Vol 7 Issue 30 - Nov 22-28, 2014

The South Asian Times
e x c e l l e n c e
Vol.7 No. 30 November 22-28, 2014 60 Cents
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Obama unveils immigration reform,

setting up fight with GOP
Obama's plan would let some 4.4 million who are parents of US citizens and Green
Card holders remain in the country temporarily, without the threat of deportation.
Washington: President Barack
Obama imposed the most sweeping
immigration reform in a generation
on Thursday, easing the threat of
deportation for some 4.7 million
undocumented immigrants and setting up a clash with Republicans
who vow to fight his moves,
Reuters reported.
In a White House speech, Obama
rejected Republican arguments that
his decision to bypass Congress
and take executive action was tantamount to amnesty for illegal
immigrants. It was his biggest use
of executive actions in a year in
which they have become his
Continued on page 4
Asian Americans welcome immigration relief
Obama speaking on immigration reform from White House.
Lone Indian American Congressman

Ami-Bera stages comeback win
Washington: SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) has

welcomed the immigration relief provided in Presidents Executive
action. SAALT Executive Director Suman Raghunathan said in a statement: "Our nation becomes stronger when aspiring Americans can
emerge from the shadows and live without fear. As an organization
deeply committed to fair, inclusive, and just immigration reform for
South Asians nationwide, we welcome President Obamas historic step
toward a longstanding, comprehensive solution to our nation's broken
immigration system. Today's proposed Executive Order could provide
relief for over 4 million undocumented aspiring Americans, including
tens of thousands - if not more - South Asians.
Coupled with proposals to expand available visas and address long
wait times for many immigrants, this relief is welcome news to South
Asians nationwide as we continue to work toward a legislative solution. The Asian American Legal Defense And Continued on page 4
Modis rock star turn in Sydney

Prime Minister
Narendra Modis profile and popularity
keeps growing globally as witnessed in
his recent 10-day
3-nation trip. He is on
the shortlist for Time
magazines Person of
the Year. In a replay
of the crowd & the
euphoria at New
York's MSG, he was
cheered lustily by
over 16,000 Indian
Australians at the
Allphones Arena in
Sydney, where he
promised to fulfill
their expectations of
a resurgent India.
(Also see pages 12-14)
By Arun Kumar
Washington: Amiresh Ami
Bera, the lone Indian American
lawmaker in the US House of
Representatives, repeated history
as he edged out his Republican
opponent in a California race two
weeks after the elections.
Bera, who had won in a similar
fashion in 2012, trailed
Republican Doug Ose by more
than 3,000 votes at the close of
election night and steadily closed
the gap as election ofcials tallied tens of thousands of remaining ballots. He Wednesday led
Doug by 1,432 votes with nearly
all ballots counted in the seat
Continued on page 4
BOLLYWOOD 16
Ami Bera has won

Californias 7th
Congressional District race.
SPORTS 24
ASTROLOGY 29
SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30
excellence in journalism
November 22-28, 2014
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Forum discusses womens issues in India with Lok Sabha Speaker

By Jinal Shah
New York: The Indian Consulate in
New York organized Tuesday the
rst ever womens forum, which attracted distinguished women to discuss issues relating to womens development and their contribution to
India-US relations with Indias Lok
Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Indian and Indian-American
women from government, banking,
medicine, performing arts, real estate, media and more discussed issues ranging from womens safety
to gender equality, from domestic
violence to girl education and how
they can contribute to the empowerment of women back home.
Addressing the forum, Mahajan
admitted that rise of ripe cases is a
huge issue but not exclusive to India. It is not that women are unsafe
or raped only in India, there are rape
cases even in the US but Indians
and our media are highly sensitive
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumita Mahajan speaking at another event

held at Royal Alberts Palace in New Jersey.
(photo: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia)
regarding the issue, she replied to

a question about womens safety
post-Nirbhaya case.
To empower women and girl
child in India, Mahajan listed
schemes launched by government
Rep. Mengs bill will expedite J1

visas for Indian & Pakistani docs
New York: U.S. Rep. Grace Meng
(D-NY), a member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced legislation Wednesday asking State Department to speed-up
the visa approval process for Indian
and Pakistani physicians who are
scheduled to work at hospitals in the
US.
The bill seeks to remedy the difculty that international physicians
especially doctors from India and
Pakistan have encountered in securing J-1 visas from American
Embassies in their countries. The
problem has created major dilemmas for the physicians and the US
hospitals where they are set to
work. In many instances, the long
visa delays resulted in hospitals being forced to withdraw offers to the
physicians who had already accepted, effectively preventing them
from entering the country at all.
Said Meng, The long waits not
only impact the plans and commitments that these physicians have
made to U.S. hospitals but also affect the millions of Americans who
depend on these facilities for critical
medical treatment, particularly in
communities where there is a shortage of doctors. It is critical that this
inefcient approval process be
Congresswoman Grace Meng
xed, and my bill is a quick and

easy way to do it.
Under Mengs legislation, entitled
the Grant Residency for Additional
Doctors (GRAD) Act of 2014, a
designated State Department ofcial facilitate the expedited review
of J-1 visa applicants who are slated to travel to the U.S for graduate
medical education or training. The
J-1 is a temporary nonimmigrant
visa that international physicians
use to work in U.S. medical residency programs.
including Ladli Laxmi, which lays a

rm foundation of girls future
through improvement in her educational and economic status; Beti
Bachao, Beti Padhao, (save the girl
child and educate her scheme) and
US has 450,000 illegal

immigrants from India
Washington: As President Obama
mulls executive action to give relief
from deportation to some of the 11.2
million illegal immigrants in the
US, a new report says that about
450,000 of them are from India.
In fact, India is the fourth top
source country of unauthorized immigrants after top-ranked Mexico,
according to the report based on the
2012 census, released Tuesday by
the Pew Research Centre, a Washington think tank.
Ranking second, with considerably fewer unauthorized immigrants than Mexico, is El Salvador
(675,000 in 2012), followed by
Guatemala
(525,000),
India
(450,000), Honduras (350,000),
China (300,000) and the Philippines
(200,000).
Republican leaders, who will control both houses of Congress next
year as a result of the November
elections, have warned Obama that
any executive action would torpedo
the chances for a bipartisan immigration reform bill.
India is the largest birth country of
unauthorized immigrants in New
Hampshire, the report said.
New Jersey had the biggest gain
in between 2009 and 2012, jumping
75,000 to 525,000 as many immigrants from India and Ecuador
crossed illegally into the state.
Roshni, a skill development scheme

aimed at the rural youth. She urged
women to extend their support and
contribute in whatever way possible. Among those who attended the
forum, organized by Consul General Amb. Dnyaneshwar Mulay, was
Meera Gandhi, head of The Giving
Back Foundation, Dr Farah Usmani, of UN Population Fund, and
Dr Uma Mysorekar, President, Hindu Temple Society of North America. Mahajan, an 8-time BJP MP
from Madhya Pradesh, was in New
York for the second meeting of the
Preparatory Committee of the
Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments at the United Nations.
Earlier while addressing a session
on 'Mainstreaming gender equality'
at the preparatory committee meeting of the Fourth World Conference
of Speakers of Parliaments in New
York, Mahajan said, Mainstreaming gender equality is indeed central
to the ideal of development. Gender

equality and empowerment of
women have a critical role to play
in the development process, particularly through a multiplier effect."
She added "India is fully committed to the promotion of gender
equality and for utilizing enabling
technologies, particularly information and communications technology for the empowerment of
women."
At the luncheon organized in New
Jersey by the committee formed to
host a community reception for
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
September, Mahajan lauded the Indian-American community for their
achievements both here and back
home in India. Work is not over, a
lot needs to be done, especially in
education and healthcare she reminded the audience, and urged
them to help in the various new initiatives undertaken by the Modi
government.
Residents protest Nassau's

school zone speed cameras
Mineola, NY: Dozens protested

last Sunday in Mineola to oppose
Nassau County's controversial
school-zone speed cameras,
many holding signs with messages like "Scameras are revenue
raisers not life savers" and "We
are not your ATM."
About 70 people gathered outside the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building.
"We want all the tickets dismissed, the ending of the program and money returned,"
one of them demanded.

Earlier this month, Democrat
legislators called on the county to
halt the controversial schoolzone speed camera program, calling it a "debacle" aimed more at
making money than improving
safety.
The lawmakers held a news
conference to urge County Executive Edward Mangano to end or
suspend the 4-month-old program until prominent warning
signs are installed at sites.
TURN PAGE
Asian Americans welcome ...

Continued from page 1
Education Fund (AALDEF), said in a statement "We
welcome President Obama's use of executive authority
to provide relief from deportation to millions of
undocumented immigrants and their families. The
Asian American population nationwide is 19 million,
and close to 1.5 million Asian immigrants are undocumented. Current deportation and detention policies
have separated Asian American families, harmed lowwage workers, and created fear and mistrust of local
law enforcement.
With the continued failure of Congress to enact comprehensive legislation, President Obama's action to
delay the deportation of millions of undocumented
immigrants is long overdue. In our exit poll of 4,100
Asian American voters in the 2014 midterm elections,
65% expressed their support for executive action on
immigration. The measures announced tonight are an
important step in the right direction, in order to ensure
that the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws adheres
to human rights principles and reects American val-
ues of fairness and family unity.

Lone Indian American ...
covering suburban Sacramento county, media reported. Bera, the third Indian American House member
after Dalip Singh Saund and current Louisiana
Governor Bobby Jindal, had ousted then sitting
Republican House member Dan Lungren in 2012. Its
been my honor serving this community as a doctor for
the last 19 years and I am grateful I will have the
opportunity to continue serving as the representative
for Californias 7th Congressional District in
Congress, Bera said in a statement. Ose congratulated Bera on the hard fought win saying he celebrates
the fact that our institutions and our laws provide us a
system whereby elections can be peacefully resolved.
The race was deemed the most expensive one with
both candidates spending at least $19.6 million in the
campaign, according to the Centre for Responsive
Politics. Former US president Bill Clinton too had
come to rally support for the embattled Bera.
One Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

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SIAEA President Mihir Patel (5th from left), Lok Sabha Speaker
Sumitra Mahajan (to his left), executive committee members,
and guests at the gala.
SIAEA holds its glittering 34th gala in NYC

New York: SIAEA (Society of
Indo American Engineers and
Architects) held its 34th Annual
Gala Dinner on November 15 at
Grand Hyatt at Grand Central, NY
attended by 880 guests and dignitaries. Speaker of Lok Sabha in
India, Sumitra Mahajan, graced
the occasion, lauding the achievements of the Indian diaspora in her
speech. Consul General of India
Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay also
spoke. In his presidential address,
Mihir Patel stated that SIAEA has
opened its first chapter in
Philadelphia. We are planning to
open DC chapter this December
and Chicago chapter in March
Obama unveils immigration...

signature way of working around congressional gridlock. "Amnesty is the immigration system we have today, millions of people who
live here without paying their taxes or playing
by the rules," he said.
Republicans pounced quickly, charging
Obama had overstepped his constitutional
powers a year after declaring he did not have
the authority to act on his own.
In a video released before Obama's televised
speech, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner
said: The president has said before that hes not king and
hes not an emperor, but he sure is acting like one."
With 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United
States, Obama's plan would let some 4.4 million who are
parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents
remain in the country temporarily, without the threat of
deportation. Those undocumented residents could apply
legally for jobs and join American society, but not vote or
qualify for insurance under the president's healthcare law.
The measure would apply to those who have been in the
United States for at last five years. An additional 270,000
people would be eligible for relief under the expansion of a
2012 move by Obama to stop deporting people brought illegally to the United States as children by their parents.
The president, speaking two weeks after he and his
Democrats were trounced in midterm elections, appeared
confident and determined at the White House podium.
Outside, pro-migrant demonstrators watched his speech on
2015. Our goal is to open three

chapters every year, he said.
Other key speakers were
Dominick M Servedio, Executive
Chairman, STV Group, Inc, and
Carmen Bianco, President, NYCT.
2014 Achievements awards were
given to Abhay Wadhwa, Ahmed
Shakir, Amil Patel, Mita Amin,
Nayan Parikh, Nitin Patel, Sharon
Lobo, Snehal Patel, Sunil Bald.
Young & Under 40 awards went to
Alok Saksena and Manan Garg.
10 students of engineering and
architecture were given scholarships of $2000 each. MC was
Trisha Guduru, Miss South Asia
International 2014.
their smartphones and chanted support for him.

"Si se puede (Yes we can)," they shouted and sang the
American national anthem. Obama urged Republicans not to
take steps against his plan that could lead to a government
shutdown, raising the specter of a crisis that some conservatives would like to push but Republican leaders of Congress
want to avoid. Republicans were blamed for a shutdown over
spending a year ago and are seeking ways to deny funding
for his immigration steps without provoking a year-end
budget crisis. "Congress certainly shouldn't shut down our
government again just because we disagree on this," Obama
said. Obama's moves have ramifications for the campaign to
succeed him in 2016 by possibly solidifying Hispanic support behind Democrats. Republican candidates may tread
carefully around the issue to avoid a Latino backlash. But
polls show many Americans would prefer Obama not to act
alone. Obama said trying to deport all 11 million people living in the country illegally was not realistic. Obama said his
actions were the kinds of steps taken by Republican and
Democratic presidents for the past half century.
New Delhi Bureau

Meenakshi Iyer
Delhi@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Art and Design: Vladimir Tomovski

Bhagwati Creations,
Dhiraj Kumar
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Indo-American press club

inaugurated in NJ
Suneel Hali, Founder and Publisher of Cinemaya Media lighting

the lamp at the inauguration. President of IAPC,
Ajay Gosh is seen on his right.
East Rutherford, NJ: An IndoAmerican Press Club (IAPC) has

been inaugurated in New Jersey to
be the voice of those who are working in the media world and strive to
be the conscience of the larger society. The new club was inaugurated
Saturday at the Homewood Suites
of Hilton, East Rutherford, New
Jersey with the lighting of the traditional lamp at an event attended by
nearly 200 media persons, corporate
and community leaders and sponsors.
In his inaugural address, Suneel
Hali, founder and publisher of Cinemaya Media emphasized the key
role being played by the media.
"Journalists are extraordinary peo-
ple dedicating their lives to an extraordinary mission to serve the humanity, and to be the conscience of
the society," he said. In his presidential address, Ajay Ghosh, said
"IAPC was formed with the lofty
ideal of providing a common platform to journalists of Indian origin
living in the US, while fostering
closer bonds and cooperation
among an extensive network of
journalists across the nation."
Ginsmon Zacharia, chairman of
the Board of Trustees, said, "While
striving to have greater coordination
and networking among journalists,
our motto is to be the voice of the
community of Indian American
journalists."
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Jindal ranks third on

Politicos most likely to run
for presidential primary list
Washington, DC: Gov. Bobby Jindal ranks third
on a list of
Republicans
most likely to
enter the 2016
presidential
primary, according
to
Politico.
Bobby Jindal
"Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal ... is already acting like a candidate, touting his education reforms, courting the evangelical vote by hosting a huge pastors' conference next January, and
attacking Hillary Clinton for being
partisan on Ebola," said Politico
about the governor. The online
publication claims that only Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas
Sen. Ted Cruz are more likely to
enter the 2016 presidential primary
race than Jindal. The Louisiana
governor placed higher on the
"possible candidates" list than
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- two
people who have performed better
than Jindal in initial 2016 presidential primary polls. The Louisiana
governor will announce whether he
is running for president during the
first half of 2015.
Under Satya Nadella Microsoft

emerges as world's 2nd top firm
Washington, DC: Under the leadership of its new Indian-American
CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has
overtaken oil giant Exxon Mobil to
become the world's second most
valuable company after iPhone
maker Apple Inc. Nadella restructured Microsoft that has been
struggling with the declining market in personal computers to focus
on cloud services and mobile technology while cutting jobs and company expenses, Tech Times reported.
The effort has resulted in stock
surges with Microsoft now the second most valuable company in the
world, it said. Exxon's stock currently has a market capitalization
of $402.66bn, down from
$483.1bn earlier this year. In May,
the total market value of Microsoft
was $343.8bn but it shares closed
at $49.58 on Nov 14, giving it a
corresponding market value of
$408.7 billion, exceeding that of
Exxon's which has fallen by more
than 6 percent because of plummeting oil prices.
Although Microsoft has obviously done better compared with other
tech stalwarts Oracle, IBM and
Hewlett-Packard, it continues to
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
face the challenges of Apple's

dominance, Tech Times said.
In the mobile industry, people refer to the company's Surface
tablets as "iPads" and even "knockoff iPads," it noted. Forbes latest
list of the world's most valuable
brand is dominated by tech giants
with tech companies Apple, Microsoft and Google getting the top
three spots followed by Coca-Cola
and IBM ranking fourth and fifth
respectively, Tech Times noted.
Neha Gupta wins 2014 International Children's Peace Prize

Washington, DC: Indian-American student Neha Gupta has won
the 2014 International Children's
Peace Prize Award for her exceptional work to raise money for underprivileged children around the
world.
Netherlands King WillemAlexander, former archbishop and
Nobel Peace Prize winner
Desmond Tutu and Nobel Peace
Prize winner Malala Yousafzai
presented Gupta with her award
during a ceremony at The Hague,
Netherlands Tuesday.
A first-year Schreyer Honors
College scholar in the Eberly College of Science at Pennsylvania
State University, Gupta will be entering the pre-medicine program,
according to a release from University.
Inspired by what she saw during
a visit to India with her grandparents, Gupta founded Empower
Community Pride
Neha Gupta, Penn State student and founder of Empower

Orphans received the award from Netherlands King
Willem-Alexander and Noble Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu
Orphans, an organization designed to support orphaned and

abandoned children in India and
the US. Her work, which she started at age 9, has grown into a charity that to date has raised over $1
million and has helped more than

25,000 children.
The list of projects includes
opening libraries, developing
paths to health care, and promoting education. The award is widely accepted as the most prestigious international award a young
person can win.
Last year's winner, Malala
Youzafzai, a Pakistani activist for
female education, went on to become the youngest recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize for 2014.
"Neha's leadership, vision and
work ethic have helped countless
orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children, and most remarkably she was just a child herself when she began this work,"
said Penn State President Eric
Barron. "We're very proud that
she has been recognized with the
2014 International Peace Prize,
and hope that this visibility will
inspire others to also pursue worthy endeavors to benefit humankind." The International Children's Peace Prize was created by
the Amsterdam-based children's
rights organization, KidsRights,
and is awarded to a child whose
work and actions have made a significant, positive impact in improving children's rights worldwide.
The International Children's
Peace Prize isn't the first time
Gupta's work has been celebrated.
She won numerous awards including the 2011 World of Children Award, the President's Volunteer Service Award, the Congressional Award, and also the national Prudential Spirit of Community
award.
Along with the prize, a 100,000
Euro grant will be given to projects closely associated with Gupta's area of dedication.
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
IN BRIEF
The Kerala Center held its 22nd Annual Awards Banquet at the Worlds Fair
Marina in Flushing, New York city on November 15. Eight Indian American
Malaylees were honored at the banquet for their achievements in their fields or
for service to the community. (L to R): Dr. Thomas Abraham, Baby Uralil,
Suresh Nair, Abraham Pannikottu, Siby Vadakekkara, Thomas John Colacot, Dr.
Gabriel Roy, Dr. Teresa Antony, Dr. Geeta Menon, Sreedhar Menon, Dilip
Varghese and Gopalan Nair. (Back row L to R): E,M. Stephen, Varghese Ninan,
James Thottam, John Vazhapallil, Shaji Babyjohn, G. Mathai, Jayasankar Nair,
Thambi Thalapppillil, John Paul, Sunny Kulathakal, Abraham Thomas, K.V.
Varghese, Abraham Philip, Jimmy John, Manohar Thomas and Alex Esthappan.
New York Tamil Sangam celebrates Deepavali
New York: To celebrate Deepavali New

