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Tantrums of old man Advani willhurt Modi chances?

Last week’s result

YES 37% NO 63%

Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”

CONTENTSBollywood ---------------------- 28-29

Classifieds ------------------------- 51

Community Post -------------- 16-26

Date Book -------------------------- 36

Edit Page --------------------------- 54

HealthScience Post --------- 32-35

Horoscope ------------------------- 52

Immigration Post ------------- 44-47

Life Style ----------------------- 49-50

Philosophy ------------------------- 53

Publisher’s Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate -------------------- 30-31

TechBiz Post ------------------- 12-14

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43

Top Stories

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Chicagoansgive fondfarewell to CG

Details on page 50

RSS BRINGS TRUCEIN ADVANI-MODI WAR

Details on page 49

Details on page 7

India's role inAfghanistancritical: Ami

NEW DELHI: The BJP reached a truce with sulking pa-triarch L K Advani who agreed not to press for his resig-nation from key party posts after RSS intervened to endthe two-day crisis triggered by his opposition to NarendraModi's elevation.

"Today afternoon, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief) ShriMohan Bhagwat spoke to Shri Advani and asked him torespect BJP parliamentary board decision and continue toguide the party in national interest.

"Shri Advani has decided to accept Shri Bhagwat's ad-vice," said a statement read out by party president Rajnathafter meeting Advani in the company of other leaders.

Flanked by leaders including Sushma Swaraj and NitinGadkari, Singh made the announcement at Advani's resi-dence but the party veteran was conspicuous by his ab-sence.

Asked why Advani was not present, Singh said, "I toldhim that this is my press conference and it will not looknice that you sit and hear me."

In a bid to mollify Advani, Singh said he had assuredhim that all his "concerns" regarding functioning of theparty, which he had cited as a reason for quitting the partyposts, would be "properly addressed".

Details on page 5

Nimish Janisworn in Trusteeof Schaumburg

China wants torevive 'Silk Road'with India

Sooraj Pancholiarrested forJiah suicide

Why only cinestars commitsuicide?

NYC chef namesdish on spellingbee winner

US body to setup 10 sciencecenters in India ONCE THEY WERE FRIENDS: A file picture of L.K Advani offering words of wisdom to Narendra Modi

Will US pullout mean return ofTaliban to Afghanistan?

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Bollywood:Vintage romanceThe fresh pairing of Sonakshi Sinha andRanveer Singh in a vintage romance of'Lootera' has sparked a lot of interest.

1Cover Story:BJP truce

16Community:Farewell to CG

44Immigration:

Health care coverage for newly legalizedimmigrants is emerging as a thorny issuein Congress' immigration debate

49Life Style:

Sooraj Pancholi, son of actors AdityaPancholi and Zarina Wahab, has beenarrested for the suicide of Jiah Khan.

12Techbiz:

China is looking to revive the ancient"Southern Silk Road" as economic corri-dor with South Asia through India

40Travel:Kailash MansarovarThe holy Mount Kailash is situated inthe western Tibetan plateau of the north-ernmost region of the Himalayas.

Silk Road

Chicagoans vied with each other to bidfarewell to popular Indian Consul Gen-eral Mukta Tomar who is leaving office

The BJP reached a truce with sulking pa-triarch L K Advani who agreed not topress for his resignation from key posts

Pancholi arrested

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Two historical firsts for the Hindu American community - a Hindu monkoffered prayer for the House of Representatives; and the birth sesquicenten-

nial of Swami Vivekananda, which was marked in the Congressional record.These two firsts for the community are thanks to the efforts of the Hindu

American Foundation (HAF), which marked 10 years of advocacy among USlawmakers. Fittingly, the HAF achievements were celebrated with a gala eventattended by several leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives on theCapitol.

As HAF co-founder Mihir Meghani said, the dividends of a decade of invest-ments in education, advocacy and tireless interactions with every level of theAmerican government were on display during the celebration.

"The Hindu prayer given on the floor of the House and the words of SwamiVivekananda offered by Democratic Congressman from California Ami Berainspired a remarkable day that will carry us into the next decade of tirelesswork," Meghani said.

Personally, I believe that while Hindus in the United States are in no waymarginalized or threatened by majority faiths, what the HAF has done over thedecade is bring so much positivity about the Hindu religion in this country andmade Hinduism an acceptable form of religion that the other faiths have come tounderstand and respect. What is impressive about HAF is the non-confronta-tional way in which it deals with any anti-Hindu sentiment that may arise fromtime to time among the ignorant; and the scholarly way in which it goes about tobring awareness about Hinduism.

Also impressive is the consistent stand it has taken to highlight the plight ofHindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh who are being persecuted by the majorityfaith in those two countries. And in this, the HAF has done more for the Hindusin these two countries than the Indian government or any other voluntary orpolitical organization in India has ever done.

There are few organizations that work selflessly without a political agendaand HAF is one such organization, which works towards spreading knowledgeabout Hinduism and not to spread the religion.

Thorny issue

India PostJune 17, 2013 5

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RSS brings truce in Advani-Modi warNEW DELHI: The BJP reached

a truce with sulking patriarch L KAdvani who agreed not to pressfor his resignation from key partyposts after RSS intervened to endthe two-day crisis triggered by hisopposition to Narendra Modi'selevation.

"Today afternoon, RSSsarsanghchalak (chief) ShriMohan Bhagwat spoke to ShriAdvani and asked him to respectBJP parliamentary board decisionand continue to guide the partyin national interest.

"Shri Advani has decided toaccept Shri Bhagwat's advice,"said a statement read out by partypresident Rajnath after meetingAdvani in the company of otherleaders.

Flanked by leaders includingSushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari,Singh made the announcement atAdvani's residence but the partyveteran was conspicuous by hisabsence.

Asked why Advani was notpresent, Singh said, "I told himthat this is my press conferenceand it will not look nice that yousit and hear me."

In a bid to mollify Advani,Singh said he had assured him thatall his "concerns" regarding func-tioning of the party, which he hadcited as a reason for quitting theparty posts, would be "properlyaddressed".

"The president will discuss themodalities of addressing theseconcerns with Shri Advani,"Singh said without elaborating.

Earlier in the day, the partychief made it clear that there willbe no going back on the decisionto appoint Modi as campaigncommittee chief, a major cause forAdvani's resignation.

The denouement to the two-day political drama came after hec-tic parleys and persuasion by anumber of leaders who metAdvani and impressed on him the

need to end the crisis triggeredby his resignation.

Modi, whose elevation was thebone of contention, immediatelywelcomed Advani's decision.

"I had said yesterday thatAdvaniji will not disappoint lakhsof workers. Today, I wholeheart-edly welcome his decision," hetweeted.

Rajnath Singh recalled that theBJP parliamentary board had de-cided not to accept Advani's res-ignation from the national execu-tive, parliamentary board and theelection committee and requestedhim to continue to be a member ofthese bodies.

Singh, who appointed Modi ascampaign committee chairman twodays back triggering Advani's res-ignation, earlier ruled out a rethinkon that decision.

"Who is talking about chang-

ing the decision?... Where am Ichanging my decision," he toldreporters in Banswada inRajasthan when asked whether hewould remain "firm" on his deci-sion or change it in view ofAdvani's resignation.

To a question on Advani, hesaid, "he has been our guide, isour guide and will remain ourguide."

Before the resolution of the is-sue, a host of leaders like M MJoshi, Jaswant Singh, SushmaSwaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, GopinathMunde, Ravi Shankar Prasad,Kalraj Mishra and GopinathMunde flocked to Advani's resi-dence to persuade him to recon-sider his decision, saying his"guidance" was required by theparty.

Amidst these efforts, Advanigot backing from Jaswant Singhwho said a solution should befound to the questions raised theveteran leader soon in the inter-est of the party as well as the na-tion.

Jaswant Singh, consideredclose of Advani, also expressedhope that a solution will be foundwhen asked whether Advani willreconsider his decision to quit.

"A solution should be foundsoon to the questions raised byAdvani ji. This is in the interest ofthe party. This is in the interest ofthe nation," Singh said after meet-ing Advani in Delhi.

Hectic effortsEven as hectic efforts were be-

ing made by senior leaders to per-suade Advani to withdraw his res-ignation, the tremors were felt inthe NDA also. JD (U) leaderSharad Yadav hinted displeasureover Modi elevation could makethem quit NDA and in MumbaiShiv Sena saying they could notthink of NDA without Advani.

Advani protégé SushmaSwaraj, leader of the parliamentary

party in Lok Sabhahowever declaredthe question ofAdvani's resigna-tion does not ariseonce it has beenrejected by theparty's highest de-c i s i o n - m a k i n gbody.

The BJP Parlia-mentary Board,which met earlier,passed a resolu-tion describingAdvani as its"leader and

guide"."That role inevitably belongs to

him. The Party and nation needs hissage advice and guidance todaymore than ever before. The Parlia-mentary Board decided to reject theresignation of Sh Advani ji," it said.

In Nagpur, former BJP PresidentNitin Gadkari said the party needsthe guidance of a veteran leaderlike Advani at this juncture. "Wewill pray to him to reconsider and Iam confident he will take back hisresignation," Gadkari said. -PTI

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj arrives to meet senior leader

L K Advani at his residence in New Delhi

Kalraj Misra and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain

Uma Bharti

Former BJP President Nitin Gadkari

LK Advanis resignation letter addressed to

party President Rajnath Singh


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India's role in Afghanistan critical: Ami BeraWASHINGTON: Fresh from his

maiden trip to Afghanistan, Demo-cratic Congressman Ami Bera, theonly Indian-American lawmaker inthe Congress, has said that Indiahas a very critical role to play inpeace and development in thewar-torn country.

Bera, who is only the third everIndian-American Congressman,said he is planning to visit India

in the month of August, duringwhich besides his other engage-ment he would also visit his pa-rental village in Gujarat.

In an interview to PTI, Beracame out in strong support of In-dia-US relationship, noting that itis his desire to see the two coun-tries walking as partners.

The 48-year-old Democraticparty Congressman from Califor-nia, Bera recently made his maidentrip to Afghanistan, where he hadfirsthand experience of India's

developmental activities."India has a critical role to play

in the economic development ofAfghanistan. I think India has acritical role in continuing the in-frastructure development of Af-ghanistan," Bera said, adding thatNew Delhi has a role within thebroader context of internationalcommunity.

Observing that nobody wants

to see the re-emergence of Talibanor terrorism, Bera said this iswhere India as part of interna-tional community can be a keyleader in partnership with theUnited States and Afghanistan.

The tri-lateral relationship be-tween the US, India and Afghani-stan is important to help maintainstability, he noted.

Bera, who has been speakingabout India-US relationship in theCongress, hoped that it would befurther strengthened after Secre-

tary of State John Kerry visits In-dia for strategic dialogue later thismonth.

The Indian-American, who hasimpressed even his critics with hisstrong performance both insideand outside the Congress, said hehoped that the recently held elec-tions in Pakistan and formation ofthe new government would helpin improving relationship betweenIndia and Pakistan.

"It is India's interest. (Pakistan)Prime Minister (Nawaz) Sharif hasindicated he would like to see in-crease trade between the (two)countries and I think this is some-thing that the United State wouldfoster," he said.

Uniquely placed on India-USrelationship, given that he is anIndian-American, Bera said mem-bers from both the parties haveincreasingly been coming to himto get his advice and counsel, onthis relationship.

His election to the US Houseof Representatives has encour-aged several Indian-Americansacross the country to run forelected offices, he said, hopingthat in the next five-ten years therewould be several Indian Ameri-cans in the Congress.

"My parents' generation cansee pride in eyes that many ofthem would have said they would

it was unlikely to see someonefrom their community get electedto the highest levels in UnitedStates govt. They are proud to seethat," he said.

"In the next generation you

can see sparkle in their eyes thatthey can dream of being anythingthat they want to be. I can be arole model in that sense - go outand give it a try you can accom-

The Indian-American, who has impressedeven his critics with his strong performanceboth inside and outside the Congress, saidhe hoped that the recently held elections inPakistan and formation of the new govern-ment would help in improving relationship

plish anything."That's when I talked about in

the next 5 to 10 years seeing sev-eral fellow Indian Americans asmembers of congress, I believethat. When I talk about seeing

within the next decade IndianAmerican US senators, I believethat. And you have a chance toaccomplish anything in America,"Bera said. -PTI

Ami Bera

CBI books Jindal, ex-MoS coal for cheating, graft

CBI officials during a raid at the residence of MP Naveen Jindal

NEW DELHI: In a major embar-rassment to the Congress, its MPNaveen Jindal and former Minis-ter of State for Coal DasariNarayan Rao have been accusedof alleged cheating and graft byCBI in its fresh FIR in the coalscam.

After registering the 12th FIRin coal block allocation scamprobe, CBI sources said theagency carried out searches at 15locations including residence andoffices of Jindal in the nationalcapital and Rao in Hyderabad.

The agency team carried outcoordinated searches at the 6-Prithviraj Road residence of Jindaland offices of his firms in BikhajiCama place.

Besides Jindal and Rao, CBIhas also booked companies JindalSteel and Power Limited andGagan Sponge which were allot-ted Amarkonda Murgadangal coalblock in Birbhum, Jharkhand in theyear 2008.

The agency also bookedJindal's companies - Jindal Realtyand ND Exim and Rao's companySaubhagya Media.

The agency has accusedJindal, Rao and the companies ofalleged criminal conspiracy,cheating and relevant provisions

of the Prevention of Cor-ruption Act.

Rao, a former Con-gress Rajya Sabha MP,held position of Minis-ter of state for Coal be-tween 2004-06 and be-tween 2006 and 2008. Hehas already beenquizzed by the agency inconnection with theprobe in coal block allo-cation scam.

Reacting to the devel-opment, Head of Exter-nal Affairs, Jindal Steeland Power Limited,Manu Kapoor said,"JSPL, as a law abidingcompany, is governedby a strong ethical codeof conduct. This is anongoing CBI investiga-tion into coal block allo-cation. At this stage ofinvestigation, JSPL iscommitted to fully coop-erate with CBI."

BJP SpokespersonPrakash Javdekar termedthe action of agency toolittle too later and de-manded that actionshould not be limited tosearches alone.-PTI

Santa Monicagun rampageclaims fifth victim

LOS ANGELES: The death tollfrom a mass shooting in Califor-nia rose to five after a 26-year-oldwoman seriously wounded duringthe gun rampage died in hospital,authorities said.

Marcela Franco was caught ina hail of bullets that also claimedthe life of her father Carlos duringthe shooting in the upmarketbeach resort of Santa Monica car-ried out by a gunman clad in blackand wearing body amour.

Local media reports have iden-tified the gunman as John Zawahri,who was due to turn 24. The gun-man was shot and killed by policeafter being cornered in the libraryof Santa Monica College.

Marcela Franco and her father,a groundskeeper at the school,died after Zawahri opened fire ona car they were traveling in at thecollege.

"I am saddened to report thatMarcela Franco passed away atRonald Reagan UCLA MedicalCenter," Santa Monica Collegepresident Chui Tsang said in astatement on the school'swebsite. -AFP


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NYC chef names new dishon spelling bee winner

NEW YORK: A popular NewYork restaurant has unveiled in itsmenu a new dish Arvind miniknaidel named after the 2013 Na-tional Spelling Bee winner ArvindMahankali.

Indian-Americanstudent Arvind wonfirst place in ScrippsNational Spelling Beecompetition by cor-rectly spelling the wordknaidel the German de-rived Yiddish word formatzo ball, a small massof leavened doughthat's a kosher delicacy.

This was an-nounced at an eventhere organized by USCongresswoman GraceMeng to commemoratethe victory of Arvind,who resides in her con-stituency in Queens'sborough of New York,at Bens Best KosherDeli in Rego Park,Queens.

It was attended by alarge number of Indian-American and Jewish-American communityleaders of New York.

Jay Parker, the owner and chefof the restaurant announced thatthe new menu Arvind mini knaidelwould be served to its customersto commemorate the victory of theneighborhood boy in the nationalchampionship.

The mini matzo balls made outof dough, mayonnaise and eggsis essentially a soup menu, he saiddedicating the new dish to thewinner to all round cheers of

guests.He said the dish represent the

love of Jewish community to thewinner. Rego Park is predomi-nantly a Jewish neighborhood of

New York.Meng, a member of US House

of Representatives, who had ar-ranged the event with communityorganizations, said the new dishexemplifies the diversity ofQueens, especially New York thathas immigrants from every coun-try around the world.

She said the Queens borough,New York City and the New YorkState is proud of and is now cel-ebrating the 13-year-old boy's

hard work and success in nationalcompetition.

She also presented Arvind witha US national flag that was flownatop The Capitol building in

Washington in his honor and con-gratulated Arvind's parentsSrinivas and Bhavani Mahankali,a native of Andhra Pradesh.

Cynthia Zalisky, executive di-rector of Queens Jewish Commu-nity Council, Uma Mysorekar,president of Hindu Temple Soci-ety of North America said theircongregation was proud of theachievement of Arvind who putQueens's borough on the interna-tional map. -PTI

Arvind Mahankali tastes knaidels with Rep. Grace Meng and Jay Parker,

the owner of Ben’s Best Deli

US body plans to set up10 science centers

WASHINGTON: A US-basedbody will set up 10 science cen-ters -

Spark!Lab - across India toencourage inventive creativity inIndia's young people and help tocreate its next generation of inno-vators.

At an event held at the IndianEmbassy here, it was announcedthat the Smithsonian's LemelsonCenter for the Study ofInvention and Innova-tion has entered into anarrangement with Fed-eration of Indian Cham-bers of Commerce andIndustry (FICCI) in thisregard.

Operating as a pub-lic-private partnership,initially 10 pilotSpark!Lab sites wouldbe set up over the next two yearswith the goal of jumpstarting anIndian-run network of up to 100labs.

Activities will incorporate rel-evant topics and themes to the in-dividual communities in Indiawhere Spark!Labs will be located.

The Lemelson Center believesthat Spark!Lab can encourage in-ventive creativity in India's youngpeople and help to create its next

generation of innovators, it said.Officials of the Lemelson said

Spark!Lab can play an importantrole in India's future, helping toencourage initiative creativity andfoster critical 21st century skillsin its youngest citizens, which cantranslate into future economicgrowth for India.

The Lemelson Center estab-lished its first Spark!Lab in 2008

at the National Museum of Ameri-can History as the core of its edu-cational programs.

Spark!Lab is a hands-on, in-vention-based workspace thatoffers families with children ages6-12 dynamic activities to dis-cover the process of inventionand practice 21st century skillswhile exploring a range of disci-plines including history, science,engineering and art. -PTI

Operating as a public-private partnership, initially10 pilot Spark!Lab siteswould be set up over thenext two years with thegoal of jumpstarting anIndian-run network

Indian-Americans remember'Fallen Heroes'

HOUSTON: Hundreds of In-dian-Americans paid tributes tothe 'Fallen Heroes' at India Househere, commemorating the braveryof four valiant firefighters whodied while saving others in a mas-sive hotel fire last week.

The Indian-Americans gath-ered to participate in a prayer meet-ing for 'Fallen Heroes', who losttheir lives in the hotelfire, described as dead-liest day in the HoustonFire Department's 118-year history.

Indian-Americansappealed the commu-nity to keep the affectedfamilies in theirthoughts and prayers.

"At this time of trag-edy and human suffer-ing, the Indian Ameri-can community is coming to-gether to help the victims' fami-lies," the organizers said.

Major participating organiza-tions include India Culture Cen-tre, India House, Hindus of GreaterHouston, Indo-American Cham-ber of Commerce, Indo-AmericanCharity Foundation, Sewa Inter-

national, Indo-American PoliticalAction Committee.

Meanwhile, thousands at-tended a tearful farewell to thefour fallen fire fighters.

"It's a painful day," Texas Gov-ernor Rick Perry said.

"It's also a necessary day. Andit's our duty to honor these fourindividuals who sacrificed every-

thing in the service of their com-munity." he said.

"Flames don't discriminate. Itdoesn't matter if it's a seasonedveteran or a fresh graduate of theacademy," the Governor said.

Mayor Annise Parker, amongpublic officials, added brushstrokes to the verbal portraits.-PTI

"At this time of tragedy andhuman suffering, the IndianAmerican community iscoming together to help thevictims' families," theorganizers said.

Indian-American doctor guiltyof healthcare fraud

WASHINGTON: An Indian-American cardiologist haspleaded guilty to charges that hefalsely recorded the severity ofpatients' illnesses in order to re-ceive payment for numerous heartprocedures.

Sandesh Rajaram Patil, 51, aformer doctor at a hospital in Ken-tucky, is the third cardiologist inthe United States to be federallyprosecuted for health care fraudrelated to the placement of heartstents, according to the USAttorney's Office.

The Justice Department saidPatil admitted to making false state-ments regarding the placement ofheart stents, the metal tubes surgi-cally inserted into a patient's arter-

ies in order to improve blood flow.Patil reached an agreement

with the US Attorney's Office toserve a prison term between 30and 37 months, pending a judge'sapproval.

Patil is scheduled for sentenc-ing on August 27. St Joseph'shospital has repaid the govern-ment USD 256,800 for cardiac

stent procedures that Patil falselysubmitted for reimbursement in2009 and 2010.

"Dr Patil violated the public'strust in physicians," said Kerry BHarvey, US Attorney for the East-ern District of Kentucky.

For a cardiac stent procedureto qualify as a medical necessity,it is generally accepted that a pa-tient must have at least 70 per centblockage of an artery and symp-toms of blockage.

Patil admitted that he placedstents in arteries that had substan-tially less than 70 per cent blockage.He nonetheless recorded blockageof 70 per cent or more in patient docu-ments to guarantee payment fromMedicare and Medicaid. -PTI

Patil reached anagreement with theUS Attorney's Officeto serve a prison termbetween 30 and37 months


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HSC students celebrate Swami Vivekananda's teachingsIndia Post News Service

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, PA: Hindu Stu-dents Council (HSC) celebrated the 150thbirth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda atHSC's 23rd Annual Camp. Over 55 Hindustudents and young professionals from 18different universities across the nationgathered on Memorial Day weekend on thegrounds of Vraj Bhoomi in Pennsylvania.

Attendees delved into Hindu Dharmathrough interactive talks with cutting-edgescholars of religion and engaged in discus-sions about Hinduism in America. Studentsdebated about issues facing Hinduism on

college campuses andhow to address Westernmisappropriations ofHindu practices and phi-losophy without compro-mising its core Dharmicvalues.

"This year's HSCcamp was highly suc-cessful in terms of provid-ing the education neededto bring Hindu youthback in touch with theircultural and spiritualroots. Far too many young Hindus go without access to the deeper teachings of their

tradition and follow a diluted versionlearned by merely copying their parents,"said Ravi Jaishankar, President of HSC.

Neela Bhattacharya Saxena gave a lec-ture on the women-centric traditions ofworship in Hinduism and the way suchphilosophies can help reshape our world.The lecture on Shakti and Tantric traditionsled to a lively discussion regarding theirapplication in contemporary life. And DrJeffrey Long, from Elizabethtown College,gave an overview of Vedantic principles,which sparked a deep discussion aboutHindu philosophical concepts that also linkto modern science.

Kanchan Banerjee, member of the HSCBoard of Trustees, sought to dispel misun-derstandings about the caste system anddiscussed how the Hindu concept of Varnatranscends hierarchical notions that havebeen linked to caste. And Aditi Banerjee,

co-author and editor of Invading The Sa-cred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies inAmerica, gave a talk about Lord Krishna'steachings in the Gita on the idea that theDharmic path can differ based on situationand context, unlike Western notions of ab-solute morality.

"It is great that the HSC National Campbrings together the community to reflecton important Hindu issues and to developplans to thoughtfully cultivate Hinduismin the United States in the future," remarkedNeel Koyawala, Co-President of HSC's Uni-versity of Pennsylvania Chapter.

The camp's spiritual, intellectual andsocial activities formed a deep sense ofconnection and friendship among theyouth. Students participated in yoga,games, discussions, bhajans, prayer andtemple visits. Attendees also were able tobond through a cultural celebration at nightof Garba and Bhangra.

Students at HSC Camp


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US, China to work jointly to phase down HFCsWASHINGTON: For the first time, the

US and China, the world's top two green-house-gas emitters, have agreed to worktogether and with other countries to phasedown the consumption and production ofhydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as an impor-tant new step to combat global climatechange.

"Today, President (Barack) Obama andPresident Xi (Jinping) agreed on an impor-tant new step to confront global climatechange. For the first time, the United Statesand China will work together and with othercountries to use the expertise and institu-tions of the Montreal Protocol to phasedown the consumption and production ofhydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), among otherforms of multilateral cooperation," theWhite House said in a press statement.

The statement came soon after Obamaand Xi ended their maiden meeting at thedesert resort at Sunnylands, just outsidePalm Springs in California.

A global phase down of HFCs couldpotentially reduce some 90 gigatonnes ofCO2 equivalent by 2050, equal to roughlytwo years worth of current global green-house gas emissions, the White Housestatement said after the two-day informalsummit.

The bilateral agreement says, "Regard-ing HFCs, the United States and Chinaagreed to work together and with other

countries through multilateral approachesthat include using the expertise and insti-tutions of the Montreal Protocol to phasedown the production and consumption ofHFCs, while continuing to include HFCswithin the scope of UNFCCC and its KyotoProtocol provisions for accounting and re-porting of emissions.

HFCs are potent greenhouse gases usedin refrigerators, air conditioners, and indus-trial applications. While they do not depletethe ozone layer, many are highly potentgreenhouse gases. Their use is growingrapidly as replacements for ozone -deplet-

ing substances that are being phased outunder the Montreal Protocol on Substancesthat Deplete the Ozone Layer.

"Left unabated, HFC emissions growthcould grow to nearly 20 per cent of carbondioxide emissions by 2050, a serious climatemitigation concern," the statement said.

In 2006, China overtook the UnitedStates as the world's biggest producer ofcarbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas.

According to the Netherlands Environ-mental Assessment Agency, China produced6,200m tonnes of CO2 in 2006, comparedwith 5,800m tonnes from the US. -PTI

India ranks 5thon US email spynetwork

LONDON: India has emerged as the fifthmost tracked country by the US intelligencewhich used a secret data-mining programto monitor worldwide internet data.

Britain's Guardian newspaper claims tohave acquired top secret documents aboutUS' National Security Agency's (NSA)data-mining tool, called Boundless Infor-mant.

The tool details and even maps by coun-try the voluminous amount of informationit collects from computer and telephonenetworks.

A snapshot of the Boundless Informantdata, contained in a top secret NSA "globalheat map", shows that in March 2013 theagency collected 97 billion pieces of intelli-gence from computer networks worldwide,the daily reported.

It showed that Iran was the countrywhere the largest amount of intelligence wasgathered, with more than 14 billion reportsin that period, followed by 13.5 billion fromPakistan.

Jordan, one of America's closest Araballies, came third with 12.7 billion, Egyptfourth with 7.6 billion and India fifth with6.3billion.

"The tool allows users to select a coun-try on a map and view the metadata volumeand select details about the collectionsagainst that country," an NSA fact sheetabout the Boundless Informant programreads.

The heat map gives each nation a colorcode based on how extensively it is sub-jected to NSA surveillance.

The color scheme ranges from green(least subjected to surveillance) throughyellow and orange to red (most surveillance).

The disclosure of the internal Bound-less Informant system comes amid astruggle between the NSA and its overseersin the American Senate over whether it cantrack the intelligence it collects on Ameri-can communications.

