US Affairs 10 Bollywood 18 Books 26 Spiritual Awareness 30

NEW YORK EDITION

Narendra

Modi: He is no

lion king

Op Ed,

Page 20

Jaipur royal team

to play in NY polo

tournament

US auto dealers

sue Mahindra &

Mahindra

Thousands cheer

Queen's Diamond

Jubilee river pageant

Elizabeth II's

Diamond Jubilee,

Page 16-17

Vol.5 No. 8 June 9-15, 2012 60 Cents Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Stocks rise globally after Chinacuts rates; gold tumbles

New York: Global stocks and the

euro rose on Thursday after China

unexpectedly cut interest rates to

shore up growth, but optimism was

tempered by Federal Reserve

Chairman Ben Bernanke, who dis-

appointed investors looking for fur-

ther stimulus for the US economy.

Gold tumbled 2 percent as

investors unwound bullish bets built

on expectations of Fed easing.

Bullion was hit particularly hard

compared with equities and other

commodities, as it has been heavily

used by institutional investors to

hedge against economic uncertain-

ties.

Bernanke, in testimony to

Congress, said the Fed was ready to

shield the US economy if financial

troubles mount, but his tone was far

from crisis mode.

He said the central bank was

closely monitoring "significant

risks" to the U.S. recovery from

Europe's debt and banking crisis.

But he noted: "Despite economic

difficulties in Europe, the demand

for U.S. exports has held up well."

The MSCI world equity index

rose 1.0 percent to 302.24 points,

after hitting its highest level in more

than a week.

Hopes that central banks in the US

and Europe would act to bolster the

global economy had driven world

shares up more than 3 percent this

week after steep losses in May.

U.S. stock indexes also gained,

but were well off early highs. The

Dow Jones industrial average was

Continued on page 4

UN wants probe into US droneattacks inside Pakistan

Sania-Bhupathi claimmaiden French Open crown

Islamabad: The UN human rights

chief on Thursday called for a UN

investigation into US drone strikes

in Pakistan, questioning their legal-

ity and saying they kill innocent

civilians.

UN High Commissioner for

Human Rights Navi Pillay made

the remarks at the end of a four-day

visit to the country, where US

drone strikes have on average tar-

geted militants once every four

days under US President Barack

Obama.

Islamabad is understood to have

approved the strikes on Al Qaeda

and Taliban targets in the past. But

the government has become

Continued on page 4

Pakistani protesters shout anti-U.S. slogans rallying against U.S.drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal belts during a demonstration in

Multan on June 4, 2012. (inset) UN High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay.

Paris: India's Sania Mirza and

Mahesh Bhupathi captured their

second mixed doubles Grand Slam

title beating Klaudia Jans-Ignacik

and Santiago Gonzalez 7-6, 6-1 in

the French Open final here

Thursday.

The seventh seeds recovered from

a dodgy start to get over the line

against the Polish-Mexican duo.

It was Sania-Bhupathi's maiden

triumph at the Roland Garros and

second major crown after the pair

won the Australian Open in 2009.

While the victory gave Bhupathi

his eighth mixed doubles Grand

Slam title, it was the second trophy

for his Hyderabad born partner.

Bhupathi, who turned 38

Continued on page 4

Sania Mirza and MaheshBhupathi holding the mixed dou-bles trophy at the Roland Garros.

Chidambaram hit by court ruling,opposition wants him out

Chennai/New Delhi: The Madras

High Court Thursday declined to

dismiss a case against Home

Minister P. Chidambaram for

allegedly manipulating the 2009

elections in his Lok Sabha con-

stituency, prompting the BJP and

Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK to

demand his resignation.

In a clear setback to the minister,

the Madurai bench of the Madras

High Court gave the ruling in

response to a petition challenging

Chidambaram's election from

Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu.

Holding that Chidambaram has

to face the petition filed by

AIADMK's Raja Kannappan, one

of those who lost from Sivaganga,

the court struck down two of the

29 charges - use of bank officials

and banks to induce voters.

The court said he would face the

remaining 27 charges and appear

before the court when required. It

asked the minister to "fully cooper-

ate" during the trial.

Chidambaram had sought the

dismissal of Kannappan's petition

and exemption from personal

appearance.

In the close contest,

Chidambaram polled 334,348

votes and Kannappan 330,994 in

2009, giving the former a narrow

victory margin of 3,354 votes.

Kannappan has said that around

Continued on page 4

Madras High Court has declined todismiss case against Home

Minister P. Chidambaram forallegedly manipulating the 2009

poll in his Lok Sabha constituency.

Tristate Community 3

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

Rajat Gupta secretly servedRajaratnam's hedge fund:

Prosecution

Gupta's lawyers say traders'bragged' falsely about tipsters

New York: Prosecutors in the insider-trad-

ing trial of Rajat Gupta have suggested he

leaked information about Goldman Sachs to

convicted hedge fund billionaire Raj Ra-

jaratnam because he was secretly serving as

an executive of his Galleon Group.

Gupta quietly served as an executive of

Galleon while also serving on the boards of

Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble, a

witness testified Thursday at the Manhattan

federal court trial.

Ayad Alhadi, a marketer for Galleon be-

tween 2008 and 2009, told the court that he

was called into Rajaratnam's offices a few

days ahead of a big fundraising trip to the

Middle East and was told that Gupta was the

new chairman of Galleon International.

"I think I congratulated him," he said.

Alhadi and Gupta then went together to the

Middle East, where they met with a slew of

moneyed institutions - some of which were

quite taken with Gupta and his ties to Gold-

man, the witness said.

Among their meetings were representa-

tives of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authori-

ty, the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, First Gulf

Bank and the Abu Dhabi Investment Coun-

cil (ADIC).

The ADIC promised to invest up to $75

million with Galleon within days of their

meeting with Alhadi and Gupta.

Asked if an investment of this size after

four days was common, Alhadi said "that's

pretty uncommon".

An e-mail exchange about the National

Bank of Abu Dhabi suggested that Gupta's

Goldman ties were a selling point.

"When I told him of your affiliation with

Goldman, he was extremely pleased," Alha-

di told Gupta in an e-mail about the head of

the investment unit, which was set to invest

$1 billion in hedge funds over the next 12

months. Goldman Sachs Group CEO Lloyd

Blankfein told jurors that Rajat Gupta, a

board member in 2007 and 2008, wasn't au-

thorized to disclose the bank's earnings to

outsiders before the public announcement.

New York: Convicted hedge fund billion-

aire Raj Rajaratnam and traders at his

Galleon Group "exag-

gerated" and "bragged"

about having sources of

inside information,

lawyers for Indian

American businessman

Rajat Gupta have sug-

gested.

Gary Naftalis, a

lawyer for Gupta, for-

mer director of Gold-

man Sachs and Procter

& Gamble, made the

suggestion in Manhat-

tan federal court

Wednesday during

cross-examination of a

prosecution witness.

Questioning Michael

Cardillo, an ex-Galleon

portfolio manager who

has pleaded guilty, Naf-

talis, asked about Rajaratnam and other

Galleon traders' claims about their sources

of illegal tips.

"Were there others at Galleon who claimed

to have sources of inside information that

they did not have?" he asked.

After an objection by prosecutors, US Dis-

trict Judge Jed S. Rakoff barred Cardillo

from answering.

Cardillo testified last week that he traded

on P&G stock in 2009 after learning that Ra-

jaratnam had a "guy" on the company's

board. Prosecution alleges Gupta was the

person on the P&G board.

"At morning meetings with Raj Rajarat-

nam, did people talk about or exaggerate

their sources of inside information from time

to time?" Naftalis asked.

"There were rare occasions when it hap-

pened," Cardillo said.

Naftalis also sought to discredit Cardillo

by eliciting testimony that he had worn a

recording device to try to capture incrimi-

nating information against a friend, days be-

fore that friend's wedding.

Cardillo, he suggested, cut a deal with the

government by pleading guilty to one count

of securities fraud when he faced charges re-

lating to five other stocks.

Prosecutors Wednesday introduced evi-

dence that a key card assigned to Gupta was

swiped into Galleon's offices at 11.36 a.m.

on March 12, 2007, which according to

Gupta's calendar was when he was to dial

into a Goldman Sachs audit committee

meeting to discuss its first-quarter earnings.

Prosecutors allege that 25 minutes after

the audit committee meeting ended, Galleon

funds bought 350,000 Goldman Sachs

shares. The next day Goldman announced

earnings that exceeded analyst estimates.

Defense lawyers also argued that Gupta

had no motive to leak inside tips to Raj Ra-

jaratnam as their relationship had deteriorat-

ed as early as 2007. Naftalis made the sug-

gestion in Manhattan federal court Monday

during cross-examination of Anil Kumar, a

former McKinsey partner described as a pro-

tege of Gupta's, on his testimony about the

relationship between Gupta and Rajaratnam.

Court orders protection of NYtemple president from assailant

Ravi Batra resigns as'Special Counsel'

to Mangano

NJ Muslims file federalsuit to stop NYPD spying

ByVikas Girdhar/SATimes

New York: An order of pro-

tection has been issued on

behalf of Ajoy Nayak, presi-

dent of Kali Mandir in Bald-

win, NY, against Suman

Saha, a licensed pharmacist

accused of assaulting him on

May 13, 2012 in cohorts

with some temple officials,

allegedly to cover up

Nayak’s discovery of inap-

propriate financial dealings

by the temple’s previous

president. The order, issued

by Hempstead criminal court

Judge Douglas J. Lerose,

was signed June 4 and pro-

hibits the defendant Saha

from having any contact with

Nayak.

The order of protection is

the latest in the Kali temple

assault case, in which Ajoy

Nayak claims he was physi-

cally attacked in a locked

room by Saha and fellow of-

ficials of the temple, includ-

ing past president Kumar

Sankar Mandal, Milan

Awon, registered pharma-

cists Buddhadeb Majumder,

Dhrubo Dutta, Dilip

Chakroborty and Sankar

Bhaumik, all of whom were

allegedly verbally abusive

while instigating Saha in the

criminal attack.

Ajoy Nayak, a 72-year-old

disabled left-leg amputee,

had said earlier, “I have

spent the early part of my

tenure as president of New

York Kali Mandir trying to

clarify our financial position,

and ensure a successful and

secure resource for our Hin-

du community there. It is

shocking and disheartening

that members of our reli-

gious community would not

only misappropriate the

funds of our temple, but then

resort to thuggery and vio-

lence in order to try to cover

it up.

“This is a sad time for our

community, but I urge mem-

bers to come together in

peace and harmony and

demonstrate that these be-

haviors are not demonstra-

tive of our beliefs and culture

and will not be tolerated by

our community.”

New York: Eminent attorney Ravi Batra has

resigned as Special Counsel to Nassau Coun-

ty Executive

Ed Mangano,

a position he

held since Au-

gust 15, 2011

to provide ad-

vice “with

special em-

phasis on fis-

cal manage-

ment, ethical

issues, and

identifying fraud, waste and abuse in gover-

nance". The reason he cited in his resignation

letter is “a full plate due to much heavier load

from private practice and my present obliga-

tions to protect public trust.” He serves on

the New York ethics board.

Washington: Eight Muslims filed a federal

lawsuit Wednesday in New Jersey to force

the New York Police Department to end its

surveillance and other intelligence-gathering

practices targeting Muslims in the years af-

ter the 2001 terrorist attacks. The lawsuit al-

leged that the police activities were uncon-

stitutional because they focused on people's

religion, national origin and race.

It is the first lawsuit to directly challenge

the NYPD's surveillance programs, which

were the subject of an investigative series by

The Associated Press since last year. Based

on internal NYPD reports and interviews

with officials involved in the programs, the

AP reported that the NYPD conducted

wholesale surveillance of entire Muslim

neighborhoods, chronicling daily life includ-

ing where people ate, prayed and got their

hair cut. Police infiltrated dozens of mosques

and Muslim student groups and investigated

hundreds more.

In this courtroom sketch, Judge Jed Rakoff, second from right,listens as U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky, right, questions GoldmanSachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, center, during the insider trading

trial of Rajat Gupta (inset), June 4.

Ravi Batra

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4 Turn Page

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

UN wants probe story Continued from page 1

increasingly energetic in its public opposition

as relations with Washington have nosedived.

“Drone attacks do raise serious questions

about compliance with international law,”

Pillay told a news conference in Islamabad.

“The principle of distinction and proportion-

ality and ensuring accountability for any fail-

ure to comply with international law is also

difficult when drone attacks are conducted

outside the military chain of command and

beyond effective and transparent mechanisms

of civilian or military control,” she said.

She said the attacks violate human rights.

“I see the indiscriminate killings and

injuries of civilians in any circumstances as

human rights violations.”

The UN human rights chief provided no sta-

tistics but called for an investigation into civil-

ian casualties, which she said were difficult to

track.

“Because these attacks are indiscriminate it

is very, very difficult to track the numbers of

people who have been killed,” she said.

“I suggested to the government that they

invite the UN Special Rapporteur on

Summary or Arbitrary Executions and he will

be able to investigate some of the incidents.”

She said UN chief Ban Ki-moon had urged

states to be “more transparent” about circum-

stances in which drones are used and take nec-

essary precautions to ensure that the attacks

involving drones comply with applicable

international law

Stocks rise globally storyContinued from page 1

up 112.09 points, or 0.90 percent, at

12,526.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index

was up 8.14 points, or 0.62 percent, at

1,323.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was

up 5.56 points, or 0.20 percent, at 2,850.28.

China's interest rate cut helped boost U.S.

companies linked to its commodity-hungry

industrial complex. U.S. Steel Corp climbed

1.7 percent to $20.38, and miner Freeport-

McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc edged up 1

percent to $33.98. The S&P Materials index

gained 1 percent.

European shares closed higher, but well off

an earlier peak. The FTSEurofirst 300 provi-

sionally closed up 1 percent at 983.81, its

highest close since May 29.

The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.2596, recov-

ering from early losses. It briefly fell after

Fitch slashed Spain's credit rating by three

notches and signaled it could make further

cuts as the cost of restructuring the country's

troubled banking system spiraled and Greece's

crisis deepened.

Chidambaram storyContinued from page 1

1,400 votes polled by him were credited to

Chidambaram.

G. Saravanakumar, counsel for Kannappan,

told IANS in Chennai: "The court has decided

there is material fact and substance on the cor-

rupt electoral practices done on behalf of

Chidambaram."

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK

general secretary J. Jayalalithaa said the prime

minister should drop Chidambaram from his

cabinet if he did not resign on his own.

Accusing Chidambaram of fraudulently

winning the polls, she said: "As he has to face

criminal cases now, it will be blot on the coun-

try's democracy if he continues in office.

Hence Chidambaram should resign."

The BJP agreed.

"We appeal to the prime minister to throw

him out of the cabinet immediately," BJP pres-

ident Nitin Gadkari said in Delhi.

The government rejected the call for

Chidambaram's ouster.

"The demand for Chidambaram's resigna-

tion is ridiculous," said Minister of State in

Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanaswamy.

"He has not lost the case and it has got noth-

ing to do with his functioning as home minis-

ter," added Congress general secretary

Digvijay Singh.

Sania-Bhupathi storyContinued from page 1

Thursday, has now won all four Grand Slams

twice in the category with first one coming

here in 1997 when he partnered Rika Hiraki of

Japan. He also has four doubles titles to his

name.

"A Grand Slam title has come after a long

time. The first one since I have become a

father. It will always be special," said

Bhupathi referring to his first Grand Slam win

since Melbourne in 2009.

It was not the best of starts for the Indians as

they looked jittery. Bhupathi struggled with

his serve in the semifinal and this time it was

Sania who took time to get into the groove.

She lost her first service game on love to

make it 1-3.

Sania-Bhupathi got back into the match by

breaking Klaudia's serve with Bhupathi

unleashing a cracking forehand down the line,

leveling the set at 4-4.

It was anybody's set going into the tie-break.

The seasoned Indian combination rose to the

occasion, taking 6-3 lead and converting their

first set point. Bhupathi made the difference in

the tie-break, coming up with lethal returns at

the right time.

They raced to a 5-1 lead in the second as

Klaudia and Gonzalez could not maintain

their level of play.

STAR TV inks 4 channel deal with Time Warner Centennial, CO/New York:

International Media Distribution

and STAR TV, a wholly owned

subsidiary of News Corporation

and Asia’s leading media and

entertainment company,

announced the signing of a deal

for carriage of STAR India PLUS,

STAR India GOLD, Life OK, and

ABP NEWS with Time Warner

Cable.

STAR India PLUS, officially

the #1 Asian television channel in

India and the UK, will soon be

available to Time Warner Cable

customers in select markets.

STAR India PLUS is a 24/7 pre-

mium network in Hindi with

English subtitles.

Prime time programs on STAR

India PLUS include household-

name soap operas as well as some

of the nation’s favorite reality and

game shows. The biggest phe-

nomenon to come to STAR India

PLUS is Aamir Khan’s Satyamev

Jayate, which debuted on May

6th. The viewership this show has

increased substantially over three

episodes, and is estimated to be a

record-breaking 33 crore people.

“This collaboration between our

two major companies, STAR TV

and Time Warner Cable, will offer

an increased distribution to reach

and entertain more viewers,” said

Rajan Singh, Executive Vice

President of International

Business for STAR TV.

Indian community supports Judge Peter Skelos’s re-election to the NYSSupreme Court at an event held in Rasraj, Hicksville.

Seen in the photo (from left) Dr Bhupendra Patel, Kamlesh C. Mehta,Judge Peter Skelos, event organizer Rashmin Master and Arvind Vora.

Tristate Community 5

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

19 Indian Americans honored with Light of India Awards By Jinal Shah/SATimes

New York: Noted author and

Padma Shri, Amitav Gosh, actor

and cancer survivor Lisa Ray

were among 19 distinguished

persons who received the Light

of India awards on Saturday in

New York.

The awards, instituted by

Remit2India, a Times Group

online money transfers unit, were

handed over to recognize the

exemplary achievements of

Indians living abroad. Saturday’s

function was the second edition

of the annual awards.

“Remit2India The Light Of

India Awards is our humble ini-

tiative to acknowledge the contri-

butions of the global Indian com-

munity in making India the

emerging superpower,” said

Avijit Nanda, President of

TimesofMoney Group. “These

leading lights have lit the global

skyline with their beams of bril-

liance.”

Saluting the indomitable spirit

of Lisa Ray in fighting multiple

myeloma and also recognizing

her work in Indian film industry

and her efforts in fighting cancer,

she was awarded the people’s

choice award for excellence in

arts and entertainment. “I am

very proud to be an Indian. India

has been a source for so much for

me.

Also they say adversity makes

your successes even sweeter and

as a cancer graduate I learned

that,” said Canada top chef host

Ray. She is expected to tie knot

with banking executive and phi-

lanthropist Jason Dehni, October

this year in Napa valley in a tra-

ditional Indian style.

Model turned host of Emmy-

winning US reality show Top

Chef, Padma Lakshmi, won the

jury award in the same category.

“I wish my mom was here. When

my mother divorced my dad, she

came to America. I grew up here

but I spent a lot of time in India,

three months every year. I always

felt I had one foot in Madras

(Chennai) and one in America but

somehow I was not Indian

enough when I was there and not

American enough when here.

Today I felt just right with the

award,” she said.

Awards were given to honor

people in various fields including

arts and entertainment, literature

and journalism, education and

academics, corporate leadership,

business leadership, medical sci-

ences and technology. In the liter-

ature and journalism category,

Amitav Gosh won the jury award

whereas Indu Sunderasan author

of The Twentieth Wife won the

people’s choice award.

“My work is completely rooted

in Indian history. I feel that

everything I have comes from

India. It comes from the experi-

ence from people like us and our

ancestors who left India who

made these incredibly difficult

journeys,” said Gosh.

The excellence in academics

award both jury and people’s

choice went to University of

Huston System’s second woman

president and first Indian immi-

grant to head a comprehensive

research university in the United

States, Renu Khator.

“No journey is traveled alone

especially in my journey.

Because I was born and brought

up in a very small town in Uttar

Pradesh in a Marwadi

Maheshwari family and was mar-

ried when I was 18 years old. I

was thrown in here because it

was an arranged marriage and I

just thought my life was over

because nobody continued educa-

tion after marriage in my extend-

ed family. However I am fortu-

nate that I found a life partner

who took second job, third job

and whatever it took to get my

education.

I am grateful for my matrub-

hoomi (mother land) for giving

me principles that I follow each

day and also to my karmabhoomi

that is US where I got opportuni-

ties,” said Renu Khator who has

recently joined some of the

world’s most respected leaders

when she was named to the

Indian Prime Minister’s Global

Advisory Council. Other promi-

nent awardees included Sabeer

Bhatia co-founder Hotmail in the

technology category, Jagdish

Bhagwati, Columbia University

professor and economist, lifetime

achievement award for study in

global economics.

Present at the event were the

crème de la crème from the field

of business, finance, education,

entertainment, and politics

including parliamentarian Shashi

Tharoor.

The evening ended with a scin-

tillating performance by noted

playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj,

a recipient of the 58th National

Film Award for the Best Female

Playback Singer.

Canada’s Top Chef host Lisa Rayaccepts Light of India Award after

receiving excellence in arts andentertainment people’s choice award

US Top Chef host PadmaLakshmi after receiving

excellence in arts and entertain-ment jury award

(From L to R): Comedian Papa CJ, author Siddhartha Mukerjee,parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, author Amitav Ghosh at the event

New York: Three students from

Syosset High School, Syosset,

NY, have been awarded scholar-

ships to study in Japan this sum-

mer which includes two Indian

Americans Tanya Datta and Ravi

Jain, and Krista Wu who will

spend six weeks in different parts

of Japan, each living with a

Japanese family and studying at

the local high school.

Tanya Datta and Kristu Wu are

awarded the Japanese –American

Friendship Scholarships while

Ravi Jain received the Japan -

U.S. Senate Exchange scholar-

ship. The scholarships are institut-

ed to promote mutual understand-

ing and friendship and advance

learning, across cultures. The stu-

dents were invited to write essays

and interviewed extensively

before qualifying for the program.

The program is facilitated by

Youth for Understanding (YFU)

Exchange Program, one of the

largest and most respected inter-

national educational exchange

organizations. It includes a net-

work of over 50 independent

national organizations worldwide,

working together to prepare

young people for their responsi-

bilities and challenges in a chang-

ing, interdependent global com-

munity.

The three students have been

studying Japanese at Syosset High

School for the past three years and

are now eager to immerse them-

selves in the language and culture.

“I love the study of the Japanese

language”, said Tanya. “To actual-

ly go to Japan and experience the

culture first hand is something

beyond my wildest imagination.

We are so looking forward to it.”

In the past eight years, 10

Syosset students have received

this honor.

This year is particularly

poignant as the SHS Japanese

Club recently raised more than

$6000 to help a school in Iwate,

Japan hard hit by the 2011 earth-

quake and tsunami. Efforts are

underway for one of the three

scholarship recipients to be able

to visit the school in Iwate and

deliver the money personally.

