NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA ... Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ex-CM Siddaramaiah wait to have an appointment with the Karnataka Governor at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru

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93% OF H-4 SPOUSESARE FROM INDIA

RenownedInd-Am physicistpasses awayIrani removed

from I&B, Goyalgets Finance too

Do Karnataka results givea clue to 2019?

WASHINGTON: A staggering 93 per cent of the to-tal H-4 visa holders in the US having work authoriza-tion are from India, a latest Congressional report onthe spouse visa has said.

Over one-fifth of the H-4 visa holders with workauthorization live in California, it said.

Ninety-three per cent of granted applications foremployment authorization were issued to women;seven per cent to men, according to the report on H-4 visas by the independent Congressional Research

Service of the US Congress, which prepares periodicreports on issues of interest to US lawmakers.

"Ninety-three per cent of approved applicationsfor H-4 employment authorization were issued to in-dividuals born in India, and five per cent were issuedto individuals born in China. Individuals born in allother countries combined make up the remainingtwo per cent of approved applications," CRS said inits nine-page report.

Details on page 5

WAITING GAME: Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, JD (S) CM aspirant HD Kumaraswamy, Senior Congressleader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ex-CM Siddaramaiah wait to have an appointment with the Karnataka Governor at Raj Bhavan

in Bengaluru. The Karnataka election results have thrown up a hung Assembly as a simple majority eludedBJP (105 seats) and the Congress with 77 seats quickly proclaimed support to third-placed JD(S) (37 seats)

to keep the saffron party out of power. (Details on page 6)

EC George Sudarshan

Smriti Irani

PM to holdinformal summitwith Putin

Jaitley stableafter kidneytransplant

NRI students getmore options inmedical courses

Tharoor accusedof abetting wifeSunanda's suicide

Can Trump be persuaded notto hit H1-B visa spouses?

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Some weeks are like that, when too many things happen too fast be-fore your brain has had the time to grasp the full impact of the hap-

penings.In no particular order of significance, the US moved its Embassy in

Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, further flaming the already heightenedtensions in the Middle East; the US pulled out of the Obamaadministration's stellar achievement, the Iran nuclear deal, much to thesame effect in the region; the US is massively expanding its own nucleararsenal, putting all other nuclear armed nations on alert and not exactlyhelping its pressure tactics on rogue nations to back off of their ownnuclear ambitions.

And in the midst of all this, most ironically, President Trump unabash-edly angled for a Nobel Peace Prize for bringing North Korea to the tablewhile announcing his impending summit with Kim Jong-Un in Singaporenext month. It would be "a very special moment for world peace," Trumptweeted, aptly using the favorite cliché of many of his own Miss Universepageant contestants in the past.

While nuclear extinction in the foreseeable future may not be a bigstudio movie idea anymore, death and destruction in this week's bomb-ings in Indonesia and knife attacks in France affirm that ISIS is not goingaway anytime soon.

And by the way, adding to the mass destruction stockpiles, India hasemerged as one of the five biggest military spenders along with the USand China.

Quite unconnectedly, I read with interest that Walmart has obtainedmajority control in India's e-commerce site Flipkart for $16 billion; andthat Prime Minister Modi was the most liked world leader with 43.2 mil-lion likes on Facebook.

Rest assured we are still in the same war-terror-commerce-social me-dia driven society today as we were last week.

30HIGHLIGHTS

Bollywood:Honeymoon put offSonam Kapoor & Anand Ahuja gotmarried on May 8 but the couple don'thave time to go on for a honeymoon

5Cover Story:

14Community:TiE Inflect

44

36Life style:

Bollywood beauties flocked to Frenchcity of Cannes making headlines withtheir fashionable appearances

10Techbiz:

T-Hub in Hyderabad is accepting applica-tions for its India Market Access Bridge(IMAB) program for international startups

40Travel:BhimtalBhimtal is famous for the enormousBhimtal Lake which is bigger than NainiLake & offers good boating facilities

T-Hub for Startups

The largest technology-based entrepre-neurship conference in the world - TiEInflect 2018, took place in Santa Clara

A staggering 93 per cent of the totalH-4 visa holders in the US having workauthorization are from India

Beauties at Cannes

Immigration:

Ex-employees have dropped lawsuitagainst Disney accusing it of replacingthem with H1B visa holders, mostly Indians

Disney employees lose

Spouses from India

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Cover/Top Stories

93% of H-4 spouses from IndiaWASHINGTON: A staggering

93 per cent of the total H-4visa holders in the US havingwork authorization are from In-dia, a latest Congressional re-port on the spouse visa hassaid.

Over one-fifth of the H-4 visaholders with work authoriza-

tion live in California, it said.Ninety-three per cent of

granted applications for em-ployment authorization wereissued to women; seven percent to men, according to thereport on H-4 visas by the in-dependent Congressional Re-search Service of the US Con-

gress, which prepares periodicreports on issues of interest toUS lawmakers.

"Ninety-three per cent ofapproved applications for H-4employment authorizationwere issued to individualsborn in India, and five per centwere issued to individuals

born in China. Individuals bornin all other countries com-bined make up the remainingtwo per cent of approved ap-plications," CRS said in its nine-page report.

As of December 25, 2017,US Citizenship and Immigra-tion Services had approved

126,853 applications for em-ployment authorization for H-4visa holders. These count allapprovals since May 2015when the rule was imple-mented.

This number includes90,946 initial approvals, 35,219renewals, and 688 replace-ments for lost cards.

H-4 visa holders are not geo-graphically constrained by law,and approvals for employmentauthorization documents havebeen issued to H-4 non-immi-grants living in all 50 states,the District of Columbia, andthe US territories.

California accounts for morethan one-fifth (28,033), andTexas and New Jersey togetheraccount for another 20 percent.

Before 2015, H-4 visa hold-ers were not eligible for workauthorization.

As the visa queue increasedfor individuals in particularthose from India and Chinaawaiting employment-basedlegal permanent resident (LPR)status, policymakers and oth-ers raised concerns about the

lack of employment authoriza-tion for spouses hindering theUS' ability to attract and retainhighly educated workers.

In 2015 Federal Register is-sued a notice establishingwork authorization for certainH-4 spouses referred to threeanticipated benefits: reducingpersonal and financial burdenson H-1B and H-4 non-immi-grants, reducing disruption tothe US businesses and attract-ing and retaining highly-skilled

workers.The previous Obama admin-

istration argued that allowingH-4 spouses to work wouldsupport the US economy be-cause H-1B non-immigrantsand their spouses have histori-cally made significant contri-butions to entrepreneurship

and research and develop-ment.

Finally, this rule may facili-tate attracting and retaininghighly skilled workers bybringing US immigration poli-cies more in line with those ofother countries that competefor similarly skilled workers, itsaid.

Unlike work authorizationfor H-1B visa holders, employ-ment authorization that isgranted based on H-4 status is

not restricted to a specific em-ployer and does not requirethe employer to get approvalfrom the Department of Labor.

H-4 work authorization alsodoes not prohibit self-employ-ment, starting a business, orhiring employees.

H-4 visa holders are not geographically con-strained by law, and approvals for employmentauthorization documents have been issued toH-4 non-immigrants living in all 50 states, the

District of Columbia, and the US territories

Cont’d on page 9

BJP short of majority in Karnataka; Cong-JD(S) join handsBENGALURU: The Karnataka

Assembly election resultsthrew up an unexpected sus-pense, as a simple majoritytantalizingly eluded BJP andthe Congress quickly pro-claimed support to third-placed JD(S) to keep the saf-fron party out of power.

All eyes are now on Gover-nor Vajubhai Vala who will haveto decide whether to call BJP,the single largest winner ofseats, to try to form the gov-ernment or go with the JD(S)-Congress combine, which to-gether have a clear majority inthe 224-member Assembly.

Elections were held for 222seats on May 12.

Both sides rushed to meetVala, their vehicles slowly cut-ting through the throngs ofparty workers and supportersassembled outside the RajBhavan gates, and staked claimto power.

In a roller-coaster ride for BJP,

it initially appeared that theparty was set to return to powerafter a five-year hiatus with a re-sounding majority. But as all thetrends became known, it ap-peared the party will fall a fewseats short of the 112 needed toform the government.

"We had to be ready for anyeventuality. So when there wasa window, we chipped in,"

Congress leader Ghulam NabiAzad told India Today TV. "In themorning, it looked like the BJPwill have enough to form thegovernment, and on the basisof that BJP started celebratingalso. Meanwhile, we fared well.JD(S) did not fare that well.And later, when the JD(S) andthe Congress numbers swelledup, that was the time we felt

we can make it," he said.Azad's comments summed

up the breathtaking daylongdevelopments in an electionseen as a bellwether for the2019 general elections at atime when the saffron wave issweeping the country.Karnataka was the only majornon-BJP ruled state, and theparty offices had reverberated

with jubilation in the morningwhen initial trends put itahead.

Several BJP and Congressleaders rushed to Bengalurufrom the national capital.

The swift political maneu-vering by Congress in reach-ing out to JD(S) headedshowed that it had learnt itslesson after the debacle inManipur and Goa where itfailed to form the governmentdespite being the single larg-est party because of BJP'sclever moves.

"We have all together dis-cussed and decided this.... Thisis the opinion of the All IndiaCongress party. Congress willsupport JD(S) because there isa hung Assembly situation hereas no party has been given clearmajority by the people," outgo-ing Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah told reporters.

BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa meets Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala after the Karnataka Assemblyelection 2018 results, in Bengaluru on May 15 Cont’d on page 9


www.indiapost.comTop Stories

Irani removed from I&B,Goyal gets Finance too

Smriti Irani & Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has removedSmriti Irani as the Informationand Broadcasting Minister andgiven the portfolio toRajyavardhan Singh Rathore ina minor but significant re-shuffle of his cabinet, in whichRail Minister Piyush Goyal wasgiven the additional charge ofthe Finance Ministry.

Irani, whose nearly one-yeartenure in the I and B Ministrywas mired in controversies,was replaced by her deputyRathore who has been madethe Minister of State with Inde-pendent Charge, according toa Rashtrapati Bhavan communi-que.

This is the second time thatIrani has been removed from a

key ministry as she was earliershifted out of the HRD Ministryto the relatively low-profileTextile Ministry. She remains

the Textile Minister.The communique said Rail-

ways Minister Goyal will "tem-

porarily" handle the Financeand Corporate Affairs minis-tries till Arun Jaitley recoversfrom his kidney transplant.

Jaitley under-went a success-ful kidney trans-plant at the AllIndia Institute ofMedical Sci-ences (AIIMS)here.

It said S SAhluwalia hasbeen relievedfrom the chargeof Minister ofState in DrinkingWater and Sani-

tation Ministry and assigned anew portfolio of Electronicsand Information Technology,

the communique said.Alphons Kannanthanam has

been relieved as Minister ofState in the Ministry of Elec-tronics and Information Tech-nology. He continues as Minis-ter of State for Tourism.

In July last year, Irani had as-sumed the charge of Informa-tion and Broadcasting Minis-try after M Venkaiah Naidu hadresigned following his nomi-nation as NDA's vice presiden-tial candidate.

She had courted variouscontroversies including the

latest one last month on a no-tification relating to fakenews.

The I and B Ministry had is-sued an order last month withprovisions of punishing jour-nalists found involved in gen-erating fake news.

The order was widely criti-cized by a large section of themedia which called it a brazenattempt to curb press free-dom.

It was later withdrawn onthe directive of Prime MinisterModi. PTI

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Renowned physicistSudarshan passes away

HOUSTON: Eminent Indian-American theoretical physicist,EC George Sudarshan passedaway on Sunday May 13 in Aus-tin, Texas. According to familysources and close friends,Sudarshan, 86, died of naturalcauses. He is survived by hiswife Bhamathi Sudarshan and

two children.Sudarshan had been teach-

ing as a professor at Universityof Texas for over 40 years.

He served as Honorary Advi-sory Council Member of Hous-ton Sri Meenakshi Temple. Hewas associated with thetemple from 1977.

Sudarshan, an outstandingtheoretical physicist, was bornin Kottayam, Kerala, India, in1931. The professional career

of Sudarshan spans five de-cades.

He discovered the V-Atheory of weak interactions

while working on his PhD the-sis under the late Robert E.Marshak.

He has made remarkablediscoveries in many fields ofphysics, including quantumoptics, tachyons, quantumZeno effect, non-invariancegroups, positive maps of den-

sity matrices, quantum com-putation, etc. His contribu-tions include also relationsbetween east and west sci-ence, philosophy and reli-gion.

In 2007, the Indian gov-ernment recognized andawarded the physicistwith the second highestcivil ian award, PadmaVibhushan.

He was also awarded theDirac Medal in 2010, whichis known to be given out toscientists who have madesubstantial contributions intheoretical physics, compu-tational chemistry andmathematics.The renowned physicist was

even recommended for theNobel Prize nine times butnever awarded. PTI

EC George Sudarshan

Jaitley stable after kidneytransplant at AIIMS

NEW DELHI: Union FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley under-went a successful kidneytransplant at the All India In-stitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) and is stable after theover four-hour-long surgery,hospital authorities said.

Jaitley, 65, who has beenmostly working from homesince early April, wasadmitted to the hospi-tal on May 12.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi spokewith Jaitley, hours be-fore he underwent thesurgery this morning.Government sourcessaid Modi was in touchwith Jaitley's family andhad been getting updates onhis health through the day.

AIIMS sources said the kid-ney was donated to Jaitley bya distant relative, a middle-aged woman. This falls underthe category of 'live unre-lated donation', a senior doc-tor explained.

"Living, unrelated donorcould be anyone who is emo-tionally attached to the re-cipient, such as friend, a rela-

tive, a neighbor or an in-law.The authorization committeehad given its approval beforethe procedure," he said.

Sources close to the minis-ter said he is likely to remainin the hospital for 10-15 days.Test reports after the surgeryare normal and he is recover-ing well, they said.

"Union minister Jaitley un-derwent a renal transplanttoday. The surgery has beensuccessful. Both the donorand the recipient are stableand recovering well," AIIMSauthorities said.

The surgery was carriedout at the cardio-thoraciccentre by a team of 20 per-sonnel, including transplantsurgeons and transplant an-esthesiologists. PTI

Arun Jaitley



PM to hold informalsummit with Putin

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will travel toRussian city of Sochi for an in-formal summit with PresidentVladimir Putin on May 21 todeliberate on pressing globalissues and explore ways to fur-ther boost the already closebilateral ties.

It would be Modi's secondinformal summit in as manymonths as he held talks withChinese President Xi Jingpin inChina's Wuhan in a similar for-mat last month.

The Ministry of External Af-fairs (MEA) said it will be animportant occasion for the twoleaders to exchange views oninternational matters in a"broad and long-term per-spective" with the objective offurther strengthening 'specialand privileged strategic part-nership' between the twocountries.

"Both leaders will also dis-cuss their respective nationaldevelopmental priorities andbilateral matters," the MEA

said.The annual summit talks be-

tween the top leadership ofthe two countries, bound by'special and privileged strate-gic ties', have been takingplace alternately in Moscowand New Delhi since 2000.

Sources said President Putinwill be in India later this year

for the annual summit. The lastsummit had taken place in StPetersburg in June 2017.

"This informal summit inSochi between Prime MinisterModi and President Putin is inkeeping with the tradition ofregular consultations betweenIndia and Russia at the highestlevels," the MEA said.

The sources said Modi andPutin will discuss issues of stra-tegic importance besides ex-ploring ways to enhance bilat-eral cooperation in areas oftrade, commerce, nuclear en-ergy and defense.

Russia is keen to enhanceeconomic cooperation with In-dia. Putin has been making con-

certed efforts to push economicgrowth in his country which wit-nessed significant slowdownfollowing Western sanctions af-ter the Ukraine crisis.

Russia has been India's big-gest supplier of arms thoughNew Delhi has started buyingmore military hardware fromthe US in the last few years. PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Vladimir PutinThe sources said Modi and Putin will

discuss issues of strategic importancebesides exploring ways to enhance bilateral

cooperation in areas of trade, commerce,nuclear energy and defense

Tharoor accused of abettingwife Sunanda's suicide

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police hassaid that the charge sheet filedin the Sunanda Pushkar casethat accuses her husband andCongress leader ShashiTharoor of abetting her suicidewas finalized on the basis of"medico-legal and forensic evi-dence".

Tharoor is the only personwho has been arrayed as anaccused in the case. The police,in its charge sheet which runsinto around 3,000 pages, hasalso alleged that Tharoor hadsubjected his wife to cruelty.

"On the basis of medico-le-

gal and forensic evidence ana-lyzed during investigation aswell as opinion of psychologi-cal autopsy experts, thecharge sheet was filed. Thematter is sub judice," said aDelhi Police spokesperson.

Psychological autopsy is areconstructive mental stateevaluation to understand anindividual's mental state at andaround the time of death for

the purpose of identifying thecause of death.

Pushkar was found dead in aluxury hotel room on the nightof January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader hasbeen charged under sections498 A (husband or his relativesubjecting a woman to cruelty)and 306 (abetment of suicide)of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet, which in-cludes several annexures, saidthat Pushkar died within threeyears, three months and 15days of her marriage withTharoor, who is the Lok Sabha

MP from Thiruvananthapuram.The couple had entered into

wedlock on August 22, 2010.Pushkar was found dead in

the suite of the South Delhi ho-tel on January 17, 2014. Thesuite was sealed that night it-self for investigation.

An FIR was registered byDelhi Police on January 1, 2015against unidentified persons un-der IPC section 302 (murder). PTI

Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor

Modi, Oli lay foundationstone of power plant

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Nepal, K P Sharma Olijointly unveiling the plaque to lay foundation stone of the Arun-III project, in

Kathmandu, Nepal on May 11

KATHMANDU: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi and hisNepalese counterpart K PSharma Oli jointly laid the foun-dation stone of the 900-mega-watt Arun III HydroelectricPower Plant in Tumlingtar areain eastern Nepal through a re-mote system here.

The project is expected tobring in USD 1.5 billion foreigndirect investment into Nepaland create jobs for thousands ofpeople.

Investment Board Nepal(IBN) recently granted the li-cense to Satluj Jala VodyutNigam Power DevelopmentCompany, a subsidiary of Indiangovernment-owned Satluj JalVidyut Nigam Ltd, to generatepower from the Arun-III Hydro-power Project, nearly 500-kmfrom Kathmandu.

The permit was granted inline with the decision of the

30th meeting of IBN's board ofdirectors chaired by Prime Min-ister Oli on April 28, accordingto an IBN official.

Arun-III is the largest capac-ity project in the history of hy-droelectricity that is scheduledto be constructed within thenext five years.

Nepal is currently facingshortage of power and the pro-duction of hydropower from

the project will mainly serve itsdomestic demands.

The Nepal government willreceive benefits worth NepaliRupees 348 billion from theproject as royalty, income tax,customs tariff and free energyin the concession period of 25years. The project will also pro-vide 21.9 per cent or 197megawatts of the generatedenergy free of cost to Nepal. PTI



Indian-origin man indictedin cryptocurrency scam

NEW YORK: A 27-year-old In-dian-origin man along withtwo other co-founders of astart-up cryptocurrency com-pany have been indicted witha scheme to defraud investors,with authorities seizing digitalcurrency worth more than USD60 million raised from victimsas part of the scheme.

Sohrab Sharma, RaymondTrapani and Robert Farkaswere the three co-founders ofa start-up company called Cen-tra Tech.

A grand jury in the SouthernDistrict of New York returnedan indictment charging thethree with conspiring to com-mit securities and wire fraud inconnection with a scheme toinduce victims to invest mil-lions of dollars' worth of digitalfunds for the purchase of un-registered securities, in theform of digital currency tokensissued by Centra.

The three men were ar-rested last month based oncriminal complaints charging

them with the same crimes,Attorney for the United StatesRobert Khuzami said.

Following their arrests, theFederal Bureau of Investigationseized 91,000 Ether units, con-sisting of digital funds raisedfrom victims as part of thecharged scheme. This seizeddigital currency is presentlyworth more than USD 60 million.

"As alleged, the defendantsconspired to capitalize on in-vestor interest in the burgeon-ing cryptocurrency market.

They allegedly made falseclaims about their product andabout relationships they hadwith credible financial institu-tions, even creating a fictitiousCentra Tech CEO," Khuzami said.

Sharma, 27, Trapani, 27 andFarkas, 31, are all residents ofFlorida. All three of them arecharged in a four-count indict-ment that in all carry 65 yearsin prison.

According to allegations inthe indictment, in approxi-mately July 2017, the three

men began soliciting investorsto purchase unregistered se-curities, in the form of digitaltokens issued by Centra Tech,through a so-called "initial coinoffering" or "ICO."

