New Delhi: India put several states

on heightened alert on Thursday

after al Qaeda announced the for-
mation of a wing of the militant
group in India and its neighbor-
hood, a senior government official
said.
In a video posted online, al Qaeda
chief Ayman al-Zawahri promised
to spread Islamic rule and "raise the
flag of jihad" across the "Indian
subcontinent".
New Delhi regards the message
as authentic and has warned state
governments, said an official who
attended a security briefing in
which it was discussed with Home
Minister Rajnath Singh.
"This matter has been taken very
London: The UK and USA are in
alliance to research, recon, investi-
gate, identify and bring those to
justice for the horrific public mur-
ders of innocent journalists James
Foley and Steven Sotloff.
Prime Minister David Cameron
and President Obama are reported
to have pledged an alliance and call
for global interaction through all
proper military and security chan-
nels to help locate ISIS and destroy
them.
While members of NATO meet-
ing in Newport, Wales, on
Thursday were weighing what role
they would play, US officials urged
them to commit to a strategy that
includes providing more arms to
Kurdish forces fighting the Islamist
insurgents.
The pledge of alliance and inter-
national request to assist and locate
the ISIS terrorist cells responsible
is likely to originate from the
NATO conference. President
Obama is reported to have said:
We will not be intimidated. Their
horrific acts only unite us and stiff-
en our resolve to take the fight
against these terrorists and those
that make the mistake of harming
Americans will learn that we will
not forget and that our reach is long
and that justice will be served.
Prime Minster Cameron said: A
country like ours will not be cowed
by these barbaric killers. If they
think we will weaken in the face of
their threats, they are wrong.
Going onto say that the UK have
assisted in military strikes previ-
ously and are prepared to do so
The South Asian Times
e x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
excellence in journalism
OP ED 13 TRAVEL & TOURISM 18 SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30
Islamabad: The weeks-long politi-
cal crisis in Pakistan seemed to be
headed towards a resolution after
weeks of turmoil with efforts to
seal a negotiated settlement
between the government and pro-
testers gaining momentum.
Talks between the two warring
sides the government and the
Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-
i-Insaf (PTI) and cleric Tahir-ul-
Qadris Pakistan Awami Tehreek
(PAT) were held late on
Wednesday night.
Two separate meetings took
place overnight with the first one
being held between the govern-
ment committee and the PTI and
the second between PAT, govern-
Vol.7 No. 19 September 6-12, 2014 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info
India sounds alert after al Qaeda announces local wing
Continued on page 4
UK and USA
Premiers
intend to
destroy ISIS
Pak protest groups agree to
talk to end crisis
President Obama and British Prime Minister Cameron
at the NATO summit in Wales.
Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri
Storming of Pakistan Television (PTV) building in Islamabad by
protesters was widely condemned.
Continued on page 4
SELF HELP 26
Continued on page 4
Sania Mirza reaches
final of US Open
mixed doubles
Sania (pictured) and her
mixed doubles partner Bruno
Soares will play Abigail
Spears-Santiago Gonzalez
duo on Friday.
New York: Sania Mirza is in
line to win her third Grand
Slam title and first with new
partner Bruno Soares as the top
seeded pair beat Yung-Jan Chan
and Ross Hutchins 7-5 4-6 10-7
to reach the mixed doubles
final.
Sania and Soares are up now
against unseeded pair of Abigail
Spears from the USA and
Santiago Gonzalez from
Continued on page 4
2 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info DIPLOMACY
Shinzo Abe hosts
a Tea ceremony
as a special
gesture for
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
in Tokyo.
An upbeat Narendra
Modi wowed
businessmen by
playing traditional
Taiko drums with
great verve.
PM Narendra Modi
addressing at the
banquet hosted by the
Prime Minister of Japan
Shinzo Abe at Akasaka
Palace in Tokyo.
Narendra Modi
interacting
with children
during his visit
to Taimei
Elementary
School in
Tokyo.
How Modi charms Japan
Tokyo: Prime Minister Narendra
Modi hard sold India to Japanese
investors saying that his country
offers only a red carpet and not red
tape while dubbing his five-day trip
to Japan as very successful".
Modi arrived in Kyoto on the first
leg of his Japan visit last weekend.
Japanese Prime Minister Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe came down to
Japan's former capital to personally
receive his Indian counterpart.
"I've come to assure you there is
no red tape but only red carpet that
awaits you in India," he said while
delivering the keynote address in a
seminar at the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, co-hosted by Japan
External Trade Organisation (Jetro).
Modi said India was also the only
place where the Japanese industry
would pleasantly find all the three
'Ds' - democracy, demography and
demand.
"I have come here to assure you
that if you have to look anywhere
outside Japan, you do not need to
look here or there," he said, adding:
"We particularly want to encourage
and invite small and medium enter-
prises, as also small-scale indus-
tries."
The prime minister said India now
has a government that is working on
development and wants to step up
manufacturing. He said he wished
for India what he himself experi-
enced when he was young when he
did not have to think twice if a
product said "Made in Japan".
According to the organisers, as
many as 4,000 people had evinced
interest in attending the event at a
venue that could accommodate only
2,000.
Later, speaking at a reception
hosted by the Japan-India
Association and the Japan-India
Parliamentary Friendship League,
the prime minister said India and
Japan were now working as "special
strategic and global" partners.
Modi suggested expanding links
between people's representatives by
creating a Young Parliamentary
Association and a Women' s
Parliamentary Association.
"If we have a Young
Parliamentary Association, it can
represent the thought and ideology
of the new generation. There can
also be an arrangement for the
women parliamentary members of
the two countries to meet and share
ideas," he said.
The prime minister said there was
an unwritten spiritual connection
between the two countries, adding
that there was growing interest
among the Japanese to learn Hindi
and yoga.
In the evening, while inaugurating
a Vivekananda Cultural Centre in
the Japanese capital, he told the
India community that had gathered
for the event that India and Japan's
friendship would determine the
course of the 21st century.
"There is no doubt that the 21st
century belongs to Asia. But India
and Japan's friendship will deter-
mine how it will actually look like,"
Modi said.
"The state and direction of the
21st century will depend on the
direction in which Japan and India
try to take the world," he said.
There are around 23,000 Indians
in Japan. Terming his Japan visit as
"very successful", Modi said it was
for the first time that the word tril-
lion was in news.
"So far we would hear only about
millions and billions. Now we are
hearing about trillions," Modi said,
hinting at Japan's offer of invest-
ment of 3.5 trillion yen (Rs.2.03
trillion) to India in the next five
years.
Modi started the penultimate day
of his five-day trip to Japan by visit-
ing the University of the Sacred
Heart where he said that India was
committed to peace and this com-
mitment has "significance far above
any international treaties or process-
es".
"Commitment to peace and non-
violence is ingrained in the DNA of
the Indian society... This commit-
ment to peace that was intrinsic to
Indian society, has significance far
above any international treaties or
processes," Modi said while
responding to a question on how
India could enhance the confidence
of the international community as a
non-NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty)
state.
Another highlight of Modi's pro-
gramme was when he called on
Japanese Emperor Akihito during
which he gave the latter a copy of
the Gita.
Modi also kicked off a new initia-
tive on training for Japanese youth
started by Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) at its various facili-
ties in India, asking them to return
to Japan as India's ambassadors.
You are going as employees of
TCS. But I want you to come back
to Japan as ambassadors of India,
Modi told the first batch of 48
trainees who will proceed to India
to undergo training for six-eight
weeks at various TCS offices.
The two leaders signed the Tokyo
Declaration in which the two sides
pledged to advance peace, stability
and prosperity in Asia and the
world, and elevate the India-Japan
relationship to a special strategic
and global partnership.

Washington, DC: One ne morning this sum-

mer, Indian-American Frank Islam received an
unexpected call from the US President, Barack
Obama.
The call was to "appreciate" the desk in Is-
lam's library, which is a replica of the Resolute,
the desk in the White House's Oval Ofce.
The replica of the iconic Resolute desk, rst
placed in the Oval Ofce by President John F.
Kennedy and used by Obama, is not the only
US Presidential memorabilia in Islam's newly
built mansion in a 10 acre plot in Potomac, one
of the richest suburbs of Washington.
The grand foyer has a domed ceiling, remi-
niscent of Capitol Rotunda or Statuary Hall.
There are also hand-painted murals depicting
Maryland landscapes.
Obama, during the conversation said that
Vice-President Joe Biden told him about Is-
lams mansion and described its unique fea-
tures. Obama's call to Islam came after Biden
attended a fundraiser event at his house on July
11 and described the house as "beautiful with
gorgeous landscape."
Islam moved into 'Norton Manor', as he and
his wife Debbie Driesman call their new house,
last year and have been receiving steady stream
of visitors since then, including politicians,
bankers and journalists.
The house, built on a sprawling 47,000 sq
feet area, also has a 9,000 sq ft ve-bedroom
guest house and a tea house. There are 14 bed-
rooms, 22 bathrooms, a movie theatre, a gym
and 60 chandeliers.
Built over a period of seven years and cost-
ing $ 1.5 million a year in maintenance, 'Nor-
ton Manor' boosts of several man made water
streams, fountains and gardens, which are
replicas of some of the historical gardens of the
West.
"I got the idea from the Presidential Palace in
India. The Taj Mahal also has a beautiful re-
ecting pool. It is indeed very nice in the
evening, you can see the reection of the house
in the pool," Islam said.
Azamgarh-born Frank (Fakhrul) Islam is
CEO of FI Investment Group, which he found-
ed in 2007. Obama appointed him to the Board
of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts.
New York: Most New York-
ers will not like it, but a team
of mathematicians and engi-
neers has calculated that if
taxi riders were willing to
share a cab, New York City
could reduce the current eet
of 13,500 taxis up to 40%,
thus unclogging trafc, con-
serving fuel and ghting air pollution.
The predicted economic and environmental
savings are considerable, said Steven Strogatz, a
mathematician at Cornell and author of the re-
portpublished Monday in Proceedings of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences, as quote in The New
York Times.
Think of how much spare capacity you have in
taxis in NYV, said another team member, Carlo
Ratti, the director of the Senseable City Labora-
tory at MIT. Youre at a hotel, youre going to
JFK Airport, and you take a taxi. And just minutes
later, theres somebody else taking another taxi,
half empty, to JFK. To study ride-sharing sce-
narios, the researchers delved into a database
compiled by the New York City Taxi and Limou-
sine Commission that included information about
each of the 172 million taxi rides in the city in
2011: where the passenger was picked up and
dropped off, time of pickup and time of drop-off.
Then, applying a computational technique
known as shareability networks, they combined
trips that were headed in the same direction at the
same time without taking the passengers too far
out of their way.
They found that sharing
would reduce the number of
trips, and the number of
taxis, by 40 percent and that
passengers would still arrive
in the same amount of time,
give or take a few minutes.
The team acknowledged
that such a system could not be implemented
without changes in the way people hail taxis.
Much of the inefciency in the current system re-
sults from a drivers not knowing the destination
until after the pickup. Smartphone apps, already
used by taxi services like Uber and Lyft, could
sidestep that problem.
On the streets of New York City, there was
skepticism. The whole thing strikes me as silly,
and it will be ignored, said Gene Salomon, the
author of the 2013 book Confessions of a New
York Taxi Driver. The problem, he went on, is
that passengers would rather pay extra for a pri-
vate ride than split a fare with someone theyve
never met. The Taxi and Limousine Commission
has expressed concern that commercial ride-shar-
ing programs, especially those that crowd source
to recruit vehicles and drivers, may lack rigorous
oversight.
We have made our position quite clear. You
must use T.L.C.-licensed drivers, in T.L.C.-li-
censed vehicles dispatched by licensed bases,
Allan Fromberg, the agencys deputy commis-
sioner for public affairs, wrote in an email.
3 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Cuomo may dump running mate
if she loses primary
New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomos re-elec-
tion team is mulling a painful scenario to
dump Kathy Hochul, a moderate upstater,
as the Governors running mate for Lt Gov-
ernor amid signs that leftist law professor
Tim Wu is picking up momentum in the
Sept. 9 Democratic primary.
Such an action could be needed because
a Wu victory would result in a Cuomo/Wu
ticket on the Democratic line in the No-
vember election but potentially disastrous
Cuomo/Hochul tickets on the Working
Families, Independence, and Womens
Equality lines, where no primaries are slat-
ed.
Under the state Election Law, votes for a
Cuomo/Hochul ticket in November would
not be added to the tally for the Cuomo/Wu
ticket, potentially costing Cuomo hundreds
of thousands of votes.
Cuomo would have until Sept. 16 under
the election law to swap Wu for Hochul,
using a technique that would allow the for-
mer Buffalo-area congresswoman and
lawyer to be nominated instead for a judge-
ship, according to an expert on legislative
election law. This is the painful scenario
being reviewed by the Cuomo people, who
realize that there is an outside possibility
that Wu could win the primary, said a
source close to the Cuomo campaign, as
quoted in the a report in New York Post.
Wu won the surprise endorsement of The
New York Times as well as other left-of-
center groups last week as they criticized
Hochuls past opposition to state aid for il-
legal aliens and her 100 percent rating from
the National Rifle Association.
Meanwhile, Cuomo campaign operatives
privately concede that he would suffer con-
siderable national political damage if Ford-
ham University Professor Zephyr Tea-
chout, the governors hard-charging pro-
gressive challenger and Wus running
mate, gets more than 30 percent of the vote.
About 30 percent will be a huge embar-
rassment to Cuomo on the national scene
and would reinforce the sense that progres-
sives dont like or trust him, said a promi-
nent Democratic activist.
Obama all praise for Indian-American's newly built mansion
Frank Islams mansion in a Washington DC
suburb; & (Inset) Frank with President Obama.
Yellow cab fleet can be cut by 40%
if New Yorkers share rides
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his
running mate Kathy Hochul
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4 September 6-12 , 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TURN PAGE
UK and USA Premiers intend to destroy ...
Continued from page 1
again, in the process he did not flinch from the possi-
bility of death in a military response and insisted that
Britain would not be deterred by threats from ISIS, or
pay ransom money.
World attention now on the Premiers as to their
response is captive.
India sounds alert after al Qaeda...
Continued from page 1
seriously," the official told Reuters. "An alert has been
sounded."
Until now there has been no evidence that al Qaeda,
the group responsible for the 9/11 attacks in New York,
has a presence in India.
The timing and content of the video suggests rivalry
between al Qaeda and ISIS, or the Islamic State of
Syria and Iraq, which is said to be gathering support in
South Asia. According to media reports, Islamic State
pamphlets have been distributed in Pakistan in recent
days.
Al Qaeda's establishment of a local branch seeks to
take advantage of the planned withdrawal of U.S.-led
forces from Afghanistan, which may lead to an influx
of battle-hardened militants into India.
Zawahri's announcement made two references to
Gujarat, the home state of India's Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. Modi has long been a hate figure for
Islamist groups because of religious riots in 2002 when
he was chief minister of the state.
"In the wake of this al Qaeda video, we will be on a
higher alert," S.K. Nanda, the senior bureaucrat in the
home department of Gujarat, told Reuters. A high secu-
rity alert in the state involves activating informer net-
works in sensitive areas.
The All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, an
umbrella body of mainstream Muslim organizations,
vowed to fight al Qaeda if it appeared in India. "Indian
Muslims are loyal citizens of their country and they
will fight al Qaeda if it ever tried to create a presence
here," said the group's president Zafarul-Islam Khan.
Intelligence sources in Indian-held Kashmir said on
Thursday that they had so far detected no trace of al
Qaeda in the region that borders Pakistan and China.
The head of the newly-created South Asia branch of
al-Qaida, Asim Umar, is a Pakistani ideologue who has
produced a number of online calls to jihad but has a
relatively low profile.
Pak protest groups agree to talk to end...
Continued from page 1
ment and opposition parties Jirga, a committee of
opposition politicians led by Jamaat-e-Islami chief
Siraj-ul-Haq.
Though the talks were inconclusive, leaders from
both sides said there were some positive outcomes
from the talks.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader
and a member of the opposition Jirga, tweeted after
the talks, I had a very long day. Deadlock between
govt and IK/TUQ (Khan/Qadri) is over. They are now
having dialogue which will be helpful in resolving the
crises.
After the meeting between PAT, government and
opposition parties, Minister for Planning and
Development Ahsan Iqbal said, During the meeting
we have agreed to continue talks and resolve matter
through dialogue. We have also decided not to com-
ment on any development until we reach a decision, as
it might affect the dialogue process.
Imran Khan, addressing his supporters on
Wednesday night, said, Let me tell you what you
have achieved so far. People who were not ready to
talk, are now ready to not only listen to our demands
but also to set up an independent judicial commis-
sion. The only unaccepted demand remains the Prime
Ministers resignation, he said. If we had not come
on to the streets, then the next election would have
been far more fraudulent, the PTI chief said. The pro-
testers returned to the negotiating table on Wednesday
after the political crisis took a violent turn over the
weekend with three people killed and over 550
injured.
Khan wants the ruling PML-N governments ouster
over alleged rigging in last years polls which his
party lost, while Qadri wants to bring a revolution in
the country.
Sania Mirza reaches nal of US Open...
Continued from page 1
Mexico.
Sania had also reached the womens doubles semi-
final with Zimbabwean partner Cara lack but lost
Martina Hingis-Flavia Pennetta pair.
It will be Sania's fifth mixed doubles final appear-
ance at the Grand Slam level, having won Australian
Open (2009) and French Open (2012) with compatriot
Mahesh Bhupathi.
The 27-year old had reached the Australian Open
mixed doubles final this year also but ended runners-
up with Romanian partner Horea Tecau.
All other Indians have already exited from the last
Grand Slam of the season as Rohan Bopanna and
Leander Paes fell at different stages of their respective
events.
There was no Indian playing in the men's singles as
Somdev could not qualify for the main draw.
Richmond, VA: Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell and his
wife Maureen were convicted
Thursday on a range of corrup-
tion charges in connection with
gifts and loans they accepted
from a wealthy businessman,
marking a stunning fall for the
onetime rising Republican star.
A federal jury in Richmond
convicted Bob McDonnell, 60, of
11 of the 13 counts he faced;
Maureen McDonnell was con-
victed of nine of the 13 counts
she had faced.
Sentencing was scheduled for
Jan. 6. Each faces up to 30 years
in prison.
Assistant Attorney General
Leslie Caldwell, head of the
Justice Department' s criminal
division, said the state's former
first couple "turned public service
into a money-making enterprise."
The former governor, up until
his federal corruption case, was a
major figure in national politics
and had been considered a possi-
ble running mate for presidential
candidate Mitt Romney in 2012
New York: Joan Rivers, the rau-
cous, acid-tongued comedian who
crashed the male-dominated realm
of late-night talk shows and turned
Hollywood red carpets into danger
zones for badly dressed celebrities,
died Thursday. She was 81.
Rivers was hospitalized last
week after she went into cardiac
arrest at a Manhattan doctor' s
office following a routine proce-
dure. Daughter Melissa Rivers said
she died at Mount Sinai Hospital in
New York, surrounded by family
and close friends.
"My mother's greatest joy in life
was to make people laugh,"
Melissa Rivers said. "Although
that is difficult to do right now, I
know her final wish would be that
we return to laughing soon."
Comedian Joan Rivers dies at 81
Ex-Virginia governor, wife found
guilty on corruption charges
Joan Rivers
Former Virginia Gov.
Bob McDonnell
5 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Washington, DC: Foreign students
from India, China and South Korea
are the major contributors to the US
economy with the host country
earning $21.8 billion in tuition fees
and $ 12.8 billion in living costs
from them over the period of 2008
to 2012.
In a report released by the presti-
gious Brookings Institute, 118
metro areas of the US are home to at
least 1,500 students each from In-
dia, China and South Korea.
Students from Mumbai and Hy-
derabad made a contribution of over
$1.25 billion to the American econ-
omy with Mumbai sending 17,294
students, Chennai (9,141), Banga-
lore (8,835) and New Delhi (8,728)
to the US during the five-year peri-
od, the report said.
Among the foreign students in the
STEM (science, technology, engi-
neering and math) category, 31 per
cent are from China, 27 per cent
from India and five per cent from
South Korea.
The American think-tank noted
that Hyderabad is the top source
city of foreign STEM students in
the United States and India accounts
for eight of the 10 origin cities with
the highest shares of their F-1 (stu-
dent visa) students in STEM fields.
Beijing (49,946), Shanghai
(29,145), Hyderabad (26,220) and
Riyadh (17,361) also topped the list
of source cities, each sending be-
tween 17,000 and 50,000, according
to the report.
New York: Two Indian-origin
women are among 12 people named
to an advisory council of the United
Nations Foundation's campaign that
focuses on young American girls and
raises awareness about issues facing
adolescent girls.
Akila Somasegar and Anjula
Acharia-Bath are among the 12 peo-
ple on the advisory council of the
UN Foundation's Girl Up campaign
selected from diverse backgrounds
and who are focused on supporting
girls around the world.
Somasegar is the Director of Rev-
enue at Seattle-based start-up Buu-
teeq that is focused on delivering
digital marketing systems for hotels.
Born and brought up in India, So-
masegar is also a philanthropist fo-
cused on supporting a number of
charitable groups targeting kids and
women's education and empower-
ment. Acharia-Bath is an entrepre-
neur, philanthropist and Angel advis-
er/investor.In 2007 she co-founded
media company Desi Hits!, which
helped introduce artists like Lady
Gaga and Britney Spears to emerg-
ing global markets like India. The
council would help guide the cam-
paign, focusing its efforts on helping
Girl Up meet its fundraising and ad-
vocacy goals, advising on the cam-
paign's strategy and raising aware-
ness among new audiences about is-
sues facing adolescent girls, the
campaign said in a statement.
Girl Up director Melissa Hille-
brenner said through the council, the
members would help guide the cam-
paign's strategy and lead efforts to
mobilize people in their networks.
"They are integral to Girl Up and
contribute directly to the campaign's
success," Hillebrenner said.
New York: Over 200 meditation stu-
dents of Sri Chinmoy from 35 countries,
including India, have set a new Guinness
world record for the World's longest
fresh flower garland to honor the Indian
spiritual leader.
Joining them at an event in Queens in
New York, home to a large number of In-
dian-Americans, to honor Sri Chinmoy's
(1931-2007) 50 years' work for world
peace on his Aug 27 birthday were New
York City Councilman Jimmy Jennaro
and Ashrita Furman, holder of 206 cur-
rent Guinness Records.
The garland, which goes 5 miles in
multiple loops on Joseph-Austin-Field in
New York's Queens Borough surpasses
the previous record by 1.9 miles (3 km).
Made of 180,000 carnations of various
colors, it weighs 4000 lb (1800 kg), ac-
cording to a media release.
