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CONTENTS

YES 8%

Last week’s result

NO 92%

This week’s question

INDIA POST [email protected]

Should all passport penaltiesbe scrapped?

Details on page 12

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Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29

Classifieds ------------------------- 46

Community Post -------------- 13-23

Date Book -------------------------- 48

Edit Page --------------------------- 49

HealthScience Post --------- 38-39

Horoscope ------------------------- 25

Immigration Post ------------- 40-42

Life Style ----------------------- 30-31

Philosophy ------------------------- 47

Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate ------------------------ 43

TechBiz Post ------------------- 44-45

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 32-34

Mamata cracksCPM citadel inWest Bengal

Details on page 8

PARTIAL RETREAT ONPASSPORT PENALTY

Community still not satisfiedSRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: Owing to intense pressure from the In-dian American community, the Government of India haswith immediate effect waived the fees for obtaining Re-nunciation/Surrender Certificate from naturalized Ameri-can citizens of Indian origin for all those who acquired

their American citizenship before June 1, 2010.Only a miscellaneous service fee of $20 will be charged

for surrender of passport for cancellation and no penal-ties will be charged.

Indian passport holders who acquire US/foreigncitizenships on or after June 1, 2010 will, however, be re-quired to pay the fees of $175 for obtaining Renunciation/Surrender certificate. Details on page 6

Major US-India education exchange in the offingIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Presidents and Deans of many US Uni-versities met India's Minister for Human Resource De-velopment, Kapil Sibal June 1, in Washington DC andexpressed their desire to set up higher education insti-tutions in India. They also appreciated the process ofacademic reforms initiated in India and said that theywould like to be active partners in the growth story ofIndian education.

Details on page 7

Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal meeting

with US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in Washington,

DC on June 2

Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil

Sibal meeting US Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton in Washington, DC on June 2

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna at the opening ceremony

of US India Business Council 35th Annual Gala event in

Washington DC on June 2. Report on page 10

Swarnim Gujaratcelebratedin Chicago

‘Consult Diasporabefore imposingnew rules’

FIA to press forscrapping$20 fee too

Indian Americansentenced forfake test reports

Details on page 11

USIBC launchesnew educationinitiative in India

US Strategyseeks greaterrole for India

Indian team inUS to questionHeadley

Details on page 8

Another affaircharge againstNikki Haley

US presses Pakfor passengerprofiling

Shortage forcesUK to recruitIndian doctors

Do you agree with smear NikkiHaley campaign?

India Postwww.indiapost.com

June 11, 20102

June 11, 2010 India Post 3www.indiapost.com

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HIGHLIGHTSPublisher’s Diary

INFO-CENTER

For advertisement rates call the office nearest to you:

Bollywood:Kat is willingKatrina Kaif is open to the idea of mar-riage but is waiting for the right man tostep into her life.

1Cover Story:Partial retreat

13Community:Swarnim Gujarat

38Health:Medical CenterThe Indian Association of Somersetsponsored and raised $15,000 for thebenefit of Somerset Medical Center.

30Life Style:

The A.R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert pro-duced by Deepak Gattani & Rapport willkick off on June 11 in New York.

44Techbiz:

The roll out of "people's car" Nano fromthe Sanand plant in Gujarat has at-tracted global attention.

32Travel:Kailash-MansarovarThe sacred Mount Kailash andMansarovar Lake constitute one of thegrandest of Himalayan beauty spots.

Nano in Gujarat

For one day at least, Indian Americansfelt they are in Gujarat enjoying GujaratiRaas Garba, Gujarati songs, Dhokla.

The Government of India has waived thefees for obtaining Passport Surrender Cer-tificate from Indian Americans.

Rahman Concert

It does appear to be a big deal - the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue that was setin motion in Washington DC last week. Think tanks, political pundits, diplo-matic circles in both countries are projecting this exchange as the next big

step in a non-political institutionalization of Indo-US cooperation that is likely toimpact the lives of generations to come in both countries.

That is indeed a big deal considering President Barack Obama himself calledup Prime Minister Manmohan Singh days before the dialogue began, to set thetone for the discussions.

That same week, Under Secretary William Burns, said, "Never has therebeen a moment when India and America mattered more to one another. Andnever has there been a moment when partnership between India and Americamattered more to the rest of the globe."

Although radically transformed over the past decade, both sides are acutelyaware of the fact that the fabric of cooperation between the two countries is notwithout its creases. Burns, who has been in the thick of the transformativeprocess, and calls Indo-US relations as "one of those rarest of Washingtonspecies, a genuinely bipartisan policy priority", admits the relations will not beneat or easy and that it would take a lot of time and effort.

Political distrust, I would say, would be the biggest hurdle to conquer. Therewould always be the dynamic of each country's bi-lateral relations with othercountries like the US-Pakistan equation or Indo-Russian equation will alwayshave Washington DC and New Delhi holding each other at arms length distance.

The trick is in seizing the moment while the atmosphere is conducive - leaderswho respect each other, issue of terrorism that affects both, areas of mutual needand benefit such as clean energy, non-proliferation, education and trade - all ofwhich elevate the relations to a different level.

Like Burns says, if we get this moment right, Indians and Americans can havean enormously positive influence on each other's future, and on the course of thenew century unfolding before us.

I agree.

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Cover/Top Stories

Partial retreat on passport penaltyCommunity still not satisfied

SRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Owing to intensepressure from the Indian Ameri-can community, the Governmentof India has with immediate effectwaived the fees for obtaining Re-nunciation/Surrender Certificatefrom naturalized American citizensof Indian origin for all those whoacquired their American citizen-ship before June 1, 2010.

Only a miscellaneous servicefee of $20 will be charged for sur-render of passport for cancella-tion and no penalties will becharged.

Indian passport holders whoacquire US/foreign citizenshipson or after June 1, 2010 will, how-ever, be required to pay the feesof $175 for obtaining Renuncia-tion/Surrender certificate.

For all those who already paidthe fees and penalties prior toJune 1, there would be no refunds.

Also, for people who alreadyhave a Persons of Indian Origin(PIO) Card or an Overseas Citizenof India (OCI) Card, the require-ment of a surrender certificate willnot be insisted upon althoughthey are expected to voluntarilydo it.

In the last couple of weeks,there was a collective outcry fromthe Indian American communityin the form of phone calls, emails,online petitions and protest dem-onstrations outside the IndianConsulate in New York over thepast few weeks following a sud-den imposition of a $175 fee andheavy penalties for all those In-dian origin foreign citizens whofailed to surrender their Indianpassports.

Families who have had to travelon emergency or required to ob-tain some other consular servicehad to pay up thousands for dol-lars in fees and penalties to ob-tain surrender certificates whichled to panic among others evenas rumors began circulating thatimmigration authorities as well asairlines were not allowing passen-gers to fly without the surrendercertificates.Security risk to India

At a press conference to makethe announcements on June 1, theConsul General of India in NewYork Prabhu Dayal clarified thereasons why the government ofIndia imposed the new rules, stat-ing that there was large scale mis-use of old Indian passports. "Itwas found that the passports of anumber of persons who had takenforeign nationality were using theold passports and in most cases

by persons other than the own-ers of those passports," Amb.Dayal said. "On some days au-thorities in India found up to 50people in a day traveling on otherpeople's passports and those in-variably were people who hadbecome foreign citizens."

"It's a very serious security is-sue for India," Amb. Dayal con-tinued. "People who had Indianpassports should have acted

more responsibly but perhaps outof sheer neglect on their part, thepassports have landed into thewrong hands."

Several people continued totravel to India on their Indian pass-ports even after acquiring Ameri-can citizenship, Amb. Dayal said,pointing out that an elected offi-cial of Indian origin in New Yorkhad himself admitted in an emailto him, to have traveled to Indiaon his old Indian passport eventhough he was a naturalizedAmerican citizen.

Amb. Dayal agreed that whilenot everybody was guilty of bad

practices, the few bad fish in thecommunity were putting the oth-ers to hardship.

He said several community or-ganizations had written to him thatthe $175 fee was not affordablefor ordinary families - a messagewhich he said he had conveyedto the government of India. Hehowever added that in recenttimes India's security had beenthreatened like never before andthis fee will serve as a deterrent topeople to act more responsibly.

Consulate officials said thatthe onus of surrendering the In-dian passport once a person ob-tains foreign citizenship was onthe individual and not the gov-ernment agencies.

The press conference turnedinto a Town Hall of sorts whenseveral representatives of somecommunity organizations joinedin to highlight various issues withregard to travel to India. The FIAmembers said $175 fee was notacceptable to them even with cur-rent effect.

FIA president Nirav Mehtacame up with a suggestion thateven for those who acquired for-eign citizenship after June 1, onlya $20 miscellaneous servicecharge should be applied with astipulation that those who fail toobtain the surrender certificatewithin 90 days of giving up In-dian citizenship, would be charged$175.

Another recent government ofIndia rule that allows PIOs only afive year entry permit for travel toIndia as against a 10-year multipleentry visa was also brought upby the community members.

The Consul General took theinitiative then to propose amonthly meeting on the Consu-late premises with representativesof community, in the presence ofthe media, to discuss and resolveissues.FIA continues movement

The Federation of Indian As-sociations (FIA) -Tri-state, whichwas to hold a huge protest dem-onstration outside the Consulate,

postponed its agitation followingthe latest announcement.

In view of partial victory, therally before the Indian Consulatescheduled to be organized by FIAon June 4, 2010 has been post-poned, said Nirav Mehta, presi-dent of FIA, acceding to a requestfrom the Consul General to recon-sider FIA's decision to stage ademonstration.

Calling it a "battle half won"the FIA said it would continue topressure the government to re-move the $175 fee for a surrendercertificate even with effect fromJune 1, 2010.

According to a FIA statement,second part of battle on behalf ofthe Indian American Communitystill needs to be fought for thefollowing issues:

* Indian passport holders whoacquire US citizenships on or af-ter June 1, 2010 will still be re-quired to pay the fees of US$ 175/- for obtaining Renunciation/Sur-render certificate;

* Introduction of entry visa forPIOs with only five years validityand three times fees in lieu of a10-year-tourist visa and

* Refund of fees and penaltiesto those who had already paidfollowing the new order from theConsulate.

FIA is working on a memoran-dum on these issues to be sub-mitted to the Indian Prime Minis-ter, Home Minister, External Af-fairs Minister, and Minister forOverseas Indian Affairs andLeader of the Opposition in LokSabha urging the government todiscuss and debate all the mattersaffecting NRIs/PIOs in Parliament.

The protest rallies planned inNew York and Washington havebeen postponed till further noticeto facilitate ongoing dialogueswith Consul General Prabhu Dayaland his staff to resolve other am-biguity in visa related issues, itsaid.GOPIO

GOPIO International, whichhad gathered close to 30,000 sig-natures in a week through anonline petition demanding the re-moval of the retroactive effect ofthe fee and penalties for obtain-ing a surrender certificate, wel-comed the waiver announcement.

Another affair charge against Nikki HaleyWASHINGTON: In more

trouble for Indian- American NikkiHaley, who hopes to becomeSouth Carolina's first woman Gov-ernor, a political lobbyist hasclaimed he had a tryst with theRepublican candidate, who is al-ready facing allegations of an ex-tra-marital affair.

However, 38-year-old Haley'scampaign rejected it as "a falseand outrageous desperate attackfrom a losing candidate's paid cam-paign consultant in the final weekof the race."

Larry Marchant, a familiar faceat the South Carolina State Housewho has lobbied legislators onbehalf of the insurance industryand the state Chamber of Com-merce, told CNN he had a "onenight, one night only sexual rela-

tionship" with Haley at a schoolchoice conference held in SaltLake City, Utah in 2008.

However, he did not have anyspecific evidence to prove his

point.He is the second individual to

make such a claim, both of whichhas been dismissed by Haley'scampaign. In fact, her popularityrating has increased.

CNN reported that Haley's

campaign rejected Marchant's al-legation as "a false and outra-geous desperate attack from a los-ing candidate's paid campaignconsultant in the final week of the

race.""As Nikki Haley rises in the

polls, the good old boys in Co-lumbia see their taxpayer-fundedfraternity party coming crumblingdown, and they will say or doanything to hold onto their

power," Haley campaign managerTim Pearson was quoted as say-ing.

The 38-year-old mother of two,whose husband is a US Army re-serves officer, has been hit by al-legations that she had a "physi-cal" relationship with commenta-tor Will Folks.

If elected, she would be onlythe second governor of Indianorigin in the US after Louisiana'sBobby Jindal.

Meanwhile, the Republican In-dian Committee has endorsed thecandidature Nikki Haley.

Haley, whose parents hail fromAmritsar in Punjab, is a currentmember of the South CarolinaHouse of Representatives and isstrongly backed by Republicanheavyweight Sarah Palin.-PTI

For people who al-ready have a Personsof Indian Origin (PIO)Card or an OverseasCitizen of India (OCI)Card, the requirementof a surrender certifi-cate will not be insistedupon although theyare expected tovoluntarily do it

The protest ralliesplanned in New Yorkand Washington havebeen postponed tillfurther notice to facili-tate ongoing dialogueswith Consul GeneralPrabhu Dayal and hisstaff to resolve otherambiguity in visa re-lated issues, it said

‘As Nikki Haley rises in the polls, the good old boysin Columbia see their taxpayer-funded fraternityparty coming crumbling down, and they will say ordo anything to hold onto their power’

India PostJune 11, 2010 7

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Top Stories

Major US-India education exchange in the offingIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Presidents andDeans of many US Universitiesmet India's Minister for HumanResource Development, KapilSibal June 1, in Washington DCand expressed their desire to setup higher education institutionsin India. They also appreciatedthe process of academic reformsinitiated in India and said that theywould like to be active partners inthe growth story of Indian educa-tion.

The minister is in the nation'scapital to participate in the delib-erations of the US-India StrategicDialogue June 1-4.Virginia Tech

Dr. Charles Steger, President ofVirginia Tech., along with senioracademics of Virginia Tech toldthe minister that they wish to setup facility near Chennai for re-search in three broad areas,namely Bio-informatics,Nanosciences and Transporta-tion studies. They also want tostart select masters' and Doctoraldegree programs.

The team of Virginia Tech, animportant technical institution inUSA, appeared enthused by therecent introduction of the legisla-

tion on Foreign Education Provid-ers in the Parliament and said thatapart from starting own institutionin India, they would also like tohave collaboration with Indian in-stitutions in other fields includingmedical education.

Sibal satisfied their many que-ries on accreditation and other

regulatory requirements and sug-gested that with India's sustainedgrowth rate of 8 to 9%, there is tre-mendous scope of development inurban studies, urban housing andtransportation, architecture andplanning and sustainable develop-ment. The challenge is to find so-lutions for problems in India whichcan be replicated globally, he said.

Georgetown UniversityDr Spiros Demolitsas, Senior

Vice President and CEO ofGeorgetown University along withhis team briefed Sibal about theprogress made since the minister'slast visit to the US end of Oct 2009.Dr Demolitsas informed that theyare looking at institutions and

projects aiming at social scienceresearch and suggested two ar-eas- professional and executivedevelopment for policy makersand business leaders as also re-search in emerging areas of cli-mate change, sustainability etc.requiring inter-disciplinary ap-proach. Sibal asked them to senda concept note so that areas of

mutual interest are identified.American University

Dr Louis Goodman, DeanSchool of International Service,American University told Sibal hisSchool of InternationalStudies(SIS) has already signed aMoU with Manipal University todevelop a program in national se-

curity studies. School of Interna-tional Studies (SIS), which is thelargest school of international stud-ies in the world with over 3000 stu-dents and 200 faculty, also ex-pressed keen interest in establish-ment of an Indian Institute at Ameri-can University which will be dedi-cated to Indian Studies. As per theirproposal, this institute will be in-

ter-disciplinary in approach, fo-cusing on such areas as foreignpolicy and national security, sci-ence and technology policy, sus-tainable development, etc.Council on Foreign Relations

Addressing the Council onForeign Relations the same day,Sibal gave his vision of educationreforms as also the strategic part-nership between India and USA.

He said India's aims to increaseits GER in higher education from thepresent 12.4% to 30% by the year2020 but even after achieving a GERof 30%, there would be 150 millionyouth who would need to beskilled. Thus, programs for devel-opment of higher education andskill development will have to moveparallel and would require privateparticipation at large scale, he said.

Replying to questions, Sibalsaid that just like outsourcing ofmanufacturing, time has come ina globalised economy for educa-tion to be delivered at the doorstep of the student( in India) ratherthan students having to travelabroad to get the same. "It is thusmutually beneficial to both Indiaand USA to work together to setup educational institutions in In-dia to train skilled manpower ofthe 21st century," he said.

Kapil Sibal with President of Virginia Tech Dr. Charles W.

Steger in Washington, DC on June 1

FIA to press for scrapping all unwarranted chargesIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: The Federation ofIndian Associations( FIA) hadwaged a virtual war on this capri-cious decision of the Indian gov-ernment to charge $175 renuncia-tion fee for not surrendering theIndian passport while gettingnaturalized US citizen. SunnyGabhawala, FIA President, hadconvened a meeting here lastweek and announced sending adeputation to India led by IftekharShareef, the first Indian Americanto acquire dual citizenship.

He said that FIA is the largestumbrella organization of IndianAmericans and it would fail in itsduty if it did not "awaken" theIndian bureaucrats over this fool-ish step charging retroactively therenunciation fee. He told thisnewspaper that FIA now wel-comes the government decisionto scrap this decision but stillwondered why even a processingfee of $20. FIA would continue topress for all unwarranted chargeon Indians here.

Reacting sharply to the deci-sion to even charge $ 20, commu-nity leader and well known travelagent Peter Kothari said "I stilloppose the collection of $ 20. Whyshould a person wanting to visithis motherland pay this money?

Besides this Kothari also said"what about the problem that thepeople had to face during the lastthree weeks when the "Tughlaki"decision was in force. The gov-ernment and the Consulate mustcome out with an unconditionalapology and refund the money

CG Prabhu Dayal

Consult Diaspora before imposing new rules: USINPAC

ment not able to stop people likeAbu Salem and Monica Bedi fromacquiring five different passportsin different names. It is time theUPA government set its house inorder and stop harassing genu-ine people."

According to Rajendra Shah, abusinessman, "the Indian consu-late in New York is as it is overworked and unfriendly then wherewas the need to add more burdenon it by the cumbersome cancel-lation procedure. The decisionwas more a brain child of an "idlebureaucrat" and it is good thatbetter sense prevailed on the gov-ernment and the `Tughlaki' deci-sion was withdrawn".


NEW YORK: Urging the In-dian government to consult theDiaspora before imposing rulesthat impact them, has The US In-dia Political Action Committee(USINPAC) has asked the Gov-ernment of India to review sev-eral of its existing laws that ad-versely affect the 29 million Peopleof Indian Origin (PIO) across theworld.

Sanjay Puri, the Chairman ofUSINPAC, expressed concernand said that a recently intro-duced law prohibits former In-dian citizens, holding multipleentry tourist visas, from revisit-ing the country for 60 days aftertheir departure from India. "Se-curity is a very big concern forIndia and we understand thatthe Government of India has toinstitute measures to protect itshomeland. The Indian Diaspora

has been a key part of the In-dian fabric and better communi-cation and consultation is nec-essary before the enactment ofrules that could adversely im-pact them," he said.

Pointing out another law re-garding surrendering Indian pass-ports by PIOs, Puri said that, "Asdual nationality is not allowed byIndia, an Indian passport shouldautomatically be considered voidonce an Indian citizen accepts a

foreign passport. To require suchpersons to visit the issue retro-spectively after several years isboth futile and insensitive."

Kersy Dastur, a senior memberof USINPAC, expressed his dis-appointment at the apparent lackof advance notice by the Indiangovernment before introducingthis rule. "Most people do notknow that they must surrendertheir Indian passports when theybecome US citizens."

The Consulate must cancel thepassport and put a remark on theircomputer and the matter endsthere. I will still organize the com-munity and urge the governmentto withdraw these unwarrantedfees which is a strain on a com-mon man's budget."

taken from the people. If the gov-ernment is doing this for securityreason then why was the govern-

Replying to questions, Sibal saidthat just like outsourcing ofmanufacturing, time has comein a globalised economy foreducation to be delivered at thedoor step of the student( in India)rather than students having totravel abroad to get the same

The government and the Consulate must come outwith an unconditional apology and refund themoney taken from the people. If the government isdoing this for security reason then why was thegovernment not able to stop people like AbuSalem and Monica Bedi from acquiring five differ-ent passports in different names


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Top Stories

Indian American sentenced forfake concrete test reports


NEW YORK: Having survivedtwo attempts at committing sui-cide since his indictment, V. ReddyKancharla, a former president of aprominent concrete testing com-pany in New York last week faceda Manhattan judge who sen-tenced him to seven to 21 yearsof prison time and $225,000 infines for fudging tests on iconicNew York City structures includ-ing the Freedom Tower at GroundZero, the Yankee Stadium and the2nd Avenue subway.

The judge awarded the sen-tence to Kancharla, the formerpresident of Testwell Laborato-ries, saying he had betrayed thepublic and his profession withyears of lying and fakery.

According to the New YorkPost, in October 2008, prosecu-tors accused Kancharla and oth-ers at the company of faking con-crete mix and strength tests, filingfalse invoices and creating bogussteel inspection reports, amongother offenses. In February, aState Supreme Court jury in Man-hattan convicted Kancharla of 15counts of falsifying businessrecords and related charges. The

company itself was found guiltyof 11 charges.

Last week, Justice Edward J.McLaughlin, said Kancharla, a li-censed professional engineer, hadtraded on his good name to de-ceive others. "A skillful person

can steal more with a pen and asmile than with a gun," he said."When criminals rely on past deal-ing and the appearance of recti-tude, no reason exists for cau-tion."

Justice McLaughlin orderedKancharla to pay $225,000 in repa-rations by Dec. 14 or another year

would be added to his prison term.He also ordered Testwell to pay$1,761,099 in reparations. He saidhe hoped Kancharla's sentencewould be a deterrent to the "vari-ety of schemes and conniving"that he said characterized thebuilding business.

"The construction industry inNew York City over the decadeshas been rife with corruption,"Justice McLaughlin said. "Thepeople of New York City are theultimate victims of the pilfering."

Kanhcarla had, since his trialbegan, attempted to commit sui-cide twice - the first time in Febru-ary when he cut his wrist and tooksleeping pills, and the second inApril, when he tried to hang him-self.

In the court at the time of thesentencing, Kancharla, who worea neck brace (following his sui-cide attempt), told the judge: "Inretrospect, I should have paidmore attention to the concrete mixdesign program and should haveimplemented more checks andbalances. Despite the jury's ver-dict, I want you to know thatTestwell was not a criminal enter-prise, and that I am not a criminalmastermind."

US National Security Strategyseeks greater role for India


NEW YORK: The UnitedStates has re-stated its strategicpartnership with India seeking towork together on a broad-basedrelationship in which India con-tributes to global counterterrorismefforts, non-proliferation, andhelps promote poverty-reduction,education, health, and sustainableagriculture.

President Barack Obama's justreleased new National SecurityStrategy states that India's re-sponsible advancement serves asa positive example for developingnations, and provides an oppor-tunity for increased economic,scientific, environmental and se-curity partnership.

"We value India's growingleadership on a wide array of glo-bal issues, throughgroups such as the G-20, and will seek to workwith India to promotestability in South Asiaand elsewhere in theworld," the Presidentsaid in his remarks spe-cific to India.

Other referencesspecifically to India,China and Russia:

"We are working tobuild deeper and moreeffective partnershipswith other key centers ofinfluence-includingChina, India, and Russia, as well asincreasingly influential nations suchas Brazil, South Africa, and Indone-sia-so that we can cooperate on is-sues of bilateral and global concern,with the recognition that power, inan interconnected world, is nolonger a zero sum game.

We are expanding our outreachto emerging nations, particularlythose that can be models of re-gional success and stability, fromthe Americas to Africa to South-east Asia. And we will pursue en-gagement with hostile nations totest their intentions, give theirgovernments the opportunity tochange course, reach out to theirpeople, and mobilize internationalcoalitions."