As part of this effort, theytold potential investors thatCentra Tech had formed part-nerships with Bancorp, Visa,and Mastercard to issue CentraCards licensed by Visa orMastercard and that CentraTech had money transmitterand other licenses in 38 states.

Based in part on theseclaims, the victims providedmillions of dollars' worth ofdigital funds in investments forthe purchase of Centra Techtokens.

In October 2017, at the endof Centra Tech's ICO, those digi-tal funds raised from victimswere worth more than USD 25million. Due to appreciation inthe value of those digital fundsraised from victims, those digi-tal funds are presently worthmore than USD 60 million.

However, the representa-tions that the three men madewere false. Centra Tech had nosuch partnerships withBancorp, Visa, or Mastercard.

In a separate action, the Se-curities and Exchange Com-mission also filed civil chargesagainst the three men. PTI

Sharma, 27, Trapani, 27 and Farkas, 31, are

all residents of Florida. All three of them are

charged in a four-count indictment that in

all carry 65 years in prison

Pak's civil-military leadershipcondemns Sharif remarks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan'stop civil and military leader-ship has condemned oustedPrime Minister NawazSharif 's "fallacious" state-ment that non-state actorshad crossed the border tocarry out the 2008 Mumbaiterror attack, indicating wid-ening rift between the topPML-N leader and the pow-erful military.

Sharif, the three-timeprime minister who wasforced to quit after the Su-preme Court disqualifiedhim in the Panama Papersscandal July last, in an inter-view last week questionedPakistan's policy to allow thenon-state actors to cross theborder and "kill" people inMumbai as he publicly ac-knowledged that militantgroups are ac-tive in the coun-try.

His com-ments trig-gered a contro-versy, prompt-ing the NationalSecurity Com-mittee (NSC) -Pakistan's topcivil-military body - to call ahigh-level meeting.

"The meeting reviewedthe recent statement in thecontext of Mumbaiattacks...and unanimouslytermed this statement as in-correct and misleading,"said a statement issued af-ter the NSC meeting held atPrime Minister's House.

"The participants ob-served that it was very un-fortunate that the opinionarising out of either miscon-ceptions or grievances wasbeing presented in disre-gard of concrete facts andrealities. The participantsunanimously rejected the al-legations and condemnedthe fallacious assertions," itsaid.

The statement said that itwas recalled during themeeting that the delay inconclusion of the Mumbaiattack case was caused byIndia, not Pakistan.

"Besides many other re-

fusals during the investiga-tion, the denial of access tothe principal accused, AjmalKasab, and his extraordinar-ily hurried execution be-came the core impedimentin the finalization of thetrial," it did.

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba mili-tants killed 166 people andwounded dozens in Mumbaiin November, 2008. Nine ofthe attackers were killed bypolice while lone survivorAjmal Kasab was caught andexecuted after a court foundhim guilty.

The statement said Paki-stan continues to await co-operation from India regard-ing the arrest of alleged In-dian spy Kulbhushan Jadhavand the Samjhauta Expressattack.

Presided over by PrimeMinister Shahid KhaqanAbbasi, the meeting was at-tended by top Cabinet min-isters, Chairman Joint Chiefsof Staff Committee GenZubair Hayat, the three ser-vices chiefs, the directorgenerals of Inter-Services In-telligence and Military Intel-ligence.

After the meeting, PrimeMinister Abbasi met Sharifand conveyed to him theconcerns of the militaryleadership over his remarksregarding the Mumbai at-tacks.

During the meeting,Sharif reiterated his stanceand questioned if anyonecould explain what waswrong with his comments.He wondered why brouhahawas being created over hisremarks when similar admis-sions have been made in thepast by others, theDawnNewsTV reported cit-ing its sources. PTI

The statement said Pakistancontinues to await coopera-

tion from India regarding thearrest of alleged Indian spyKulbhushan Jadhav and the

Samjhauta Express attack

Swaraj meets Suu Kyi, discusses tiesNAY PYI TAW: External Affairs

Minister Sushma Swaraj metMyanmar's State CounselorAung San Suu Kyi here and dis-cussed ways to strengthen bi-

lateral relations across differ-ent sectors.

Swaraj was here on a two-day visit for talks with thecountry's top leadership on

key bilateral and regional is-sues, including the Rohingyarefugee crisis.

"Neighborhood First! EAM@SushmaSwaraj met the StateCounselor and Foreign Minis-ter of Myanmar Aung San SuuKyi on the 2nd day of her visitto Myanmar. Discussion fo-cused on strengthening our bi-lateral relations across differ-ent sectors," External AffairsMinistry spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted.

On the first day she hadcalled on Myanmar PresidentU Win Myint.

According to reports, Swarajalso met the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar armedforces General Min AungHlaing. PTISushma Swaraj meets Myanmar's State Counsellor Suu Kyi



93% of H-4 spousesfrom India

However, under its AmericaFirst Policy, the Trump adminis-tration is proposing to removefrom regulation H-4 spouses ofH-1B non-immigrants as a classof foreign nationals eligible foremployment authorization.

The result would be that H-4 visa holders would not haveauthorization to work in the US.

The administration antici-pates publishing the proposedrule in the Federal Register inJune 2018, which would be fol-lowed by a publiccomment period be-fore a final rule wouldbe published, CRSsaid.

While H-4 EADshave been issued toresidents of almost4,000 cities acrossthe US, CRS said thecities with the highest num-bers are around large "techhubs" such as the Silicon Valley,northern New Jersey, Seattle,Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston,Austin, the Washington, DC, re-gion and Atlanta.

CRS said Congress has con-sidered several related piecesof legislation.

The Immigration InnovationAct of 2018 (S.2344), as intro-duced in the 115th Congress,would codify the current regu-lation providing work authori-zation to H-4 spouses of certainH-1B non-immigrants andwould require the employer ofthe H-4 spouse to attest that

they will pay her or him thegreater of the prevailing wagefor that occupation in the areaof employment or the actualwage paid to other workers inthe same job with similar quali-fications (i.e., applying thesame pay standard to the hir-ing of H-4 visa holders as is ap-plied to their H-1B spouses).

Previous versions of this bill(S.153, as introduced in the114th Congress, and S.169, asintroduced in the 113th Con-gress) would have providedemployment authorization to

the spouse of any H-1B or L (in-tra-company transferee) non-immigrant, regardless ofwhether the H-1B or L non-im-migrant had begun the pro-cess of obtaining LPR status.

These bills would not haverequired labor attestation.

Likewise, immigration re-form bills in the 113th Con-gress (S.744, as passed by theSenate, and HR 15, as intro-duced) would have providedemployment authorization tothe spouse of any H1B or L non-immigrant, regardless ofwhether the H-1B or L non-im-migrant had begun the processof obtaining LPR status. PTI

Cont’d from page 5

While H-4 EADs have beenissued to residents of almost

4,000 cities across the US,CRS said the cities with the

highest numbers are aroundlarge "tech hubs"

Faiz's daughter 'did nothave permission'

NEW DELHI: MoneezaHashmi, the daughter of fa-mous Pakistani poet FaizAhmed Faiz, was not allowed toattend a media summit here asher visa, issued in February, wasnot meant for the event, officialsources have claimed.

S e v e n t y - t w o - y e a r - o l dHashmi had said in Lahorethat Indian authorities deniedher entry into the 15th AsiaMedia Summit in New Delhi

even though she was invitedto the meet as a speaker.

"She was issued a multipleentry visa earlier this year forparticipation at an event in Feb-ruary. It was not for last week'sevent. That is why she couldnot attend it," said a source.

The Information and Broad-casting Ministry was amongthe hosts of the summit whichtook place between May 10and 12. PTI

No place like 'Indian occupiedKashmir': Swaraj

NEW DELHI: External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj hasgiven a stinging reply to an In-dian seeking her help from thePhilippines in getting a newpassport as she objected tohis Twitter profile that said hehails from "Indian occupiedKashmir".

"If you are from J&K state,we will definitely help you.But your profile says you arefrom 'Indian occupied Kash-mir'. There is no place likethat," Swaraj said, respondingto his request for help.

Sheikh Ateeq requestedSwaraj to help him in gettinga new passport and said heneeded to get back to his homeas his health was deteriorating.

"I am from J&K doing medi-cine course here in Philippines

my passport got damaged I ap-plied for new one 1 month ago Irequest u pls help me to get itas i literally need to go home for

medical checkup (sic)," Ateeqtweeted.

Later, in another tweet,Swaraj expressed happinessthat Ateeq had corrected his

profile and then directed Indianauthorities saying, "He is an In-dian national from J&K. Pls helphim."

Later, Ateeq apparentlydeleted his Twitter account asit could not be accessed.

Meanwhile, Swaraj also of-fered help to another Indiannamed Chetna Ahuja, whocomplained that she was ha-rassed due to Indian e-visa.

"I was scheduled to travelfrom HK-Delhi with my babyand helper as my mother hasa surgery. We applied e-visaand got a granted ETA but to-day on spot they rejected -

passport incomplete," Ahuja said.Responding to her request

for help, Swaraj told Indian au-thorities that the case needs"compassionate handling". PTI

Sushma Swaraj

Siddaramaiah, who handedover his resignation to Vala,said:"In a democracy we willhave to accept people's ver-dict, we have accepted it. Ourdecision is to support JD(S). It isour unanimous decision."

However, BJP's chief ministe-rial candidate B S Yeddyurappaaccused Congress of trying towin power unfairly. He said hewould stake claim to form thegovernment.

A somber-lookingYeddyurappa said the peopleof Karnataka had rejected theSiddaramaiah government"lock, stock and barrel". "TheCongress is trying to subvertthe popular mandate and comeback to power through theback door. People of Karnatakawill never accept this," he said.

After a high voter turnout,the Election Commission an-nounced that the Congress hadwon 37.9 per cent of votes asagainst BJP's 36.2 per cent.JD(S), headed by former PrimeMinister H D Deve Gowda, got18.4 per cent votes. Gowda'sson H D Kumaraswamy is itschief ministerial candidate.

BJP short of majority in Karnataka;Cong-JD(S) join hands

Soon after Congress de-clared its support to JD(S),Kumaraswamy wrote to thegovernor informing him that hehad accepted the offer to bethe chief minister.

"This is to submit to yourgood self that I have acceptedthe support extended by theIndian National Congress (I)party for forming the govern-ment. In this regard."

According to the results de-clared by the Election Commis-sion, Congress has won 77seats while JD(S) has won 37.BJP has won a total of 105.Mayawati's BSP, a JD(S) ally, andKPJP have won one seat each.

The usual practice is for thegovernor to call the leader ofthe single largest party or pre-poll alliance to form the govern-ment, and in the event of a hungAssembly, asks him to prove themajority on the floor of theHouse.

Governor might give BJP firstchance

According to Zee TV, thestate's Governor may call BJP -the single largest party in May12 assembly elections - to formthe government in the state

and the oath ceremony maytake place on May 17.

Though there has been noconfirmation in this regard so far,the sources told Zee News thatGovernor Vajubhai Vala is mostlikely to call the BJP's chief minis-terial candidate BS Yeddyurappato form the government.

The development cameshortly after a JDS-Congressdelegation met the Governorand submitted the letter ofsupport to him. Ahead of theCongress-JDS delegation, BSYalso met Governor VajubhaiVala and staked claim to formthe government in the stateafter his party swept thesingle-phase assembly elec-tions.

During his meeting withthe Governor, BSY, as thepopular Lingayat leader isknown among his supporters,asked to be allowed to provemajority in the 225-memberKarnataka Assembly.

Yeddyurappa went to meetthe Governor along with partyleader and Union MinisterAnanth Kumar after resultsfrom Saturday's Assemblyelection threw up a split ver-dict. Agencies


10 India Post May 18, 2018www.indiapost.com

TechBizTech News

MIT Technology Review

T-Hub announces India marketaccess program for Startups

Google's newtools use moreof your data

At its annual I/O conference,Google announced a slew

of new features that require-orencourage you to share-moreof your data. Here are the topfour you should know:

1. Google Duplex: Still in theexperimental stage, Google Du-plex is a human-sounding AIagent that can make phonecalls to set up appointments.

2. Pretty Please: Targeted atkids, Google Assistant will havethe ability to respond to que-ries that include the word"please" with phrases like"Thanks for asking so nicely."

3. Style Match: A new fea-ture of Google Lens, StyleMatch lets you point the phoneat, for instance, a dress and getreviews or info about whereyou can find similar items.

4. Smart Compose: A Gmailfeature that uses machinelearning to suggest phrases asyou type. For instance, if youtype in "Taco Tuesday" as yoursubject, Gmail might recom-mend the address of your fa-vorite taqueria. Helpful, butalso a reminder that Googleknows a heck of a lot about you.

A contest ofartificiallyintelligent wits

Researchers are pitting an AIprogram against itself to

judge its intentions.Why do this? Nonprofit

OpenAI has previously shownthat AI systems that train them-selves can develop unexpectedand unwanted habits. If it is do-ing something impossibly com-plex, supervising the trainingprocess might not be feasible.

The solution: Having twosystems discuss a particularobjective in natural languagewhile a person observes letshumans understand the AIprogram's reasoning behindmaking certain choices.

Progress so far: Two AIs ar-guing with one another re-quires more sophisticatedtechnology than exists cur-rently. However, OpenAI hascreated demos using ex-tremely simple examples.

India Post News Service

HYDERABAD: T-Hub, India'sfastest-growing startup en-gine, has announced it is ac-cepting applications for thesecond edition of its India Mar-ket Access Bridge (IMAB) pro-gram. IMAB is a nine-monthprogram that provides interna-tional startups with tangiblebusiness opportunities, marketunderstanding and access toclients in India, while alsomentoring them to scale. It is atailor-made program for post-series A startups and scaleupsfocused on B2B enterpriseproducts and technology solu-tions for sustainability.

T-Hub is a unique public/pri-vate partnership between thegovernment of Telangana,three of India's premier aca-demic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB and,NALSAR) and key private sectorleaders.

IMAB will extend support tothe founders of internationalstartups and their teams towork on their India strategy vir-tually as well as locally withstructured sprints in India.Through a series of carefullycurated engagements,startups will receive support inlocalizing and customizingtheir products and businessmodels, based on the localneeds and customer demands.T-Hub will also assist them insecuring their first customer inIndia, which will enable themto adequately grow in thecountry.

"The IMAB program pro-vides international entrepre-neurs who have scaled suc-cessfully in their home coun-tries, an opportunity to growand navigate through the highpotential Indian market. We willenable them with unique pos-

sibilities to establish and accel-erate their growth in one ofthe largest global economiesthrough our collaboration withinvestors and corporates" said

Jay Krishnan, CEO, T-Hub.B2B enterprise products and

technologies in sustainabilityverticals are IMAB's focus thisyear. More than 50% of IndianVC investments are in B2B en-terprise product startups fortechnologies like Artificial Intel-ligence (AI), Internet of Things(IoT ), Blockchain, AR/VR, andCyber Security. Another areawitnessing tremendousgrowth in India is the renew-able energy industry.

Despite being a subtropicalcountry, harnessing solar

power is a challenge due tothe steep expense of settingup power plants and the lowmarket penetration of solarequipment. There is a need forstartups in the country to scaleup with affordable and provensolutions in sectors such as re-

newable energy & power, pol-lution, water & waste manage-ment.

Selected startups will re-ceive the following key ben-

efits from IMAB:• A dedicated mentor and

dedicated Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR), who will sup-port the startups during theirprogram tenure in India

• A localized business modelproviding insights on the pro-spective customer-base

• No equity obligations forstartups, as is the case with allT-Hub programs

• Provision to find and ex-ecute a Proof-of-Concept witha local client and support in theprocess of moderation includ-

ing defining the rules of en-gagement, timelines, and re-sponsibilities

• Regular access to corpo-rate partners, industry leaders,investors, government en-gagement, demo days, mediaactivities, and networking

events• Support for Indian business

culture familiarization for a softlanding to the market

The international startup ap-plicants will need to meet thefollowing eligibility criteria toenter this scaling program:

a) Product/solution is mar-ket ready and is generatingrevenues in the home marketor elsewhere

b) Previous venture capitalinvestment is secured

c) Proven distributionmodel in home or other mar-kets

d) The venture is ready toenter the Indian market andspent time and resources tomake the journey a success

e) At least one of thefounders needs to be presentin India during the program,different interventions mightrequire Product Manager, Salesand/or technical and opera-tional specialist to attend theprogram virtually or physically

f ) At least one of the teammembers required during allin-country interventions

g) Focus on either of the twosectors - B2B Enterprise Prod-uct or Sustainability. Outstand-ing solutions in other sectors -HeathTech, Fintech, Smart Cityand Mobility, can also apply

Following are the measuresthat will decide the list of se-lected startups by T-Hub'sleadership team:

1. Existing traction andproven month-on-monthgrowth

2. Proven business modelwith a high factor of transfer-ability to India

3. Prior venture capital in-vestment with a runway for In-dia market entry

T-Hub is a unique public/private partnership

between the government of Telangana, three

of India's premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB

and, NALSAR) and key private sector leaders

Cont’d on page 12

Green energy milestone in job creation

According to a new report, more than 500,000 jobs in the re-newable energy were created in 2017, bringing the overall

total to 10.3 million.Where it is growing: Just six countries owned 70 percent of

that growth: the US, China, India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan. Asiais now home to four-fifths of all of the sector's jobs.

Which types of energy? The production of photovoltaic panelsaccounted for the largest number (3.4 million) of renewable jobsin 2017, including a 9 percent increase over the year prior.

Why it matters: The report offers tangible evidence of theindustry's power to create jobs on a large scale. That should appealto anyone worried that it's eating into jobs in the fossil fuels sector.

11India PostTechBiz PostMay 18, 2018

www.indiapost.com

Chinese bank launchesIndia-dedicated fund

BEIJING: A state-run Chinesebank has launched thecountry's first India-dedicatedpublicly offered investmentfund, saying the Indian marketoffers the best opportunity forChinese investors due to theprospects of double-digitgrowth.

The fund, named the Indus-trial and Commercial Bank ofChina (ICBC) Credit Suisse IndiaMarket Fund, will "invest in ex-change-traded funds listed onmore than 20 exchanges in Eu-rope and the US that are basedon the Indian market".

It is China's first publicly of-fered fund for investing in In-dia, state-run Global Times re-ported.

The fund will invest in the fu-ture of the Indian economy andtrack the distribution of the in-dustrial structure across the In-dian market, the report quoteda fund manager as saying.

The move, regarded as sig-nificant by observers to boostinvestments in India comesjust about a fortnight after thefirst ever informal summit be-tween Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping at Wuhan.

The bank while launchingthe fund has given an upbeatpicture of India's economicgrowth path.

"As the most importantemerging market overseas,the Indian stock market's long-term trend must be positive.For Chinese investors, the cur-rent moment offers the best

opportunity to get started inIndian stocks," the GlobalTimes said in its report on thelaunch of the India fund byICBC.

"The certainty of India'sgrowth is very clear. But con-sidering the continuous accel-

eration of urbanization and theexpansion of the middle class,India's future value will belarge," it said

If estimated by purchasingpower parity, India's GDP is al-ready close to seven per centof the world. The situation issimilar to China when it startedto rise a decade ago, it said.

"Now, investing in the Indianmarket means an investor canenjoy double-digit economicgrowth," it said.

The Indian stock market un-derwent a correction in thefirst quarter, which means it of-fers a good opportunity foropening positions, it said.

The bank listed sectors forinvestments specifically, interms of the major industriesweighted distribution of theindex.

The financial industry willaccount for the highest pro-portion, followed by informa-tion technology, alternativeconsumption, energy, essentialconsumption, raw materials,

medicine, healthcare andother industries, it said.

For large investors, adding alow-relevant asset to the allo-cation tool can effectively im-prove the effective frontier ofthe investor's asset allocation,and help the investor to betterspread risks and obtain a morestable income.

"Through our research, wefound that at the same risklevel, after joining the Indianmarket, the expected return ofthe portfolio can be in-creased," it said.

In terms of small and me-dium-sized investors, thethreshold for global asset allo-cation and overseas invest-ment markets is high, whichmakes it difficult for them toset foot in this field.

Under the current institu-tional framework, this is a rareopportunity to invest overseas,it said.

Recent research indicatesthat the Indian market hasgradually become one of thebest-performing markets inthe world due to ongoing re-forms, macroeconomic im-provement and enhancedprofitability, it said.