The NSA's position is that it is not tech-nologically feasible to do so. -PTI


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George Cross restored to widow of Indian soldierLONDON: A British court has

clinched a settlement for an 81-year-old Indian widow in a long-running dispute over the owner-ship of a precious gallantry medalawarded to her late husband, aWorld War II soldier in the BritishIndian Army.

The High Court of London, inan order on June 5, approved apre-trial settlement that theGeorge Cross posthumouslyawarded to Naik Kirpa Ram is the

property of his wife Brahmi Devi.A campaign is now underway

among the Indian community inBritain to raise 12,000 ponds ascosts to be paid to the currentowner, retired Indian Army officerand medal collector Ashok Nath.

"The medal and the medalgroup remain in custody of theMetropolitan Police until payment

to the claimant (Nath) of the saidsum of 12,000 ponds," the courtorder reads.

Justice Stuart-Smith endorsedthe "exceptional and honorablesettlement" of what has been de-scribed as a highly complex dis-pute.

A deadline of December 31,2013, has been set to pay the12,000 ponds due to Nath, follow-ing which the medal will be re-turned to Brahmi Devi who intends

for its subsequent placement in apublic collection in India.

The medal, one of the few In-dian George Crosses, was awardedto Naik Kirpa Ram of the 8th Bat-talion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles,British Indian Army on September12, 1945, for his act of gallantry insaving the lives of his fellow sol-diers at the cost of his own.

During a field firing exercise ata rest camp at Thondebavi, Ban-galore, a rifle grenade misfiredand fell yards from his section.He rushed forward, shouted athis section to take cover, andattempted to throw the gre-nade a safe distance away.However, it exploded in hishands and his fatal self-sacri-fice meant that only two menof his section were slightlywounded.

His widow, Brahmi Devi,then aged just 13 had beenmarried just days before hernew husband left for the battle-field. In 1946, she traveled fromher small village of Bhapral inBilaspur district, HimachalPradesh, to Delhi to receive themedal in his honor from thethen Viceroy of India, FieldMarshal Lord Wavell.

Brahmi Devi's only cher-ished memory of her late hus-band was then reported stolenfrom a trunk in her home inBhapral back in 2007 and afteryears of knocking on doors ofthe Indian police and Himachalcourts, it appeared on the auctioncircuit through auctioneers DixNoonan Webb in London in 2009

with an anticipated market valueof around 100,000 ponds.

While Nath had acquired themedal in good faith for a reportedsum of 4,000 ponds, the Indian HighCommission in London intervened

to stop the sale on the grounds thatit had most likely either been stolen

or obtained bymeans of trickeryprior to beingsold. Since thenthe GeorgeCross, along withNaik Kirpa Ram'sother medals, hasbeen held by theArt and Antiqui-ties Unit of Scot-land Yard.

"When Iheard about thecase and sawBrahmi Devi'sphotographs, Iwas so moved.She remindedme of my owng r a n d m o t h e rand I immedi-ately decided totake on the case'pro bono'," saidVijay Sharma ofLondon-basedA r l i n g t o n s

Sharmas Solicitors, the law firmbehind the final outcome in favorof the long-suffering Armywidow.-PTI

His widow, Brahmi Devi, then aged just 13had been married just days before her newhusband left for the battlefield. In 1946, shetraveled from her small village of Bhapral inBilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh, to Delhi toreceive the medal in his honor

Brahmi Devi, widow of George Cross awardee Naik Kirpa

Ram, with a picture of her husband


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'NSA's phone & internet spyinghelped track Headley'

WASHINGTON: The leadersof the US Senate and House In-telligence committees have de-fended National SecurityAgency's phone and internet sur-veillance program,saying it has beencritical in thwartingpotential terrorist at-tacks and also to trackthe 2008 Mumbai at-tacks' convict DavidHeadley.

Senate IntelligenceCommittee Chair Sena-tor Dianne Feinsteinsaid that the NSAphone surveillanceprogram revealed inreports is limited inscope to viewingphone records, not lis-tening to private con-versations.

Feinstein said the phone pro-gram had helped disrupt a 2009plot to bomb New York City's sub-ways.

"Feinstein said the program

also helped to track the case ofDavid Headley, a Pakistani-Ameri-can who traveled to Mumbai toscope the Taj Mahal Hotel for anattack," ABC News reported.

Headley was arrested by theUS security agencies in October2009 for scouting the targets ofthe Mumbai terror attack for ter-ror organization LeT.

He has confessed to his roleand has managed a deal with theUS authorities under which heescaped a death penalty.

Feinstein said the shadow ofthe September 11 ter-rorist attacks still loomin her mind, and thatstrong intelligence fromthe type of surveillanceconducted by the NSAis needed to preventfuture attacks.

The eavesdroppingand code-breakingagency is fighting backafter last week's revela-tions by UK's Guardiannewspaper about itstwo surveillance pro-grams raised privacyconcerns.

One program col-lects hundreds of mil-

lions of US phone records whilethe other gathers audio, video,email, photographic and Internetsearch usage of foreign nationalsoverseas. -PTI

David Headle

Asian groups, White Houseseek better race data

WASHINGTON: On paper,Asian-Americans and Pacific Is-landers appear to be a high-achieving bunch with few of thechallenges faced by other racialand ethnic minorities in USschools.

Break these populations downinto their many ethnic groups,however, and stark disparitiesemerge.

For example, between 2006 and

2010, about three-quarters of Tai-wanese-Americans and more thanhalf of Korean-Americans aged 25and older had earned bachelor'sdegrees, but only 10 per cent ofSamoans and 12 per cent of Lao-tian-Americans in that same agerange had done so, large gaps thatfrequently go unseen.

The Asian population ex-panded more than four timesfaster than the overall US popula-tion between 2000 and 2010, ac-cording to the Census Bureau.

Native Hawaiian and PacificIslanders increased more thanthree times faster than the USpopulation over that period, Cen-

sus officials reported.Asian-American and Pacific

Islander professionals spent twodays in Washington recently puz-zling over these types of dispari-ties, and how schools and educa-tional institutions can best dealwith them. Some groups are sosmall in number that gatheringdata on them can inadvertentlyviolate the privacy of specific chil-dren and their families, said Don

Yu, special adviser toEducation SecretaryArne Duncan.

Last year, the Edu-cation Department sentout a request for ideason how to best teaseout and collect data onthe many Asian-Ameri-can and Pacific Is-lander ethnicities, aswell as information on

what is already being done insome states, cities and school dis-tricts. Those ideas were discussedduring the meeting.

Asian-Americans are oftenvery visible academically, such asthe spelling bee champion whosefamily emigrated from India, theclass valedictorian of Japanesedescent or the Chinese-Americanchampion at the science fair. Butsuch successes mask the aca-demic woes of others, such asCambodians and Native Hawai-ians, said Kiran Ahuja, executivedirector of the White House Ini-tiative on Asian Americans andPacific Islanders.-AP

The Asian populationexpanded more than fourtimes faster than the overallUS population between2000 and 2010, accordingto the Census Bureau

Indian workers in SaudiArabia 'duped'

DUBAI: Nearly 200 Indians inSaudi Arabia have accused twoBangladeshi labor-recruitingagents of duping them and forc-ing them to do menial jobs at vari-ous industrial locations wherethey were threatened by bosses.

They approached Indian offi-cials in Dammam with a fraud com-plaint. The workers alleged that arecruitment agent in Mumbai hadpromised them skilled jobs in Al-Babtain Plastic Factory inDammam, the Arab News re-ported.

Nearly 200 skilled and unskilledyouth from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Rajasthan and AndhraPradesh traveled to Saudi Arabiaafter paying between Rs 90,000and Rs 150,000 to the Mumbai-based labor agent Fahad Enter-prises, the paper quoted workersas saying.

All the workers were forced to

do menial jobs at various indus-trial locations in the Eastern Prov-ince. They have not been paid forthe two months after they arrived.

Some of them told Arab Newsthat they are living in deplorableconditions and are being con-stantly threatened by bosses.

One worker, preferring anonym-ity fearing his Bangladeshi boss,said he was hired as an electricianbut has been cleaning toilets sincehis arrival, the paper said.

They said that they are deniedfood if they refuse to work ascleaners. They have not seen thefactory where they were meant towork or the offices of theBangladeshi recruitment agents.

One worker said he had soldthe gold meant for his sister's mar-riage to get a work visa for andwas now unable to go home. Otherworkers had similar stories of fi-nancial hardship. -PTI

12 India Post June 17, 2013www.indiapost.com

TechBizTech News

China wants to revive 'SouthernSilk Road' with India

BEIJING: China is looking torevive the ancient "Southern SilkRoad" with South Asia through theeconomic corridor linkingBangladesh, China, India, andMyanmar (BCIM), a topic that fig-ured prominently during ChinesePremier Li Keqiang's recent India visit.

As it opened its first South AsiaExpo currently being held inKunming, provincial capital ofYunnan, China wants it to be the"bridge head" with India andSouth Asia, Chinese officials said.

China is ready for the revival ofthe "Southern Silk Road" andplans are under discussion, state-run Xinhua news agency quotedYang Ye, a researcher with theDevelopment Research Centre ofYunnan provincial government, assaying.

Chinese scholars say the an-cient silk route, originating fromChina's Chengdu city wanderedthrough Myanmar and then ex-tended to India, Bangladesh andeven the Middle East.

Besides the 16 existing interna-tional transport lines linkingYunnan and some Great MekongSub-regional countries, seventrunk roads originating fromYunnan extending to neighboringnations and provinces have been

promoted as high-grade high-ways, the report said.

These include China-VietnamHighway, China-Laos-ThailandHighway, China-Myanmar High-way, and a domestic section ofChina-India Highway.

With joint efforts by China, In-dia, Myanmar and Bangladesh, a

highway route starting fromYunnan to India by way ofMyanmar have been approved byrelevant departments of the fourcountries, Yang said.

Experts from the four countrieslaunched a field inspection alongthe route in February 2012.

The first auto race along the2,800-km route was successfully

held from late February to earlyMarch this year.

The BCIM economic corridorfigured prominently in Li's lastmonth's talks with Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.

The joint statement issued atthe end of his visit said "encour-aged by the successful BCIM Car

Rally of February 2013 betweenKolkata (east Indian city) andKunming, the two sides agreed toconsult the other parties with aview to establishing a Joint StudyGroup on strengthening connec-tivity in the BCIM region for closereconomic, trade, and people-to-people linkages and to initiatingthe development of a BCIM Eco-

nomic Corridor".Though the route of the new

"Southern Silk Road" has yet tobe determined, the success of therace across the four countries in-dicated that it is possible to builda transport passage along theroute, Yang said.

The route is expected to serve

as an inland bridge linking SouthAsian countries and central, east-ern coastal areas of China, so as topromote the development of west-ern regions of China and boost thecommon prosperity of the nationsalong the route, he said.

An Indian delegation of 130businessmen took part in the Expo.-PTI

Chinese scholars saythe ancient silk route,originating fromChina's Chengdu citywandered throughMyanmar and thenextended to India

Willing to talk to GMR if we come to power: GayoomNEW DELHI: Nearly seven

months after GMR's over USD500 million Male airport projectwas terminated, former Presi-dent and key political playerMaumoon Abdul Gayoom sayshis party is open to do businesswith the Indian infrastructuremajor if it comes back to power.

Blaming former PresidentMohamed Nasheed for inking afaulty contract with GMR result-ing in its termination, Gayoom,who was here recently, said hehas assured top Indian leader-ship including Prime MinisterManmohan Singh that all bilat-eral, regional and internationalcommitments will be respectedby his government.

"The fault lies with the former

President Nasheed because heentered into this agreementagainst the law...our constitutionand law says he should seek and

get parliamentary approval be-cause he enters into such anagreement. He kept the parliament

and public in dark," Gayoom toldPTI.

He said there was lot of publicunhappiness when certain provi-

sions of the contract came to lightwhich, he said, was against theinterest of his country.

"I don't blame GMR for that. Iblame my government, I blameNasheed for doing it against thelaw," he said.

Asked if he, who isconfident of his partyPPM coming back topower in September Presi-dential elections, was will-ing to look at GMR if itcomes with a fresh pro-posal, he said, "every-thing is possible".

"Of course, if you lookat investors, whether it isGMR or Tata or whoever,anybody who wants toinvest in Maldives, we

will talk to them.

Cont’d on page 14

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

He said there waslot of public unhap-piness when certainprovisions of thecontract came tolight which, he said,was against the inter-ests of his country.

Airport privatizationmay not beforever: ACI chief

CAPETOWN: Indicating thatprivatization of airports' manage-ment in east Indian city Kolkataand south Indian city Chennaishould not be permanent, a globalairport expert has said such a moveby the government should be in-tended only to give a "breather"to the Airports Authority of Indiawhich has modernized them.

"I don't know how much theAAI was involved in the decision-making process. Sometimes, itmakes sense to outsource certainareas at least for some time. Whenyou privatize something, it is notnecessarily forever. It is a breath-ing spell... to give time to catchyour breath," global airports bodyAirports Council International(ACI) Director General AngelaGittens told PTI here.

The chief of ACI, which repre-sents 573 members operating 1,751airports in 174 countries and terri-tories across the globe, was askedabout government's recent deci-sion to privatize management con-trol of the Kolkata and Chennai air-ports through global competitivebidding. -PTI

Canada for earlysigning of CEPAwith India

TORONTO: India and Canadamust sign two key trade agree-ments to unlock the full potentialof their economic ties, CanadianForeign Minister John Baird hassaid as he called for a "robust"collaboration to combat terrorismand proliferation of nuclear weap-ons.

"We're negotiating a Compre-hensive Economic PartnershipAgreement, or CEPA. We look for-ward to greater momentum in thesetalks and plan to conclude a high-quality agreement by the end ofthis year," he said.

"A CEPA could boost Canada'sand India's economies by at leastUSD 6 billion each year," Bairdsaid after honoring 11 Indo-Cana-dians for their outstanding contri-butions to Canadian economy atthe Indo-Canada Chamber ofCommerce's (ICCC) Annual Awardsand Gala Night here.

"Indeed, we need a completedtrade agreement for two-way tradeto blossom," Baird said addingthat, "We're eager to finalize theforeign investment promotion andprotection agreement (FIPPA),which would make it easier andmore predictable for Canadiancompanies to do business in In-dia.-PTI

Former CFO of TCS ,S Mahalingam and CEO of CIMA, Charles Tilley during a

MOU signing between CII-TCM and CIMA in Mumbai on June 7

13India PostTechBiz PostJune 17, 2013

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Myanmar allows access to Indian airlinesYANGON: Indian airlines can

now operate flights to Myanmaras the country has granted trafficrights to India-based carriers pav-ing the way for air connectivitybetween the nations.

"Yes, we (Indian airlines) gotthe fifth freedom rights which is amajor concession," Commerce andIndustry Minister Anand Sharmasaid here.

The fifth freedom rights allowan airline carry revenue traffic be-tween countries as a part of ser-vices connecting the airline's owncountry.

At present, there is no directair connectivity between India andMyanmar.

Indian private carrier SpiceJethas expressed interest to fly from

Delhi to Dhaka, continuing on toYangon.

"SpiceJet has applied to fly onthis route under the fifth freedomrights," an official said adding theregulatory approval is awaited forthe same.

During his visit to Myanmar,Sharma held bilateral meetingswith various ministers includingForeign Minister U Wunna MaungLwin, Commerce Minister U WinMyint, Energy Minister U ThanHtay and Communications and ITMinister U Myat Hein and dis-cussed ways to strengthen thepolitical, economic and culturalties between the two nations.

Besides, India has askedMyanmar to seriously considerthe bids of Indian telecom compa-

nies like Bharti Airtel for expand-ing telephone services in its na-tion.

In a meeting with Hein, Sharmadiscussed the selection process

for telecom companies which isgoing on in Myanmar.

The Myanmar government had

called for bids for two telecom li-censes and shortlisted 12 appli-cants. Bharti Airtel has submitted

its final bid for telecom license inthe country.

Other Indian companies whichare upbeat on business prospectsin resource-rich Myanmar includefew oil firms - ONGC Videsh Ltdand Oil India, besides banks likeSBI and Bank of India

Sharma has said that over thenext few years, "We will see aninvestment of around USD 2.6 bil-lion from India to Myanmar."

India is the tenth largest inves-tor in Myanmar with an invest-ment estimated at USD 273.5 mil-lion.

Indian companies like TataMotors, Essar Energy, Escorts,Sonalika Tractors, Zydus Pharma-ceuticals, Ranbaxy and CadilaHealthcare already have their pres-ence in Myanmar. -PTI

RBI fines Axis, HDFC & ICICI banksMUMBAI: Reserve Bank of

India (RBI) has imposed fines to-taling Rs 10.5 crore on top threeprivate lenders - Axis Bank, HDFCBank and ICICI Bank - for violat-ing KYC and anti-money launder-ing norms and said it was con-ducting inquiries against 36 otherbanks following an expose madeby an online portal.

A penalty of Rs 5 crore hasbeen imposed on Axis Bank, Rs4.5 crore on HDFC Bank and Rs 1crore on ICICI Bank after inquir-ing into charges leveled by anonline portal Cobrapost.

"After considering the facts ofeach case...Reserve Bank came toconclusion that some of the viola-tions were substantiated and war-ranted imposition of monetarypenalty..." the central bank said ina statement.

The three banks refused tocomment on RBI's action.

The penalty follows scrutinycarried out by RBI of books of ac-counts, internal control, compli-ance systems and processes ofthese three banks at their corpo-rate offices and some branchesduring March/April 2013.

The scrutiny was conducted to

probe the allegations of contra-vention of Know Your Customer(KYC)/anti-money launderingguidelines against them followingthe expose.

Although the investigation didnot reveal any prima facie evi-dence of money laundering, RBIsaid that "any conclusive infer-ence in this regard can be drawnonly by an end-to-end investiga-tion of the transactions by tax andenforcement agencies".

It further said that a similar scru-

tiny was being conducted at cor-porate offices of 36 other banksand "the process of follow up ac-tion in respect of these banks is atdifferent stages of its comple-tion."

The scrutiny of these threebanks, RBI said, revealed violationof certain regulations and instruc-tions issued by the central bank

from time to time.The violations include non-ob-

servance of certain safeguards inrespect of arrangement of "at par"payment of cheques drawn by

cooperative banks, non-adher-ence to certain aspects of KYC andAML guidelines like risk categori-zation and periodical review of riskprofiling of account holders.

They did not adhere to the KYCnorms for walk-in customers forsale of third party products andfailed to file cash transaction re-ports in respect of some cashtransactions and sale of goldcoins for cash beyond Rs 50,000.

In certain cases, the banks failedto obtain permanent account num-ber (PAN) card details or form 60/61 and verify the source of fundscredited to a few non-resident or-dinary (NRO) accounts.

RBI had launched the investi-gation into the working of banksfollowing the expose byCobrapost which showed somebankers giving suggestions tocustomers on ways to bypassregulatory norms.

The first expose had namedICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFCBank. Later, scores of other publicand private sector banks and in-surance companies figured in theexpose. -PTI

They did not adhere to the KYC norms forwalk-in customers for sale of third partyproducts and failed to file cash transactionreports in respect of some cash transactionsand sale of gold coins for cash beyond Rs50,000.In certain cases, the banks failed toobtain permanent account number (PAN)card details

AirAsia to cut ties withJapan's ANA

TOKYO: Asia's largest budgetcarrier AirAsia is to pull out of itspartnership with Japan's AllNippon Airways because ofslumping business, a report saidhere.

Malaysia-based AirAsia hasdecided to withdraw from AirAsiaJapan, a company it jointly formedwith ANA to begin low-cost car-rier operations out of Tokyo'sNarita International Airport in Au-gust 2012, the Nikkei businessdaily said.

AirAsia's CEO Tony Fernandesreached a basic accord on the dis-solution after discussions withsenior officials of ANA Holdings,which owns ANA, the newspaper

said.Under their accord, the Japa-

nese airline plans to buy the 49percent stake held by its Malay-sian counterpart and turn the jointventure into a 100 per cent sub-sidiary, it said.

AirAsia aims to establish a newbudget airline operator in partner-ship with another Japanese com-pany, the paper said.

The airline's Japan's service islikely to continue under the PeachAviation brand when AirAsiaJapan's service finishes at the endof October, it said. Peach Aviationis an ANA group budget carrierbased at Kansai International Air-port, western Japan. -AFP

India Post TechBiz Post June 17, 2013

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14

Willing to talk to GMR if wecome to power: Gayoom

"And if you can come to ar-rangement which is good for bothsides and is not harmful to any oneside, we will of course welcomethat," Gayoom said.

Asked about the implicationsof the forced exit of GMR fromMaldives that has eroded inves-tor confidence, he said, "I haveassured everyone who I met herethat in the PPM govern-ment, we will give fullassurance to foreign in-vestors.

We will protect allforeign investments.We will honor our com-mitments.

"All bilateral, re-gional and internationalcommitments will behonored and respectedby the PPM govern-ment. I have said that toeverybody here andthey believe that," he said.

GMR was forced out of theMale airport modernization projectby the current regime of MohamedWaheed which said the contractsigned during the previous gov-ernment was not legal.

PPM, which is part of the coali-tion government there, too hadraised objections against the con-tract.

An arbitration process is cur-rently on between GMR and theMaldivian government. The epi-

sode late last year had led to lot ofrifts in the Indo-Maldives ties.

Asked where he saw the bilat-eral relations if his party came topower, Gayoom, whose brother isPPM's Presidential candidate,said, "It will grow very well. Be-cause I was here and had the op-portunity to meet Prime Ministerand External Affairs Minister andthey have all assured me full sup-port to Maldives' stability and

Maldives' welfare".He added, "I am sure it is genu-

ine. I have experienced it myself. Iwas there for 30 years, I had verygood relations with Indian leader-ship. All Prime Ministers that haveserved the country for 30 years.

"They visited Male, I visitedhere. We had a good rapport. I amsure India will support us in all ourdevelopmental efforts. I foresee aperiod of very strong relations be-tween Maldives and India after Presi-dential elections," he said.. -PTI

GMR was forced out of theMale airport modernizationproject by the current re-gime of Mohamed Waheedwhich said the contractsigned during the previousgovernment was not legal.

TCS, Canada's ICTC to roll outprogram for high school pupils

AI expects 20 pc hike inrevenue: Ajit

LONDON: Beleaguered AirIndia's fortunes seem to be shor-ing up with the airline estimatingthat its total revenue would go up20 per cent by the end of the cur-rent financial year.

The national carrier's total rev-enue is expected to go up from Rs16,130 crore in 2012-13 to Rs19,393 crore in 2013-14, Civil Avia-tion Minister Ajit Singh said at afunction here to celebrate comple-tion of Air India's 65 yeas of ser-vice on the London route.

Reflecting a turnaround earlierthan planned, the airline is deter-mined to achieve the target ofgrowing its operating revenue toby over 20 per cent, Singh said.

According to the minister, AirIndia also estimates that itsEBITDA (earnings before interest,taxes, depreciation and amortisa-tion) would increase from Rs 19.45crore in 2012-13 to Rs 1,040 crorein the current fiscal.

"We are restructuring AirIndia's operations. Right nowthere are only two Indian air carri-ers who are doing internationaloperations -- Jet and Air India. Jetis making profit but Air India isincurring losses. So we are tryingto reduce our costs through vari-ous ways and in the process theDreamliners are playing a very im-portant role," he told PTI.

Air India has re-launched com-mercial flight of the Dreamlinerbetween Delhi and London onMay 22 and plans to expand its

global network using the Boeing787 Dreamliner aircraft as the state-of-the-art aircraft took to the skiesagain after being grounded sinceJanuary 17 after reporting severalbattery fire incidents.

The minister avoided replyingwhen asked if Air India plans to

charge passengers extra for seatallotments and additional baggage,but said "we have asked for astudy on the global practice. I amtold that it is a global practice tocharge extra for providing extraservices."

"See, we are hybrid. We havethe economy class in which so farwe are not charging, but in case ofbusiness class we are charging ex-tra for providing services like ex-tra leg rooms, flat beds etc., so let's

see," Singh said.Maintaining that FDI is good

for the civil aviation industry andIndian air carriers, he said "ourbanks are financially over-exposedto the sector. They are not so keento give loan to airlines. That is whyFDI is a welcome step."

Singh said the loss-makingroutes of Air India have been re-duced from 69 per cent to 25 percent, while its on-time perfor-mance in 2012-13 has been 77.1 percent (domestic 80.2 per cent andinternational 70.8 per cent).

There has also been a "signifi-cant increase" in business and firstclass passengers which has con-tributed to growth in yields onboth domestic and internationalnetworks, he said.-PTI

AI likely to scrap free meals on short-haul

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh

NEW DELHI: Air India is con-sidering not to offer any meal oncertain short-haul domestic flightsand join other Indian carriers totake a fee for preferred seats.

No decision has yet been ar-rived at on these matters but theairline is actively considering theoptions, Air India sources saidhere.

The national carrier, which hasalready stopped serving hot mealson domestic flights of less than 90minutes, could decide not to serveany food on its services which areless than one hour, the sourcessaid.

Currently, passengers pay forhaving food on no-frill carriersIndiGo, Spicejet and GoAir, whilefull service airlines Air India andJet Airways provide complimen-tary meals on all flights.

Serving of hot meals entail ad-ditional financial burden as an air-craft has to have in-flight heatingsystems which consume a lot of

power. The cost and availability ofmeals on airlines has changed con-siderably in the recent years.

Globally, financial pressures

have inspired some airlines to ei-ther begin charging for meals orabandon them altogether in favorof small snacks.

By not serving meals on short-haul sectors, Air India can achieve

a faster turnaround of an aircraft,which would remain cleaner andhave lesser weight on a flight, thesources said, adding that such a

move would reduce costs in a ma-jor way.

Air India has already beenserving cold meals like sand-wiches and muffins on flights lessthan 90 minutes.-PTI

MUMBAI: The country's larg-est software services firm TCSsays it has partnered withCanada's Information and Commu-nications Technology Council(ICTC) to develop a program to gethigh school students interested inpursuing higher education infields like science and mathemat-ics.

ICTC is a not-for-profit organi-zation that conducts research, anddevelops and implements solu-tions to help Canadians take ad-vantage of the digital economy.

Under its goIT initiative inCanada, Tata Consultancy Ser-vices has been working with ICTCto develop a program to get grade7-10 students in Canada interestedin pursuing higher education inscience, technology, engineeringand mathematics (STEM) fields,TCS said in a statement.

The program will be initiallyrolled out to 10 schools within the

Greater Toronto area starting inthe 2013-14 school year, with theintent to expand to more schoolboards and regions acrossCanada, it added.

It will be led by TCS profession-als and involve multiple in-schoolworkshops throughout the entireschool season on some of the lat-est technology topics.

In the first year, the program willtarget over 1,000 students.

"Building on a long history ofworking with Canadian universi-ties, TCS is delighted to introduceour goIT program which is de-signed specifically for students atthe stage that they most likely startmaking career choices," TCSCanada Marketing Head and localgoIT Program Owner LoucasSaites said.

Canada needs to attract morestudents into ICT and TCS isproud to partner with ICTC to fur-ther this cause, he added. -PTI

www.indiapost.com June 17, 2013

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 26

16 India Post

Desi News Sahara Walkcreates awareness

for women'sempowerment

Details on page 22

Details on page 21

Details on page 25

Chicagoans give fond farewellto CG Mukta Tomar

SURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: Chicagoans viedwith each other to bid farewell topopular Indian Consul GeneralMukta Tomar who is leaving heroffice after a three year success-ful run as Indian CG at the Down-town Consulate office. She hadsucceeded Ambassador AshokAttri and struck instant rapportwith Indian Diaspora in Midwestregion.