(L to R) Tanya Datta, Krista Wu, Ravi Jain and Lauren Lustig

Indian American High School studentsawarded Japanese Study Scholarships

6 Tristate Community

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Youth focus on ‘Dharma’ at HinduStudent Council’s 22nd annual camp

Schuylkill Haven, PA: Memorial

Day Weekend brought together

over 50 Hindu youth from over ten

universities across the country for

the 22nd Annual Hindu Students

Council (HSC) Camp on the

grounds of Vraj Bhoomi in

Schuylkill Haven, PA.

HSC serves as a medium for col-

lege students and young profession-

als to help foster awareness of

issues affecting Hindus, offers

opportunities to learn about Hindu

heritage/culture, an provides seva

(service) to the community. HSC

chapters from universities across

the nation, as well as individuals

and organizations interested in

Hindu Dharma, attended the camp.

The annual camps are a place for

chapters across the nation to meet,

network, share ideas and discuss

issues.

“Coming to HSC camp helped

fill a void I was feeling all year

long when I was away at school,”

remarked Khamini Harinarian, an

upcoming sophomore at Syracuse

University, “After this weekend, I

feel complete again. I missed this.”

Nikunj Trivedi, past president

and current member of the Board of

Trustees, spoke about the impor-

tance of Hindu Dharma and the role

HSC has been playing to educate

college students about Hindu cul-

ture and heritage.

Throughout the weekend the

attendees participated in a game in

which they were grouped into king-

doms named after Hindu dynasties:

the Cholas, the Guptas, the

Mauryas and the Pandyas. The stu-

dents competed in physical and

intellectual games to earn points for

their Kingdom. Attendees also

enjoyed the cultural celebrations in

the evening with Garba and

Bhangra. While the camp connect-

ed the youth deeply at a spiritual

and intellectual level, games and

dancing helped them connect on a

social level and build on the bonds

already formed throughout the

weekend.

“When I go to other camps, it's

usually full of kids who are way

younger than me and their parents,”

remarked Mahesh Persaud, the

President of HSC at Rochester

Institute of Technology, “It’s nice

seeing other people my age who are

interested in the same things I am.”

Vineet Chander, the Hindu

Chaplain at Princeton University,

gave a talk on “The Dharma of

Dating,” followed by a question

and answer session. “It was great

discussing a topic that Hindus as a

whole are reluctant to address,”

said Ravi Jaishankar, General

Secretary of HSC. In addition, he

told the story of Dhruva Maharaja

from the Srimad Bhagavatam and

related it to how Bhakti could be

practiced in our day to day lives.

Camp participants especially liked

his practical and modern approach

to applying spiritual teachings to

modern life.

Kanchan Banerjee, one of the

founding members of HSC, gave a

history on the origins of HSC. On

the last day, Memorial Day, he

reminded the importance of

remembering those who have

fought for their country, not just in

America, but all over the world.

His daughter, Shoilee Banerjee, led

the American and the Indian

National Anthems to commemorate

the national holiday.

Dr. M.G. Prasad gave a lecture on

“Science, Technology and Vedic

Hinduism,” followed by a question

and answer session. He also led

students in explaining and chanting

the Vishnu Sahasranamam (1000

names of Lord Vishnu). Mitesh

Kapadia, in addition to leading the

daily morning yoga sessions, gave

a lecture on “The 5 T's of Total

Transformation,” which brought a

spiritual perspective on taking con-

trol of one's life. Haimanti

Banerjee, part of the founding

group of HSC, spoke about the life

and message of Swami

Vivekananda.

50 youth from over 10 universities from across the country attended the camp

IN BRIEF

Prabhat Hajela named Provost of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Prabhat Hajela, a professor of aero-

space engineering at Rensselaer

Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.,

has been appointed provost starting July 1.

Hajela, who was the vice provost and dean

of undergraduate education, had been serv-

ing as acting provost since Jan. 1.

He will be responsible for a variety of

tasks like expanding research in strategic

areas, developing several new study abroad

and international experience opportunities

and creating the framework for living and

learning communities, a continuation of his work as a vice

provost. "Following an international search, Dr.

Hajela emerged as the leading candidate among

an exceptionally strong pool of candidates for the

position," Rensselaer President Shirley Ann

Jackson was quoted as saying in a statement on

the RPI website. An expert in complex system

analysis and design in the presence of uncertainty,

He has published over 270 papers and articles in

the areas of structural and multidisciplinary opti-

mization, according to his bio data on the RPI

website. In 2004, he received American Institute

of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Biennial

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Award.

Prabhat Hajela

Healthfirst to host Hicksville South AsianHealth Day festival on June 9

Healthfirst and local community organizations will

host the South Asian Health Day Festival on

Saturday, June 9 at Apna Bazaar in Hicksville. The

festival will provide health education and increase aware-

ness about treatment and prevention of diseases that affect

the South Asian community including diabetes, heart dis-

ease, high cholesterol and cancer.

“Healthfirst is committed to bringing health resources

that promote good health and wellness to the communities

we serve,” said Pat Wang, Healthfirst President and CEO.

“We are pleased to work with our partner hospitals, com-

munity leaders and local healthcare organizations to bring

this festival to the Hicksville South Asian community.”

"We are delighted to join with Healthfirst in hosting the

South Asian Health Day Festival to help our local resi-

dents lead healthier lives. Our clinical staff, committed to

playing a vital role in prevention of diseases, will provide

health screenings and important educational information,

as well as help our local residents better manage a broad

range of chronic illnesses," said Arthur A. Gianelli,

President/CEO, NuHealth System.

Activities planned for the entire family include free on-

site health screenings for blood pressure, body mass index

and vision provided by NuHealth (Nassau Health Care

Corporation). NuHealth will also provide useful informa-

tion on the importance of cancer screenings and mammo-

grams for women. Health vendors, a live DJ, giveaways

and a special magic show with face painters for kids will

be featured during the festival. For more information on

the festival, visit www.healthfirst.org.

New research finds Craigslistlinked to rise of STDs

An Indian-American profes-

sor's research reveals that

Craigslist, the classified

advertisements website, may be

responsible for a rise in the num-

ber of new AIDS and STD cases

nationwide.

Anindya Ghose, an associate

professor at the Stern School of

Business in New York, decided to

take a closer look at Craigslist

after reading a news item about a

congress- man who was forced to

resign after soliciting sex on the

web-site.

Ghose, who has been conduct-

ing research into the economic

consequences of the Internet, had

not yet focused on health. But

after reading about the sexual

solicitation item, he felt it might

be a wide- spread phenomenon

and sought to study it. Research

he conducted along with his doc-

toral student, Jason Chan, showed

a dramatic rise in cases of AIDS

and syphilis nationwide over the

last eight years, which could be

directly attributed to the use of

Craigslist that links buyers and

sellers of products and services

The authors used data on the rates

of new STD cases in 50 states and

the District of Columbia from

1998 to 2005, the first 8 years of

Craigslist's existence. Among the

STDs reported, they focused on

AIDS and syphilis. Ghose and

Chan found that the entry of

Craigslist led to a 14 percent

increase in the rate of new AIDS

cases, which means an annual

increase of 6,658 new AIDS infec-

tions in the United States

each year.

Anindya Ghose

National Community 7

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

Washington DC: The first

edition of annual DC South

Asian Film Festival

(DCSAFF) came to an end

with the screening of Dev

Anand's Hum Dono, fully

restored in color.

Attended by a host of

celebrities from the Indian

film industry, the June 1-3

festival, sponsored by Ceasar

Productions, kicked off with

an exclusive opening night

red carpet gala featuring

Shyam Benegal's classic film,

Mammo.

Saturday night's highlight

was Deepti Naval's directorial

debut, Do Paise ki Dhoop,

Chaar Aane ki Baarish.

Other highlights of the

weekend included a Bengal

retrospective, acting and

filmmaking workshops, short

films directed by local artists,

and the Washington, DC pre-

miere of Indian American

filmmaker Manan Singh

Katohora's Bollywood style

thriller, 9 Eleven.

Besides Benegal others

attending the festival includ-

ed Ketan Mehta, Manisha

Koirala, Rajit Kapur and

Suneil Anand.

Raghu Tadepalli named Deanof Elon University B-School

Washington, DC: Raghu Tadepalli has been

named dean of the Martha and Spencer Love

School of Business at Elon University follow-

ing a national search. He begins his duties

July 1. Tadepalli comes to Elon from Babson

College in Massachusetts, where he serves as

Murata Dean and professor of marketing in

the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business,

successfully leading a major overhaul of the

MBA curriculum at a school renowned for its

graduate programs in entrepreneurship and

business administration.

A recognized scholar in the field of market-

ing, he has written or contributed to many

peer-reviewed journal articles and presenta-

tions on cross-cultural ethics, evaluation of

performance for purchasing agents and sales-

people, and the factors that affect salesper-

sons’ customer orientation.

Prior to his tenure at Babson, Tadepalli was

dean of the graduate school and associate dean

in the Williams College of Business at Xavier

University. Tadepalli has a bachelor’s and a

master’s degree in commerce with a major in

accounting from Andhra University in India.

The Indian American academic completed his

master of business administration degree with

a concentration in marketing from Arizona

State University and later earned his doctorate

from Virginia Tech.

First South Asian film fest concludesin Washington

US to help India build communitycollege system

Washington, DC: The US has offered to

help India build a system of community col-

leges, saying a world-class education would

be good for both nations.

"I think the challenges India faces dwarf --

make ours look relatively simple," US

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told

reporters at a White House news conference

Tuesday, ahead of next week's India-US edu-

cation dialogue. "But I think there's a chance

to provide a much better education for hun-

dreds and hundreds and thousands of young

people in India," he said.

"Whatever we can do to help as they build

the next system of community colleges, as

they scale up what's working, as American

institutions start to set up campuses in India,

we want to be a great partner," Duncan said.

"I just absolutely believe that a rising tide

lifts all boats. And the more young people

across India are getting a world-class educa-

tion, that's a great thing (for India and the US

as well)," he said in response to a question.

Next week's India-US education dialogue

co-chaired by Human Resource

Development Minister Kapil Sibal and

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will focus

on two key areas -- advanced research and

innovation and workforce development,

specifically, community colleges.

During the dialogue, Washington will

announce the first eight partnership projects

to be funded jointly by the US and India

through the Obama-Singh 21st Century

Knowledge Initiative, according to Assistant

Secretary of State for South and Central Asia

Robert Blake.

These three-year joint projects between

American and Indian universities in the

areas of food security, energy, climate

change and public health will be funded by

about a quarter million dollar in grants.

Film director Shyam Benegal sharing his thoughts on con-temporary Indian cinema at the Indian Embassy in

Washington DC on May 31, 2012 in connection with thefirst annual DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF).

Seen behind him in the photo (L to R): Suniel Anand, sonof Dev Anand, Manoj Singh, Managing Director of

DCSAFF, actor Rajit Kapur, actress Manisha Koirala,director Ketan Mehta and actor Samrat Chakrabarti.

Raghu Tadepalli

Washington, DC: Ahead of India-US strate-

gic dialogue, Pentagon has described India

as a global power, which is meeting its

responsibilities, and appreciated its work to

help provide continuing support in

Afghanistan.

"India is a global power, and they are

meeting their responsibilities and we wel-

come that," Department of Defence

spokesman Captain John Kirby told

reporters Tuesday discounting reports that

the US wanted India to step up its role in

Afghanistan.

"I think the reports have been slightly

exaggerated," he said when asked about

media reports citing US officials that visiting

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta will

encourage India to take a more active role in

Afghanistan. "I don't believe the secretary

asked them to impress them to do more

rather than expressed how much he appreci-

ated the work they were doing to help pro-

vide support in Afghanistan and some of the

things that that they have expressed interest

in continuing to do in Afghanistan, but also

in the region," Kirby said.

"And so I think it was really more a state-

ment of appreciation for everything they've

done and the hope that they'll continue to

stay involved as a leader in the region."

When pressed if the US wanted to see

India deepen its involvement in the

Afghanistan war, Kirby said: "The Chicago

summit encouraged countries around the

world to continue to do more to invest in

Afghanistan's future, and there was broad

consensus at the Chicago summit by every

nation attending to do just that."

But to characterize Panetta's visit to "India

as some sort of poke in the chest to get them

to do more would be to do his visit a disserv-

ice," he said.

"That's not why he's in India," Kirby said.

"He's in India to thank them for their efforts

at regional leadership and to look for ways to

deepen our defence cooperation with India

and our relationship with India. That is

something he would like to do more of."

"But we're very appreciative of India's

efforts in the region and in Afghanistan in

particular," he added.

Pentagon's comments came a day after

Assistant Secretary of State for South and

Central Asia Robert Blake said that the

United States believes India has "the institu-

tional capacity to become a world power."

Meanwhile, at the State Department,

spokesman Mark Toner said: "We look for-

ward, obviously, to next week's very impor-

tant meeting as another opportunity to

engage with our Indian counterparts.

"We believe our relationship with India is

very strong and very positive, and moving in

a positive trajectory."

Pentagon says India isa global power

8 National Community

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Dr.Sanjukta Chaudhuri receivesAmerican Assoc. of University

Women Fellowship

Ricky Gill gets 'Young Gun' status

Indian students make US team forInt’l Physics Olympiad

University of Wisconsin-

Eau Claire faculty mem-

ber Dr. Sanjukta Chaud-

huri, an assistant professor of eco-

nomics, is one of 89 scholars in the

nation to receive an American Fel-

lowship from the American Asso-

ciation of University Women.

With this prestigious fellowship,

Chaudhuri joins the ranks of

awardees who include scholars

from Harvard, Columbia and

Duke universities.

Chaudhuri will spend the sum-

mer analyzing data and finalizing

a paper on issues of gender in-

equality, gender gaps in infant and

child mortality and demographic

implications of female mortality

disadvantage in India.

"India's population is character-

ized by millions of missing girls,"

Chaudhuri stated in a press

release.

"Sons are considered more valu-

able offspring than daughters;

consequently, female children

may suffer from significant health,

morbidity and, most importantly,

mortality disadvantage."

This research can contribute to

overcoming the lack of under-

standing of gender issues in India,

which arises from sheer lack of

data, especially in developing

countries, Chaudhuri said.

The National Republican

Congressional Committee

has awarded Ricky Gill,

who is running for Congress in

Lodi, Calif., “Young Gun” status,

the top tier of the NRCC’ four-lev-

el program for national congres-

sional candidates.

Gill hopes to unseat Democratic

incumbent Congressman Jerry

McNerney in the November elec-

tion in California’s Ninth congres-

sional District.

“Ricky Gill has met a series of

rigorous goals that will put him in

position to win on Election Day,"

said NRCC chairman Pete Ses-

sions. In achieving Young Gun sta-

tus, Gill has met organizational

and fundraising benchmarks and

has established himself as a strong

contender, the NRCC Said.

Born and raised in Lodi, in 2004

Gill was named to the California

State Board of Education, making

the Indian American the youngest

member of the administration. He

is a graduate of Princeton Univer-

sity’s Woodrow Wilson School of

Public and International Affairs.

Indian Americans Arka

Adhikari and Preetum

Nakkiran have been se-

lected to be on the U.S.

Physics Team and will be

training for the 43rd Interna-

tional Physics Olympiad to

be held this July in Estonia.

Adhikari, who attends

West Windsor-Plainsboro

High School in Princeton

Junction, New Jersey, was

introduced to physics in his

sophomore year when he took honors physics, in

which the teacher showed him how physics was able

to explain the mysteries of the universe. He plans to

attend Princeton University next year

When Nakkiran, a senior at Redmond High School

in Redmond, Wash., was young, he would pry apart

every mechanical device he

could lay his hands on, trying

to discover the secret of their

workings.

These days, he still spends

most of his time creating

things, though his creations of-

ten take the form of bits and

bytes. Through his tinkering,

he has built a 3D projectile

tracker, created a programming

language, and is currently

working on a small UAV.

Graduating this year, he plans on attending UC

Berkeley to study electrical engineering and comput-

er science.

Over the past ten years, every U.S. Physics Team

member traveling to the international competition

has returned with a medal.

Indian American charged withmurder of wife

Aman accused of strangling his wife and leav-

ing her body in a closet in their Irvine apart-

ment has been charged with murder.

Orange County prosecutors say 39-year-old Shal-

abh Rastogi was having “marital trouble” with 40-

year-old Jalina George, with whom he had three

school-aged children.

Prosecutors claim Rastogi strangled George in a

bedroom May 21, left her body in the closet then

called police.

Prosecutors say the couple's three children were not

home at the time and are now in protective custody.

Rastogi faces up to 25 years to life in state prison if

convicted. The Indian American is being held with-

out bail pending a hearing June 15.

Rastogi was booked into jail May 22.

He called dispatchers about 9:40 p.m. May 21 to

tell them he killed his wife earlier in the day, said Lt.

Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department.

Officers arrived at the couple's apartment on Monte

Vista and took Rastogi into custody without incident,

police said.

Inside, officers found the body of Rastogi's wife.

Rastogi, who according to court records works in

finance, has been cooperative with investigators, of-

ficials said. Investigators suspect Rastogi killed

George, his wife of 13 years, after an argument but

officials would not expand on the details of the dis-

agreement May 22.

Shalabh Rastogi with wife Jalina George in happier times

Dr. Sanjukta Chaudhuri

Ricky Gill

Arka Adhikari and Preetum Nakkiran

IN BRIEF

Don't forget Rajat Gupta's philanthropic work in India, say friends

New York: As the high-profile in-

sider trading trial of former Gold-

man Sachs director Rajat Gupta

enters its third week, the Indian-

American's prominent friends feel

he has been portrayed in an "unfair

and one-sided" manner and his

philanthropic work in India should

not be forgotten.

63-year-old Gupta's trial, which

began in Manhattan federal court

on May 21, will resume today after

a weekend break with his protege

and former McKinsey executive

Anil Kumar returning to the wit-

ness stand to testify against him.

Last week, Kumar had told jurors

he had worked closely with Gupta

in 1997 to set up the Indian School

of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad.

Gupta, in March last year, had re-

signed as chairman of ISB's execu-

tive board after the Securities and

Exchange Commission initiated an

administrative action against him

on insider trading charges.

As Gupta fights the charges of

securities fraud in a closely

watched trial, ISB Dean Ajit

Rangnekar has voiced support for

the prestigious school's co-founder

saying it has been "very difficult"

for those who have known Gupta

to "understand" and come to terms

with the charges and allegations

against him.

Rangnekar's name is among a list

of 20 witnesses, who could testify

for him in the trial, submitted in

court by Gupta's defence team.

"Here is a man who has done in-

credibly amazing things for India,

completely selflessly without

wanting anything for it when he

could have spent that same time

making a lot of money for him-

self," said Rangnekar.

The ISB dean said several of

Gupta's friends feel that a "very

one-sided and unfair depiction" of

him has been made in the case so

far.

"No due recognition has been

made for the immense good he has

done in India," he said adding that

the work Gupta has done in fields

of education, health and urbaniza-

tion should also be recognized and

given equal prominence just as the

charges against him have been

highlighted.

"A person should be presumed

innocent till proven guilty but

Gupta's achievements are real

achievements," Rangnekar, cur-

rently on a visit to the city, said.

Rangnekar said Gupta's support-

ers would have to wait for the ver-

dict by the jury and the judge but

they would always remain "ex-

tremely grateful" to him for the

"wonderful" work he has done.

"We are immensely proud and

grateful to him for everything he

has done," Rangnekar said.

Gupta has denied passing any

confidential company information

he received in his capacity as board

member of Goldman Sachs and

Proctor and Gamble to hedge fund

founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is

currently serving an 11-year prison

sentence after being convicted of

insider trading charges last year.

India's former Minister of State

for External Affairs Shashi Tha-

roor, who has also known Gupta,

said the accomplishments of the

ex-McKinsey head "cannot be tak-

en away even if he has made a mis-

take."

"I still believe in his innocence,"

Tharoor, a Member of Parliament,

said adding that one would have to

wait for the decision by the court.

National Community 9

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

Court to hear anti-Sikh riots caseagainst Congress party

Prosecutors 'tarring' Rajat Gupta: Judge

New York: A US court has

set June 27 to hear Indian

National Congress party's

plea to dismiss or stay pro-

ceedings in the 1984 anti-

Sikh riots case on the ground

that the statute of limitation

had expired.

Judge Robert Sweet of

New York's southern district

issued the order after the

Congress party's lawyers

argued that claims filed by

the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a

Sikh community organiza-

tion, are "time-barred

because they complain about

alleged activities that

occurred more than twenty-

five years ago; all statutes of

limitations have long

expired."

Congress party treasurer

Motilal Vora also gave an

affidavit to the US Court in

support of the motion to dis-

miss the complaint on the

ground that "no summons

and complaint from the New

York Litigation was deliv-

ered to the Indian National

Congress Party in accor-

dance with the Hague

Service Convention."

The party had earlier chal-

lenged the jurisdiction of the

US Federal Court to hear the

case. SFJ legal advisor

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

said the plaintiffs will

request the court to deny the

motion because despite hav-

ing knowledge of the law

suit and having ample

opportunities to raise these

issues, Congress party chose

not to respond and has thus

waived all the defences.

New York: A US federal court judge trying

Rajat Gupta on insider trading charges has

observed that prosecutors were "tarring" the

former Indian-American managing director

of McKinsey & Co. with an unrelated sepa-

rate scheme.

"That's the problem," US District Judge

Jed Rakoff said when Gupta's lawyer, Gary

Naftalis, argued in a hearing Friday outside

the jury's presence that prosecutors were

attempting to retry the case of convicted

hedge fund billionaire Rajaratnam to get his

client. Rakoff ruled that he wouldn't allow

Anil Kumar, another Indian American

employee of McKinsey, to testify about any

illicit payments received by him from

Rajaratnam or say they were in violation of

McKinsey policy because prosecutors failed

to show the payments went against any spe-

cific McKinsey policy.

Rakoff said Kumar, who has pleaded

guilty to insider trading charges, isn't

accused of being a co-conspirator with

Gupta and was instead involved in a sepa-

rate insider-trading scheme with Galleon

Group co-founder Rajaratnam that didn't

include Gupta.

Kumar testified at Rajaratnam's trial last

year that from 2003 to 2009 the two men

had an agreement where he passed inside

information about companies he was advis-

ing to Rajaratnam, in exchange for pay-

ments of as much as $1 million a year to an

offshore account.

Atlanta: Lawyers for U.S.

automobile dealers in five

states said they've filed a law-

suit accusing an Indian truck

manufacturer and its

American counterpart of

fraud, misrepresentation and

conspiracy, according to an

AP report.

The lawyers said the suit

was filed Monday in federal

court in Atlanta against

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

and Mahindra USA Inc. on

behalf of dealerships in New

Hampshire, Florida,

California, New Jersey and

Washington. The lawsuit

claims that Mahindra duped

hundreds of auto dealers and

walked away with millions in

cash and trade secrets.

"Mahindra told the dealers

that its light trucks and SUVs

were ready for delivery to the

U.S. market," Michael Diaz,

a lawyer for the dealers, said

in a statement.

"However, Mahindra inten-

tionally delayed certification

of its vehicles after obtaining

the dealership fees and trade

secrets and began pursuing

other partners in the U.S. and

elsewhere in clear violation

of their commitments."

A statement on Mahindra's

website says the company

cannot comment on the legal

matter but goes on to say the

company "unequivocally

denies all allegations of

fraud, misrepresentation and

conspiracy."