"Take March as an example.Due to trade friction betweenChina and the US, foreign capi-tal showed mostly net out-flows from other Asian stockmarkets. However, India's capi-tal inflows reached USD 2.1 bil-lion, which was in sharp con-trast to other markets in theregion," it said.

"This shows that foreign in-vestors recognize India's eco-nomic strength," it said.

"Meanwhile, India is not af-fected by the trade friction be-tween China and the US, and ithas become a safe haven forfunds. Chinese investorsshould pay close attention tothe Indian stock market andseize new opportunities," itsaid. PTI

The fund will invest in the future ofthe Indian economy and track the distribution

of the industrial structure across the Indianmarket, the report quoted a fund

manager as saying

Bullet train compensation forland to be much more

AHMEDABAD: The compen-sation package for the farmerswhose land will be acquiredfor the Ahmedabad-MumbaiBullet train project will be"much more" than what is man-dated by the Land AcquisitionAct, a senior official has said.

A joint measurement surveyis being conducted at present,which is the last stage of landacquisition process, said AchalKhare, managing director ofNational High Speed Rail Cor-poration Limited (NHSRCL), theimplementing agency.

After the survey is over,farmers will learn about thecompensation package, hesaid. "I can assure that we willbe compensating much morethan what they are expecting,"Khare said.

He was here to speak on theproject as part of the 2nd A NKhosla lecture series, orga-nized by the Ahmedabad

chapter of the IIT RoorkeeAlumni Association at the IITGandhinagar.

"We have decided the en-titlement package philosophi-cally, which is more than whatis provided in the Land Acqui-sition Act. For example, we willbe giving them 25 per cent ex-tra as part of terms of consent.There is a lot of compensationfor rehabilitation and resettle-ment," he said.

"To allay their apprehen-sions, we will be providingeach land loser an entitlementcard, which will have his bankaccount number and all theitems against which he is go-ing to get compensation. Andthis will be monitored by thecompany till the time he getshis last compensation," Kharesaid.

For the project, around1,400 hectares of land will be

acquired in Gujarat andMaharashtra, 1,120 hectaresof which is privately owned.Around 6,000 land owners willhave to be compensated.

Farmers' organizations andtribal groups have demandedthat the provisions of the LandAcquisition Act, 2013 such asa mandatory social impact as-sessment and impact study onfood production losses -which have been done awayin the Gujarat amendment tothe Act - should be followed inthe acquisition of land for theBullet train project.

The tracks should be laid onthe land belonging to the Rail-ways or the land already ac-quired for the DedicatedFreight Corridor Project, theyhave demanded, threateningagitations in the two states ifthe demands are not met.

Opposition Congress hasbacked their demands. PTI

12 India Post TechBiz Post May 18, 2018

www.indiapost.com

4. Ambitious team commit-ted to their India journey

5. Readiness to engage inPoCs and partnerships

T-Hub has successfully con-cluded the IMAB program for 5international startups in 2017from countries like US, Nether-lands, South Korea, Austria, andCanada. Unispotter and ZyleckTechnologies shared feedbackon their respective experi-ences from the first IMAB pro-gram.

Chris from Unispotter said,"India is the fastest-growingmarket where the corporateand startup communities have

T-Hub announces India marketaccess program for Startups

a huge opportunity to growand scale up. IMAB has helpedus to form our strategy for en-tering the Indian market anddevelop our partnership strat-egy, which helped us to reachout to startups in the samespace as well as connect withthe right target group."

"IMAB helped us navigatethe Indian culture prettyquickly. It connected us withthe right mentors who enabledus to grow in this large market"added Yina from Zyleck Tech-nologies.

The applications for 2018are now open and will close on30th June 2018 https://t-hub.co/imab/


Air India records 20%growth in revenue

NEW DELHI: Air India has re-corded a 20 per cent growth inrevenue in March-April 2018and has embarked on a routeanalysis exercise, focusing onincreasing flying hours of each

of its aircraft, to addmore trips, the

airline's chairman-cum-managing

director, Pradeep SinghKharola, said.

The airline is focusing on im-proving the operational effi-ciency both in the domesticand international sectors even

as it is buoyed over the loadfactor, on time performanceand revenue growth, Kharolatold PTI.

"During March-April, therevenue has increased byabout 20 per cent as com-pared to the same period lastyear at roughly about Rs 3,000crore, though expenses con-

tinue to remain high," he said,adding that the airline hasbenefitted from the overallgrowth in the aviation market.

He pinned high hopes on in-ternational routes, generating 70

per cent of Air India's total rev-enue, stating that the new desti-nations such as Tel Aviv is givinggood returns to the carrier.

The increase of frequency tothe San Francisco route to ninedays a week is expected togive the airline Rs 90 crore amonth.

"We are focusing on improv-ing on the operational effi-ciency. We are doing our routeanalysis and all, finding outwhich are the more yieldingroutes and we are focusing onthose routes.

"At the same time, we wantto increase the flying hours ofeach aircraft, we are trying topush the number of hours sothat with the same aircraft wecan do more trips," Kharolasaid. PTI

China's plan to import drugsfails to enthuse Indian firmsBEIJING: China's much-publi-

cized announcement to slashtariffs on 28 medicines, includ-ing cancer drugs from India,has failed to create any buzzamong the Indian pharmaceu-tical firms here as exports toChina are possible only afterlengthy field trials and approv-als, which could take years, anofficial at an Indian firm has said.

On May 4, China, the secondlargest market for pharmaceu-ticals after the US, saidit has removed importduties on as many as 28medicines, including allcancer drugs, from May1, a move which wouldhelp India to exportthese pharmaceuticalsto the neighboringcountry.

"China has ex-empted import tariffs(duties) for 28 drugs, includingall cancer drugs, from May 1.Good news for India's pharma-ceutical industry and medicineexport to China. I believe thiswill help reduce trade imbal-ance between China and Indiain the future," Chinese Ambas-sador to India Luo Zhaohui saidin a tweet.

Luo's announcement gener-ated optimism that India's per-sistent demand from China toprovide opening for Indianpharmaceutical firms to market

their economically priceddrugs compared to the multina-tional firms may be realized.

However, the official with theIndian pharmaceutical com-pany said it is surprising to seethe reports from the Indian me-dia that the move to reduce tar-iffs will pave the way for ex-ports of Indian pharmaceuticalfirms.

"For Indian pharmaceuticalcompanies, it is not going to be

much different as imports of In-dian drugs both generic andanti-cancer is possible only withthe approval of China Food andDrug Administration (CFDA),"the official told PTI on the con-dition of anonymity.

The announcement has notcreated any enthusiasm amongthe Indian firms as for both oraland injectable drugs a lengthyprocess of clearances is re-quired in China which may takeanywhere between two andhalf years to three years. PTI

EU transfers Solar Alliance logoto ISA Gurgaon

NEW DELHI: The EuropeanUnion has transferred therights of the logo for the Inter-national Solar Alliance, a coali-tion of solar resource-richcountries, to the ISA Secre-tariat located in Gurgaon.

The ISA logo consists of 121dots. Each dot represents oneof the 121 countries that arepart of the alliance.

The ISA has a shared ambi-

tion to reduce the cost of so-lar finance and technology,mobilise over USD 1,000 bil-lion of investments neededby 2030 for deployment ofsolar energy, and to pave theway for future technologiesadapted to the needs.

The logo was designed anddeveloped by AndrzejUwitniewski and Marek

Zaborowski under the EUtechnical assistant project forthe Ministry of New and Re-newable Energy (MNRE).

The logo was transferredto ISA Secretariat at a cer-emony attended by EuropeanUnion Ambassador TomaszKozlowski, ISA Interim Direc-tor General Upendra Tripathyand MNRE Secretary AnandKumar.

"Sustainable developmentis at the heart of EU-India re-lations and we are well ad-vanced in our clean energyand climate partnership. TheEU and India are committedto implementing the ParisAgreement and are collabo-rating closely in the area ofoff-shore wind, solar parks,roof-top solar, urbanisation,

circular economy, waste man-agement. We are looking atformalising our support tothe ISA in the comingmonths," Kozlowski said.

The EU is also supportingthe ISA through the EuropeanInvestment Bank (EIB), thelargest climate financier inthe world.

India was the leading re-cipient of the EIB financing for

solar investment outside theEuropean Union, both in 2017and overall since 2013.

The EIB has approved a to-tal of EUR 640 million of newinvestment in solar projectsin India to provide clean en-ergy to an estimated 4.2 mil-lion households and save morethan 4 million tons of carbonemissions. PTI

The logo was designed and developed

by Andrzej Uwitniewski and Marek

Zaborowski under the EU technical

assistant project for the Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

13India PostTechBiz PostMay 18, 2018

www.indiapost.com

MIT Technology Review

Tech Briefs

India's AI plan playingcatch-up with China & US

AI's leading countriesare unlikely to let an-

other player muscle in ontheir turf.

The plan: A task force es-tablished by the Indian gov-ernment has released a re-port on artificial intelligencethat calls for the country toboost investment and focuson deploying the technologyin areas including manufac-turing and health care.

The challenge: India is oncourse to become the third-largest economy (by GDP)within the next few years. But

the country may find it hardto kick-start its own AI revo-lution. India is playing catch-up with China and the Westin terms of technology, re-search prowess, investment,and-crucially-data.

Power balance: The coun-tries that already hold an AIadvantage are keen to ex-port the technology-and usedata from users in develop-ing nations to increase theirlead. This could exacerbateinternational power dynam-ics, separating countries intothe AI haves and have-nots.

Algorithms audit to seehow biased they are

Mathematician CathyO'Neil is offering busi-

nesses a chance to test theiralgorithms for fairness.

Opening the black box:As artificial-intelligence sys-tems get more advanced,the logic paths they followcan be difficult-or even im-possible-to understand, cre-ating a so-called "black box."As these algorithms controlincreasingly important partsof our lives, it is crucial to un-derstand their hidden biases.

The solution: O'Neil, whowrote the book Weapons of

Math Destruction, has startedO'Neil Risk Consulting and Al-gorithmic Auditing to per-form third-party audits on al-gorithms.

Why would businesseschoose to do this? Compa-nies aren't knocking downher door yet (she has only sixclients). But they should be:not only is it in society's bestinterest, it's also good mar-keting. Getting your algo-rithm certified for fairness canprove to your customers thatyour service is equitable andeffective.

US will let drones flylike never before

Entrants who won a cov-eted slot in a new pro-

gram sponsored by the fed-eral government will be per-mitted to perform unprec-edented drone trials.

The news: Ten winningstate and local governmentshave been announced from afield of 149 applications. Atleast 200 companies hadpartnered with applicants aswell-winners included Intel,

FedEx, and Alphabet.The pilot program: Partici-

pants will have the freedom toperform tests that were previ-ously prohibited, including fly-ing drones over populated ar-eas, in the dark, and out of sight.Two of the winning projectswere Lee County Florida's planto control mosquito popula-tions and North Carolina's pro-posal to test medical deliveryoperations with Zipline.

Hinduja brothers second-wealthiest in UK

Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja

LONDON: The Indian-bornHinduja brothers have beendisplaced to second positionby chemicals entrepreneur JimRatcliffe in an annual rich list ofBritain's wealthiest. .

London-based Srichand andGopichand Hinduja are listedwith an estimated fortune of

around 20.64 billion pounds,compared to Ratcliffe's 21.05billion pounds, in the SundayTimes Rich List'.

They lead nearly 47 Indian-origin super-rich in the 2018list of the UK's 1,000 wealthiestpeople.

"Britain is changing. Gone arethe days when old money and asmall band of industries domi-nated the 'Sunday Times Rich List'.Aristocrats and inherited wealthhas been elbowed out of the listand replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs, notes Rob-ert Watts, who compiled the list.

"Today's super rich includepeople who have set up busi-nesses selling chocolate, sushi,pet food and eggs. We're see-ing more people from humblebackgrounds, who struggledat school or who didn't evenstart their businesses until wellinto middle age," he said.

Ratcliffe, described as a self-made British-born industrialistwho came from very humblebeginnings to launch chemicalfirm Ineos, has jumped to topplace from 18th in 2017 byamassing nearly 15.3 billionpounds over the past year.

"London-based Gopi, 78,and Sri, 82, oversee the family

empire. Brothers Prakash, 72,and Ashok, 67, are based inGeneva and Mumbai respec-tively, the list notes in referenceto the Hinduja brothers, whosaw a hike in their fortunes ofaround 4.44 billion pounds overthe past year but missed out onthe top spot this year.

"Today investments span oiland gas, IT, energy, media, bank-ing, property and healthcare.The biggest successes over thepast year have been their In-dian automotive manufacturerAshok Leyland and theMumbai-based IndusInd Bank,the share prices of which haverespectively risen by 49 percent and 27 per cent, it adds.

British-American industrial-ist-turned-media mogul Sir LenBlavatnik came in at third placewith 15.26 billion pounds. An-other set of India-born entre-

preneurial brothers, David andSimon Reuben, moved downfrom third to fourth place, witha fortune of 15.09 billionpounds and steel tycoonLakshmi N Mittal moved downfrom fourth to fifth place with14.66 billion pounds.

Mittal, 67, provides the steelfor one in four of the world'scars. After some trying times,

the Indian tycoon's empire re-sumed paying dividends ear-lier this year, having sus-pended them in 2015, the richlist notes.

Another high-ranked Indian-origin businessmen on the listis Sri Prakash Lohia, owner ofS i n g a p o r e - h e a d q u a r t e r e dIndorama group, with an esti-mated 5.15 billion pound for-tune and ranked 25th.

India-born healthcare andforeign exchange magnateBavaguthu Shetty makes hisdebut on the list at No 59 withGBP 2.38 billion.

He is followed at No. 60 byretailers Simon, Bobby andRobin Arora with an estimated2.3 billion pounds. Bengaluru-headquartered Biocon founderKiran Mazumdar-Shaw is on thelist at No. 75 alongside herScottish husband, John, withGBP 1.75 billion.

Leading NRI industrialist LordSwraj Paul and family mark a sig-nificant revival of fortunes afterregistering a hike in wealth ofaround 840 million pounds overthe last year to come in at No 90with an estimated fortune of 1.5billion pounds.

"Paul's business interestsare thriving again. Profits atBull Moose Industries morethan doubled to nearly 48 mil-lion pounds on sales of 370.4million pounds in 2016 after anearlier decline in the steel in-dustry pushed his main UK op-eration into administration, theanalysis concludes.

Some of the other billionaireswith roots in India to make thecut this year include pharma-ceutical majors Navin andVarsha Engineer (1.14 billionpounds) at No 96, property ty-coons Raj, Tony and HarpalMatharu (1.3 billion pounds) atNo. 105, and hotelier JasminderSingh and family (1.06 billionpounds) at No. 131. PTI

London-based Srichand and GopichandHinduja are listed with an estimated fortuneof around 20.64 billion pounds, compared to

Ratcliffe's 21.05 billion pounds, in theSunday Times Rich List'

www.indiapost.com May 18, 2018

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 17

Atif-Neha concertcaptivates 3000 fans

India Post

Desi News

14

Details on page 18

Details on page 19

Details on page 16

TiE Inflect meet sheds light onupcoming tech revolution

LAKSHMI IYERIndia Post News Service

SANTA CLARA, CA: The largesttechnology-based entrepreneur-ship conference in the world- TiEInflect 2018, took place at theSanta Clara Convention Cen-ter on May 4 and 5.

TiE stands for The Indus En-trepreneurs network (Indusrefers to South Asian origin)and was founded more than25 years ago by a group of In-dian immigrant technologistsand entrepreneurs. Today, ithas grown into an organizationthat is spread out across differ-ent cities and countries and itsconferences attract thousandsof professionals and entrepre-neurs from all over the world.

This time, the annual con-ference, TiECon, was renamedTiE Inflect, and its main areasof focus were AI (Artificial In-telligence) and Blockchain.Spread over two days, therewere several tracks - Fintech(Financial Technology) ,Martech (Marketing Technol-ogy), Health Tech,EmergingTechnologies, AI/MachineLearning, Blockchain, DevOps,TiE Women, TiE Youth, Words ofWisdom (for entrepreneurswho were start ing out) ,Cybersecurity, Internet ofThings (IoT ), Global Connect

Speakers on issue of personalized medicine

Inbound and Global ConnectOutbound.

Several IT companies, law,immigration and consulting

firms and non-profits had setup booths in the exhibit halland the presence of local me-dia companies made it a reallyhappening event.

One of the main takeawaysfrom the Fintech track wasthat AI is revolutionizing theway people interact with theirbank, however, being highlyregulated, certain innovationswill take time to take hold inthe sector.

Some panelists emphasizedthat it was important to focuson the business/customerproblem rather than on shiny

new technology.They cautioned, "Blockchain

by itself is not going to solveanything."

Blockchain is a system ofdistributed ledger with tokensthat are validated by complex

hashing methods performedby people who are cal led"miners"

It is predicted that it will

eliminate the middleman inevery field.

Cont’d on page 23

Sandeep expressesdeep & intensethoughts in HindiRAMESH SOPARAWALAIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: The ConsulateGeneral of Chicago in collabo-ration with Hindi Lovers Clubof Illinois arranged a bookreading by poet SandeepKishor on Monday May 7 at theConsulate premises in ChicagoDowntown. It was attended bya good number of elite andHindi lovers from acrossChicagoland.

The Hindi/English poetrycollection "Old Seeds of a NewTree" is the second collectionof the visiting poet SandeepKishor.

Top Bollywoodsingers' concerton May 19VIDYA SETHURAMANIndia Post News Service

MOUNTAIN View, CA: If youare a music lover, we havegood news for you. Make yoursummer more refreshing and en-tertaining with Gaana Music fes-tival. The inaugural Gaana MusicFestival, presented by the TimesGroup and produced by T MusicCorporation, comes to ShorelineAmphitheatre on Saturday 19thMay and Sunday 20th May!

This spectacular two-dayevent gathers the biggestnames in Indian Music, includ-ing Arijit Singh, Mika Singh,Usha Uthup, Benny Dayal,Kanika Kapoor, Gippy Grewal,Amaal Malik, Armaan Malik,Ayushman Khurrana, AkritiKakar, Prakriti Kakar, SukritiKakar, Indian Raga, PennMasala.

Nude bags 2Awards at NY IndianFilm Festival

NEW YORK: The prestigiousSouth Asian Film Festival inNorth America, NYIFF, endedwith a bang with its closingnight film, Omerta, the NewYork premiere of the biopic onIslamic fundamentalist OmarSaeed Sheikh. The film was fol-lowed by a Q&A between fes-tival director Aseem Chhabra.

Jyoti Bansal and R Paul Singh NASA scientists at Fireside Chat

India Post 15May 18, 2018 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Hindi lovers organize colorful Vasant Mela

Lamp lighting (L-R) Club advisors Raj Kapil and Vijay Chopra, Guest of Honor Judge Linda Devonport, Pratibha Jairath,Mr Brij and Mrs. Brij Sharma, Secretary Anuca Dubey, Chief Guest Acharya Prerna of Indian Consulate, Sponsor Sunil

Shah, Krishna Bansal, Founder/ President Gurbachan Kaur, Rohir Joshi, Piyush Dubey and a guest

President Gurbachan Kaur addressing the meet


CHICAGO: The Sant NirankariMission in West Chicago wasthrobbing with life on May 5when 300 plus members andsupporters of Hindi LoversClub from all over Chicagolandflocked to its auditorium to at-tend Vasant Mela, the first of its

type festivity hosted by theClub in its seven years historyto celebrate the onset ofSpring here.

Besides the usual speechesand refreshments, one of thebiggest highlights was theKavya Pathan by kids and oth-ers. There were number of

booths including Karokeesingings and activities for kids.The Mela turned out to be ahuge success and this inducedthe Club teams headed byGurbachan Kaur Neelam tohave this type of gathering ev-ery year.

Cont’d on page 16

May 18, 2018India Post16 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Among the attendees weredignitaries from Chicagoland -Judge Linda Devonport, IndianConsul General Neeta Bhushan,Air India Manager Ms V Malini,a near certain new IllinoisState Senator Ram Villivalan,FIA Founding president SunilShah and Brij Sharma, amongothers.

The event started as usualwith traditional lamp lightingand welcome speech by MsGurbachan Kaur, the presidentand moving force behind theClub activities. She narrated

Hindi lovers organize colorful Vasant Mela

to know Indian national lan-guage and pitched for itswider acceptance here, espe-cially among the second gen-eration of Indians. She men-tioned about Hindi classesregularly conducted at theClub premises on Devon Av-enue and announced amidstapplause that the Hindi Diwaswill be held on September 7in Naperville , a southwest sub-urb of Chicago, on a scale big-ger than that of last year

Indian CG Neeta Bhushan inher speech was full of praisefor the activities of the Cluband assured all possible sup-port from the Consulate. Shealso lauded the Club membersfor their love of Hindi and theirefforts in propagating the

Gurbachan Kaur, Sunil Shah and Gurmeet Singh of Adbhut Media Raffle winner Ms Sakhuja with Club office bearers

same here. Air India Manager VMalini did not lag behind in as-suring her support to the Clubin its efforts to popularize In-dian National language here.

