in the 1930s and 1940s contributed
to Muslim alienation and the desire for an
independent homeland. He introduced
religion into a freedom movement that had
until then been the province of secular
lawyers and intellectuals, couching his
appeals to India's masses in largely Hindu
terms. ("His Hindu nationalism spoils
everything," Russian writer Leo Tolstoy
wrote of Gandhi's early years as a rabblerouser.) Even as Gandhi's Indian National
Congress party claimed to speak for all
citizens, its membership remained more than
90 percent Hindu.
Muslims, who formed a little under a
quarter of the 400 million citizens of preindependence India, could judge from
Congress's electoral victories in the 1930s
what life would look like if the party took
over from the British: Hindus would control
Parliament and the bureaucracy, the courts
and the schools; they'd favor their coreligionists with jobs, contracts, and political
favors. The louder Gandhi and Nehru derided
the idea of creating a separate state for
Muslims, the more necessary one seemed.
Ironically, Gandhi may have done the most
damage at what is normally considered his
moment of triumph - the waning months of
British rule. When the first pre-Partition
riots between Hindus and Muslims broke out
in Calcutta in August 1946, exactly one year
before independence, he endorsed the idea
that thugs loyal to Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
leader of the Muslim League, the country's
dominant Muslim party, had deliberately
provoked the killings. The truth is hardly so
clear-cut: It appears more likely that both
sides geared up for violence during scheduled
pro-Pakistan demonstrations, and initial
clashes quickly spiraled out of control.
Two months later, after lurid reports
emerged of a massacre of Hindus in the
remote district of Noakhali in far eastern
Bengal, Gandhi fueled Hindu hysteria rather
than tamping it down. Nearing 80 by then,
his political ideas outdated and his instincts
dulled by years of adulation, he remained the
most influential figure in the country. His
evening prayer addresses were quoted and
heeded widely. While some Congress figures
presented over-hyped casualty counts for the
massacre - party chief J.B. Kripalani
estimated a death toll in the millions, though
the final tally ended up less than 200 - Gandhi
focused on wildly exaggerated claims that
marauders had raped tens of thousands of
Hindu women. Controversially, he advised
the latter to "suffocate themselves or … bite
their tongues to end their lives" rather than
allow themselves to be raped.
Within weeks, local Congress politicians in
the nearby state of Bihar were leading ugly
rallies calling for Hindus to avenge the
women of Noakhali. According to New York
Times reporter George Jones, in their
foaming outrage "it became rather difficult to
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10
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan hangs 8 including
three plane hijackers
KARACHI (TIP): Three Baloch insurgents, who hijacked
a PIA plane in 1998 and tried to take it to India, were
among eight prisoners who were executed on May 28 in
different jails in Pakistan.
The convicts, Shahsawar Baloch, Sabir Rind were
executed in Hyderabad jail while Shabbir Rind was hanged
in Karachi Central Jail.
A court in Hyderabad sentenced them to death on
August 20, 1998 and their appeals were later turned by the
higher courts.
The three men were members of the left-wing Baloch
Students' Organisation (BSO) and were demanding more
resources, such as gas and electricity, for their region.
Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Fokker plane was
hijacked by the three men shortly after it took off from
Turbat in Balochistan for Karachi.
There were 30 passengers on board and the hijackers
wanted to take it to India, but pilot Captain Uzair Khan
duped them by landing at the Hyderabad airport, as the
hijackers were told that they had landed in India.
The three men had claimed that they hijacked the plane
as they were opposed to any nuclear tests in Baluchistan,
following India's testing of nuclear weapons a few weeks
prior to the incident.
Later, the security forces stormed the plane and
overpowered the hijackers.
Meanwhile, another death row prisoner was hanged in
Karachi Central Jail. He was guilty of killing a minor boy
in 2003.
A death row convict was hanged in Attock Central Jail.
He had killed one person over a business dispute in 1998.
A death row convict was hanged in Sahiwal Central Jail
in double murder case.
One death row convict was hanged in District Jail
Sargodha.
Another death row prisoner was executed in Haripur
Central Jail. He was sentenced to death in 1999.
Pakistan lifted moratorium on the death penalty after
Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar and killed 136
students.
Rights bodies have criticised Pakistan for resuming
deaths penalty but it has persisted and so far have hanged
at least 130 convicts.
There are about 8,000 death row prisoners in Pakistan.
Bangladesh to set up courts
to try people smugglers
DHAKA (TIP): Bangladesh is moving to set up seven
special courts across the country to try people smugglers
charged with trafficking desperate migrants to Southeast
Asia on rickety boats, a minister said on May 28.
Law and justice minister Anisul Huq said a court would
be established in each of the country's provinces following
a recent spike in trafficking of Bangladeshis and Rohingya
from neighbouring Myanmar.
"There will be seven tribunals to try traffickers," Huq
told AFP by phone, without giving a timeline for them to
start operating.
The move comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on
Sunday slammed the country's economic migrants, calling
them "mentally sick" for fleeing in search of jobs, and
accusing them of hurting the country's image.
Hasina called on authorities to halt the flow of migrants
and take action against human traffickers.
An official also said on Wednesday that Bangladesh
planned to relocate thousands of Rohingya refugees, who
are sheltering in two camps in the southeastern district of
Cox's Bazar, to Hatiya island in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh's police and border forces have launched a
crackdown on the smugglers in recent weeks after the
discovery of mass graves of migrants in Thailand.
Authorities have shot dead at least five suspected
traffickers and arrested more than 100 others.
Hundreds of trafficking cases have also been piling up
in the lower courts since Bangladesh enacted an antihuman trafficking law in 2012 which stipulates the death
penalty for the worst offenders.
Southeast Asia is currently battling an exodus of boat
people fleeing persecution and poverty.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
Majority of Americans support
drone strikes in Pakistan: Survey
WASHINGTON: (TIP) Nearly 60 per
cent of Americans support the
country's policy of carrying out drone
strikes against militants in Pakistan,
according to a national survey.
The Pew survey, released on May 28,
stated that while 58 per cent Americans
approve of US drone strikes to target
militants in countries such as Pakistan,
Yemen and Somalia, about a third (35
per cent) disapproves such attacks.
The survey was conducted between
May 12-18 based on telephone
interviews with around 2,000 adults
living in all 50 US states and the capital
Washington.
It stated that the public opinion about
US drone strikes has changed only
modestly since February 2013, when 56
per cent approved of them.
Compared to the 74 per cent
Republicans who favour the drone
strikes, only 56 per cent independents
and 52 per cent Democrats support
them, the survey said.
While men approve of drone attacks
by more than two-to-one (67 per cent to
28 per cent), the balance of opinion is
much narrower among women.
Half (50 per cent) of the women
approve of the use of drones, while 42
per cent disapprove them, it said.
The survey also found that a majority
(56 per cent) of the Americans say the
US has mostly failed in achieving its
goals in Afghanistan, while 36 per cent
say the it has mostly succeeded.
Also a declining share of Americans
sees prospects for long-term stability in
Afghanistan.
Just 29 per cent respondents say it is
likely that Afghanistan will be able to
maintain a stable government following
the departure of US forces from the
country.
More than twice as many (68 per
cent) say this outcome is unlikely, the
survey added.
4 militants die in attack in
upscale area of Afghan capital
Nepal bans children travelling
without parents or guardian
KABUL (TIP): An all-night siege in an upscale neighborhood
of Afghanistan's capital ended in the early hours of Wednesday
morning with the deaths of four heavily armed attackers,
though no civilians or security personnel were injured or
killed, an Afghan official said. Deputy interior minister
Mohammad Ayub Salangi said that weapons had been seized,
including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three automatic
rifles and a hand grenade. Using his official Twitter account,
Salangi said there were "no civilian or military casualties."
The siege ended after 5 am in a sustained barrage of
automatic weapons fire and a series of huge explosions that
resounded across the Wazir Akbar Khan district of downtown
Kabul, home to many embassies and foreign firms.
Salangi had said earlier that the target of the attack
appeared to be a guesthouse, but he gave no further details.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in tweets on
a recognized Twitter account. They referred to the target as
"belonging to the occupiers," reiterating the insurgents'
message that foreign installations are specific targets in the
Afghan capital. The attack came amid intensified fighting
across many parts of Afghanistan since the insurgents
launched their annual warm weather offensive a month ago. A
Taliban attack on a guesthouse in another part of the capital
earlier this month left 14 people dead, including nine foreigners.
The United Nations already has documented a record high
number of civilian casualties — 974 killed and 1,963 injured —
in the first four months of 2015, a 16 percent increase over the
same period last year. The siege began late Tuesday, with heavy
explosions accompanying sporadic automatic weapon fire, and
sounded to be focused on the Rabbani Guesthouse, which is
favored by foreigners as the area is in the heart of the
diplomatic district and close to the airport. Police and a
paramilitary Crisis Response Unit surrounded the area,
blocked roads, took up positions on rooftops and parked
armored personnel vehicles in the streets around the
guesthouse. Police officers smashed lights throughout the
neighborhood to cover their movements. For about five hours,
gunfire and explosions were sporadic, before a lull lasting more
than an hour ended with a dawn volley of sustained gunfire
and huge explosions that sent clouds of black smoke into the
sky.
KATHMANDU (TIP): The Nepalese government announced
on Tuesday that all children travelling in the country will
need to be accompanied by their parents or a legal guardian
to prevent the trafficking of young people who lost their
homes in the powerful earthquake on April 25 this year,
which was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.
The ministry of women, children and social welfare said
the ban is aimed at protecting homeless children who are
living in tent camps where there are large numbers of
people.
Ministry official Ram Prasad Bhattarai said an approval
letter issued by a district child welfare board will be needed
for any other adults traveling with children from one district
to another.
The ban comes days after police stopped two groups of
children who were being taken by unrelated adults by bus in
different districts. The children are being held in government
shelters and police are still investigating the cases.
International adoptions have also been suspended, he said.
Thousands of children are taken from Nepal to
neighboring India every year to work as child laborers or in
brothels. The earthquakes on April 25 and May 12 killed at
least 8,673 people in Nepal.
Aftershocks jolting Nepal one
month after deadly quake
KATHMANDU (TIP): Two tremors struck Nepal on May 25,
keeping people on the edge as the country struggled to
rehabilitate millions of people affected by a devastating
earthquake one month ago that killed nearly 9,000 people.
A 5.0-magnitude tremor was felt at 3.23am with epicentre
at Gorkha district. Another 4.1-magnitude earthquake hit
western Nepal with epicentre at Dolakhan. A 7.9-magnitude
earthquake on April 25 killed nearly 9,000 people and injured
thousands more. It was followed by a 7.3-magnitude quake on
May 12 and about 265 aftershocks. For families across Nepal
who have been left homeless, the aftershock damaged their
hopes of piecing their lives together anytime soon. Beyond
the physical damage, uncertainty about the future unsettles
millions of Nepalese.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
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11
12
US
Indian American Grad
Student Rahul Gupta
Sentenced to life in
Prison for Murder
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
DHS starts accepting
Work Permit Applications
for H4 Visa holders
This rule passed the final stage and was approved by DHS/
USCIS on Feb 24, 2015. It becomes effective from May 26, 2015.
Eligible H4 visa holders can apply for EAD from May 26, 2015.
Rahul Gupta (left) was sentenced to life in prison for
murdering his friend Mark Waugh (right)
Photo of Rahul Gupta/ Montgomery County Police
Department
WASHINGTON (TIP): Rahul Gupta, The George
Washington University grad student convicted of
murdering his friend after allegedly finding him
cheating with his girlfriend was sentenced to life in
prison on Wednesday, May 27.
25-year-old Gupta spoke in court in Montgomery
County at his sentencing hearing, but he never
explained what led him to murder his friend. Rahul
changed his narrative several times in court, but he
did acknowledge that he killed his friend Mark Waugh,
24.
On October 13, 2013, Gupta, his girlfriend and Waugh
went to the Indian-American's high-rise apartment in
Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington DC, where he
caught Waugh cheating with his girlfriend.
Gupta was found guilty of stabbing his Mark Waugh
to death after he said he found his girlfriend and
Waugh together in his Silver Spring apartment.
Waugh died after being stabbed and slashed 11 times
inside the apartment.
Mark Waugh's father, William Waugh, spoke at the
sentencing. "Mark was a gift from God and his death is
a tragedy we have to carry for the rest of our lives, "
William Waugh said.
Witnesses say Gupta has a problem with rage. They
say he was jealous, abusive and controlling. Gupta and
Waugh knew each other from high school. Waugh was
a first-year law student at Georgetown University at
the time his best friend killed him.
According to the arrest report, Gupta told police:
"My girl and my buddy were cheating, my girl was
cheating with my buddy. I walked in on them cheating
and I killed my buddy."
Gupta and Waugh knew each other from high school.
Waugh was a first-year law student at the Georgetown
University at the time his best friend killed him.
Gupta, an engineering graduate student, was
arrested in October 2013.
George Washington
University rescinds
suspension of student who
displayed the Hindu
Swastika
WASHINGTON (TIP): Following outcry from several
groups, George Washington University y has decided to
rescind its suspension order against a student who
displayed a Hindu swastika on his residence hall's
bulletin board.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) welcomed
the move to rescind the interim suspension order.
HAF associate director of public policy, Harsh
Voruganti, said that the decision reflects the facts of
this case and the efforts by Hindu organizations to
educate campus officials bout the sacredness of the
Indian swastika.
WASHINGTON (TIP): US
authorities have started accepting
employment authorization
applications for H-4 visa holders, who
are spouses of H-1B non-immigrant
workers and were not allowed to work
so far in the country.
Issuing employment authorization
card (EAD) to certain category of
spouses of H-1B visas is one of the
legislative measures taken by President
Barack Obama to fix the immigration
system of the country.
As a result, about 1, 80,000 would be
eligible to work in the US.
According to the DHS, it will issue
EAD within 90 days of receiving the
application.
Under existing regulations, DHS does
not extend employment authorization
to dependents (also known as H-4
nonimmigrants) of H-1B nonimmigrant
workers.
The new rules allow H-4 dependent
spouses of certain H-1B nonimmigrant
workers to request employment
authorization, as long as the H-1B
worker has already started the process
of seeking lawful permanent residence
through employment.
H4 Visa Holders EAD Eligibility 2014
Rules
*
NOT all H4 visa holders are
eligible for the Employment
Authorization Document (EAD).
H4 Visa holders have to fall under
one of the below category to be
eligible for EAD.
*
Have an approved I-140. (The I-140
refers to the Immigrant Petition
for Alien work to get permanent
residence - aka Green Card - in
United States)
*
Have been granted extension to
authorized stay beyond 6 years
under AC21 Act. ( The American
Competitiveness in the Twentyfirst Century Act of 2000 (AC21)
allows H1B visa holders seeking
lawful permanent residence (
Green Card) to work and stay in
United States beyond the six year
limit, if their PERM/Green Card
Processing is pending )
The above rule is Final and has been
passed. USCIS will accept applications
for H4 visa EAD from May 26, 2015
This new proposed rule will enable
about 97,000 H4 visa holders to be
immediately eligible for employment
authorization (EAD)
Also, about 30,000 H4 visa holders
would be eligible annually going
forward to avail this EAD facility.
The complete details of the proposed
rule will be published in the Federal
Register soon. The above information is
on a high level and does not list all the
details.
Why DHS is giving EAD for H4 Visa
holders?
DHS explains in the federal register
that the justification to allow H4 visa
holders is to reduce the negative
economic effects that H1B households
face with one income during the
lengthy waiting time of adjustment of
status to legal permanent residence.
Also, this rule will help H1B holders not
to quit and leave their Green Card/
Permanent residence application
processing because their H4 spouse
cannot work. Also, it explains that the
impact of this rule would only have a
negligible increase in domestic work
force, which should not raise any
eyebrows that jobs are reduced for
locals.
11 year-old Indian American Tanishq
Abraham Graduates from College
SACRAMENTO (TIP): An IndianAmerican home-schooled boy has
surprised one and all by graduating
from a US college at the age of 11 with
three associate degrees in
mathematics, science and foreign
language studies.
Tanishq Abraham, a native of
Sacramento, California, graduated
from American River College in
Sacramento (ARC), California,
alongside 1,800 students.
Abraham is the youngest person to
graduate from American River College
this year.
"The assumption is that he's the alltime youngest," American River
College spokesman Scott Crow told
NBC News.
Abraham, last year, became one of
the youngest ever in the US to graduate
high school.
Home-schooled since the age of 7,
Abraham passed a state exam in March
last year that certified he had met the
appropriate academic standards to
receive his high school diploma. His
achievement last year had earned the
attention of President Barack Obama who had sent Tanishq a congratulatory
letter.
Abraham joined MENSA, the
prominent high IQ society, when he
was only four-years-old.
Abraham told a local TV station that
the milestone of graduating from
college was not "much of a big thing
for me."
His mother, Taji Abraham, said he
has always been ahead of the class.
"Even in kindergarten he was pretty
ahead, a few years ahead - and then it
just went from there," she told KCRATV.
Abraham said some of the students
at the college "were intimidated" by
him but a lot of others "were really
happy" to have a kid in their classes.
He graduated with three associate
degrees from the college.
On his college graduation cap,
Abraham wore his favorite "Toy Story"
quote: "2 Infinity and Beyond."
As for what comes next for the child
prodigy, Abraham said: "I want to
become a doctor, but I also want to
become a medical researcher, and also
the president of the United States."
"I like to learn. So I just followed my
passion of learning, and that's how I
ended up here," he told Fox News.
Lookout for news, views and reviews,
log on to www.theindianpanorama.com
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
US
USIBC Media Executives discuss
opportunities in India's Media
and Entertainment Industry
Talks focus on creating a $100bn media industry by 2020
WASHINGTON (TIP): The U.S.-India
Business Council (USIBC) led a series of
discussions and meetings between top
executives of the media industry and
senior Government of India officials to
discuss how opportunities can support
the recent initiatives of the government,
including Make in India, Digital India,
and improving the country's ranking in
the World Bank's Ease of Doing
Business Index.
Led by Joe Welch, Senior Vice
President for 21st Century Fox, the
delegation included senior
representatives from The Walt Disney
Company, Time Warner, Viacom 18, and
the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
India is already home to more than
800 television channels with 140 million
paid TV homes and a vibrant film
industry that produces more than 1,000
movies in a year. The delegates
expressed continued commitment to the
market, which is expected to grow at
13.9% annually - double that of the
global media and entertainment
industry. Film and television are
significant employment generators for
the Indian economy and enhance India's
image among external audiences from a
socio-cultural perspective.
"Media and entertainment companies
are celebrating over 20 years of Making
in India, and as an industry we are
eager to do more given the appropriate
policy environment. We are encouraged
by the Government of India's
willingness to see the industry as a
partner for growth," said mission leader,
Joe Welch.
Talks between industry executives
and the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI), Department
of Electronics and Information
Technology (DeitY), Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Ministry of
Finance, Department of
Telecommunications, Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion, and
the Ministry of External Affairs focused
on providing a further impetus to the
already robust sector and taking
appropriate policy measures to reach
the $100bn level by 2020. Such policy
measures include liberalization of
foreign direct investment caps,
restrictions on vertical integration,
single window permitting, digitization
implementation, and copyright
enforcement.