The auto dealers paid initial

dealership fees, hired addi-

tional staff, did marketing and

built Mahindra showrooms,

display platforms and show-

cases, all at Mahindra's urg-

ing, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says

Mahindra's efforts to enter the

U.S. market and build a

nationwide dealer network

began in 2004. The company

made an aggressive pitch to

attract U.S. dealers, including

sending senior executive

Arun Jaura to an Atlanta auto-

motive show in 2007, where

he repeatedly said, "I love

America!", the lawsuit says.

After getting millions in

fees from the dealers,

Mahindra continued to tell

them its certification process

was on track but the company

was actually delaying submit-

ting the required documenta-

tion to regulators as a pretext

to terminate its agreements,

Diaz said. The lawsuit says

the dealers have given

Mahindra more than $9.5

million in cash and more than

a $100 million worth of deal-

er trade secrets and a strong

market foundation from the

dealers' "free" promotion of

the Mahindra name.

"Mahindra repeatedly failed

to live up to its obligations,"

Diaz said. "Now, after spend-

ing millions of dollars on

behalf of Mahindra, the U.S.

dealers have nothing to show

for their time and energy

other than a series of false

promises."

US auto dealers sue Indiantruck manufacturer

Lawsuit claims Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd andMahindra USA Inc duped them and walked away

with millions in cash and trade secrets

Indian-Americans appointedto key Texas Boards

Houston: Two prominent

Indian-American commu-

nity leaders here have

been appointed to engi-

neering and medical pro-

fessionals boards in Texas.

Texas governor Rick

Perry appointed

Sockalingam Sam

Kannappan to the Texas

Board of Professional

Engineers for term to

expire on September 26,

2017.

The board licenses quali-

fied engineers, enforces

the Texas Engineering

Practice Act and regulates

the practice of profession-

al engineering in Texas.

Born in Nattarasankottai

in Sivaganga district of

Tamil Nadu, Kannappan is

a senior design engineer

for SNC-Lavalin

Hydrocarbons and

Chemicals.

Kannappan received a

bachelor's degree from

Annamalai University and

a master's degree in

mechanical engineering

from the University of

Texas.

He is one of the co-

founders of Sri Meenakshi

Temple in Houston.

Perry appointed

Surendra Varma of

Lubbock, Texas, and

Robert Hootkins of Austin

to the Texas Medical

Board District Review

Committees Three and

Four.

Committee members

evaluate medical practice

or professional competen-

cy and make recommenda-

tions on investigations

conducted by the board.

Varma is associate dean

of Graduate Medical

Education and Resident

Affairs at Texas Tech

University Health

Sciences Centre (TTUH-

SC).

He is also the Ted

Hartman Endowed Chair

in Medical Education and

vice-chair of Pediatrics at

TTUHSC School of

Medicine.

He has been appointed to

the District Three review

committee for a term to

expire January 15, 2018.

Sockalingam Sam Kannappan and Surendra Varma

10 US Affairs

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Bill to raise federalminimum wage to $10Chicago: U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson

Jr. has written legislation for the

U.S. House that would increase

the minimum wage to $10 per

hour. Under his proposal the fed-

eral minimum wage would

increase $2.75 per hour. The fed-

eral minimum wage has been

$7.25 since 2007.The Chicago

Democrat says the legislation will

affect more than 30 million work-

ers. He says former independent

presidential candidate and con-

sumer advocate Ralph Nader

encouraged him to introduce the

legislation which will encourage

Americans to spend more and

thus help stimulate the nation’s

sluggish economy.The federal

minimum wage is covered by the

1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.

New York: A group closely allied

with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo

received $2 million from gambling

interests last December as he

developed a proposal to expand

casino gambling in New York.

Mr. Cuomo’s support for expand-

ed gambling, which he made a cen-

terpiece of his State of the State

address in January, had a profound

impact. Within weeks, the

Legislature endorsed a constitu-

tional amendment that, if approved

once more by lawmakers and then

by voters, would allow for seven

full-scale, privately owned casinos,

potentially worth billions of dol-

lars, reports New York Times.

Genting, a subsidiary of

Southeast Asia’s largest gambling

company, made an additional con-

tribution of approximately

$400,000 to the group allied with

Mr. Cuomo during 2011. The New

York Gaming Association, a trade

group founded by Genting and

other companies that operate race-

tracks and electronic slot machines,

chipped in the $2 million.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, strong-

ly disputed any suggestion that he

was influenced by money from the

gambling industry. He noted that

he had expressed support for an

expansion of casino gambling

months before the contributions

were made, and that he had

diverged from the gaming associa-

tion on several key issues.

“To try to suggest an improper

relationship between the governor

and gaming interests is to distort

the facts in a malicious or reckless

manner,” Richard Bamberger, a

spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said in

an e-mail.

The contributions went to the

Committee to Save New York, a

business and labor coalition that

raised $17 million and spent nearly

$12 million in 2011, much of it on

campaign-style television and radio

advertisements praising Mr.

Cuomo and supporting his propos-

als to cap property taxes and slash

state spending.

Founded by real estate develop-

ers and business executives at Mr.

Cuomo’s urging shortly after he

was elected governor, the commit-

tee has rapidly become the biggest

spender on lobbying in Albany,

providing not only critical backing

for Mr. Cuomo but also a counter-

weight to the labor unions whose

money and political muscle have

traditionally dominated the

Capitol.

Gambling group gave $2 millionto Cuomo ally: NYT

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo

Slim chance of US slippingback into recession: Buffett

Washington: The possibility of

the US economy sliding back

into recession is very small

despite the fragile economic

recovery, US billionaire investor

Warren Buffett said here.

The US economy would not

slip back into recession unless

events in Europe get out of con-

trol and the spillover effects hit

the world's largest economy,

Buffett said Tuesday at an event

hosted by the Economic Club of

Washington, reported Xinhua.

The chairman and CEO of

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. called

the ongoing eurozone debt crisis

the "big question" for the global

economy. Buffett stressed that

the US must make its fiscal house

in order by increasing tax rev-

enue and slashing spending,

adding that he supports raising

income tax and capital gains tax

rates to balance the federal gov-

ernment's budget.

Buffett has famously said that

he paid at a lower tax rate than

his secretary. The Obama admin-

istration has been touting the

importance of so-called "Buffett

Rule" that millionaires should

share the burden of mounting

government fiscal pressure.

Nearly one-quarter of all US

millionaires pay a lower tax rate

than millions of middle-income

taxpayers currently, figures from

the White House showed.

On the spending side, the US

federal government has regis-

tered a budget deficit surpassing

$1 trillion for three consecutive

years.

Wisconsin recall raises warning flags for Obama

Washington: Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott

Walker's recall victory raised numerous warning flags

for President Obama and his fellow Democrats, who

badly flunked the first big political test of the 2012 cam-

paign. Walker's surprisingly easy win over Democrat

Tom Barrett on Tuesday was fueled by a big turnout

from a motivated Republican base of voters, and by

heavy spending by out-of-state conservatives who

flooded Wisconsin with campaign cash.

Both trends raised difficult questions for Obama's re-

election campaign, which has struggled to match the

enthusiasm of his 2008 White House run and compete

financially with the huge sums of money being raised

by conservative outside groups ahead of the November

6 election.

At the least, the result moved Wisconsin from a rela-

tively safe state for Obama, who won it by 14 percent-

age points in 2008, to a competitive tussle with

Republican rival Mitt Romney.

"You could have a reasonable debate about whether

Wisconsin is a toss-up or maybe slightly leaning to

Obama," said Charles Franklin, a pollster at the

Marquette University School of Law in Wisconsin. "But

you can't debate that it will be competitive, and it really

will depend on how the economic numbers play out

over the next few months."

In Walker's 7 percentage point victory over Barrett

after a 15-month battle over his efforts to slash spending

and rein in public-sector unions, Republicans saw an

endorsement of his bulldozing approach to limiting gov-

ernment and a good omen for November.

Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker'shas won the recall election

‘Paycheck Fairness Act' failsin Senate

Washington: The bill received 52

votes in its favor, only 8 votes shy of

the minimum to pass to final consider-

ation.

President Barack Obama and his

allies in the Senate pushed the bill, an

election-year effort to merge political

appeals to women.

Republicans voted largely against

the bill on the basis that its passing

could affect business if employees

decide to sue for pay-related issues.

"To those of our colleagues who

claim to be so concerned about the

economy and the middle class, now is

your chance to prove to your con-

stituents that you really mean what

you say," said Sen. Patty Murray, (D)

Wash., as debate opened Tuesday.

"The paycheck fairness act is not just

about women, and it is not just about

fairness. It is about the economy."

Lily Ledbetter, the face of the move-

ment, complained that Obama’s

republican challenger would not com-

ment on his stance on the bill.

"Of course Gov. Romney supports

pay equity for women," said Romney

spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.

"In order to have pay equity, women

need to have jobs, and they have been

getting crushed in this anemic Obama

economy, losing far more jobs than

men."

According to the Washington Post,

democratic aides have said President

Obama’s reelection campaign and

Senate Democrats aim to use the fail-

ure of the Paycheck Fairness Act as

part of a strategy to expose congres-

sional Republican hostility towards

women interests.

The fact remains that there's a gen-

der gap in the workforce, and it needs

to be addressed. Women earn 77 cents

for every dollar men earn -- 64 cents

for African American women and 56

cents for Latinas -- which adds up to a

loss of about $431,000 over the course

of their professional lives.

Space shuttle Enterprise docks atNew York museum home

New York: The space shuttle Enterprise - named

after the spaceship in Star Trek - achieved lift-off on

Wednesday when it was hoisted by a crane onto a

floating museum in New York's Hudson River.

Cheers and thunderous applause erupted from the

crowd of New Yorkers and tourists who turned out to

see the retired spacecraft moved to its new home atop

the flight deck of repurposed World War Two aircraft

carrier now named the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space

Museum. "Beam me up, Scotty!" a man in the crowd

shouted as a crane lifted the shuttle off a barge onto

the museum, repeating a catch phrase from the popu-

lar science fiction television show.

The crowd grew quiet and the air was filled with

the creaking of the crane and beating of a helicopter

circling overhead as the shuttle rose 230 feet

into the air.

Earlier Wednesday, as the shuttle, strapped to a

barge, made its way up the Hudson River and past the

Statue of Liberty, crowds ranging from small children

to elderly couples strained for a glimpse of the craft.

For a shuttle that never made it into space,

Enterprise has had quite a journey. In April, crowds

of tourists and New Yorkers watched in awe as

Enterprise flew over the city piggy-backed on a

Boeing 747 Jumbo jet.

Enterprise drew more crowds on Wednesday on the

banks of the Hudson to watch the NASA spacecraft

make its final approach to its new floating home on

Manhattan's west side.Despite never flying in space,

Enterprise holds a special place in American history,

having been the first of NASA's space shuttles.

US Affairs 11

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

Is it racist to say 'blacks attacking whites'?Society grapples with politically incorrect fact about crime

By Colin Flaherty

Let’s say thousands of people riot in your

upscale downtown neighborhood. And

it happens a few dozen times in just a

few years: Not just partying, but violence,

destruction, theft and serious injuries.

Question: If people notice that most of the

criminals were black and most of the victims

were white, does that make them racist?

Depends. In Philadelphia, it makes you a

hero. In Baltimore, a bigot.

Let’s start with Philadelphia: For three

years, the black mayor, Michael Nutter, said

race had nothing to do with the dozens of vio-

lent episodes of black people marauding

through older neighborhoods, stealing, beating

and destroying property.

There is no racial component to stupid

behavior, Nutter told the New York Times in

one of the few stories to even raise the topic if

only to dismiss it.

Despite their denials, the violence contin-

ued. Sometimes daily. Injuries mounted. So

did the explicit videos on YouTube and pres-

sure to confront the obvious.

Finally, Nutter changed: The rioters were

black and they were hurting their own race,

Nutter told a crowd at his neighborhood

Baptist church.

At his side: the head of the Philadelphia

Branch of the NAACP, J. Whyatt Mondesire.

Nutter’s comments were courageous, he said.

These are majority African-American youths

and they need to be called on it.

TheGrio.com, a division of NBC News that

satisfies the desire of African Americans to

stay informed and connected with their com-

munity, said Nutter’s comments were tough

love... about things black people think but

won’t say. Nutter was disgusted by the mobs

of African American youths who have been

terrorizing folks in City Center lately, he gave

the black community a good old-fashioned

whipping, said Annette John Hall, columnist

for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The tough love had weak results: Violence

continued as did the local media’s willingness

to ignore its racial component.

One hundred miles down the road, mob vio-

lence at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor may have

been less manic and less reported, but it was at

least as widespread.

Most famously, on St. Patrick’s Day 2012, a

group of black people beat and stripped and

mocked a drunken tourist. Videos they posted

went viral.

Police officials said the incident was small

and limited. The Baltimore Sun would later

release a study showing the violence was far

greater and more widespread than city offi-

cials reported.

As to the race of the criminals in this and

other incidents? That’s not something

reporters in Baltimore wonder about.

But state legislator Pat McDonough did.

In the spring of 2012, McDonough and his

wife saw it for themselves while visiting the

Inner Harbor for a charity dinner: Hundreds of

people marauding through the streets, fight-

ing, wreaking havoc.

With not a cop in sight, the McDonoughs

noticed the rioters were black.

A few weeks later McDonough issued a

press release, calling for the mayor and gover-

nor to declare a No-Travel zone in the area

because it was not safe. The headline on his

press release read: Black Youth Mobs

Terrorize Baltimore on Holidays.

Which is what the black columnist for the

Inquirer said just a months before. No matter:

The governor, mayor, elected officials and the

media lined up to blast McDonough.

Race-baiting, said a fellow legislator.

Racially charged publicity stunt, said a

spokesman for the mayor.

The governor dismissed McDonough

because crime was down.

The former head of the NAACP in

Baltimore said McDonough was guilty of big-

otry. The editorial writers of the Baltimore

Sun dutifully heaped on the scorn: Bluster ...

Bombast ... Bloviating, they called it. Why is

the race of those involved in criminal behavior

pertinent? they asked McDonough.

Fair question, McDonough said.

They should tell us, said McDonough. In the

days before and after this editorial, the Sun

has run articles referring to race more than

100 times. There were stories about black

homesteaders, black ministers, blacks and ille-

gal immigration, blacks and schools, blacks

and gay rights, black tennis stars, blacks in the

1940 census, black school children, black

criminal suspects, black criminal victims. The

list goes on and on. All from the paper that

pleads with us to ignore race. I’m confused.

Do we ignore race or not?

Or is it sometimes yes and sometimes no?

he said. If you pay attention to race are you a

bigot or enlightened? These big city newspa-

pers writers are just too bright for me.

With permission from WND (formerlyWorldNetDaily), a leading Internet news sitein both traffic and influence.

Opinion

12 India

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Beijing: China has reiterated its

desire to open a fourth mission in

India, possibly in Chennai to further

expand growing trade and business

ties with its neighbor. Chinese for-

eign minister Yang Jiechi raised the

issue at a meeting this afternoon

with Indian external affairs minister

SM Krishna at the Great Hall of the

People.

Krishna was in a Beijing to repre-

sent India as an observer country at

the two-day Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO) summit.

According to Indian embassy

sources, Yang said China was keen

to expand consular presence in

India. Currently, China has an

embassy in New Delhi and two con-

sulates Mumbai and Kolkata.

Krishna was said to have told him

that matter should be taken forward

through meetings between consular-

level officials.

Current trade between the coun-

tries stands at 74 billion USD; the

projected volume is 100 billion

USD by 2015. India has also urged

China to invest in infrastructure. As

a port city on India’s east coast,

Chennai’s location is seen as crucial

to the increasing industrialisation in

the area.

Interestingly, Taiwan, which

China claims to be its territory,

opened its second representative

office in India in Chennai a few

months ago.

China also expressed interest in

creating “sister city” ties with

Indian cities. Yang said these ties

have worked very well for China

especially with Japan, Korea and

Russia.

It was the fourth meeting between

the two ministers in 2012 and they

discussed issues of bilateral interest

and some that are outstanding ones.

For one, next month technical teams

from both countries will meet dis-

cuss the issue of sharing river water.

The two countries have already held

talks on counter-terrorism and poli-

cy planning this year. Relevant offi-

cials will also meet soon for a bilat-

eral dialogue on and Central and

West Asia.

Embassy sources said on his part

Krishna assured Yang that Chinese

businesses will be given a “level

playing field” if they want to invest-

ment in India. Yang had expressed

concerns that many Chinese busi-

nessmen were not sure whether they

were welcome in India and whether

they will be treated fairly.

On the huge trade deficit in the

trade between the two countries,

Yang told Krishna: “We are looking

to see where is it that India is com-

petitive?”

But overall, according to ambas-

sador S Jaishankar, it was evident

from the meeting that “relationship

(between the two countries) was

going more smoothly than before.”

China for creating 'sistercity' ties with India

Rupee hits 2-week high;China rate cut helps

Mumbai: The rupee breached the

55-per-dollar mark on June 7, hitting

its strongest level against the dollar

in more than two weeks, as a rate cut

in China in late trade further boosted

a revival in global risk sentiment.

Dollar sales by foreign and custo-

dian banks tied to the rally in domes-

tic stock markets also helped the

rupee strengthen, although dollar

buying by oil firms capped some of

the gains.

India's promise on Wednesday to

push ahead with major transport and

power projects, which some analysts

initially saw as a positive signal from

a government often accused of policy

inaction, failed to sway markets.

The rupee has now gained for four

consecutive sessions, bouncing back

from a record low of 56.52 hit a

week ago, and analysts see further

gains ahead if demand for global risk

assets continues to improve.

"I think the rupee should appreci-

ate from here on. The rupee could

rise to 54 in the near-term, while

downside should not be beyond

56.50 levels. We have likely seen the

bottom," said SK Kalra, general

manager and head of treasury at

Allahabad Bank.

The partially convertible rupee

closed at 54.94/95 per dollar, accord-

ing to SBI data, after earlier hitting

54.92, its strongest since May 28.

The rupee closed at 55.36/37 on

Wednesday.

Global risk sentiment improved in

part on rising hopes for new mone-

tary stimulus from the US Federal

Reserve, with traders also welcoming

China's surprise move to cut bench-

mark interest rates in a bid to spur

economic growth.

The Reserve Bank of India is also

widely expected to cut domestic

interest rates at its policy meeting on

June 18 after growth slowed sharply

in the first three months of the year,

which may help improve confidence

in the economy.

Foreign investors, whose flows are

critical to India's markets and its

economy, bought Rs 1.7 billion of

stocks on Wednesday, though they

remain net sellers of about Rs 20 bil-

lion so far this month, indicating they

have sold into the rally in Indian

stocks.

"As of now stock flows are expect-

ed to continue, but we need to see

how far the euro zone goes in sorting

out the crisis, which is not easy," said

Hari Chandramgathan, a forex dealer

with Federal Bank.

"So rupee weakness will continue

after the initial pause. If flows are

good, the rupee can gain to 54.60 or

53.80 in the coming weeks."

Compulsory disclosure of overseasassets irks taxpayers

New Delhi: Filing of income tax

returns has become more complicat-

ed from this year for those having

bank accounts or any other assets

overseas. The government has made

it compulsory for Indian as well as

expatriate resident individuals to

disclose their overseas assets.

"The overseas assets will not be

taxed, but it is an additional hassle

for taxpayers," said Neeru Ahuja,

partner, Deloitte Haskins and Sells.

Apart from the additional hassle,

Ahuja said, expatriate resident indi-

viduals find it as an intrusion into

their privacy.

"Many people are complaining.

Expatriates who have come here to

work even for a short period are

required to disclose assets back

home. It is an intrusion into their

privacy," Ahuja told IANS.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes

(CBDT) recently notified the new

tax return forms for the tax year

2011-12 or assessment year 2012-

13, mandating disclosure of foreign

assets. In the tax return forms called

ITR 2/3, a new section called 'FA'

(Foreign Assets) has been intro-

duced to disclose foreign assets.

As per the notification, individuals

having taxable income exceeding

Rs.1 million (nearly $20,000) and

domestic and expatriate resident

individuals with assets located over-

seas have to file their returns

through the electronic mode.

"Resident individuals are required

to file tax returns in India irrespec-

tive of whether they have income

chargeable to tax in India or not,"

said Ahuja.

As per the Finance Bill 2012, resi-

dent individuals having assets,

including financial interest in any

entity located outside India are

required to furnish tax returns elec-

tronically from financial year 2011-

12 onwards giving complete details

of such assets.

In other words, income is not the

only criteria to file an income tax

return in India now. Those resident

individuals who have assets outside

the country are compulsorily

required to file income tax return,

irrespective of whether they have

any income generated in India or

not.

The government has made disclo-

sure of foreign assets mandatory in a

bid to trace black money, which has

become a big political issue in the

country.

Although there is no official fig-

ure, some private research puts

quantum of illicit money held by

Indians to the tune of $1.4 trillion.

The government recently released

a white paper on black money, but

did not give any estimate.

Now, Digvijay hits out atBaba Ramdev

New Delhi: A day after Congress appeared going

soft on Ramdev, party general secretary Digvijay

Singh hit out at the yoga guru asking him to first

declare how much black money he possesses before

launching a campaign to bring back ill-gotten

wealth stashed abroad.

"Everything of whatever I had said about Ramdev

and Anna Hazare in past has come out to be true.

There is a notice by ED on tax evasion against

Ramdev. He (Ramdev) himself is in the dock but

keeps talking about bringing black money back.

First he should declare how much black money he

has," Singh told reporters.

Ridiculing BJP chief Nitin Gadkari for touching

the feet of Ramdev, the AICC leader said,"I was

very happy to see Gadkari on the feet of Ramdev,

who is facing an ED notice on tax evasion. So the

BJP President is on Ramdev's feet."

His remarks came on a day when after Sharad

Pawar's NCP, another Congress ally RLD came out

in support of Ramdev's campaign against black

money and corruption with the yoga guru saying he

will put a fresh proposal before the government

during the coming monsoon session of Parliament.

Observing that Ramdev has helped in awakening

the people on this issue, Ajit Singh today said there

is more black money in the country than what is

stored abroad.

Singh's strong attack on Ramdev is in contrast to

the position taken by party spokesperson Rashid

Alvi.

Alvi saw nothing wrong in Ramdev meeting

Sharad Pawar on the black money issue and said

Sonia Gandhi will "definitely consider" giving an

appointment to him, if it was sought.

He had also not found any problem with Pawar's

remarks that the yoga guru's suggestions to tackle

the menace were "pragmatic". Pawar, who holds

the agriculture portfolio, had said he did not "smell

politics" in Ramdev's campaign.

Alvi said, "Everybody supports the fight against

black money. If anybody talks against black money,

everybody will spontaneously support it."

Baba Ramdev

New Delhi: Monsoon rains were 36

percent below average in the week

to June 6, the Indian weather office

said, reflecting the delay in the

arrival of the seasonal rains over

Kerala from the usual June 1 start

date.

The four-month long rainy season

is in the initial stages and crops are

not greatly affected by the quantity

of rains now, with distribution of

rainfall in mid-July after the mon-

soon covers the entire country more

important for their growth.

On Tuesday, the monsoon arrived

in Kerala four days after the usual

arrival date as a cyclone on the west

coast stalled the onset.

