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Transcript of Vol.8 Issue 13- August 1-7, 2015
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8/20/2019 Vol.8 Issue 13- August 1-7, 2015
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The South Asian Times dedicates this Issue to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam – See pages 13-20.
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August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info
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3August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Thiruvananthapuram:
In the wake of demandsmade from different quar-
ters to name or rename
various institutions after
Bharat Ratna A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam, there are many
options before the Indian
government to perpetuate
the memory of the late
former Indian president.
The central government
could consider renaming
the Indian Institute of
Space Science and
Technology (IISST), of
which he was a chancel-
lor from day one. It could
also lend Kalam's name
to a next generation rock-
et or one of the centers of
the Indian space agency
to pay tributes to the
'People's President'.
India's space agency
ISRO could name/rename
an institute or a center
under its fold, a rocket
under development or a
new satellite after the
'Missile Man'.
During his illustrious
career, Kalam had worked
at ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai
Space Centre in
Thiruvananthapuram in
Kerala where he played a
major role in the develop-
ment of Space Launch
Vehicle, a forerunner to the
PSLV, the most successful
Indian rocket. The govern-
ment could also name a
next-generation GSLV
rocket after Kalam. ISROis in the process of devel-
oping GSLV-Mark III.
ISRO Propulsion
Centre at Mahendragiri in
Tamil Nadu's Tirunelvelli
district could be renamed
after the former president
who was born in Tamil
Nadu 's Rame sw ar am
town. Meanwhile, Kerala
Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy told IANS in
Kerala that a proposed
varsity, the Kerala
Technological University,
for the promotion of tech-
nical education will be
named after Kalam.
There is also a demand
from certain quarters for
designating October 15 -
Kalam's birthday - as
'National Students Day'.
Woodbridge, NJ: HAB Bank’s Iselin
branch hosted a luncheon here July 24 to
thank their New Jersey patrons. About150 customers and their families attended.
Saleem Iqbal, President and CEO of the
community bank, thanked the invited
guests for their support and business. “As
per the initial data, Iselin branch is likely to
become our best performing branch of
2015,” he said.
The event saw businessmen, entrepre-
neurs and professionals, many of whom
have been associated with the New Jersey
branch since its inception.
“We have selected our premier clients
out of our valued 3,000 customers to thank
them for being with us for many years, for
continuing to help us grow and thank them
for giving us a chance to help them grow
too,” said Girish Vazirani, Iselin branch
manager.
HAB Chairman, A.G. Abbasi in his
speech emphasized the core principle of
the bank: "building relationships with the
customers." Sharing her experience with
the bank, Nalini Shah, Edison based client
for 10 years, said, “They take extra efforts
to establish personal relationships with
their clients. They not only inform us about
latest products, market situation, but also
go above and beyond banking relations.”
Piscataway resident Bhavna Shah
echoed Nalini, “They are flexible.
Depending on your portfolio they go out of
their way to help.” Long their client,
Bhavna has roped in her family membersto open accounts at HAB.
Since it was founded in 1983, HAB
BANK has played a key role in nurturing
and strengthening the South Asian commu-
nity with branch network in New York,
New Jersey and California. The bank has
kept evolving in response to needs of its
customers and continued to grow even dur-
ing the 2008 economic meltdown.
“The Wall Street Journal reported recent-
ly that on an average US is losing one bank or credit union per day due to changing
regulations. Most banks that have endured
the 2008 recession had to shrink to survive,
but HAB has a different story. HAB didn’t
just survive it has thrived after the 2008
crash. We didn’t just grow, we are one of
the few banks in the nation whose assets
have more than doubled after the reces-
sion,” claimed Saleem Iqbal.
“The bank,” Iqbal added, “achieved two
significant landmarks in March this year.
Our assets have crossed $1 billion, making
us the largest South Asian American bank
in the US. Bauer Financial, the largest
bank rating agency in the US, gave HAB
the highest, five star rating.”
The Bank’s core products are
Commercial Real Estate Mortgages,
International Trade Services, US Small
Business Loans and a well-designed com-
mercial banking products and services for
small to medium sized businesses. The
Bank also has a wide range of consumer
products and services including personal
checking, savings, CDs, and full-service
online banking.
New York: Bollywoodstar Arjun Rampal will be
the Grand Marshal at the
35th India Day Parade to
be held in the city Aug 16
where the organizers will
try to create three
Guinness world records.
At the biggest such
pa ra de ou ts id e Indi a,
Rampal will be joined by
India’s ace cricketer
Virender Sehwag as
“celebrity guest”, as well
as Shankar Mahadevan,
Upen Patel, Karishma
Tanna, Aamir Ali, Sanjeeda and Jeffery Iqbal. The parade
which begins at noon from E 38th St. goes down MadisonAvenue to food booths and cultural programs at E. 27th,
which close at 6 p.m. The NYC calendar event attracts a
record number of people from the tristate each year.
The Federation of Indian Associations of NY-NJ-CT
hopes to create world records of the most different flags
flown at the same time, most people receiving henna tattoos,
and the most confetti raining down at an event.
HAB Bank thanks loyal NJ customers at luncheon
Arjun Rampal to beGrand Marshal at
FIA’s India Day Parade
Students pay tribute to APJ Abdul Kalamin Agartala on July 29.
Saleem Iqbal, President and CEO of HAB BANK, speaking at the event
Bollywood star ArjunRampal
Yakub Memon buried in Mumbai
Mumbai: Yakub Memon, the lone death row convict in
the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was hanged in the
Nagpur Central Jail early Thursday and later buried in
Mumabi without any untoward incident.
Memon was awarded the death penalty by a TADA
court for 13 serial blasts that rocked several parts of
Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing 257 persons and
wounding 713 others.
His body was handed over to the family with stringent
pre-conditions and brought to Mumbai. Accompanied
by family members and a large posse of armed police,
the body was taken to the Bada Qabrastan near Marine
Lines in south Mumbai and buried with religious rites
next to the graves of his parents. A massive crowd gath-
ered for Memon's funeral.
A huge media contingent was also present to cover the
funeral although because of a police gag order, they
were barred from either photographing or videograph-
ing the proceedings. There was tight security all over
Nagpur, Mumbai and sensit ive pockets in the state,
besides keeping Quick Response Team and anti-riot
squads in full readiness. However, any untoward inci-
dent was reported from any part.
No untoward incident yet after Mumbai
blasts convict hanged
See detailed story on pg 1 0.
Look for our India Day Special Issue dated August 15.
Special section paying a
tribute to Dr Kalam
pages 13-20.
Indian govt has many options toperpetuate Kalam's memory
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By Jinal Shah
New York: The
Museum of the
Moving Image
(MoMI) in Astoria is
set to present a spe-
cial tribute to leg-
endary Indian film
director Mani
Ratnam by featuring
him in person and
showcasing three of
his critically
acclaimed films as
part of a series titled
“Politics as
Spectacle: The
Films of ManiRatnam.” On
Wednesday the museum in asso-
ciation with Indian Consulate
organized a press preview with
the filmmaker himself.
“Mani Ratnam is a treasure,
and we are pleased to host him
in New York with three of his
most significant and beloved
films,” said Christina Marodua,
MoMI’s deputy director for
development and founder of the
Indian film festival in Los
Angeles. “This weekend tribute
offers audiences, both devoted
fans and new viewers, a rare
opportunity to see his gorgeousfilms on the big screen,” she
added. MoMI’s special retro-
spective on Ratnam will have
three of his popular films, Roja,
Bombay and Dil Se on a big
screen in 35mm format.
At the preview, he spoke about
the three movies to be screened
from July 31 to
August 2, how they
are relevant even
today and his expe-
rience working with
music legend A.R.
Rahman, who made
his debut as a film
composer in Roja.
When asked if he
had a trilogy in
mind when he start-
ed shooting for
Roja, Ratnam said,
“I did not. It
(1990’s) was a
ph ase in In di a
where the country
was going through a poli tical turmoil. I
felt that it could be possible to
address it in the mainstream cin-
ema to a wider audience.”
Ratnam also discussed his
other groundbreaking movies at
the preview.