Diane Farrell, USIBC Executive Vice
President said, "The two day mission
was conducted with the goal to raise the
profile of the media and entertainment
industry as a key contributor to India's
growth. The media sector in India is
promising for the Council's member
companies, but is also a real
opportunity for the Government of
India to create jobs and showcase itself
as a global leader in content creation."
‘Draw Muhammad’ contest
planned in Phoenix
PHOENIX (TIP): An anti-Muslim
activist is planning a "Draw
Muhammad" cartoon contest and rally
Friday, May 29 at a Phoenix mosque.
The event is being dubbed a
"Freedom of Speech Rally" and comes
three weeks after a similar event in
Garland, TX., that prompted violence by
two alleged ISIS sympathizers who
attended the mosque.
The president of the Islamic
Community Center of Phoenix said he
has been notified by Phoenix police and
the FBI about the event. Usama Shami
said he respects the protesters' right to
free speech.
"Everybody has a right to be a bigot.
Everybody has a right to be a racist.
Everybody has a right to be an idiot,"
Shami said. He added that members of
the mosque have been encouraged to
attend prayer services Friday evening
as scheduled.
"It will be the same as every Friday
evening and we're going to tell our
members what we've told them before:
not to engage them," said Shami.
"They're not looking for an intellectual
conversation. They're looking to stir up
controversy and we're not going to be a
part of it."
The organizer of the event, Jon
Ritzheimer, has held two protests in
Phoenix since the Texas shootings. The
chants and slogans at the protests are
brash and hateful. Some supporters
wear t-shirts that state, "(expletive)
Islam." Ritzheimer says he is using
provocative methods to draw attention
to a religion he believes at its core
promotes violence.
"I want this to be about pushing out
the truth about Islam," said Jon
Ritzheimer. "I've read the Koran three
times... the ones flying the planes into
the tower, those are Muslims following
the book as it is written."
A Facebook page dedicated to the
event, titled "Freedom of Speech Rally
Round II," states: "This will be a
PEACEFUL protest in front of the
Islamic Community Center in Phoenix
AZ… Everyone is encouraged to bring
American flags and any message that
you would like to send to the known
acquaintances of the 2 gunmen."
Phoenix roommates Elton Simpson
and Nadir Soofi drove to Texas and shot
a security guard during the May 3
"Draw Muhammad" contest there.
Police shot and killed the two men.
Simpson and Soofi attended the
Islamic Community Center of Phoenix
until 2010 and, according to mosque
leaders, never expressed extremist or
violent views while attending during
that time.
The Facebook announcement for the
rally also encourages participants to
"utilize their second amendment right
at this event just in case our first
amendment right comes under the
much anticipated attack."
As of Wednesday afternoon, the
website showed 131 people confirming
their attendance.
One Facebook post on the page states,
"Death to Islam! No coexistence!"
Another comment states, "I am proud to
be part of this rally and will continue to
be a part of it until we have the freedom
that all our vets and current military
fight for!!! This is my way of joining
their efforts!"
Phoenix police declined to comment
about security measures for the protest.
Muslims consider images of the
Prophet Muhammad offensive for
various reasons. They compare drawn
depictions of the religious figure to how
Christians might view the burning of a
cross.
13
H4 WORK PERMITS:
LAWSUIT DISMISSED
LAWSUIT FILED BY SAVE JOBS USA
DISMISSED BY U.S. District Judge Tanya
S. Chutkan
WASHINGTON (TIP): The spouses of guest workers
with H-4 visas may apply for jobs in the United States,
after a federal judge declined to stop the new policy.
Save Jobs USA, a group made up of former Southern
California Edison computer workers replaced by foreign
workers with H-1B visas, filed suit against the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security in April seeking to stop
the regulation.
The group alleged it is already difficult for its members
to find work after they were replaced with H-1B workers,
and that the new policy will further increase competition
for jobs.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan for the District of
Columbia found in a memorandum opinion that Save Jobs
USA failed to prove that its members would suffer injuries
under the policy.
"There is no indication, and Save Jobs has not provided
any evidence, that it is certain that H-4 visa holders will
apply for IT jobs and compete with Save Jobs members,"
Chutkan wrote. "Save Jobs is correct that this could
happen, and eventually it may in fact happen. But at this
stage, it is entirely speculative whether any H-4 visa
holders will ever apply for IT jobs at SCE, IT jobs in
California (where the members of Save Jobs reside), or IT
jobs at all."
According to DHS, nearly 180,000 new foreign workers
may be added to the U.S. workforce in the first year of the
rule with as many as 55,000 jobs added annually thereafter.
"Save Jobs does not explain how many IT jobs may be
taken by H-4 visa holders, how many of those jobs its
members may have sought themselves, what pay or
benefits its members risk losing while the case is pending,
or what other harm its members may face," Chutkan
wrote. "The court is left to speculate as to the magnitude of
the injury, and speculation is not enough to turn economic
loss into irreparable harm."
A bipartisan letter written by 10 U.S. senators called for
the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate Southern
California Edison's alleged replacement of American
employees with H-1B visa holders. Solicitor General M.
Patricia Smith declined to investigate, citing a "lack of
basis."
"At this point, Save Jobs has provided no evidence that
any H-1B visa holder has or will stay in the United States
as a result of the rule," Chutkan found. "There is also no
evidence that the rule will lead to an increase in the
number of H-1B visa holders seeking permanent residence
and competing with Save Jobs' members."
Save Jobs attorney Dale L. Wilcox, of the Immigration
Reform Law Institute, says public policy should "benefit
Americans, not foreigners."
"Our immigration laws are supposed to restrain
corporations from manipulating the labor market in order
to collapse wages and displace American workers," Wilcox
said in a statement.
Chutkan's ruling stated that both parties presented
compelling arguments, and neither party's arguments
"significantly outweigh" the other.
"Whether American workers and the U.S. economy are
better served with more or fewer foreign workers is a
policy question the court need not answer," Chutkan
wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to
comment on the ruling.
14
INDIA
Rajnath on D Company We have not shut our eyes
INDIA IS HOME TO THE
HIGHEST NUMBER OF HUNGRY
PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
UNITED NATIONS (TIP): India is home to the highest number
of hungry people in the world at 194 million, surpassing China,
according to United Nations annual hunger report.
At the global level, the corresponding figure dropped to 795
million in 2014-15, from 1 billion in 1990-92, with East Asia led by
China accounting for most of the reductions, UN body Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report titled 'The
State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015?.
India too saw a reduction between 1990 and 2015, it added.
In 1990-92, those who were starved of food in India numbered
210.1 million, which came down to 194.6 million in 2014-15.
"India has made great strides in reducing the proportion of
food insecure persons in the overall population, but according to
FAO, it still has over 194 million hungry persons. India's
numerous social programs are expected to continue to fight
hunger and poverty," the report stated.
However, China stood out as the reduction in the number of
hungry people was much higher than in India, which came
down to 133.8 million in 2014-15 from 289 million in 1990-92.
"A majority - 72 out of 129 - of the countries monitored by FAO
have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of
halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, with
developing regions as a whole missing the target by a small
margin," the report said.
In addition, 29 countries have managed to meet the more
ambitious goal of the World Food Summit in 1996 where
governments had committed to halve the absolute number of
undernourished by 2015.
Talking of noticeable progress, the report made a specific
mention of Latin America and the Caribbean, southeast and
central Asia as well as some parts of Africa.
The overall analysis suggested that inclusive economic
growth, agricultural investments and social protection, along
with political stability, can eradicate hunger, the UN report
added.
Salman's Hit-and-Run Case:
Government Lost Files in Fire,
RTI Query Reveals
MUMBAI (TIP): An RTI
query has revealed that the
Maharashtra government does
not have any papers on actor
Salman Khan's 2002 hit-andrun case as the files
pertaining to it were gutted in
a fire at Mantralaya (the
Maharashtra government
Secretariat).
The RTI activist had sought
to know from the State Law and Judiciary department the
names and the total number of counsels, solicitors, advocates
and legal advisors, public prosecutors appointed by the State
government for this case.
The RTI reply informed that the files pertaining to the case
were burnt on June 21, 2012, when a fire engulfed the State
Secretariat and therefore, they cannot be made available.
To a query on total expenses incurred by the State
government in the case from 2002 to May 6, 2015 when the
judgment was pronounced in the case, the activist was told that
"the only thing that the government knows is about the
appointment of Special public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat who
was appointed at a fee of Rs. 6,000 per hearing."
On May 6, a Sessions Court had convicted Salman Khan for
culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the 2002 hit-andrun case and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
The Bombay High Court had on May 8 granted the actor bail
and suspended his sentence pending hearing and final disposal
of his appeal against conviction.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
India to ask Pakistan to seize assets of Dawood Ibrahim,
Hafiz Saeed and 26/11 plotter Lakhvi
KOLKATA (TIP): Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday,
May 26 said that the Indian
government did not shut its eyes on
underworld don Dawood Ibrahim
but international relations at times
created obstacles.
"On Dawood, I would only say we
have not shut our eyes on him. But
at times there are obstacles due to
international relations," Singh told
reporters.
"On Dawood, I will only say we
have not kept our eyes closed,"
union Home Minister Rajanth
Singh told a media conference at
the Press Club here.
"But you know there are some
international compulsions due to
which there are often some
obstacles," the minister said to
questions about Dawood's
extradition from Pakistan.
There was a controversy recently
over junior Home Minister
Parathibhai Chaudhary's reply in
the Lok Sabha that location of
Dawood was unknown and
extradition proceedings against
him would start once he was
traced.
However, Singh then clarified
that India has credible information
that Dawood is in Pakistan and the
central government would not rest
till he is brought back.
Pakistan has denied time and
again the fugitive's presence on its
soil.
The government recently found
itself embroiled in a controversy
over its statement that it had no
idea where Dawood Ibrahim was.
Later, the Union Home Minister
said that the Mumbai blast
mastermind was in Pakistan and
that it would not "rest" till he was
brought back to the country.
DELHI GOVERNANCE
Kejriwal Vs Jung
Top 10 Developments
1
2
3
4
5
Amid his ongoing standoff
with the AAP government,
Delhi Lt. Governor on
Thursday, May 28 met Union
Home Secretary L.C. Goyal
and had a talk over phone
with Home Minister Rajnath
Singh.
Sources said they discussed
about the resolution passed by
the Delhi Assembly on
Wednesday, May 27 and the
government's stand in the
apex court with regard to the
Special Leave Petition.
The meeting and the
telephone call came a day
after the Delhi Assembly
passed a resolution rejecting
the Home Ministry
notification giving absolute
powers to the Lt. Governor in
several matters, including
transfer and postings of
senior bureaucrats.
The Home Ministry on
Wednesday approached the
Supreme Court challenging
the Delhi High Court ruling
that the May 21 notification
was "suspect" and noted that
the mandate of the people
"must be respected by LG".
Mr. Kejriwal on Wednesday
lambasted the Lt. Governor
saying he was "dancing to the
tune" of the Centre and
"deliberately" trying to create
6
7
8
obstacles for the AAP
government.
Mr. Kejriwal on Tuesday met
the Lt. Governor and
discussed functioning of the
ACB, a day after Delhi High
Court ruled that it has
authority to probe central
government officials,
including Delhi Police
personnel.
Sources said Mr. Kejriwal
briefed the Lt. Governor about
the agenda of the two-day
Assembly session and
expressed his readiness to
work with Mr. Jung to ensure
effective governance.
After the notification was
issued, Mr. Kejriwal had
launched a frontal attack on
the Centre, accusing it of
"back-stabbing" the people of
9
10
the city by "siding" with the
Lt. Governor to run Delhi
through "backdoor" and
protect the corrupt.
The appointment of senior
bureaucrat Shakuntala
Gamlin as acting Chief
Secretary by the LG last week
had triggered a full-blown war
between the ruling AAP and
Mr. Jung, with Mr. Kejriwal
questioning the Lt. Governor's
authority and accusing him of
trying to take over the
administration.
Delhi High Court on Monday
had termed as "suspect" the
Centre's recent notification
barring the ACB from acting
against its officers in criminal
offences and held that the Lt.
Governor cannot act in his
discretion.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
INDIA
'SPY' PIGEON FROM PAKISTAN
JAILED IN PATHANKOT
CHANDIGARH (TIP): The entry and capture of a white pigeon,
apparently from across the border, in a border village of
Pathankot in Punjab on May 28 has caused a flutter among
intelligence sleuths and Punjab Police. This comes two days after
an Intelligence Bureau (IB) alert to Punjab Police on the
possibility of Indian Mujahideen being active in Jammu and
Pathankot areas.
The fact that the avian 'intruder' bore a stamped message and
had a wire-like object on its body made the security agencies take
a closer look at its flight into India. A part of the message was in
Urdu, but the numbers appeared to be that of a landline telephone
in Pakistan's Narowal district.
The bird landed at the mud and brick house of barber Ramesh
Chandra in Manwal village, 4km from Pakistan border, around
6.30pm on Wednesday. The suspicions of the barber's 14-year-old
son were aroused by the Urdu markings, and he went to the
nearest police post around 9pm with the "spy bird". His arrival
there with the bird perched on a wire mesh along with Chandra's
chicken created a stir.
"Unfortunately, mobile phones rarely work in the border areas.
My son ran to the nearest police post," Chandra said.
The cops then took the bird to a veterinary hospital in
Pathankot for an X-ray. This did not throw up any clues. "Nothing
adverse has been found, but we have kept the bird in our custody,"
said Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh
Kaushal.
"This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted
here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given
its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common," said
Kaushal.
Cops at Bamiyal police post made a diary entry terming the
bird as a "suspected spy", and sent a communication to BSF and
IB.
The bird was found on a day when an inter-state meeting on
security was being held among officials of Punjab Police, Indian
Army as well as those from Kathua and Jammu districts.
"It was a meeting to launch joint search and combing operation
in the respective areas. The security of Ranjit Sagar Dam was also
discussed and decision has been taken to strengthen the security
setup in and around the areas," said Punjab Police inspector
general (border range) Ishwar Sharma.
PRADEEP KUMAR SINHA
APPOINTED NEW CABINET
SECRETARY
NEW DELHI (TIP): Power secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha was
appointed as the next Cabinet secretary of the government.
He will succeed Ajit Seth who has been holding the position for
the last four years. Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer of Uttar
Pradesh cadre, has been asked to take over as officer on special
duty (OSD) in Cabinet secretariat, an official release said.
He will formally take over the new charge on June 13, it said.
The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Sinha as the
next Cabinet Secretary with effect from June 13, the release said.
Sinha has been serving as power secretary since July 2013. He
has earlier served as the shipping secretary and has also held
several other important positions in the Union government and in
his cadre state - Uttar Pradesh.
Seth, a 1974-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, had taken
over as Cabinet secretary on June 14, 2011 with a two-year fixed
tenure upto June 13, 2013. The UPA government had extended his
tenure by a year. The Modi-government had given six-month
extension to Seth in June followed by the third such extension in
December last year.
The Cabinet secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime
Minister. The administrative head of the secretariat is the Cabinet
secretary who is also the ex-officio chairman of the civil services
board.
The Cabinet secretariat assists in decision-making in
government by ensuring inter-ministerial coordination, ironing
out differences amongst ministries or departments and evolving
consensus through the instrumentality of the standing or adhoc
committees of secretaries.
15
IIT-Madras defends banning of
student group that criticized Modi
CHENNAI (TIP): IIT Madras on
May 29 defended its decision to
derecognize the Ambedkar Periyar
Student Circle (APSC) by stating that
the student group had violated
guidelines issued by the institute.
In a statement, IIT-M said,
"Student groups desiring to use the
institute's resources are required to
be recognized and they are to follow
guidelines prescribed by the Board of
Students which consists of all the
elected student representatives.
While IIT Madras does not curtail
freedom of expression of the
students, it is expected that student
groups adhere to these guidelines
while conducting their activities."
It said that according the
guidelines, the student bodies are not
allowed to use the institute's name or
any of its official entities in any
capacity to "publicize their activities
or garner support, without official
approval."
It said the APSC had violated
these guidelines while conducting
events. "Normally, violation of
these guidelines leads to
temporary derecognition pending
their presenting their stand to the
Board of Students. In the present
case also, the same procedure is
being followed." However, the
statement did not make any
reference to the pamphlets
distributed on the IIT campus
that carried a portion of a speech
by Dravidian University
academic R Vivekandanda Gopal.
At an event organized by the
APSC on the campus earlier this
month, Gopal had spoken about
the "Contemporary relevance of
Dr Ambedkar." The pamphlet
reproduced portions in which
Gopal had criticized the Modi
regime's "pro-corporate" policies
such as the Land Acquisition Bill
and insurance and labour
refor ms. He had also accused the
gover nment of "communally
polarizing" people by introducing
a ban on cow slaughter and
through ghar wapsi programmes.
An anonymous complaint had
been sent to the ministry of
human resource development
(MHRD) on the APSC's activities
on the campus. The complainant
had enclosed the APSC pamphlet
reproducing the speech which
criticized the Modi gover nment
and its policies. The complaint
had accused APSC of trying to
spread "hatred" against Modi by
mobilizing SC/ST students to
question gover nment policies on
the use of Hindi and the ban on
cow slaughter.
The MHRD had then written to
the IIT to inquire about the case.
Subsequently, IIT-Madras decided
to derecognize the forum.
NEW OUTFIT EMERGES IN KASHMIR
VALLEY, TARGETS TELECOM TOWERS
SRINAGAR (TIP): The killings, in
Sopore, of a BSNL employee and a
resident who allowed a mobile phone
tower on his house premises defying
terror threats, has brought the spotlight
on Lashkar-e-Islam. In recent days,
mysterious pamphlets issued by
Lashkar-e-Islam have appeared in Sopore
town warning people to dismantle
mobile towers or face death. What is this
new entity?
Intelligence agencies say Lashkar-eIslam is a front for Hizbul Mujahideen
and has been operational in Sopore and
adjoining districts for some time.
Agencies do not see it as a major threat
as of now, as it is in line with the
practice of Pakistan-backed terror
groups in the Valley to raise such
outfits.Since last May, when the NDA
came to power at the Centre, there has
been a surge in the number of terrorists
neutralized in the Valley. One of the
factors contributing to the success of the
security and intelligence apparatus has
been their capacity to track down
terrorists through their roaming signals
that contact antennae towers.The
tracking does not require an active call
and the Global System for Mobile
Communications is based on the phone's
signal strength to nearby antenna masts.
Therefore, it's not surprising that the
terror groups are targeting mobile
towers: it's to prevent being hunted
down. It must, of course, affect their
mobility and communication as well, but
that's a price they are willing to pay to
address the bigger problem confronting
them: of their locations being blown.
Sopore SP Abdul Qayoom said,
"Although the police are investigating
Lashkar-e-Islam and its motive, what we
can say is it could be a shadow group of
Lashkar-e-Taiba or even Hizbul
Mujahideen."