"Russia has reemerged in theinternational arena as a strongvoice. China and India --the world'stwo most populous nations -- arebecoming more engaged globally.We will continue to deepen our co-operation with other 21st centurycenters of influence --includingChina, India, and Russia -- on thebasis of mutual interests and mu-tual respect. We will also pursuediplomacy and development thatsupports the emergence of new andsuccessful partners, from the Ameri-cas to Africa; from the Middle Eastto Southeast Asia.

Our ability to advance con-structive cooperation is essentialto the security and prosperity ofspecific regions, and to facilitat-ing global cooperation on issuesranging from violent extremismand nuclear proliferation, to cli-

mate change, and global eco-nomic instability-issues that chal-lenge all nations, but that no onenation alone can meet."

Recognizing that different na-tions are exerting greater influ-ence in the world, the Presidentsaid "advancing our interests willrequire expanding spheres of co-operation around the word." Cer-tain bilateral relationships -- suchas US relations with China, India,and Russia -- will be critical tobuilding broader cooperation onareas of mutual interest. Andemerging powers in every regionof the world are increasingly as-serting themselves, raising oppor-tunities for partnership for theUnited States," he said.

Indian investigators in US toquestion Headley

CHICAGO: A team of Indianinvestigators has arrived in the USto interrogate for the first timeDavid Coleman Headley, accusedof helping Lashkar-e-Taiba terror-ists carry out the 26/11 Mumbaiattacks.

The team comprises officers ofthe National InvestigationAgency and a law officer. This willbe for the first time that 49-year-old Pakistani-American Headleywill be facing direct questionsfrom Indian investigators since hisarrest in October last year.

Besides the Indian team, thoseexpected to be present during thequestioning would be Headley'slawyer and an officer of the FBI.

The questioning of Headley,currently being held in the federallock-up Metropolitan CorrectionalCentre here, is going to revolvearound the places he had visitedafter the Mumbai terror attacksand the people he had remainedin touch with during his stay inIndia.

Sources in India said the four-member team has prepared ques-tions about his stay in the coun-try especially during March 2009,

his last visit to India.The travel details of Headley,

the globe-trotting prized asset ofthe LeT, are being sought mainlyas investigators believe that thisvisit may have been to finalize the

synchronized terror strikes onJewish houses located in five cit-ies, the sources said.

They said the government haskept 'backup staff' in readiness ifthe team needed any assistance.

The statement of Headleywould be recorded by the SpecialLaw Officer of India after whichthe NIA, which has registered acase against Headley and Paki-stani-Canadian nationalTahawwur Rana for waging waragainst the country and UnlawfulActivities Prevention (Act), mayfile a charge sheet against him.

Headley, a Chicago-basedAmerican with roots in Pakistan,has already confessed to haveconducted several reccees as partof the planning for the ghastlyattacks that killed 166 people inthe country's financial capital inNovember 2008.

After being arrested in Octo-ber last year, the 49-year old en-tered into a plea bargain with theUS government in March thisyear, wherein he offered to beavailable to foreign investigatorsthrough deposition, videoconferencing or letters rogatory.

However, further details like forhow many hours or days the In-dian team would get access toHeadley, were not yet given.

Headley's lawyer John Theissaid last week he would not com-

ment on any specific details ofsuch an access and "would notbe able to share specific informa-tion at this point" as to when andfor how long the team from Indiacan question Headley.

The team has been sent follow-

ing a communication from the USJustice Department that all con-cerned officials and the lawyer ofHeadley will be available duringtheir visit to facilitate their accessto Headley. -PTI

Kanhcarla had, sincehis trial began, at-tempted to commitsuicide twice - the firsttime in February whenhe cut his wrist andtook sleeping pills, andthe second in April,when he tried tohang himself

The statement ofHeadley would berecorded by the Spe-cial Law Officer of Indiaafter which the NIA,which has registered acase against Headleyand Pakistani-Cana-dian national TahawwurRana for waging waragainst the country andUnlawful ActivitiesPrevention (Act), mayfile a charge sheetagainst him

‘We value India's growingleadership on a wide array ofglobal issues, through groupssuch as the G-20, and willseek to work with India topromote stability in South Asiaand elsewhere in the world,’the President said in his re-marks specific to India

India PostJune 11, 2010 9www.indiapost.com


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Top StoriesKrishna seeks advanced technology exports from US

WASHINGTON: Pitching for arobust two-way trade in advancedtechnology products with the US,India has said it has offered guar-antees that sensitive technologywould not be diverted in contra-vention of US regulations.

On the eve of the first India-US Strategic Dialogue, ExternalAffairs Minister S M Krishnasought strengthening of bilateralcooperation in the field of inno-vation and advanced technology.

"We have given a number ofwritten assurances that US tech-nology will enjoy the level of se-curity stipulated by the relevantUS laws and not be diverted incontravention of US regulations,"Krishna said in his address to the35th anniversary of US India Busi-ness Council, attended by topleaders of the American corporateworld including the PepsiCo chiefIndra Nooyi.

To press his point, he also citedthat the End Use MonitoringAgreement has been in place be-tween India and many other coun-tries and asserted that Indian im-porters had a "100 per cent" com-pliance record when it comes tosafeguarding imported technol-ogy.

"I am absolutely confident thatthe emphasis, going forward,must be on the India US partner-ship in high technology coopera-tion and innovation that will gen-erate prosperity for both ourpeoples in the years to come," hesaid.

As India seeks advanced sen-sitive technology imports from theUS, Krishna said: "We have beenimplementing the End-Use Verifi-cation Agreement with US part-ners for years now and have, lastyear, agreed to a Technical Safe-guards Agreement in space co-operation. We also have the EndUse Monitoring arrangement fordefense acquisitions".

With this back-ground and the trustbuilt as "strategicpartners", he said,the two nationsshould be able tocreate an environ-ment for "a robusttwo-way trade inadvanced technol-ogy products".

Krishna said In-dian importers havea 100 per cent com-pliance record whenit comes to safe-guarding importedtechnology.

He said as the In-dian economygrows and the USeconomy regains itsmomentum follow-ing a recessionaryphase, the trade andinvestment figurescan multiply expo-nentially.

"We must go be-yond that, make in-novation the defin-ing principle of our

cooperation, and achieve its truepotential," he said.

He noted that Indian andAmerican businesses have had aproven track record of partnershipin innovation, including in thefields of civil nuclear cooperationto 'Chandrayaan' and FutureGen.

Krishna said the two countriescan further build cooperation in

tracking monsoons, warning ofnatural disasters, guiding cultiva-tors and farmers with environmentpredictability, crossing frontiers ine-learning, e-health and bringingabout the e-revolution that onehad only imagined a few decadesago.

"While we explore the immenseopportunities for collaboration, Iwould also say that we must ex-plore new designs that reduce re-source intensity and have a low

environmental impact."Clean energy, healthcare, ag-

riculture, science and technology,space and security are just someareas on which we are working tostep up India-US collaboration,"he said.

"I would especially emphasizethe importance of innovation thatplaces products and serviceswithin reach of the weakest andpoorest in our societies," Krishnasaid.

External Affairs Minister Mr. S.M. Krishna making the

inagural address at the 35th Anniversary Summit of

the US India Business Council on India US Partner-

ship Shaping the future through Innovation in

Washington, DC on June 2

From Right to left Ambassador Meera Shankar, Foreign Secretary

Nirupama Rao and Indra Nooyi at the USIBC

Strategic Dialogue a milestone in Indo-US ties:Krishna, Roemer

WASHINGTON: The USand India have said their Stra-tegic Dialogue is another "mile-stone" in bilateral relationshipwith the Obama Administra-tion saying the future is brightand the "sky is the limit"

"This week is another mile-stone in the US-India strate-gic relationship that hasgrown in leaps and bounds inthe past 10 years," US Ambas-sador to India Tim Roemer saidin his address to the US IndiaBusiness Council (USIBC)ahead of the Strategic Dia-logue here.

Roemer also argued thatthe US-India bilateral relation-ship is actually "the goodnews story" of the decade.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and US Secretaryof State Hillary Clinton are co-chairing the first Cabinet-levelIndo-US Strategic Dialogue;which according to top US of-

ficials would set the pace for thelong-term strategic relationshipbetween the two countries.

Roemer said the "future isbright and the sky is the limit"for the US-India strategic rela-tionship.

"The US-India Strategic Dia-

logue is a series of high levelmeetings and events culminatingin the June 3 Plenary Session be-tween Secretary Clinton and Ex-ternal Affairs Minister Krishna.

It will highlight the progressin our partnership and identifynew areas for collaboration," he

said.Krishna said the Strategic Dia-

logue would be an important oc-casion for both the countries toset their sights on "new mile-stones" as they share interestsranging from counter-terrorism tonuclear security to Afghanistan.

"With an extremely broadrange of shared interests, I willjoin Secretary Hillary Clinton, forthe first India-US strategic dia-logue at the ministerial level.

That will be an important oc-casion for us to reflect on the re-markable journey that our two

great democracies have em-barked upon, and to set oursights on new milestones,"Krishna said.

Roemer said the US Mis-sion in India is ready to workclosely with all of you to takeadvantage of the "limitlessopportunities that arise every-day in India.

He strongly refuted reportsthat India has not been a pri-ority for Obama Administra-tion.

In fact, he argued that therehave been an incredible amountof positive stories this past yearas the US-India bilateral relation-ship is now one of the goodnews stories of the day.

"Actually, it is the goodnews story of the decade.

Perhaps that was on Presi-dent Obama's mind when he re-ferred to it as the "indispens-able partnership of the 21stcentury," he noted. -PTI

India forexpansion ofboth UNSCseats

UNITED NATIONS: India hasdemanded expansion in both per-manent and non-permanent seatsof the UN Security Council, say-ing increasing the membershiponly in the non-permanent cat-egory or any of its other variantsdoes not constitute reform of theworld body.

"There cannot be any reformwithout expansion in both the cat-egories of membership," HardeepSingh Puri, India's envoy to theUN, said last night at a meetingconvened to discuss the negoti-ating text for the Security Councilreform.

"Equally, expansion only in thenon-permanent category or any ofits other variants does not con-stitute reform and is merely theperpetuation of the current ineffi-ciency by the same ineffectivemeans in vogue since 1963," hesaid.-PTI

He strongly refuted reports that India has not beena priority for Obama Administration.In fact, he argued that there have been anincredible amount of positive stories this past yearas the US-India bilateral relationship is nowone of the good news stories of the day

India PostJune 11, 2010 11

USIBC launches new education initiative in IndiaIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: On the occasionof its 35th anniversary, and look-ing ahead to the global economyof the future, the US-India Busi-ness Council (USIBC) announcedJune 2, the launch of a new initia-tive aimed at strengthening insti-tutional linkages betweenacademia, industry and NGOs fo-cusing on the elementary, voca-tional and higher education sec-tors in both countries.

On the eve of the first-ever US-India Strategic Dialogue, India’sUnion Minister of External Affairs,SM Krishna, US Education Secre-tary Arne Duncan, India’s Minis-ter of Human Resource Develop-ment, Kapil Sibal, and India’s Am-bassador to the United States,Meera Shankar, joined hundreds oftop business leaders in Washing-ton to participate in the USIBC35th anniversary deliberations.

“The United States and Indiamust be committed partners inbuilding the workforce of tomor-row, a partnership that will unleashopportunity, spur growth and sus-tain prosperity not just in our coun-tries but across the global commu-nity,” said Harold McGraw III, in-coming USIBC Chairman andChairman, President and CEO ofThe McGraw-Hill Companies.

“To do this, we must focus onstrengthening our educational tiesat every level. By working to-gether our two countries can equipthe next generation with the edu-cation and skills necessary to com-pete and win in the globaleconomy.”

McGraw gave the keynote ad-dress before a packed audience ofover 400 US and Indian business,government, and education lead-ers at USIBC’s 35th AnniversarySummit, entitled “A Pivotal Periodin US-India Relations: TacklingEducation, Infrastructure and In-clusive Growth.”

USIBC’s Education Initiative

will serve as a dynamic platformfor business, NGOs, and academiato provide vital input into both theU.S. and Indian governments -such that the synergies between

American and Indian business andeducational communities are un-leashed.

“We can talk about strategic,defense, civil nuclear, renewableenergy and every other type of

commercial cooperation, but if wedo not develop the skill sets in ourrespective societies to sustainsuch collaboration, all this talk willnever be successfully convertedto action,” Ron Somers, Presidentof US-IBC, noted. “How fortunateit is that families across all walksof life in both our societies sohighly value education. We havemuch to learn from one another,and much to accomplish - to pre-pare for the challenges of the 21stCentury,” Somers said.

The USIBC Education initiativewill focus on three thrust areas:

1. Higher Education: USIBC willhost the US-India Higher Educa-tion Forum (HEF) at the invitationof the US and Indian governments.The HEF will serve as the premierplatform to enlist academia, indus-try and NGOs to strengthen link-ages between U.S. and Indian edu-cational institutions from bothcountries. The HEF will provide aformalized network for industry,academia and the NGO communityto provide direct policy input tothe U.S. and Indian governmentsin all areas of education, with an

aim to facilitate greater collabora-tion, including the opening ofIndia’s higher education sector.

2. Elementary K-12 Education:USIBC has embarked on a sur-

vey of rural and urban, privateand public K-12 schools through-out India to identify best prac-

tices that are working well in edu-cating students, while assessingneeds where industry, NGOs andgovernment may join together tofill gaps. With the support of RyanInternational Group, one of India’sleading educators, both financialand intellectual resources will bemobilized to transform these andother schools in a manner that pro-motes replication of successfulmodels across India.

3. Vocational Training and SkillsDevelopment: USIBC will partnerwith its member-companies to fea-ture Case Studies of VocationalTraining and Skills Developmentthat are being implemented acrossIndia. The exercise will attempt toenlist more corporations to partici-pate in this important area of hu-man capacity building. Programshelping to train thousands of work-ers will generate employment op-portunities and sustain economicgrowth now and for the long fu-ture - in both countries.

India is embarked on expand-ing its community college system,including technical training insti-tutions, as well as inviting interestin implementing 30,000 new col-leges and 1,500 universities overthe next decade.

The United States continues tobe the most sought after destina-tion for Indian students studyingoverseas, attracting as many as113,000 each year to American uni-versities and colleges.

Through its partnership withTata, McGraw-Hill Education is de-livering innovative, digital solu-tions to help workers acquire the21st century skills they need tosucceed in today’s globaleconomy. India is home toMcGraw-Hill’s largest employeepopulation outside of the US andis the company’s fourth largestmarket.

External Affairs Minister Mr. S.M. Krishna (centre) along with his delegation and the USIBC

officials at the opening ceremony of US India Business Council

US says India to be 'central part' of UNSC reformWASHINGTON: The US has

said India would play a "centralpart" in the UN Security Council'sreform process, but stopped shortof publicly endorsing thecountry's bid for a permanent seatin the world body's top organ.

"We recognize, very clearly,India's increasing global role. Werecognize the importance of re-form of the UN Security Council;we're open to expansion of per-manent membership of the Coun-cil and we believe that India's go-ing to have a central part to playin the consideration that's goingto come of that reform of the UNSecurity Council," Under Secre-

tary of State for Political Affairs,William Burns, said.

However, he did not publiclyendorse India for the permanentmembership of the UNSC.

It is obvious that the UN Secu-rity Council, as has been the casewith other parts of internationalarchitecture over the last fewyears, is an issue that needs to beaddressed so that it reflects therealities of 2010, Burns said at theCouncil on Foreign Relations, aWashington-based think-tank.

"Now, obviously, we want totry to do that in a way which isgoing to preserve the effective-ness of the Security Council, but

this administration has made clearnot only its openness to reformand some expansion of permanentmembership in the Security Coun-cil, but we've also underscored theimportance we attached to India'srole," he argued.

"So I think India's going to bea central part of the considerationthat is bound to come of SecurityCouncil reform," he said, adding:"I do very much understand thesignificance of Security Councilreform. I think it's an important is-sue for the United States to ad-dress and I think India's going tobe very much a part of that pro-cess.-PTI

We can talk aboutstrategic, defense, civilnuclear, renewableenergy and every othertype of commercialcooperation, but if wedo not develop the skillsets in our respectivesocieties to sustain suchcollaboration, all thistalk will never be suc-cessfully convertedto action,’

Through its partnershipwith Tata, McGraw-HillEducation is deliveringinnovative, digitalsolutions to help work-ers acquire the 21stcentury skills they needto succeed in today’sglobal economy. Indiais home to McGraw-Hill’s largest employeepopulation outsideof the US


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Top Stories

US presses Pak for broaderpassenger profiling

Shortage forces UK to recruitIndian doctors

LONDON: Britain is turningback to Indian doctors as thenation's National Health Service(NHS) is facing acute shortage ofjunior medicos, posing the firsttest to the new coalitiongovernment's restrictive immigra-tion policy.

The government is beingforced to recruit doctors from In-dia and elsewhere, as new rulesframed in 2006 preventing doctorsfrom non-European Union to prac-tice in England, has led to acuteshortage of medical professionalsin the country.

So bad is the situation thatsome hospitals had to close downspecialties and emergency divi-sions, and this crisis is forcingauthorities to recruit from Indiaand elsewhere.

"Many Indian doctors whowere training here returned homewhen immigration rules were tight-ened in 2006, and media reports inIndia about the rules stoppedmany from coming here," an In-

Office, which so far has not indi-cated any possibility of change.

The Home Office is currentlyheaded by Conservative leadersTheresa May (Home secretary)and Damian Green (Immigrationminister).

Both have committed them-selves to the coalitionagreement's policy of imposing anannual limit on professionals mi-grating from non-EU countries.

BAPIO had agreed to help theDepartment of Health, providedthe Indian doctors were allowedto stay and get training for be-tween three and four years, ratherthan the two year limit currentlyin place.

"The Department of Health saidits hands are tied. The problem isat the Home Office. The Depart-ment of Health is very much will-ing to extend this (visa) period,but (they are saying) that theblock is at the Home Office,"Ramesh Mehta, the president ofBAPIO, told the BBC.-PTI

dian doctor, holding a senior po-sition in the NHS, told PTI.

He said even though somedeaneries were now recruitingfrom India, not many Indian doc-tors would be interested becauseimmigration rules prevented themfrom staying for more than twoyears.

This short period would pre-vent them from having a career inthe NHS, he said.

According to the BBC, the De-partment of Health recently ap-proached the British Associationof Physicians of Indian Origin(BAPIO), for help to recruit hun-dreds of junior doctors from In-dia.

The move, however, did nottake off due to tight visa normsfor non-EU doctors.

Given the acute shortage, theDepartment of Health is reportedto be in favor of relaxing visanorms for Indian and other non-EU doctors, but immigrationpolicy is the domain of the Home

NEW YORK: US is putting onpressure on Pakistan for muchbroader passenger profiling aspart of its new efforts to crackdown hard on terrorists, a movewhich has been resisted so far byIslamabad.

Pakistan currently provides inadvance only the names of pas-sengers traveling to the US, butnow Washington is insisting oncomplete database of all flyersfrom Pakistan, the New York Timesreported.

The American investigativeagencies want to use this infor-mation to track terrorists travelpatterns.

But the Times saidnow the US wants infor-mation on Pakistaniswho fly to other coun-tries to feed into its da-tabase that can detectpatterns used by theterrorists, theirfinancers, their logisti-cians and others whosupport them.

The US currently has a rangeof confidential agreements withcountries governing how muchinformation each will share aboutits citizens traveling on commer-cial airliners. Many countriesshare only information about pas-sengers traveling to the US, whileothers, including several in theCaribbean, have agreed to sharemore information about othercountries that their residents visit.

In the case of Pakistan, Ameri-can officials are seeking detailslike the recent travel histories ofairline passengers and how theypaid for their tickets.

Pakistan has for several yearsrebuffed this politically unpopu-

lar request as an invasion of itscitizens' privacy. But the issue isnow on a "short list" of stickingpoints between the two countries.including some classifiedcounterterrorism programs.

The report comes in the wakeof botched May 1 Times Squarebombing plot, in which a 30-year-old Pakistani born American citi-zen Faisal Shahzad is the mainsuspect.

President Obama has given histop aides a deadline of the nextfew weeks to resolve the issueswith Pakistan, the officials said.

That pressure to deliver results

has prompted senior officials likeGen James L Jones, the nationalsecurity adviser, and Leon EPanetta, the director of the Cen-tral Intelligence Agency, to warnsenior Pakistani leaders of therisks to the country's relationshipwith the US if a deadly terroristattack originated in their country.

The paper said under the newproposals analysts at the NationalTargeting Centre in northern Vir-ginia, an arm of United States Cus-toms and Border Protection, couldexamine the travel patterns of Pa-kistanis with known links to mili-tant groups who fly to Persian Gulfcountries, where donors to alQaeda and the Taliban live. -PTI

India, Pakistan can't afford resurgence of tension: USWASHINGTON: Welcoming

India 's decis ion to resumepeace talks with Pakistan de-spite the political risk involvedin it, the US has said that nei-ther of the two nuclear powerednations can afford resurgenceof tension.

"The United States welcomesrecent steps by India and Paki-stan towards constructive dia-logue, including the plannedmeeting in Islamabad in July be-tween Minister Krishna andMinister Qureshi," said the Un-

der Secretary of State for Politi-cal Affairs, William Burns.

Addressing the Council onForeign Relations - a Washing-ton-based think-tank, the topState Department official saidthe US President Barack Obamahas welcomed Prime MinisterSingh's willingness to take po-litical risks in order to lessentensions with Pakistan and haspromised that the United Stateswill continue to support thoseefforts.

"None of us, least of all Indi-

ans and Pakistanis, can afforda resurgence of tensions be-tween two nuclear-armedstates," he said.

"None of us, least of all Indi-ans and Pakistanis, can affordto see groups with global ter-rorist ambitions like Lashkar-e-Taiba continue unchecked.

As Secretary Clinton has em-phasized to the Pakistani lead-ership, "we have no time towaste in going after that com-mon enemy as hard and as fastas we can," Burns said. -PTI

The US wants information onPakistanis who fly to othercountries to feed into its data-base that can detect patternsused by the terrorists, theirfinancers, their logisticians andothers who support them

India Post www.indiapost.com June 11, 2010

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 1613

Desi News

Cont’d on page 18

Cont’d on page 14

Swarnim Gujarat celebrated in Chicagowith great enthusiasm

RAMESH SOPARAWALA &

SURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: For one day atleast, Indian Americans, especiallythose hailing from State of Gujarat,forgot that they are not in Indiabut felt they are in Gujarat enjoy-ing Gujarati Raas Garba, Gujaratisongs, Gujarati Dhokla -

Undhiyu and Gujarati talks fromGujarati men and women dressedup in traditional Gujarati dresses.

The occasion was celebrationof 50th anniversary of formationof the State of Gujarat in IndianUnion and the place wasWaterford Banquet Hall inElmhurst, a south west suburb ofChicago. The place was given aface lift with a typical entry gatethat had Gujarati flair and insidehad beautiful artifacts on Gujarat -its map depicting its geographicalfeatures, rivers and mountains, itsreligious and tourist places, handi-crafts, literary figures, its saintsand leaders. Kudos to the orga-nizers led by Narendra Patel, presi-dent of Vishwa Gujarati Samaj

North America that even the stagethat was set had an Indian -Gujarati look. One would reallywish that the members of Indiancommunity at large come out one

by one and depict their diversecultural and regional traditionsand make all India proud.

The nearly five hours ofcrowded event started with BeenaPatel welcoming all the guests andPresident of VGS Narendra Patelin chaste Gujarati. This was fol-lowed by lighting of lamp andKalash Puja - the Kalash was

brought from Gujarat and whichwould ultimately be sent backthere in 2011. Nrendra Patel briefedthe audience about VGS andthanked all those present, includ-ing Indian Consul General AshokKumar Attri who had come withhis elegant wife Smt Usha Kiron.

Lighting of the Lamp (L-R) Ms Sumitra Patel, Usha Kiron Attri, CG Ashok Attri, Minister Sanjay Sinha,

Naren Patel and Yesh Amin

Guests and VGS officials (L-R) Ms Beena Patel. Guest of Honor Mafat Patel,

Ms Usha Kiran Attri, Chief Guest Ashok Kumar Attri, Ms Sumitra Patel, VGS

President Naren Patel and Minister Sinha

Classical Indian dance in progress

Balaji Temple tohost GundechabrothersANUPAMA PATEL

AURORA: Sri Balaji Temple inAurora, a southwest Chicago sub-urb, is presenting the GundechaBrothers of India performingDhrupad the oldest form of NorthIndian Classical Music on Satur-day, June 19 at 6.00pm in theTemple auditorium.

