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Washington DC: In a momentous
ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court
struck down key elements of the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
on Wednesday and, by refraining to
uphold a ban in California
(Proposition 8), allowed for a
resumption of same-sex marriages
in that state.
While that 5-4 verdict respects
and takes a cue from the shift in
public opinion and has been hailed
widely, the apex courts decision
killing federal oversight provisionin the Voting Rights Act has mainly
attracted brickbats from the liberals
and the minorities.
The DOMA ruling means same-
sex couples lawfully married in the
District of Columbia and the 12
states including New York that
have sanctioned same-sex marriage
cannot be denied federal benefits
such as health care, custody, pen-
sions and survivor benefits that are
routine for
New Delhi/Dehradun: Persistent efforts
over the past more than 10 days have suc-
ceeded in the evacuation of more than
100,000 people, including locals, from the
rain and flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand as
authorities cremated many bodies in
Kedarnath Thursday. Around 1,800 people
are still stranded in the state.
With 12 days elapsing since the flood-rain
tragedy hit the state, a clearer picture of the
massive losses has began to emerge. Over
1,500 roads have been swept away, while
around 2,000 houses and 154 bridges have
been damaged.
The bodies of 18 security personnel -
ITBP, IAF and the National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF) - who were among
the 20 killed in Tuesday's chopper crash,
were also recovered.
NDM A vice chai rm an M. Shashidhar
Reddy said : "Approximately 1,829 people
are still stranded all
The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
Vol.6 No. 10 June 29-July 5, 2013 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Travel 16 Bollywood 18 Spiritual Awareness 30First Person 14 excellence in journalism
Bouquets and brickbats for Supreme Court rulingon gay marriage and on voting rights
Washington, DC:
Already hailed as his-
toric, the US Senate
voted 68 to 32
Thursday to pass the
Border Security,
E c o n o m i c ,Opportunity, and
I m m i g r a t i o n
Modernization Act,
one of the most dra-
matic immigration
overhauls to pass the
Senate in decades.
The legislation will
put 11 million immi-
grants who entered the
country illegally on a
path to citizenship, boost border security and
set up a system to keep American business
owners from hiring illegal immigrants. As
senators filed into
Immigration reform billsails through Senate
14 Republicans voted for it, but the Housecontrolled by their party may not be that kind.
Shudh Prakash Jasuja (shown with white scarf), the most
well known face of Indian National Overseas Congress (I)in United States, has been appointed its President by DrKaran Singh, Chairman of the NRI Cell, Congress (I) ofIndia. Jasuja has served as Vice President of INOC(I) forover a decade and considered as most prominent leaderof INOC(I).
Shudh Jasuja: New INOC (I) President
Members of the bipartisan Gang of Eightthat authored the immigration reform billand piloted it successfully in the Senate.
5 Supreme Court justices struck down Defense of Marriage Act,
while 4 including Chief Justice John Roberts were the minority vote.
Continued on page 4Continued on page 4
Continued on page 4
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TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 29- July 5, 2013
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3June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Washington: The United States
will suspend trade privileges for
Bangladesh because of concerns
over labor rights and worker safe-
ty that intensified after hundreds
died there in the global garment
industry's worst accident.
Obama administration made its
announcement Thursday, the cul-
mination of a years long review of
labor conditions in the impover-
ished South Asian nation.
Democratic lawmakers have
been pushing for the step. Underthe Generalized System of
Preferences, Bangladesh can
export nearly 5,000 products
duty-free to the U.S., its leading
market. While the GSP covers
less than 1 percent of
Bangladesh's nearly $5 billion in
exports to the U.S. and doesn't
include the lucrative garment sec-
tor, it could deter American com-
pa ni es fr om in ve st ing in
Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, one of the world's
poorest coun tries , is anxious to
keep the trade benefit. While the
immediate economic costs may
not be significant, it carries repu-
tational costs and may sway a
decision by the European Union,
which also is considering with-
drawing GSP privileges. EU
action could have a much biggereconomic impact, as its duty-free
privileges cover garments.
Bangladesh's government says
it is taking steps to improve work-
er safety after the April 24 col-
lapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that
killed 1,129 people, and to amend
the nation's labor law.
US to suspend Bangladesh trade privileges White House holds first-ever briefing on Sikh civil rights issuesWashington, DC: It was a historic
first as the White House held in
Mid-June a briefing on Sikh civil
rights issues.
The briefing was organized in col-
laboration with the White House
Initiative on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders and the White
House Office of Public
Engagement at the request of the
Sikh Coalition.
Approximately 50 activists from
around the country attended the
br ief ing . The ass embled gro upincluded graduates from the 2011
and 2012 classes of the Sikh
Coalition's Sikh Advocate
Academy.
The leaders and activists were
given a briefing in the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building.
Commissioner Chai Feldblum of
the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission;
Kimberly Walton, Assistant
Administrator of TSA and John
DiPaulo of the Office for Civil
Rights at the Department of
Education talked about the federal
government's efforts to combat
employment discrimination, airport
pr of il in g, an d sc ho ol bu ll yi ngrespectively. In addition, Karen
Chaves, Policy Advisor to the
White House Initiative on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders,
spoke about the work of the
Initiative to address Sikh and
br oa de r As ia n Am er ic an an d
Pacific Islander concerns.
Sikh community leaders and activists posing in front ofthe White House.
By Jinal Shah/SATimes
New York:Flashing lights,blar ing horn s and inne r
peace? If there were ever a
pl ace to te st your yo gic
focus, it's Times Square in
Manhattan. On June 21, I
too decided to test my yogic
focus at the NYC Summer
Solstice Yoga so I put on my
yoga pants, grabbed a mat
and landed at the unusual
venue - you got to admit,
pra cti cin g yog a at Times
Square is the ultimate con-
tradiction considering yoga
is supposed to be for inner
peace and works best when you are all by
yourself. Anyway, I was late in registering my
name so I decided to try my luck with spot
registration along with my mother, also a yoga
enthusiast (who had come all the way from
India) and sister. There were some 16,000
enthusiasts just like me trying to find tranquil-
ity at what is arguably the worlds glitziest
and busiest street. The event fittingly named
Mind over Madness included five classes
taught over the course of the day. The routine
hustle and bustle did indeed swirl around the
yoga practitioners, who performed their Surya
namaskars and Shavasanas on small pedestri-
an islands on Broadway between 48th and
43rd.
Metal fence guarded groups of practitioners
as they listened to leading yoga instructors
belting out directions. Taxis honked and fire
trucks blared by with their
sirens loud. Yet, the yogis
and yoginis were unfazed
as they posed on their mats.More people walked in all
day long, some for free
yoga mats, some for fun
and photos. It was quite a
sight to see yogis practic-
ing on sheets of cardboard.
As for us, we were at the
other side of the fence for
most part of the day, taking
pictures just like any curi-
ous foreign tourist milling
around to see thousands of
Americans stretch to
instructions. We missed the
afternoon Bikram Yoga
session and waited for the next one Rodney
Yee who NYTimes christened as The First
Lady of Yoga. First we were asked to relax.
We settled down next to a veteran yogi, took
our shoes off and made ourselves comfortable
sitting in the middle of Broadway. In fact I felt
as if I was in a simulated ride, everything
around me moved at an unprecedented pace
even the cycle rickshaw!
Soon the hum of Om (with an accent!) rose
above the everyday wailing of police sirens
and honking of rude taxis. Half way through
as I gazed up at the sky up past the looming
skyscrapers, the instructor said breath it all
in, it is all a part of you." One deep breath in,
in the middle of all the commotion, suddenly
made me realize that all the high-rises, the
flashlights, the noise, the smell and the people
- are part of me, my existence.
Practicing the great Indian export@ Times Square
New York: In a year of
countless accomplishments,
India Abroad for the first
time chose two Indian-
American icons jointly as its
Person of the Year 2012.
US Congressman Dr
Amerish Ami Bera, only
the third Indian American to
be elected to the Congress ,
was honored as Person of
the Year for Political
Achievement. USAID
Administrator Dr Rajiv Raj
Shah was declared Person of
the Year for Public Service.
The awards were present-
ed by Preet Bharara, US
Attorney for the Southern
District of New York.