Qayoom added, "Cell phones have
become a major source of information
about the whereabouts of the militants,
and this seems to be the reason why the
outfit is trying to forcibly close down the
operation of mobile phones in Sopore in
particular and other parts of north
Kashmir as well." In this light, the
response of separatists, with JKLF chief
Yasin Malik calling for a probe by
Pakistan-based United Jihad Council
(UJC) and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed
Salahuddin, could be a red herring.
As also the response of Hurriyat
hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who in his
usual rhetorical style, insinuated that
the Sopore attacks were an Indian
conspiracy against Kashmiri
separatists."Exactly who killed innocent
people in Sopore is unclear, but the
recent statement of defence minister
Manohar Parrikar, that the government
will 'target terrorists with terrorists'
gives birth to many questions and raises
doubts....may be it is a deliberate attempt
to put the terrorist tag on the freedom
struggle of Kashmiris," Geelani said.
Late Thursday evening, IG (Kashmir
range) Syed Javaid Mujtaba Geelani
held Hizbul Mujahideen responsible for
the killings and threatening people
linked to the telecom sector in North
Kashmir.
"Nobody will be allowed to disrupt
the telecommunication system in
Sopore and shortly the service will be
restored... We're in touch with officials
of cellular companies, landlords and
shopkeepers and within days
telecommunication system will be
restored in the town," he said.
16
FEATURE
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
THE TEXT AND CONTEXT OF YOGA
By Parveen Chopra
(The author is the founder of India's first
spiritual magazine, Life Positive, and a
teacher of meditation. He is currently
based in New York and working as
managing editor of The South Asian
Times. He can be reached at
parveen.chopra @gmail.com)
This is the second article in run up to the
International Day of Yoga on June 21.
For the earlier article, visit
"It will be worthwhile putting asanas in
the context of the complete discipline
of yoga - Patanjali's ashtanga yoga or
eight-limbed system as expounded in
only 196 pithy sutras in his treatise
titled Yoga Darshan. The eight parts are:
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama,
Pratyhara, Dharana, Dhyan and
Samadhi. Yama (like nonviolence and
truthfulness) and Niyama (like purity
and contentment) are don'ts and do's
which are commandments universal in
nature and common with ethical
practices of world religions".
he practice of yoga - even if it is only
asanas or postures as is ubiquitous
today - can serve as a window to the
holistic and perennial philosophy of India.
Frankly, the term 'Indian philosophy' is a
misnomer. The Sanskrit equivalent is
'Darshan', which denotes seeing, witnessing,
experiential learning. The font of Indian
philosophy are, of course, the Vedas, which
are considered 'apaurashya', meaning they
are not what somebody wrote down, but a
record of what our rishis (literally, seers)
experienced in their consciousness. The
truths and knowledge dawned in their
consciousness after preparatory practices
and tapas.
Yoga is one of the six systems of Indian
philosophy (Shat Darshan) that take their
authority from the Vedas. These are Nyaya,
Vaisheshik, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimansa
and Uttar Mimansa (Vedanta). There is
enough play given to logic (as in Nyaya), or
theoretical exposition of consciousness (as
in Samkhya). But in time, Yoga and Vedanta
have emerged as the cornerstone of Vedic
religion, full flowering of the long-standing
Indian tradition: Vedanta reaching the
highest and noblest understanding of the
ultimate reality as pure consciousness that
underlies all creation animate and
inanimate; and yoga offering practical and
time-tested ways and means - asanas,
T
pranayama and meditation - to experience
that pure consciousness first hand. This is
also considered the royal spiritual path- Raja
Yoga.
True, most of us, caught up in our
mundane lives and struggles, are not
worried overmuch about esoteric subjects
like the ultimate reality, or pure
consciousness. Yet we all wish for health and
happiness. That is where yoga appeals. Once
you attend a yoga class, you notice right
away how it goes beyond mere physical
exercise. The structured set of asanas also
relaxes the body and mind, creating
equanimity. The health and other benefits of
yoga are well-known (we will review them in
another article in this series) and the reason
the western world has cottoned on to this
Indian import.
But, it will be worthwhile putting asanas
in the context of the complete discipline of
yoga - Patanjali's ashtanga yoga or eightlimbed system as expounded in only 196
pithy sutras in his treatise titled Yoga
Darshan. The eight parts are: Yama,
Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyhara,
Dharana, Dhyan and Samadhi. Yama (like
nonviolence and truthfulness) and Niyama
(like purity and contentment) are don'ts and
do's which are commandments universal in
nature and common with ethical practices of
world religions. They are suggested but not a
pre-requisite to starting the practice of
asanas and meditation. In fact, the system of
yoga is as secular as you can get. You are not
asked to worship any Hindu deity or sacred
book, or have belief in God or a supreme
power. Yoga can even claim to be scientific.
As in any science experiment, if you
practise yogic techniques properly and
regularly, results are bound to accrue
precisely like in H2+O making water. Asanas
are physical postures. Pranayama is
breathing practices. Pratyhara is
withdrawal of the senses from sense objects.
Dharana is concentration and cultivating
inner perceptual awareness.
Besides devising the elaborate sets of
asanas and breathing techniques, what tells
Vedic religion and yoga apart from
Occidental religions is in the enormous R&D
in meditation or Dhyan, the seventh limb of
yoga. Numerous practices, varying in
complexity and degree of difficulty, have
come down to us, thanks mainly to the gurushishya parampara and the oral tradition.
They are better learnt from a teacher; some
are easily accessible like Transcendental
Meditation or TM as taught by Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi of the Beatles fame. Buddhism
too digged deep into states of mind and
developed meditation practices such as
Vipassana as popularized by S.N. Goenka
from Igatpuri in Maharashtra, and
mindfulness, which has caught on lately in
certain medical and corporate circles in
America. Jains rediscovered Preksha Dhyan
a couple of decades ago at the behest of
Acharya Tulsi.
Samadhi is the meditative absorption
attained by the practice of dhy?na. The mind
becomes still. There are no thoughts; only
consciousness, not of anything outside but
of itself. That is why it is called pure or
transcendental consciousness. Regular
experience of this mystical state leads to it
stabilizing outside the meditation sitting too.
As Guru Nanak said in Japji sahib, 'Naam
khumari Nanka charhi rahe din raat' - a
permanent state of bliss and beatitude.
Patanjali Yoga aims for Kaivalya or
liberation. Buddhism targets Nirvana.
Enlightenment and cosmic consciousness
are terms used by others for the final fruit of
a spiritual life.
So, let a thousand yoga studios and classes
bloom. Nobody can take away from the fact
that yoga originated in India. At the same
time, no faith or system can claim a
copyright over the mystical states which are
potentially accessible to and a birthright of
every human on this earth.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
ADVERTISEMENT
17
18
BOLLYWOOD
MOVIE REVIEW
Tanu Weds
Manu Returns
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
IMPROPER TO HAUNT
ME WITH THE PAST,
SAYS SUNNY LEONE
unny Leone, on May 28, 2015,
gave her statement to the police
on the indecency case that was
registered by a housewife against her.
The actress was quoted by a source in
a report as saying that, "The
objectionable video clips circulating
here belong to when I was working in
the adult film industry in the US. I
have distanced myself from any such
roles after becoming a part of the
Indian film fraternity. I feel it would
be improper to haunt me with the
past when I am trying to move ahead
in life." The actress recorded her
statement in the presence of DCP
Manere and investigation officer,
Jagdish Sawant, in English for over
an hour, also disclosing her personal
details, stated the report.
An FIR was registered against
actress Sunny Leone, Google CEO and
a Bollywood magazine in Ajmer on
May 24, for allegedly spreading
obscenity, as informed by the police
authorities. Arinjay Jain had
subscribed to a Bollywood magazine
S
CAST: Kangana Ranuat, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill,
Deepak Dobriyal
DIRECTION: Aanand L. Rai
GENRE: Romantic Comedy
STORY: Tanu and Manu's marriage collapses. What
happens when Manu meets Tanu's lookalike Kusum and when Tanu returns?
REVIEW: Straight away, Tanu Weds Manu Returns is
a total delight that keeps you laughing, sighing,
cheering - and guessing throughout. After a stormy
romance, Tanu (Kangana) married Manu (Madhavan)
four years ago. But in London, the sparks between them
die. Separating sourly, Tanu returns to her hometown,
lighting Kanpur up with her wild-child Bohemian ways
while Manu mopes in Delhi until he meets Haryanvi
athlete Kusum (Kangana) - who resembles the woman he
once loved. Will Manu and Kusum find romance despite Tanu returning to Manu's life?
Tanu Weds Manu Returns boasts one of the finest
double roles ever in Hindi cinema. Kangana is
breathtakingly good, both as doll-like drama queen
Tanu and simple, dignified, earthy Kusum, whose wideeyed honesty, flat, sporty figure and large, dusty teeth
contrast sharply with Tanu's peachy prettiness, her
dressy appeal, her petulant rosebud mouth, her vain,
glittering fragility. Each role is performed with
sensitivity, precision and flair, Kangana displaying the
confidence of a talent Queen.
Alongside, Madhavan does a fine job as quiet, often
morose, sometimes hopeful Manu - his shyly searching
look at Kusum, wearing ear-rings he's gifted her, is
lovely. Deepak Dobriyal smashes it as Manu's chatty
buddy Pappi. Deepak carries off superb lines with
breezy perfection, scolding his confused friend with,
"Are you Salman Khan jo commitment nahin choroge?",
mumbling and grumbling through a sparkling
performance.
Other roles - Kusum's brother Omi to creepy lawyer
Chintu - click like clocks while Jimmy Shergill, as
Tanu's smouldering gangster-contractor ex, is reliably
intense.
The plot's racily pacy. Packing in eccentric characters,
hilarious scenes - Manu's mother has a whole
monologue, nagging - and emotions that tug at your
heart while tickling you pink, crisp editing and deeply
authentic visuals keep surprising. The music glows
while gemstone-like scenes evoke crazy romance,
crushing heartbreak - and delightful new crushes.
through S K R Sharma. The
entertainment journal contained
obscene photographs of Leone, SHO
Ajmer Kotawali police station
Jitendra Gangwani said. Jain said he
followed a website link given in the
magazine and found more obscene
contents and pictures of the actress
on internet, following which he
registered the FIR with police.A case
has been registered under section 292
(sale of obscene book) of IPC,
relevant sections of the Indecent
Representation of Women
(Prohibition) Act and the IT act,
Gangwani said.
Over 25,000 actors vie to be
Poonam Pandey’s hero
contest titled 'Kaun Banega
Poonam Ka Hero', organised
to find a lead actor to be
paired with Poonam Pandey in Helen,
attracted over 25,000 people, says the
film's producer Suresh Nakum.
"The kind of response that has
come for the contest of 'Kaun
Banega Poonam Ka Hero' has been
A
nothing less than mighty pleasing
for the team. In fact, I have never
seen such kind of a response for any
Bollywood movie before the film
goes on the floors." He said that
"over 25,000 followers of Poonam
Pandey have uploaded videos and
audio clips to try and play the male
lead".
The hunt required the contestants
to make a two-minute audition
video, during which they were free
to enact a movie scene or dialogue of
their choice to the best of their
ability. Poonam herself invited the
candidates through a video in which
she says she is looking for a male
lead to star opposite her.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
HOLLYWOOD
EVA LONGORIA: I’M LUCKY
TO HAVE GOOD GENES
19
MOVIE REVIEW
Poltergeist
ctress Eva Longoria
feels "lucky" to have
inherited olive skin and
a flawless complexion which has
kept her looking youthful.
The former "Desperate
Housewives" actress has
revealed she feels privileged to
get genes of her Mexican
American parents, Ella and
Enrique.
"I'm lucky to have good
genetics and great olive skin, so
the (ageing) process is not
taking its toll on me - yet! That's
not to say I won't have thoughts
on it when it happens, but it's
not on the forefront right now,"
femalefirst.co.uk quoted
Longoria as saying.
The 40-year-old added she is
happy to embrace ageing.
A
GWYNETH PALTROW LAUNCHES
GLUTEN-FREE ORGANIC READY MEALS
scar-winning actress
Gwyneth Paltrow has joined
the new craze among
health-conscious celebrities by
launching her own healthy meal
services.
Teaming up with her best friend
and fitness guru Tracy Anderson
and business partner Maria Baum
she has just launched "3 Green
Hearts," which is line of gluten-free
organic ready meals, reported Ace
Showbiz.
Claimed to be locally sourced, the
newly launched organic range
includes gluten-free pastas, fish
tacos, kale ravioli, quinoa salad,
fresh juices and smoothies.
The trio, moreover, has promised
customers there will be frosting
shots too. Green cleaning products
and beauty products that are
paraben-free are among their
planned future products.
"I'm a major foodie so there's also
going to be frosting shots, but the
frosting is made without all the
processed things that really hurt
us," Anderson said.
"I've figured out how to make the
best cookies that have no gluten, no
soy, no dairy, no nuts, no eggs - all
the main common allergens. If I can
be a part of making it easy for
people to eat natural foods and be
able to feel like they can lead a
natural lifestyle and have it be
affordable, that to me is really key,"
Anderson added.
O
CAST: Sam Rockwell, Rosemary DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino,
Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jared Harris, Jane Adams,
Nicholas Braun
DIRECTION: Gil Kenan
GENRE: Horror
DURATION: 1 hour 33 minutes
STORY: A family moves into a new house in suburban
America only to find that they have some very
unwelcome, ghoulish visitors. The latter take over the
family's home electronics (especially liking the flat screen
TV) and capture their little daughter Madison (Clements).
Along with some specialized help, they rescue Madison
from her demonic captors.
REVIEW: Remaking the legendary horror film that was
Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's 1982 classic is a tall
order for any director. Gil Kenan chooses not to
experiment too much with the original narrative and
plays it somewhat safe.
However, there's plenty to give horror buffs their
money's worth in the jump scares department, especially
in the first half. Instead of the Freeling family from the
original, here, we have the Bowen clan who are
beleaguered by things that go bump in the night.
Devoted patriarch Eric (Rockwell) has been
unemployed for a while and wife Amy (DeWitt) has her
hands full as a homemaker. But apart from Madison, it is
actually her protective brother Griffin (Catlett) whose
performance often steers the plot. Which is not to say that
the others - Eric the strong father and Amy the anguished
matriarch - are any less on point. Playing the eldest
sibling, Saxon also has two key moments in the film. But
oddly, it is their expert ghostbuster Carrigan (Harris)
whose presence is largely vestigial.
The Bowen's house of horrors is a minefield of scares.
Evil dolls, clowns, toys and even the gnarled old tree
outside. And of course, closets that contain more than
just clothes and shoes. Interesting modern touches, such
as an innovative use for a drone and a rogue smartphone
are added but the pace is just too breezy and more time
could have been invested in balancing tension buildup
with the jump scares, measure for measure. From another
perspective, as a result of the film's pace, it also doesn't
drag. And the special effects finale scene in the demonic
dimension, are suitably creepy. Although this could have
been gourmet, it is actually fast-food horror that's
perfectly passable.
20
riund is the crown jewel of
dharamshala , situated in the laps of
dhauladhar mountains, it has the
perfect view of the dhauladhar mountains on
one side and kangra valley on the other.
Triund is a very popular trekking spot .
Triund attracts a lot of tourist every year
from India and all over the world .
Triund trek can be described as a tranquil
trek which can be easily accomplished by
almost all age groups . Triund has an
unambiguous byway which goes through a
beautiful mixed forest of oak, deodar and
rhododendron . Trek is fairly easy for the first
five kilometers but the last one kilometer may
require a bit of toil , the last one kilometer is
popularly know as the “22 curves” as it has 22
tiring curves before you finally reach Triund.
Along the way there are many small chai
shops where one can refresh during the hike.
The traipse is worth it as the panorama when
you reach triund is awe-inspiring and
exhilarating .Triund is come-at-able for most
part of the year except for when the byway to
triund is cut off by heavy snowfall in the
months of January and February . Trip to
triund can be planed diversely.
T
Trek
This is one of the most popular trek that
you can do in short period of time. From
Triund you have most spectacular view of the
snow covered peaks of dhauladhar one one
side and Kangra valley on the other. You have
got different view at different time of the daySunset, moonrise, sunrise all present a
different picture of the place.
Day 01: Arrival Dharamsala
Arrive Dharamsala by an overnight Volvo
bus or fly from Delhi to Dharamsala. On
arrival at Bus station /Airport transfer to
Hotel in Dharamsala. Afternoon city tour of
Dharamsala visiting H.H. Dalai Lama Temple,
and Norbulingka(a Tibetan centre for
learning and preserving traditional art and
craft). Overnight stay at hotel.
Day 02: Bhagsu Nag-Triund 9 km walk
After breakfast on your own, start walking
from Bhagsu Nag. It is steep ascent for 4 hours
through mixed forest of oak, rhododendron
and deodar trees to Triund. Packed lunch
enroute. Arrive Triund and check in lodge or
camp. Triund is an alpine meadow situated
on top of a ridge from where we have superb
view of the peaks of Dhauladhar mountain on
one side and Kangra valley on the other.
Overnight stay at camp. Dinner with bonfire
in the evening.
Day 03: Triund-Khabrotu-Triund-Bhagsu
Nag 13 kms
After breakfast at Triund walk futher upto
Khabrotu from where you have close view of
Laka Glacier and the peaks of Dhauladhar.
Walk back to Triund. Lunch at Triund. After
lunch we take a different route on the way
back to Bhagsu. It is downhill walk for three
to four hours to Bhagsu Nag. Enroute we
come across Bhagsu waterfall. Trek Ends at
Bhagsu Nag Village. Check in hotel to
continue drive to your next destination.
Triund has a very scenic mountain lodge
with a majestic view of dhauladhar ranges .
This lodge is in solitary , away from all other
indwellers of Triund.
TRAVEL
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
TRIUND
A WALK ABOVE THE CLOUDS
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
US
US military says it mistakenly
shipped live anthrax samples
WASHINGTON (TIP): The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said it
is investigating what the Pentagon
called an inadvertent shipment of live
anthrax spores to government and
commercial laboratories in as many as
nine states, as well as one overseas, that
expected to receive dead spores.
"At this time we do not suspect any
risk to the general public,'' CDC
spokeswoman Kathy Harben said
Wednesday.
A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve
Warren, said the suspected live anthrax
samples were shipped from Dugway
Proving Ground, an Army facility in
Utah, using a commercial delivery
service.
Warren said the government has
confirmed one recipient, a laboratory in
Maryland, received live spores. It is
suspected, but not yet confirmed, that
anthrax sent to labs in as many as eight
other states also contained live spores,
he said. Later he said an anthrax
sample from the same batch at Dugway
also was sent to a U.S. military
laboratory at Osan air base in South
Korea; no personnel there have shown
signs of exposure, he said, and the
sample was destroyed.
"There is no known risk to the
general public, and there are no
suspected or confirmed cases of
anthrax infection in potentially exposed
lab workers,'' Warren said.
A U.S. official said Wednesday
evening that four people in three
commercial labs had worked with the
suspect anthrax samples and the CDC
has recommended the four be provided
"post-exposure prophylaxis,'' or
preventive treatment. The official was
not authorized to discuss the details
because they involved non-government
lab employees, and so spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The anthrax samples were shipped
from Dugway to government and
commercial labs in Texas, Maryland,
Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey,
Tennessee, New York, California and
Virginia.