A farewell function was held atthe Consulate in Chicago Down-town on Friday May 31 where theelite of Indian community flockedto express their appreciation forthe departing CG as also to offertheir best wishes to her for her newassignment in the Foreign Minis-try in New Delhi. Notable pres-ence was that of Pakistani ConsulGeneral Zaheer Pervaiz Khan whopresented her with a beautifulbook Journey In Pakistan. His ges-ture of goodwill was vastly appre-ciated.

Heads of Indian corporationsand associations, Prof Pandeyand Naren Patel of AIA, Ms Hina

Trivedi, Iftekhar Shareef of FIA,Gurbachan Kaur of Hindi LoversClub, Niranjan Shah ofGlobetrotter Eng Corp, Dr BirendraSinha of Anila Sinha Foundation,Balwinder Singh of Gurudwara

Sahib of Chicago, Vinesh Virani ofArt of Living, Dr Aniruddh, RohotJoshi of Northeasern IllinoisUniverity, Usha Kamaria of NilesTownship Indian Community, DrMehboob Kapaida, Gur

Mahendra Kumar, Rishikant SinghMidwest Manager of Air India andMedia representatives werepresent.

Cont’d on page 20

FBI group votes to track Sikh hate crimesIndia Post News Service

WASHINGTON DC: An advi-sory policy board of the FederalBureau of Investigation (FBI)has voted to revise its hate crimestatistics so that hate crimes aretracked against Sikhs, Hindus,and Arabs.

The board voted to createnew religion tracking categoriesbased on religious groups enu-merated in Pew Forum studiesand the last edition of the U.S.Census Bureau's Statistical Ab-stract of the United States,which includes Sikhs. The newchanges are expected to beimplemented by 2015.

The highly anticipated deci-sion comes more than two yearsafter the Sikh Coalition first re-quested that the agency begintracking hate crimes against Sikh

Americans, the way it does forChristians, Jews, Muslims, andAtheists. During this period,

Sikhs have been subjected to aspate of suspected hate attacksin California, Florida, New York,Washington, and the massacre ofsix worshippers on August 5,2012 at a Sikh Gurdwara in OakCreek, Wisconsin.

Over 140 bipartisan membersof the U.S. House of Representa-tives, U.S. Senate, and American

Sikh Congressional Caucus, aswell as the U.S. Attorney General,endorsed the Sikh Coalition's re-quest to add hate crime trackingcategories for Sikhs, Hindus andArabs.

The request for Sikh hate crime

tracking was also poignantlymade at a U.S. Senate hearinglast September by Harpreet

Singh Saini,who lost hismother duringthe Oak Creekattack.

Accord ingto Sikh Coali-tion surveys inNew York Cityand the SanFrancisco BayArea, approxi-mately 10 per-cent of Sikh

adults claim they have experi-enced physical violence or prop-erty damage because of their re-ligion. This suggests that Sikhsmay be hundreds of times morelikely than their fellow Americansto experience hate crimes.

Ro call to curbabuses in PatentSystemIndia Post News Service

FREMONT, CA: Ro Khanna,intellectual property attorney andcandidate for California's 17thcongressional district, has issueda statement on the White Houseannouncement of legislative rec-ommendations and executive or-ders addressing patent reform.

His statement says, "I am veryencouraged by the President'sleadership on increasing transpar-ency and confronting abuse in ouroutdated patent system. I fullysupport the Administrations pro-posals as they seek to protect con-sumers, early stage startups andlarger high-tech companies fromfrivolous and costly litigation.

Ramayana -A must see showin Bay AreaVIDYA SETHURAMAN

India Post News Service

FREMONT, CA: Like most In-dians, I too have grown on the sto-ries of the ancient epic"Ramayana", be it Rama's child-hood adventures, villainous act ofKaikeyi, friendship of Hanuman orVibishana's great deeds. Now inits 35th year, Mount MadonnaSchool's Ramayana is the longestrunning Western production ofthe Indian classic epic.

The show features a cast ofmore than 205 student performers,ages 3 to 19 (preschoolers to highschool), accompanied by a choirand musicians.

Sidhi VinayakTemple forNJ town India Post News Service

NEW JERSEY: The ground-breaking ceremony ofSiddhivinayak Temple was heldin Toms River (New Jersey) onJune 1.

Hundreds participated in theBhumi-Pujan ceremony of thisupcoming Temple (also known asSarv Dev Mandir and CommunityCenter) on a six-acre plot, whichstarted with Shree Ganesh RathYatra (procession) and includedGanesh Pujan, Kalash Pujan,Navgrah Pujan, Havan, Khanan,earth worship and Aarti.

"I want to thank the FBI and thefederal government for listeningand ensuring that hate crimesagainst Sikhs will be tracked. This isa step in the right direction to en-sure that no one else will have tosuffer what my brother and I suf-fered after losing our mother”

Harpreet Singh Saini

India Post 17June 17, 2013 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

'Indian cinema lacks depth & avoids social issues'Javed, Shabana interviewed in Chicago

ASIAN MEDIA USA

CHICAGO IL: Famed actressShabana Azmi and her husband,scriptwriter, Javed Akhtar, feel thatIndian cinema thematically lackedthe depth of 50s and 60s andavoided social issues.

This observation was part of awide range of questions at theDrury Lane Theater at Oak BrookTerrace on Saturday, June 8 - thefirst public event of the six weekEye on India Festival (EIF) 2013being held in Chicago.

They were introduced and in-terviewed by EIF host Sanjoy Roy,Director of Teamwork Produc-tions. Questions, also from thefloor, revolved around Hindi cin-ema, its social role and allegeddegeneration, Muslim identity andthe place of Urdu, and their expe-rience as nominated members ofRajya Sabha.What do 100 years of Indian cin-ema represent for you?

Javed: With all its variety, tech-nical sophistication, Indian cinemahas never been so young. How-ever, the depth of the 50s and 60sis somewhat missing and real so-cial issues are being avoided. Themiddle class has become insularand has apparently sidestepped.The average protagonist used tobe from the working class. Andnow the hero of the new make-be-lieve world is a rich man living in apalatial mansion and steps outsideonto a street in Switzerland.What made you stick with inde-pendent cinema since Ankur

(1974)?Shabana: Both my parents be-

lieved art should be an instrumentof social change. We were eightcommunist families living in a com-mune, who believed in social eq-uity, gender equality and Indianpluralism. My aesthetics has beenframed by exposure to the best ofWestern cinema at Pune FilmSchool. Shyam Benegal offered methe lead heroine role in Ankur(1974), and I've continued to re-ceive such offers since. I made a

conscious decision not to work infilms that degrade women or makethem subservient to men. This hasstuck with me since.

Javed: Amar Akbar Anthonyreflects a yearning for a seculardispensation. Bollywood can'tavoid social issues even if the di-rector does not consciously ad-dress them. The villain hasevolved from (feudal) zamindar tocapitalist to underworld boss, withthe latter eventually usurping thehero's role due to widespread dis-illusionment with society and itsinstitutions. The "angry youngman" takes the law into his own

hands. But now we are even de-void of villains [laughter].What to make of writers who nowmake amalgams from DVDs?

Javed: Mere "stealing" ofscenes and scripts from othermovies will not ensure success.Shailendra's "phir bhi dil haiHindustani" still holds true. Thisattitude and practice properly re-flects our society, which is alreadyinfluenced by the West. But theunderlying moral and aestheticsense - the thoughts expressed -

have to remain Indian if audiencesare not to reject them.Is the impoverishment of moviesong lyrics due to populism?

Javed: Indian society is becom-ing divided economically, also be-tween multiplexes (tickets at over100 Rupees) and single theaters(10 Rupees). Middle classes, whoused to be familiar with literature,culture, etc., are learning Englishat the cost of their indigenous lan-guages; their vocabulary is shrink-ing. Percussion is louder thanvoice because musicians arebrought up in Western pop. Butpredominance of song and dancegoes back to the 3500 year-old tra-dition in Sanskrit and vernaculars.Mainstream cinema needs to raisethe lowest common denominator.

L to R: Director of Teamwork Productions Sanjoy Roy, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi

Audience at the interview with Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar

Cont’d on page 19

June 17, 2013India Post18 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Yesudas delights with his rich repertoireRAGU BADDI

CHICAGO: Hindu Temple ofGreater Chicago (HTGC) in Lemontheld a Carnatic music concert bycelebrated musician and playbacksinger Padmabhushan Dr.Kattassery Yesudas on Saturday,June 1 at the Sama Rathi Audito-rium of the temple. .

Beginning from Vanajakshivarnam in Kalyani raga all the waythrough Mangalam, more than 650rasikas were riveted to their seatsmesmerized by the energizing mu-sic from Yesudas

The evening began with Vedicchants from the HTGC temple fol-lowed by a welcome address fromTilak Marwaha, President of theBoard. Usha Pariti, the Fine ArtsCommittee Chair and her team gra-ciously conducted the entire pro-

ceedings.After the deep customary "Om"

chant, Yesudas sang Vanajakshivarnam in Kalyani. He engaged ina brisk yet lilting Hamsadhwanialap that effortlessly traversed allthree octaves, and then began theall-time favorite Vatapi GanapathimBhajeham of MuthuswamiDikishitar. Hamsadhwani neravalat "Pranava Swaroopa VakraThundam" was most enjoyable."Guruleka Yetuvanti" ingowrimanohari was taken up nextwith neat swara prastharas thatseemed to blend with the raga

bhavam.What seemed to transcend the

present was the handling of"Veena vaadana Loludou" in thenext Thyagaraja-krithi"Mokshamu Galada" inSaaramathi raga. The fluidity inhandling sangatis and the raga wasmasterful.

After Varanarada in Vijayashreeraga, Yesudas sangKsheerasagara Shayana. The per-cussion accompaniment, particu-larly to this song was exemplary -T S Nandakumar on Mridangamand Santosh Chandru on Ghatamseemed to interlace rhythm andraga to deliver a sublime listenerexperience.

The highlight of the eveningwas a rich alluring Bhairavialapana for Thyagaraja's colossus"Upachaaramulanu". The glidesand micro intonations between

the two daivathamsin bhairavi broughtout the essence ofthe raga to the fore.Throughout theconcert, Yesudas re-galed the audiencewith humorous an-ecdotes.

After the mainraga and the delight-ful tani avartanamb e t w e e nMridangam andGhatam, Yesudasentertained the au-dience with some ofthe most-antici-pated devotional,and light numbers." E n n e n j i lPallikondavan" in

Kalyani, "Rajeeva Netraaya" inMadhyamavathi, the famous"Swami Ayyappa SwamiShabarigiri Swami" in Bhimplas -but a feast to the ear wasMalayalam song"Pramadavanam" in Jog Raga, a90s classic from music directorRaveendran.

The artiste did not stop there -because the request from the au-dience was growing: he went onto sing "Jab deep Jale aana","Krishna nee begane baaro","Mero man anath kahaan"(Surdas Bhajan), the moving Sai

song "Allah Malik", "Ennavaramverenna varam" and the timeless"Harivarasanam".

The concert featured "UyyaalaJhampaala" which was a lullaby toAyyappa. The violinistJayashankar Balan gave excellentmelodious accompaniment!Yesudas sang "TiruppaarKadalil", "Swagatham Krishna",and the popular "EllelluSangeethave" from Kannadamovie Malayamarutha. The con-cert concluded with the traditionalMangalam amidst a thunderousstanding ovation from the 650-strong audience.

Before the concert ended,temple secretary Prasanna Reddyand Arun Murthy proposed avote of thanks and the artists werehonored with mementos as tokenof appreciation by the templeboard.

Padmabhushan Kattassery Yesudas with accompanying musicians at HTGC

A section of the audience


What is your forecast for next fewdecades?

Shabana: Women will break outof their stereotyped image, onceexemplified by silent sufferingroles played Meena Kumari, forparallel cinema has started givingthem more substantive roles. Theirchoice in mainstream cinema hadbeen limited to the extremes ofchaste Madonna versus western-ized whore. Flawed women char-acters in their flesh-and-bloodcomplexity are now already com-ing to the fore, but working womenare only just becoming visible.Mythology has remained domi-nant in both cinema and real lifewith Rama and Sita upheld as mod-els.

Javed: The ideal of the suffer-

ing virtuous doormat housewifehas frayed apart. But no one wantsor dares to define the (image ofthe) contemporary Indian woman.The latter have begun to assertthemselves in Hindi cinema bymaking outrageous statementsthat sound ridiculous, e.g., the idlecognac-drinker in search of her

'Indian cinema lacks depth &avoids social issues'

inner woman. The scene is whollyconfused.What has become of the socialresponsibility of films?

Shabana: Documentaries, lessviewed, focus more on such is-sues. But Aamir Khan's TaareZameen Par did more for dyslexiathan all activists put together. Thesocial impasse is leading to themenace of revolution.

Javed: What is the secret of(my) scripting a super hit film likeSholay? Bimal Roy did not makeSujata out of some extraneousagenda of social responsibility,nor did Raj Kapoor Shree 420. Itwas simply the innate social con-sciousness of the director beingexpressed naturally.

Shabana: Combating rape andhomophobia is the responsibilitynot only of film industry but of theentire citizenry. Industry did dosome soul searching after the re-cent Delhi incident. Young men andwomen forced the government'shand within a month. Instead ofthe victim being blamed, the newslogan by women is "shift theshame, shift the blame."How has depiction of minoritieschanged in Hindi cinema?

Javed: No film was made ontrauma of Partition until 13 yearslater. Mainstream cinema devel-oped the alternative, or good,Muslim: poet, nawab, nawab'sdaughter, and courtesan. The to-ken good Muslim used to saveheroine for Hindu hero and not forhimself. But films have emergedwhere the Muslim identity is sub-sidiary to the character as a whole.Actors like Dilip Kumar, who gothis break in 1944, shedding theirinherited Muslim names is a thingof the past, as evidenced by thecontemporary Khans. Even Hol-

Their choice in main-stream cinema hadbeen limited to theextremes of chasteMadonna versuswesternized whore.Flawed women char-acters in their flesh-and-blood complex-ity are now alreadycoming to the fore

lywood actors have changed theirnames, e.g., John Wayne. There isnot much significance in this.What is the future of Urdu inHindi films (in dialogue, song,etc.)?

Javed: The misnomer of "Hindi"cinema was there right from thebeginning in the 30s, perhaps dueto stigma attached to this mediumin Muslim society. There havebeen some attempts to reclaimthem as "Urdu" but it is alreadytoo late. Their language now isactually neither Urdu nor Hindi,but rather Hindustani, a mixturethat leans more towards Urdu. I'vemet Pakistanis who persist in call-ing them Urdu films. Syntax is thesame with about 15% vocabularyimposed from either side. Lan-guage was Hindustani but lean-ing towards Urdu because of thepoetic heritage, etc.

The afternoon began withZeshan Begawadi, singing severalUrdu poems by Kafi Azmi,Shabana's father.

Cont’d from page 17

Zamin Band to performin Indi Festival

MADHU PATEL ADDS:

As part of Eye on Indi Festival, a Chicago based noprofit organization

Hamdard Center for Health andHuman Services, will be hosting aChicago based Zamin band onWednesday, June 19.

The Zamin band had its uniquecharacteristic as itssound comes fromblending an entirelyclassical instrumenta-tion, a modern take ontraditional Hindustanivocals, and an Indierock approach tosongwriting.

Featuring a wide ar-ray of percussion, clas-sical guitar, Cello,double bass, trumpet, and classi-cal Indian instruments such astaanpura and harmonium, Zaminstrives to create energy as well asintimacy with their completelyacoustic sound.

The band is built upon the con-

cept of creating harmony from theclash between the traditional andthe modern, giving the Indiansound an unexpected place in ourcurrent music scene.

Zamin was formed at North-western University in 2010 andtheir first album featured lyrics inUrdu. The band is also very in-

volved in schools and universitiesand has played for the Global En-gagement Summit, the Women'sBoard, the Climate Change Sym-posium, the South Asian StudentAssociation, and the Model UNopening ceremony.

The band is built upon theconcept of creating har-mony from the clash be-tween the traditional and themodern, giving the Indiansound an unexpected place


Chicagoans give fond farewell to CG Mukta TomarA group of Indian Americans

headed by Balwinder and VineshVirani held a private reception forMs Tomar on Sunday June 2 atJaipur Palace in Chicago Down-town. The function was attendedby 30 plus guests and invitees.Hindi Lovers Club PresidentGurbachan Kaur presented aPlaque recognizing the servicesrendered by Ms Tomar to the In-dian community in the past threeyears as CG.


Paresh Rawal recreatesmagic with 'Dear Father'

LALCHAND RAJPUT

ST LOUIS: Veteran theatre andfilm actor Paresh Rawal performedin St. Louis with his new Hindi play"Dear Father" on Sunday June 2at Clayton High School .The eventwas hosted by Seema Enterprises& Seema World Travel. PareshRawal recreated the magic ofShaadi and Barbadi & Krishan VsKanhaiya.

The three-hour play "Dear Fa-

ther" is a story of the Mankadfamily, which includes Manu thefather (Rawal), his son Ajay anddaughter-in-law Alka.

Through the dialogue and aseries of skits, nothing seems outof the ordinary for the Mankadfamily, with Rawal's comic talent

keeping the audience entertainedwhilst moving the story forward.Early on, Dear Father drew manylaughs with the common comicaltarget of a generation gap. In-deed, the interplay between a fa-ther and a pair of thirty-plus, whobelieve the older generation doesnot understand life, not onlybrought out the best of Rawal butalso kept the audience connected

to both the characters and storyline.

The audience was enjoyingevery minute of this gripping in-vestigation interspersed withamusing one-liners and quips. Inthe concluding part, InspectorSharma in a heart-tugging scene

advises Ajay to treat his dad withlove and respect, to hold his hand,to hug him, to sit and talk withhim, etc.

Home should be more than aglorified Old People's Home.More than living together, sup-porting each other is more impor-tant. Home is not measured insquare feet but in love among thefamily members.

In additionto the genera-tion gap, "DearFather" alsopokes fun atmarriage, tech-nology, payingbills, and otheraffairs com-monly associ-ated with dailyurban life.

The mes-sage of "DearFather" is madeapparent: whileit is easy for usto become tooinvolved withthe rat race andbecome self-ab-sorbed with ourwork schedulesand socialcallings, weshould neverforget to give afair share ofproper atten-tion and love toour parents.

"Dear Fa-ther" is based on the award-win-ning play "Katkon Trikon." Thenational promoter of play isBhavna Modi, based in Chicago.This was the 48th Show in U.S.The play is produced by SwaroopSampat, written by Dr.Vivek Beleand directed by Dinkar Jani.

Organizer Ashwin Patel with his wife Rekha and Paresh Rawal

Nimish Jani sworn in Trusteeof Schaumburg Township

SURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: It was one morefeather in the cap for the burgeon-ing Indian community inSchaumburg area township whenone of their members Nimish Jani

was formally inducted as a mem-ber of the Schaumburg TownshipTrustee Board early this month.

A gala function was organizedrecently in the office of the Super-visor of Schaumburg Township.Nimish Jani was administered theoath as a Board of Trustee alongwith three other Board of Trust-ees and a Supervisor.

Nimish Jani, residing in thetown of Roselle, had contested theelection for the post of Board ofTrustee and was declared winnerin an election held on April 9. Theoath ceremony was performed byMargarita Class Hoffman, a re-nowned Judge of this area. Su-

pervisor Mary Wroblewski andfour Trustees - Nimish Jani, W.Robert Vinnedge, Jeffrey S.Mytych, and Diane Dunham weresworn in. A large number of Indian

community members as well aswell wishers were present on theoccasion and all of them congratu-lated the new Trustees.

Nimish Jani said thatSchaumburg Township consists ofseven towns: (1) Schaumburg (2)Hanover Park (3) Streamwood (4)Rolling Meadows (5) Elk GroveVillage (6) Roselle and (7) Hoffman

estate and "I will be intouch with all the resi-dents of theses areas toaddress their griev-ances, if any."

Nimish hails from thecity of Ahmedabad inGujarat State and beenliving in this part of theworld for the last 30

years. He lives with his wife Mita,son Moksha and daughter Purvain Schaumburg area. He has beenactively associated withBochasanvasi Aksar PurusottamSanstha (BAPS) in Bartlett for thelast seven years. He can be reachedat 630-930-8832.

Nimish Jani (standing center) with other Trustees of Schaumburg Township

A gala function was orga-nized recently in the office ofthe Supervisor of SchaumburgTownship. Nimish Jani wasadministered the oath


Ramayana - A must see show in Bay AreaVIDYA SETHURAMAN


FREMONT, CA: Like most In-dians, I too have grown on the sto-ries of the ancient epic"Ramayana", be it Rama's child-hood adventures, villainous act of

Kaikeyi, friendship of Hanuman orVibishana's great deeds. Now inits 35th year, Mount MadonnaSchool's Ramayana is the longestrunning Western production ofthe Indian classic epic.

The show features a cast ofmore than 205 student performers,

ages 3 to 19 (preschoolers to highschool), accompanied by a choirand musicians.

Ramayana is a heroic story cen-tered on Prince Ram, an incarna-tion of Maha Vishnu. It is a storyof love, adventure, separation andan eventual joyous reunion, in anancient allegory of the battle ofgood and evil. From Bali to Indo-nesia to the Mediterranean andNorth America, the ancient epiccontinues to enthrall, delight and

inspire millions of people frommany cultures and generationswho return again and again to hearthe tale. The show was filled withexciting action, spectacular cos-tuming (over 600 costumes), fam-ily humor and original, live music.

Speaking about the introduc-tion of the play, Leigh Ann Clifton,Media and Public relations,Mount Madonna School, says,"Ramayana was introduced byBaba Hari Dass in 1972. But in

1979, the school commenced aproduction with the students andother children making up the cast".The play has grown to be thewidely anticipated annual schoolevent of the year in which the en-tire school participates. Every childat Mount Madonna School is re-quired to participate in the annualproduction, either as on-stage per-formers, musicians or backstagesupport staff.

Cont’d on page 25


Kavi Gosthi byHindi Lovers Club

NAND KAPUR

CHICAGO: Hindi Lovers Clubof Illinois had its May meeting asKavi Gosti on Wednesday May 29at Schaumburg Library from 7 pm.

It was well attended by kavisand listeners alike. The program

stared with the welcome speechby Club president Gurbachan KaurNeelam and this was followed bya small introduction by all the at-tendees present.

The poetry, songs and jokeswere shared by Poornima Jha,Rajendra Kapil, Sudaksa Kapoor,Gurbachan Kaur Neelam, PrakashNayak, Sohan Joshi, Mir KayamatAli, Jodh Singh Rawat,Indermohan and Kamal Gupta.

Chander Verma, a popular kavi

with few published poetry booksunder his belt, recited his longpoems by heart and took every-one by surprise. Ranajoy Gangulyalso surprised everyone by hisstand up comedy act. Vandana

Jhingan, the Midwest bureau chiefof T.V.Asia and Advisory Boardmember of Hindi Lovers Club,warned every one about so calledcalls from IRS and Homeland Se-curity departments to members ofIndian Community. She ended withher signature Gollu/Mollu jokes.

The gosti ended with a groupphoto and promise to attend allmeetings and support Hindi Cluband its monthly publication Hindi/English Patrika.

Standing from left: Sohan Joshi, Prakash Nayak, Praful Rami, Indermohan,

Mir Kayamat Ali, Santosh Panday, Ranajoy Ganguli and Kamal Gupta.

Sitting from Left: Chander Varma, Nand Kapoor, Vandana Jhingan, Purnima

Jha, Gurbachan Kaur Neelam, Sudaksa Kapoor and Jodh Singh Rawat

Sidhi Vinayak Templefor NJ town


NEW JERSEY: The ground-breaking ceremony ofSiddhivinayak Temple was held inToms River (New Jersey) on June1.

Hundreds participated in theBhumi-Pujan ceremony of thisupcoming Temple (also known asSarv Dev Mandir and CommunityCenter) on a six-acre plot, whichstarted with Shree Ganesh RathYatra (procession) and includedGanesh Pujan, Kalash Pujan,

Navgrah Pujan, Havan, Khanan,earth worship and Aarti.

The temple cost might go up to$2.5 million.

According to manage-ment sources, an "interimtemple and community cen-ter" will be up and runningby this fall. The next phasewill include 40,000 square feettemple and community cen-ter, where Lord Ganesha willbe the main deity, besides 5-7 other altars with idols of(yet to be determined)Mahavir, Buddha,Venkateshvar, Krishna, Ram,Hanuman, Durga, etc.

It will have a prayer hall,center for cul-tural activitiesand social events, li-brary and resourcecenter, and kids' playarea. Apart from beinga venue for worship;it will also celebratefestivals, organize re-ligious and culturalclasses for childrenand various activitiesfor seniors. Comple-menting it will be afully equipped kitchenstocked with cookingutensils and a storageroom for provisions.Avinash Gupta is theChairman.

In Hinduism, LordGanesha is worshipped as god ofwisdom and remover of obstaclesand is invoked before the begin-ning of any major undertaking.

Hinduism, oldest and third largestreligion of the world, has aboutone billion adherents and moksh(liberation) is its ultimate goal.There are about three million Hin-dus in USA.

Female majority township ofToms River, chartered in 1767 andthen burned in 1782, is home tomany beaches and has the secondlargest Halloween parade in theworld and has been ranked 14th-safest city in USA. Thomas F.Kelaher and Paul J. Shives areMayor and Business Administra-tor respectively of Toms River.Prominent people associated withit include jazz singer Chris Connor,Ultimate Fighting Champion FrankEdgar, baseball players ToddFrazier and Al Leiter, actors BrianGeraghty and Piper Perabo, andsoccer player Chris Konopka.

A Rath Yatra scene following Bhumi pujan

Language blocking progress of South AsiansSURI SWAMY

CHICAGO: As part of a jointeffort to understand and more ef-fectively address the growingSouth Asian American populationin Illinois, South Asian AmericanPolicy and Research Institute(SAAPRI) and Asian AmericansAdvancing Justice-Chicago (Ad-vancing Justice-Chicago) releaseda demographic report titled,"South Asian Americans in Illi-nois: Making Data Count".

Chicago South Asians, includ-ing a good number of IndianAmericans, living in Illinois arefacing numerous challenges, pri-marily stemming from limitedknowledge of English languageand relatively less opportunity foradvancement adversely impactingtheir income.

This is reflected in a recentstudy conducted by Illinois SouthAsian American Policy and Re-search Institute (SAAPRI) andAsian Americans Advancing Jus-

tice-Chicago (Advancing Justice-Chicago community.) The twoagencies released a demographicreport titled, "South Asian Ameri-cans in Illinois: Making Data

Count".Indians and other South

Asians, large number of whomare eligible voters in Illinois, areincreasingly interested in having

a voice on issues of concern, rang-ing from immigration to healthcare. The voting strength reflectsthe potential for political empow-erment and is also indicative ofthe need for civic engagement.

There are currently more than242, 000 South Asian Americansin Illinois, a 55% surge from 2000to 2010, with much of that exten-sive growth coming from the sub-urban six-county area. IndianAmericans are the state's largestAsian American ethnic group andother South Asian Americans in-clude people of Pakistani,Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, andNepali descent.