The 10th annual India
Abroad Person of the Year
Awards gala was held at The
Pierre in Manhattan last
weekend.
Dr Romesh Wadhwani, the
self-made billionaire
founder of the Symphony
Technology Group who is
donating 80 percent of his
wealth to charitable causes,
and Dr Natwar Gandhi, who
br ou gh t th e Di st ri ct of
Columbia back from the
brink of financial ruin as its
CFO, were awarded the
India Abroad Lifetime
Achievement Award 2012.
India Abroad Publishers
Special Award for
Excellence went to Amrit
Singh, the senior legal offi-
cer for National Security and
Counterterrorism, Open
Society Justice Initiative.
Accomplished daughter of
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, her report,
Globalizing Torture: CIA
Secret Torture and
Extraordinary Rendition,
received widespread atten-
tion in the international
media.
Ami Bera and Raj Shah jointly are
India Abroad Person of the Year
USAID Administrator Raj Shah and CongressmanAmi Bera. (Photo: Paresh Gandhi/Rediff.com)
You may ask, isnt yoga forinner peace and works best
when you are all by yourself?(Photo: Jinal Shah)
Also honored was AmritSingh, human rights
activist known for herground breaking work,and daughter of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.
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4 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoTURN PAGE
Immigration reform bill sails...
Continued from page 1
their seats, not only the magnitude of
immigration reform, but the spirit of
bipartisanship hung over the chamber as
the original architects of the bill, the
"gang of eight" reflected on the legisla-
tive battles that lie behind them.
The bill attracted 14 Republican yays,
a key step to boosting the bill's momen-
tum before it goes to the GOP-controlledHouse where the odds for bipartisan
immigration reform remain slim. House
Speaker John Boehner doubled down
Thursday on his promise that he will not
bring any legi slat ion to the floo r that
cannot garner a majority of the
Republican caucus, even a compromised
agreement that may be forged between
the House and the Senate in conference
committee.
"For any legislation, including the con-
ference report, to pass the House it's
going to have to be a bill that has the
support of the majority of our members,"
Boehner said.
One of the reasons the legislation was
able to garner so much Republican back-ing Thursday was that from the begin-
ning, the gang of eight brought together
some of Washington's oddest policy bed-
fellows.
The Chamber of Commerce and
unions like the AFL-CIO came together
to negotiate the future flow of low-
skilled workers, the American Farm
Bureau and the American Farm Workers
Union agreed on a program to reform the
number of farm workers brought to the
country and the Catholic church and
evangelicals came together to prod the
process along.
Over 100,000 rescued, 1,800 still ...
Continued from page 1
over Uttarakhand and we are hopeful
that the rescue operation would be over
by Friday."
The National Disaster Management
Authority, an autonomous body to coor-
dinate disaster preparedness, said
104,095 people had been evacuated from
the state till Thursday.
Reddy said 560 people have died, 463
have been injured and 344 missing in the
floods.
"Around 2,000 houses were damaged
as well as 154 bridges," he told
reporters.
Reddy also said that several roads,
which had been closed due to the rescue
operations, have now been opened. The
roads from Uttarkashi to Gangotrri,
Joshimath to Badrinath and a few roads
going towards Rudryaprayag are stillclosed due to damage in landslides and
repair work was on.
Bouquets and brickbats for Supreme ...
Continued from page 1
both mem bers of conventional mar -
riages. The ruling did not address
whether gays have a constitutional right
to marry and thus will have no impact on
the more than 30 states that do not allow
same-sex marriages or recognize the
legality of those who move from states
where they are legal. As a result, sup-
porters and opponents of gay marriage
were bracing for battles ahead on the
issue.
On striking down key parts of theVoting Rights Act of 1965, the court
freed the Southern states from federal
oversight of their election laws and set-
ting off a fierce reaction from civil rights
advocates and Democratic leaders.
The court's conservative majority
moved Tuesday to rein in a law that is
credited with transforming the South by
ensuring blacks could register and vote.
The court left open the possibility that
Congress could fix the law, but the parti-
san gridlock that has dominated the leg-
islative branch in recent years appears to
make that unlikely.
In a third major decision pending
before it, the court on Monday hedged
its bets, allowing affirmative action to
survive in college admissions but
imposed a tough legal standard, ruling
that schools must prove there are no
workable race-neutral alternatives to
achieve diversity on campus. In a way,
the decision amounts to a warning to
colleges nationwide that the courts will
treat race-conscious admissions policies
with a high degree of skepticism.
Three honored by INOC (I)New York: At a receptionINOC(I) hosted for Dr Karan
Singh, chair, Foreign Affairs
Cell of Congress (I) party on
June 20th at World Fair Marina
in Queens, three prominent
Indian Americans were honored.
Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori is
Professor and Executive Vice
Chairman of the Radiation
Oncology Department at The
Ne w Yor k- Pr es by te ri an
Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical
College in New York City. He is
also Chairman of Radiation
Oncology at The New York
Hospital Medical Center ofQueens. Dr. Nori has treated
Indias ruling UPA chairperson,
Mrs.Sonia Gandhi at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Hospital in NY.
Peter Bheddah is a business-
man and philanthropist. In 1972,
he founded IDC Marketing
Corp., one of the first Indian
American-owned firms in the
wholesale electronics sector. In
1994, he began assisting the less
fortunate through the IALI and
the Interfaith Nutrition
Network. He is past president
and a director of the Nargis Dutt
Memorial Foundation, which
has provided over $5 million of
cancer detection equipment to
Indian hospitals.
Gobind Munjal, a CPA by pro-
fession, has worked as a Senior
Vice President of Finance and
Mergers & Acquisitions and
served on the Board of Directors
of the International Division of
Tata Group of Hotels in the
USA. In 2006 he started his own
advisory and consultancy serv-
ices. He served as President of
India Association of Long
Island (IALI) in 2011.
Acclaimed Bollywood actress VidyaBalan will be the Grand Marshal atIndia Day Parade organized by FIA inNew York on August 18, 2013.
Dr. DattatreyuduNori
Peter Bheddah Gobind Munjal
Our next issue, dated July 6-12, 2013,
celebrates Americas Independence Day
(July 4). You are invited to share your
views on what makes America special,
and/or your experiences of living and
working in this country.Please email the
article in about 300-500 words by July 2
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Washington, DC: Asserting that theIndian Patents Act related to phar-maceutical products is not discrimi-natory against foreign companies,
the Indian ambassador to the UnitedStates, Nirupama Rao, offered con-cerned lawmakers to discuss the is-sue for the sake of long-term bilater-al and strategic partnership betweenthe two countries.
"My senior colleagues at the em-bassy stand prepared to come andmeet with your key officials or yourconstituents to engage in a friendlyand substantive exchange of viewsso as to promote deeper understand-ing, and to seek mutually satisfacto-ry solutions, in a spirit of friend-ship," Rao said in a letter to the USlawmakers. Explaining the existingIndian laws and policies to protectintellectual property, Rao wrote theletter to members of the Senate IndiaCaucus and the House of Represen-tative Congressional Caucus on In-dia and Indian-Americans.
The letter dated June 20, comes inresponse to the series of letters frommore than 250 US lawmakers in re-cent days - from both the members
of Senate and the House of Repre-sentatives - addressing either theSecretary of State or US Presidentalleging the trade policies to be dis-
criminatory."As a member of the Senate IndiaCaucus you have always been astaunch advocate of strong India-USrelations and our strategic partner-ship. We are deeply appreciative ofyour commitment to further thecause of friendship between ourcountries," Rao said.
"India has a well-settled, stableand robust intellectual propertyregime. The three main pillars of thisregime are comprehensive laws, de-tailed rules to back them up, andstrong enforcement mechanisms, in-cluding for dispute resolution. In In-dia, the IP framework is rooted inlaw," she said.
Rao said that that the highest share(20-30 per cent) of all patents grant-ed in India has gone to US nationalsand corporations. Of all the patentsgranted for pharmaceutical inven-tions between 2005 and 2011, morethan 85 per cent were owned by for-eign companies in India, she added.