The weather office had predicted a

June 1 start for the rains and has a

four-day margin of error for its fore-

cast. It forecast average rainfall for

the whole June to September season

-- the third year in a row to avoid a

drought.

The monsoon rains are crucial for

farm output and economic growth as

about 55 percent of the south Asian

nation's arable land is rain-fed, and

the farm sector accounts for about

15 percent of a nearly $2-trillion

economy, Asia's third-biggest.

Indian monsoon rains 36% below average

I've not insulted medicalprofession: Aamir Khan

New Delhi: Pats and brickbats -

Aamir Khan was prepared for it all

when he set out to discuss burning

issues in his debut TV show

"Satyamev Jayate". Fearless and

convinced about the aim of the

show, the actor-filmmaker says he is

totally unapologetic about raising

the issue of malpractices in the

medical profession, thereby upset-

ting an umbrella body of 21 medical

institutions.

"I have absolutely no intentions of

apologising because I have not done

anything wrong," Aamir said.

After raising concerns over

female foeticide, dowry and child

abuse, Aamir took it upon himself to

shake up viewers and awaken them

to the existence of irregularities in

the country's healthcare system.

He brought issues like cut prac-

tices, unethical medical practices,

and commission demands to the

fore and presented live examples of

people who could have been cured

with simple medicines but were

advised by doctors to undergo sur-

geries, robbing them of precious

money.

This 'exposure' has landed Aamir

in the bad books of the Indian

Medical Association (IMA). But he

does not fret!

"We were aware that since these

are issues that are core to all of us

and affecting every Indian, obvious-

ly there are some people who are

part of the problem, and they are not

going to be happy with us because

these are the ones who don't want a

solution to be there.

"In fact, I would have been sur-

prised if we would not have earned

brickbats. The people who are get-

ting troubled are very likely the

ones who are part of the problems,"

said Aamir, adding that he hasn't

received any physical threats so far.

He protests against the allegation

that he only highlighted the negative

aspects of the medical profession on

his show, to which was invited K.K.

Talwar, chairman, board of gover-

nors, Medical Council of India

(MCI).

"I don't know whether they have

seen the show because a number of

times we brought out that there are

many doctors who are doing great

work. We gave such strong exam-

ples of positive work by doctors like

Dr. Devi Shetty and Dr. Shamit

Sharma," Aamir told IANS.

He denied the accusation that he

insulted the medical profession.

India 13

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

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Udaipur gets country’s biggest solar telescope By Prakash Bhandari

Jaipur: Udaipur, called the Venice

of the East, will soon earn a new

identity when the country’s biggest

solar telescope Multi-Application

Solar Telescope (MAST) will start

functioning from the island of

Fatehsagar lake.

MAST is a 50 cm diameter tele-

scope , which, despite its limited

size, is expected to be competitive

with other large and costly projects,

thanks to its versatility regarding

science goals and its demanding

optomechanical and thermal specifi-

cation. Its optical configuration is

based on a focal off-axis Gregorian

combination integrated on an

mechanical mount, with a suite of

flat folding mirrors to provide the

required stationary collimated beam.

The main strength of MAST will be

its capability to perform precision

spectroscopy and polarimetry over

both the solar photosphere and chro-

mosphere.

Udaipur's Solar Observatory

(USO), set up in 1976, by Dr

Aravind Bhatnagar, uses a vast

assortment of high quality tele-

scopes that help in solar observa-

tions. It is modeled on the one at

Big Bear Lake in Southern

California. It is run by the Union

government’s Physical Research

Laboratory, Ahmedabad, for the

Department of Space.

MAST, weighing 8 tonnes, is

being installed under the rounded

structure on the top of the building

of USO, which enjoys a unique

location sitting on an island in the

Fatehsagar Lake. Because it is locat-

ed in the middle of a large mass of

water, disturbance that might occur

in the air due to ground heating by

sun rays is decreased in its intensity.

Indeed, it enhances the quality of

the image and seeing.

This site provides on an average

of 270 clear days in a year, which is

important for intensive study of

solar phenomena. Studies conduct-

ed at USO have shown that the full

potential of adaptive optics can be

realized up to a telescope aperture of

50 cm, given the good daytime “see-

ing” conditions at USO lake site. At

the USO, solar observations carried

out include magnetic field, spectral,

and velocity observations for studies

relating to solar flares, mass ejec-

tions, and the evolution of solar

active regions. This observatory is

also famous for patching the long

gap between Australia and Spain. It

acts as a channel for uninterrupted

solar coverage in many international

joint programs comprising the

Global Oscillations Network Group

(GONG).

A milestone in USO's history

came in 1995, when it appeared on

the world map as an important link

in GONG. The GONG system was

further upgraded in 2001. The other

five sites selected under GONG are

located at the Canary islands

(Spain), CTIO (Chile), Big Bear

(USA), Hawaii (USA), and

Learmonth (Australia), for a near

continuous 24 hour solar coverage

to probe the solar interior. A $1.5

million dollar instrument was

installed at Udaipur under this proj-

ect. It monitors the sun automatical-

ly, and takes digital velocity images

of the sun every minute. The USO

data is then combined with that

from other five sites at the central

facility located at National Solar

Observatory, Tucson, USA.

Udaipur's solar observatory onFatehsagar island

14 India

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Zardari talksAfghanistan with

KrishnaBeijing: India and Pakistan Thursday

briefly discussed Afghanistan when

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M.

Krishna spoke to Pakistan President

Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

(SCO) summit here, an official said.

Zardari asked Krishna about Indian

investments in Afghanistan. Krishna

replied that these were concentrated in

the areas of health, education and

capacity building, the official said.

While addressing the summit,

Krishna had referred to the $2 billion

that India has allocated for

Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Court order not a setback forme: Chidambaram

Sonia wants rubber stamp president: Swamy

New Delhi: Home minister P

Chidambaram has ruled out his res-

ignation in the wake of Madras

high court decision in the election

petition against him saying the ver-

dict was not a setback for him but

for his rival.

He ridiculed the demand for his

resignation by BJP president Nitin

Gadkari and Tamil Nadu chief min-

ister Jayalalithaa saying he was

astonished by their "monumental

ignorance".

Reacting to the demands of the

opponents, the minister said those

who make the demand for his res-

ignation "do not have criminal

case, do not have charges and have

not been questioned under

Criminal Procedure Code".

"I am astonished by the monu-

mental ignorance displayed by cer-

tain political leaders. This is an

election petition. There are 111

election petitions filed against

members of 15th Lok Sabha,"

Chidambaram said.

The Madurai bench of the

Madras high court declined

Chidambaram's plea for dismissal

of the election petition against him

by the losing AIADMK candidate

R S Rajakannappan in Sivaganga

constituency in Tamil Nadu in

2009 Lok Sabha polls.

But the court struck down two

paras in Rajakannappan's petition

containing allegations against

returning officer, government and

bank officials.

Chidambaram said in the election

petition against him, there were

only allegations.

"Issues have not yet been framed.

Trial has not yet started. Not one

witness has been examined. At the

threshold an application was filed

to strike out pleadings.

"That application has been partly

allowed and para 4 and 5 which

contain allegations against return-

ing officer, police officers, other

government servants and bank offi-

cials have been struck out," he

said. The home minister said he

sincerely hoped that political lead-

ers will read Order

Lucknow: Janata Party chief

Subramanian Swamy Thursday

accused Congress president Sonia

Gandhi of wanting "a rubber stamp

as the next president" and said

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was best suited

for the job.

Charging Gandhi with blocking

good names for presidency, Swamy

said the country looked towards

political parties to elect "an illustri-

ous, honest and respectable man"

to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Swamy spoke after meeting

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam

Singh Yadav here in view of the

presidential polls scheduled next

month.Addressing a press confer-

ence later, Swamy called for anoth-

er term for Kalam, who was the

president from 2002 to 2007.

He said Kalam was immensely

respected by people of all age

groups. "I think that Kalam is the

most suited person to occupy

Rashtrapati Bhawan."

If all opposition parties unite and

select one candidate, the ruling

party's candidate is sure to be

defeated, he said.

US' patience with Pak 'reaching limits': PanettaNew Delhi/Kabul: Defense sec-

retary Leon Panetta pressured

Pakistan to do more to root out

the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani ter-

rorist network from its territory,

saying that US officials are

"reaching the limits of our

patience."

The Haqqani group has been

blamed for several attacks on

Americans in Afghanistan,

including last year's attack

against the US Embassy and Nato

headquarters in Kabul.

It also has ties to the Taliban

and has emerged as perhaps the

biggest threat to stability in

Afghanistan.

Lawmakers from both parties

have been urging the State

Department to designate the

Haqqani network a foreign terror-

ist organization.

The US has given Pakistan bil-

lions of dollars in aid for its sup-

port in fighting Islamist militants.

Panetta made his comments at a

news conference with Afghan

defense minister Abdul Rahim

Wardak, capping two days of

blunt commentary on Pakistan.

"It is an increasing concern that

the safe haven exists and that

there are those -- likely Haqqanis

-- who are making use of that to

attack our forces," Panetta said.

"We are reaching the limits of

our patience here, and for that

reason it is extremely important

that Pakistan take action to pre-

vent this kind of safe haven from

taking place and allowing terror-

ists to use their country as a safe-

ty net in order to conduct their

attacks on our forces."

Panetta then underscored his

point.

"We have made that very clear

time and time again and we will

continue to do that, but as I said,

we are reaching the limits of our

patience."

Wardak also said he thought

Pakistan could do more to elimi-

nate the sanctuaries that militants

are using in Pakistan, saying the

Pakistanis are in a better position

to provide intelligence or take

law enforcement or military

actions.

"I do hope that gradually they

will come to the conclusion to

cooperate with us," Wardak said.

"I think it's important to make

sure we are aware of the kind of

attacks they're going to engage in

... as we go through the rest of the

summer," Panetta told reporters

traveling with him during a stop

in New Delhi.

US Defense secretary Leon Panetta

Home minister P Chidambaram

Presidential poll: DMK leaders meet PMNew Delhi: DMK leaders T.R.

Baalu and M.K. Stalin met

Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh and are believed to have

discussed the issue of selection

of a candidate for the presiden-

tial election.

The meeting lasted for around

5 to 7 minutes and was

described by the DMK leaders

as a courtesy call.

Talking to reporters after his

meeting with the Prime

Minister, Stalin said, "Whatever

Karunanidhi had conveyed to

defence minister A K Antony is

the party's stand on the selection

of UPA's Presidential candi-

date".

On May 5, Karunanidhi said

he had no objection if Union

finance minister Pranab

Mukherjee was chosen as UPA's

Presidential candidate.

Baalu and Stalin would also

be meeting Congress president

Sonia Gandhi later in the day

apparently to discuss the issue

of selecting a presidential candi-

date.

Last month, Gandhi had dis-

patched senior party leader

Antony to Chennai to take the

DMK supremo M Karunanidhi

on board on the issue.

Gandhi had held talks with

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and

Trinamool Congress chief

Mamata Banerjee on the issue

soon after the meeting between

Antony and Karunanidhi.

Gandhi had on Tuesday also

met the RLD chief Ajit Singh.

The RLD chief had yesterday

said that Pranab Mukherjee was

"qualified" for the highest con-

stitutional post but his views

were "positive" on others as

well.

A fresh round of consultations

on the issue of selection of a

Presidential nominee has begun

in the UPA, after the Congress

Working Committee in a meet-

ing passed a resolution authoris-

ing Gandhi to decide candidates

for the Presidential and Vice

Presidential elections.

6, Rule 16 of the Civil

Procedure Code and understand

what is the meaning of 'strike

out the pleadings'.

"If pleadings are struck out, it

is a setback to the election peti-

tioner and not to me," he said.

Asked about the claim of the

lawyer for Rajakannappan that

except para 4 and 5, all other

charges in the petition have

been accepted by the court,

Chidambaram said "pleadings

have not been accepted. Now

the trial is to start".

Replying to Jayalalitha's

charge, the home minister said

"they (rivals) have not sought

adjournments to the trial dozens

of times.

"They have not approached

high court or Supreme Court

dozens of times. Therefore, they

are entitled to make these

demands," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Poor Muslim women in India connectto global fashion with crafts

By Madhusree Chatterjee

New Delhi: Marginalized Muslim

craftswomen and weavers in Uttar

Pradesh, Bihar and in the capital

are making an international con-

nection with their work thanks to

two projects by the Self-Employed

Women's Association (SEWA), one

of the country's oldest crafts and

women's empowerment organiza-

tions.

One project, "Ruaab: SEWA

Artisans Producer Company", is

empowering nearly 1,500 Muslim

women in the eastern fringe of the

capital with full-time jobs as

embroiderers and designers to

international brands like Zara, Gap

Inc-Banana Republic, Monsoon,

NEXT, Newlook and Vero Moda.

The women work both at the

SEWA centets and out of their

homes.

Another cooperative project with

100 Bhagalpur silk weavers in

Bihar is empowering at least 90

Muslim families with women lead-

ing the trade, a spokesperson for

the organization said.

Their creations, mostly saris and

yardage, are finding global plat-

forms through the foreign missions

like the German, American and

Canadian embassies in India, the

government's Handloom

Commission, Silk Mark and private

organizations like KPMG and

Aircel.

In April, hundreds of Muslim

women weavers employed with

SEWA created a range of embroi-

dered home furnishings - mostly

hand-beaded cushions - for

London-based designer Tracey

Boyd's "Aboydbazaar" - a show

marking his return to the world of

accessory and apparel design after

a small break.

Boyd was named the New British

Designer Of The Year in 2000.

"The cushions were embellished

with 'Ari' thread embroidery and

beadwork," SEWA designer Pallavi

Yadav told IANS at a showcase of

Ruaab in the capital Friday.

Yadav said: "The SEWA centets

in east Delhi, which are Muslim-

dominated, has more than 350 reg-

ular Muslim workers and over 700

home-based workers."

Most of these workers are

migrants from Uttar Pradesh and

Madhya Pradesh who come in

search of better livelihood.

The women have learnt the tradi-

tional "Ari" thread work from their

native villages in districts like

Barielly and Bulandsahar.

The "Ari" embroidery is a varia-

tion of the Kashmiri "addawork"-

an intricate thread craft, Yadav

said.

"It is a common sight in the reset-

tlement slums in east Delhi to find

these women sitting outside their

houses with a piece of fabric tied to

a long "adda", a wooden frame on

which they embroider," Yadav said.

Ruaab also has centets in the

Muslim-dominated villages of

Uttar Pradesh.

The organization, which was set

up in 1972 by Ela Bhatt in Gujarat,

works in nine states across India.

"In Bhagalpur district in Bihar,

where the traditional handloom

weavers have been battling power-

loom and the nexus of middlemen

in the silk trade, SEWA has been

trying to link them to the market

with the help of SEWA Saheli, its

cooperatve", the director of SEWA

Bharat said.

The weavers are paid Rs.600 per

sari against the Rs.500 paid by the

government, and Rs.250 by mid-

dlemen, said Neha Saini, marketing

coordinator for the organization's

Bhagalpur project.

For the illiterate and poor Muslim

women, who have never been out

of the confines of their homes, the

formal engagement with SEWA has

been socially and psychologically

empowering.

They can now go out unescorted,

speak to people. The core group of

sample crafts people - who make

samples for international brands -

now have developed international

fashion consciousness.

"We took a few women to

London a couple of years ago to

show them the brand headquarters

to which they supplied. They now

suggest their own inputs for the

designs," Yadav said.

Confidence shines like an armour

in the faces and body language of

Tabassum, Taslim and Zeenat -

three full-time "ari" thread workers

from Sundernagar near Noida in

east Delhi.

They say working for SEWA has

taken the insecurity out of their

lives.

"I don't want to work anywhere

because SEWA pays well. I make

around Rs.5,000 a month and live

comfortably with my family of

three children. I worked for a mid-

dleman earlier who paid me

Rs.2,500," Taslim, a migrant

craftsperson from Bulandshahr,

said.

Tabassum has built a home

together with her husband, a shoe-

maker, after joining SEWA.

Sports & Society 15

Thesouthasiantimes.info June 9-15, 2012

A SEWA project worker beads a cushion cover.

Jaipur team to play in NY polo tournament By Prakash Bhandari

Jaipur: The scion of the Jaipur

royal family whose commitment to

polo is tremendous and which has

promoted and popularized the sport

globally, will be leading a team

from Jaipur that will play under the

name and style of Team India in the

15th annual Mashomack interna-

tional polo tournament at New York

beginning June 16. The tournament

will feature teams from US, Britain,

France and Italy.

“We have been invited by

Mashomack Polo Club to play in

their summer international tourney

and we take this opportunity to pro-

vide an opportunity to our players

to play abroad against the profes-

sionals and gain experience,” said

Maharaja Narendra Singh, the hus-

band of Diya Kumari, princess of

Jaipur, and father of the present

Maharaja Padmanabh Singh.

The Mashomack Polo Club, in

Pine Plains, NY, has invited the

Royal Jaipur Polo team to take part

in the 15th Annual Mashomack

International Polo Challenge begin-

ning June 16. The festivities for this

prestigious event will begin with a

party for the media. For the main

game Rajmata Padmini Devi of

Jaipur (the queen mother),

Maharaja Padmanabh Singh, who is

only 14, and Princess Diya Kumari

will be the Guests.

The skipper Narendra Singh, who

is also India’s envoy to the

International polo federation, said

the other members of the team are

Col. N.S. Sandhu, Angad Kalaan

and Ransher Singh.

Prior to reaching New York, the

team will play an exhibition game

at Toronto on June 9. After playing

in New York the team will play at

6th Asia Cup at Royal Berkshire

Polo Club, Windsor near London.

Located on a 1,900-acre preserve

in Pine Plains, NY, just 90 minutes

from New York City, the

Mashomack Polo Club is a full

service club for polo players of all

levels. It has undertaken a multi-

year capital improvement program

and now features five tournament-

class fields, one practice field, stick

and ball areas and a regulation out-

door polo arena.

Mashomack Polo offers league

polo from 4 goal to 12 goal, and

hosts tournaments such as the pres-

tigious USPA Eduardo Moore

Invitational, the USPA Tracey

Mactaggart Challenge Cup, the

USPA Governors Cup, the USPA

Officer ’s Cup and the USPA

Constitution Cup. There is polo to

suit every level of player from June

through September.

The Mashomack Polo Club, in Pine Plains,NY, has invited the Royal Jaipur Polo team to

take part in its 15th annual InternationalPolo Challenge beginning June 16.

Team members Angad Kalaan, Ransher Singh, Maharaj NarendraSingh and Col. N.S. Sandhu.

Maharaj Narendra Singh ofJaipur will lead the team.

Thousands cheer Queen's Diamond Jubilee river pageant

Queen's gala connects toIndia with mega party

16 Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee 17

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II leaves St Paul's Cathedral after the National Service of Thanksgiving to celebratethe Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in London.

New Delhi: The gala celebrating 60

years of British Queen Elizabeth II's

accession to the throne in 1952

reached the Indian capital in a multi-

racial rainbow carnival on the lush

lawns of the British High Commis-

sion.

The celebration, a mega picnic of

more than 200 British expatriates,

showcased the colorful legacy of the

Commonwealth replete with ele-

phant rides, samosas, coronation

chicken, British fairy cakes, scones

and an element of colonial nostalgia.

The 86-year-old British queen, the

titular head of the nation, was

crowned after the death of her father,

king George VI, in 1952. Over their

lives, the queen and her husband

Prince Philip have witnessed the

transformation of the former impe-

rial empire into a commonwealth of

nations and the emergence of a new

world order.

Elizabeth II is Britain's second-

longest serving monarch after queen

Victoria. She celebrated the silver ju-

bilee of her coronation in 1977 and

the golden jubilee in 2002.

The jubilee celebration theme in

Britain is "street parties and multi-

racial bonding", said British High

Commissioner James Bevan.

"Today is a people's party day in

Britain and we are trying to replicate

the spirit of the jubilee party and

mood in India. Sixty years ago in

1952, the British society wasn't

much heterogeneous. Since then, we

have welcomed people from all over

the world," Bevan told IANS, de-

scribing the changing colour of the

British royal events over the

decades.

In the last 30 years, the size of the

Indian diaspora has grown in Britain

and country has nearly one and a half

million people of Indian origin,

Bevan said.

"The Indian diaspora is one of the

biggest, richest and the most suc-

cessful diapsora in Britain spread

across all areas of British life - poli-

tics, business and arts. The Indian di-

aspora is a part of the British

society," Bevan said.

He said that 2012 "was a year of

events in Britain and all of them

were finding resonance in India".

"In April, I hosted the queen's 86th

birthday celebrations at my resi-

dence in the capital with more than

2,000 Indian guests and we are

working with our Indian friends to

open the July 2012 London

Olympics. We have been running a

'Britain Is Great' in India showcasing

the country's past, present and fu-

ture," Bevan said.

Drawing on the larger picture of

exchanges between the two coun-

tries, the British envoy said it was a

"sign of the widening cultural and

people-to-people contact between

India, the UK and the rest of the

world".

The party, which opened at the

British High Commission lawns,

brought a slice of the London gala

via a gaint television screen, on

which was telecast the "Thames Di-

amond JubileePageant" - a royal

party flotilla of 1,000 boats traveling

down the Thames in London - live to

the audience in the capital.

"The basic idea was to come to-

gether and party as would happen in

the UK. People came with their own

food and watched the Thames Pag-

eant together," Marcus Winsley, head

of press at the British High Commis-

sion, said. The food was fusion - re-

flecting the spirit of the new Britain.

London: The Queen Elizabeth

II's Diamond Jubilee River Pag-

eant concluded this week as a

world record-beating 1,000-

strong flotilla passed under the

Tower Bridge here with hundreds

of thousands of people cheering

along the Thames.

People crowded the Thames

river's shoreline to watch the pag-

eant organized to celebrate the

Queen's 60 years on the throne.

The belfry, carrying The Royal

Jubilee Bells was the first vessel,

followed by the million-pound

row barge Gloriana, the new

Royal vessel, led by Olympic

gold medalists Sir Matthew Pin-

sent and Sir Steve Redgrave,

rowing with 16 others, Daily

Mail reported.

A 41-gun salute was given from

the Tower of London, the historic

castle on the north bank of the

Thames, while thousands of peo-

ple cheered on the banks of the

river despite the wet weather.

Catherine, Duchess of Cam-

bridge, Prince Philip, The Duke

of Edinburgh, Camilla, Duchess

of Cornwall, Prince Charles,

Prince of Wales, Prince William,

Duke of Cambridge and Prince

Harry watched Sunday's proceed-

ings from the Royal barge which

formed part of a flotilla of 1,000

boats.

Just after 2 p.m. over a thou-

sand vessels set off in wave after

wave of tugs, steamers, pleasure

cruisers, dragon boats and kayaks

with the Queen traveling at its

heart.

The river-borne event was one

of the highlights of the four-day

Diamond Jubilee weekend and

spectators refused to let the

weather dampen their spirits.

The flypast finale to the

Thames River Pageant, however,

had to be canceled following in-

clement weather.

An elephant draped in the Union Jack lends an Indian touch to thecelebrations in spirit of Commonwealth in New Delhi.

Members of the British royal family with Queen Elizabeth II on the royal barge 'Spirit of Chartwell' during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames in London.