The study finds that SouthAsian Americans have a lower percapita income at $26,567 comparedwith $28,782 per capita income forthe average number in othergroups. About 85% speak a lan-guage other than English at homeand about one in four have below

average mark in understanding orspeaking this language. Thisserves as a barrier to accessingsocial services, courts, hospitals,and polls. Furthermore, femalesin this group are about twice as

likely as males to have less than ahigh school education.

With Indian Americans beingthe second largest immigrantgroup in the Midwest, second

This report empowersus with facts anddata, so that we canaddress the unmetneeds of vulnerablemembers of ourcommunity," saidAmi Gandhi, execu-tive director

only to Mexican Americans, thecomplexity of the South AsianAmerican community should beconsidered during discussions ofimmigration reform and integra-tion. "We celebrate the successesand contributions of South AsianAmericans in Illinois while ac-knowledging the ongoing barriersthat our community faces. Thisreport empowers us with facts anddata, so that we can address theunmet needs of vulnerable mem-bers of our community," said AmiGandhi, executive director ofSAAPRI.

"This report reflects ourcommunity's distinct perspectiveson the political issues and civicengagement challenges facing ustoday, and it will form the basis ofan ongoing dialogue about ad-dressing these challenges" saidKathleen Fernicola, policy andprogram director of AdvancingJustice - Chicago.

Chicago SouthAsians, including agood number ofIndian Americans,living in Illinois arefacing numerouschallenges, stem-ming from limitedknowledge of English


BAPS Walkathon to fight cancerSURI SWAMY

CHICAGO: Contributing to theworldwide fight against cancer,BAPS Charities has scheduled awalkathon on June 16 atPottawatomie Park 8 North AvenueSt. Charles, in a bid to support theAmerican Cancer Society (ACS).

The Walkathons will start at7.30 a.m. and end at 9-30 a.m. Forthe past thirteen years, BAPSCharities has been organizing lo-cal walkathons funded by localresidents and participants to cre-ate a positive impact and aware-ness in causes that affect our com-munities.

Cancer causes 1 in 8 deathsworldwide and is rapidly becom-ing a global pandemic. Accordingto the International Agency forResearch on Cancer, there were12.7 million new cancer cases in2008. Today, more than one mil-lion people get cancer each year.Through their difficult struggleswith cancer, many survivors andsupporters are contributing theirtime in a meaningful way to helpthis cause.

Raoji Patel, 71, semi-retired

Food Scientist of GlendaleHeights, has participated in BAPSCharities walkathons since its in-ception. In 2010, he was diag-nosed with brain cancer and to-day he is undergoing treatmentand doing well due to new medi-

cations and research protocolsthat the Cancer Society makespossible from donations from ourfellow American residents. He willbe participating in Walk 2013 andthrough his fundraising efforts he

hopes to highlight BAPS charitiesand the role of ACS in the fightagainst cancer.

Another victim of cancer, MrsPratibha Dave, of Hanover Park,is a breast cancer survivor and hasbeen in remission for the past nineyears. Raising funds for cancerresearch for the past four years,she expresses, "I would encour-age everyone to support thiscause, and walkathons are a greatway to fund cancer research andfor people to support others whoare fighting this battle."

Women, men, and children ofall ages and backgrounds are con-tributing their time to this noblecause in any way they can by rais-ing funds and encouraging oth-ers to walk for cancer.

Created in 2000, BAPS Chari-ties, with over 55,000 volunteersnetworked in over 3,300 centersacross the globe, has benefitednumerous local and national orga-nizations. It also supports someof the other 160 humanitarian ac-tivities to which BAPS Charitiesis committed.

Women, men, andchildren of all agesand backgroundsare contributing theirtime to this noblecause in any waythey can by raisingfunds and encourag-ing others to walkfor cancer

Global Gujarati conference planned in New JerseySUDHIR VYAS

Gujarati community leaders lighting the lamp to launch the three-day Gujarati conference to be held in

New Jersey on August 30, 31 and September 1. Pic Gunjesh Desai

EDISON, NJ: One more Gujaraticonference. One more effort toshow case Gujarat to the GujaratiDiaspora in the Tri-State area.Friends of Gujarat is all set to or-ganize a Global Gujarati conferenceat the Raritan Center on August30, 31 and September 1. The eventhas been aptly named 'Bhavya aneDivya Gujarat'.

Talking to this correspondentin an interview, Kirit Patel, presi-dent of Friends of Gujarat said theprime aim of organizing this eventis to keep the Gujarati culture alivewithin the second generation ofGuajaratis who have made Americatheir new home.

"We intend to provide them thenecessary platform to know whatGujarat is, how it has emerged as aland of opportunity in India andat the same time keeping the tradi-tional Gujarati value intact", Kiritsaid adding, "the conference willalso be a launching pad to ex-change ideas of economic, busi-ness success stories between theyounger generation in Gujarat andtheir counterpart settled in theUSA."

"There are many young entre-preneurs who run business worthover Rs 200 cr. set up through theirown ideas and investment andhave been successful. We wantthem to interact with buddingGujarati entrepreneurs and busi-nessmen who can plan such in-vestment back in Gujarat so as to

take Gujarat to the next level of in-dustrialization."

The conference will also havea trade show, fashion show andmany vendors from Gujarat willshowcase their exhibits.

Asked about the names of topdignitaries planning to attend themega event, Kirit said it was a bittoo early to spell out the namesbut leaders of political parties, re-ligious heads like Morari Bapu,Rameshbhai Oza, Giri Maharaj andmany leading artists fromBollywood and Gujarati cinemaare expected to come.

In reply to a question as towhether the event will be BJP-cen-tric, Kirit explained," We do notwant to make this a political show,but since BJP happens to be theruling party in Gujarat one mightfeel a BJP shade but our plan is tomake this politics free event. Eventhe speakers will be advised to

avoid making any political com-ments or observations".

Giving details of providing anew angle to the Gujarati meet,Kirit said "Four students from In-dian Institute of Management

(IIM) Ahmedabad will also becoming to the event and sharingtheir view of Gujarat and commenton how to take it to the next level

of development in infrastructureand also create social awareness."

According to Kirit "apart fromthe usual business, religious andreal estate seminars, yoga, healthcamp and full body checkup and

vastu, the thrust will be on pro-viding pure entertainment to theparticipating public. "We will havethe Gujarati Dayro and culturalprogram but at the same time weplan to have one Bollywood nightcomprising Hindi songs, andplans are being worked out tohave a Gujarati play also besidessugam sangeet, and garbas."

When asked about the totalcost of the project, Kirit was skep-tical to give a definite figure butsaid it could anywhere from $750,000 to $ 1.2 million. "We willmake every effort to cut the costso as to enable us to collect somefunds and donate it for a noblecause like educating orphaned

children in Jammu and Kashmirand also provide them with basiceducation, food and clothing. Hesaid as many 300 such childrenhave already migrated from Jammuand Kashmir and made Gujarattheir second home. They werepresently housed in Kheda dis-trict. The proceeds from this eventwill also go towards the SwamiVivekanand Smarak being plannedby Narendra Modi", he added.

Asked what plans were beingformulated to meet the expensesfor the event, Kirit said the mainfunding will be through sponsorsand then by offering booths, stallsto vendors. "We will not compro-mise on the entertainment programand also interactions between theyoung entrepreneurs from bothside of the globe", he stressed.

Several delegates, leaders ofbusiness fraternity Gujarat Cham-bers of commerce along with theirwomen and youth wing, stategovernment agencies IndexB, arescheduled to participate. Plans areafoot to hold networking betweenGujarat government agencies andlocal businessmen to set up unitsin Gujarat and also get expert guid-ance for successful entrepreneur-ship.

As always Chief MinisterNarendra Modi will also addressthe gathering through video link,and not to forget serving of tradi-tional mouth-watering Gujaratifood.

“The conference willalso be a launchingpad to exchangeideas of economic,business successstories between theyounger generationin Gujarat and theircounterparts”


Shirdi Sai Parivaar expanding charitable activitiesFollowing is a summary of SSP activities:

SSP EVENTS

• Ramanavami

• SSP Anniversary (June 20)

• Guru Poornima

• Mahasamadhi

• New Year Celebrations

• Daily four Aratis,

• Weekly bhajan satsang

• Sai Satyavrata puja

• Monthly Shri Sai Satcharita

parayan

• Akhand Sai Naam Jap

• Cultural dance and music

programs

CHARITABLE PROGRAMS

• Fundraising drive for visuallyimpaired artists from ShreeRamana Maharshi Academy forthe Blind, India• Sandwich Seva: Sandwichesdelivered to homeless shelter inSunnyvale & Fremont area• Second Harvest Food BankDrive: Donate non-perishablefood to feed the hungry in BayArea• Blanket drive for homeless shel-ters• School supplies/backpackdrive for children in need• Fundraising for national and in-ternational disasters• Monetary support for otherNPOs• 10% of 2013 fundraising eventpledged to California school ofblind

COMMUNITY SERVICES*

• Bone marrow drive

• Blood drive

• Digitizing text books for vi-

sually impaired students

• Language classes

• Dance classes

• Thursday kids activity

• Local school beautification

• Notary services

• Dental check-up

• Yoga and many more….

*All classes & services are

free of charge

Activities

MILPITAS, CA: The primarymission of Shirdi Sai Parivaar (SSP)is to spread Shirdi Sai Baba's phi-losophy by engaging in charitableand community-based activities.The organization had a humblebeginning in January 2002 withless than 30 volunteers and overthe years SSP has now grown bigwith about 500 volunteers andmore than 3000 devotees.

The permanent facility of Shirdi

Sai Center in Milpitas was estab-lished in June 2010. The organiza-tion thrives completely on selflessservice offered by the volunteers;all activities are managed by vol-unteers, including operations,maintenance, finance, and chari-table services.

SSP's goal is to expand its cur-

rent activities to a larger scale andidentify other charitable and com-munity based activities that willbenefit the local community herein the bay area and potentially inIndia too.

Devotees can help us by vol-unteering in charitable activitiesand community services by offer-ing free language, vocal and in-strumental music classes. SSPwould also appreciate help from

devotees who can helpraise funds to reducethe mortgage loan toexpand charitable ac-tivities and capitalprojects.

Devotees interestedin more information re-

garding SSP activities, classes orcommunity services that are of-fered are requested to send anemail [email protected] call us on (408)-705-7904 orvisit our websitewww.shirdisaiparivaar.org andfollow us on Facebook.

SSP's goal is to expand itscurrent activities to a largerscale and identify othercharitable activities


Ramayana - A must seeshow in Bay Area

The preschoolers take part asforest animals and work their waythrough various small parts asdancers, singers, monkeys, de-mons, and martial artists to leadplayers in their high school years.

"Mounting a show that hasbeen part of the fabric of ourschool for more than thirty yearscarries with it the importance oftradition as well the benefits andchallenges of familiarity," saysSampad Martin Kachuck, Perform-ing Arts Director for middle and

high school. "Over the course ofthree months, we work and playhard, and through teamwork andtrust, take the risks of engagement,experimentation and discovery,"he adds.

Anurag Christine White andNicole Tervalon with their team ofvolunteers were in-charge of daz-zling costumes, colorful stagingand technical arrangements. Leah

Parker works on musical instruc-tion of the grand show. MayanaLisboa, Kumu Lorraine KalehuaKinnamon, Asha Pandya andDr.Oscar Perez are the choreogra-phers.

The presentation commencedwith introduction of Shiva and

Parvati as the narrators and the in-vocation to Goddess Saraswati bythe entire cast. The story of thescripture was narrated in an amus-ing and entertaining manner.Bringing Ramayana to life eachyear is a labor of love for the crewas well, with hundreds of faculty,

staff, parents and volunteers con-tributing to it, says, Leigh Ann.This is testament to the strongvolunteer spirit and community-building efforts espoused by theschool known for academic excel-lence, creative self expression andpositive character development.

Mount Madonna schoolRamayana is a must see show inBay area.


Ro call to curb abuses inPatent System


FREMONT, CA: Ro Khanna,intellectual property attorney andcandidate forCalifornia's 17thc o n g r e s s i o n a ldistrict, has is-sued a statementon the WhiteHouse announce-ment of legislativerecommendationsand executive or-ders addressingpatent reform.

His statementsays, "I am veryencouraged by thePresident's leader-ship on increasingtransparency andconfronting abusein our outdatedpatent system. Ifully support theAdministrations proposals as theyseek to protect consumers, earlystage startups and larger high-tech companies from frivolous andcostly litigation.

"In addition to the President's

suggestions for curbing abusesfrom Patent Assertion Entities, or"patent trolls", Congress needs toincrease funding for the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)so that they can issue higher qual-ity patents in a more expedientfashion, better align with interna-tional patent authorities to allowAmerican businesses to export

intellectual property, and coordi-nate with other relevant govern-ment agencies that can help busi-nesses grow. Supplementing in-

creased funding for the PTO,Congress should allocate ad-ditional resources to entitiessuch as the Small Business Ad-ministration and the CommerceDepartment's Export Offices.

"Overall, these suggestionsare just the start of a larger ef-fort to get the government tosupport a comprehensive strat-egy on facilitating innovation.With stakeholder input, Con-gress must immediately beginthe process of crafting widereaching legislative to reformour outdated patent regime.

"If elected to Congress, Iplan to introduce a comprehen-sive economic growth and in-novation agenda so that gov-ernment can facilitate - and stopimpeding - innovation. Until

then, I will continue to advocatefor the innovation economy, andfight to end practices that are harm-ing Silicon Valley's ability to con-tinue producing world-changingtechnology," he concluded.

Ro Khanna

Industry warns against Citrus killing diseaseIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES, CA: The CitrusPest & Disease Prevention Pro-gram, a statewide collaboration ofagriculture officials and citrus in-dustry representatives, has issueda warning against Huanglongbingdisease, also known as HLB or cit-rus greening disease, which it saysis currently destroying and killingcitrus trees, such as orange,lemon, lime, and kumquat trees.The CPDPP is asking for commu-nity support to fight this diseasethreatening California's iconic cit-rus.

In a press release, CPDPP says,"We know that in the Asian com-munity, it is very common to giftfruits or other plant materials toour friends and family. However,the Huanglongbing disease, alsoknown as HLB or citrus greeningdisease, is currently destroyingand killing citrus trees, such asorange, lemon, lime, and kumquattrees. The disease is spread by theAsian citrus psyllid. Because LosAngeles is a center of travel andcommerce, especially with the up-coming peak summer travel sea-son, it's a high-risk area for HLB."

The press relapse says, "HLBhas no cure, is fatal for citrus trees

and has already claimed the life ofone backyard tree in the Los An-geles region, prompting theCPDPP to call for community sup-port.

CPDPP said Los Angeles ishighly susceptible to HLB, asthousands of individuals travel inand out of the region, sometimescarrying with them fruits and veg-

etables, plant material, leaves andherbs that could be infected withHLB or the Asian citrus pysllid, apest which can carry and transmitthe disease.

"Travelers may have innocentintentions when they bring back apiece of fruit or any other agricul-

tural product, but each time theydo, they risk releasing an invasivespecies that could harm the Cali-fornia landscape," said VictoriaHornbaker, a representative of theCPDPP.

"HLB is but one example. It'sconsidered to be one of the dead-liest plant diseases in modern his-tory and it could effectively wipeout the oranges, lemons, limes,mandarins and other citrus fruitgrown in California," saidHornbaker. "As we head into abusy travel season, we are urgingCalifornia residents and those trav-eling in and out of the Los Ange-les region to help by resisting theurge to bring back fruit or any otheragricultural products."

The Citrus Pest & Disease Pre-vention Program offers the follow-ing tips:

• Don't move citrus. Do notbring any plant material into theregion from other states or coun-tries, and do not remove citrus fruitor plant material from your prop-erty because it might be carryingpsyllids or be infected with HLB.

• Cooperate with agricultureofficials who may be placing trapsin your neighborhood, treating cit-rus trees for the psyllid or survey-ing for signs of HLB.

"HLB is but one ex-ample. It's consid-ered to be one of thedeadliest plant dis-eases in modernhistory and it couldeffectively wipe outthe oranges, lemons,limes, mandarins andother citrus fruitgrown in California"


Jain Center to celebrate25th anniversary


BUENA PARK, CA: The JainCenter of Southern California,Buena Park, will be celebrating its25th anniversary celebrationsfrom June 27 to June 30. This is a

remarkable milestone for Jain com-munity in the US, as it is the veryfirst 25th anniversary celebrationof any Jain temple built in NorthAmerica.

The four day festivi-ties include a variety ofprograms like 45Aagam (Jain scrip-tures) Poojan,Siddhachakra Poojan,procession with floats,Bhakti (devotionalprayers), cultural pro-grams, Garba (Indianfolk dances), as well asdignitary lectures andrecognition for the entire commu-nity. The dignitaries expected toattend include GurudevChitrabhanuji, Consul General ofIndia N. Parthasarathi, Congress-

man Ed Royce, SadhvijiChandanaji, Sadhviji Sanghmitraji,Shree Dhirajbhai Pandit, and may-ors of various surrounding cities.This celebration will be attendedby approximately 2,500 people.

JCSC was started in September

1979 with a few dozen families, andtoday they have a membership ofover 1200 families. JCSC built andinaugurated the first custom-de-

signed Jain Temple in the UnitedStates in July 1988, and the centercontinued to grow and planned itsexpansion in three phases overtime.

Sahara Walk creates awarenessfor women's empowerment

ANU JAIN

IRVINE, CA: Colorful kites flewagainst clear blue skies, bodiesstretched in yoga poses, feetdanced enthusiastically toBollywood aerobics music andgroups of people walked aroundthe beautiful lake in William R

Mason Regional Park in Irvine.Over 160 people came together forSouth Asian Helpline And Refer-ral Agency's (SAHARA) 'Walk ForWomen's Empowerment' on May26. The walk aimed to createawareness about the critical roleplayed by women's empowermentin reducing domestic violence andstrengthening the family as awhole. Along with reaching out topeople, SAHARA raised $10,000via event registration tickets anddonations at the event.

The morning started with yogaled by Neemu Murthy who guidedthe participants through gentlestretches to complicated yogastances. Next the DEVIS groupled the participants through anumber of spirited Bollywoodsongs with aerobic dance movesincorporated for a great workout.

The high-fives and whoops atthe end of each song were testi-mony to the fun everyone washaving. It was a once in a lifetime

sight to see LAPD officers SusanTorres and Chand Syed dancingenergetically to the beats ofBollywood in their official uni-forms and belts which were hold-ing several pieces of equipmentalong with their guns.

A sumptuous breakfast gener-ously donated by Surati Farsanand Rasraj was served through-out this time and at 11 am the par-ticipants started the walk aroundthe 9.2 acre lake that is the center-piece of the 345 acre serene park

lush withopen greenspaces andshady trees.After thewalk, the chil-dren andadults dottedthe skieswith kites,painted T-Shirts andgot glitteringbody art tat-toos painted.

The HabitBurger GrillTruck servedfreshly made burgers, French friesand drinks for lunch. TV Asia cov-ered the event and Mr. Nilesh Patelvolunteered his time as a photog-rapher.

Sheela Mehta, a SAHARABoard Member and founder in-formed the participants of the roleplayed by SAHARA in the com-

m u n i t y .Last fiscalyear SA-HARA as-s i s t e dover 300survivorsof domes-tic vio-lence andprovidedover 2,100s h e l t e rbed nightsat its long-term tran-s i t i o n a ll i v i n g

home. All SAHARA services areprovided free of charge and nodistinctions are made based on anindividual's religious affiliation.

SAHARA's SEWA (SouthAsian Elder Wellness Assistance)project provides a wide range of

services to senior citizens such asassistance with public benefits,mental health counseling, com-puter literacy classes, etc. Sheelaalso requested the participants tospread the word about the servicesoffered by SAHARA and to do-nate generously because commu-nity support is very important forthe survival of non-profit organi-zations. She urged people to visitthe website www.saharaorg.org toget more familiar with SAHARA.

The day ended with over 30raffle prizes being raffled and lotsof people walking away happywith their winnings. The Walk wasa beautiful way to commemoratethe Memorial Day weekend bycoming together to make a posi-tive difference in the community.

City of Tracy honors Rajan ZedSONIA SIDHU


TRACY, CA: Interfaith activistRajan Zed was honored by City ofTracy in California recently with aProclamation.

The Proclamation,signed by Tracy MayorBrent H. Ives, states: Tohonor Rajan Zed's initia-tives to bring variousreligious communitiestogether throughoutthe world to live inpeace and mutual trustthrough dialogue.

Proclamation alsoadds: To honor RajanZed's leadership roles inattempting to help thehelpless.

Zed, President of UniversalSociety of Hinduism, opened theTracy City Council on April 16 withits first Hindu invocation in 103years of its founding, containingverses from world's oldest exist-ing scripture, and after sprinklingfew drops of water from river

Ganga of India considered holy byHindus.

Seven cities in California, Con-necticut, Utah and Nevada havealready declared Zed's birthdayOctober 25 as "Rajan Zed Day".

Rajan Zed is a global religiousleader, who besides taking up thecause of religion worldwide, hasalso raised huge voice against theapartheid faced by about 15-mil-lion Roma (Gypsies) in Europe.Bestowed with World InterfaithLeader Award; Zed is Senior Fel-low and Religious Advisor to

Foundation for Religious Diplo-macy, Spiritual Advisor to Na-tional Association of Interchurch& Interfaith Families, etc.

"Live-Play-Think Inside theTriangle" is the tagline of female-

majority Tracy, where MichaelMaciel and R. Leon Churchill Jun-ior are Mayor Pro Tem and CityManager respectively. Prominentpeople associated with Tracy in-clude rapper MC Hammer, singerThia Megia, soccer player TroyDayak, and football players KeenaTurner and Nick Eddy.

Rajan Zed delivering

the Hindu invocation

Tracy City Members from left to right: Council member Nancy

Young, Council member Charles Manne, Rajan Zed, Mayor

Brent H. Ives, Mayor Pro Tem Michael Maciel and Council

member Robert Rickman.

People walking around the lake

SAHARA staff with LAPD Officer Susan Torres

SAHARA Board Members

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS

1 Sawaar Loon: Lootera2 Ghanchakkar Babu:Ghanchakkar3 Manmarziyan: Lootera4 Ilahi: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani5 Tum Tak: Raanjhnaa6 Kabira: Yeh Jawaani HaiDeewani7 Allah Meherbaan: Ghanchakkar8 Raanjhanaa: Raanjhanaa9 Sunn Raha Hai: Aashiqui 210 Tu Mun Shudi: Raanjhnaa

India Post28 June 17, 2013www.indiapost.com

The fresh pairing of SonakshiSinha and Ranveer Singh ina vintage romance ofVikramaditya Motwane's

'Lootera' has sparked a lot of interest.Industry insiders say the chemistry be-tween the pair is subtle, but smolder-ing. The period drama, set in the 50s insnow-capped Dalhousie and charmingKolkata, exudes sensuality.

The chemistry between the lead pairis being compared to memorable screenpairs like Rajesh Khanna-SharmilaTagore, Amitabh Bachchan-Rekha andShah Rukh Khan-Kajol. Says Karan

Johar, "It's one of the most exciting leadpairs as they have completely oppositeenergies. But put together, they havepassion written all over them. Romanti-cally sexy is what Lootera seems to be.That is a rare feat to capture on cellu-loid."

Says Vikramaditya, "For me, the mostimportant thing in a love story is theintensity and passion that my actorsbring into playing their characters.Ranveer and Sonakshi have portrayedtheir love to perfection like seasonedactors even though this is their first filmtogether."

South star Tamannah got herfirst major Bollywood break inSajid Khan's comic action movie

'Himmatwala.' Now Sajid Khan has decidedto cast her in his next film 'Humshakal' aswell, with Saif Ali Khan. It is said to be aremake of yesteryears' laugh riot 'Angoor'(1982).

Earlier, it was decided that the SriLankan beauty and Sajid's girlfriendJacqueline Fernandez will do the lead role in'Humshakal'. As the relation between directorSajid and actress Jacqueline turned sour, shewas replaced by Tamannah.

What was the reason behind thisbreakup? It is said that Sajid wanted toget married and settle down whileJacqueline wanted to pursue her ca-reer and didn't wish to be boggeddown by marriage.

A close source states, "He wastrying to control her, telling her whatfilms she should do and what sheshould not. This did not go down too well withJacqueline who is young and very ambitious."

The source adds, "She knows Bollywood isnot kind to married actresses and does not wantto ruin her chances.

Kareena Kapoor has decided that she won't have kids with husband and actor Saif Ali Khan.

She is a modern woman and doesn't believethat children are essential after marriage. Bebo is

happy playing the role of a wife and step-mother of Saif's two children, Sara and Ibrahim.

In an interview to a fashion and lifestylemagazine, the actress revealed that she mightnot have kids at all with husband Saif. "Ear-lier it was when are they going to get married?Now every-one wants toknow when is

she having ababy? Who

knows, Im i g h t

even

decide not to have kids. Iam just 32. And Saif al-ready has two kids. Weare not a typical Indiancouple who get marriedjust so they can have achild. We are modern."

Kareena is quitefriendly with Saif's twochildren, Sara andIbrahim.

India Post 29June 17, 2013

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

Parineeti Chopra whois busy with hernext Hasee TohPhasee was recently

injured on sets of the film. Itis learnt that Parineeti whowas shooting for a close upshot got hit by a camera mattbox. The actress whinedwith pain as the area near hereye started to bleed.

Despite the first aid, a por-tion of her face swelled upand turned blue. However,she completed the shoot forthe day but ended up can-celing the shoot for the nextday due to the injury.

Former Miss India and actress NehaDhupia, who made her Bollywood debut in2003 with "Qayamat: City Under Threat", sayseveryone is constantly struggling in

Bollywood and adds that "I am not at number one,but struggling to make my way up everyday".

The 32-year-old tasted success with her secondfilm "Julie", in which she played a high-profile call girl.

"It's a constant struggle. You get up every dayand you are struggling," said Neha when she wasasked how much struggle is important to maintainstardom.

"The guy sitting at the number one position isstruggling to be at number one. The girl, who hasn'tgot her first job, is struggling to get her first job," theactress told reporters.

"I don't want to give any body else's example.People like me, I have got my first job, I am not atnumber one, but I am struggling to make my way upeveryday. Everybody is struggling," she added.

Vivacious, spunky, pleasingly talkativeand "definitely single" Neha Sharma,confesses, "It's so much fun being

single. I can concentrate on my work withoutany distraction." Neha who claims to be "liv-ing" her "dream" seemed at home in her plushhotel suite.

Neha, whose latest screen outing is YamlaPagla Deewana 2, says it's "been a lot of hardwork shooting and promoting the film." But sheis totally enjoying the entire process. Neha sayswith a beatific smile, "I'm young and hard working,so I want to make the most of this current phase ofmy life where I can do a lot of work and achieve what Icrave for. This is the right time to do all I want."

But things haven't been all that smooth for Neha,whose last few outings haven't been very successfulat the box-office. Neha's debut Bollywood film Crook,opposite Emraan Hashmi, failed at the BO, eventhough her first Telugu film Chirutha opposite RamCharan Teja was a moderate success.

India Post June 17 , 2013www.indiapost.com

Real Estate30

Realty Tidbits Realty bill aims to ensuretimely possession of property

NEW DELHI: The real estate regulatory bill, whenenacted into law, will ensure that home users get timelypossession of properties, and as per the specificationspromised by developers, say realty firms and consultants.

Besides, it will improve the image of the realty sectorby bringing in transparency, they said.

However, industry experts highlighted that the billdoes not provide relief to builders in getting faster ap-provals for their projects.