Earlier in a press statement,
Richard Pena, director emeritus,
New York Fi lm Fes tiva l and
Professor of Film Studies at
Columbia University, mentioned
that a New York tribute to Mani
Ratnam “is long overdue.”
“The false dichotomies that
are used to categorize films --
art vs. commercial cinema,entertainment vs. political film-
making -- disappear when one
sees how easily Mani Ratnam is
able to combine aspects of all of
them into his work. A New York
tribute to this important film-
maker is long overdue,” Pena
said.
Beijing: The cold case known as
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has
been jolted by a piece of flotsam
that washed ashore, and now
investigators are scrambling
again.
Authorities in France plan to
examine what appears to be part
of a wing that was found on a
beach on Reunion, an island in the
Indian Ocean, to see whether it
came from a plane that vanished
without a trace 16 months ago.
There is suddenly a new direc-
tion and a specific task in a long-
running investigation that has
been forced by a lack of physical
evidence to focus on satellite sig-
nals from the time of the disap-
pearance and a slow, patient andso-far fruitless sweep of remote
deep seas off Australia.
Does a barnacle-encrusted piece
of debris lead back to the Boeing777 that is at the heart of the case?
The object will be flown from
Reunion, a French territory about
2,800 miles from the search site,to Toulouse in France for exami-
nation.
Washington: In a historical
moment for the Sikh community in
the US, a foreclosed building that
used to be a Baptist church will be
renovated as the first Sikh temple
in Rockford, Illinois, media report-
ed on Thursday.
The building on Kishwaukee
Street and 3rd Avenue in the Forest
City will be renamed as Nanaksar
Sikh Temple.
"There is no temple in Rockford.
This will be the first one. Some
peop le told me that there are no
Sikh temples here so we are doing
this for the Sikh community,"
Wrex.com quoted Nanaksar Sikh
Temple supervisor Babaji as say-
ing.
There are nearly 100 Sikh fami-
lies in the area. Right now, they
drive all the way to Chicago,
Milwaukee or Madison for wor-
ship. However, the task of doing up
the foreclosed building is daunting
as $100,000 worth of renovation
work needs to be done. The temple
will have a grand opening in April
next year when renovations are
completed but the Sikh leaders
hope to start worship services in
September this year.
Debris washed up on island could be of missing Malaysia Flight 370
Mani Ratnam’s threecritically acclaimed
films will bescreened from July
31-Aug 2 at theMuseum of the
Moving Image inNew York.
The wreckage found on Reunion island in Indian Oceanis thousands of miles away from the search area
off the coast of Australia.
MoMI to pay tribute toMani Ratnam
Church building to make way forgurdwara in Illinois
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5August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
New Jersey: Telugu Association
of North America (TANA) con-
ducted Vana Bhojanaalu, in asso-
ciation with i4Farmers on July
25th at Merrill Park, Iselin. This
year's event was with a unique
theme, 'Cook for a Cause' to high-
light and celebrate farmers' cause.
Event was well attended by over 300 Telugus in New Jersey. As
part of this celebration, organizers
conducted a cooking competition,
asking people to cook their dish at
home and bring it to the competi-
tion.
Tremendous response was
received with 23 people participat-
ing in Appetizers, Main Course
and Dessert categories.
Event started off with all the
guests being served with variety of
Dosas. After that, organizers
explained guests about the Indian
farmers' issues currently going on,
and why it is important to remem-
ber them in our daily lives, farm-ers are the real people behind our
food, before it comes into our
plat es. All the gues ts expressed
keen interest to know more about
farmers and what goes on in their
daily lives, also why they are com-
mitting suicides. Volunteers
explained how we, as individuals
can contribute to the farmers'
cause. Also, requested all the
guests to speak to the farmers in
their villages and towns when they
visit India.
After the introduction, all the
guests were provided with tokensto drop at their choice of dish in
three categories. Guests were
asked to taste the food brought by
individual participants of 'cook for
a cause' competition, and drop a
token at the dish of there. Two
winners from each category were
announced from the number of
tokens received at each dish. All
other participants were provided
with participant gifts.
Laxmi Devineni, TANA
Regional Coordinator for NJ and
NY, coordinated the even t with
volunteers from TANA andi4Farmers. Event was supported
by all local TANA leadership, and
attended by Ravi Potluri, NRC
Na id u, Sr in iv as Orgu ga nt i,
Na ga ra ju Na ra la an d Ra gh u
Volunteers, Manasa and Sowjanya
arranged 'Mehendi' for women and
children to raise funds for farmers.
Bellerose, Queens: Hindus and Sikhs
should have designated prayer rooms at
John F. Kennedy International airport toserve the airport’s large numbers of South
Asian employees and passengers, Satnam
Singh Parhar, candidate for City Council
from District 23 said.
The airport already has an Islamic center,
a Protestant chapel, a Roman Catholic
chapel and a synagogue. “It is time that
the many Hindu and Sikh workers and
travelers at JFK have the same designated
pl ac es of wo rshi p of fe re d to ot he rs ,”
Parhar said.Parhar also urged the Port Authority of
New York and New Jersey to include des-
ignated prayer rooms for Hindus, Muslims
and Sikhs in the plans for a new LaGuardia
Airport.
“It is vitally important that the PortAuthority show the same level of respect
and courtesy to the South Asian population
that it extends to other workers and travel-
ers at New York City’s airports,” Parhar
said. Satnam Singh Parhar, a Democrat, is
running in the September 10, Democratic primary to fill the City Council seat vacat-
ed by Mark Weprin. Located in North East
Queens, District 23 is the one of the mostdiverse Council districts in the city, with
nearly 40 percent of the population South
Asian-American.
New Jersey: A new judge has been
appointed to oversee a case in which an
Indian American man was arrested for plotting to firebomb Jewish facilities and
threaten the lives of judges and prosecu-
tors in New Jersey, media reports said.
Aakash Dalal, 23, and co-defendant
Anthony Graziano, 23, are in prison for
the last three years.
In March 2013, Dalal was indicted on 29
counts in connection with the firebomb-
ings, arson and attempted murder of a
rabbi and his family. A second indictment
charged him with conspiracy to murder anassistant prosecutor, conspiracy to possess
a firearm and making terror threats.
Recently, a new Superior Court judge
was assigned to the criminal division in
Bergen County to conduct the trial of
Dalal, northjersey.com quoted Chief Justice Stuart Rabner as saying.
Earlier, Dalal had asked to change the
venue of the case noting that it would be
impossible for him to get a fair trial in
Bergen County.
On July 10, it was decided to have anoutside judge preside over the case rather
than moving the venue of the case to a dif-ferent county.
NY City Council candidate SatnamSingh Parhar
Aakash Dalal
Call for designated prayer roomsfor Hindus and Sikhs at JFK
New judge appointed in AakashDalal’s firebombing trial
Telugus in NJ cook for farmers' cause
Washington, DC: An Indian
American man, facing a death penalty for a double murder, will
represent himself during an
appeal in the Pennsylvania State
Supreme Court, the media said
on Wednesday.
Raghunandan Yandamuri was
charged with killing an Indian
American 10-month-old girl and
her grandmother in their
Pennsylvania home three years
ago.
On November 20, 2014, he was
sentenced to death by lethal
injection.
A Montgomery county court
recently ruled that Yandamuri
could represent himself andnamed two standby attorneys.
"As much as this court is reluc-
tant to grant such relief, I feel I
am compelled to," India West
quoted the Montgomery county
court as saying.
Yandamuri, a software engi-
neer, was in the US on an H-1B
visa and tried to kidnap Saanvi toget a $50,000 ransom from her
parents.
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh,
he was heavily in debt, largely
due to his gambling addiction.
He needed money to bear the
expenses for his pregnant wife's
treatment, the report added.
Raghunandan Yandamuri torepresent self in double
murder case
Raghunandan Yandamuri
Over 300 people attend the event. (Pic: telugupeople.com)
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6 August 1-7, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
14 year old Malini Rudra of Syosset placed top 15 in the TeenWorld Golf Championship held at Pinehurst, North Carolina,
July 22-25.She tied for the 14th place in a field of125 competitors, the top teen golfers from over
23 countries participated in the three day competition.