5June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
India ready to discuss patent policieswith US lawmakers: Nirupama Rao
By Jinal Shah/SATimes
New York: If there was any doubtthat Diwali had become a well-en-
trenched event on New York Citysmulticultural calendar, wait until thisDiwali. Thanks to a new initiativeby Evolve group, New Yorkers willexperience more than just fireworksthis season. India Unlimited anew enterprise- promises to show-case India on a bigger and a bolderplatform.
India Unlimited, a 10 day festivalstarting from October 24 will show-case Indian achievements, festivals,culture, royal traditions, and luxurytravel through special events andprojects at various locations all overManhattan.
In our current global atmosphere,we are witnessing a unique socialphenomenon where relations haveextended across cultures and peoplewant to know more about each oth-ers values and traditions, saidSapnna Vats, co-founder of Evolve.It is with this philosophy in mindthat we have created India Unlimit-ed, an opportunity to bring Indiacloser to the world and share the
magnitude of our countrys achieve-ments with mainstream America.
The events will include an awardsceremony, Broadway musical show-casing the legend of Rama (HinduGod), specially-curated tastingmenus at fine dining Indian restau-rants, art contests, and fashion andcomedy shows.
Experience India Unlimited this Diwali
New York: Le Corbusier: An Atlasof Modern Landscapes, newly in-stalled at the Museum of Modern Artis a sprawling introduction to the lifeand work of this Swiss-born giant.The exhibition continues throughSeptember 23.
The shows curators, Jean-LouisCohen and Barry Bergdoll, havemarshaled hundreds of drawings,watercolors, paintings, models and
films, a cornucopia gleaned to a largeextent from the Fondation Le Cor-busier. Theyve commissioned large-scale photographs by Richard Pareand fabricated full-size reproduc-tions of furnished rooms. Theresnearly everything that could practi-cally be exhibited here, including theproverbial sink, albeit not a kitchensink but one from the architects tee-ny seaside cabin, abreast the gulf of
Monte Carlo, where, in late summer,1965, when he was 77, after a swimagainst doctors orders, his deadbody washed onto the beach.
Born Charles-douard Jeanneret ina provincial Alpine village in 1887,Le Corbusier became a maker ofpure, Cubist form, having evolvedhis voice from the whitewashedwalls and Pentelic marble that he hadadmired.
The lengthy Op-Ed in The
New York Times is wel-
come, given the author's inti-
mate love of words, vision and ap-preciating the effects of time and
travel upon people, religions, na-
tions and history. I read beyond the
necessary management of bilateral
expectations, on a host of issues and
perceptions, a desire for a new tryst
with destiny between the country
Columbus set out to find and thecountry Columbus ended up caus-
ing birth of.
The pre-election India and the
post-election United States is a self-
contained "check and balance" of
democracy. Yet, within arms reach
of our Secretary of State John Ker-
ry, a warrior, politician and states-man, and India's Foreign Minister
Salman Khurshid, an author, politi-
cian and philosopher-statesman, is a
new tryst with destiny that seeks to
make history more honest and a fu-
ture more perfect.
United States has done much,
from helping India's freedom in
1947 to hoping to see a "special re-
lationship" partner like Great
Britain. The natural love affair be-
tween the oldest and largest democ-
racies is rooted in history and citi-
zenship even more than govern-
mental. It is the will of natural law,
above the rule of law, that India and
United States find their "sweet spot"of trust and reliance no matter the
issues or perceptions.
Our Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution ought not be
forgotten, as the relationship be-
tween us and India is rooted in same
beyond the Boston Tea Party.
Ravi Batra
Eminent Attorney, New York
Letter to the Editor
Columbus: Kerry & Khurshid, Obama & Singh
Le Corbusier exhibition opens at Museum of Modern Art
Chandigarh hosts the largest of Le Corbusier's many Open Hand sculptures,standing 26 metres high. Seen here the Legislative Assembly designed by him.
He was architect of Indias first planned city Chandigarh
A 10-day fest will see specialevents at various locations all
over Manhattan
Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan performed at Nassau Coliseum in LongIsland, NY, June 15 in a concert presented by ARIZ Inc as a grand
finale to his US tour. The King of Qawali and Sufi music sang his hitsongs such as Afreen Afreen and Sajda. He sang his most popular
song Tere Mast Mast Do Nain on stage alongside his son, Shaadman.
Events include:
Global Indian LeadershipAwards 2013
Laughter Rockets ComedyShow with headliner Papa CJ
Ramayana, the BroadwayMusical
Festive Feast with VikasKhanna of Master Chef India
The Splendid Indian ClosetFashion Show
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan regales New Yorkers with his popular songs
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6 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoNATIONAL COMMUNITY
IN BRIEF
Gayatri Pariwar appeals to help Uttarakhand flood victims
Gayatri Pariwar (www.awgp.org) has
made an appeal to join the flood relief
work in Uttarakhand. Shantikunj (
Haridwar, Headquarter of Gayatri Pariwar) has
taken up the task of providing the relief and re-habilitation work on a war footing.
The government of India has provided the
disaster management team of Shantikunj with
helicopter services to distribute food and life -
saving needs of stranded persons. Its volunteers
are helping army and paramilitary persons on
24/7 basis. The Shantkunj Ashram is prepared
to provide accommodation and medical facili-
ties for thousands of returning pilgrims. Free
staying arrangements has been made in Shan-
tikunj for victims as well as their relatives for
over 3000 people. Three state governments (
Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan ) have set up their
control and command headquarters in Shan-
tikunj for the relief operations. Narenda Mod-
iji ( CM Gujarat) and Shivrajsingh Chauhan
(CM, MAdhya Pradesh) visited Shantikunj to
oversee the relief operations. Ministers and ad-ministrative staff over seeing relief operation
from many states of India are working hand in
hand with volunteers from Gayatri Pariwar.
Over 50000 meals and many other items
have been shipped to the affected areas in col-
laboration with military and government agen-
cies. Dr Pranav Pandya ( Head, Gayatri Pari-
war) has taken a sankap to revive the Hi-
malayan region of Uttrakhand over next three
years and Shantikunj will support reconstruc-
tion of over 50 villages.
One can make tax deductible donation in
USA at the following center of Gayatri Pariwar.
Gayatri Chetna Center ( In Memo: please
write- for Uttrakhand Flood Relief), 240, Cen-
tennial Ave, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Phone:732-357-8200
One can also make online donation at
http://www.gayatricenter.org/donations.php
Indian American convicted for murder
An Indian American man has been
convicted of murder of another In-
dian American man outside a Sikh
temple in the US state of California in 2008.
A jury in Sacramento convicted Gurpreet
Singh Gosal, 28, for the second degree mur-
der of Parmjit Pamma Singh outside the
Bradshaw gurdwara in Sacramento, Califor-
nia, during a Sikh sports festival Aug 31,
2008.
According to the jurors, Gosal fired a
weapon but did not hit anyone.
However, it was his friend, Amandeep
Singh Dhami, who shot and killed Singh
over a long-running dispute between the
two, the Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.
Dhami has reportedly fled to India after
the incident with help from friends.
"I think the jury did a good job, deputy
district attorney Anthony Ortiz, who had
asked the panel for a fi rst-degree conviction
on Gosal under an aiding and abetting theo-
ry, was quoted as saying.
"The case had some major issues and they
worked through them, and I think they came
to a just verdict.
--Compiled by Hiral Dholakia-Dave
Sree Sreenivasan named Metropolitan Museums first
Chief Digital Officer
Thomas P. Campbell,
Director and CEO of
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, has an-
nounced the appointment of
Sree Sreenivasan as the Mu-
seums first Chief Digital
Officer. He is currently
Chief Digital Officer at Co-
lumbia University and a
member of the faculty of
Columbia Journalism
School, where he teaches
social and digital media.
At the Metropolitan Mu-
seum, he will explore new
digital opportunities for the
Museum and lead its Digital Media Depart-
ment, which is responsible for managing
and producing digital contentespeciallydocumentation and interpretive materials
on the Museums collectionand for de-
livering it to a variety of audiences, both
online and in the galleries. He will join the
Museum on August 12.