Chinmoy, a renowned peace visionary
founded the Oneness-Home Peace Run,
world's largest torch relay for peace,
composed 21,000 songs, wrote 1600
books and established meditation and
peace centers in 60 countries.
The supersized garland also ensures
Furman a new entry in the Guinness
Book of Records.
The previous record of a 5 km (3.1
mile) garland was set by a team in India,
four month after Ashrita had broken the
record with a 2 mile (3.2 km) garland in
2011.
Furman, a 59-year-old health food
store manager from Queens, New York
currently holds 206 Guinness world
records, including the official record for
"the most records held at the same time
by an individual".
Furman worked for three months with
flower farms in South America and gath-
ered a team from all over the world to
plan the assembly of the garland, the re-
lease said. Furman and his team worked
from 7 am until 2 pm to create the
longest garland of the world.
New York City Councilman Jimmy
Jennaro completed the world's longest
flower garland by attaching the last
flower assembly.
"We hope this will inspire others to feel
peace in their hearts. After the record we
will give the flowers to people in the
neighborhood," said Furman.
By Parveen Chopra
Flushing, NY: Emirates Airline
is celebrating 10 years of flying
to the US with a showcase at the
US Open from August 25 to
September 8. It is in its third
year of a 7-year partnership with
the US Open to highlight its
world class service that has fu-
eled the Dubai based airlines
expansion to nine US gateways
including New York as part of a
global network spanning more
than 140 destinations across six
continents, including seven in
India.
On August 27, Emirates host-
ed India Day in its private hos-
pitality suite at the Arthur Ashe
stadium. Chef Ravi Nage, one of
Emirates regional catering
managers, showcased the art be-
hind how to make classic Indian
favorites, such as Cardamom
Chicken and Vegetable Do-pi-
aza, and to highlight the gour-
met, regionally inspired South
Asian cuisine available on se-
lected Emirates flights, particu-
larly those culminating in India.
Chef Ravi who had flown in
from Dubai, interacted with the
media and the guests before
they got engrossed in the second
round match that Wawrinka
won, overcoming some hiccups
in the end. Chef Ravi said that
they are particular about aesthet-
ic presentation of Indian dishes.
He also pointed out that air trav-
elers are now more health con-
scious and he finds 60% of
them want vegetarian meals,
which augurs well for Indian
cuisine.
Emirates engaged tennis fans
throughout the Grand Slam tour-
nament with a contest to win a
set of tickets to the Mens Final
match on Sept 8 by taking ten-
nis-inspired selfies with a friend.
Emirates also debuted its new
Emirates Lounge, which is open
to all visitors at the US Open.
Guests meet cabin crew and en-
joy refreshments while watching
a live feed of the tournament.
The space also features exhibits
of Emirates world-class ameni-
ties such as the in-flight enter-
tainment system with up to
1,800 channels.
Emirates support of premier
sports and cultural events has
made the airline, founded in
1985, one of the worlds most
recognized airline brands.
Emirates Airlines Chef Ravi Nage interacting with the
Indian media at the Emirates Suite inside the
Arthur Ashe stadium.
Guinness
Record
holder
Ashrita
Furman
Indian students major contributor
to US economy: Report
Two Indian-origin women named to a UN advisory council
Emirates Airline hosts India
Day at US Open
World's longest garland honors Sri Chinmoy in US
Akila Somasegar Anjula Acharia-Bath
6 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
IN BRIEF
H
imanshu Asnani, 27, an Indian-born
mathematics researcher at Stanford
University Electrical Engineering
School, is the winner of the Marconi Socie-
ty Paul Baran young scholar award for
2014.
"The prestigious award will be presented
to Asnani at our annual event Oct 2 at the
National Academies of Sciences in Wash-
ington," Society's young scholar selection
committee Bob Tkach said.
Asnani, who hails from Kota in Ra-
jasthan, is also a system engineer at the
Swedish telecom major's R&D center in the
Silicon Valley.
Named after Nobel laureate Guglielmo
Marconi, who invented radio, and set up in
1974 by his daughter Gioia Marconi Braga
through an endowment, the Marconi Socie-
ty awards annually outstanding individuals
whose scope of work and influence emulate
the principle of 'creativity in service to hu-
manity' that inspired Marconi.
The award, with a cash prize of $4,000, is
given to scholars who are 27 or younger at
the time of the nomination, as Marconi was
27 years when he invented the wireless te-
legraphy.
Asnani's academic and entrepreneurial
achievements also stood out in a review of
the nominated researchers from the world
over the society undertakes every year.
"Asnani's outstanding work and contribu-
tion to point-to-point and multi-terminal
channel coding and source coding problems
were impressive," Tkach recalled.
Stanford Math researcher wins major award
A
lottery system would decide the
participants who would get to at-
tend the public reception of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on September 28
at the prestigious Madison Square Garden
in New York City, organizers of the event
have said.
Indian-American Community Founda-
tion, set up recently for the purpose, re-
ceived some 20,000 applications from peo-
ple across the country - from as far as re-
mote parts of Alaska and Hawaii.
407 Indian-American community organi-
zations and religious institutions have
joined hands to host Modi's public recep-
tion.
Lottery to decide participants at Modi's US reception
A
ndrew J. Preston Politi-
cal Action Award Spon-
sored by past President
and PAC Chairman Andrew J.
Preston is presented to New Jer-
sey Pharmacists Association,
NJPhA member for exhibiting
an outstanding effort in the po-
litical arena to benefit their pro-
fession and patients in the com-
munity. Ritesh Shah, a pharma-
cist, business entrepreneur and
self-less and dedicated commu-
nity health care leader has been selected as
the recipient of the 2014 Award. The award
will be presented to him at the Keynote Ad-
dress and Luncheon on September 21dur-
ing 144th Annual Convention in New Jer-
sey.
As a chairman of NJ Pharmacist PAC,
Shah has been trying to push legislation in
favor of small pharmacies and advocacy to-
wards the pharmacist and their profession.
As a chairperson of patient ed-
ucation committee at the Indian
Health camp of New Jersey, he
has done so many seminars to
provide patient education and
counseling on diabetes, asthma,
cardiac diseases, influenza,
medication management clini-
cal pharmacy expertise in vari-
ous areas of patient manage-
ment including medication
management, chronic disease
management, drug-interaction
and patient adherence and counseling and
many other chronic diseases to help under
insured and uninsured patients to reduce
complications from chronic diseases and
improve their lifestyles. As a chairman,
Mr. Shah had asked for equal playing field
for pharmacists and pharmacy owners in
the state, demanded transparency in MAC
pricing on drugs and asked for fair insur-
ance audit for small pharmacies.
Pharmacist Ritesh Shah to receive
2014 Andrew J. Prestin PAC Award
New York State Senator Joseph P Addabbo Jr at the Indian I-Day
celebration Aug 15 at Sunnyside Community Hall in Queens organized by
Bruhad Seniors of Greater NY. Children sang patriotic songs.
Bollywood actress
and dancer Esha Deol
visited the office of
Omni Mortgage in
Hicksville, NY on
Monday, where
Omni's chief Herman
Singh announced her
as their brand
ambassador. At the
lunch event, scores of
guests lined up to get
themselves clicked
with the comely
actress, who took a
hiatus from films two
years ago after mar-
rying businessman
Bharat Takhtani.
(Photo by: Vaaho
Photographers,
www.vaahony.com)
Hicksville High School Grad
Sabina Lotlikar (left) won the
director's award at Long
Island beauty pageant held
last month. Sabina is the
daughter of Salya & Sanjay
Lotlikar of Hicksville, New
York. Her family is originally
from Goa in India, She is
studying criminal justice in a
college in New York.
Ritesh Shah
Washington, DC: Four econo-
mists of Indian origin have been
featured in in the International
Monetary Fund's (IMF) list of
25 economists under 45 who are
shaping the way one thinks
about the global economy
The "Generation Next" list of
"economists under 45 (who) will
have the most influence in the
coming decades on our under-
standing of the global econo-
my," was compiled by IMF with
information from "readers,
assorted international econo-
mists and journal editors."
The list is published in the
September issue of "Finance &
Development."
Indian origin researchers on
the list are Raj Chetty and Gita
Gopinath from Harvard
University, Parag Pathak from
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Amit Seru from
the University of Chicago.
Dominated by Americans who
share US nationality with coun-
tries such as France, India,
Australia and Canada, the list
also features economists of
British, Russian, Argentinean
and Pakistani origin.
7 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Washington, DC: India-
born scientist Dr Thomas
John Colacot has won the
American Chemical
Society' s ACS Award in
Industrial Chemistry, one
of the top honors in the
field.
Colacot, who studied at
St Berchman' s College,
Changanacherry, Kerala
and IIT, Chennai, is the
first Indian to get the award
in industrial chemistry. He
also holds an MBA degree
and was elected as a
Fellow of the Royal
Society of Chemistry.
The award is sponsored by the ACS
Division of Business Development and
Management and the ACS Division of
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
Currently Global R&D manager in the
homogenous catalysis area at Johnson
Matthey, a specialty chemicals company,
Colacot directs research in US, UK and in
Indian labs. 'The ACS is proud to recog-
nize your outstanding contributions to the
development and commercialization of
ligands and precatalysts for metal-cat-
alyzed organic synthesis, particularly
cross-couplings, for industrial and aca-
demic use and applications,' a letter from
Tom Barton, president of ACS noted.
The 2015 national awards recipients will
be honored at the awards
ceremony in conjunction
with the 249th ACS nation-
al meeting in Denver,
Colorado in March next
year.
Colacot had received
Royal Society of
Chemistry's RSC Applied
Catalysis Award in 2012
for his contributions to the
area of catalysis. His work
on 'cross-coupling' is par-
ticularly acclaimed.
Colacot joined Johnson
Matthey, USA in 1995 and
started working in the area
of palladium catalyzed
cross-coupling.
The catalysts developed in his labs are
currently used to make new drugs for
Hepatitis C, a deadly disease with no cure,
one pill per week for type II diabetics, and
many hypertension drugs.
Colacot's work involves developing and
commercializing ligands and catalysts for
applications in metal-catalyzed synthetic
organic chemistry.
His book on ' New Trends in Cross-
Coupling: Theory and Applications' is
scheduled to be published in October,
2014 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He is also PhD thesis examiner to many
IITs and visiting faculty at Rutgers
University.
Dr Thomas John Colacot
Raj Chetty, 35, Indian and American,
Harvard University, received his PhD at age
23. He combines empirical evidence and
economic theory to research how to
improve government policy decisions in
areas such as tax policy, unemployment
insurance, education, and equality of oppor-
tunity.
Gita Gopinath, 42, American and Indian,
Harvard, studies international macroeco-
nomics and trade with a focus on sovereign
debt, the response of international prices to
exchange rate movements, and the rapid
shifts in relative value among world curren-
cies.
Amit Seru, 40, Indian, University of
Chicago, researches financial intermedia-
tion and regulation as well as issues related
to corporate finance, including resource
allocation within and between firms, and
organizational incentives.
Parag Pathak, 34, American, MIT, played
a role in applying engineering approaches
to microeconomics. His research focuses
on market design, education and urban eco-
nomics.
Scientist wins prestigious award
in Industrial Chemistry
Washington, DC: Two US lawmakers,
including the lone Indian-American
Congressman, have joined Sikh communi-
ty groups in protesting the world basket-
ball body FIBA's delay in reviewing the
discriminatory policy against Sikh basket-
ball players who wear turbans.
"Every day FIBA delays is another day
that Sikhs can't play," Democrat House
members Ami Bera and Joe Crowley, for-
merly chair of the India Caucus, said in a
statement Thursday after the International
Basketball Federation's (FIBA) announce-
ment that its governing board would delay
a review of its headgear policy.
"Allowing Sikhs to play while wearing
their turban is a no-brainer, and we're dis-
appointed that FIBA has delayed their
review of a policy that can only be
described as outdated, discriminatory, and
totally inconsistent with the ideals of team
sports," they said urging the board "to stop
delaying and let Sikhs play."
The FIBA decision comes ahead of the
Saturday start of FIBA Basketball World
Cup hosted by Spain amid an outcry over
an incident involving two Sikh players
who were told by referees that they must
remove their turbans if they were to play
in FIBA's Asia Cup. The players, who
have always played in turbans, were told
that they were in violation of one of
FIBA' s official rules, which states,
"Players shall not wear equipment
(objects) that may cause injury to other
players."
However, other sports leagues, such as
Federation Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA) and the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA),
allow athletes wearing turbans to partici-
pate. Last week, Crowley and Bera joined
several members of Congress in wring a
letter to FIBA president urging the board
to update its policies to stop requiring
Sikhs to remove their turbans during bas-
ketball games.
"It is disappointing that FIBA has decid-
ed to let bureaucracy stand in the way of
progress and religious freedom," two com-
munity organisations, Sikh American
Legal Defence and Education Fund
(SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition said.
"While FIBA presents itself as a repre-
sentative of global sport this weekend,
Sikh players will still be forced to choose
between playing a game they love and fol-
lowing their religious beliefs," they said.
The incident involving the two Sikh
players has also sparked a social media
campaign using the hashtag
#LetSikhsPlay.
Indian origin-economists on the IMF list:
Four young Indian-origin economists
in IMF list of 25
Sikhs, lawmakers protest
basketball ban on turbans
8 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
San Leandro, Calif.: Kamala
Devi Harris, attorney general for
the state of California, wed her
longtime boyfriend Douglas
Emhoff in a private ceremony at
the Santa Barbara, Calif., Court-
house Aug. 22. The media was
kept away from the wedding, but
a news report in the San Francis-
co Chronicle suggested that they
might throw a more high-profile
party at the Presidio in San Fran-
cisco in mid-September.
Harris, born in Oakland, Calif.,
is the daughter of Tamil Nadu-
born oncologist Dr. Shyamala
Gopalan, and a Jamaican Ameri-
can father, Stanford economics
professor Donald Harris. As such
she became the states first Asian
American and African American
attorney general when she was
elected to the post in 2010.
Emhoff is partner in charge of the
law firm Venable LLP in Los An-
geles.
It is Harriss first marriage,
while Emhoff was previously di-
vorced. Both are 49, and became
engaged five months ago.
California: Maya Sarihan, from Arizona won Miss
India America 2014 and Nick Thakor was declared
Mr. India America 2014 at the red carpet gala was
hosted by Spirit Of India for its 22nd year.
Top Miss India winners were: Miss India Globe
2014 - Meghana Pagadala, Miss India Global 2014
- Vivica Mitra (plus JINmodels.com Miss Photo-
genic 2014), Miss India Galaxy 2014 Nishtha
Chawla from Virginia, Trisha Batra Miss Teen In-
dia America 2014, Miss India East Coast 2014 Di-
vya Trivedi (from New Jersey), and Miss India
West Coast 2014 - Jackie Kahlon. Star Plus TVs
Peoples Choice was Rebecca Mathew from Chica-
go.
Top Mr. India winners were: Kunwar Dodd (from
Canada) - Mr. India Globe 2014, Shawn Singh - Mr.
India Global 2014, Prakash Patil (from New York)
- Mr. India Galaxy 2014, Dhaval Panchal (from
North Carolina) Mr. India East Coast 2014 and Star
TVs Peoples Choice award, and Maneet Singh -
Mr. India West Coast 2014 and JINmodels.com Mr.
Photogenic 2014.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, NBA Sacramento
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and NFL football
player Bret Lockett (from Patriots and Jets) were
honored during The Elite Awards.
Spirit of India pageant crowns
Mr., Miss India America
Kamala Devi Harris ties the knot
with Douglas Emhoff
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385
718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.Com
Washington, DC: Back in
2006, Joe Biden, then a
Senate candidate ran into
trouble for a remark that
"you cannot go to a 7-
Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts
unless you have a slight
Indian accent."
Gaffe-prone Biden got
away by explaining that it
wasn't a racial slur but "was
meant as a compliment" for
the "vibrant Indian-
American community"
making "a significant con-
tribution to the national
economy as well." A spin or
not, Biden who went on become vice presi-
dent in 2008, was speaking a home truth as
according to the Asian-American
Convenience Store Owners Association its
50,000 members own over 80,000 conven-
ience stores.
That's more than half the US convenience
store count of 151,282 as of Dec 31, 2013.
These small retail businesses provide the
public a convenient location to buy daily
necessities (predominantly food and gaso-
line) and services. There is one convenience
store for an average of every 2,100 residents
all over the US with non-fuel sales of $205
billion, according to National Association of
Convenience Stores.
But this very ubiquitous presence of
Indian-owned convenience store often makes
them the target of attacks as it happened in
Ferguson, a small pre-dominantly black town
in Missouri which erupted into violent
protests after a White policeman shot dead an
unarmed black teenager on Aug 9.
Police released a controversial hazy sur-
veillance video implying that the slain teen
Michael Brown had robbed a Patel-run con-
venience store in the days or hours before the
incident but later acknowledged that the
alleged robbery had nothing to do with the
shooting incident.
The Ferguson Market, where Brown
allegedly grabbed a handful of cigars before
his deadly encounter with police, looters
twice targeted the store owned by a Patel
family along with several other Asian-
American owned stores, according to the
Daily Beast.
Robberies appear to be an occupational
hazard for those running a convenience store.
According to the non-profit research think
tank Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
(POP Center), convenience store robberies
account for approximately 6 percent of all
robberies known to the police.
Convenience store employees suffer from
high rates of workplace homicide, second
only to taxicab drivers, it says citing FBI
data. Victims include Indian students taking
up overnight jobs at gas stations to pay for
their studies.
Kamala Harris with Douglas Emhoff
Indian-Americans pay a price for
running convenience stores
Miss India
America 2014
Maya Sarihan
Indian-owned convenience stores often make target of
attacks as it happened in Ferguson, Missouri which
erupted into violent protests after a White policeman
shot dead an unarmed black teenager on Aug 9.
Tel Aviv: Israel's foreign ministry says Steven Sot-
loff, the US journalist whose execution was captured
on video by ISIS, held dual American-Israeli citi-
zenship. Sotloff's connection to Israel had been kept
secret in an effort to protect him, and it's not believed
that his captors even knew he was Jewish.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting
a former fellow captive, said Sotloff had kept his Ju-
daism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretend-
ing he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur
holiday.
The Times of Israel writes that Sotloff moved to
the country in 2008 to study government at the In-
terdisciplinary Center. His mother Shirley's parents
were Holocaust survivors.
A journalist named Oren Kessler who kept up an
email correspondence with Sotloff says that he did
not discuss Israel or Judaism when working: Sotloff,
Kessler said, never shared his Jewish identity with
anyone in the field, opting instead to tell locals that
he had been raised Muslim but secular, without
mosque affiliation.
US AFFAIRS 9 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Washington: In the wake of
ISISs latest killing of an
American journalist, leading
lawmakers from across the
aisle are calling for a bigger
role in the U.S. war against
the terrorist group.
Leading lawmakers in
charge of foreign policy re-
acted Tuesday to the reported
beheading of American jour-
nalist Steven Sotloff by in-
creasing their calls for more
congressional involvement
and oversight of President
Obamas war on ISIS.
The latest apparent ISIS
atrocity against a US citizen
added to the congressional
anger at the Obama adminis-
tration for what many critics
call an incomplete and un-
clear plan to confront the
group both in Iraq and Syria,
following President Obamas
admission last week that We
dont have a strategy yet for
dealing with ISIS in Iraq and
Syria. The two leaders of the
House Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee said Tuesday that they
want to lead the charge for
more congressional oversight
by holding hearings and forc-
ing a vote on Obamas ISIS
war within 60 days of the
commencement of airstrikes
in Iraq last month.The be-
heading of poor Mr. Sotloff
really just brings back that
we are dealing with a danger-
ous adversaryCongress
needs to play a vital role and
we are determined that the
House Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee will lead the way,
said Rep. Eliot Engel, rank-
ing Democrat on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
We believe that before the
president can continue be-
yond 60 days of doing
airstrikes in Iraq or anyplace
else, he would have to come
to Congress and get Con-
gresss authority to contin-
ue.
Engel and the committees
chairman, Rep. Ed Royce,
spoke to reporters via confer-
ence call from Israel on Tues-
day. Royce said Secretary of
State John Kerry, who will
travel to the region this week,
must come before Congress
and present a strategy for de-
feating ISIS and put it up for
a vote by the beginning of
next month.
We are scheduling a hear-
ing upon our return and re-
questing the secretary of state
to present a plan, a strategy
focused on rolling back ISIS,
defeating ISIS through the
use of airstrikes and the sup-
port of those with common
interests,
Royce said. We anticipate
there will be a vote on au-
thorization of the use of force
for such a plan. That would
come within the 60-day win-
dow.
Washington: The FBI confirmed on
Monday that it has joined a hunt for
the hacker or hackers who leaked
hundreds of revealing images online
of Hollywood actresses in what ap-
pears to be a breach of celebrity
iCloud accounts.
The FBI is aware of the allega-
tions concerning computer intrusions
and the unlawful release of material
involving high profile individuals,
and is addressing the matter, said
Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the
FBI in Los Angeles.
The problem emerged Sunday,
when a search for Jennifer Lawrence,
Kate Upton or related hash tags on
Twitter yielded hundreds of retweets
of several nude or near-nude images.
"This is a flagrant violation of pri-
vacy," a spokesperson for The
Hunger Games star Lawrence said in
a statement Sunday. "The authorities
have been contacted and will prose-
cute anyone who posts the stolen
photos of Jennifer
Lawrence."
The hacker behind the
stolen photos first posted
them on the image-based
online bulletin board
4chan, according to Buz-
zFeed. How or from where
the pictures were obtained
remained unclear on Mon-
day.
In 2012, Christopher
Chaney, 36, of Jack-
sonville, Fla., was sen-
tenced to 10 years in prison
for hacking into the email
accounts of more than 50
people in the entertainment
industry in order to gain
access to nude photos and
private information.
Chaney, who was arrested
after an FBI investigation dubbed
Operation Hackerazzi, said that he
hacked into the accounts of film star
Scarlett Johansson and other celebri-
ties because he was addicted to spy-
ing on their personal lives.
Washington: Theres fresh evi-
dence that Republicans are inching
toward winning control of the Sen-
ate in November.
The bipartisan George Washing-
ton University Battleground Poll re-
leased Wednesday has the GOP
ahead on the generic congressional
ballot by 4 percentage points, 46 to
42 percent. More ominously for De-
mocrats, in states where there is a
competitive Senate race, Republi-
cans lead the generic ballot by 16
percentage points, 52 to 36.
Though the American public is
as divided as it has been all year, as
we head into the 2014 general elec-
tions the advantage among likely
voters is flowing toward Republi-
cans, said Christopher Arterton,
George Washington University pro-
fessor of political management and
poll director.
The generic congressional ballot
has long been a general marker for
how parties stand with the public
heading into important votes. It asks
a simple question: Are you more
likely to vote for a Democrat or a
Republican to represent your con-
gressional district in the fall?