Home inspectors sharesome horror stories

SUSAN LADIKA

From a 15-foot boa constrictor holed up in the dark to ahouse ready to collapse in a

stiff breeze to electrical wiring thatbursts into flames at the flip of aswitch, home inspectors have seenit all. And those horror storiescould be yours if you don't have ahome inspected before you buy.

"Getting a home inspection isthe best money a buyer spends,even if they end up not buyingthe home," says Dominic Cardone,a regional vice president for theNational Association of Realtors.

While some buyers might balkbecause of the extra cost, spend-ing a few hundred dollars to get ahome inspected could save youthousands in the long run.

Marvin Goldstein, former presi-dent of the American Society ofHome Inspectors, or ASHI, recallsone new home he inspected in thePhiladelphia area that had passed

a city inspection, even though ithad no toilets and was plagued by"incomplete, improperly donework. There was $75,000 worth ofwork needed" -- not exactly pocket

change for a buyer.Protecting the buyer by in-

specting

In most home-purchase offers,it's customary to include a clausemaking the transaction contingenton the findings of a home inspec-tion.

If the inspection reveals realproblems, what happens next de-pends on the contract. "It's done

differently in different contractsacross the country," Cardonesays. The seller may cover repaircosts; the buyer and seller mightsplit costs; the seller might creditthe buyer money to make repairs;or the seller might reduce the price.If they can't come to terms, thebuyer can walk away from theagreement.

As home inspectors will pointout, what you don't know can hurtyou.

Creatures creeping andsleeping

Blaine Illingworth, an ASHI di-rector in the Philadelphia area, hashad more than his share of animalencounters while doing inspec-tions. In the crawl space of onePennsylvania house, "I came faceto face with a 15-foot boa constric-tor. It's amazing how fast you cancrawl backward!"

Realtors welcome real estate regulatory billNEW DELHI: Hailing the

Cabinet's approval of real estateregulatory bill, realtors' bodyNAREDCO has said the pro-posed law will bring transparencyin the sector, while helping homebuyers in redressal of their griev-ances.

The Cabinet has approved theReal Estate (Regulation and De-velopment) Bill. It provides forsetting up a regulator for the re-alty sector and having provisionslike a jail term of up to three yearsfor developers who make of-fences like putting up misleading

a d v e r t i s e m e n t sabout projects re-peatedly.

"It is a welcomestep. We had beenwaiting for the samesince long as itwould bring buyersat ease along withtransparency andrespect to the sec-tor," National RealEstate Develop-ment Council (NAREDCO) Presi-dent Naveen Raheja said in a state-ment.

The proposedlaw will protectthe interest of allstakeholders andalso help checkunsc rupu lousplayers in thesector, he added.

"This nowwould help to es-tablish a regula-tory authority forenforcing fair

practice and accountability normsand fast track dispute resolutionmechanism in real estate transac-

tions," Raheja said.Commenting on the bill, glo-

bal realty consultant CBRESouth Asia Chairman & MDAnshuman Magazine said: "Realestate regulator bill should havebeen more balanced (while) tak-ing view of challenges faced bydevelopers and consumer griev-ances."

"While consumers need pro-tection, for real estate develop-ment to happen more efficiently,and in a transparent manner, ad-ministrative reforms are requiredurgently," he added.-PTI

Cont’d on page 31

Buyers protest, DLFto hand over flatsin 15 days

NEW DELHI: After a peacefulthree-hour-long protest at JantarMantar in New Delhi, it was vic-tory at last for homebuyers ofDLF's New Town Heights as thereal estate giant agreed to resolveall issues and give possession ofthe flats in the next 15 days.

The project was launched inFebruary 2008 amid much fanfare.

But, despite waiting for overfive years, the customers are yetto receive possession of their flatsdue in February 2011.

"We were forced to stage aprotest against the builder as theywere delaying giving us posses-sion of our flats. After our meet-ing, DLF has agreed to offer pos-session of all apartments for whichit has obtained the occupation cer-tificate (OC) from the director, townand country planning depart-ment, Haryana government, byJune 17," said Nitin Grover, presi-dent of New Town Heights Resi-dents' Association.

Rajkot wakesup to realty ofluxury

RAJKOT: Siesta-lovingRajkotians are waking up to thereality of luxurious living! Latch-ing on to the demand from mon-eyed class, builders in Saurashtra'scommercial hub are now construct-ing what they call 'multi-storeyedbungalows'. What's more, residentsin these lavish apartments can taketheir cars right up to their 10th floorapartment and park it next to theliving room.

According to market sources,at least 10 such apartment schemesare coming up in the city where,besides amenities like garden oneach floor, the owner can take theircars up to their doorstep using aspecial elevator. The high-rises arecoming up mainly near Nyari Dam,Nana Mava, Awadh Road andKalavad Road.

Ishwar Gehi, an architect andreal estate developer, who designedfirst such 'multi-storey bungalows'in Panchvati Society, said, "Park-ing is becoming a serious problemwhich only looks like gettingworse. So, besides luxury of park-ing their cars beside their apart-ment, owners are also assured ofthe vehicle's security."

India Post 31June 17 , 2013 Real Estate Postwww.indiapost.com

The behemoth had gottenloose a couple of years earlier, andthe owner thought it was dead, notresiding under his house.

Another time, Illingworth sayshe saved a family from carbonmonoxide poisoning. The sellersthought they had the flu. Instead,he found a raccoon sleeping inthe chimney, blocking the flue.The problem wasn't the flu - it wasthe flue.

In another case, while inspect-ing an old farmhouse, Illingworth

discovered a colossal hornets'nest, with seemingly hundreds ofthousands of the stinging crea-tures, covering one attic wall.

Termites also can cause a pileof damage. Claude McGavic, ex-ecutive director at the NationalAssociation of Home Inspectors,or NAHI, recalls inspecting a1920s Florida home. "From out-ward appearances, it looked fine."A closer look showed termiteshad devoured the wooden fram-ing, leaving it held together by

Home inspectors share somehorror stories

the plaster on the walls. "I couldhave pushed it over," McGavicsays.

Crispy, but not well-doneHomeowners can be their own

worst enemies. In one case,McGavic says he went to inspecta house with a real estate agent.The agent flipped a light switch,setting the house on fire. The pairput out the fire, cleared out thesmoke - and the buyer bought thehome.

Illingworth recalls inspecting ahome owned by an electrical engi-neer, who proudly announced that

he had wired the house himself.Unfortunately, he had used thewrong type of wiring. "Everythingwas brown or black and crispy. Ican't understand for the life of mewhy it hadn't burned down yet."

Water heaters also can be dan-gerous things, as Bill Jacques,ASHI's president, found when in-specting a home in the Charles-ton, S.C., area. Water heaters havea pressure-relief valve attached toa drain line channeled outside. Ifit overheats, the valve opens,

draining water so the tank doesn'texplode. In this case, the home-owner had substituted a turkeybaster for a drain line. "It wouldhave blown the turkey basteraway," spewing hot water, Jacquessays.

What to expect when they'reinspecting

A typical inspection takes sev-eral hours and looks at things suchas the heating and air-condition-ing systems, plumbing, electricalsystem, and roof. Specialty inspec-tors can check for mold, radon gasand energy efficiency, McGavicsays.

Older homes are more likely tohave problems as things wear out,but new homes aren't immune, asGoldstein discovered when he in-spected that new home with notoilets and $75,000 worth of prob-lems.

If repairs are needed, hire a li-censed contractor. That way,there's a paper trail that the workhas been done. And Jacques rec-ommends having the home rein-spected to make sure the repairswere done properly.

In many parts of the country, ahome inspection will cost a fewhundred dollars, and the price isinfluenced by the age of the home,its square footage, and how far theinspector needs to travel, Jacquessays.

Courtesy Bankrate.com

Realty bill should cover allstakeholders: CREDAI

NEW DELHI: The bill to regu-late real estate sector should coverthe authorities responsible for giv-ing approvals for projects, besidesdevelopers community, realtors'body CREDAI has said.

Stating that the real estate regu-latory bill approved by the UnionCabinet seeks to whip only errantdevelopers, CREDAI Chairman

Lalit Kumar Jain expressed fearthat it could encourage corruptioninstead of curtailing the socialmenace.

"The real estate sector defi-nitely needs a regulator on thelines of the one controllingtelecom, banking, stock marketsand insurance sectors," he added.

However, he said the discre-tionary powers for registering orderegistering projects and adjudi-

cation by a bureaucrat could be-come breeding grounds for corrup-tion.

"Our fear is that those with ex-pertise to handle politicalinfluencers will only survive, thusleaving the all important industryin the hands of corrupt people,"Jain said.

He demanded that the regula-tor should cover all stake-holders like defaulting cus-tomers, the approving au-thorities and financial institu-tions that fund projects.

"How can anyone blamethe developer if a project isheld up due to approval de-lays or funds for that matter?"he asked.

On the provision in theBill for mandatory deposit of70 per cent of the cost in anescrow account, Jain pointedout that this is impractical.

Jain welcomed the state-ment of Minister for Housingand Urban Poverty Allevia-tion Ajay Maken that the Billprovides for a uniform regu-latory environment to protect

consumer interests, help speedyadjudication of disputes and en-sure orderly growth of the real es-tate sector.

"Also, the promotional role ofthe proposed Regulator like stan-dardization in the sector carpetarea, checking money trail andcurbing money laundering, profes-sionalism and promoting planneddevelopment are music to ourears," he said. -PTI

A typical inspection takes several hours andlooks at things such as the heating andair-conditioning systems, plumbing, electri-cal system, and roof.

Lalit Kumar Jain

Supertech not abusing dominant market position: CCINEW DELHI: Competition

watchdog CCI has dismissed thecharges of abuse of dominant mar-ket position against real estatecompany Supertech for residential

flats in Noida and Greater Noida.In an order dated May 31, Com-

petition Commission of India (CCI)said that Supertech "prima facie,does not appear to be in a domi-nant position in the relevant mar-ket, there seems to be no questionof abuse of its dominant positionwithin the meaning of the provi-sions of... the (Competition) Act".

According to CCI, the relevantmarket in this case was "servicesfor development and sale of resi-dential apartments in the region ofNoida and Greater Noida".

In a complaint againstSupertech, an individual had al-leged that the company being adominant player in Noida regionhad abused its position by can-celing his allotted apartment with-out any reasonable basis.

It was alleged that the real-es-tate company having control onthe flats had "arbitrarily,malafidely, wrongly, deliberately

and intentionally cancelled the al-lotment of the flat to the consum-ers".

The complainant had booked aresidential flat in Greater Noida, tobe constructed by Supertech.

As per the complaint, follow-ing a dispute between Supertechand the farmers and its subse-quent resolution, the price escala-tion over the period of time led toan increase in the constructionprice for Supertech in Noida.

Thereafter, the complaint al-leged that Supertech abused itsdominant position to deprive theoriginal allottees of the flats at theprice duly agreed between them.

It said that in order to achievethis motive, Supertech had arbi-trarily and mischievously issueda letter to the complainant for can-cellation of the flat.

Moreover, the complainant hadalleged the company of colludingwith other real estate firms so thatthe cancelled flats could be re-soldto new buyers at higher prices.

However, CCI has said the alle-

gation that Supertech colludedwith other companies "seems tobe mis-conceived as the real es-tate enterprises (including the op-posite party-Supertech) were notshown to have agreed/colluded toadopt similar practice of cancelingprior allotments with the objectiveto fetch higher prices".

It also noted that the presenceof other builders in the region ne-gates the contention that any ofthe consumers were dependent onSupertech to purchase an apart-ment.

"Presence of other builders ofrepute also shows prevalence ofcompetition," it added. -PTI

It also noted that thepresence of otherbuilders in the regionnegates the conten-tion that any of theconsumers weredependent onSupertech


www.indiapost.com32 India Post June 17, 2013

Health ScienceHealth Line

Alabama strugglesin meeting fitness

guidelinesDetails on Page 34

Obama pitches new healthcare law in California

SAN JOSE, Calif.: PresidentBarack Obama has encouragedthe uninsured or those payinghigh prices for health insuranceto sign up for coverage under hishealth care law and urged oppo-nents to stop wasting time con-tinuing to fighting its implemen-tation.

Obama used a trip to Californiato highlight how the state is imple-menting the Affordable Care Actand rebut continuing criticismover his signature legislativeachievement. He touted an effortin the state to recruit Hispanics inparticular to the health care ex-changes that are being created tohelp millions of now-uninsuredconsumers afford coverage.

``The main message I want forCalifornians and people all acrossthe country, starting on Oct. 1, ifyou're in the individual market,you can get a better deal,'' Obamasaid. He said California's onlinemarketplace will allow consumersto shop for private insurance``just like you were going onlineto compare cars or airline tickets.''

California has the country'sbiggest insurance market and,with 6 million uninsured residents,it is a crucial part of Obama's ef-fort to get consumers to sign up

for coverage. Thirteen insurancecompanies will be offering mul-tiple health plans that vary in cov-erage and price throughCalifornia's exchange, even in

some of the most rural regions ofthe state.

In many states, Republicangovernments are opposing thelaw's implementation and are leav-ing oversight of the exchanges tothe federal government. Obamanoted that the House has voted 37times to repeal the health care law.

``My suggestion to them hasbeen, let's stop re-fighting the oldbattles and start working withpeople like the leaders who are onstage here to make this law work

the way it's supposed to,'' he said.``You can listen to a bunch of

political talk out there, negativeads and fear-mongering gearedtoward the next election, or alter-natively you can actually look atwhat's happening in states likeCalifornia right now,'' Obama said.

The president said there would

be ``glitches'' and ``hiccups'' ingetting the system up and run-ning. He said current premium in-creases Americans may experienceare not a result of the law, but theresult of employers shifting coststo workers or insurers ̀ `jacking upprices unnecessarily.''

Getting young people to enrollthrough the exchanges also iscritical; they cost insurers lessmoney because they tend to havethe best health and don't requirea lot of costly medical care.

The Obama administration islooking for about 7 million peopleto enroll through the exchanges,and 2.6 million of them need to beyounger in order to keep costsdown for the overall pool of en-rollees, White House officialssaid. Nearly one-third of theseyoung people live in three states:California, Texas and Florida.

Among the private entitiesworking with the state of Califor-nia to promote enrollment are theSpanish-language TV networksTelemundo and Univision. TheWhite House says the law willgive more than 10 million unin-sured Latinos across the countrythe opportunity to afford healthinsurance coverage.

High heels may cause permanent injuryLONDON: High heels may

cause permanent injury, withmost women suffering pain injust over an hour of wearingheight-enhancing footwear, anew study has found.

Wearing the ill-fitted shoescan cause long-term damage in-cluding arthritis, stress frac-tures, and trapped nerves, whichmay even require surgery or ste-roid injections, consultant po-diatrist Mike O'Neill warned.

Researchers at The Collegeof Podiatry, UK, found that al-most half of women have suf-fered foot problems after wear-ing an uncomfortable pair ofshoes, but 43 per cent will suf-

fer in the name of fashion.One third of women also ad-

mitted that they had worn heels

they knew did not fit, simply be-cause they "looked nice" - andcould not find a pair in their size,The Telegraph reported.

On average, high heels start tohurt after 1 hour, 6 minutes and 48seconds, but a fifth 20 per cent

started to feel the pinch within just10 minutes.

As many as 28 per cent women

said they have resorted to danc-ing bare foot in a nightclub or barwhen they could not put up withthe pain any longer.

One third of them admitted tohave been forced to remove theirshoes and walk home barefoot be-

Regents rejectprivate healthcenter at UNL

LINCOLN, Neb.: The Univer-sity of Nebraska Board of Regentshas opted not to switch to a pri-vately run student health centerin Lincoln.

The Lincoln Journal Star re-ports the board rejected a pro-posal to enter into a 36-year con-tract with Bryan Health to oper-ate the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's heath center and thenbuild a new $14.4 million center.

UNL Chancellor HarveyPerlman says the deal would havelet the university avoid the uncer-tainties of providing health careunder new federal guidelines andwould have stabilized costs to stu-dents.-AP

Wicomico Co. tohike costs ofcertain services

SALISBURY, Md.: WicomicoCounty says restaurant inspec-tions, building permits and someother health department servicesare about to get more expensive.

The fee hike goes into effectJuly 1 and was approved by a 4-3County Council vote. Many of thefees haven't been raised for sevenyears.

The cost increase includes ser-vices such as a public pool li-cense, septic installations andpermits for wells, buildings andsewage disposal systems.

County Council President MattHolloway, who voted in favor ofthe fee increase, tells The DailyTimes of Salisbury that the statehas ``sent down unfunded man-dates time and again'' and that theincreases seem fair for users ofthe services. -AP

Hickman winsnursing honor atNorthwestern

NATCHITOCHES, La.: DebbieHickman has been named educa-tor of the year by NorthwesternState University's College of Nurs-ing and Allied Health.

She is an assistant professorof nursing at the university'sLeesville-Fort Polk campus.Hickman was nominated for thehonor by her colleagues.

Hickman has been a nurse-educator for 12 years. She teachesfundamentals and medical/surgi-cal nursing classes and tutors twogroups of clinical students eachsemester. She also is lab coordi-nator for the Leesville-Fort Polkcampus. -AP

Cont'd on Page 35

cause they could not bear the painany longer.

The study of 2,000 Britishadults also found that only 12 percent of men have put up with styl-ish but uncomfortable shoes.

Researchers said that could ex-plain why women are likely tohave more issues with their feet,and are twice as likely to sufferfrom corns, cracked heels andbunions.

A staggering 90 per cent ofwomen have experienced prob-lems and 20 per cent admittedthey are "embarrassed" by theirfeet while 12 per cent are soashamed they cover them con-stantly.-PTI

India Post 33Health Science Postwww.indiapost.com

June 17, 2013

20-minute bout of yoga boosts brain functionWASHINGTON: A single, 20-minute ses-

sion of yoga can significantly improve brainfunction, a new study led by an Indian-ori-gin researcher has found.

University of Illinois student Neha Gotheand her colleagues found that a 20-minutesession of Hatha yoga improved partici-pants' speed and accuracy on tests of work-ing memory and inhibitory control, twomeasures of brain function associated withthe ability to maintain focus and take in,retain and use new information.

Participants performed significantly bet-ter immediately after the yoga practice thanafter moderate to vigorous aerobic exercisefor the same amount of time.

The 30 study subjects were young, fe-male, undergraduate students.

"Yoga is an ancient Indian science andway of life that includes not only physicalmovements and postures but also regu-lated breathing and meditation," said NehaGothe, who led the study while a graduatestudent at the University of Illinois at Ur-bana-Champaign.

"The practice involves an active

attentional or mindfulness component butits potential benefits have not been thor-

oughly explored," said Gothe, now a pro-fessor of kinesiology, health and sport

studies at Wayne State University in De-troit.

The yoga intervention involved a 20-minute progression of seated, standing andsupine yoga postures that included isomet-ric contraction and relaxation of differentmuscle groups and regulated breathing.The session concluded with a meditativeposture and deep breathing.Cheese, dairy products may

help prevent cavitiesWASHINGTON: Consuming cheese and

other dairy products may help protect teethagainst cavities, a new study led by an In-dian-origin researcher has claimed.

Consuming dairy products is vital tomaintaining good overall health, and it isespecially important to bone health. How-ever, there has been little research abouthow dairy products affect oral health inparticular.

The new study published in the GeneralDentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical jour-nal of the Academy of General Dentistry(AGD), sampled 68 subjects ranging in agefrom 12 to 15, and the authors looked at thedental plaque pH in the subjects' mouthsbefore and after they consumed cheese,milk, or sugar-free yogurt.

A pH level lower than 5.5 puts a personat risk for tooth erosion, which is a processthat wears away the enamel (or protectiveoutside layer) of teeth. "The higher the pHlevel is above 5.5, the lower the chance ofdeveloping cavities," said Vipul Yadav, leadauthor of the study.

The subjects were assigned into groups

randomly. Researchers instructed the firstgroup to eat cheddar cheese, the secondgroup to drink milk, and the third group toeat sugar-free yogurt.

Each group consumed their product forthree minutes and then swished with wa-ter. Researchers measured the pH level ofeach subject's mouth at 10, 20, and 30 min-utes after consumption.

The groups who consumed milk and

sugar-free yogurt experienced no changesin the pH levels in their mouths. Subjectswho ate cheese, however, showed a rapidincrease in pH levels at each time interval,suggesting that cheese has anti-cavityproperties.

The study indicated that the rising pHlevels from eating cheese may have oc-curred due to increased saliva production(the mouth's natural way to maintain abaseline acidity level), which could becaused by the action of chewing.

Additionally, various compoundsfound in cheese may adhere to toothenamel and help further protect teeth fromacid.-PTI

Participants also completed an aerobicexercise session where they walked orjogged on a treadmill for 20 minutes.

Each subject worked out at a suitablespeed and incline of the treadmill, with thegoal of maintaining 60 to 70 per cent of hermaximum heart rate throughout the exercisesession.

Gothe and her colleagues found thatparticipants showed more improvement intheir reaction times and accuracy on cog-nitive tasks after yoga practice than afterthe aerobic exercise session, which showedno significant improvements on the work-ing memory and inhibitory control scores.

"It appears that following yoga practice,the participants were better able to focustheir mental resources, process informationquickly, more accurately and also learn, holdand update pieces of information more ef-fectively than after performing an aerobicexercise bout," Gothe said.

Many factors could explain the results,she said.

"Enhanced self-awareness that comeswith meditational exercises is just one ofthe possible mechanisms. Besides, medita-tion and breathing exercises are known toreduce anxiety and stress, which in turncan improve scores on some cognitivetests," she said.-PTI

Subjects who atecheese, however,showed a rapid increasein pH levels at each timeinterval, suggesting thatcheese has anti-cavityproperties.

Gothe and her colleagues found that participantsshowed more improvement in their reaction times andaccuracy on cognitive tasks after yoga practice thanafter the aerobic exercise session, which showed nosignificant improvements on the working memory andinhibitory control scores.

India Post Health Science Post34

www.indiapost.com

June 17, 2013

Obama arrived in California toattend fundraisers in Palo Altoand Portola Valley to help SenateDemocratic candidates.

The fundraising continuedwith Obama's attendance at aDemocratic National Committeelunch and reception for a total ofabout 130 people at the SantaMonica home of Peter Chernin,officials said. Chernin is a formerNews Corp. executive and a long-time Obama supporter. Tickets forboth events ranged from $10,000to $32,400.

Obama began by noting thatChernin had given a ``pretty ex-haustive summary'' of thepresident's first-term accomplish-ments and the issues pending inhis current term.

`Ì'm not sure I've got a lot toadd and yet I feel obligated, since

you guys wrote these big checksto the DNC, to say something,''Obama joked. He then spoke foranother 16 minutes about over-coming government gridlock,working with Republicans, elect-ing more Democrats to Congressand other issues.

`Ì've run my last campaign soall I care about right now is gov-ernance and getting things rightso that I can look back at this time,where I had this incredible privi-lege of leading this country, andsay this country is better becauseof my tenure,' ' Obama said.``That's all I care about.''

About three miles away fromthe fundraiser, a gunman openedfire on the campus of SantaMonica College, police said. TheSecret Service said the incidentwas being treated as a local po-lice matter and had not affectedthe president's visit.-AP

Obama pitches new healthcare law in California

Alabama struggles in meeting fitness guidelinesANNISTON, Ala.: The iron

plates of a weightlifting machineyielded to Stephanie Coley's ef-forts as she pressed her legs onthe device on a recent afternoon.

The Oxford resident signed upfor a year-long membership at theAnniston Aquatic and FitnessCenter mainly to help her 14-year-old daughter train for a triathlon.Soon after signing up however, the

triathlon was canceled. But Coleydecided to stick with her workoutsanyway.

She has lost four pounds in thelast three weeks and has no plansof slowing down.

`Ì want to get stronger andlose weight,'' Coley said. ``But Ihave diabetes, so I'm also tryingto get healthier so I can get offsome of my medication.''

Coley is set on improving herhealth through fitness, but other

Alabama residents like her are fewand far between, according to re-cently released statistics from theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention. The statistics showthat just 15 percent of Alabamaadults in 2011 met national physi-cal activity guidelines, the fourth-lowest rate in the country - num-bers directly tied to the state's highlevels of obesity and diabetes, ex-

perts say.But efforts are under way state-

wide and locally, from bicyclingtrail construction to children's ex-ercise programs, to encouragephysical fitness and improve resi-dents' health.

According to the statistics, thestates with lower rates of exercis-ing adults than Alabama wereMississippi at 14.2 percent, andTennessee and West Virginia,both at 12.7 percent. In the study,

for adults to meet the nationalphysical activity guidelines setforth by the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services, theyhad to report engaging in a com-bination of moderate and vigor-ous aerobic physical activity be-tween 75 minutes and 150 minuteseach week and participate inmuscle strengthening at least twotimes per week.

Coley said her exercise programincludes using weight machines,some free weights and a station-ary bicycle.

`Ì really like it,'' she said.Since the city opened the

Anniston Aquatic and FitnessCenter last year, it has seen con-sistent use by residents, saidRobin Brothers, fitness director atthe center.

``Membership is very good,''Brothers said.

The facility offers an indoorcompetitive swimming pool andplenty of weight and cardio ma-chines along with free weights.The center also offers several aero-bic and body sculpting exerciseclasses in the morning and atnight. There's also a basketballcourt.

Brothers said the center rou-tinely makes efforts to encouragemore residents to try out the cen-ter.

``We participate in differentactivities in the city, like healthfairs,'' she said.

For several years, efforts havebeen underway among volunteers

and local leaders to turn the areainto a bicycling hub - encourag-ing races like the Sunny King Cri-terium and Cheaha Challenge andthe construction of cycling trailson Coldwater Mountain.

Mike Poe, former organizer ofthe Cheaha Challenge, is presi-dent of the Northeast AlabamaBicycle Association and is in-volved in the Coldwater Moun-tain trail project. He said his and

others' efforts are as much aboutimproving fitness as recreation forthe area.

``We certainly want to have anevent for tourism, but we alsowant to promote a healthy lifestyleand cycling is a great way to dothat,'' Poe said. `Ìt encouragespeople to set goals ... to start train-ing to reach those goals.''

The lack of fitness has takenits toll on Alabama residents.

According to the CDC, 30 per-cent of Alabamians more than 25years old are obese and more than10 percent have some type of dia-betes.

``We're suffering from heartdisease, obesity and diabetes ...

much of that can be impacted byhigh-intensity exercise,'' said Dr.Marcas Bamman, director of theUAB Center of Exercise Medicine.

Bamman said exercise - not justbetter diets - is highly importantfor healthier lifestyles. Bammannoted that strength training isparticularly important. He saidadding muscle improves aperson's metabolic rate, helpingthem burn more calories.

`Ànd the more muscle massyou have, the stronger you are,''Bamman said. ̀ `So when you getinto your middle ages or older, it'simportant to have light, leanmuscle mass to help in daily move-ments and with carrying things.''

On the state level, the AlabamaDepartment of Public Health isusing various programs to en-courage more residents to get fit.Molly Killman, assistant directorfor the department's nutrition andphysical activity division, said thedepartment's major program isScale Back Alabama, an annualcontest that encourages resi-dents to lose weight.

``We certainly want to have an event fortourism, but we also want to promote ahealthy lifestyle and cycling is a great wayto do that,'' Poe said. ̀ Ìt encouragespeople to set goals ... to start training toreach those goals.''