The Defense Department, acting "out
of an abundance of caution,'' has halted
"the shipment of this material from its
labs pending completion of the
investigation,'' Warren said.
Contact with anthrax spores can
cause severe illness.
Harben said one of the laboratories
contacted the CDC to request "technical
consultation.'' It was working as part of
a Pentagon effort to develop a new
diagnostic test to identify biological
threats, she said. "Although an
inactivated agent was expected, the lab
reported they were able to grow live
Bacillus anthracis,'' she said, referring
to the bacteria that cause anthrax
disease. The CDC is working with state
and federal agencies on an investigation
with the labs that received samples
from the Defense Department, she said.
Harben said all samples involved in
the investigation will be securely
transferred to the CDC or other
laboratories for further testing.
Nebraska abolishes death penalty in
landmark override vote
LINCOLN (TIP): Nebraska abolished
the death penalty on May 27 in a
landmark veto-override vote backed by
an unusual coalition of conservatives
who oppose capital punishment.
Senators in the one-house Legislature
voted 30-19 to override Gov. Pete
Ricketts, a Republican who supports the
death penalty. The vote makes Nebraska
the first traditionally conservative state
to eliminate the punishment since
North Dakota in 1973.
Nebraska joins 18 other states and
the District of Columbia in banning the
ultimate punishment.
Some senators said they
philosophically support the death
penalty, but are convinced the state will
never carry out another execution
because of legal obstacles. Nebraska
hasn't executed an inmate since a 1997
electrocution, and the state has never
done so with its current lethal injection
protocol.
Nebraska lost its ability to execute
inmates in December 2013, when one of
the three lethal injection drugs
required by state law expired.
Ricketts announced this month that
the state has purchased two of the
21
Bobby Jindal slams
Republican presidential
opponent
WASHINGTON (TIP): Moving closer to a formal
announcement of his US presidential bid, IndianAmerican Bobby Jindal has slammed his fellow
Republican and presidential aspirant Rand Paul for
being "unsuited to be the commander in chief."
In an unusually harsh language, the 43-year-old
Louisiana Governor slammed Senator Paul as being
"unsuited to be the commander in chief" after Paul in a
TV interview said that "ISIS grew stronger because of
the hawks" in the Republican party.
"This is a perfect example of why Senator Paul is
unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief," said Jindal, who
earlier this month formed an exploratory committee for
his presidential bid.
"We have men and women in the military who are in
the field trying to fight ISIS right now, and Senator Paul
is taking the weakest, most liberal Democrat position,"
he said.
Jindal, who is expected to join the GOP fray next
month, said: "It's one thing for Senator Paul to take an
outlandish position as a Senator at Washington cocktail
parties, but being Commander-in-Chief is an entirely
different job."
"We should all be clear that evil and Radical Islam are
at fault for the rise of ISIS, and people like President
Obama and Hillary Clinton exacerbate it," he said.
"American weakness, not American strength,
emboldens our enemies. Senator Paul's illogical
argument clouds a situation that should provide pure
moral clarity. Islam has a problem. ISIS is its current
manifestation," he said.
Jindal said that the next US President's job is to have
the "discipline and strength" to wipe out ISIS. "It has
become impossible to imagine a President Paul
defeating radical Islam and it's time for the rest of us to
say it."
Paul's campaign fought back immediately, with Paul's
senior adviser Doug Stafford calling Jindal's attack
"ironic."
"It's ironic Governor Jindal would level such a charge
when he flip-flops on crucial issues like common core
and national security, and he has cratered his own
state's economy and budget," said Stafford.
Jindal previously supported the federal Common
Core educational standards, but has since become the
anti-Common Core movement's most vocal advocate.
Jindal is a former congressman who started his
career in public service as Louisiana's health secretary.
The war of words between Jindal and Paul has been
widely reported in the US media on Wednesday.
US toddler dies after
accidentally shooting
himself in head
drugs that the state now lacks, but
opponents have said they still aren't
convinced Nebraska will be able to
resume executions. On Tuesday,
Republican Attorney General Doug
Peterson implored lawmakers to give
state officials more time to prepare.
The repeal bill was introduced by
independent Sen. Ernie Chambers, who
has fought for nearly four decades to
repeal the death penalty.
Nebraska's action to repeal the death
penalty is unusual because of its
traditionally conservative leanings.
Maryland was the last state to end
capital punishment, in 2013. Three
other moderate-to-liberal states have
done so in recent years: New Mexico in
2009, Illinois in 2011 and Connecticut in
2012.
Nebraska's officially nonpartisan
Legislature is comprised of 35
registered Republicans, 13 Democrats
and an independent. A Nebraska State
Patrol spokeswoman said Wednesday
that the agency was investigating death
threats left on the answering machine
of a state senator who supports the
repeal.
The last time lawmakers passed a
death penalty repeal bill was in 1979,
but senators at the time didn't have
enough votes to override a
gubernatorial veto.
WASHINGTON (TIP): A two-year-old boy died on
Wednesday several days after he picked up a loaded
handgun lying out in a Virginia home and accidentally
shot himself in the head, US media reported.
The boy and his parents were visiting a residence in
an isolated area in southern Virginia on Monday when
he found the firearm on a dresser, local NBC affiliate
WWBT reported.
The toddler was alone in a bedroom, picked up the
firearm and pulled the trigger, shooting himself in the
head, WWBT said.
The two-year-old was rushed to a hospital in the state
capital of Richmond, where he died of his injuries
Wednesday. An investigation into the incident is under
way, local media reported.
Gun-control advocacy group Moms Demand Action
For Gun Sense in America said that on average, around
100 children under the age of 17 die each year in the
United States in firearm accidents.
22
WORLD
Singapore appoints Indian
Origin Businessman as
Envoy to Sri Lanka
SINGAPORE (TIP): Singapore has appointed an Indianorigin businessman as its non-Resident High
Commissioner to Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry
announced on May 29. S Chandra Das served as
Singapore's Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey,
resident in Singapore, from 2006 to 2015.
He had also previously served as Singapore's Trade
Representative from 1970 to 1972 in the USSR, the former
Soviet Union. Mr. Das was a Member of Parliament from
1980 to 1996 and is currently the Managing Director of
NUR Investment and Trading private limited of Singapore
as well as a director of a number of other companies.
Das is married to Rosie Pillai and they have two
children. The ministry also announced the appointment of
Chua Thai Keong as Singapore's High Commissioner to the
Republic of South Africa. Chua has previously served as
Singapore's Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (with
concurrent accreditation to Mongolia) from September
2006 to December 2010 and Singapore's Non-Resident
Ambassador to Chile from April 2014 to May 2015.
China detains artist who posted
humorous photo of president
BEIJING (TIP): Authorities have detained an obscure
Chinese artist after he posted online a humorous portrait
of President Xi Jinping, his wife said on Thursday.
Judy Zhu said police accused her husband, Dai
Jianyong, of "creating a disturbance" after detaining him
on Tuesday near their Shanghai home.
Dai is known for posting eclectic photos on social media,
including some showing himself and others scrunching up
their lips and eyes. Dai posted images of Xi with the same
expression while wearing a moustache.
Some online commentators have compared the Xi
portrait to Adolf Hitler, although Dai's Instagram image
has much broader moustache than the small, squareshaped, "toothbrush moustache" associated with Hitler
and Charlie Chaplin. Dai faces up to five years in prison if
convicted. Shanghai police didn't answer phone calls on
May 28. Chinese artists have long walked a fine line
between what they can express without getting into
trouble with authorities.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
Oxford gets its first-ever
female vice-chancellor
LONDON (TIP): The oldest university
in the English speaking world has got
its first ever female head.
Professor Louise Richardson,
currently the principal and vicechancellor of the University of St
Andrews, has been nominated as the
next VC of the University of Oxford.
The first women's colleges were
founded in the 19th century and women
became full members of the University
in 1920.
Five all-male colleges - Brasenose,
Jesus College, Wadham, Hertford and St
Catherine's - first admitted women in
1974.
St Hilda's College which was
originally for women only was the last
of Oxford's single sex colleges. All
colleges have admitted both men and
women since 2008.
Oxford currently has 11 female heads
of house - the Rector of Exeter; the
Principals of Lady Margaret Hall,
Mansfield, St Hilda's, St Hugh's, and
Somerville; the Provost of Oriel; the
Master of Pembroke; the Warden of St
Antony's and the Presidents of St
John's and Wolfson.
Oxford has been the alma mater of
the who's who of the world.
Twenty-six British prime ministers
have been educated at Oxford
University. The list includes present PM
David Cameron, Tony Blair, Margaret
Thatcher, Harold Wilson and Edward
Heath.
Oxford has educated Indians since
1871. Since then, some of the most
famous Indians, including two of
India's PMs - Indira Gandhi and
Manmohan Singh have studied here.
Indians have also held academic
posts here including former president
of India, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and
India's Chief Scientific Advisor and
Bharat Ratna recipient Professor C N R
Rao. Professor Richardson with a
distinguished academic career in the
study of terrorism and security issues
has led St Andrews for more than six
years. Prior to joining St Andrews in
2009, Professor Richardson lived and
worked in the US where she was
executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute
for Advanced Study at Harvard
University.
Professor Richardson said of her
nomination "Oxford is one of the
world's great universities. I feel
enormously privileged to be given the
opportunity to lead this remarkable
institution during an exciting time for
higher education. I am very much
looking forward to working with
talented, experienced, and dedicated
colleagues to advance Oxford's preeminent global position in research,
scholarship, and teaching."
Subject to the approval of
Congregation, the University's
parliament, professor Richardson will
succeed the current VC Professor
Andrew Hamilton on Jan 1, 2016.
The first woman to be appointed to a
full professorship was Agnes HeadlamMorley, who became Montague Burton
professor of International Relations in
October 1948.
In 1973 Balliol was the first of the
traditional all-male colleges to elect a
woman as a fellow and tutor. In 1993
Professor Marilyn Butler, former Rector
of Exeter, became the first female head
of a former all-male college at either
Oxford or Cambridge.
Russia steps up propaganda push with online ‘Kremlin trolls’
ST PETERSBURG (RUSSIA) (TIP): Deep
inside a four-story marble building in St
Petersburg, hundreds of workers tap away at
computers on the front lines of an
information war, say those who have been
inside. Known as "Kremlin trolls", the men
and women work 12-hour shifts around the
clock, flooding the internet with propaganda
aimed at stamping President Vladimir Putin's
world vision on Russia, and the world.
The Kremlin has always dabbled in
propaganda, but in the past year its troll
campaign has gone into overdrive, adding
hundreds of online operatives to help counter
Western pressure over its role in the proRussian insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The
program is drawing Serbia away from its
proclaimed EU membership path and closer to
the Russian orbit, and is targeting Germany,
the United States and other Western powers.
The operation has worried the European
Union enough to prompt it to draw up a
blueprint for fighting Russia's disinformation
campaign, although details have not yet been
released.
Lyuda Savchuk, a single mother with two
children, worked in the St Petersburg "troll
factory" until mid-March. The 34-year-old
journalist said she had some idea of the
Orwellian universe she was entering when
she took the job, but underestimated its
intensity and scope.
"I knew it was something bad, but of course
I never suspected that it was this horrible and
this large-scale," she said in an interview in
her apartment, which has colorful drawings
on the walls for her two preschool-age
children.
She described how the trolls manage
several social media accounts under different
nicknames, such as koka-kola23, green—
margo and Funornotfun. Those in her
department had to bash out 160 blog posts
during a 12-hour shift. Trolls in other
departments flooded the internet with
doctored images and pro-Putin commentary
on news stories that crop up on Russian and
western news portals.
In some departments, she said, the trolls
receive daily talking points on what to write
and what emotions to evoke. "It seems to me
that they don't know what they are doing,"
Savchuk said. "They simply repeat what they
are told."
She said most of the trolls are young and
are attracted by relatively high monthly
salaries of 40,000 to 50,000 rubles ($800 to
$1,000).
Her descriptions of the work coincide with
those of other former trolls who have spoken
publicly, although Savchuk is one of the few
willing to have her full name published. She
quit after a little more than two months, after
finding she couldn't stand being part of a
propaganda machine.
The trolls are employed by internet
Research, which Russian news reports say is
financed by a holding company headed by
Putin's friend and personal chef. Those who
have worked there say they have little doubt
that the operation is run from the Kremlin.
St Petersburg journalist Andrei Soshnikov,
who was one of the first to report on the "troll
factory," said about 400 people work in the
building. A video he posted on YouTube this
spring gave a rare glimpse inside the building;
in one room trolls were shown sitting
shoulder-to-shoulder at their computers. The
operation moved into the building when it
expanded in March 2014, the month Russia
seized Crimea from Ukraine and provoked the
first round of Western economic sanctions.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
WORLD
Indian-Origin Keith Vaz appointed
Labour Party Vice-Chairman
LONDON (TIP): One of Britain's
longest-serving Indian-origin member
of parliament, Keith Vaz, has been
appointed as vice-chairman of the
Labour party.
The Party does not have a leader at
present with Ed Miliband resigning
after the recent election debacle.
This effectively makes 58-year-old Vaz
the top man in the party at the moment.
Vaz who has been an MP since 1987 was
re-elected from his Leicester East
stronghold at the May 7 general
election.
He received 61% of the votes. Vaz was
first elected MP in June 1987 and has
been re-elected as a MP six times.
Born to Goan parents in Aden,
Yemen, Vaz who also serves as the chair
of the influential home affairs select
committee in the House of Commons
was educated at Cambridge University
where he studied law and then became
a solicitor.
Vaz has his roots in Anjuna.?His
sister Valerie Vaz is also a Labour MP.
Vaz said "I am delighted to have been
appointed as vice-chairman of the
Labour Party. After coming through a
difficult election, it is time for the party
to regroup and bring fresh new ideas to
the table. Playing a part in that process
is a source of great pride for me".
Vaz has been appointed by acting
leader of the opposition Harriet
Harman.
His appointment clearly follows
Labour's interest in garnering the allimportant Indian origin support in the
future. The Indian community has been
growing in prominence year by year. In
1987, there were only two members of
Indian origin in both the houses of
parliament. Today, there are over 25 over 10 times.
Recent data showed that up to a
million ethnic minority votes helped
put David Cameron back into Downing
Street.
Coalition strikes, fighting kill
40 rebels in Yemen's Aden
12 Melbourne women try to
flee Australia to join ISIS
ADEN (TIP): Saudi-led coalition strikes against Iranbacked Shiite rebels in Yemen's second city Aden today and
ground clashes killed at least 40 Huthis and their allies, the
city's deputy governor said.
Residents reported non-stop air raids on rebel positions
across the city amid heavy fighting.
The coalition air campaign against the rebels and allied
forces loyal to former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh began on
March 26 in an effort to restore UN-backed President
Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to power.
"Coalition forces carried out qualitative and successful
operations against the rebels after coordination between the
coalition leadership and the Popular Resistance Council
leadership" on the ground in Aden, the southern city's
deputy governor Naef al-Bakri told AFP.
Anti-rebel forces -- pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes,
and southern separatists -- are referred to as Popular
Resistance Committees.
Bakri did not give details on the operations but said
warplanes destroyed a number of rebel vehicles and hit
checkpoints in Aden's north and northeast, adding that
Popular Resistance fighters were also "provided with
qualitative weapons".
"At least 40 rebels were killed and dozens were wounded"
in air strikes and fighting, he said.
A military source close to the Huthis confirmed to AFP
that they had sustained "heavy losses".
Aden health chief Al-Kheder Lassouar said at least 19
civilians and anti-rebel fighters have been killed in two days
of fighting there.
Meanwhile in the capital, coalition jets hit a rebel-held air
base and an arms depot on the Fajj Attan hill overlooking
Sanaa. Similar strikes on Fajj Attan last month set off a
chain of explosions that killed 38 civilians.
Amnesty International warned today that "scores of
casualties in Sanaa have been caused by anti-aircraft
munitions shot by the Huthi armed group which detonated
after landing in populated areas, killing and maiming
civilians".
The London-based rights group's senior crisis adviser
Lama Fakih said both the coalition and the rebels "have
failed to take the necessary precautions to protect civilian
lives in violation of the laws of war. Instead they have
carried out attacks that have had devastating consequences
for the civilian population."
Amnesty urged the Arab coalition states "to take all
feasible precautions to minimise the risks posed to civilians,
as required by international humanitarian law.
"The Huthi armed group should also move its military
positions away from populated civilian areas where feasible,"
the watchdog said.
MELBOURNE (TIP): At least five young women from
Australia have successfully joined the Islamic State and are
among over a dozen similar cases from Melbourne most of
whom have a "romanticised" view of the dreaded militants
and want to become "jihadist brides", police said on May 27.
The women are said to be between 18 to 20 years of age,
and had lied to their families about their intentions before
leaving Australia.
Victoria Police assistance commissioner Tracy Linford
said that while it was difficult to quantify the exact numbers
involved, the state police knew of at least 12 such women who
had tried to flee and at least five who had succeeded in
joining the terror group.
The others were either turned back or are unaccounted for
and also became "jihadist brides" in some cases, police said.
Linford said the numbers are perhaps greater than that
and was concerned some of the women had been pushed into
sexual servitude in Syria and Iraq, according to an ABC
report.
"We want people to understand that it's not just a
phenomenon of young men wanting to travel over to the
conflict zone and join ISIS, there are women that are being
lured there as well," she said.
Linford said most of the women had a "romanticized" view
of what life was like in a conflict zone.
"(They think) that they'll go over there and life will be
really good for them, that they'll be put on a pedestal. The
reality is the information that we're getting back from
overseas is that the lifestyle's not so good at all." she said.
"We've had information come back that some women have
actually been pushed into sexual servitude, the living
conditions can be very tenuous for a young women over
there, they can be on rations and living in squalid and dirty
conditions," she added.
Linford urged family and friends to pay attention to young
women, as well as young men, who might be showing
changed behaviour or disengaging from their normal family
and friendship circles, the report said.
"Some of the families have contacted us, some of the
families were taken by surprise when their daughters said
they're travelling for some other purpose and then they
subsequently find out that they've gone to the conflict zone.
In other cases, we've seen women who have succeeded in
getting overseas and into those zones and have actually
reached back through social media and sent messages letting
their family and friends know where they are," she said.
It has been estimated that 30 young men had so far
travelled from Victoria to join the ISIS, police said.
A new "Taskforce Pax" set up to monitor Victorians who
may pose a security risk will work with existing
counterterrorism squads.
23
More taxes for UK businesses
with foreign labour: Queen
LONDON (TIP): The British Queen on May 27 announced at
the opening of the UK parliament session that businesses that
employ foreign labour will have to pay a new visa levy which
will be used to fund apprenticeship schemes for British
workers.
The scheme will not be rolled out right away.
The Queen said that a consultation will be carried out first
on the possibility of funding apprenticeship schemes for
British and EU workers using the funds raised through the
new visa levy.
The Queen also announced plans to set up a new
enforcement agency that would crack down on businesses
employing illegal immigrants or smuggling people into Britain
with the promise of work.