New York, NY: Six months after launch, Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Speaker Mark-Viverito announced
that over 400000 New Yorkers
have IDNYC cards. : Thank you.
“It is now, by far, the nation’s
most ambitious municipal ID pro-
gram – launched just six months
ago, and having extraordinary re-
sults already,” he said.
“And it’s so important because
of all the ways that IDNYC bene-
fit people. Beginning with those
who felt left out in our society,
who felt unrecognized, disrespect-
ed, in fact literally in the shadows
of our city – they now have a
chance to belong further through
IDNYC. There are so many rea-sons it helps. It helps recognize all
of our people, regardless of gender
identity, regardless of immigration
status, regardless of economic sta-
tus,” he added.
As a result of this program al-
ready, over 30,000 cultural institu-
tion memberships have been
achieved – in six months, 30,000
more memberships in cultural in-
stitutions – 6,000 of which are at
the American Museum of Natural
History. “We’re also thrilled to
say that this excellent program has
won a lot of attention around the
country – and a lot of our friends
all over the nation are working on
their own approaches. Now atleast 20 other major cities and
counties across the nation, includ-
ing Chicago, Newark, and Hart-
ford, are pursuing similar pro-
grams,” he said.
“There’s a lot to like about
what’s happened. A lot of people
deserve credit. I want to thank
some of the members of my ad-
ministration who worked so hard
not just to start IDNYC, but to
keep perfecting it. They’re literal-
ly working month by month to
make it better all the time. Let’s
thank our commissioner of immi-
grant affairs, Nisha Agarwal,”
he added.
New York: New Jersey-based
Indian American woman emer-
gency health worker, who died
when a car slammed into her am-
bulance on July 25, was all set to
go to medical school from July
27, media reports said.
Hinal Patel, 22, a medical stu-
dent at Rutgers University, New
Jersey, was cremated on Tues-
day.Patel's family said she wanted
to be a doctor or a physician as-
sistant and was set to go to med-
ical school from July 27, Dayton
Daily News newspaper reported.
Patel's family and friends re-
membered her at the funeral in
New Brunswick attended by
emergency responders from
across the state.
"She was the most amazing
person I ever knew. She has
saved thousands and thousands
of people..I just wish someone
had a chance to help her," her
friend Bianca Patel was quoted
as saying.
Hinal's brother Neel said she
really loved medicine and was
truly passionate about the job.
"Patel and the her ambulance's
driver, Mark Seube, were re-
sponding to a call when they
came through the intersection
and were struck by a Toyota ve-
hicle sending their spinning vehi-
cle careening into another car,"
East Brunswick policeman Lt.Kevin F. Zebro was quoted as
saying.
"This resulted in her death
while the drivers of the ambu-
lance and Toyota vehicle sus-
tained non-life threatening in-
juries," he added.
Police have not arrested or
charged anyone in the fatal acci-
dent. Patel was working as an
emergency health worker for the
North Stelton Volunteer Fire
Company since September 2012.
"Hinal was a very smart, dedi-
cated member of our family and
she will be greatly missed," a
company statement read.
Los Angeles, CA: Miss India Ameri-
ca 2015 beauty pageant will be held
on August 8th at the LAX Renais-
sance hotel here. The year marks the
23rd anniversary of the beauty pag-
eant founded in 1992 by Jinnder
Chohaan. Mr. & Miss India America
2015 is presented by South Asia Mag-
azine, Wells Fargo, and
JINmodels.com.Creator Jinnder Chohaan says,
“Bollywood filmmaker Anil Sharma
of hit films: ‘Gadar’, ‘Veer’ & ‘Apne’
will be one of the official judges at
Mr. & Miss India America. We are
also honored to have Hollywood pro-
ducer Sunil Perkash of hits: ‘Salt’
with Angelina Jolie and ‘Premoni-
tion’ with Sandra Bullock joining us
at our pageant."
The Elite Awards 2015 will honor
top Hollywood producers: Randall
Emmett and Adi Shankar. Having
worked with top A-listers in Holly-wood, Randall Emmett's blockbuster
hits included: 2 Guns w/ Denzel
Washingon, Empire State w/ Liam
Hemsworth, Escape Plan w/
Sylvester Stallone, 16 Blocks w/
Bruce Willis, and Rambo w/
Sylvester Stallone. Adi Shankar's
blockbusters include: Lone Survivor
w/ Mark Wahlberg, Killing Them
Softly w/ Brad Pit, Broken City w/
Russell, and The Grey w/ Liam Nee-
son. Many of the pageant’s past win-
ners are making it in Hollywood –
Melanie Kannokada, former Miss In-dia America, can be seen on HBO’s
‘The Brink’ with Jack Black and Tim
Robbins, and soon on CBS new TV
Series ‘Code Black’ in September.
New York: An Indian American
student faces five years in jail for
his involvement in a scam aboutselling fraudulent events tickets
over web sales platform StubHub
and making money out of it, media
reports said.
Sachin Kumar, 22, who is from
New York earned money by selling
fraudulent event tickets over Stub-
Hub, using accounts set up in ficti-
tious name, Tampa Bay Times
newspaper reported.
Kumar, a pre-dental and biology
student at the University of Tampa,
Florida, has agreed to a plea agree-
ment with federal prosecutors on
restitution in the fraud.
He reportedly collected $49,121
and StubHub spent $172,047 fur-
nishing victims of the scam with
replacement tickets, according to a
plea agreement signed by Kumar.Had all tickets been sold, he
could have netted $279,949, the
report said. The attorney represent-
ing Kumar said many were in-
volved in the scam and his client
got only a portion of the proceeds.
"Kumar now awaits his fate at
sentencing and hopes to be afford-
ed the opportunity to finish his re-
maining semester of college and
move forward with his life," Ku-
mar's attorney was quoted as say-
ing. Kumar was to plead guilty in
February but was hospitalized af-
ter car a crash. He was told about
his imprisonment after he
recovered.
In six months over 400,000 New
Yorkers have IDNYC cards
Four Hollywood & Bollywood producers to attendMiss India America 2015 & The Elite Awards
Hinal Patel was to go to medical school
Indian American studentfaces prison for online fraud
Emergency health worker Hinal was responding to a call when a
car hit her ambulanceleading to her death
Lord Venkateswara Templeto be built in Columbus
Teen World Golf Championship
New York : A state-of-the-art Sri
Venkateswara Temple with an
eight-feet granite statue of Lord
Venkateswara will be constructed
in Columbus, Ohio state, a media
report said.
It will be the second temple after
the Bharatiya Hindu Temple that
opened in the area in 1994, the
Columbus Dispatch daily reported.
It will be "a state of the art temple,
spread over at least 20,000 square
feet with a capacity to accommo-
date at least 1,000 worshippers",
said Ganesh Vathyam, a spokesper-
son of the temple committee. It will
include an ornate, colorful tower-
ing entrance called "gopuram" and
a brass or copper covered flagstaff
called a "dwajasthambam", he
added. The committee is also plan-
ning to bring sculptors from India
to build the temple and early pro-
jections put the cost at about $3
million. "Our goal is to introduce
this culture not only to our kids --
because the reason we build tem-
ples is to let our future generations
know the significance of the tem-
ple and the heritage -- but also to
introduce it to the other side of the
world," Vathyam said.
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7/32
New York: An Indian American
law professor is moving to the
Midwest after being named the
next dean of the University of
Illinois College of Law.
Vikram David Amar will assumethe new post, as well as Iwan
Foundation professor of law, on
Aug. 16.
Ilesanmi Adesida, the vice chan-
cellor for academic affairs and
provost of the university’s Urbana
campus, said in a statement that
Amar was “the clear choice to lead
the College of Law here at
Illinois,” after a nationwide
search.
Adesida cited Amar’s vision “for
its cutting-edge scholarship and
for close connections to the pro-
fession and society in which its
graduates will serve,” as the rea-
soning behind his selection.
Amar, according to the universi-
ty statement, has been impressed
by the College of Law’s faculty,
staff and student body, as well as
the alumni base.