Mr. Campbell stated, in making the an-
nouncement: Sree comes to the Met with a
strong background in the communication of
ideas. His work in traditional journalism,
his role as a commentator on technology
and media issues, and his expertise in web-
sites and social media will all be key to the
Museums work in the digital space. His
academic background will also position
him well within our commu-
nity of scholars, and we look
forward to working with him
as we leverage mobile, in-
gallery, and online platforms
for the Mets collections.
Until now, Ive had a
one-way, three-decade-long
love affair with the Met,
said Sree Sreenivasan, so I
am absolutely delighted to
have this opportunity to con-
tribute as part of the staff
and as the leader of the digi-
tal media team there. Much
of my work in recent years
has been about connecting
the physical and the digital, the in-person
and the online experience. Now I look for-
ward to forging new connections betweenthe superb, expansive collections of the
Metwhich are a true representation of our
shared global historyand the two billion
people who use the web. Sreenivasan has
been named one of Poynters 35 most in-
fluential people in social media; one of
AdAges 25 media people to follow on
Twitter; one of SPJs top 20 journalists to
follow on Twitter; one of OnlineCol-
leges.nets 50 most social media savvy pro-
fessors in America; one of GQ Indias 30
digital Indians; and one of the Huffington
Posts 50 media people to follow on Face-
book.
Volunteers preparing the food packets
Indian Consulate organizes photo exhibition on Sikh art and heritage
The Consulate General of India, New York
organized week long exhibition of photos
of Sikh Art and Heritage The Sikhs: A
Heritage of Valor and Devotion at Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan, New York from June 19 till June
23, 2013. The exhibition was organized in asso-
ciation with the Indian Council of Cultural Rela-
tions.
Consul General Ambassador Dnyaneshwar
Mulay inaugurated the exhibition on June 19,2013. During his address he mentioned that the
Sikh tradition in India has contributed immense-
ly to the Indian philosophy and to the Indian way
of living making rich contribution to Indias uni-
ty in diversity. He also emphasized the fact that
the Sikh religion and culture has created strong
foot prints not only in India but now Sikh com-
muintys contribution has been recognized all
over the world and particularly in the United
states. He said the viewers of the exhibition
would appreciate the rich Indian heritage of
which the great Sikh heritage is the part.
The photo exhibition is by Sondeep Shankar,
an eminent photographer from India, and pro-
vides a glimpse of rich Sikh heritage and tradi-
tions. For more than two decades, Mr. Shankar
has roamed the length and breadth of India in an
effort to photographically document the heritage
of Sikhism, a religion whose teachings are
founded in the philosophy of humanism, plural-
ism and universal brotherhood. It was deeply in-
fluenced by the devotional movement and syn-
thesized liberal traditions of all religions preva-
lent in India at that time.
The exhibition was visited by large number of
members of the Indian community particularly
the Sikh community and also from various cul-
tural organizations.
The exhibition was visited by manycommunity members
Do you feel strongly about something?Do you want to overcome the writers block?Dear Reader,
Citizen journalism is an essential component
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(TSAT) is your voice. If you feel strongly about
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Email press-releases, information on
community events, news announcements to our
Associate Editor Hiral Dholakia-Dave on
Hot Topics you can comment on:
1. Now that the Supreme Court has okayed Gay mar-
riages, do you think Indian American parents too will
be more accepting?
2. What do you think - cyber whistle-blower Edward
Snowden is a hero or a traitor?
3. What is your take on the Immigration Bill? How is it
going to affect you personally? Are you for or against it?
The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
New York seniors celebrated Father's Dayon June 17 at a temple in Glean Oaks, NY.
The speakers, Jasubhai Bandhanikar,
Mrs Gopi Udeshi, Kantibhai Patel, andLabhubhai Upadhyaya, talked about thehistory of Fathers day and the effects
on culture in India and USA.
-
7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper
7/31
7June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Washington, DC: The US
Defence Secretary Chuck
Hagel has apologized to an
Indian American professor
for jokingly asking him if he
was a member of the Taliban
during a university event in
Nebraska early this week.
Hagel had jokingly asked
Robert A Gandhi, the Indian-
American Professor "you are
not a member of the Taliban,
are you?", before he rose to
ask a question to the Defence
Secretary at the event.
"He (Hagel) expressed
regret for any trouble this
caused the professor," the
Pentagon Press Secretary,
George Little, said, addingthat such a remark by the
Defence Secretary "was a
comment directed at no one
in particular," and a lame
attempt at humor.
Hagel personally called
Gandhi, who is an Assistant
Professor of Information
Assurance, at the University
of Nebraska, Omaha.
"They had a very good dis-
cussion and (Hagel) wanted
to leave no impression that
this joke was directed at any-
one in particular, including
the professor," Little said.
In a statement released bythe University, Gandhi said
he was honored to hear the
speech of the Defence
Secretary and get response
from him on his question of
cyber weapons.
"I was honored to attend
Secretary of Defence Hagel's
speech on Wednesday. I was
able to ask a question, and I
thoroughly enjoyed hearing
his answer. Before I rose to
ask a question, there was
apparently some confusion
that did not involve me,"
Gandhi said.
Gandhi's research interestsinclude information assur-
ance, regulatory require-
ments modeling and analy-
sis, software engineering,
knowledge-intensive soft-
ware systems, software
assurance, certification and
accreditation, software met-
rics and measures, and risk
assessment.
Hagel apologizes to Indian Americanprofessor for Taliban joke
Indian Americans among business
leaders Obama meets on immigration
Appeals Court upholds Rajaratnams conviction
Washington: President Barack
Obama met a group of top business
executives, including two Indian-
Americans, to discuss with them
the comprehensive immigration
reform. Addressing this small
group of nine top American CEOs
in the Roosevelt room of the White
House on Monday, Obama said
that immigration reform would be
a boost to the American economic
recovery.
The two Indian-American CEOs
were Farooq Kathwari, chairman,
president and CEO of Ethan Allen
Interiors Inc and Sunil Puri,
founder, First Rockford Group.Welcoming these "extraordinary
business leaders" Obama said, all
of these business leaders recognize
the degree to which immigration is
a contributor to growth, a contribu-
tor to expansion, a creator of jobs
but they also recogn ize tha t the
immigration system that we cur-
rently have is broken.
"We have a system in which we
bring out sta nding young peo ple
from all across the world to edu-
cate them here, and unfortunately,
too often, we send them right back
so that they can start companies or
help to grow companies some-
where else instead of here," Obama
said. "We have a situation in which
millions of individuals are in the
shadow economy, oftentimes
exploited at lower wages, and that
hurts those companies that are fol-
lowing the rules, because they end
up being at a disadvantage to some
of these less scrupulous compa-
nies," he added.He also noted that some of the
business owners at the table were
immigrants, and like the genera-
tions of immigrants that came
before them, these business leaders
came to this country to build a bet-
ter life and are now helping build a
stronger economy by creating
American jobs.
New York: A federal appeals court has
upheld the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam,
the former hedge fund manager who was
charged with orchestrating a vast insider
trading conspiracy.
Rajaratnams arguments are not persua-
sive, said the United States Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit in
Manhattan in a decision published on
Monday.
The ruling validates the aggressive tactics
deployed by federal prosecutors in the gov-
ernments sweeping investigation into
insider trading on Wall Street, which has
resulted in more than 70 convictions or
guilty pleas since 2009.
For the first time in an insider trading
inquiry, and most prominently in the
Rajaratnam case, the authorities used wire-
taps a method typically reserved for
drug trafficking and organized crime cases
to record the telephone conversations of
traders.
Mr. Rajaratnams lawyers argued that
federal prosecutors had used deceptivemethods to obtain permission from a judge
to wiretap his cellphone. They accused the
government of leaving out crucial informa-
tion from its wiretap application, including
that the Securities and Exchange
Commission was already conducting its
own investigation.
The contents of those wiretapped conver-
sations, during which Mr. Rajaratnam and
his accomplices swapped confidential
information about publicly traded compa-
nies, led a jury to find Mr. Rajaratnam
guilty after a two-month trial in 2011. He is
serving an 11-year sentence at a federal
prison in Ayer, Mass.
Judge Jose A. Cabranes, writing for a
unanimous three-judge panel, said that the
trial court judge, Richard J. Holwell, had
properly analyzed the ostensible mistakes
in the governments application to wiretapMr. Rajaratnams phone.