Umakant, Ramakant andAkhilesh Gundecha - TheGundecha brothers - are prominentperformers and teachers of the an-cient classical vocal music of Indiacalled Dhrupad. The Gundechabrothers belong to one ofDhrupad's oldest and most illustri-ous musical lineages (Dagar Vani)and received their training from ZiaFariduddin Dagar and Ustad ZiaMohiuddin Dagar, the renownedRudra Veena master. Since 1985 theGundecha brothers have performedfrequently in more than 20 coun-tries, achieving international criti-cal acclaim and taking their placeamong India's most talented anddedicated artists.

MAFS mini fundraiser a bigsuccessHIMALI BHARUCHA

CHICAGO: Metropolitan AsianFamily Services (MAFS) held amini fundraiser on Saturday, May22 at its newly opened Napervillesite in order to continue provid-ing much needed services to se-niors in the local community.

Guests in attendance were ShriPurnatmanandji Swami fromBharat Savashram Sangh, GregBrownfields, a legal aid attorney,Beth O'grady, the former ExecutiveDirector of Coalition of LimitedEnglish Speaking Elderly, MartaPereyra, the executive Director ofCLESE, board members, and se-niors from Naperville, Chicago,Niles and Roselle. The celebrationstarted with a bhajan and lightingof a lamp and blessings of ShriPurnatmanandji Swami for peace,happiness and prosperity of se-niors and this agency.

Cont’d on page 15

Maria Pappas honors IndianAmericansRAMESH S.


CHICAGO: Celebrating Asian American Heritagemonth in a grand manner as is usually the voguewith Cook County treasurer office for the past manyyears, Maria Pappas, presented recognition awardsto a number of Indians, Nepalese and Nurses Asso-ciation recently for their outstanding contributionsto the cultural and economic well being of the soci-ety they live in.

June 11, 2010India Post14 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Swarnim Gujarat celebrated in Chicagowith great enthusiasm

Patel thanked all the sponsorsand donors for making their eventa grand success. All the sponsorsand VGS directors were recognized,and sponsors were given recogni-tion certificates at the hands ofNarendra Patel and Indian CG Attri.Hiren Patel of National RepublicBank, Raj and Nilesh Patel of MedStar Laboratories and Mafat Patelof Swad Food were honored fortheir huge support

In his brief address, CG Attrirecounted his experience withmembers of the Gujarati commu-nity while in Middle East andKenya. He specifically mentionedthat he had met a businessmanfrom Gujarat whose ancestors hadhelped Vasco De Gama reach In-dia via South Africa. He also men-tioned that he was offered Gujaratifood, Dhokla in particular, when-ever he had chance to attend a din-ner with Gujarati families. He paidcompliments to great businessacumen of Gujarati businessmen

minutes address pitched in calmand unruffled voice to sink differ-ences and work unitedly for thebetterment of Gujarat and India. Hesaid that the Swarnim celebrationswould last till end April 2011 andcelebrations across the globeshould help promote image of theState worldwide. SK Nanda, a highlevel official of Gujarat Governmentwas present and he addressed the

gathering too in Gujarati. ThakorePatel representing VGS Gujarat hadspecially come from Ahmedabad.Also, present was, Sanjay Sinha,the Minister of Commerce fromIndian Embassy Washington DC

There were classical Indiandances, Gujarati folk dance (Garba),Gujarati songs by local artists andof course, mouth watering Gujaratidinner - Dhokla, Patra, Puran Poli,Undhiyu, Dahi Vada and Kulfi.

Cont’d from page 13

A section of the audience in jovial mood with artists in background

and pointed out that even today itis Gujarat which attracts highestflow of investible funds from over-seas investors.

In between, a message fromNarendra Modi, Chief Minister ofGujarat was video played. Dr.Bharat Barai who had gone withChicago businessman Tulsi Patelto Gujarat to attend Golden Jubi-lee celebrations had brought DVDfrom Gandhinagar. Modi in his ten

Akshaya Patra education program gets boostKATHLEEN COSGROVE

BOSTON: A sold-out Food forEducation Benefit Event recentlyhosted by Akshay Patra Founda-tion at the Westin Hotel inWaltham turned out to be a hugesuccess with the organizers rais-ing close to $400,000 for its glo-bally acclaimed education programfor deserving and needy childrenin India

The 52-member host committeeincluded influential communitymembers and change agents whowere instrumental in making the

event a great success. One of thehighlights was the featuredspeaker Dr. Deepak Chopra.

The event attracted 500 localleaders from diverse professions.The festivities brought in not onlylong-time supporters, but alsomany people experiencing theirfirst introduction to AkshayaPatra. Madhu Sridhar, Presidentand CEO of Akshaya Patra, sharedwith the guests the AkshayaPatra's success story and urgedthose present to ensure that hun-

ger is not a barrier to education."We are gathered here to bringsmiles of hope to five million chil-dren by 2020, the organization'snext goal. It is our collective chal-lenge, our collective obligation,our collective responsibility andit will be our collective joy whenwe meet this next milestone."

Deepak Chopra, MD, a world-renowned authority in the field ofmind-body healing, a best-sellingauthor, and the founder of theChopra Center for Wellbeing, de-

livered the keynote address. Hesaid that the keys to human hap-piness lay in efforts to make some-one else happy.

In addition to donating moneyto feed a large school for an entireyear on behalf of his grandchil-dren, the next morning Dr. Choprawrote on his Twitter account to hisover 200,000 followers, "It was awonderful & humbling ex-perience 2 see so muchcompassion in action.Akshaya Patra Rocks!" Atthe request of Sridhar, Dr.Chopra graciously agreedto speak for Akshaya Patraonce a year in the US.

The event was spon-sored by Leader Bank,MFA, Chitika, A123 Sys-tems, Abacus Software, Ve-nus Capital andDeshpande Foundation.New corporations thatsponsored the event thisyear included EMC, CSS,Patni, InteQ andJ.P.Morgan. In addition, en-thusiastic volunteers fromLeader Bank helped the reg-istration process gosmoothly for a second year in a row.

Two meal delivery vehicleswere sponsored at a cost of over$20,650 each; three large schoolswere sponsored at a cost of over$12,600 each; two mid-sizedschools were sponsored at a costof over $4,200 each; and 20 small-size schools were sponsored for$1,400 each. The rest of the moneyraised was for providing healthymeals to deserving children in alleight states in India whereAkshaya Patra has kitchens.

The Foundation is one of theworld's largest NGO-run middaymeal programs, feeding 1.2 millionchildren each day in over 7,000schools through 19 kitchens ineight states in India. A public-pri-vate partnership, Akshaya Patracombines good management, in-novative technology and smartengineering to deliver school

lunch at $28 to feed a child dailyfor the entire school year.

With an average governmentsubsidy of 50 percent, $28 feedstwo children. This meal givesthese children an incentive to cometo school, stay in school and pro-vides them with the necessarynutrients they need to developtheir cognitive abilities to focus onlearning.

Akshaya Patra's next milestoneis to serve 5 million children dailyby 2020.

Dr. Deepak Chopra addressing Akshaya Patra fund raiser in Boston

Guests at Akshay Patra fund raiser in Boston: L to R Dr. Vinod Sahney, Gail Sahney, Madhu Sridhar (TAPF USA

President), Dr. Kim Reid, Dr. Manohar Panjabi†

In addition to donatingmoney to feed a largeschool for an entire yearon behalf of hisgrandchildren, the nextmorning Dr. Chopra wroteon his Twitter accountto his over 200,000followers, ‘It was a won-derful & humbling experi-ence 2 see so muchcompassion in action’

June 11, 2010 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

15

MAFS mini fund raiser a big successHIMALI BHARUCHA

CHICAGO: Metropolitan AsianFamily Services (MAFS) held amini fundraiser on Saturday, May22 at its newly opened Napervillesite in order to continue provid-ing much needed services to se-niors in the local community.

Guests in attendance were ShriPurnatmanandji Swami fromBharat Savashram Sangh, GregBrownfields, a legal aid attorney,Beth O'grady, the former ExecutiveDirector of Coalition of LimitedEnglish Speaking Elderly, MartaPereyra, the executive Director ofCLESE, board members, and se-niors from Naperville, Chicago,Niles and Roselle.

The celebration started with abhajan and lighting of a lamp andblessings of Shri PurnatmanandjiSwami for peace, happiness and pros-perity of seniors and this agency.

MAFS' Board President Dr.Firdaus Jafri welcomed everyoneand thanked Mrs. Santosh Kumar,the Executive Director of MAFSfor navigating the ship of thisagency admirably even during therecent rough weather.

She applauded Ms SantoshKumar and the management as awhole for being able to do whatthey started many years ago andfor being strong despite budgetcuts from the state.

Greg Brownfields was pleasedto be a part of MAFS family andshared his concerns about seniorcare. He promised to support thecontinuing efforts of agencies likeMAFS to keep seniors in their ownhomes rather than nursing homes.One of the foremost reasons he ischoosing to run for State Repre-sentative position of 55 district isthat he could assist elderly and dis-abled throughout Northern Illinois.

He stated that Community CareProgram provides cost efficient

assistance- almost 2/3 less thanthe minimum cost of nursing homewhich is approximately $6,500 peryear, and therefore, from the per-spective of a taxpayer, CCP ismuch beneficial.

In his eyes, CCP services arevital and he will make sure to fundthe program with out delays orbudget cuts when he is elected.

Praising Mrs. Kumar, BethO'grady, spoke about her long as-sociation with Mrs. Kumar sincepast fifteen years and expressedthat "Mrs. Kumar is a light thatshines on the world and what shesees, she wants to help, she wants

to fix and make itbetter…that is herone single guidingvision."

Marta Pereyrawas honored to bea part of yet anothersuccess of MAFSand was proud tosay that it is a shin-ing star among theother fifteen agen-cies CLESE sup-ports. She praisedmembers of MAFSfor their tireless ef-forts to assist olderadults in order tohelp them stay attheir own homespeacefully with dig-nity.

Mrs. SantoshKumar welcomedguests and assuredeveryone present

that she was committed to assistand empower seniors throughvarious senior programs i.e. Com-munity Care Program, Adult DayCare Program, ESL, Health Educa-tion, Computer Classes, HotLunch Program, Health Education,and programs for culturally appro-priate activities and festivities etc.

She mentioned that Napervillesite will offer Social Services andImmigration Programs which arenot funded by State of Illinois inDuPage County.

Convincing seniors, Mrs.Kumar stated that no matter whatthe age or the health condition or

the financial status, she wouldrender all possible help thru heragency. She was very happy tosee her dream being materializedas she planned and worked veryhard to open the Naperville site.She requested and urged seniorsfrom the community to take ben-efit of the services MAFS has tooffer. She thanked Greg…... forencouraging her to open centersin Niles, in Schaumburg/Roselle,

Lighting of Lamp by Shri Purnatmananda Ji Maharaj. Seen in the picture (L-R) Rekha

Mohanty, Noor Tejanii, a Board Member, Shri Purnatmanandji Swami, Mrs. Santosh Kumar,

Executive President, Sankarprasad Bhatt, a board member, Dr. Firdaus Jafri, President,

Pramod Kumar, the CFO.

in Naperville and where everthere's need. She was grateful toDr. Firdaus Jafri for her continuedsupport, Rachna Nayar for pitch-ing support from the communityfor time, energy, and funds onMAFS behalf, the Board members,Shahida Khan and ShakarprasadBhatt, Noor Tejani and her stafffor their help and effort.

Sonalika Panigrahi, performing Odissi dance

Cont’d on page 16


Maria Pappas honors Indian AmericansRAMESH S.


CHICAGO: Celebrat ingAsian American Heri tagemonth in a grand manner as isusually the vogue with CookCounty treasurer office for thepast many years, Maria Pappas,presented recognition awardsto a number of Indians ,Nepalese and Nurses Associa-tion recently for their outstand-ing contributions to the culturaland economic well being of thesociety they live in.

Among the Indian Americanswere Susan Patel, a communityactivist, Kishore Chug, a promi-nent pharmacist who renders bighelp to a free clinic on PetersonAvenue, Bala Ghimre, a Nepaleserestaurant owner, Indian nursesand an award of excellence to theIndian Nurses Association of Il-linois. Tissy Cyriac, president,accepted the award on behalf of

INAI. The association wasfounded in 2001, and has over400 members. The mission ofINAI is to establish a profes-sional body to identify and meet

the professional cultural and so-cial needs unique to nurses ofIndian origin and heritage.

Susan Patel is actively asso-ciated with a good number of so-

cial activities. She volunteeredfor Indo American Center till re-cently. Kishore Chug is a notedpharmacist and helps channelmedicine and drugs for needy

thru a free clinic on Peterson Avein Chicago. Bala Ghimre has wonaccolades for serving Chicago-ans with excellent authenticNepalese cuisine.

INS President Tissy Cyriac receiving the award on behalf of Nurses

Association

L to R Kishore Chug, Susan Patel (center) and Maria Pappas

The event was a great success.Everyone enjoyed traditionalOdissi performance dance bySonalika Panigrahi from UpkalaCenter and entertainment bySonalika, Rekha Mohanty, RajuBankapur, Amir, Ken and SudhirBollywood Awaz & M3 Orchestra.Seniors took great interest in sing-ing and dancing with enthusiasmand energy which is indescribable.Many community members do-nated generously and supportedthis worthy cause.

MAFS mini fund raiser a big success

section of

MAFS

Audience


Shree Rekha Mohanty and

Ruju Bankapur, entertainers

Indo-U.S. PhysicianExchange Program

SUDHIR VYAS

WASHINGTON DC: A recentlyestablished American ProfessionalExchange Association (APXA)has announced a novel programinvolving an exchange of physi-cians between India and US. Themain thrust is to provide a freeservice that would match U.S. phy-sicians with physicians in India forvoluntary andmutually agreedreciprocal visits.

Under this pro-gram, hostswould providefree lodging,board, and pro-fessional interac-tions to their vis-iting guests.These exchangeswill prove benefi-cial - both professionally and cul-turally, according to Navin C. ShahCEO APXA.

The program's information andneeded forms are available atwww.apxamembers.com. This pro-gram is supported by the U.S. StateDepartment (Office of Professionaland Cultural Exchanges); the Ameri-can Medical Association (AMA)[International Medical Graduates(IMG) Section]; the World HealthOrganization (WHO - Global HealthWorkforce Alliance - GHWA); theGovernment of India; and the Ameri-can Association of Physicians ofIndian Origin (AAPI).

APXA expects that UnitedStates physicians play an impor-

tant role in improving medical edu-cation and health care in India andwill also learn about local tradi-tional medical practices. The vis-iting Indian physicians will getacquainted with U.S. health caresystem. Such exchanges will alsoresult in joint projects benefitingboth India and the United States.

APXA will matchphysicians basedon specialty andinterest.

This programwas initiated bythe ScienceCounselor, Dr. D.Dutta (represent-ing the Ambassa-dor of India); Dr.V.K. Shah, Presi-dent of AAPI; Dr.

Jayesh B. Shah, Chair AMA - IMGSection; and Dr. Navin C. Shah,CEO, APXA, on May 20, 2010 atthe Embassy of India in Washing-ton, D.C.

Of the 950,000 practicing phy-sicians in the United States, 45,000are of Indian origin. In additionthere are 10,000 U.S. physicians intraining of Indian origin. Some ofthese physicians would like to visitIndia and provide their servicesand expertise. Similarly, some ofthe physicians in India would liketo visit the United States to availstate of the art knowledge andpractice in their specialty. APXAprovides an organized approachfor physician exchange.

Dr Navin Shah, CEO APXA


17

Creating awareness for Pancha Karma treatmentMADHU PATEL

CHICAGO: With thirty plus years of ex-perience as an Ayurvedic practitioner andafter having treated thousands of patientsstrictly through Ayurvedic treatment andremedies, Dr. Gargi Vasavda is now set tocreate awareness among Indians as well asAmericans alike about the efficacy of thisage old medical science.

Principally, she wants to concentrate onthe importance and need of Panchakarmaline of treatment advocated strongly inAyurveda that centers around to a large ex-tent on a complete cleansing of body to getrid of toxicity and wastes. It is this toxicitythat leads to a debilitation of immune systemwhich in its turn, not only triggers but alsocauses a spared of many diseases.

The five main methods of Panchakarmaare Vamana (therapeutic vomiting) Virechana,(enema therapy -Niruha Basti for medicatedenemas - Anuvasana basti (for oil enemas),Nasya (nasal cleansing) and Swedan-Pindaswedam ( Navarakkizhi), Patraswedam.Depending on the health problem, one ormore of these methods are used to cleansethe body and promote healing. OtherAyurvedic therapies may be used in conjunc-tion as well.

In a talk to this pa-per, she said that pre-liminary detoxifica-tion and Ama-reduc-ing methods, accord-ing to one's dosha,should be followedfor a period prior toPancha Karma.

Vamana usesherbal solutions orsalt water to inducevomiting. It is mainlyfor those with con-gestion of phlegm inthe lungs and stom-ach, usually Kaphaconstitutions .Thistreatment is used for skin problems, asthma,diabetes, chronic sinus or lung infections,epilepsy, heart disease, and digestive disor-ders. Virechan, a strong purgative is givenlike aloe or castor oil.

Purgative herbs are usually given in theevening, so that five to eight bowel move-ments occur the next day, flushing out theintestines. Late spring and summer are the

best seasons. Purgationis used to eliminate ex-cess Pitta from its site inthe small intestine. It isnot always advisable forVata types.

Niruha basti usesspecial herbal solutions,and treats conditions in-cluding skin diseases,liver problems, abdomi-nal tumors, parasites,and chronic fevers. Fortherapeutic enemas, me-dicinal oils and herbalsolutions are used tocleanse the lower bow-els. .. Enemas (basti) area mild therapy and canbe used for many condi-tions. Cleansing enemas(Niruha basti) are usedin Pancha Karma to dispel excess Vata fromits site in the large intestine.

They are made with decoctions of anti-Vata herbs. Niruha and anuvasana basti areused to treat conditions such as constipa-

tion, arthritis, nervous dis-orders, colitis, headaches,muscle weakness, andlower back pain

Nasya, literally, 'whatrelates to the nose.' ForNasya, medicated oils orpowders are administeredinto the nostrils to cleansethe sinuses. Nasya is use-ful for many Vata andKapha disorders. It allowsfor direct action on pranaand the brain. It is helpfulin some Pitta disorders, aswell as any diseases of thehead and nasal passages.

This therapy is used totreat conditions of the

head, including mental disorders, headaches,and ear, nose, and throat problems. Snehana,also called 'oleation therapy' is an importanttherapeutic method in Ayurveda, with oilsused both externally and internally.

Steam therapy or therapeutic sweating,Svedana, is another important method.

Pancha Karma treatment has several fol-low up practices. It is not an isolated therapy

that can be done onceand forgotten, but mustbe integrated into one'sentire life-regimen. Itmay be necessary to re-peat the whole processof Pancha Karma.

During panchakarma,fatigue malaise, head-aches, congestion, gen-eral illness, and an in-crease in symptoms mayoccur as side effects.Also, it seeks to releasestored emotional prob-lems from the patient;some people may expe-rience mental distur-bances during treatment.

Dr. Gargi said thatshe commenced herpractice in Ahmedabad -

Ayu Raksha - about two decades ago andmust have seen and treated thousands ofpatients. On an average, 200 patients aregiven Pancha Karma treatment in a month.

When asked about the end results, shesaid that a very large number of patients haveresponded very favorably to the treatmentand this leads many to come for frequentbout of Pancha Karma. They feel a remark-able improvement in their immune system andfeel rejuvenated as well, she said. The basicphilosophy is that the body should get rid of

its toxic waste and recapture a proper bal-ance of Vat- Pitta and Kupha elements for ahealthy and long life. "Pancha Karma aims atthis. Synchronized or followed up with herbalmedicine and other Ayurvedic drugs- formu-lation, it should help one overcome manydiseases. Ayurved has treatment forMadhumeh (diabetes), Karkarog (cancer)Auj Kshaya (AIDS) and many such diseases.Early diagnosis and treatment are really im-portant for lasting cure," she said.

She said that Ayurved bases its diagno-sis on pulse reading followed with inputsform patient. It can be supplemented withthe modern days screening and other test-ing results. But it has to be using its ownmedicines and drugs.

Also, the modern medical science hasmade tremendous advances in the field ofsurgery and Ayurveda practitioners can alsotake advantages of these developments inmedical field, she observed.

Dr. Gargi was in Chicago last month andhas conducted a few seminars on PanchaKarma here before going to Charlotte. Sheis more than willing to have more such semi-nars and talks for general public as also forthose in the field of medicine.

"The important point that I would like tomake is that Pancha Karma treatment basi-cally is not going counter to any other form oftreatment that one follows. It is more than likelythat it would rather speed up the progress todisease free healthier life," she said.

Dr. Gargi Vasavda

AWB scholarships for female Asian studentsIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Asian Women in Businesswill award $2,500 scholarships to femaleAsian students who demonstrate a commit-ment to scholarship, leadership, communityservice, and/or entrepreneurship.

Candidates for the scholarship must befemale of Asian (includes those who can tracetheir ancestry from Bangladesh, Cambodia,China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos,Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Pa-kistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Viet-nam) or Pacific Islander ancestry.

Candidates must also fulfill the follow-ing criteria to be considered:Have at least one or more of the following:

a) demonstrated a leadership role in acommunity or non-profit endeavor, or b) arecord of entrepreneurial achievement; en-rolled full-time in an accredited four-year un-dergraduate institution in the US at the timeof application and award; carry a minimumof 3.0 (out of 4.0) GPA at the time of applica-tion; provide most recent college transcript;semi-finalists will be required to providetheir official college transcript

Provide at least one professional recommenda-tion; fully complete the AWIB Scholarship Appli-cation; be a US citizen or permanent resident.

All application materials must be post-marked by August 1. Semifinalists will benotified in September and winners will benotified in November.

‘The important point thatI would like to make isthat Pancha Karmatreatment basically isnot going counter toany other form of treat-ment that one follows. Itis more than likely thatit would rather speedup the progress todisease free healthierlife,’ she said


PCS celebrates India festivalRAJINDER SINGH MAGO

CHICAGO: ThePunjabi Cultural So-ciety of Chicago(PCS) partneredwith ChicagoChildren's Museum(CCM) at Navy Pierin organizing thePassport to theWorld: India Festi-val Celebrations onMay 16.

The PCS perfor-mances depicted an enriched mo-saic of diverse traditions from thenorth Indian state of Punjab includ-ing the Punjabi folk dances Bhangraand Gidha performed by variousPunjabi youths from around theMidwest region. Attendees also par-ticipated in turban tying, Mehendi,and other Indian performing arts.

An outdoor procession of morethan 200 participants commencedthe festivities at Navy Pier withstreet dancing and the eclecticbeats of the Punjabi Dhol drumplayed by Kevindeep Singh Atwal

of Northbrook, Illinois and currentInter-Community Director of PCSChicago.

As the program moved indoorsto the Chicago Children's Mu-seum, attendees experienceddance performances by childrenfrom Indiana and Illinois,Bhangra 101 dance lessons, aturban tying workshop by SikhAmerican Heritage Organization(SAHO) volunteers, andMehendi art by Rajneesh KaurSingh helped by Harpreet Kaur

Dhillon.Passport to the World is de-

signed to expose children to avariety of cultures and to affirmwith each child his own culturalidentity and ethnic heritage,stated Keith McCormick, CCM'sDirector of Cultural Programs.

PCS of Chicago is a not-for-profit community organizationdevoted to promoting the Punjabiculture, language, performingarts, healthy life style and sports,education, and good citizenshipin the metropolitan Chicago area.

Punjabi artists performing traditional Punjabi dances at Navy Pier in Chicago

Central Jersey ashram launchesCommunity Care program


NEW JERSEY: As part of its10th anniversary celebration onJune 5, the Arsha Bodha Center inCentral Jersey launched a uniquenew program aimed at helping vul-nerable community members whoare dealing with emotional andphysical difficulties.