Respondents dont get the names
of the people running to specifically
represent their area. Voters feelings
about these individuals might sway
their answer to the generic question
about Democrats versus Republi-
cans, so candidate identifications
are left out.
Republican strategists are particu-
larly pleased about the partys ad-
vantage in this new poll because the
generic ballot often skews toward
Democrats. Thats simply because
there are usually more Democrats
than Republicans in the US. About
44 percent of US adults identify
with or lean toward the Democratic
Party, according to a recent Gallup
survey. Thirty-nine percent lean to-
ward or identify with the GOP.
The Republican edge in the Bat-
tleground survey thus may stem
from particular political circum-
stances which indicate a (possible)
impending GOP Senate takeover.
For instance, President Obamas rel-
atively low approval ratings have
been dragging down his party for
months. The new Battleground Poll
finds that fully 61 percent of re-
spondents disapprove of Obamas
job performance.
The much larger GOP lead in
states with close Senate races also
likely reflects the fact that this year
Democrats are defending a number
of endangered incumbents in red or
purple states, such as Louisiana and
North Carolina.
But this is just one poll, remem-
ber. The RealClearPolitics average
of generic congressional ballot sur-
veys still has Democrats ahead, ever
so slightly, at 0.5 percent.
Congress Demands a Vote on Obamas war on ISIS
Steven Sotloff held
Israeli citizenship,
unawares to ISIS
House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce (left) said
Secretary of State John Kerry must come before
Congress and present a strategy for defeating ISIS..
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence of
Hunger Games fame is one of the victims
of the privacy breach on iCloud.
New poll gives GOP edge in
battleground states
FBI joins hunt for hacker who leaked
nude photos of actresses
Louisiana gay-marriage ban upheld
Washington: In a boost for Louisiana Governor Bob-
by Jindal, who has been following a social conservative
agenda, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that
Louisianas ban on gay marriage is constitutional, mak-
ing him the first to uphold a state laws definition of
marriage as only between one man and one woman.
US District Court Judge Martin Feldman addressed
his unusual ruling, saying, It would no doubt be cele-
brated to be in the company of the near-unanimity of the
many other federal courts that have spoken to this press-
ing issue, if this court were confident in the belief that
those cases provide a correct guide.
Feldman justified his ruling by saying that no fun-
damental right was at stake. This court is persuaded
that Louisiana has a legitimate interest whether ob-
solete in the opinion of some, or not, in linking chil-
dren to an intact family formed by their two biological
parents, as specifically underscored by Justice Kennedy
in Windsor. He did, however, note that the courts de-
cision is but one studied decision among many and
that the issue of same-sex marriage will, at some point,
end up before the Supreme Court.
10 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
Hyderabad: Finally ending the sus-
pense, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister
N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that
Vijayawada will be the capital of the
state.
He told the state legislative assembly
that the government has decided to
"locate the capital city in a central place
of the state around Vijayawada".
Naidu said the decision was taken in
the state cabinet meeting Sep 1.
"It was also decided to go for decen-
tralized development of the state with
three mega cities and 14 smart cities," he
said amid protests by opposition YSR
Congress Party for making the
announcement without consultations.
Naidu said the cabinet also decided to
go for land pooling system for building
the new capital. The system will be worked out by a
cabinet sub-committee.
In a 20-page statement read out before the scheduled
time, the chief minister defended the choice saying
Vijayawada is centrally located and accessible to all dis-
tricts of the state.
He announced the measures his government proposed
to take for development of all three regions of the state.
The chief minister said the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)
government was committed to all round development of
all 13 districts of the state.
Located on the banks of Krishna river in Krishna dis-
trict of south coastal Andhra, Vijayawada is about 300
km from Hyderabad, which is currently serving as the
common capital of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,
Hyderabad will be common capital of the two states for
a period not more than 10 years.
With a population of over a million as per 2011 cen-
sus, Vijayawada is a major commercial hub.
Ever since taking over as the chief minister in June,
Naidu had been indicating that the new capital will be
built between Vijayawada and Guntur. He had taken
oath as the chief minister at a place between the two
cities.
An expert committee constituted by the central gov-
ernment to identify the capital submitted its report last
week, suggesting various options. It, however, left the
final decision to the government.
M u m b a i :
Australian Prime
Minister Tony
Abbott started
his India visit
from Mumbai
where he arrived
early Thursday,
heading a 30-
strong business
delegation.
His day, full of
engagement s ,
started by paying
homage to the
26/11 terror
attack victims at Hotel Taj Mahal
Palace where he is staying in
south Mumbai.
Later, Abbott called on
Maharashtra Governor C.
Vidyasagar Rao at the Raj
Bhavan.
He is slated to speak to students
at University of Mumbai.
Abott is scheduled to have
lunch with a large group of top
industrialists at the Hotel Taj and
later meet a select group of CEOs
including Cyrus Mistry of Tata
Group and Adani Group's Gautam
Adani.
The late afternoon was sched-
uled for a sporting event organ-
ised by the Australian consulate
here - attending a felicitation of
young Indian cricketers by
Australians legends like Adam
Gilchrist and Brett Lee, in the
presence of Indian cricket legend
Sachin Tendulkar, at the Cricket
Club of India.
Arriving here on his first visit to
India as prime minister, the high
point of Abbott's trip is the possi-
bility of signing a nuclear cooper-
ation agreement with the Indian
government.
He is scheduled to hold delega-
tion-level meetings and discuss
various issues with President
Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President
Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
in New Delhi Friday.
New Delhi/London: Al Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has
announced the creation of a
South Asian branch of his group
to "raise the flag of jihad" in the
Indian sub-continent, causing
concerns.
In a 55-minute video posted
online, Zawahari -- who suc-
ceeded Osama bin Laden after
he was killed in Pakistan -- also
pledged renewed loyalty to
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah
Omar, BBC reported.
Announcing the formation of
"Al Qaeda in the Indian subcon-
tinent", Zawahiri - speaking in
both Arabic and Urdu - said this
"would be good news for
Muslims in Burma, Bangladesh
and in the Indian states of
Assam, Gujarat and Jammu and
Kashmir where they would be
rescued from injustice and
oppression".
Official sources said in New
Delhi that the Intelligence
Bureau had been asked to
authenticate the Al Qaeda video.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
also met with the heads of the
Intelligence Bureau and the
Research and Analysis Wing
(RAW) Thursday, the sources
told IANS. National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval attended the
meeting.
The Al Qaeda announcement
comes at a time when the group
faces challenges from the
increasingly aggressive Islamic
State that has taken control of a
large swathe of territory in Iraq
and in Syria too.
BBC quoted counter-terrorism
experts as saying that Al Qaeda
was vying with Islamic State to
recruit followers worldwide.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi describes himself
as a "caliph" - or head of state -
and has called for support of
Muslims around the world.
BBC also said that Pakistani
militants linked to Islamic State
have distributed pamphlets in
city of Peshawar asking people
to support their idea of creating
an Islamic caliphate.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was
in India for two-day visit.
Australian PM begins India
visit from Mumbai
Karauli: Every day at 6 am, Reena
stealthily leaves her house with the
her face covered to avoid being
seen when heading out to do the
job she hates -- removing human
excrement with her bare hands.
Living in Rajasthan`s Karauli
district, Reena is among 116 manu-
al scavengers the central govern-
ment had identified for rehabilita-
tion two years ago. She was
employed as a sweeper in the local
civic body but was thrown out of
her job, forcing her to resume man-
ual scavenging.
"My own children run away from
me when I reach home. They say I
stink and make them throw up,"
she said.
Many other women to oin
impoverished Karauli are forced to
make ends meet by manual scav-
enging. Despite strict laws pro-
hibiting manual scavenging in the
country, the centuries-old practice
is still rampant in many areas.
Belonging to the lowest Hindu
caste, these women clean dry
latrines and carry the feces in bam-
boo baskets on their heads for
dumping in a faraway place.
"Three days after my marriage,
my mother-in-law took me along
with her and forced me to remove
excreta from a house. After that I
had to be admitted to a hospital for
three days," Sulekha (name
changed), 30, said. She cleans the
toilets of 15 houses every morning
- and the amount she gets from
each house is an appallingly low
Rs.20 per month.
The women frequently complain
of headaches, stomach aches and
nausea - due to inhaling the nox-
ious fumes during their work. They
are also malnourished. Their chil-
dren too are malnourished with
stunted growth.
"We cannot miss work even for a
day as the dirt gets piled up in the
dry latrines and the stench worsens.
If we do, the families drag us from
our homes," Namrata said.
And all these women have red-
dish-black corroded teeth caused
by chewing gutka. "To clean the
mess, either you have to be dead
drunk or have gutka in your mouth.
The scent of gutka keeps us from
vomiting," Reena said.
"The government claims that
these women have been rehabilitat-
ed, but this is not the case. Most
had to get back to manual scaveng-
ing because they could not get
jobs," Rajesh Sharma, of Dang
Vikas Sansthan, said.
"I thought my life would become
better when I was employed as a
sweeper in the municipality, but I
got thrown out after two months
because it was a contractual one,"
Meena said. "Then, nobody
employed me because of my caste
and past job."
The district administration, per-
haps rattled by PM Modi`s promise
of "Swach Bharat" to provide toi-
lets in every home by 2019, said it
would "look into" their case.
"Manual scavenging is a blot on
modern India. I will look into their
cases," district collector Babulal
Jatawat said.
In Rajasthan, these women are still
doing manual scavenging
Vijayawada to be capital of Andhra Pradesh
Vijayawada is about 300 km from Hyderabad.
Al Qaeda announces South Asia wing,
India concerned
INDIA
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the
government not to give a bureaucratic answer
about its plan to clean up the Ganga and
instead unveil a stage-by-stage timeline for
effective monitoring. "Don't give us a vision
plan. An artist's view. It may take 200 years to
implement," said a bench of Justice TS Thakur
and Justice R. Banumathi. "We don't know if
it (cleaning Ganga) will happen in our genera-
tion." "Can you indicate the stages through
which this plan has to move and the time
involved in each stage?" asked Justice Thakur
as solicitor general Ranjit Kumar started read-
ing from a 29-page affidavit starting with the
1985 first Ganga Action Plan.
The court wanted to be enlightened by
"someone who has a comprehensive view of
how Ganga would be made pollution free,
nitty-gritty of the plan, and how the mile-
stones can be achieved". The 2,525-km long
Ganga, which originates in the Himalayas, is
considered the holiest of rivers by Hindus.
Telling Kumar that the government had
given a "very bureaucratic answer" to its
query, the court said it wanted to know how
much will be achieved in the five years this
government will be in office.
During the last hearing Aug 13, the court
had sought the status report on the govern-
ment's action plan to clean the Ganga along
with a roadmap. The court had also sought a
report on what the government was doing to
clean the river from Gangotri up to Haridwar
in the first phase. Justice Thakur observed:
"But for nature, it (Ganga) would have been
worst. It is nature that is doing a lot of clean-
ing." The court told the solicitor general if
polluting industries needed to be relocated, the
court could assist the government with legal
process.
Don't give us a vision plan. An artist's view. It may take 200
years to implement, the Supreme Court told the Centre.
11 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
66 percent voters satisfied with Modi's performance, functioning: Poll
Patna: Classes opened at the Nalanda
University this week, an ancient internation-
al centre for learning in Bihar, after a break
of over 800 years with 15 students, its vice
chancellor said.
"We have formally started the academic
session of Nalanda University Monday
morning in the International Convention
Centre at the Buddhist pilgrim town of
Rajgir," Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabhrawal
said. Rajgir is about 100 km from Patna.
Sabhrawal said the ancient Nalanda
University functioned from 413 AD to 1193
AD.
Classes for the School of Historical
Sciences and the School of Environment and
Ecology have started for the first session
2014-15.
She said there was an introduction session
for students as well as faculty members as it
was the first day of the classes, revived after
over eight centuries.
"We have completed the first step towards
a big mission for revival of ancient Nalanda
university. Now more hard work has to be
done for it," she said.
Sabhrawal said that the launch of the aca-
demic session of the university was a low
key affair because the formal inauguration
would take place in mid-September after
formal opening by external affairs minister
Sushma Swaraj, who will be chief guest, and
university will also invite ambassadors of
the East Asian countries.
She said that till now 15 students have
been enrolled in the university and more will
be enrolled in coming days as the process of
their application scrutiny and interview is
still on. "We strongly hope that more foreign
students will join the university because our
thrust is research along with study,"
Sabhrawal said. She said the university has
attracted over 1,000 applications from
around the world.
University Dean Anjana Sharma said eight
faculty members have joined the university
so far and many more would join this month
and in October.
Sharma said Upinder Kaur, daughter of
former prime minister Manmohan Singh,
will be a visiting faculty at the university.
Kaur is teaching history at Delhi University.
The university will come up in Rajgir, 12
km from where the ancient Nalanda
University stood till the 12th century, when
it was razed by an invading Turkish army.
The formal inauguration is expected in
mid-September, Sabhrawal said.
The fully-residential university, to be com-
pleted by 2020, will eventually have seven
schools, all for post-graduate and doctoral
students, offering courses in science, philos-
ophy and spirituality, and social sciences.
Classes begin in Nalanda University
after over
800
years
Fifty-one percent voters say if elections were held
now, the Modi government will improve its tally.
New Delhi: Nearly two-thirds (66 per-
cent) of voters in a survey have
expressed satisfaction with the
Narendra Modi government's perform-
ance, and while more - 68 percent -
approve of the prime minister's style of
functioning.
Conducted across 14 cities including
the four metropolitan cities, major state
capitals as well as other prominent
cities like Surat and Varanasi, the opin-
ion poll by Network 18 and Today's
Chanakya on 100 days of the Modi gov-
ernment sought to take a look at how
Team Modi has fared on foreign policy,
internal security and on the economic
front.
"Majority 66 percent voters say they
are satisfied with the performance so far
of the Modi government. Nineteen per-
cent say they are not satisfied with the
government performance," said a press
release giving the results of the survey
conducted Aug 26-31 and involving
6,280 respondents.
"Fifty-one percent voters say if elec-
tions were held now, the Modi govern-
ment will improve its tally while 26 per-
cent say the opposite. On the key ques-
tion of corruption, 54 percent voters say
the Modi government can tackle corrup-
tion while 24 percent say it cannot tack-
le corruption," the release said.
According to the opinion poll, eco-
nomic sentiment was positive with 41
percent stating that the economy was
back on track, while 25 percent said it
was early to pass a judgment.
In response to a question "what do
you think the prime minister could have
been done better in 100 days", 48 per-
cent voters wished the Modi govern-
ment to be stricter on spiralling prices.
"More than 30 percent voters believe
that price control has improved while
27 percent say that it has not improved,"
the release said.
About Modi's tenure, 41 percent vot-
ers described it as being "effective,
speedy, and purposeful", while 35 per-
cent said his government has to be more
bold and tough.
The poll said 68 percent respondents
approved of Modi's style of functioning
while only 25 percent find him authori-
tarian.
The opinion poll showed that Modi
has been successful in building a direct
rapport with people.
"Fifty percent respondents say that
Modi effectively communicates with
the people of the country."
On internal security, 37 percent
respondents said Maoist violence has
decreased during the Modi regime,
while 15 percent of voters said it had
increased.
The poll said voters appeared to be in
sync with Modi's foreign policy.
"Sixty-nine percent respondents rate
his foreign policy as being either good
or very good. Forty-seven percent say
the performance is good while 22 per-
cent say it is very good," the survey
said. On cancellation of foreign secre-
tary-level talks between India and
Pakistan, the poll showed that 54 per-
cent supported the move.
Meanwhile, 43 percent of respondents
say communal violence has not
increased during the Modi regime,
while 14 percent say it has, the poll
said. On the Congress leader in the Lok
Sabha not being recognised as the
Leader of Opposition, 44 percent voters
said it was the right decision, while 30
percent said the Congress deserves the
post.
Modi' s "Team India" pitch found
favor with 54 percent of voters who said
Modi was walking the talk on building a
team with the chief ministers, but 15
percent not holding a similar sentiment.
2,525-km
long Ganga,
which origi-
nates in the
Himalayas, is
considered
the holiest of
rivers by
Hindus.
Ganga cleaning will take 200
years: Supreme Court
The fully-residential university, to be
completed by 2020, will eventually
have seven schools
12 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
Bangalore: A court here has issued an
arrest warrant against Karthik Gowda,
son of Railway Minister D.V.
Sadananda Gowda, in a rape and cheat-
ing case filed against him by a Kannada
actress after he got engaged to another
woman.
"As Karthik failed to appear before
our investigation team despite repeated
summons since Aug 29 for questioning
on the charges alleged against him by
Maithreyi, the eighth additional city
metropolitan magistrate issued the war-
rant to arrest him, " Deputy
Commissioner of Police (East) T.R.
Suresh said.
Police have formed two teams to look
for 30-year-old Karthik in Bangalore
and across the state.
Police in Goa and Kerala have also
been alerted to look out for him.
A search team has left for Madikeri in
Kodagu district, about 230 km from
here, as he got engaged there Aug 27
and was later seen in Mangalore.
"Once arrested, we will present him
(Karthik) in the court and seek his cus-
tody for interrogation. The case is
booked against him Aug 27 under
Sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating)
of the IPC (Indian Penal Court) on the
basis of complaint filed by Maithreyi,"
said Suresh.
According to Karthik's counsel, who
filed an anticipatory bail application
Aug 30, the session court is yet to give
ruling on his plea for relief.
"Our petition for anticipatory bail for
Karthik is being heard by the session's
court. Its magistrate is yet to pronounce
the order as arguments were incom-
plete," counsel told reporters.
The court served a notice to the R.T.
Nagar police station, where the com-
plaint was lodged, asking if it had any
objection on granting anticipatory bail
to Karthik.
"We are opposing the anticipatory
bail plea, as Karthik did not respond to
our notices and summons to appear
before the investigation officer under
the law," Inspector S. Raghupathy said.
Maithreyi has claimed that Karthik
tied the wedding knot with her June 5 at
his other house in Mangalore, about
350 km from Bangalore, and that they
consummated the informal marriage
after he forced himself upon her.
The probe team has already interro-
gated Maithreyi Aug 28 to 30 and
recorded her statements and collected
documents, including relevant certifi-
cates, photos and voice recordings.
The Gowdas, however, denied the
charge and accused Maithreyi of tar-
nishing their image and blamed politi-
cal opponents of conspiring to bring
disrepute to the family, as the victim
later claimed to have joined the
Congress two-three years ago.
BJP chief Amit Shah to
meet Uddhav
Mumbai: In a bid to defuse tensions between allies
Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, visiting
BJP president Amit Shah will meet Sena chief
Uddhav Thackeray, a party official said here.
He will call on Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshri,
the Thackeray residence in Bandra east which has
been the venue for many such VVIP meetings in
the past over four decades, especially during the
lifetime of the late Bal Thackeray.
Before meeting Uddhav Thackeray, Shah will
visit the Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park and
pay homage to the founder of the Shiv Sena.
Till the time the BJP chief landed in Mumbai
Thursday morning, both parties had officially
declared that no meeting was scheduled between
the two.
However, Uddhav Thackeray reportedly took the
first step by inviting Shah to his residence, which
the latter acknowledged and accepted.
The Mumbai-born Shah arrived in the city on his
first visit after taking over as party chief. He was
accorded a tumultuous welcome by thousands of
party activists and top leaders at the Mumbai air-
port.
In his brief address, Shah said the second phase
of making a 'Congress-mukt Bharat' (India free of
the Congress rule) would be launched from
Maharashtra where Swaraj was established by
Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
"This is the worst and most corrupt government
ruling in Maharashtra for the past 15 years... We
shall remove all Congress governments across the
country," Shah said to a resounding applause.
Hyderabad: National award winning
actress Shweta Basu, who was arrested for
prostitution here, has revealed that she
took to the sex trade as she was running
out of money.
The 23-year-old actress, who was arrest-
ed, is currently lodged in a state-run res-
cue home. She admitted she made wrong
choices in her career.
"I was out of money. I had to support my
family and some other good causes. All
the doors were closed, and some people
encouraged me to get into prostitution to
earn money. I was helpless, and with no
option left to choose, I got involved in this
act," police sources quoted her as saying.
The actress, seen in films like "Makdee"
and "Iqbal" also revealed that there were
other actresses like her who went through
this. Shweta, who shot to fame as a child
artiste in Ekta Kapoor's television serial
"Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki", bagged the
national award for best child artist for
"Makdee" in 2002.
The actress, who also did a few films in
Bengali, Tamil and Telugu, was arrested
from a hotel Sunday night along with the
sex racket's organiser Anjaneyulu alias
Balu.
The next day, a court here sent her to a
rescue home run by the women and child
welfare department. She underwent a
medical examination at a government hos-
pital before she was sent to the rescue
home, where women rescued by police
and those facing trial are given shelter
during the trial period.
Balu, who was reportedly collecting
Rs.1 lakh each from high flying cus-
tomers, has been sent to jail.
New Delhi: In a deepening of the 'old
guard' vs 'Gen Next' clash, a bunch of
young leaders in Congress have taken up
cudgels on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, warn-
ing party seniors against attacking the
leadership.
Following a string of comments putting
a question mark on Rahul's abilities, AICC
secretaries have decided to write to senior
office-bearers urging them to desist from
public criticism and to back Rahul in
implementing his ideas to transform the
Congress.
The letter is likely to remind party man-
agers that they were in charge of key orga-
nizational responsibilities, and it was
unfair to target the leadership.
However, the request to back Rahul is
accompanied with a warning that there
could be a backlash if their plea was not
heeded.
Justifying the move to firewall the
young Gandhi, AICC secretary Prakash
Joshi said, "Rahul wants transformation, a
process-driven party with role of workers
and youth in decision-making. We are
firmly with him in his bid to change the
Congress."
Sources said the letters, to be signed by
pro-Rahul AICC secretaries, are likely to
be dispatched to general secretaries, CWC
members and senior leaders on Thursday.
A leading light of the loyalist bunch
claimed it was their own initiative and
Rahul had no role in it, seeking to dispel
the notion that it could be an orchestrated
move.
That 16 young secretaries of the total 42
are involved in the exercise shows that
Congress could witness in-house clashes if
senior leaders continue to cast doubts on
the leadership of the Gandhi family. While
dealing with intermittent dissidence after
the Lok Sabha defeat, partymen fear that
the anticipated defeat in the assembly elec-
tions to Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand
and Jammu and Kashmir would only exac-
erbate the crisis. The polarization in the
party along pro- and anti-Rahul line indi-
cates the hardening of the generational
clash that has cast its shadow on the
Congress since Rahul's advent as the heir-
imminent.