The Buckingham Palace is illuminated by fireworks during the Queens' Diamond Jubilee Concert in London.

The spectators on the streets outside Buckingham Palace to watchDiamond Jubilee Concert in London.

British singer-songwriter Elton John performs during theQueen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at the Buckingham Palace.

At 86, Queen works morethan British MPs

In what should be a wake-up call

for British parliamentarians, 86-

year-old Queen Elizabeth II has

worked far more days this year than

any member of parliament, the Daily

Express reported. The Diamond Ju-

bilee pageant on the Thames river

was her 80th day of official engage-

ments in 2012. MPs, in contrast, have

been in Westminster for only 72 days.

The British daily reported that in

the middle of a two-week half-term

break, MPs have had 38 weekdays off

so far this year - almost double the

holiday allowance for most people in

the country.

By the end of this year, according

to the parliamentary calendar, MPs

will have been at Westminster for 151

days and have had 110 weekdays and

bank holidays off. Once weekends are

taken into account, they will have

been away from Westminster for 215

days, 59 percent of the year.

18 Ultimate Bollywood

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Producer Kumar Mangat is

set to bring bikini killer

Charles Sobhraj's

escapades on the big screen as

"Jailbreak". Directed by Prawaal

Raman, it is said to be based on

the dreaded murderer's prison

break from Delhi's Tihar jail.

It was earlier to be a biopic to

be produced by Sanjay Dutt, who

was to play the lead role, but this

was shelved due to legal issues.

Mangat's son Abhishek Pathak

has now confirmed that the film is

to be made in a new avatar. It is

said to be made at a budget of

Rs.40 crore.

"We saw the vast research that

Prawaal has done on Sobhraj and

we did our own research too.

We've now pooled our informa-

tion and Prawaal, whom we find

to be a very gifted storyteller, will

be directing the biopic," said

Pathak.

Raman's previous project with

Sanjay was thrown into jeopardy

after Sobhraj sued him for mak-

ing a film on his life.

"We'll probably get rid of the

original title 'Charles and I' and

call the film 'Jailbreak', because

that is the aspect of the story that

interests me at this point of time.

Sobhraj's 1986 jailbreak from

Tihar would be the core of the

film.

"The film is based on Sobhraj's

jailbreak. It will definitely be

inspired by the incident. But I'm

not interested anymore in making

a biopic on Sobhraj," said the

director.

The makers are planning to cast

either Saif Ali Khan or Emraan

Hashmi to play the lead role.

"We're looking at Emraan Hashmi

or Saif Ali Khan," said Pathak.

Raman says he is keen to talk to

the policemen who had caught

Sobhraj.

"I find the cops involved in the

arrest namely Mr. Amod Kanth

and Mr.Madhurkar Zende far

more inspiring than Sobhraj. So

there will be three main male

characters in 'Jailbreak'. A man

who spent 40 years of his life in

prison doesn't really interest me

to base an entire film on him."

The filmmakers are planning to cast either Saif Ali Khan or EmraanHashmi to play the lead role

Over the

l a s t

month or

so, Anurag

Kashyap has been

dealing with a

rather unconven-

tional problem.

The director of

Gangs of

Wasseypur is

apparently getting

calls from

unknown num-

bers — possibly

made by city

goons, says a

source close to

the director.

But the nature

of the calls is

unique: far from

being threatening,

the callers seem

to be complaining

that Anurag’s film

about the coal

mafia of Dhanbad

will take the lime-

light away from

the Mumbai mafia. None of the

callers is believed to have either

threatened or spoken inappropriate-

ly to the filmmaker.

“They mean no harm. They seem

to be local goons who might be

related to the underworld. Their

only grouse is over Anurag throw-

ing light on the mafia in Dhanbad,”

says the source.

When contacted, the director did-

n’t deny this development, but stat-

ed that he doesn’t want to comment

on it. “Maybe a few people are anx-

ious that with his new film, the

spotlight might shift away from the

Mumbai underworld,” the source

claims.

They were especially unhappy, it

seems, about the film coming from

the same man who wrote Satya

(1998), a landmark movie on the

Mumbai underworld.

Interestingly, Kashyap’s movie

comes three decades after Yash

Chopra made his multi-starrer 1979

blockbuster Kaala Patthar (starring

Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor

and Shatrughan Sinha), which

showcased illegal coal trafficking

in and around Dhanbad.

Anurag’s film, recently show-

cased at the Cannes film festival,

will show that, after all these years,

the coal mafia in Jharkhand still

rules by the barrel of the gun.

Unofficial estimates of the daily

value of illegal mining by the mafia

in Dhanbad is believed to be

around Rs. 100 crore.

This mafia is one of the oldest in

the country and is believed to be

financially stronger than the

Mumbai underworld. It has been

operating since the start of mining

activities during the British era.

Anurag gets threateningcalls for 'Wasseypur'

Sobhraj's jailbreak saganow on celluloid

A poster of ‘Gang of Wasseypur’

Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt has stepped

in as a producer to help director Andrew

Dominik on his long delayed Marilyn

Monroe biopic. Naomi Watts was to play the icon-

ic bombshell in Dominik's biopic Blonde, which

stalled before shooting was scheduled to begin in

January 2011, reported Contactmusic.

However, Pitt, 48, is planning to give a new life

to the Monroe film by producing the movie

through his 'Plan B' production company. "We're

going to get this one done," Pitt said.

The actor has worked with with Dominik in

gangster thriller ‘Killing Them Softly’ and ‘The

Assassination of Jesse James’.

Brad Pitt to produce MarilynMonroe biopic

Khiladi Kumar is back

with a bang! Akshay

Kumar and Sonakshi

Sinha's Rowdy Rathore is doing

exceptionally well at the box

office. Watch it for Akki's

Dabangg avatar and Sonakshi's

Chikni Kamar.

The Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi

Sinha-starrer Rowdy Rathore

(RR) may make its place in the

Rs. 100 crore club in the coming

weekends, according to trade

expert Komal Nahta. He says,

“Single-screen cinemas are going

berserk over RR. It’s a straight

blockbuster.”

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh

rubbishes the film’s negative

reviews, saying, “People want

entertainment and this film offers

it. They rubbished Sholay (1975)

and called Hum Aap Ke Hai

Kaun...!(1994). What matters is

how much money the film is

making.”

RR was released in 3,000

screens in India and overseas.

Made at a budget of Rs. 45 cr, the

film had recovered its money

when its satellite, music and

home video rights were sold for

Rs. 35 cr, Rs. 7 cr and Rs. 3 cr

respectively. And with overseas

collections of Rs. 11 cr over the

weekend in addition, this is defi-

nitely the biggest solo release of

his career.

Celebrating Rowdy’s success,

Siddharth Roy Kapur, MD,

Studios, Disney UTV, says, “We

had a six month promotion strate-

gy for the film, but what really

hit it was the connect

Prabhudheva, his team and the

film have made with the audi-

ence.”

Rowdy Rathore may enterRs. 100 crore club

Brad Pitt

A scene from ‘Rowdy Rathore’

Ultimate Bollywood 19

Thesouthasiantimes.info June 9-15, 2012

'Urumi' wins best film atMadrid film fest

Malayalam film "Urmi"

won the best film award

at the Imagineindia

International Film Festival held in

Madrid, while Santhosh Sivan

won the best director trophy for

the same movie.

"Urumi and Santhosh Sivan

keep making us proud, yayyy," an

ecstatic Genelia D'Souza, who has

acted in the film, tweeted.

"Urumi" was dubbed and

released in Telugu and English

and it is due to release in Tamil.

The festival also saw Deepti

Naval winning best actress award

for "Memories in March", while

Salim Kumar won best actor for

"Adaminte Makan Abu", accord-

ing to the festival's official web-

site.

Music composers Shankar-

Ehsaan-Loy walked away with

the trophy for best music for Zoya

Akhtar's "Zindagi Na Milegi

Dobara".

About 70 films were screened in

12 sections at the festival. The

films in the competitive section

included "Zindagi Na Milegi

Dobara",

"Urumi", "Memoirs in March",

"Achal", "Adaminte Makan Abu"

and "Traffic".

Sultry Sunny scorchesSri Lanka in bikini

Sunny Leone seems to be

playing the role of seductress

in Jism 2 to the hilt. The

pornstar-turned-actor flaunts a

toned body in an uber sexy white

bikini. With her hair left open and a

come hither expression, Sunny

scorches the sets. Sunny Leone is

in Sri Lanka to shoot the final

schedule of Pooja Bhatt's directori-

al venture.

"Shooting a bunch of sexy shots

for @Jism2. This movie is so hot

you guys are gonna love it!" Sunny

Leone had tweeted earlier.

Sunny Leone is also doing an

array of lovemaking scenes in the

film. The stills of the one between

Randeep Hooda and the Leone

babe was released few weeks back.

"Just finished a major love mak-

ing scene for @Jism2 . Extreme,

exhausting and exhilarating. Hope

we can turn people "on" all over

with it ;))" Randeep had wrote on

his twitter account.

Actor Sunny Leone

A poster of the Malayalam film ‘Urmi’

Sitar player Fateh Ali Khan performing at the Rambagh apmhitheatre, Manali.

Lady Gaga loves the sitar:Fateh Ali Khan

Bollywood's young blood torock IIFA in Singapore

The Lion City is set to roll the green carpet for

Indian cinestars. From bigwigs like Salman

Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Bipasha Basu as well

as young guns like Sonakshi Sinha and Abhay Doel -

Bollywood's gliteratti is set to rock at the 13th

International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards.

There's lots more - the evergreen Rekha, effervescent

couple Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, maverick filmmaker

Ramesh Sippy and a whole gamut of filmmakers, writ-

ers, actors and singers will enthrall film fans at the

three-day cine event.

As Bollywood head towards serving the youth last

year, this edition of IIFA is focused at providing a plat-

form to new and fresh talent, says Sabbas Joseph,

director of organizers Wizcraft International

Entertainment.

"The freshness in this year's edition, is across multi-

ple perspectives. It is a much younger approach, some-

thing that represents the youth of the country on global

platform," Joseph said.

True to its approach, the gala will see young and

budding talent taking centrestage. Shahid and Farhan

Akhtar are set to entertain the audience with their wit

and humor as the hosts of the glitzy awards ceremony.

The pre-finale celebrations will include a race on

Singapore's F1 track co-inciding with the promotions

of "Ferrari Ki Sawaari".

Writers like Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, com-

poser Shantanu Moitra and filmmakers Zoya Akhtar

and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, will host music work-

shops, where they will discuss what goes behind creat-

ing music for a Bollywood film.

The other highlights include a world premiere of

Dibakar Banerjee's "Shanghai". Also, excerpts of Neha

Dhupia-Sonu Sood starrer "Maximum" and Kamal

Hassan's "Vishwaroopam" will also be showcased dur-

ing the weekend.

IIFA Rocks, a fashion and musical night, featuring

designers like Masaba Gupta, Suneet Varma and Varun

Bahl, will be held a day before the main award func-

tion.

Other Bollywood stars expected to attend the event

include Vidya Balan, Preity Zinta, Malaika Arora

Khan, Rani Mukerji, Parineeti Chopra, Dia Mirza,

Emraan Hashmi and Anil Kapoor.

Delhi-based sitar player

Fateh Ali Khan, who per-

formed with Lady Gaga,

says that the Grammy award win-

ning singer not only knows about

India's classical instruments but

also appreciated his work.

"When I took my sitar in front

of Lady Gaga before my perform-

ance, she said she loved the sitar

and listened it a lot in the US,"

Khan, who performed with Gaga

at the Formula 1 after party, said.

"She liked the designs on my

sitar and already knew about the

instrument.

That's why she wanted me to

play it in the beginning of her act.

She's very humble and

professional.

It was an honor for me that my

music and talent has been recog-

nized by her," he added.

According to Khan, maestros

such as Ravi Shankar, Ustad

Amjad Ali Khan, Bismillah Khan

and others have made classical

instruments popular globally.

"Thanks to our maestros...they

have made the classical instru-

ments popular in the global

arena," he added.

Khan, who is associated with

bands like Kabul and Soul

Samvaad, has so far launched four

albums. He also gave music for

some international songs with his

brother Murad Ali Khan, who

plays the sarangi.

IIFA curtain-raiser

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

India growth: a meaning streak

By Manas Chakravarty

The newspapers have been full of

India's economic growth plunging

to the lowest in the last nine years.

In order to make things clear, I have

deconstructed some of the comments. An

economist: "Stagflationary concerns could

return to the fore as the recent rupee depre-

ciation adds to inflation worries, even as

the negative output gap tempers demand

conditions."

What he meant: Reach for that crash

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chair-

man, Planning Commission: "We have to

do something about it."

What he really meant: I've been telling

them to do something for years. I've writ-

ten lots of reports telling them to do all

kinds of things about it. About what? It, of

course. Now that things are so bad, it's all

the more necessary to keep telling them to

do things.

HDFC non-executive chairman Deepak

Parekh: "This is a wake-up call".

What he really meant: I'm sick and tired

of these guys. We've been shouting from

the rooftops about the slowdown, we've

been raving and ranting about the need for

reforms, but the only response we got was

a loud collective snore emanating from

New Delhi. Now the snoring seems to

have stopped, but I'm not sure whether

that's because they've woken up, or instead

slipped into a coma.

C. Rangarajan, chairman, Prime

Minister's Economic Advisory Council:

"The figures are disappointing as they

turned out to be much lower than what we

had expected."

What he implied: If we had forecast a

lower GDP growth number, we'd be per-

fectly happy.

Pranab Mukherjee, Union finance minis-

ter: "These are disappointing figures... but

have to be seen in the light of overall glob-

al developments."

What he hoped: The best thing would be

to blame those damn Greeks. People will

believe anything about them - about how

they're responsible for our high subsidies,

our policy paralysis, our lousy infrastruc-

ture.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley: "It's high time

they took some concrete steps."

What he really meant: Oh goody, this

gives us another stick to beat them with.

We shall, of course, do our best to prevent

them taking any steps. Look how success-

fully we've stalled the Goods and Services

Tax, which economists say will add quite a

bit to economic growth. And I do hope

they hike diesel prices, so we can have

another Bharat Bandh.

Mamata Banerjee, chief minister, West

Bengal: Silence.

What that means: The economy has been

sabotaged by the Maoists in league with

extra-terrestrials, aided and abetted by

Papua New Guinea and the CPI(M).

Manmohan Singh: Total silence.

What he means: Being prime minister is

really cool. You get to travel, see the

world. Had some lovely khao suey during

my Myanmar trip. But it's nice to be back

home, this bungalow is gorgeous. The

pay's not great, but the perks are good.

Best of all, you don't have to actually do

anything. What GDP numbers? You should

ask some economist, they're a dime a

dozen, unlike us prime ministers.

Man on the street: "No jobs. Pay cuts all

around. Prices going through the roof. And

our leaders are bothered about cartoons!

The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.

For the common man on the street, it means “No jobs. Pay cuts all around. Pricesgoing through the roof. And our leaders are bothered about cartoons!”

20 Op Ed

Narendra Modi:He is no lion king

By Sujata Anandan

This morning, I received

a text message from a

friend in Gujarat

informing me that chief minis-

ter Narendra Modi, after forc-

ing Sanjay Joshi to resign

from the BJP’s national execu-

tive, also compelled him to

cancel his return to New Delhi

by the Pashchim Express and

take a flight back to the capi-

tal.

Much as I abhor the dictato-

rial manner in which Modi

functions, I was rather startled

that Joshi’s growing populari-

ty in Gujarat would make

Modi so nervous so as to

reveal this big chink in his

armour. It is becoming obvi-

ous to most political observers

that Modi is not doing as well

in Gujarat as he would like the

people to believe – there are

rising voices of dissent and

most of these are from the

BJP. In fact, a top national

functionary of the BJP had

admonished me some months

ago about the manner in which

the media continued to rail

against Modi: “You guys con-

centrate too much on just the

communal angle. Why don’t

you visit Gujarat and see for

yourself how he is marginalis-

ing our own workers. No party

man can do anything in

Gujarat except to toe Modi’s

line and that is not good for

our party.’’

That, I discovered, is very

true. Modi reminds me of the

Mughal emperors. It is a little

noted fact but a study of

Mughal history reveals that

Akbar had decreed that no girl

born to the royal household

could ever be married, though

she would be well taken care

of throughout her life and

enjoy powers almost parallel

to that of the Empress. That is

because in the early days of

his reign he had been greatly

troubled by his own noblemen

who attempted to grab his

empire by hook or by crook –

and at least a couple of these

noblemen were married to his

sisters.

Accordingly, unlike in

Britain and elsewhere in

Europe, titles (like that of

Amir) in the Mughal empire

were neither for life nor hered-

itary. A nobleman could

remain one so long as he

enjoyed the confidence of the

emperor and could be deposed

in a moment if he ever

incurred the displeasure of his

master. But while the emperor

smiled upon him, he could

gather unto himself with both

hands and no questions would

ever be asked.

Modi, I can see, operates in

much the same fashion in

Gujarat – tickets are decided

by him, even the party high

command has no say in the

matter. And if any BJP legisla-

tor or MP incurs Modi’s dis-

pleasure, he can kiss goodbye

to his job forever. That is why

there is so much corruption in

Gujarat – because no one is

sure if they are returning to a

second term, despite their

good work among the people

because that good work alone

could incur Modi’s displeas-

ure for he starts to look at

these do-gooders as potential

challengers. But, while per-

haps not corrupt himself, he is

known to look the other way

so long as his ministers and

MLAs do not pose a threat to

him. That is why, I am told, he

opposes the appointment of a

Lokayukta in Gujarat, lest that

institution upset this applecart

that has been rolling for long

without let or hindrance.

However, Joshi has found

many supporters in Gujarat

among those whom Modi has

denied tickets. One of these is

former BJP MP Kashiram

Rana who had planned to

felicitate him at the Surat and

Baroda railway stations with

bands of other disgruntled BJP

workers and turn him into a

hero for the ``supreme sacri-

fice’’ that Joshi had made by

resigning from the party’s

national executive.

Joshi told our Gujarat corre-

spondent, Mahesh Langa, that

he had changed his plans, to

fly to Lucknow instead for

local self-government elec-

tions. But reading between the

lines, it is clear that on this

score, too, Nitin Gadkari, who

asked Joshi to proceed to

Lucknow, could not stand up

to the main fund raiser of the

BJP and sacrificed Joshi all

over again, twice in as many

days.

But whatever Gadkari’s

compulsions, I am very sur-

prised by the fact that the all-

powerful Modi should feel

threatened by the gathering

support for Joshi, a compara-

tive political midget, and run

him out of his state. So is the

so-called ‘Lion of Gujarat’

worried about the possibility

of his own extinction?

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi

Diaspora 21

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

London: The main accused in the

sensational murder of Indian student

Anuj Bidve in Salford in Britain on

December 26 last year pleaded

guilty on Friday in a Manchester

court.

Kiaran Stapleton admitted to

shooting 23-year-old Bidve in an

unprovoked attack on the Boxing

Day. Stapleton, 21, admitted to

manslaughter at the Manchester

Crown Court. He is expected to go

on trial for murder.

Lancaster University student

Bidve was walking with friends in

Salford when he was shot in the

head at close range.

Bidve, who was a postgraduate

student of Microelectronics at

Lancaster University, died from the

single gunshot wound.

Hundreds of people had attended

emotional candle-light vigils in

Salford and New Delhi as the inci-

dent hit the headlines across India

and Britain.

Anuj Bidve murder: AccusedStapleton pleads guilty

New Delhi: St Vincent and the

Grenadines, a string of small islands

in the Caribbean, celebrated its

Indian heritage on a grand scale

Friday. A commemorative function

and an international conference on

the Indian diaspora were held on

what is officially recognized as

Indian Arrival Day, according to the

organizers.

The first group of Indians reached

St Vincent in June 1861. The Indian

Heritage Foundation of St Vincent

and the Grenadines re-enacted the

landing of Indians at Indian Bay.

This was followed by a procession

through the streets of Kingstown

culminating at Heritage Square

where an Indian mela was organ-

ized.

The Indian Arrival Day functions

were organized by the Indian

Heritage Foundation with support

from the St Vincent ministry of

tourism and culture and the Global

Organization of People of Indian

Origin (GOPIO). The celebrations

began at an opening ceremony in the

presence of St Vincent Prime

Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves at the

Peace Memorial Hall.

According to the organizers, while

there have been international Indian

diaspora conferences held in other

countries of the Caribbean such as

Trinidad and Tobago, this is the first

such in St Vincent. The three-day

conference ended on June 3.

The Indian migration to Trinidad,

Guyana and Suriname is well docu-

mented but there is a lack of knowl-

edge about Indians who were

brought to the smaller island territo-

ries in the Caribbean.

St Vincent and the Grenadines is

among a number of small Caribbean

island nations where Indian workers

were brought to work on sugarcane

plantations during the years when

sugar ruled the global economy.

Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, St

Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Belize

and St Lucia also have small Indian

communities.

Unlike the larger territories where

Indian workers retained their cultur-

al traits due to their substantial num-

bers, in St Vincent the churches

were very active in baptizing Indian

children. The distance from India

and the small size of the Indian

community meant a slow loosening

of links with India and a gradual

assimilation in St Vincent society.

"In recent years there has been a

revival of interest amongst the peo-

ple of Indian descent in their Indian

heritage. The SVG Heritage

Foundation was established five

years ago to promote cultural and

social links with India. The new

interest led to June 1 being officially

declared as Indian Arrival Day and

October 7 as Indian Heritage Day,"

said an e-mail from the Indian

Heritage Foundation.

The conference brings together

academics, scholars, students, teach-

ers and organizations and people

with an interest in the Indian diaspo-

ra in the Caribbean. The organizers

hope to bring together and gather

the different bits of information

from diverse people to add to the

limited store of public knowledge

about Indians in St Vincent.

There are issues of conversion,

discrimination, politics, family his-

tories, migration and literature that

will be discussed. Aside from for-

mal papers to be presented at the

conference by scholars and academ-

ics, the conference will seek to gath-

er oral histories and local songs for

a more comprehensive understand-

ing of the Indian heritage.

St Vincent and the Grenadines celebratesits Indian heritage

Pretoria: South African President

Jacob Zuma has praised Hindus in

the country for their role in the

freedom struggle.

"Many South Africans of Indian

origin and specifically Hindus,

played a prominent part in our

struggle for freedom and are still

playing a meaningful role in the

social, economic and political

reconstruction of this country," he

said.

South African Indians constitute

1.28 million of the country's total

population, of which over 60 per-

cent are Hindus, the state-run

BuaNews reported.

Zuma said people of Indian ori-

gin were an integral part of South

African society and "added to the

colorful rainbow nation that made

us proud South Africans."

He said he was inspired by the

strong values, which include

accountability, selfless service,

fairness, respect and unity that

guided the activities of the Hindu

Maha Sabha.

"These are values that we all

believe in, and which promote

peace and good neighborliness...

that fits in well with the goals of

government, of promoting social

cohesion," Zuma said at the cente-

nary gala dinner of the Maha

Sabha in Durban Saturday.

The president also reminded the

nation of the need to preserve cul-

tural organizations and respective

cultures. "We cannot produce a

new generation that is not ground-

ed in indigenous culture as they

will be confused and be alienated

from their roots."