The Jana Raksha CommunityCare Program is intended to helpHindus in Central Jersey who arecoping with physical or emotionaldistress caused by illness, lifeevents, or family situations.

The Arsha Bodha Center is anashram dedicated to the traditionalteaching of Vedanta, Sanskrit,Bhagavad Gita, meditation, Vedicchanting, and related Hindu spiri-tual practices. The Center was es-tablished in 2000 to give residentsof Central New Jersey ready ac-cess to the wisdom (bodha) of thesages of ancient India (arsha).

The Hindu community in Cen-tral New Jersey has grown signifi-cantly in the past two decades, butthere are very few support ser-vices available for them," saidSwami Tadatmananda, the Spiri-tual Director of the Jana RakshaCommunity Care Program, andfounder of the Arsha Bodha Cen-ter. "The Jana Raksha program willfill the gap between

professional services and fam-ily support. Our trained caregivers

can provide one-on-one supportand care giving, offering encour-agement and spiritual comfort tothose in need. We will also pro-vide referrals to community basedservices."

Caregivers are themselvesmembers of the Hindu communitywho are familiar with cultural andreligious issues. Other than En-glish, support can be provided inseveral Indian languages, includ-ing Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil,Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, Sindhiand Punjabi. Caregivers havebeen trained to handle situationsinvolving grief and loss, depres-sion, chronic illness, family con-flict, marital discord and divorce,job related stress and other issues.

To obtain support from the JanaRaksha Community Care Program,people can call 732-690-9593. Atrained community caregiver willbe assigned to the caller based ontheir needs. Caregivers will beavailable over the phone and inperson to provide ongoing sup-port. All information shared by therecipient of care will be strictlyconfidential.

Caregivers will receive ongoingtraining and supervision frommental health clinicians and spiri-tual support from SwamiTadatmananda.

All services from the JanaRaksha Community Care Programare offered free of charge.

Rajan Zed honored at MarylandVishnu Temple

HARI RAO

MARYLAND: Sri Siva VishnuTemple in Lanham (Maryland,USA), a prominent Hindu templeof America, has honored Hindustatesman Rajan Zed for his ser-vices to the community.

Zed, who is president of Uni-versal Society of Hinduism, wasgarlanded; a shawl was presentedto him; and Sanskrit mantras wererecited by Temple priests to blesshim during his visit on May 25.Ms. Mythili Bachu, Temple Presi-dent, was also present.

Rajan Zed is one of the panel-ists for “On Faith”, a prestigiousinteractive conversation on reli-gion produced jointly byN e w s w e e kand washingtonpost.com. He hasbeen awarded “World Interfaith

Leader Award” by National As-sociation of Interchurch and In-terfaith Families.

Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, one ofthe largest in western hemi-sphere, incorporates Mayan,Pallava, Vijayanagara, Kerala andthe South Canara styles oftemple architecture. It was builtwith the blessings of theShankaracharyas, under the di-rection of eminent temple archi-tect Dr. Ganapati Sthapati, andhouses several Sannidhis withdeities like Andal, Ayyappa,Durga, Ganesha, Hanuman,Karthikeya, Krishna, Lakshmi,Navagrahas, Parvathi, Rama,Saraswathi, Siva, Sudarsana,Venkateshwara, and Vishnu.

Open to all, Sri Siva Vishnu

Temple holds free-of-chargeseminars on Vedanta,Upanishads, ethics, and Hindu-ism; classes on meditation, San-skrit, astrology, Vedas, yoga,Hindu philosophy and culture,and world religions; discussionseries on Bhagavad-Gita,Puranas, Bhagavatam, Ramayan;daily-weekly-monthly pujas(worship); and discourses onHindu scriptures and philoso-phy. It also participates in vari-ous interfaith events in the re-gion. Its children’s educationalprograms include recitation ofshlokas, Puranas storytelling,and performing of pujas. It makessandwiches for the homelessfortnightly and offers yoga forseniors.

Rajan Zed seen being honored

They have more than 25 com-mercial recordings to their credit,including an award winningDhrupad sound track for the envi-ronmental film "Raga of RiverNarmada". Apart from being anintegral part of all of India's presti-gious music festivals, the Broth-

Balaji Temple to hostGundecha brothers

ers have also performed at manyimportant international music fes-tivals and institutions.

When not touring and perform-ing, the Gundechas devote them-selves to teaching Dhrupad attheir international school of mu-sic in Bhopal, India and at the pres-tigious Shri Ram Bhartiya KalaKendra in New Delhi.


Gundecha brothers


19

Survey shows unprecedented impact of AAHOAIndia Post News Service

ATLANTA, GA: The AsianAmerican Hotel Owners Associa-tion (AAHOA) is often referred toas one of the most powerful orga-nizations in the hospitality indus-try - and now a comprehensivenew independent research projectproves that's true.

The study -conducted by theprestigious At-lanta-based firm ofPKF HospitalityResearch (PFK-HR) - shows thatthe 10,000 membersof AAHOA own20,156 hotelswhich togetherhave almost 1.8 mil-lion rooms and aproperty value of$128.7 billion.

PKF-HR find-ings are based on atypical year of operation. Accord-ing to widely accepted industry re-search, AAHOA members own morethan 40 percent of the total numberof hotels in the United States and39 percent of all of the guest rooms.

Employment at these hotels to-tals 578,600 employees, including

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the equivalent of 436,900 full-timejobs plus additional part-time work-ers, who are paid $9.4 billion an-nually in salaries and wages. Pay-roll taxes, subsidized health insur-ance, vacation pay, and pensioncontribution add another $2.5 bil-lion in compensation.

AAHOA hoteliers are typicallysmall business en-trepreneurs, buthave establishedportfolios that in-clude numerousfull-service, limited-service, and inde-pendent lodging fa-cilities. They havestrong roots in theircommunities andgenerate a powerfullocal "ripple" eco-nomic effectthrough their expen-diture of operatingexpenses plus capi-tal investments.

For example, AAHOA membersspend more than $31 billion annu-ally on operating costs that in-clude:

• $11.9 billion on labor• $2.3 billion on utilities• $2.2 billion on payments to

franchise companies for royalty

payments, guest loyalty programcosts, plus reservations and mar-keting assessments

• $2 billion on property taxes• $1.3 billion on food and bev-

erage purchases• $1.2 billion on room, food, and

beverage department supplies• $1.1 billion on credit card com-

missions, and

"These numbers dramaticallyconfirm the significant role thatAsian American hoteliers playboth in our industry and in ourcountry's economy," said Tarun S.Patel, AAHOA Chairman. "Thesesurvey results will be invaluableas we advocate on behalf of ourmembers with franchisors, legis-lators, bankers, and others."

"The findings of this research aresimple but there's nothing simpleabout the hard work, commitment,and business acumen that our mem-bers have continually demonstratedin order to achieve this unmatchedlevel of influence and impact in anindustry that's complex, competitive,and cyclical," said Fred Schwartz,AAHOA President.

‘The findings of thisresearch aresimple but there'snothing simpleabout the hardwork, commit-ment, and busi-ness acumen thatour membershave continuallydemonstrated

June 11, 2010India Post20 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Cont’d on page 22

Ahmadiyyaspersecuted by‘terrorists’India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: TheAhmadiyya Muslim Communitycontinues to lay to rest its vic-tims -- 98 so far -- from the hor-rific May 28 simultaneous terror-ist attacks on their two Mosquesin Lahore, Pakistan. A Punjab-based Pakistani Taliban grouphas claimed responsibility for thebrutal attacks, with continuedthreats being made against theAhmadiyya Muslim Communityat large.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity within Pakistan remainsunder constant threats and per-secution, while the government,police and anti-terrorist securityforces stand idly by doing noth-ing. Throughout Lahore and inmany other areas of Pakistan,anti-Ahmadiyya banners and bill-boards remain in place today, call-ing for the continued boycotting,persecution and outright murderof any and all members of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community.

Dr. Ami Bera proves to be atremendous fundraiser


LOS ANGELES: California’sThird Congressional District isone of the top pick-up opportuni-ties for Democrats nationally. Thisis due, in large part, to Indian-American Dr. Ami Bera. Since mak-ing his formal announcement intothe race, Dr. Bera has proven to bea tremendous fundraiser with astrong commitment to voter out-reach. In fact, Dr. Bera is one ofonly a few challengers in the coun-try to outraise an incumbent op-ponent. Bera has outraised hisopponent in the last four consecu-tive fundraising quarters.

Bera’s early success has Demo-crats around the nation engagedand excited about the 3rd Congres-sional District.

Recently, Bera was named to theDemocratic Congressional Cam-paign Committee’s (DCCC) presti-gious Red to Blue Program, awardedto only a select few challenger racesin the country. This program is

saved only for the few top-tierpickup opportunities nationally andprovides strategic support, helpingensure a strong finish against thevulnerable Dan Lungren.

Lungren has lost significantsupport in the 3rd Congressional

District, with his share of the votedeclining from 62% when he wasfirst elected to 49% in 2008.

Lungren’s waning popularity isonly amplified by recent voter reg-istration statistics, which reflect amuch stronger Democratic presence.

As recently as 2004, there were

29,616 more registered Republi-cans than Democrats in the 3rdCongressional District. In March2009, only 39.6% of the registeredvoters affiliated as Republicanscompared to 37.7% for Democrats– a negligible 2% advantage. In

Sacramento County, the Republi-can advantage has declined to lessthan 3,000 votes. For the first time,the 3rd Congressional District seg-ment of Solano County is slightlymore Democratic than Republican.

The downward trajectory ofLungren’s popularity, the strength

of Dr. Bera’s candidacy, and the rap-idly changing make up of CA 3 hasAmi Bera poised for success thisNovember.

Dr. Ami Bera is a lifelong Cali-fornian and the youngest son ofparents who emigrated from Indiain the 1950s. Benefiting from astrong family, stable community,and public schools, Ami was ableto attend the University of Cali-fornia, Irvine (UCI) where he re-ceived his undergraduate andmedical degrees, and where he methis future wife, Dr. Janine Bera.

Ami’s career spans both theprivate and public sectors. Aftergraduating from UCI MedicalSchool, Ami joined the MercyMedical Group (MMG) as an In-ternist and became Chief of Inter-nal Medicine for MMG.

Ami very quickly understood howa hospital should run, and he becamethe Medical Director for Care Man-agement at the five-hospital MercyHealthcare system in Sacramento.

Ami Bera with his wife Janine and daughter Sydra

Cont’d on page 22

Wells Fargo honors two South Asian studentsIndia Post News Service

CUPERTINO: Eight-year oldSouth Asian students AdityaGodavarti and Sharanya Das ofCupertino are ending the schoolyear with a significant accom-plishment to be proud of.

The second grade studentswere named winners in the annual"Growing Up Asian in America"art and essay contest which wascreated by the Asian Pacific Fundin 1995 to provide a forum forAsian youth to explore and valuetheir Asian American heritage.Wells Fargo Bank is a sponsor ofthe contest. This year's theme,"Expectations - to be and do whatis in your heart," called for art,

Sharanya Das and Aditya Godavarti, both eight years old, each received

$500 from Wells Fargo for placing in the top three in their age group in Asian

Pacific Fund's "Growing Up Asian in America" contest

essay and poem submissionsfrom kindergarten to 12th graderepresenting what they want tobe when they grow up, offeringimages of astronauts, doctorsand chefs. Contest organizerssay, in their young minds, thesky's the limit, and they see howtheir Asian heritage inspires theirambitions.

Godavarti, a student of EatonElementary, earned the first placeprize in the K-5 category. Hisdream of becoming a young vet-erinarian was expressed in hisdrawing that featured him wear-ing a white doctor's coat helpingdozens of sick animals.

Cont’d on page 23

OCTaxPAC endorsesHarry SidhucandidatureIndia Post News Service

ORANGE: The Orange CountyTaxpayers Association PoliticalAction Committee (OCTaxPAC)has announced its support forHarry Sidhu for Orange CountySupervisor.

In a statement it says,OCTaxPAC supports your pri-mary-election campaign to becomeOrange County's 4th District Su-pervisor.... Your endorsement byOCTaxPAC came after detailed in-terviews with you and the othercandidates, followed by consider-able discussion.

Cont’d on page 22

So Cal Edison'sDiversity ManagerhonoredIndia Post News Service

GARDEN GROVE: GraceWhitcomb, manager for SouthernCalifornia Edison's (SCE) supplierdiversity and development divi-sion, has been named a minoritysmall-business champion of theyear by the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration. Whitcomb ac-cepted the honor at a luncheonhere.

Cont’d on page 23

As doctor administrator

Dr. Ami Bera is a lifelong Californian and theyoungest son of parents who emigrated fromIndia in the 1950s. Benefiting from a strong fam-ily, stable community, and public schools, Amiwas able to attend the University of California,Irvine (UCI) where he received his undergradu-ate and medical degrees, and where he methis future wife, Dr. Janine Bera

June 11, 2010 India Postwww.indiapost.com

21sw

ami s

ri ve

era

rudr

a yo

gi

Kaliyuga Kaarana Janmi

SWAMY SRI VEERA RUDRA YOGIPALM READER

Swami Ji is a specialist inAghora Rudra Rituals and PoojasSwamy Sri Veera Rudra Yogi Ji has attend Mahayoga Siddhi at an early age. He has learnt Mantras, Pooja, its’ Neeti and Reeti from the great sages of Varanasi, Aghoris and Himagiri Shivasiddi in Himalayas.

FAMILYMARRIAGEHEALTHWEALTHBUSINESSPROPERTYMONEY

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Swamy Sri Veera Rudra Yogi ji is a specialist in removing Katoragni Black Magic. He is a Kaarana Janmi of this time, born for a reason to save everyone who believes in him from Pralayas (disasters). He performs very ancient and powerful Poojas which dates back around 4000 years ago such as Brahma Tejas, Agni hotra, Sharapanjaram, Sookshma Kaarya Siddi to shake away darkness such as Omen. Evil Spirits such as Saitan, Shenkini, Yenkini, Daakini and Mohini. Mantra, Tantra, Kutantra will be removed completely. Athala Vithala Paathala, Akhila Boomandala Chanda Prachanda Marthanda Daivagnani.

His Divya Dhrushti(Divine consciousness)

can find a permanent solutionfor your problems.

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714-270-4672714-270-472318633 ½ S. Corby Ave.,Artesia, CA 90701(Behind Pioneer Cash & Carry) 100% GUARANTEE

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June 11, 2010India Post22 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

A career in public service beck-oned as Ami went on to becomethe Medical Director and ChiefMedical Officer for SacramentoCounty and its 1.3 million resi-dents. Here, Dr. Bera created theSac Advantage program to helpsmall businesses more easily in-sure its employees, reducing thenumber of uninsured in Sacra-mento County and lowering thecost of care for all.

Ami became a Professor andDean of Admissions at UC DavisMedical School, mentoring futuredoctors and exploring ways tomake treatment more affordable.

Ami, his wife Janine, and hisdaughter have lived in Elk Grove,California, the most populated cityin California’s 3rd CongressionalDistrict since 1995.

Ami is running for Congress

Dr. Ami Bera proves to be atremendous fundraiser

because he believes the momentis right to bring new energy to theAmerican story, with the faith thatwe can establish a more just, com-passionate, and healthy world.Ami believes that with the rightleadership and a collective effort,together, we can create:

A quality, affordable health caresystem that provides compassion-ate, cost-effective, and essentialcoverage to all; that reduces thecost of services without compro-mising quality of care; and thatminimizes interference of govern-ment or the insurance industry indecisions that should be madebetween the patient and their careprovider.

Strong schools that prepare ourkids to compete for the jobs of the21st century economy. It’s notenough to just have the bestschools and the best teachers. Asparents, we need to turn off the

TVs and video games, and ensurekids do their homework.

A vibrant economy that re-wards those who work hard andplay by the rules, not corporateCEOs who exploit loopholes andleave others to clean up their mess;that encourages competition andinnovation without exploitinghard-working middle-class Ameri-cans; and that harnesses Ameri-can creativity to once again posi-tion our economy as one of thestrongest in the world, so wedon’t continue to rack up debt thatfuture generations will inherit.

A common-sense, responsibleplan for energy independence thatdevelops our sustainable indus-tries – like wind and solar – toachieve economic prosperity,clean air and water, and indepen-dence from foreign oil, makingAmerica safer and putting Ameri-cans back to work.


OCTaxPAC endorses HarrySidhu candidature


ORANGE: The Orange CountyTaxpayers Association PoliticalAction Committee (OCTaxPAC)has announced its support forHarry Sidhu for Orange CountySupervisor.

In a statement it says,OCTaxPAC supports your pri-mary-election campaign to becomeOrange County's 4th District Su-pervisor.... Your endorsement byOCTaxPAC came after detailed in-terviews with you and the othercandidates, followed by consider-able discussion. The selectioncommittee considered your back-ground as a successful small-busi-ness owner. We reviewed yourseven-year record as a citycouncilmember who actively re-duced government regulationsand fees, supported private prop-

erty rights, created private-sectorjobs, and heard both sides of anyissue before making a decision.

"We concluded that you shareOCTaxPAC's belief that taxes andtax-supported programs shouldbe 'fair, understandable, cost ef-fective, and good for theeconomy' (OCTaxPAC's missionstatement)."

It was pointed out that• Harry Sidhu is a proven busi-

nessman and conservative taxfighter.

• Harry Sidhu built his busi-ness from the ground up and nowemploys over 120 people in Or-ange County.

• As a City Councilman, HarrySidhu has consistently opposedtax and fee increases

• Harry Sidhu and his familyhave lived in Anaheim for over 16years.

Ahmadiyyas persecuted by same terrorists who attack USIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: TheAhmadiyya Muslim Communitycontinues to lay to rest its victims-- 98 so far -- from the horrific May28 simultaneous terrorist attacks ontheir two Mosques in Lahore, Paki-stan. A Punjab-based PakistaniTaliban group has claimed respon-sibility for the brutal attacks, withcontinued threats being madeagainst the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity at large.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity within Pakistan remainsunder constant threats and perse-cution, while the government, po-lice and anti-terrorist securityforces stand idly by doing noth-ing. Throughout Lahore and inmany other areas of Pakistan, anti-Ahmadiyya banners and billboards

remain in place today, calling forthe continued boycotting, perse-cution and outright murder of anyand all members of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community.

The May 28 incident is the worstattack to date in Pakistan since thecommunity was declared non-Muslim in 1974 and subsequentlyforbidden in a 1984 constitutionalamendment to preach, profess orin any way practice their Islamicfaith. Countless members of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community inthe U.S. have suffered the tragicloss of their family and relatives.

Imam Shamshad Ahmad Nasirfrom the Baitul Hameed Mosque inChino, California states, "We havebeen victims of state-sponsoredterrorism since 1974 when the mem-bers of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity were declared a non-

Muslim minority. Later, in 1984, themilitary dictator General Ziaul Haq,the mastermind of the Talibanmovement, went a step further and

criminalized all Muslim acts of wor-ship when performed by anAhmadi. Coincidently, theAhmadiyya Muslim Community ispersecuted by the same terroristswho exist to attack the UnitedStates."

Despite such bloodshed, theAhmadiyya Muslim Communityhas responded with continued ad-vocacy towards peace. It maintainsits adherence to the Islamic tenetthat there is no place for violenceof any kind, since reverence for lifeis a part of Islam.

The community has not retali-ated in any manner, nor held ralliesor other demonstrations despitecontinual persecution. A massiveletter-writing campaign has begun,requesting the U.S. government toapply pressure on Pakistan to re-peal its blasphemy laws and ordi-nances within their constitutionthat are routinely used to sanctionand justify the persecution and kill-ing of Ahmadi Muslims, Christians,

Jews and other religious minoritiesin Pakistan. The Ahmadiyya Mus-lim Community has faced intensegovernmental and extremist perse-cution in Pakistan for nearly 40years.

In a statement issued from Lon-don by the Fifth Khalifa, or spiri-tual leader, of the worldwideAhmadiyya Muslim Community,His Holiness Mirza MasroorAhmad said:

"The situation in Pakistan is ex-tremely grave. For decades,Ahmadi Muslims have not beenable to live in peace; in fact, theylive their lives in constant danger.In 1974, Ahmadi Muslims were de-clared "non-Muslims" by the gov-ernment of Pakistan, and then tenyears later, the infamous ordinanceXX was adopted [as an amendmentto the Pakistan Constitution] whichcriminalized all forms of Ahmadiworship and the practice of its faith.

Cont’d on page 23

Media men covering the massacre in Pakistan crouch for safety

A victim being rushed to hospital

June 11, 2010 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

23

Wells Fargo honors twoSouth Asian students

Das, a student at Faria Elemen-tary, received the second placeprize in the K-5 category. She hascareer aspirations of becoming anastronaut to help find new sourcesof energy in space.

To show its support and com-mitment to the students, WellsFargo Bank honored Das andGodavarti at a special celebrationheld at its Cupertino store in lateMay. Wells Fargo awarded themwith $500 in a savings account andeach winner received a proclama-

tion from Cupertino Mayor KrisWang.

"Wells Fargo is proud to sup-port the 'Growing Up Asian inAmerica' contest," said BobCeglio, Wells Fargo Peninsula Re-gional President. "This is an edu-cational learning experience thatteaches young kids about theirheritage and also challenges themto work hard and have goals."

The winning art and essays arereproduced in an exhibit hosted bypublic libraries throughout theBay Area between May 2010 andFebruary 2011.


by Aditya Godavarti

By Sharanya Das

"These laws effectively legiti-mized the exclusion and persecu-tion of our community in Pakistan.Ever since then, extremists havetaken advantage of these laws totarget Ahmadis.

"Despite this cruelty Ahmadis

So Cal Edison's DiversityManager honored

Ahmadiyyas persecuted by sameterrorists who attack US

have remained loyal citizens ofPakistan and have never shownany form of civil disobedience.The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'atis a peace-loving, true MuslimCommunity. Thus, there will beno improper reaction from anyAhmadi.

"Our salvation lies in our sup-

plications to God Almighty, andwe believe that He has, and al-ways will, help us. No terroristand no government can ever stopthe progress of our Communitybecause it is a Divine organiza-tion. May God protect all good-natured people from the evil actsof those opposed to peace."



GARDEN GROVE: GraceWhitcomb, manager for SouthernCalifornia Edison's (SCE) supplierdiversity and development divi-sion, has been named a minoritysmall-business champion of theyear by the U.S. Small Business

Administration. Whitcomb ac-cepted the honor at a luncheonhere. The Small Business Admin-istration annually honors indi-viduals for their dedication tohelping minority small-busi-nesses. Whitcomb was recog-nized for her work in Region IX,which includes California, Ne-

vada, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam.The picture shows (L to R):

Rachel Baranick, deputy districtdirector, U.S. Small Business Ad-ministration, Santa Ana DistrictOffice; Grace Whitcomb, SCE di-versity manager; and JoeAlderete, SCE manager, SupplierDiversity.


June 11, 201024

June 11, 2010 India Post 25

www.indiapost.com

HoroscopeARIES

Mar 21-Apr 20

June 11th

to

June 17th

There is a strong chance of some kind

of Jackpot. Investment made in the past

will get you tons of money and have

no fear about new partners in busi-

ness, they will play on your tune later

on. People earlier suffering from ail-

ments will cured with help of new

medications. There will be some dra-

matic positive change in career.

Property deal will also close this week.

Just watch out for a shady character

trying to flirt and come too close.

People in business will be cheerful to

see their sales almost double up in

short period. You are very close to

getting some money out of a pending

litigation. You may travel to a real nice

and warm area with family.

It will be a hectic week, Limited time

and so many important places to visit.

You will buy some expensive but use-

ful item for the house. Things will be

more relaxed at work and even of of

your colleague will offer his help. Tran-

siting Sun in second can get you some

money through stocks also. Do not hesi-

tate to try your hands at lottery.

TAURUS

Apr 21-May 20

LEO

Jul 23-Aug 22

SAGITTARIUSNov 23-Dec 22

VIRGO

Aug 23-Sept 22

CAPRICORN

Dec 23-Jan 19

GEMINI

May 21-Jun 20

LIBRA

Sept 23-Oct 22

CANCER

Jun 21-Jul 22

SCORPIO

Oct 23-Nov 22

AQUARIUS

Jan 20-Feb 18

PISCES

Feb 19-Mar 20

You will put some assets in market to

reduce ongoing financial pressure.Mind will be inclined towards spiritu-

ally and it will help restore peace inmind. You will be invited to couple of

upcoming social events. There arestrong chances of money through le-

gal procedure. You will call someonefor direction and advice.