Arrest warrant against railway minister's son
Actress took to prostitution
after running out of money
Karthik Gowda, son of Railway Minister
D.V. Sadananda Gowda, with Kannada actress
Award winning actress
Shweta Basu. (Inset) As
seen in 'Iqbal' (2005).
Rahul Gandhi
Congress old guard, Gen Next
split over Rahul Gandhi?
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
By Ranjana Narayan
T
he Tokyo Declaration taking India-
Japan relations to the next level - a
Special Strategic Global Partnership -
has lent "new dynamism" to the close ties
between the two nations, especially with its
emphasis on increased economic and defence
cooperation, even though Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe failed to tie up the civil nuclear
deal during this visit, say experts.
Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal
termed the visit "largely successful" with
important decisions taken in the economic
side, especially Japan's promise of $33.58 bil-
lion over the next five years under the India-
Japan Investment Promotion Partnership, that
would include development of economic cor-
ridors, infrastructure, transport system and
smart cities.
Japan has also offered financial, technical
and operational support to India for the
Shinkansen system or the bullet trains.
Sibal termed the agreements in the defence
sector as significant, especially Japan's deci-
sion to remove six Indian entities from the
'foreign end users list' and the progress in
talks for purchase by India of the US-2
amphibian aircraft from Japan as well as the
decision to regularize the India-US-Japan
Malabar maritime exercise.
However, he said it was disappointing that
the civil nuclear deal could not be signed.
Former ambassador G. Parthasarathy said
Modi's Japan visit has "certainly given new
dynamism to bilateral relations, which were
good in any case", in the wake of substantive
involvement of Japan in India's economic
development and the enhanced military-to-
military relations.
Japan' s participation in the trilateral
Malabar exercises with the US and India were
important and would help work towards cre-
ating "stable, balanced power in Asia", he
said.
Former Indian envoy Sheel Kant Sharma
said Modi's visit has "highly successful out-
comes and Japan's response to Modi's over-
tures were overwhelmingly positive, though
in certain areas work needs to be done".
Referring to Modi's swipe at China where
he deplored the "expansionist" tendencies of
some countries which "encroach" on the seas
of others, the former envoy said Modi had
made "very delicate reference to problems in
Asia".
He termed the reference to the trilateral
Malabar naval exercises as a "very positive
arrangement" but added that both sides need
to "come out with clear interests".
Sharma termed as "dynamic and very posi-
tive" Japan's support for India to become a
full member in the four international export
control regimes: Nuclear Suppliers Group,
Missile Technology Control Regime,
Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group.
China expert Srikanth Kondapalli said the
Tokyo Declaration was "explicit" on the polit-
ical, economic and defence fields and both
sides have exhibited substantial cooperation
in the defence fields.
Referring to the clause where both countries
agree to work towards closer and stronger
strategic partnership "for a prosperous future
for their two countries and for advancing
peace, stability and prosperity in the world, in
particular, in the inter-connected Asia, Pacific
and Indian Ocean Regions", he said this was
aimed at the direction of countering China.
Another major point in the declaration is
the reference to unhindered maritime and air
flight access.
Both sides "affirmed their shared commit-
ment to maritime security, freedom of naviga-
tion and overflight, civil aviation safety,
unimpeded lawful commerce, and peaceful
settlement of disputes in accordance with
international law", the statement says.
This clause, Kondapalli said, was signifi-
cant in view of the recent quarrel between
China and the US following a narrowly-
avoided midair incident between a US spy
plane and a Chinese fighter jet near Hainan
island. China has set up Air Defence
Identification Zones over the South and East
China Seas, intercepting overflights.
The clause in the India-Japan statement was
meant to emphasize that India concurs with
Japan on unhindered maritime freedom and
freedom of overflights, which are of "disso-
nance" with China's viewpoint, he noted.
13 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED
By Saeed Naqvi
T
he ISIS threat has been
around for months. Why
was it not nipped in the bud?
Obamas response in the course of
a conversation with Thomas
Friedman of the New York Times
is revealing. We did not start
airstrikes all across Iraq as soon as
the ISIS came in because that
would have taken the pressure off
Nouri al-Maliki, the then Shia
prime minister in Baghdad.
In other words Obamas immedi-
ate priority was to get rid of Nouri
al-Maliki. According to this logic,
a terrorist outfit like the ISIS can,
on some occasions, play a useful
role. That is why Obama allowed
the ISIS to grow in size to frighten
the obstinate prime minister in
Baghdad. Here the president of the
US is giving an example of how
terrorism can be placed at the dis-
posal of diplomacy.
In the early stages of the insur-
rection in Syria, US Ambassador to
Damascus, Robert Stephen Ford
and his French counterpart drove
around the countrys major trouble
spots - Derra, Homs and Hama. In
each city they contacted opposition
leaders. In Damascus some of us
exchanged views with a veteran
US diplomat and Arabist, Edward
Lionel Peck who was privately vis-
iting the country. He was quite as
astonished at this new, aggressive
style of diplomacy, more akin to
special operations.
After returning to the US, Peck
wrote on what he described as a
very unsettling subject. He wrote:
I have been dismayed by the acco-
lades and support given to
Ambassador Ford, our man in - and
now out of Syria, for stepping well
out of the traditional and appropri-
ate role of a diplomat and actively
encouraging the revolt/insurrec-
tion/sectarian strife/outside med-
dling, call it what you will. It is
easy to imagine the US reaction if
an ambassador from anywhere
were to engage in even distantly
related activities here. I fear my
country remains somewhat more
than merely insensitive, and is slid-
ing into plain rampant and offen-
sive arrogance.
Later that year, former Secretary
of State, Madeleine Albright spoke
on US foreign policy at New
Delhis India International Centre.
During Q and A, I cited Peck as an
outstanding example of the liberal
American conscience. Albright was
not impressed. She mounted an
effective endorsement of Ford.
The escalating terrorism in Syria,
helped by outside meddling from
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar has
morphed into this beast called the
ISIS. Of course, Russia, Iran and
Iraq dug their heels in for the
regime. But does that make them
worthy of equal blame?
There is no space left to touch on
jihadist militancy let loose in
Libya, traversing Mali, uniting
with Nigerias monstrous Boko
Haram.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, president
Carters National Security Adviser
considers global terrorism a small
price for breeding Islamic Jehad
which helped topple Soviet power.
The aftermath of that Jehad, how-
ever, is still hovering over the
heads of the principal actors in
Kabul, indeed, in every concerned
capital. Soon after the Taliban were
ousted from Kabul, Hamid Karzai
was nominated interim president
in December 2001. A pulverized
international community has
been stuck with him all these years.
The Constitution does not allow
him to carry on endlessly. The
occupying power organized elec-
tions in which one of the candi-
dates, Abdullah Abdullah has
alleged industrial scale fraud and
pulled out, leaving Obama and
John Kerry with the prospect of
turning up at the NATO summit in
Wales Sep 4, empty handed. Will
jaw jaw on Ukraine and the ISIS
disguise their embarrassment in
Afghanistan?
Japan's promise of $33.58 billion over the next five years under the India-Japan
Investment Promotion Partnership is the key achievement of the visit.
Barack Obama allowed the ISIS to grow in size to frighten the
obstinate prime minister in Baghdad. Here the president of the
US is giving an example of how terrorism can be placed
at the disposal of diplomacy.
Tokyo Declaration gives new dynamism to India-Japan ties
Terrorism a diplomatic asset: Fair is foul, foul is fair
By Barak Mendelsohn
T
he Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham
(ISIS), which is also called the
Islamic State, is on the march. Two
months after first sweeping through north-
ern and central Iraq, it has started to push
onward to Erbil, the seat of the Kurdish
Regional Government. Along the way, it
triggered a severe humanitarian crisis
among Iraqs Yezidi and Christian minori-
ties and caused massive panic across the
Kurdish autonomous region, which forced a
reluctant United States to intervene. ISIS
has also used its momentum to continue its
expansion in Syria and, for a few days, even
managed to hold parts of the Lebanese bor-
der city of Arsal. More confident than ever,
ISIS is taking on a broad array of enemies,
including the Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese
militaries; Iraqi and Lebanese Shia militias;
Kurds from Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; and
Islamist and secular Syrian opposition
forces. Now even U.S. air power is joining
the fray.
From a military perspective, ISIS will-
ingness to fight so many groups on so many
fronts is impressive. In part, its boldness
was made possible by the weakness of
many of its rivals. The huge store of deadly,
high-quality weapons that the group picked
up on its march through Iraq has helped as
well. Finally, ISIS has also demonstrated a
surprising ability to rearrange and redeploy
forces as the groups operational needs
change. Its reputation for military prowess
(and brutality) has only grown, which in
turn has further weakened resistance to its
moves and sent civilians running whenever
ISIS forces got close.
ISIS relatively unimpeded march toward
Erbil caught the White House and many
other observers by surprise. Most had
expected that the jihadist group would con-
centrate its efforts in Iraq on Baghdad, the
capital and a historical seat of the Abbasid
Caliphate, where numerous Sunni reside.
They also believed that the Kurdish pesh-
marga forces were strong enough to deter
ISIS attacks and would be able to block its
advance if deterrence failed. That turns out
to have been wrong, a miscalculation that
forced the Obama administrations hand.
Still, because ISIS move provoked a U.S.
bombardment, some believe it might well
be its undoing.
For that reason, ISIS strategy might seem
like a surprising overreach. It is entirely
consistent, however, with the path the group
charted early on, which tended toward the
bold and risky. In fact, ISIS recent moves
are simply a continuation of prior efforts to
expand its control over new territory and
natural resources (primarily oil fields and
water dams that it can use for income and
tools of war), enforce its harsh ideology,
and strengthen its own primacy within the
jihadi camp.
For now, it is impossible to say whether
ISIS intended to provoke the United States
to intervene or simply miscalculated. But it
is hard to believe ISIS did not understand
that threatening the capital of Iraqi
Kurdistan would mean directly challenging
the U.S. alliance with the Kurds and poten-
tially provoking it to fight. Indeed, it is like-
ly that ISIS viewed such a challenge as a
win-win situation.
If the United States had failed to protect
its allies, ISIS forces would have been able
to advance deep into Kurdish territory and
masses of undesirable non-Sunni inhabi-
tants would have fled. The demonstration of
U.S. timidity would also have given ISIS a
boost as it set its sights on Jordan, another
anxious U.S. ally in need of Washingtons
defense.
If the United States decided to step in on
behalf of its allies -- as it did -- then ISIS
must have believed that it would be able to
strengthen its position within the jihadi
camp. ISIS could use the bombings as evi-
dence that the United States is waging a war
on Islam, and to portray itself as the defend-
er of Muslims from Crusader aggression.
In other words, ISIS would steal a page
right out of al Qaedas playbook. And that
puts more pressure on al Qaeda. After all, if
ISIS wins vast territory in the heart of the
Middle East, implements Islamic gover-
nance, and battles apostate regimes and
their backers, al Qaeda will -- after refusing
to do so -- have to give its full support to
ISIS. Already, ISIS supporters are calling
all jihadi forces to stand behind Omar al-
Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. As a result,
the flow of fighters abandoning al Qaeda
affiliates to join ISIS, which U.S. intelli-
gence has already observed, is likely to
increase. Moreover, leaders of al Qaeda
franchises will come under greater pressure
to shift allegiance from al Qaeda to ISIS.
Of course, getting the United States
involved carries considerable risks. ISIS
does not have an answer to American air-
power. From the air, the United States is
capable of delivering painful blows that can
significantly degrade the group. And by
supporting Kurdish forces on the ground,
U.S. intervention could even reverse ISIS
advances in the north. But President Barack
Obamas caution when it comes to foreign
interventions, and his obvious distaste for
getting entangled in Iraq again, appear to
have mitigated the risks for ISIS. Indeed,
the United States seems intent on the most
minimal intervention possible, striking very
few targets, and aiming to create deterrence
more than rolling back ISIS advances on
the ground. Moreover, Obamas aversion to
doing anything in Syria means that ISIS-
controlled territories there will be a safe
haven for the group no matter what happens
in Iraq.
Although the push against the Kurds can
be seen as serving the Islamic States strate-
gic objectives, the persecution of minori-
ties, particularly the beginning of a genoci-
dal drive against the Yezidis, should be
viewed not only as an effort to intimidate
the opponents of ISIS, but also as the ful-
fillment of ISIS radical ideology, which
includes special taxes for minorities, forced
deportations or, as in the case of the
Yezidis, a choice between conversion or
death. This ideology is an integral part of
ISIS broader effort to implement Islamic
governance and has some precedents in its
actions in Syria. In the absence of concert-
ed international action, it will continue to
oppress, chase away, and, in the worst
cases, kill minorities under its rule.
ISIS has been clear about its expansionist
and exclusionary Caliphate project, and
now that truth has finally sunk in with the
Obama administration. Getting involved in
Iraq carries risks, but if the United States
will not lead -- and from the front this time
-- the ISIS threat will only grow. A lasting
solution to the problem requires deep politi-
cal changes in Iraq and, just as important, in
Syria, which Washington has largely
ignored. Such changes are unlikely to mate-
rialize fast enough to answer an urgent
threat. In the meantime, although a compre-
hensive aerial campaign could weaken ISIS
considerably, the narrow scope of U.S.
strikes will provide only modest and insuf-
ficient relief.
Fighting ISIS will inevitably generate
some resentment against the United States.
However, the danger that would result from
allowing ISIS to expand unchecked is far
worse. Unless the United States is willing to
walk away from the Middle East for good,
it will have to face ISIS head on. And doing
so will cost much more the longer the
United States waits.
(Courtesy: Foreign Affairs magazine)
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
14 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED
ISIS' gruesome gamble
An image taken from a video released
by the SITE Intelligence Group shows
Steven Sotloff before his execution.
(right) Displaced people from the
Yezidi minority group in northern Iraq
this community which is neither
Muslim nor Christian has suffered the
most at the hands of ISIS.
Provoking the US, ISIS schemed to use the bombings as
evidence that the United States is waging a war on
Islam, and to portray itself as the defender of Muslims
from Crusader aggression. In other words, ISIS would
steal a page right out of al Qaedas playbook
September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
16 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
A
fter touring multiple
cities in the US in
September, Bollywood
superstar Shah Rukh Khan, some
of his friends and the "Happy
New Year" coterie will take to
the stage in London with SLAM!
THE TOUR Oct 5.
The stars will perform at
London' s O2 Arena.
Choreographer-director Farah
Khan, actors Deepika Padukone,
Madhuri Dixit, Malaika Arora
Khan, Abhishek Bachchan,
Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan
Shah and singer Kanika Kapoor,
apart from SRK will be on board
for the tour.
In the US, Shah Rukh will be
shaking a leg with his fans after a
gap of 10 years. "I am blessed to
get a lot of love and support from
people around the world. This is
our way of giving this love back
and thanking you all," said Shah
Rukh in a statement.
He is "super excited" about the
tour, via which the team promis-
es "an evening of love, laughter
and entertainment". SLAM! THE
TOUR will start Sep 19 at Toyota
Center, Houston, then move on to
Continental Arena, New Jersey;
Air Canada Center, Toronto;
Sears Center Arena, Chicago;
Pacific National Exhibition,
Vancouver; and will conclude
Sep 28 at SAP Center, San Jose,
California, before heading to
London. "Happy New Year",
directed by Farah Khan and pro-
duced by SRK' s Red Chillies
Entertainment, is centred around
six losers who set out to change
their destiny. Touted as
Bollywood's big Diwali release
this year, the film promises to
make the festive season 'happier'
for fans of Hindi movies, and
SRK, who will be seen on the big
screen after a gap of over a year.
Deepika Padukone in 'Finding Fanny'
F
ilmmaker Karan Johar, who is asso-
ciated with Hindi commercial
blockbusters, is hopeful that
English language movie "Finding Fanny"
will open avenues for more such cinema.
"Finding Fanny" narrates the story of
five oddballs who venture out in search of
Stefanie Fernandes. And on their journey,
they find meaning to their otherwise
pointless lives.
Karan's good friend Homi Adajania has
directed it and the former feels that
"Finding Fanny" is a step ahead of the lat-
ter's directorial venture "Being Cyrus".
"I think there is an audience for every
kind of film. 'Finding Fanny', just like
'Being Cyrus', is one step ahead in mak-
ing avenue for English language films
with mainstream movie stars and actors,"
Karan said at the screening of "Finding
Fanny".
"I really, really hope it does exceeding-
ly well. It opens many more doors and
windows for this kind of cinema," he
added.
Presented by Fox Star Studios, "Finding
Fanny" is produced by Dinesh Vijan
under Maddock Films. The film, a quirky
satirical comedy, releases Sep 12.
It features Arjun Kapoor, Deepika
Padukone, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj
Kapur and Dimple Kapadia in key roles.
P
olitical and social activists have filed
police complaints against Bollywood
filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for his
series of objectionable tweets on Lord Ganesh,
officials said.
Sumit Khambekar, chief of the Mumbai unit
of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, and social
activist Shahzaad Poonawala filed separate
complaints against Varma in police stations in
the city.
Khambekar told media persons that Varma's
tweets "hurt the sentiments of a large number
of Hindus, especially devotees of Lord
Ganesh".
Poonawala said Varma' s tweets have
"angered" not only Maharashtrians but also
Muslims of the state.
The 11-day Ganeshotsav is being celebrated
across Maharashtra with glittering decorations
on roads and bylanes, rows of fairy lights, and
patriotic and social themes.
Varma Friday posted certain tweets and jocu-
lar remarks on Lord Ganesh, which many peo-
ple said were objectionable and in poor taste.
Police said they will investigate the case
before taking further steps.
Social activists and organisations, including
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, have condemned
Varma's comments and demanded an apology
from him as well as police action.
M
egastar Amitabh
Bachchan, an avid
user of social
media, has amassed a massive
following of over 10 million
users on Twitter. His target is to
double the figure.
"10 MILLION!! ON TWIT-
TER!! YEEAAAHH!! Thank
you all that follow me! Next
target 20," Amitabh tweeted.
The most followed Twitter
user in India, the 71-year-old is
known for his versatility on the
platform.He keeps his fans
entertained by frequently tweeting
about issues of national and interna-
tional importance, sharing moments
from his personal and professional
life, and connecting with his fans per-
sonally by replying to them directly on
Twitter, through over 33,000 Tweets
till now.
The actor is also known for initiating
new trends on the platform and had
recently launched an initiative called
#BachchanBol via which every
Wednesday, the actor shares fun and
interesting facts with his followers.
Cases against RGV for
tweets on Lord Ganesh
It's London calling for SRK's SLAM! THE TOUR
Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma
Big B gets 10
million
Twitter
followers
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info 17
A
stellar cast only adds to this accom-
plished film's sense of creative pro-
priety.
"Mardaani" is a film that makes all the cor-
rect noises about child trafficking. And by
"correct noises", I do mean the soundtrack,
which is among the most evocative provoca-
tive and satisfying in recent times.
Normally in Bollywood, when films are
done with live sound, the effect is scratchy
and at times in inaudible. "Mardaani" cleans
out the noises and yet retains a high decibel
of authenticity in the complementary rela-
tionship between sight and sound. This is a
film that knows its job.
This, then, is the world of Pradeep Sarkar's
derelict people. Posh pimps and "cool" flesh
traders gnawing at the fabric of our society
by playing with the lives of the most inno-
cent and vulnerable.
Without the least fuss, director Pradeep
Sarkar (so eloquent in his last film outing
with Rani in 'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag')
provides us vivid glimpses into the life of the
cop-hero Shivani (Rani).
Rani's Shivani is a mixture of the feminine
and the 'mardaani'. Displaying exemplary
economy of expression, the narrative puts
forward Shivani's very articulate attitude to
home and profession through brief, but lucid
encounters with various characters.
Towards the end, the film's elegant pace
slackens, sags and almost collapses. But
somehow, Sarkar manages to keep the pro-
ceedings from getting dragged down by the
drama, no matter how unruly they progres-
sively gets. The narrative is well-stocked
with signs of conscientiousness. Human traf-
ficking is evidently not a pretext to assemble
a thriller here. Rather, it's the other way
around. Out of the vast expanses of the film's
sensitivities, there emerges a very engaging
thriller, replete with sincere efforts to
demonstrate the harsh reality of child prosti-
tution into a cinematic currency.
"Mardaani" lays open a world of crime and
heartbreak. Scenes of unimaginable torture
and humiliation meted out to young girls are
placed against the screen heroics of a heroine
who is neither Chulbul Pandey nor Singham
and in many ways gutsier than both.
Rani Mukerji brings in a level of credibili-
ty to the character. Her action scenes are
never larger than life. She is not a show-offy
cop. And that's a blessing. "Mardaani" is film
that is carpeted with competent actors.
Almost every character, big or small, is
played by actors who don't believe their per-
formances need to scream their skills.
T
he release of an 80-minute documen-
tary on Kanpur's electricity hassles
against a big banner Bollywood film
didn't seem an alien concept to the makers of
"Katiyabaaz", who were confident of "chal-
lenging the mainstream". Director duo Fahad
Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar struggled for
nearly three years to get a commercial release
for "Katiyabaaz" across almost 50 screens in
the country. They now hope the film spreads
its light far and wide.
"We are sort of challenging the mainstream.
We are trying to compete with the Bollywood
space," Mustafa said.
The co-directors were never worried - not
even when a film festival organiser once told
them not to call "Katiyabaaz" a documentary
because they are those films that are played
before the "real film" begins. "That's the kind
of mentality that has existed and somewhere
our intention was to break that. We didn't
want to go in to formulate Bollywood direc-
tion. Someone once told us this is a new
genre. This is Bollywood documentary. Fahad
and I were wary of accepting that tag," said
Kakkar. Made on a budget of over Rs.1 crore,
the documentary has an entertainment factor
too - courtesy music by "Black Friday" fame
Indian Ocean band.
"We wanted the audience to be slightly
entertained and carry something home. We
wanted a band that would capture the flavour
of the place (Kanpur)," said Kakkar.
With a presenter as strong as production
banner Phantom Films, co-owned by film-
maker Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya
Motwane and Vikas Bahl, and funding from
international sources, "Katiyabaaz" had a lim-
ited release in cities like Mumbai, Pune,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Lucknow
Friday.
The film, which won the coveted National
Award for Best Investigative Film, has
already been telecast in European countries
and shown in theatres in countries like Italy
and Britain. It will be on TV in the US in
November.
'Mardaani' - makes right noises about child trafficking
A scene from the film 'Mardaani'
REVIEW
Bachchans visit
Lalbaug for
Ganesh festival
M
egastar Amitabh Bachchan visit-
ed Lalbaug along with his son
Abhishek Bachchan and daugh-
ter-in-law Aishwarya Rai to participate in
the ongoing Ganesh festival.
The 71-year-old went with his family
and shared photos on his official blog
srbachchan.tumblr.com soon after their
visit.