York Tamil Sangam (NYTS) organized 2014Deepavali program at PS 24Q in Flushing
which ended in a grand success and a
memorable one as well. The auditorium
was filled to capacity about 400 people
and the program content represented three
branches of the classical Tamil language
namely: music, dance and drama.
Gufa Shiv Baba Balaknathji Temple organized Grand 8th Diwali Celebration on
Oct 19 at Maniben Mistri Auditorium, Gujarati Samaj, Horace Harding Express,
New York. New York Senator Tony Avella was honored with Outstanding
Community Service Award by the temple committee members, Shri Sarpalji,
Rajji, Kumarji, Vijayji, Satpalji, Bakhshishji, Satpalji, Deepak Bhardwaj.
IALIs 19th Annual Food Drive does it again

New York: The India Association of Long
Islands 19th Annual Diwali Food Drive reception for the Interfaith Nutrition Network
(The INN) was held on November 15 in
Hempstead, Long Island at the Mary Brennan soup kitchen.
Attending the reception were past presidents of IALI, President Satnam Parhar, the
IALI Executive Committee and INN supporter Mr. Peter Bheddah. Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby also
graced the occasion with her presence.
Aruna Saxena, IALI Food Drive Chairperson said, this year we are donating 55 boxes of canned food and beverages as well as
$14,000 in monetary donations. She
thanked the community and volunteers and
said she is looking forward to next year,
which is the 20th year of the IALI Food
Drive. Diwali food drive donors included
many generous community members,
Hicksville merchants, IALI members and
L to R: Aruna Saxena, Kishore

Kuncham, Peter Bheddah
& Suda Sharma
religious temple goers. IALI members

sponsored, prepared and served a vegetarian meal with Indian desserts at the soup
kitchen for approximately 250 men, women
and children on November 5th said Aruna
Saxena. Physicians from the community
also donated more than $25,000 worth of
medicines and supplies to the non-profit organization, Rotocare, which provides free
medical care to people in need.
Greater New York Seniors celebrate Diwali in grand style

New York: The spirit of Diwali
celebration continued with Greater
New York Seniors Diwali Dinner
on November 7 at 5 Star Banquet
Hall, Long Island City. The event
was hosted by Greater New York
Seniors leaders Shashikant Patel/Gopi Udeshi.
The idea was to unite 15 different
associations from Queens to Long
Island. Delegates came together for
benefit of senior activities in New
York.
The program commenced with
American/Indian National Anthems sang by Kirtiben Shukla and
Virendra Banker, followed by
lighting of diva by Queens Borough Community coordinator Mohamed Hack along with Gopi
Udeshi, Shashikant Patel and other
members.
Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz presented citation
by Community Coordinator Mohamed Hack to Shashikant Patel
for his leadership role in the community.
New York State reelected Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and
House of Representative Grace
Mengs messages were read by
Gopi Udeshi and Gujarat Chief
Minister Mrs. Anandiben Patels
message was read by Shashikant
Patel.
Professional singer Rakesh Raj
rocked the stage with Bollywood
songs and his humor. Singing
legend of Hindi music industry
Bappi Lahiris presence made the
event spectacular.
(L to R): Manikant Patel, Jyotindra Patel, Mohammed Hack, Shashikant Patel, Bappi Lahiri, Suresh
Udeshi, Gopi Udeshi, Dr ND, Ajit Vora, Dr Shukla and Labhubhai Upadhyay
NATIONAL COMMUNITY
GOPIO members oppose top leaderships

decision to cancel annual meet
Cancellation of the meet, held in conjunction with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is
seen as noncooperation with new govt. and insult of Gujarati members
New York: In what seems as an apparent
rift in the Global Organization of People of
Indian Origin (GOPIO) several members
have started a campaign to rescind the decision of the GOPIO Executive Council to
cancel GOPIO meeting in conjunction with
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
In a letter issued to Inder Singh,
Chairman, GOPIO International, the members from the US and abroad said that they
were very disappointed to learn that he had
cancelled the Annual GOPIO International
Meeting to be held in conjunction with
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015 since many
of them attend the PBD, that has provided
them an opportunity to meet and interact
with other GOPIO members from around
the world. In such meetings, we were also
able to bring our friends to join us at the
GOPIO Dinner and convince them to join
GOPIO. We demand that GOPIO
International meeting must be held on
January 6th 2015 and GOPIO dinner be
held on Jan. 6th 2015 evening.
The members reminded the top leadership that GOPIO has reached out to the
new govt. headed by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the Modi
Administration and the MOIA have in turn
been working closely with GOPIO.
GOPIO has already developed a goodwill
with Modi Administration when it brought
a Special Supplement to welcome Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to the USA.
Cancellation of GOPIO meeting will convey a negative signal of our cooperation
with the new government, especially when
they are going out all the way to welcome
us to the PBD, the members said.
Several prominent Gujarati community

members said that they feel insulted that
GOPIO is cancelling its meeting when the
venue is Ahmedabad/Gandhi Nagar.
Extending their support to the Gujarati
members several other signatories of the
letter said: We have had GOPIO meetings
in Delhi and outside New Delhi and at the
following places, Mumbai, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Jaipur and Kochi. The issue of
additional expenses to travel to these cities
did not occur for any of these places. In fact
people would like to travel to a different
city in India for PBD rather than attend
meeting only in Delhi.
When SATimes approached GOPIO
chairman Inder Singh for comments he
said, "GOPIO Executive Committee in
their recent meeting had decided not to
organize another conference in January as
three have already been organized this year,
one in New Delhi in January, another in
Trinidad in May and the third one in
London in October. It is a major undertaking to organize an international conference.
GOPIO members have option to attend a
conference or not. The executives, all volunteers, spend their own money on travel
and hotel stay.
They also have to raise funds and spend
time to organize the conference. Some key
executives are obligated to attend the conferences. I know that some GOPIO members are not happy with the Exec.
Committee decision and are asking for
reconsideration. In the next meeting,
already scheduled for next week, the issue
shall be revisited. The majority decision
shall prevail."
Indian students rediscover US

as education destination
Washington, DC: After three years of
decline, the number of Indian students at
US campuses increased by six percent to
102,673 in the 2013-14 academic year,
according to a new report on International
Educational Exchange.
The number of international students at
colleges and universities in the US
increased by eight percent to a record high
of 886,052 students in the 2013-14 academic year, the 2014 Open Doors Report
released Monday found.
The overall number of international students in the US has grown by 72 percent
since the first International Education
Week briefing was held in 2000, it noted.
There are five times as many Chinese students on US campuses as were reported in
Open Doors 2000; almost two-and-a-half
times as many Indian students; seven-anda-half times as many Vietnamese students;
and more than 10 times as many Saudi students. In 2013-14, there were 66,408 more
international students enrolled in US higher
education compared to the previous year.

While students from China and Saudi
Arabia together account for 73 percent of
the growth, a wider range of countries contributed to the increase, with India, Brazil,
Iran and Kuwait together accounting for an
additional 18 percent of growth, the report
found.
The number of Indian students increased
by 6 percent to 102,673, reversing a threeyear trend of declining numbers of Indian
students at US campuses. The increase was
driven by enrollment at the graduate level.
Students from the top three places of origin -- China, India, and South Korea -- now
represent approximately 50 percent of the
total enrollment of international students in
the US, with the number from China and
India increasing, and the numbers from
South Korea declining.
International students' spending in all 50
states contributed more than $27 billion to
the US economy in 2013, according to the
US Department of Commerce.
Seattle city council member Kshama

Sawant arrested in wage-hike protest
Seattle: A Seattle City Council
member was among four people
arrested late on Wednesday outside
Alaska Airlines offices in the suburb of SeaTac during a protest over
what organizers say was the carrier's opposition to a voter-backed
$15 minimum wage.
Kshama Sawant, who championed what she said were "anti-corporate" causes during her campaign last November, was among
about 100 airport workers and
community members at the rally,
labor group Working Washington Kshama Sawant, champion of minimum wage
said in a statement.
raise, was released later.
The U.S. carrier has its primary
hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, agreements.
The suit marked the latest legal battle over
in SeaTac.
"After a year of Alaska's lawsuits, delays, efforts to better compensate workers in a
and political shenanigans, workers and com- state with the highest minimum wage in the
munity members have had enough," Working country.
Voters in SeaTac approved an initiative last
Washington said in a statement.
year,
enacting a $15 minimum wage for
The group said the four arrested were
"engaged in civil disobedience" and had many workers, but airport employees were
declined to follow police orders to clear a later excluded by a court order.
Images local broadcasters posted on
boulevard near the company offices.
Nine days earlier, Airlines for America, a Twitter showed Sawant with her hands
trade group that represents major air carriers, clasped behind her back, leaning on a police
including Alaska Air Group, sued the Port of car.
"It's not about me. It's about the workers
Seattle to block planned pay increases for airport workers, arguing that wage hikes con- who have been fighting for $15 per hour,"
flict with state and federal law and labor local media quoted her as saying.
NATIONAL COMMUNITY
India calls for early action to reform anachronistic UN Security Council

United Nations: Calling the UN Security
Council an anachronism, Indian Parliament
speaker Sumitra Mahajan has urged the international community to take early action to
reform it in order to shore up the legitimacy
of the world body itself.
The Security Council is, undoubtedly, one
of the most important institutions of global
governance, Mahajan, speaker of the Lok
Sabha, the lower house of parliament, stated.
If its legitimacy is in doubt then so would be
the legitimacy of the United Nations. And, in
fact, of the notion of global governance
itself.
She was speaking Tuesday at a session of
the Preparatory Committee for the Fourth
World Conference of Speakers of
Parliaments on the subject of key challenges
to world peace and democracy.
Indian Parliament Speaker

Sumitra Mahajan
She pointed out that the Councils composition was based on UNs structure in 1945 and
she asked in a series of rhetorical questions to
drive her point home, Is that composition
Senator Kaine and Nisha

Biswal felicitated at AIF gala
Washington, DC: American Indian
Foundation (AIF) raised $300,000 at its
annual gala here attended by who's who
of the community from the US Capital
and its neighborhood
Senator Tim Kaine and Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central
Asia, Nisha Biswal, were felicitated
during the event for their inspiring
leadership and philanthropic commitment to support AIF's mission to help
disadvantaged Indians.
Kaine is the current Chairman of the
Senate Subcommittee on the Near East,
South and Central Asian Affairs, overseeing American foreign policy in this
critical region, from Morocco to
Bangladesh.
Praising the role of Indian-Americans
in nation building and improving bilateral ties between the two countries,
Kaine said the talent pool of the IndianAmerican community is so strong and
so diverse that if one is just putting
together a team on the aristocracy of
merit, this community will be at the
forefront.
"That is an aspect of life in this country that makes the Indian-American
moment in the relationship between our
nations so fruitful right now," Kaine
said.
Biswal said Indian-Americans have a
key role to play in the bilateral IndiaUS relationship.
"As the Indian Prime Minister talks
about his agenda for transforming India
and his vision for the US-India partnership to be a part of that transformation,
the Indian-American community has a
very important role to play," Biswal
said.
"Transformation is not just 'G to G'
(government to government), it's not
about PPPs, (public-private- partnerships). Those are very important equations ? but it is fundamentally also
about 'people to people' ties," she said.
"The US-India relationship is not
going to reach its full potential until the
full potential of our 'people to people'
ties is reached," Biswal said.
still representative of the international community? The United Nations then had 51
members. The figure now is 193.
At the founding of the UN, there were only
three African members, including South
African apartheid regime, Mahajan pointed
out. Today it has 54, she said. How many
permanent members of the Security Council
are from Africa?
After a briefing by Liechtenstein
Ambassador Christian Wenaweser on the
work of the Accountability, Coherence and
Transparency Group, which brings together
22 nations working on UN reform, Mahajan
said she would like to know what it proposes
to do to bring more legitimacy to the permanent membership of the Council.
Pressing the case for changing the composition of the Council, she asked, While
improvement in working methods, or a code

of conduct on use of the veto, are important,
can they substitute for reform of the composition? Can improvement in working methods legitimize a structure that is not legitimate? To say that is anachronistic is only an
understatement.
In 2010 during the 65th Anniversary of the
United Nations, world leaders had committed
themselves to the early reform of the
Council. She asked, When would early be?
Although the membership of the Council was
increased from 11 to 15 in 1965 with addition
of four elected members, permanent membership continues to be restricted to the original five who wield veto powers.
In any expansion of the permanent membership, India, Germany, Brazil, Japan and an
African nation would be the top contenders.
F Cubed founder Anu Duggal raises

$5 M for women-led startups
New York: Anu Duggal, an IndianAmerican founder of seed capital fund
Female Founders Fund, or F Cubed, last
week completed raising $5 million to invest
in women-led startups, the Economic Times
reported.
There being a huge gap in early-stage
funding for women Duggal sees a great
opportunity to get good returns on investments. "Almost every single woman entrepreneur I've spoken to said 'thank you so
much for starting this fund'," Duggal told
ET, who has so far invested $60,000$150,000 for 1 per cent-2 per cent stake in
11 companies.
Duggal's is among several recent initiatives in Silicon Valley to help women entrepreneurs in the early days of their entrepreneurial journey. Others include San
Francisco based Astia, AOL's 'Built By Girls'
Fund and Isabella Capital.
Anu Duggal's F Cubed plans to fund 15
more female-led companies. Besides F
Cubed, Duggal, 35, also runs Doonya, a
Bollywood dance-inspired fitness and media
company. Four-years-ago, she co-founded
Anu Duggal
Exclusively. in, an e-commerce fashion, jewelry and home decor company featuring
Indian brands and designers. She also advises companies such as India Internet Group,
Classtivity. com, LittleBorrowedDress and
Lover.ly.
Bullying Prevention Task Force launched to strengthen AAPI community

Washington, DC: More than one-quarter of
students between the ages of 12 and 18
reported being bullied at school during the
2010-11 school year nearly 7 million students. Some Asian American and Pacific
Islander (AAPI) students face bullying and
harassment based on their immigration status,
such as Micronesian students whose families
have recently immigrated to the continent
and Hawaii. Others are bullied for the way
they look, such as turbaned Sikh youth, or for
their English language skills.
Students who are bullied dont feel safe,
and students who dont feel safe cant learn.
Students involved in bullying are more likely
to have challenges in school, to abuse drugs
and alcohol, and to have physical and mental

health issues. Being bullied endangers students academic achievement and ultimately
their college and career readiness. And in
some areas, bullying of AAPI students is
rampant. For example, one 2014 study found
that over two-thirds of turbaned Sikh youth in
Fresno, California reported experiencing bullying and harassment. And another recent
study found that half of the 163 Asian
American New York City public school students reported experiencing some kind of
bias-based harassment in a 2012 survey, compared with only 27 percent in 2009.
Earlier this month, on the fifth anniversary
of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the White
House announced several efforts to address

hate crimes, including a new Interagency
Initiative on Hate Crimes. As a part of these
efforts, WHIAAPI, in partnership with the
U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S.
Department of Education, and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services,
is launching the AAPI Bullying Prevention
Task Force to proactively address bullying in
the AAPI community. In the wake of increasing concerns about the high rates of bullying
among Sikh youth and incidents such as the
attacks on as many as 30 Asian American students at South Philadelphia High School in
December 2009, the AAPI Task Force will
help ensure that the AAPI community is
aware of federal resources and remedies
available to them.
The AAPI Task Force brings together federal experts in civil rights, language access,
education, community relations, public
health, mental health, and data to find creative solutions to help the AAPI community.
These experts will coordinate the efforts of
their federal agencies to work closely together with stakeholders to better understand the
impediments to seeking relief and support,
analyze data regarding the prevalence of bullying in the AAPI community, improve outreach, develop training and toolkits for
schools, students, and parents, and explore
and recommend policies to address the AAPI
communitys growing concerns about bullying of AAPI youth.
US AFFAIRS
GOP split on how to respond to Obamas momentous immigration move

Washington: Republicans were
divided Wednesday over how to
respond to President Barack Obamas plan to unilaterally change
the immigration system, splitting
over whether to force a fight during the lame-duck session or wait
until next year when they control
both chambers of Congress.
Obama is expected to announce
Thursday night changes to protect
more than four million people
from deportation and expand a
program that gives safe harbor
from deportation to young people
brought into the U.S. illegally as
children.
Some conservative Republicans
are clamoring to use a December
budget deadline as leverage in the
immigration fight, by tying a roll-
A pro-immigration reform rally
back of Obamas new policies to

continuing government funding
beyond its Dec. 11 expiration.
That risks a potential government
shutdown, which GOP leaders

have vowed to avoid.
We should use every budgetary
means at our disposal to prevent
the president from disobeying the

law, said Rep. Mo Brooks (R.,
Ala.), who also said impeachment
proceedings against the president
should be considered.
Other Republicans acknowledged the Senate, under Democratic control until January, is unlikely to approve a spending bill
with language seeking to roll back
Obamas immigration plans.
Weve been trying to figure out
what leverage we have and were
finding it difficult to actually stop
the president here in the next two
months, said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.)
One route Republicans could
pursue is to pass a bill funding almost all of the government
through September 2015 but ex-
tend the programs affected by