There will be lots of activities in ca-

reer. You may finally receive more than

one contract in your hands. Seems like

a female will be instrumental on the

other side for these. It will be better to

ignore the immature comment from a

sibling. You will be going on a short trip

with children to attend a social event

this week.

Health issues will come under con-

trols with right procedure and medi-

cation. You may win some money in

lottery too. Spouse will get emotional

quick so have patience with her. You

will be working on several brilliant

ideas and one of them will click soon.

Business meetings will go well but re-

sults will come next week.

Money may pour in from totally unex-

pected places. Old payments will fi-

nally show up and the business should

also pick up suddenly. You will be

making frequent phone calls to a sib-

ling and exchange few good news.

Your past actions will pay off now

and you will be admired by everyone

at the party.

Some of you will get a lucky break in

career. Position you always wanted

will be offered with better benefits. You

may spend an evening with people

from political background. Kids will be

excited about an upcoming long dis-

tance trip. Money wise you will con-

tinue to do well and meet all commit-

ments on time.

You may be sending some money over-

seas for a very good reason. Drive

within speed limits when on freeway

and traveling long distance. Some one

who was too close long ago will once

again try to flirt with you. Legal mat-

ters will start moving in the right direc-

tion and a comfortable settlement is

almost within your reach in a few days.

Chances of making money through

stocks are very strong. You will be-

come very ambitious and try your

hands in different directions and will

get some results too. Some of you

may join a short term course to im-

prove your changes in this challeng-

ing world. Children will keep you in-

volved and plan more than one trip.

Idea of legal action to prove your point

will cross your mind. Strategy will si-

lence people who have been taking

undue advantage of your generosity.

You may be assigned a lighter project

by the boss. You will visit an old friend

with family this week. There are

strong chance of a second source of

income opening this week.

There will be lots of excitement about

an upcoming trip. People in business

will see a sudden surge in sales with

new first time clients. An old appeal

will get accepted and you will receive

the confirmation letter. Your car will

need minor repairs. Boss will be happy

with your performance and make nec-

essary recommendations.

India's name dropped fromcontroversial Israeli statementJERUSALEM: In a damage-

control exercise, Israel hasdropped India's name from acontroversial s tatement inwhich it had referred to violencein India to justify its attack onan aid flotilla to Gaza that cre-ated a storm.

"India was mentioned in thepress release by mistake. It wastotally unintentional", Israel'sForeign Minister AvigdorLieberman's media adviser TzachiMoshe told PTI.

"The moment it came to ournotice, the release was correctedand reference to India wasdropped," Moshe said.

His comments came a day afteran Israeli Foreign Ministry state-ment quoting Lieberman as tellingUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that incidents in coun-tries like India and Pakistan in thepast one month which claimedover 500 lives have been "ignored"while the Jewish state is being

condemned for its "unmistakablydefensive actions".

Earlier, Israeli Ambassador toIndia Mark Sofer said in New Delhithat this was a "regrettable error"and that his country "does not seeIndia in the same light as it seesits enemies." India was a closefriend, he emphasized.

Sofer said already the name ofIndia has been removed from thespeech of his Foreign Minister and"we are taking this up to make surethat any misunderstanding risenout of this error of this nature willno longer be there."

He also said "Israel standshook, line and sinker behind Indiain its struggle in South Asia."

In an emergency session, theUN Security Council had called foran investigation into Israel'sdeadly commando raid on sixships taking humanitarian aid tothe Gaza Strip, condemning the actthat resulted in the loss of at leastnine lives. -PTI

June 11, 2010India Post26 27www.indiapost.com

6 Bekarar - Paathshaala

7 Ranjha Ranjha - Raavan

8 Yaadan - Virsa

9 Rang De - Bumm Bumm Bole

10 Ankahi Si - Chase

1 Khili Re - Raavan

2 Ghum Suhm Ghum Suhm - IAWA

3 Dont Know What To Do - Housefull

4 Mein Tenu Samjjawan - Virsa

5 Chaska - Badmaash Company28 India Post June 11, 2010www.indiapost.com

Deepika Padukone is all set to appearin a totally non-glamorous avatar inAshutosh Gowariker's period epic

'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se', where she playsthe role of a revolutionary named KalpanaDatta. Designer Neeta Lulla has drapedDeepika in traditional Bengali saris for thefilm and is said to have done research for herBengali look. "It is a single pallu drape, twiceover the shoulder. When she was doing heraction sequences, like any other normal sari,we tucked it around her waist," Lulla said.For Deepika, doing all their stunts in a sari,draped in the traditional way, was a challengebecause every time Deepika was to run, thesari would come in her way. This period filmis based on Manini Chatterjee's book 'Do andDie: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34' andDeepika's character Kalpana is a strong andindependent woman who joined the mutinybecause she believed in the cause. "Kalpanais not the kind of woman who will sit at homewaiting for her husband to return," saysDeepika about her character. Deepika's ath-letic background helped her with the actionsequences. "It is nice to do your own stuntsgiven the challenges they offer. I am veryspontaneous and did not need the help of abody double," she said.

Deepikatherebel

Kat iswilling

Gorgeous Katrina Kaif is every man's dreamgirl. Here is good news for all the single menacross the world. The lovely lady is looking

forward to settle down in life sooner then later. In arecent interview, the actress admitted that she is opento the idea of marriage but is waiting for the rightman to step into her life. Katrina has also confessedthat she is an extremely emotional person and wouldreact whimsically at times. She said that all the linkup stories with her co-actors are baseless and oftendepress her. Well, after Salman's exit, let's see whowill be the lucky man to woo her heart.

From being just another pretty face, to becomingone of India's most loved actresses, Katrina Kaif re-ally has a story to tell the world.

Says Katrina, who was recently votedAsia's Sexiest Woman:

"Me? Hot and sexy?Nah. People shouldsee me at home.I'm painfullyunglamorous.Just anotherworking girlmaking a

living."

One look at the curvaceous Barbara Mori and oneis apt to be mesmerized by the sensuality oozingout from her, but very few people know that sexy

Barbara is strong too. The lady has fought and emergedvictorious from the deadly cancer. The disease was diagnosedin its early stages and so, Mori didn't need chemo but had toundergo an operation to have the cancer removed. By God'sgrace, she is OK now but says that she makes sure to neverskip her check-ups to avoid any problems.

Barbara shares this pain of hers with 'Kites' directorAnurag Basu who himself had fought and survived leu-kemia. Initially, both were unaware of this fact but afterBarbara spoke to Anurag about her past illness Anuragtoo poured his heart out to her about his battle with leu-kemia. "From that point we became soul buddies," re-counts Basu emotionally adding, "I feel both Barbara andI have emerged stronger human beings after fighting ourillnesses. It definitely makes you understand the worldaround you better. My best work came after my illness.That can't be a coincidence. When you fight death youunderstand life better. I'm sure it's true for Barbara as well."Barbara has shared this battle of hers in Namrata SinghGujral's docu-drama titled 1 a Minute, to release in 2010.

Cancer bond

India Post 29June 11, 2010

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

HiringMallika

Bollywood's bold andbeautiful MallikaSherawat, prefers to

be seen with the Chings-&-Changs and Yin-&-Yangsthese days. Well, this timeround its California, thatMallika is making news in.

She turned a number ofheads with her trademark deepneck, recently at a fund-rais-ing, wine-testing luncheon inMalibu.

Grapevine is that, the ac-tress, was auctioned, and thewinning bidder got to spenda day with her - you knowthe usual lunch, photo-shoots and all. The money($1400) of course went to-wards charity. Great goingMallika.

www.indiapost.com June 11, 201030 India Post


LOS ANGELES, CA: Internationallyrenowned musician and composer ARRahman is embarking on a highly antici-pated world tour. The "A.R. Rahman JaiHo Concert: The Journey Home WorldTour" produced by Deepak Gattani andRapport Productions, will kick off on June11 in New York at The Nassau Coliseum.The tour will travel to over 20 major are-nas and cities worldwide including TheForum in Los Angeles, The Patriot Centerin Washington DC, American AirlinesArena in Dallas as well as O2 Arena inLondon to name a few.

Rahman's rise to prominence in thewest came when he captured the worldspotlight last year with his work on thefilm score for Danny Boyle's SlumdogMillionaire winning a Golden Globe, twoAcademy Awards and most recently twoGrammys.

As a touring mu-sician, as well ascomposer, Rahmanhas long been fillingarenas with his elaborateand stunning live perfor-mances. Time Magazine summa-rized his popularity back home by say-ing "A.R. Rahman dominates the musicindustry so totally that he has suppliedthe sound track for a whole generation."

Rahman has sold-out international are-nas including the prestigious HollywoodBowl in 2006 and has played for crowdsas large as 120,000 in his home countryof India. Now, this summer, audienceshave a rare opportunity to experiencea must-see concert event with "A.R.Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Jour-

ney Home World Tour."On his forthcoming tour, Rahman will

collaborate with creative director AmyTinkham who is known for creating livemusical concerts for a variety of pop-mu-sic icons including Britney Spears, theBackstreet Boys and Mariah Carey. "A.R.Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The JourneyHome World Tour" will be a theatrical ex-perience that will blend new technologieswith powerful dance arrangements andacrobatics.

The concert will keep in intact the heri-tage and traditions of India with a newmodern presentation. The show will fea-ture changing sets, large images on LEDscreens and a spectacular cast of musi-cians and dancers from across the globe.

"Through the vast tapestry of musicthat is AR Rahman, he takes us on avirtual journey through beauty, culture,and spirituality," said Tinkhman. "Thisis uniquely Indian - both ancient andmodern."

The material spans throughout AR'sprolific career, including songs fromSlumdog Millionaire as well as landmarkIndian films Lagaan, Jaane Tu Ya JaaneNa, Dil Se, Rang De Basanti and Roja'.Roja was a run-away success and broughtnationwide fame and acclaim to theRahman. Time Magazine rated thesoundtrack of Roja in the Top 10 of theirall time best movie soundtracks of theworld. The movie also won Rahman the

Indian National Award for the best music composer,the first time ever by a debutant. Since then, Rahmanhas gone on to win the National Award three moretimes, the most ever by any music composer.

AR Rahman's music has not only redefined con-temporary Indian music but also transcends bound-aries. Earlier this month, Rahman traveled Australiaon a journey of peace where he performed a freeconcert at the Sydney Festival in Australia as part ofthe 2010 festival program. The concert was a gestureof cultural diplomacy and goodwill by Rahman him-self in an effort to ease the current tensions in Aus-tralian and Indian relations, as a result of the attackson Indian students in Australia.

The concert was one of the most anticipatedevents of the three-week festival and packed in nearly75,000 people into Parramatta Park, many of whomcamped over night to see Rahman and his troupe ofnearly 40 musicians and dancers.

Cont’d on page 39

The concert will keep in intact the heritage andtraditions of India with a new modern presenta-tion. The show will feature changing sets, largeimages on LED screens and a spectacular cast ofmusicians and dancers from across the globe.‘Through the vast tapestry of music that is ARRahman, he takes us on a virtual journey throughbeauty, culture, and spirituality,’ said Tinkhman

June 11, 2010 India Post

www.indiapost.com

31

All set for Rahman concertRahman has had several high

profile placements and appear-ances in the last year. He was fea-tured in "The Time 100: TheWorld's Most Influential People"as well as Fast Company's "100Most Creative People in Busi-ness." He appeared on The OprahWinfrey Show and The TonightShow with Jay Leno. Last Novem-ber, Rahman was invited to per-form at The White House for thefirst state visit for Prime MinisterSingh, hosted by President BarackObama. Rahman was also featured

in the re-make of "We Are TheWorld" alongside Wyclef Jean,Jennifer Hudson, BarbaraStreisand and Celine Dion to namea few.

AR Rahman Jai Ho: The Jour-ney Home World Tour Dates:

11-Jun New York Nassau Coli-seum

12-Jun New Jersey BroadwalkArena

13-Jun Washington, DC PatriotCenter

18-Jun Chicago Sears Center19-Jun Detroit Silver Dome Sta-

dium

20-Jun Toronto Air CanadaCenter

26-Jun San Francisco OracleArena

27-Jun Los Angeles Forum2-Jul Dallas American Airlines

Arena3-Jul Houston Toyota Center9-Jul Amsterdam Ohio Arena13-Jul Paris Pare Des Exposi-

tions Porte De Versailles18-Jul Oslo Spectrum23-Jul Manchester Evening

Arena24-Jul Birmingham LG arena25-Jul London O2 Arena


ACE Open launches virtual music schoolIndia Post News Service

NEW JERSEY: In a first-of-its-kind online venture, New Jersey-based ACE Open University haslaunched a virtual music schoolwith music luminaries SureshWadkar and Sonu Nigam amongits teachers.

The music school was offi-cially launched by Wadkar at theHoliday Inn in Edison, NJ.Wadkar's classical school of mu-sic is the first one signed up byACE while Bickram Ghosh'sSchool Of Percussions and JayOliver's Western Music are alsopart of the curriculum.

Emphasizing the role of mu-sic, Wadkar said, "Music makesa valuable contribution to thetotal education of children espe-cially in relation to academic per-formance, well-being, attitudesto school and perceptions oflearning." He felt it was good forIndian classical music now thatit had proponents like ACE Openthat could take it virtually any-where in the world.

Award-winning singer SonuNigam, who joined the launchevent via video phone, said ACEOpen had a pivotal role in ensur-ing music learning was not limitedby international boundaries.

"With ACE, instructors of the high-est caliber can share their knowl-edge across national and interna-tional borders, allowing studentsto attend courses across physical,political, and economic bound-aries," he said.

ACE has also signed up Nigam,who will be teaching voice devel-opment, professional singing andperformance.

ACE, which simply stands for

Art, Culture & Entertainment,seeks to build the foundation forstudents to become successfulprofessionals and passionate,thoughtful citizens using mod-ern educational approach."Through a combination ofstrong ART core, able teachingguidance and relevant curricu-lum, we will enrich the lives ofour students, fulfill their careerobjectives and help them prepare

to become future leaders in thevast creative economy," saidSanjay Chitale, a serial entrepre-neur, and founder of ACE Open.Emergence of the Internet and se-cured delivery technologies hadmade it possible to accommodateon-line training cost-effectivelyand efficiently. E-learning canprovide major benefits for themusic education, said Chitale.

While the ACE Open courses

are priced $1000 for 50 lessons orabout $20 a lesson, Chitale saidthe model was the cheapest andmost convenient for students ofquality music education any-where in the world. "ACE will of-fer self-paced specialized musiclearning sessions around the clockwhere learners are not bound to a

Singer and music teacher Suresh Wadkar, right, with Sanjay Chitale, founder of ACE Open University,

at the launch of ACE online music curriculum in Edison, NJ

specific time to physically attendclasses," he said. Other thanbeginner's, intermediate and ad-vance course offerings in eachschool of music, ACE Open alsoplans to design a music apprecia-tion course for casual listeners.

Gradually, ACE Open aims tobecome a one-stop for world mu-sic by achieving classical litera-ture and music from around theworld. "We will extend support touniversities and colleges as theirextended world music depart-ment," Chitale said.

Poking fun at love storiesMUMBAI: The unusual pair-

ing of Sonam Kapoor and ImranKhan in 'I Hate Luv Storys' hasgenerated quite a buzz and film-maker Karan Johar who is produc-ing the rom-com says that itis the freshness of the twoyoung actors which is theUSP of the film.

Johar says that the filmand its lead pair are sure toclick with the younger gen-eration who do not acceptthe old fashioned ideals oflove.

"The two form a veryfresh pair and that shouldwork for the audience. Infact ever since the promo-tion of IHLS began, therehas been excellent feed-back all over. People are reactingto the freshness factor. There is ayouthful energy which they bringand that is pretty much visible inthe film," the filmmaker told PTI.

The film which parodies theromantic cliches of Bollywoodsees Sonam playing a 'filmi' ro-mantic while Imran plays a cynicwho hates love stories.

Both Imran and Sonam arenew entrants in the industry and

neither have delivered a hit inthe past year, but Johar is surethat their chemistry will workwonders.

Imran didn't have much luck

running in his favor after 'Luck'and 'Kidnap' and Sonam too isyet to find her groove despitebiggies like 'Saawariya' and 'Delhi6' behind her.

"Imran has already shown somuch promise in his very first film'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa'. On theother hand everyone knows thatSonam is beautiful and good atplaying the girl-next-door," saidJohar. -PTI

Imran Khan and

Sonam Kapoor

Gradually, ACE Openaims to become aone-stop for worldmusic by achievingclassical literatureand music fromaround the world

32 India Post www.indiapost.com June 11, 2010

The sacred Mount Kailash andMansarovar Lake, over 865 kmsfrom Delhi, constitute one of thegrandest of Himalayan beauty

spots. The perpetual snow-clad peak ofholy Kailas of hoary antiquity and celeb-rity, the spotless design of nature's art, ofmost bewitching and overpoweringbeauty, has a vibration of the supremeorder from the spiritual point of view. Itseems to stand as an immediate revela-tion of the Almighty in concrete form,which makes man bend his knees andlower his head in reverence. Its gorgeoussilvery summit, resplendent with the lus-ter of spiritual aura, pierces into a heav-enly height of 6690 meters (22028 feet)above the level of the sea.

Mansarovar is the most fascinating, themost inspiring, the most famous of all lakes

in the world and the most ancient that civi-lization knows. It is famous in Hindu my-thology. The lake is majestically calm anddignified like a huge bluish green emeraldor a pure turquoise set between two mightyand equally majestic silver mountains, theKailas on the north and the Gurla Mandhata

on the south and between the sister lakeRakshas Tal or Ravan Harda on the westand some hills on the east.

Stretching majestically over an extensivecradle of the Tibetan plateau and hangingat a heavenly height of 4550 mts (14950 feet)above sea-level, the vast expanse of the lake

with a circumference of about 88 kms and adepth of nearly 90 meters covers an area ofabout 320 sq. kms. By far the most magnifi-cent and thrilling of one's experience wouldbe in winter when the whole lake freezeshard, and again in spring when the ice breaksand melts to clear blue waters. It is only the

inspired poet or the divine artist with hismagic colors that can, for instance, describeand represent adequately the beauty andgrandeur of sunrise and sunset on the lake.The water of Mansarovar is as sweet as thatof any river or of any glacial lake. The holymanas provides fine caves, camping ground

and good sites to pilgrims. At certain placesthe site is rocky or sandy. On full moonnights, with the full moon overhead, thescene is simply indescribable.

At sunset the whole of the Kailas rangein the north becomes a fiery region all of asudden, throwing an observer into atrance, and by the time he returns to con-sciousness he sees only the Silvery Peakin front.

The weather is always uncertain. Onemoment you have scorching Sun, the nextmoment it begins to hail and snow andshortly after having a nap and coming outof your camp, you will see a clear blue skyand bright Sun above and a bed of pearl-like hail and white snow on the ground.

Cont’d on page 34

At sunset the whole of the Kailas range in the northbecomes a fiery region all of a sudden, throwing anobserver into a trance, and by the time he returns toconsciousness he sees only the Silvery Peak in front

India PostJune 11, 2010 33Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Array of cultural events inDelhi during Games

NEW DELHI: India's rich cul-tural diversity will be on displayduring the 12-day long Common-wealth Games with both Organiz-ing Committee and Delhi Govern-ment finalizing a series of eventsacross the city to offer a taste ofthe country's music, dance andfolklore to the visitors.

Delhi Government has alreadyselected 15 venues in the citywhere cultural festivals will be heldregularly during the course of theevent to be held here from Octo-ber 3 to 14.

"This is a great opportunity forus to showcase our cultural heri-tage to the entire world and we areputting a lot of efforts to carefullyselect the programs for theevents," said a senior official in theChief Minister's office.

He said regular cultural pro-grams will be held in venues in-cluding the Games Village, RedFort, Mehrauli Fort, Purana Qila,Kamani auditorium during theGames -- the biggest sportingevent to be held in India.

All the cultural events in the

city during the Games will be or-ganized by Delhi Government inclose coordination with UnionCulture Ministry and the GamesOrganizing Committee.

The programs will feature folkand classical dances, classicalmusic, fusion music, theatre andfilms as well as other creative skills,arts and crafts.

Not willing to divulge details ofthe cultural programs, the officialonly said a host of renownedartistes and singers will perform inthe events.

"All the cultural programs arebeing selected very very carefullyas we want the spectators keep thememories of the events for a longtime," the official said.

He said to cater to taste ofyoung visitors, programs featur-ing fusion music and dance willalso be held.

Another official said Govern-ment has already roped in re-nowned theatre director AamirRaza Hussain to stage shows atRed Fort and Quli Khan tomb atMehrauli. -PTI

HP told to prepare visiondocument for tourism

SHIMLA: Union Tourism Min-ister Kumari Selja has asked theHimachal Pradesh government toprepare a "vision document" ontourism development for seekingcentral assistance.

"Himachal is endowed with im-mense natural beauty and bracingclimate has vast tourism potentialbut so far only few areas have beenexplored," she told the media afterinaugurating the 'Himachal Haat'near Kandaghat, 26 km from here.

"Let the government submit avision document and the Centrewill consider funding of projects,"she said adding the Union gov-ernment was serious about devel-opment of tourism across thecountry and would help stategovernments.

On the introduction of the 'Haat'(market) concept in HimachalPradesh, the minister said otherstates should also follow it.

Neighboring states should col-laborate for the development oftourism, she said giving the ex-

ample of the development of MorniHills circuit by Himachal Pradeshand Haryana governments.

When asked about the expan-sion of Jubbar-Hatti airport nearShimla, Seilja said development ofthe airport in all states from thepoint of view of tourism was onthe agenda of the government.

The Haat at Hotel Destination,inaugurated by Selja, was openedto the people about 10 days agoand promoters provided stalls tolocals to exhibit their handicraftsand sell culinary delights.

However, some of the exhibitorsclaimed that the number of visitorsto the stalls was very low.

"We have put up the stall ofour product in the Haat for the lastone week but only two visitorsdropped in and there was no saleat all," said a man working at a stall.

Arun Sharma, the Director of theState Tourism department said, "Thetourism department has no role inrunning of the Haat and is only con-fined to advertising the concept andlaunch. Now, it depends upon themanagement of the hotel how itmakes the idea a concept. -PTI

Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja

Goa banks on Poles &Russians for tourism

PANAJI: After losing touristsfrom Western Europe, Goa is nowbanking on travelers from Russiaand Poland to revive the saggingtourism industry in the state.

Travel Tourism Association ofGoa (TTAG) has said the scenewas disappointing on the West-ern Europe tourist front, but theloss is, to some extent, compen-sated by Russians' attraction to-wards the state.

Also, arrivals from Poland wentup, giving a fillip to the foreignexchange earning sector reelingunder the impact of a global eco-nomic slowdown and the Mumbaiterror attacks.

"Around 2,000 Polish touristsarrived in the state, which was anew feature this season," ErnestDias, a TTAG official, told PTI.

The tourism industry was ex-pecting a 25 to 30 per cent dropin tourist arrivals from English-speaking countries. But arrival of40,000-odd Russians made up forthe loss.

"Russians are better spending

tourists compared to English,"TTAG President Ralf de Souzasaid.

The tourism industry also feltthe impact of Iceland's volcaniceruption which crippled flight ser-vices across Europe for several

days last month. A number of char-ter flights to Goa were cancelled inthe wake of the incident.

"We had to wrap up the seasona bit early after flights were can-celled due to volcanic ash," BonnieD'Souza, an office-bearer and ex-TTAG President said. -PTI

Kargil war fameBatalik opensto tourists

SRINAGAR: Batalik, which wit-nessed intense battle between Pa-kistani intruders and Indian armyduring 1999 Kargil war, wasopened to tourists with a three-day tourists Mela (fair) taking offin Dard Tribal area of Darchaks.

The fair aimed at attracting tour-ists to Batalik, 220 kms from here,has been organized by the stateTourism department.

Inaugurating the fair, Chief Ex-ecutive of Ladakh AutonomousHill Development Council(LAHDC), Kargil, Kachoo AhmadAli said opening of Batalik, lo-cated at a height of about 2000 feet,to tourists would provide employ-ment opportunities to the youths.