The divine presence of Ganesh at Lal
Bagh ... Lalbagh cha Raja...! The largest
Ganesh during the entire festival of
Ganapati... been going there since 1974,
read Big B's post.
On the work front, he is currently host-
ing the eighth season of Kaun Banega
Crorepati" and is also busy with 'Piku',
directed by Shoojit Sircar.
The Bachchan family at Lalbaug
'Katiyabaaz': Documentary makers challenge mainstream space
A scene from 'Katiyabaaz'
Now I can beat anyone: Priyanka
N
o, Priyanka Chopra is not talking about the box office competition, but about
actually beating up someone
physically! And the actress
strongly feels that every woman should
learn some form of self-defense. Priyanka
may have now lost all the muscle she built
up for her role as five-time boxing cham-
pion M.C. Mary Kom in her forthcoming
film, but she says she's now fitter and
stronger to give a tough fight to anyone.
"Today, I can beat anyone, it feels great,"
Priyanka, one of Hindi film industry's
most indomitable actors, exclaimed dur-
ing a tete-a-tete with IANS while she was
on the move for her promotional commit-
ments for "Mary Kom". Building the mus-
cles for the movie, which brings to screen the inspirational story of Manipur-based ath-
lete Mary Kom, made Priyanka feel "very tired". But it was worth it!
"Building muscles can't make you feel empowered, but stronger. I did! I have lost all
my muscle now, but I still feel strong. I still believe I have those muscles," she said, and
broke in guffaws. On an introspective note, she said: "Muscles are a very superficial
thing. What they did for me, honestly, was being able to learn a sport.
A scene from 'Mary Kom'
18 September 6-12, 2014 TRAVEL AND TOURISM TheSouthAsianTimes.info
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
A
master of witty anecdotes, Goa
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar
once liberally used a popular bikini
adage to make a point about governance and
number crunching. "Statistics are like a
woman wearing a bikini. What they reveal is
vital. What they hide is even more vital,"
Parrikar would often say to peals of laughter
from his acolytes.
But judging by the goings-on over the last
two months or so, the two-piece bathing
accessory now appears to have come to
haunt Parrikar's BJP-led coalition govern-
ment. It may sound ridiculous, but the bikini
controversy has triggered a churning and a
split in the conservative end of Goa's politi-
cal axis.
The garment has also come close to creat-
ing a rift between the BJP and its ally, the
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP),
whose legislators have first opened the con-
servative politics ball. Electorally, both par-
ties heavily rely more or less on the conser-
vative Hindu voter, who is relishing the
prospects of a Hindutva revival under Prime
Minister Modi.
In June, MGP's supremo and cabinet min-
ister Sudin Dhavalikar demanded a ban on
bikinis, mini skirts and pub culture. A month
later his younger brother Deepak, also a cab-
inet minister, openly wished for a Hindu
Rashtra under Modi. Days later, in the
assembly, another MGP legislator, Lavu
Mamledar, demanded a special 'private'
beach for bikini-clad bathers with a fee for
entry.
Such moralspeak, for members of the BJP-
led coalition government which otherwise
unabashedly protects and promotes the casi-
no industry, may seem out of place. But
there appears to be a method to the MGP's
madness and unceasing obsession with the
bikini and the 'Western culture' bashing in
Goa which sees half a million sun-loving
European tourists annually.
Goa has been a Portuguese colony for over
450 years, and the 400,000-odd Christian
population is often perceived as 'Western' by
conservative Hindu politicians. The MGP,
Goa's oldest regional party, has a conserva-
tive Hindu vote base with its pockets of
strength located far away from the more lib-
eral and tourism influenced coastline, the
stereotypical Goa everyone knows of.
For the tourists to Goa, the vision of Goa is
limited by the sea on one end and the palm-
fringed beaches and shacks on the other. But
tucked away in the hinterland, where the
rivers aren't saline, and temples, not church-
es or chapels, dot the countryside, in towns
like Bicholim, Ponda, Madkai and Priol,
there is a significant Hindu conservative
vote, for whom a demand for a bikini ban or
a Hindu Rashtra chorus is considered ele-
mentary and a logical argument.
"We should credit him. He has the guts to
speak about protecting our culture. We
should all back the minister," said Swami
Brahmeshanand, defending Sudin
Dhavalikar after his remarks triggered a row.
The seer has a strong following amongst the
Bhandari samaj, which accounts for over 30
percent of the state's Hindu population.
The other aim of the hyped bikini outrage
campaign by the MGP could also be to
undermine the leadership of Chief Minister
Parrikar, who appears to have virtually
gagged on the bikini.
The more mainstream BJP, which has sev-
eral Christian legislators and has banked on
the minority vote bank in the 2012 assembly
poll, simply cannot toe the MGP line, at least
in the same brazen manner.
Parrikar is caught in an even tighter bind
because he and his party cannot afford to be
seen as openly pro-liberal either, for fear of
losing the Hindu conservative vote. Over the
last two months, controversies have taken a
toll on the authority, as well as his liberal,
modern image which the IIT-educated
Parrikar is keen on otherwise projecting.
Parrikar has not only been compelled to
express support for Dhavalikar but has been
forced to formally gag his cabinet colleagues
against commenting on controversial issues
and blame the national media for raking a
needless controversy.
By Rahul Vaishnavi
F
or Nidhi and Rohan Nanda,
who have just tied the knot,
choosing the perfect honey-
moon destination was perhaps the
toughest decision. With fingers
crossed, Vienna was picked on a
friend's recommendation and a
week in the quaint city proved to
be the perfect ending to their elab-
orate wedding.
"We wanted a place that was not
only beautiful, but elegant and
offered a historical experience. So,
Vienna turned out to be the best
decision of our lives," a gleeful
Rohan said.
The city's relaxed and laidback
attitude was the perfect getaway
after many tiring weeks of prepa-
rations and celebrations that are
associated with Indian weddings,
especially in the north, said Nidhi.
The Austrian capital is home to
1.8 million people. Boasting of
palaces, monuments, cathedrals,
parks and vineyards, it's a city
where ancient churches stand
beside contemporary glass build-
ings.
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
which houses perhaps the world's
largest collection of paintings, is
the most prominent museum in the
city along with the Belvedere and
the Leopold in the
MuseumsQuartier.
Then, the Ringtrasse, a circular
boulevard of over 5 km that has
grand buildings and manicured
gardens on either side entices the
travelers to take a long walk and
experience the rich history of the
city. Also known as the 'City of
Music', Vienna has 50 theatres,
including four opera houses.
And for those who love to shop,
the posh first district in the old city
is the most sought after address.
Naschmarkt is the city's largest
market offering a mix of Viennese
and international specialties.
This perfect blend of "history,
culture and nature" is what brings
tourists in droves to the city, says
Sharat Dhall, president of online
travel portal Yatra.com.
"Vienna's classic heritage appeal
and old-world charm make it the
perfect honeymoon destination. Its
cultural and geographical sights
transport people back to the 18th
century and provides the perfect
setting for honeymooners," Dhall
said. "From waltzes to cafes,
museums to nightclubs, the city is
a perfect blend of culture, nature
and history - modern yet tradition-
al.
Numerous Indian restaurants
that opened here in the last few
years has also helped in populariz-
ing Vienna among Indian travelers,
said Verena Hable of the Vienna
Tourist Board (VTB).
Indian restaurants now number
50 from 20 five years ago. An
average meal for two costs
between 8 and 14 euros.
"Vienna offers everything Indian
honeymooners are looking for:
authentic Indian food, English-
speaking hospitality staff and
guides and loads of nightlife,
museums and shopping experi-
ences," Hable said.
In the first half this year, 15,000
tourists from India visited Vienna -
a growth of 10.5 per cent over the
same period last year.
"This is the result of a series of
efforts by VTB to focus on the
youth and honeymooners seg-
ment," said Hable.
Direct flights from Delhi to
Vienna are operated by Austrian
Airlines under a code share agree-
ment with Air India.
Away from Goas stereotypical
palm-fringed beaches and shacks,
tucked away in the hinterland, where
temples, not churches or chapels, dot
the countryside, in towns like Bicholim,
Ponda, Madkai and Priol, there is a
significant Hindu conservative vote, for
whom a demand for a bikini ban is a
logical argument.
Laidback Vienna is Indian honeymooner's paradise
Vienna's classic heritage and old-world charm make it the perfect honeymoon destination.
Impressive Imperial buildings are lined along the boulevard named Ringtrassein.
Dubai: Over 2, 20,000
Indians, mostly domestic
helpers and laborers, have
been granted visas by Saudi
Arabia in one month, officials
said.
"Since we resumed bringing
in Indian workers at the end
of Ramadan, the number of
visas has reached 2,20,000,"
Ahmad Al Fuhaid, the labor
ministry undersecretary for
international affairs, was
quoted as saying by the Gulf
News.
"Around 44,000 visas were
for domestic helpers while the
others were for workers in the
public and private sectors," he
said.
The official, however, cau-
tioned that the arrival of the
Indian helpers and workers
into the kingdom could take
some time.
"There are several proce-
dures to be followed including
security and medical checks
and proper qualification and
training," he said.
India and Saudi Arabia had
signed an agreement in
January this year, regulating
contractual relations between
Indian domestic workers and
their Saudi employers.
The agreement covered 12
categories of workers includ-
ing drivers, janitors, cleaners,
waiters, gardeners and house-
hold managers working for
individuals.
Saudi Arabia has an expatri-
ate population of nine million,
mostly unskilled laborers in
the construction and service
sectors and domestic helpers.
They constitute around one
third of the total population of
the kingdom.
Sydney: A huge 4.5m-high white
marble statue of Hindu Lord Shiva
has been consecrated and unveiled
in Minto, a suburb of Sydney,
Australia.
Shipped from Varanasi (India), it
was mounted on a concrete
pedestal with the help of a crane at
the Hindu temple Mukti
Gupteshwar Mandir, which is
claimed to be the worlds first
human built underground cave
temple whose tagline is "Home Of
The 13th Jyotirlingham." This stat-
ue is said to be fitted with seven
colored LED lights, with colors
changing every minute.
This Hindu temple has 1128
small temples inside it. Its ten-
meter deep vault in the sanctum
contains two million handwritten
notes, each saying Om Namah
Shivaya from devotees around the
world.
It possesses water from 81 rivers,
including major rivers from
Australia and from five oceans.
Total cost of this temple project to
date is said to be around five mil-
lion Australian dollars.
Monrovia: As the Ebola virus dis-
ease continues to spread across West
Africa, the small, 2000-strong
Indian community in Liberia, one of
the worst affected countries, has
come for appreciation from the
country's leadership for doing its bit
in the fight against the deadly out-
break.
Through their honorary Consul
General Upjit Singh Sachdeva, the
Indians donated two ambulances and
other assorted items valued at more
than $200, 000, to the ongoing
national anti-Ebola campaign. The
donation, made Thursday, was
received by Liberian President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, who praised the
Indians for "standing with Liberia in
difficult times."
Before he handed the items over to
the president, Sachdeva commended
President Sirleaf for her "extraordi-
nary leadership in effectively and
urgently responding to the outbreak
and spread of the dreadful Ebola
virus disease."
"Excellency and members of the
task force, we note with satisfaction
the measures put into place by the
government of Liberia to stop the
spread of this deadly disease.
Accordingly, we have advised all of
our members to abide by these
measures," the honorary consul gen-
eral said.
Sachdeva said that the enormity of
the outbreak of the Ebola virus dis-
ease in Liberia, and three other West
African countries - Sierra Leone,
Guinea and Nigeria - has made
fighting the epidemic a global chal-
lenge, requiring an effective global
response.
"The response by the international
community so far to combat the dis-
ease is very encouraging," he said.
He told President Sirleaf that the
current outbreak of the disease is
affecting the country in many ways.
Sachdeva told the audience at the
donation event that the Association
of Indian Community in Liberia sees
itself as an important stakeholder in
the Liberian society, and that they
see it as part of their bounden duty
and responsibility to contribute to
the fight to eliminate the disease.
He assured the Liberians that
despite the economic consequences
the disease's outbreak is having on
the business community, he and
other leaders of the Indian commu-
nity have advised all their members
involved in economic activities not
to exploit this situation by unneces-
sarily hiking prices.
President Sirleaf thanked the
Indian community for its immense
contributions to the commercial sec-
tor of the country, as well as for ven-
turing into the industrial sector
where, she said, more jobs will be
created for young Liberians. Besides
two ambulances, the 22 truck-loads
of items donated include 2,000 bags
of rice, hospital beds, 24,000 bottles
of water, and household utensils.
Abu Dhabi: An uninsured Indian
man in the UAE has run up more
than $160,000 in medical bills after
he suffered a brain hemorrhage and
spent about six months in an Abu
Dhabi hospital, a media report
said. The hospital, however, says it
is not demanding the money and he
should just go home.
Shariq Alvi, 26, was found
unconscious on the bathroom floor
by his family. A medical investiga-
tion at the Lifeline Hospital in the
United Arab Emirates' (UAE) capi-
tal found that a blood vessel in his
brain had ruptured, The National
reported Sunday.
Since Shariq had just resigned
from a job in a bank to join another
company, he had no medical insur-
ance at the time the incident hap-
pened. For the last six months,
Shariq' s condition has been
improving gradually and doctors
have now decided to discharge
him. But his parents say the med-
ical bill has come to 600, 000
dirhams (more than $160,000),
which they just cannot pay.
Mahboob Alvi, Shariq's father,
said: "Shariq's former colleagues
have cooperated with us a lot. They
collected about 22,000 dirhams to
support us but this is not enough...
We need to pay about 600,000
dirhams to the hospital." The hos-
pital management, however, says it
never demanded the fees.
"Shariq has been with us since
the past six months and we are tak-
ing care of him as our family mem-
ber," said Lalu Chacko, medical
director of the hospital.
"We never asked them to pay the
bill. We just want them to take
their child home and take care of
him." Chacko said the hospital has
"done all that is necessary."
Dubai: A key meeting of the Indian
diaspora in Bahrain next week will
set the stage for partnership agree-
ments and investment announce-
ments initiated during and after
King Hamad' s visit to India in
February this year, a Bahrain daily
reported Thursday.
"The Overseas Diaspora
Engagement Meet will specifically
focus on sectors like agriculture,
infrastructure, health care, medical
tourism, real estate and pharmaceu-
ticals," Gulf Daily News quoted
Ambassador Mohan Kumar as say-
ing. The objectives of the meet, to
be organized by the Overseas
Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC)
Sep 6, "are to acquaint the Indian
community in Bahrain and nearby
countries with the various invest-
ment opportunities in India, "
Kumar said. The OIFC is a public-
private partnership between over-
seas Indian affairs ministry and the
Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII). The establishment of a
regional office of the CII in Bahrain
will also be revealed during the
meet, the ambassador added.
2,20,000 Indians granted
Saudi visa in one month
DIASPORA 19 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Indians in Liberia contribute to
anti-Ebola campaign
Indian in UAE unable to pay hospital bills
Diaspora meet to focus on Bahrain-India trade
Huge Lord Shiva statue unveiled near Sydney
The marble statue of Lord Shiva
Islamabad: The opposition negotiating team
was able to break the political deadlock
between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
and the government after the former agreed to
meet a government team to negotiate its
demands, a media report said.
"PTI has agreed to move forward in a dem-
ocratic manner. PTI will meet the govern-
ment's delegation at 8 p.m. today," Dawn
online quoted PTI vice-chairman Shah
Mehmood Qureshi as saying after a meeting
with the opposition negotiating team at
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Rehman
Malik's residence in the capital.
In a joint media briefing, leader of the
opposition negotiating team, Jamat-e-Islami
(JI) chief Siraj-ul Haq, said the meeting was
productive. "It has been a productive meeting.
There is still a deadlock, but 70 percent of the
work has been done. We believe there will a
concrete solution soon."
He, however, cautioned the government to
refrain from issuing statements to stop the
spread of "negativity".
"If both sides show patience, then we are
not far from ending this crisis," he said.
Malik said the opposition team has also
asked the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to
resolve the issue through dialogue.
"Everyone wants a peaceful solution. I
believe that in the next 24-48 hours, things
will normalise. The perception that politicians
have completely failed, I don't think so this is
true. It is the politicians (who are) trying for a
long time for solutions to end the ongoing cri-
sis," he said. The anti-government protests led
by PTI chairman Imran Khan and PAT chief
Tahir-ul-Qadri began Aug 15 in an attempt to
topple Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,
who they accuse of rigging the 2013 general
elections. While Khan and Qadri continue to
demand that Sharif must resign, a joint ses-
sion of parliament Tuesday saw all parties put
aside their differences and come out over-
whelmingly in the support of the prime minis-
ter. The protests turned violent and as a result,
at least three people were killed with over 450
protestors injured.
Kathmandu: Union Home Minister
Rajnath Singh will visit Nepal Sep 18-19
to take part in the sixth meeting of
SAARC home or interior ministers.
Spokesperson at Nepal's ministry of for-
eign affairs Khaganath Adhikari said the
meeting will take up common regional
security issues and implementation of the
past agreements.
It is expected that Rajnath Singh and
Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan
will meet on the sideline of the meeting.
Rajnath Singh, Nisar Ali Khan and other
ministers from the member states will be
arriving in Kathmandu Sep 18.
In the spirit of 17th SAARC Summit
held in Male, Maldives, the member states
had declared their commitment to rooting
out terrorism, taking into account its link-
ages with illegal trafficking in narcotic
drugs, psychotropic substances and small
arms and to make coordinated and con-
certed efforts to combat terrorism -- the
forthcoming meeting will focus on these
issues, a diplomat said.
At the same summit, the leaders also
called for an early conclusion of the pro-
posed UN Comprehensive Convention on
International Terrorism and completion of
the ratification of the SAARC Convention
on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.
"Given the important directives of the
17th Summit, this Ministerial Meeting is,
therefore, timely and important, as it is
expected to agree on measures to realise
the Summit's directives," said the diplo-
mat. The three-tier meeting will begin at
the joint secretary-level, and then move on
to secretary- and home minister-level
meetings. The meeting will also focus on
strengthening networking among police
authorities of SAARC member countries
and also enhance information sharing
among the law enforcement agencies.
The participants, including Rajnath
Singh, will meet Nepal President Ram
Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Sushil
Koirala and Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Home Affairs Bam Dev
Gautam.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister J.
Jayalalithaa urged Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to
take up with Sri Lanka's
highest authorities the
issue of arrest of Indian
fishermen.
In a letter to Modi, the
text of which was released
to the media here, she
said: "The alarmingly
increasing frequency of
apprehension of our fish-
ermen by the Sri Lankan
Navy is a matter of utmost
concern for my govern-
ment. An immediate inter-
vention at the highest level
is sought to resolve this
long-standing issue."
"I urge you to take this
up with the highest author-
ities of the Sri Lankan
government and ensure the
immediate release of the
15 fishermen now appre-
hended and all the 63
boats in their custody,"
Jayalalithaa said in her let-
ter.
She said the Sri Lankan
Navy arrested 15 fisher-
men Sep 1 and 2 while
they were fishing in the
traditional waters.
Referring to the non-
release of apprehended
fishing boats belonging to
Indian fishermen,
Jayalalithaa said the
"inhumane" and "cruel
strategy" was causing
great loss to the livelihood
of the fishermen and their
families.
Citing an interview to
the media by Bharatiya
Janata Party leader
Subramanian Swamy,
Jayalalithaa said his state-
ment has given rise to
resentment and angst not
only among the fishermen
community but also
among the entire popula-
tion of Tamil Nadu.
According to her,
Swamy said it was he who
had advised the Sri
Lankan government not to
release the boats of the
Tamil Nadu fishermen.
"I am confident that
these are not the official
views of your party or of
the government of India,"
Jayalalithaa said.
SUBCONTINENT 20 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Kabul: Afghan presidential candidate
Abdullah Abdullah issued another ulti-
matum over the disputed election
result, threatening to withdraw from all
efforts to negotiate a solution to the
deepening political crisis.
Abdullah claims that fraud cheated
him of victory in the June 14 election,
and fears have risen of a return to
unrest of the 1990s civil war after his
supporters called on him to form a
"parallel government".
As tensions threatened to boil over,
the United States brokered a deal
between Abdullah and his rival Ashraf
Ghani in which they agreed to an audit
of all eight million votes and the for-
mation of a post-election national unity
government.
But Abdullah's spokesman Fazel Aqa
Hussain Sancharaki said his team was
on the brink of abandoning both parts
of the deal potentially plunging
Afghanistan's first democratic transfer
of power into further turmoil.
"Our patience is running out, any
announcement of results made by the
fraudulent election commission will be
rejected by us, " Sancharaki told
reporters.
Islamabad: The dreaded Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is trying to
expand its influence in Pakistan, with
pamphlets being distributed in
Peshawar and border provinces of
Afghanistan, seeking support for jihad.
A booklet titled 'Fatah' (victory) in
Pashto and Dari languages was distrib-
uted in Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as in
Afghan refugee camps on the outskirts
of the city, the Express Tribune report-
ed.
The logo of the pamphlet has the
Kalma, the historical stamp of Prophet
Muhammad and a Kalashnikov assault
rifle. Some copies were also mysteri-
ously sent to Afghan journalists work-
ing in Peshawar, the paper said.
On the last page of the pamphlet, the
editor's name appears to be fake and
where the document has been published
cannot be ascertained, it said.
Since long, Afghan militant groups,
including Haqqani Network and Hizb-
e-Islami, have been publishing similar
pamphlets, magazines and propaganda
literature in Peshawar black markets.
Formerly known as the ISIS, the
group introduced itself as Daulat-e-
Islamia (Islamic State) in the pamphlet
and made an appeal to the local popula-
tion for supporting its jihad (struggle)
for the establishment of an Islamic
caliphate.
A number of hardline groups operat-
ing in border areas have already
announced support for the outfit.
Among them, Abdul Rahim Muslim
Dost and Maulvi Abdul Qahar, stal-
warts of Saudi Arabia-backed Salafi
Taliban groups operating in Nuristan
and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan,
have extended support to the self-styled
caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Take up fishermen's arrest
issue at highest level: Jaya
Afghan presidential candidate
Abdullah Abdullah
ISIS trying to expand its influence in Pakistan
Pak deadlock broken, PTI agrees
to meet government team
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief
Imran Khan
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
Rajnath to visit Nepal for SAARC
home ministers' meet
Afghan election close to failure
INTERNATIONAL
London: British Prime Minister David
Cameron said his country will introduce a
slew of measures to prevent terror suspects
from traveling abroad, imposing tougher con-
straints on suspected extremists in the country.
"To confront the threat of Islamist extrem-
ism, we need a tough, intelligent, patient and
comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist
threat at source," Xinhua quoted Cameron as
saying in his address in the British Parliament.