Review prompts changes atColorado toxicology lab

DENVER: The Colorado healthdepartment announced changesat its toxicology lab after a per-sonnel investigation found thatrefrigerators holding drivers'blood-alcohol samples were un-locked.

The investigation also foundunderstaffing and inadequatestaff training.

The refrigerators were in alocked room, but a janitor had ac-cess to it. The Colorado Depart-ment of Public Health and Envi-ronment said that all refrigeratorswith blood-alcohol samples arenow locked and the staff is receiv-ing more training in providingcourt testimony. An investigatorwith Mountain States EmployersCouncil Inc. said the chance oftampering appeared to be minimal.

Department executive directorChris Urbina said Mountain StatesEmployers Council was con-

tracted to investigate followingstaff complaints about a supervi-sor, who retired last week. Thesupervisor was reassigned afterthe allegations were discovered,Urbina said.

Complaints included that thesupervisor had asked some em-ployees to help with her master'sthesis during work hours and that

some of her statements sug-gested a bias for prosecutors.Some employees reported inad-equate training andunderstaffing.

The department said it is hir-ing a new lab manager who willevaluate workflow.

Colorado Attorney GeneralJohn Suthers advised district at-

torneys and defense lawyers ina letter that a report on the in-vestigation included informa-tion that could be mitigatingevidence in the prosecution ofcertain cases involving the lab.

However Urbina andSuthers' office stressed that theinvestigation concerned per-sonnel issues, not the validityof the lab's tests.

``The lab is outstanding,''Urbina said, noting its role inconfirming listeria in cantaloupein 2011. -AP

Cont'd from Page 32

India Post 35Health Science Postwww.indiapost.com

June 17, 2013

Couples who post about theirrelationships happier

WASHINGTON: The soppy detailsabout their relationship that some couplespost on Facebook may actually bestrengthening their marital bond, a newstudy has found.

Researchers from the University of Cali-fornia, San Francisco (UCSF) found thatpeople who post about their relationshipon Facebook are more satisfied and securein their marriages thanthose who do not.

It may seem obvi-ous that people whoare happy in their rela-tionships will postabout them more often,but now there is scien-tific evidence of theconnection - and apossible answer to theargument that they'reovercompensating orjust looking for a self-esteem boost, 'Huffington Post' reported.

The research team, led by Laura RSaslow a postdoctoral fellow in the Depart-ment of Medicine at UCSF's Osher Centerfor Integrative Medicine, conducted threeexperiments among married Facebook us-ers over the age of 18.

The first experiment showed that thosewho often posted a picture of themselves

and their spouse as their Facebook profilepicture were more likely to report beinghappy in their relationship.

The second experiment indicated thatparticipants who reported higher levels ofmarital satisfaction and closeness with theirpartner were much more likely to haveposted a profile picture that featured theirspouse in the last year.

The third experi-ment found that par-ticipants were morelikely to post informa-tion about their rela-tionship on Facebookon days when theywere feeling particu-larly satisfied withtheir marriage.

"It makes sensethat someone who'shappier with their lifewould post these

kinds of pictures to show off their relation-ship," said study co-author Amy Muise inan interview for Canada.com.

"But general life satisfaction and person-ality traits couldn't account for our find-ings," Muise said.

The study will be published in the jour-nal Social Psychological and PersonalityScience. -PTI

Official reports progresswith health initiative

HUNTINGTON, W.Va.: A program topromote healthier living in West Virginia ismaking progress in getting the word out,according to a regional director of the ini-tiative.

Tim Hazelett told the Herald-Dispatchthat communities in the Huntington areaare getting behind the Change the FutureWV program, which is funded by a grant tothe state from the Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention.

Hazelett directs the program in a nine-county region, working with communitygroups, churches, businesses andothers to expand healthy food op-tions at community venues, makehealth screenings and education pro-grams more available and encouragebusiness owners to offer locallygrown fruits and vegetables in con-spicuous locations.

``It's a slow process withgrassroots efforts, but we are seeinga lot of community buy-in,'' Hazelettsaid.

He said more than 30 businesses --- in-cluding convenience stores, grocerystores, big-box retailers and specialty mar-kets --- have installed signs for the initia-tive and are helping to get the ``healthymessage'' out to the community.

``We have all the Walmarts with the ex-ception of one signed on to our healthycheckout initiative where they offer fruitand healthy options at checkout instead ofonly candy and junk food. Both Cabell Hun-

tington Hospital and St. Mary's have imple-mented a tobacco-free campus andMarshall University is in the process of thatas well, and we have tobacco-free parks inJackson County,'' Hazelett said.

``We are working with our extensionagents locally to offer diabetes self-man-agement and prevention classes. We'reworking with Marshall's Center for RuralHealth and their diabetes program. We're athealth fairs in schools. Any opportunity weget to speak to Rotary or ministerial asso-ciations or small groups, we're there.''

Hazelett said a lot of small projects withsmall goals can have a big impact.

``Can we change our community's des-ignation as one of the most unhealthy inthe country? Of course, but it's not goingto happen overnight. We didn't get hereovernight,'' he said.

The grant, which runs through 2016, fo-cuses on tobacco-free living, active livingand healthy eating, and services to preventand control high blood pressure and highcholesterol. -AP

Rastafarian inmate cutshair to get transfer

RICHMOND, Va.: A Rastafarian inmatewho spent more than a decade in segrega-tion for refusing to cut his hair has relented,citing health reasons.

Ras-Solomon Tafari told the RichmondTimes-Dispatch that he cut his hair so hecould be moved from Wallens Ridge StatePrison, where he was beaten by anotherinmate last year and suffered a stroke. Be-

cause Wallens Ridge is a high-securityprison, Tafari was not allowed to have hisfour-point cane in the general population.So he was held in a small cell in the infir-mary, which he said impeded his ability touse the cane to continue his recovery.

``You have a stroke, you need to exer-cise your muscles and get that strength

back,'' he said.Tafari said he was told he could be trans-

ferred within two weeks if he complied withVirginia's inmate grooming policy. Nine daysafter he had an inmate barber cut his hair,Tafari was transferred to the lower-securityDeerfield Correctional Center.

``Deerfield is specifically designed toaccommodate geriatric and assisted-livinginmates with special medical and mobilityneeds,'' said Virginia Department of Correc-tions spokesman Larry Traylor.

Tafari is one of several Rastafarian in-mates who've been held in segregation forrefusing to cut their hair for religious rea-sons.

The grooming policy requires that maleinmates' hair be cut above the shirt collarand around the ears. The department saidthe policy was enacted for health and safetyreasons, and it has withstood court chal-lenges.

Inmates who refused to comply wereplaced in segregation cells - at least eightof them for more than 10 years - and lostmany privileges. -AP

Tafari is one of severalRastafarian inmates who'vebeen held in segregationfor refusing to cut their hairfor religious reasons.

``We have all the Walmarts withthe exception of one signed onto our healthy checkout initiativewhere they offer fruit and healthyoptions at checkout instead ofonly candy and junk food.,,

June 17, 201336 India Post

www.indiapost.comDatebook

NORTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

Fri, June 21• Quarterly Mata Ki ChaukiVenue: Pasadena Hindu Temple,Pasadena, 676 S Rosemead Blvd,Pasadena, CA 91107Time: 6:30 pmContact: 626-795-5539

Sat, June 22• Elements - CrossingBoundariesVenue: Woodside Performing Arts Center,199 Churchill Ave, Woodside, CA 94062Time: 6:00 pmContact: 408-982-7266

Sat, June 22• Official Desi Summer PartyVenue: Ultrasuede Hollywood, 661 NRobertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069Time: 10:00 pmContact: 858-610-7388

Sun, June 23• Mrudula Desai ConcertVenue: Hoover Middle School Auditorium,3501 East Country Club Dr., Lakewood,CA 90712Time: 6:30 pmContact: 310-753-8990

Sun, June 23• Anantha: Infinite PossibilitiesVenue: Sophia B. Clarke Theater,1100 N Grand Ave, Walnut, CA 91789Time: 5:00 pmContact: 909-630-8558

Sun, Jul 14• Ganesha+The WoodcutterAnd The River GoddessVenue: Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, 4800 Hol-lywood Blvd, , Hollywood, CA 90027Time: 4:00 pmContact: 818-599-1936

ATLANTAUpcoming

Sun, June 22• Atlanta Desi SummerMela 2013Venue: Berkmar High School Main Gym, 405Pleasant Hill Rd, Lilburn, GA 30047Time: 7:00 pmContact: 678 508 5050

Sun, June 23• Shankar Ehsaan Loy LiveConcert In AtlantaVenue: Cobb Energy Performing Art CenterCenter, 800 Galleria Pkwy SE, Atlanta, GA30339Time: 6:00pmContact: 404-576-8909

Sun, Jul 14• Singing Sensation 2013Venue:Impact Conference Center, 5675Jimmy Carter Blvd, Norcross, GA 30071Time: 2:00 pmContact: 678-463-6613

Sun, Jul 23•Singing Sensation 2013Venue: mpact Conference Center, 5675Jimmy Carter Blvd, Norcross, GA 30071Time: 2:00pmContact: 678-463-6613

Fri, jun 21• Meet and Greet With Kapil Devand Aparna SenVenue: San Jose Airport Garden Hotel, 1740N 1st St, San Jose, CA 95112Time: 6:00pmContact: 408-507-5889

Sun, June 23• OHM Bhagavatha SapthahamYajna at Irvine MandirVenue: Irvine Mandir, 1732 Reynolds Ave,Irvine, CA 92614Time: 2:00 pm

• J K Yog Satsang and BalMukund Hindi Classes are heldevery 2nd and 4rth Sunday ofMonthChicago Satsang Information:J K Yog, Chicago - Swami MukundanandaVenue: Clarion Inn/Waterford Banquets,Board Room, 933 South RiversideDrive, Elmhurst, IL 60126Time: 3:30pm-5:30pmContact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok@ 630-561-4807Website: www.jkyog.org

1st and 3rd Sunday of Month• Chicago Children'sBal MukundCharacter Building Programand Hindi Literacy ClassesVenue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. HigginsRoad, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Nextto Nissan Dealership)Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @630-561-4807Website: www.jkyog.org/bal-mukund

June 28-30• Purusha-SuktamA Week-end Retreat withSwami BrahmarupanandaVenue: Vivekananda Monastery & Retreat6723 122nd Ave., Ganges, MI 49408Time: 8:00 pmContact: (269) 543-4545

Sun, June 30• Pij Picnic 2013Venue: Deer Grove East Forest Preserve,Palatine, Quintin & Dundee, Palatine,IL 60305Time: 9:00amContact: 6309267110

ILLINOISUpcoming

NEW JERSEYUpcoming

NEW YORKUpcoming

Sut, June 22• CRY Cricket TournamentVenue: Cunningham Park, Fresh Meadows,New York, 196 Union Turnpike,New York, NY 11366Time: 7:00 amContact: 2012204490

Sut, June 22• Sri Sanjoy Banerjee and SamirChatterjee Live In ConcertVenue:Chhandayan Center for Indian Music,4 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036Time: 7:30 pmContact: 212-302-0720

Fri, June 28• Shri Krishna Madhura SathvaroShri Radhe Shyamno DhwitiyaVenue: Hindu Temple Auditorium -NY,143 - 09 Holly Avenue, New York, NY 11355Time: 8:00 pmContact: 718-639-9200

Fri June 21• Asian American Fair 2013Venue: Katha & Kalash Mahotsav, NJ - Invi-tation from June 21-29th, 2013?, 130 Hwy10, East Hanover, NJ 07936Time: 5:30 pmContact: 973-819-8189

Sun June 23• Dr K.J.Yesudas Live InConcertVenue: Raritan Valley Community CollegeEdward Nash Auditorium, 118 LamingtonRd, Branchburg, NJ 08876Time: 4:00 pmContact: 848-219-9118

Fri June 28• Ajmad Sabri Qawali NightVenue: Edison Hotel, 3050 Woodbridge Ave, Edison, NJ 08837Time: 8:00 pmContact: 732-277-6687

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The holy Mount Kailash is situated in the westernTibetan plateau of the northernmost region of theHimalayas. Also referred to as Mount Meru andKang Rinpoche, or snow jewel, Mount Kailash is

a 22,028 ft high peak known for being the abode of Shiva.Hindus perform a 'parikrama' or walk around the 32-mile (48km) circumference of Mount Kailash, an act that is believedto wipe away all sins. Four holy rivers originate from MountKailash: the Indus, the Brahamputra, the Karnali and theSutlej.

Travel 18 miles southeast of Kailash, and you arrive atthe placid blue circular Lake Mansarovar, also known as

Tso Rinpoche or 'precious lake' in Tibetan. Bathing in thefreezing cold water of the lake which is said to containmiraculous powers is considered to be of massive spiritualbenefit.

Kailash Peak has been the center of devotion from an-cient times for the Devas, Danavas, Yakshas, Kinners,Vidyadharas, Gandharvas, Apsaras, yogis, Munis, Siddhas,Tapees and humans. A lot of pilgrims visit Kailash-Mansarovar every year. Kailash-Mansavrover today be-longs to China and Tibet. Therefore, only a few pilgrimscan visit Kailash-Mansarovar with the permission of Chi-nese authorities.

Kailash is difficult to access. Pilgrims have to crossmany mountain ranges to reach there. There are variousroutes to reach Kailash from India.

One route goes from Ladakh region of Kashmir; thesecond route passes through Gangotri towards NailangGhat; the third route is from Badrinath via Man Ghat;the fourth route goes via Niti Ghat which is in North-East direction of Joshi Math; the fifth route goes viaAlmora, Dharchula, Gabyang and Lipu Ghat and thesixth route goes from Nepal towards Kailash-Mansarovar. Cont’d on page 42

June 17, 2013

Lake Mansarovar

India PostJune 17, 2013 41Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

'Shatabdi is the heart of Indian railways'NEW DELHI: One of the best

ways to see India is to undertake atrain journey and the Shatabdi Ex-press, the heart of Indian railways,is one such rail network that of-fers one of the best options for do-mestic travelers, according to theLonely Planet.

After enabling curious Indiantravelers to experience the worldvia outbound travel guides spe-cifically designed for Indian trav-ellers last year, Lonely Planet is ex-ploring the domestic Indian mar-ket with its new series of 'pockettravel guides'.

The first in the series of pocketbooks titled, "Holidays byShatabdi" was recently launchedin the capital as a guide to desti-nations easily reachable byShatabdi from Delhi, Bangaloreand Chennai being next in the se-ries.

"After the launch of our LonelyPlanet for the Indian Traveler se-ries last year and Short Escapestravel guides series in March 2013,we decided to tap those touristswho use the services of ShatabdiExpress to travel to destinationsin the sub-continent," says SeshSheshadri, General Manager,

Lonely Planet India."Shatabdi Express being one of

the most popular trains in this

genre was first on our mind whenwe decided to come out with aguide for train travellers.'Holidaysby Shatabdi' enables travellers tomake the most of their trips by vis-iting destinations near the city.The first in the series is for travel-ers who board Shatabdi fromDelhi," he added.

Also on the agenda are a set ofbooks that can take the cinema lov-ing tourist to places inside thecountry that have a Bollywood

connection."The 'Bollywood Escape' series

will focus on places which are

known for some Bollywood con-nection, be it a shooting spot for

any movie or something other,"Sheshadri told PTI.

According to him, whenever wethink about luxury traveling fromIndian railways the internationaltourists zero down on options likeDeccan Queen, Maharaja Expressor Palace on wheels.

"But we cannot ignore the do-mestic travelers for whomShatabdi can also be an option forluxury and comfortable traveling," he said adding, "the domesticmarket is much bigger consideringthe number of Indian rail travelersevery year and hence our effort isto provide the travelers, the ben-efit of traveling with authentic in-formation.

The guide being pocket size isa quick read for anyone on the goand enables travelers to make the

most of their time by exploring des-tinations close to Delhi. The travelguide lists all the must see touristdestinations with comprehensivedetails about places to stay, foodand shopping.

Priced at Rs 140 each, the guidealso features value-for-moneysuggestions for travelers alongwith expert travel tips and advice.It gives a detailed picture of funfilled activities for all interests andage groups.

Compiled by a team of fivetravel writers including JuhiSaklani, Karuna Ezara Parikh,Parvati Sharma, Puneetinder KaurSindhu and Sarah Islam, theguides are produced in full colorand packed with photographs toinspire the readers to pack up theirbags and board Shatabdi. -PTI

Goa to promote monsoontourism to home visitorsPANAJI: Goa tourism industry

is all set to sell raindrops to visi-tors, who usually flock this beachdestination for its sun, sand andsurf and stay away during mon-soons.

State tourism director NikhilDesai said the department wouldhold roadshows and publicitycampaigns across eight statesfrom mid-June onwards to invitedomestic tourists in Goa while itrains.

"The private and state run ho-tels have offered special packagesfor the season. Goa is at its bestduring this time of the year," hesaid.

The state-run Goa Tourism De-velopment Corporation (GTDC)has launched several new attrac-tions like white water rafting in theMhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, hesaid.

The monsoons have set in Goasince June 4 onwards.

Desai said that every possiblemeans is being explored to attracttourists, right from holding cam-paigns to use of social network-ing websites.

The tourism department haslaunched special contests onFacebook, where winners are of-

fered packages in Goa."The state is also promoted as

monsoon wedding destination andfor MICE (meetings, incentives,

conference and exhibition) tour-ism," the director said.

While average room occupancyremains 60 per cent in the stateduring monsoons, as beachshacks are removed due to gustywinds as well as unfavorableweather conditions on the shores,private players are expecting bigfootfalls from the Middle Eastcountries during this season.

"The heat is maximum duringthis time in Arab countries. -PTI

Nikhil Desai

India Post June 17, 201342 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Kailash ParikramaA distance of 48 km is to be cov-

ered to complete KailashParikrama. Parikrama starts fromDarchen which is situated at the

feet of Kailash Mountain. If we gowest from Darchen, we passSersuna, Nandi Cavas, a flag polecalled "'Tarbo'. Next stopover fromSersuna is Nyanari Gompa. Westside of Kailash peak is visible fromhere. A little ahead of NyanariGompa is Desphu Gompa, on thebanks of Lha-chu river. It is lo-cated at 16,400 ft above sea level.Full view of Kailash Peak is visiblefrom here.

This is the most beautiful viewon Earth. Snow-clad KailashMountain looks as if Lord Shivahimself is standing there coveredwith holy ashes. Perfectly symmet-ric Kailash peak looks like a whiteswayambhu shivlinga. Here sightof Kailash peak gives indescrib-able divine bliss. Pilgrims bowdown innumerable times to thesaid abode of Lord Shiva. Thissnowclad peak of Kailash is knownas Himratna.

The next destination ofParikarma is Dolma-la-pass, at 2000ft. Immediately below this, there isGaurikhud. Gaurikund is a lake ofabout one kilometer circumfer-

Kailash MansarovarLegendry abode of Shiva and source of 4 major rivers

ence. It is covered with ice all thetime. Devoted pilgrims break thelayer of ice and have a holy dip inthe cold water.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatratakes normally 28 days. Of these28 days, 11 days yatra is on Indian

side and rest of the yatra is on theChinese side. The trekking startson 4th day on the Indian side. TheKumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Lim-ited makes arrangements to pro-

vide accommodation, transporta-tion and food on the Indian sideof the Yatra. The Chinese authori-ties provide accommodation, logis-tics and other arrangements on theChinese side.Mansarovar Lake

Cont’d from page 40 Lake Manasarovar lies at 4,590meters (15,060 ft) above mean sealevel, a relatively high elevation fora large freshwater lake on themostly saline lake-studded Ti-betan Plateau. It is relatively roundin shape with the circumference of

88 kilometers (55 miles). Its depthreaches a maximum of 90 m (300ft) and its surface area is 320square kilometers (120 sq miles).It is connected to nearby LakeRakshastal by the natural Ganga

Chhu channel.Manasarovar is near the source

of the Sutlej River which is the east-ernmost large tributary of theIndus. Nearby are the sources ofthe Brahmaputra River, the IndusRiver, and the Karnali River(Ghaghara), an important tributaryof the Ganges River.

During winter, the lake waterfreezes to solid ice. Tibetan peoplecross the lake without any fear bywalking across or on yak.Etymology

The word "Manasarovara"originates from Sanskrit, which isa combination of the words"Manas" "sarovara." Manasmeaning mind and sarovara mean-ing lake. According to Hindu reli-gion, the lake was first created inthe mind of Lord Brahma afterwhich it manifested on Earth.In Hinduism

As per Hindu theology, Lake

Mansarovar is a personification ofpurity, and one who drinks waterfrom the lake will go to the Abodeof Lord Shiva after death. He is be-lieved to be cleansed of all his sinscommitted over even a hundredlifetimes.

Bathing in the Mansarovar anddrinking its water is believed tocleanse all sins. Pilgrimage toursare organized regularly, especiallyfrom India, the most famous ofwhich is the Kailash Mansarovar

Yatra which takes place every year.Pilgrims come to take ceremonialbaths in the cleansing waters ofthe lake.

The region was closed to pil-grims following the Chinese Inva-sion of Tibet. No foreigners were

allowed between 1951 and 1980.After the 1980s it has again becomea part of the Indian pilgrim trail.

The lake, in Hindu religious be-lief, is also supposed to be the sum-mer abode of the Hamsa goose.Considered to be sacred, the Hamsa

is an important element in thesymbology of the subcontinent,representing wisdom and beauty.Rakshas Tal

Next to Mansarovar, there is an-other lake called Rakshas Tal. It isspread over an area of 225 sq. km.Here demon king Ravana wor-shipped Ashutosh Shambhu, thatis why it is called Rakshas Tal orRavanhrid. There are two beauti-ful islands within Rakshas Tal. Anarrow hill separates Mansarovarand Rakshas Tal. A small rivercalled Ganga-Chu joins both thelakes. There are eight BuddhaGompas situated on the banks ofMansarovar. There is a vast planecalled Barkha on the north side ofMansarovar. Darchen is on theNorth side of Barkha. KailashParikrama starts from Darchen.How to reach

The nearest railhead is atLucknow. Lucknow is well con-nected with regular passenger andexpress train services with all ma-jor cities in India. One can take ataxi and travel to Nepalgunj beforestarting the trek to KailashMansarovar.

A small river calledGanga-Chu joinsboth the lakes. Thereare eight BuddhaGompas situated onthe banks ofMansarovar. There isa vast plane calledBarkha on the northside of Mansarovar.

This is the most beau-tiful view on Earth.Snow-clad KailashMountain looks as ifLord Shiva himself isstanding there cov-ered with holy ashes.Perfectly symmetricKailash peak lookslike a whiteswayambhu shivlinga.

8 Gompas

Seralung Gompa

India PostJune 17, 2013 43Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

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Dubai seventh most populardestination in world

DUBAI: Dubai has become theseventh most popular city globallyin terms of inbound internationalvisitors, outranking destinationssuch as Hong Kong, Barcelona,Rome and Milan, a report said here.

According to the third annualMasterCard Global DestinationCities 2013 Index, Dubai has im-proved upon its last year's eighthranking and climbed a notchhigher.

At 10.9 per cent, the Gulf cityregistered the strongest growth inarrival numbers among the top tenglobal markets. It shared the featwith this year's number one city ofBangkok.

About 9.89 million overnightvisitors are expected to visit Dubaithis year, the report added.

Dubai also topped the list ofMiddle East and Africa's favoritedestination cities with interna-tional overnights visitors to thetune of 9.9 million.

"While the Middle East andAfrica's top ten cities' lineup is ex-actly the same as in 2012, there is astriking difference in how far Dubaiis ahead of the other cities," said

Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Global Eco-nomic Advisor for MasterCard andthe author of the report.

"Its international arrival num-ber is almost twice that of Riyadhin second rank, and about fourtimes as high as the third-rankedJohannesburg," Hedrick-Wongadded.

Dubai also ranks eighth in theworld as far as international over-night visitor spending is con-cerned, with an estimated USD

10.4 billion expected to be spent inthe city during 2013.

The Index indicates that if alltop 10 destination cities maintain

their current rates of growth in thenext few years, Dubai will surpassSingapore and New York in 2016and Paris in 2017 in terms of inter-national visitor arrivals.

The index for the first time hasput an Asian country, Bangkok, atthe top of its list.

London, Paris, Singapore and

New York rounded off the top fivefollowed by Istanbul, Dubai, KualaLumpur, Hong Kong andBarcelona. -PTI

ONGC to maintaincleanliness at Taj MahalNEW DELHI: The Indian Tour-

ism Ministry has roped in ONGCto maintain cleanliness and hy-giene at six tourist destinationsacross the country, as part of itsClean Indiacampaign.

Accordingto the actionplan finalizedby the Minis-try, ONGC willadopt sixmonuments -Taj Mahal atAgra, Ellora Caves and ElephantaCaves in Maharashtra, Red Fort inDelhi, Golkonda Fort in Hyderabadand Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.

Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi,who has taken the initiative forkeeping tourist destinations cleanand environment-friendly, had metONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Cor-poration) CMD S Vasudeva andsought the participation of the oilmajor in the campaign.

Chiranjeevi has also invitedother big PSU corporates and pri-vate sector giants to adopt sev-eral other monuments in the coun-try.

The Ministry held detailed dis-cussions with Archaeological Sur-

vey of India (ASI), which is thecustodian of monuments in thecountry.

ASI agreed to the proposal ofONGC adopting six monuments

under 'Cam-paign CleanIndia', a seniorTourism Min-istry officialsaid.

In order toexpedite theprocess, theM i n i s t r y

worked out the details with ASI re-garding cost estimates, identifica-tion of executive agencies andnomination of nodal officers foreach monument.

ONGC is adopting these sixmonuments as part of its corpo-rate social responsibilities.

The 'Campaign Clean India' isaimed at undertaking sensitizationand action at field-level for bring-ing tourism destinations and theirsurroundings to an acceptablelevel of cleanliness and hygiene.

The campaign will ensure thatthese levels are sustained throughownership and involvement of pri-vate and public sector stakehold-ers.-PTI

Kerala CM suggests start-upsto tap global mkts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Kerala Chief Minister OommenChandy has suggested young en-trepreneurs to set up start-up ven-tures in travel and tourism sector

by tapping the potential of digitaltechnology to foray into overseasmarkets that remained unreachablethrough traditional marketingtools.

Inaugurating the country's firstInternational Conference on TravelTechnology (ICTT) at Kovalamnear here, Chandy said India,which is ranked 41st in terms of

international tourist arrivals, has along way to go to realize its fullpotential, given its natural and cul-tural attractions.

"A key step forward, however,is the arrival of alarge number ofeducated youthand qualified pro-fessionals in the in-dustry which isdriving innovationand growth. Andtechnology is fuel-ling this surge ofentrepreneurshipby providing plat-forms to markettheir products andservices.

"Another sig-nificant aspect isthat the emerging

scenario enables micro-enter-prises and individuals to reach outto their markets across the seas. Ahome stay in Kerala can now mar-ket itself just like one of the bighotel chains to its target audiencein London or Sydney. In Kerala,we have a lot of entrepreneurs inthe tourism sector and I'm suretechnology will give them wings,"

the Chief Minister said.The event is being organized

by the Association of TourismTrade Organizations, India(ATTOI).

Minister of State for HRDShashi Tharoor said one of themost important uses of the web fortourism business is review and re-sponse to customer feedbackwhich is increasingly influencingtravellers' decisions.

"The real danger from the webis that it is an unmediated platform.Opinions can easily be doctoredor manufactured. The best way tocounter fake reviews is to put outcorrect information; alert hoteliersand destination managers mustcome up with quick responses,"he said.