Ghulam Hassan Khan, LokSabha member from Ladakh, inhis address impressed upon thelocal people to convert theirhouses into guest houses to earnfrom tourism.

He announced allotting Rs2.50 lakh from his MPLAD fundfor preserving heritage spots ofthe area.-PTI

Neighboring statesshould collaborate forthe development oftourism, she said givingthe example of thedevelopment of MorniHills circuit byHimachal Pradesh andHaryana governments

Arrivals from Polandwent up, giving a fillipto the foreign ex-change earning sectorreeling under theimpact of a globaleconomic slowdownand the Mumbaiterror attacks

India Post June 11, 201034 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

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Kailash-Mansarovar: Famous pilgrimage center for four religionsCont’d from page 32

The world-famous and holyMt. Kailash & Manas Lake havebeen, the source of inspiration formany religions and beliefs. Despitemany difficulties and long dis-tances, people are keen to go thereat least once in their lifetime. Con-tinued from centuries, this pilgrim-age was stopped from 1959 to1980. When it restarted in 1981 itwas welcomed everywhere. Hun-dreds of Indians thus got the op-

portunity to go through this re-gion. Situated on the other side ofHimalayas of Uttarakhand, Kailashand Mansarovar are the most pi-ous and most beautiful shrines.

Also, from religious point ofview, these are highly regarded.Darshan and 'parikrama' of Kailashand Mansarovar is considered asuncommonly pious by the believ-ers of four religions Bonpa, Hindu,Buddhist and Jain.

Bonpa, the ancient Tibetans,

see a nine story 'swastik' in it andconsider it an abode of Damchaukand Dorge Phangmo. Hindus wor-ship it as the abode of Shiva and

Parvati. Buddhists believe it to bethe home of Buddha andManipadam and Jains worship itas the place of "Nirwan of FirstTirthankar".

Near Mansarovar there is abeautiful lake called Rakash Tal -or Ravehahalad. In the north ofthese two lakes is Mt. Kailash andits series (22028 ft./6675 mts.) inthe south Mount Gurala is situ-ated. From this region four big riv-ers of north India originate'Karnalies, Satluj, Brahamputra andSindh.

Mt. Kailash and Mansarovar inTibet are always very near to thehearts of Indians. Due toMansarovar, Uttarakhand is alsotermed as Manas-Khand.

In winter all mountains andriver lakes are frozen and coveredwith snow, so the time of yatra isfrom May to September. Indian pil-grims visit from June to Septem-

ber in 16 batches. (30-40 in everybatch). Foreign Ministry of IndianGovernment advertises this pil-grimage. Selected people gothrough medical tests and otherformalities before they do yatra inbatches. The management of thisyatra is done by Kumaon MandalVikas Nigam Ltd. in Indian regionand Tibetan tourism agency in Ti-bet respectively.

KailashMansarovaryatra begins

PITHORAGARH, Uttarakhand:The annual pilgrimage to KailashMansarovar began with first batchof 49 members reaching Almora af-ter leaving New Delhi, officialsources said.

The batch, which includes eightwomen pilgrims, was flagged off bySurendra Singh Jeena, Chairman ofKumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam(KMVN), the nodal agency foryatra arrangement in New Delhi,said Ashok Joshi, General Manager(Tourism) KMVN.

The motor road up to Mangti,from where 70 km long trek for 5334-meter high Lipu-Lekh pass starts,is being cleared of mild landslidesthat hit the area recently, said anofficial of ITBP, which takes chargeof yatra after Gunji camp.

He said the ITBP has not onlydeputed a team of three doctors formedical check up but also de-ployed 45 member disaster mitiga-tion team at disaster-prone areas.

The 644-km long pilgrimagepasses through five camps thatinclude Gala (2018 mt), Bundi(2740 mt), Gunji (3300 mt),Kalapani (3370 mt) andNabhidhang (3370 mt) beforecrossing Lipu-Lekh pass.

The yatra concludes in Tibetwhere the pilgrims take holy dipin the Mansarovar Lake and un-dertake parikrama of MountKailash. -PTI

Mt. Kailash andMansarovar in Tibet arealways very near to thehearts of Indians.Due to Mansarovar,Uttarakhand is alsotermed asManas-Khand

The motor road up toMangti, from where70 km long trek for5334-meter high Lipu-Lekh pass starts, isbeing cleared of mildlandslides that hit thearea recently, said anofficial of ITBP, whichtakes charge of yatraafter Gunji camp

Briefs India India Post June 11, 2010www.indiapost.com35

NewsCourt rejects bail plea ofAbdul Samad BhatkalMUMBAI: A local court has rejected the bail plea of Abdul

Samad Bhatkal, a suspect in the Pune German Bakery blast,saying that since the probe was on, it would not be safe torelease him.

23-year-old Samad sought bail soon after he was re-manded in judicial custody till June 14 by MetropolitanMagistrate M V Morale in connection with a 2009 arms sei-zure case. -PTI

Art of Livingunhappy withChidambaram

BANGALORE: The Art ofLiving Foundation has ex-pressed "displeasure" overwhat it described as "hasty anddamaging" statement of UnionHome Minister P Chidambaramon Sunday's shooting incidentat its ashram here, over whichconflict ing versions haveemerged.

"Without any basis, one can-not jump to conclusions thatthere are conflicting groups orthere was a brawl. Such a state-ment from a person holdingsuch a responsible position wasunwarranted," the Foundationsaid. -PTI

Akshardham terrorcase: HC upholdsdeath sentence

AHMEDABAD: The GujaratHigh Court has upheld the deathsentence awarded to three con-victs by a POTA court for the 2002Akashardham terror attack by Pa-kistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba ter-rorists in which 32 people werekilled.

The division bench of JusticesR M Doshit and K M Thakar,while pronouncing the verdict,rejected the appeal of six con-victs, including the three givendeath sentence, against thePOTA court judgment.

The court observed that the sixaccused were involved in the en-tire conspiracy to attackAkshardham temple inGandhinagar on September 24,2002, which was backed byLashkar-e-Toiba, public prosecu-tor J M Panchal said.

Reporters were not allowed in-side the court during the pro-nouncement of judgment whichwas delivered during in-cameraproceedings. -PTI

Mamata cracks CPM citadelin West Bengal

KOLKATA: Riding the windsof political change, MamataBanerjee's Trinamool Congresswon the 141-ward city municipalcorporation polls, inflicting acrushing blow to the ruling LeftFront in the civic elections,dubbed as a semi-final before nextyear's Assembly polls.

In Sunday's election to a totalof 81 civic bodies across 16 dis-tricts in West Bengal, TC alsotasted success in the districtswhere it alone bagged 20 of 43municipalities, the results forwhich were available till noon.

The party bagged anothereight civic bodies where it had lo-cal-level seat adjustment with theCongress.

The Left Front registered winsin 12 municipalities while Con-gress lagged behind winning onlyin three.

The Trinamool Congress,which had already won two-thirdsmajority in the 141-member KMC,will not need the support of theCongress to rule Kolkata where herparty has already captured 94 ofthe 135 wards the results of whichwere available.

The Left Front which was inpower in KMC with 75 wards has

managed to win in only 29 wards.The Congress has so far got

nine and the BJP three seats.In the 2005 KMC polls, Left

parties had won 75 seats, TC 42,Congress 21 and BJP three.

Congratulating Banerjee on herparty's performance, Finance Min-

ister Pranab Mukherjee, who isalso the West Bengal Congresschief, said he accepted thepeople's verdict.

Mukherjee, speaking to report-ers in New Delhi, said "First of all,I would like to congratulateMamata Banerjee for her excellent

performance both in Kolkata andalso in the districts. I accept thefailure of the Congress to performup to the expectations which wehad. I accept the verdict of thepeople with all humility,"Mukherjee said.

Elated over Trinamool's suc-cess, Banerjee demanded immedi-ate Assembly elections, sayingLeft Front major CPI (M) has lostall rights to continue in power.

Terming her party's success as"historic", she told reporters afterarriving from Delhi, "It is a victoryof the ma-mati-manush (mother,land and the people). They havegiven a verdict in favor of politicalchange in the state. I salute thepeople."

In an obvious reference to herparty's failed alliance with Con-gress for the KMC polls, Banerjeesaid, "In this election, we had tofight against the ruling party andthree to four other forces."

The Trinamool Congress hasnot only dislodged the CPI(M)from power in the KMC, in the ad-joining Salt Lake (Bidhannagar)municipality the erosion of the Left'ssupport base was more pronouncedwith Banerjee's party bagging 16 ofthe total 25 wards. - PTI

'Guide to Eternal Happiness and Peace' releasedIndia Post News Service

NEW DELHI: The book, "Myquestions and God's Answers"-Guide to Eternal Happiness,Peace, and Anandam, was re-leased during the Maha Kumbhin Rishikesh (India) by BJPleader Lal Krishan Advani,blessed by Swami ChidanandSaraswati and several saints onthe holy banks of Ganga. Sev-eral thousand people witnessedthe divine occasion.

Many interpretations ofSrimad Bhagwad Gita have beendone till date. However the lat-est analysis, done by Mrs. SatyaKalra is not just a philosophiccommentary of the Gita, but apractical spiritual guide that pro-vides a map of life and shows

the many ways available to reachone's unlimited potential. It takesyou through a spiritual journeyand guides you step-by-step toovercome the daily predicaments

and helps enhance the quality oflife. It evokes Everlasting, Happi-ness and Peace, Anandam feel-ings in the mind of readers. It an-swers all queries of all categories

of reader.In the book, the teachings of

the Gita have been presented ina question and answer formatwith beautiful color graphics,flow charts and tables. The pre-sentation is so simple that con-temporary, young and modernreaders can easily understandand apply these teachings intheir daily life, rise above day-to-day challenges and enjoy theirlife to the fullest.

The book is a culmination ofSatya Karla's personal quest forTruth, and a means to spread themessage to fellow seekers. She isa former CEO, spiritual seeker andfounder of Path to Anandam (non-profit organization). She is theauthor of series of Path toAnandam pocket books.

'President Patil'svisit fruitful andsuccessful'

BEIJING: China has termed thejust concluded visit of PresidentPratibha Patil here as a "fruitfuland successful" one, saying itwould "definitely" help promotedevelopment of bilateral ties be-tween the two Asian giants.

"I believe it was a fruitful andsuccessful visit," Chinese ForeignMinistry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxusaid at a media briefing here whenasked about the Chinese assess-ment of President Patil's six-daystate visit, first by Indian head ofstate in a decade. -PTI

FACE OF VICTORY: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee

gestures during a press conference in Kolkata, on June 2

Elated over Trinamool's success, Banerjeedemanded immediate Assembly elections,saying Left Front major CPI (M) has lost allrights to continue in power

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Health ScienceHealth Line

Indian Assn raises $15,000 forSomerset Medical Center

Groups seek toblock healthordinance

FORT WAYNE, Ind.: A plannedlawsuit claims a new ordinance setto go into effect in the county thatincludes Fort Wayne unconstitu-tionally interferes with women'srights to obtain abortions.

The lawsuit will ask a judgeto block the ordinance that takeseffect in Allen County, whichwould regulate out-of-town pro-viders of abortion and othermedical services.

The American Civil LibertiesUnion of Indiana and the NewYork-based Center for Reproduc-tive Rights say they're suing theFort Wayne-Allen County Depart-ment of Health on behalf of Dr.George Klopfer, who runs an abor-tion clinic in the northeastern In-diana city. -AP

Idaho healthdistrict has spareswine flu vaccine

TWIN FALLS, Idaho: TheSouth Central Public Health Dis-trict has about 13,500 spare dosesof the swine flu vaccine.

Director Rene LeBlanc said930 will expire by the end of Juneand the rest will lose their po-tency in 2011.

LeBlanc said the district re-ceived about 29,000 doses andvaccinated about 20 percent of thesouth-central Idaho populationbefore residents felt the risk hadpassed.

``The problem is the public feelsthe need for it is over,'' LeBlanc toldThe Times-News earlier. ̀ Ìt's stillgood to go out and get it.''

Swine flu, also know as H1N1,raised fears of a global pandemicwhen it emerged last year. -AP

Obama lawyersargue for SFhealth law

SAN FRANCISCO: TheObama administration is takingSan Francisco's side in a legal dis-pute over the city's landmarkhealth care law.

Government lawyers filed argu-ments urging the Supreme Courtto reject an appeal by San Fran-cisco restaurant owners who op-pose paying part of the $200 mil-lion annual cost. They say the casedoesn't present any pressing is-sues that require the high court'sreview.

The Healthy San Franciscoprogram, which passed in 2006, isintended to offer care to uninsuredadults not covered by the Medi-Cal program for the poor or Medi-care for the elderly. -AP

Human errorled to child'sdeath

OMAHA, Neb.: Officials at anOmaha hospital say human errorled to the death of a toddler be-ing treated at one of its healthcenters. -AP


NEW JERSEY: The Indian Asso-ciation of Somerset County (IASC),a not-for-profit community organiza-tion with over 300 member families,sponsored and raised $15,000 at a

gala "Bollywood Music" fundraisingevent for the benefit of SomersetMedical Center (SMC) recently. Livemusicians entertained the guestswith popular Bollywood songs andbrought everyone to their feet includ-ing the SMC staff members.

"Somerset Medical Center isextremely proud of our growingpartnership with the Indian Asso-ciation of Somerset County andour shared belief in making a dif-ference in our community," saidPaul Huegel, President of Somerset

Medical Center Foundation. "Thisextremely generous gift will assistin the creation of an all-inclusiveneuroscience center, the next en-hancement to Somerset MedicalCenter's commitment to the resi-dents of our county."

Utkarsh Desai, President of IASCexpressed his sincere gratitude to allthe donors and congratulated theTrustees, the Executive CommitteeMembers and the hardworking vol-unteers for the success of the event.

In addition to the long term mis-sion of fostering Indian culturalactivities for its members, IASCbelieves in reaching out to posi-tively impact the life of all residentsin the community.

Ken Bateman, president and CEO of SMC (3rd from right) and Paul Huegel (5th from right) accepting the check from

the members of Indian Association's management team (left to right): Chetan Sheth, Dr. Shivang Trivedi, Amit Rathod,

Subhash Shah, Ajay Parekh, Kiran (Perry) Kothari, Dr. Sharan Mahal, Utkarsh Desai, Ajay Shah, and Anjali Shah

Tech hurdler defeats cancer, foesMONROE, La.: Diagnosed with

colon cancer - the third deadliest formof cancer in the United States - fol-lowing her freshman season at Loui-siana Tech, Antoinette Cobb foughtthe disease with the same zeal sheuses to compete on the track.

As a result, she not only be-came one of the best 100-meterhurdlers in the world, Cobb is aTech honor graduate headed to-ward medical school. Not bad forsomeone who never wanted tocompete at the collegiate level.

The news came after the 2006outdoor season which saw Cobb, aformer West Feliciana High Schoolstar, earn All-WAC honors when shefinished second in the hurdles.

She and several family mem-bers were stricken with what theybelieved was food poisoning.Their illness cleared up quickly -Cobb's did not. She visited her

primary physician, who recom-mended she see Dr. ChristopherMcCanless in Baton Rouge.

`Ì thought only old people gotthat,'' Cobb said recently. `Ì wasin shock. Over the summer I wasgoing to different (Internet) sitestrying to figure out what waswrong. At least three times it came

back to cancer, but I didn't want tobelieve that. Even after the diag-nosis, I was still in shock.''

Fully 90 percent of colon can-cer patients in the country are overage 50, according to the ColonCancer Prevention Center. That'swhy Cobb sat mostly alone in the

waiting room during her three-times-a-week treatments.

`Ì was the youngest personthere, so there was no one my ageto talk to. There were people theregoing through chemo for the fifthtime. I was just grateful to make itthrough my first round,'' Cobbsaid. ``Mostly I isolated myself

from friends and teammates at thetime. I felt they were pitying me,and I didn't want pity. I'm a privateperson. I wanted to be (at Tech)but I couldn't be.''

It was something from abovethat helped her through the ordeal.

``My faith. Once I prayed about

it, I wasn't worried about it any-more,'' Cobb said.

While the treatments initiallyslowed her on the track, she hasrecovered to become the 35th-fastest 100-meter hurdler in theworld (14th in the country at13.22), while owning four WACtitles either indoors or outdoors.The top time in the country thisyear is 12.61 by Queen Harrisonof Virginia Tech. But Cobb was theheavy favorite to win the 100-meterhurdles in the WAC competition.

More importantly, Cobb gradu-ated cum laude from Tech lastspring with a 3.68 grade point av-erage in biology with a concentra-tion in biological sciences and aminor in chemistry. She's currentlypursuing a master's degree in bi-ology and is applying to medicalschools around the country.

Cont’d on page 39

In addition to the longterm mission of foster-ing Indian culturalactivities for its mem-bers, IASC believes inreaching out to posi-tively impact the life ofall residents in thecommunity

She and several family members werestricken with what they believed was foodpoisoning. Their illness cleared up quickly- Cobb's did not

India PostJune 11, 2010 Health Science Post 39

www.indiapost.com

Tech assistant biology profes-sor Jeff Yule was impressed withCobb after she was in his ecologyclass as an undergraduate andalso in his research methods inbiological sciences class as agraduate student.

``What's great aboutAntoinette is that she's busy, sheworks hard and she never com-plains about anything. Other stu-dents who really don't have muchon their plates will complain, butshe never does,'' Yule said. ``Shequietly hunkers down, does a realgood job. Always impresses you.Always makes you feel glad tohave her in the class.''

Yule said the entire biology de-partment feels the same way aboutCobb.

``You have one like her, you wishyou could have 10 more, a hundredmore, a million more. You wish allyour kids could be just like she is,''he said. ̀ `(The cancer is) the thingthat puts us over the top and makesus just love this kid. She doesn'tsay, 'Oh, woe is me. You should allfeel sorry for me.' She does goodwork all the while.''

Cobb underwent the requisitechemo treatments, losing 25 criti-cal pounds and much of thestrength she had built from yearsof track competition. Tech assis-tant coach Charles Ryan wasn'tsure how to handle Cobb when hewas hired the year she returnedfrom chemo.

`Ì just wanted to get throughthe season without sending thegirl back to the hospital,'' Ryansaid. ``My first impression of herwas, 'darn, she must be a mentallystrong kid' to go through some-thing like that and come back outhere and want to compete.''

It didn't take Ryan long to real-ize there were something specialabout Cobb which had little to dowith her athletic ability.

`Àbout halfway through theseason, I realized how determinedshe was,'' Ryan said. `Ànd eventhough she is nowhere near the mosttalented kid on our roster, she justwants things more than anyone else,and she works harder than every-body. It's that commitment and thatwillingness to do whatever she hasto do that's put her in the positionshe's in right now.'' -AP


Tech hurdler defeatscancer, foes

Enacting health overhaula daunting task

CHARLESTON, W.Va.: It's alate Thursday afternoon, andMartha Walker has just finishedher umpteenth conference call ad-dressing the sprawling federaloverhaul of the nation's health caresystem.

As Walker explained to law-makers a few days earlier, thesephone sessions have become arecurring feature of her workschedule: at least three a week withother members of a National Gov-ernors Association task force, anda separate batch for a multi-statecoalition of agencies expected tocarry out the changes. There arefour or five other conference callsa week, and Internet-based``webinars'' as well.

`Èverybody is sort of feelingtheir way along,'' Walker told TheAssociated Press. ̀ `The answer toa lot of our questions is, 'We're notsure about that yet. We'll track thatdown and get back to you.' It's allso new.''

Walker is acting director of theGovernor's Office of Health En-hancement and Lifestyle Plan-ning, or GOHELP. The Legislaturecreated the agency last year partly

to help the state implement anyhealth care changes that mightemerge from Congress.

``We're not necessarily thesubject matter experts on any ofthese things. We're here to coor-dinate,'' Walker said.

But that alone appears to be adaunting task. The health care leg-

islation clocked in at over 900pages, Walker noted. Its numerousprovisions will require U.S. Healthand Human Services SecretaryKathleen Sebelius to issue morethan 100 different sets of rules.

Then there are the loomingdeadlines: June 21 for setting upthe temporary high-risk poolsmeant to cover those uninsured

because of pre-existing medicalconditions; July 1 for a state-spe-cific Web site explaining the re-vamped health care choices toconsumers; Sept. 23 for initial in-surance market changes.

``The law is extremely complexwith significant changes to exist-ing programs and many new pro-grams,'' Walker told members ofthe House-Senate Select Commit-tee on Health. ̀ Às you might ex-pect, these initiatives present op-portunities and challenges for uscollectively.''

Those challenges includecosts. Insurance plans, for, in-stance, must begin extending cov-erage to policyholders' childrenuntil they reach 26. For programssuch as the state's PublicEmployee's Insurance Agency,that's expected to increase annualpolicy costs by $3,380 per depen-dent starting with the coverageyear that begins July 1, 2011.

West Virginia's hospitals, mean-while, have told Walker that reim-bursement rates from federalhealth care programs will plummetby a combined $1.2 billion over thenext decade. -AP

Its numerous provi-sions will require U.S.Health and HumanServices SecretaryKathleen Sebelius toissue more than 100different sets of rules

40 India Post June 11, 2010www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationForum on immigrants rights &

struggle to exercise themNISHA SUTARIA

CHICAGO: Indo-AmericanCenter (IAC), a Chicago based noprofit body, hosted last week atown hall meeting of the "OneCommunity United" campaign,providing an open forum for com-munity members to learn moreabout immigration reform and hu-man rights in the South Asiancommunity, while discussing thechallenges and possible solu-tions associated with thesepressing issues.

"One Community United" is acampaign on immigrant and civilrights coordinated by the NationalCoalition of South Asian Organi-zation (NCSAO) to promote com-munity dialogue on human immi-gration law and civil rights protec-tion (www.saalt.org).

The discussion was facilitatedby a presentation compiled bySouth Asian Americans LeadingTogether (SAALT), focusing on

the intersection of human rightsand immigration policy. The dis-cussion examined the relevanceof immigration reform to the SouthAsian community in particular."Indians have the sixth largestundocumented population in theUnited States. But when I talk topeople in our community aboutthat, everyone is shocked,"

shared Vega Subramanian, pro-gram facilitator and Director ofPrograms and Partnerships withSAALT.

Additionally, video clips wereshared to fuel discussion aboutindividuals' first-hand experiencesand broader discussion of the is-sues in context, showing the dis-

crepancy between the rights im-migrants are entitled to and therights that many immigrants havestruggled to exercise.

The topics of discussion re-volved around underlying issues,including the relationship be-tween globalization and immigra-tion. In addressing the disconnectbetween outsourcing jobs to In-

dia and employment restrictionsof Indian immigrants in the UnitedStates, one attendee asked: "Whyis it so easy to send jobs away,but so hard for an immigrant to geta job here?"

Jenn Kons, Program Associateat the Illinois Coalition for Immi-grant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR),

explained the dire need for thecommunity to act now: "Unfortu-nately, the window for comprehen-sive immigration reform is closingand it is closing fast. We need topush our President to make thishappen. We need to bring on ourbusiness owners, our religiousleaders, our whole community.Make this an issue. Make it anissue now."

This event was co-sponsoredby over half a dozen no profit so-cial organizations and agencies inChicagoland. IAC that spon-sored this forum is a not-for-profitcommunity service organizationserving the South Asian immi-grant population.

The IAC mission is to promotethe well being of South Asian im-migrants through services that fa-cilitate their adjustment, integra-tion and friendship with the widersociety, nurture their sense ofcommunity, and foster apprecia-tion for their heritage and culture.

Surrender of passport rule outrages overseas IndiansCYRUS D. MEHTA

The new rules requiringoverseas Indians to renounce Indian citizenship

and surrender the Indian pass-port after they have taken up thecitizenship of another countrymisinterpret the provisions of theIndian Citizenship Act, 1955. Theguidance, including FrequentlyAsked Questions, can be foundon the website of the Indian Con-sulate in New York.

According to the guidance,the Indian passport must be sur-rendered within 90 days of USnaturalization even if the USpassport is obtained later. A feeof $175 has been imposed to sur-render the Indian passport.