Commenting on the terrorist threat facing
Britain, Cameron he said: "We have all been
shocked and sickened by the barbarism that
has been witnessed in Iraq this summer,"
including the beheading of American journal-
ist James Foley with the voice of what seems
to be a British terrorist" recorded in a video.
The prime minister announced that Britain
need to strengthen powers in two key areas to
fill specific gaps in its anti-terror armory by
"preventing suspects from travelling and deal-
ing decisively with those already here who
pose a risk".
"We will introduce specific and targeted leg-
islation providing the police with a temporary
power to seize a passport at the border, during
which time they will be able to investigate the
individual concerned," he said, stressing that
"passports are not an automatic right".
He said the Britain has already had powers
to deprive dual nationals of their citizenship to
stop the fighters returning and bar foreign
nationals on the basis of the threat they pose.
"We will introduce new powers to add to
our existing terrorism prevention and investi-
gation measures, including stronger locational
constraints on suspects under TPIMs
(Terrorism Prevention and Investigation
Measures)," he said.
Britain has also stepped up its operational
response, with a fivefold increase in Syria-
related arrests and the removal of 28,000
pieces of "extremist material" from the inter-
net this year alone, including 46 IS related
videos, according to his oral statement.
British Home Office Friday announced to
upgrade the country's threat level from inter-
national terrorism from substantial to severe.
The change meant that a terrorist attack is
"highly likely", although there is no intelli-
gence to suggest that one is imminent, accord-
ing to the Home Office.
Britain will host this year's NATO summit in
Wales Thursday and Friday, with nearly 60
world leaders, 70 foreign ministers, 70
defence ministers and 28 NATO member
countries invited.
Washington: The US has con-
firmed that the beheading video of
a second American journalist was
authentic, as President Barack
Obama has vowed to punish the
Islamic State terrorist group, say-
ing America would not be intimi-
dated.
"Those who make the mistake
of harming Americans will learn
that we will not forget... that our
reach is long and that justice will
be served," Obama said at a news
conference in the Estonian capital
Tallinn Wednesday.
"Our objective is clear. That is
to degrade and destroy (IS) so that
it's no longer a threat, not just to Iraq but
also to the region and to the United States,"
he said, according to CNN.
"We can accomplish that. It's going to
take some time, it's going to take some
effort."
The terrorists who killed two American
journalists, Steven Sotloff and James Foley,
in a space of two weeks will be brought to
justice as IS atrocities only served to galva-
nize American resolve to punish and dis-
mantle the terror group, he said.
Earlier, in Washington, the White House
National Security Council (NSC) confirmed
the authenticity of the video showing the
apparent beheading of Sotloff.
"The US Intelligence Community has
analysed the recently released video show-
ing US citizen Steven Sotloff and has
reached the judgment that it is authentic,"
NSC spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said.
The terror group released a video Tuesday
saying it was a "second message to
America" against Obama's decision to con-
duct airstrikes against the IS in Iraq.
Sotloff, a 31-year-old Florida-based free-
lance journalist, who had gone missing in
northern Syria over a year ago, was execut-
ed two weeks to the day after the beheading
of American photo journalist James Foley.
Obama, who was speaking at a news con-
ference on the eve of a NATO summit meet-
ing in Wales, also addressed his much-criti-
ciced statement last week that he has no
strategy on the IS.
He said he was referring to a military
strategy in Syria that "might" require con-
gressional approval, CNN reported.
The world needs a regional strategy to
defeat the group, he said.
21 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
United Nations: The recent con-
flict in the Gaza Strip has caused
"unprecedented" destruction, leav-
ing hundreds of thousands people
homeless, the UN said, quoting the
latest assessment after the cease-
fire.
"Organizations on the ground
report that the scale of destruction
is 'unprecedented'. An estimated
18,000 housing units have been
either destroyed or severely dam-
aged, leaving more than 108,000
people homeless," Xinhua quoted
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric
as saying.
"Finding temporary housing
solutions for these people will be
one of the major challenges facing
local authorities and the humani-
tarian community in the coming
period," Dujarric said.
Electricity is still out for 18
hours a day in most areas across
Gaza and only 10 percent of the
population receives water daily,
Dujarric added.
According to the UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs(OCHA), the ceasefire in
Gaza since Aug 27 has now
allowed for "a more in-depth
assessment" of the structural dam-
age, which found around 13 per-
cent of housing stock in the Gaza
Strip has been affected by the con-
flict. The United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) said over
55,000 displaced people are still
sheltering in 36 schools run by the
agency.
On July 23, the UN rights agency
decided to send a probe committee
to the Gaza Strip to investigate
possible violations of human rights
during the Israeli military offen-
sive in the coastal enclave.
More than 2,000 Palestinians
were killed and 10,000 injured
since July 8 when Israel launched
'Operation Protective Edge' in a
bid to stamp out cross-border rock-
et fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza.
On the Israeli side, five civilians
and 64 soldiers have been killed.
UN says Gaza destruction
'unprecedented'
Ebola outbreak to get worse: UN officials
British Prime Minister David Cameron
The Islamic State terrorists have killed two
American journalists, Steven Sotloff and James
Foley in two weeks.
New anti-terror measures soon
in Britain: Cameron
Beheading video authentic,
Obama vows to punish IS
United Nations: Top UN officials
have warned that the Ebola out-
break in West Africa "will get
worse before it gets better" as they
called for international action to
deal with the crisis, saying misin-
formation about the disease will
only exacerbate an already fragile
situation.
"The fear factor plays a strong
role in the crisis. I encourage the
Member States and businesses
and individuals as well, to take
decisions based on scientific evi-
dence, not on fear," UN Deputy
Secretary-General Jan Eliasson
said during a high-level briefing
here on the world body's response
to the unprecedented outbreak.
The latest number of Ebola
virus disease (EVD) cases in
affected countries Guinea,
Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra
Leone, stands at 3,069, with over
1,552 deaths, making this the
largest Ebola outbreak ever
recorded.
An unprecedented number of
healthcare workers have also been
infected and died due to the out-
break.
World Health Organization
director-general Margaret Chan
said the current Ebola outbreak
was the largest, most severe and
complex ever seen in the 40-year
history of the disease.
The outbreaks are "racing ahead
of the control efforts" in the
affected countries. The outbreak
"will get worse before it gets bet-
ter" and it requires a well-coordi-
nated, scale up of response
urgently, she said, adding tackling
the outbreak requires creativity
and culturally appropriate actions.
"Ebola is now being labelled as
an African disease, this is not jus-
tified, this is unfair and uncalled
for. The level of anxiety and fear
is high worldwide because of the
severity of the disease and there is
a lot of misunderstanding."
The three hardest hit countries
are "isolated" and "marginalized"
hampering efforts because WHO
cannot fly in experts to help.
The most affected countries are Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria,
and Sierra Leone
India Inc lauds Modi's Japan visit
New Delhi: India Inc has applauded
Prime Minister Narendra Modi' s
ongoing Japan tour, from where he
has announced major initiatives like
turning the bilateral strategic partner-
ship into a "special" partnership and a
fast-track channel for Japanese
investors.
"This visit marks a defining moment
in our relationship and will be regis-
tered in history as one that significant-
ly elevated the level of engagement
between India and Japan, " said
Sidharth Birla, president, of the
Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in a
statement here.
"We are particularly enthused about
the launch of the Japan-India
Investment Promotion Partnership
under which the two sides have agreed
to double the flow of FDI into India
and the number of Japanese compa-
nies over the next five years," he
added. Japan has committed to realise
total financial flows of close to 3.5
trillion Yen
(Rs.2.02 tril-
lion) into
India over the
next five
years in proj-
ects such as
smart cities,
transport sys-
tems and
clean energy,
FICCI said.
B i l a t e r a l
trade between
India and
Japan stood at
$16.31 billion
by end of fiscal 2013-14. Projecting
bilateral trade to touch $50 billion by
2019-2020 owing to what it called the
"Modi-Abe dynamics", the PHD
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
said: "We expect that in future Indo-
Japan ties would further cement, moti-
vating the latter companies' number
going up from 1,000 to over 1,500 in
the next five years, and India agreeing
to allow these companies to operate
on its exclusive economic zones."
Currently, around 1,000 Japanese
companies are operating in India in
nearly 70 infrastructure projects,
among which is the Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor where Japan has so
far invested $4.5 billion.
Mumbai: A
b e n c h m a r k
index of Indian
equities markets
touched a new
high of
2 7 , 2 2 5 . 8 5
points before closing the
trade at 27,139.94 points.
The 30-scrip Sensitive
Index (Sensex) of the S&P
Bombay Stock Exchange
(BSE) surpassed its previ-
ous high of 27, 082. 85
points of Tuesday.
Volatility was seen in the
trade around 2. 30 p. m.
when the markets fell
nearly 125 points. It
regained tractions and
made gains of about 120
points before close.
Healthy buying was
observed in IT,
metal, capital
goods, technol-
ogy, media and
ent ert ai nment
(TECK) and
auto sectors.
Selling pressure was seen
in fast moving consumer
goods (FMCG) and power
stocks. The 30-scrip sensi-
tive index, which opened
at 27,128.06 points, closed
the trade at 27, 139. 94
points (provisional), up
120.55 points or 0.45 per-
cent from the previous
day's close at 27,019.39
points. The Sensex
touched a high of
27,225.85 points and a low
of 27, 067. 02 points in
trade so far.
Kolkata: State-run United
Bank of India (UBI)
declared the defunct
Kingfisher Airlines, its pro-
moter Vijaya Mallya and its
three directors as wilful
defaulters after they did not
turn up for a meeting with
its grievances redressal
panel, an official said.
"We have declared
Kingfisher Airlines, its
chairman (Mallya) and
three directors on its board
as wilful defaulters as per
the RBI circular pertaining
to loan advanced to the airline," a senior
official of the bank's recovery cell told
IANS here.
The three directors are A.K. Ganguly,
Subhash R. Gupte and Ravi Nedungadi.
The bank had advanced about Rs.400
crore to the airline in 2006-07 from its
Bangalore branch towards working capital
and operational expenses.
"The airline is also liable to pay com-
pounding interest on the principal amount
of Rs.400 crore we have advanced to it,"
the official said on condition of anonymi-
ty as he was not authorised to brief media.
The bank also filed a caveat in the
Supreme Court Aug 29 against the airline
after the high court ruling last week.
In a belated response, the beleaguered
airline said the bank had
post-haste proceeded to
declare it and its directors as
willful defaulters "in respect
of an overdraft facility of
Rs.7.5 crore" even before a
copy of the high court order
was made available to the
parties and before its special
leave petition was listed in
the apex court.
"We intend to pursue all
available legal remedies,
including the SLP filed in
the Supreme Court Aug 29
against the high court
order," the airline said in a statement from
Mumbai late Monday.
Observing that being declared a willful
defaulter would have serious conse-
quences, including penal, the airline said
the bank had deprived it an opportunity to
be represented by a trained legal practi-
tioner, resulting in violation of the princi-
ples of natural justice.
The grounded airline reported a net loss
of Rs.4,301 crore for 2012-13. With an
accumulated losses of Rs.16,023 crore
and a negative net worth of Rs.12,919
crore, the airline has an exposure of
Rs.8,000 crore in the form of debts from a
consortium of 14 banks, aircraft leasing
firms, airport operators, state-run oil mar-
keting firms and other vendors.
Tokyo: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
kicked-off a new ini-
tiative on training for
Japanese youth started
by Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) at its
various facilities in
India, asking them to
return to Japan as
India's ambassadors.
You are going as
employees of TCS.
But I want you to
come back to Japan as
ambassadors of India,
Modi told the first
batch of 48 trainees
who will proceed to India to undergo train-
ing for six-eight weeks at various TCS
offices. "The 21st century is the century of
knowledge and technology. I am sure all of
you will gain knowledge by travelling in
India," he said, also asking the trainees to
use their time in India not only inside class-
rooms and offices, but also to see the coun-
try. The academy will enhance the technol-
ogy and cultural knowledge and under-
standing between Indian and Japanese IT
professionals. Apart from increasing their
exposure to new technologies, the trainees
will learn about quality, processes and busi-
ness skills. Modi also asked them to savour
Indian cuisine. "I can tell you that even if
you stay in India for six months and want
to enjoy a new dish daily, you will not have
to repeat a single dish," he added.
In April this year, TCS and Japan' s
Mitsubishi Corp announced they were
merging their IT operations in Japan to cre-
ate a new global-scale player in the
Japanese IT industry. TCS has a 51-percent
stake in the new venture called Tata
Consultancy Services Japan.
The companys technology centre, which
has capacity to seat about 4,000 employees,
will provide Japanese corporations a mix of
global talent and capabilities to help them
transform and globalise their operations to
drive their growth in future.
Bank terms Kingfisher,Mallya wilful defaulters
Japan has committed to realise total financial flows
of close to 3.5 trillion Yen into India.
Vijaya Mallya, promoter
of the defunct Kingfisher
Airlines
Narendra Modi with Japanese youth
Sensex, Nifty touch new
highs, IT stocks rise
BUSINESS September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info 22
Return as India's envoys, Modi to youth
SPORTS 23 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Birmingham: Ajinkya Rahane's maiden
century and his century-run stand with
Shikhar Dhawan powered India to a com-
prehensive nine-wicket win over England
in the fourth ODI here and also sealed the
series 3-0 with still a match to go.
The England batting collapsed yet again
as they were bundled out for 206 runs with
three balls to spare after being put into bat
at Edgbaston.
India polished off the total in just 30.3
overs as Rahane struck 106, that included
10 fours and four sixes, and Dhawan
remained unbeaten on 97. The duo added
183 runs for the first wicket.
Rahane and Dhawan ripped apart the
England bowling and showed there were no
devils in the pitch.
The 150-run stand came quicker than a
run-a-ball. Rahane got his maiden ODI
century in 96 balls and their 183-run stand
ended when Rahane sliced Harry Gurney to
Alastair Cook.
Dhawan, who hit 11 fours and four sixes,
then took the team home safely and sealed
the victory by hitting Gurney for a six over
mid-on.
The win will help India ease the pains of
the humiliating 1-3 loss in the Test series.
The first ODI in Bristol was washed out
while India won the second ODI in Cardiff
by 133 runs via the Duckworth Lewis
method and the third in Nottingham by six
wickets.
In Cardiff and Nottingham, it were the
Indian spinners, who did the damage. But
here at Edgbaston, England batsmen crum-
bled against Indian pacers.
Alastair Cook (9), Gary Ballance (7) and
Alex Hales (6) were dismissed inside eight
overs, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/14)
removing both openers.
But the pick of the Indian bowlers was
pacer Mohammed Shami, who got three for
28, and left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja
who got two for 40.
With England strugging at 23/3, Eoin
Morgan (32) and Joe Root (44) put on 80
for the fourth wicket, but they both fell to
the spinners in quick succession.
Jadeja had Morgan caught at leg gully
while Root failed to execute a reverse
sweep off Suresh Raina and was caught at
short third man.
Bangalore: Usain Bolt would
have made Muhammad Ali proud
as he vowed the star-struck audi-
ence here Tuesday with one-liners
and a bit of justifiable arrogance
laced with humor, reminiscent of
the boxing great during his salad
days decades ago.
In city on one-day sponsor com-
mitment trip, Bolt devoted a little
over 30 minutes fielding questions
from local athletes, the twitterati
and the media during a session
that also showcased the
Jamaicans penchant for show-
manship besides his obvious bias
for the 200 metres sprint rather
than 100, disciplines in which he
holds the world records of 19.19
seconds and 9.58 secs respective-
ly. When asked about the possibil-
ity of him further lowering the
100m record, Bolt was quick to
say that he was eyeing a sub-19
run in the 200 and if he improves
his half-lap sprint then it would
also help him do the 100 faster.
I think there is room for
improvement in the 200. It is very
technical, but possible. I have
always wanted to run sub-19. If I
keep chasing the 200 record, am
sure, it will help me in the 100,
said the 28-year old Bolt who also
holds the 4x100 world record of
38.64 along with compatriots
Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and
Nesta Carter.
Bolt was quite firm in saying
that his world record in 100
metres was pretty much out of
reach, but there were quite a few
runners who could challenge him
if not beat him. "Track and field is
a weird sport. It's all about focus
and mental capacity. It's hard to
pick any one person, but my coach
thinks Justin Gatlin is good. Then
there are Tyson Gay and Yohan
Blakeso many guys are coming
up. But I am not going to let any-
body beat me! thundered a confi-
dent Bolt.
While on the subject, Bolt point-
ed out that he had worked hard to
be where he is and that his rivals
will have to do much the same to
match him. As an athlete, I have
seen records come and go. They
have always been broken, but if
you want to be as great as me, you
have to work very hard. That's
why my records will stand the
time, said the six-footer
Jamaican without bothering to
couch his words in modesty.
In a lighter vein, Bolt, who also
follows cricket keenly, opined that
South African star AB de Villiers
was the fastest cricketer over 100
metres and fellow-Jamaican Chris
Gayle was probably the slowest.
Reflecting on a question about
his future and specifically the
2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt minced
no words in saying he would
probably quit athletics a season
after Rio when he will be 31.
Looking back, Bolt said he
chose athletics over cricket on his
fathers insistence when he was
still in school.
New York: Indian tennis player
Sania Mirza moved into the
women's doubles semi-finals of
the US Open with Zimbabwe
partner Cara Black after rivals
Zarina Diyas and Yi-Fan Xu
retired in the quarters.
Third seeds Sania and Cara
took the first set 6-1 in 40 min-
utes and won a game in the sec-
ond set when Kazakh Zarina and
her Chinese partner Yi-Fan
retired at the Flushing Meadows
here. Sania and Cara will now
face Martina Hingis of
Switzerland and Flavia Pennetta
of Italy in the semi-final.
The Swiss-Italian pair regis-
tered a 6-4, 6-3 win over fifth
seeds Kveta Peschke of Czech
Republic and Katarina Srebotnik
of Slovakia.
Sania has now equaled her best
performance here. She had also
reached the semis last year with
Chinese partner Zheng Jie.
Sania-Cara enter
US Open semis
India seal ODI series against England
Ajinkya Rahane's maiden century helped India sealed the One-Day series 3-0.
Sprinter Usain Bolt in India.
Sania Mirza with Zimbabwe partner Cara Black
My 100m record pretty much out of reach: Bolt
India are back as
No.1 ODI side
Dubai: World champions India were
back as the No.1 ranked ODI side fol-
lowing Zimbabwe's historic three-wick-
et win over Australia in a triangular
series match in Harare Sunday, the
International Cricket Council (ICC)
announced here. India had joined
Australia on top of the table after win-
ning the third ODI in Nottingham, Aug
30, at 114 ratings points, but took sole
possession at the coveted number-one
spot after Zimbabwe recorded their first
victory over Australia in 31 years.
This result meant Australia have
dropped three ratings points and slipped
behind South Africa and Sri Lanka into
fourth position on 111 ratings points.
South Africa, following their victories
over Australia and Zimbabwe, are sit-
ting in second spot on 113 ratings
points, while Sri Lanka also have 111
ratings points but are ranked above
Australia in third position by a fraction
of a point.
T
h e
l e n g t h
of time
spent in hospi-
tal after birth
and the use of
me c h a n i c a l
ventilation are
key indicators
of reduced
mathematical
ability in
preterm chil-
dren, says a
study.
P r e t e r m
c h i l d r e n ' s
mathematical
abilities decrease exponential-
ly with a lower gestational
age, the findings showed.
"It is difficult to see how
one could reduce the duration
of neonatal medical treat-
ment, as this may relate to a
number of medical needs,"
said Julia Jaekel from the
University of Warwick in
Britain.
However, less invasive
options to mechanical ventila-
tion are available nowadays
as the adverse effects of brain
impairment are well known.
"Our findings may have sig-
nificant implications for the
choice of mode of respiratory
support in neonates," Jaekel
added. The researchers used
path analyses to establish two
neuro-developmental cascade
models.
Their findings are based on
the fact that, on an average, a
healthy full term child who
does not undergo mechanical
ventilation receives a general
math score of 100 and a spe-
cific math score of 101.
On the other hand, a total of
51 very preterm children were
ventilated for more than 30
days (thus the highest risk
group). On an average, a
preterm child receives a gen-
eral math score of 73 and a
specific math score of 91.
The study appeared in the
journal Early Human
Development.
HEALTH 24 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Hospital stay can impact
math ability in preterm kids
I
f you have to
choose between
tea or coffee, it
is probably better to
drink tea for its
antioxidant bene-
fits. According to a
large study, drink-
ing tea reduces non-
c a r di o- va s c ul a r
(CV) mortality by
24 percent.
Coffee and tea
are important com-
ponents of our way
of life. We investi-
gated their effects
on CV mortality
and non-CV mortality in a large French population at low
risk of cardiovascular diseases, said Professor Nicolas
Danchin from France at the European Society of
Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.
The study included 131,401 people aged 18 to 95.
During the average 3.5 year follow-up period, there were
95 deaths from CV and 632 deaths from non-CV causes.
The researchers found that coffee drinkers had a higher
CV risk profile than non-coffee drinkers.
Non-coffee drinkers were more physically active, with
45 percent having a good level of physical activity com-
pared to 41 percent of the heavy coffee drinkers.
Tea drinkers had the reverse profile of coffee drinkers,
with consumers having a better CV risk profile than non-
consumers. Physical activity increased with the number
of cups of tea per day from 43 percent in the moderate tea
drinkers to 46 percent in the heavy drinkers.
Overall we tend to have a higher risk profile for coffee
drinkers and a lower risk profile for tea drinkers. We also
found big differences with gender. Men tend to drink cof-
fee much more than women, while women tend to drink
more tea than men, Danchin emphasized.
I think you could fairly honestly recommend tea drink-
ing rather than coffee drinking, he told the
gathering.
C
annot hold that craving for
unhealthy foods such as
sweets or fast food? Try
this spinach drink.
A spinach extract containing
green leaf membranes called thy-
lakoids decreases hedonic
hunger eating for pleasure
rather than to satisfy a biological
need by up to 95 percent and
increases weight loss by 43 per-
cent, new research indicates.
Taking thylakoids reinforces the
bodys production of satiety hor-
mones and suppresses hunger
which leads to better appetite con-
trol, healthier eating habits and
increased weight loss.
Having a drink containing thy-
lakoids before breakfast reduces
cravings and keeps you feeling
satisfied all day, said Charlotte
Erlanson-Albertsson, a professor
of medicine and physiological
chemistry at the Lund University
in Sweden.
The study involved 38 over-
weight women and ran for three
months.
Every morning before
breakfast the participants
had a green drink.
Half of the women
were given five grams of
spinach extract and the
other half were given a
placebo.
In the study, the con-
trol group lost an aver-
age of 3.5 kg while the
group that was given
thylakoids lost five kg.
The thylakoid group
also found that it was
easier to stick to three
meals a day and they
did not experience any
cravings, Erlanson-
Albertsson added.