“Chicago is among the biggest,
most sophisticated and most
diverse of legal markets, and
Springfield, Ill., has helped pro-
duce both Barack Obama andAbraham Lincoln, the greatest
lawyers in American history,”
Amar said in a statement.
“My time at Illinois will be
guided by the twin values that
defined Mr. Lincoln’s career –
lawyerly excellence in private and
public practice, and a commitment
to the highest professional and
ethical values,” he added.
Previously, Amar spent seven
years as senior associate dean for
academic affairs and a professor
of law at the U.C. Davis School of
Law, during which he was
involved in faculty hiring, tenure
and promotions, clinical program-
ming, admissions, career services
and curricular development.
He has also been a professor of
law at U.C. Hastings and a visiting
professor of law at U.C. Berkeleyand UCLA.
Amar is a national authority on
constitutional law, federal courts
and civil procedure.
Amar earned his bachelor’s
degree from U.C. Berkeley and his
juris doctor degree from Yale Law
School. While at Yale, he was an
editor for the Yale Law Journal.
At Illinois, Amar intends to
increase engagement between the
legal academy, the legal and busi-
ness professions and the public, as
well as continue Illinois’ commit-
ment to educational affordability.
“Illinois produces a lot of inno-
vative scholarship, much of it
interdisciplinary, but we have to
be more energetic in highlighting
and explaining what practitioners
can learn from law professors –
and vice versa,” Amar said in thestatement.
“Another priority is to begin to
restore affordability to legal edu-
cation … True, great law schools
require great personnel and pro-
grams, both of which cost money.
But those of us privileged to serve
in our great law schools must be
ever vigilant to keep these schools
within the reach of all persons of
ability, especially the younger
generation’s gifted aspirants who
come from modest backgrounds,
the next generation’s Abe Lincolns
and Barack Obamas,” Amar
added.
7August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
New York: An Indian-American
music professor has created anonline education platform offer-
ing inexpensive creative arts
courses from some of the
world's leading institutions,
including Stanford Universityand Princeton University.
Created by Ajay Kapur, 35,
associate dean of digital arts at
the California Institute of Arts inValencia, the website called
Kadenze has drawn 30 addition-
al institutions besides the origi-
nal 18 which are interested in
offering courses, India Westreported.
Currently, the site is offering
24 foundation courses with more
planned for the future.Some of the courses being
offered include project manage-
ment for designers, sound pro-
duction for musicians and artists
and introduction to graphic illus-tration.
Users can either have limited
access to the courses for free or pay $7 per month for full access.
The full access includes grad-
ed assignments that contribute to
the student's portfolio, a state-
ment of accomplishment, and
class rankings indicating if thestudent is within the top 10, five
or one percent of students.
"The price of going to collegeis getting completely out of con-
trol. For creative people and
people studying the arts, that is
insane. The only thing it willaccomplish is that you will not
be an artist," Kapur was quoted
as saying.
With partnerships from a pub-
lisher and software companieslike Adobe and Ableton,
Kadenze also offers its premium
students discounts in supplies
and materials needed for the
courses.Students who want to take the
courses for credit can upgrade
for $300 per credit.
"Instead of spending $20,000to $30,000 per semester, which
is what it's costing, on Kadenze,
you will be able to do a semester
in $4,500," Kapur said.
Indian-Americandigitizes arts education
Washington, DC: A startup found-
ed by three Indians and a German
student at the Mississippi State
University (MSU) has received
$100,000, setting a record for pri-
vate investment in a student-run
startup at the university, a media
report said.
CampusKnot, founded by Rahul
Gopal, Hiten Patel, Perceus Mody
and Katja Walter, is an online edu-
cational hub designed to increase
collaboration among faculty and
students, the Clarion-Ledger news- paper reported. "We're excited, but
we're scared at the same time," said
Gopal, a senior aerospace engineer-
ing major at MSU. "It's funny, I
guess, how I feel about it, but I'm
looking forward to continuing to
grow the company." CampusKnot,
which is free to users, seeks to serve
as a single website for students at
MSU and other colleges and univer-
sities to easily reach teachers and
classmates, besides offering space
for faculty to post course syllabi and
related academic material. "The fac-
ulty will be the celebrities of thissite," Gopal said. "They can post
access to knowledge for their 'fans'."
CampusKnot debuted in 2013.
Since then, creators spent two years
refining their project at MSU's
Center for Entrepreneurship and
Innovation in the College of
Business. They won second-place in
the center's 2013 startup competi-
tion and, in December, earned a
$2,500-startup grant.
CampusKnot has moved into its
first office within the Thad Cochran
Research, Technology and
Economic Development Park's busi-ness incubator in Starkville city.
Mumbai: While many films in
India face obstacles due to its con-
tent, film festivals overseas provide
an ideal platform for them to be
showcased. One such initiative is
the Festival of Globe – Silicon
Valley (FOGSV) & San Francisco
Movie Fest that is scheduled to be
held 7-16 August. The festival com-
mittee is currently in the process of
short listing 30 films to be screened,
and have announced the three par-
ticular films that will represent India- 19th January, Unfreedom and
Oass.
These films have strong content,
storylines and messages that would
possibility face censorship and com-
munal issues in India. Each film is
selected through a strict screening
process by a panel of pas sionate
jury members. 19th January is a film
about the 1990 riots between
Kashmiri Pundits and Muslims and
is directed by Sanjay Amar.
Unfreedom, based on LGBT issues,
is a film that has been released in
various parts of the world except
India directed by Raj Amit Kumar.
Abhinav Tiwari’s Oass, starring
Yashpal Sharma is a gruesome
depiction of child trafficking seen
through the eyes of a little girl.
Speaking about the selection
actress Preeti Gupta of UNFREE-
DOM said, "I'm very delighted that
my film is screening in San
Francisco and it's a great honor.”
Actor and Festival Ambassador
Prashantt Guptha said, “I have yet to
see what controversy unfolds withmy film 19th January, as it hasn’t
yet released, or banned. But how
sad are the state of our affairs that
the one most powerful medium of
entertainment and information gets
so limited due to cultural hypocrisy
or various insecurities and
political/religious ideologies.”
Vikram David Amar
Ajay Kapur
Indian students get $100,000 funding for startup
Three controversial Indian films to be screened in San Francisco
Actor and Festival Ambassador Prashantt Guptha
Vikram David Amar named dean at University of Illinois College of Law
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8 August 1-7, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Houston: An
In d ian -Am er i can
scientist has been
awarded a $3 milliongrant for working on
treatment of diabetes
by using a virus that
can reduce glucose
level in blood.
The research is
based on human ade-
novirus 36, which
causes obesity in
humans and animals
bu t al so re du ce s
blood sugar.
"It's a little para-
doxical, because you
have an agent that is making an
animal fatter, so you would
expect their glucose levels todeteriorate," said Dr Nikhil
Dhurandhar, a professor and
chairman of the Department of
Nutr itional Sciences at Texas
Tech.
Dhurandhar received almost
$3 million from Vital Health
Interventions. Dhurandhar said
that he first noticed this phe-
nomenon years ago in rodents
while researching how the virus
causes obesity.
Dhurandhar isolated a protein
from the virus that is responsi-
ble for reducing blood sugar
and tested it on diabetic cells
and animals. The experimentshowed the protein improved
diabetes.
The next step for Dhurandhar
was to develop a drug that
could be tested on humans and
could be used to treat diabetes.
Dhurandhar, who is president
of the Obesity Society, has been
studying viral obesity for years,
which he started when he was a
physician in India focusing on
patients with obesity.
He holds a number of patents
for his work on adenovirus 36.
Washington, DC: Indian-American
Mary Thomas, a government attor-
ney in Florida, has said that she will
run for the US Congressional elec-
tions in November 2016.
If elected, Thomas, whose parents
arrived in American from India in
1972, would be the first woman
Indian-American lawmaker to be a
member of the US House of
Representatives.
Born in Charleston, South
Carolina, 37-year-old Thomas is a
Republican. She is pitted against
incumbent Gwen Graham of the
Democratic Party, who wrested the
Second Congressional District of
Florida from Republican Steve
Southerland in 2014.