She said, "It is not right that unscrupulous employers can
exploit workers, luring them here with the promise of a better
life."
A new single agency will have the scale and powers to stop
this, she said.
Britain has already started charging Indians for health care
which was free till now. Indian students coming into UK now to
study are paying an additional "health surcharge" over their
visa fees.
According to the new rule, from April 6, nationals from
outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) coming to live
in the UK for longer than six months will be required to pay
the 'health surcharge' in order to gain access to the UK's
National Health Service (NHS).
Indians have to pa an additional £200 per year (Rs 19,000) as
health surcharge. But students have to pay £150 per at the time
of applying for their visa. Visa applicants will need to pay upfront for the total period of their UK visa.
Till April 6, non-EEA nationals coming to work, study or join
family members received free medical treatment under NHS in
the same way as a permanent resident.
The Queen said the new immigration bill will also require
all foreign offenders released on bail to be tagged, "So we
always know exactly where they are. This will prevent
absconding and increase the number of criminals deported".
British Prime Minister David Cameron recently made it
mandatory for all banks in Britain to check their bank
accounts against databases to confirm that their clients are not
n UK illegally. This was reiterated by the Queen on Wednesday.
It is also being made mandatory for landlords to check
whether their tenants are here legally.
Earlier, the UK had floated the idea of controversial plan to
impose a £3,000 immigration bond on visitors from "high-risk"
countries like India. The fee would have been over and above
the existing visa costs. The bond was a part of the
government's intention to reduce the number of immigrants to
less than 100,000 per year. An applicant would have to forfeit the
amount unless they left when required.
Outrage from India - the third largest investor in the UKmade Britain drop the idea.
‘China now home to 1m super rich’
BEIJING (TIP): The number of high net worth individuals
(HNWIs) in China passed the one million mark for the first
time last year following a surge in the "innovative industries"
sector, a study has shown. Defined as having more than 10
million yuan ($1.6 million) of investable assets, the country's
super rich totalled 1.04 million at the end of last year, or twice
the number recorded in 2010, the China Private Wealth Report
said.
The annual study is compiled by consulting firm Bain & Co
and China Merchants Bank, state-run Shanghai Daily
reported. China's investable assets rose by 16% annually
between 2012 and 2014 to 112 trillion yuan last year, the report
said, adding that the figure is set to grow to 129 trillion yuan
this year. Many of the "new rich" came from innovative
industries such as IT, biotechnology and alternative energy, the
report said. About 80% of them are aged under 50. "China's
HNWIs are driving the growth of the country's real economy,
particularly in key innovative sectors, which is helping to fuel
the economy and advance innovation," said Alfred Shang, a
partner at Bain.
Guangdong province has the most wealthy individuals, with
more than 100,000, though Shanghai and Beijing, and the
provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Sichuan each
have more than 50,000, the report said.
24
WOMEN
FOOD
Cashew chicken
fried rice
I
f you are in the mood for Asian, this easy cashew
chicken fried rice is the perfect recipe to satisfy your
craving. Inspired by restaurant-style fried rice, this
dish is packed with chicken, pineapple, red pepper, peas
and toasted cashews. This one pot meal is all you need
instead of turning to take-out.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
DESIGNING
HOME THE FENG
SHUI WAY
Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into cubes 3 tablespoons
vegetable oil, divided 2 eggs, beaten with a dash of soy
sauce 1 1/2 cups cubed fresh or canned pineapple 1 large
red bell pepper, diced 1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted 3 green
onions, green and white parts, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic,
finely minced 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger 1/2
cup chopped raw, unsalted cashews 2 cups cooked and
chilled rice, white or brown 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons
reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce 1 to 2 teaspoons chili
garlic sauce 1 small lime, juiced 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
leaves, finely chopped
Directions:
Step 1: Marinate chicken in 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and
freshly ground black pepper and refrigerate for at
least 30 minutes.
Step 2: Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok
over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the pan
and cook until the chicken is no longer pink, about 7
to 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Step 3: In the same pan, add a teaspoon of oil and gently
scramble the eggs. Scoop the eggs into a bowl and set
aside.
Step 4: Add one tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the
pineapple and red pepper. Cook, stirring constantly,
until the pineapple is caramelized on the edges and
the red pepper has softened, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Then add the green onion, peas, ginger and garlic.
Cook, while stirring constantly, until fragrant, about
30 seconds or longer. Transfer the contents of the pan
to your bowl of eggs.
Step 5: Add the remaining two teaspoons of oil to the pan.
Pour in the cashews and toast them, stirring
constantly, until the cashews smell fragrant and have
turned golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add the rice
to the pan and stir to combine. Cook, stirring
occasionally, until the rice is hot, about 3 minutes.
Step 6: Pour the cooked vegetables and eggs back into the
pan with the rice and stir to combine. Season with soy
sauce, chili garlic sauce, and lime juice. Taste and
adjust seasoning as necessary. Garnish with fresh
cilantro.
hen it comes to locating
plots, buildings, orienting
homes, placing decor and
even planning gardens the first thing
which would come to our mind is
unhindered flow of energy and a feel
good factor.
This is quite possible when we
plan our home keeping in mind some
important tenets of Feng Shui in
terms of decor, alignment and
design. The adaptation could extend
beyond the framework of building
design as it can be used to enhance
the interiors, furnishing , decor and
other aspects of the deisgn elements
in a space.
A simple approach to Feng Shui
would be in terms of providing the
right plot levels, set backs, proper
layout and allocation of rooms. How
do we go about this? The basic
understanding to allocate rooms in
the right sectors is a step after
getting to know the interpretation of
the magnetic fields and compass
directions. Presuming that one has
got to know the axis of the plot and
located the cardinal magnetic
directions, it becomes a lot easier to
design a home as per Feng Shui
tenets.
Some of the very generic rules in
Feng Shui home design are:-
W
Main door
The main door should be the
largest door in the home and the door
should not open into a kitchen area.
Moreover the position of the main
door is critical and would vary
depending upon the direction and
axis of the plot, however doors right
on the cardinal directions are
considered bad positioning.
Living room
Kitchen
This room is the sanctuary for
relaxation. Feng Shui treatises says
that the centre portion or the 'tai chi'
of the house is not conducive for
major activities as it receives least
amount of cosmic energy, hence it is
beneficial if a major portion of the
living room occupies the central zone
of the building. Remember to orient
your sofas and heavy furniture's such
that they occupy the south and west
sectors of the room and avoid
furniture or blockages at the
northeast sector of the room which is
the knowledge sector.
What we eat, where we eat and how
we eat are all part of the science of
health and vitality; hence kitchen
location is vital to the overall
harmony of the home. Kitchen as
many elements which operate in
tandem or could be conflicting like
water, fire (stove /electricity), metal
(utensils) etc. In addition locating the
stove and sink is of great importance
so having the water body away from
the fire is quite important.
Master bedroom
This is one of the most important
rooms in a home. It is said that deep
sleep is when we reunite with the
source, hence if we sleep deeply we
awaken refreshed ready for the new
day. Quality of sleep is far more
important than the length of time.
Certain locations are more conducive
to peaceful sleep than others. Using
wooden bed/cot is preferred as wood
is benign and warm as against metal
beds, which are cold and oppressive,
and metal is said to be associated
with the planet Saturn.
Toilets
In the earlier days the toilets were
away from the main house and later
they were made 'en-suite' or
attached. Toilets should not be too
close to kitchen as the food energy
and toilet energies are incompatible.
Feng Shui reminds us of the basic
relationship between earth, man
and cosmos. By adapting these
principles our lives, we can create a
healthy environment with
harmonious living and working
environment.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
HEALTH AND FITNESS
HEALTH RISKS OF
SLEEPING TOO MUCH
t's a little hard to believe there's
such a thing as sleeping too
much, since so many of us feel
like it's a struggle to get barely
enough. But it's true - you can sleep
too much.
While it's tough to pinpoint the
'just right' amount, most adults need
between seven and nine hours a
night. Regularly logging more than
nine hours of sleep a night may be a
sign of an underlying medical
condition, but it also puts you at
risk for a whole host of health
concerns. Here are some of the
biggest risks of too much sleep.
I
Might make it harder to get
pregnant
In 2013, a Korea research team
analysed the sleep habits of more
than 650 women undergoing in vitro
fertilisation. They found that
pregnancy rates were highest among
the women who got seven to eight
hours of sleep a night and lowest in
women who got nine to 11 hours. The
findings, however, did not establish a
clear causal relationship. "We know
25
SIGNS OF HEART
ATTACK WOMEN
SHOULD KNOW
tudies show heart attacks and heart disease are underdiagnosed in women, as their symptoms do not match
that of men. To prevent a heart attack from sneaking
up on you, watch for these seven little-known signs of heart
attack:
S
Fatigue
More than 70 per cent of women reported extreme fatigue
in the months prior to their heart attacks. This was an
overwhelming fatigue that sidelined them from their usual
schedules for a few days at a time.
Insomnia
Despite their fatigue, women who've had heart attacks
remember experiencing unexplained inability to fall asleep
during the month before their heart attacks.
Raise depression risk
In a 2014 study of adult twins,
researchers found that long sleep
duration increased a person's risk of
depression symptoms. The study
participants, who slept between seven
and nine hours a night, had a 27%
heritability of depressive symptoms,
while those who slept nine hours or
more had a 49% heritability. It could
impair the brain A 2012 study found
that among elderly women, sleeping
too much (or too little) worsened the
brain's functioning over a six-year
period. Women who slept more than
nine hours each night (or fewer than
five) displayed changes in their
brains on par with aging two years, it
was reported at the time.
Anxiety and stress
that sleep habits can certainly alter
circadian rhythms, hormone
secretions and menstrual cycles,"
said Dr Evan Rosenbluth, a
reproductive endocrinologist, adding,
"But the effect on infertility is a little
harder to tease out, because there are
so many details that are hard to
control." Sleeping too much can
substantially increase diabetes risk
In a study, researchers found that
people who slept more than eight
hours a night were twice as likely to
develop type 2 diabetes or impaired
glucose tolerance over a six-year
period, than people who slept
between seven or eight hours a night,
even after controlling for differences
in body mass.
It can lead to weight gain
the study period, even after
controlling for food intake and
physical activity. "Hence, these
results emphasise the need to add
sleep duration to the panel of
determinants that contribute to
weight gain and obesity," the authors
wrote in the study.
Can hurt your heart
In research presented at a 2012
American College of Cardiology
meeting, sleeping eight or more
hours a night was linked to an
increased risk of heart problems. The
researchers analysed data from over
3,000 people and found that long
sleepers had two times the risk of
angina and 1.1-times the risk of
coronary artery disease.
Stress has long been known to up the risk of heart attack.
But what women report is the emotional experience; before
their heart attacks they felt anxious and stressed, more than
usual.
Indigestion or nausea
Stomach pain, intestinal cramps, nausea, and digestive
disruptions are other signs reported by women heart attack
patients.
Shortness of breath
Women couldn't catch their breath while walking up the
stairs or doing other daily tasks.
Flu-like symptoms
Clammy, sweaty skin, along with feeling light-headed and
weak, can lead women to wonder if they have flu when, in
fact, they're having a heart attack.
Jaw, ear, neck, or shoulder pain
May lead to an earlier death
The same researchers also looked
at body weight gain among adults
over a six-year period. They found
that short and long sleepers gained
more weight over the six years than
people who slept seven to eight hours
a night. People who slept nine to 10
hours each night were 25% more
likely to have gained five kilos over
In a 2010 review of 16 different
studies, researchers found an
increased risk of dying - of any cause
- among both short and long sleepers.
Sleeping more than eight hours a
night was associated with a 1.3-times
greater risk of death among the
1,382,999 various study participants.
Many women say they felt pain and a sensation of
tightness running along their jaw and down the neck, and
sometimes up to the ear, as well. The pain may extend down
to the shoulder and arm--particularly on the left side--or it
may feel like a backache or pulled muscle in the neck and
back.
New contraceptive pills may increase clot risks
S
cientists have found new evidence to prove that
contraceptive pills these days could increase risk of clot
formation in women.
The results show that pills containing one of the newer types
of progestogen hormone (drospirenone, desogestrel, gestodene,
and cyproterone) are associated with an increased risk of VTE
than pills containing older progestogens (levonorgestrel and
norethisterone). The University of Nottingham researchers said
that this was "an important clarifying study" that "has sufficient
power to provide reliable comparative findings for different
formulations of combined oral contraceptives."
The researchers, led by research fellow Yana Vinogradova,
used prescription data from two large UK general practice
databases to measure the associations between use of combined
oral contraceptives and risk of VTE in women aged 15-49 years,
adjusting for other known risk factors.
Compared with women not using oral contraceptives, women
using older pills, containing levonorgestrel, norethisterone, and
norgestimate, had about two and a half times increased risk of
VTE. Women using newer pills, containing drospirenone,
desogestrel, gestodene, and cyproterone, had around a four times
increased risk of VTE. Risks for women using newer pills were
around 1.5-1.8 times higher than for women using older pills.
The authors stressed that oral contraceptives have been
remarkably safe, and point out that the reported three times
increased risk of VTE in women using oral contraceptives in
their study was still lower than the up to 10-fold increased risk of
VTE in pregnant women. They say women on combined
contraceptive drugs "should not stop using them, but should
consult their doctor and review their current type of pill at their
next appointment if there are any concerns."
This is an observational study, and therefore, no definitive
conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.
26
SCIENCE & TECH
NASA TESTING MARS
LANDER FOR 2016 MISSION
WASHINGTON (TIP): NASA is testing a stationary carsized Mars lander scheduled to launch in March 2016, that
will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior
structure of the Red planet.
Examining the planet's deep interior could reveal clues
about how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and
evolved, NASA said.
The lander is called InSight or Interior Exploration using
Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.
It is about the size of a car and will be the first mission
devoted to understanding the interior structure of the Red
planet.
The current testing will help ensure InSight can operate in
and survive deep space travel and the harsh conditions of the
Martian surface.
The spacecraft will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California, and land on Mars about six months later.
The technical capabilities and knowledge gained from
Insight, and other Mars missions, are crucial to NASA's
journey to Mars, which includes sending astronauts to the
Red Planet in the 2030s, the US space agency said.
"Today, our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way,
making great progress on the journey to Mars," said Jim
Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the
agency's headquarters here.
"Together, humans and robotics will pioneer Mars and the
solar system," said Green.
During the environmental testing phase at Lockheed
Martin's Space Systems facility near Denver, the lander will
be exposed to extreme temperatures, vacuum conditions of
nearly zero air pressure simulating interplanetary space, and
a battery of other tests over the next seven months.
The first will be a thermal vacuum test in the spacecraft's
"cruise" configuration, which will be used during its sevenmonth journey to Mars.
In the cruise configuration, the lander is stowed inside an
aeroshell capsule and the spacecraft's cruise stage - for power,
communications, course corrections and other functions on
the way to Mars - is fastened to the capsule.
"The assembly of InSight went very well and now it's time
to see how it performs," said Stu Spath, InSight programme
manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.
"The environmental testing regimen is designed to wring
out any issues with the spacecraft so we can resolve them
while it's here on Earth. This phase takes nearly as long as
assembly, but we want to make sure we deliver a vehicle to
NASA that will perform as expected in extreme
environments," said Spath.
Other tests include vibrations simulating launch and
checking for electronic interference between different parts of
the spacecraft.
The testing phase concludes with a second thermal vacuum
test in which the spacecraft is exposed to the temperatures
and atmospheric pressures it will experience as it operates on
the Martian surface.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
EVEREST GLACIERS MAY
DISAPPEAR BY 2100
KATHMANDU(TIP) : Glaciers in
Nepal's Everest region could shrink at
least 70% or even disappear entirely by
the end of the century as a result of
climate change, scientists warned.
Researchers in Nepal, the
Netherlands and France came to the
conclusion after studying studied
weather patterns on the roof of the
world and then created a model of
conditions on Everest to determine the
future impact of rising temperatures
on % its glaciers.
"The worst-case scenario shows a
99% loss in glacial mass... but even if
we start to slow down emissions
somewhat, we may still see a 70%
reduction," said Joseph Shea, who led
the study. Shea was also part of a team
that published a major study research
team last year, using who used satellite
imagery to show how Nepal's glaciers
had already shrunk by nearly a
quarter between 1977 and 2010.
But The latest study, published
Wednesday in international scientific
journal in The Cryosphere, paints a
grim picture of the impact of climate
change on the world's highest peak by
2100. "Once we had tested our model
and got the weather patterns right, we
increased temperatures according to
different emission scenarios for a look
at future scenarios," Shea said.
Shea, a glacier hydrologist at the
Kathmandu-based International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development,
said melting glaciers could form deep
lakes which could burst and flood
mountain communities living
downstream. The centre is considered
by experts to be the leading authority
on glaciers in the Himalayas.
The impoverished Himalayan nation
was devastated this month by two major
earthquakes. The first tremor also
triggered an avalanche which killed 18
people on the 8,848-metre (29,035-foot)
high peak.
Shea said shrinking glaciers could
Besides it would also affect water
supplies in the Everest region, with
lower volumes of snowmelt flowing into
the Dudh Kosi river, which provides
water for Nepalis downstream, Shea
warned. "The decline during the premonsoon period will probably have an
impact on any future hydropower
projects due to lack of because there
wont be enough rainwater to meet
power needs," he added.
Glacial loss in Nepal raises
concerns over future access to water
resources, particularly in regions
where groundwater is limited and
monsoon rains are erratic.The IPCC, a
group of scientists convened by the
United Nations to warn governments
around the world about the effects of
climate change, was forced to
apologise in 2009 for claiming that the
Himalayan glaciers would melt by
2035.
Google seeks to make phones smarter with Android M
SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): Google's
updated Android mobile software
seeks to make the smartphone smarter,
while keeping the search titan relevant
in a world where people rely on apps
on the go. At its annual Google
developers conference, Google offered a
preview of Android M, due for release
later this year, with an upgraded
version of 'Google Now,' the voiceactivated assistant which competes
with rivals like Apple's Siri and
Microsoft's Cortana. Google will take
the software a step further by allowing
users to activate the assistant software,
even if they are using another
application, to find relevant
information on their phones. "Your
smartphone ought to be smarter,"
Google Now director Aparna
Chennapragada said while
demonstrating the new feature onstage at the developers conference in
San Francisco."Why can't it tell you to
pick up the milk that your spouse text
messaged you about?"
Google Now cards on smartphones
already tap into calendars, emails and
other information, with user
permission, to do things such as
remind people when to leave to catch
flights or where they parked their cars.
"Now on Tap" would build on that
capability, and allow it to be layered
over third-party applications on
Android smartphones.
New human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia
NEW DELHI (TIP): A new human
ancestor species which roamed the
Afar region of Ethiopia 3.3 to 3.5
million years ago has been
discovered by an international
team of scientists. Named
Australopithecus deyiremeda, this
new species joins 'Lucy' the famous
hominin that is known to have
lived in the same region. The
discovery is described in the
science journal Nature.