The thylakoids extend
digestion, producing a
feeling of satiety.
This means that we are able to
stick to the diet we are meant for
without snacks and unnecessary
foods like sweets, crisps and
such, Erlanson-Albertsson con-
cluded.
M
ake sure that your
kids do not skip
breakfast as
researchers have found that
regular consumption of a
healthy breakfast may help
children lower their risk of
developing Type 2 diabetes.
"The observations suggest
that regular breakfast consump-
tion, particularly involving con-
sumption of a high fiber cereal,
could protect against the early
development of type 2 diabetes
risk, " said lead researcher
Angela Donin from the St.
George's University of London
in Britain.
The researchers reached these
conclusions after conducting a
cross-sectional study of 4,116 pri-
mary school children, aged between
9-10 years in Britain.
The children responded to ques-
tions about how often and what they
ate for breakfast, and blood tests
measured diabetes risk markers such
as fasting insulin, glucose, and gly-
cated hemoglobin (HbA1c).
Twenty six percent of children
reported not having breakfast every
day and they were found to be at a
higher risk of developing Type 2
diabetes.
The study appeared in the journal
PLOS Medicine.
Shun coffee and switch to
tea for healthy heart
I
f you are one of
those who can-
not easily take
stress in your stride,
it may be because
of your genes, says
a study.
The findings
could lead
researchers to
understand better
the development of
psychiatric disor-
ders such as anxiety
and depression and
the consequent
development of
new treatments for
these devastating disorders.
The researchers found that the highly stress-suscepti-
ble mice had less of an important molecule known as
mGlu2 in a region of the brain known as the hippocam-
pus.
The mGlu2 decrease, they determined, resulted from a
genetic change, which affects the expression of genes, in
this case the gene that codes for mGlu2.
"If you think of the genetic code as words in a book,
the book must be opened in order for you to read it.
These genetic changes effectively close the book, so the
code for mGlu2 cannot be read," said first author Carla
Nasca from the Rockefeller University in the US.
A reduction in mGlu2 matters because this molecule
regulates the neurotransmitter glutamate.
While glutamate plays a crucial role relaying mes-
sages between neurons, too much can lead to harmful
structural changes in the brain.
In the experiments, the researchers induced stress in
the mice by exposing them to daily, unpredictable con-
ditions they dislike with the goal of reproducing the sort
of stressful experiences which act as causal factors for
the onset of depression in humans.
The study appeared in the journal Molecular
Psychiatry.
Can't take stress?
Blame it on your genes
Spinach drink kills craving for junk food
Photo courtesy of kingfeatures
Photo courtesy of google
Photo courtesy of preemies.about.com
Photo courtesy of
blog.fooducate
Daily breakfast may protect
kids from diabetes
Photo Courtesy
http://www.dessertrecipes
forkids.com/
25 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info FEATURES
Barmer (Rajasthan): A Scottish
energy major and modern technol-
ogy have combined to bring about
a revolution in two districts of
Rajasthan that were infamous due
to the scarcity of potable water.
Thanks to water ATMs, many oth-
erwise arid villages here have
24X7 access to the commodity at
the swipe of a card - at 20 litres for
Rs.5.
Under Cairn India' s "Jeevan
Amrit Project", kiosks with reverse
osmosis (RO) plants have been
installed to provide safe drinking
water in villages like Bhakharpur,
Kawas, Guda, Jogasar, Aakdada
and Baytu to benefit 22,000 peo-
ple.
"The project is a good example
of a PPP model, where Cairn India
has partnered with the Rajasthan
government' s Public Health
Engineering Department (PHED),
Tata Projects and the respective
village panchayats to provide
potable drinking water at the
doorsteps of the local community,"
Cairn India CSR head Nilesh Jain
said.
Rajasthan, with 10.4 percent of
the country's geographical area, 5.5
percent of the population and 18.70
percent of the livestock, has only
1.16 percent of surface water avail-
able in the country.
The state is one of the driest
states of the country. Rainfall is
erratic and there is a large variation
in its distribution pattern in the
state. The average annual rainfall
ranges from 100 mm in Jaisalmer
to 800 mm in Jhalawar.
At present, 22 RO plants (17 with
the swipe facility) catering to
drinking water needs of 22,000 vil-
lagers on a daily basis are up and
running. The project is expected to
scale up in the coming years in
terms of number of plants and loca-
tions. Through this technology, vil-
lagers can now get clean drinking
water by swiping their smart cards
in the machines installed at the
plant," Cairn India general manag-
er (CSR) Ritu Jhingon said.
The cards come with an initial
value of Rs.150 and can be
recharged for a similar amount.
Plans are afoot to also provide
Rs.20 recharges.
This makes the dispensers self-
sustaining, with the revenue earned
used by the village's water commit-
tee to meet the running expenses of
the RO plant, such as salary of the
operator, electricity and mainte-
nance. The surplus money is used
to undertake developmental work
in the village.
And to maximize its reach, water
from the RO plants is transported
to the surrounding hamlets through
vehicles at nominal charges (Rs.1-
2 extra, as decided by the water
committee).
The dispensers are getting
increasingly popular among the
locals with more and more people
purchasing the smart cards.
"Once it was difficult to get
water, forget about clean water to
drink. Now things have changed. I
can, at any time, get clean water for
my family," Ram Pyari, a resident
of Kawas village, said.
Such sentiments are echoed by
other users, including Ratna Ram,
sarpanch of Sawai Padam Singh
village, who became a role model
after he inspired more than 100
households in his village to utilize
safe drinking water and four anoth-
er village sarpanchs to initiate the
"Jeevan Amrit" project in their
gram panchayats.
"My father used to regularly take
painkillers for a long time as he
suffered from severe joint pain. We
have been using RO water for six
months now, and miraculously my
father has stopped taking medi-
cines for the last two months,"
Ratna Ram said.
The number of water-borne dis-
eases, such as diarrhea in children,
has also come down. Cases of joint
pain caused by high fluoride con-
tent in drinking water have also
decreased.
Cairn India funds the cost of the
RO plants, which are delivered and
installed by Tata Projects, PHED
provides the premises and the
source water connection and a 15-
member village water committee,
formed under the panchayat, is
responsible for operation and
maintenance of the kiosks. Dhara,
the local NGO partner for this proj-
ect, spreads awareness about safe
drinking water among locals and
hand-holds the water committee
for better success.
Apart from providing an innova-
tive solution to a grave problem,
these water kiosks have also
proved to be a model of good self-
governance. The water committees
have created an identity for them-
selves and are looked upon as an
effective social group in the vil-
lages. Along with efficiently run-
ning the RO plants, the committees
are also undertaking many devel-
opmental projects.
Cairn India is one of the largest
independent oil and gas explo-
ration and production companies in
India with a market capitalization
of $10 billion. It was rated the
fastest-growing energy company in
the world in the 2012 and 2013
Platts Top 250 Global Energy
Company Rankings.
Cairn India generates 30 percent
of India's domestic crude oil pro-
duction. Through its affiliates,
Cairn India has been operating for
close to 20 years playing an active
role in developing India's oil and
gas resources. To date, Cairn India
has opened four frontier basins
with over 40 discoveries, 31 in
Rajasthan alone.
The Mangala field in Rajasthan,
discovered in January 2004, is the
largest onshore oil discovery in
India in more than two decades.
Mangala, Bhagyam and
Aishwariya fields - major discover-
ies in the Rajasthan block - have
gross ultimate oil recovery of over
one billion barrels. Each barrel is
of 159 liters.
Water ATMs bring smiles to faces of Rajasthan villagers
Rajasthani women queue up at a water ATM
Email turns 32,
invented by an
Indian-American
Washington: Email turned 32 last
week but how many of us know
that this quick method of message
transfer was invented by Indian
American VA Shiva Ayyadurai
when he was just 14.
In 1978, Ayyadurai created a
computer program, which he
called email, that replicated all
the functions of the interoffice mail
system - Inbox, Outbox, Folders,
Memo, Attachments, Address
Book, etc. These features are now
familiar parts of every email sys-
tem.
On August 30, 1982, US govern-
ment officially recognized
Ayyadurai as the inventor of email
by awarding him the first US
Copyright for Email for his 1978
invention. At that time copyright
was the only way to protect soft-
ware inventions.
Email was not created, with a
massive research budget, in big
institutions like the ARPANET,
MIT or the military. Such institu-
tions had thought it impossible to
create such a system, believing it
far too complex, Huffington Post
said.
Ayyadurai was born to a Tamil
Family in Bombay. At the age of
seven, he left with his family to
live in US.
At 14, he attended a special sum-
mer program at the Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
of New York University (NYU) to
study computer programming, and
later went on to graduate from
Livingston High School in
Livingston, New Jersey. While
attending high school, he also
worked at the University of
Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey (UMDNJ) as a research fel-
low.
Ayyadurai's talent, passion and
commitment immediately
impressed Dr Leslie Michelson,
then Director of the Laboratory
Computer Network (LCN) at
UMDNJ. He gave him a challenge,
to convert the old system of paper-
based mail communications used
at UMDNJ to an electronic one.
This complex system of office-
to-office communications was the
interoffice mail system. This sys-
tem was not unique to UMDNJ but
used in nearly every office includ-
ing those of presidents and prime
ministers.
Ayyadurai closely observed that
the desktop of each secretary, in
addition to the typewriter, had an
Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Carbon
Copy Paper, Folders, Address
Book, Paper Clips (for attach-
ments), etc, which they used each
day to create and process incoming
and outgoing mail.
The he conceived an electronic
version of this system. He created
a computer program of over
50,000 lines of code, which elec-
tronically replicated all the features
of the interoffice mail system.
The latest on Ayyadurai's is that
his research center, the
International Center for Integrative
Systems (ICIS) submitted a report
in 2012 to the USPS-OIG which
projected that the loss making
USPS could potentially generate
over $250 million per year through
email servicing.
Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, honoring
Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, the inventor of email,
in March this year.
26 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info SELF HELP
M
any people think of aller-
gies as a spring problem,
but most sniffle sufferers
know that fall can pose its own
issues. Mold and ragweed are com-
mon fall allergy triggers, as well as
dust mites, which are naturally more
prevalent in the home during the
drier months.
You can turn your home into a
safe haven from fall allergens with
regular, strategic cleaning and a few
preventive measures, says Robin
Wilson, an interior design expert
and an ambassador with the Asthma
and Allergy Foundation of America.
To help make your home more
comfortable this season, Wilson is
offering some fall cleaning tips to
eliminate allergens and maintain a
clean and healthy space:
Wash your bedding. Mattress
and pillow protectors will help con-
trol dust mites. As an added precau-
tion, wash your bedding in warm or
hot water every month and replace
pillows every three years.
Check for mold. Moisture
breeds mold, so make sure to scan
the inside of dishwashers, under the
fridge in the water pan and in sink
and bath drains. Change water dis-
pensers and icemaker filters on a
regular basis.
Vacuum frequently. Whether
you have wall-to-wall carpeting, tile
or hardwood floors, its important to
eliminate dust and dirt. Vacuum,
mop or steam clean flooring
regularly.
Use a vacuum with a high-effi-
ciency particulate air (HEPA) filter,
which captures small particles such
as allergens, irritants and pollu-
tants, says Wilson.
For example, the Panasonic MC-
UL429 Vacuum has a HEPA filter
and accessories that allow you to be
more thorough and get into tight
corners. This vacuum also comes
with an attachment that pulls pet
hair -- another potential allergen --
out of upholstered surfaces. More
information can be found at
www.shop.panasonic.com.
Wash or freeze stuffed toys. If
your child sleeps with their favorite
stuffed animals, you should fre-
quently wash or freeze them in a
plastic bag for 48 hours. This will
lower the level of dust mites which
can trigger asthma and allergies.
Use Slipcovers. Slipcovers have
come a long way in the last 10
years. Since they can be cleaned
regularly and more easily than
upholstery, consider using them on
sofas and other furniture.
Keep ragweed outside. After
spending time outside, have your
child leave any clothing or sports
equipment close to the entrance of
the home to avoid tracking irritants
throughout rooms.
Just because the pollen count
isnt through the roof doesnt mean
you cant fall prey to allergies, says
Wilson. With regular cleaning, you
can manage the irritants in your
home and make it a more breathable
place.
(Statepoint)
Fall cleaning tips to help rid your home of autumn allergens
I
t happened again this year: The kids are back in
the classroom before youve had the chance to
blink. Thankfully, new developments in educa-
tion are making it easier than ever for students to hit
the ground running.
These days, technology has the power to dramati-
cally improve how kids digest, retain and apply
information if you know how to use it. Check out
these great study tips that can help your student
achieve the grades they strive for.
Quit Cramming
All-nighters are a relic of the Saved by the
Bell era. Research now shows that students who
cram the evening before a test or quiz are less likely
to perform well the following day. Rest is critical for
academic success.
Instead of packing learning into marathon ses-
sions, students should maintain a regular study
schedule leading up to their tests and should make
sure to get plenty of shuteye.
Create a Digital Tool-Kit
Be prepared is the simple motto of the Boy
Scouts, and it applies to almost every facet of life.
You wouldnt try to build a tree-house without a
hammer, saw and nails -- you shouldnt study with
an empty tool kit either. These days, there are unique
tech tools available that make the studying process
more efficient, engaging and effective.
For example, McGraw-Hill Educations
LearnSmart provides an adaptive digital tutor that
continuously assesses students knowledge and skills
and provides personalized recommendations that
help them master content over time. By helping stu-
dents focus their study time more on learning what
they dont know and less on what they already know,
LearnSmart can help turn C students into B students
and B students into A students.
The company also offers SmartBook, a personal-
ized digital textbook that adjusts on the fly and high-
lights important information based on each students
current strengths and weaknesses. You can find more
information on McGraw-Hill Educations entire
family of adaptive learning tools at www.mheduca-
tion.com/back-to-school.
Jump Around
Not physically, but figuratively. When prepping
for a test, most students review course materials in
chronological order. While this approach may seem
logical, research suggests that studying out-of-order
helps students retain standalone knowledge more
effectively. This allows them to recall information in
a randomized fashion (the way it appears on tests).
If your children apply themselves and use these
tips to guide their studies, theyll have a leg up in the
beginning of the school year. Whether its McGraw-
Hill Educations digital learning products, an out-
side-the-box approach to test-prep, or just a good
nights sleep, a dynamic, modern approach to educa-
tion can help your child thrive.
This is the era of digital education, said Jeff
Livingston, senior vice president of McGraw-Hill
Education. We must continue to develop adaptive
technologies that streamline the learning process and
increase the potential of students everywhere."
If your student has struggled in the past, or if you
think he or she isnt reaching his or her true poten-
tial, try some new techniques to help make this
school year the best one yet.
Raise kids grades with study tips
for the digital age
W
hether youre a passion-
ate chef and a regular
host, or you cook simple
meals for just your family, you
know that a highly serviceable
kitchen can mean the difference
between easy meal prep and a
headache. A big part of this equa-
tion is your cooking appliances.
If youre in the market for a new
cooktop, oven or range, dont neg-
lect electric options. Even ardent
gas fans will be interested to learn
how new innovations in electric
cooking appliances are making
kitchens more functional and ver-
satile.
Here are some things to consider
before upgrading your kitchen with new
appliances:
Easy cleaning: Time spent in the
kitchen crafting meals for your loved
ones can be a pleasurable experience.
But few would say the same for clean-
ing. Opt for appliances that offer stress-
free cleaning functions. Electric ovens,
for example, tend to be much easier to
clean than the gas variety with the bene-
fit of powerful self-cleaning at the touch
of a button. Also look for features such
as removable glass doors, that can make
cleanup a cinch.
Even cooking: Roasting a chicken
tonight? An electric oven means less
monitoring of your dinner, as such
appliances boast more even cooking
with the added advantage of convection
fans. Cooking on the stove-top? Electric
heat can be just as or more precise and
consistent with modern pot-sensing
technology, high power elements and
quality cookware.
Versatility: When shopping for
appliances, keep fast, efficient cooking
top of mind. For example, ILVE offers a
range that features induction cooking
technology, which uses heat generated
from magnetics instead of coils for the
fastest heat transfer of any cooking sur-
face.
The ILVE Induction range is equipped
with child safety features, high power
cooking elements, and pot-sensor tech-
nology. Additionally, a scope of func-
tions can be performed with the multi-
function convection oven, included
rotisserie accessory and full-width
warming drawer. To learn more, visit
www.ilveappliances.com.
Craftmanship: For a more func-
tional, beautiful kitchen, its all about
finding the intersection of cutting edge
technology and craftsmanship. Consider
checking out a brand such as Verona, at
www.VeronaAppliances.com, an Italian
manufacturer of kitchen appliances that
applies extensive cooking and design
expertise to make ranges, cooktops and
ovens.
If youre upgrading your kitchen
dont make the assumption that a gas
cooktop or oven is superior to electric.
Explore new models and options that
offer both performance and flexibility.
Upgrading your kitchen? Think electric
LIFESTYLE 27 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
C
ontrary to the tradi-
tional view that men
are more invested in
technology, a new study
found that more young
women are addicted to cell
phones and even get agitated
when it is not in sight.
Women may be more
inclined to use cell phones
for social reasons such as
texting or emails to build
relationships and have deeper
conversations.
Nearly 60 per cent of college students
are hooked to cell phones, the study
found. "Women college students spend
an average of 10 hours a day on their
cellphones and men college students
spend nearly eight, with excessive use
posing potential risks for academic per-
formance," informed James Roberts
from Baylor University' s Hankamer
School of Business.
Respondents overall reported spending
the most time texting (94.6 minutes a
day), followed by sending emails (48.5
minutes), checking Facebook (38.6 min-
utes), surfing the Internet (34.4 minutes)
and listening to their iPods (26.9 min-
utes).
Men send about the same number of
emails but spend less time on each. "That
may suggest that they are sending short-
er, more utilitarian messages than their
female counterparts," Roberts said.
They, however, are not immune to the
allure of social media. "They spent time
visiting such social networking sites such
as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Among the reasons they used Twitter
were to follow sports figures, catch up on
news or even 'waste time'," researchers
found.
The study was based on an online sur-
vey of 164 college students.
It examined 24 cellphone activities
and found that time spent on 11 of those
activities differed significantly across the
sexes. The study appeared in the Journal
of Behavioral Addictions.
T
he onset of a
new season can
get people wor-
ried and stressed
about making the right
purchases for
wardrobe updating,
new research indi-
cates.
As the season
changes from hot to
cold, men and women
alike are already start-
ing to worry about their attire,
with two-thirds having planned
their new seasonal wardrobe a
month in advance, according to a
survey conducted by e-commerce
site QVC, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
Despite 63 percent of adults
readily admitting they feel guilty
over the cost of buying new
apparel, three-quarters of the
nation agrees to hit the shops as
they attempt to clothe themselves
for the onslaught of winter.
Im not surprised to see how
stressful people find dressing in
between seasons...Luckily at
QVC we have something to suit
all tastes, shapes and sizes And
weather conditions, said Nick
Chalkley, head of fashion buying
at QVC.
Furthermore, over a third
admit to hiding the cost of their
new purchases from the partner
or loved ones, in particular those
in the South East.
But money is not the only con-
cern.
Concerns over finding outfits to
suit their shape and wanting to be
on trend are also on top of their
mind, despite a third of shoppers
admitting to being excited at the
prospect of trying out new fash-
ion trends, over one in 10 admit-
ted of being apprehensive about
what look to go for.
Not surprisingly, its the young-
sters who run after new clothes
the most.
Youngsters, in the age group of
18 to 24 years old, update their
wardrobes more than any other
age group, opting to buy new out-
fits every two weeks.
Women hooked to texting, men
can't live without Facebook
E
xpr es s i ng
gratitude is
not just a
good habit, it may
help you win
friends too.
Thanking a new
acquaintance for
their help makes
them more likely
to seek an ongoing
social relationship with
you, a new study indicates.
"Saying thank you pro-
vides a valuable signal that
you are someone with
whom a high quality rela-
tionship could be formed,"
said psychologist Lisa
Williams from University
of New South Wales in
Australia.
The study involved 70
university students who
provided advice to a
younger student. Some of
those advice-givers were
thanked for their advice.
The university students
were led to believe they
were mentoring a high
school student, and were
asked to comment on a
university admissions
essay, supposedly written
by the mentee.
In reply, all mentor par-
ticipants received a hand
written note from their sup-
posed mentee. In about
half the cases the note
included an expression of
gratitude: "Thank you so
much for all the time and
effort you put into doing
that for me!"
The university students
who were thanked were
more likely to provide their
contact details, such as
their phone number or
email address, for the
mentee than those who
were not thanked.
"Our findings represent
the first known evidence
that expression of gratitude
facilitates the initiation of
new relationships among
previously unacquainted
people," Williams noted.
Console games new threat
to global climate: Study
C
onsole games downloaded over broad-
band internet are causing more green-
house gas emissions than Blu-ray discs
delivered via retail stores, new research
reveals.It is not always true that digital distribu-
tion of media will have lower carbon emissions
than distribution by physical means, at least
when file sizes are large, they
added.Researchers from Yale University looked
at the carbon footprint of games for consoles
such as PlayStation3.
For their analysis, investigators estimated
total carbon equivalent emissions for an 8.8
gigabyte game because data for 2010 indicated
that to be the average game size.
The bulk of emissions resulted from game
play, followed by production and distribution.
"The internet will become more efficient with
time, but game files sizes are likely to continue
to increase, making the relationship between
online services and climate change a matter for
further research," the authors wrote in Yale
University's Journal of Industrial Ecology.
College fashion - satchel is the best bet
If you are someone who wants to flaunt the
best of fashion in college then there is one trend
that needs to be followed religiously and it is
satchel handbags. It is not only stylish, but
practical too.
They are not only big enough to carry your
books, pads, pencils and everything else, but if
you want something that's durable and a style
staple then this is the piece to go for, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
They're stylish, practical and they come in a
wide range of colours and styles so there is
something for everyone.
'Thank you' turns new
acquaintance into friends
Getting fresh wardrobe for new
season causes stress: Survey
F
or double-income-no-kid (DINK) cou-
ples, raising a child is the most diffi-
cult part. For them, crches and day-
care centers in the marketplace are no less
than playing the role of real parents.
According to a study, modern-day parents
feel that outsourcing traditional parental
duties is ultimately protecting parenthood.
Today, parents are increasingly outsourcing
caregiving activities. "The expanding array
of caregiving services is blurring the bound-
aries between family and the marketplace
and raising new questions about what is
acceptable to outsource and how parents
make sense of these sometimes contentious
decisions," said authors Amber M. Epp and
Sunaina R. Velagaleti from University of
Wisconsin, Madison.
To better understand the role of the market-
place in modern-day parenting, the authors
conducted in depth interviews with partici-
pants.