Thomas, a personal friend of Florida Governor Rick Scott, told
local media that she is hoping to
create history by becoming the first
Indian-American woman to be
elected to the US Congress.
So far only three Indian-
Americans elected to the US
Congress are Dalip Singh Saundh,
Bobby Jindal and Ami Bera. From
California, Bera is the only Indian
American in the current Congress.
"I'm a conservative Republican, a
Christian, a wife, mother, and a
lawyer. If elected, I would be the
first Indian- American woman ever
elected to Congress. This would
truly be a historic event," Thomassaid during her campaign announce-
ment in Florida last week.
Thomas's parents, Tom and Annie
Thomas are physicians who immi-
grated from India in 1972. This is
why she has such strong opposition
to undocumented immigration. She
said the issue of illegal immigration
is "deeply personal to me and my
family."
"My family story is a shining
example of the American dream,"
she said. The Indian-American
attorney works as general counsel
for the Florida Department of Elder
Affairs. She plans to step down from
the post to campaign full time. Agraduate of the Florida State
University College of Law, she also
holds a Masters of Law from the
University of Miami and a
Bachelors degree from the
University of South Florida.
Thomas has been a member of
Governor Rick Scott 's
Administration since he was sworn
into office in January 2011. She cur-
rently serves as the General Counsel
at the Department of Elder Affairs
where she manages and oversees the
legal department of an agency that
administers a $900 million budget.
Washington, DC: Indian-
American Priya Gopal-Walker,
a survivor of child abuse, will
represent Washington in the
2015 Miss Teen USA Pageant
to be held in Bahamas.
Gopal-Walker, 17, will com-
pete with contestants from all
over from the US at the pag-
eant on August 21-22. She
made her entry to the pageant
after winning the Miss
Washington Teen USA crown,India West portal reported.
Gopal-Walker, who is of half
Indian and half American her-
itage, is a student at the
Academy of Arts and Sciences in Seattle.
She was to compete in 2012, but had to
pull out of the competition as she was fac-
ing physical and emotional abuse, the
report said.
The beauty queen said she
would like to use her title to
spread awareness on domestic
violence.
"I knew I needed time to
emotionally heal from what I
had gone through," Gopal-
Walker was quoted as saying
by the portal.
"Taking the time to get my
life restored, I believe, is part
of the reason I won this year. Ihave a strong message of hope
for those children who may
feel there is no hope or way to
get out of their fearful situa-
tion," she said.
"I now live with foster parents who love
me as though I am their own," Gopal-
Walker added.
New York: For the first time in five years,
people of Indian-origin organized a Rath
Yatra with bhajans and dancing that rever-
bera ted through the streets in St. Louis
County, Missouri, a media report said.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of devo-
tees pulled a chariot carrying the statues of
three deities from the Krishna Balaram
Temple at St. Louis to Queeny Park area,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper report-
ed.
"One of the things this event represents
is that deities, instead of staying in temple,are taken out in public for the purpose of
everyone and anyone being able to see
them," Yamuna Jivana Das, one of the
event organisers, was quoted as saying.
"We repeat the God's name with music
and dancing so that we can immerse into
his heart, so that you don't think of any-
thing else -- complete devotion, you
know," added Nina Desai, a follower from
Chesterfield area.
Many of the devotees attended the
prayers at the Krishna Bala ram Temple
that espouses a "Krishna Consciousness"
mantra.
Attorney Mary Thomas
Chariot carrying the statues of three deities
Dr Nikhil Dhurandhar
Priya Gopal-Walker
Nikhil Dhurandhar gets $3 milliongrant for treatment of diabetes
Priya Gopal-Walker to representWashington in Miss Teen pageant
Indians in St Louis organize chariotfestival after five years
Indian-American woman announcesher Congressional bid
-
8/20/2019 Vol.8 Issue 13- August 1-7, 2015
9/32
9August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info US AFFAIRS
Waller, TX: A Texas prosecutor
on Monday announced a commit-
tee of outside attorneys who willinvestigate the death of Sandra
Bland, who allegedly committed
suicide in a jail cell following a
traffic stop.
The group will "review evidence
as it comes in" on both Bland's
initial arrest and her untimely
death, Waller County District
Attorney Elton Mathis said at a
news conference. Mathis said the
committee would help his office to
answer the remaining questions
circulating around the case. The
committee will be led by former
prosecutors and defense attorneys
Lewis White and Darrell Jordan.
Bland's initial toxicology report
indicated that she had marijuana in
her system at the time of her
death. Mathis said the investiga-
tion into Bland's death would like-
ly go to the county grand jury
sometime in August.
Sandra Bland, 28, died in the
Waller County Jail after a traffic
stop in Prairie View, Texas, esca-
lated into a physical confrontation.
Her death has sparked intense
speculation on social media, with
many questioning how Bland
died.
Washington DC: The governing
body of the Boy Scouts of America
voted Monday to end its decades-
long ban on gay scout leaders.The organization's national exec-
utive board, meeting in Texas, con-
cluded that the policy of excluding
gay adults "was no longer legally
defensible." The decision was
approved by 79 percent of the
board.
While the national ban is gone,
effective immediately, local scout-
ing units retain the ability to reject
gay applicants for leadership posi-
tions if hiring them would violate
the unit's religious beliefs.
The Boy Scouts national organi-
zation said it would defend any
local scouting group's "good faith
refusal" to admit a scouting leader
based upon the group's religious
principles.
"For far too long this issue has
divided and distracted us," former
Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
Scouting's current president, said
in a statement. "Now it's time to
unite behind our shared belief in
the extraordinary power of scout-
ing to be a force for good in a com-
munity and in the lives of its youth
members." Protesting the new poli-
cy, the Mormon Church said it
might leave the organization. Its
stance surprised many and raised
questions about whether other con-
servative sponsors, including the
Roman Catholic Church, might
follow suit.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is deeply trou-
bled by today’s vote,” said a state-
ment issued by the church
moments after the Scouts
announced the new policy.
Harare: Wildlife officials on Tuesday
accused an American hunter of killing
Cecil, one of the oldest and most famous
lions in Zimbabwe, without a permit, after paying $50,000 to two people who lured
the beast to its death.
The lion was lured out of Hwange
National Park using a bait and was shot by
Walter James Palmer, Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) said.
LionAid, a conservation group, said
Cecil was wounded with a bow and arrow,and not shot dead until 40 hours later.
Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota who
received widespread criticism on social
media for killing Cecil, said on Tuesday he
had hired several professional guides who
secured permits for his bow hunting trip
and deeply regretted taking the lion.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: President Barack
Obama brought to Africa a frank message on
democracy, corruption and security that could
per haps be del ivered onl y by a West ern
leader viewed in Africa as a local son. "The
future of Africa is up to Africans," Obama
said during a trip to Kenya and Ethiopia that
concluded Tuesday. "For too long, I think
that many looked to the outside for salvation
and focused on somebody else being at fault
for the problems of the continent."
And with high-level African officials in the
audience for his remarks at African Union
headquarters, he launched a blistering and
sometimes sarcastic takedown of leaders who
refuse to leave office when their terms end.
"Let me be honest with you — I just don't
understand this," he said, drawing cheers
from many in the crowd. "I actually think I'm
a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I
could win. But I can't."
Obama's predecessors have also pushed for
good governance and respect for human
rights in Africa. But none had the instant
credibility African leaders confer on Obama,
whose visit was heralded as a homecoming.
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385
718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.com
American castigated for killing lion in Africa
Obama warns African Presidents who cling to power
Cecil was one of the oldest and most famous lions in Zimbabwe
President Obama
speaking to AfricanUnion onTuesday.
Founded in 1910, Boy Scoutsof America boasts 2.4 million
youth members and onemillion adult volunteers.
Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days after
arrest over not failin g tosignal while changing lanes
Outside lawyers to review SandraBland custody suicide case
Boy Scouts of Americaallows gay leaders
35 womenaccuse Cosby
of sexual assault
Thirty-five women who say
they were victims of sexual
abuse at the hands of comedi-
an Bill Cosby gave details of their
accusations in the latest edition of
New York Magazine, published ear-
lier this week. The women's black-
and-white photos of them seated in
similar poses - and next to a vacant
chair representing others who have
not been able to make their accusa-
tions public - appear on the maga-
zine's cover.