Lucy's species (called
Australopithecus afarensis ) lived
from 2.9 million years ago to 3.8
million years ago, overlapping in
time with the new species. The new
discovery is the most conclusive
evidence that more than one closely
related human ancestor species
lived in the same period, more than
3 million years ago. The species
name "deyiremeda" (day-ihremedah) means "close relative" in the
language spoken by the Afar
people, according to the Cleveland
Museum of Natural History.
Australopithecus deyiremeda
differs from Lucy's species in terms
of the shape and size of its thickenameled teeth and the robust
architecture of its lower jaws. The
anterior teeth are also relatively
small indicating that it probably
had a different diet.
"The new species is yet another
confirmation that Lucy's species,
Australopithecus afarensis, was not
the only potential human ancestor
species that roamed in what is now
the Afar region of Ethiopia during
the middle Pliocene," said lead
author Dr Yohannes Haile-Selassie
of the Cleveland Museum. "Current
fossil evidence from the WoransoMille study area clearly shows that
there were at least two, if not three,
early human species living at the
same time and in close geographic
proximity."
"This new species from Ethiopia
takes the ongoing debate on early
hominin diversity to another level,"
said Haile-Selassie. "Some of our
colleagues are going to be skeptical
about this new species, which is not
unusual. However, I think it is time
that we look into the earlier phases
of our evolution with an open mind
and carefully examine the
currently available fossil evidence
rather than immediately
dismissing the fossils that do not fit
our long-held hypotheses," said
Haile-Selassie.
Scientists have long argued that
there was only one pre-human
species at any given time between 3
and 4 million years ago,
subsequently giving rise to another
new species through time. This was
what the fossil record appeared to
indicate until the end of the 20th
century.
However, the naming of
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
from Chad and Kenyanthropus
platyops from Kenya, both from the
same time period as Lucy's species,
challenged this long-held idea.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
BIZ AND FINANCE
SPICEJET FLIES BACK INTO
BLACK AFTER SEVEN
QUARTERS
NEW DELHI (TIP): Under its new ownership, SpiceJet
has flown back into the black after seven consecutive lossmaking quarters. The low cost carrier reported a profit of
Rs 22.5 crore in January-March 2015 quarter as against a
loss of Rs 321.5 crore is the same period last year.
The income from operations, however, fell by almost
40% to Rs 786.3 crore in Q4 as the airline had sharply cut
flights and was on the verge of closure. It was saved as
SpiceJet co-founder Ajay Singh bought the airline from
Sun Group chief Kalanithi Maran in Q4.
"These results indicate that a recovery is in progress,
and is the first tangible evidence of the ongoing revival.
We are confident that we will build a world-class airline
and this is the first step. We still have a lot of work to do...
I am delighted to see the airline that I helped create 10
years ago starting to get back on its feet in this manner,"
Singh said.
Singh's notes with the Q4 result said SpiceJet had
accumulated losses of Rs 3210.8 crore as on March 31,
2015. On that date, the company's liabilities exceed its
assets by Rs 1264.5 crore. The company had also delayed
payments to various parties. "These factors have resulted
in a material uncertainty that may cause significant
doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going
concern," Singh's notes say, adding that the airline is
looking at means to raise funding.
SpiceJet flew into black on the back of an exceptional
gain of Rs 61.3-crore insurance claim received for one of
its damaged Bombardier Q400 aircraft.
SpiceJet also reported a positive EBITDA of Rs 80
crore, against a negative Rs 235 crore in the previous year.
This February, Singh had acquired entire 58.4% stake
from Maran and promised an investment of Rs 1500 crore
in a phased manner. Singh has pumped in almost Rs 800
crore.
Vodafone sells 4.2% stake
in Bharti for $299m
NEW DELHI (TIP): British telecom giant Vodafone has
sold its 4.2% holding in Bharti Airtel for $200 million to
comply with rules that bar cross-holding between rivals.
The company said the move follows the new unified
licence regime in India unveiled by the department of
telecom, which prohibits holding by a group in more than
one licensee company in the same service area. Vodafone
had picked up a 10% stake in Bharti Airtel in 2005, which
was diluted partially after it entered the Indian market
directly in 2007 by acquiring Hutch-Essar.
27
ENSURE FARM-LINKED
BORROWERS HEDGE RISKS
WITH DERIVATIVES: RBI
MUMBAI (TIP): With an agrararian
crisis looming over the country's farm
production, Reserve Bank of India has
asked banks to ensure that borrowers
engaged in activities related to
agriculture are hedging agaist agri
commodity price risk using
derivatives.
Banks provide a number of credit
facilities to customers engaged in
activities related to agriculture. These
include commodity processors, traders,
millers and aggregators. "One of the
prominent, albeit indirect, risks in this
sector is that of volatility in agricultural
commodity prices. Hedging of the agricommodity price risk is beneficial to
both the borrowers and the banks and,
hence, it is desirable that a risk
management culture is fostered amongst
the stakeholders including agriborrowers and banks," RBI said in a
circular.
RBI said that although various
hedging tools, including derivatives, are
available in the Indian market, these are
not being used extensively due to lack of
awareness and their inherent
complexity.
"With a view to developing strong risk
management capabilities to manage
agri-commodity price risk, it is felt that
banks should encourage hedging by the
agri-borrowers by creating awareness
amongst them regarding the utility and
benefits of hedging through agricommodity derivatives. At the same
time, banks must keep the
sophistication, understanding, scale of
operation and requirements of their
agri-borrower in mind while advising on
the availability and use of these
instruments," the central bank said.
Germany lobbies India
to buy Eurofighters,
submarines
NEW DELHI (TIP): Germany's defence
minister held out the prospect of more
talks on a possible sale of Eurofighter
jets to India and, on a visit to New Delhi,
said Berlin stood ready to back a multibillion-dollar Indian submarine project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who
has just marked his first year in office,
cut through an impasse over a troubled
tender for high-end combat jets by
announcing a deal in France last month
to buy 36 Rafales from Dassault.
India has since said the original
tender, launched by the last government
to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role
Combat Aircraft, is all but dead, but rival
jet makers are hoping the $14 billion
tender will be reopened.
The Eurofighter, made by Britain,
Germany, Italy and Spain, was knocked
out in the final round of the tender by
Rafale. But controversy over the lifetime
cost of operating the French plane
blocked a final deal.
"I again conveyed to the defence
minister the interest of the Eurofighter
nations in continuing talks, should the
Indian side be interested," German
defence minister Ursula von der Leyen
said.
"That was was taken on board
positively," she added, after meeting her
counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, on
Tuesday evening.
Germany has taken the lead in the
sales pitch to India for the Eurofighter,
made by Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary
of Finmeccanica, Airbus Group and BAE
Systems .
A spokesman for the Indian defence
ministry said the focus now was on
finalizing the government-to-government
deal for 36 ready-to-fly Rafales.
Von der Leyen said Berlin was also
willing to support a project initiated by
India last autumn to build six
submarines at an estimated cost of 530
billion rupees ($8.3 billion).
In a first stage, local shipyards would
have to prove their fitness to build the
diesel-electric subs, before being invited
to bid for the deal, possibly with foreign
partners.
"There is an Indian interest in
industrial cooperation in building
submarines," von der Leyen said. "Talks
are already under way and I made it
clear that German industry is supported
by the German government."
Initial talks on submarine cooperation
were under way involving ThyssenKrupp
Marine Systems, a unit of ThyssenKrupp
AG , German media reported.
Von der Leyen met Modi on
Wednesday and said the two had touched
on the issue of defence equipment, but
the conversation focused on sharing
knowledge on high-technology areas.
Gap to open first
store with Arvind
NEW DELHI (TIP): American
clothing and accessories chain Gap
is finally set to open its first store
in India on Saturday. The company
has partnered with Indian textile
giant Arvind to open 40 stores in
the country and is eyeing sales of
around Rs 1,000 crore in the next
six years.
By mid next year, Arvind plans
to open 10 Gap stores in the top
metros by investing around Rs 100
crore, J Suresh, MD of Arvind
Lifestyle Brands, said on the eve of
Gap's first store launch in the
Capital. Gap, which has been late
to enter India compared to other
international high street brands
such as, Marks & Spencer and
Zara, has kept its prices low. "We
have Indianised prices of Gap
products. A t-shirt will start at
around Rs 999," Suresh said.
"However, it doesn't mean that we
will compromise on quality. The
products will be sourced from
Gap's global supply chain."
Gap, which originally targeted
younger generations (the word
'Gap' refers to generation gap), has
been focusing on international
expansion to counter sluggish sales
in the US. "Emerging markets are a
big opportunity for us," said Ismail
Seyis, VP, Gap Franchise. "We are
really encouraged by the high
brand awareness here."
At present, India's apparel retail
market is pegged at around $40
billion and is expected to grow to
around $60 billion in the next five
years, according to industry
estimates. However, Seyis rules out
bringing Gap's other brands,
including Banana Republic and
Old Navy, to India at the moment.
28
INDIA
BROKEN MEDICAL PACKAGE
TRIGGERS RADIATION PANIC
AT DELHI'S IGI AIRPORT
NEW DELHI (TIP): A broken package containing a
radioactive substance used in hospitals triggered earlymorning panic at a cargo terminal of the Indira Gandhi
International (IGI) Airport on May 29, but at the end of the day
authorities said there was no radioactivity leakage.
Part of the scaremongering could be attributed to
sensational reportage by many television channels, which
described the incident as a radioactive leak.
It all began around 9 am, when two loaders in the Celebi
cargo terminal handling a consignment for Fortis hospital felt
some of the packages in the consignment were damaged and
something was leaking. The leakage was found in three of the
10 packets that came in a Turkish Airlines flight.
After noticing the legend “Radio Active Material Type A
Package” on the consignment, the handlers informed the
airport authorities. There are also unconfirmed reports of the
handlers reporting irritation in their eyes.
The cargo area was immediately cordoned off as the
authorities swung into action. Teams from the National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and technical experts from the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Atomic Minerals
Directorate (AMD) and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and
Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi, reached the spot, along with
senior government officials.
“After an extensive assessment, the AERB confirmed there
was no leak of radioactive substance in the subject shipments.
Based on the clearance, the terminal has resumed import
operations. All other operations at Delhi Airport continue to be
normal and were never interrupted,” said a spokesperson from
Delhi International Airport Limited.
The radioactive substance was identified as Sodium Iodide
Liquid Class 7, meant for medical use. It can be used either as a
diagnostic agent or as an antidote to radioactivity exposure.
“The handlers were clinically examined and then released as
there was no radioactive exposure,” said NDRF chief O P
Singh. Experts from the atomic energy department carried out
thorough checks.
The AMD team came with its own radioactivity detection
tools and checked the samples for radioactivity. They also took
samples from the leaked fluid lying near the containers.
CRIES FOR WITHDRAWAL OF
AFSPA GET LOUDER
GUWAHATI (TIP): The Tripura government’s decision to
withdraw AFSPA has resonated in Manipur — one of the most
troubled-hit states in the North-East.
The AFSPA withdrawal has sent a message of confidence and
hope to the people of Manipur in their epic fight against
Armed Force Special Power Act (AFSPA).
The supporters of Irom Sharmila Chanu, who is on fast since
2000 for total repeal of the draconian law, have once again
vowed to launch a massive anti-AFSPA protest in the state and
other parts of the North-East.
“This start must become dynamic very soon and
governments must try to repeal it from everywhere in the
North-East. We also believe that by breaking this inertia, there
is a signal of something positive. A start was awaited. We will
hit the streets asking for total repeal of the draconian act,” the
Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign stated in a statement.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
After attacking government,
former PM Manmohan
Singh meets PM Modi
NEW DELHI (TIP): Hours after
Manmohan Singh attacked the
centre govt saying it has put the
institution of democracy under
threat, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi met him at his residence in
7RCR on May 27 evening and the two
discussed issues related to the
economy and foreign policy.
Singh, a senior Congress leader
and a Rajya Sabha member, went to
the 7 Race Course Road residence of
the Prime Minister to meet him.
"Very happy to meet Dr. Manmohan
Singh ji & welcome him back to
7RCR. We had a great meeting,"
Modi tweeted later along with their
photographs.
In a statement, Singh's office said
the former Prime Minister met Modi
at the latter's "invitation" and "they
discussed the economic situation in
the country and foreign policy
issues." Sources close to Singh said
that Modi had sent a message
Tuesday morning, expressing desire
to meet his predecessor over tea
sometime in the evening yesterday.
This could not fructify and the
meeting was scheduled for this
evening. Congress leader Anand
Sharma also said that the meeting
took place at the behest of the Prime
Minister who wanted to discuss
issues related to economy and foreign
policy. They discussed economic and
foreign policy issues, he said about
the meeting which took place at 6.30
PM.
Earlier in the day, Singh hit out at
Govt tries to avoid
‘core’ BJP issues
NEW DELHI (TIP): The BJP-led
NDA government at the Centre is
attempting to play down
contentious issues like Ram
Mandir and beef ban while
projecting development as its
priority.
At a press conference on May 29
to talk about Modi government’s
one year in office, Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh too chose to
avoid controversial topics. He
described himself as
“swayamsevak” of the RSS but did
not give a direct reply on whether
the Sangh fountainhead was
interfering in governance.
The controversial “ghar wapsi”
programme, campaign on love jihad
and communal remarks by Union
ministers and BJP MPs had put the
government on the back foot in the
recent past.
Singh was cautious on BJP’s
eyebrow raising issues. “All issues
are important. We have to decide on
our priorities. Now, development is
the priority. The Ram Mandir issue
is subjudice. No talks as of now. If
a solution comes, there will be
nothing better. Otherwise, people of
the two communities should can sit
together and discuss,” he said.
He was responding to a question
on whether the BJP has put Ram
Mandir and revocation of Article
370 that gives special status to
Jammu and Kashmir on the back
burner. BJP president Amit Shah
had said that the party-led
government could not decide on
contentious matters like Ayodhya
or Article 370 as it does not have
the numbers.
A question on beef ban was also
posed to him against the backdrop
of controversial comment by Union
Minister Mukthar Abbas Naqvi
that beef-eaters should go to
Pakistan. Singh’s junior minister
Kiren Rijiju, who was also present
at the conference, had also objected
to Naqvi’s comments.
“Those who belong to India will
stay in India only,” Singh rebuffed
Naqvi.
Singh’s statement also echoed
Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley’s disapproval of Naqvi’s
comments and Shah ruling out a
countrywide ban on beef while
leaving it to states to decide.
He also sought to downplay the
Sangh affiliates’ joining a strike on
September 2 called by opposition
trade unions, saying these are
autonomous outfits and it was not
proper to link them to the party.
the Modi government saying the
"very idea of India is now under
systemic assault". In a scathing
attack, Singh alleged that institutions
of democracy are under threat and
the entire edifice of the welfare state
is being dismantled in the guise of
promoting faster economic growth.
Asserting that India was the second
fastest growing economy in the world
during his tenure, the former Prime
Minister said there was a
"fragileness" in economic recovery
under the current dispensation.
Govt to save Rs
1,500 cr from
new note
printing lines
New Delhi (TIP): The
government is expected to save
foreign exchange worth Rs 1,500
crore by commissioning two new
bank paper lines in Hoshangabad
and Mysore for indigenously
printing Indian currency.
The New Bank Note Paper Line
of 6,000 million tonnes (MT)
capacity at Security Paper Mill
(SPM), Hoshangabad in Madhya
Pradesh will be inaugurated
tomorrow by Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley, while the Bank Note
Paper Line in Mysore with 12,000
MT capacity is expected to be
commissioned by the year end.
"The combined savings of
foreign exchange from these two
Bank Note projects will be about
Rs 1,500 crore in the coming years,"
a finance ministry said in a
statement.
The production of the Bank Note
paper from these two units will
reduce the import considerably, it
said.
This will also reduce possibility
of diversion of the paper supplied
by the foreign suppliers to the
other destinations for the purpose
of generating the fake currency, it
said.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
SPIRITUALITY
29
SARASWATI: GODDESS OF KNOWLEDGE, MUSIC
araswati is the beloved Hindu goddess of knowledge,
music and the arts. In Buddhism, she is a guardian
deity who upholds the teachings of Gautama Buddha.
In Burma she is called Thurathadi or Tipitaka Medaw, in
China her name is Biàncáitian, in Thai, Surasawadee and in
Japanese, Benzaiten.
Her name, which derives from two words, "saras" (meaning
"flow") and "wati" (meaning "a woman"), gives clues as to her
origin. Ten thousand years ago, a mighty river flowed, three
to ten kilometers wide at its largest. Called the Saraswati by
those who lived along its banks (and now known to geologists
as the Ghaggar-Hakra River), it carried glacial water from the
Himalayas through the plains of northwest India and
probably ended in a series of terminal lakes within the Thar
Desert, its water only reaching the sea in very wet rainy
seasons. Many significant archaeological sites have been
excavated along its course-way, indicating that the river
played a vital part in the development of the Indus Valley
Civilization. However, the Saraswati began to dry up during
the Harappan and the Late Harappan phase as evidenced by
the abandonment of many sites, at the latest around 1900
BCE. This probably occurred due to the capture of its
tributaries by the Indus and Yamuna River systems and the
loss of water in much of its catchment area, caused by
deforestation, overgrazing and irrigation.
To the people who lived along her banks, the goddess
Saraswati was originally a personification of the river itself.
As its waters began to fail and the Harappa settlements
shifted eastward towards the mighty Indus Valley, Saraswati
began to lose her status as a river goddess and became
increasingly associated with literature, the arts and music.
As centuries passed, she grew further to embody the concepts
knowledge. She may be depicted near a flowing river, relating
to her early history as a river goddess. Her mount is the
swan, symbolizing her ability to discriminate between good
and bad; however she is more often pictured seated on a white
Nelumbo nucifera lotus, indicating her association with
Absolute Truth. Occasionally she is associated with the
colour yellow, the colour of the mustard plant flowers that
bloom at the time of her festival in the spring. She is dressed
modestly without ornaments or jewels, representing her
preference for knowledge over material things. Her consort
is Brahma. Saraswati has four arms, representing the four
aspects of human personality in learning: the mind, intellect,
alertness, and ego. These four arms also represent the 4
Vedas (the sacred books of the Hindu faith), which in turn
represent the 3 forms of literature, poetry, prose and music.
She holds in her hands a book (prose), a rosary of crystal
beads (poetry) and a vina (music). Her final hand holds a pot
of sacred water, which represents the purity of these three
arts and their power to purify human thought.
S
This page is sponsored by
ARISH SAHANI
New York Life Insurance Agent
Serving Since 1972
of intelligence, consciousness, knowledge, creativity,
education, enlightenment and power. This embodiment of
everything associated with refinement and culture points to
her importance in the founding of an independent
civilization that has endured for thousands of years.
Today Saraswati is depicted as a beautiful, light-skinned
woman dressed in white, signifying the purity of true
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30
ASTROLOGY
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
"|| SHRI GANESHAYA NAMAHA ||"
Contact BEJAN DARUWALLA:
E-mail : info@bejandaruwalla.com
Phone: +919825470377
PREDICTIONS
FOR
THEMONTH
MONTH OF
OF MAY,
PREDICTIONS
FOR
THE
JUNE,2015
2015
Aries:
Leo:
Aries
TAURUS
Sagittarius:
(April 20 to May 20) You are moving ahead in many
You come to grips with life, with the
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that holds
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and shakes
you like
wet boy.