The interviews revealed that parents are
more willing to turn to the marketplace for
help once they have provided a strong base-
line of activities that allow them to direct
how care is given, protect their connections
as parents, and assert their role as the pri-
mary caregiver.
"Achieving this balance helps parents
maintain their feelings of responsibility, con-
trol and intimacy," Velagaleti said.
For instance, when deciding whether or not
to hire someone to help plan their child's
birthday party, parents might ask themselves
if it is their job as a parent to do this (respon-
sibility), how they might feel if the party
planner does not do things the way they want
them to do, and whether or not they should
be the person who has created the excitement
and joy on their child's face (intimacy).
Understanding this can offer insight for
companies looking to better market their
services to parents.
"Our findings run counter to the wide-
spread idea that family and the local commu-
nity should always be the first and second
lines of parenting help," Epp noted.
The study appeared in the Journal of
Consumer Research.
For DINK couples, outsourcing
parenthood is cool
R
anjit and his father, Ravi, were visiting
Ravis father in the village. It had been
a few years since Ranjit had seen
Dadaji, and he was eager to hear one of the
old mans stories.
Dadaji, tell me about the time you captured
the tiger.
His grandfather took him into his bedroom,
opened the drawer of a cluttered desk and
pulled out a large book. He turned to a page
with a black-and-white photo of two bare-
chested young men posing with a tiger in a
cage.
What is this book called? Ranjit asked.
Its called a photo album.
Is it like Facebook?
Dadaji paused for a moment, contemplating
the question. Yes, yes, its a book of faces.
Have you seen your fathers face when he was
your age?
Show me, show me! Ranjit screamed.
He was thrilled to see a photo of his father
as a 12-year-old, climbing a mango tree.
Daddy, come here, he shouted. You should
scan this photo and post it on Facebook, so
everyone can see what you looked like when
you had hair.
I dont like Facebook anymore, Ravi said,
walking into the bedroom.
Why not, Daddy? Ranjit asked.
Im tired of it. Its always the same thing.
Aunt Manjula is always posting photos of her
grandchildren. Every day, a new photo. She
has posted photos of the grandchildren eating
ice-cream, photos of the grandchildren play-
ing on a swing, photos of the grandchildren
picking their noses.
How can she afford to post so many pho-
tos? Dadaji asked. The postage is too costly
these days.
Posting is the same as uploading, Dadaji,
Ranjit said. She uploads them to Facebook.
Is uploading the same as loading up?
Dadaji asked. In my younger days, I worked
for a shipping company and loaded up many
ships.
Yes, its almost the same, Ravi said.
Aunt Manjula is loading up Facebook with
photos of her grandchildren.
What about space? Dadaji asked. If she
keeps loading up, will she not run out of
space?
Oh no, Ravi said. Facebook, unfortu-
nately, has unlimited space.
What about the cost of film? Is it not costly
to take so many photos?
No, not at all, Dadaji, Ranjit said. Digital
cameras let you take unlimited photos.
Ravi sighed deeply. Unlimited photos,
unlimited space, and unlimited grandchildren
poses.
Why dont you just skip over those photos,
Daddy?
I tried that. Skipped the grandchildren pho-
tos and had to look at my niece Priyas selfies.
Every day, a new selfie.
What is selfie? Dadaji asked.
A selfie is when you take a photo of your-
self, Ranjit said.
Why is Priya taking photos of herself when
there are so many people around to take pho-
tos of her? Dadaji asked.
Because other people get tired of taking
photos of Priya. But Priya never gets tired of
taking photos of Priya.
Does she load them all up too? Dadaji
asked.
Yes, she loads them up three times a day,
with comments such as, This is me on the
bus with the conductor in the background,
This is me at the zoo with the monkey in the
background, and This is me at the bank with
the robber in the background.'
Why dont you skip over her photos too,
Daddy?
I tried that, but then I had to look at my
friend Jamals photos. He posts photos of
everything he eats and drinks. Many years
from now, when historians want to know what
Indians ate and drank in the 21st century, they
can just dig up Jamals Facebook account.
Why dont you skip over his photos too,
Daddy?
I tried that, but then I had to look at my
friend Manishs vacation photos. Every week,
a new set of vacation photos. He posted one
photo and wrote, Its so beautiful in Tahiti.
Best place on earth. I asked him when he
went to Tahiti and he said, What makes you
think Ive been to Tahiti? Just because I post-
ed a photo doesnt mean Ive been there.'
As his father was talking, Ranjit spotted a
pen on Dadajis desk and quickly scribbled
something in the photo album. Dadaji slid his
reading glasses on, peered through them and
smiled. At the bottom of the tiger photo, on
the protective plastic covering, his grandson
had written a single word: Like.
Humor with Melvin Durai
28 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info HUMOR
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Loading up the book of faces
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.
6th September, 2014
Traits in you:The influence of your ruling planet Venus
makes you adorable, independent, ambitious, and charis-
matic. You are a huge believer of love, peace and harmo-
ny. Your attractive personality and friendly nature allows
you to make friendship with strangers easily. However,
you should be more careful in your life. Work had to get a
control over your mood swings. It will help you improve
as a person.
Health this year: This year will take you to new heights
by offering you with an excellent health. You will be en-
joying a better health this year as compared to the previous
year in spite of following a more hectic work schedule and
taking lot more pressure in the first few months of the year.
Finance this year: You may end up spending much more
on your luxury and entertainment. This year you may pur-
chase valuable assets such as furniture, television, washing
machine and so on.
Career this year: You will be rewarded for your efforts
and people in your professional circuit will recognize you.
You will be able to handle tougher things with your im-
proved confidence and steady determination.
Romance this year: Casual friendships may turn into
strong romantic relationships this year.
Lucky month: January, April, May and August
7th September, 2014
Traits in you:Your ruling planet Neptune is believed to
bless you with positive approach. By nature you are very
much active with lots of energy. Being witty enough, you
are confident, vigilant and sharp. Being the owner of
undisputed imagination, you can easily win over anyone.
You will be liked by everyone for your charismatic nature
and behavior. However, you need to control your stub-
bornness, which may prove to be harmful for you at times.
Health this year: You will be enjoying a better health as
compared to last year. However, you need not neglect your
regular medication.
Finance this year:You may get huge benefits in your busi-
ness if you do not invest wrongly. Try to avoid partnerships
in your new ventures to avoid loss.
Career this year: Your stars will help you touch new
heights this year as you will be enjoying prosperity on each
and everything you undertake. You will be able to nurture
your imagination power to help yourself gain more re-
wards. You can improve your knowledge, skills and intel-
lectual level by participating actively in debates and inter-
esting conversations.
Romance this year: You should create new contacts and
revive old ones as this year is the best time to make ro-
mantic relationship stronger. You may convert your ro-
mantic relationship to marriage this year. You may carry on
with your relationship if you are not prepared to marry this
year.
Lucky month: October, December, February and May
8th September, 2014
Traits in you: You are the master of the characteristics
such as energy, discipline, and originality. Being ruled by
Saturn, you are trustworthy and hardworking. You are very
much orthodox who believes in ancient customs and val-
ues. You have not let western civilization ruin your beliefs.
You are very helpful and reliable. However, behaving
prude and stubborn does not suit your personality. You
need to leave being a pessimistic and welcome optimism
to your life.
Health this year: You need to take extra care of your
health this year as you are expected to fall sick frequently
and that may hamper your work.
Finance this year: Financially you would remain stable.
However, minor sickness of your family members may
make yyou spend lot of money.
Career this year: You have to enhance your knowledge
and skills to succeed in your profession. You need to fol-
low-up with higher government officials to get your work
done. This may prove to be very frustrating for you as your
work will progress very slowly. However, your previously
created contacts will come forward to help you in this mat-
ter to get your work done. Some of you may visit abroad
for studies or business later this year.
Romance this year: You may get involved in a new ro-
mantic relationship though it will be for a short period of
time.
Lucky month: January, April, August and September
9th September, 2014
Traits in you: You are active, courageous, dashing, enthu-
siastic and highly diplomatic person. You achieve a lot
with your impressive personality and command over your
work, but you need to check your tendency to behave er-
ratic and impatient at times.
Health this year: You will be in a merdiocre health con-
dition this year. You have to take regular medication to stay
fit.
Finance this year: Businessmen will invest in more prof-
itable ventures. Promising contacts will build through so-
cial get-togethers and traveling.
Career this year: This year you will slowly but gradually
climb the ladder of success.
Romance this year: Your spouse will be quite cooperative
and shower her love and affection upon you despite your
weired behavior at times. An infatuation within the group
will keep you in high spirits for some time but it will not
be long lasting.
Lucky month: October, December, March and August
10th September, 2014
Traits in you: The power and vigor of the Sun, your rul-
ing planet makes you sovereign, intelligent, honest, imag-
inative and simple. Being a diplomatic speaker, you may
drive people with your powerful speech and make it a huge
asset for yourself. You may gain enough money by utiliz-
ing your power to speak. You are very intelligent and effi-
cient as well. However, you have to get over your jealousy
to become a better individual.
Health this year: You will enjoy an overall good health
though you may suffer from some minor diseases.
Finance this year: You may plan frequent travels to get
monetary benefits. You should not be carried away with the
promises made by people as they may prove futile. If you
have invested somewhere by assuming gain, you will be
right this time. You may successfully buy some real estate
shares with least investment.
Career this year: The initial time of the year will allow
you gain a lot of things say money, power, recognition, re-
lationships and so on. However, you need to utilize the op-
portunities that come across you. You will be financially
benefited and there will be a huge improving in your work
environment to inspire you to work much more efficient-
ly. You may get promotions this year or may be switch
your job from your existing company to another with an in-
creased salary package.
Romance this year: You will develop new relationships
with your long time friend, which may finally strengthen
and turn into marriage.
Lucky month: February, May, July and September
11th September, 2014
Traits in you: With the influence of your ruling planet
Moon, you are industrious, creative, friendly, and simple.
You are a challenge loving person and try to perform on the
toughest tasks ever. However, your laziness stops you from
achieving your set goals. If you get over your casual ap-
proach towards your commitments, you will rise to be a
winner for each and every opportunity.
Health this year: You may suffer with problems in your
eyes and mouth. So you need to get your periodic medical
checkup done on time and take prescribed medicines with-
out negligence.
Finance this year: You may go for investments in various
sectors say stock market or real estate this year. You may
plan to build your new house or renovate the old one to-
wards the end of the year. You may plan to build your new
house or renovate the old one towards the end of the year.
Career this year: You may be criticized in your profes-
sional surroundings for your innovative plans. Your plans
will be opposed by your seniors and management but you
will be able to convince them the usability and action of
your plan with your ability to speak artistically. You will
be supported by your friends and colleagues and this will
help you enhance your confidence.
Romance this year: You will be in a good mood throuhout
the year as your partner will provide you with lots of love,
care and concern. If you are unmarried, this year may end
our bachelorhood or spinsterhood.
Lucky month: November, January, April and August
12th September, 2014
Traits in you: The influence of the planet Jupiter makes
you realistic, dignified, idealistic, and committed towards
your work. Being highly social, you are pretty much inter-
ested in making new friends and roam different naturally
attractive places.
Health this year: You may have to celebrate religious
functions very frequently at your place to find peace of
mind.
Finance this year: If you are into business, this year is
supposed to bring you lots of success personally and fi-
nancially. You will be able to grow in financial status with
the help of your previous investments and paternal proper-
ties. You may land up in critical problems if you share your
business secrets with your friends, colleagues and partners.
You should not borrow or lend money to anyone to avoid
future discrepancies.
Career this year: You have inborn leadership skills. So
you do not like to follow anyone and you want to always
stay ahead of others in every field. You should work on
your mood swings and stubbornness not to lose any op-
portunity to grow in your profession.
Romance this year: You may get influenced by a person of
opposite gender and it may bring drastic changes in your life.
Lucky month: December, February, June and August
By Dr Prem Kumar Sharma
Chandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874
Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899
psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com
Stars Foretell: September 6-12, 2014 Annual Predictions: For those born in this week
29
ARIES: Before refusing a promotion
offer, look the things from long-term per-
spective. Unexpected visit by old friend
could give you a pleasant surprise. Long pend-
ing arrears and dues will finally be recovered.
Romantic imagination would keep you in a
jovial & cheerful mood. With a positive outlook
& confidence, you succeed in impressing peo-
ple around you. Romantic destinations seems
appealing to you. Plan to invest in cafeteria or a
bakery shop; it might create new opportunities
for you. You have a good opportunity to involve
yourself in some interesting conversation in this
week.
TAURUS: Colleagues and subordinates
will lend a helping hand enabling to
complete the work on time. Good advice
from family members will help in reducing
mental tension/pressure. Investment concerning
residence will be profitable. The company of
love partner makes you forget about the work.
Mental alertness would enable to solve a tricky
problem. Travel for fun and pleasure is what
you demand. You might apply for bank loan as
to get back the possession of your mortgaged
property. Legal matters that have been pending
for long time might be decided to your satisfac-
tion.
GEMINI: Success in completing diffi-
cult assignments brings a lot of laurels at
work. Sudden good news in the evening
will bring cheers for the entire family. Financial
profits are solely depended on investment in
conservative investment. Sudden romantic
encounter will lift your spirits. A cheerful state
of mind brings mental peace. Small journey
with your office colleagues will be interesting.
There are chances of getting good amount from
an older property of yours. Interacting with
strangers would highly benefit you.
CANCER: Self-confident would
enable to convey your point of view
with ease a workplace. Your efforts
bring success & happiness at family front.
Financial hassles seem to get over as someone
lends a timely helping hand. Attending a social
event/family function brings a romantic
encounter. Good time to divert attention to spir-
ituality to enhance mental toughness. Your boss
may ask you for your company to a friends
party. The plot you were looking for can be
profitable from investment point of view. You
use your hidden qualities to make it the best
week for you.
LEO: You are likely to fail to achieve
targets at professional front. You achieve
success in personal work with the timely
help & support provided by family members.
Promising week to invest surplus money in real
estate. Your physical charm would catch the
attraction of opposite sex. A pleasure trip gives
the much-needed tonic to health. Travel plan
with a colleague might lead to a new relation-
ship. It is better to try for your office accommo-
dation as soon as possible. Time to learn how to
manage life without pushing yourself too far.
VIRGO: Time to be a good communi-
cator & natural negotiator to enable
yourself to tackle the pressure of a high-
ly responsible position. Misunderstandings with
near ones in the family will get cleared. A sound
financial health would enable to invest on lucra-
tive schemes. Love life blossoms paving the
way for lovely times ahead. Cutting down the
number of parties and pleasure jaunts would
help in keeping in good mood. Small picnic
organized by your company is good to change
your mood. Time to think about your invest-
ment plans, as investing residentially might be
profitable. Giving an ear to others advice would
immensely benefit you.
LIBRA: Mental clarity gives a deci-
sive edge over all competitors at pro-
fessional front. Children would do
their best to keep you happy. Your brilliant
ideas would help in bringing financial gains.
Some differences might crop up with
lover/beloved. Start meditation & yoga to
attain sound health especially mental tough-
ness. Official journeys prove to be more fruit-
ful for you. Your investment can be done on a
cheap or smaller piece of land. Your sharp
observation would help in keeping an edge
over others.
SCORPIO : Calculated risks would
enables to complete the project on time.
You are likely to be benefited as family
members positively respond. A promising
week to earn profits in real estate and financial
transactions. Maintain a distance from people
trying to pry into your romantic affair. A bene-
ficial week to work on things that will improve
your health. Fly away with your dreams, new
business horizons are ready to explore. Family
can be helpful on acquiring your property or
plot. A promising week for engaging yourself
in recreation & entertainment.
SAGITTARIUS: A firm commitment
will not only enable to achieve profes-
sional targets but also to realise your
dreams. Parents and friends will do their best
to keep you happy. An improvement in mone-
tary position makes it convenient to purchase
essential items. A romantic encounter is likely
to add spice to life. Your confidence and ener-
gy will be high. A fun- filled holiday at an
amusement and theme park with your family is
there. Its time to invest in property and get
most profitable method to maximize your bank
balance. Charity and helping those who
approach you for help would benefit you.
CAPRICORN: Cooperative nature
brings desired results at professional
front. A promising week to plan things
for your progeny. You should focus investment
on land/real estate or cultural projects to earn
profits. Romantic partner would try innovative
methods to catch your attention. A week when
smile will perpetually be on your face and
strangers will seem familiar. An interesting
cruise ship is next place for your vacation.
Investing overseas can provide you new busi-
ness opportunities. Inviting your close friends
to your party will benefit you in the long run.
AQUARIUS: For some change of
job would bring mental satisfaction.
An auspicious week for family func-
tions and important ceremonies. A promising
week to put your innovative ideas on use to
make extra money. Initiatives in love bring
positive results as you catch the desired atten-
tion. Your energy level will be high. Better to
channelise it in a positive direction.
Breathtaking beautiful site scenes are your
lovers desire. Selling your plot might increase
your bank balance. Taking the help of like-
minded friends would enable to organize a
scintillating party for your group.
PISCES: Your inner values coupled
with a positive attitude will bring suc-
cess at work. A week for renewal of
bonds and family ties. Long-term investment
would enable to make substantial gains. Your
generous attitude would contribute much in
your love life. Positive outlook impresses
those around you besides keeping you fit &
fine.
Time to relax and enjoy your visit to a rela-
tives place. Buyers will get attracted to your
property as your property value is good.
Perfect time to put innovative ideas to test.
September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info ASTROLOGY
30 September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
Meditation:
By Louis A. Ritz
M
editation and spirituality
are being increasingly
embraced around the
world, including the West, as our
lives are becoming more complex.
Individuals are turning within
themselves, instead of the outside
world, to find solutions to lifes
challenges. Spirituality is gaining
popularity for a variety of reasons,
e.g., a search for deeper meaning
in life, dealing with unbridled
emotions or an unruly mind, a fear
of death, a fear of life, a loss of a
loved one, or a health challenge.
At a deeper level, there is a com-
mon source of our suffering. As
each of us becomes more entan-
gled in the impermanence of the
outer world, our level of dissatis-
faction and disappointment with
everyday life inevitably rises.
Instead of identifying with our
inner Self, as the great Teachers
from all wisdom traditions have
implored us, our attention has
remained aligned with the illusory
self and the transitory outside
world. Meditation is considered
humanitys panacea in that it
allows us to reconnect with the
Divine that is within each of us.
Over the past 40 years, the sci-
entific interest in meditation has
exploded. The research has gone
through several phases. Early on,
scientists documented the physio-
logical impact of meditation on
the body. Meditation, by reducing
the fight or flight response
mediated by the autonomic nerv-
ous system, produces a profound
relaxation and a significant stress
reduction. More recently, utilizing
modern imaging techniques, med-
ical research has revealed that cer-
tain regions of the brain are acti-
vated during meditation while
other areas are inactivated. Our
scientific investigations are now
beginning to evaluate the potential
role of meditation as a therapeutic
intervention, for conditions such
as chronic pain, depression, and
addiction.
Central to the influence of med-
itation on our bodies and our lives
is that brain circuits are flexible.
That is, the brain is dynamic and
can change in response to external
stimulation or to our mental pat-
terns. Neuroplasticity means that
the brain can be shaped, or sculpt
By embracing spirituality and
meditation, we can change our
thought patterns and our brain cir-
cuits. In turn, these changes will
lead to improvements in our
behaviors and our lives.
Spiritual questions, like medical
or other scientific questions, can
be investigated with rigorous, sys-
tematic techniques using the time-
honored scientific method.
Whether an individual is using the
scientific method to investigate
the objective outer world or the
subjective inner realms, the tech-
nique is equally valid and valu-
able. Use of the scientific method
as a guideline for spiritual explo-
ration has been developed and
promoted by the great spiritual
scientists of modern times. The
spiritual explorers have long con-
sidered basic spiritual questions to
be answerable through personal
spiritual inquiry; however, unlike
objective research questions, they
require us to conduct spiritual
experiments for ourselves, within
ourselves.
The scientific approach to medi-
tation requires the following steps.
1) Our spiritual quest typically
begins with a question, e.g., who
are we? Why are we here? Where
are we going when we leave here
and what is our relationship to the
Divine? 2) Essential to the
process, we need the guidance of a
competent mentor. A mentor
teaches us the proper techniques,
provides us with the best shortcuts
for achieving our goals, alerts us
to pitfalls we may encounter, and
helps us monitor our progress. 3)
Science is conducted in a laborato-
ry. The human body is the labora-
tory for our spiritual experiment.
4) To collect our data, in order to
evaluate our spiritual hypothesis,
we use the delicate instruments of
the inner eye and ear for the exper-
iment in the spiritual laboratory. 5)
Medical research requires that the
experiments be repeated daily
until the techniques are perfected.
In a spiritual experiment, there
also must be repetition, such as
meditating daily. 6) The final step
of the scientific process is to com-
municate our results, which
includes service to humankind.
As a neuroscientist, I have found
the scientific approach to medita-
tion on the inner Light and Sound
as taught by H.H. Sant Rajinder
Singh Ji Maharaj (www.sos.org)
provides a firsthand direct inner
spiritual experience. Trained and
experienced as an engineer-scien-
tist, Sant Rajinder Singh appreci-
ates the scientific method of deal-
ing with challenges of the outside
world. Trained and experienced as
a spiritual scientist, he embodies
the scientific process to meditation
and the exploration of our true
nature.
A scientific model of meditation
provides a rigorous, reproducible
approach to the practice of medita-
tion. The steps involved in medita-
tion allow anyone to prove to
themselves the positive benefits of
meditation to for changing their
brain. It allows anyone to enjoy
the physical and psychological
benefits of meditation as well as
the spiritual benefits of entering a
state of bliss, conscious aware-
ness, happiness, and joy within.
(Louis A. Ritz, Ph. D. is an
Elizabeth Wood Dunlevie Honors
Term Professor at the
Department of Neuroscience,
University of Florida College of
Medicine Gainesville, Florida,
USA)
Sant Rajinder Singh
Ji Maharaj
As a neuroscientist, the author found the scientific approach to meditation
on the inner Light and Sound as taught by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
provides a first hand direct inner spiritual experience.
Over the past 40 years, the scientific interest in medita-
tion has exploded. Early on, scientists documented the
physiological impact of meditation on the body.
Meditation, by reducing the fight or flight response
mediated by the autonomic nervous system, produces a
profound relaxation and a significant stress reduction.
More recently, utilizing modern imaging techniques,
medical research has revealed that certain regions
of the brain are activated during meditation while other
areas are inactivated. Our scientific investigations are
now beginning to evaluate the potential role of
meditation as a therapeutic intervention, for conditions
such as chronic pain, depression, and addiction.
September 6-12, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
SEP.
TheSouthAsianTimes.info September 6-12, 2014