Mr. Rajaratnam's trial highlighted an
array of witnesses used by the Justice Dept.
We cannot conclude that the government
omitted certain information about the
S.E.C. investigation with reckless disre-
gard for the truth, wrote Judge Cabranes,
who also rejected an argument by Mr.
Rajaratnams lawyers that Judge Holwell
had given the jury erroneous instructions.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel
New Delhi: The US Immigration
Bill (as it currently stands) can
impact India's Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), says a report by
JP Morgan. According to JP
Morgan, the outplacement clause
(by impacting the IT sector
growth and the subsequent mul-
tiplier consequences) could take
away as much as 0.3-0.4% of
India's FY15 GDP.
The outplacement clause
would restrict the placement of
H1-B workers at client sites. The
outplacement clause imposes
significant higher filing fees on
H1-B dependent employers
based on the percentage of non-
immigrants employed in thecompany. These companies cur-
rently pay $2,500 for H1-B visa
pr oc essing and an addi tional
$1,225 for premium processing.
There is a significant multiplier
impact this sector exerts on the
Indian economy via consump-
tion and growth of ancillary
industries (e.g. real estate, trav-
el/transportation, hospitability);
hence, this direct 'gap' or 'loss' to
India's GDP together should be
taken with its multiplier down-
stream impact of 2x, the report
says.
JP Morgan feels that its esti-
mated adverse impact on India's
FY15 GDP (including the down-
stream multiplier impact) due to
the outplacement clause in the
immigration bill at 0.3-0.4% is
large enough for the Government
of India to get worried about the
immigration bill (as it currently
stands).
"Even more worrying, perhaps,
is the adverse implications thisfinding has on downstream
lower-level employment this sec-
tor generates," it opines.
"India's IT exports include
three sub-segments - IT services,
BPO and R&D. The entire IT
exports sector at $87 billion
(Nasscom's FY14 estimate at the
upper-end) is about 4%+ of
India's GDP," says the report.
"On an incremental basis, it is
about 7-8% of India's GDP (the
sector is growing well above
India's GDP; so on an incremen-
tal basis its share is higher). The
pure IT services segment is the
most impacted sector among the
three sub-segment accounts (less
so BPO and R&D; impact of the
bill on the BPO industry is the
least)," it adds.
The bill will force Indian IT
companies to reduce their
dependency on H1-B workers,
given that it may require them to
fork out higher visa fee and
salaries to H-1B visa holdersover their American peers with
similar experience.
JP Morgan believes that the
impact of outplacement can be
offset by factors such as local
hiring, increasing the offshore
content of work and/or greater
automation.
Immigration bill can hurt India's GDP: JP Morgan
Raj Rajaratnam
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7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper
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8 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoUS AFFAIRS
Washington: In two rulings that
further enshrine gay rights, the U.S.
Supreme Court struck down key ele-
ments of the federal Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA) on
Wednesday and, by refraining to
uphold a ban, allowed for a resump-
tion of same-sex marriages in
California.
In practical terms, the DOMA rul-
ing means same-sex couples lawful-
ly married in the District of
Columbia and the 12 states thathave sanctioned same-sex marriage
cannot be denied federal benefits
such as health care, custody, pen-
sions and survivor benefits that are
routine for both members of con-
ventional marriages.
Across the United States, gays
celebrated the latest victory in a
campaign for equal rights that
while far from over has swept
away centuries of secrecy and
decades of treatment as second-class
citizens. A half-century after land-
mark civil-rights decisions ended
discrimination against African
Americans, Wednesdays Supreme
Court rulings did much the same forsame-sex couples.
Lawmakers and courts have
lagged behind momentous shifts in
public attitudes.
President Barack Obama hailed
the courts rulings and condemned
the contentious DOMA that is still
vigorously defended by many con-
servatives and some on the Christian
right. The 1996 law restricted mar-
riage to being between a man and a
woman.
The ruling means stronger fami-
lies and communities across ournation: Millions of same-sex mar-
ried couples will gain access to all
of the rights and responsibilities
associated with marriage, said Rea
Carey, executive director of the
Na tiona l Gay and Les bia n Task
Force.
The rulings did not address
whether gays have a constitutional
right to marry and thus will have no
impact on the more than 30 states
that do not allow same-sex mar-
riages or recognize the legality of
those who move from states where
they are legal. Once same-sex mar-
riages resume in California, more
than a third of Americans will residein states where it is legal.
5 apex court justices struck down Defense of marriage Act, whilefour including Chief Justice John Roberts were the minority vote
A plane carrying a wing walker named Jane Wicker crashed at theVectren Air Show near Dayton, Ohio, and exploded into flames
Saturday in front of thousands of horrified spectators. The stuntwalker and pilot were killed instantly. The plane, which was usedfor training pilots during World War II, was registered to Wicker.
DOMA dead, court grants equal
status to same-sex couplesWashington: A sharply divided Supreme Court has
struck down a key part of the historic Voting Rights Actof 1965, freeing the Southern states from federal over-
sight of their election laws and setting off a fierce reac-
tion from civil rights advocates and Democratic leaders.
The court's conservative majority moved boldly
Tuesday to rein in a law revered by civil rights groups
that is credited with transforming the South by ensuring
blacks could register and vote. In doing so, the court
eliminated a tool that the Justice Department used hun-
dreds of times to prevent cities, counties and states from
adopting allegedly discriminatory voting rules.
The court left open the possibility that Congress could
fix the law, but the partisan gridlock that has dominated
the legislative branch in recent years appears to make
that unlikely.
Under the provision that the court struck down, nine
states and the city councils and local governments with-
in them were required to obtain advance approval fromWashington before changing their rules on voting and
elections, a process known as "pre-clearance." The goal
was to end the discriminatory schemes that for a century
after the Civil War had prevented blacks from register-
ing and voting. More recently, the law has been used to
ensure that black and Latino votes translate into elec-
toral power. Since it was first adopted in 1965, the law
has been repeatedly extended by Congress, most recent-
ly by a nearly unanimous vote in a Republican-con-
trolled House and Senate in 2006.
Speaking for a 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr. pronounced the pre-clearance process a
"resounding success" and then declared it unconstitu-
tional. The problem, Roberts said, is the formula that
Congress wrote for deciding which jurisdictions mustseek pre-clearance. That formula has not been updated
since the 1970s, and that, he said, is unacceptable.
"African American turnout has come to exceed white
voter turn out in five of the six states originally covered"
by the 1965 law, and it is nearly equal in the remaining
original states, he said. The Constitution rests on the
"fundamental principle of equal sovereignty among the
states," Roberts said, and if Congress is to single out
some of them for special oversight, it must do so "in
light of current conditions. It cannot rely
simply on the past."
Civil rights advocates gather outside theSupreme Court in support of the Voting Rights Act
Court kills Voting Rights Act federal oversight provision
Washington: The Supreme
Court on Monday allowed affir-mative action to survive in col-
lege admissions but imposed a
tough legal standard, ruling that
schools must prove there are no
workable race-neutral alterna-
tives to achieve diversity on
campus.
While the ruling was not a
sweeping pronouncement on the
future of affirmative action, it
amounts to a warning to colleges
nationwide that the courts will
treat race-conscious admissions
pol ici es with a high deg ree ofskepticism.
By a 7-1 vote, with one justice
recusing herself, the court sent a
case about the University of
Texas admissions policy back to
a federal appeals court for review,
and directed the appeals court to
apply an exacting legal standard
known as strict scrutiny.
The case was brought by
Abigail Fisher, a white woman
who applied to the university in
2008 and was denied, and
claimed that her constitutionalrights and federal civil rights
laws were violated.
The University of Texas admits
about three-quarters of its stu-
dents by guaranteeing a spot to
anyone who finishes near the top
of his or her high school class.
When Fisher applied, the stan-
dard was the top 10 percent of the
class. For the remainder of under-
graduate admissions, race is con-
sidered as one of many factors.
Mum on affirmative action
Washington: The U.S. House failed to pass a
sweeping five-year farm bill with sharp cuts to food
stamps, a surprising development that sets the stage
for an uphill fight in Congress to craft a new law.