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pressures.
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and all the good things of life the Taurean has a finely tuned artistic and culinary side to his rigid nature.
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and yet may feel cut off from others and
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now. Do not dwell on it. Move on, focus,
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Taurus: Taurus
changes are appropriate. This is a time
expensescharitable
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Capricorn:
partner, will lead to genuine
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spirituality. May is a mixed grill of
for you. The astro reason is that the
practical issues and your newfound idealism
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beauty
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to deal with.
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this
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surprising
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begin to take
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goal or miss a penalty when it could have
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psychologically,
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you will do plenty of good to others.
people and places. Your neighbors,
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at new
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where it we
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mistakes in
and
realize
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but
days are pointers to the real
and
tiesGanesha
will be contributory
you wantTrips
to be.
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for
you are to blame. There is also stability
Gemini: Gemini
direction, spiritual and material, of
factor. Contacts lead to bliss. Love
guidance.
at home and
is joy
in the family.
yourthere
life. Have
faith.
and be loved. Expenses mount.
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beseech
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than
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feels
that
Libra:
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"Destroyer
and
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hear,
you overextend yourself. You may push too
O hear!" Both will hear you and help
Libra
Aquariusahead on all cylinders
hard and really
hurt yourself
the bargain.
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flurry of activity. There is
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you. Tremendous
andinawesome
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anything
you
do
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work
out
travel,
new
associations,
many
friends
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making
headway
in-all
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pressures of work and home. Leos are
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HOW
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sea" canthat
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living
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god of You
the Old
asin
this
all right. You
take of
risks
and
gamble
away
.I
and encounters
take your
undertakings.
areTestament,
succeeding
and may
Neptune
a
Moon,
youare
balance
work and
canall
bethe
a month
pilgrimage,
don't mean
to saymakes
that you
rank unlucky
.
away. There
be a(mysticism)
roll in the make
hay and
unraveling
websfor
that
have
mighty fine formation. Journeys,
home till you are blue and red in the
glimpses of God, looking after the
All I am saying is that there may not be
your indiscretion
could
you dearly.
imprisoned you. This can be a very
ceremonies,
ritescost
of passage,
rituals,
face. Parents, boss and in - laws pitch
unfortunate and the troubled in
stability and
direction
in what you are doing.
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lot of experimentation
in your
imaginative
period
and you
use it will
ancestor
worship, research await
you
in with
a vengeance.
spirit.
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andcan
humanity
open
Give them
a hug.
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life now. with
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willarms.
be many
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positively
and
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bursting
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now and Time
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evento
assoar.
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and
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a bubble of illusion. You spend
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imagination
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are Expenses
both rational
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ill - health are part of the game.
too much "Singing
and makewith
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sometimes
wholeheartedly. But take care not to
and intuitive and this is, most certainly, a
openand
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strong melodious songs" is applicable
unwise decisions.
overextend yourself and take on new
great way to be.
equally to you dear Cancerians. All
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issues. Walking on the wild side is not the
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creativity will swish and soar. Children
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like
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right
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and
delight.
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well Scorpio:your poise, sense of values and ideas.
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estuaries.
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everywhere
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willthe
be more
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help. Love
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heart and
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andrivulets
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as
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new love.
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surely come." Good for you!be
contract spurs you powerfully. Mars,
amusement,
ground. Sometimes, particular event
planningEntertainment,
a holiday with
family andchildren
spend tender moments in the arms of
your main planet, Western Astrology
and brainchildren,
music,
dance,
triggers off
this
period
of
soul
searching.
friends.
Health
is
good
too
and there
is
your
beloved.
Remember,
I
am
using
the
gives impetus and galvanizes you;
Leo
drama, a round of good cheer should
Or it could be just the workings of an idle
happiness all around. You have nothing
singular best
hereto
with
great deliberation.
channelize
it in prayers,
please you. Let yourself go. In the
Godcould
allows
- turns and
sex.your
Let the
mind. There
beUproblems
in you
yourU - turn
to complain
about.
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peer
group
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a tendencylove,
to sow
wild
release,
is your
true
spirituality.
towards tantra, mantra, devotion, joint
temporal
lead
to the
spiritual.
Got it?
business or
professional
life.
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may
feel
rallies
around
you
as
you
rise
steadily in
oats.
Go
for
it,
but
watch
your
step.
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Neptune
in
your
sign,
Western
finance, loans, funds, collaboration. A
Astrology,
pepbeand
push.
weak and mix
insecure
people
may
take
your career.
Theregive
could
new
loveExtend
too
help out with charities and give yourself
of theand
spiritual
and
material.
your boundaries.
and
accidents,
are a possibility.
advantageHealth
of your
apparent
weakness.
You
and you spend
quality time in the arms of
freely to Sagittarius
missions. No one understands
But,for
I do
go wrong,
not
togod
worry.
Shri Ganesha!
look around
answers
and so,
seek
out
amora! Ganesha
is by your side making
you now. You are a strange bundle of
Confusion, complications, contacts,
men or gurus. There may be some solace in
your sojourn in this planet as
contradictions. You are both ecstatic and
them but the final answers have to come out
comfortable as possible. You are filled
mournful. Even you do not know where
of your core.
with optimism and hope.
to hide.
Ganesha says this is a strong situation. You
"From the land of mist and snow" you
are both practical and idealistic. You are
will glimmer and glow. Simply put, it
torn by several
This is
one
of
meanscompulsions.
despite hardships
you
will
the most idealistic
times
your The
life and
you
triumph and
be in
happy.
mighty
Hanuman,
signifying
Saturn,
will
clear
are filled with
sympathy
for others.
You
want
theand
wayhelp
for you.
Worryworld.
not, beYou
bold,
to reach out
the whole
communicate brilliantly, circulate
may work with the sick and disadvantaged
freely, converse happily, secure in the
in some institutional
setting
spend
time
knowledge that
youor
will
be victorious.
with a religious group or some guru.
Bejan Daruwalla is world's most famous astrologer
today. He appears regularly on world wide TV shows.
Bejan who has been a professor in English, has
authored a number of books on astrology. India's
Prime Minister Narendra Modi , on March 29, 2012,
lunched one of Bejan's books, '2012- End of the
World? Bejan contributes to a number of journals and
newspapers in many parts of the world which include
Berkley Communications (London) Times of India
(Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) and The Indian
Panorama ( New York and Texas). Bejan's predictions
have mostly been correct and people the world over
rely on his predictions.
Bejan Daruwalla is available for astrological consultations. He can be reached at info@bejandaruwalla.com.
He can also be reached over phone at 011-919825470377.
Bejan Daruwalla's address in India is: A-5 SPECTRUM
TOWER, SHAHIBAUG, AHMEDABAD 380004, GUJARAT.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
PERSPECTIVE
31
Why Is Pakistan Such a Mess? Blame India
contd from Page 9
differentiate" between the vicious
sectarianism of Congress and radical
Hindu groups like the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), whose cadres
had begun drilling with weapons to
prevent the Partition of India.
Huge mobs formed in Bihar - where
Hindus outnumbered Muslims 7 to 1 - and
spread across the monsoon-soaked
countryside.
Huge mobs formed in Bihar - where
Hindus outnumbered Muslims 7 to 1 - and
spread across the monsoon-soaked
countryside. In a fortnight of killing, they
slaughtered more than 7,000 Muslims. The
pogroms virtually eliminated any hope of
compromise between Congress and the
League.
Equally troubling was the moral cover
the Mahatma granted his longtime
followers Nehru and "Sardar" Vallabhbhai
Patel - a Gujarati strongman much
admired by Modi, who also hails from
Gujarat and who served as the state's
chief minister for over a decade. Echoing
Gandhi's injunction against pushing
anyone into Pakistan against their
wishes, Nehru and Patel insisted that the
huge provinces of Punjab and Bengal be
split into Muslim and non-Muslim halves,
with the latter areas remaining with
India.
Jinnah rightly argued that such a
division would cause chaos. Hindus,
Muslims, and Sikhs were inextricably
mixed in the Punjab, with the latter in
particular spread across both sides of the
proposed border. Sikh leaders vowed not
to allow their community to be split in
half. They helped set off the chain of
Partition riots in August 1947 by
targeting and trying to drive out
Muslims from India's half of the
province, in part to make room for their
Sikh brethren relocating from the other
side.
Jinnah also correctly predicted that a
too-weak Pakistan, stripped of the great
port and industrial center of Calcutta,
would be deeply insecure. Fixated on
building up its own military capabilities
and undermining India's, it would be a
source of endless instability in the
region. Yet Nehru and Patel wanted it to
be even weaker. They contested every last
phone and fighter jet in the division of
colonial assets and gloated that Jinnah's
rump state would soon beg to reunite with
India.
Worse, Congress leaders threatened to
derail the handover if they weren't given
power almost immediately. The pressure
explains why Britain's last viceroy, Lord
Louis Mountbatten, rushed forward the
date of the British withdrawal by 10
months, leaving Pakistan little more than
10 weeks to get established. (Excoriated
ever since, the British seemed vaguely to
believe they might keep governing
Pakistan until the state had gotten on its
feet.) Nehru and Patel cared little for
Jinnah's difficulties. "No one asked
Pakistan to secede," Patel growled when
pressed by Mountbatten to show more
flexibility.
Yes, once the Partition riots broke out,
Gandhi and Nehru strove valiantly to rein
in the killings, physically risking their
own lives to chastise angry mobs of
Hindus and Sikhs. Yet to many Pakistanis,
these individual efforts counted for little.
Gandhi and Nehru couldn't stop
underlings from sabotaging consignments
of weapons and military stores being
transferred to Pakistan. They didn't
prevent Patel from shipping out
trainloads of Muslims from Delhi and
elsewhere, which raised fears that India
meant to overwhelm its neighbor with
refugees. They didn't silence Kripalani
and other Congress leaders, who warned
Hindus living in Pakistan to emigrate and
thus drained Jinnah's new nation of many
of its clerks, bankers, doctors and traders.
Nor did the Indian leaders show much
compunction about using force when it
suited them. After Pakistan accepted the
accession of Junagadh, a tiny kingdom on
the Arabian Sea with a Muslim ruler but
almost entirely Hindu population,
Congress tried to spark a revolt within the
territory - led by Samaldas Gandhi, a
nephew of the Mahatma's; eventually,
Indian tanks decided the issue. When
Pakistan attempted in October 1947 to
launch a parallel uprising in Kashmir - a
much bigger, richer state with a Hindu
king and Muslim-majority population Indian troops again swooped in to seize
control.
The pacifist Gandhi, who had earlier
tried to persuade Kashmir's maharajah to
accede to India, heartily approved of the
lightning intervention: "Any
encroachment on our land should … be
defended by violence, if not by
nonviolence," he told Patel. After Gandhi's
assassination in January 1948, Nehru
continued to cite the Mahatma's blessings
to reject any suggestion of backing down
in Kashmir.
Gandhi's motivations may have been
pure. Yet he and his political heirs never
fully appreciated how the massive power
imbalance between India and Pakistan
lent a darker hue to their actions. To this
day, Indian leaders appear more
concerned with staking out the moral
high ground on Kashmir and responding
to every provocation along the border
than with addressing Pakistan's quitevalid strategic insecurities.
This serves no one except radicals on
both sides. With rabid 24-hour satellite
channels seizing upon every cross-border
attack or perceived diplomatic affront,
jingoism is on the rise. Indian strategists
talk loosely of striking across the border
in the event of another Mumbai-style
terrorist attack; Pakistani officials speak
with disturbing ease of responding with
tactical nuclear weapons. From their safe
havens in Pakistan meanwhile, the
Taliban have launched one of the
bloodiest spring offensives in years in
Afghanistan, even as U.S. forces prepare
to draw down there. If he truly hopes to
break the deadlock on the subcontinent,
Modi needs to do something even Gandhi
could not: give Pakistan, a nation born
out of paranoia about Hindu dominance,
less to fear.
(The author can be reached at
syn2002@qatar-med.cornell.edu)
32
TURN PAGE
contd from Page 1
Appeals court upholds injunction...
unconstitutional. A three-judge panel denied the
government's request by a vote of two to one with the
majority ruling the president's action should remain on hold.
Two of three judges on a panel of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, left in place an
injunction by a Federal District Court judge in Brownsville,
Tex. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Texas. Obama's
immigration action was first blocked by Texas Judge Andrew
Hanen after he agreed with the 26 states who filed the lawsuit.
The states party to the lawsuit alleged that it would be overly
burdensome to take in migrants.
"The president's attempt to bypass the will of the American
people was successfully checked again today," Texas Governer
Greg Abbott said in a news release.
The White House said the two judges who ruled against the
Obama administration chose to "misinterpret the facts and
the law."
"The president's actions… are squarely within the bounds
of his authority and they are the right thing to do for the
country," White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
A US official speaking anonymously said the Justice
Department is currently considering its next steps.
The 5th circuit will rule in the coming months on whether
the Obama administration can appeal the block of the
executive order. If it is denied the chance to appeal,
government could potentially take its case to the supreme
court.
The first of Obama's plans, expanding a program that
shields young migrants from deportation if they were
brought to the US illegally as children was to begin on
February 18. The second part of the plans, shielding the
parents of US citizens and permanent residents from
deportation if they had lived in the US for several years was
supposed to take effect May 19.
Immigration activists said the decision was not
unexpected, given the 5th circuit is known as one of the most
conservative courts in the nation.
"We are disappointed, but this is not unexpected at all,"
said Merielena Hincapie, executive director of the National
Immigration Law Center, adding that she was optimistic
Obama's order would be upheld on appeal. The Obama
administration could eventually take its case to the US
Supreme Court.
Vanya Shivashankar & Gokul ...
It is the second year in a row in which the contest has
ended in a tie.
Vanya & Gokul were among the 25 Indian-Americans who
made it to the list of 49 semi-finalists of the 88th Scripps
National Spelling Bee, which just finished at the Gaylord
National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor,
Maryland and was broadcasted live on ESPN2 today, May28.
For several years now, Indian-Americans have put up
formidable challenges to their competitors and won most of
the prestigious spelling awards in the United States.
This was the fifth appearance for Vanya (tied for 10th place
in 2012, tied for 5th place in 2013 and tied for 13th place in 2014
& Gokul was considered favorite this year (Gokul finished
third in 2014).
Even the competition's announcers marveled at the
finalists' cool demeanor as the bee stretched into its final
moments. "They're as calm and cool under pressure as anyone
we've ever seen here," one of the ESPN announcers said.
"It may be impossible to stump these two tonight," he said
later. And ultimately, it was.
Indian American Hotelier Chatwal...
money for the center that is expected to be completed in
less than two years and will be built on two-acres of land
owned by the Gurdwara.
"This is a good cause," Chatwal said. The press conference
was attended among others by Manjit Singh, president of
DSGMC, M.S. Sirsa, its general secretary and Paramjit Singh
Rana, chairman of DSGMC DharamPrachar Committee.
The center to be built as part of what organizers described
as Mool Project, is expected to be completed in less than two
years and will be built on two-acres of land owned by the
Gurdwara. Mool variously means origin, essence, root and
care in Punjabi language. It basically describes who Sikhs are
and how they historically and religiously emerged in India.
The project will have a digital library having original texts
from the Guru Granth Sahib and important historical texts
and will provide research facilities for people wanting to
learn about Sikhism and its history. An auditorium, which
will be part of the facility, will have the latest state-of-the-art
seats, and screens like in a planetarium. It will use
technology like Holography and Laser to create near-realistic
experience of history for the audience.
"I am very grateful to Manjit Singh, president of DSGMC
who is here today. When I was in India he discussed the
unique project of Guru Granth Sahib and I requested him to
launch the project in New York so it has better visibility and
people in the US and Canada, where there are a large number
of Sikhs and elsewhere like in Australia come to know of this
unique project through the media," Chatwal who has largely
backed the project, said.
This is the first time in Sikh history that such a huge and
modern facility for Sikh studies has been conceived for the
Sikh Diaspora. For the benefit of Sikhs living outside India,
or living away from New Delhi, all programs at the planned
center will be available through internet. The digital library
will be accessible to all those interested in Sikh history,
culture and religion.
"People may think that it is only for the Sikhs, but actually
there are more Gurbanis of Hindus and Muslims and others
as well. So, I think this center is going to be for all
communities. It is going to be a unique learning experience
for all," Chatwal said.
A sample video of how the auditorium may look like when
completed and how the history would be narrated audiovisually to the audience, was played at the press conference
much to the delight of the largely Sikh media representatives
as well as a five-member delegation from the DSGMC present
at the two-hour long conference.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
People chanted Sat Sri Akal as the five-minute video
showing the Sikh Gurus in historical environment was
played.
Manjit Singh explained the reason for the project. "Young
Sikhs have very little understanding about their religion. A
majority of them believe that by simply adopting the Sikh
identity as embodied by the 5Ks of the Khalsa makes them a
true Sikh. The problem is that they have no knowledge of the
core values behind the identities that Sikhism represents and
Sikhs are always proud of. These include service for the poor
and the deprived, caring and sharing, gender equality and
even environmental protection. They must be made aware of
all these"
Bobby Bedi, creative had of the project, said during a
presentation that one of the objectives of the project "is to
engage young Sikhs all over the world and make them
understand and be proud of the core values of Sikhism and
the contemporary relevance of these values in their lives."
Sikhs have been a significant and influential community
both in India and in many parts of the world. While in India
people understand and recognize this, in many countries
Sikhs are confused with Muslims, examples of which were
galore in the United States when Sikhs were attacked post9/11 confusing them with followers of Osama-bin Laden
because of their turbans.
Few have understanding about the role Sikhism played in
India as a major reformist religion or the fact that Sikhism
was much ahead of many other major religions in terms of
dealing with contemporary and relevant issues.
Referring to how Sikhs must care for people in distress, a
major tenet of Sikhism, Manjit Singh gave a recent example.
"When the recent earthquake happened in Nepal, we were
one of the first ones to reach there, trying to provide relief to
the people. We planned to take rotis and cooked vegetable, but
when we learnt that Nepalese people, a majority of them
Hindus, eat rice, and not rotis, we made alternative
arrangements for them. I do not want to mention this, but
even the Nepalese envoy in New Delhi called us to express his
gratitude for the help. What I mean to stress here is that
young Sikhs should learn and imbibe the true values of
Sikhism," he said.
Chatwal, who was present along with his wife, throughout
the press conference and was the first one to address it, said
that the second and third generation Sikhs do not understand
the true tradition of Sikhs. "Even, I do not know everything
about Sikh tradition and history," he said in a lighter vein.
"This project is very important for all of us. Please
remember, this is not a Chatwal project, but by the Sikh
Sangat and the project is supported by people from around
the world. We want everybody to contribute, even if just ten
dollars, for the project for this prestigious and important
mission and thus register their wholehearted support and
involvement for this mission. Delhi Gurdwara presidents will
come and go, but this is something which is going to be a
permanent and enduring feature in the annals of Sikh
history."