Obamas action only through early
2015. That would set up a fight
next year just on that sliver of the
government without the threat of a
broader shutdown.
We have a dispute over immigration. Thats no reason to shut
the Department of Defense down,
said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.,
S.C.).
Democrats have said they hope
to pass a spending bill tying together 12 individual, tailored appropriations bills, rather than just
extending the governments current funding across-the-board. The
Senate and Mr. Obama also might
balk at separating the immigration
funding and having it expire at a
different time.
Comeback by Bill Cosby aborted as rape claims Re-emerge Ferguson grand jury heads to final
New York: In the twilight of a
long and celebrated career, Bill
Cosby was experiencing the kind
of comeback few longtime performers enjoy.
A new biography described his
life and accomplishments. A standup comedy special on Netflix,
commemorating his 77th birthday,
was set for next week. His collection of African-American art became part of an exhibition at the
Smithsonian this month. And NBC
was exploring a project that would
bring him back to prime time,
where in the 1980s he became
Americas pre-eminent TV star
with The Cosby Show.
But in recent weeks, his tri-
One-time day time

comedy star Bill Cosby
umphant return to the national

stage has fallen apart in the face of
a wave of accusations by women
who say Cosby drugged and raped
them decades ago. On Wednesday,
NBC said it was canceling the pilot project, and the cable network
TV Land quietly stopped showing
repeats of The Cosby Show.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Netflix
said it was postponing the debut of
the comedy special. Other scheduled appearances by Cosby on
David Lettermans late-night show
and Queen Latifahs daytime talk
show have also been canceled.
Mr. Cosbys lawyers have vigorously denied the accusations in recent days, and he has never faced
criminal charges. But the troubles
have put the stars comeback in
limbo and created awkward situations as he seeks to burnish his
legacy.
session, as community tenses
Ferguson Protesters Stage Die-in Ahead

of Grand Jury Announcement
Three students injured, gunman killed in

Florida university
Tallahassee, Fla.: Three students were shot and wounded
when a gunman opened fire inside a Florida State University library early on Thursday, and
campus police shot the suspect
dead, officials said.
Officers confronted the attacker outside the university's Strozier Library soon after midnight,
ordered him to drop his weapon,
then shot him when he fired on

them, police said.
Officers found three victims
with gunshot wounds, Tallahassee Police spokesman David
Northway said. A spokeswoman
at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital said one victim
was in critical condition, and the
other was stable.
Police estimated the library
was packed with between 300

and 400 students at the time,
many studying for upcoming final exams.
Further details on the identities
of the shooter and the victims
were not immediately released.
Police said the gunman acted
alone and no further threat was
posed to the campus. But classes
were canceled Thursday.
Ferguson, Mo: The grand jury

hearing evidence about Officer
Darren Wilson is poised to meet for
what many believe is its final session as tension and worry build
that the decision will generate violence in and around the Ferguson
community.
The decision on whether or not to
charge Officer Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18,
could come Friday, when the grand
jury gathers once again. But prosecutors have said they are going to
give law enforcement agents a 48hour, heads-up on the decision,
CNN reported. The public announcement, then, could come as
early as Sunday. And case watchers

around the nation are predicting
protests that could very well turn violent. The FBI has warned law enforcement to be ready, Missouris
Gov. Jay Nixon has activated the
National Guard, and shopkeepers
who sell firearms report their supplies are flying off the shelves.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said his outfit is ready.
Weve had three months to prepare, he said, CNN reported. Acts
of violence will not be tolerated.
Our intelligence is good. Our tactics
are good. We can protect lawsuit
people and at the same time arrest
criminals.
10
OP-ED
Still a good chance for a Cuomo presidential

run despite 2014 mistakes
Pundits argue that Gov Cuomos poor showing against his Primary rival and unimpressive victory over Republican
Astorino could make his chances of being elected President one day bleak. Yet, a second term gives him the
opportunity to build on the same successes of his governorship that made him so popular prior to this year.
By Robert Golomb
ew York State Governor
Democrat
Andrew
Cuomo's
defeat
of
Westchester County Executive
Republican Rob Astorino in the
General Election by 13% rather
than the 30% expected as of ten
months ago is widely seen as not
good news for the Governor.
Making matters even worse for
Cuomo, to gain that disappointing
13% victory he spent a whopping
$45 million to Astorinos $4.8 million, painting an embarrassing
Goliath beats David portrait to his
victory.
It has been no secret that Cuomo,
a nationally known political figure,
saw a victory somewhere in the
30% range as the first giant step in
his plan to insert himself as a serious candidate for the Democratic
Nomination for President in 2016
or, by latest, 2020.
Cuomos plan was said to be
based on the possibility that the
current presumptive 2016 nominee
Hillary Clinton would decide not to
run for the presidency, opening the
political door for Cuomo - with a
2014, 30% election victory in a
large, key northeastern state under
his belt - to run.
Such a decision by the former
first lady, it was so speculated,
would be associated with her past
health issues (she was successfully
treated for a blood clot to the brain
in December 2013 and her age (she
will be 69 years old in 2016).
Yet even if Clinton does run in
2016, as is still widely assumed,
Cuomo's future in national politics, right up to the end of 2013,
seemed to be bright - with the very
real possibility that if Clinton ran
in 2016, she could very possibly be
defeated by a Republican, leaving
Cuomo as the immediate front
runner for the Democratic
Presidential nomination in 2020.
However, the talk of a future
President Cuomo began to steadily
recede as the year went on, culminating with his less than hoped for
13% victory. And for that, it can be
argued, Cuomo has only himself to
blame.
The Governors first major political blunder occurred on January 2,
2014 during an interview held by a
local Albany radio station.
Criticizing the members of the conservative wing of the Republican
Party, the Governor stated, Are
they the extreme conservatives
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) celebrated his Nov 4 victory with his father,
who served three terms (1983-1994) as Governor of New York State.
who are right to life, pro assault

weapon, anti gay? Is that who they
are? Because if thats who they are,
theyre the extreme conservatives
and have no place in the state.
In that one interview, which
quickly became part of the
Republican anti-Cuomo fodder, the
governor, who while later watering
down his remarks, alienated countless pro-life, pro-traditional family
and pro-second amendment New
Yorkers - many of whom also happen to be Democrats or
Independents.
If his first major mistake could
be attributed to a slip of the tongue,
his second might be attributed to a
lapse in understanding the mood of
the public. Cuomo, whose Lets
clean up Albany message helped
sweep him into office 4 years ago,
created the Moreland Commission
in July 2014. Granted the power to
issue subpoenas, and staffed with
seasoned prosecutors, the role of
the 25 member bi-partisan commission was to investigate government corruption in the State
Capital - a problem polls indicated
were on the minds of many voters.
According to Cuomo at the time,
he had the authority to investigate
the lieutenant governor, the comptroller, any senator, any assemblyman as well as even Cuomo himself. Then in March 2014, Cuomo
suddenly terminated the commission, even as a major Albany newspaper was reporting that Moreland
investigators were in the middle of
the process of probing 15 lawmakers for alleged criminal wrongdoings.
In the face of extremely harsh
criticism coming from the media,
from Republicans and even from
some members of his own
Democratic Party, Cuomo attempt-
ed to explain the reasoning behind

his controversial action: Because,
he argued, the State Senate and
Assembly had agreed to pass a
series of new ethic reforms that he
would sign into law, the commission was no longer needed. The
problem of official corruption in
NYS, Cuomos remarks suggested,
had been all but solved.
When that explanation seemed
neither to satisfy the majority of
voters nor quiet his political foes,
Cuomo told a news reporter questioning him about the controversy,
Its not a legal question. Its my
commission. My subpoena power.
I can appoint it. I can disband it. I
cant interfere with it, because its
mine. It is controlled by me.
Not surprisingly, these remarks
created a political firestorm for the
Governor. While Cuomo continued
to maintain most of his lead over
Astorino in the governors race,
according to a Quinnipiac Poll
taken in late May, more than 75%
of New Yorkers believed that his
decision to shut down the
Moreland Commission was based
on a political deal, and slightly
less than 50% offered favorable
opinions on his performance as
governor, a record low number in
that category for him.
The closing of the Moreland
Commission continued to bring
bad news to Cuomo. Citing
Cuomos closing of the Moreland
Commission as one of her major
reasons for running, Zephyr
Teachout, a Fordham University
Law Professor and liberal activist,
announced in the summer that she
would challenge Cuomo in the
September 9th
Democratic
Primary. And here is where
Cuomos last major mistake of
2013 occurred. Rather than waging
a strong active campaign against

Teachout, the Cuomo campaign
largely sat back, saying it was saving its resources for the then
upcoming battle against Astorino.
Reflecting the thoughts of the
Governors campaign, one Cuomo
election official was quoted as saying at the time, Any protest candidate {Teachout} is going to get in
the low to mid-high 20s.
Unfortunately for Cuomo, his
Democratic challenger far surpassed those numbers. After the
final votes were tallied on that primary election night, it was determined that Teachout, a political
neophyte who had run with a bare
to the bones campaign chest, had
garnered an incredible 34% of the
vote.
And this poor showing by
Cuomo coupled with his unimpressive victory over Astorino, according to many pundits, could make it
very unlikely that he will be elected president one day.
Yet Mark Twains famous utterance that the report of his death
was greatly exaggerated still could
apply to Cuomos future as a presidential candidate. Cuomos victory,
despite the disappointing final
count, gives him the opportunity to
build on the same successes of his
governorship that made him so
popular prior to this year.
Those successes which were well
publicized throughout the state and
even captured some national media
attention included: delivering the
state budget on time for four consecutive years, an accomplishment
not witnessed in Albany in three
decades; producing in response to
the Newton Connecticut Sandy
Hook Elementary School massacre, the passage of the NY SAFE
ACT, which among other provisions, mandates background
checks for all gun sales; creating
more than one half million private
sector jobs and reducing the state
unemployment rate from the 8.2 %
when he took office to its current
level of 5.6%. These were accomplishments that impressed even
some Republicans, including powerful Nassau County Executive Ed
Mangano, who wound up endorsing Cuomos reelection bid.
In addition, Cuomos victory
gives him the chance to address the
states remaining major economic
problem. The economies of dozens
of upstate New York counties continue to remain stagnant and many
suffer from unemployment rates
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
that hover above the 10% mark.

As of two years ago, Cuomos
strategy to stimulate the upstate
economy was predicated upon his
plan to lift the then two old year
ban on hydro- fracking and allow
oil companies to explore the
Marcellus Shale Formation (an
enormous area located across
dozens of counties in upstate New
York, including Steuben, Chemung
and Allegany) said to contain 489
trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
In the 34 states currently employing this controversial method of
drilling for natural gas thousands
of feet beneath the ground (which
notably include Pennsylvania
which shares some of the land in
the Marcelus Shale with NYS),
such hydro fracking has resulted in
major boosts to their economies.
Pro hydro fracking activists (composed primarily of business, energy
industry and organized labor leaders) reportedly convinced Cuomo
that hydro fracking in upper NYS
would provide a similar stimulus to
the upstate economy - without,
they contended, causing any harm
to the environment.
However, once the politically
powerful environmentalists, who
contend that hydro fracking can
cause deadly harm to humans and
irreparable damage to the environment, became aware of Cuomos
plans, they quickly informed him
that if he decided to go through
with his original plans, he would
risk losing their political supportboth in the then upcoming governors race, as well as any future
national office he might choose to
seek.
Thus came Cuomos decision to
put off his determination until after
the election. True to that promise,
Cuomo recently pledged that he
would announce his decision by
the end of this year.
If in formulating that decision
Cuomo somehow discovers a way
of offering a compromise found
acceptable by both the pro and anti
hydro fracking forces, he would
have performed a tremendous
political miracle. And such a miracle will probably go a long way in
placing his name back on the top of
the list of future presidential contenders - despite the wounds he
inflicted upon himself in 2014.
Robert Golomb(MrBob347
@aol.com) is a nationally published columnist. He can also be
followed
on
Twitter@RobertGolomb
INDIA
11
Islam will prosper if we Haryana's self-styled godmen sent to jail

rule Kashmir: BJP
Srinagar: The BJP said it
was confident Islam will
prosper in Jammu and
Kashmir if it got to rule the
state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) also said that it won't
press for the abrogation of
article 370 of the constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, if
people of the state want it to
stay.
BJP state vice president
Ramesh Arora, who is also in
charge of the party's Kashmir
affairs, said Kashmiris would
feel more secure if the BJP
was voted to power in the
country's only Muslimmajority state.
"Kashmiris need to vote en
masse for the BJP. This contention is wrong that the BJP
is a communal party.
Kashmir is a land of Sufi
saints. Islam will grow better
during our regime," he said.
"The state as such has no
religion but we (BJP) respect
all religions and pledge reli-
gious freedom to all as guaranteed in the Indian constitution.

"Those who say the BJP
would be a threat to
Kashmiriyat ... are wrong.
"The actual threat is to
those who say so. Our party
will end administrative,
police, bureaucratic and
political injustice in Jammu
and Kashmir."
Trying to play down the
controversy over article 370,
Arora said the BJP favoured
a debate and discussion on
the issue.
"We will take people into
confidence and assess its
merits and demerits to the
state and proceed accordingly." Arora said a debate over
this provision was a "serious
issue and we (BJP) won't
take any vague decision.
The BJP has traditionally
opposed article 370, saying it
was coming in the way of
Jammu and Kashmir's complete integration with the rest
of India.
After much ruckus, self-styled godman Rampal was arrested from the fortified
Satlok Ashram near Barwala in Haryana.
Chandigarh: Haryana Police finally

arrested elusive self-styled godman
Rampal from his fortified Satlok Ashram
near Barwala in Haryana. At least six
people lost their lives in the stand-off as
Rampal eluded the police, while many of
his key aides and around 450 supporters
were also arrested. Later, the Punjab and
Haryana High Court canceled the bail
granted to controversial sect leader
Rampal in a 2006 murder case.
Taking up hearing of his bail case, a
division bench of the high court cancelled the bail which was granted to the
self-styled godman in April 2008.
Haryana's Advocate General B.R.
Mahajan informed the court that Rampal
had been arrested and sought permission
to advance his hearing in the contempt of

court matter against the sect leader.
The court had issued fresh non-bailable
warrants against Rampal on November
17 and directed that he be produced
before the court by all means Friday.
Rampal, who remained elusive on
health grounds, was finally arrested by
the Haryana Police from his Satlok
Ashram near Barwala town in Haryana,
210 km from here.
He was brought to the Sector 6 General
Hospital in Panchkula, adjoining
Chandigarh, where he was medically
examined. All his health parameters were
found normal by doctors.
Rampal has been slapped with fresh
cases of sedition, attempt to murder, riot-
ing, illegal detention and others under the

Arms Act.
Supporters of Rampal clashed with
security forces to prevent them from
entering the ashram premises. They fired
at police, lobbed petrol bombs and acid
pouches, besides hurling stones and
bricks. The sect leader had been avoiding
arrest and failed to appear before the
Punjab and Haryana High Court although
non-bailable warrants were issued
against him Nov 5.
Rampal's supporters had indulged in
vandalism in a court in Hisar in July
when he was going there in connection
with the 2006 murder case. The high
court took suo motu notice of the incident and summoned Rampal.
SC directs CBI chief to recuse

himself from 2G case
New Delhi: In a rap to CBI
gations of interference by Sinha
Director Ranjit Sinha, the
in the 2G spectrum case, the
Supreme Court directed him not
court recalled its Sep 15 order
to interfere in the 2G spectrum
directing NGO CPIS to reveal
the identity of the whistleblower
case and recuse himself from its
investigation and prosecution.
who gave information on
An apex court bench headed by
Sinha's alleged interference.
Chief Justice H.L. Dattu said that
The court while not passing a
the senior-most officer heading
detailed order with reasons said
CBI Director
that it was doing so as it would
the investigation team probing the
Ranjit Sinha
2G case will take over the overall
effect and hurt the image of the
investigations. Holding as "terrible" the alle- premier investigation agency.
Adarsh scam: Court rejects plea to drop Chavan

Mumbai: The Bombay High
Court, Mehta added.
Court has rejected a plea by the
Earlier, former Maharashtra
CBI to remove the name of forgovernor K. Sankaranarayanan
mer chief minister Ashok
refused sanction to prosecute
Chavan from the list of accused
Chavan for want of evidence
in the Adarsh Society scam
against him.
case.
The CBI contended before the
Justice M.L. Tahiliyani gave
court that since the governor
the ruling on the revision applirefused to grant sanction, and it
cation of the Central Bureau of
has no material to prosecute
Former Maharashtra
Investigation (CBI) after the chief minister Ashok Chavan, the agency hould be
agency's earlier plea on the
allowed to discharge Chavan from
Chavan
same was rejected by a Special
the case.
CBI Court in January, said Ashish Mehta, a
Chavan was charged with providing addilawyer who had earlier represented the peti- tional FSI to the Adarsh Soiety allegedly in
tioner in the case.
return for flats for his relations in the posh
The ruling could prove to be a major setback building in south Mumbai.
to Chavan as he will have to face trial as an
Chavan resigned as chief minister after the
accused, and there are indications that he is Adarsh Society scam was exposed in 2010 and
likely to appeal against it in the Supreme was replaced by Prithviraj Chavan.
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385

718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.Com
12
INDIA
India, Australia agree on new security cooperation framework

Canberra/Melbourne: India and Australia
have marked a new synergy in bilateral relations as they agreed on a framework for security cooperation to boost defense, civil nuclear
and economic ties even as Prime Minister
Narendra Modi ended a hectic five-day, fourcity visit.
The two countries signed five agreements,
including one on exchange of sentenced prisoners, while Modi also addressed the
Australian parliament, the first Indian prime
minister to do so.
The distinctive feature in Modi's speeches
was that he spoke in English - to the media in
Canberra after talks with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, in parliament, while
addressing business honchos in Melbourne,
and at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Modi is the first Indian prime minister to
visit Australia in 28 years -- after Rajiv
Gandhi's 1986 trip.
Modi ended his tour of Australia - he went
to Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne
- after a dinner hosted by Abbott at the MCG
where former Indian cricket greats Kapil Dev,
Sunil Gavaskar and V.V.S. Lakshman were
present.
Earlier, after talks with Abbot in Canberra,
Modi said both countries agreed to seek early
closure on their civil nuclear agreement and to
speed up negotiations on a bilateral trade pact.
India and Australia also agreed on a frame-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands with the Parliamentarians after
addressing joint session of Australian Parliament.
work for security cooperation to reaffirm the

bilateral strategic partnership.
It calls for annual prime ministerial meetings, regular defence ministers' meetings and
annual defence policy talks, and regular bilateral maritime exercises.
Both sides will cooperate in counter-terrorism. Australia will support Indian membership
of the export control regimes. It also calls for
"early operationalization of civil nuclear energy cooperation and Australia's support for
strengthening India's energy security by supply of uranium for India's safeguarded nuclear
reactors".
Modi said the two countries had agreed to
speed up negotiations on a Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement.
He sought easier access for Indian business
to the Australian market and quicker investment approvals. Modi began his 25-minute
address to parliament on a lighter note, bringing smiles and laughter among the members.
"I am the third head of government you are

listening to this week! I don't know how you
are doing this! May be, this is Prime Minister
Abbott's way of shirt fronting you!" Modi said
both sides need to strengthen their security
cooperation to combat terrorism and cooperate closely in international fora like the East
Asia Summit, the G20 and the Indian Ocean
association.
Abbott said after the bilateral talks that
Australia "will export uranium to India under
suitable safeguards, of course".
In a take-off on their close sporting links,
Abbott referred to the BJP government's
strong majority in parliament: "Modi has the
runs on the ball for getting the bureaucracy
working (to get any job done)."
In Melbourne, Modi addressed business
honchos in English without a prepared text.
He told the CEOs, including mining magnate Gina Rinehart, BHP chief Andrew
Mackenzie, Lindsay Fox and Visy Industries
chairman Anthony Pratt, that his government
was undertaking reforms to enhance the ease
of doing business in India.
Modi said before his government took over
in May, economic growth had slowed down
over the last few years. "My government is
making all efforts to ensure faster, all round
inclusive growth to revive economy, to create
policy environment that is conducive, transparent and fair."
Best time to be in India, Modi India seeks closer ties with

Fiji, South Pacific Islands
tells business honchos
Melbourne: Indian
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
Tuesday
wooed
Australian industry
leaders telling them
"this is the best time
to be in India" and
promised them an
investor-friendly and
conducive environment for doing business
in
India.
Speaking in English
without a prepared
text, Modi told the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting
top CEOs that his
institutional investors in Melbourne.
government was
undertaking reforms to enhance ease of encouraging, the economy registered 5.7
doing business. Meeting mining magnate percent growth, one percent more than last
Gina Rinehart, BHP chief Andrew year," he said.
"Want to draw your attention to one
Mackenzie, trucking magnate Lindsay Fox
and Visy Industries chairman Anthony Pratt thing: the opportunities in tourism.
besides many others, Modi said that before Immense scope for investing in tourism
his government took over in May, econom- infrastructure as well," he said, according to
ic growth had slowed down over the last tweets posted by the Prime Minister's
Office.
few years.
"Personally committed to environmental
"My government is making all efforts to
ensure faster, all round inclusive growth to issues. We want to move to gas-based econrevive the economy, to create policy envi- omy. That tells you how many LNG termironment that is conducive, transparent and nals we would need," he said, according to
a tweet. "Democratic values connect us.
fair," he said.
"Our economic growth had slowed down Want to hear from you all," he said.
At the CEOs Roundtable, Modi and the
in the last few years. But my government is
working hard to create an environment to industry leaders discussed education, servfoster growth. The results have been ices, energy, banking and IT.
Suva: India sought to "renew an old relationship" with Fiji and forge closer ties with
small South Pacific island nations as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced steps to
boost closer ties with the geo-strategically
important region.
Modi became the second Indian prime
minister in 33 years - after Indira Gandhi - to
visit the Fijian capital Suva.
He later departed for home, ending a 10day tour that earlier took him to Myanmar
and Australia.
The Fiji visit underlined the growing geostrategic importance of the 14 South Pacific
islands that lie at the centre of a key maritime route rich in resources. The islands dot
the ocean east of Australia, over 11,500 km
from India.
The Fiji government accorded Modi a ceremonial welcome. Prime Minister Voreqe
Bainimarama received him at the airport.
Modi's visit comes ahead of Chinese
President Xi Jinping's three-day trip to Fiji
from Friday. China has been busy forging
close relations with the island nations and
has set up diplomatic missions in almost all
the islands. The 14 islands, although small,
have a vote each in international fora. They
hold strategic weight for New Delhi as it
seeks to increasingly play a larger international role. Modi held talks with Prime
Minister Bainimarama, presided over the
signing of three MoUs, addressed the Fijian
parliament, becoming the first foreign leader
to do so, attended the first India-South
Pacific Island nation meet and later spoke at
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

addressing the Parliament of Fiji in
Suva on November 19.
the Fiji National University.