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10 August 1-7, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: Social worker Anshu
Gupta and whistleblower bureau-
crat Sanjiv Chaturvedi won the
pres tigious Ramon Magsaysay
awards for "enterprising leader-
ship" and for exposing corrup-
tion.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award
Foundation said Gupta, 45, was
being recognized for "his cre-
ative vision in transforming the
culture of giving in India, his
enterprising leadership in treat-
ing cloth as a sustainable devel-
opment resource for the poor".
The award citation also credit-
ed Gupta with "reminding the
world that true giving always
respects and preserves human
dignity".
The foundation saidChaturvedi, 40, was being recog-
nized for "his exemplary integri-
ty, courage and tenacity in
uncompromisingly exposing and
painstakingly investigating cor-
ruption in public office, and his
resolute crafting programmes
and system improvements to
ensure that government hon-
ourably serves the people of
India".
Established in 1957, the
Ramon Magsaysay Award is
Asia's highest honour and is
widely regarded as the region's
equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Chaturvedi, currently thedeputy secretary at the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), told IANS: "Got the
award by God's grace. I did not
give befitting reply to anyone,God did."
Chaturvedi, a 2002-batch
Indian Forest Service officer,
exposed corruption as the Chief
Vigilance Officer (CVO) of
AIIMS. The union health min-
istry is yet to approve Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's
request to appoint him an Officer
on Special Duty (OSD) in the
Delhi government.
Gupta heads the NGO Goonj,
which believes in reusing clothes
and other material to turn into a
valuable resource, to create "a
para llel economy which is not
cash-based but trash-based".An elated Gupta said: "I am
certainly very happy to receive
this award... Our work has been
recognized."
Other winners announced onWednesday are Kommaly
Chanthavong of Laos, Ligaya
Fernando-Amilbangsa of the
Philippines and Kyaw Thu from
Myanmar.
The Magsaysay awards cele-
brate the memory and leadership
example of the third Philippine
president after whom the award
is named.
It is given every year to indi-
viduals or organisations in Asia
who manifest the same selfless
service and transformative influ-
ence that ruled the life of the late
Filipino leader.
The five 2015 Magsaysayawardees join the community of
307 other Magsaysay laureates
who have received the honour to
date.
Nagpur/Mumbai: Yakub Abdul Razzak
Memon, convicted in the March 12, 1993
Mumbai serial blasts, was hanged till death at
Maharashtra's Nagpur Central Jail on July 30
morning, officials said.
He was sent to the gallows -- on his 54th birthday -- after several of his court appeals
and clemency petitions were rejected by vari-
ous courts, including the Bombay High Court,
the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra governor
and the president of India.
Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. A medical
team at the jail pronounced him dead a short
while later, at 7.01 a.m.
Later, his body was sent for an autopsy in
the jail hospital by a medical team from a
Nagpur government hospi tal, before being
cleared for the last rites.
Initially, the jail authorities were not
inclined to hand over the body and planned to
perform the last rites in an isolated spot in the
jail campus.
After the hanging, Memon's brother Sulaiman submitted an application to the jail
authorities, demanding handing over of the
body to enable them perform the last rites in
Mumbai.
The request was immediately processed and
permission - with stringent conditions - was
granted and the body handed over.It was taken to Nagpur airport and flowing
in an air ambulance for the funeral rites sched-
uled on Thursday evening.
Mumbai police have deployed tight security
in Mahim area where the Memon's home is
located and at other sensitive places in the city
and the state.
Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis will
make a statement in the MaharashtraLegislature later in the day.
The legal battle continued till barely a few
hours before his hanging.
Memon was the first -- and only convict out
of 100 in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case -
- whose hanging was upheld by the Supreme
Court. The death sentence of 11 others was
commuted to life.
A Mumbai Special Court had sentenced him
to death in July 2007.
The death warrant was issued by a Special
TADA Court judge on April 29, scheduling
the execution for July 30.
Maharashtra had started preparations for the
noose for Memon almost three weeks ago.
Memon filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme
Court, followed by a clemency plea with theMaharashtra governor, again a fresh plea in
the apex court and a final appeal with the
president of India.
Nagpur: The body of Yakub Memon, the
Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict who
was hanged here, has been handed over to
his family, the authorities said.
Initially, the jail authorities were not
inclined to hand over the body and planned
to perform the last rites in an isolated spot
in the jail campus. After the hanging,
Memon's brother Sulaiman submitted an
application to the jail authorities, urging
the body be handed over to enable the fam-
ily perform the last rites in Mumbai.
The request was immediately processed
and permission - with stringent conditions -
was granted and the body handed over.
It was taken to Nagpur airport and flown
in an air ambulance to Mumbai for the
funeral rites scheduled on Thursday
evening.
In 2013, the body of Afzal Guru, who
was hanged for his involvement in the
2001 parliament attack case, was not hand-ed over to his family. His last rites were
performed in Delhi's Tihar jail.
Yakub's body handedover to family
1993 Mumbai blast accused Yakub Memon hanged
A file photo ofYakub Abdul Razzak Memon.
Social worker Anshu Gupta andwhistleblower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
Anshu Gupta, Sanjiv Chaturvedi winMagsaysay awards
Indian author in ManBooker Prize longlist
London: Indian author Anuradha Roy is among the 13
people longlisted for the presti-
gious Man Booker Prize for
2015, it was announced this
week.
Roy was longlisted for her
book 'Sleeping on Jupiter'.
The 13 books in the longlist
included British author Tom
McCarthy's Satin Island, British
writer Andrew O'Hagan's The
Illuminations and Indian-origin
Sunjeev Sahota's The Year of theRunaways, Xinhua reported.
These 13 works of fiction were
selected from 156 books for this
year's prize by a five-judge
panel. The shortlist of six books
will be announce in September
and this year's winner will be
announced on October 13.
Man Booker Prize, first award-
ed in 1969, is recognized as the
leading prize for high quality lit-
erary fiction written in English.
Indian author Anuradha Roy.
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11August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh said
India will give a befitting reply to any terror activ-
ity launched in India from across the border.
"Any attempts to attack the unity and integrity
of India will get a befitting reply. We are dedicat-
ed to stopping all terror activities being done from
across the border," he said while making a state-
ment in the Rajya Sabha on the terrorist attack in
Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district of Punjab
on July 27.
The home minister informed the Rajya Sabha
that the three terrorists might have infiltrated tak-
ing advantage of heavy rains and swollen 'nullahs'
along the India-Pakistan border.
In his statement made amid a din and anti-gov-
ernment slogans by the opposition, Rajnath Singhalso lauded the Punjab Police for neutralising the
three terrorists.
He said that information was being gathered
from the Global Positioning System device seized
from the terrorists who, he said, also had a night
vision device.
The union home minister said that the Border
Security Force was always on the alert though
some terrorist might have succeeded in infiltrating
due to heavy rains and swelling of rivers and nul-
lahs on the border.
Dinanagar (Punjab): Three civilians and
four security personnel, including a super-
intendent of police, were killed when three
heavily-armed terrorists said to be from
Pakistan went on a killing spree here, shat-
tering two decades of calm in Punjab andsparking an 11-hour gun battle that left all
three attackers dead.
It took several hours for Punjab Police
commandos to eliminate the terrorists
who, in military fatigues, stormed a police
station complex in Dinanagar town in
Gurdaspur district, once a hotbed of mili-
tancy and adjoining Pakistan, taking secu-
rity forces by surprise.
Dinanagar is located barely 15 km from
the Pakistan border. Punjab Director
General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini
told the media: “We (Punjab Police)
engaged them and killed all three terror-
ists. We lost four security personnel. The
terrorists were well armed with good
firearms and good ammunition and were
carrying GPS sets."
Asked if there was a Pakistani hand in
the mayhem, he said: “It is too early to say
from where they have come.”
This was the first major terror attack in
Punjab after the assassination of then chief
minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995
in Chandigarh, joint capital of Punjab and
Haryana.