Judge Linda Devonport wasawestruck by the zeal withwhich the executive team andmembers worked to get Indian

national language getting itsdue recognition here and feltthat their work needs to behugely appreciated and wel-comed all-around, RamVillivalan who shone into emi-nence defeating a sitting StateSenator in Illinois Primary elec-tions two months ago, said thatthough he would not knowmuch Hindi, he still felt proudthat Gurbachan Kaur and herteam are doing their best inpropagating it here amongsecond generation IndianAmericans. He assured all hissupport once he gets formallyadmitted to the Senate

Ms Sakhuja won raffle whilemost of the vendors felt happyat the large patronage of visi-tors coming to the Mela.Mela Vendors going good business

the history and activities of theclub and emphasized the need

Ram Villivalan addressingthe gathering


Sandeep expresses deep & intense thoughts in Hindi

Founder President of Hindi Lovers Club Ms Gurbachan Kaur, Sandip Kishorand Ms Kishor

RAMESH SOPARAWALAIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: The ConsulateGeneral of Chicago in collabo-ration with Hindi Lovers Clubof Illinois arranged a book

reading by poet SandeepKishor on Monday May 7 at theConsulate premises in ChicagoDowntown. It was attended by

a good number of elite andHindi lovers from acrossChicagoland.

The Hindi/English poetrycollection "Old Seeds of a NewTree" is the second collection

of the visit-ing poetS a n d e e pKishor. Thefirst collec-tion namedY o u rS h a d o wWants toWalk Alonereceived avery goodr e s p o n s efrom thereaders all

over the world inducingSandeep to move forward pub-lishing his second book.

Sandeep Kishor is the CEO &

MD of Zensar Technologies, aleading digital solutions andtechnology services companyin Silicon Valley, California.Poem writing is his way of ex-pressing his deep and intensethoughts through simple Hindiwords. He decided to translatehis Hindi poems in English byhimself to reach people world-wide to understand histhoughts.

The event started with Con-sul General Neeta Bhushan'swelcome speech. In a reminisc-ing mood, she talked about herschool days and her educationin Hindi. She talked about herfirst meet with Sandeep ji afew years ago and how he im-pressed her with his simplicityand literary genius. Then sheinvited Gurbachan KaurNeelam, the founder and presi-dent of Hindi Lovers Club of Il-

linois to say few words and re-cite her poem. Gurbachan Kaurspoke about the importance ofspeaking in Hindi in day to daylife to bring Hindi among topspoken languages of theworld.

She said that India got free-dom from England but it is stillthe prisoner of English lan-guage which we need to getfreedom from and be proud ofHindi.

Author Sandip Kishor

Cont’d on page 23


Atif-Neha concert captivates 3000 fansIndia Post News Service

SAN JOSE, CA: Indian and Pa-kistani superstar singers, NehaKakkar and Atif Aslam deliv-ered an electrifying perfor-mance here on May 11 in afour-hour concert presentedby Instant Karma. Shree Balajiproductions was the nationalpromoter of the tour. Thepopular duo proved that cre-ativity and art has no bound-aries and succeeded in bring-ing their fans from both coun-tries together in great num-bers to the City National Civic,San Jose for a completely sold-out show with over 3000 fans.

Atif Aslam is a Pakistanisinger-songwriter and actor.He has recorded numerouschart-topping songs and is

known for his vocal beltingtechnique. The singer's en-trance onto the stage at apacked arena in San Jose thispast weekend was quite theact in classic Atif Sufi style. Thecrowd was singing, swaying,swooning and totally smittenby his performance and talent.

With a dedicated team ofmusicians and backup singerssupporting him, Atif belted outhis hit songs like Tere sangyaran, Dama dum mastkalandar, Na seekha maine, Tujaane na, Allah hoo, Dil DiyanGallan, Tera Hone Laga Hoon,Main Rang Sharbaton Ka, OSaathi".

His effortless performance,a fusion of energy, versatilityand flair with the ability toswitch flawlessly from theBollywood genre to folk music,

qawalis and pop songs makeshim one of the most sought af-ter Bollywood artistes. Atif is

r e c i p i e n tof numer-ous LuxS t y l eA w a r d sand hasalso re-c e i v e dTamgha-e-Imtiaz in2008, thef o u r t h -h i g h e s tdecorationgiven to ci-vilians inPakistan.

N e h aKakkar isan Indianp l a y b a c k -

singer. She competed on thetelevision reality show Indian

Idol season 2 in 2006. In 2008,she launched the album NehaThe Rock Star with music com-posed by Meet Brothers. Shehas sung the national anthemat Pro Kabaddi League (PKL)along with Daler Mehndi andwith the member of IndianOcean band Rahul Ram. NehaKakkar is one of the finest In-dian versatile playback singers.

She is multi talented androcked the stage belting herhit numbers such as Kalachasma from Baar Baar Dekho,Mere Rashke Qamar, Mile hotum humko barre nasib se,Ladki beautiful kar gai chul, Tucheese baddi hai mast mast,Mai tera boy friend tu meri girl-friend, Ye Tu Kabhi Soch NaSake. She also sang the famoussong 'Sayonee' from Junoon'salbum Azadi. With dance num-bers and item songs being herforte, Neha enthralled the

crowd with more such num-bers at the concert.

Overall, heartthrob Atif

Aslam and dancing queenNeha Kakkar's concert was a

Pics Poonam Bajaj, Sitaarre TV

well-produced, high-octaneshow that music lovers are go-ing to cherish for a long time.

The concertwas presentedby InstantKarma which isBay Area's pre-mier entertain-ment companyfounded byBhavini Joshi.Instant Karmacovers all as-pects of theentertainmentspectrum in-cluding liveconcerts, dra-m a s ,Bollywood par-ties, personalcelebrat ions ,n e t w o r k i n g

events, mela, plays, concerts,trade shows, property shows etc.

Atif AslamNeha Kakkar


Top Bollywood singers' concert on May 19VIDYA SETHURAMANIndia Post News Service

MOUNTAIN View, CA: If you are a mu-sic lover, we have good news for you.Make your summer more refreshing

and entertaining with Gaana Music fes-tival. The inaugural Gaana Music Festi-val, presented by the Times Group andproduced by T Music Corporation,comes to Shoreline Amphitheatre onSaturday 19th May and Sunday 20thMay!

This spectacular two-day event gath-ers the biggest names in Indian Music,including Arijit Singh, Mika Singh, UshaUthup, Benny Dayal, Kanika Kapoor,Gippy Grewal, Amaal Malik, ArmaanMalik, Ayushman Khurrana, Akriti Kakar,Prakriti Kakar, Sukriti Kakar, Indian Raga,Penn Masala. Billed to be the biggestand first Indian music festival in UnitedStates, the two day event promises non-

stop musical treat to all the music lov-ers of Bay area.

Day 1 features Mika Singh, UshaUthup, Armaan Malik, Amaal Malik,Kanika Kapoor, Benny Dayal and Gippy

Grewal.With millions of fans all over the

world, Mika Singh has given Punjabimusic a distinct identity. His uniquevoice and style, has gained him vastcritical appreciation in the last decadeand also the title of a powerhouse en-tertainer. A singer, composer, per-former, songwriter and director in hisown right, Singh is better known as TheKing of Bollywood, reaching unmatchedlevels of fame in the industry throughdozens of chart-busting hits from hissolo albums to Bollywood soundtracks.Singing Superstar Mika Singh who hasover 10 million followers in social me-dia is ready to belt out some of his hit

numbers such as "Bas Ek King", "MaujaHi Mauja", "Ibn-e-Batuta", and "Dhanno"at Gaana Musical festival.

When we think Usha Uthup, who isalso referred to as 'queen of pop', we

immediately think 'high energy', 'silk sa-ris', and 'gajras'. For the last severalyears, Usha Uthup has given Indian mu-sic, versatility and individuality imbibedin layers of ethnic Indian tradition andheritage. She has redefined music andall its nuances, and has broken severalnorms when it comes to dressing. Someof her popular songs like 'Ramba ho',and 'Shaan se' which she will be per-forming at the festival have beenetched in everyone's minds and heartsand are remembered for the sheerverve and soul that they possess.

When brothers Amaal Mallik andArmaan Malik come together, they cre-ate magic with their compositions andvocal chords. They complement eachother perfectly, get ready to witnesstheir composi-tions at thef e s t i v a l .Armaan is theson of singerand music di-rector DabooMalik andnephew of fa-mous musicdirector Anu Malik. He has given hitssuch as Jai Ho, Main Hoon Hero Tera,Buddhu Sa Mann, Wajah Tum Ho, Naina,Chaar Shanivaar and Sau Aasmaan.

Versatility is the name of the game forsinger Kanika Kapoor, who not just capti-vates with her vocal abilities but alsotweaks regular things for a surprisinglyalluring result. Be it her devotional orBollywood rendition, Bay area get readyto listen to her heart wrenching soulfulnumbers such as the newly releasedsingle Ik Onkar or peppy Baby Doll.

When Benny Dayal is on stage, hepromises quality entertainment. He isone of the more fashion forward sing-ers in Bollywood. He has crooned hitnumbers in several languages includingMalayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi andHindi. Dayal is also known for his workwith AR Rahman, especially in Hindifilms like Delhi 6 and Ghajini.

Rupinder Singh Grewal, commonlyknown as Gippy Grewal, is an Indian ac-tor, singer-songwriter and film director

whose works span over Punjabi andHindi film industry. Since his inceptionin the music world of Punjabi pop,Gippy has carefully developed a diverseand successful music career scoring a

hit with 'Chak Lai', his very first album. Agreat performer and singer, the powerof sensitivity and credibility come natu-rally to Gippy Grewal. His albums reflecthis very own unique style and are agreat blend of 'Punjabiyat' with the lat-est pop.

Day 2 features Arijit Singh, AyushmanKhurana, Penn Masala, Kakkar Sistersand India Raga

Superstar singer Arijit Singh hasbeen described as mellifluous, mesmer-izing, natural voice, soothing and soul-ful by various critics and music aficiona-dos. He has sung in diverse musicgenres. The MTV Unplugged show per-formances by the singer is just one suchexample of how much effort the singerputs in every time to deliver something

better. At Gaana music festival, Arijit willalso give you a trip into his favoriteplaylist by crooning the most amazingsongs that he likes, and believe me, hisplaylist is as amazing as his own songs.

Ayushmann Khurrana is an Indian filmactor and singer, who started his careeras a television anchor. If AyushmannKhurrana still continues to hold on to hismusic, and makes time for it, it justshows his passion and love for music.Pani Da Rang , Mitti di khushboo, Oheeriya, Saadi gali aaja are definitely atreat to watch live at the music festival.

Penn Masala is an American acappella group. It is the world's first andpremier South Asian a cappella group.Their music is a huge hit across theworld and their mash-ups have gar-nered a massive fan following in the re-cent years. With 10 albums under theirname, Penn Masala will enthrall theirfans on day 2 at the Gaana music fest.

This spectacular two-day event gathers thebiggest names in Indian Music, including ArijitSingh, Mika Singh, Usha Uthup, Benny Dayal,

Kanika Kapoor, Gippy Grewal, Amaal Malik, ArmaanMalik, Ayushman Khurrana, Akriti Kakar, PrakritiKakar, Sukriti Kakar, Indian Raga, Penn Masala

Cont’d on page 22


Nude bags 2 Awards at NY Indian Film Festival

NYIFF 2018 staff, volunteers, filmmakers & actors. Pic Jay Mandal

Islamic fundamentalist OmarSaeed Sheikh. The film was fol-lowed by a Q&A between fes-tival director Aseem Chhabra,director Hansal Mehta and ac-tors Rupinder Nagra and Timo-thy Ryan Hickernell.

The film festival showcased78 shorts, docs and featurefilms in 11 languages over asix-day-period, May 7-12, at theVillage East Cinemas on theLower East Side of Manhattan.The programming boastedfour world premieres, two in-ternational premieres, sixNorth American premieres,one U.S. premiere and 11 NewYork premieres from four South

Asian countries (India, Pakistan,Bangladesh & Sri Lanka), as wellas North America and the

Sheth (Bhasmasur); BestScreenplay: Chumbak (writersSandeep Modi & SaurabhBhave); Best Actor: ManojBajpayee (In The Shadows);Best Actress: Kalyanee Mulay(Nude); Best Child Actor: AliHaji (Noblemen);

Best Short: Maacher Jhol( The Fish Curry) directed byAbhishek Verma;

Best Documentary: Abu di-rected by Arshad Khan.

Like the Oscars and GoldenGlobes, the jurors sent theirdecisions directly to KPMG,who brought the envelopes forthe winning films and filmmak-ers to the awards ceremony.

(From L to R): Rupinder Nagra, Timothy Ryan Hickernell, Aroon Shivdasani,Hansal Mehta and Aseem Chhabra. Pic Siraj Huda

NEW YORK: The prestigiousSouth Asian Film Festival inNorth America, NYIFF, ended

with a bang with its closingnight film, Omerta, the NewYork premiere of the biopic on

United Kingdom.The Best Film Award went to

Nude. The Best Director: Nishil

The film festivalshowcased 78 shorts,docs and feature filmsin 11 languages over asix-day-period, May 7-12, at the Village East

Cinemas on the LowerEast Side of Manhattan

'Raju Raja Ram' three-in-one laugh riot

Scene from play

RITU MAHESHWARIIndia Post News Service

MILPITAS, CA: Bay area isgetting its share of comedyshows this year. Organized by'As you like it', This year'sMother's Day had a specialshowing of Sherman Joshistarrer play 'Raju Raja Ram AurMain' at India Community Cen-ter in Milpitas on Sunday, May13. This Hindi adaptation ofMarathi play 'Sah Re Sahi'treated audience to bouts of

smiles and involuntary laughter.The play is based on the

chase for property of an oldand rich industrialist MadanSukhnandani. Confusion ariseswhen three of his undatedwills make his ex-wife, hisuncle and his current young

wife as sole heirs. Each of themfinds a Sukhnandani look aliketo ensure the will favors them.What ensues is a two hour funfilled laugh riot as the threelook alike characters masquer-ade as Sukhnandani.

Story was taut and acting

perfect. Sherman Joshi performsthe four roles with ease and fi-nesse. Rest of the cast wasequally talented and worked asa well oiled machine. Scenetransitions, dialogs and cos-tumes created a very realisticstory that kept viewers thrilled.

(L-R) Ray Sharma, Bikram Jeet Singh, Shivani Desai, Meghna David,Jayashree and Vishal Kapoor


Chicago's Dash family is America's Smartest

The Somani family from Monroe, New Jersey was the Runner-Up on the set ofAmerica's Smartest Family

Chicago's Dash family won the America's Smartest Family title

Chicago's very own DashFamily won the covetedtitle of champions on the

first season of Zee TV's America'sSmartest Family and took homethe cash prize of $10,000.

"We are super excited to bethe winners of America's Smart-est Family. It was our first na-tional TV experience and we en-joyed it thoroughly. It was agreat platform for Anmol toshowcase his talent. Manythanks to Zee and TouchdownMedia for a great experience"said Bibhudatta Dash

The Somani Family from Mon-roe, New Jersey was the Runner-Up of the show and took home acash prize of $5000.

"It was a great experience toparticipate in America's Smart-est Family. We had a lot of fungoing through various rounds. Itmade us realize the importanceof keeping your eyes and earsopen. There is so

much to learn in this world. Italso gave our son Rishi a greatexposure to the world of quiz-zing. Hopefully, this experience

will help him read and learn a lotabout the world rather than justUS and India. Definitely, the mostenriching experience in ourlives. The crew and host wereawesome. They took good careof us and I would like to thankthem for giving us the opportu-nity" said Rashmi Somani

Zee TV's original production -Americas' Smartest Family, hasbecome a popular reality TVshow amongst the South Asiancommunity which attracted ahuge audience throughout the

season. The show initially beganwith 16 families dwindling downas the families battled it out untilthere were only two of the smart-est families remaining. They bothhad to compete against eachother in the finale for 10,000 cashprize and the title of America'sSmartest Family.

In the previous episodes,round one and two consisted offour questions, with a dice rolldeciding which family goes first.Participants could choose fromone of five topics - science,

math, arts & entertainment, his-tory, and geography. But therewas a small twist in the grand fi-nale; once a category is chosenat the end, the participantswere forced to answer from thelast remaining category. Therewere no deductions for thewrong answer.

As the game progressed,questions became tougher andlot more challenging. By roundsthree and four - each correct an-swer was worth 200 points. Dur-ing the fifth and final round, the

game took a turn and host ZaidAli made the round stimulatingby offering clues. If the team an-swered correctly without a clue,a maximum of 1000 points wasawarded. If the family chose toget clues, each clue cost them200 points. For the grand finale,the category for the final roundwas math and in the end, theDash family won by 300 points.

America's Smartest Familywas conceptualized as a ZeeOriginals property and producedby Touchdown Productions.

Rajputs celebrate grandeur of Rajputana culture

Patrons and executive committee members of Rajputana Rawla of AmericaRajputana Rawla of America members at the event


SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Mem-bers of the newly-formedRajputana Rawla of Americaturned out in large numbers toattend historic celebration ofRajputana culture of Rajasthan,which was held in California'sSan Francisco Bay Area fromApril 26-28.

Various venues in Dublin, SanRamon, and Danville, providedidyllic setting for the three-daylong convention called 'Mél2018,' which brought togetherRajputs of Rajasthan from acrossthe United States.

The event not only served asa platform to unify the commu-nity spread across several citiesand states and give them an av-enue to remain in touch withtheir rich cultural heritage, butalso gave a unique opportunityto the like-minded attendeesto align with a common cause:supporting the education ofthe girl child.

"We understand the healthand economic benefits of sup-porting education for girls. Ifyou educate a girl, you educatean entire family," said Dr.Harnath Singh Rathore, one of

the patrons.From dressing in vibrant

royal costumes to savoring de-lectable Rajasthani cuisine to

enjoying music by folk musi-cians from Rajasthan to partici-pating in the 'Ghoomar' dance,guests - who ranged from doc-tors, engineers, professors, en-trepreneurs, students, etc. -immersed themselves in thisfestive celebration.

While the women looked re-splendent in colorful traditional'poshaks' replete with an equallyimpressive jewelry, men lookedhandsome in 'jodhpuri suits,'breeches and 'safas.'

Rajputs of Rajasthan havelong been known for their brav-ery, valor, and their pride in

their ancestry, so another ob-jective of the event was to in-still the same values and prin-ciples in the next generationthat is growing up in America.

"Me'l was celebrated in tra-ditional manner to bringRajputs together to network,celebrate and nurture high val-ues standards of Rajputana lifein the next generation, andhelp under privileged societ-ies to get guidance and finan-cial help to achieve path forprogress," said Raj Nathawat,the event's convener.

Various venues in Dublin,San Ramon, and Danville,

provided idyllic settingfor the three-day longconvention called 'Mél2018,' which broughttogether Rajputs of

Rajasthan from acrossthe United States

Cont’d on page 26


FIA celebrates Festival of Colors and FoodSURESH BODIWALA & KRISHNA RAJ

Founder President Sunil Shah and President Neil Khot addressing the gathering The FIA team that hosted Festival of Color in Oakbrook

Awards given to CG Neeta Bhushan and Air India Manager V Malini

Revelers having fun dancing

CHICAGO: All roads in OakBrook led to the McDonaldsSoccer Fields, on May 6 to at-tend the Festival of Color

hosted by the Federation of In-dian Associations (FIA) in asso-ciation with the village ofOakbrook, the first for Chicagoland.

The Festival starting at 11.30am and running to 5 pm wasattended by hundreds of Holirevelers and dignitaries fromall over Chicago and suburbs.About 1500 people saw thefestival kicked off by the fouremcee's Geetanjali Maru,

Pratibha Jairath, Jigar Shah andSaurin Thakkar. The eventstarted with a performance byMadhura Sane and her team

from the Nritya Natya Acad-emy.