Modi admitted that the India-Fiji relations
had "at times been adrift, and that our cooperation should be much stronger than it is".
He said he saw his visit as an opportunity
to renew an old relationship - and lay the
foundation for a strong future partnership.
The three MoUs were for the exchange of
land for a new chancery building in New
Delhi, on diplomatic exchanges to allow
Fijian diplomats to train in India, and on
project financing for an electricity co-generation plant funded through the Exim Bank of
India.
Prime Minister Bainimarama said some 15
more agreements were in the works -- on
agriculture, trade, health, water and sports.
"We are pleased that our relationship with
India is growing and we are proud to have
India as a partner in Fiji's future," he said.
INDIA
13
Modi tops 10 Indians in '100 Leading Global Thinkers'

Washington: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, BJP president
Amit Shah and five other Indians
figure among Foreign Policy magazine's sixth annual list of "100
Leading Global Thinkers".
Also among the honorees divided into 10 categories in the issue
"recognizing a year of tumult,
protest, inspiration, and new
beginnings" released are three
Indian Americans.
Indian-American researchers
Partha
Dasgupta
and
Veerabhadran Ramanathan figure
in the list of Naturals "for keeping
the faith in the fight against climate change".
Dasgupta works at Cambridge
University while Ramanathan is at
the University of California, San
Diego.
Sangeeta Bhatia, an engineer
and physician working at
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP president Amit Shah.
Cambridge, Massachusetts is listed among the Healers "for creating a kinder alternative to the
colonoscopy".
"Each year, our list of leading
Global Thinkers spotlights those
who have translated their ideas

into actions, impacting millions
worldwide," said David Rothkopf,
editor and CEO of The FP Group.
Modi is listed among the
"Decision
Makers"
"for
Ramdev gets 'Z' category security

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has
been provided 'Z' category security by the
central government in view of threats to him,
ofcial sources said.
The home ministry gave the order after
receiving inputs from security agencies, the
sources said. "Ramdev was entitled to 'Z' category security only within Uttarakhand. Now,
he will be given the facility all over the country," said an ofcial source.
The decision came after Ramdev, the
founder of Haridwar-based Patanjali
Yogpeeth, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Nov 4. Ramdev will be guarded by 40 commandos of one of the paramilitary forces
round-the-clock, the sources said.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev
Anointment ceremony of
Shahi Imam's son illegal: HC told
New Delhi: The central government and
Wakf Board told the Delhi High Court that
the anointment ceremony of Jama Masjid
Shahi Imam's son as the Naib Imam (deputy
Imam) was "illegal" and has no legal sanctity. A division bench of Chief Justice G.
Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw was told by
the Delhi Wakf Board that it has not given
any legal sanctity on appointment of Imam
and will soon hold a meeting in this regard.
The anointment ceremony is scheduled for
Nov 22. The court after hearing the argu-
ments reserved its order and will pass an

order later in the day. The court was hearing
three public interest litigations (PILs) led
that said Jama Masjid is a property of the
Delhi Wakf Board and Maulana Syed
Ahmed Bukhari (Shahi Imam) as its employee cannot appoint his son as Naib Imam. The
pleas said Bukhari's decision to anoint his
19-year-old son Shaban Bukhari, as the Naib
Imam or the deputy Imam was wrong as
there is no provision under the Wakf Act for
hereditary appointment of the Imam.
enthralling the world's most populous democracy", while Shah gets

the honour "for engineering
Modi's landslide".
Other "Decision Makers"
include Germany's Chancellor
Angela Merkel, and Mexico's
Secretary of Finance, Luis
Videgaray.
"In a year when Russia annexed
Crimea, and the Islamic State
redefined the very nature of terrorism, a group of Indian scientists and engineers also showed
the world how to send a spacecraft to Mars on a budget," the
magazine noted.
Aerospace engineer Mylswamy
Annadurai, leading Indian Space
Research Organization's Mars
Orbiter Mission team, is listed
among the Innovators "for putting
India into orbit on the cheap" and
showing "that cosmic achieve-
ments don't have to break the

bank". Listed among the
Chroniclers or "the masters of storytelling", is Shubhranshu
Choudhary, founder of CGNet
"for giving rural Indians a megaphone". Choudhary, who left his
job as a BBC producer in 2010 to
launch the mobile news service
CGNet Swara "beat out leaker
Edward Snowden for the Google
Digital Activism Award", the
magazine noted.
"Journalism needs to become
everybody's business," he was
quoted as saying when receiving
the award.
Also listed among Chroniclers is
India's first transgender TV
anchor Padmini Prakash "for
bringing third gender to prime
time". Prakash was crowned Miss
Transgender India in 2009, it
noted.
Sonia Gandhi recalls Nehru

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia
Gandhi said the values promoted by India's
first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru continue to remain relevant, and secularism
was a compelling need without which there
could be no India.
Speaking at an international conference
organized by the Congress to commemorate Nehru's 125th birth anniversary,
Gandhi made veiled attacks on the BJP,
saying Nehru's life and work had been
"drowned out by misinterpretation and distortion in recent years".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not
invited to the two-day meet, raising some
eyebrows in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The event held by Congress to resurrect
Nehru's legacy at a trying time for the party
saw the presence of leaders from many parties. West Bengal Chief Minister and
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata
Banerjee, Communist Party of IndiaMarxist leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram
Yechury and Janata Dal-United chief
Sharad Yadav were among those present.
Many leaders of parties of undivided
Janata Dal were there, but no senior
Samajwadi Party leader was present.
Foreign leaders present included former
Afghan president Hamid Karzai, former
Ghana president John Kufuor, Queen
Mother of Bhutan Ashi Dorji Wangmo
Wangchuck, former Nepal prime minister
Madhav Nepal and former Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa. The event was
also attended by leaders from the
Sonia Gandhi speaking at an

international conference to
commemorate Nehru's 125th
birth anniversary in New Delhi.
Communist Party of China. Gandhi said

that although Nehru was a socialist by conviction, he valued individual liberty above
all else.
She said secularism was an article of
faith with Nehru.
"If any person raises his hand to strike
down another on ground of religion, I shall
fight him to the last breath of my life as
head of the government and from outside,"
she quoted Nehru as saying.
The Congress president said there could
be no 'Indianness' and no India without secularism. "Secularism was and remains
more than an ideal. It is a compelling
necessity in a country as diverse as India."
14
MODI IN AUSTRALIA AND FIJI
MODI! MODI!!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with other BRICS

leaders ahead of the G-20 Summit in Brisbane
on Nov. 15.
Prime Minister Modi with his Australian counterpart,

Tony Abbott, with cricketer legends Sunil Gavaskar,
Kapil Dev, V.V.S. Laxman, Steve Waugh, Allan
Border, Glenn McGrath, Michael Kasprowicz and
Dean Jones during a Civic Reception hosted by
Abbott at MCG in Melbourne, Nov 18.
Prime Minister Modi interacts with the public

at the civic reception for him at City Hall,
in Brisbane on Nov 16.
In Sydney, Modi promises euphoric diaspora a resurgent India

Sydney: In a replay of the crowd and the
euphoria at New York's Madison Square
Garden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
was Monday cheered lustily by an over
16,000-strong gathering of the Indian diaspora at the Allphones Arena here, where
he promised to fulfill their expectations of
a resurgent India.
Modi spoke for an hour at the Sydneys
famous arena where people wore T-shirts
emblazoned with his photos.
Hundreds of fans had arrived by the
"Modi Express" train from Melbourne in
the morning.
To deafening chants of "Modi, Modi"
interrupting his speech, the prime minister,
attired in a white kurta pyjama with a blue
sleeveless jacket, also promised the diaspora visa on arrival and merging of the
PIO and OCI cards by January.
Speaking in Hindi, Modi said there was
no reason for India to lag behind any
longer.
"Do you believe that the country can rise

again, become powerful and capable of
helping other countries again," he asked to
loud cheers from the crowd.
"I don't see any reason for the country to
remain behind, fate has decided that it
must progress," he said to wild cheers.
"Overwhelmed, honored and humbled.
Will never forget this day," is how Modi
tweeted later.
Modi also spoke of the schemes
launched by his government, including the
Clean India and Make in India programs,
and invited the diaspora to join in the
Swachh Bharat campaign and contribute
towards building toilets in their villages
back home in India.
"It took 28 years for an Indian PM to
make the few hours journey to Australia.
Now you will not have to wait 28 years,"
he said, referring to the shared values of
democracy, and the love for cricket that
India and Australia share.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting an NRI Group at the community

reception at Allphones Arena in Sydney on November 17.
India to play Vishvaguru role: Modi
Modi and the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama,

witnessing the signing of agreements in Suva on November 19.
Suva: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Wednesday said India will once again
play the role of Vishvaguru or teacher
to the world.
In an interaction with representatives of
civil society at the Fiji Technical
University here, Modi said India would
use the strengths of its democracy and
young population for the benefit of
mankind.
Stating that the coming age would be
the age of knowledge and technology,
Modi said it was essential to keep adding
to the knowledge base, and to keep up the
pace of new discoveries and inventions.
Remarking that India's ancient sages
had spoken about India's global responsibility, he said India would play a pivotal
role in the coming "Gyan Yug" playing
the role of a "Vishvaguru".
The prime minister said the Indian gov-
ernment was giving priority to skill development so that these strengths could be
leveraged for the benefit of the whole
world. He also talked about ending the
digital divide, saying "we have to prepare
for the future to help the world".
Modi said India and Fiji had many
shared values, and it was the responsibility of both sides to strengthen these values.
Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of
Fiji's population of nearly 900,000. Most
of them are descendants of indentured
laborers who were brought in by British
rulers from India between 1879 and 1916
to work in the country's sugarcane plantations.
Observing that Fiji had chosen the path
of democracy to move forward, the prime
minister said this had set an example that
would exert a positive influence in the
wider Pacific region as well.
JAN. 2015
16
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
ollywood
superstar
Salman Khan's sister
Arpita Khan tied the knot
with businessman Aayush
Sharma on a star-studded
evening at the Taj Falaknuma
hotel in Hyderabad.
The celebrations continued till
late in the night at the heritage
hotel located in the old city area.
The 'baraat' included horses
and two bands, one from Delhi
and one from Hyderabad.
It was followed by the 'jaimala'
and 'phere'. The wedding rituals

were performed as per Punjabi
Hindu traditions. Salman's father
Salim Khan, mother Salma,
brothers Arbaaz, Sohail and
other family members received
the baraat and blessed the couple, who exchanged garlands.
The rituals were followed by a
party, where Salman, his stepmother Helen, sister-in-law
Malaika Arora Khan performed
to some popular numbers.
Punjabi singers Mika and Yo Yo
Salman's 'Kick' to get a

sequel soon?
alman Khan has never done a sequel to his
films, except for "Dabangg", but that might
change soon with a sequel of the superstar's last
released film "Kick".
According to sources close to the project, "Kick",
directed by Sajid Nadiadwala, which is Salman's highest grosser to date, may write out its sequel sooner
than expected. 'Kick' has become the highest grosser
of Salman's career. It has so far accrued a total boxoffice collection of Rs.234 crore. That beats the earlier
Salman starrer 'Ek Tha Tiger' which netted Rs.188
crore worldwide."Sajid is now being told by his distributors and friends to carry the story forward into a
sequel because it makes a lot of business sense," a
source said. Released in July this year, "Kick" also
featured Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and
Jacqueline Fernandez.
Honey Singh livened up the

party. Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif
and Karan Johar were among top
stars from Bollywood who
attended the marriage. Stars from
Tollywood and businessmen
were among the 250 guests invited for the wedding. Salman
booked the entire 60-room hotel.
Seven folk artists from Rajasthan
and many more from Mumbai
were specially flown in for

Tuesday night's party.
Hundreds of Salman fans,
including young girls, gathered outside the hotel to
catch a glimpse of the stars.
Arpita with husband
Aayush Sharma, and
(top) Salman Khan and
brothers at the
wedding.
IFFI 2014 gets eminent International juries on board

Panaji: From noted cinematographer
Slawomir Idziak, Chinese filmmaker
Zhang Jianya to actress Seema Biswas,
the 45th edition of International Film
Festival of India (IFFI) that started
November 20 has celebrated film personalities from all over the world as its jury.
Idziak from Poland, who is also the
jury chairman, is a noted cinematographer, screenwriter, director and lecturer. He
has worked with cinema legends
Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda
and Krzysztof Zanussi and has received a
number of awards and distinctions in
Berlin, Venice, Prague, Auckland and
Gdynia.
He was also nominated for BAFTA
Cesar and Oscar awards.
The other members in the jury panel
include New York based writer Marie
Union Minister for I&B Arun Jaitley

and Amitabh Bachchan present the
centenary award to megastar
Rajnikanth at the opening of the
45th IFFI in Panaji, Goa Nov 20.
Brenner, Seema Biswas, an actress from

Assam, and Nadia Dresti, the head of
International Locarno Film Festival
along with Jianya, a PIB release said.
Jianyas work includes Red

Elephant, Kidnap of Carajan, The
Hero and The Dream is Alive.
Brenner has published five books,
including Great Dames: What I Learned
from Older Women, 'House of Dreams'
and 'The Bingham Family of Louisville'.
Her expose of the tobacco industry 'The
Man Who Knew Too Much', was basis
for the 1999 movie 'The Insider', which
was nominated for seven Academy
Awards, the release added. Seema won
the 1996 National Film Award for Best
Actress for her role in Bandit Queen.
Biswas won Canadas Genie Award for
her role as the widow Shakuntala in
Deepa Mehta's 2005 released film
Water. Dresti, the other member of
International Jury, is specialist of film
promotion, public and press relations.
Billion stories to tell: Oscar-winning US director on India

ew York-based Oscar-winning
director Megan Mylan has often
taken inspiration from India for
her documentaries like "Smile Pinki" and
"After My Garden Grows". But she is not
tired of making films on the country as she
believes there are numerous stories to
present to the audience.
The director of "Lost Boys of Sudan"
first visited India around six years back to
make the Oscar-winning documentary
"Smile Pinki", based on a five-year-old
girl from Varanasi with a severe cleft lip.
"I ended up in India when I made 'Smile
Pinki'. It was such a privileged way to get
to know this country. When I reached
Varanasi, people were calling it a small
town, but for Americans if a town has a
million people, it's not small," Mylan said.

"I got to see the ancient place, the
sacredness of it. I also met wonderful educated doctors. I got to see an interesting
side of India while making the film and
then when we came back, I toured cities
like Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and
Mumbai and I got to see another side of
India. There are a billion people and billion stories to tell here," she added.
Back to the country on a multi-city tour
to promote her latest project "After My
Garden Grows", she wishes she had more
time in hand to be inspired again.
"I wish I had more time to meet people.
We went to a radio station and I thought
this could be an interesting documentary. I
am always on the lookout," said Mylan,
who makes character-driven documentaries on social issues.

"After My Garden Grows", about girl
child marriages in India that tells the story
of Monika, a rural Indian teenager growing food to feed her family, and the seeds
of her own independence, in a tiny rooftop
garden, is currently screened in cities like
Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and
Hyderabad and will be shown in theaters
till Nov 20. Asked if she would like to
make a fiction film with any Bollywood
celebrity, she said: "I love what I do. I am
not sure if I'll be good at fiction filmmaking. But life takes you to an unexpected
path. I don't say no to anything, but it's not
the path I am aiming for. I can make documentaries for the rest of my life."
Filmmaker Megan Mylan
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
'Happy New Year' script lands at Oscars

A
fter the bumper success of Shah
Rukh Khan-starrer "Happy New
Year", filmmaker Farah Khan has
one more achievement to add to it. The
movie's script has been included into the
Oscars library. The filmmaker took to social
networking website Twitter to share her joy
and delight over the news and thanked her
co-writers for penning the scrpit. The heist
drama, with dollops of dance and music,
minted Rs.108.86 crore, becoming a movie
with the biggest opening weekend at the box
office in India.
"1 more reason 2 celebrate!! #HNY script
goes to the Oscar library!! Bigg kiss to my co
writers @mayurpuri n Althea k," she tweeted. The film had a starry ensemble with
Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan,
Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah
and was released Oct 24, Farah Khan is one
of the few female directors to carve a niche
for herself with a number of successful films
like "Main Hoon Na" and "Om Shanti Om".
ill Dil" is one of those misfired gun

shots of masala cinema that reads
like a fun fest on paper. I am sure
everyone must have ROFL (Ranveer's semiilliterate character doesn't know what ROFL
means, teehee) while shooting and enacting
the scenes and even before that there must
have loads of laughter while reading the
script. In principle these unprincipled characters who live and die by the gun must have
seemed interesting. On screen "Kill Dil" is
as flat as the midriff that Ranveer loves to
flaunt whenever the script permits. Not that
the script here is too particular about what
goes and what doesn't. This is a free-for-all
guns-and-romance spree where Gulzar
Saab's poetry slyly meets Ranveer Singh's
buffoonery. Half-way down the narration
you realise director Shaad Ali has run out of
designer-cool tricks.
Enough of those chic shots of our two
heroes riding down busy highways gunning
for unsuspecting victims. Yes, our heroes
Oscar
winner's lm
on Indian girl
screened at
Kolkata fest
The cast of 'Happy New Year' with filmmaker Farah Khan.

Oscar winner Megan
Mylan's documentary
'After My Garden Grows'
Kim
Kardashian
to enter 'Bigg
Boss' house
merican reality TV star Kim
Kardashian is going to enter "Bigg
Boss 8" on her maiden trip to India.
The 34-year-old will be seen in the Bigg
Boss house on November 22 as a guest to
interact with the contestants including
Karishma Tanna, Diandra Soares, Gautam
Gulati and Upen Patel. Kim is excited to visit
India and her stay in the Bigg Boss house.
She said in a statement: Namaste India
17
scar winner Megan Mylan's documentary "After My Garden

Grows", which tells the story of a
teenager in rural West Bengal growing
food on a tiny rooftop garden to feed her
family and as a means to delay her marriage, was screened at the 20th Kolkata
International Film Festival to a packed
audience. The American documentary
filmmaker clinched the Academy Award
for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for
"Smile Pinki", which released in 2008. It
is based on a five-year-old girl from
Varanasi with severe cleft lip.
Her current venture, the 10-minute
short "After My Garden Grows", was
showcased at the 2014 Sundance Film
Festival. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan
hosted a special showing in Mumbai.
Revolving around 16-year-old Monika
Barman, a resident of Bhutkura village in
Bengal's Cooch Behar district, it shows
how minor girls are turning to farming on
small plots of land in the district for their
independence and empowerment. This
stops girls from getting married off at an
early age.
American reality TV star Kim Kardashian

(Hello India) main Kim Kardashian aa rahi
hoon India (I, Kim Kardashian am coming to
India) Bigg Boss ke ghar mein (at the Bigg
Boss's house)".
The Colors show is hosted by Bollywood
superstar Salman Khan.