"Let us encourage the Hindu

youth for example to learn Indian

languages so as to be in touch

with their culture and traditions.

"That will not make them less

South African.

Instead, they will add to the

rainbow mix and make this a

more colorful country when it

comes to languages as well," said

Zuma.

Zuma lauds Hindus' role in South African struggle

Anuj Bidve was shot dead by Kiaran Stapleton (right)

South African President Jacob Zuma

London: Asian families in Britain

have been warned by police to

beware of criminals who could

target their gold jewelry during the

traditional wedding season in

summer.

Police fear the number of bur-

glaries could soar when a large

number of relatives arrive with

gifts including gold for newly-

married couples, the Daily Mail

reported.

In Slough, 32 km from London,

there were more than 300 gold

thefts last year -- a third of all bur-

glaries reported to police. "We are

worried it can only get worse with

the summer season of weddings

about to start, when families come

over to Britain bearing gifts of

gold. The gangs will be homing in

like bees round a honeypot and

we're expecting the burglary rate

to soar unless residents take sensi-

ble precautions," a police

spokesman said.

"The trouble is Asian families

are traditionally reluctant to put

their gold and other treasures in

the bank for safe keeping, prefer-

ring to keep their precious things

at home," he said.

Tahir Maher, a councilor in

Earley, near Reading, where there

is also a high Asian population,

said: "At one point last year the

robberies were two a day and peo-

ple weren't going out of their

houses."

He said thieves took advantage

of religious celebrations to target

Asian households. "With us, it

started during Ramadan, when a

lot of people were going to each

others' houses to break the fast and

then going to prayers, the houses

were empty and it was a prime tar-

get for robbers," he said. Jewelers

have also been victims themselves

with attacks carried out on several

of Slough's 33 shops selling gold.

British Asians warned of gold theftduring wedding season

NRI kids row:Norwegian authorities

want Abhigyan,Aishwarya back

New Delhi: According to a

news report in NewsX, the

Norwegian authorities, are ask-

ing for three-year-old Abhigyan

and one-year-old Aishwarya to

be returned back, when they

came to know about the

renewed fight over the custody

of the two children of an Indian

NRI couple – Anurup and

Sagarika Bhattacharya.

The authorities are now ask-

ing for an explanation from the

Indian embassy about the recent

development and further said

that they will never trust India

again if they do not get the

answers.

Earlier, Sagarika had com-

plained to Kulti police station in

Burdwan (West Bengal), alleg-

ing that her father-in-law, Ajay

Bhattacharya, had sent some

goons to threaten to kill her if

she came near the children.

Bhattacharya, on the other

hand, had filed a complaint in

the same police station counter-

alleging that Sagarika and her

father Manotosh Chakraborty

had been threatening them with

dire consequences if they did

not return the children to their

mother.

“Sagarika has said that she

will send us to jail under the

dowry laws if I did not give her

the children. I fear about the

safety and security of my fami-

ly. They can go to any extent,

which is why I approached the

police,” Bhattacharya had said.

22 Subcontinent

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Washington: An American law-

maker has introduced a bill in the

Senate, seeking to eliminate for-

eign aid to Pakistan until the con-

viction of Shakil Afridi, the physi-

cian held for helping CIA find

Osama bin Laden, was over-

turned.

It proposes to strip Pakistan of

all US foreign aid until Afridi's

recent 33-year prison sentence is

overturned and he is allowed to

leave Pakistan, Online news

agency reported.

Another bill introduced by sena-

tor Rand Paul seeks to grant

Afridi US citizenship for his

efforts.

"Pakistan must understand that

they are choosing the wrong side.

They accuse Dr. Afridi of working

against Pakistan, but he was sim-

ply helping the US capture the

head of Al Qaeda.

"Surely Pakistan is not linking

their interests with those of an

international terrorist organisa-

tion. Foreign aid has been an

abysmal failure precisely for this

reason - we give the aid to gov-

ernments who then turn and work

against our national interest. That

must end," Paul said.

Last week, Paul wrote a letter to

US President Barack Obama, urg-

ing a delay in the release of for-

eign military financing to the gov-

ernment of Pakistan, and to hold

all aid until Afridi was released.

Earlier, Geo News reported that

the US State Department is still

awaiting a clarification from

Pakistan on Afridi. "We've not

received any updates. And our

position's very clear," the report

quoted US State Department

spokesman Mark Toner as saying.

He said the US didn't think there

were ever any grounds for

Pakistan to hold Afridi, much less

convict him of any wrongdoing.

Afridi helped conduct a phony

polio vaccination campaign at the

behest of the Central Intelligence

Agency (CIA) to secure the DNA

of bin Laden and his family.

US senator introduces bill tostop Pakistan aid

India pitches for SCO's membership, Afghan role

Kunming/Beijing : A day before

the SCO summit opened in Beijing,

India renewed its pitch for full

membership of the six-nation

Shanghai Cooperation Organization

and backed the grouping's role in

stabilizing Afghanistan.

"Indeed, we are looking for full

membership. India has conveyed its

desire and earnestness in becoming

a member of the SCO. We have

made our intent known," India's

External Affairs Minister S.M.

Krishna told select Indian media in

Kunming, capital of Yunnan

province in southwest China, on his

way to Beijing.

"They are working out the modali-

ties. We are waiting for that process

to be over," Krishna said. He was

referring to elaborate technical for-

malities and procedures the SCO

firmed up for prospective members

at the 11th summit in Astana,

Kazakhstan last year.

"Once the modalities from the

SCO side are completed, we will

move faster," he said.

Krishna, who arrived in Beijing,

will represent Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh at the two-day

summit that opened in the Chinese

capital with a gala cultural show.

The SCO comprises Russia and

China, the two regional giants and

permanent members of the UN

Security Council, and the energy-

rich Central Asian states, including

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan

and Kyrgyzstan.

India, along with Iran, Pakistan

and Mongolia, currently enjoy the

status of observers at the SCO. The

future of the organization and the

expansion of membership will loom

large on the agenda at 12th SCO

summit in Beijing, but well-placed

sources indicated that any decision

on including India or expanding

membership is unlikely to be taken

this time round.

Given intricate procedures and

rigorous criteria, India's admission

into the SCO could take up to two

years after the SCO members unani-

mously decide to open the doors for

new members. India is now eying

2014 as the target for getting inside

the SCO tent.

"The SCO has been discussing

Afghanistan for many years. Afghan

President Hamid Karzai has been

participating as a special invitee. It

will be very helpful if these coun-

tries can give some assistance and

help in stabilizing Afghanistan,"

Krishna said when asked whether he

thinks the SCO could be an effective

platform for a regional approach

towards the violence-torn country.

Guards of Honor prepare for the arrival of central Asian leaders for the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Beijing.

Shakil Afridi was held for helpingCIA find Osama bin Laden

Islamabad: The Pakistani government has appointed

Rehman Malik as advisor on internal affairs to Prime

Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani just after he resigned as

interior minister following the suspension of his Senate

membership by the Supreme Court.

According to Geo News, Malik was appointed advisor

on internal affairs Tuesday, but the former minister later

told Dawn News he has not been informed about his

appointment. The Supreme Court suspended Malik's

Senate membership for holding dual nationality of

Britain and Pakistan. Malik told the court he had forfeit-

ed his British citizenship but he failed to provide suffi-

cient documents to the apex court.

Malik told Dawn News he stepped down as he does

not want any conflict with the court.

He said he has also taken off the Pakistan flag from

his house and his car. Documents from the UK Border

Agency (UKBA) showed that the former minister has

renounced his British citizenship. The apex court earlier

suspended the National Assembly membership of

Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Farahnaz Ispahani,

and has issued notice to Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez

Sheikh on similar grounds of holding dual nationality.

Rehman Malik made PakPM's advisor

Former minister Rehman Malik is now an advisoron internal affairs to PM Gilani

Myanmar, Voiceof America ink

pactYangon: Myanmar's state-run

radio and television (MRTV) and

the Voice of America (VOA)

have signed a memorandum of

understanding (MoU), official

media reported. The MoU was

signed during the visit of VOA

Director David Ensor, reported

Xinhua.

In Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

Minister of Information and

Culture U Kyaw Hsan and Ensor

discussed VOA's assistance to

Myanmar with advanced equip-

ment and training courses for the

employees of the MRTV to

improve their technological skill,

the New Light of Myanmar said.

Such cooperation between the

media sector of Myanmar and the

US came after Myanmar

embarked on a road to political

and economic reform since a

civilian government was installed

in March 2011.

With the opening of media sec-

tor in Myanmar, a number of for-

eign media such as CNN, BBC

and Al Jazeera TV are seeking to

enter the TV market.

India, US to assist Sri Lanka militarySingapore: India and the US have

agreed to provide enhanced train-

ing facilities for military personnel

from Sri Lanka, it was announced.

This followed meetings Sri

Lankan Defense Secretary

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had with

General Martin Dempsey, chair-

man of the American Joint Chiefs

of Staff, and Indian Defence

Minister A.K. Anthony here.

The meetings took place on the

margins of the Shangri-La

Dialogue. "As a coastal nation, the

meetings recognized the pivotal

role the Sri Lanka Navy could play

in strengthening the security of sea

lanes in the Indian Ocean," a Sri

Lankan foreign ministry statement

said.

It said the three countries

"resolved to co-operate closely in

drawing on their synergies in com-

bating international terrorism.

"As two key strategic partners of

Sri Lanka, the US and India

responded positively to a request

for enhanced training opportunities

for capacity building of defense

personnel in their institutes of

repute."

The statement said the US and

India commended the "incremental

and steady progress" made in Sri

Lanka's north and east, the former

war zone, in rehabilitating those

displaced by decades of conflict.

Both countries, it said, "were

keen to assist Sri Lanka in all

aspects of their multifaceted bilat-

eral partnership for attaining sus-

tainable peace".

International 23

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

No contentious issueswith China: India

Kunming: Amid a row over a

Chinese travel advisory, India's

External Affairs Minister S.M.

Krishna said there were no con-

tentious issues between India and

China besides the decades-old

boundary dispute.

"Apart from the boundary issue,

there aren't any contentious issues.

I have always held this view con-

sistently," Krishna said here before

holding talks with China's Vice-

Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

"We are hopeful we will be in a

position to find a mutually accept-

able resolution to the boundary

question," he said. He was

responding to a question, during a

stopover here, on whether con-

tentious issues will be discussed

with Li.

"It's a time-consuming process.

Resolving the boundary issue takes

time. Borders must be peaceful,"

he stressed.

Li is widely expected to succeed

Wen Jiabao as China's premier and

Xi Jinping is set to replace Hu

Jinatao as China's next president at

the once-in-decade party congress.

Krishna's remarks underlined

India's desire to keep the prickly

relations with China on an even

keel amid a controversy generated

by a Chinese travel advisory in the

wake of the nation-wide protests in

India against petroleum price hike

last week.

The advisory asks Chinese citi-

zens who are traveling to India or

are in India to be careful of any

disruptions and disturbances. The

advisory came as a surprise to

India's foreign office as the reason

for the advisory appeared exagger-

ated. There are some who have

tried to link the Chinese advisory

as a tit-for-tat for Indian advisories

asking Indian traders to avoid

doing business in Yiwu, the

Chinese commodity hub. However,

both India and China denied any

linkage and sought to play down

the differences.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna

Washington: In another "serious blow" to

Al Qaeda, a US drone strike in Pakistan

killed its No. 2 leader Abu Yahya al-Libi,

who helped steer the terrorist group after

Osama bin Laden's death, the White House

has confirmed.

Al-Libi's death was "another serious blow

to core Al Qaeda," White House spokesman

Jay Carney told reporters. "His death is part

of the degradation taking place in core Al

Qaeda in the last several years."

However, Carney was unable to provide

further details. Earlier, US officials said

that al-Libi was killed by a CIA drone

strike in Pakistan launched Monday. Al-

Libi's death marks one of the most signifi-

cant blows to Al Qaeda since the US mili-

tary killed Osama bin Laden in a daring

nighttime raid on his hideout in

Abbottabad, near Islamabad on May 2 last

year. Al-Libi was second-in-command

behind Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-

Zawahiri, who took the helm after bin

Laden's death. "There is no one who even

comes close in terms of replacing the

expertise (Al Qaeda) has just lost," CNN

cited an unnamed US official as saying.

Al-Libi "played a critical role in the

group's planning against the West, provid-

ing oversight of the external operations

efforts," the official said adding, "Zawahiri

will be hard-pressed to find any one person

who can readily step into Abu Yahya's

shoes."

"In addition to his gravitas as a longstand-

ing member of AQ's leadership, Abu

Yahya's religious credentials gave him the

authority to issue fatwas, operational

approvals and guidance to the core group in

Pakistan and regional affiliates."

An Islamic scholar and high-ranking

member of the group, al-Libi frequently

appeared in Internet videos, CNN said. He

gave many videotaped speeches praising Al

Qaeda leaders, urging resistance and trying

to recruit new members.

Al Qaeda No. 2 leader isdead: White House

Abu Yahya al-Libi was second-in-commandbehind Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,who took the helm after bin Laden's death.

Beirut: Syria has labeled 17

diplomats, most of them

American or European, as

"persona non grata" (unwel-

come) in response to a mass

expulsion of Syrian envoys

by Western capitals last

week.

But the foreign ministry

said the government was still

open to re-establishing ties

with the diplomats, almost

all of whom had already

been recalled by their gov-

ernments.

"The Syrian Arab Republic

still believes in the impor-

tance of dialogue based on

principles of equality and

mutual respect," a ministry

statement said. "We hope the

countries that initiated these

steps will adopt those princi-

ples, which would allow

relations to return to normal

again."

Syrian security forces are

trying to crush a revolt

against President Bashar al-

Assad's rule.

Among those listed were

diplomats from former ally

Turkey, which has become

an outspoken critic of

Assad's crackdown and has

given haven to army defec-

tors. The foreign ministry

said the ambassador and all

the staff at Turkey's embassy

in Damascus were unwel-

come.

The United States, France,

Britain, Canada, Germany,

Italy, Spain, Australia,

Bulgaria and Switzerland

coordinated a move to expel

Syrian diplomats in response

to a massacre of 108 people

in the city of Houla. Nearly

half those killed were chil-

dren. Deputy foreign minis-

ter Faisal Maqdad told the

Syrian news channel al-

Ikhbariya that the govern-

ment's decision aimed to

encourage those countries to

"correct" their position.

Syria lists 17 envoysas unwelcome

Syria has labeled 17 diplomats, most of them American orEuropean, as "persona non grata" (unwelcome).

Jerusalem: International pres-

sure is forcing Iran to hold off

on a decision about whether to

make the dash to develop

nuclear weapons, Israel's mili-

tary Chief of Staff said.

"Iran is striving for nuclear

military ability, but has not yet

reached the decision to cross the

threshold, for its own strategic

considerations," Lieutenant

General Benny Gantz told MPs

at the parliamentary committee

on foreign affairs and defense.

"The international isolation,

pressure, sanctions, a reliable

military threat -- and for that you

have to be super-ready -- all of

that can cause the Iranians to

decide to say 'not now' as far as

crossing the threshold," he said

in remarks relayed by the com-

mittee spokesman.

Iran has already developed the

capacity to enrich uranium to 20

percent, which is used to create

medical isotopes, but going "the

extra mile" would mean working

to enrich to 90 percent -- the

level needed to make nuclear

weapons.

Tehran is under huge pressure

from a raft of international sanc-

tions imposed on its oil and

banking sectors over its disputed

nuclear program.

And Israel, which sees a

nuclear Iran as an existential

threat, has refused to rule out a

pre-emptive military strike on its

nuclear facilities.

Tehran denies its intentions are

anything but peaceful. In April,

Gantz told Israel's Haaretz news-

paper that he did not believe Iran

would take the decision to build

a nuclear bomb.

"It stil l hasn't decided yet

whether to go the extra mile," he

told the paper.

World powers have held two

rounds of talks with Iran aimed

at convincing the Islamic

Republic to roll back its nuclear

program, which Israel and much

of the West believes is a front for

developing atomic weapons.

So far, the negotiations have

not produced any tangible

results although a third round is

due to take place in Moscow

later this month.

"The only people who can

decide to relinquish the nukes

are the Iranians themselves, and

as an army we should be ready

for that too," Gantz said, without

elaborating.

Pressure holding Iran frombomb decision: Israel

Israel's Lieutenant GeneralBenny Gantz

24 Business

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

New Delhi: India has prepared a

contingency plan for Greece exit-

ing the Eurozone and even a col-

lapse of the monetary union,

Indian officials said. The

Eurozone debt crisis has already

put a damper on India's exports to

Europe, the biggest destination

for Indian goods, as well as capi-

tal inflows into equity and debt

markets. PM Manmohan Singh's

government blames Europe's

woes for the slowdown in Asia's

third-biggest economy, although

economists also blame policy

inertia.

Finance chiefs of the Group of

Seven leading industrialized

powers were to hold emergency

talks on the Eurozone crisis on

Tuesday in what was seen as a

sign of growing global alarm

over the threat posed by the

strains within the 17-nation

union.

"Yes, India does have a contin-

gency plan. There are different

crisis management groups within

the government to deal with such

a possible scenario," Kaushik

Basu, the chief economic adviser

to finance minister Pranab

Mukherjee, said.

He declined to give details of

the plan, but another senior offi-

cial familiar with the planning

said the finance ministry and cen-

tral bank were prepared to take

monetary and fiscal measures if

necessary to try to insulate India

from the shock of a Eurozone

collapse.

He did not spell out the meas-

ures, but they could include low-

ering interest rates, which are

among the highest in the world,

and lowering the amount of

money that banks have to keep on

deposit in the central bank. The

latter step would allow banks to

lend more money to firms to keep

hiring and expanding. At the

moment, banks are required to

keep 4.75% of their deposits with

the RBI.

"We are already preparing tech-

nical analysis for different possi-

ble scenarios that could impact

trade, stock markets and financial

institutions," the finance ministry

official said, speaking on condi-

tion of anonymity because of the

sensitivity of the issue. "We are

facing a fast-evolving situation.

The question is not only about the

exit of Greece from the

Eurozone, but whether the

Eurozone will be able to hold as a

fiscal entity," he said.

India readies plan for Eurozone meltdown

The Eurozone debt crisis has already put a damper on India's exports to Europe

Washington: The White House has

called on the European nations to

take more steps to solve the worsen-

ing Eurozone crisis, saying the mar-

kets view the measures being taken

so far as insufficient.

"There's no question that markets

remain skeptical that the measures

taken thus far are sufficient to

secure the recovery in Europe and

remove the risk that the crisis will

deepen," Xinhua quoted White

House spokesman Jay Carney as

saying.

"So we obviously believe that

more steps need to be taken," he

said. The administration has been

discussing with its European coun-

terparts on the "difficult steps" need

to be taken, the spokesman said.

These steps, he said, included

"strict stress tests" for the banks and

requirement for them to raise capi-

tal, which were both the measures

being taken by the US during the

2008-2009 financial crisis.

Recent gloomy job data in the US

and the uncertainty of the European

debt crisis have raised doubts on the

recovery of the US economy.

Days ago, US President Barack

Obama sent Lael Brainard, the

under secretary of treasury for inter-

national affairs, to Greece,

Germany, Spain and France, the

four key players in the Eurozone cri-

sis. Many believe that Washington is

increasing pressure on the

Europeans to take more decisive

measures.

US wants more steps to solveEurozone crisis

New Delhi: There is at least a

one-in-three chance of Greece

exiting the eurozone in the

coming months, following

national elections on June 17, a

report by global ratings agency

Standard & Poor's said.

It said such an outcome

would seriously damage

Greece's economy and fiscal

position in the medium term

and most likely lead to another

Greek sovereign default. "This

could be brought about by

Greece rejecting the reforms

demanded by the troika--the

European Commission,

International Monetary Fund

(IMF), and European Central

Bank (ECB)--and a consequent

suspension of external financial

support," the report said.

The report examines the like-

lihood of Greece leaving the

eurozone and the potential

impact of this on the credit

worthiness of other sovereigns

in the region. "However, we

note that the potential impact

on other "peripheral" sover-

eigns in the eurozone would be

less clear cut," the report said.

'One in three chanceof Greece exiting

the eurozone'

White House spokesperson Jay Carney.

Washington: Google, the world's

biggest search engine, is buying

Silicon Valley startup Meebo that

helps online publishers make

their websites more social.

The acquisition will bring more

tools to Google Plus, an alterna-

tive to Facebook 's popular online

hangout.

Founded in 2005, Meebo began

as a browser-based instant mes-

saging client, growing to include

the Meebo Bar, which allowed

users to chat on various websites

like TV Guide, TMZ, and

Entertainment Weekly.

"Together with Google, we're

super jazzed to roll up our sleeves

and get cracking on even bigger

and better ways to help users and

website owners alike," Meebo

wrote Monday on its official

blog.

A Google spokesman said in a

statement that the company is

always looking for better ways to

help users share content and con-

nect across the web, as in daily

life.

"With the Meebo team's expert-

ise in social publisher tools, we

believe they will be a great fit

with the Google+ team," the

company said.

"We look forward to closing the

transaction and working with the

Meebo team to create more ways

for users to engage online."

Terms of the acquisition were

not disclosed. But tech blog All

Things D first reported rumors

about a Google-Meebo acquisi-

tion in May with an alleged ask-

ing price of about $100 million.

Google buys social sharingfirm Meebo

CII agenda for revivingIndian economy

Hyderabad: Industry lobby, the

Confederation of Indian

Industry (CII) has mooted a 10-

point agenda to revive India's

economic growth through

reforms and governance.

The CII national council,

which met here, asked the gov-

ernment to act fast to avoid con-

ditions getting worse and change

the perception of the economy,

which it said is one of the con-

tributors to the depreciation of

the rupee.

It called for early introduction

of Goods and Services Tax

(GST), saying this would be the

biggest fiscal stimulus which

can improve GDP growth by

one and half percentage points.

The CII revival package pro-

poses, among other things, a cut

in the repo rate by 100 basis

points, cut in cash reserve ratio

(CRR) by 1000 bps, increasing

foreign direct investment (FDI)

limits in civil aviation and

defense, allowing FDI in multi-

brand retail and allowing accel-

erated depreciation for invest-

ments in plant and machinery at

25 percent.

India's forex reservesdrop by $1.74 bn

Mumbai: India's foreign

exchange reserves fell by $1.74

billion to $290 billion, the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

data showed.

The reserves registered a sharp

drop for the fourth week in a

row, largely due to suspected

sale of dollar by the central bank

to defend rupee, according to the

data.

The forex reserves had

declined by $1.80 billion, $1.37

billion and $2.18 billion, respec-

tively, in the previous three

weeks.

Foreign currency assets, the

biggest component of the forex

reserves kitty, fell by $1.71 bil-

lion to $254.40 billion during

the week ended May 25, accord-

ing to RBI's weekly statistical

supplement.

The RBI did not provide any

reasons for the change in foreign

currency assets. It said the assets

expressed in US dollar terms

included the effect of apprecia-

tion or depreciation of non-US

currencies such as the pound

sterling, euro and yen held in

reserve.