The final assault by the SWAT (Special
Weapons and Tactics) team of Punjab
Police on the complex ended with inter-
mittent firing and grenade attacks from
both sides.
In an emotional outburst, locals raisedslogans hailing the Punjab Police.
Superintendent of Police Baljit Singh
succumbed to injuries suffered in the gun
battle between security forces and terror-
ists who were holed up in the complex,
officials said.
The dead included three civilians, one of
whom was shot dead in a bus stand and
two others who were killed in a hospital
near the police complex. Three Home
Guards in the complex were also killed.
Police officials admitted the complex
was a soft target. "We were hit by a burst
of gunfire. I was hit on the shoulder," said
a police sub-inspector in the morning ashe was taken to a hospital. "They are fir-
ing indiscriminately every five minutes."
The clearly well-planned attack took the
small town of Dinanagar by surprise.
Gurdaspur district borders Pakistan on one
side and Jammu and Kashmir on the other.
That the terror attack was multi-pronged
was evident from the recovery of five
bombs on the Amr it sar -Pa tha nko t rai l
track. The discovery took place minutes
before a passenger train was to cross the
section.
Terror strikes Punjab after two decades
Security personnel take positions outside Dinanagar police station, wherethe heavily-armed terrorists were holed up.
India will givebefitting reply to
terror: Rajnath
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The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
By Amitava Mukherjee
V
ery quietly, a very important thing happened in the
BJP on July 20 when L.K. Advani was not invited to
parti cipate in the NDA meeting although he has been its working chairman for a long time.
The cardinal mistake committed by Advani has been his
failure to go by the dictum that a person should quit when
others implore him not to quit. Instead he has willy nilly cre-
ated a situation when many of his party members are won-
dering why he is not quitting.
At a BJP national executive meeting some time back,
Advani did not, or rather was not allowed to, speak. More
galling for the octogenarian leader was the BJP's decision
not to invite him at all to the foundation day celebration of
the party on April 3. Obviously, Advani would have done
better had he followed Atal Bihari Vajpayee's example of
voluntarily retiring from active politics at a much earlier
date.
However, as one of the founders of the BJP, Advani cer-
tainly deserves better treatment from not just his party col-
leagues but also the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
as he is perhaps the forerunner of much of the postulates on
which the BJP under Narendra Modi's leadership could
secure the thumping victory in the last Lok Sabha elections.
The real reason behind Advani becoming a fall guy in the
BJP is his ideological difference with the RSS, which he
first openly articulated by his praise of Mohammed Ali
Jinnah. It was certainly a calculated move to broaden the
BJP's political base. But the RSS had failed to pick up the
point and, living in the old world of its own, it immediately
set about isolating not only Advani but Jaswant Singh as
well who had also written in the same vein.
Advani's fate was further sealed when the BJP, under his
leadership, failed to capture power during the 2009 parlia-
mentary elections. After that, and to stem the cacophony of differences among the second-rung leadership of the BJP,
Advani had tendered his resignation as leader of opposition
in the Lok Sabha but again made the fatal mistake of with-
drawing it. Had Advani stuck to his decision, his departure
would have been more graceful now.
In spite of the hard line Hindutva image which Advani has
acquired in his political career - first in the Jana Sangh and
then in the BJP - it should be admitted that he is basically a
secular man. It is true that his Rath Yatra in the 1990s and
his association with the chain of events leading to the
destruction of the Babri Masjid are two blots not only in his
politi cal career but in his persona too. Still he has been
unable to efface them, although they gave his party rich
political dividends in elections. From two Lok Sabha seats
in 1984 the BJP became the single largest party in 1996 by
riding on the strident Hindutva hype which Advani had gen-
erated in the 1990s.
Today, with other backward class (OBC) people like
Narendra Modi as the prime minister and Shivra j Singh
Chouhan as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP's
Brahmin-Bania based former narrow social base stands
widely extended. But it would be a mistake if the party does
not acknowledge Advani's contribution to this.
(Amitava Mukherjee is a senior journalist and
commentator)
By Sitaram Yechury
Afundamental question regarding the
role of Parliament in our constitu-
tional republic has come to the fore-
front in the background of the current disrup-
tions. The issues under contention causing
these disruptions are the serious allegations
of misuse of office pertaining to the Union
minister for external affairs and the chief
minister of Rajasthan regarding the undue
favors they have shown to a fugitive from
Indian law.
It is alleged that their recommendations, as
leaders of the opposition in the then
Parliament and assembly respectively, facili-
tated this fugitive’s efforts to remain beyond
the jurisdiction of Indian law. It is alleged
that they facilitated the procuring of a legal
travel document for this fugitive from a for-eign government.
The BJP, naturally, refuses to accept this
charge by saying that these actions were
prompted by feelings of humanism to help
the fugitive to attend to his ailing wife. Many
media reports have shown how this limited
objective could have been done ensuring the
return of the fugitive to be tried under Indian
law without recommending the issue of a
general travel document.
Parliamentary disruptions are also connect-
ed with the demand for action on serious
allegations against the Madhya Pradesh chief
minister in the Vyapam scam. This scam rep-
resents a deadly cocktail of crime and cor-
ruption that has claimed the lives of scores of
people, many outside the state.Regarding the former, the BJP argues that
such recommendations do not constitute an
act of corruption. The Prevention of
Corruption Act 1988, Article 13 (1) (d) (iii)
states, ‘while holding office as a public ser-
vant, obtains for any person any valuable
thing or pecuniary advantage without any
publ ic inter est’. Surely, obtaining a travel
document from a foreign country when the
Indian passport of the fugitive is declared
invalid under law is a ‘valuable thing’.
This government charges the Opposition
with avoiding a discussion in Parliament
when they are prepared to allow one. The
Opposition correctly maintains that a parlia-
mentary discussion cannot be a substitute for
an investigation. These are serious charges
that need to be investigated at the highestlevel.
Much has appeared in the public domain
on the positions taken by the minister for
external affairs as the leader of Opposition in
the Lok Sabha and the union finance minis-
ter as the leader of the Opposition in the
Rajya Sabha when similar disruptions
rocked Parliament during the UPA govern-
ment’s tenure.
The eternal message is the sovereignty of
the people and its primacy in our
Constitutional system. The people exercise
this sovereignty through their elected parlia-
mentarians who, in turn, are accountable to
the people by making the government
accountable to Parliament. The executive
and the legislature, given their responsibility
under the Constitution to manage publicaffairs, are in the final analysis accountable
to the people. Accountability, in fact, differ-
entiates a democracy from other systems of
governance.
Parliament, thus, can only ensure executive
accountability through effective legislative
scrutiny, not through a debate but by pres-
surising the executive to order an investiga-
tion into the allegations. This BJP govern-
ment is escaping being accountable behind
the veil of conducting a “debate for debate’s
sake”. It is this BJP government that is today,
thus, causing parliamentary disruptions.
Recollect how a modern western democra-
cy deals with similar situations. The resigna-
tion of Peter Mandelson from the Tony Blair
government in Britain is appropriate. In early
2001, British media reported that Mandelson
had raised money for the ‘millennium dome’
from the Hinduja brothers, in return for a
‘favour’ of securing a passport for one of
them, Srichand.The passport was delivered within six
months of applying against the average 20
months, in breach of the British Nationality
Act, 1981. There was a hue and cry in the
British Parliament. Mandelson had to resign
though Srichand Hinduja was not accused of
wrongdoings and was not a fugitive from
justice.
Also, the ‘millennium dome’ was a nation-
al edifice. Further, there was no suggestion
of any “cosy relationship” between the two.
It was the sheer impropriety of the act of rec-
ommendation for which Mandelson had to
resign. Wither PM Modi’s “good gover-
nance” promises?
(Sitaram Yechury is general secretary of the CPI(M) and a Rajya Sabha MP. The
views expressed are personal)
Doesn't Mr. Advani deserve better?
12 August 1-7, 2015 TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED
Don’t debate for debate’s sake, probe Sushma
BJP veteran LK Advani was not invited to participatein the NDA meeting although he has been its
working chairman for a long time.
Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
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Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu): Former presi-
dent A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was laid to rest here
with full military honors in the presence of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several
other leaders.