Andre Timmins, director of Wizcraft
International Entertainment said: "It gives us
great pleasure to welcome and facilitate Kim
Kardashian's maiden visit to India.
'Kill Dil' - insipid guns-and-romance curry

REVIEW
Dev and Tutu are assassins. You could've
fooled me! They look like a couple of petty
pick-pockets. But God and the screen writers(three of them, actually....what's that they
say about too many crooks....sorry, cooks?)
have loftier plans for our heroes who eat,
laugh, cry and kill together. But never sleep
together.
The heroes are assigned boarding school
double-decker beds, just so that we don't get
any homosexual ideas. This is Jai and Veeru
from "Sholay" without Jai clambering on
Veeru's shoulder on the motorbike. They
sing together but the lyrics are about assassination and jubilation. Yash Raj films had
gone into a similar turbulent territory of
dosti versus love in the recent "Gunday".
I have to admit "Kill Dil" is a smaller dis-
aster than "Gunday". Ranveer who played

one of the two buddies in the earlier film as
well, is far more entertaining here. He's still
way over the top. But here he is hammy in a
pleasant way. Trouble starts and the killings
for him end when Ranveer's character Dev
falls in love with the neighbourhood femme
fatale, a weirdly freelancing heiress played
by the forcibly glammed-up Parineeti
Chopra, who seems to have her hands in
every single pie that she can lay her manicured fingers on.
Just what she sees in the ruffian Dev is
something only the film's writer can answer.
The romance which overtakes the RanveerAli Zafar bromance is among the many inexplicable mysteries that squeeze and smother
the life out of this trite-and-tested actioncomedy masquerading as Tarantino's distant
cousin. Another mystery: why does Gulzar
A scene from 'Kill Dill'

Saab's voice-over show up in three places to
remind us that violence begets only violence? Why bring the man of such
indomitable refinement into a film that reeks
of raw rancidity? And why the songs? Good
lord,they burst out of the narrative's seam
like a fat man's paunch in a shirt sizes too
small for him.
Mr Steve Gorn (Flute)
Ms Daisy Paradis (Sitar)
Nitin Mitta (Tabla)
Pandit Ramesh ji Misra (Sarangi)
Media Sponsor:
Special Thanks to Sunny Thakker
OP-ED
19
Modi rules Australian media headlines
By Paritosh Parasher
Melbourne: Global glam queen Kim

Kardashian must be ruing the timing of
her visit to this picturesque Australian city
as it is Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi who is dominating the media headlines Down Under.
Modi's name is all over the electronic
and print media following the conclusion
of his visit to Australia.
Modi signed a number of agreements
with his Australian counterpart Tony
Abbott and addressed several exclusive
gatherings in Melbourne.
Canberra rolls out red carpet for Modi
is a headline being used by a number of
the media outlets to mark Modi laying a
wreath in the Australian capital city's War
Memorial along with Abbott. The visuals
of Modi paying homage to the Australian
war heroes were beamed live to the
Australian television audience.
Modi became the first Indian prime
minister to address a joint session of the
Australian parliament. His address in
flawless English was televised live by the
state-owned Australian Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC) from Canberra.
The Indian prime minister's visit to
Melbourne has attracted both the
Australian and Indian media's attention
which could be gauged by the fact that the
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott
at MCG in Australia.
headline Narendra Modi and Tony

Abbott reveal new India-Australia military agreement is the Most Popular
headline on the portal of the leading
Melbournian newspaper The Age.
Another The Age article headlined
Deeply linked destinies: Indian Prime

Minister Narendra Modi calls for new era
with Australia is also among the Most
Read articles' list.
If Modi's media managers wanted him
to be seen as a person with sense of
humour, they have been successful as his

reference to shirt-fronting (an
Australian football term for a front-on
challenge that knocks an opponent to the
ground) in the speech to the joint session
was noticed and lauded by the Australian
media.
The Modi mania was not restricted just
to swooning audiences and media headlines as the visit is also dominating a section of the social media. The Twitter hashtag #modiinAustralia has been topping
the trends for the last three-four days.
The proceedings of the Australian
Senate, which are broadcast live through
ABC Radio, were also punctuated with
the reference to the various agreements
Australian government representatives
signed with their Indian counterparts.
Like Australian media, the Senate also
discussed implications of the State Bank
of India offering a loan of $1 billion to
India's business moghul Gautam Adani
for a mega coal mine in Queensland.
The impact of the Modi visit was also
felt by the office-goers Tuesday evening
as traffic around Melbourne's Central
Business District was gridlocked for
hours. Besides addressing Indian and
Australian business leaders at the palatial
residence of Victoria's governor, Modi
also visited the iconic Melbourne Cricket
Ground for a banquet given in his honour
by Abbott.
BJP-Congress tension will hurt reforms
By Amulya Ganguli
t has long been said that the

economic reforms are irreversible. Moreover, the Left
claims that both the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and the
Congress are on the same page on
this subject since they both pursue
what the Communists call "neoliberal" policies.
Yet, there are complications. As
was evident from the stalling of
reforms in the twilight years of
the Manmohan Singh government, presumably because of the
reservations of Sonia Gandhi and
her Left-of-centre National
Advisory Council, the market-oriented initiatives do have powerful
critics.
Where the BJP is concerned, the
very fact that the supposedly probusiness Narendra Modi is going
slow in the matter of introducing
big-ticket reforms shows how
hard it is for even supporters of
reforms to push ahead.
Now, another bump has
appeared on the road. It is the
increasing bitterness between the
two "national" parties - the BJP
and the Congress. The acrimony
between them was palpable not
only from the Congress' belligerence on the day when the BJP
It is the increasing bitterness between the two "national"

parties - the BJP and the Congress that is of grave concern.
government in Maharashtra won a

controversial trust vote, but also
from the Congress' decision, bordering on crudity, not to invite the
prime minister to the functions
which it has organized on the
occasion of Jawaharlal Nehru's
125th birth anniversary.
It is another matter that Modi
will not be in India when these are
held. But the Congress's gratuitous discourtesy towards him
does not show the party in a
favorable light, especially when it
is celebrating the birthday of one
of the most cultured personalities

in Indian public life - past and
present.
Both these displays of aggression have been interpreted as evidence of a demoralized outfit trying to boost its flagging spirits
with a show of street-level
machismo. But what is more
important than the Congress' inyour-face rudeness towards the
BJP is the distinct possibility that
the two parties will be on the
lookout for each and every opportunity to trip one another up.
Whatever impact such offensive

conduct has in the political field,
what is worrisome for the country
is the resultant roadblocks which
the reforms may face in the coming days. It goes without saying
that notwithstanding the BJP's
majority in the Lok Sabha, it still
needs the Congress' support in the
two houses of parliament to
implement measures like amending the land acquisition law, introducing labour reforms, passing
the Goods and Services Tax
(GST) and take other steps such
as disinvestment.
However, the Congress is
unlikely to cooperate in its present
combative mood. Even in normal
times, Indian politicians tend to
oppose when sitting in the opposition benches what they supported
when in power. It was in keeping
with this cussed attitude that the
Congress forced the BJP to send
to the select committee the proposal to raise the foreign investment cap in the insurance sector
to 49 percent, which used to be
the Congress' own proposition.
Now, it is likely to be even more
obstructionist. What is more, its
wilful tendency to thwart any proreforms move will be aggravated
by its belief that the party needs to
turn Left.
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
Rahul Gandhi has said that the

Congress follows the path of
"love" while others prefer to be
"angry". But currently, there is no
love lost between the saffron outfit and the (no longer) Grand Old
Party.
As for the BJP, its disadvantage
is that it is virtually bereft of
friends at present. Where the
reforms are concerned, it is alone
for all practical purposes.
However, nearly all the parties
appear to have had their own
varying reasons for avoiding a
clear count of votes. For instance,
the Nationalist Congress Party
(NCP) would not have relished
being seen openly lending support
to the BJP while the latter was
chary of being in the company of
what Modi called the "naturally
corrupt party".
Similarly, the Congress could
not afford to oppose Devendra
Fadnavis' government along with
the "communal" Shiv Sena, and
the Sena itself could not take the
risk of some of its members voting for the "wrong" side.
Since the Maharashtra government has started its journey on a
faltering note, the BJP has realized that it is not all 'achhe din'.
The Congress cannot but take
advantage of its difficulties.
20
PM Modi sets time for

NRI cards, merger of
OCI and PIO status
Sydney: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Monday
announced a two-month deadline for the long-pending merger of OCI and PIO status to woo
the Indian diaspora.
Addressing a frenzied crowd
of around 20,000 persons in the
hallowed Allphones Arena here,
he said the Persons of Indian
Origin and Overseas Citizen of
India status would be merged
ahead of the Pravasi Bhartiya
Divas to be held from January 7
in Ahmedabad.
He had announced the merger
during his visit to the US in
September but had not given a
timeline. Modi announced that
his government was working to
facilitate visa on arrival for
Australian tourists. Modi took a
dig at the previous govern-
ments saying that while they

were happy to make laws he
was happier to remove them.
Lets open the windows, let
fresh air come in, Modi said
referring to his governments
efforts to weed out obsolete
laws. Touched by the grand
reception, Modi said he was
honored and humbled and
would never forget this day. I
know that behind this affection
lies expectations. Yes. We want
to create the India you are
dreaming of.
This welcome, this respect,
this enthusiasm I dedicate it to
the people of India, said Modi,
the first Indian Prime Minister
to visit Australia in 28 years.
Prime Minister Modi also
referred to economic reforms
unveiled by his government.
DIASPORA
Indian-origin girl makes PowerPoint presentation fun

Kampala: If the mere thought of
making PowerPoint presentations
leaves you bored, then turn to these
free, user-friendly online tutorials,
courtesy a 10-year-old Indian-origin
girl and probably the world's
youngest teacher of online software
tutorials.
Teaming up with her father and
entrepreneur Rajesh Kalra, Arkshya
has brought the otherwise dull
PowerPoint software to life with
mind-blowing, three-dimensional
(3D) tricks.
Together, the father and daughter
have created over 25 online tutorials
filmed in professional studios to toetapping music. These will be available on their web site
RKPhotoMagicTrix.com before
Christmas.
"RKPhotoMagicTrix.com will
offer free tutorials that explain how
to use 3D techniques in the simplest
way possible," Kalra said in a statement. With these tutorials, you can
make the clouds move in a still picture, make unwanted people vanish
from an image, replace backgrounds
with video, enhance and sharpen
Arkshya with her father Rajesh Kalra
pictures, create 360 degree scene

effects, and use 3D effects to make a
jumbo jet appear as if it is flying in a
still picture.
Apart from teaching how to make
3D graphs, pie charts, arrows buttons and infographic charts, the
father and daughter will also unravel
and push animations to a level never
seen before.
"Without tutorials, it is easy to
transform a boring PowerPoint presentation into an entertaining, yet
simple, slideshow," Arkshya added.
Additionally, they are using

PowerPoint to make tattoo effects,
draw scenery and animate them,
change dress colors, change eye colors, color or streak hair for a funky
look, replace broken teeth, create a
horror look or even do make up
using the national colors.
Kalra founded RK Photo Magic
Trix in 2013 with a desire to teach
the little known tricks in Photoshop
through lively interaction and
music. Soon, the company expanded
to include PowerPoint.
Lanka's famous Indian-origin hotel doorman dies at 94 Fijians crowd around to shake
hands with Modi, click seles
Colombo: Kottarapattu Chattu

Kuttan, the legendary hotel doorman, who served world leaders like
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal
Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Richard
Nixon at the famous Galle Face
Hotel here, has died.
The Indian-origin doorman of the
country's iconic hotel, known as
Kuttan, passed away peacefully at
the age of 94 on Tuesday after a
brief illness.
"The iconic doorman at the Galle
Face Hotel who made history for
being one of the oldest hotel
employees in the world. Passed
away peacefully in the early hours
of 18th November 2014. May his
soul rest in peace!" Galle Face Hotel
said on its Facebook page on
Kuttan's death after serving the
institution for 72 years.
Sanjeev Gardiner, the hotel's
chairman, said it was a "truly sad
day."
Guests would be greeted at the
entrance by the diminutive Kuttan
with his palms pressed together in
the traditional greeting.
White-haired with a handlebar
moustache, the diminutive figure
also sported badges from all over
Modi greets
schoolchildren
after his
traditional
welcoming
ceremony at
Albert Park in
Suva, Fiji on
Nov 19.
Kottarapattu Chattu Kuttan served likes of Gandhi, Nehru and

Nixon at Galle Face Hotel
the world.
After leaving his village in Trichur
district in Kerala at the age of 17, he
reached Talaimannar pier in Sri
Lanka's western coast in 1938 looking for a job with just Rs 25 in hand
and the clothes he was wearing.
Joining the hotel as a bell boy cum
waiter in 1942, he continued to
serve until his death, Lanka Mirror
reported.
Kuttan, who served dignitaries
like Lord Mountbatten, Princess
Elizabeth, Emperor Hirohito,
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal

Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Richard
Nixon, celebrated his 91st birthday
on February 15.
He has been part of the Galle Face
Hotel's culture from as far back as
1942.
Kuttan virtually became the trade
mark of the Sri Lanka's booming
hospitality industry as well as the
Galle Face Hotel as his photograph
has adorned the cover pages of
many travel magazines all over the
world.
Suva: Thousands of people gathered at Albert Park in this Fijian

capital Wednesday to welcome
Narendra Modi, the first Indian
prime minister to arrive in this
Pacific Ocean island nation in 33
years.
Modi, who was accorded a traditional iTaukei ceremonial welcome by the people of Sorokaba
in Ba, went around to meet the
visitors, and shook hands as
many took selfies with him.
Many people travelled from far
away to see the prime minister of
India. At the Albert Park, many
visitors stood on the chairs to
catch a glimpse of Modi as he
walked around.
Among the crowd was 76-yearold Hari-Narayan who was at

Albert Park to see then Indian
prime minister Indira Gandhi
during her visit in 1981. He said
he was happy at the visit of
Modi.
Many primary and secondary
school students also took selfies
with Modi and shook hands with
him. Modi is here on a day-long
visit, during which he held bilateral talks with Prime Minister
Voreqe Bainimarama and both
sides inked a number of agreements. Over 300,000 persons of
Indian origin have made this
Pacific nation their home for over
a century.
SUBCONTINENT
21
Hope bilateral talks will resume: Pak envoy

Hyderabad: Pakistan High
Commissioner Abdul Basit said his
country doesn't like the relationship
with India to be held hostage to the
Jammu and Kashmir issue but both
countries should make sincere
efforts to resolve the problem.
Expressing the hope that the
bilateral talks will resume, he said
at the end of the day the two countries will have to talk to each other.
"Both our countries do recognize
that Jammu and Kashmir is a problem which needs to be resolved. As
part of dialogue process in the past
we have been trying to resolve it.
"One would hope the problem is
resolved to our mutual satisfaction
and resolved in just and fair manner," he said during an interaction
with the media at the Hyderabad
Press Club.
"There are other issues our countries have been talking about. There
are 10 segments within the framework of composite dialogue and
Jammu and Kashmir is one of
them. "We would not like our relationship to be held hostage to one
single issue but we would like to
talk. Sincere efforts should be made
to resolve the issue and both countries need to do it," he said.
"Let us hope because at the end
of the day we will have to talk to
each other. It may not happen this
year. It may not happen next year
leaders. Concurring with Indian

External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj's statement that there are no
full stops in diplomacy, he hoped
that process of dialogue will
resume.
"Jammu and Kashmir is a part of
composite dialogue. Whenever the
dialogue process is resumed, we
will be able to build on the past
Pakistan High Commissioner

Abdul Basit
but at the end of day, our two countries will be talking to each other,"
he added.
"About 20 years ago, Pakistan
used to have pre-conditions for
talks. First resolve Jammu and
Kashmir dispute then we will talk...
but that did not work. We have to
talk to each other with an open
mind," the high commissioner said
when asked about the Modi government's stand that Pakistan
should decide whether it wants to
hold talks with India or Kashmiri
separatists.
India called off talks between foreign secretaries in August after the
Pakistani high commissioner held
meetings with Kashmiri separatist
Sri Lanka raises objections

with UN on war crimes probe
Colombo: Sri Lanka
raised objections with the
UN ofce in Colombo
regarding the manner in
which an investigation is
being conducted on the
war against Tamil rebels
in Sri Lanka.Minister of
External Affairs G.L.
Peiris met Resident
Coordinator of the UN in
Sri Lanka Subinay Nandy
and conveyed to him the
government's discontent
Sri Lankan Minister
concerning the manner in
of External Affairs G.L. Peiris
which the investigation
was being conducted by the UN's deadline was Oct 30 and will not
Ofce of the High Commissioner be extended, it was understood that
some materials might take time to
for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The external affairs ministry said arrive and submissions arriving
the minister's protest to the UN late, therefore, would not necessarresident coordinator focused on the ily be refused.
Corresponding to this comment,
unacceptable way in which the
deadline for evidence submission the OHCHR website did not
which had originally been set Oct announce the closure of the e-mail
30 by the OHCHR had been address for the receipt of submischanged unofcially and reset sions even after the ofcial deadonce again. According to the line had passed. It was only purOHCHR's call for submissions on suant to the matter having been
its website, the deadline was de- taken up very strongly by the government that the OHCHR later
nite and mandatory.
However,
an
OHCHR issued a news release announcing
spokesperson, in response to a that submissions ended Oct 30 and
question from a local newspaper, the e-mail address had ceased
stated that although ofcially the to exist.
achievements and move forward.