State Tourism Minister A P AnilKumar said the Kerala has had along standing policy of utilizingthe Internet for tourism promotion.

"Our marketing strategy basedon the Internet is headed the rightway. IT has not just complementedour promotional activities, but hashelped reduce expenditure andsignificantly lowered our con-sumption of print products,"Kumar said.-PTI

Oommen Chandy

44 India Post June 17, 2013www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationDetails on page 47

Response toUSCIS union on

immigrationbill-II

Health care threatens to derailimmigration debate

WASHINGTON: Health carecoverage for newly legalized im-migrants is emerging as a thornyissue in Congress' drive to remakethe nation's immigration system,posing hard-to-solve problems forSenate negotiators and threaten-ing a bill-writing effort in theHouse.

The question is how much ac-cess to taxpayer-subsidized careshould be granted to immigrantswho were here illegally and areembarking on a path to citizenship.Answering it has pulled the nox-ious politics around PresidentBarack Obama's signature healthcare law into the immigration de-bate.

That's threatening fragile alli-ances between Republicans andDemocrats, already causing onekey House member, GOP Rep. RaulLabrador of Idaho, to ditch a bi-partisan group in the House thathas been struggling to finalize acomprehensive immigration bill.

``What may be the story at theend of this session is thatObamacare killed immigration re-form,'' Labrador said before a last-gasp effort failed to resolve thehealth care dispute in a way hecould accept. Now the seven othermembers of the House group are

moving forward without Labrador,who said their proposal doesn'tgo far enough to ensure that im-migrants must pay for all their ownhealth care costs without leavingtaxpayers on the hook for any ofit.

Health care and immigrants wasa hot-button issue even beforeRepublican Rep. Joe Wilson ofSouth Carolina yelled ``You lie!''

at Obama four years ago as thepresident told Congress that im-migrants in the country illegallywouldn't be covered under hishealth plan. For Republicans, al-lowing immigrants here illegally toget coverage under Obamacareremains a nonstarter, even oncethey've taken the first steps to-ward legalizing their status.

``We cannot be providingObamacare subsidies to peoplewho have been violating our im-

migration laws,'' said Sen. MarcoRubio, R-Fla., an author of a bipar-tisan immigration bill that the fullSenate is debating.

The Senate bill bars immigrantsin a new provisional legal status,the first step toward a green cardand citizenship, from getting tax-payer-subsidized care. That in-cludes Medicaid and tax subsidiesto buy coverage in the new state

purchasing exchanges being set upby Obamacare. The immigrantswould be in provisional status for10 years, and only once they get apermanent resident green cardwould they be able to accessObamacare subsidies.

The approach is opposed byimmigrant advocates who pushedfor provisional legal immigrants tobe allowed government-subsidizedcare, arguing that it makes sensefor public health and the economy.

But the idea was opposed by Re-publicans, and even Democraticauthors of the Senate bill didn'tfight too hard for it, advocatessaid, partly because it would havegreatly increased the cost of thelegislation. By just how much isunclear. But the Obamacare taxsubsidies will cost on averageabout $5,300 annually for eachperson who gets them startingnext year, according to the Con-gressional Budget Office.

``We definitely were pushingfrom the start, and basically wetried to remind the Democrats thatthis was sort of an unfulfilled prom-ise from the Affordable Care Act,when undocumented immigrantswere excluded,'' said SonalAmbegaokar, health policy attor-ney at the National ImmigrationLaw Center. She said some Demo-crats were open to the argumentsbut that it quickly became clearthey wouldn't prevail, ̀ `for politi-cal reasons, and not economicreasons.''

As the House immigrationgroup moves forward trying tounveil a bill, it may include place-holder language on health cover-age similar to what's in the Senatemeasure.

The question is how much access to tax-payer-subsidized care should be granted toimmigrants who were here illegally and areembarking on a path to citizenship. That'sthreatening fragile alliances betweenRepublicans and Democrats.

Cont'd on Page 46

USIBC launches campaign on immigration reformWASHINGTON: To fix the

killer provisions of immigrationreform, the influential US IndiaBusiness Council (USIBC) haslaunched a massive lobbying ef-fort and public awareness cam-paign, previously seen only dur-ing the days of the landmarkIndo-US civil nuclear deal.

The USIBC has retained theservices of the Patton Boggs lawfirm for lobbying at the scale ofthe civil nuclear advocacy effort,which USIBC conceived in 2006,augmented by a public relationscampaign to be spearheaded byAPCO Worldwide.

While former US Ambassadorto India Frank Wisner will leadthe effort at the Patton Boggs;former US envoy to India Tim

Roemer will lead the effort atAPCO, together with Cliff Stearns,who was a member of the USHouse of Representatives from1989-2013.

"At a time when the global eco-

nomic recovery is just beginning,the US and India need to pull to-gether, not pull apart, to ensurecohesiveness and a future ofshared prosperity," Ron Somers,president of USIBC told PTI.

The Coalition for Jobs andGrowth, USIBC said, is beinglaunched to help ensure thatAmerican businesses of all typeshave access to the internationalexpertise they need to continue

to drive forward economic growthand job creation.

As the American economy re-covers, the US is relying on hightechnology requiring skilled pro-fessionals to drive efficiencies

and spur growth; until it canproduce sufficient numbers ofskilled professionals domesti-cally, talent must be sourcedfrom around the globe so USfirms can outpace global com-petition, it said.

"USIBC supports the freemovement of technical profes-sionals. This freedom of move-ment is essential to US job cre-ation, and is at the heart of ourfuture economic prosperity,"Somers said.

"USIBC endorses immigra-tion reform, but the legislationas currently written restricts acompany's ability to sourceskilled talent, which hamstringsAmerican competitiveness," headded.-PTI

"USIBC supports the free movement of tech-nical professionals. This freedom of move-ment is essential to US job creation, and is atthe heart of our future economic prosperity,"Somers said.

Finish immigrationthis summer:Obama

WASHINGTON: PresidentBarack Obama says there's no rea-son Congress can't pass an immi-gration overhaul by the end ofsummer.

In his weekly radio and Internetaddress, Obama pushes a biparti-san bill the Senate is debating thatcreates a pathway to citizenshipfor 11 million people in the U.S.illegally.

Obama says the bill's oppo-nents will do everything possibleto stop it. He says they'll play poli-tics, stoke fear and divide people.

He says if they succeed, thenation will miss a chance to fix abadly broken system. He's urgingAmericans to tell their lawmakerswe must get immigration done.-AP

Republican senatorto back overhaulof immigration

WASHINGTON: A Republicansenator has declared her supportfor the bipartisan overhaul of theUS immigration system.

Senator Kelly Ayotte of NewHampshire has said that thenation's immigration is broken andneeds to be fixed. She says theSenate proposal secures the bor-der and provides a "tough butfair" way for immigrants in the USillegally to earn citizenship.

A bipartisan group of eightsenators drafted the bill and thenguided it through the JudiciaryCommittee to the full Senate.

Despite widespread support,the bill's passage is by no meanscertain given the proceduralhurdles. -AP

Canada to deportUS man accusedof kidnapping son

WINNIPEG, Manitoba: A Colo-rado man accused of attacking hisestranged wife and kidnapping histhree-year-old son has been or-dered deported from Canada.

Canada's Immigration and Refu-gee Board ruled that Monty RayTurner should be deported be-cause of the serious criminalcharges.

Turner, 51, is suspected ofbreaking into his estranged wife'sColorado home last month, attack-ing her with a stun gun and pep-per spray and kidnapping theirson.

Turner and his son were dis-covered the next day at a motel inBrandon, Manitoba.-AP

India Post 45June 17, 2013 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

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Arizona sheriff suspends immigration effortsPHOENIX: An Arizona sheriff

who led the way for local policeacross the country to take up im-migration enforcement is reconsid-ering his crackdowns - and otherlaw enforcement officials who fol-lowed his lead are expected toeventually back away, too.

Joe Arpaio, the sheriff for met-ropolitan Phoenix, has temporarilysuspended all his immigration ef-forts after a federal judge con-cluded two weeks ago that thesheriff's office had racially profiledLatinos in its patrols, Arpaiospokesman Brandon Jones toldThe Associated Press.

Arpaio critics, including thefederal government, are gainingground in their fight to get thesheriff out of immigration enforce-ment. Even before the ruling,Washington had stripped Arpaio'soffice of its special federal immi-gration arrest powers and startedto phase out the program acrossthe country amid complaints thatit led to abuses by local officers.The Arpaio ruling is expected toimpact state immigration laws inArizona, Alabama, Georgia andSouth Carolina, where local offic-ers question people's immigrationstatus in certain instances.

The national mood on immigra-

tion also has changed dramati-cally. Fewer states are seekingtheir own immigration laws, andproponents for Congress to over-haul the nation's immigration sys-tem have public opinion on theirside.

Peter Spiro, a Temple Univer-sity law professor who specializesin immigration law, said the May24 ruling marks a big blow forArpaio and the movement for morelocal immigration enforcement.`Ìt's a cautionary tale for any otherwould-be Joe Arpaios out there,''

Spiro said. ̀ `This is an example thatothers can hardly afford to ignore.''

The temporary suspension ofArpaio's immigration enforcementefforts marked the first pause since

the lawman launched his crack-downs more than seven years agoand made combating the nation'sborder woes a central part of hispolitical identity.

His immigration work will re-main on hold until at least June 14,when lawyers will attend a hear-ing and discuss possible remediesto the constitutional violations

found by U.S. District JudgeMurray Snow. It's not knownwhether Arpaio will resume immi-gration enforcement after the hear-ing. The ruling doesn't altogetherbar Arpaio from enforcing thestate's immigration laws, but im-poses a long list of restrictions onhis immigration patrols, such as aprohibition on using race as a fac-tor in deciding whether to stop avehicle with a Latino occupant.

The sheriff won't face jail timeor fines as a result of the ruling.But lawyers opposing the sheriff

are expected to seek more trainingfor officers, better record-keepingof arrests and a court-appointedofficial to monitor the agency'soperations to make sure the

sheriff's officeisn't makinguncons t i tu-tional arrests.

``We areout of the im-m i g r a t i o nbusiness untilthat hearing,''Jones said.`Ùntil thathearing, bettersafe thansorry.''

A f t e rArpaio losthis federal im-migration ar-rest powers inOctober 2009,

he cited state immigration laws ashe continued to carry out enforce-ment efforts.

It has been almost two yearssince Arpaio conducted his lastsignature sweep, in which deputiesflood an area of a city - in somecases, heavily Latino areas - overseveral days to seek out traffic vio-lators and arrest other offenders.

Even so, he continued enforc-ing Arizona's immigrant smug-gling law and another state lawthat bans employers from hiringimmigrants living in the countrywithout permission. The sheriff'soffice put both enforcement ap-proaches on hold after Snow'sruling.

Cecillia Wang, a lawyer whopressed the profiling case on be-half of a group of Latinos and theleader of the American Civil Lib-erties Union's immigrant rightsproject, said the Arizona sheriffisn't the only local official thathas violated the rights of Latinosin immigration enforcement, buthe's the most vocal about it.``There are other agencies outthere that have been doing simi-lar things more quietly,'' Wangsaid.

The ACLU pointed to severalcounties in North Carolina, for in-stance. The U.S. Justice Depart-

ment filed a lawsuit in Decemberalleging that Alamance CountySheriff Terry S. Johnson and hisdeputies made unwarranted ar-rests with the goal of maximizingdeportations. Federal authoritiesaccuse Johnson of ordering hisdeputies to arrest motorists whoappeared Latino - even for minortraffic infractions - while lettingwhite drivers off with warnings.They also allege Johnson orderedspecial roadblocks in neighbor-hoods where Latinos live.

Chuck Kitchen, an attorneyrepresenting Johnson's office,vigorously denied the allegationsand said he didn't see any simi-larities between the cases. `Ìdon't think the ruling has any ef-fect on Alamance,'' Kitchen said.

Jessica M. Vaughan, a local im-migration enforcement expert for

the Center for Immigration Stud-ies, which advocates for stricterimmigration laws, disputed thenotion that Arpaio's racial profil-ing ruling will have a chilling ef-fect on local immigration efforts.Vaughan said the prevailing viewwithin local agencies is that it'stheir responsibility to work withthe federal government on immi-gration. ̀ `They would be derelictin their duty if they did not,''Vaughan said.

In an interview earlier, Arpaiosaid he was surprised by Snow'sruling, but declined to talk aboutthe decision's effects on his im-migration enforcement. ̀ Ì respectthe courts, but they have a job todo. We have a job to do,'' Arpaiosaid. ``The federal justice systemalso gives you the opportunity toappeal.'' -AP

Arpaio critics, including the federal govern-ment, are gaining ground in their fight to getthe sheriff out of immigration enforcement.Even before the ruling, Washington hadstripped Arpaio's office of its special federalimmigration arrest powers

Joe Arpaio

India Post46 June 17, 2013Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

So where does that leave newlylegalized immigrants in provisionalstatus with no access to publiclyfunded care?

In the aftermath of Wilson'soutburst, the White House tight-ened its stance on the AffordableCare Act, saying that immigrantshere illegally wouldn't be able tobuy coverage in new health careexchanges even using their ownmoney. But the Senate immigrationbill does allow them to go into theexchanges with their own moneyonce they obtain provisional le-gal status. For most, that wouldbe prohibitively expensive.

Although current law bars im-migrants here illegally from Med-

Health care threatens to derail immigration debateicaid and Obamacare, pregnantwomen, children, seniors and thedisabled have access to emer-gency Medicaid services. Immi-grants here illegally can also ac-cess community health centers.That would be the case for immi-grants getting provisional statusunder the immigration bill, too.

Beyond that, a certain numberof immigrants would get em-ployer-sponsored care. Rightnow, some 30 percent of immi-grants here illegally are coveredthat way, according to the Migra-tion Policy Institute. That num-ber would likely rise at least some-what if the immigration bill be-comes law.

But the issues are far fromsettled. Along with border secu-

rity and other matters, health cov-erage is almost certain to be thesubject of disputes on the Sen-ate floor in the weeks ahead.

As debate on the legislationopened, Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid, D-Nev., argued thatthe bill offers ̀ `commonsense re-forms which will make our coun-try safer and help undocumentedimmigrants get right with the law.''

A leading opponent, Sen. JeffSessions, R-Ala., claimed the billoffers a false promise of enforc-ing immigration laws and secur-ing the border.

``It will definitely give amnestytoday, it will definitely give imme-diate legal status to some 11 mil-lion people today,'' Sessions said.But the promise of enforcement

``is not fulfilled.''A health care amendment of

particular concern to advocatesis expected to be offered by Sen.Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. It would barimmigrants from gettingObamacare subsidies for fiveyears after they've gotten greencards. Hatch notes that a five-year prohibition on new greencard holders exists in current lawwith respect to Medicaid andother programs. Democratic au-thors of the bill oppose Hatch'samendment but want to find someway to accommodate that andother changes he's proposing inorder to get his vote.

Senators are confronting an-other complication created bytheir attempt to block immigrants

from getting Obamacare subsi-dies in the exchanges. Employerswith 50 or more workers face pen-alties if they don't offer adequatehealth coverage to their workers,but some of those penalties de-pend on how many workers endup shopping in the exchangeswith federal subsidies.

Since provisional immigrantsdon't have the right to get federalsubsidies, it appears employersin some cases could face no pen-alty for failing to insure them, po-tentially giving employers an in-centive to hire newly legalized im-migrants over American citizens.

It's a problem senators saythey want to work out on the Sen-ate floor, but the solution is notclear. -AP

Cont'd from Page 44

US House votes to resumedeporting immigrants

WASHINGTON: The Republi-can-controlled House voted to re-sume the deportation of hundredsof thousands of immigrantsbrought illegally to the UnitedStates as children.

This is the first immigration-re-lated vote in either chamber ofCongress this year and a measureof the daunting challenge facingsupporters of asweeping over-haul of existinglaw on the sub-ject.

The party-line vote of224-201 wasaimed at block-ing implemen-tation of Presi-dent BarackObama's 2012election-yearorder called theDREAM Actto stop depor-tations of manyi n d i v i d u a l swho couldbenefit from it.

Democratson the Housefloor reactedwith booswhen the pro-vision was added to a routinespending bill for the Departmentof Homeland Security.

The vote was largely symbolic,since the administration hasthreatened to veto the overall leg-islation on budgetary grounds.

It nevertheless stood as a starkwarning from conservatives whodominate the ranks of the Repub-

lican House majority about at-tempts in the Senate to grant achance at citizenship to an esti-mated 11 million immigrants resid-ing in the country illegally.

And the White House reactedsharply, saying the House-passedmeasure would affect "Dreamers"who are "productive members ofsociety who were brought here as

young children, grew up in ourcommunities, and became Ameri-can in every way but on paper."

Rep. Steve King, a Republican,said in a statement that the voteprohibits the administration "fromimplementing executive amnesty"without congressional action.

"Bipartisan support for myamendment is the first test of the

113th Congress in the House ofRepresentatives on immigration.

My amendment blocks many ofthe provisions that are mirrored inthe Senate's 'Gang of Eight' bill. Ifthis position holds, no amnestywill reach the President's desk," hesaid.

The measure was drafted by abipartisan group of eight senators,

then approved by the Senate Ju-diciary Committee last month on avote of 13-8.

It also creates a new low-skilledguest-worker program, expandsthe number of visas available forhigh-tech industry workers andreorders the system for legal im-migration that has been in placefor decades. -AP

It also creates anew low-skilledguest-workerprogram, ex-pands the num-ber of visasavailable forhigh-tech industryworkers andreorders the sys-tem for legalimmigration thathas been inplace for de-cades.

Indonesian woman diesin protest fire in SaudiJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: An In-

donesian woman has died in a firelit by workers outside hercountry's consulate in westernSaudi Arabia, where thousandsconverged seeking to resolve theirimmigration status, a consularsource said.

Some 8,000 Indonesians gath-ered outside the consulate inJeddah trying to sort out their pa-pers as illegal foreign workers inthe kingdom face a deadline toregularize their position or leave.

"Some of them lit afire near the walls of theconsulate seeking toenter by force, but lead-ing to the death of awoman," the sourcesaid.

Before the fire, rocksand stones werethrown at the consu-late by the Indonesianworkers frustrated bylong waits to get theircases dealt with.

The action was "lim-ited to the walls of thecompound and did nottouch the offices," saidthe consular source.

Police confirmed only that a firehad left some people injured, with-out mentioning any fatality.

"The fire has been brought un-der control," a police source said.

Some 180,000 illegal foreignworkers have left Saudi Arabiasince April 1 under an amnesty thatallows them to try to sort out theirpapers or leave without paying apenalty, a newspaper report said.

This wave brings to 380,000the number of foreign workerswho have left Saudi Arabia since

the beginning of the year.Workers without proper pa-

pers are becoming increasinglyconcerned as violators of the im-migration rules in the oil-rich king-dom will face penalties when theamnesty period ends on July 3,with punishment including impris-onment up to two years, andfines up to 100,000 riyals (USD27,000).

According to official statistics,eight million expatriates work inthe kingdom. Economists say

there are another two million un-registered foreign workers.

Saudi Arabia is aiming to cre-ate job opportunities for its ownunemployed by cutting the num-ber of foreign workers, althoughmany of those are in low-paid jobsthat Saudis would not accept.

The world's largest oil exporteris a goldmine for millions ofpeople from poor Asian and Arabcountries that are reeling underhigh levels of unemployment. -AFP

Some 180,000 illegal for-eign workers have leftSaudi Arabia since April 1under an amnesty that al-lows them to try to sort outtheir papers or leave with-out paying a penalty, anewspaper report said.Thiswave brings to 380,000 thenumber of foreign workerswho have left

India Post 47June 17, 2013 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Response to USCIS union on immigration bill-IICYRUS D. MEHTA

Continued from last week's article

Why do you focus somuch on "illegal-aliens?" I thoughtthe USCIS is re-

quired to adjudicate applicationsso that people may come to theUS legally. If you do your job prop-erly, there will be more people inlegal status in the US. Nowadays,when you carelessly deny an H-1B extension request that yougranted many times before, youplace this individual and her fam-ily in jeopardy. All of the petitionsthat you receive from employersfor H-1B visa, L visas or O visas,just to name a few, are for folkswho will enter the US legally andwho will also clearly benefit ourcountry.

Moreover, an alien has a rightto be represented by an attorneywhen filing an application for a visabenefit, and so I would suggestthat you refrain from calling us"special interest groups." We asattorneys under ABA Model Rule3.3 and 4.1 are required to file truth-ful applications on behalf of ourclients, along with many other DHSrules at 8 CFR 1003.102 that cansanction improper attorney con-duct. Attorneys are required toethically represent clients, who areapplicants applying for immigra-tion benefits, that you must serveefficiently under your Congres-sional mandate.

Indeed, most of the times, at-torneys representing applicantsand the USCIS can be on the sameside, developing interpretations ofthe law that would be consistentwith Congressional intent and fa-cilitate consistent adjudications. Itis a win-win situation for every-one, including the American pub-lic, if we can work cooperativelywith you!Currently, USCIS reports a 99.5%approval rate for all illegal alienapplications for legal status filed

under the ObamaAdministration's new deferredaction for childhood arrivals(DACA) policies. DHS andUSCIS leadership has intention-

ally established an applicationprocess for DACA applicants thatbypasses traditional in-person in-vestigatory interviews withtrained USCIS adjudications of-ficers. These practices were putin place to stop proper screeningand enforcement, and guaranteethat applications will be rubber-stamped for approval, a practicethat virtually guarantees wide-spread fraud and places publicsafety at risk.

DACA is the model of an effi-ciently run USCIS program that isworthy of emulation and replica-tion. There are many USCIS appli-cations procedures that bypassthe traditional interview process.Also, if there is an issue, there isnothing to stop the USCIS frominviting the applicant for an inter-view. You also have your FDNSfolks do as much snooping aroundto their hearts content without re-gard to counsel being present.

Moreover, most DACA appli-cants can establish their presencein the US through school recordsand other concrete proof, such asbank statements and even throughtheir Facebook profiles, whichcould facilitate swift approval.While illegal aliens applying forlegal status under DACA policiesare required to pay fees, DHS andUSCIS are now exercising theirdiscretion to waive those fees. Un-doubtedly these practices will bereplicated for millions of illegalaliens if S. 744 becomes law.

I thought there is a regulationat 8 CFR 103.7(c), which allows theDHS to waive fees if an applicantcan demonstrate an inability topay based on stringent criteria.There's also statutory authority at

INA 286(m). As the head of aunion, you are probably goingbeyond the scope of your posi-tion to challenge a regulation thatwas properly promulgated underthe Administrative ProceduresAct and the INA. How does a rulelegitimately allowing fee waiversfor a narrow class of individualsaffect the working conditions ofyour employees in the union? Let'smove on to the next concern in theRFE!US taxpayers are currentlytasked with absorbing the cost ofover $200 million worth of feewaivers bestowed on applicantsfor naturalization during the fis-cal year. This is in addition to thestrain put on our Social Securitysystem that has been depleted byan onslaught of refugees receiv-ing SSI benefits as soon as theirfeet touch US soil.

There you go again about feewaivers legitimately applied forunder 8 CFR 103.7(c). You gripeabout $200 million, but you forgetabout the immense contributionsmade by immigrants by way oftaxes, purchasing power as con-sumers, and as entrepreneursthrough job creating businesses.By the way, one of the foundersof Google, Sergey Brin, came tothe US with his parents at the ageof six because they faced anti-Semitism in their native Russia. Yet,you deride refugees who have es-caped persecution and legitimatelycome to the US pursuant to theRefugee Act of 1980 based on theU.N. Convention Relating to theStatus of Refugees.

I wonder whether you speak onbehalf to the many dedicatedUSCIS officers who painstakinglydetermine whether an applicantqualifies for asylum or as a refu-gee under our obligations underthe UN Convention. Do you alsoforget that America was built sinceits very inception and made greatby people who escaped persecu-tion from other countries? Haveyou lost sight of our most cher-

ished and enduring symbol thatgave hope to millions when theylanded on our shore - the Statueof Liberty?

According to a KauffmanFoundation study, the Startup Visain S. 744, the bill which you op-pose, could conservatively leadto the creation of between 500,000and 1.6 million jobs, which in turncould give a boost to the USeconomy of between $70 billionand $224 billion a year. Accordingto another report sponsored byCato Institute - The EconomicBenefits Of Comprehensive Immi-gration Reform by Raul Hinjosa-Ojeda, the legalization of 11 mil-lion immigrants would be equiva-lent to more than $1.5 trillion addedto GDP over 10 years. Yet yougripe about $200 million.Large swaths of the Immigrationand Nationality Act (INA) arenot effectively enforced for legalimmigrants and visa holders, in-cluding laws regarding public

charges as well as many otherprovisions, as USCIS lacks re-sources to adequately screen andscrutinize legal immigrants andnon-immigrants seeming statusadjustment. There is also insuffi-cient screening and monitoringof student visas.

There are thousands of dedi-cated USCIS examiners who carryout their duties diligently andthoroughly when adjudicatingadjustment of status applications.If there is a properly executed Af-fidavit of Support pursuant to INA

There are thousands of dedicated USCISexaminers who carry out their duties dili-gently and thoroughly when adjudicatingadjustment of status applications. If there is aproperly executed Affidavit of Support pur-suant to INA 213A, the examiner need notgo further under the law. Congress has al-lowed agencies to sue the sponsor who hasexecuted such an affidavit

If there is an issue,there is nothing tostop the USCIS frominviting theapplicant for aninterview. You alsohave your FDNSfolks do as muchsnooping around totheir hearts contentwithout regard tocounsel beingpresent.

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

Indeed, most of thetimes, attorneys rep-resenting applicantsand the USCIS canbe on the same side,developing interpre-tations of the law thatwould be consistentwith Congressionalintent and facilitateconsistent adjudica-tions. It is a win-winsituation for every-one, including theAmerican public,

213A, the examiner need not gofurther under the law. Congresshas allowed agencies to sue thesponsor who has executed suchan affidavit in the event that thealien seeks welfare benefits. Yourallegation that students are notsufficiently monitored is shorn ofany basis. What about STEM stu-dents whom we want to remainhere and who can contribute to UScompetitiveness and innovation?A new USCIS computer system toscreen applications known as"Transformation" has proven tobe a disaster as the agency hasspent upwards of $2 billion for asystem that would eventually al-low an alien - now referred to asa "customer" under currentUSCIS policy - to upload theirown information visa the internetfor adjudication purposes. Todate, only one form can be ac-cepted into the program that hasbeen in the making for close to10 years.

If the USCIS were to hire somecrackerjack H-1B computer pro-grammers, those same peoplewhose applications you like deny-ing, I think there will be "transfor-mation" in less than 10 months!Finally, and in closing, would younot agree that "customer" is amore dignified term than "alien"?

Concluded

Immigration arrests reputedgang members

CHICAGO: Authorities saythey've arrested 18 reputed gangmembers and associates during athree-day operation around Chi-cago. Most are slated for deporta-tion to Mexico.

Agents with Immigration andCustoms Enforcement's HomelandSecurity Investigations made thearrests last week. Those detained

include members of the LatinKings and Two-Six Boys.

An agency statement saysnearly all those arrested are fromMexico and most have U.S. crimi-nal records. All remain in custodyon administrative charges pend-ing deportation.

Gary Hartwig is the specialagent in charge of Homeland Se-

curity Investigations in Chicago.He says removing violent gangmembers from the U.S. improvespublic safety in Chicago.