Sports 25

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

French Open: Sania-Bhupathi in final,Paes-Vesnina knocked out

Paris: India's Sania Mirza and

Mahesh Bhupathi reached their

maiden French Open mixed dou-

bles final but Leander Paes and his

Russian partner Elena Vesnina

were knocked out of the event here

Wednesday.

Mirza and Bhupathi outplayed

Galina Voskoboeva and Danielle

Bracciali 6-4, 6-2 to enter the

mixed doubles final. They will face

the Polish-Mexcian combine of

Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Santiago

Gonzalez in the title clash at the

Roland Garros.

The unseeded pair of Klaudia

and Santiago caused a shocking

upset beating the fifth seeded pair

of Paes and Vesnina 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, the

seventh-seeded pair of Mirza and

Bhupathi beat the Kazakh-Italian

pair of Voskoboeva and Bracciali

in a battle that lasted under 70 min-

utes.

Sania-Bhupathi got on the board

breaking their opponents' serve in

the very first game of the match.

Bhupathi struggled with his serve

early on as Voskoboeva-Bracciali

immediately broke back for 1-1.

The Indians lifted their level of

play as the set progressed, with

Bhupathi finding his rhythm. Sania

played solid throughout the set,

serving well and using her danger-

ous forehand for desired results.

Bhupathi closed out the set with an

ace. The first set lasting 39 minutes

saw Indians converting half of their

six break points while Voskoboeva

and Bracciali cashed in on the two

opportunities that came their way.

Sania-Bhupathi showed their

class in the second set as

Voskoboeva-Bracciali ran out of

steam.

Bhupathi's only mixed doubles

title at Roland Garros came in 1997

when he partnered Japan's Rika

Hiraki. Sania is yet to win here in

the mixed doubles event. She

reached the women's doubles final

in 2011 with Vesnina.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza celebrate their semifinal win

Call for legalizing sports bettingNew Delhi: Retired judge Mukul

Mudgal and former cricketer Kirti

Azad called for legalizing sports

betting so that the revenue gener-

ated can be used for development

activities.

Speaking at the conference on

'Regulating Sports Betting in India

- A vice to be Tamed' here

Wednesday, Mudgal was of the

opinion that legalizing sports bet-

ting and regulating it with proper

laws could act as a deterrent to the

illegal betting syndicates.

"If betting is legalized, the coun-

try stands to get close to 12,000

crores in tax. If this is regulated,

this revenue can go into the devel-

opment of sports. Rules can be

drafted through the income tax

regulation," said Mudgal, a former

chief justice of Punjab and

Haryana High Court.

Citing example of horse racing,

Mudgal said if it is legal to bet on

one sport, it should be legal for

others as well. "If betting on horse

racing is legal then it should be

applicable to all sports. FIFA has

advanced match betting warning

system. If an unusual betting pat-

tern is seen they immediately

closed down the market," he said.

Azad, a BJP MP and member of

the 1983 World Cup winning

cricket team said: "Before we

think of regulating betting in

Indian sports, there is a need to

regulate the sport federations and

associations in the country."

Azad came down heavily on the

Board of Control for Cricket in

India (BCCI) and said it has been

seen that sports bodies have failed

to abide by the law of the land and

given a leeway for malpractices

like spot fixing and match fixing

to flourish.

"Instances have come up where

there is no accountability of

money being transferred from

unknown sources to a sportsper-

son's account or new bank

accounts being opened in foreign

lands without prior permissions

from the concerned authorities

like Reserve Bank in India," said

Azad.

Azad said the BCCI has no

authority to conduct a criminal

investigation on its own and the

five players should have been

booked by police for their involve-

ment in spot-fixing.

Asif rules out takingasylum in UK

London: Former Pakistani paceman

Muhammad Asif says he is not seeking

asylum in Britain and wants to return

home as soon as possible.

Asif was released from prison last

month after having served just half of

his 12-month imprisonment on charges

of spot fixing.

The pacer told Geo News that he was

determined to clear his name and play

for Pakistan again. Asif's lawyer Ravi

Sukul of Balham Chambers has taken

the case to the Court of Appeal. "I am

training regularly these days. I spend a

lot of time speaking to my family on

the phone and over the internet. I am

hopeful that I will play for Pakistan as I

played before," said Asif."There is no

question of applying for political asy-

lum in Britain. Those who run away

from Pakistan apply for asylum. I want

to return to Pakistan as soon as possi-

ble. I intend to return to Pakistan and

play for my country," he stressed.

Arjun Kadhe in boys' doublesquarters at French Open

Paris: Pune boy Arjun Kadhe

and his Peruvian partner Jorge

Brian Panta Herreros stormed

into the quarterfinals of the

boy's doubles at the French

Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victo-

ry over third seeds Julien

Cagnina and Luke Saville here

Wednesday.

Ninteen-year-old Kadhe and

Herreros dominated the first set,

wrapping it up in just 20 min-

utes.

However, their higher ranked

opponents were never going to

cave in and fought back in the

second as both teams managed

to break their opponents twice.

Just when it looked like the

Belgian-Australian duo were

getting into their rhythm, Kadhe

and his partner raised their game

in the tie-breaker to set up a last

eight clash against Australia's

Andrew Harris and Nick

Kyrgios.

Kadhe is currently the Indian

national doubles champion.

Rising star Arjun Kadhe

Aditya Mehtaposts secondwin at Wuxi

Classic Snooker

Sheffield (England): India's

Aditya Mehta registered his

second win at the Wuxi Classic

snooker qualifiers, defeating

World No.63 James Wattana of

Thailand 5-1.

Though James was a chal-

lenging opponent, Mehta start-

ed the match on a winning note

and captured back to back

frames, including a 95 break in

the second. He sealed the

match in the sixth frame.

Mehta will now be playing

against English veteran Jimmy

White Thursday.

Talking about the win,

Aditya Mehta said: "It was a

good match. My next match is

going to be a challenging one

as I've played Jimmy twice

before and lost on both occa-

sions."

Aditya Mehta32 junior women

hockey players to getmonthly stipend

New Delhi: India's 32 junior

women hockey players received a

major boost Wednesday with

Hockey India (HI) announcing a

monthly stipend of Rs.10,000

each. HI in a statement said that

each player will get Rs.1,20,000

per annum, payable at every quar-

ter in equal installments.

"The payments will start from

July-September quarter. This

amount will provide a big support

for players in purchasing their

equipment and it will further help

players to reduce the financial

burden on their families," said HI

in a statement.

HI also said that it would also

provide four junior goalkeepers,

among the pool of 32, with best

quality kits.

Goalkeepers: Shweta, Bigan

Soy, Jaspreet Kaur (Junior), Sonal

Minz.

Defenders: Apoorva

Vishwakarma, Sandeep Kaur

(Haryana), Jaspreet Kaur (Senior),

Sushila Lakra, Manjeet Kaur and

Diksha Tiwari.

Midfielders: Rukmani Dodari,

Anju Dhiman, Nikki Pradhan,

Manmeet Kaur, Teena, Reena

Devi, Renuka Yadav, Reena Rani,

Shabnam Lakra.

Forwards:Reena Rathore,

Poonam Madhuri Tete, Ritusha,

Surabhi Pradhan, Julie M.S

Tluangi, Anima Minz, Shrishti

Singh, Pratibha Chaudhary,

Priyanka Wankhede, Jaswinder

Kaur, Ramngaihzuali, Malkeet

Kaur and Pooja Kundu.

Saina in quartersof Thailand Open

New Delhi: India's badminton star

Saina Nehwal advanced to the quar-

terfinals of the Thailand Open

Grand Prix Gold in Bangkok defeat-

ing Chinese Li Han 21-17, 21-13

Thursday. World No.5 Saina took 42

minutes to get past the Chinese in

the second round. She next plays

Thailand's Sapsiree Taerattanachai

in a last-eight match Friday.

Taerattanachai came from behind

to beat Kaori Imabeppu of Japan 20-

22, 21-19, 21-15.

Saina Nehwal

26 Books

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

By Vikas Girdhar

Parinda Joshi’s debut novel,

Live from London, is

exactly as advertised on the

cover: a “heartwarming medley of

love” and it touches on so many

bases that the younger generations

of the South Asian community can

relate to.

Live from London tells the story

of Nishi Singh, a 21-year old

woman who winds up embarrass-

ing herself on the set of Britain’s

Got Talent. Following the deba-

cle, she sets out to rebuild her

self-esteem and establish a foun-

dation of fame as a musician the

conventional way—as an intern at

a record-label company. In the

thick of the 204 pages of the

novel, readers are exposed to a

progressive yet drastic series of

life-changing events for the pro-

tagonist. They are not only able to

see a young adult’s coping mecha-

nisms en route to a cross between

success and luck; but also very

realistic responses to tensions

with her parents, boyfriend and

best friends. As Nishi finally

comes across a period in her life

when she feels like she “was in

fantasy land” only to see it crum-

ble before her very eyes, she is

forced to follow her parents in

their move to India to pick up the

pieces of her life. The novel is

essentially a tale of the London

lady who must reconstruct her life

for what seems like the third time

in these 204 pages—but with most

difficulty in a country she has

always been so disconnected

from.

This isn’t your average, run-of-

the-mill novel—and it certainly

isn’t one with farfetched elements

governing its credibility. Rather,

the struggles of the protagonist as

they relate to her familial life are

very well described and believ-

able. The reader is able to garner a

complete sense of Nishi’s

thoughts as a direct result of her

often over-analytical ways. She

cannot be described as obsessive

but she does have a habit of dis-

secting every situation down to its

bare essentials. Joshi employs

clever language and literary ele-

ments that turn otherwise ordinary

situations into escapades.

Live from London is able to har-

ness the most basic yet important

parts of a typical Indian student’s

life—love, family, career and

social etiquette—and touch on all

of them in an authentic way. That

is perhaps the best selling point of

the novel.

Joshi uses Nishi as a sole repre-

sentative of issues that South

Asians would enjoy reading about

because they can relate to them.

Through Singh, readers are able to

see themselves in what she goes

through, how she thinks, the way

she reacts and the manner in

which she accepts what life deals

to her. From the description of her

mom, who tends to worry about

all the small details and underesti-

mate the ability of her daughter to

get through situations, to the

description of her tough-nosed

dad, who rarely shows emotion

but is more on the rational side,

the tensions that arise from differ-

ent generations growing up in dif-

ferent countries hit home.

As a result of the realism por-

trayed throughout this “medley of

love”, Joshi’s work and writing

can be complimented. That ele-

ment is essentially what trans-

forms a novel full of otherwise

ordinary events into an epic jour-

ney through the protagonist’s life.

Add to that the author’s story-

telling methods, and the book

ends up as a quick read.

America's science fiction

pioneer Ray Bradbury,

whose works included

"Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian

Chronicles," passed away Tuesday

night. He was 91.

A prolific author of hundreds of

short stories and close to 50 books,

as well as numerous poems, essays,

operas, plays, and screenplays,

Bradbury was one of the most cele-

brated writers in the US.

"Mr. Bradbury died peacefully,

last night, in Los Angeles, after a

long illness," Xinhua quoted a

spokesman for his publisher

HarperCollins as saying

Wednesday.

Bradbury's groundbreaking

works include Fahrenheit 451, The

Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated

Man, Dandelion Wine, and

Something Wicked This Way

Comes.

He wrote the screen play for John

Huston's classic film adaptation of

Moby Dick, and was nominated for

an Academy Award. He adapted 65

of his stories for television's The

Ray Bradbury Theater, and won an

Emmy for his teleplay of The

Halloween Tree.

The author was awarded the

2000 National Book Foundation

Medal for Distinguished

Contribution to American Letters,

the 2004 National Medal of Arts

and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special

Citation. He won an Emmy Award

for his teleplay adaptation of his

1972 novel, "The Halloween Tree."

In a statement issued Wednesday,

President Barack Obama paid trib-

ute to the memory of Bradbury.

Citing Bradbury's "gift for story-

telling" that "reshaped our culture

and expanded our world," Obama

praised the author for understand-

ing "that our imaginations could be

used as a tool for better under-

standing, a vehicle for change and

an expression of our most cher-

ished values."

Telling turns mundane story into epic journey

Parinda Joshi, who earlier wrote a column for South Asian Times, andthe cover of her debut novel, Live from London

Ray Bradbury

India's security in jeopardy if army ignores merit: Book

India's security will be in jeopardy

unless the nation's political class,

backed by a compliant bureaucra-

cy, "gets its act together and vigorous-

ly desists from sacrificing the merit

system and the army rules at the altar

of favoritism and nepotism", a new

book on civil-military relations says.

The alternative is a situation in

which India's security would go into

the hands of "uniformed guardians

perhaps less than qualified to hold the

posts to which they have been pro-

moted", noted lawyer R.K. Anand

wrote in "Assault on Merit" (Har-

Anand Publications, Rs.495, 198

pages) that was released last week by

the outgoing Indian Army Chief,

Gen. V.K. Singh.

The book wonders how a "line of

succession" could be established "in a

system that is so steeped in merit,

where each and every soldier is being

judged and evaluated at each and

every step".

"The acknowledged 'line of succes-

sion' adopted by the government of

India basically means that an officer

has already been earmarked for the

COAS's job even before he has com-

manded a division. This has made a

complete mockery of the system,"

says the book, which has been edited

by veteran journalist Inderjit

Badhwar and has contributions from

military historian and filmmaker

Kunal Verma.

While the book does not specifical-

ly deal with the messy controversy

involving Gen. Singh's date of birth,

"the issues it addresses have a fright-

eningly similar ring as well as a last-

ing relevance: The state and morale

of the armed forces", Anand says in

the preface.

In this sense, the book is the first

authoritative account of Gen. Singh's

controversy against the larger back-

drop of what is termed "the stage-

management of promotions, transfers

and postings".

The book deals with more than a

dozen real-life case studies covering

the last decade. Most of these involve

major generals, lieutenant generals,

corps commanders and army com-

manders who, Anand says, "were at

the receiving end of malice and injus-

tice from babus and politicians".

Verma puts this in another perspec-

tive.

"The whole gamut of the civil-mili-

tary relationship needs to be exam-

ined in depth. It is time that our politi-

cal class came to terms with a simple

truth - the armed forces are unlikely

to stage a coup in this country - so

they might as well get that monkey

off their backs and get on with some

serious introspection. It is not the

bureaucracy but the political class

that represents the civil supremacy as

the elected representatives of the peo-

ple," Verma says in the final chapter

titled "Conclusions and

Recommendations".

"Professionals have to be allowed

to run the ministry of defense. The

railways have successfully adopted

and stuck to that model, so why can't

the armed forces do it too? This

would also help distribute the large

number of armed forces personnel

who desperately need to be absorbed

in a productive manner," Verma says.

"The promotion boards and the sys-

tem have to be made completely

transparent. Any attempt at manipula-

tion must be dealt with ruthlessly,"

Verma noted.

RK Anand, author of ‘Assault on Merit’

Lifestyle 27

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

By Eileen Wacker

Istrive to be a great parent. I

have moments of glory and

others of massive doubt and

worry. Because I constantly

revisit what is a good parent?

And for every happy, proud

moment there are a thousand

small deaths endured as a parent.

I die a small death every time my

child gets cut from a team, left

out of a birthday party or receives

a bad grade. And, seriously my

kids are not always dying with

me. It’s often me bleeding and

worried and they are texting and

making plans, leaving their

potential at the door as they walk

out.

I have four children aged eight

to fourteen. My fourteen year-old

daughter is “the pleaser,” my thir-

teen year-old son is a “swagger-

in-training,” my ten year-old son

is a combination “swagger-in-

training apprentice and hide and

seek addict” and my eight year-

old daughter is a “puppy-wor-

shipping tomboy.”

As parents, we want them to

have happy, productive lives and

we see their potential more than

anyone. All we want is for them

to do their best at every moment

so they do not miss out. How did

we get so unrealistic? They are

not a reflection of us but a reflec-

tion of them, most of which is

hard wired in. This has resulted

in over-parenting of some of our

kids and the assumption our easi-

est to raise will glide through life

as a result of our excellent parent-

ing.

Our most “over-parented” child

is our second child, otherwise

known as “swagger in training.”

He goes to a school for gifted

dyslexics wearing his Vans,

jeans, a flatback cap, t-shirt and

inexpensive chain. We rarely

have a positive parent conference

as he is disorganized (forgets

everything), opinionated and

moves around… a lot. If he

weren’t my child, many of his

stories would be hilarious, like

when he called 911 last week just

to see what would happen and

then hung up and did not answer

when the police called back, so of

course they came to our home.

We were on Kauai for several

hours so the phone call from the

police (who assumed we had left

our two oldest alone for the

weekend) screamed “bad parent.”

It all worked out but I’m starting

to have this face tic when I see

certain numbers crop up. Then

two days later, we go to a school

event, and he has a posse of

friends, is very funny in his pres-

entation and recognized for his

athleticism. I feel the shock of

pride watching his moment of tri-

umph.

All of a sudden, I had this shiv-

er of doubt. Could the hardest

child to raise in fact be the one

most prepared for life?

As a contrast, my first child is

very easy. We call her “the pleas-

er.” She runs with me and is part

of student government. Her par-

ent conferences are always great

as she has a positive sunny atti-

tude and never ever misbehaves

in class. She works hard and

manages to pull mainly “Bs” and

actually practices her piano. Am I

being a bad parent, loving her for

always going along and never

being defiant towards us or any

adult? The shiver gets stronger.

Could the easiest child to raise

end up being less successful

because of the behavior I am

reinforcing? I can’t get this ques-

tion out of my mind…

I struggle every day to keep

perspective related to my chil-

dren. I have so many hopes and

dreams for them. Realistically I

know they will determine their

own path, but I “mommy-lobby”

endlessly for them to do certain

things. So I need to change – the

old me tries to correct every flaw

and ensure they don’t miss an

opportunity. The new me sees my

difficult child as someone with

strengths I need to notice and

nurture and my daughter as

someone who needs to learn to

stand up and say no once in a

while.

Our youngest daughter is eight

and has been to four birthday par-

ties in four years. She is a tomboy

and would not be caught dead in

a dress or attend a tea party or

anything remotely “fluffy.” The

old me worried – why don’t the

girls like her? The new me

embraces her sunny disposition

and sporty prowess and feels

relieved she is strong enough to

make her own path and select

friends she shares interests with.

Our ten year-old son watches

everything and his favorite

expression is “it’s not fair.” He is

never left out and always gets his

fair share. He does the bare mini-

mum at school and still gets

straight As in fourth grade. The

old me worried when it starts to

get harder he will not have the

good study habits of his older sis-

ter. The new me admires he has

the heart of a lion and is always

in the thick of everything.

It is very difficult – as a parent I

have caught and corrected flaws

at every turn. I nurtured the early

reader, applauded the reluctant

bike rider and attended every ath-

letic event. So the old me is still

in there but the new me is going

to be a lot more visible. I just got

a call from school – “swagger in

training” was sent to the office

for holding his breath in an

attempt to get light-headed. I feel

the face tic thing again. But I am

rooting for the difficult child to

be successful in life.

Eileen Wacker is an award win-ning children’s author. Hernewest book is Black Samuraiand the Dynasty Dragon, part ofthe ‘Fujimini Adventure Series’.

By Nivedita Sharma

Who says you need to be svelte and

tall to carry off a long dress or

cocktail gown with panache?

Celebrities like Hilary Duff, Eva Longoria

and Rani Mukerji are perfect examples of

how women with short frames can do won-

ders with the elegant garment, albeit with a

little accessorizing and experimentation.

Select the best cut, choose the right print,

throw in a few accessories and team up the

look with high heels -- and you're ready to

rock in a gown, say Indian designers.

Pam Mehta, who specializes in couture,

says opting for an empire line, off-shoulder

gown with asymmetric hemlines and

styling it up with statement accessories will

suit shorter women.

"Empire line silhouettes can look great on

shorter women. Avoid breaking the body

into many parts horizontally, especially at

the waist and hips.

"Off-shoulder or collar band tie-ups and

trailing hemlines also look great on shorter

girls. Since asymmetric hemlines and clas-

sic cuts with halter necklines and spaghetti

straps are in, one can opt for such gowns,"

Mehta said.

She also emphasized on styling gowns

with statement accessories.

"Style gowns with statement accessories!

In fact, the best option is to add a chunky

collar neckpiece or a stone-studded bib.

Avoid belts as it will divide your body in

two parts.

"A pair of stilettoes will enhance the

grace and length of the gowns," she added.

Though fashion changes every season and

year, there are some wardrobe staples. A

gown is definitely considered one of them.

From Shilpa Shetty, Aishwarya Rai

Bachchan to Malaika Arora Khan, Kangna

Ranaut, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka chopra

- most Bollywood beauties have flaunted

gowns on several red carpet events.

Often Bollywood fashion has influenced

movie-goers. So no wonder many young

girls want to copy these leading ladies. But

if your height is stopping you from follow-

ing the trend, don't fret!

Designer duo Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor

say one should only focus on choosing a

gown right for one's body size and type.

"Short ladies can try this trick before

choosing the best gown -- if you have

shorter legs than torso, a shorter dress with

an emphasis on the waist would really

make your legs seem longer.

"If you have a shorter torso than legs,

longer dresses will drop your waist and

make you seem longer; so gown is always a

best option," Arjun said.

Anjalee shared tips on the right fabrics.

"The fabric of the dress you select should

be silk, chiffon velvet, or satin. A sheath

style dress is very flattering to many figures

and can add height. Do not select a multi-

color garment. If the dress is one color from

head to toe, along with the smooth texture,

that alone will make you appear taller," she

said.

Gowns with vertical stripes and smaller

prints in monotonic colors like red, blue,

bottle green and black work best for shorter

women, says designer Payal Singhal, who

also suggests that Indo-western touch to

gowns is also a good idea.

Raising a difficult child

British parents regretgifting gadgets to kids

Astudy in Britain has

found one third of par-

ents regretting having

given their children mobile

phones, computers, and games

consoles.

According to the study com-

missioned by Hobbycraft, a

chain of arts and crafts super-

stores, parents fear about the

harm to youngsters' patience,

creative and social skills as well

as to quality time means 34 per-

cent of them yearn to take the

gadgets back from their chil-

dren.

About 67 percent of the par-

ents were found to be annoyed

with the amount of time their

children spend with computer

or watching TV instead of

enjoying traditional activities.

The study, of 2,000 parents of

children aged 3-16, found that

over half of youngsters have a

hand-held games console, while

another 50 percent have a

games console. And four in ten

kids have their own TV in their

bedrooms.

Dear Indian-American Kids:

Iknow you’re busy with your school work

and other important stuff but there’s

something important I’d like to say to

you: Please stop winning the National

Spelling Bee!

Yes, you heard me right. Back away from

the unabridged dictionary, tear up the list of

10-syllable words your mom printed out for

you, delete the soundtrack of “Akeelah and

the Bee” from your iPod.

We know you’re good at spelling. You’ve

already proven it. You’ve won five consecu-

tive National Spelling Bees – and 10 of the

last 14. If the Los Angeles Lakers merged

with the Miami Heat, they wouldn’t win as

many titles as you. You’re so dominant that

the Las Vegas oddsmakers have made you 2-

1 favorites to win the next Spelling Bee, bet-

ter odds than they’ve set for Aishwarya Rai

to get a tummy tuck.