"It is in our mutual interest. It is
not that my country is doing favour
to India or India doing favour to
Pakistan. Peace is in mutual interest. It is also in regional interest,"
he said. When asked about ceasere violations by Pakistan, Basit
said: "Obviously our position is different." He stressed the need for
both the countries to adhere to all

agreements and declarations made
in the past. He also underlined the
need for focusing on positivity. The
Pakistani envoy said it was unfortunate that when globalization is taking place and regions are coming
together, south Asia is lagging far
behind in terms of economic cooperation.
22
Four Israelis killed in Jerusalem

synagogue attack
Jerusalem/Gaza: Four Israelis
were killed and eight injured in an
apparent terror attack this week in a
synagogue in the Har Nof neighbourhood of western Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said that Israel will
respond to the attack with a firm
hand.
A Palestinian left-wing group, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), later claimed
responsibility for the attack. "Two
assailants entered the synagogue
Tuesday with knives, axes and guns
and attacked worshippers," Haaretz
quoted Israel Police spokeswoman
Luba Samri as saying.
Samri said the attackers were
Palestinians from East Jerusalem.
"The attackers were killed in a
shootout with police," she confirmed.
Initially, police suspected that
there might be a third assailant on
the loose in the area, but later stated that it was no longer a concern.
Ambulances of the Magen David
Adom emergency services administered first aid to the injured
before evacuating them to various
hospitals in the city. A large number of police personnel have been

stationed at the scene of the attack
and were also deployed in the East
Jerusalem neighborhoods of Silwan
and Jabal Mukaber.
"We heard the sirens and I went
outside and saw police taking cover
and shooting. Many shots were
fired and I saw one of the police
personnel getting wounded and the
terrorists being killed," said
Eliyahu Rotenberg, who resides
near the synagogue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who held a security
cabinet meeting in the afternoon,
said that incitement by the militant
group Hamas and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas led to
the attacks on the Jews.
"This is a direct result of the
incitement by Hamas and Abu
Mazen (Abbas), incitement that the
international community irresponsibly ignores," Netanyahu said.
"We will respond with a firm
hand to this brutal murder of Jews
who went to pray and were scathed
by (the) despicable murder," he
added.
INTERNATIONAL
UN slams killing of US aid worker by IS

United Nations: The UN
Security Council has strongly
condemned "the heinous and
cowardly murders" of US humanitarian aid worker Abdul-Rahman
Kassig and at least 15 Syrian captives by the Islamic State (IS) earlier known as Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - reiterating that the extremist rebels
must be defeated.
"These crimes once again
demonstrate the brutality of ISIL,
which is responsible for thousands of abuses against the
Syrian and Iraqi people," said the
15-nation UN top forum in a
statement here.
Regarding Kassig, also known
as Peter Kassig, "the members of
the Security Council noted that
his murder is a tragic reminder of
the increasing dangers humanitarian personnel face every day in
Syria", it said, adding that they
"stressed again that ISIL must be
defeated and that the intolerance,
violence, and hatred it espouses
must be stamped out".
The IS distributed a video
Sunday showing that it beheaded
Kassig, a fifth Western hostage
who was an American aid worker
and a former Army Ranger.
US humanitarian aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
The group, whose fighters

seized vast swathes of territory in
northern Iraq since June and
announced the establishment of a
caliphate in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, earlier
released videos showing the
beheading of two American journalists and two British aid workers.
The Security Council members
underlined the need to bring the
perpetrators of the terror acts to
justice and expressed their deep
sympathy and condolences to the

families of the victims and to the
peoples of the United States and
Syria, Xinhua cited the statement
as saying.
The Security Council members
demanded "the immediate, safe
and unconditional release of all
those who are kept hostage by
ISIL, Al-Nusra Front, and all
other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated
with Al Qaeda", the statement
said.
Jordan calls for restraint after Jerusalem synagogue attack

Amman: Jordan called for selfrestraint in Jerusalem after four
Israelis were killed and eight injured
in an attack at a synagogue in west
Jerusalem, media reported.
Jordan's Minister of State
Mohammad Momani said Jordan is
following up closely on the serious
developments in Jerusalem, reiterat-
ing Jordan's constant position that

denounces the targeting of civilians,
Xinhua reported citing the state-run
Petra news agency. Jordan condemns all acts of violence and terrorism that target civilians regardless of their grounds and source,
said Momani.
The minister also called on Israel
to end all its unilateral measures in

Jerusalem and defuse tension in the
holy city. Israel should stop all its
violations against Al Aqsa Mosaue,
he said.
"Four Israelis were killed and the
two terrorists were shot and killed
by police," police spokesperson
Mickey Rosenfeld said.
Putin, the 'bad guy' in global diplomacy

Moscow: At every summit, Russian
President Vladimir Putin plays the
role of the "bad guy", whether he
offers a shawl to the Chinese first
lady or decides to skip a working
breakfast to sleep longer. Although
Putin seems comfortable in that
role, his advisors spend the day clarifying misunderstandings after each
shoot, formal ceremony or bilateral
meeting, whether in the Beijing
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) summit or in the Brisbane
G20 meeting.
It seems that any slip or "bad"
gesture by Putin is a gold mine for
the media, now that there are fewer
and fewer charismatic leaders such
as the late Hugo Chavez and
Muammar Gaddafi, or former
Cuban president Fidel Castro.
The image of the Russian leader
has not improved after American
magazine Forbes declared him the
most powerful man on Earth for the
second year in a row, with US
President Barack Obama as a runner-up. On the contrary, the image
Russian President Vladimir Putin offering a shawl to

Chinese First Lady, Peng Liyuan
of Putin's strength and the apparent

weakness of Obama seem to
encourage critics to be even harder
on the Russian leader.
In recent days, Putin was featured
on magazine covers, but not for his
statements on the conflict in
Ukraine or his criticism of the West.
At the APEC summit in Beijing, the
talk was about Putin's gesture to put
a shawl on the shoulders of the
Chinese First Lady, Peng Liyuan,

during the gala dinner. Media were
quick to accuse him of breaking
protocol and the traditions of the
host country, China, known for its
conservatism. Kremlin spokesman
Dmitri Peskov commented on the
incident saying that regardless of
tradition, cold is the same for everyone and offering a shawl is normal
behavior.
Barack Obama noted the attention on the crisis has ebbed in

the US over the last several weeks.
West Africa nowhere near

end of Ebola crisis: Obama
Washington: US President
Barack Obama warned that West
Africa was still "nowhere near
out of the woods" in its fight
against Ebola.
Obama spoke at the White
House while meeting with his
national security and public
health teams on Ebola.
"As long as the outbreak continues to rage in the three countries in West Africa -- Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea -- this
is still going to be a danger -- not
just for America, but for the
entire world," he said.
The US president said antiEbola efforts in parts of Liberia
are "really paying dividends" but
Sierra Leone is still "seeing an
increase of cases". In Guinea,
"some of the international coordination still needs to improve"

although the numbers there are
lower than in Sierra Leone or
Liberia, while Mali experienced
an reemergence of the deadly
disease this month, he said.
"It underscores how important
it is to continue to push forward
until we stamp out this disease
entirely in that region," the US
president said.
"Until we do, there are threats
of additional outbreaks, and
given the nature of international
travel, it means that everybody
has some measure of risk."
Obama noted the attention on
the crisis has ebbed in the US
over the last several weeks, but
"the challenges remain".
BUSINESS
23
G20 backs India's concerns on black money, beyond

Brisbane: The G20 Summit concluded here this week with its leaders endorsing India's concerns over
black money, while promising a new
global transparency standard that
will modernize international tax
rules and allow automatic exchange
of related information between governments to curb illicit outflow of
money estimated at over $1 trillion
annually.
India, being represented at the
summit by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, immediately called this
development an unprecedented success, and said the next step will be
the delivery of an action plan, along
with the Organisation of Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD). The two forums represent
44 countries and 90 per cent of the
world economy.
"We are taking actions to ensure
the fairness of the international tax
Adani signs credit

line with SBI for
Australian mine
Melbourne:
Adani
Mining, the Australian
subsidiary of Adani
Enterprises, and the State
Bank of India (SBI)
signed an MoU for a $1
billion credit line for a
coal mine project in
Queensland.
The company not only
got
the
necessary
approvals for its $7 billion
coal mine project from
Queensland state but also
secured a commitment
from the government to
hold short-term, minority
stakes in rail and port
infrastructure needed to
unlock massive coal
reserves in the untapped
Galilee Basin.
The Adani group said:
"The MoU provides for a
credit facility of up to $1
billion subject to the
detailed assessment of the
company's mine project at
Carmichael,
near
Clermont in Western
Queensland."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his British counterpart

David Cameron during the G20 summit.
system and to secure countries revenue bases. Profits should be taxed

where economic activities deriving
the profits are performed and where
value is created," the G20 leaders

said in a joint communique at the
end of the eighth summit, promising
to finalise work by end-2015.
This was precisely what Prime

Minister Narendra Modi had specifically said and sought during a session on "Delivering Global
Economic Resilience" on the second
day of the summit in this west
Australian city, while also wanting
systems that will help countries in
getting back the ill-gotten monies
stashed away abroad.
"At this Summit, G20 Leaders
have endorsed a new global transparency standard that will leave no
place for tax cheats to hide. More
than 90 jurisdictions will begin
automatic exchange of tax information, using a common reporting
standard by 2017 or 2018," said
Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbot, the summit chair and host.
India has no official estimates of
illegal money stashed away overseas, but the unofficial ones range
from $466 billion to $1.4 trillion.
Airbus awarded 13 mn euro facility for India

New Delhi: Airbus Defense and
Spaces Optronics business unit and
the Indian defense ministry have
signed a 13 million euro (Rs.1 billion) contract for the delivery of a
periscope maintenance facility. It is
meant for the maintenance and
repair of all of the Indian Navy's
submarine fleet periscopes and is
due to be completed in September
2016. The contract demonstrates
Airbus Defence and Spaces commitment to not only supply systems
and technologies to customers, but

also to equip them with the necessary operational maintenance capability, a company statement said.
Harald Hansen, director (Business
Development Sea) at Airbus
Defence and Spaces Optronics
business unit, said: When a product
is serviced, a lot of time is lost during the transport between different
facilities. Once maintenance work
can be done locally, the operators
can speed up this process and
enhance the operational readiness of

the Indian fleet.The establishment
of the facility and the training of
Indian Navy technicians in
Germany and India can be seen as
a first step in establishing an incountry service capability for future
naval operations. For the implementation of the facility, Airbus Defence
and Space is partnering with Tata
Consultancy Services and H&H
Precision Pvt Ltd, the statement
said.
Over Rs.12 lakh crore investment deals

likely at Vibrant Gujarat
Hyderabad: Gujarat expects
investment deals of over Rs.12
lakh crore at the Vibrant Gujarat
Global Investors' Summit scheduled to be held in January, a minister said here.
This will be the first summit
without Narendra Modi as the chief
minister but state cabinet minister
Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said he
was confident that Gujarat will sign
more agreements than last year.
Agreements involving investment of about Rs.12 lakh crore
were signed during 2013.
"It will be more than that at the
upcoming event," Chudasama told

reporters on the sidelines of a road
show held here.
The minister for education, science and technology said eight
countries - the US, Japan,
Australia, Canada, Singapore,
South Africa, Britain and the
Netherlands - will be partners for
the seventh edition of Vibrant
Gujarat to be held Jan 11-13 in
Gandhinagar.
Over 2,500 international delegates from more than 150 countries
are expected for the event, as
against 2,100 from 121 countries in
2013.
Gujarat
Industrial
Development Corporation managing director B.B. Swain said at
least 100 CEOs of the Fortune 500
club were expected to participate.
There will be a conclave of global CEOs and voices of noble laureates. Osamu Suzuki, chairman and
CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation;
Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief
executive officer, PepsiCo; Mark
Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook; Satya
Nadella, CEO, Microsoft; Larry
Page, CEO, Google and AMarry
Barra, CEO, General Motors are
among the likely participants.
"India scores at G20," the external

affairs ministry spokesperson Syed
Akbaruddin tweeted. He and Union
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu
even termed the outcome "unprecedented success".
The G0 communique addressed
concerns going beyond G20, developmental issues -- employment,
Indias prime concern, was a central
issues of discussion, Prabhu told
reporters at a post-summit briefing
here.
The tax and related black money
issue apart, several other issues
which New Delhi pursued vigorously in Brisbane found echo at the
G20 Summit -- reducing the cost of
remittances from abroad, of which
India is the largest beneficiary at
$70 billion annually, collaborations
on energy, infrastructure financing,
inclusive growth, job creation and
energy security.
New York
skyscraper to sell
for $2.25 billion
New York: Blackstone

Group LP has reached an
agreement to sell a skyscraper in Manhattan for
$2.25 billion, sources close
to the financial operation
said.
This transaction is set to
become the second most
expensive sale of an office
building in US history after
the General Motors building,
also in Manhattan, sold for
$2.8 billion in 2008.
The building is located at
1095 Avenue of the
Americas.
24
SPORTS
Spot-fixing: BCCI backs IPL boss, Srinivasan

Chennai: An emergency meeting of the
BCCI Working Committee here has decided
to support Indian Premier League (IPL)
chief Sundar Raman while postponing the
cricket board's Annual General Meeting
(AGM) for Dec 17.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) meeting also supported exiled president N. Srinivasan saying the allegations
against him were baseless and aimed at
destabilizing the organization.
Made public this week, the report of the
Supreme Court-appointed Mukul Mudgal
committee probing the 2013 IPL spot fixing
and betting scandal gave a clean chit to
International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Srinivasan but also said that he and four
other BCCI officials, though aware that individual 3 (a player whose name has not been
disclosed) was violating the players' code of
conduct, failed to take any action against
him.
Reacting to the report, BCCI secretary
Exiled BCCI president N. Srinivasan and IPL chief Sundar Raman
Sanjay Patel said: "The members noted the

conclusions in the final report of the Mudgal
committee and felt that there is no taint on
the conduct of Mr. N. Srinivasan and the
allegations levelled against him by

unscrupulous elements were baseless and
were aimed at destabilising the working of
the BCCI." The report had stated that Raman
had been in touch with a bookie and had

admitted that he was aware of Gurunath
Meiyappan and Raj Kundra's involvement in
betting, but did nothing about it.
Meiyappan is the son-in-law of Srinivasan
and an official of IPL franchise Chennai
Super Kings while Kundra is a co-owner of
another team Rajasthan Royals. However,
the BCCI decided to support the tainted IPL
boss.
"Mr. Sundar Raman gave his explanation
relating to his role with reference to the conclusions relating to him in the report of the
Mudgal committee. The members heard his
explanation and decided that the Board
should support Mr. Sundar Raman to represent himself before the Supreme Court,"
Patel said. Patel also added that the Working
Committee postponed the 85th AGM, originally scheduled for Nov 20, and it would
now be held here Dec 17.
The Supreme Court hearing on the same
case is on November 24.
Spot-fixing cricket's greatest crisis: Richard Hadlee
Viswanathan Anand playing with Norwegian world champion

Magnus Carlsen in Chennai.
World Chess: Anand has to

strike soon to catch up
Chennai: The 2014 World
Chess Championship is poised
interestingly, as the title challenger from India, Viswanathan
Anand, has to take some risk to
strike soon to be in contention
for the crown with Norwegian
world champion Magnus
Carlsen enjoying a one-point
lead, say experts.
With the 12-round match nearing the closing stages, Anand's
fans here have one question that
is bugging their minds.
Would Anand, the Indian king
of 64 squares, be able to square
off the points with Carlsen first
and outsmart him later to bring
home the title to the country of
the game's birth?
At the end of the eighth round,
Carlsen leads the table with 4.5
points to Anand's 3.5 points. The
first player to score 6.5 points
will be crowned the new world
chess champion.
At this juncture, it seems to be
a difficult task but not an impossible one for Anand, experts
said.
"Unless Anand can steer the
next four games towards the
type of positions he is comfortable with, he has little chance to
come back," Susan Polgar, a
four-time women's world chess
champion, said.
According to her, this edition
of the world title match is much
more closer than its previous
edition played between the same
players in 2013 at Chennai.
"It is more exciting. When
Anand played his type of game,
he did good. But when he
allowed Magnus to get dry positions, Anand got in trouble. This
is why opening choices is very
important for Anand," Polgar
said.
Christchurch: As corruption in
cricket continues to come under
scrutiny in India, legendary New
Zealand cricketer Richard Hadlee
says spot-fixing is the "greatest crisis" the game faces and it needs to
be dealt with severe penalties.
The iconic sportsman, 63, met
this visiting IANS correspondent at
the newly-built Hadlee Pavilion of
the Hagley Oval stadium - the
venue of the official opening ceremony and match of the ICC
Cricket World Cup 2015 - during a
sunny afternoon in his hometown.
Looking relaxed and smart as
usual, Hadlee was quite forthcoming when asked about his views on
controversies related to spot-fixing
and match-fixing, which are dogging the sport.
"A very general comment on that
would be that it's the greatest crisis
of cricket at the moment," he said.
What could be done to curb the

menace?
"If this sort of thing is going on,
it needs to be stamped out. And for
people who have proved to be
involved in these things, the penalties need to be severe as a deterrent.
"All the players actually have to
actually sign a contract that if
there's anything suspicious or if
they've had anyone approach them,
they have to report it. And once it's
reported, things get investigated.
People are going to jail, but penalties need to be severe, and if it's jail
or suspensions or whatever, then
subject to each individual case,
players are going to be made an
example of," he said.
His comment comes just days
after the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) decided
against sacking tainted Indian
Premier League (IPL) boss Sundar

Raman, whose name has come up
in the Justice Mukul Mudgal report
submitted to the Supreme Court in
connection with the spot-fixing
scandal during the 2013 edition of
the Twenty20 tournament.
Hadlee feels the shorter version
of the game has its own role to play
in shaping up the sport - as long as
it doesn't overshadow the traditional longer version and the 50-over
game.
"I accept it. There's a part that
T20 has to play in the game of
cricket. And one has to agree that
there's room for all three formats Test, 50-overs and T20. But I
wouldn't like to see T20 taking
over the 50-over game," said the
handsome legend, who has been
appointed as the New Zealand
Ambassador of the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2015.
President congratulates shuttlers Saina, Srikanth

New Delhi: President Pranab
Mukherjee congratulated badminton players Saina Nehwal and
Kidambi Srikanth for their respective wins at the China Open 2014
Super Series Premier event, saying
their success is a matter of great
pride for all Indians.
In individual messages sent to
Nehwal and Srikanth, the president
said: "I am extremely delighted and
proud that you have won the
women's/men's singles title of the
China Open 2014 Super Series
Premier event."
"Your achievement is an example
of what can be accomplished
through hard work and dedication.
The whole country joins your family and you in celebrating this
impressive achievement," he said.
"I would like to extend my
Badminton players Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth with

their China Open 2014 trophies.
heartiest congratulations for keeping the country's flag flying high.