The arrests stem from an ongo-ing investigation dubbed Opera-tion Community Shield. The op-eration has resulted in the arrestof about 30,000 street gang mem-bers nationwide since 2005. -AP


June 17, 201348

www.indiapost.com49 India Post June 17, 2013


Amongst celebrities why do only cinestars commit suicide and not cricketers or politicians?

The death of Jiah Khan, the film actress,

reopens the debate on cine star celebritydeaths. Why do so many suicides occur inthe film Industry? Despite similar failurerates, there are no suicides in politics or incricket.

Dr KK Aggarwal, President Heart CareFoundation of India and National Vice Presi-dent-Elect IMA says that in cricket, we seecricketers under stress, they even lose theirplace in the team for years and yet they donot go into depression. The reasons maybe the presence of a counselor in every teamand opportunities to play in domestic games.Amongst politicians also, a large number of

them have died of unnatural deaths but thereare no suicides.

In the film industry, we have seen casesof Raj Kiran and ParveenBabi (56) who were re-ported missing for yearsand nobody bothered.The same never happensin cricket. Parveen Babiwas later found dead inher flat.

In the past, eight cinecelebrities have commit-ted suicides. These in-clude Guru Dutt (39),Divya Bharti (19), NafisaJoseph (26), KuljeetRandhwa (30), KunalSingh (31), Silk Smitha(35), Viveka Babajee (37)and now Jiah Khan (25).

So is celebrity statusa risk factor for suicide?

Suicides are also com-mon in medical profes-sion but not in nursingprofession. They arehardly seen in cricketingcelebrities.

Lifestyle disorders,including heart attack,diabetes, paralysis, liverdisease, kidney diseaseand cancer are still thecommonest causes ofdeath amongst celebri-ties.

• KL Sehgal (42), GeetaDutt (41) and MeenaKumari (39) died of alco-hol-related liver diseases.

• 12 celebrities died of cancer: NaziaHassan 35 (lung cancer), Nargis 51 and JatinKanakia 46 (cancer pancreas), Jennifer

Kapoor 51, Nutan 54,Rehman 58 (throat can-cer), Rajender Kumar 69,Firoze Khan 69, PrithviRaj Kapoor 70, MacMohan 72 (lung cancer),Shamim Desai (stomachcancer), Sujit Kumar 75.

• Both Jagjeet Singh70 and Amrish Puri 72died of brain hemor-rhage.

• Actors who died be-cause of heart disease:Madhubala 36 (hole inthe heart), Bob Cristo 72(rupture of heart); heartattack: Simple Kapadia51, Mohd. Rafi 55,Mohan Gokhale 45,

Sanjeev Kumar 47, VivekShauq 47, Shafi Inamdar47, Nirmal Pandey 48,Amjad Khan 51, Mukesh53, RD Burman 54,Kishore Kumar 58, RaviBaswani 63, Prem Nath65, Naveen Nishchol 65,Hemant Kumar 69,Suchitra Mitra 86, DevAnand 88, MF Hussain85, Vinod Mehra 45, SunilDutt 75, Abir Goswami 37,Surinder Kapoor 85,Praveen Babi 55 (diabetesand heart disease) andRituparno Ghosh 50.

• Mazhar Khan 45 and

Shammi Kapoor 79 died due to kidney fail-ure.

• Only three died of infections: GeetaBali 36 due to small pox, Bhimsen Joshi 89and Jagmohan Mundra 62 due to pneumo-nia.

• Only two celebrities were murdered:Gulshan Kumar 41 and Priya Rajvansh 63.

• There was only one pregnancy-relateddeath: Smita Patil 31.

• Two died of prolonged illness: ManiKaul 66 and Goga Kapoor 70.

• One died of multi organ failure: BhupenHazarika 85.

Out of 61 celebrity deaths collected sofar, 25 died of heart disease, 12 died ofcancer, 3 died of liver disease, 2 of brainattack, 2 with prolonged illness, one preg-nancy-related, 3 infections, 8 suicides, 2,kidney failures, 2 murders and onemultiorgan failure.

Divya Bharti

Guru DuttNafisa Joseph

Kuljeet Randhwa

Jiah Khan

June 17, 2013India Post

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50

Why only cine stars commit suicide?Cont’d from page 49

On the other hand, amongstpoliticians a large number ofthem have died of unnaturaldeaths but there are no suicides.

The number one cause of deathhowever remains heart attacks orlifestyle illnesses.

Politicians who have died in aircrashes include Netaji SubhashChandra Bose (alleged to havedied in a plane crash), Homi J.Bhaba, S. Mohan KumarMangalam, Sanjay Gandhi, Ashok

Birla, Surendra Nath,Madhav Rao Scindia,GMC Balyogi, OPJindal, YSR Reddyand Dorjee Khandu.Three died in road ac-cidents, Rajesh Pilot,Sahib Singh Vermaand Giani Zail Singh.

Eleven politicianswho have died of aheart attack arePandit Jawahar LalNehru 74, Dr ZakirHussain 72,Fakhruddin Ali

Ahmed 71, Lal Bahadur Shastri 61,Krishna Kant 75, Dr. BC Roy 80,Dayanand Bandodkar 62, G

Ramachandran 70, Sarojini Naidu70, PV Narsimha Rao 83 and ArjunSingh 80.

Most cine celebrities died ofheart attack before the age of 50

and none of the politicians died ofheart attack before the age of 50.

Kunal Singh

Many politicians were assas-sinated: Indira Gandhi, RajivGandhi, LN Mishra, MahatmaGandhi, Beant Singh, PhoolanDevi and Abdul Gani Lone.

Only two politicians died ofcancer: VP Singh and ChandraShekhar (blood cancer)

One politician died of surgi-cal complications: SikandarBakht and one died of multi or-gan disease: S. Venkataraman.

Silk Smitha Silk Smitha

Viveka Babajee

Sooraj Pancholi arrested forabetting Jiah suicide

MUMBAI: The Juhu policehas arrested Sooraj Pancholi, sonof actors Aditya Pancholi andZarina Wahab, for allegedly abet-ting the suicide of actor Jiah Khan.The arrest came after her mother,Rabiya Amin, submitted a six-pageletter, purportedly written by Jiah,detailing the "difficult relation-ship" between Jiah and Sooraj.

Jiah, 25, hanged herself from aceiling fan at her Juhu apartmenton June 3. The last conversationJiah had was with Sooraj at 10.53pm that day. Juhu police had re-corded Sooraj's statement onJune 4.

Rabiya said the family foundthe letter in Jiah's wallet in her roomtwo days after she died. The letterstates that Jiah was beaten up andforced to abort.

"The arrest is based onRabiya's complaint and her state-ment," said Cherring Dorje, DCP(Zone 9). He added that the letter

would be treated as evidence,though there was no mention ofthe name 'Sooraj' anywhere in theletter.

The police initially detainedSooraj for over 90 minutes andquestioned him over the contentsof the letter. "He has admitted to

the abortion and confessed thathe hurt her physically. We arrestedhim after questioning," said an of-ficer.

Sooraj said he had been avoid-ing Jiah for over two months, butcould not after a point as she wasvery emotional, an officer said.

Rabiya told the police thatSooraj had physically and mentallytortured Jiah. She said AdityaPancholi was against the affair, asJiah was older than Sooraj.

"When Jiah came to London forher birthday a few months ago, shehad bruises on her face. I askedher about it and she told me shewas in love with Sooraj. I calledher sisters to the room and shebroke down," said Rabiya. "Sheonce told me: 'He abuses me, hitsme, doesn't respect me and embar-rasses me in front of his friends'. Iasked her to walk out of the abu-sive relationship and stop talkingto him," she added.

Sooraj Pancholi

Priyanka Chopra'sfather passes away

MUMBAI: Priyanka Chopra'sfather, Dr Ashok Chopra suc-cumbed to cancer at a suburbanhospital in the city on June 10.The entire film fraternity ralliedaround the broken star, and of-fered her their heartfelt condo-lences.

Dr. Chopra had been fightinga prolonged battle with the dis-ease since 2005, and was con-stantly in and out of hospital.Priyanka and her family had al-ways stood like a rock by hisside, with the former even can-celing all her work commitmentsfor the last few weeks to be byher ailing father's side. She hadeven conducted a 6-hour longpooja over the weekend.

Priyanka was reportedly clos-est to her dad, and many fondlyrefer to the actress as Daddy's littlegirl, owing also to the tattoo shesports on her wrist, out of enor-mous affection for her brave, army-

retired father.The last rites of Dr. Chopra were

performed by Priyanka's brother

Siddharth Chopra, in accordancewith Hindu tradition. ManyBollywood personalities rushed toPriyanka's side, and were seenconsoling her during the crema-tion.

Dr Ashok Chopra

India Post 51

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Horoscope52

Your Weekly FutureJUNE 17TH - JUNE 20TH

by Pandit Parashar

(March 21 to April 20)

Financial pressure will evaporate and you can expect growth from

now and on. You may develop a taste for hot and spicy food.

Luck is definitely on your side and this is the right time to approach

the government agency to resolve an important issue. Planets are

specially favorable for those in sales or connected with telecommu-

nication industry.

(November 23 to December 22)

Other side will make the commitment. A well known person with

political connections will be helpful and get the job done. You

will hit your professional goals with ease. People in business will see

an upsurge in sales. New contract will come on easy terms and added

incentives. You may start your research to buy another vehicle.

(December 22 to January 19)

Transiting planets in sixth will help those looking for a change in

career. Sun in sixth will silence some one who has been creating

obstacles in your path for past few months. Outcome in legal matters

will be favorable only. You will be prone to loosing temper so watch

out. You may replace or buy some electronic items for the kitchen.

(January 20 to February 18)

You continue to have the Midas touch. New association will be

lucky. Some of you may launch another major project in associa-

tion with some successful people. Property deal can also get final-

ized. Some of you will start making necessary arrangements to move

to a beautiful location. Money wise you will continue to stay in safe

zone.

(February 19 to March 20)

Obstacles will be followed by easy solutions. Jupiter's transit in

fourth will bring stability in career and remove all previous uncer-

tainty. You will take a trip with family to meet an old friend and attend

a big get together. Listen to spouse as the idea is not bad. You may

make final payment on an old debt or credit card.

(May 21 to June 20)

Choices will be multiple but planets will help you go for the right

one and the one with long term gains. Enjoy life with new friend

but within certain parameters. Some of you may take over another

business in partnership with some very like minded and already suc-

cessful people. Let the past go other wise you will not be able to

move forward.

(July 23 to August 22)

Your actions will be impulsive but will get the job done. Business

meetings will go well and the other side may take some time to

come back with the positive response. You may be getting ready for

an upcoming big event in the family. Some of you may try to get out of

a partnership also and start working on necessary paper work also.

(September 23 to October 22)

Try to think beyond immediate and go for the deal which give you

less but for a longer duration. You may attend a big party this

week with family. People in retail will benefit from favorable planets.

some of you may need to deal with some legal paper work or pro-

cess. It will be better to seek expert opinion before sending the reply.

(April 21 to May 20)

You may start going to gym or for a walk in order to get back in

shape. You will have more than one chance to make some extra

money. Spouse will buy some very fine quality item for the house.

You will also finish the project well before deadline and earn some

appreciation from boss. You will take family out to a nice place for

dinner.

(June 21 to July 22)

Some of you will be taking a trip with family to another state. You

may also set the date to move to another house. You will con-

tinue to receive more good news about a child. People in business will

have better sales. Important project you are working on will open new

doors. Some one from past will try to come back in your life again.

(August 23 to September 22)

It will be an expensive week but the money will go on family and

entertainment. Business will pick up all of a sudden. Bachelors will

get introduced to another professional by a friend. Take second opin-

ion when handling legal matters. Trip will be pleasant and relaxing.

Some of you will start looking for another good opportunity.

(October 23 to November 22)

Do not go for the property that needs fixing and repairs. You may

start the paper work to buy a running business. Money you

need will become easily available when time comes. Spouse may feel

little drained out because of extra running around. You may take a short

trip to an interesting place with some old friends or close relatives.

Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also available for individualconsultations. He can be reached at: [email protected]

510-886-4370 website: www.parashar.com

India Post 53June 17, 2013

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Philosophy

I see friendship as two livesoverlapping each other

Satsang an opportunity toview from a wider lens

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV

I made my first friend at the ageof three or four, after they sentme to school. I built such a

bond with him, he was more thananything else to me. I still remem-ber his name. I am sure he doesn't.

I had a wide variety of friends,hundreds of friends all over theplace, but that's different. I am talk-ing about the bond that I builtwith real friends - I always thoughtit was absolute. But over a periodof time, with the experience of life,I realized there are very few peoplewho see friendship like that.

Most people see friendship ascontext-oriented. When you arein school, you have one kind offriend. When school is over, youjust drop them and pick collegefriends. When college is over, pro-fessional friends, and whateverelse. That's how people look atfriendship. I've not been able tolook at it like that. I am not dis-gruntled, but it has been a learn-ing experience about human na-ture.

My need for friendship wasnever too much but the moment Iformed a friendship, I alwaysthought it was for good and inevery way absolute. I've foundgood friends here and there, buteven for them, as life situationschange, their needs and their fo-cus on the friendship changes. Forme it never changes.

I wouldn't say it is heartbreak-ing, but definitely it is disappoint-ing that most people cannot formdeep relationships in their lives.They can form relationships onlyaccording to their needs; theycannot form relationships beyondtheir needs. A relationship just forthe sake of relationship, that is notthere in most people. They form arelationship when they need it;when they don't need it, they

break it.I am a little bit of a fool in such

matters. Even now if I meet an oldschool friend, I still approach himthe way I knew him at that time.But he is somewhere else, nolonger the way he was. Probablythey move on with life and I don't.I have always stayed a little out-side of it. I valued life that way, soI always kept it that way. I think itcontinues to be so even today.

I think life has been phenom-enally generous with me. When Isay generous, I am not talkingabout material things but the waylife treats me wherever I go, theway it opens up for me withoutany effort. The life process is will-ing to open up all its secrets tome probably because of the bond-ing that I form with whatever I sitwith.

Those few moments that I

shared with someone, not neces-sarily just in terms of emotion - Iwas really not emotional aboutanyone in that sense - but some-how knowingly or unknowingly,moments of sharing were mo-ments of uniting and becomingone in some way.

I never saw sharing as givingand taking; I always saw sharingas two lives overlapping eachother. I did not see friendship as

an advantageous or useful thing,something that will help you livebetter or whatever else.

Even now when I travel aroundthe world and meet all kinds ofpeople, I don't network with them,I don't keep their phone numbers,I don't try to contact them, but Ishare something very deep withthem in those few moments ofbeing together and many of themdo share that with me too. But my

sense of that sharing is a perma-nent process while I see that formost people, it is a passing pro-cess.

I think my ability to bond withanything or anyone deeply has inmany ways been the key whichhas opened up dimensions of lifeand nature to me.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev,founder of Isha Foundation, is anIndian yogi and mystic.

JAC O'KEEFFE

You have said: "In Satsangit is not so much the wordsthat are spoken because

mind imagines it can understandwhatever is beyond mind. It's notpossible." Please, would you liketo develop this? What is this mys-tery that happens in Satsang?

Mind is ultimately a tool thatappears in consciousness en-abling consciousness to be con-scious of itself through manifes-tation. It is limited and finite andits perception is determined by theconditions that are at play at themoment of perception.

It has the ability to believe itsown imaginings which includeideas about being able to grasp,own and control most things thatcome into its line of vision. If mindcan create a concept, any concept,then it has material to work withand it readily believes that whatis perceived is real. It can only dealwith concepts and absolutely ev-erything phenomenal rolls outfrom there.

Prior to concept is also a con-cept and mind will project a mean-ing on that also. Prior to mind, be-yond or outside of mind points toa 'zone' that does not hold con-cepts. This is where mind cannotgo because mind itself is a con-

cept. What is useful is to let mind

know that it can't grasp what isbeyond its capabilities - it can onlywork with that which can be re-duced to concepts. Truth is onlya concept when we talk about it,but in its essence it is prior to anyconcept. Like knowing that yourcar cannot fly up into the sky, mindis not wired to understand Truth

and this needs to be known.Yet Truth can be known by

some other capacity. Let this beaccepted by mind, that there is a'zone' beyond its reach. Thispiece of information stops mindfrom grasping and desiring Truth.

Satsang, like any moment inlife, is rich with opportunities tounplug from the stories of mind.Satsang allows an opportunity to

view from a wider lens and un-derstanding can come from this.More so there is an energetictransmission that is available atsatsang if one is susceptible toan energetic change at that time.

Having the willingness to letgo of opinions and beliefs andto be generally loose within bodyand mind allows maximum trans-mission. Leave all resistance out-

side of satsang and without ex-pectation sometimes somethingelse can happen.

I just recognized the concept,that runs, "I have to know".Likewise, the opposite - "I don'tknow" has been really scary forme.

There is a wonderful freedomin not knowing. There is rest innot knowing; it's a zone that is

open, immediate and honest. Letyour energy system become fa-miliar with this. Perhaps mind hasequated knowing with control.The only thing that really isworth knowing is unknowableanyway!

Phenomenally let yourself feelthat there is a place for both know-ing and not knowing. Both hap-pen. Disconnect the emotional re-

sponse that mind has equatedwith these two states. There isknowing and there is not know-ing, they are in fact totally equal.Find the same in these two statesand see how mind has attachedvalues to knowing and not know-ing.

Jac O'Keeffe is an Irish non-duality teacher now based inCalifornia.

Jac O'Keeffe

What has he found whohas lost God?And what has he lost whohas found God?

-Ibn 'Ata' Allah Al-Iskandari

So long as inner experi-ences are not realized,learning and reasoningare of no avail.

-Sant Ravidas:

Love is the energizingelixir of the universe, thecause and effect of allHarmonies.

-Rumi

With the holy Name asone's foundation, thiswavering mind is firmlyheld, and in Truth itdwells.

-Guru Nanak

Whatever a seeker'shigher destiny is, andwhatever direction hisSupreme Being bids himtake to accomplish it, hemust obey and not lethimself be swayed bythe persuasive argu-ments or criticism of oth-ers, no matter how logi-cal their reasoning mayappear or how harsh theircondemnation may be.

-Edward SalimMichael

True scriptures are thosewhich teach kindnessand compassion to-wards all living beings.

-Sant Dariya Sahib

The happiness of thedrop is to die in the river.

-Al-Ghazali

I wouldn't say it is heartbreaking, butdefinitely it is disappointing that most peoplecannot form deep relationships in their lives.They can form relationships only accordingto their needs

Truth is only a concept when we talk aboutit, but in its essence it is prior to anyconcept. Like knowing that your car cannotfly up into the sky, mind is not wired tounderstand Truth

54 Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

June 17, 2013India Post

Man of momentThe BJP has gone by popular sentiment in anointing Gujarat

Chief Minister Narendra Modi as chairman of the nationalelection committee which is a precursor for clearing his

way to being nominated BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the2014 elections. It has done so by disregarding opposition fromonce dominating figure of the eighty-plus LK Advani who con-tinues to harbor prime ministerial ambitions, or at least having asay in who becomes the leader in case the BJP wins the 2014elections. This could mark the end of the Vajpayee-Advani era inBJP with hopes of a younger leadership emerging,

Advani has been trying hard to stay relevant in this Internetage where Modi's popularity has zoomed. It is ironical thatAdvani, who was seen as a leader who encouraged talent, can-not bring himself to handing over the baton to younger people.In 2002, he was the one who dissuaded Vajpayee from demand-ing Modi's resignation in the wake of the Gujarat riots. But today,just because Modi is coming in the way of his own life-longambition, he is trying to stop the Modi juggernaut. To scotchModi's rise, he even tried to propose a counter panel for theassembly polls due this year. He praised BJP's Madhya Pradeshchief minister Shivraj Singh Chuahan and even propped him upas a better prospect as BJP's prime ministerial candidate for 2014as against the "divisive and arrogant" Modi. At the Goa con-clave of the BJP however, Chauhan went along with the partydecision to elevate Modi.

There is no doubt Advani nurtured and brought the BJP orga-nization to its present state. But as a man of wisdom he shouldrealize times are changing and so are the people's expectations.The old have to make way for the younger generation for thegrowth and welfare of the organization. By opposing Modi hecan only play the game of the Congress which also refuses to letgo of gerontocracy.

Last month, three national-mood surveys had suggested thatif a national election were to be held then, the BJP-led NDAwould get 47 seats more than UPA. But if the BJP were to go tothe polls with Modi as its mascot, it would garner 65 seats morethan UPA. This seems to have influenced the BJP think tank tohandover the election planning leadership to Modi. It stands toreason that if only a projection of Modi could bring about such aresult, what would be the influence on the electorate if it is actu-ally announced that Modi would be leading the contest for 2014as prime ministerial candidate. A new poll will show that manyfence sitters would have crossed over to the Modi fold after thisclear decision in his favor.

In fact Narendra Modi has acquired a larger than BJP image.In a political atmosphere where nothing seems to move exceptbills, he has the image of a go-getter. His Gujarat model of devel-opment has not only impressed industrialists but also the youthof the country who are looking for jobs and proper infrastruc-ture. His appeal is beginning to transcend religious boundaries.After all, who would object to roads, electricity and water easilyavailable in their area? After Mandal, it is time for the develop-ment revolution which is the hallmark of Modi.

A sobering thought is that even with Narendra Modi at thehelm, the BJP or the NDA led by it won't be able to reach themagic figure for a majority. Which means it will have to look forallies and would have to compromise on its promises to pleasethe allies. Here Modi would be facing a dilemma. Should hetone down his aggressive and abrasive manner to win overthose opposing him or raise the rhetoric which has won himthe popularity that he is enjoying at the moment? Or does hehave some other trick up his sleeve to develop a no longerslumbering nation?

Naxal leader Sudarshan behindChhattisgarh massacre

DEEPAK KUMAR NAYAK

The recent Chhattisgarhmassacre in which 29 per-sons got killed, including

Mahendra Karma, the controver-sial founder of the Salwa Judum,anti-Maoist 'people's movement' inthe State, and Pradesh CongressCommittee chief, Nand KumarPatel, suggests that it was meticu-lously planned by a 'mastermind'.

Intelligence agencies and Na-tional Investigation Agency (NIA)officials suspected that it must beKatakam Sudarshan, secretary ofCentral regional Bureau of the CPI(Maoist) who must have planned andexecuted the Darbha valley carnage.

The agencies believed the 25May massacre could not have oc-curred without his intervention.Retrospectively, he is the one be-lieved to have been the brain be-hind the infamous Dantewadamassacre in April 2010, in which76 CRPF security personnel werekilled in the Naxal ambush.

BackgroundKatakam Sudarshan, also

known by the aliases Anand andMohan and Birenderji, is one ofthe top nine leaders and is part ofthe politburo of the CPI (Maoist).After the elimination of MallojulaKoteswara Rao alias Kishenji inNovember 2011, Sudarshan is saidto be heading the politburo whichhas around 14 members and isgiven the overall charge of theNaxal movement.

Further, he is believed to be incharge of Naxal operations inAndhra Pradesh andChhattisgarh, and in particular,mostly influential inChhattisgarh's Dantewada area.

Sudarshan, a native ofBellampally of Andhra Pradesh'sAdilabad district, was a student ofpolytechnic course in Warangalbefore joining the People's WarGroup (PWG) in the 1980s.

He joined the Naxal Movementto fight for the causes of theAdivasis in the north Telangana re-gion who he thought were beingexploited. Since then, as secretaryof the outfit he has worked rigor-ously in the field, leading the Maoistmovement from north Telangana tothe Adivasi-inhabited regions ofDandakaranya in Chhattisgarh.

He has 21 cases against himmost of which are in AndhraPradesh -approximately 17. All hiscases are under the offence com-mitted under Section 302 of theIndian Penal Code relating to mur-der and carry a reward of INR1200,000 on his head. His wifeSadhana, the secretary ofAdilabad district in NorthTelangana was killed in an en-

counter a few years ago. She toowas a fiery, vocal and highly tal-ented comrade. Both had joinedthe Naxal movement throughPeople's War group, which latermerged with the Maoist Commu-nist Centre of India (MCCI).

StrategyIn the CPI (Maoist), Sudarshan

is renowned as a guerrilla war strat-egist. His strategy entails hisclockwork precision in planningand executing lethal attacks whichmade his mark as the master strat-egist of the CPI (Maoist) organi-zation. It is because of his meticu-lous strategy he was given thecommand of a company of theMaoists' People's Guerrilla Armyto try and stall the Center's anti-

Naxalite Operation Green Hunt, theanti-Naxalite movement.

Even when the Salwa Judummovement was launched, it was hewho meticulously planned variousmeans to counter the same. For hisability to inflict maximum damageto the class enemy of the CPI(Maoist) he had been tasked withthe elimination of MahendraKarma and since the year 2006, hehas made several attempts to as-sassinate him.

It was in May 2013 thatSudarshan entrusted his mosttrusted aide, Gaganna as the op-erational head for the DarbhaGhati attack. He is believed tohave shifted gears, choosing a"soft target" in the Congressworkers' cavalcade rather than hitat security forces, as the Maoistshave mostly done so far.

The attack of the Congress con-voy was in retaliation to a seriesof severe reverses inflicted to theNaxals in the region over the pastfew years by security forces inanti-Naxal operations and espe-cially towards the atrocities car-ried on by the Salwa Judum. Eventhough the Supreme Court of In-dia declared the militia to be illegal

and unconstitutional, and orderedits disbanding on 5 July 2011, theangst against the designers re-mained with the Maoists, whichresulted in the mindless killing inthe Darbha valley.

However, despite, the Intelli-gence Bureau having sent an alertthat Sudarshan was active in thearea and could be planning some-thing, the state could not stop theinevitable Maoist attack.

The local state police and thetop Congress leaders of the stateparticipating in the political rally'Parivartan Yatra' ignored the stan-dard operating procedures that areconsidered crucial in Naxal-domi-nated regions.

Support BaseTalking to Pahat (Dawn), a

mouthpiece of Maharashtra StateCommittee of CPI (Maoist),Katakam Sudarshan said, to buildsupport base for the CPI (Maoist),lands of over 1,000 farmers wereleveled and 50 new reservoirs andfarm-bunds have been built in the'liberated' Dandakaranya zone inChhattisgarh.

This program was launched inon 10 February 2011, the occasionof Bhumkal Diwas, when theAdivasis revolted against the Brit-ish in Bhumkal, Bastar. Over 1.2lakh people participated in the pro-gram which was a three-week-longactivity. Sudarshan also claimedthat they have constructedhouses for 136 homeless in theregion that cover parts ofChhattisgarh, Odisha,Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

People are also finding it lessnecessary to travel to adjoiningstates for their daily needs. Tryingto highlight that the villagers areparticipants in the armed conflict,he says, "And in such times, it hasbecome possible for the people tounitedly fight police attacks."

By discarding various Acts likethe 1970 Land Ceiling Act and the2006 Forest Rights Act, Sudarshansays such laws have done no goodto tribal farmers. However, the debatewill go on whether the democraticgovernment or the CPI (Maoist) isfor the development of the tribals.

Since 2010, three years haspassed by yet Sudarshan is yet tobe brought to justice. Minister ofState for Home RPN Singh hassaid, "Action will be taken if any-one is found guilty." Time will tellwhether Sudarshan can be broughtto justice or the million dollar ques-tion will be whether his arrest re-mains a distant dream for the NIAand the security forces?

The writer is Research Officer,IReS, IPCS

Katakam Sudarshan


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