FIA Founder President SunilShah, Presi-dent NeilKhot, Pastp r e s i d e n tO n k a rS i n g hS a n g h acame onthe stage.Sunil Shahin his briefs p e e c hw e l c o m e da n dthanked thepeople of Chicagoland forturning up in big numbers forthe event. Neil Khot in hisspeech thanked the peoplewho turned up for their pres-ence and support. Neil Khotthen thanked specifically DrGopal Lalmalani - Oak Brook Vil-lage President - for theirunstinted support to the eventand McDonalds for their gen-erosity in allowing the use oftheir soccer fields for the eventand thanked all the sponsors tothe event.

Dignitaries were invited tothe stage starting with theConsul General of India Ms.Neeta Bhushan. Ms. Bhushanpraised the efforts of the FIAfor organizing different kindsof events for the IndianDiaspora in Chicagoland. Vil-lage President Gopal Lalmalanithanked the FIA for organizingthe event in Oak Brook andbringing attention to OakBrook as a Festival destination.Other dignitaries were invitedon stage - Event Chair AshokLakshmanan, Chief SupporterSyed Hussaini, V. Malini Air In-dia, State RepresentativeMichelle Mussman, EdwardTiesenga Trustee Village ofOakbrook, Asif Yusuf TrusteeVillage of Oakbrook, Syed Moin

Trustee Village of Oakbrook,Rodney Craig, Mayor HanoverPark and Tom Daily. FoundingMember Rita Singh and theentire Board of the FIA wascalled to the stage for an eventpicture.

Awards for Excellence inbusiness and for communityservice were presented toeminent businessmen andpeople who serve the commu-nity.

After the presentation therewas a blast of color by Sunil

Shah and Neil Khot who werejoined by CG Ms. NeetaBhushan and Dr GopalLalmalani using color filled

power blasters and the eventwas declared open. This wasthe cue that the crowds werewaiting for, and the air wasfilled with colors and water aspeople of all ages started col-oring each other. The two stiltwalkers also added to the funby throwing color at peoplefrom their vantage heights.

This was followed by a per-formance by the Award-Win-ning Funka Desi a band thatblends Indian music (Bhangra,Bollywood, Folk) with Reggae,

Funk, and Afro-CaribbeanGrooves. The Chicago-basedband's "one-family" vibe madefor an enthralling live show.

This festive, vir-tuoso experi-ence of culturalunity wowedthe crowdst h r o u g hd a n c e a b l egrooves andbrought the at-tendees togroove anddance.

This was fol-lowed by a per-formance byB o l l y w o o dGroove and

many of the attendees joinedthem in their dance moves. Anentertaining performance wasby Alokita and her dancegroup from her dance acad-emy Jhankaar Dance and thelast performance was by SSRChicago adult students whopresented a medley onBollywood music.

The attendees also enjoyedthe great food sold at the fourbooths and shopping at the 25odd booths selling differentproducts.

Cultural performances at the Festival

stilt walker making attendees happy

Welcoming the visitors


The Penn team comprisesAnvit Reddy, Sanjit Chakravarty,Hari Ravi, Ajay Vasisht, PranaySharma, Praveen Rajaguru,Brendan McManus, KasishHora, Yamir Tainwala, VishnuRachakonda, Nikhil Raman,Atman Panigrahi, AnirudhBikmal and Wrik Sinha.

Singer Akriti Kakkar, whowill be performing with hertwin sisters Sukriti and PrakritiKakkar at the festival is thrilledto share the stage with themon day 2 of Gaana music festi-val. Akriti Kakkar is the livelyvoice behind hits like"Marjaani" from Billu Barber,the title track of JohnnyGaddar, "Iski Uski" from 2States, and "Saturday, Satur-day" from Humpty Sharma KiDulhaniya. While Sukriti hasmade a name for herself with

Top Bollywood singers'concert on May 19

songs such as Pehli Baar (DilDhadakne Do) and Kar GayiChull (Kapoor and Sons),Prakriti is known for songssuch as Bheeg Loon(Khamoshiyan) and Tu Hi Jaane(Azhar).

The IndianRaga Fellowshipis the world's most presti-gious network of performingartists producing the best col-laborations and music videos.

Gaana music festival prom-ises wide and varied repertoireranging from folk, semi classical,and Bollywood Indian musicwith global influences of rock,funk, pop and jazz. From oppor-tunity to meet and greet theartist and lazing on the lawnswith World class music, this mu-sic festival is high-octane showthat music lovers are going tocherish for a long time. Grabyour tickets atwww.gaanamusicfestival.com.


Theater expert affirms relevanceof traditional values

SUNTHAR VISUVALINGAM

Bharat Gupt and McKim Marriott get to know each other's work on India at the latter's home in Hyde Park

CHICAGO: Visiting theaterexpert from Delhi, India, Prof.Bharat Gupt, delivered a talkon "Unity of Three Shastras:Artha, Kama and Natya" to theIndic Academy on May 6 hereat the Scott R. Triphahn Com-munity Center.

He attempted to demon-strate the underlying coher-ence of the Hindu traditionaltreatises (shastra) that gov-erned the legitimate pursuit ofpleasure (kama) and wealth(artha) with the ancient trea-tise on theater (natya-shastra)on performance and the arts.Indic Academy is a global,multi city, horizontal networkof academics, authors, artistsand activists involved in pro-tecting, preserving, and pro-moting Indic thought and val-ues to facilitate an Indian re-naissance.

Executive Member of IndiraGandhi National Center forArts (IGNCA), Gupt was theprime mover behind the seriesof over four conferences heldacross India in 2016-17 to cel-ebrate the millennium of thegreat philosopher-mysticAbhinavagupta (10-11th C),who authored the most com-prehensive, encyclopedic andauthoritative commentary onthe Natya-Shastra, which stillgoverns the aesthetics of theclassical arts of contemporaryIndia, such as the various re-gional dance styles.

As the leading Indian au-thority on ancient Greek the-ater, he hosted two IGNCA con-ferences in February in Delhiand Benares on "Indo-Greekscholarship 1795-2018," whichwas attended by eminentscholars from Greece. Bharat isa theater theorist, sitar andsurbahar player, musicologist,cultural analyst, and newspa-per columnist.

Gupt, who has designed atemple based on principles oftraditional architecture inDelhi, visited BAPSSwaminarayan and Jaintemples, and Hindu Temple ofGreater Chicago, Lemont, uponarrival. He made a courtesyvisit the same evening to payhis respects to legendaryAmerican anthropologist, 94-year old Prof. McKim Marriot,who is increasingly celebratedfor his insistence on under-standing Hinduism and Indiansociety on its own terms.

At the University of Chicago

Co-op bookshop, he hadpicked up "Against Dharma:Dissent in the Ancient IndianSciences of Sex and Politics"(March 2018), the most recenttitle by UC Prof. WendyDoniger, who is now notoriousin India and across the diasporafor her tenacious Hindu-bash-ing. Her book seeks to portraythe (nominally Brahmin) au-thors of the kama and

arthashastras as underhand-edly subverting the treatiseson religion (dharma). Guptcited a core passage during hislecture and attempted to re-but her case for disunity andconflict between the shastras.

Gupt spent a rewarding fourdays re-discovering India andinter-cultural dialogue in Chi-cago: visiting the galleries, es-pecially on Indian and Greekart, at the Art institute; takingselfies before the "Bean"(Cloud Gate) designed by In-dian-born British artist SirAnish Kapoor at MillenniumPark; dining in Devon Avenue'sLittle India and admiring the

Baha'i temple. Before catchinghis return flight on May 7, heattended the afternoon recita-tion of contemporary Hindi po-etry followed by a panel dis-cussion on the "Importance ofpreserving Indian languages

among the youth" hosted atthe Consulate General of India.

An album of Gupt's Chicagovisit that includes the com-plete recording of his May 6lecture is accessible at https://

p h o t o s . a p p . g o o . g l /fCgutKBzhwqvAQAdA. He wasinterviewed the same eveningon the contemporary crisis inarts and culture in India by TVAsia's Vandana Jhingan

Visiting Prof. Bharat Gupt speaks on "Unity of Three Shastras: Artha,Kama and Natya" to the Indic Academy


In the financial sector, for ex-ample, it will help facilitate themovement of money across bor-ders in a revolutionary way.

Christa Steele, Founder BoardRoom Consulting, LLC, furtherelaborated on how artificial intel-ligence (AI) and Blockchain wereshaking things up from wealthmanagement advice togamification of the payment ser-vice and customer service bank-ing areas.

Incidentally, being a non-techie, Christa gave one of thebest explanations of Blockchaintechnology, saying that thiscould be applied to any sectorfrom food to music to Countyrecords. Being a fan of effi-ciency, she loves the fact thatusing Blockchain shortens pro-

cessing times significantly for vari-ous transactions.

She said, "Blockchain is here tostay."

In her closing remarks,Christa warned, "Disrupt your-self before you get disrupted."

In the Artificial Intelligencetrack, Beth Smith of IBM Watsonopened the session. She spokeof the various uses of AI fromfighting counterfeiters andhackers to AI-powered micro-scopes monitoring oceanplankton for pollution levelsand quantum computing be-coming mainstream within thenext few years.

In the dedicated Blockchaintrack, crypto-currencies andICOs (Initial Coin Offering) werediscussed.

Similar to an IPO (Initial Pub-lic Offering), an ICO is a way ofinviting people to invest inone's company by buyingcrypto-currency.

One of the concerns in all thetechnological hoopla is the veryreal possibility of the tremen-dous loss of jobs. However, the

TiE Inflect meet sheds light onupcoming tech revolution

panelists said, "The intermediary isthe one at greatest risk of losinghis/her job."

One of them even went onto predict, "Blockchain is the4th major revolution, that ishow disruptive it is."

On the non-technical side, inthe closing keynote of the TiEWomen track, Ellen PetryLeanse, author of "The Happi-ness Hack" and corporatecoach, emphasized the role ofgender equality and diversity inthe advancement of societyand profitability of companies.

Thomas Kurien, President,Product Development, Oracledelivered one of the closinggrand keynotes of Day 1, touch-ing upon the use of AI in reduc-ing wastage of pharmaceuti-cals to the Internet of Things(IoT) being used to make ride-

sharing more profitable to a futurewith serverless infrastructure andself-running software akin to self-driving cars.

The last grand keynote ofDay 1 was by Hadi Partovi, theCEO and founder of Code.org.Thanks to this organization, mil-lions of kids in the US - whowould have otherwise not hadaccess to programming/Com-puter Science education in theirschools - are learning to code. AsHadi explained, computer edu-cation is the gateway to the bet-ter paying jobs of the futureeven as millions of mundanejobs are predicted to disappear.

The Health Tech track, whichwas opened with a keynote ad-dress by Dr. John Mattison,Chief Health Information Of-ficer of Kaiser Permanente, haddiscussions on personalizedmedicine and apps that delivercognitive behavioral therapies(CBTs) that are more effectivethan traditional drugs in treat-ing diseases such as Type 2 dia-betes, anxiety and depressionthat have a behavioral compo-

nent.In the Emerging Tech track,

Graham Mackintosh, AI Lead ofthe NASA Frontier Develop-ment Lab (FDL), talked aboutSpace Science and Deep Learn-ing and the search for extrater-restrial life. In a very engagingpresentation, he said thatmaybe we humans are not thatsmart and that is why we wereunable to pick up signals by ex-traterrestrials who were prob-ably far more intelligent thanwe could ever be.

Later, he joined NASA scien-tists, Madhulika Guhathakurtha,Bill Diamond and Dan Rasky -the inventor of the heat shieldthat is used in SpaceX rockets -for an interactive session(called a "fireside chat") in theexhibit hall.

On Day 2, aspiring entrepre-neurs had a lot to learn fromJyoti Bansal, CEO of Harness,who sold his earlier startup toCisco. Bansal chatted with R.Paul Singh, one of the TiE con-veners, about his own journeyand the importance of believ-ing in oneself and one's idea. Heshared a few key learnings -how an entrepreneur needs tobuild up his/her skills in sales,on starting a company onlywhen one is passionate aboutan idea and pitching to inves-tors. He also touched upon themeaningless regulationsaround H1-B visas that thwartentrepreneurship.

There are many fears aroundAI similar to the dystopian sci-fiview of robots taking over ourlives. On the other hand, thetechnology offers great hope.

As Deepak Agarwal, VP of AIat LinkedIn said, "No technologyis inherently bad."

Rama Akkiraju, DistinguishedEngineer, IBM Corporation,opined on the possibilities thatAI offers - from chatbots thatfree up time from mundanetasks to self-driving cars thatcause no accidents and havebetter traffic management to acorruption-free society, to helpfor doctors in remote areas andlegal assistance.

To paraphrase Aldous Huxleypositively, "It is a brave newworld."


In the Emerging Tech track, GrahamMackintosh, AI Lead of the NASA Frontier

Development Lab (FDL), talked about SpaceScience and Deep Learning and the search

for extraterrestrial life

She asked the 100+ audienceto take the pledge to talk inHindi and not feel ashamed. Shethen recited the title poemJugnu from her first poetry col-lection and invited VinitaGulabani to introduce the starpoet Sandeep Kishor. Vinita dida remarkably good job and evenKishor had a good admiringword about his introduction.

Sandip Kishor sat on the sofain relaxed mood and read po-ems from his book and enter-tained the audience by read-ing the poems of their request.He endeared himself with hishumility and quick wits. He ex-plained what prompted him toselect the titles for his books

Sandeep expresses deep &intense thoughts in Hindi

Delhi attendee Bharat Gupt with Consul Baliram Bhatti

and gave huge credit to hisdaughter for her help

There was a small presenta-tion on the work and organiza-tion of Sandeep Kishor. Theevent ended with a panel dis-cussion by Hindi, Urdu, Sanskritand Bengali scholars and re-freshments and book signing.

Among the attendees wasalso a guest from New Delhi In-dia Bharat Gupt who earlierhad an extensive lecture seriesat different places in Chicago.Gupt is a former Associate Pro-fessor in English at the Collegeof Vocational Studies of theUniversity of Delhi, a newspa-per columnist and a journalist.

Both collections by SandeepKishor are available onAmazon.com


Bharat Gupt with Gurbachan Kaur and HLC Executive member


ENERGY CONSERVATION

Do you still have traditional incandescent light bulbs athome? LED bulbs are up to 80% more energy efficientand also last much longer. FOG Volunteers are doing

their bit towards energy conservation. If every Americanhousehold traded in just one incandescent light bulb for en-ergy efficient CFL bulb, it would reduce pollution equivalentto taking 1.3 million cars off the road. How many bulbs wouldyou change today?

FOG FOR PLANET

St Louis Health Fair a big successASHWIN PATEL

Hindu temple Humanitarian committee with SSM staff

ST LOUIS: The Health Fair atMahatma Gandhi Center, St.Louis, sponsored by Hindutemple of St. Louis, MahatmaGandhi Center on SaturdayMay 5 met with a huge successwith cooperation from physi-cians, health care professionalsfrom SSM health care andyouth as well as adult volun-teers.

People of diverse nationali-ties and cultures from all overSt. Louis availed themselves ofthe free consultancy and testsprovided by over 25 dedicatedphysicians and specialists, sup-portive technicians and over 20

service-oriented and youthvolunteers.

The goal was to providemedical check up to all thosewho may not be able to affordmedical services due to insur-ance and medical coverageproblems.

"We had 289 participantsand over 100 people had labo-ratory tests done. It gives usimmense satisfaction when wework hard and achieve desiredresults. The extraordinary ser-vice provided by SSM Healthservices contributed greatly tothe successful completion ofthe event," said Dr. G.V. Naidu,of the Temple Humanitariancommittee.

The fair had a few kids (pe-diatrics) for check up .Stressmanagement had a few regis-trations. Orthopedic served 75people, EKG served 40, Eyecheck up served 90 and Audi-ology served 30.

This year there were moreregistrants. The services of-fered pertained to generalphysical exams, basic screen-ing lab tests like cholesterol,sugar levels, PSA, hemoglobinetc, EKGs, bone density mea-

surements, dental checkups,eye checkups and many otherspecialty consultations. Vitaldata such as height, weight,blood pressure, pulse, were

checked for each participant.The blood sugar testing anddiabetes consultation was pro-vided.

EKG machines were oper-ated by volunteers to provideseparate EKG for males and fe-males. Physical examinationand physical consultation wereprovided by primary care phy-sicians. Dental examinationand consultation, bone densitytest, vision and hearing testswere also performed.

Snacks, lunch and drinkswere provided to doctors,technicians and volunteers byHindu temple and Haveli &Mayuri restaurant.

Health Fair in progress


Surati's Holi attracted thousands to Jersey CityIndia Post News Service

JERSEY CITY, NJ: On Saturday,May 5, Surati for PerformingArts hosted their 10th Annual

Holi Hai Festival of Colors in Ex-change Place, from 12 noon - 8pm. This free event actively

brought together thousands ofpeople, from diverse communi-ties, through multicultural per-formances, ethnic food, retailvendors, and kid-friendly edu-cational activities.

The 2018 event had wellover 12,000 attendees fromover 14 states within the U.S.as well as participants fromthe U.K. and Mexico. This yearas per Eventbrite analytics, at-tendees came from 22 statesand 7 countries includingCanada, UK, Germany, France,Italy, Uganda and India.

Along the Hudson River,and with spectacular views ofthe Manhattan skyline, audi-ences took part in yoga dem-onstrations, henna tattooing,an interactive Rangoli demon-stration, as well as dance andmusic workshops. The Yogaworkshop was conducted byMr. Luis Lujan. There tookplace a spectacular ColorsCountdown every hour.

Festival partners includedthe Consulate General of India

in NYC, Hudson County Officeof Cultural Affairs and Tourism,as well as Jersey City CulturalAffairs.

Dignitaries attending thefestival included NJ State As-semblyman Raj Mukherji; New

York's Consul General of IndiaAmbassador SandeepChakravorty; Jersey City Coun-

cil President Mr. RolandLavarro; sponsors RuddysAndrade, Director of External

Affairs, Carepoint Health;Ms.Gina Hulings, Director ofCultural Affairs, HudsonCounty; Ms.TamaraCunningham, AVP for Global Ini-tiatives - New Jersey City Uni-

versity, Mr.Mohan Kothekar,Area Sales Mgr of Air India, rep-resenting Air India in the US.

Assemblyman Raj Mukherjicongratulated Surati for host-ing Holi Hai "year after year".Both sponsors RuddysAndrade of Carepoint andTamara Cunningham of NJCU

From left to right : Rimli Roy (Founder-Artistic Director, Surati, NJ StateAssemblyman Raj Mukherji, Jersey City Council President Rolando Lavarro,

Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty, Consulate General of India in NY

Lavani folk dance by Surati companydancer Alisha Desai

Surati Odissi students performing. Lto R: Elizabeth Johnson, Roma Das

Surati company dancer ManikanthaYaganamurthy

Pics: Paul Martin and Ravi Chettar

Consul General of india in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty addressesthe crowd at Surati Holi Hai

Chicago flags-off Vibrant Tamil Nadu ExpoSURENDRA ULLAL

Consul General of India Neeta Bhushan being presented with flower bouquet by NRI Seva Foundation & IABC Directors[LtoR] Maya Patel, Arshad Qureshi, Girish Kapur, Keerthi Ravoori, Jagat Shah, K.T.Rajan & Harish Kolasani

CHICAGO: The NRI SevaFoundation in collaborationwith Indian American BusinessCouncil [IABC] hosted a curtainraiser for the Vibrant TamilNadu Expo & Summit on Friday,May 11 at Meadows Club inRolling Meadows, a Chicagosuburb, showcasing the GlobalExpo Summit to be held laterthis summer in Madurai, TamilNadu and India.

Vibrant Tamil Nadu GlobalExpo and Summit 2018,the firstof its kind of expo, focused onthe food and beverages sectorin Tamil Nadu. It is being orga-nized from 12-15 August at thegrains yard in Madurai, TamilNadu with delegates from 20countries including US andlarge number of companies

acknowledged and com-mended Founder-Artistic Di-rector Rimli Roy and Surati's

hard work and said they were"honored to be associatedwith Surati".

Surati's Holi Slogan was:"When everyone is colorful, noone is different."

from India participating in it.Consul General of India

Neeta Bhushan, who was theChief Guest inaugurating theroad show, congratulated theVibrant Tamil Nadu hosts Dr

Jagat Shah, K.T. Rajan, Chair-man and Harish Kolasani of NRISeva Foundation. Ms Bhushanassured the support of her of-fice in promoting this globalfood summit including making

a collaborative effort with Chi-cago based agencies in seek-ing to promote business ven-tures and opportunities in In-dia.

Cont’d on page 26


At the beginning of theevent, every guest was given agrand traditional welcome asthe mangianars sang in thebackground.