Additional monetary penaltiesare imposed on those who failedto surrender the passport withinthree years of acquiring US citi-zenship or for travelling on theIndian passport or applying forits reissuance after US citizen-ship. The new rules are espe-

cially harsh on those who mayhave obtained US citizenshipmany decades ago and who mayhave lost their Indian passports.An applicant who has lost, dam-aged or surrendered his or her In-dian passport to a foreign govern-ment must furnish certified copiesof the following documents:

1. Details of last held Indian

passport (Passport No., Date ofIssue & Place of issue). The onusof providing details rest on theapplicant.

2. Official documents submittedto authorities of new country atthe time of obtaining citizenship/naturalization & documents usedfor entry such as US Form I -130.

3. Notarized letter explainingreasons for loss.

4. Police report.Failure to comply with the sur-

render policy will likely deprive aperson of Indian origin to obtainan Indian visa, an OCI/PIO card orother consular services.

The provision for terminationof Indian citizenship is separate

and distinct from the provision formaking a declaration of renuncia-tion. While renunciation of citizen-ship is covered in Section 8 of theCitizenship Act 1955 and has tobe applied on a prescribed formby a citizen of India, automatic ter-mination of citizenship, which oc-curs when one takes up the citi-

zenship of another country, iscovered under Section 9 and re-quires no formal application tothe Indian government.

It is clear that a person cannotuse the Indian passport to travelwhen he or she becomes a UScitizen as Indian citizenship hasautomatically terminated underSection 9.

There may also probably be abasis for establishing rules requir-ing surrender of the passport thathas been rendered invalid underSection 9, although it is unfair topenalize a person for failing to sur-render the passport when there wasno established procedure to do soprior to the recent guidance.

However, the Surrender Form,i n d i a c g n y. o rg / U s e r F i l e s /Renunciation%20Form(2).pdf,requiring renunciation of Indiancitizenship, does not make sense.One cannot renounce citizenshipwhen it has ceased to exist.

Cont’d on page 42

500 rally at AT&TPark over Ariz.immigration law

SAN FRANCISCO: A crowd ofabout 500 people gathered out-side the home of the San FranciscoGiants and used a baseball gamebetween the Giants and ArizonaDiamondbacks to protestArizona's tough new crackdownon illegal immigration.

Leaders of the rally, a groupcalling itself the May Day 2010Coalition, said the protest outsideAT&T Park was organized to callfor a boycott against Arizona.

The law, set to take effect July29, requires that police conduct-ing traffic stops or questioningpeople about possible legal viola-tions ask them about their immi-gration status if there is ``reason-able suspicion'' that they're in thecountry illegally. -AP

NV group seeksAriz. boycott overimmigration law

RENO, Nev.: A Nevada groupis pressing the cities of Reno andLas Vegas to support a boycott ofArizona over its sweeping newimmigration law.

The Progressive LeadershipAlliance of Nevada wants the citycouncils to reject any new con-tracts with Arizona-based compa-nies to protest the law.

``I think our local governmentshould not use our tax dollars tohelp support the economy of astate that endorses racial profil-ing,'' said Bob Fulkerson, directorof the Reno-based group.

Reno City Councilman DaveAiazzi questioned whether therequest would have any practi-cal effect. -AP

Backlog growsat Las Vegasimmigration court

LAS VEGAS: A backlog at theLas Vegas Immigration Court isslowing deportations.

The backlog reached nearly 1,600cases in March, up 38 percent fromthe figure 18 months earlier and thesecond highest rate in the nation.

In all, the Las Vegas Immigra-tion Court dealt with nearly 4,400immigration matters in 2009, upfrom about 3,500 a year before.

Experts say the growingcaseload reflects enforcementchanges.

The Metropolitan Police De-partment in Las Vegas in late 2008became one of more than 70 lawenforcement agencies nationwideto forge a partnership with US Im-migration and Customs En-forcement. -AP

It is unfair to penalize a person for failingto surrender the passport when there wasno established procedure to do so priorto the recent guidance

Ariz. Gov., AGat odds ondefendingimmigration law

Details on page 42

‘Unfortunately, the window forcomprehensive immigration reform isclosing and it is closing fast. We need topush our President to make this happen’

India Post 41June 11, 2010 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Ariz. Governor inundated withimmigration law letters

PHOENIX: In the weeks beforeshe signed Arizona's tough newimmigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer'soffice was inundated with letters,e-mails, faxes and phone calls, withmore than 90 percent urging herto veto the legislation.

But since she signed the bill onApril 23, the tide has turned. Now,more than 2/3 of the calls and let-ters she is receiving are from sup-porters.

``I am writing to congratulateyou on signing the law giving po-lice officers the right to questionpeople about their immigration sta-tus if they suspect someone is inthe country illegally,'' wrote retireeAnn Hardy of Seekonk, Ma., asmall town outside Providence, R.I.

``Good for Arizona! It's abouttime that someone had the guts todo something!''

Brewer's Office of ConstituentServices handles the governor'smail and calls, and has tallied morethan 117,000 contacts since the lawbegan working its way through theLegislature early this year. That'sthe most of any issue in years,staffers say.

The 63,100 contacts the officetallied before Brewer acted con-tained only about 6,000 letters orcalls in support, said constitu-ent services Director LupeLerma. The totals may containsome duplicates because somepeople call or write more thanonce, so Lerma could only pro-vide the raw numbers.

An Associated Press reporterreviewed several hundred of theletters. The contacts included let-ters from groups like the NationalCouncil of La Raza and ReformImmigration for America that had

hundreds of online signatures.Many were missives from busi-ness owners or citizens.

Many of the messages sentbefore the law's signing echoedthe words written by NinaThurmes of Scottsdale.

``Please don't sign this ter-rible legislat ion into law,' 'Thurmes wrote. ``I'm for con-victing criminals (legal or illegal)but this law will certainly targetthe Hispanic population at ahigher rate. There are so manyother priorities than arrestingand deporting hard working

people. As a Latina, card carry-ing Republican, the party of Lin-coln, this legislation imposes theview of a few into the executionof law enforcement.''

But with national attention fo-cused on the state, the mixchanged once the governorsigned the bill.

Brewer's office has receivedmore than 54,000 letters, calls ande-mails since she acted, and 67percent support her action.

The sweeping legislation makesit a crime under state law to be inthe country illegally. It would alsorequire local police officers toquestion people about their immi-

gration status during other lawfulpolice contacts if there is reasonto suspect they are in illegally. Thelaw goes into effect on July 29unless federal court challengesfiled by several groups are suc-cessful.

President Barack Obama hassaid he believed the measure couldviolate people's civil rights and hehas instructed the Justice Depart-ment to see if it is legal. A team oftop federal prosecutors met withArizona's attorney general and thegovernor's staff, signaling the ad-ministration is prepared to go tocourt to block the law.

They asked a series of ques-tions, hoping to elicit informa-tion from state officials regard-ing the administration's con-cerns over the new law. The fed-eral officials' trip to Phoenix alsowas an effort to see if the twosides can find common groundin the debate, which has re-ig-nited immigration as a major po-litical issue nationwide.

National polls have shownstrong support for the new Ari-zona law. A survey done by thePew Research Center shows 59percent of Americans approved ofthe law and only 32 percent disap-proved. Other polls showed simi-lar or greater support.

A spokeswoman for Brewer saidshe was well aware of the supporther office is fielding and was notsurprised her action was drawingsupport.

Many letters reaching the gov-ernor after she signed the bill intolaw echoed those of Hardy, a re-tiree who lives in the home shewas born in 76 years ago and saysshe votes independent. -AP

A survey done bythe Pew ResearchCenter shows 59percent ofAmericans ap-proved of the lawand only 32 percentdisapproved

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Under Section 9, Indian citizen-ship was automatically terminatedwhen the person took up the citi-zenship of another country. On theother hand, Section 8 provides fora citizen of India to renounce In-dian citizenship, and it should benoted that the words "who is also acitizen or national of another coun-try" were deleted from Section 8 byAct 6 of 2004. Thus, a person whois no longer a citizen of India can-not renounce Indian citizenship.

Rule 13 of the Passport Rules,1980 states that "[a] person hold-ing a passport or travel documentshall not be entitled to anotherpassport or travel document un-less he surrenders to the passportauthority the passport or traveldocument already held by him."

Rule 13 further states, "Pro-vided that separate passports ortravel documents may be issuedto the same person in respect ofdifferent countries if it is necessaryso to do for facilitating his visitsto such countries." Section 12 (3)of the Passport Act, 1967 statesthat "[w]hoever contravenes anycondition of a passport or traveldocument or any provision of thisAct or any rule made thereunderfor which no punishment is pro-vided elsewhere shall be punish-

able with imprisonment for a termwhich may extend to threemonths, or with fine which mayextend to five hundred rupees, orwith both."

This rule, which the Indian gov-ernment appears to be relying on,is ambiguous and appears to ap-ply more readily to one who holdsa valid Indian passport and is ap-plying for another, rather than onewho ceases to have a valid Indian

passport by operation of Section9 of the Citizenship Act and hasbeen issued a US passport.

In any event, the Indian con-sulates in the US never had a for-mal procedure for surrendering apassport until the recent guidance.Even when a person applied forthe OCI card and handed in theIndian passport with the intentionto surrender the document, the

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

Indian Consulate merely cancelledit. We are now told that such a can-cellation will not be considered avalid surrender of the Indian pass-port, and a person who in good faithhanded in the Indian passport ear-lier will have to pay additional pen-alties above the $175 basic fee forsurrender.

It is important that the Indiangovernment continues to maintaingoodwill with the overseas Indiancommunity. The new rules merelyantagonize the community andthere is absolutely no need for this.There surely is a better way toimplement a surrender policy ofinvalid Indian passports on a pro-spective basis, without also re-quiring renunciation, rather thanthe clumsy and arbitrary way it hasbeen handled so far. The GlobalOrganization of People of IndianOrigin has launched a campaignrequesting the government to re-consider the retroactive enforce-ment of the new rule.

(The author thanks RamyaMahesh, associate at Little & Co.,Advocates and Solicitors,Mumbai, India, for her invaluableassistance with this article)

Surrender of passport ruleoutrages overseas Indians

Ariz. Gov., AG at odds on defendingimmigration law

PHOENIX: Top state officialsare at odds over whose lawyerswill represent the state to defendits new law targeting illegal immi-gration, with Democratic AttorneyGeneral Terry Goddard contendingRepublican Gov. Jan Brewer can'tkick him off the case.

Brewer announced that she wasinvoking a provision in the law tohave private attorneys representthe state. They already are repre-senting her in some of the legalchallenges to the law that name heras a defendant.

Goddard's top aide said, how-

ever, that Brewer cannot invoke theprovision because it doesn't takeeffect until July 29. And she maynot be able to keep Goddard fromrepresenting the state anyway,Chief Deputy Attorney GeneralTim Nelson said.

``We have real concerns aboutthe constitutionality of that,'' Nelsonsaid. ``It's an open question.''

Goddard has criticized thesweeping law but said he wouldvigorously defend it from the pend-ing challenges. He also said heurged Justice Department officialsduring meeting to not file their own

legal challenge to the law.Brewer said she decided to

have her own lawyers representthe state partly because Goddardpreviously criticized the law. Shealso cited his ``curious coordina-tion'' with Justice Department of-ficials concerning the law.

``The Legislature gave me thisauthority because of its lack ofconfidence in the attorneygeneral's willingness to vigorouslydefend this legislation that is socritical to protecting the safety andwelfare of Arizona's citizens,''Brewer said in her statement. -AP

It is important that theIndian governmentcontinues to maintaingoodwill with theoverseas Indian com-munity. The new rulesmerely antagonize thecommunity

India Post June 11, 2010www.indiapost.com

Real Estate43

Realty Tidbits

Regulator needed to curb wrongpractices in real estate

MUMBAI: An interactive discus-sion on Real Estate titled 'Real Es-tate: Trends, Issues & Conse-quences' was organized here byMoney life Foundation. The sessionwas jointly conducted by industryexperts like Pranay Vakil, Chairmanof Knight Frank (India) Pvt Ltd andPankaj Kapoor, MD, Liases Foras.

Mr. Pranay Vakil said on theoccasion, "One of the major rea-sons why the prices are high to-day is infrastructure. Nobodywants to travel long distances forwork. Title insurance is anothermajor issue in this industry."

He added on being quizzed aboutthe short recession, "Liquidity isvital. Developers realized this whensales volumes declined drasticallydue to the liquidity crunch.

The slowdown gave customersample choice as affordable hous-ing came into the industry in a bigway. Investors are 'fair-weatherfriends', Sell 'ready' products dur-ing a slowdown; contracts can bebroken; healthy growth can besustained by a gradual increase inprices; high-value transactionshyped by the media are not the'real' market and the need is to in-

novate sales strategy."Mr. Kapoor said, "Are we head-

ing towards another asset bubble?Are the prices affordable? What iswrong with the valuation and whereis affordable housing? The govern-ment is responsible for hiking prices.

We need a regulator for this industryto grow and curb wrong practices."

The workshop witnessed en-thusiastic participation from sev-eral investors, research analystsand industry experts in form ofhealthy exchange of ideas be-tween them.

Ms Kavita Hurry, CEO, INGVysya Mutual Fund asked thespeakers to highlight three majorissues in the sector.

On which Mr. Vakil said "Threemost important things we need inreal-estate as a priority are-rentalhousing, all over the world thereis organized rental housing. Hereyou are left at the mercy of the bro-

ker who does not know anything.Secondly, infrastructure- the gov-ernment cannot be a provider, itcan be a facilitator. Thirdly, allthese need funds, so get foreignparties excited about India."

Mr. Kapoor said, "We need to

address the congestion issue inthe island city. If we move fivebuildings from the island city toBandra, there will be a whole shiftin the crowd. If we can shift

Mantralaya, BSE or the Income-Tax office, there will be a differ-ence. There are three-four magnetswhich draw the crowd there. Ev-eryone knows about it but there isno intension to do that becausethey are sitting in luxurious places.We need to add more connectiv-ity. We need a complete masterplan for Mumbai to reduce thecongestion. We need a regulator,and urban planning."

Other industry experts alsovoiced their opinion.

The audience reached to a con-sensus which was that there is animmediate need for a citizen actionforum to make higher authoritieslisten. -PTI

Aamby Valley togo green withJapanese help

Japanese government in coordination with the Sahara group

is working towards making theAamby Valley City an environmentand energy efficient model for theworld. Japanese Prime MinisterYikio Hatoyama recently met Sa-hara Group Chairman Subrata Royto discuss the proposal.

Aamby Valley City has beenchosen as one of the two cities inthe world by the Japanese gov-ernment to be developed as amodel eco friendly city for theworld. It also falls within the re-gion earmarked for the DelhiMumbai Industrial CorridorProject (DMIC), the State-spon-sored Industrial DevelopmentProject of the Government of In-dia in which the Japanese govern-ment is a major investor.

Maharashtraplans milkdairy SEZ

Maharashtra state dairy devel-opment department is thinking ofsetting up a dairy SEZ at Dapcheriin Thane.

Nitin Raut, Dairy DevelopmentMinister said, "The departmenthas a huge plot of 6,000 acres inDapcheri, about 150 kilometresfrom Mumbai. The plot also has adam. We can start an SEZ here andalso use the land for making fod-der. The units can supply milk toMumbai and also make milk prod-ucts like butter cheese, skimmedmilk powder for exports and do-mestic consumption."

The land has been earmarked forshifting of tabela (cowsheds) inMumbai, but has been shelved dueto opposition from the owners.

Sun shiningagain on hotelindustry

Better days are come back againfor the hospitality industry.

The March quarter results of India'slargest hotel companies have beena mixed show, analysts believe astrong pick-up in demand and theexpected rise in occupancies shouldimprove future numbers.

While the sector was strug-gling since the second half of 2008-09 due to negative travel adviso-ries and security concerns, therehas been a significant increase inforeign tourist arrivals (FTAs)since December 2009. Given therecent increase in arrivals, FTAswill increase from 5.1 million in cal-endar year 2009 (CY09) to about5.8 million and 6.6 million in CY11and CY12 respectively.

SEZs regain their lost glamour

Special economic zones (SEZ) are again finding placein strategy plans of corporate conglomerates. Six

new proposals for setting up SEZs would be coming upin the meeting of the Board of Approval (BoA) on June 8.

As many as 12 SEZ projects were surrendered be-tween December 2008 and March 2009. But, no SEZ wassurrendered since then.

Companies are gradually realizing the potential of in-vesting in such long-term projects. Besides, SEZ will bethe only scheme to offer tax rebates to exporters beyondMarch 31, 2011.

Ambani brothers settlereal estate disputes

The Ambani brothers havecompleted their family realestate settlement, accord-

ing to CNBC-TV18. This comesclose to the heels of their May 23announcement where they saidthat they were patching up theirdifferences, ending a non-com-pete agreement, and moving to-wards reconciliation. Mukeshand Anil Ambani were not onspeaking terms after the Reli-ance business empire, whichthey inherited from their fatherDhirubhai Ambani, was slip in2005.

CNBC-TV18 learns that bothbrothers have sorted out their fam-ily real estate assets. The settle-ment of realty assets was part of

the 2005 family memorandum ofunderstanding.

The 2005 family real estate pactwas not fully implemented as eachside was to vacate or transfer cer-tain properties.

The undivided family holdssignificant realty properties,which are spread across thecountry. The properties includeapartments in Mumbai and NaviMumbai, and offices in Bandra,Kurla and New Delhi.

The north India headquartersof the Anil Dhirubhai AmbaniGroup (ADAG) is likely to moveto Delhi's Hotel Ranjit by August-September, sources said. HotelRanjit was sold by ITDC to a pri-vate consortium in 2002.

Rome to becomegreen capital

Rome has announced a mas-ter plan to transform thecity into a green, low-car-

bon, post-petroleum capital in anattempt to bolster Rome's 2020Olympic bid.

The City Mayor GianniAlemanno presented the proposalalongside U.S. economist JeremyRifkin, who has been advising theEU on a long-term economicsustainability plan to address theglobal economic crisis, energy se-curity and climate change.

Rome will invest aroundeuro500-million ($615-million) overthe next 20 years in new industriesand businesses, creating what cityofficials claim will result in thou-sands of new jobs and making thecapital independent energetically.

It envisages three main areasof transformation: turning the con-gested historic center into a

greener, pedestrian friendly space;developing the commercial/indus-trial "ring" around the capital; andimproving the agricultural areasoutside the city to reduce its car-bon imprint.

Rome is one of several Italiancities that have expressed an in-terest in bidding for the 2020 Sum-mer Olympics, including Venice,Palermo and Bari.

The International OlympicCommittee will select the host in2013.

Rome will investaround euro500-million ($615-million)over the next 20years in new indus-tries and businesses

On which Mr. Vakil said "Three most important thingswe need in real-estate as a priority are-rentalhousing. Secondly, infrastructure- the governmentcannot be a provid er, it can be a facilitator

44 India Post June 11, 2010www.indiapost.com

Tech News TechBizNano grabs global attention on

launch of Sanand plantSANAND (GUJARAT): The roll

out of "people's car" Nano fromthe Sanand plant today attractedglobal attention, with delegatesfrom Italy and the US travelling tothe country to assess the futureof this small car.

Nano, the world's cheapest car,has attracted the attention ofCornell University in the US,which plans to hold an exhibitionof this small car project in the US.

"We are here to look at whatshall be the future of this car. Andmaybe sometime later, we canorganise an exhibition of this carproject in the US," visiting Assis-tant Professor Aleksandr Mergoldof Cornell University told PTI.

"We came here with our teamto find out what's going on here,"Mergold said.

Mergold, along with his teammembers, interacted with officialsof Tata Motors at the assembly lineof the plant and jotted down de-tails of the car manufacturing pro-cess and clicked photographs ofthe unit.

Among the special invitees atthe inauguration ceremony,Mergold was here with a team offour people from the university toassess the future of this car.

Taking the Nano a step forwardfrom being a people's car in India,

Tata Motors had unveiled the Eu-ropean version of the car inGeneva in March, 2009. .

Another special invitee fromItaly, Trilix Design Director JustynNorek said "I am here as part ofmy association with Tata Motors."

"We are cooperating with TataMotors regarding engineering ofthe car, we are closely linked withthe styling of this Indian car,"Norek told PTI.

Norex has formed a design andengineering solution providingcompany in Italy, which is work-ing in close coordination with TataMotors for its Nano car project."We have had a long associationwith Tata and therefore, we arehere to see how it's being manu-factured," Norek said.

"Nano's European version hasbeen launched and work for its pro-duction is likely to commence nextyear, I don't know when," he said.

Spread over an area of about1,100 acres, the new facility atSanand has been created at a costof approximately Rs 2,000 crore.

Till now, production of theNano -- touted as the world'scheapest car with a factory gateprice of Rs 1,00,000 (a little overUSD 2,000) -- has been limited atTata Motors' Pantnagar plant inHimachal Pradesh. -PTI

'I just spent Re one to bring Nano to Gujarat': ModiSANAND, Gujarat: Re one is all

that Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi invested and inreturn he earned a mind-bogglingRs 2,000 crore investment for hisstate, a political coup against theLeft parties and Tatas' gratitude.

Reciprocating the sentiment,Tata Group supremo Ratan Tatasaid: "We belong to Gujarat. Wehad gone out and now we havecome back here."

Summing up Nano's journey fromWest Bengal in the east to Gujarat onthe west coast, Modi said: "WhenRatan Tata said in a press conferencein Kolkata that they are leaving WestBengal, I sent him a short SMS say-ing welcome to Gujarat.

"And now you can see what aRe one (worth) SMS can do."

However, what remains unsaidat this juncture was a host of con-cessions, financial incentives,huge piece of land and above all,an insurance against any politicalresistance. No wonder, the state

of the art production facility waserected from scratch in less thantwo years, against months longagony Tatas faced in Singur, WestBengal, ruled by Left parties.

Tata Motors was forced to quitSingur where it planned to set upthe mother plant for its people'scar Nano, following fierce opposi-tion to land acquisition from lo-cals led by Trinamool Congressleader Mamata Banerjee.

Tata said his ancestors came to

India from Iran and found refugein what is modern Gujarat.

The new plant was inauguratedby Modi and Tata. The event waswound up mid-way due to astrong dust storm.

"We decided that we would lo-cate it in a part of the country, which

we felt could benefit from this (Nanoproject). Unfortunately that was notto happen and we had to move theplant under duress," Tata said re-ferring to its unceremonious exit fromWest Bengal in October 2008.

"We searched for anotherhome for Nano and we wanted tobe sure that we could move inpeace and harmony, and be ableto establish new home for theplant... Modi stood out among allthe others in guaranteeing uswhatever we needed. It was notjust our project, we felt that it wasof Gujarat government andTatas'... We owe you a debt ofgratitude." he added.

The Sanand facility, built at acost of Rs 2,000 crore, has a manu-facturing capacity of 2.5 lakhunits annually, scalable up to fivelakh units per annum. Pilot com-mercial production of Nano atSanand has already begun.

"When I came here first on anindustry visit, invited by GujaratChief Minister, I was told that if it(the Nano plant) is not in Gujarat,I will be a stupid.

"I am no longer stupid after in-vesting on the plant in Gujarat," Tatasaid, inaugurating the plant. -PTI

Gujarat Chief Minister

Narendra Modi

Congressapproves saleof C17 to India

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI:The US Congress has cleared thesale of C-17 Globemaster III stra-tegic aircraft for India, ahead of thecrucial Cabinet-level Strategic Dia-logue between the two countries.

The Obama Administration hadin April notified the US Congressof the potential sale of 10 C-17 air-craft to India and sought approvalin this regard.

"We are pleased that India'sintent to buy 10 C-17 GlobemasterIII has received U.S. congres-sional approval," Dr Vivek Lall,Vice President and Country Head,Boeing Defense, Space and Secu-rity, India, told PTI in New Delhi.

With this, the Indian govern-ment is one step closer to acquir-ing the C-17 which we believe isideally suited to meet India's airliftneeds for military and humanitar-ian purposes, he said. -PTI

Indian economy upbeat, growsby 7.4 pc in 2009-10

NEW DELHI: India's economy grew by a better than estimated 7.4per cent in 2009-10 on the back of double digit expansion in manufactur-ing sector and not so dismal showing by farm sector.