The Republican-led House soundly rejected a $500
bill ion measure by a vote of 195-234 , fail ing to
muster enough support from conservative
Republicans concerned about costs and Democrats
concerned about deep cuts to the country's popular
food stamp program.
Top leaders on both sides of the aisle quickly fell to
finger-pointing: Republicans claimed House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi failed to deliver the
Democratic votes she promised, while Democrats
pinned the blame on the GOP for its inability to
bring enough support from the more than 60 mem-
bers within their own party who opposed the bill."We clearly have a profound disagreement. Don't
blame Democrats for the loss today," said House
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. "The
reason the bill lost today is because 62 of your mem-
bers rejected" a call to support the legislation.
Congress failed to pass a bill last year after GOP
leaders in the House were reluctant to call for a vote
because they did not think they had the 218 votes
necessary to pass it. Lawmakers were forced to
extend the old farm law through Sept. 30. Rep. Kristi
Noem, R-S.D., told reporters House GOP leaders
were weighing their options this time around, which
could include voting on the farm bill passed by the
Senate last week or moving forward on another
extension.
House Republicans had expressed confidence in
recent days that they had enough votes to pass the
bill, but some of the blame Thursday was directed
toward a pair of amendments including one that
would have required food stamp recipients to either
work or look for work for leading someDemocrats to withdraw their support. Still, farm bill
supporters were confident they could muster 40-60
Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. Instead, they
garnered only 24.
US House rejects $500 billion farm bill
Supreme Court rules on major issues
Ohio air show crash
leaves wing walker,
pilot dead
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9June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info US AFFAIRS
Boston: Representative Edward J.
Markey, a Democrat who has served
in the House for 40 years, won a
promotion to the Senate on Tuesday
as he handily defeated Republican
Gabriel Gomez. Markey, 66,
replaces John Kerry, who stepped
down earlier this year to become
secretary of state.
With almost all precincts report-
ing, Markey was leading Gomez by
about 10 percentage points.
Markeys election does not change
the balance of power in the Senate,
where Democrats have 54 votes and
Republicans have 46. But
Democratic control had already
slipped by one earlier this month
after Frank R. Lautenberg of NewJersey died and was replaced by an
interim Republican.
Mr. Markeys win came as a sur-
prise to no one. The state has three
times as many Democrats as
Republicans, but most voters are
independents.
Yet, he ran a cautious campaign
that relied heavily on big
Democratic stars, including
President Obama, Michelle Obama,
former President Bill Clinton, Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and
Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Democrats retain MA Senate seat Kerry vacated
Austin, TX: It started with one woman and
ended with the blockage of a bill that would
tighten abortion restrictions in one of the mostconservative states in the country.
Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R)
announced early Wednesday morning that
time had run out on the measure amid an
hours-long opposition campaign from state
Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and a flood of protest-
ers who entered the state Capitol in solidarity
with her. While the setback for the bill may
only be temporary, it was hailed by abortion
rights advocates as a major victory.
At issue was a Republican-backed bill to
place stricter regulations on abortion in the
state. The bill, known as SB 5, would ban
abortions after 20 weeks and mandate that
doctors have hospital admitting privileges,
among other things.
Republicans were hoping to pass the bill onthe last day of the special legislative session.
But Davis, 50, launched a filibuster that would
stretch for nearly half the day, attract attention
from across the country and spur like-minded
activists to join her fight in person.
Partisanship and ambition are not unusual
in a state capitol, but here, in Texas, right now,
it has risen to a level of profound irresponsi-
bility and the raw abuse of power, Davis said
in a statement before launching her effort.
After speaking for hours, Republicans
derailed Daviss filibuster. She had run afoul
of the rules, they noted. And so the race was
on to try to pass the measure at quite literally,
the eleventh hour.
What came next was a period of confusion,
followed by an announcement from Dewhurst
that lawmakers had not passed the bill before
time had expired on the session. Hundreds of
prot es te rs ha d pour ed in to th e Ca pi to l.
Dewhurst blamed them for disrupting the pro-
ceedings.
Marathon filibuster, protestsblock anti-abortion bill in Texas
Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation high-wire artist, has success-fully completed a tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon withouta safety harness. The Florida daredevil performed the quarter-mile
crossing on a two-inch thick steel cable, 1,500ft above the LittleColorado River Gorge in Arizona. Last year he had traversed the
Niagara Falls. Next, hed like to attempt to walk a tightropebetween the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York City.
Long-term Representative Edward J. Markey is promoted to the Senate.
State Senator Wendy Davis filibusterstretched to half a day
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10 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoINDIA
Dehradun: Heavy rains hit opera-
tions to evacuate thousands of
peo ple sti ll str anded in the
hills of Uttarakhand as
most helicopters could
not operate, while 20
people were killed as an
IAF Mi-17 crashedwhile returning from a
rescue mission, officials
said.
The state government has
put the death toll in the flood
disaster at over 1,000 and said it
could climb further. With more rain
and rising fog across the valley and
the hills, operations slowed down,
leaving more than 7,500 people
still stranded on the Badrinath
route.
Returning from a rescue mission
from Guptkashi and Kedarnath, a
newly-acquired IAF Mi-17 V5 hel-
icopter crashed north of
Gaurikund.While National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA)
vice chief M. Shashidhar Reddy
put the toll at 20, the IAF said that
eight people, including five crew
members, were killed.
Eleven bodies have been recov-
ered, an IAF source said. The
search for survivors had to be
called off after it grew dark.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
expressed shock over the accident
while commending the armed
forces for their "selfless work" in
saving lives.
While Indian Air Force (IAF)
and army officials maintained that
the rescue operations would con-tinue, they admitted that the opera-
tions
"had taken a brief hit" and added
that they were now being "extra
cautious and not over zealous".
"All efforts are being done to pull
out the trapped people but we will
now take weather conditions and
warnings more seriously," an army
officer said.
The NDMA declared
Uttarakhand devastation a "severenatural disaster" and requested
leaders not to politicise the issue. It
also said it would send a team to
locate bodies under the debris.
Due to severe rains in Dehradun,
many helicopters like the Mi-17
with higher passenger capacity
were mostly grounded at the Jolly
Grant airport while smaller chop-
pers which tried to fly had to return
to their bases at Joshimath and
Harshil.
Fog prevented rescue sorties
around Devprayag, where a cloud-
burst in Dubh Mamora village left
two people dead and three missing
and washed away several houses,
while bad weather hit chopper mis-sions at Jangalchatti, Guptkashi,
and Gauchar.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Vijay Bahuguna said that
while weather had hit the
rescue operations, he
requested people not to
lose hope.
"We will reach everyperson who is stranded,
it is just that weather is
hampering the rescue
efforts," he added, contend-
ing that the number of people to
be rescued was well under 5,000.
Officials also added that the mass
funeral proposed for the people
who died in Kedarnath premises
and whose bodies are decomposing
there would happen in a day or
two.Personnel of the Armed Forces
Medical Services are working in
the state with 29 teams deployed
around Kedarnath while an emer-
gency centre has been set up at
Joshimath, an official release said.
Meanwhile, financial aid is pour-
ing in from across the spectrum. In
New Delhi, the NDMA vice chair-
man said MPs from all states could
each contribute Rs.50 lakh from
their funds for the relief work.
Public sector power companies
will donate Rs.25 crore towards
rebuilding flood-hit Uttarakhand.
India mourns
'Himalayan tsunami'From one tragedy to another: over 1,000 dead, 7,500
still stranded in the devastated Uttarakhand as death
toll likely to go up as many bodies, buried under debris,
are yet to be found; 20 people killed as IAF Mi-17
crashes while returning from a rescue mission
Despite crash,
IAF continues rescue opsGauchar: Despite Tuesday's tragic
chopper crash, the Indian Air Force
(IAF), defense and paramilitary
personnel involved in the relief and
rescue operations in flood-hit
Uttarakhand resumed their mission
to save those who are still stranded
across the hill state.According to reports, the Met
department predicted torrential
rains, which could trigger fresh
landslides. Bad weather is also
likely to obstruct the rescue opera-
tions in the upper regions of
Uttarakhand.