US Congressional committee calls...
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission has invited
experts from India, the US and the UK to testify before it at
the US Congress on June 3.
The hearing would be led by Congressman Patrick Meehan,
co-chair of the American Sikh Caucus, Congressmen Joseph
Pitts and Jim McGovern, co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human
Rights Commission.
No US government official would testify before the
committee.
This briefing will outline the important legal, social and
cultural issues related to the persecution of minorities in
India, according to a media report.
Panelists include Rev Joshva Raja, Research Supervisor,
University of Amsterdam; Iqtidar Karamat Cheema, director,
Institute for Leadership and Community Development,
United Kingdom; and Professor Gurdarshan Sing Dhillon,
Professor of History (retired), Punjab University.
Sahar Chaudhry, Senior Policy Analyst, United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom and John
Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch too
would testify before the Tom Lantos Human Rights
Committee.
The panelists will also make recommendations as to how
the US can play a role to safeguard religious minorities in
India and around the world, a statement of the committee
said. India's constitution guarantees that "all persons are
equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely
to profess, practice and propagate religion," it said.
However, attacks against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and
Dalits have increased in recent years, it alleged.
A 2015 report by the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom asked the Obama Administration to press
the Indian government to publicly rebuke officials and
religious leaders who endorse these hateful acts.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
SPORTS
33
England FA chairman says
World Cup boycott possible
LONDON (TIP): English FA chairman
Greg Dyke said England would support
a possible boycott of the 2018 World Cup
if Sepp Blatter was re-elected president
of FIFA.
However, his Dutch counterpart
Michael van Praag said his federation
had never discussed a boycott.
Dyke, speaking to BBC radio before
Friday's presidential vote in Zurich,
said England would not go it alone but
would consider joining a wider
European boycott.
"If the whole of UEFA said that, and
all of the countries were willing to do it
I think that is right," Dyke said.
"There is no point in one or two
countries saying we are not going to
take part because they will carry on
with the tournament without them and
that is then pretty unfair on the fans.
"But if UEFA as a group said 'look
unless we get this sorted we are not
going to be in the World Cup' then I
think we would join them."
Dyke's comments followed a similarly
veiled threat from UEFA president
Michel Platini after the Frenchman
revealed that he personally asked
Blatter to stand down for the good of
football.
Europe has overwhelmingly spoken
out in favour of change and while
Platini stopped short of saying a World
Cup boycott was inevitable, he did say
"all options were open" if Blatter
retained power.
But Blatter has refused to withdraw
from the ballot, saying he would stand
for a fifth term and pledging to
introduce reforms in the wake of the
latest corruption allegations that have
engulfed FIFA.
"The events of this week are
significant," Dyke said.
"Mr Blatter's statement yesterday in
which he basically said 'look, leave it to
me I will clean this up', nobody is going
to believe that.
"And I think that it is quite ominous
for him when the attorney general in
America says this is only the beginning
not the end."
Blatter is strongly favoured to win
Friday's vote against Jordanian Prince
Ali bin Al Hussein but Dyke said
change was now inevitable regardless
of the outcome.
"I think the odds are still on him
(Blatter) winning but they are nowhere
near where they were. There has
certainly been a shift during this week,"
Dyke said.
"I think it is all over for Blatter
anyway, I don't think it matters if he
wins or not.
"I hope he doesn't win but if he does I
think the events of this week have
turned him into a diminished figure
and I can't see him lasting more than a
year or two."
Van Praag, who pulled out of the
presidential race last week and put his
support behind Prince Ali, played down
the possibility of a boycott as he
arrived at the FIFA Congress in Zurich.
"We never talked about pulling out of
the World Cup, and we are part of UEFA
and we agreed yesterday that if Sepp
Blatter wins, we have a new situation,"
he told reporters.
"We happen to come together in
Berlin for the Champions League final
(June 6) so that is good opportunity to
sit and look at the new situation, it's
absolutely no use speculating on that.
"We can do a lot (without boycotting
the World Cup)."
Ana Ivanovic eases into
French Open fourth round
PARIS (TIP): Former champion Ana
Ivanovic reached the French Open
fourth round on May 28 with a 6-0, 6-3
win over Croatia's Donna Vekic.
Serbian seventh seed Ivanovic, the
2008 champion at Roland Garros, won
the first seven games of the match
before her 18-year-old opponent got on
the board.
Vekic, the world number 165 and
playing in the third round of a major
for the first time, stopped the rot and
broke for 2-1 in the second set.
But that was as good as it got for the
teenager as Ivanovic, watched by
German football star boyfriend Bastian
Schweinsteiger, swept into a fourth
round clash against either ninth seed
Ekaterina Makarova or Elena Vesnina.
"It's my best match on clay this
season," said the Serb who had to come
back from losing the opening set in her
first two rounds in Paris.
"I don't have a great record on this
court (Suzanne Lenglen) so I am trying
to correct that."
Defending champion Saina
Nehwal bows out of
Australian Open
SYDNEY (TIP): Indian challenge ended at the Australian
Open Super Series after ace shuttler Saina Nehwal
suffered a straight-game defeat against China's Shixian
Wang in the women's singles quarterfinals of the
badminton tournament here on May 28.
World No.1 Saina failed to stick to her game plan and
suffered a 15-21, 13-21 loss to two-time All England
Champion and fifth seed Shixian in a 41-minute clash. It
was Saina's sixth defeat against the Chinese in 12
meetings.
In the opening game, Saina had grabbed a slender lead
of 4-2 but Shixian soon wrested control of the match and
went into the break at 11-8.
Slowly and steadily, Saina clawed back to 14-14 but a
ruthless Shixian reeled off six straight points to grab a
massive six game point at 20-14 and then pocketed the
match without much ado.
In the second game, Shixian once again opened up a
three-point lead at 6-3. The Indian tried to arrest the slide
and went neck and neck from 6-6 to 10-10 but after that the
Chinese moved ahead with giant steps to once again leave
Saina behind.
Saina will next play in Indonesia Open Super Series
Premier tournament starting on June 2.
'Generous' BCCI gives big
CLT20 relief to STAR
MUMBAI (TIP): The BCCI has over the years
acquired the reputation of a domineering big
brother in dealing with its various partners,
thanks to Team India's massive popularity at
home and abroad. From broadcasters, to
various sponsors, franchise owners, overseas
telecast rights holders, online partners and
more, they have all, at some point of time,
complained that dealing with the Indian cricket
board hasn't been easy .
That was until recently when Star TV , the
present right holders for all cricket played in
India and sponsors of the Indian national
teams, did the impossible. In a show of rare
bonhomie, Star has managed to convince the
BCCI to waive off $475m that they were
scheduled to pay for the remaining four years of
Champions League T20 event under the 10-year
deal signed between BCCI and the ESPN-Star
JV in 2009. In turn, Star will pay the BCCI,
Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia - the
three boards which host the tournament -a
collective compensatory figure of $300m to exit
the tournament. ESPN-Star had bought the
Champions League rights for a period of 10
years starting 2009 for a huge $975m after losing
out on the Indian Premier League (IPL) rights
that had been offered to MSM India in 2007-08.
Six editions of the tournament have been
played so far and four remain, including the
2015 season.
Sources say the understanding between BCCI
and Star to close the deal took place when N
Srinivasan -the present International Cricket
Council (ICC) chairman -was at the helm of
affairs in BCCI. The announcement has been
delayed only because financial parameters had
to be worked out.
The deal will help Star save on an estimated
$90m per season that they had to shell out (four
seasons remained) as part of the tripartite
agreement between them and the three cricket
boards for a property that clearly had few
takers. Giving BCCI's penny-pinching ways of
conducting business, only the board's bigwigs
can explain why they decided to act on the
misery afflicting their biggest business partner.
"They've rarely shown such a generous side,"
said a source. Star TV holds the Indian telecast
rights, the national team's sponsorship rights,
the online media rights and the ground and title
rights for the cricket played in India. Their
partners in UK, Sky TV , hold the IPL's
international telecast rights.
34
FEATURE
WORLD HOROSCOPE
6)
By Bejan Daruwalla
anesha says my devotee Bejan
Daruwalla is cut to the bone. He is truly
devastated. He is shattered. The
blowing to smithereens of innocent lives,
specially children, religious intolerance,
violence, are the main causes for it.
By Western Astrology, Saturn will be in
Sagittarius from December 25, 2014 to
December 19, 2017, and THAT WILL REALLY
DECIDE WHETHER GENUINE SPIRITUALITY
AND TOLERANCE OR BIGOTRY, VIOLENCE,
FANATICISM, HATRED WILL WIN. WE ARE
AT THE CROSS ROAD OF THE FUTURE.
Blind, senseless hatred will start lessening
and withering and reducing from October 2016
to October 2017, thanks to the relationship of
Jupiter, the good guy with Saturn. Your
Ganesha devotee takes his stand here. He owes
it to himself and to humanity. These words are
written on February 3, 2015. May all the
Energies go with it? I repeat the fate of the
world hinges on Saturn between December 25,
2014 to December 19, 2017.
There is also a very positive side to Saturn in
Sagittarius by Western Astrology. Saturn is
karma and dharma. Saturn is, 'Duty, the stern
voice of the daughter of God'. By Modern
Astrology Saturn is a key planet for universal
consciousness. Universal consciousness helps
us to evolve and be what we are capable of
becoming. Saturn in Sagittarius can launch us
to salvation itself is my prediction in the name
of Ganesha.
Success in law, foreign affairs, aviation and
space research, meditation, yoga, neuroscience,
brain, output of genes. Susy is the nickname of
Supersymmetry, the Higgs Boson, which will
crunch time for humanity's understanding of
the universe. Research into Susy will be made,
thanks to Saturn.
Tourism, Pilgrimages, mountaineering,
rituals and rites connected with fire and light
and explosives, great showmanship in truly
practical as well as spiritual matters and a
mountain load of money will all go together.
If I marry Saturn in Sagittarius with Jupiter
in Virgo, Western Astrology, the health scene
for the whole world will improve tremendously.
The saying 'cleanliness is next to godliness' will
be close to the truth. Gyms, health clinics,
health resorts, alternate medicine, all forms of
healing such as reiki and yoga and acupuncture
and breathing systems will get a new and
different impetus and promotion. Wellbeing
will be the motto of the world. Therefore we
have much to look forward to as Saturn will be
in Sagittarius from December 25, 2014 to
December 19, 2017.
G
Other salient features for all of us:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Narrowness and excessive caution will
actually stifle your relationships.
Your greatest lesson is to deal with the
other's point of view.
Master key.
Like those with Saturn in Libra, you too
will have to deal with the real world,
though, in all fairness, you can be
idealistic.
Communication- gaps will be your
undoing.
Try not to fight over property matters, as
it will make you writhe in agony. Settle it
judiciously.
Travel with your friend/ mate/ business
associate is your best bet to happiness.
7)
By December 19, 2017, we should be rid of
attack from terrorists and bigots and the
self-righteous who think that they alone
are right and everybody else completely
wrong. In short we can expect people to
keep an open mind.
Once again I am giving the landmarks of the
important years for humanity and extending it
a little more at considerable energy and cost.
Actually it drains me out. The other important
points start from number 7.
1:
2021, watermark for technology.
2:
2033, important for technology and
genetics.
3:
2035-2037, crucial for chemicals and
experiments about life and living, Jupiter
in Cancer, Saturn in Virgo.
4:
2040, relationships taken to the next level,
Jupiter and Saturn in Libra, year marks
justice for the whole world .Yes, Ganesha
says this is my devotee's mighty
prediction.
5:
2045, another unimaginable breakthrough
in technology, space travel, brain
mapping, time warp galaxies, Jupiter in
Aquarius, Saturn in Sagittarius.
6:
2047, all of the above will be superbly
analysed, organized, methodized, mapped
out in complete detail and most
importantly put and harnessed to the
greatest use for the greatest number of
people. It is the high point or the tipping
point for the service to the wide cosmos.
7:
2049 is excellent for managing your life
intelligently and calculatedly
8:
2053 to 2055 thanks to chemicals and
radiation and light. God will introduce
himself in a totally unique way. Yes this is
my vision. I may be right or wrong
9:
Surprisingly enough just as I was writing
about this vision the badge with the holy
number 786 popped out of my American
ephemeris. This has given me conviction
and confidence. I cannot explain it
logically.
10: From February 2080 to 2090 nature will
reveal herself in a totally different way
and manner. It is as if nature will be
wearing clothes of a different fashion and
colour. More than this I cannot say.
11: The year 2100 shows Jupiter and Saturn
in the sign Libra by Western Astrology.
This means poise, balance, equilibrium,
joy and above all the beginning of an era
of peace and plenty. It also marks a period
of remarkable evolution in the next 100
years. This is certainly the limit of my
vision as granted to me by my Lord and
Master Ganesha. His is the last word.
12. Ganesha says my devotee Bejan has
worked his heart out for the prediction
that between March 23, 2020 and March 8,
2023 consciousness will win over
ignorance, freedom will win over
captivity, law and order will win over
anarchy, open mind will win over closed
mind and narrowness, comfort and
security and speed will win over air
crashes and pilot errors.
Many truly amazing events will happen. For
example, the Ganges will be cleansed. Thought
transfers and healing by and through the mind,
germ and bacteria free world, devi worship,
very surprisingly there could be a cleansing of
our mind itself. Artificial implants of new
memories, climate control. The secret of having
a smooth, delightful, trouble free and joyous
relationships will be discovered. That to me is
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
Here are predictions on the world by internationally
acclaimed astrologer, Bejan Daruwalla.
more important than evolution itself. The many
layers of consciousness will be explored and
laid out before us so that we can choose
according to our personal frequencies, layers of
knowledge and intuition and finally it could
lead to the very existence of God. These
predictions will hold true between December
25, 2014 to March 8, 2023. I agree that this is a
long shot. But events happen in a chain
reaction over a period of time. I admit I am
human. All the predictions will certainly not
come true. But it is the wish and command of
my Lord and Master Ganesha that I should lay
my predictions before you.
Special note:
Brain hecking, putting on a "thinking
cap" to increase brain power, is also
another wondrous and awesome
technological possibility of our Aquarian
age.
RUSSIA
Your Ganesha devotee is writing this forecast
on March 18, 2015. Putin had simply
disappeared for the last 10 days and has
surfaced today March 18, 2015. Putin is a Libra.
But he is totally unpredictable because of Pluto,
the planet of power in Leo, the sign of power.
This makes Putin powerful but dogmatic, wilful
and ready to play all sorts of games. The next 4
years will mark the end of Putin the politician.
Russia however will be able to make some
progress economically and socially. Russia has
staying power which is perhaps the key to
survival and success. Russia under Putin comes
under Gemini, Aquarius and Scorpio. Not a
very easy time for it. Conditions and strong
disciplinary action will take a huge toll. I report
it as I see it. Like my great Hanuman I too am
humble and submissive. No pretentions to
greatness. Russia might have a money squeeze.
INDIA
As you know dear readers I have met
Narendra Modi twice and predicted his
premiership. India will go from strength to
strength. From September 2015 to December 20,
2017 India will be zooming ahead despite
terrorism, jealousies within the BJP, Hinduvata
and all the fanaticism regarding all the
religions. The enemies of Modi will be within
his own party. Modi is a man with a vision. At
the same time Modi must teach the minister in
his party to be open, tolerant and fair minded.
Yes our economic situation will improve vastly,
the Ganges will be cleansed (I admit that to me
also the Ganges is holy and mighty). The
common man as well as the industrialists will
thrive under the leadership of Modi. At the
same time your Ganesha devotee openly and
humbly admits that from December 22, 2017 to
March 23, 2020 there could be a complete
overhauling of values and power and politics in
India. IT IS THIS PERIOD WHICH WILL
FINALLY DECIDE THE FUTURE OF INDIA.
There may be a complete change in the attitude
of the Indians and the way the world looks at
India. But the final result will be a mighty
powerful India which will take its rightful place
in the world. It is during this time that India
will definitely be the super power of the world.
At the same time India will pay the price for it. I
am 83 years old. Nothing comes without a price.
It will be spirituality and the tolerance of
Indian culture which will finally make India
very powerful but very human. I openly admit
that all my predictions do not come true.
Tolerance is the key.
Ganesha warns that for, both India and
America, air crashes, natural calamities,
undercover activities, espionage, secret
enemies, riots and rebellion could take a heavy
toll. This is a nasty and ugly picture. But, there
is also, as said earlier a brighter side to it. Both
of the predictions are very possible. That's real
life. Life and politics is complicated and
convoluted (complex). There are no easy
answers. March, June, September and
December are the tough and critical months.
PAKISTAN
Nawaz Shariff is good for Pakistan. This
Capricornian is practical and therefore open to
reason and has commonsense. Pakistan is a
Sagittarian country. The military leader of
Pakistan is a Gemini. Around 2017 I see a good
future for Pakistan. After 30 long years I had
been to Pakistan in 2014, thanks to my patron
Byram Avari. I found the people very friendly
and hospitable.
ISRAEL and IRAN
Prime Minister Benjamin is a Taurus and
Israel is a Taurean country. Therefore he got re elected recently. Benjamin must learn to let go a
little and be flexible. Iran has a new leader in
Hussain Rohan. Rohan is a Scorpio the exact
opposite of Benjamin who is a Taurean. But I
believe given compromise and understanding
peace is possible. If I could I would lock both
these leaders in a room and tell them very
sweetly, do not come out till you have signed a
peace treaty. This might be my fantasy. I admit
it.
America, Russia, Brazil and Africa:
Cancerian country America(Born July 4) will
have sinew and muscle power. China will not be
able to get better of America. Leo Obama will
prove his mettle. For America I take three signs
Cancer, Gemini and Sagittarius. The actual mix
is my very own. America will lead the world.
That says it all. Obama is a Leo. Ganesha says
that this will be a great and glorious period for
Obama and America. But America will be
involved in many skirmishes and attacks by
terrorists. Yes America has many enemies.
America must never drop its guard. America
must always be completely alert. For all its
faults and foibles America is the best bet for a
safe world.
Brazil and Africa are the surprise packages,
not China.Yes strange as it may seem, there is a
possibility of a compromise among
Afghanistan, USA, Pakistan and India. This
may seem like pipe dream. But if the Israeli
leader Ben could go to Chancellor Addenhaur of
Germany after the holocaust, the Taliban too
can sit across the table and come to some sort of
understanding. With the given time and the
right climate, the impossible can be made
possible. This is very possible by 2018, latest.
2017 could well show the way.
GERMANY
I go with my gut feeling. The gut feeling is
something like a powerful brain in the stomach.
My gut feeling is that the Cancerian German
chancellor Merkel has a very important role to
play on the chess board of politics. I am
convinced that she is a woman of destiny. This
is what I have to say to her, "Listen sweetheart,
you are more brilliant and powerful than you
think and therefore shoot straight and fast.
Victory is yours."
(The author is an internationally acclaimed
astrologer and has predicted correctly on men
and matters; on nations and issues; on events
and happenings. He can be reached at
info@bejandaruwalla.com and on phone no.
(011) - 91-98-25470377.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA
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THE INDIAN PANORAMA

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