We know you’re dedicated and disciplined.

You’ve already proven it. While other kids

have been going to basketball camp or soc-

cer camp in the summer, you’ve been going

to spelling camp. While other kids are hors-

ing around in the showers before dinner,

embarrassing each other with not-so-polite

comparisons, you’ve been making compar-

isons that would do your parents proud: “My

word is bigger than your word.”

We know you’re eager to please your par-

ents. You’ve already proven it. You didn’t

complain when your mom handed you that

list of 10-syllable words or your dad shook

his head vigorously and said, “Only 10 sylla-

bles? You need to start giving her 12-syllable

words – she’s in kindergarten now.”

Yes, you’ve already proven enough, so

why not give some other kids a chance to

win the National Spelling Bee? The other

kids have also studied thousands of words,

but when they reach the final round of the

spelling bee and see you looking so confi-

dent – as though you’ve been on ESPN hun-

dreds of times – they lose their cool. They

say to themselves, “Oh no, those kids are

Indian-Americans. They must have been to

spelling camp!”

It’s like facing Rafael Nadal in the final of

the French Open. Sure, you might win a few

games, but then you look across the net and

see the six-time champion pumping his fist

and think to yourself, “Well, at least I got

this far.”

That’s what happened to Gifton Wright,

the boy from Kingston, Jamaica, who fin-

ished fourth this year. We knew there would

be a big celebration in Jamaica if he won, but

his valiant effort fell short, giving us the

same newspaper headline in India as last

year: “Ho-hum. Another Indian-American

wins the Spelling Bee.”

Even worse than that, we had to hear the

same old joke again. Several people tweeted

it, thinking they were being original:

“Snigdha Nandipati won the National

Spelling Bee by spelling her own name!

LOL! Someone put me on Comedy Central.”

But that’s not why I want you to stop win-

ning the National Spelling Bee. I want you to

stop because you’re putting too much pres-

sure on all the Indian-American kids who

don’t want to spend half their weekends

studying words and the other half being test-

ed on them. Take my 10-year-old daughter,

Lekha, for example. She’s a good student

who loves to read books and play the piano,

but isn’t that interested in spelling. Every

year, when the National Spelling Bee is

being televised — the only time my wife

ever asks if we have ESPN on our cable –

Lekha has to endure comments such as, “If

they can do it, so can you,” “Look how

proud her parents look” and “It’s my mistake

– I should have started spelling words to you

when you were in my womb.”

So here’s my request again: Please stop

winning the National Spelling Bee! I know it

won’t be easy, but with a little effort, I’m

sure you can do it.

See you at Geography Camp!

28 Humor

An open letter to Indian-American kids

Tech Life

Humor with Melvin Durai

by Mahendra ShahMahendra 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.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Boston: Microsoft warned that a bug in Windows

allowed PCs across the Middle East to become infect-

ed with the Flame virus and released a software fix to

fight the espionage tool that surfaced last week.

Security experts said they were both surprised and

impressed by the approach that the attackers had used,

which was to disguise Flame as a legitimate program

built by Microsoft.

"I woke up to this news and I couldn't believe it. I

had to ask, 'Am I reading this right?'" said Roel

Schouwenberg of Russian security firm Kaspersky

Lab, one of the researchers who helped discover the

Flame virus. Experts described the method as "elegant"

and they believed it had likely been used to deliver

other cyber weapons yet to be identified.

"It would be logical to assume that they would have

used it somewhere else at the same time, Mikko

Hypponen, chief research officer for security software

maker F-Secure. If other types of cyber weapons were

indeed delivered to victim PCs using the same

approach as Flame, then they will likely be exposed

very quickly now that Microsoft has identified the

problem, said Adam Meyers, director of intelligence

for security firm CrowdStrike. Cyber weapons that

bear the fake Microsoft code will either stop working

or lose some of their camouflage, said Ryan Smith,

chief research scientist with security firm Accuvant.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft declined to comment

on whether other viruses had exploited the same flaw

in Windows or if the company's security team was

looking for similar bugs in the operating system.

Flame's code included what is known as a digital

certificate, which falsely identified it as a piece of soft-

ware from Microsoft.

The creators of the virus obtained that certificate by

manipulating a component of the Windows operating

system known as terminal services licensing, or TS

licensing, that is designed to authorize business cus-

tomers to use advanced features of Windows.

A bug in TS licensing allowed the hackers to use it

to create fake certificates that identified Flame as being

from Microsoft, Mike Reavey, a senior director with

Microsoft's Security Response Center, said in a blog

post. He feared that other hackers might be able to

copy the technique to launch more widespread attacks

with other types of viruses, Reavey said.

"We continue to investigate this issue and will take

any appropriate actions to help protect customers,"

Reavey said in the blog post.

News of the Flame virus, which surfaced a week

ago, generated headlines around the world as

researchers said that technical evidence suggests it was

built on behalf of the same nation or nations that com-

missioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's

nuclear program in 2010. Researchers are still gather-

ing information about the virus.

Microsoft issues Flame virus warning

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Aries: This week you should make plans

that include sufficient time for entertain-

ment along with usual business meetings.

Recreation will result in to a newfound love.

Home environment will be peaceful and pleasant,

and family members will extend full support. Your

reputation may be at stake if you become intimate

with someone you work with. Avoid trusting sub-

ordinates for important information. Expenses are

likely to rise on luxuries.

Taurus: Don’t make promises to clients

that you might find difficult to keep.

Although your confidence and imagination runs

high this week but taking important decisions

might not be too easy for you. Older members of

the family will pose some problems and financial

position will not be very comfortable. Travel

undertaken for work purpose will bring moderate

returns. Your ability to come up with new ideas

will bring appreciation from superiors.

Gemini: This week you are likely to be

involved in some work, which is of highly

creative nature. You might even sign up for a new

course or even visit a seminar to help you toward

your goal. Although your financial position will

improve, but the outflow of money will leave you

with little money to save. Relationship with your

spouse will be cordial and healthy. Health will

show sign of improvement despite a busy and hec-

tic week. A distant trip is on the cards for some of

you.

Cancer: Avoid making any type of finan-

cial commitment without seeking the

advice of experts. Hasty decisions will only leave

you regretting. Money gains through investment

are quite likely later in the week. Students should

seek advice from successful people on career

related issues. Budding romance for those unat-

tached will bring new excitement and happiness in

life. Your mental state seems fine as you go out

and spend good moments with close friends.

Leo: Focus and concentrate on your goals,

but you should try not to get yourself so

wrapped up in work, that you neglect your house-

hold duties. Arguments and confrontations should

be strictly avoided, as emotional outburst will

cause disharmony at home. Few important pur-

chases are likely to be made for the house towards

the weekend. A Sudden romantic development

with someone you have known for long, might

come as a surprise. Do not let children take advan-

tage of your generous behaviour.

Virgo: This week you seem to take a more active

role in social groups and liven up the

atmosphere around you. Although new

money making ventures and investment

opportunities will keep you occupied, instant

gains do not seem likely. End of the week sees

you take blessing from a spiritual person. Other

religious activities will also take some of your

time. Children will seek your advice and guid-

ance. Fitness program will be important to keep in

perfect shape.

Libra: Do not loose your cool if things do

not work your way. Investors will see past

investments gaining new heights. New Investment

in property is also recommended. Relationship

with some relative might suffer due to minor mis-

understanding. Mid-week will be highly crucial

for artists, writers and those involved in creative

line as they can expect a major boost in their

career. Spouse will be highly supportive and

shower you with love and affection.

Scorpio: This week you are likely to loose

an excellent financial opportunity if you do

not act swiftly. Your cash liquidity improves as

you benefit from past investments but pending

bills and old debts will makes it impossible for

you to save. Journey overseas or foreign transac-

tions will prove to be highly beneficial. Job

opportunities for people still unemployed. Health

of your spouse will cause some concern or rela-

tionship with her might get tensed over small

issues. Children will be supportive.

Sagittarius: Take a good look at your per-

sonal financial situation and stick to your

budget. Emotional frustration will make it diffi-

cult for you to concentrate on productive issues.

Your relationship with your partner may get

tensed or your colleagues might say something

disappointing, which might leave you highly

demoralized. A small vacation and other recre-

ational activities will make you feel relaxed.

Small ritual or a ceremony might be performed at

home.

Capricorn: This week, be careful as

someone might try to undermine you.

Keep your ideas to yourself and learn to behave in

a more responsible and realistic manner. You

should do some self-introspection, list your priori-

ties, and try to work towards your career goals. At

work your are likely to face some criticism for not

being helpful and adjustable. Certain changes to

improve your physical appearance will be highly

appreciated by your beloved and friends.

Aquarius: Your family will have an

expensive plan for home improvement,

and you will be the only person who will con-

tribute the most. This is a good week to plan out a

budget and take care of your bills and debts.

Professional advancements for some. In the latter

half of the week you will build up new associa-

tions and important contacts, which will be long

lasting and highly fruitful. Yoga and meditation

will bring in physical as well as spiritual gains.

Pisces: This week you find yourself sup-

pressing under extreme work pressures.

Someone you work with will be unhappy with

your performance, which will make you feel high-

ly frustrated. Health needs special care as you try

to cope up with this stressful and tensed period.

An increase in income through part-time jobs or

assignment most likely.

Family members might demand some extra time

and attention. Be very cautious of casual acquain-

tances who demand temporary financial assis-

tance. Spouse behaves cooperative despite your

erratic behaviour.

June 09:

Ruled by number 9 and the planet Mars. You are

courageous, energetic, trustworthy, dashing, inde-

pendent and quick in taking decisions. You always

welcome new ideas and are fond of increasing your

knowledge and learn new things, but you need to

control your tendency to behave quarrelsome, impa-

tient and moody at times. This year you will work on

new projects, which will ensure gains not immedi-

ately but eventually. This seems to be a good time to

invest in stocks and property, but all investments

should be made for long-term duration. A distant

journey seems likely later in the year, most probably

for attending some auspicious occasion or pilgrim-

age. Friends and relatives will promise more than

they could deliver. The months of October, Septem-

ber, December and March will prove to be beneficial.

June 10:

Influenced by number 1 and the Sun, you are smart,

energetic, practical, dignified and highly sensitive

person. You like an independent and free lifestyle for

yourself, which allows you to move gradually to-

wards your goals, but you need to check your ten-

dency to behave spendthrift, dominating and restless

at times. This year a promotion or an increase in re-

sponsibility will bring you reasons to celebrate.

Those professionals looking for a career abroad will

receive favorable response. New projects will add a

touch of class to your profile. A healthier and loving

atmosphere will prevail at home, which will bring

good health and prosperity. Housewives will have to

cope with regular arrival of guests and relatives.

Traveling to a distant place for spiritual gains cannot

be ruled out. The months of August, October, De-

cember and February will prove to be result oriented.

June 11:

Ruled by number 2 and the moon, you are an honest,

responsible, trustworthy, intelligent and broadmind-

ed person. You are fond of intellectual conversation

and soothing music, but you need to control your ten-

dency to behave extra nervous and restless during

difficult times. This year you will benefit immense-

ly if you listen to what your family members have to

say. New sources of income will improve your fi-

nancial position and your confidence will be at its

peak. Career changes if any will prove to be benefi-

cial. Your outgoing nature will work to your advan-

tage. Spouse and other female members will do their

best to keep you happy. Avoid standing surety or a

guarantee for others, as it would lead to embarrass-

ment and legal problems. Real-estate transaction to-

wards the yearend should bring monetary gains. The

months of July, August, October and January will be

eventful.

June 12:

Dominated by number 3 and the Planet Jupiter, you

are energetic, charming, ambitious, talented, digni-

fied and highly methodical person. You are inde-

pendent by nature and people admire you for your

ability to take bold decisions, but you need to curb

your tendencies towards stubbornness, extravagance

and dictatorial nature at times. This is the right time

to take important business decisions. Investments

made during this phase will bring in good profits.

Matters related to property will bring gains. Distant

travel, may be overseas, brings joy and happiness

along with a possible reunion with an old contact.

Renovation of the house or construction related ac-

tivities would also be high on your agenda. Chronic

patients definitely need to be more careful about their

health. Preventive medicines should not be avoided

at any cost. The months of September, November,

February and April will prove to be highly signifi-

cant.

June 13:

Influenced by number 4 and the Planet Uranus, you

are talented, bold, reliable, energetic and systematic

individual. You always aim high and work with com-

plete dedication towards your goals, but at times you

receive a setback after coming extremely close to

your goals because of your changeable, inconstant

and stubborn nature. This year although productive

but results will be slow and will require you to give

in your best. Your inability to gather support on your

prevailing project will create a sense of dissatisfac-

tion and frustration. Period in the second half of the

year will be better for financial dealing, though part-

nership and joint ventures should be completely

avoided. Romance will flourish and some lovebirds

will even go for a matrimonial alliance. Despite ten-

sions and stress your health will be fine. The month

of July, October, December and May will be event-

ful.

June 14:

Governed by number 5 and the planet Mercury, you

are active, authoritative, dashing, confident, helpful,

sincere and kind-hearted person. You like to enjoy

life to the fullest. You are not very good in express-

ing your emotions to your lover and your tendency to

behave extravagant and lazy always attracts criticism

from those around you. This is going to be an ex-

tremely rewarding period for women. Favorable stars

will bring you prosperity and good fortune. A spec-

tacular leap in your professional career is foreseen

provided you make use of the opportunities that arise

before you. Good flow of finances will improve your

living comforts and savings. An infatuation with the

opposite sex will come as a surprise and it will take

some time before you start thinking straight again.

The health of your parents will cause some concern,

but don’t worry unnecessarily. The months of July,

August, November and February will be highly im-

portant.

June 15:

Influenced by number 6 and the Planet Venus, you

are enthusiastic, loyal, charming, witty and helpful in

nature. You have a very sharp memory, and your

grasping power is really wonderful. You can easily

hold position of leadership and authority but you

loose good opportunities due to your tendency to be-

have moody, stubborn and vindictive at times. This

year there will be a rise in your expenses making it

difficult for you to save. Although slow progress of

work and disagreements over small issues will irri-

tate you and even show on your health, but towards

the yearend, you will be pleased and satisfied with

your achievements. Investments made during this pe-

riod will bring in good returns, though not immedi-

ately but eventually. Students will perform well in ac-

ademics and will be rewarded for their contribution

towards extra curricular activities. Spouse remains

cooperative despite your erratic behavior. The

months of April, October, December and February

will be important.

Astrology 29

TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 9-15, 2012

By Dr Prem Kumar SharmaChandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com

Stars Foretell: June 9-15, 2012 Annual Predictions: For those born in this week

i) Accurate Data: Please make sure Date,

Time and Place of birth is accurate.

ii) Careful: Did you check background of the

astrologer before disclosing your secrets.

iii) Fee: Discuss the charges before, don’t feel

shy. It’s his business.

iv) Expectation: Expect the best, if the out-

come is not as desired, never give up.

v) Consult: Take second opinion before

spending thousands on cure/remedies.

Learn about the fair value ofdiamonds & precious stones.

from a Gems Expert For appointment, please call 516-390-7847

or email consult.gems@gmail.comA special offer for the readers of

The South Asian Times

Before you consult...

Free Consultation

30 Spiritual Awareness

June 9-15, 2012 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

If we are in the body of a

teenager, we are bound to go to

school and are pressured by

our friends to do what they do. We

may want to go off and meditate

or be in the company of a saint but

our friends consider us crazy.

Their life is even crazier with their

fascination with experimenting

with drugs and alcohol which

make us less conscious but they

want us to be like them. They do

not want us using our own natural

method of meditation to get intox-

icated—they want us to use the

unnatural and dangerous means

that they use. They pressure us to

engage in worldly pleasures and if

we do not comply, we become the

laughingstock of our neighbor-

hood and school. People make fun

of us and call us names. We feel

torn between finding joy in our

spiritual life and being accepted

by others who have no spiritual

interests. The soul is tormented by

the world around it and knows not

what to do.

If we are in the body of an adult,

we are bound by the responsibili-

ties of our job or of raising a fami-

ly and doing our duties in society.

Our soul wants to be lost in ecsta-

sy in the arms of the Lord, but our

attention is being pressured to

attend to the worldly pursuits. We

have to put in many hours on a job

to get paid to keep our body fed

and housed. We have to take care

of our spouses, our children, or

our parents. We have to pay our

taxes, pay our mortgage, pay the

expenses of a car, pay annual

licenses, and take care of all sorts

of paperwork that each citizen of

every country has to do. Time is

the enemy of the soul, for it takes

away from the soul’s yearning to

be lost in ecstasy within.

Even if we are on a spiritual

path, the soul has some problems.

Those souls who have awakened

to their true nature are only happy

when in the presence of the Master

physically or inwardly in medita-

tion. They want to focus totally on

the Master when in his presence.

When not in his presence, they are

restless for the next chance to be

with him. They are filled with

anguish and torture when kept

away from him.

Those on the spiritual path are at

different stages. Some are at a

stage where they have not yet

identified with their soul and are

still enticed by the world. They

have some pull towards the Master

and meditation but they are still

functioning at the level of the

mind and the world. They act

responsibly. They look at the

Master more as a physical being.

They consider meditation a chore,

and do not like to do it. They intel-

lectually understand the path, but

their soul has not yet fully tasted

the bliss within and they are con-

tent to come and go at the regular-

ly scheduled times of programs.

Then, we reach a stage in which

we awaken to our spiritual nature.

We identify with the soul. When

we do so, then the soul is not

happy with things of this world. It

finds its enjoyment in being in the

spiritually-charged radiation of the

Master and sitting in meditation. It

enjoys the bliss of seva because

during those times it is receptive

to the Master power within and

flowing through it as seva is done.

It finds attending to the world to

be drudgery. It wants to spend as

much time as possible in the

Master’s presence.

When such souls cannot be in

the Master’s presence, they have a

difficult time. Their soul is in

agony and torture when away

from the Master. It is a real, living

pain that stabs at their heart. Their

heart feels like it is being stabbed

over and over again without stop.

Their whole being feels as if it is

on fire. They feel as if they are in

torture. Outwardly, they may look

like they are calm, cool, and col-

lected, but inside they are being

burned alive in the fire of separa-

tion. We know what it is like to get

a paper cut. The thin cut goes right

down to the nerve. Now picture a

soul in separation from the

Master—it is like tens of thou-

sands of paper cuts are slicing the

disciple at once. Knives are stab-

bing at their hearts every second

of every day. Now, picture a soul

in such agony, and then asking it

to behave normally. Ask such a

soul to smile when tears are flood-

ing behind its eyes. Ask such a

soul to be cheerful, when the soul

cannot take the pain anymore. Ask

such a soul to do any work, when

its whole being is filled with pain.

But the worst of it is that it cannot

escape the pain and must bear all

this torture second by second. It

knows that escaping the pain is not

an option. So, the soul just has to

bear this torture of separation.

The soul then pleads to the

Master to be gracious. It cries out

with every ounce of its being to

the Master to end the separation. It

prays that the Master is merciful in

ending its period of distance so it

can enjoy that loving, captivating

company again.

Then, if the Beloved does not

respond, the torture intensifies

because the soul feels the Master

has forgotten him or her. The soul

feels the Master does not care. The

soul cannot understand how the

Master can be aware of his or her

pain and not do something about

it. In such a state the soul has

reached the end of its limit. It

prays with great intensity to the

Master and begs for relief. Then,

the Master is gracious. The Master

lifts the veil and shows himself to

the disciple. The Master gives the

disciple a boost and a lift and

pours out his love to the disciple.

He takes the disciple in his arms

and fills the disciple with hope and

love again. The disciple is able to

survive for another day.

The plight of the disciple in the

world is best described by this

verse by Sant Darshan Singh Ji

Maharaj. This verse touches a

chord in describing the plight of a

soul in such a condition. The verse

says:

I am as full of the pangs and

longings for the Beloved as the

harmonium is full of music;

Just touch it, move your finger

on it once, and see what happens.

The disciple who has reached a

stage in which he or she has iden-

tified with the soul and wants only

the Master and God is like the dis-

ciple described by Sant Darshan

Singh Ji Maharaj in this verse.

Picture a harmonium or any

instrument sitting on a table. It

looks like any other physical

object. A harmonium looks like a

wooden box. It has white and

black keys. There is a part of it

that is like an accordion which

fans out as you move it in and out.

It looks very much like a physical

object. But when you just touch

the keys or move out the accor-

dion-like part, exquisite sound

comes out of it. Then, as you

move your fingers over it, you can

produce music so uplifting it stirs

the soul. From this physical object

comes unseen sound that has the

power to move hearts. The music

can make people dance, it can

make people sing, it can make

people smile, and it can make peo-

ple wail and cry. The element that

comes forth from this physical

form is ethereal; it has no sub-

stance, but it can move the spirit.

Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj

is saying that just as music is hid-

den within the physical structure

of an instrument, such as a harmo-

nium, so is the music of longing

and pain hidden within the physi-

cal form of a disciple. The disciple

may have a body like everyone

else. The disciple may have eyes,

ears, a nose, and a mouth like

everyone else. Yet, when one just

touches its strings the music of

longing and pining flow from it.

The disciple may look like a

human form like everyone else,

but that form really is a casing or

embodiment of one long song of

yearning and pining for the

Beloved. Behind the face and

smile is a soul crying in agony to

be with the Beloved. The disciple

is really the music of the heart

playing its melody all twenty-four

hours of the day. It is singing

songs of pain and agony when in

separation from the Beloved. It is

singing songs of ecstasy when it is

with the Beloved. The music of a

disciple only contains two ragas:

ecstasy and agony. There is little

in between.

Those who live in the company

of such a disciple think they are

living with another physical per-

son with a body and a mind. But

that is as illusionary as the harmo-

nium sitting on a table. There is

skin, there is flesh and blood, but

within that disciple is a musical

instrument. It is either singing in

ecstasy because it is in the compa-

ny of its Beloved again, or it is

playing the most heart-rending

music of torture when separated

from the Master.

The disciples are asked to live in

the world. They are asked to fol-

low the path of positive mysti-

cism. They are asked to behave

normally. Thus, he or she plays a

role as a student in school, a pro-

fessional at work, a good wife or

husband at home, a good parent to

its children, and a good communi-

ty neighbor. But as the verse of

Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj

says, "Just touch the strings, just

touch the instrument," and see

what happens. If anyone living

with such a disciple just touches a

chord within the disciple, the

music of ecstasy or music of

yearning comes forth. It does not

take much. The disciple is already

ready to burst with the pain of sep-

aration. The disciple is trying to

cover it up within the outwardly

normal form. But the slightest

touch will cause the disciple to

explode out with his or her true

feelings.

(To be continued..)

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharajis an internationally recognizedspiritual leader and Master ofJyoti Meditation who affirms thetranscendent oneness at the heartof all religions and mystic tradi-tions, emphasizing ethical livingand meditation as building blocksfor achieving inner and outerpeace. www.sos.org.

Second of three part series on Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj's discourse 'Yodeling for God'

Material world distracts soul away from spiritual path

By Sant Rajinder SinghJi Maharaj

The plight of the disciple in the worldis best described by this verse by SantDarshan Singh Ji Maharaj. The versesays:

I am as full of the pangs and longings for the Beloved as the harmonium is full of music;

Just touch it, move your finger on itonce, and see what happens.