The Air Force last night said that
its officers will continue the rescue
operation despite an IAF helicopter
crash near Gaurikund that killed at
least 20 people.IAF chief NAK Browne also
reached the spot to take stock of
the situation and review the rescue
work.
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11June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: The era of
Rahul Gandhi, 43, has begun
in the 127-year-old Congress
with his stamp clear on the
recent party reshuffle that
saw the induction of 30
younger leaders as All India
Congress Committee
(AICC) secretaries who are
set to play a more active role
in the organisation, party
sources said.
"Rahul Gandhi's era hasbegun in the Congress. His
impact is clearly visible in
the recent AICC reshuffle,"
said a senior Congress leader
who did not wish to be
named..
An indication of this, he
said, is the fact that around
30 out of the 44 AICC secre-
taries are new faces, are rela-
tively younger and have
been Youth Congress lead-
ers.
In Gandhi's scheme of
things, the secretaries are set
to play a more active role on
the ground under the watch-
ful guidance of the respec-
tive general secretaries who
have been given charge of
various states, said party
sources.
"The secretaries will play a
more active role on the
ground. They will be on the
move, interact with state
leaders down to the block
level and bring crucial feed-
back to the centra l leader-
ship. The general secretaries
will guide them," said one
general secretary, who too
did not wish to be identified.
"The secretaries would
educate the local leaders
about the party's programs
and policies being imple-
mented by the central gov-
ernment," he added.
The party reconstituted the
all-powerful Congress
Working Committee and
reshuffled the AICC last
Sunday, a day before eight
senior leaders were inducted
into the Manmohan Singh
cabinet with an eye on put-
ting together a team ahead of
the assembly polls in Delhi,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Mizoram
due by the year-end and the
2014 general elections.
Congress insiders said
Rahul Gandhi was careful
that states were allocated to
general secretaries and sec-
retaries based on geographi-
cal neighbourhood to facili-
tate their tours.
Rahul era begins in Congress
Rahul Gandhi
Mumbai: Gujarat chief min-
ister Narendra Modi met the
top brass of Maharashtra BJP
to discuss strategy for next
Lok Sabha elections but for-
mer party president Nitin
Gadkari was conspicuous byhis absence.
This is Modi's first visit to
the state after being appoint-
ment as BJP's poll campaign
committee chief.
BJP general secretary in-
charge of Maharashtra Rajiv
Pratap Rudy, party's national
spokesman Prakash
Javadekar, BJP deputy leader
in Lok Sabha Gopinath
Munde, state unit president
Devendra Phadanvis, Leader
of Opposition in Assembly
Eknath Khadse and in the
council Vinod Tawde were
prominent among those pres-ent during the closed door
meeting.
Former party president
Nitin Gadkari was, however,
conspicuous by his absence.
Modi discussed the prevail-
ing political situation in the
state and the party's organisa-
tional matters and alliance
with Shiv Sena.
Before the meeting,
Javadekar told reporters that
Modi is reviewing the party's
poll preparedness in all the
states. He will discuss about
Lok Sabha polls and formu-
lating alliances.
"The Sena-BJP alliance has
always been strong inMaharashtra. Efforts will be
to win the seats in Mumbai,
Pune and Marathwada which
the party lost in 2009," he
said.
The core committee of the
state BJP which met Modi
comprises state president,
vice presidents, general sec-
retaries, treasurer, organisa-
tion secretaries, and all the
Maharashtra unit leaders,
including Munde and
Gadkari, as invitees.
The other invitees in the
core group include national
treasurer and Rajya Sabha
MP Piyush Goel, former MP
Kirit Somaiya and formerstate president Sudhir
Mungantiwar.
Meanwhile, Javadekar
alleged that the trucks,
flagged off by the AICC from
Delhi on June 24 with much
fanfare for Uttarakhand
relief, have been stranded at
Rishikesh because the drivers
have not been provided with
money for purchasing petrol.
"This shows the Congress'
true intention," he said.
Javadekar also assured that
they will not politicise the
Uttarakhand tragedy since the
rescue operations are on.
Modi meets BJP leaders; Gadkari absent
This is Narendra Modi's first visit to the state afterbeing appointed as BJP's poll campaign committee chief
Rishikesh/Lucknow: The
Sikh holy shrine at
Hemkund Sahib, located
15,200 feet above sea level
in Uttarakhad, has been
shut for now due to heavy
rains, an official said.
"The road from Tayya
br id ge lead in g to
Hemkund Sahib is broken
at many places. So we
decided to shut the shrine
for some time," an
Uttarakhand official said.
He added that the gurd-
wara employees have
come down to Joshimath,
about 35 km away, and
would wait for "things to
brighten up". The doors of
the shrine were shut after
offering of prayers.
Hemkund Sahib is a
major attraction for Sikhpilgrims in Uttarakhand, a
state dotted with revered
Hindu shrines.
Meanwhile, rains halted
early Thursday and the
evacuation of people and
pil gri ms str anded in the
hills resumed in the
Badrinath area.
But Chamoli region is
experiencing heavy rains
since Wednesday evening.
Authorities have closed the
Chamoli-Joshimath high-
way owing to landslides.
Officials said that they
were forced to halt evacua-tion in the Patalganga and
Pagalnala areas due to
heavy rains.
"As of now, there is no
way people can come to
Joshimath," one official
said.
More than 4,000 people
are still stranded in the
Badrinath area as torrential
rains have crippled the res-
cue and evacuation opera-
tions in the past two days.
While thousands were
airlifted on clear days, the
inclement weather and
Tuesday's chopper crashwhich killed 20 people
have slowed down the res-
cue operations through the
air route.
The met department has
forecast more rains in the
hill state in the next two
days. Besides rains, heavy
fog in some places is also
slowing down the rescue
efforts.
Hemkund Sahib shrine shut in Uttarakhand
The Sikh holy shrine at Hemkund Sahib
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12 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoINDIA
Kashmir rail tunnel: A humanendeavor, engineering marvel
Banihal (Jammu and Kashmir):
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
opened India's longest rail tunnel
in Kashmir to provide a key link
between the Kashmir Valley andJammu region, even as UPA chair-
perso n Sonia Gan dhi sai d tha t
Kashmiris were fed up with vio-
lence.
Hours before ending a two-day
visit to the troubled state,
Manmohan Singh rode with
school children on the inaugural
run of the train through the 10.96-
km-long tunnel to link Qazigund
town in the valley with Banihal in
Jammu region.
The prime minister warmly
shook hands with the overjoyed
children and sat with them as the
diesel train made its way from
Banihal through the winding tun-nel, an engineering marvel that
took seven years to come up in a
mountainous region.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
and central Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former
chief minister, were with the
prime minister in the train.
After reaching Qazigund,Manmohan Singh went back on
the same train to Banihal where
he told a meeting attended by
hundreds of people that the new
train link will boost Jammu and
Kashmir's economic development.
Today, we are dedicating a
marvelous and wonderful feat of
engineering crafted across theHimalayas," he said. "This is not
just an engineering marvel, but an
all weather link between the val-
ley and the rest of Jammu and
Kashmir.
"This will usher in a new era in
the development of the state, pro-
viding welfare and employment to
the people here."
The rail bridge between
Udhampur and Banihal -- the train
runs through the Pir Panjal moun-
tain range -- is the highest in theworld.
The tunnel was built at a cost of
Rs.1,300 crores. An eight-coach
train will operate on the route
from June 27. The link cuts the
distance between Qazigund and
Banihal towns by 18 km.
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi told the rally that the peo-
ple of Jammu and Kashmir "are
fed up with violence. They want
peace and development...
I know very well that painfulincidents happen here occasional-
ly but our democracy has enough
scope to sort out issues through
dialogue and negotiations."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating thenewly constructed railway line in Jammu and Kashmir.
Banihal: A 11-km railway tunnel across the
Pir Panjal mountain range, inaugurated by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is not only
the longest such in India but an engineering
marvel and a "dream come true" for the peo-
ple of Jammu and Kashmir.
It took seven years for thousands of men,
most of them highly-trained and skilled in
tunnel building, who braved geographical
constraints and inclement weather to build the
all-weather tunnel. Some of the tunnel boring
machinery - an improved Austrian version -
has been used for the first time on such a large
scale in the country during the laying of the
tunnel.