The People's President's body, draped in the
Indian tricolor was brought to the burial site
at Pei Karumbu in a flower-bedecked gun car-
riage, escorted by columns of the three armedservices.
A gun salute was accorded to the former
supreme commander of the armed forces and
a military band played the haunting Last Post.
Modi, who arrived here on Thursday morn-
ing, paid his last respects to the country's
youth icon and most popular president by lay-
ing a wreath.
Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, union
Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar
Parrikar and Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu
ministers like O.Panneerselvam, Natham R.
Viswanathan and others also paid their last
respects to Kalam.
Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam, Kerala
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy were also
pr es en t, as was An dh ra Pr ad es h Ch ie f
Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and
other party leaders also paid their last respects
to Kalam - also known as India's Missile
Man. Earlier the mortal remains of Kalam
were taken to the family mosque for prayers.
His family members also reached here. "All
our relatives have also arrived to attend the
last rites," A.P.J.M.K. Sheik Saleem, the for-
mer president's brother's grandson, said.
The Tamil Nadu government declared a
pu bl ic ho li da y un de r th e Nego ti ab le
Instruments Act. Banks, insurance compa-
nies, schools and colleges are closed through-
out the state. The government has also
ordered closure of liquor shops and bars
throughout the state.
New Delhi: A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam backed the nuclear
deal India inked with theUnited States in 2005 and
it is a "total canard" that
the then president (Kalam)
was reluctant to appoint
Sonia Gandhi as the prime
minister, former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh
has said. "This is a canard
be in g sp re ad (a bo ut
Kalam's reluctance); there
is no truth in that," said
Manmohan Singh in his
first interview since demit-
ting office to Karan Thapar
on India Today TV. "Kalam never ques-
tioned who will spearhead...that was a privi-
lege given under the constitution to the par ty. Anything tha t is said on tha t area
would not be true," the former prime minis-
ter said.
Manmohan Singh confirmed that Abdul
Kalam gave him great support during the
run-up to the Indo-US nuclear deal of 2005
and said he spoke to Samajwadi Party lead-
ers Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh to per-
suade them to support the deal rather than
vote against it.
The former prime minister said he suggest-
ed to Mulayam Singh to go meet Kalam
who, Manmohan Singh added, "totally
endorsed" the nuclear deal.
About his relations with Kalam, who
passed away on Monday, Manmohan Singh
said: "I served him as the prime minister for
more than three years; he was the one whoadministered oath of secrecy to me. My rela-
tionship with him was that of great friend-
ship; he recognised the problems I had in
managing a difficult coalition government."
"I took caution of keeping the president
fully in the picture (on the nuclear deal)," the
former prime minister said, adding he
briefed Kalam on all developments with
regard to the deal.
"I was very happy when he endorsed what
we were doing," he said.
"When I faced a vote of confidence, he
was not the president but he still played an
important role..." the senior Congress leader
said.
He said the situation was difficult and he
discussed it with Samajwadi Party leaders
Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh.
"I was discussing these matters with Amar
Singh ji, and Mulayam Singh ji...with great
difficulty we managed to persuade them to
relook at their stand. It occurred to me that
Mulayam Singh had great regard for
Kalam..."
Singh said he then urged the SP leaders tomeet Kalam.
"They went to see Abdul Kalam...he told
them this deal is in national interest...and we
won the vote of confidence."
People's PresidentKalam laid to rest
New Delhi: President
Pranab Mukherjee has
said no president was
ever loved so much like
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
was and the "people's
pr es id en t' s" de mi se
overwhelmed him with
a sense of tremendous
loss.
"No president was
ever loved so much...
Watching Kalam enjoy
the company of chil-
dren and students, it
seemed as if he was
(Jawaharlal) Nehru in another form,"
Mukherjee told media persons.
The president said he was shocked when
he heard the unexpected news of Kalam'sdemise. "A sense of tremendous loss over-
whelmed me," he said.
"Kalam was always jovial but carried his
years lightly. His mind was ever agile. He
was humble but had a mighty mind. He was
the people's president during his tenure as
president and will continue to remain so in
the hearts of people after his demise,"
Mukherjee said.
"I am deeply saddened by Kalam's unex-
pected demise. He would have completed
84 years in October. There is only a four
year difference between us. He was born in
October 1931 and I was born in December
1935," Mukherjee said.
"I, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and a
couple of others were present. The techni-cal aspects of the tests at Pokhran II was
explained by Kalam through an impressive
presen tat ion . (Atal Bihari ) Vajpay ee ji,
ministers and other political leaders
analysed it from the political angle," the
president said.
"I was defense minister in the UPA-I gov-
ernment when he was the president andsupreme commander of the armed forces.
He asked me to support the Brahmos mis-
sile project. His direct encouragement
resulted in the Brahmos being used by all
the three services," Mukherjee said.
"Kalam's contributions enhanced our
defence capabilities," Mukherjee added.
"Kalam used to often write poetry.
Sometimes, while paying respects to
departed soldiers at 'Amar Jawan Jyoti', he
would compose a poem and quietly pass it
on to me. I received two/three poems like
this," the president recalled.
Their friendship developed because they
had a common passion-books, he said.
"He loved books and lived amongst them.
Moreover, he was a prolific writer. This passion brought us together. When we met
and the few times he came to see me, we
would discuss books. What each one was
reading or what he was writing...."
No president was ever loved somuch like Kalam: Pranab
13August 1-7, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRIBUTE TO DR. KALAM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays homage to the former President
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at the burial site in Rameswaram.
President Pranab Mukherjee pays tribute to former president
APJ Abdul Kalam at 10 Rajaji Marg in New Delhi.People pay tribute to former president APJ Abdul Kalam in
Rameswaram on July 29.
Kalam endorsed nuclear deal:Manmohan Singh
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Much before he became "a people's
President" in 2002, Avul Pakir
Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was
already a national icon as the "Missile Man of
India", an inspiration to children and scientists
around the country. Known more for his inspi-
rational leadership with the scientists who
worked under him being fiercely loyal, Kalam
was the brainchild behind the launch of the
country's indigenous integrated guided missile
development program (IGMDP) in 1983.
Incidentally, the defence minister at that time
was R Venkataraman, who too went on to
become the country's President.
Though dogged by time and cost overruns,
the IGMDP laid the foundations from which
India gate-crashed into the super-exclusive club
of nations that can now boast of being capable
of developing inter-continental ballistic missile
(ICBM), the over 5,000-km Agni-V missile,
which is capable of hitting even the northern-
most part of China.
Kalam, as DRDO chief, and DAE director R
Chidambaram played a pivotal role in covertly
planning and organizing Pokhran-II nuclear
tests in the Thar Desert in 1998, successfullymanaging to fool US satellites and other intelli-
gence-gathering mechanisms. "In him (Kalam),
we found a perfect harmony between science
and spirituality," former Deputy Prime Minister
L K Advani.
Born on October 15, 1931, at Rameswaram
in Tamil Nadu, Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen
Abdul Kalam, specialized in aeronautical engi-
neering from Madras Institute of Technology.
Dr Kalam made significant contribution as
project director to develop India's first indige-
nous satellite launch vehicle (SLV-III) which
successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the
near earth orbit in 1980 & made India an exclu-sive member of Space Club.
As chairman of Technology Information,
Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC)
and as an eminent scientist, he led the country
with the help of 500 experts to arrive at
Technology Vision 2020 giving a road map for
transforming India from the present developing
status to a developed nation.
Dr Kalam has served as the principal scientif-
ic advisor to the government of India, in the
rank of Cabinet minister, from November 1999
to November 2001 and was responsible for
evolving policies, strategies and missions for
many development applications. Dr Kalam was
also the chairman, ex-officio, of the scientific
advisory committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C)
and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020. Dr
Kalam took up academic pursuit as professor,
technology & societal transformation at Anna
University, Chennai from November 2001 and
was involved in teaching and research tasks.
Above all he took up a mission to ignite the
young minds for national development by
meeting high school students across the coun-
try. In his literary pursuit four of Dr Kalam's
books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision
for the New Millennium", "My journey" and