In fact, the economy grew by a robust 8.6 per cent in the fourthquarter, fuelled by 16.3 per cent expansion in manufacturing sector.

China, the only large country with higher growth rate than India,witnessed 11.9 per cent growth in the same quarter, while the fragilerecovery in most countries, particularly Europe, is under threat from asovereign debt crisis. -PTI

India's exports roseby over 36 percent in April

NEW DELHI: India's exportsincreased by 36.2 per cent to USD16.88 billion in April, the sixth con-secutive month of growth.

Last April, exports had shrunknearly 30 per cent to USD 12.4 bil-lion under the impact of the worstrecession in 60 years that dried-up demand in key markets such asthe US.

However, going forward theEuropean debt crisis may weighon outbound shipments, eventhough India's trade exposure toGreece is limited, rating agencyCrisil Principal Economist D KJoshi said. -PTI

Zee launcheshealth channelin US

Zee network has expanded theambit of its umbrella to Ameri-

can media space by launchingVeria TV channel in US. The chan-nel will serve the health and fit-ness related entertainment require-ment of people in the region. VeriaTV, a 24X7 channel has beenlaunched by Group ChairmanSubhash Chandra.

With this launch, Essel Groupwhich already owns media titlesamong all channels of Zee Net-work, Daily News has added an-other media entity to its stable.The channel will air programsbased on well being, health andfitness in high definition format.Veria will work on the concept ofwellness rather than illness.

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi

pose besides a Nano car during a rollout ceremony at the new

Nano plant at Sanand, on June 2

‘Nano's European version has been launchedand work for its production is likely to com-mence next year, I don't know when,’ he said

The Sanand facility,built at a cost of Rs2,000 crore, has amanufacturing ca-pacity of 2.5 lakhunits annually, scal-able up to five lakhunits per annum

45India PostTechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

June 11, 2010

in

dia

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st.c

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Mittal commends Indianeconomy

Indian bureaucracy mostinefficient in Asia: Survey

SINGAPORE: India has the most ineffi-cient bureaucracy in Asia and red-tape ismuch worse than in China, says a survey.

In the ranking of 12 countries, India hasbeen named as having the most inefficientbureaucracy followed by Indonesia and thePhilippines, according to the survey of ex-patriate business executives conducted bythe Hong Kong-based Political and Eco-nomic Risk Consultancy (PERC).

Quoting the consultancy, news agencyAFP has reported that bureaucratic red-tapeis a serious problem in India and China but"the differences in the political systems ofthese two countries have made inertia muchworse in India than in China".

The ranking is based on a scale from oneto 10 and a score of 10 indicates the worstpossible scenario.

India scored 9.41, followed by Indonesia(8.59), the Philippines (8.37), Vietnam (8.13)and China (7.93).

As per the survey, Singapore and HongKong with scores of 2.53 and 3.49, respec-tively, have the most efficient bureaucra-cies.

Other countries ranked are Malaysia(6.97), Taiwan (6.6), Japan (6.57), South Ko-rea (6.13) and Thailand (5.53).

As many as 1,373 middle and senior ex-

patriate executives participated in the sur-vey conducted earlier this year.

Writing about India, PERC said, "politi-cians frequently promise to reform and re-vitalize the Indian bureaucracy, but theyhave been ineffective in doing so--mainlybecause the civil service is a power centrein its own right".

The consultancy noted that dealing withIndia's bureaucracy "can be one of the mostfrustrating experiences for any Indian, letalone a foreign investor".

PERC noted that bureaucracies in someAsian countries have become power cen-ters in their own right, allowing them to ef-fectively resist efforts toward reforms bypoliticians and appointed officials. -PTI

BANGALORE: Steel giant ArcelorMittal'schairman and CEO Lakshmi N Mittal has com-mended the Indian economy for achieving7.4 per cent growth rate in 2009-10 fiscal amidthe global economic slowdown.

Speaking at the Global Investors' Meet,organized by the Karnataka government,he said as he travels around the world, vis-iting the company's operations in about 60countries, he is seeing signs of improve-ment everywhere.

"However, it is clear that economic re-covery is not happening at the universalpace," Mittal said. "Two distinct trends areemerging. That of developed countries,which are traveling in the slow lane, whilethe developing countries are on the speedylane. This for me is the most interesting eco-nomic trend to be reinforced by the crisis."

The rise of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India,China) countries, rapidly industrializingcountries and other developing economiesare reshaping the global economy. "Thehigh growth rate in these economies has

been one of the most transformationalchange in the past two years."

He said strong domestic demand hasproved to be far more reliable input forgrowth in developing economies and "wehave countries which have successfullymaintained growth rate.

India is a great example of this".India's economy grew by a better than es-

timated 7.4 per cent in 2009-10 on the back ofdouble digit expansion in manufacturing sec-tor and not so dismal showing by farm sector.

In fact, the economy grew by a robust8.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, fuelled by16.3 per cent expansion in manufacturingsector.

China, the only large country with highergrowth rate than India, witnessed 11.9 percent growth in the same quarter, while thefragile recovery in most countries, particu-larly Europe, is under threat from a sover-eign debt crisis.

Mittal said he sees tremendous potentialof developing economies that include India.

Govt. treasure flooded with 3G revenue;telcos make full payment

Including BSNL and MTNL of public sector, total 9 telecom companies have madefull payment for their recently won 3G spec-

trum licenses to the government. The totalamount submitted to the treasury of govern-ment by these companies is Rs.67719 crores.

Bharti Airtel has paid maximum amountof Rs.12295.46 crores for 13 circles acrossthe country whereas, Vodafone depositedRs.11617.86 crores. However, MTNL hassubmitted an amount of Rs.6564 crores.

On the other hand, Public sector telecomcompany BSNL has paid Rs.10186.56 croresto the government. Reliance Communica-tions, the telecom entity of Anil DhirubhaiAmbani Group (ADAG) has paid Rs.8585.04crores. RCOM has been allotted license toregulate 3G services in 13 circles through-

out the country including of Delhi andMumbai service areas.

The government had estimated to gatherRs.35000 crores from the auctions of 3G spec-trums and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA).But, due to an overwhelming response fromTelcos, the government has managed to earnnearly double of the estimated amount.

With the large revenue, governmentholds hope of bringing down the fiscal defi-cit of current financial year from 5.5% to5%. After the BWA auctions, statistics areexpected to improve even more.

According to the schedule, all the win-ning companies will have acquisitions of3G spectrum by the month of spectrum.Defense forces will release the spectrum fortelecom companies.

The ranking is based on ascale from one to 10 and ascore of 10 indicates the worstpossible scenario. Indiascored 9.41, followed byIndonesia (8.59), the Philip-pines (8.37), Vietnam (8.13)and China (7.93)

46 June 11, 2010India Post

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PhilosophyVIMALA THAKAR

A lot of people are inter-ested in spirituality andyet in very few are there

a radical transformation of theirconsciousness and of their life.

Vimala Thakar: My dearfriend, they do not dedicate theirlives to the truth they understand.They have desire for worldly plea-sure, worldly recognition. Spiritu-ality is one of the desires. It is notthe supreme priority. Immediatelystart living the truth you under-stand! Intellectually people mayaspire for emancipation or enlight-enment but emotionally they lovesmall bondages around them.

They want to belong somewhereemotionally to the family, to their re-ligion. In the name of security theycreate these emotional loyalties anda sense of exclusive belonging, whileintellectually they aspire for abso-lute freedom, enlightenment. Howcan the two go together?

They are incompatible, and yethuman beings who becomesadhakas, inquirers, live a double life.They are not dishonest. I'm talkingabout an inner division. They feelsatisfied by knowing about libera-tion, reading about it, imagining it.

The word 'liberation' has itsown intoxication. And they live bythat intoxication. But there is nofactual content. So this inner divi-sion causes the pathetic phenom-enon that in the evening of their

lives, their hands are empty. Theyonly have the shells of words withthem, not the inner substance ofliberation.

What can a person do if theyrecognize this divided conditionin themselves?

VT: One has to educate oneself.First one discovers the division in-side. Then, to eliminate the division,

purification through education hasto take place, because impurity isthe only imbalance.

Educate and sensitize and refineand purify the biological and thepsychological aspects of our beingthen I think the inner division dis-appears. Seekers should devote aminimum of three, and preferablyfour, hours each day to their spiri-tual practice.

Often people can have an un-derstanding of the truth and stillremain strongly attached to cer-tain things.

VT: If attachment cannot be

A dance between manifestand the unmanifest

SWAMI CHIDANANDA

There are a few thingswhich, as a Hindu, I wishto tell you. Where elders

are respectfully honoured, thereprosperity prevails; and where el-ders - father and mother, grand-father and grandmother, unclesand aunts - are treated with con-tempt, with harshness, with scantrespect, there is no prosperity.

These things are not known. Sowhen people are miserable, whenpeople are unhappy, when peoplelack prosperity, it is not known whyit comes about that way. It isbrought about by oneself by a to-tal breaking of these laws.

And then you try find out theconsequences of the bad situa-tion by looking at the diary, orstatistics, or expenditure and in-come account. Perhaps you blameeconomic conditions. But, no -you create your bad conditionsby breaking the spiritual laws.

Where elders are treated withrespect and honor, are treatedwith reverence, there, in that fam-ily, in that house, prosperity willabide. In the life of that personwho honors his elders, prosper-ity will always rest.

Secondly, where the womenof the house are treated with rev-

erence, where they are put uponthe pedestal which they deserve,there is prosperity. Where are weall, where is humanity if it is notfor the women?

It is the Supreme Mother whois the very source of the wholeuniverse, and where the mothers,the women, are treated with rever-ence that is due to them, in thathouse, there is prosperity. Andwhere women are treated with dis-

respect, unkindness, harshness,prosperity cannot come.

Prosperity does not abide inthat house where the wife and themother are made to weep, wheretears of women fall. Prosperity takeswings and flies away from thathouse where woman weeps.

Thirdly, for the womenfolkthemselves, modesty is the mag-net of prosperity. For a woman,

modesty is the highest ornament.The ornament of a woman, thebeauty of a lady, is not in thejewellery she wears or in the typeof material or the dress she wears- no, that is not beauty. After all,what is the beauty of the body?

The moment you take leave ofthe body, it is just a useless thinghere. So the true beauty and graceof a woman is modesty. If a womanis modest, if she is chaste, she be-

comes worshipful; and prosperitybecomes the servant, the handmaidof that family where women areadorned by the ornaments of chas-tity, modesty and gracefulness.

And, last but not the least, whereGod is worshipped every day, therethe whole house becomes blessedwith the highest prosperity. All joy,all blessedness, all prosperitycomes to that house where God is

worshipped regularly.Say thanks when you get up

in the morning, for your health,for your body, for a clean mind,for energy in the body to live alife of usefulness to yourself andto all, and in the evening thankGod again for the bounty of agood day, for clear weather, freshair, good health and energy, op-portunity to serve and be usefulto yourself and to others.

If every day there is thanksgiv-ing and you always worship Godin your home, there is bound to beprosperity. Where there is worship,in that place, there is the tangiblepresence of God, and where thereis this tangible presence of theDeity, what to say of prosperity?

Everything that is good, every-thing that is blessed, will pervadethat house, will fill that house.

Swami Chidananda

Some valuable clues toprosperity in house

dissolved by the understanding oftruth, that understanding is onlyverbal. If you have had that, howcan there be attachment? Even af-ter having understood the truthsome people may cling to untruthfor the sake of pleasure or security.

People are afraid of living, theyare afraid of dying. The intellectualaspiration for truth is there, but this

fear of life and death is also there.That's why the dropping of the at-tachments does not result.

If that is the case then at least sucha person should be conscious thatthere is a duality in him, that under-standing of truth is there on one leveland that attachment is also there.

If there is a genuine desire thatthe attachment should be dis-solved, it will work as a prick. Itwill keep him awake. Attachmentwill be there, he will act out of at-tachment, and then he will feelsorry for it. For some time this goeson. It will be gradual. It depends

on the earnestness.Various spiritual teachings

seem to view the final goal ofspiritual life as abiding in the Ab-solute and are then not at all con-cerned with the world of time andspace, with relating to people.

VT: Even after the discovery youare still there in your body, aren'tyou? You have to feed it, you have

to clothe it, and you have to live inthe world. So after the discovery, theunderstanding, then there is theawareness. With that awareness youbehave in the limited world.

Some people talk about escap-ing from it, withdrawing, but evenafter withdrawal you need a placeto live. After the discovery of thetruth with that inner perfume of theconstant awareness that life is adance between the manifest andthe unmanifest, the limited and thelimitless, that which is measurableand that which is immeasurable,then you relate to both.

Vimala Thakar

People are afraid of living, they areafraid of dying. The intellectualaspiration for truth is there, but this fearof life and death is also there

Where elders are treated with respect andhonor, are treated with reverence, there, inthat family, in that house, prosperity willabide. In the life of that person who honors hiselders, prosperity will always rest

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WorkshopVenue: Roy Arias Dance Studios & Theaters, 300 West43rd Street, Between 8th & 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, NewYork, 10036Time: 2:00 PM to 7:00 PMContact: Cindy Osorio, Phone: 646-938-8092

Sun Jun 20• Beauty Pageants - Mommy & Me, Teen

Star, Pre-Teen Diva, Little Miss DivaVenue: Holiday Inn, 3050 Woodbridge Ave, Edison,New Jersey, 08837Time: 5:00 PM to 9:00 PMContact: Jayesh Mehta, Phone: 732 763 0118

Sat Jul 3• Ghulam Ali Live in Concert - New YorkVenue: Hindu Auditorium, 143-09 Holly Ave, Flushing,New York, 11355Time: 8:00pmContact: Balwinder Bajwa, Phone: 516-852-2222

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Every Sat (start from Sat Aug 8)• Gurukul Classes for ChildrenVenue: Sindhu Center, South CaliforniaTime: 2pm to 4pmContact: 818-541-1754 & 909-576-1114Highlights: Children between the ages of 5 and18. Children will be taught the Fundamentals ofHinduism, Prayers, Shlokas, Bhajans and Valuesof our culture.

Sun June 20• Pan-IIT, SoCal Chapter

Annual PicnicVenue: Cerritos Park East Shelter 1, 13234 166thSt Cerritos, CaliforniaTime: 12 noon to 5pm (12:00 noon to 12:45 pm:Registration and network, network, network, net-work, 12:45 pm to 1:30 pm: Games/Entertainmentfor all + snacks + Network, 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm:Catered lunch : General music and hungama +Network, 2:30 pm to 3:45 pm: More Games/InterIIT Antakshari + Raffles, 3:45 pm to 4:30 pm: Chai/ Soap Box / Game Prizes, 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm:Wrap-up, Clean-up and promises to meet soon)Contact: 818-209-0172

Sat Jun 26• Singh Entertainment Presents

Jai Ho - AR Rahman The Journey

World Tour 2010

Venue: Oracle Arena, 7000 Colisium Way, Oakland,CaliforniaTime: 7:30pmContact: Paul Singh, Phone: 209-604-2543

Sun Jul 31• Arangetram by Sneha

JayaprakashVenue: Cubberley Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road,Palo Alto, CaliforniaTime: 4:00pm to 6:00pmHosted By: Jayendra Kalakendra

Sat June 12• Good Vibes Peace FestivalVenue: Meditation Museum, 8236 Georgia Avenue, Sil-ver Spring, District of ColumbiaTime: 10am to 3pmContact: (301) 588-0144

Sun June 13• A. R. Rahman's Jai Ho 2010 - The

Journey Home World Tour - VAVenue: Patriot Center, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax, WDCnTime: 7:30pmContact: 703-595-4500

Sun July 4• DC Rathyatra & Festival of IndiaVenue: National Mall, 4th Street & Madison Ave, Wash-ington, DCTime: 10am to 9pmContact: 301-299-2100

Fri Jul 9• Amma's North American Tour

Summer 2010 - Washington DC

Venue: Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 SeminaryRoad, Alexandria, Virginia, 22311Time: 10am to Jul 11 7:30pmContact: 240-696-1927

Fri June 11• Mount Madonna School's 32nd an-

nual Ramayana

Venue: Mexican Heritage Theater, 1700 Alum RockAve, San Jose, CaliforniaTime: 7:30pmContact: 408-847-2717

Sat June 12• Bombay Jayashri - VocalVenue: India Community Center, 525 Los Coches St,Milpitas, CaliforniaTime: 3:30pm

Fri Jun 18• Amjad Sabri Live & Direct In

Sacramento

Venue: Burbank High School, 3500 Florin Rd, Sacra-mento, California, 95823Time: 7:00pmContact: 916-613-0732

Sun Jun 26• Arangetram by Neha ShekharVenue: Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave,San José, California, 95116Time: 6:00pmContact: [email protected]

49Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

June 11, 2010 India Post

India Post

Maoist killings dent theirmoral & social support

DEVYANI SRIVASTAVA

The recent spate of Maoistattacks - the killing of 76 se-curity personnel (6 April)

and over 35 civilians includingSpecial Police Officers (SPO) (17May) in Dantewada district,Chhattisgarh - has considerablyintensified the specter of Maoistviolence in India. The latestGyaneshwari train tragedy on 28May in Maoist-affected WestMidnapore district of West Ben-gal is yet to be investigated.

The meticulous plan-ning and brutality of thekillings, seen as a sign ofthe success of Maoists,sparked debates overuse of air power/forceand further intensifica-tion of security opera-tions being conductedby the state.

At the same time,these killings also con-siderably dent the moralsupport amassed by theMaoists among the civilsociety at large, ques-tioning the inexcusable killing oflocal villagers and tribals.

How does one understand thisviolence against civilians in con-text of the broader goals of theMaoists as also its impact on thecourse of the people's war - dothese reflect intensification orweakening of the people's war be-ing waged by the Maoists?

To begin with, the above at-tacks need to be understood as aresult of the 'militarized' climatenow prevailing in the south ofChhattisgarh since the launch ofstate-backed Salwa Judum in June2005 where violence and counter-violence is the order of the day,and must not acquire a quality of'coming out of nowhere'.

The Maoists and their sympa-thizers claim that such attacks arean "unfortunate fall out of thegovernment's willful policy of pur-suing Salwa Judum first and thenOperation Green Hunt." Suchclaims contain a degree of truth,for, the above mentioned attackswere, in fact, carried out on forcesreturning from area-domination orcombing exercises.

Moreover, it is also true that theviolence in south of Chhattisgarhspiraled only after Salwa Judumcampaign, whereas prior to that,the Maoists were basically en-gaged in mobilizing the tribals ofthe undivided Bastar region tofight for their rights.

Having said this, however, thecentrality of armed struggle in the

Maoist strategy of protractedpeople's war needs to be highlighted.Traditionally, 'annihilation of classenemies' has been the dominant tac-tic of the Maoist armed struggle.

Earlier, these included land-lords and corrupt governmentfunctionaries who were specifi-cally targeted; today, however, theenemy is no longer individuals butan entire force constituted largelyof the very tribals and villagersthat are also the largest support

base of the Maoists.To this extent, therefore, the

above suggests that the spate ofviolence unleashed in parts of cen-tral India is as much due to thevery objective and strategy of therevolution rather than simply a re-

sponse to Operation Green Hunt.Had the operations not beenlaunched, the Maoist violencewould have been directed at an-other 'enemy' class; the operationsin fact, might have served the causeof the revolution by providing theMaoists an 'enemy' class againstwhom the masses can be mobilized.

Given the centrality of such at-tacks in the Maoist strategy, howhas it impacted the cause andcourse of the revolution? To beginwith, the fact that the enemy con-glomerate today also constitutesthe very tribals that the Maoistsclaim to be representing has put

the Maoists in a situation wherean intensification of their armedstruggle against the 'enemy' alsoinadvertently mars the movement'smoral and social support.

For instance, a common prin-ciple of the strategy of protractedpeople's war is 'decimation of dis-senting voices and attempts ofimplementing alternate participa-tory politics' other than that ad-vocated by the Maoists.

This is evident through severalfact-finding reports fromLalgarh, Dantewada andkilling of 'police informers'elsewhere. Such tactics,however, have created arift among the massesagainst the violence of theMaoists as is reminiscentby the anti-Maoist rallycarried out in the wake ofthe 17 May killings.

A heightened sense ofhelplessness is palpableamong the masses asthey are increasingly get-ting caught in the

crossfire between the Maoists andthe government without any im-provement in their living condi-tions. Although this sense of help-lessness does not benefit thestate, it also proves to harm theMaoists, especially, as analystshave argued, the people cannot beexpected to put up with their abys-mal condition for too long.

Above all, the most harmfulimpact of such brutalities is on theimage of the Maoists as benefac-tors of tribal welfare. Several tribalorganizations leading strugglesagainst the state have openly re-butted their conflation as frontorganizations of the Maoists.

The Chasi Mulia AdivasiSangh (CMAS) working inKoraput district in Orissa on ille-gal grabbing of Adivasi land, forinstance, held a protest inBhubaneshwar against the con-spiracy of the government tofalsely brand them as Maoists.

Ultimately, the Maoist politicsof violence together with their in-ability to deliver on social ser-vices generates little hope that astate under the Maoist will beany different from the inefficientdemocratic state they are fight-ing against. The movement,therefore, is fraught with severalideological and moral dilemmasthat today seem to be harmingthe path of revolution instead ofadvancing it.

The writer is Research Officer,IPCS

CM-in waiting

The image of Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi is that of anirresponsible Railway Minister who doesn't even care tovisit the spots where the frequent railway accidents have

been taking place and remains ensconced in Kolkata playing hererratic brand of politics with the sole aim of becoming chief minis-ter of West Bengal.

After her resounding victory trouncing the mighty Left Front inmunicipal elections a quick rethink is on. By this time next year shecould very well be ruling West Bengal. And questions are beingasked what kind of chief minister will she make?

After 33 years people of West Bengal are really tired of the Leftrule. The Trinamool victory is partly because of this negative vote.But it is not readily accepted that Mamata Banerjee has a greatchemistry with the people of West Bengal and it was this plusfactor which combined with the negative to give her the push.People are not thinking how she will fare at the helm. They wantthe Left booted out first and that would be a big relief. The ques-tion of how Mamata will function will come only later. At least theywant to give her a chance.

Experts on West Bengal believe Mamata has evolved as a poli-tician. She has matured. She is in the mold of rustic leaders likeLalu Prasad Yadav who are not appreciated in cities. She wouldbring in lot many changes. She might take a few populist deci-sions, play to the gallery but like Chandrababu Naidu, she'll ex-tract a lot of finance from Sonia and Manmohan Singh.

An expert on CNN-IBN had this to say about her: "The citysnobs cannot always understand the Mamata phenomenon.Mamata is a people's leader who has never studied in an Englishmedium school. And just because her accent is funny we don'tbelieve her. We forget that it takes courage for a woman to decideat a very early age that she wouldn't be lured by cosmetics, jewelryand clothes. She has fought for such a long time to become almosta Pied Piper in Bengal. We must learn to respect the Lalus andMamatas. They are rustic but great, great leaders."

The Congress has fared even worse than last time in WestBengal. Their experiment of going it alone has backfired in thecivic elections. There is no doubt that they will now go in for analliance with Trinamool for the Assembly elections next year. ButMamata should understand that she also needs the Congress.The combined strength of the two parties will be an invincibleforce. It is obvious from the way the CPM is already trying to sendfeelers to the Congress to drive a wedge between the two.

That there are differences between the Trinamool and the Con-gress was obvious from the Prime Minister's reply during a recentpress conference. Asked if he missed the "structured support"that he enjoyed from the Left in UPA-I, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh said that progressive parties should be together.

The unhappy experience of coalitions in Delhi with the types ofJayalalitha and Mayawati whose support could never be taken forgranted, would scare the Congress about depending upon MamataBanerjee. But there is a great possibility of the anti-industry cul-ture changing under Banerjee and New Delhi would be happy tosupport her in development measures which accord with NewDelhi's plans.

The tantrum throwing Mamata is past and West Bengal canhope for better days with a new leader. New approaches are neededto handle education, infrastructure, industrial growth and employ-ment opportunity.

Maoists blew this passenger bus to pieces

A heightened sense ofhelplessness is pal-pable among themasses as they areincreasingly gettingcaught in the crossfirebetween the Maoistsand the governmentwithout any improve-ment in their livingconditions


June 11, 201050


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