Several events were orga-nized for the guests, including avisit to the Livermore wineries,career counselling sessions, cul-tural performances, a presenta-tion on the history of Rajputs,and an elaborate photo session -by Prakash Sharma of PC SharmaPhotography - to take home theincredible memories.

Jaivardhan Singh Bhati ofplanning and logistics andSandeep Singh Shekhawat fromwelcome committee playedkey roles in the smooth runningof the event.

Shantanu Shekhawat tookcare of the transportation, whilePrachi Rathore and Sunita

Rajputs celebrate grandeurof Rajputana culture

Rathore headed the culturalcommittee, responsible for ex-ecution of all programs, includ-ing a special performance,"Dance of the Desert," byAntara Bhardwaj, disciple of re-nowned Kathak master PanditChitresh Das.

California state Assemblymember Kansen Chu pre-sented a certificate of apprecia-tion to Rajputana Rawla ofAmerica for "their outstandingcontributions to the 25th StateAssembly District and the Stateof California through their dedi-cated work to preserve andpromote the rich culture, heri-tage and music of Rajasthanwith special appreciation for allthat they do to build unity in ourcommunity."

An executive committee wasannounced during the event tocarry forward the organization'smission: president - Narendra

Rathore; general secretary- Dr.Jaivir Rathore; treasurer -Sunaina Shekhawat Bhati; cul-tural secretary-Vinod KhangarotRathore; membership secretary(west) Sunita Bika Shekhawat;membership secretary (east)Suman Khangarot; media secre-tary-Reena Rathore; communityrelationship secretary- PrachiRathore; and IT Secretary-Abhinay Rathore.

The event would not havebeen possible without the pa-tronage of Arizona-based Dr.Harnath Singh Rathore, ChatarSingh Tanwar and NarendraSingh Rathore from Texas, RajSingh Nathawat from California,and Pennsylvania's Dr. DaleepSingh Rathore.

The convention was a grandsuccess and plans are alreadyunderway for 'Mél 2019,' whichwill be held in Texas, during theThanksgiving weekend.


Chicago flags-off VibrantTamil Nadu Expo

She lauded the efforts ofHarish Kolasani of NRI SevaFoundation and the IABC teamthat seeks to promote TamilNadu's food festival.

Dr. Jagat Shah, President,Founder of Cluster Pulse & Glo-bal Network [an internationaltrade advisory firm] made apresentation on India's risingeminence in the business worldand appraised its burgeoningpotential to be an exceptionallyideal place for investment and/or starting a business. Headded that India is the invest-ment destination due to its ro-bust infrastructure and strongreturns on the investment.

K.T.Rajan, Chairman andManaging Director for Raj EximGroup of Companies, extendeda warm invitation to the guestsand urged the Indian diasporato be a part of the historic Vi-brant Tamil Nadu Food Summit.

Harish Kolasani, President,NRI Seva Foundation, said thatthe Vibrant Tamil Nadu 2018 isa distinctive initiative that aimstowards unifying andsynergizing the key playersand solutions providers in Foodsector. It provides a platformfor the customers, manufactur-ers, researchers, technologistsand innovators to discuss,share, debate and celebratethe best of the food and bev-

erages industry. He presentedCG and KT Rajan with flowerbouquets.

Earlier, Keerthi Kumar Ravoori,Director, NRI Seva Foundation,presented a brief overview ofthe Foundation and highlightedthe milestone achievements infostering its humanitarian workin India. He also highlightedIABC's role in helping connectsmall/medium business be-tween India and USA.

Arshad Qureshi, Presidentof IABC, welcomed the guestsand introduced the speakersand said the organization willproactively promote the Vi-brant Tamil Nadu Summitthrough its network of partnersand organizations. Girish Kapur,IABC Vice President said Vi-brant Tamil Nadu 2018 will bean ideal place to meet, inter-act, network and discuss busi-ness possibilities for US ex-porters, importers, customers,experts and all professionals inthe food and beverages sector.The IABC Directors present in-cluded Maya Patel andNazneen Hashmi.

The key highlights of theSummit are Knowledge Semi-nar with international speakersfrom over ten countries; MoUsigning with international part-ners; Factory visits for import-ers; B2B and B2G meetingswith potential importers andsightseeing.


Yoga teachers demonstrate its benefitsGEETHA PATIL

BOSTON: Sri Sri School ofYoga organized a two-dayworkshop titled, 'Yoga Immer-sion Boston" on May 12 and 13to restore, rejuvenate and re-new the physical and mentalenergy among participants.

More than 150 participantsfrom New England and sur-rounding states attended theworkshop to obtain the ben-efits of Yoga. Shri Krishna Vermaand Dr Bharati Verma led the

workshop professionally.Krishna has trained over 2000Yoga teachers in more than 20countries. Dr. Smt BharatiVerma is also associated withthis School since 2001.

The workshop started with

OM chanting. Both Shri andSmt Verma taught Yoga rou-tines for better postures, tech-niques to calm our mind andclear emotional blockages,simple and easy Yoga andmeditation sequences to prac-tice at home. Dr. Smt Bharatinot only spoke about the ben-efits but also demonstratedyoga postures, various breath-ing techniques, and meditationpractices for optimal living.

Smt Verma saidthat Yoga is agreat remedy toremove our ten-sions which defi-nitely affect ourhealth becausewe have to fulfill ademanding ca-reer and take careof the family. OnMay 13, Krishna

said that a few minutes of Yogaduring the day can be a greatway to get rid of stress that ac-cumulates daily-in both thebody and mind.

He talked about varioustechniques such as Yoga pos-

tures for standing, walking,bending, and sitting;Pranayama to direct and control

prana (energy, breath, or lifeforce) in the body;and medita-tion as effective techniques torelease stress and calm ourmind and clear emotional jams.And he spoke about the rightapproaches of using Yoga as ascience for our best living.

Smt Bharati Verma pre-sented live posture clinic forNeck and shoulder care, focus-ing on effects of prolonged sit-ting and posture clinic forspine and back care. Medita-tion is a relaxation which givescalm mind, good concentra-tion and rejuvenation of thebody, stated by Dr. Smt Verma.

Yoga workshop participants doing yoga

The participants of theworkshop attended the ses-sions with high level of dedica-

tion and interest. Both ShriKrishna Verma and Dr SmtBharati Verma suggested andexplained suitable remediesfor the personal health prob-

lems of some participants withlot of patience.

Very friendly and soft-spo-

ken Ms. Latika Menon managedorganizing and registrationtask very systematically andwas very helpful to all the par-ticipants.

Yoga Teachers Dr Bharti and Krishna Verma


May 18, 2018

29India PostMay 18, 2018www.indiapost.com

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Sonam Kapoor andAnand Ahuja got mar-

ried on May 8 but thecouple don't have time togo on for a honeymoonsoon. Sonam has few as-signments lined up andafter wrapping up those,she might go on a honey-moon in October.

The actress is sched-uled to walk the red car-pet at Cannes. Anand willnot be accompanying her.After returning fromFrench Riviera, SonamKapoor will be busy with'Veere Di Wedding' pro-motions. The actress willthen resume the shootingof Shelly Dhar's 'Ek LadkiKo Dekha Toh Aisa Laga'which is Sonam's first filmwith her dad Anil Kapoor.

In August, the actresswill start shooting for 'TheZoya Factor' with DulquerSalmaan.

So, everybody, wait forOctober.

Amitabh Bachchan who has in-spired many generations of ac-

tors with his impeccable acting tal-ent has revealed one of his weak-nesses that he will never be able todirect a film.

Amitabh Bachchan was interact-ing with media along with RishiKapoor, Jimit Trivedi director

Umesh Shukla and writer SaumyaShukla at success meet of recentlyreleased film '102 Not Out' inMumbai.

Bachchan has acted, produced,sung songs and composed songs

for numerous movies, so whenasked if he will turn director

for a film, he said: "Idon't know direc-

tion and I'llnever be able

to do that.A c t u a l l ythat's aquestion, Ia l w a y swanted toknow whyand whatg o e sthrough adirector'sm i n dwhen hehas toplace acamera ina particu-lar angleand po-sition."

Veteran actor Dharmendra, who is fondlycalled the "action king" and "He-Man" in

Bollywood, said instead of working out in the gym, he usedto go to the fields in his younger days.

On the secret behind his fitnesslevel, the octogenarian said, "In myyounger days, I never went to thegym. My field was my gym. Iwould plough the field anddraw water from the well.That type of workout wasthe best workout andthat definitely keeps aperson fit."

India Post 31

www.indiapost.com

BollywoodMay 18, 2018

She may personify spontaneity on screen but Alia Bhatt says acting is a "chal-lenge" and she is "not naturally gifted" at it. The 25-year-old actor said shetries not to take her profession seriously and lets the 'act' flow into the

character arc when it is show time."Nothing comes naturally to me. I'm not saying acting is a terrible procedure.

It's a challenge. But the process is such that you don't have to take it seriously andjust let it flow naturally in a sense of the character, not you as an actor," Bhatt says.The actor was promoting her upcoming film 'Raazi', with director Meghna Gulzarand co-star Vicky Kaushal.

In the film set against the 1971 War, Bhatt plays an Indian woman who marriesinto a family of Pakistani Armymen to spy for her country.

Bollywood couple Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khannahave been slapped with legal notice for auctioning

'Rustom' costume of a Naval officer. The notice wasserved claiming that by putting the costume on auction,

the actor has hurt the sentiments of armed forces per-sonnel and widows of soldiers.

The notice has also been served to the auction houseSaltScout for the online bidding of the naval uniform which

Akshay Kumar wore in 'Rustom'. The bidding came to Rs2,35,000 which includes a shirt, pants and a hat. The auction

will be closed on May 26.Akshay Kumar had put the outfit up for the auction on

April 26 in support of an NGO working for the cause of ani-mal rescue and welfare.

"We are doing it for a good cause. So, I don't think we didanything bad. I can't help if someone feels bad about it," he

had said.

H u m a Qureshi says she has

had to deal with people making sexual advances ather, not only in the cinema industry but by people from dif-

ferent professions.Asked about sexual exploitation and harassment of women, Huma

said: "Well, as a woman, absolutely, I have had to dealwith people making advances at me, but not just

people from the business of film industry, but peopleacross different professions and different strata. I think

it has a lot to do with power and it is not limited to thefilm business."

Attending the 71st Cannes Film Festival, Huma saidfor many women at the receiving end, it becomes diffi-

cult to come out and speak. "In India and elsewhere inthe world, the moment a woman speaks out, people startmaking all sorts of character judgments about her," sheadded.

"NOTHING COMES NATURALLY TO ME.I'M NOT SAYING ACTING IS A TERRIBLEPROCEDURE. IT'S A CHALLENGE”

AS A WOMAN, ABSOLUTELY,I HAVE HAD TO DEALWITH PEOPLE MAKING

ADVANCES AT ME, BUTNOT JUST PEOPLE

FROM THE BUSINESSOF FILM INDUSTRY,

BUT PEOPLEACROSS

DIFFERENTPROFES-

SIONS

www.indiapost.com32 India Post May 18, 2018

Health ScienceHealth Line

Details on page 34

NRI students can apply for medicalcourses in general quota also

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujaratgovernment has modified medi-cal admission rules by which stu-dents who have the OCI (Over-seas Citizens of India) card cannow apply in the general quota,instead of only the NRI quota asmandated earlier. This was an-nounced here by Deputy ChiefMinister Nitin Patel who alsohandles the Medical Educationportfolio.

Several Gujarati-origin par-ents, settled in foreign countries,send children to India for school-ing, Patel said.

"Though they are born in for-eign countries, such studentslive here with their relatives andeven pass their 10th and 12thBoard exams here. As per thepresent rule, such students, hav-ing OCI card, need to apply onlyunder the NRI quota of a medicalcollege," he said.

"We have decided to changethis rule. We will now allow suchstudents to apply in the general

quota too, provided they havepassed their Board exams inGujarat and have a domicile cer-tificate," he said.

Second chanceIn another modification of the

rules, the government has pro-vided relief for students who failto secure admission to MBBS in

the first attempt and settle forsome other course. Patel saidsuch students can get into theMBBS course if they get the re-quired score in the `secondtrial' of the NEET.

The norms were changed to

give a second chance to "brightstudents" who want to pursueMBBS but fail to do well in their

first trial of the National Eligi-bility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Several students cannot se-cure admission to the MBBScourse in the first trial for vari-ous reasons, such as a death inthe family or illness at the timeof NEET, he said.

"As a result, such bright stu-dents have to settle for otherstreams, such as Homoeopathyor Ayurveda," he said.

As per the existing rules,such students could not switchover to another branch ofmedicine once getting admis-sion after the first trial, he said.

"We have decided to changethis rule. Now, students admit-ted into other medical streamscan shift to MBBS by appearingagain for the NEET, providedthey get required merit in thesecond trial," said Patel.

The student, however, willhave to pay all the remainingfee of his/her existingcourse.PTI

Several students cannot secure admissionto the MBBS course in the first trial for various

reasons, such as a death in the family or illnessat the time of NEET

'Coffee sold must carry cancer warnings'LOS ANGELES: A court ruling

that gave coffee drinkers a joltearlier this year has been final-ized with a Los Angeles judgesaying coffee sold in Californiamust carry cancer warnings.

Superior Court Judge ElihuBerle said Starbucks Corp. andother roasters and retailersfailed to show that benefitsfrom drinking coffee out-weighed any risks from a car-cinogen that is a byproduct ofthe roasting process. He hadtentatively made the same writ-ten decision in March.

A nonprofit group suedabout 90 coffee companies, in-cluding Keurig Green MountainInc. and Peet's Operating Co.Inc., under a state law that re-

quires warnings on productsand in places where chemicalsthat can cause cancer arepresent.

The coffee industry didnot deny that the chemi-cal acrylamide wasfound in coffee. Butthey argued itwas atharmlessl e v e l sand theirproducts h o u l dbe ex-e m p tfrom the lawbecause the chemi-cal results naturally fromcooking necessary for flavor.

The final ruling clears the wayfor the Council for Education andResearch on Toxics to seek a per-manent injunction that would ei-

ther lead to ominouswarning labels or acommitment by

the industry toremovet h echemi-c a lf r o mt h e i r

product- as the

potato chipindustry did

years ago when suedby the same group.

Attorney Raphael Metzger,

who represents the nonprofit,said he hopes mediation willlead to some settlement ofthe case that has been brew-ing for eight years. If no agree-ment is reached, anotherphase of trial would deter-mine civil penalties as high as$2,500 per person exposedeach day since the suit wasfiled in 2010.

`Ìn all the years I've beenpracticing, I've never had acase that got to this point,''Metzger said. ``They've lost alltheir defenses and we provedour case. The only issues leftare the nature and form of theinjunction and the amount ofpenalties to be assessed. It's nota pretty place for them to be.'' AP

Connecticut toprotect ACAhealth benefits

HARTFORD, Conn.: Connecti-cut lawmakers have approvedlegislation they say will pre-serve the essential health ben-efits guaranteed under thefederal Affordable Care Act.

The Senate voted 34-2 infavor of the legislation, whichpreviously cleared the Houseof Representatives. I t nowmoves to the governor's desk.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P.Malloy had urged the GeneralAssembly to take such actionduring his State of the Stateaddress in February, pointingout Republican efforts inWashington, D.C. to derail theAffordable Care Act.

Connecticut's legislation re-quires insurance policies of-fered in the state to cover the``10 Essential Health Ben-efits,'' which include thingslike outpatient care, emer-gency room trips, prenatal andpediatric care, prescriptionmedicine, lab tests, mentalhealth services and substanceabuse disorders.

The bill also preserves non-cost contraception for women.AP

Wyoming birthcount lowest in adecade

CASPER, Wyo.: The state De-partment of Health says therewere fewer than 7,000 babiesborn to Wyoming residents lastyear, the first time the birth to-tal dropped below that levelsince 2005.

The Casper Star-Tribune re-ported that the 6,904 births in2017 was a 7 percent drop from2016, when there were 7,384.

It continues a recent trend ofdecline. Births have dropped bymore than 800 since 2015,when there were 7,716 infantsborn.

In December, the state's Eco-nomic Analysis Division foundthat nearly 6,500 residents haveleft Wyoming since the energyindustry took a nosedive. That'sthe most significant populationdip since the bust of the 1980s,in which 57,000 Wyoming resi-dents left over seven years. AP

47.7% inDelhi slum

found to beoverweight

India PostHealth Science Post 33

www.indiapost.com

May 18, 2018

Asha's work for TB inaugurated in KulluIndia Post News Service

KULLU, Himachal Pradesh: Union HealthMinister JP Nadda and Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur inaugurated Operation Asha's

work for TB and eCompliance here in aninspiring ceremony.

Kullu is located in a breathtakinglybeautiful valley in the Himalayas, sur-rounded by majestic mountains and ever-

Who is afraid of thedark? Are you?

DR MEENA GNANASEKHARAN

Night terrors are a type ofparasomnia or partial-sleep disor-der, characterised by bouts of

screaming, intense fear and flailing whilestill asleep. Also known as sleep terrors,night terrors are commonly observed inchildren and are often accompanied bysomnambulism or sleepwalking, in one-third of the cases.

An episode of night terror generallylasts from a few seconds to a few minutes,but some episodes may continue for a pro-longed period. Night terrors take place inthe deepest stage of sleep and are markedby an abrupt arousal. It generally occurswithin the first hour of sleep. The person,under the bout, looks terrified and may situpright in acute fright, shrieking, thrash-ing, crying inconsolably and flailing. Nightterrors, in children occur as a result of im-mature sleep patterns with a sudden acti-vation of the flight or fight reaction.

Studies show that although people ofall age groups are susceptible to night ter-rors, it is particularly observed in childrenaged between three and five. Approxi-mately 40 percent children and 3 percentadults suffer from night terrors. A bout ofsleep terror usually strikes fifteen minutesto one hour after falling asleep.

Like most parasomnias, night terrorstoo are dissociated sleep states which oc-cur during the shift from wakefulness toNREM (Non-rapid eye movement) sleepor wakefulness to REM (Rapid eye move-ment) sleep, they hardly ever occur duringnaps. Some people are oblivious to their fitof night terror whereas the others vaguelyremember their ordeal.

In children, such partial confusionalarousals could be stimulated by stress,anxiety and fatigue. It could also be trig-gered due to a loud noise or other unusualinterruptions, or even a change in theusual sleeping pattern, or a full bladder. Inadults, night terrors are mostly associatedwith medicinal side-effects, traumatic ex-periences or post-traumatic stress, andtherefore could be more critical.

During the fit of night terror, the personfeels extremely bewildered and disori-ented, along with profuse sweating, a rapidrise in the heartbeat, fast breathing and an

elevated blood pressure. It is often seenthat night terrors mostly run in families,even though no scientific evidence of in-volvement genetic factors has been found.

In children, parasomnia is mostly a de-velopmental process and not particularly aconsequence of mental or physical ail-ment. Such nocturnal episodes of nightterrors cease to persist after the age of 12,or at least decrease in frequency. Hence,occasional sleep terrors are not a matter ofsevere concern in most cases.

Sleep terrors may require medical in-tervention in case the sufferer doesn't getenough sleep and as a result gets fatigued,or they pose a risk to themselves or theirsurroundings due to aggressive fits. Also ifthe bouts become frequent and continuebeyond 12 years of age, the advice of a

doctor should be sought. During a bout ofnight terror, one shouldn't try to awakenthe person. It might prove to be futile totry to console such a person, thoughholding the person and speaking softlymight help them to fall back to sleep.

In severe cases, hypnosis, biofeedbackand various other relaxation techniquesare to decrease or stop such episodes ofnight terrors. For children, soothing mu-sic or bedtime stories are advised to lulla child into deep slumber. Additionally,doctors also advice against taking heavyor spicy meals before bedtime as indi-gestion also acts as a trigger forparasomnia.

The writer is Consultant - Psychiatry,Columbia Asia Referral HospitalYeshwanthpur, Bengaluru

Dr Meena Gnanasekharan

flowing rivers. However, TB patients herelive miles away from civilization in tinyhamlets scattered on the mountain sides.Mr Nadda pointed out to the Chief Minis-ter of the State that eight of the thirtyworst effected TB districts in India are inHimachal Pradesh alone.

The work of Asha is challenging, as find-ing these patients is a gigantic task. Healthworkers on motor cycles drive as far as it ispossible on difficult, narrow, ill-kept roads,

and thenscramble onfoot up themountains toserve TB pa-tients in theirhomes. Ashais serving apopulation of1 million suchpeople andhopes to de-tect and treatat least 3,000patients ayear. This

takes the total population served by Op-eration Asha, for TB, to 5 million in India,and over 10 million worldwide.