A three-metre-wide road has also been pro-
vided inside the tunnel for maintenance and
relief and rescue operations in the event of
any eventuality.
"The tunnel has been made water-proof by
pr ov id ing a cont inuo us PV C memb rane
between the primary and secondary lining. It
is equipped with state-of-the-art air quality
monitoring, communications, fire-fighting
and emergency rescue systems," an engineer
at the site said, not wishing to be identified.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crores ($213 mil-
lion), the tunnel has reduced the surface dis-
tance between the Qazigund town in the
Valley and Banihal town in the Jammu region
by 18 km, besides providing an all-weather
surface link between the two regions. The
over 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway,
till today the only surface link between the
landlocked Valley and the rest of the country,
would often remain closed for days without
end in the winter months due to heavy snow-
fall on the Banihal sector of the highway.
After hitting out at Modi,Thackeray backtracks
Mumbai: Hours after criti-
cizing Narendra Modi for
his claims aboutUttarakhand rescue opera-
tions, Shiv Sena president
Uddhav Thackeray back-
tracked, clarifying that he
had not attacked the
Gujarat chief minister in
his editorial in party
mouthpiece "Saamana".
"I have not attacked
Narendra Modi . But, now
he has been given a new
role on the national stage.
We have some expectations
from him," Thackeray told
media persons at a media
briefing here.
He added that the obser-vations were directed more
at Modi's propaganda team
and "nothing political
should be read into this".
Thackeray reiterated that
Modi is a national leader
and they have nothing
against him. "He is not our
enemy."
This is the second con-
secutive day that Shiv Sena
has irked its ally, Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) through
its scathing Saamana edito-
rials.
Thackeray had Monday
expressed "concerns" over
the depleting strength of
the National Democratic
Alliance, which is now left
with only three major con-
stituents the BJP, the Sena
and Akali Dal.
In the backdrop of the
recent political upheavals
within the BJP, he had alsoraised questions whether
the party was equipped to
ba g po we r on it s ow n
strength.
More embarrassing for
the BJP was Thackeray's
lavish praises for
Maharashtra Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan
while Modi was given a
strong tongue-lashing for
his claims in the ongoing
rescue efforts for
Uttarakhand deluge vic-
tims.
Thackeray had lauded
Chavan for adopting a
br oa d- mi nd ed ap pr oa chand ridiculed Modi for his
pa ro ch ia l at ti tu de wh il e
tackling the disaster fallout.
Targetting the chief min-
ister, the Shiv Sena presi-
dent said that now Modi
has been given a national
role to play by the BJP andhe should not speak in nar-
row terms for only
Gujaratis.
"Most of the rescue
works are being carried out
by the Indian Army and the
Indo-Tibetan Border
Police. They don't discrimi-
nate on the basis of the vic-
tims' state of origin or reli-
gion, but rescue them as
human beings," he assert-
ed. Thackeray hit out at
Modi 's propaganda
machinery for claiming
that 15,000 people from
Gujarat were rescued in a
day."It would be better if
Modi's propagandists exer-
cise restrain in the future,"
Thackeray concluded.
Manmohan, Sonia hail Kashmiriyat
Eight soldiers killed in SrinagarSrinagar: Eight soldiers were
killed and 13 others injured when
two separatist guerrillas attacked
an army convoy here with auto-
matic weapons and grenades,
police said. The attackers later
engaged in a gunfight with secu-
rity forces, leaving a CRPF offi-
cer and a policeman injured,
before fleeing the area.Coming a day before Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi
arrive on a two-day visit to
Jammu and Kashmir, the attack
occurred as the army convoy
passed through the Hyderpora
area on the Srinagar-
Muzaffarabad highway, a senior
police officer said.
"Militants opened indiscrimi-
nate firing from automatic
weapons at the army convoypassing through Hyderpora area
on the bye-pass," the police offi-
cer said.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray
Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, J&K Governor N.N. Vohraand J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on-board the train
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13June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED
Falling short of disaster management standardsBy Monish Gulati
The jury is still out on how the
blame is to be apport ioned
between human actions and
nature's fury for the Uttarakhanddisaster. However, from the disaster
management perspective the catas-
trophe has exhibited characteristics
of a complex event due the combi-
nation of hazards - flash floods and
landslides - and the inclement
weather which precluded access by
air to the region in the initial stages.
The resultant destruction of ground
transportation infrastructure also
impacted the time taken to respond.
Lastly being a hilly area the disas-
ter zone has got divided into isolat-
ed pockets of devastation which
has hampered relief work.
While a complete analysis of the
disaster will be possible when more
details are available at this stage it
is only possible to make an initial
assessment of the response to the
disaster. The representatives of the
Nation al Di sast er Ma nageme nt
Authority (NDMA) were found
doggedly responded to the media
on the government's response to the
disaster; indicating a lack of institu-
tional protocols and public aware-
ness of these. The NDMA is
responsible for formulating guide-
lines on responding to various dis-
asters but has no powers or the
infrastucture to enforce them, eval-
uate their implementation or con-
duct relief operations, as disaster
management is a state subject. The
Uttarakhand government has
admitted that, as pointed out by
CAG, it has fallen short of the dis-
aster preparedness standards laid
down by the NDMA.
The national executive committee
(NEC), which is chaired by the
home secretary is the implementa-
tion agency for the NDMA's disas-
ter management guidelines.
Articulating the national policy on
disaster management in national
and international forums is the
responsibility of the disaster man-
agement division of the home min-
istry which functions under the
Secretary (Border Management)
and should have been disseminat-
ing information on how the disaster
was being responded to.
An issue directly influencing theimpact of a disaster, particularly for
the ordinary citizen, is that of pro-
viding early warning. In India's dis-
aster management framework, the
Indian Meteorological Department
(IMD) is the nodal agency for gath-
ering information from the con-
cerned agencies and issuing disas-
ter-related early warnings. In this
case, the IMD warned the
Uttarakhand government of the
likely heavy rainfall in the region
48 hours in advance.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay
Bahuguna has told the media that
his government received IMD's
warning on rainfall but there was
no indication of cloud bursts, flash
flooding and landslides. The inter-
pretation of the early warning in
terms of its implications with
respect to the prevailing local con-
ditions of soil, river flow, among
others, is the responsibility of the
local disaster management officials.
Citizens at both the landslide hit
areas and downstream complained
of lack of any early warning. An
appropriate warning would have
left citizens better prepared and
saved lives.
Another critical area is that of
communication - both between
government agencies and between
citizens themselves. It was hearten-
ing to see that mobile communica-tion towers at Kedarnath survived
the devastation wreaked by the
flash floods. These, however, went
out of the grid when the power sup-
ply was cut off and generation sets
ran out of fuel, putting the area out
of communication. Availability of
cellular communication would have
aided in need assessment, relief and
rescue and coordination of the air
effort and provided much needed
psychologica l boos t to the sur-
vivors. This is another grey area in
the disaster management frame-
work as there are no guidelines
issued by the Department of
Communications for telecom com-
panie s for disaster-p roofing their
infrastructure and taking measures
for early restoration of the commu-
nications network.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
resulted in the enactment of the
Disaster Management Act, 2005,
and the creation of the NDMA. We
do not have to wait another disaster
to learn our next lesson and bring a
quantum improvement in how we,
as a nation, deal effectively with
natural and man-made disasters.
We do not have to wait another disaster to learn our next lessonand bring a quantum improvement in how we, as a nation, deal
effectively with natural and man-made disasters.
Uttarakhand:
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14 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoFIRST PERSON
By Sadhvi BhagawatiSaraswati
The rains began as we sang
the Hanuman Chalisa.
Typically if its raining
prior to the aarti, we set up under
the overhead awning. However, on
16th June, the skies were clear in
the afternoon after morning show-
ers, and the rain resumed only
once we had all gathered on
Gangas banks to sing Her glories
and meditate next to Her waters.
Jai Jai Jai Hanuman gosaain
kripa karaho gurudev ki
nyaainThe rain came down insheets as we clapped and sang
euphorically. Pujya Swamijis
(Swami Chidanand Saraswati)
eyes were closed and He