My best wishes to you for all
future endeavors," the president
said. Saina Nehwal defeated
Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to bag

her third women's singles crown of
the year, while Srikanth beat twotime Olympic champion Lin Dan
to win the men's singles title.
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
25
3rd Sikh Games on Nov 29-30 in Long Island

Glen Cove, NY: The 3rd annual
Sikh Games will be held on Nov
29-30 at Glen Cove High School
near Glen Cove gurdwara on Long
Island. Sports include basketball,
volleyball, soccer, table tennis, badminton, elementary games and tugof war and are open to all Sikh children between the age 5 years to 25
years. You can win cash prizes &
certificates / trophies. Sikh adults
can participate & register too. In
this community and family fun day,
there are special events for toddlers
and seniors. Not to speak of the raffle prizes (a ticket to India and
much more) and all day langar.
To find out more, The South
Asian Times interviewed Simran
Lamba and Manmeet Lamba, the
spearheads of the event since 2012.
Excerpts:
Q. How did the Sikh Games
come into being?
A. Manmeet K. Lamba and her
team ably supported by the Glen
Cove gurdwara management &
trustees of Sikh Forum Inc., the
sangat, numerous volunteers and
prominent members of the Sikh
community have been successfully
holding the Vaisakhi Mela for the
last 10 years at the Mata Sahib
Kaur Gurdwara, Glen Cove, NY.
This years mela in June attracted
over 10,000 people from all over
the East Coast and from many communities, not just Sikhs & Punjabis.
Games and cultural activities have
been an integral part of the mela
and have been enjoyed by children.
In 2012, a chance discussion
between Manmeet Lamba, her
young son Simran, and Jatinder
Singh evolved into organizing a
special sports event, specifically for
Sikh children in New York area.
Simran Lamba, an avid basketball
player, wanted to organize a league
for young players for a few years.
After the success of the Glen Cove
Vaisakhi mela, it was felt that a
sports event would bring the young
ones together as well as encourage
a healthy activity.
The inaugural Sikh Games, NY,
were successfully held in August
2012 at the Glen Cove High
School.
Q. Who came to associate with
the games from the beginning?
A. Simran lamba and Manmeet k.
Lamba.
Q. What are the objectives of the

Sikh Games?
A. The main objective is to
encourage Sikh children and youths
to meet in a family friendly environment to compete and participate
in sports & cultural activities. To
inculcate healthy habits, foster a
competitive spirit, provide opportunities for our communities to meet
& enjoy games, sports, have fun,
experience Sikhi spirit and chardi
kala....
Q. Do you see the objectives
being fulfilled?
A. Definitely. The first games in
2012 on Aug 26 had over 500 participants of all age groups and over
4,000 visitors. In 2013 the number
of participants in the two-day event
rose to over 800 and of visitors to
over 5,000. The community has
been brought together to compete,
enjoy and interact over two days of
hectic activities for all age groups
and interests.
Healthy sporting habits are being
developed and the children are
looking forward to this annual
event. Individuals and teams practice all year round as the competition is stiff and standards are getting higher by the year.
Q. What is the organizational
structure and source of funding?
A. Presented by Sikh Forum Inc,
Sikh Games, NY is a completely
sewa / volunteer based organization. So, members of the community, sangat at various gurdwaras,
local business & community leaders, all contribute to the effort to
organize, conduct & manage the
games. Each sport has its own coordinator, who selects and organizes
his / her team for smooth functioning of that particular activity.
The overall management of the
event is shared by Manmeet &
Simran Lamba, assisted by volunteers.
Money and materials are contributed by the Glen Cove gurdwara, the sangat, sponsors, local
vendors & businesses, individual
contributions, sewa by hundreds of
committed volunteers and families.
Q. Tell us more about the participation and game categories.
A. The sports in the past two
years events included basketball,
volleyball, table tennis, lawn ten-
nis, badminton, elementary track,

tug-of-war, track. Age group of participants has been 5-70, both males
and females.
Basketball in 2013 had over 40
teams competing in two age
groups: boys 11 16, and Boys
over 17. Volleyball had 10 teams:
boys & girls 11-16; and boys &
girls 17 +. Badminton had over 80
boys & girls playing. Children ran
50 / 100 mtrs races, did a threelegged race, spoon & lemon race.
Professional referees, scorers &
officials were in place for basketball and volleyball. Full time security staff was hired on both days.
Each participant was given a Sikh
Games T-shirt. Refreshments were
available as langar throughout.
Trophies for basketball and volleyball team winners & runners-up
were given and each team member
received individual trophies too.
Table tennis, badminton winners &
runners-up received trophies too.
Trophies and medals were given to
many winners & 2nd / 3rd position
holders in the track events.
Sponsors included Satguru, Apna
Bazar.
Q. Tell us more about last years
successful games.
A. The Glen Cove Town Mayor
Ralph V. Suozzi graced the occasion, and was felicitated. Tom
Souzzi, former Nassau County
Executive, was also a special guest.
One of the stars of the event was
Lester Prosper, a promising young
basketball player from Old
Westbury who was one of the NBA
draft player for 2011. He has
played in European & Canadian
leagues. He is a personal friend of
Simran Lamba, our basketball
coordinator. At the event, Lester
provided tips and explained finer
points of the game to eager Sikh
boys.
Simran has inherited his mother
Manmeet Lambas passion for
community work and is very passionate about basketball.
We had a special raffle organized
for the spectators and visitors and
prizes included gym equipment,
cycles, etc.
We hope to make history again
and break all records for the 2014
edition of the Sikh Games, NY.
For information, call Simram
Lamba - 516-319-0215
Simran Lamba, along with his mother Manmeet Lamba, has

spearheaded the Sikh Games, NY since 2012. An avid basketball player, he is basketball coordinator for the annual event.
All these trophies to be won. Cash prizes too, and a raffle!
The Sikh Games, NY team posing with the trophies to be won.
Manmeet Lamba (second from left) and Simran Lamba

interacting with the mediapersons.
26
YAZIDIS
Persecution of Yazidis in Iraq a global concern

Yazidis- believed to have Hindu connect - face extermination
from the world and seek urgent help
By SAT Team
ens of thousands of Yazidis are
trapped in the Sinjar Mountains in
northern Iraq after they were driven
from their homes by the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Islamist extremist group is persecuting members of nonMuslim faiths in the massive region of
Iraq and Syria it now controls. Hundreds
of thousands of religious minorities have
fled, and thousands who didn't have been
brutally killed.
But the Yazidis are the most misunderstood group of all and they're historically the most hated by Islamic militants.
Though Yazidis practice a peaceful religion, many Christians and Muslims have
mistaken them for a satanic sect. Yazidis
worship an angel named Malak Tawwus,
who they believe once defied God.
According to their tradition, Malak was
forgiven and was welcomed back into the
heavens.
That story hits too close to home for
Christians and Muslims who believe that
their devil figure shared the same sort of
origin. Those faiths believe the fallen
angel never regained favor with God. He
became the devil, the leader of all things
evil.
The confusion has led to centuries of
persecution for the Yazidis. Al-Qaida,
which spawned ISIS, even once sanctioned the indiscriminate killing of
Yazidis; but now, ISIS may be the most
dangerous oppressor yet.
Militaries from around the world are
helping to bring food, water and supplies
to trapped Yezidi refugees, and humanitarian workers have already led thousands to
safety. But the fate of the rest remains
uncertain, and the Yazidis' struggles are far
from over.
Spiritual Leader Sri Sri

Ravi Shankar to visit
relief camps in Kurdistan
lobal humanitarian and spiritual
leader, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has
called on governments of Europe,
America and India to save the thousands
of Yazidis. Sri Sri will be visiting the relief
camps where International Association for
Human Values (IAHV) will also hold a
conference in the Kurdish capital of Erbil
on November 20th titled "Protecting
Women and Bringing Stability and Peace"
inviting regional political and religious
leaders, youth leaders, community
activists, peace builders and international
delegates.
Since the early stages of the ISIS insurgence in Iraq, over 1.5 million Iraqis have
been internally displaced or forced to flee
across borders for their safety. The
International Association for Human
Values (IAHV) and its partner organization Art of Living Foundation which have
carried out work in Iraq for the past 11
years have been working for the past six
months to bring relief to refugees and
internally displaced people (IDP). From its
base in Erbil, the team has brought relief
in the form of food, water and hygiene
products to 5 different camps, each camp
sheltering 550 Iraqi families, totaling
about 2500 families.
"This is one of the worst genocides of
the 21st century. Yazidis are an ancient
community on the verge of extinction.
Several members of this community visited me here in the U.S last week and pleaded for help to rescue the people from the
ISIS onslaught. Christians, Yazidis and
Kurdish Shias are languishing in camps in
Erbil, Duhok and Khazir. Yazidis who
were a community of 23 million have now
been reduced to one million over the
years," Sri Sri said.
Throwing light on the condition in the
strife-torn land, he added, "Thousands are
trapped in the mountains with no food or
water. 7000 Yazidi girls and women, aged
between 9-35 years, have been taken captive by the ISIS. We have rescued and
rehabilitated a 15-year-old girl victim of
gang-rape and are rescuing many other
women trapped and being sold by ISIS for
as little as $10. Basic needs are being distributed in the camps."
Yazidis and the incredible Hindu connect
Yazidis with expression of namaskar

(right) Snake is often associated with
lord Subrahmania (Murugan) by Hindus
s per one theory Yazidis are

believed to have originated in
India, they worship Peacock
Angel Tawsi Melek (peacocks are not
found in or around Middle east).
The Hindus know Tawsi Melek as
Murugan, the legendary son of Shiva and
Shakti.
Among his numerous alternate titles are
Skanda, Sanat Kumara, Karttikeya, and
Subramaniya. Like the Yazidis Tawsi
Melek, the Hindu Murugan is the king of
the universe and moves through his

domain as a young boy astride a peacock,
or simply as a peacock.
Murugans identity as one of seven
angelic beings is manifest within some
Hindu scriptures that refer to him as
Sanat Kumara, the leader of the Seven
Kumaras.
Yazidis believe in One GOD who created the world and entrusted it into the
care of seven Holy Beings , the prominent one being Peacock Angel.
Yazidi leaders seek help against ISIS

delegation of top Yazidi religious
and cultural leaders came to the
US the week of October 2431seeking help for their community in
Iraq, which has been devastated by ISIS
extremists. ISIS considers the ancient religious minority to be pagan. More than
300,000 Yazidis have been driven from
their homes and need humanitarian aid. In
addition, the delegation says it has documented nearly 7,000 names of Yazidi girls
and young women who have been kidnapped by ISIS and forced into sexual
enslavement. The delegation met with a
variety of American political and religious
leaders.
Several organizations are working hard
to raise awareness and raise funds to provide desperately needed supplies in winter
at the camps in the desert where thousands
of Yazidis are seeking refuge.
Prior to the onslaught of the current war,
it was estimated that there were around
700,000 Yazidis living in the Northern
Iraqi regions. As of this date, not including those who are unaccounted for (missing and presumed dead) the numbers of
those surviving are much less than
500,000 with 210,000 known dead. Half a
Yazidi Spiritual leader Baba Seikh's

visit to the Murugan Temple in DC.
The holy day for both the Murugan
Bhakts and the Yazidis
is Wednesday.
million surviving are homeless with winter coming within a few weeks and no
winter clothing to keep them from the elements. According to an article in the
Kurdistan Tribune 11 of the Yezidi
refugee Camps are located in several areas

between Sinjar and the Turkish borders.
These refugees in Northern Iraq, Turkish
border and Syria are in urgent need of the
following:
1. Food, Clean Drinking Water, Tents
2. Winter clothing- especially for the
children
3. Medical supplies, Medical Doctors,
Nurses, Volunteers
4. Financial Aid
5. Camp Schools
To donate:
1) Sewa International:
http://www.sewausa.org/contributesewa-usa
select "Yazidi Refugee Relief"
2) IAHV, associated with Art of Living
https://secure.iahv.org/donations.aspx?p
roject_id=137
Select Yazidi Refugee Humanitarian
Fund
3) VHPA:
http://ess.vhp-america.org/dms/contribute.php?dicds=41
Make check payable to VHP of America
and mail it to: VHP of America, P. O. Box
441505, Houston, TX 77244-1505 visit
www.vhp-america.org
HEALTH
27
A 10-second kiss could

transfer 80 million bacteria!
s many as 80 million bacteria are transferred during a 10-second kiss, says
a new study, adding that at least
nine intimate kisses per day could
lead to couples sharing similar
communities of oral bacteria.
"Intimate kissing involving full
tongue contact and saliva
exchange appears to be a
courtship behavior unique to
humans. We wanted to find out
the extent to which partners share
their oral microbiota. It turns out
that the more a couple kiss, the
more similar they are," said lead
study author Remco Kort from the
Organization for Applied
Scientific Research (TNO) in the
Netherlands.
Along with researchers from
Micropia - the world's first museum on microbes - in Amsterdam,
Kort studied 21 couples, asking
them to fill out questionnaires on
their kissing behavior including
their average intimate kiss frequency.
After a kiss, researchers found
that the quantity of probiotic bacteria in the receiver's saliva rose
threefold.
In a controlled kissing experiment to quantify the transfer of
bacteria, a member of each of the
How to make kids eat

healthy food in school
couples had a probiotic drink containing specific varieties of bacteria. After an intimate kiss,
researchers found that the quantity of probiotic bacteria in the
receiver's saliva rose threefold.
They calculated that in total, 80
million bacteria would have been
transferred during a 10-second
kiss. "The results show that when
couples intimately kiss at relatively high frequencies, their salivary
microbiota become similar," Kort
added.
On an average, it was found that
partners who kissed each other at
least nine times a day shared similar communities of oral bacteria.
The study also suggests an
important role for other mecha-
nisms that select oral microbiota,

resulting from a shared lifestyle,
dietary and personal care habits.
The ecosystem of more than
100 trillion microorganisms that
live in our bodies - the microbiome - is essential for the digestion
of food, synthesizing nutrients,
and preventing disease.
It is shaped by genetics, diet,
and age, but also the individuals
with whom we interact.
With the mouth playing host to
more than 700 varieties of bacteria, the oral microbiota also
appear to be influenced by those
closest to us.
The research was published in
the open access journal
Microbiome.
long with the menu,

improving the environment of the school cafeteria is important to ensure intake
of healthy food by children, says
a new research.
The researchers found that
more children ate their vegetables
and whole grains when it was
quieter in the cafeteria, though
noise had little effect on consumption of food belonging to
other food groups.
"As much as we are focused on
menus in the school lunch program, we need to look more at
our cafeteria environments, especially with our youngest children," said Susan Gross, a
research associate at the Johns
Hopkins University in the US.
"We can give kids the healthiest
food possible, but if they do not
have time to eat it or they are distracted by how noisy the cafeteria
is, they are not going to eat it,"
Gross added.
The researchers observed 274
children in KG-2nd grade in 10
New York City public schools.
They found that only 58 percent
chose a fruit and 59 percent
chose a vegetable.
The researchers also found that
children were much more likely
to finish their food if a teacher ate
in the cafeteria with them.
Besides, the children were more
likely to eat when their food was
cut up into smaller pieces and
when lunch periods were longer.
The study is scheduled to be
presented at American Public
Health Association's annual
meeting in New Orleans,
Louisiana, Nov 17.
Tips to ward off holiday heartburn Holiday gift ideas for the health conscious
ights, music, family, boughs of
holly -- the holidays are known
for many pleasant sights and
sensations. Unfortunately, seasonal
stress, odd schedules and overindulgence in rich foods can mean an upset
stomach, heartburn and indigestion for
some celebrants.
Take steps to make the holidays
more pleasant on your stomach:
Seek balance: Eating a balanced
diet is a key factor in preventing indigestion, constipation and other digestive problems, but accomplishing this
goal may be a bit trickier during the
holiday party season.
Drink plenty of water, hit the veggie
tray before the cheese tray, and be sure
to incorporate fruit, vegetables, lean
meats, whole grains and low-fat dairy
into your other, less festive meals.
Enjoy slowly: With so many terrific
foods on the menu, why rush? Enjoy
meals slowly. Youll be more likely to
practice portion control this way.
Additionally, digestion will be easier if
you dont make your body process too
much at once.
Reduce stress: Stress can manifest
itself through the digestive system in
the form of heartburn. So avoid letting
the holidays become an added source of
stress. Carve out a few moments daily
throughout the season to relax.
Cook smart: Counteract the effects
of all those rich foods and drinks by

incorporating basil, dill, mint, cilantro
and ginger into holiday cooking.
Listen to your body: Symptoms are
usually an expression of the bodys
attempt to correct an imbalance. Instead
of masking symptoms such as acid indigestion, upset stomach, nausea, heartburn or a hangover, try a homeopathic
medicine that works with the body to
alleviate discomfort.
For example, Boiron makes dissolvable pellets called Nux vomica for
symptomatic relief.. For a natural indigestion remedy or natural hangover
remedy, try it after too much coffee,
alcohol, spicy or rich food, or when
feeling drowsy after a big meal.
Kitchen cabinet remedies: Your
kitchen cabinet contains an arsenal of
remedies, say experts. Take two tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar
before eating to help with digestion.
You can also try drinking a cup of
organic herbal tea, such as chamomile,
dandelion or burdock, with fresh lemon
juice after meals to help with liver
detox and promote relaxation, says
celebrity chef and culinary nutritionist
Amie Valpone, HHC, AADP.
Exercise: Regular exercise benefits
a healthy digestive system, so get plenty of it. Just be sure to avoid anything
strenuous directly after a heavy holiday
meal.
mericans have a lot on their minds during the holiday season, and the stress of
ballooning budgets and crowded calendars can be enough to affect almost anyones
well-being. With that in mind, why not use the
holidays as an opportunity to give the most
important gift of all? That gift, of course, is
health. Here are a few ways to make your
health-conscious friend or family member smile
from ear to ear.
The Gift of Fitness : Whether buying for a fitness buff or a beginner, options abound.
Exercise balls, kettlebells and resistance bands
are inexpensive gifts that can help budding fitness gurus build their home gyms. If the DIY
option isnt right for the person you have in
mind, try a prepaid gym membership, trainer
session or package of yoga classes. Losing
weight is the most popular New Years resolution, so spread the health.
Healthy Tech : Many health enthusiasts like to
monitor their progress and chart their results.
These days, there are a number of gadgets that
can help keep track of your fitness and dietary
goals. From wristbands that log daily activity to
wireless heart monitors and interval timers,
technology can supercharge any regimen.
Culinary Inspiration : Whether youre shopping for a vegetarian, a Paleo enthusiast, or just
someone looking to build a healthier kitchen,
culinary gifts are always a sure bet. Healthy
cookbooks and kitchenware will help them stick
to their healthy habits, and you might even get a
delicious meal in the bargain.
Charitable Donations :: Donating to a healthpromoting charity on another persons behalf
can be a great way to support his or her healthconscious cause. Giving Tuesday is December
2 a nationwide event that marks the perfect
time for such a gesture.
If youre looking for a unique way to give
back, check out Action for Healthy Kids, an
organization that works to make schools healthier places for kids to learn. In its online gift catalog, youll find a host of charitable options,
scaled to fit almost any budget. From a physical
activity classroom kit to school breakfast for a
child for the entire year (students who eat
school breakfast score 17.5 percent higher on
standardized math tests), Action for Healthy
Kids provides an easy way to make an impact
with healthy gifts.
Everyone is looking for the perfect gift for
kids this time of year, and its hard to beat the
gift of a healthier life, said Rob Bisceglie CEO
of Action for Healthy Kids. Its estimated that
one-third of U.S. kids are overweight or obese.
Thats a statistic that needs to change.
Staying healthy and fit is important yearround, so dont hesitate to give your friends and
family holiday gifts that will help enrich their
mind, body and soul. While other gifts might be
used and discarded, yours will keep on giving.
28
HUMOR
Funny Side by Nury Vittachi
She wrote her first

bestseller at 76
y teachers always told my parents:

Er, hes probably a late developer.
Years later, Im beginning to ask
how late is late, exactly?
Could it kindly be THIS side of the afterlife, please?
***
Dont you just hate people who seem destined for early success?
Reader Anita Chau sent me a report about
pregnant UK woman Amanda Collins who
entered an ultrasound scan of HER FETUS
into a baby beauty contest.
Contest officials accepted the entry,
although waited until after birth to give the
baby her prize certificate.
They could have rolled it up really tightly, I
suppose. Hello, fetus. Sending something up
for you.)
***
But her actions raise the parenting bar to a
worryingly high level for the rest of us.
School admissions officer: Mr Vittachi,
can you list your childs achievements before
birth?
Me: Er, well, she kicked a lot, probably,
and practiced, er, breathing, no, wait, theres
no air in there, well, she kicked a lot, probably.
Like thats going to get her into a decent
school.
***
Laughter is the Best Medicine
by Mahendra Shah
Mahendra Shah is an architect by education, entrepreneur by profession, artist and humorist, cartoonist and writer by hobby
. He has been recording the plight of the immigrant Indians for the past many years in his cartoons. Hailing from Gujarat,
he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Novelist Jean Rhys
Can you actually change your fate by sheer

determination?
Maybe.
A deaf thief robbed a house recently, taking
his sign-language interpreter with him to
facilitate the intimidation of the householder,
says a report forwarded to me from a news
site in Scotland.
Now you have to admire that guy for not
letting his disability limit his ambition. ***
But more common are news

reports like the one about the
one-legged teenager in
Malaysia some years back
who joined a snatch-and-run
gang, and got caught by police
on his first job as he hopped
away.
Why did his school career
adviser not warn him?
***
Yet those experts can be
wrong.
When my school careers
officer asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I
said: A member of the
British royal family. She told
me that there were limited
openings for small Asian people in that line of work, so I
ditched the plan.
You can imagine my fury
when in 1995 Princess Diana
fell madly in love with a
handsome south Asian guy
(Hasnat Khan) and started
dressing in sari blouses to
court him.
That could have been me! I
could have been married to a
dangerous scheming woman
who slept with her bodyguards and ruined her husbands life.
***
Still, I continue to HATE the
phrase follow your dream.
This may have something to

do with the fact that my most
common dream is being
naked in the supermarket.
A psychologist told me this
is an extremely common
dream which signifies that
you feel inadequate as a
human being.
I told her, no, it signifies
that my local supermarket
chain (Parknshop) is run by an
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
GANG which takes everything customers (victims)
have.
***
So late bloomers, dont
despair. Novelist Jean Rhys
wrote her first bestseller at 76,
and Indian polymath Nirad
Chaudhuri wrote a book at the
age of 100.
No need to rush.
***
Meanwhile, theres another
baby beauty contest coming
up.
My kids are too old to enter
but I may follow Amanda
Collins lead and send in an xray of my reproductive system. This may be an arrestable
offence but at least Ill get
some headlines and finally
prove my teachers right.
***
ASTROLOGY
By Dr Prem Kumar Sharma