At the inauguration ceremony, MrNadda and the Chief Minister took finger-prints of the first patient found by Opera-tion Asha in Himachal and initiated him onTB treatment. Nadda spoke enthusiasti-cally about eCompliance and stated thathis target is to expand eCompliance fur-ther in the State.

India Post Health Science Post34

www.indiapost.com

May 18, 2018

47.7% in Delhi slum foundto be overweight

NEW DELHI: Nearly half of agroup of healthy individuals liv-ing in a Delhi slum were found tobe overweight while 17.2 percent were obese, according to arecent survey.

Almost 64.9 per cent of 314individuals who were assessedduring a camp were found eitherover-weight or obese, which areimportant risk factors for heartand vascular diseases. Around20.1 per cent reported use of to-bacco products while 37.3 pc hadhigh blood pressure.

Around 500 individuals wereevaluated and examined for bodymass index (BMI), obesity, blood

pressure measurement, spotblood sugar, blood lipids and anelectrocardiogram (ECG) wasdone at a recent camp by a teamof doctors from Batra Hospitaland Medical Research Centre(BHMRC) out of which the datawas available for 314 individu-als.

"Around 37.3 per cent of thepersons had high blood pressureas per the current Indian defini-tion of 140/90 mms Hg.

"Here it needs to be men-tioned that the US definition haschanged recently to above 130/80 mms Hg and going by thatparameter, it would be an alarm-ing figure of around 50 percent," said Dr Upendra Kaul,Chairman and Dean Academicsand Research at the Batra Hospi-tal and Medical Research Center(BHMRC).

"Based upon our analysis wefound that taken together, ap-proximately 71 per cent of the

subjects had one or morecomorbidities contributing tothe elevated risk for a cardiacepisode in this apparentlyhealthy population.

"The implication of these find-ings in low income population,many of whom are working asdaily wagers and involved in me-

Prostate screening left to men, their docs

nial jobs, is obvious. This also analarm bell as about half of thesurveyed population was young(between the ages of 25 to 44years only). Health education andimparting knowledge regardinghealthy life style should be un-dertaken in this area on top prior-ity," Kaul said. PTI

"Around 37.3per cent of the

persons had highblood pressure as per

the current Indiandefinition”

CHICAGO: Whether to getscreened for prostate cancer is aquestion that men aged 55 to 69should decide themselves inconsultation with their doctors,according to finalized guidanceissued by an influential panel ofhealth care experts.

New evidence suggests thatPSA blood tests can slightly re-duce the chances of dying fromthe disease for some men, sothose decisions may be a littleeasier. Though screening cansometimes lead to drastic, need-less treatment, the panel saysthat can sometimes be avoidedwith close monitoring whencancer is detected.

The government-appointedU.S. Preventive Services TaskForce had earlier opposed rou-

tine screening. Its new guid-ance, echoing other groups' ad-vice and affirming its draft rec-ommendations issued last year,was published in the Journal ofthe American Medical Associa-tion.

The guidance says it's impor-tant to weigh the potential ben-efits and harms of screening. The

test looks for elevated levels of aprotein in the blood that maysignal cancer but can also becaused by less serious prostateproblems.

A key question is whether thepatient has a higher-than-aver-age risk for developing prostatecancer, says Dr. Michael Munger,president of the American Acad-emy of Family Physicians. Thesemen include African-Americansand those with a family historyof prostate cancer, especially if afather or brother developed the

disease before age 70. Thesemen would be the best candi-dates for screening.

Other important questionsthat should be part of the doc-

tor-patient conversation:• The risks of screening: El-

evated PSA levels don't alwayssignal cancer but they require abiopsy to be sure, which carriesthe risk of infection. If cancer isdetected, patients must weighrisks of treatment, which may in-clude radiation and surgery,sometimes resulting in inconti-nence and impotence.

• Whether to choose treat-ment if cancer is detected. Thepanel said there's evidence that`àctive surveillance,'' which in-volves repeated PSA testing andclose monitoring, can help mendiagnosed with cancer avoidharsh treatment or at least delayit.

• The risks of not screening,including a small chance of de-

veloping prostate cancer thatcould grow so slowly, patientswould likely die of somethingelse.

• Age: The panel says menaged 70 and up should not bescreened. For these patients,risks of screening outweighbenefits because even if pros-tate cancer is found, they'remore likely to die from othercauses. The guidance doesn'tapply to men younger than 55because they are consideredlow risk.

`Ìt's an awful lot to thinkabout,'' said Munger, adding thathe has these complicated con-versations with patients everyday. `Ìt really depends on whattheir feelings are and what theirvalues are.'' AP

The guidance says it's important to weighthe potential benefits and harms of

screening for prostate cancer.

Free treatment for roadaccident victims

Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujaratgovernment has announcedthat henceforth it will providefree treatment for the first 48hours to all the victims of roadaccidents admitted to any gov-ernment or private hospital inthe state.

Gujarat Deputy Chief Minis-ter Nitin Patel, who also handles

the Health portfolio, made theannouncement here.

The government would bearthe medical expenses of up toRs 50,000 of each victim, hesaid.

People of other states oreven citizens of other countrieswill also be given free treat-ment if they meet with a road

accident in Gujarat, he added."The move is aimed at pro-

viding timely and better treat-ment and thereby minimizingthe loss of life due to acci-dents," Patel said.

The scheme will be appli-cable to anyone who meetswith a road accident any-where in Gujarat.

"The first 48 hours are verycrucial for an accident victim. Itis a general tendency that acci-

dent victims are first taken to agovernment hospital or ahealth centre, which may nothave a specialist doctor or re-quired facilities," Patel told re-porters.

"In such a scenario, the pa-tient is then shifted to a privatehospital. This consumes valu-able time. Ambulance opera-tors or volunteers hesitate totake the patient to a privatehospital first, despite the factthat they are more in numberand they also have better facili-ties," he said. PTI

India Post May 18, 2018www.indiapost.com

Real Estate35

Realty Tidbits Access to institutionalfinance will help housing

NEW DELHI: Easy access to institutional financing,and higher limit on external commercial borrowings(ECB) will attract more investments and ensure sus-tained growth of affordable housing in India, NationalHousing Bank (NHB) CEO Sriram Kalyanaraman hassaid. The foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreigninstitutional investors (FIIs) will play a key role in boost-ing supply of houses and infra projects in urban areas,he said at an Assocham event here. PTI

Jaypee offers 2,000 shares to home buyersNEW DELHI: Jaypee group has

offered 2,000 equity shares ofJaypee Infratech for free to eachhome buyer as part of its Rs10,000 crore proposal to revivethe bankruptcy-hit real estatefirm, sources said.

Jaypee group promoter ManojGaur made an offer of over Rs10,000 crore before the lendersof Jaypee Infratech to protect theinterest of all stakeholders in-cluding financial creditors, homebuyers and minority sharehold-ers.

Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiaryof Jaypee groups flagship firmJaiprakash Associates, had in2007 started development of

about 32,000 flats in Noida, ofwhich it has delivered 9,500. Ithas applied for occupancy certifi-cates to hand over 4,500 flatsmore.

According to sources, Jaypee

group in its fresh proposal has of-fered 2,000 shares each to everyhome buyer on first registration.About 4.5 crore shares are esti-mated to be offered at nil consid-eration.

That apart, the group proposedto bear 50 per cent of stamp dutyon behalf of the home buyers onfirst registration, they said adding

the company plans to deliver allapartments in the next 42months.

Jaypee Infartech will also paypenalty to home buyers as perthe agreement and new realtylaw RERA, sources said.

Jaiprakash Associates has al-ready deposited Rs 750 crorewith the Registry of the SupremeCourt and the amount would beutilized for refund to home buy-ers.

Meanwhile, lenders of JaypeeInfratech have rejected a Rs 7,350crore bid by Lakshadweep, thehighest bidder for the company,as they found it inadequate. PTI

SC spots fund diversion by Amrapali GroupNEW DELHI: Spotting diversion

of funds to the tune of over Rs2700 crore by the embattled realestate firm Amrapali Group, theSupreme Court has sought de-tails of financial transactionsmade by the company and itsstatement of accounts in the nextfive days.

The top court found thatAmrapali Group in its affidavit

filed before it had said that Rs2766 crores were diverted to twoother companies.

It said that the "jigsaw puzzle"created by the company, facinginsolvency proceedings initiatedby creditor banks for not repay-ing loans, has to be solved so thatthe hassled home buyers can begranted relief.

A bench of Justices Arun

Mishra and U U Lalit said the com-pany will have to specify underwhat provisions, the money of aproject was diverted to othercompanies.

"You have to tell us each andevery single instance where themoney was diverted from the

company to other projects. Whatwas the nature of transaction?Whether it is lending, loan or pay-ment, we want each and everything," the bench said.

The court asked the companyto specify the dates of everytransaction and say whether itwas done before the enactmentof Real Estate (Regulation andDevelopment) Act, 2016 or afterthe law was passed.

The bench, which initially

asked for its audit report, laterasked the company to file state-ment of accounts after the coun-sel for Amrapali Group said itwould be difficult to get it in fivedays time.

"If you have the will, then youcan still file the details. By next

hearing of thecase, everythingwill be madeclear," the benchsaid.

The court saidthe problem withthe company wasthat it has not com-plied with its dead-lines for theprojects.

Senior advocateAjit Sinha, appearing for thehome buyers, pointed out tothe bench from the affidavitfiled by the company in thecourt that funds to the tune ofRs 2766 crores were diverted totwo companies.

Sinha said the company hasno explanation as to why it haddiverted the funds and if thesefunds were available, a lot ofproblems of home buyers couldhave been resolved. PTI

Vascon Engineers foraysinto affordable housing

MUMBAI: Real estate firmVascon Engineers has announcedits foray into the affordablehousing segment with thelaunch of a Rs 110-crore resi-dential project in Pune.

Spread across 10 acre, theproject will offer one-room-kitchen and one and two-BHKhomes ranging from 227 sq ftto 462 sq ft, and priced be-tween Rs 13.62 lakh and Rs27.74 lakh, the company said ina release.

The project, which will bedeveloped in two phases, willcomprise nine buildings with

around 1,140 units."In the initial phase, the com-

pany will be launching around500 units, that will comprise ofsix and 11 storeyed buildings,"it said.

Siddharth Vasudevan, man-aging director, Vascon Engi-neers said there has been ahuge rise in the demand for af-fordable housing projects in re-cent times.

"The increased urban migra-tion as well as the various initia-tives by the government has fu-elled the growth in housingneeds," he added. PTI

UN hails removalof stamp duty onwomen's property

SRINAGAR: Hailing Jammuand Kashmir government's deci-sion to abolish stamp duty on saleof property owned by women inthe state, a United Nationsagency has termed it as a big steptowards women empowerment.

".@unwomenindia acknowl-edges the positive measuretaken by the J&K Government toabolish stamp duty on the sale of#property registered in the nameof #females.

"Huge step towards #women's#empowerment! the UN WomenIndia said on the Twitter handle.

The body is the United Nationsagency for gender equality andwomen's empowerment.

The Jammu and Kashmir Gov-ernment has abolished stampduty on the sale of property reg-istered in the name of females.

This was with the view to en-courage families to register prop-erty in the name of their femalemembers.

Meanwhile, state Chief Minis-ter Mehbooba Mufti took to Twit-ter to thank The UN Women Indiafor welcoming the decision.

Thank you @unwomenindia. Itruly hope this small step to-wards encouraging families togive women their due resonatesall over the country & sets astrong precedent, she said in thetweet. PTI

ANB Capitalmerges with AnujPuri's Anarock

MUMBAI: Anuj Puri, Chairman- Anarock Property Consultantsand Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO -ANB Capital Advisors have an-nounced the formal merger ofANB Capital with the AnarockGroup to create Anarock Capital,which Shobhit Agarwal will headas MD & CEO. The AnarockGroup's residential services divi-sion has already defined itself asIndia's leading, fastest-growingand most disruptive consultancyin the industry. With the additionof the Capital Markets vertical,Anarock takes a major step for-ward towards its ambitious ex-pansion plans.

"The Indian real estate marketis in its next evolutionary stage,and perfectly primed for AnarockCapital," says Anuj Puri.

36 India Post www.indiapost.com May 18, 2018

The Cannes Film Festival at the FrenchRivera has been playing host to the well-known cinema per-

sonalities from across the globe.The Bollywood beauties too flockto the French city each year andmaking headlines along the waywith their fashionable appear-ances. While Aishwarya RaiBachchan has been a regularsince several years, DeepikaPadukone, Kangana Ranaut,Huma Qureshi too are makingtheir presence felt in a big way.

Aishwarya has been winninghearts with her brilliant appear-ances at the Cannes film festival.The former beauty queenstepped out for her second strut

down the red carpet and it is oneof her best appearances yet.

The diva, who turned a Disneyprincess in a blue Cinderellagown last year, walked like a but-terfly in a navy blue gown by thesame designer with a 20-feet trail

that left everyone in awe. Thebeautifully crafted MichaelCinco gown was made up ofSwarovski crystals and a highlyintricate pattern of ultra-violet,

midnight blue, and red threadworks created by several crafts-men over 3000 hours. The mer-maid gown not just accentuatedthe former Miss World's figure butmade her the star attraction of thenight just like a butterfly. Not tomiss, her daughter AaradhyaBachchan too joined her in a reddress like a mini princess.

She also shared a super cute pic-ture where she can be seen kissingher daughter Aaradhya beforestepping out. Not only is the clicksuper adorable, but it beingMother's day makes it even morespecial. The diva captioned theclick as, "Love You Unconditionally.Happiest Mama in the World."

Deepika PadukoneIt was a journey straight from

the MET Gala to Cannes forDeepika Padukone this year asshe continued her fashion jour-ney literally with one after theother stylish appearances. The

lady descended the red carpet ina grand hot pink origami gownwith a huge train from AshiStudio's Summer/Spring 2018collection. Looking drop-dead-gorgeous, the 'Padmaavat' actresswalked around in the elaboratedress with a plunging necklineand paired it with purple stilettos.With her hair tied up in a bun,what added magic to the wholelook were her sea-green dropearrings which broke the mo-notony with perfection.

While Aishwarya Rai Bachchan hasbeen a regular since several years,Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut,Huma Qureshi too are making theirpresence felt in a big way.

Cont’d on page 39

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Deepika Padukone

Kangana Ranaut

Mallika Sherawat

Huma Qureshi

May 18, 2018 India Post

www.indiapost.com

37

Dozens of women film stars held a protest at the Cannes film festival against gender-based discrimination in theindustry. Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek were among those taking part in the red-carpet

demonstration. In all, eighty-two women took part in an equality march on the Cannes red carpet

Kangana sees shiftin perspective women was based on men be-

ing physically superior to women.Today, an actor and an actress dothe same job. This has madepeople question, 'if they areworking as equals, then whyaren't they getting the status ofequals? This has brought about acertain shift in the perspective ofaudiences."

Talking about four nationalaward winning regional films, Vil-lage Rockstars (Assamese),Bhayanakam (Malayalam),Nagarkirtan (Bengali), and Sinjar(Jeseri, Malayalam dialect spokenin Lakshwadeep) being part ofthe line-up at the Indian pavilionKangana added, "It is very endear-ing that our regional films -Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi,Assamese - are getting such aplatform and will be showcasedhere. Someone made a film forthe first time in Lakshwadeep andit is getting such a grand platformat Cannes."

Kangana also acknowledgedhow some films require the pa-tronage of the government andrevealed how her upcoming filmhad also received support. Shesaid, "As far as promotion of a filmis concerned, some films needthe support of the government.Our government is also making alot of films tax free, especially thebiopics and inspirational films. Formy next film 'Manikarnika', we arebeing supported by the KhadiBoard as we are trying to pro-mote handmade fabrics."

The Indian pavilion at theCannes film festival wasinaugurated on May 9 in

the presence of Ambassador ofIndia to France Vinay MohanKwatra, Ministry of I&B Joint Sec-retary Ashok Kumar Parmar, Cen-tral Board of Film Certification In-dia, Chairman, Poet and Writer

Prasoon Joshi, Central Boardof Film Certification MemberVani Tripathi Tikoo, CannesFilm Market Marche Du FilmFestival Executive DirectorJerome Paillard, actressHuma Qureshi and film-makers Shaji Karun JahnuBarua and Bharat Bala.

That's not all, KanganaRanaut dressed in astunning black sari and aretro hairdo also madean appearance and par-ticipated in a Q&A ses-sion that was conductedby Prasoon Joshi. Whenasked if she has rede-fined the power equa-tion in an industrywhere male stars callthe shots, Kangana said,

"I am not an exception.Earlier discrimina-

tion betweenmen and

Neha-Bedi weddingsurprises Bollywood

Neha Dhupia and Angad Beditook Bollywood by surprise

when the two got hitched in ahush-hush ceremony. While thenetizens were updated aboutSonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja'swedding, Karan Johar revealedthat Neha and Angad have tiedthe knot, when he tweeted, "Mydarling and most special friend@NehaDhupia who l love andadore dearly is married to thegentleman and talented@Imangadbedi !! Here's wishingthem decades of unconditionallove."

The couple tied the holy knotin an extremely intimate wed-ding in Delhi. Minutes after thenews broke, they were floodedwith congratulatory messagesfrom all over.

The couple was always veryprivate about their relationshipand had been away from theglare of media.

Several pictures of the happy

couple have been doing therounds on the internet and theysure looked happier than ever asman and wife. Neha Dhupia worea beautiful pink lehenga andAngad looked as handsome asalways in his white bandhgala.

Interestingly, the couple hadexchanged an extremely cutebanter with each other whileslyly declaring their love for eachother. While Angad posted a con-gratulatory message for ZaheerKhan and Sagarika Ghatge attheir wedding, he wrote, "Fi-nally!!! Big Fella is man down!!@ z a h e e r _ k h a n 3 4@sagarikaghatge game.. Set..Match! Chak De. #zaheerkhan#sagarikaghatge."

To this Neha wrote back andsaid, "U are up next @angadbedi".And later, Angad replied to thatcomment, "chaliye fir..." to whichNeha cheesily responded, "kithe?"Angad too was cute to reply bywriting, "as darjii 15th jan."

May 18, 2018India Post38

www.indiapost.com

Musical duo making mark in BollywoodLOS ANGELES, CA: Many musi-

cians work for years before theyfind that one individual that bestcomplements their talents, styleand abilities. For Sapra, that per-son was lyricist Sharad Tripathi.The actor and rapper was fortu-nate to meet Tripathi early in hiscareer and they built an enduringbond of friendship and brother-hood through their musical col-laboration.

"I remember when I came toMumbai in 2006," said Sapra. "Iwas hired by Balaji to work on ashow and the first person I met inMumbai was Sharad. I rang his belland within minutes I found abrother in him. He was welcom-ing, caring and prepared me forEkta Kapoor and Mumbai."

Tripathi, a well-establishedBollywood writer, actor and lyri-cist, was there to guide Sapra inwhat he needed to know and the

duo was a big Balaji gang, party-ing just as hard as they worked.

The duo values the insight ofthe other and the partnership hasresulted in hit songs for films thatinclude "Ishq Nashila" and "Coco."

Their tracks and films are pro-duced from Los Angeles, CA andSapra and Tripathi have createdsongs that are arranged by inter-national composers throughoutthe world.

As a songwriting team, theirprojects are focused on thesmart, socially conscious youth ofIndia, with an emphasis on rais-ing awareness about drugs, sexand women empowerment.Sapra noted that a variety of newprojects are currently in theworks. "Our coming songs aregoing to create a wild crazeamong the youth," said Sapra."We are very confident in oursongs and plan to conquer theBollywood and global market."

Special Feature:

"I was hired by Balaji to work on a show and the

first person I met in Mumbai was Sharad. I rang his

bell and within minutes I found a brother in him”

For her second day in Cannes,Deepika stepped into a feather-light translucent, checkereddress by Philosophy topped withchunky earrings that could re-mind anyone of the 90s. The divahappily posed for pictures in herbalcony overlooking the water.Well, the cherry on the cake wasit was this dress that couldn't stopRanveer Singh from calling thediva "Queen" in the commentsection.

Kangana RanautKangana Ranaut made her de-

Bollywood beauties at Cannesbut at the Cannes Film Festivalthis year and already owned itwith her daring fashion choices.The 'Queen' of Bollywoodstepped out on the red carpet inan embroidered catsuit Nedo byNedret Taciroglu with a plungingneckline which was enough tomake all heads turn in one go.The lady added more oomph fac-tor to the sequined retro look inher curls.