ARIES: Self-confidence would enable
to convey your point of view with ease
at workplace. You will be the star of
attraction of familys get-together in this week.
An auspicious week to invest money on items
that would grow in value. Love comes your
way as friendship turns into romance. A beneficial week to work on things that will improve
your health. Are you longing to go on a vacation then be ready for it? The best ideas for
investment are to on invest on real estate business. Pleasure trip undertaken with friends
would be satisfying.
TAURUS: Mental clarity gives a decisive edge over all competitors at professional front. Help from family members
would take care of your needs. Investment on
long-term plans would pave the way for earning
financial gains. You are likely find comfort in
the arms of romantic partner. Your confidence
and energy will be high in this week. Be ready
to hang out with your friends. Are you longing
to buy a farmhouse, try for it? Your ability to
easily convince others will benefit you.
GEMINI: Calculated risks would
enable to complete the project on time.
You will enjoy the time spent with family members and friends. Improvement in
finances makes it convenient in clearing long
pending dues & bills. Love and romantic
encounter will keep you in a cheerful state. A
week when smile will perpetually be on your
face and strangers will seem familiar. By travelling you will learn about new places, ultimately its a great deal for yourself. If you want
to invest on property, then go for residential
one. You succeed in completing long-pending
construction work to your satisfaction.
CANCER: Working under momentary
impulsion would backfire at workplace
in this week. Your generous behaviour
would enable to enjoy some lovely moments
with family. Successful execution of brilliant
ideas would help in earning financial profits.
Sudden romantic encounter is foreseen in this
week. Your energy level will be high. Better to
channelize it in a positive direction. Pack your
bags and some eatables and go out for a picnic.
Selling your home privately can be an excellent
way of saving on costs. A desire to do something different makes you innovative.
LEO: Your plans to organise a musical
evening for team members might not
materialise in this week. Friends and
family members would lend a helping hand. A
very successful week as far as monetary position is concerned. A promising week for
romance when your innovation infuses a new
spirit in it. Positive outlook impresses those
around you besides keeping you fit & fine.
Many people want to fly international and you
are one of them. Off-plan property investment
is one of the easiest and most profitable methods to maximize gains in the real estate market.
Ability to take calculated risks impresses the
people who are closely monitoring you.
VIRGO: A firm commitment will not
only enable to achieve professional targets but also to realise your dreams. An
unexpected message from a distant relative
brings happy news for the entire family.
Indications of earning financial profits through
commissions, dividends or royalties. Partner
brings immense romantic pleasure even if work
pressure occupies your mind Charity work
undertaken will bring mental peace & comfort.
By travelling youll learn about new places and
cultures, which is ultimately a great deal about
yourself. Your property prices will boost in the
coming period. By merely observing others
you are likely to learn a lot in this week.

LIBRA: Cooperative nature brings
desired results at professional front.
Relatives are likely to give some valuable advice regarding personal life. Perfect
week to purchase items that would grow in
value. Romance rules heart & mind.
Meditation and self-realization prove beneficial. You and your loved ones been busy for
quite sometimes and have finally decided to go
on a vacation. Buying property can lead to
gains as property prices continue to increase.
You involvement in voluntary work will enable
to bring fame to you.
SCORPIO : For some change of job
would bring mental satisfaction. You
receive care and affection from family
members. Important people will be ready to
finance anything that has a special class to it.
Romantic imagination occupies mind forcing
to go out of the way to please partner. You will
have ample time to do things to improve your
health. Your next journey is to a place which is
full of natural beauty and ravishing. You could
buy the property that you are looking for. Dont
miss the opportunity to associate yourself in
any voluntary work.
SAGITTARIUS: Your inner values
coupled with a positive attitude will
bring success at work. Matrimonial
alliance for eligible bachelor in family brings
joy to all. Property dealings would materialize
helping in bringing fabulous gains. Cupids
arrows would make your heart flutter high.
Sound physical health will enable to participate
in outdoor activities. Time for a vacation, sit
back and relax. Investing on properties which
are under developed will be profitable. A wonderful week to contact persons with whom you
can share your dreams/aims.
CAPRICORN: Responding positively
& quickly to new ideas in business will
go in your favour. A new outlook will
be the source of laughter at family front in this
week. You are likely to earn monetary gains
through various sources. You are likely to
enjoy a pleasure trip that will rejuvenate your
passions. You will be successful in getting rid
from tensions. If you are thinking of escaping
from the hectic daily routine- plan a trip.
Whether young or old, now is the time to start
investing. Joining hands with humanitarian
group in social work would benefit you.
AQUARIUS: Calculated risks at professional front will be rewarded with
success. Dont forget to spend quality
time in the company of family friends you care.
Increase in income from past investment is foreseen. Romantic entanglement would add spice
to your happiness. A sparkling laughter filled
week when most things proceed, as you desire.
Going for a vacation is always a big expenditure- you must plan everything. Looking for
good long term investments, then go for a property which is under construction. You would
find things moving the way you want them.
PISCES : You will be successful in
regaining your professional touch.
Enjoying a picnic with family will not
only bring joy but also help in clearing misunderstandings. Monetary gains from unplanned
sources will brighten your week. Chances of
your love life turning into life-long bond are
high on the card. Your enormous confidence
would help in enjoying a healthy life. Minor
preparations before you travel overseas will
make your trip a lot smoother. Value the property at right price to attract buyers for it.
Timely suggestions to friends would help them
to solve their problems.
29
Chandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874

Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899
psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com
Annual Predictions: For those born in this week

22nd November, 2014
Ruled planet: Uranus Ruled by no: 4
Traits in you: By inborn characteristics, you are active,
disciplined, and efficient. You are the master of an appealing personality. You are highly social and helpful.
However, you should work on your nature of being jealous, self-centered, and destructive.
Health this year: You will be in good health throughout
this year. To maintain your ggod health, you need to practice exercise or yoga.
Finance this year: You will be financially benefited
from different sources of income. You will acquire new
projects and that will improve your financial condition. If
you are travelling for business purpose, it will yield positive results for you and you will be successful in your
business trips this year. You may invest in buying house
or stocks. However, it is recommended to have a good research on the stock before you invest. You may feel restless due to the abrupt expenses for the health issues of
your family members. You may end up spending a lot of
money to settle down your legal issues. You might decide
to buy property or vehicles this year.
Career this year: You will be rewarded for your work
this year. You will gain enough professional recognition
for your knowledge, skills, and efficiency. The ongoing
projects may get a continuation.
Romance this year: You will enjoy a better romantic alife as compared to the last year. You will be understood by
your partner and get enough support in everything you do.
Lucky month: February, April, July and December
23rd November, 2014
Ruled planet: Mercury Ruled by no: 5
Traits in you: Your ruling planet Mercury makes you an
active, practical, sensible, systematic and highly diplomatic person. You need to be a bit careful and remove
stubbornness from your nature.
Health this year: If you are a chronic patient, you have
to take extra care for your health to avoid grievances in
future.
Finance this year: You might sell your property in a
good price, which would help you enhance your financial
stance. You may schedule your travel to maintain distant
relationships and gain some financial support. Some of
you may get the opportunity to travel abroad for business
purpose. You should avoid lending and borrowing money to stay financially stable.
Career this year: You love music and literature and want
to pursue your career in those fields. You will be able to
improve your confidence level as you may find a lot of
opportunities to be grabbed.
Romance this year: Some of you also may get your marriage fixed this year. Your romance life would get to its
peak.
Lucky month: March, June and September
24th November, 2014
Ruled planet: Venus Ruled by no: 6
Traits in you: Your planet Venus makes you kind, realistic, helpful, and adaptable. You are very simple as a person who believes in high thinking. You are hardworking
and sincere, which helps you get appreciation from others. However, you need to check your nature of being
rude and interfering in the affairs of others. If you do not
work on your behavior, you may end up criticized badly.
Health this year: You will enjoy a better health this year
as compared to last year. You may suffer from some minor health issues such as joint aches, back pain, headache
and so on.
Finance this year: You will enjoy financial prosperity
and a good health throughout this year. If you are a businessman, you will get ample opportunities to expand
your business by investing in more profitable areas.
Career this year: If your profession is associated with
creativity, such as artists, media professionals, and advertising professionals, you may gain popularity, appreciation, and fame. If you want to create professional and
social contacts, you have to achieve it through frequent
get-togethers and traveling. You may receive some help
from your near and dear ones, which may prove to be instrumental in improving your confidence in your professional life.
Romance this year: You will find your spouse to be very
cooperative this year. You will find your required emotional support from your spouse through love, care and
concern even if you find it difficult to understand your
partner. If you are unmarried, you may find your romance
interest this year.
Lucky month: March, August and September
25th November, 2014
Ruled planet: Neptune Ruled by no: 7
Traits in you: Being dominated by Neptune, you are
adorned with characteristics such as responsibility, affection, creativity, simplicity and emotions.
Health this year: Your spouse may suffer from stress related health issues, which may lead to roaming in the
premises of a hospital.
Finance this year: You are supposed to be benefited financially from your assumptions while investing money.
However, that does not mean you will invest blindly.
Career this year: As you are committed towards your
undertaken works, you are appreciated and awarded consistently. However, you have to work on your nature of
being fickle minded and careless always. You may realize your ideas and plans this year. You will be able to execute your plans efficiently. You will get plenty of support from your partners and colleagues to improve your
morale and confidence.
Romance this year: You will be in a blissful romantic relationship with your partner this year.
Lucky month: February, July and November
26th November, 2014
Ruled planet: Saturn Ruled by no: 8
Traits in you: Under the influence of Neptune you will
develop your characteristics to be a dynamic, reliable, organized, sober and disciplined person. You are a born
fighter.
Health this year: You will have few minor health issues
this year, which can be cured by regular medication.
Finance this year: If you have made any investments in
real estate or stocks, you will be hugely benefited this
year. You may have a foreign trip for business purpose.
Career this year: You would never fidget in adverse situations and fight back all the problems in your life. However, your stubbornness may make you lag behind others
so it will be better for you to take others opinion.
Romance this year: You will find lot of love and care
from your spouse. You may think the last quarter of the
year to be idle for you wedding. Some of you may get involved in romantic relationships, which you help you enjoy your life the most.
Lucky month: May, August and December
27th November, 2014
Ruled planet: Mars Ruled by no: 9
Traits in you: The vigor of you ruling planet, Mars blesses you with energy. You are charismatic, courageous, enthusiastic, and intellectual. You will be a crowd puller as
you have the characteristics of intellectuality. You will
impress people with your personality and talks. However, you should not behave aggressive and short tempered.
This may ruin your image in front of others.
Health this year: The last quarter of the year will make
you seek help from a spiritual person to attain peace of
mind. You may go through minor health related problems
due to stress.
Finance this year: You will earn excellent returns if you
had invested in past. Your legal issues will be settled in
your favor this year. You may receive money unexpectedly from friends and relatives throughout the year. Your
business trips will be successful this year and you will receive earning opportunities from your trips.
Career this year: This year is the best time to go back to
your old contacts and create new contacts to receive help
to make yourself better in professional life.
Romance this year: You may get involved in a romantic
relationship this year, which may get converted to marriage later on.
Lucky month: April, July, September and December
28th November, 2014
Ruled planet: Sun Ruled by no: 1
Traits in you: Being ruled by Sun, you will be creative
by nature. Your other characteristics include smartness,
intelligence, and dignity and so on.
Health this year: Your younger siblings may have some
health issues, which will put you in immense pressure.
Finance this year: You may go ahead creating new contacts and casual relationships this year. If you are a businessperson, there are huge opportunities for you to start
new ventures and earn lot of money as you will be successful whatever initiative you take this year.
Your assumptions of investing will prove to be highly
beneficial.
Career this year: Art and literature are your area of interest and you want to contribute to these fields. However, you need to be sober and down to earth to create a
good impression. If you are a scientist or a lawyer, you
may find this year to be rewarding for you. Women professionals in advertising and media will also be rewarded for their good work.
Romance this year: If you are unmarried, this year may
bring romance in your lonely life.
Lucky month: January, April and October
30
SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
'Meditation boosts performance,

alleviates pain'
Sant Rajinder Singh
Ji Maharaj
Dr
Kunwarjit
Duggal
has
Singh
studied
meditation under the

guidance
of
Sant
Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj

and Sant Rajinder Singh Ji
Maharaj since childhood.
He lectures on the health
benefits of meditation, a
vegetarian lifestyle for
improved functionality
and sports performance,
preventative medicine,
therapeutic
changes
and
lifestyle
overall
wellness. In an interview
he elaborates on importance of meditation
Question: As a doctor, what
benefit do you see for your
patients from meditation?
Dr. Kunwarjit Singh Duggal:
In my practice, I see many patients
who suffer from chronic pain from
a wide variety of ailments. While
trying to manage chronic pain,
some of the biggest issues they
have are the emotional and spiritual voids in their lives. Meditation
is a fantastic way to address both
of these aspects. As a countless
number of medical studies have
proven, meditation significantly
helps ease anxiety and stress,
decrease levels of depression,
combat aggression, increase ones
sense of awareness, and manage
difficult situations that arise in
everyday life. By aiding in pain
coping techniques, meditation
helps decrease and sometimes
completely erase the emotional
aspect that occurs with pain, especially chronic pain. This is seen
clinically by a significant reduction in the amount of analgesic
(pain relieving) medications
patients are taking. According to
recent studies, a majority of
patients wish that their physicians
would ask more about and address
spirituality in their encounters
with patients. Those who do not
have a spiritual sense of where
they fit in the universe tend also to
suffer from a lack of life control.
This, in turn, directly relates to
their ability to manage their pain.
Those who do not have a spiritual sense of where they fit in the universe
also tend to suffer from a lack of life control.
If we are to treat people holistically, we as care providers must

ensure that we do not neglect the
spiritual aspect of ones life and
acknowledge how a void in this
field will have detrimental effect
on their health.
Question: Is there any medical
research to prove that meditation
reduces stress?
Absolutely! The number of welldesigned studies in the field of
meditation has grown exponentially over the past few years, and the
evidence is overwhelming. A
study done in the Department of
Surgery at the Mayo Clinic (perhaps Americas most famous and
well-known hospital) proved that
a short 4-week meditation program resulted in significant
improvements in stress and anxiety, while providing subjects with
a high level of satisfaction in the
program itself. Another recent
study performed in the
Department of Pediatrics at the
University of Texas Galveston
found that an 8-week meditation
course significantly brought
improvement in measures of
stress, various measures of health
and well-being, scales of spirituality, and pulse rate variability with
results lasting at least one year
after the meditation course had
ended. This is fascinating evidence showing the long lasting
effects of meditation on the human
body. An interesting Australian
study done at the Menzies
Research Institute at the
University of Tansania looked at
the effects of meditation on medical students, a population under
immense amount of stress. In this
group, an 8-week meditation program significantly reduced the

levels of depression, stress and
anxiety. These are just a few
amongst the many studies that
have again and again proved the
benefits of meditation on stress
reduction.
Question: Can you give examples from fields in which meditation reduces stress and improves
performance?
This is one of my favorite questions. As an avid basketball fan
growing up in Chicago, USA, I
was always fascinated with the
skill with which Michael Jordan
and the rest of the Chicago Bulls
were blessed with upon the basketball court. Under the guidance
of coach Phil Jackson, the Chicago
Bulls went on to win 6 NBA
Championships during the 1990s.
Phil Jackson was, and still is,
known as the Zen Master in the
field of coaching. He made it well
known through the media and his
books Sacred Hoops and Eleven
Rings that he would have his players meditate before games to
enhance their performance. By
having his players visualize themselves performing at the highest
level, certain changes were noted:
the game slowed down, shots and
passes were made with an unparalleled precision, mental clarity
decreased the number of mistakes
and turnovers, and team play
became effortless and seamless.
The results were astounding: six
NBA Championships with the
Chicago Bulls and five more with
the Los Angeles Lakers all while
managing some of the biggest personalities in sports history like
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen,

Shaquille ONeal, and Kobe
Bryant, amongst others. By
preparing themselves with silent
meditation, these players were
able to keep their cool on one of
the biggest, and most stressful
stages and succeed in achieving
their goals.
Question: How has meditation
helped you in medical school,
and now as a doctor?
The gift of meditation as taught by
the Great Masters of Science of
SpiritualitySawan
Kirpal
Ruhani Mission (www.sos.org),
and currently by His Holiness Sant
Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj allows
us to ascertain our inner connection with the Divine and experience its grandiosity in all its glory.
Meditation on the Inner Light and
Sound, or Shabd Meditation (with
its introductory practice called
Jyoti Meditation), frees our inner
consciousness from all worldly
distractions, which in turn permits

us to receive the Divine in the
purest form. Meditation is the
forum with which we can connect
with God and explore the innate
spiritual essence of our beings. As
a life-long meditator, I have been
able to see the benefits of this
practice in my own life.
Throughout medical school, residency training program, and medical practice I have been able to
see the differences between my
colleagues and I when put in
adverse or stressful situations. I
quickly noted that I never panicked when in the middle of a
Code Blue, which is an emergency
situation in which a patient is at
risk of losing his or her physical
life. My understanding of the life
cycle and transmigration of the
soul, with death being the sweet
end to our physical existence, took
away the fear of death. This, I
believe, led me to a state in which
I was able to provide patients with
a more compassionate level of
care and understanding. The level
of mental clarity needed to manage properly these stressful surroundings has considerably grown
with and is directly attributable to
my meditative practice.
Kunwarjit Singh Duggal, M.D.
currently practices at From Pain
To Wellness, LLC in Oakbrook
Terrace, IL, USA. He completed
his residency in the field of
Physical
Medicine
and
Rehabilitation at Rush University
Medical Center in Chicago, IL,
USA. He is a graduate of Rush
Medical College in Chicago, IL,
USA. He received two undergraduate degrees, in the fields of
Finance and Economics, at the
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, IL, USA. Dr.
Duggals interests include chronic pain management, sports medicine, musculoskeletal disorders,
spasticity, and electrodiagnostic
medicine.
Dr Kunwarjit Singh Duggal with Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

Vol 7 Issue 30 - Nov 22-28, 2014

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