Mallika SherawatMallika Sherawat, the 'Murder'

girl grabbed attention in the in-teresting swan inspired TonyWard gown with a not so promi-

nent slit at the front. Styled by oneof Paris' top stylist Wil Ariyameth,Mallika kept her hair simple witha side-parting and tied at the backbut raised oomph in a bold neck-line. With little jewellery, simplemakeup and nude lips, the actress

made sure to keep the lilac lookfuss-free and beautiful.

Huma Qureshi'Dedh Ishqiya' actress Huma

Qureshi wooed France in angelicwhite upon her arrival for theCannes Film Festival. She stunnedher fans in a divine Varun Bahlgown with a long trail and a capewhich not just accentuated her

slender frame but made her lookall the more gorgeous as sheposed for the shutterbugs amidthe greenery and the sun. Thediva was at her elegant best inthe white couture and prettygolden earrings and sleek hair asshe represented Vive Le Cinema,an initiative by Grey Goose to cel-ebrate cinematic excellencethrough the global platform.

She made another unique stylestatement in a funky pantsuitwhile sporting a bare midriff. Theconfident diva shared a picturewith the caption, "Yes! I am thatgirl who is not scared to standapart ... Take that risk. Choose theother path. I don't need somepretty dress or a tiara to feel like aprincess. I do my own thing coz Iam my own superhero."


SharadTripathi


May 18, 2018

India Post www.indiapost.com May 18, 201840

Bhimtal is a popular tourist des-tination located in the Nainitaldistrict of the Indian state ofUttarakhand. It is located at analtitude of around 1200

meters, and is named after Bhima, one ofthe Pandavas from the epic ofMahabharata.

The town of Bhimtal is popular amongtourists and local travelers alike due to itsproximity to the hill station of Nainital.Bhimtal is famous for the enormous BhimtalLake in the region which is bigger thanNaini Lake and offers good boating facili-ties. The lake has an island in its centrewhich can be accessed only through boats.

About 22 km from Nainital, the lake is

surrounded by the Kumaon hills all around.Geologists believe that the lake wasformed by the chain of faults caused by themovements in the earth's crust. The block-ade of surface drainage water led to theformation of Bhimtal Lake.

Bhimtal supports a wide variety of ani-mal species like black eagle, wall creeper,tawny fish owl, bulbul and emerald dove.

Best time to visit:The climate of this region can be classi-

fied as sub tropical, with the basic seasonsof summer, winter and monsoon. Summersin the town of Bhimtal are very mild andwinters are cold, thus making it an idealdestination for honeymoons. The best timeto visit the town of Bhimtal would be dur-ing the summer months and also duringearly winter.

The town of Bhimtal ispopular among touristsand local travelers alike dueto its proximity to the hillstation of Nainital.

Cont’d on page 41

India PostMay 18, 2018 41Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Summers in the town of Bhimtal extendthrough the months of March, April andMay. These three months will experience amaximum temperature of around twenty

seven degrees (27°C) and a minimum tem-perature of around ten degrees (10°C). Thisis an ideal time to visit the town.

Bhimtal is a place of religious signifi-cance as well. A temple complex is locatedin the town and this complex attracts pil-grims from in and around the region. CalledBhimeshwar, the temple complex was builtin the 17th century. Its exquisite architec-ture is an additional attraction.

You can also travel to the nearby loca-tions of Almora, Pangot, Ranikhet andMukteshwar during your trip to Bhimtal.

Tourist AttractionsBhimeshwara Mahadev Temple: It is

an old Shiva temple, located on the em-bankment of Bhimtal Lake. It is believedthat a temple was in existence there dur-ing the time of Bhima, when he had cometo this place during the exile period of thePandavas.

The present temple was built by BazBahadur - a king of the Chand Dynastyalong with the Raja of Kumaon. The 17thcentury temple is located by the 40 feet

high Victoria dam.Hanuman Garhi: Hanuman Garhi or

Hanumangarhi is located some 3.5 kmfrom the Tallital or South End bus stop; at analtitude of 6,401 ft. Lord Hanuman - themonkey god of the epic Ramayana - is the

main deity of the temple. The place alsooffers some good views of the setting sunover the Himalayas. The statue of Hanumanlocated here is about 4 m high.

Folk Culture Museum: The Folk Cul-ture Museum, popularly known as LokSanskriti Sangrahalaya, houses a good col-lection of information and artifacts aboutthe hilly regions of Uttar Pradesh. The col-

lection of artifacts includes important in-formation on various topics like stoneimplements, traditional rites, rituals andarchaeologically important items. It alsohas an impressive collection of photo-graphs and reproductions of rock art.

Hidimba Parvat: Hidimba Parvat ofHidimba Hill is located some 5 km fromBhimtal and is named after the demon wifeof Bhima - Hidimba of the Mahabharata.Vankhandi Maharaj, an environmentalistand monk has developed a refuge for wildanimals. The wildlife asylum is known asVankhandi Ashram.

Victoria Dam: Victoria dam is locatedat one end of Bhimtal Lake and has ter-raced flower gardens that are placed oneither side of the dam. There is also the17th century Bhimeshwar Temple devotedto Shiva, located very next to it.

Tourists can take a walk through thehuge forests that surround the lake. Thedam is 40 feet high and offers sights of na-ture that is very rare in other parts of thecountry. The gorge is decorated with wildflowers that give it a beautiful look, whichattracts good number of tourists every yearto this place.

Aquarium: Bhimtal Lake has an islandlocated within it, which once had a restau-rant. The restaurant was closed down dueto pollution issues and an aquarium wascreated in its place by the Nainital Lake

Development Authority. The aquarium isnow home to fish brought from countrieslike China, South Africa and Mexico.

Karkotaka Temple: The hill of Karkotakais quite well known for the Nag Temple andis visited by thousands of pilgrims whocome here to worship the serpent god, NagKarkotaka Maharaja on the event of RishiPanchami. Karkotaka hill is named after amythical cobra named Karkotaka. It is be-lieved that the temple with the serpentgod protects the villagers from snake bites.

Best time to visit:March to June and September to De-

cember are the best months to visitBhimtal. The weather is quite pleasantthroughout the year in this town.

How to reach:By Air: Flights can be taken to the minor

airport located in the town of Pantnagar.By Bus: Buses to Bhimtal run from many

destinations including Nainital, Dehradun,Haridwar and even Rishikesh. Buses fromNainital are frequently available.


India Post May 18, 201841 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Tourism claims 8% of global CO2 emissionsMELBOURNE: The world's do-

mestic and international tourismindustry contributes to eight percent of the global greenhouse gasemissions - about four timesgreater than previously estimated- scientists, including one of In-dian origin, have found.

Small islands attract a dispro-portionate share of carbon emis-sions, considering their smallpopulations, through interna-tional arrivals, while the US is re-sponsible for the majority of tour-ism-generated emissions overall,the study found.

The team led by researchers atthe University of Sydney in Aus-tralia found the global compre-hensive tourism footprint of tour-ism-related greenhouse gasemissions is about four timesgreater than previous estimates;is growing faster than interna-tional trade and is already respon-sible for almost a tenth of globalGHGs.

The researchers recommendfinancial and technical assistancecould help share burdens such asglobal warming on winter sports,sea-level rise on low-lying islandsand pollution impacts on exotic

and vulnerable destinations."Our analysis is a world-first

look at the true cost of tourism -including consumables such asfood from eating out and souve-nirs - it's a complete life-cycle as-

sessment of global tourism, en-suring we don't miss any im-pacts," said Arunima Malik, corre-sponding author of the studypublished in the journal NatureClimate Change.

"Given that tourism is set togrow faster than many other eco-nomic sectors, the internationalcommunity may consider its in-clusion in the future in climatecommitments, such as the ParisAccord, by tying internationalflights to specific nations," saidYa-Yen Sun, from the Universityof Queensland.

"Carbon taxes or carbon trad-ing schemes - in particular foraviation - may be required to cur-tail unchecked future growth intourism-related emissions," Sunsaid.

The study found air travel wasthe key contributor to tourism'sfootprint and that the carbon-in-tensive industry would comprisean increasingly significant pro-

portion of global emissions asgrowing affluence and techno-logical developments renderedluxury travel more affordable,said Manfred Lenzen, lead re-searcher from the University ofSydney.

"We found the per-capita car-bon footprint increases stronglywith increased affluence anddoes not appear to satiate as in-comes grow," Lenzen said.

The study included 189 indi-vidual countries and all upstreamsupply chains.

The US tops the carbon foot-print ranking, followed by China,Germany and India. In countriessuch as the Maldives, Mauritius,Cyprus and the Seychelles, inter-national tourism represents be-tween 30 per cent and 80 percent of national emissions.

The study found tourism isforecast to grow at an annual fourper cent - outpacing many othereconomic sectors. PTI

Strategic airport inSikkim this month

Kedarnath lashed byfresh snowfall

DEHRADUN: Undeterred by afresh spell of snowfall, over 5,000pilgrims paid obeisance atKedarnath, as the Chardham Yatraresumed after a day of disruption.

A total of 5,770 pilgrimsflocked to the Himalayan shrineout of which 844 had returned toSonprayag after paying obeisancethere, State Emergency OperationCentre here said.

Almost all Chardham Yatraroutes were open with police and

SDRF personnel stationed at sen-sitive spots to ensure smooth pas-sage of pilgrims at landslide-prone Lambagad on way toBadrinath where the road wasblocked for eight hours due torubble, Chamoli District Magis-trate Ashish Joshi said.

The inclement weather causedby heavy snowfall in the higherreaches of Uttarakhand hadclaimed at least one life with aporter from Nepal buried in an

avalanche while returning toGangotri from Kedartal along witha team of 31 tourists, GangotriNational Park Deputy DirectorShravan Kumar said.

Former chief minister HarishRawat, Congress Rajya Sabha MPPradeep Tamta and KedarnathMLA Manoj Rawat, who werestranded in Kedarnath due to badweather, also returned toGuptkashi.

Though praising the adminis-tration for being alert inKedarnath, Harish Rawatmade a couple of sug-gestions to the stategovernment to improvethe arrangements at theHimalayan shrine.

"I advised the chiefsecretary to make bon-fires at places andstreamline power supplyat Kedarnath which wasdisrupted," he said, add-ing every pilgrim shouldbe provided a blanketand a raincoat fromKedarpuri to Bhimbali.PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is expected to in-augurate the strategically-locatedPakyong airport in Sikkim later thismonth and it could be used by theIndian Air Force in case of militaryrequirement, official sourcessaid here.

Without giving specific de-tails, they said various catego-ries of aircraft of the IAF will beable to operate from the newairport in Sikkim which sharesborders with China.

The government has beenfocusing on improving infra-structure along the borders

w i t hChina aspart of abroaderp o l i c yi n i t i a -tive.

T h egreenfielda i r p o r t ,which isa r o u n d60 kmfrom theSino-In-

dian border, received the aero-drome license from the Direc-torate General of Civil Aviationrecently for commercial opera-tions.

The airport was approved bythe Centre in 2008 and was con-structed at a cost of Rs 350crore. The project is being billedas an engineering marvel - it hasbeen built at a height of 4,500feet in an inhospitable terrain.

Once commissioned, it willbe the 100th functional airportin the country. As on date, Sikkimis the only state in the countrywithout a functional airport. PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi


May 18, 2018

44 India Post May 18, 2018www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationDetails on page 46

Indianjournalist

arrested inAustralia

Disney ex-employees drop lawsuitagainst it over H1B visa abuse

WASHINGTON: A group offormer Disney employees hasdropped their lawsuit againstthe entertainment giant inwhich they accused it of dis-criminating against them byreplacing them with H1B visaholders, mostly Indians.

The announcement cameafter years of court battles.

"We have lost. Unfortu-nately, we lost because it's le-gal," Sara Blackwell, the US at-torney who had filed a lawsuiton behalf of the 250 Disney ITworkers in 2014 told reportersduring a news conference.

Since then, Blackwell hadfiled four lawsuits againstDisney on behalf of the firedAmerican IT workers.

She lost all. In one of thecases, a federal judge told herthat Disney was following im-migration law of the country.

"As we have said all along,these lawsuits were com-pletely baseless," a Disneyspokeswoman said afterBlackwell announced that theworkers were now giving up.

Blackwell claimed that thosesupporting H-1B visas had thenumber to influence the sys-

tem. Companies across the USare following similar businessmodels like that of Disney and

Americans workers are beingreplaced by foreigners, she al-leged.

The H1B visa is a non-immi-grant visa that allows US com-panies to employ foreign work-

ers in specialty occupationsthat require theoretical ortechnical expertise.

The technology companiesdepend on it to hire tens ofthousands of employees eachyear from countries like Indiaand China.

The fired Disney workers an-nounced that they would lookfor other avenues to press fortheir case. They rued that USPresident Donald Trump hasnot been able to come to theirrescue so far.

In a conference call theworkers said that Frontier Com-munications recently an-nounced outsourcing/offshoring plans to its employ-ees.

"Immigration Voice is agroup of millions of Indiansfighting for green cards. Theyhave power of numbers.

They are able to speak outwithout fear because of thelarge number of them speak-ing out together," according toa summary of the conferencecall with fired workers releasedby Blackwell.

"You cannot win a lawsuitagainst them, because this isa legal way of doing busi-ness. And if you are outraged,then you need to do some-thing about it.

T h i s i s w h a t P r e s i d e n tTrump spoke too," Blackwelltold a local news channel inan interview as she referredt o t h e p r o m i s e s m a d e b yTrump to American workersd u r i n g h i s e l e c t i o n c a m -paign.

Former Disney employeeLeo Perrero told local ABC7that he is extremely disap-pointed at the turn of events.

"( We are) extremely disap-pointed to see results fromone of most iconic compa-nies in our country to dothis," he rued. PTI

24 B'deshi youths with 'terror links' held

"All of them

were carrying fake

Aadhaar cards,

showing they

were issued from

West Bengal,

Uttar Pradesh

and Tamil Nadu”

AGARTALA: Twenty fourBangladeshi youths with sus-pected terror links have beenarrested from the Agartala rail-way station, a senior police of-ficial said.

All of them were carryingfake Aadhaar cards. A team ofthe National InvestigationAgency (NIA) is coming fromGuwahati to interrogate theyouths, the official said.

Acting on a tip-off, MobileTask Force (MTF) personnelraided the railway station andarrested the 24 Bangladeshis,who reached here from Delhiin the Tripura Sundari Express,

MTF Superintendent of PoliceAbhijit Chowdhury told PTI.

The MTF, a section of the state

police, deals with illegal im-migration and related cases.

"All of them were carryingfake Aadhaar cards, showingthey were issued from WestBengal, Uttar Pradesh andTamil Nadu. We checked theAadhaar cards online andfound they were fake. Someof them had identity cards is-sued from different madrassasof our country," Chowdhurysaid.

"The youths were not car-rying any valid passports.Three had Bangladeshi pass-ports but those had expiredlong back," he said. PTI

India sends morerelief for Rohingyasin Bangla

DHAKA: India has sent toBangladesh its second relief con-signment to help tens of thou-sands of displaced RohingyaMuslims who fled Myanmar fol-lowing a military crackdown, trig-gering one of the world's worstrefugee crises.

Over 600,000 Rohingyas havefled Myanmar's violence-hitRakhine state to neighbouringBangladesh since August whenthe military intensified crack-down against alleged militantoutfits of Rohingya Muslims.

Indian Navy Ship INS Airavatsailed from Vishakhapatnam andreached Chattogram port (for-merly Chittagong) Port where In-dian High Commissioner HarshVardhan Shringla handed overthe relief consignment to Disas-ter Management and Relief Min-ister Mofazzel HussainChowdhury Maya.

Officials familiar with the de-velopment said the 373-tonneconsignment contained 104tonnes of milk powder, 102tonnes of dried fish, 61 tonnes ofbaby food, 50,000 raincoats and50,000 pairs of gum boots.

"Another tranche containing 1million litres of kerosene oil and20,000 cooking stoves is ex-pected to arrive soon," Shringlasaid. PTI

Immigrationagents raidIowa plant

MT. PLEASANT, Iowa: Federalimmigration officials have raideda precast concrete manufactur-ing plant in southeastern Iowa.

A U.S. Immigration and Cus-toms Enforcement spokesmansaid officials took 32 people atMidwest Precast Concrete inMount Pleasant into custody onsuspicion of immigration viola-tions.

The agency says those de-tained came from Honduras, ElSalvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

The federal Justice Depart-ment said in a news release thatspecial agents and deportationofficers with the U.S. Departmentof Homeland Security executeda search warrant, along with helpfrom local law enforcement, inthe raid. AP

The fired Disney workers announcedthat they would look for other avenues to

press for their case. They rued that USPresident Donald Trump has not been

able to come to their rescue

India Post 45May 18, 2018 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

How to acquire Citizenship of USADR PRASAD THOTUKARA

USA is a melting pot andland of opportunitywhere millions of people

from across the globe aspire tosettle. Every year close to 1 mil-lion people apply to attain US Citi-zenship. As per the reports re-leased in 2017, United States Citi-zenship & Immigration Services(USCIS) has granted a total of7,52,800 US Citizenships in theyear 2016.

The top three countries of ori-gin for naturalization: 1, 03,550people of Mexican origin, 46,100of Indian origin and 41,285 fromPhilippines attained Citizenshipsin 2016.

US Citizenship can be ac-quired in three ways:

1. By Birth2. Derivation or Acquisi-

tion of Citizenship3. Through Naturalization

Citizenship by BirthTo become a citizen by birth,

you must have been born in theUnited States or some of the USadministered territories likePuerto Rico, Guam, The NorthernMariana Islands (born after 1986),and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Derivation or Acquisition ofUS Citizenship (Child bornoutside of USA)

• Both parents are married andboth are US Citizens at the timeof child's birth where at least oneparent has been living / lived inUS.

• Both parents are married andonly one parent is US Citizen atthe time of child's birth wherethe US Citizen Parent has physi-cally lived in US for at least 5 yearsprior to child's birth. Out of thesefive years stay for the US Citizenparent in USA, two years stayshould be after his/her 14th birth-day.

Special CircumstancesIf the US Citizen Parent is in

any of the three below condi-

tions, the residence conditionstated for US Citizen Parent canbe exempted.

• Serving in the U.S. armedforces;

• Employed with the U.S. gov-ernment

• Employed with certain inter-national organizations.

• Both parents are not marriedto each other at the time of child'sbirth

• Mother is US Citizen and fa-ther is not - Mother has been liv-ing / lived in US for at least 1 yearcontinuously prior to child's birth.

• Father is US Citizen andmother is not - Father has agreedin writing that

• He is the father of the child• Agreed to support the child

financially till the child is 18 yearsold

• Lived in US for at least 5 yearsprior to child's birth. Out of thesefive years stay for the US CitizenParent in USA, two years stayshould be after his 14th birthday.

NaturalizationYou should have been a per-

manent resident for at least 5years and

• Be 18 or older at the time offiling

• Have lived within the USA forat least 3 months prior to the date

of filing the application.• Be physically present in the

United States for at least 30months out of the 5 years imme-diately preceding the date of fil-ing the application

• Reside continuously withinthe United States from the dateof application for naturalizationup to the time of naturalization

• Be able to read, write, andspeak English and have knowl-edge and an understanding ofU.S. history and government (civ-ics).

• Be a person of good moralcharacter, attached to the prin-ciples of the Constitution of theUnited States, and well-disposedto the good order and happiness

of the United States during all rel-evant periods under the law.

Marrying a US Citizen• You have been a permanent

resident for 3 years or more• Be 18 or older• Have been living in marital

union with the U.S. citizenspouse, who has been a U.S. citi-zen during all of such period, dur-ing the 3 years immediately pre-ceding the date of filing the ap-plication and up until examina-tion on the application

• Have lived within the statefor at least 3 months prior to thedate of filing the application

• Reside continuously withinthe United States from the dateof application for naturalizationuntil the time of naturalization

• Be physically present in theUSA for at least 18 months out ofthese 3 years immediately pre-ceding the date of filing the ap-plication.

• Be able to read, write, speakEnglish and have knowledge andan understanding of US historyand government (also known ascivics).

• Be a person of good moralcharacter, attached to the prin-ciples of the Constitution of theUSA, and well-disposed to thegood order and happiness of theUSA during all relevant periodsunder the law.

Eligibility to Get a Green Card1. Family Based2. Employment Based3. Investment4. Special Immigrants5. Refugee or Asylum6. Green Card Lottery7. Green Card through Registry

1. Family Based Green Card• If you are Spouse of a US Citi-

zen or a Green Card holder• If your parent(s) are US

Citizen(s) or Green Card Holder(s)(The child must be unmarried ifthe parents are Green card hold-ers)

• If your brother or sister is a USCitizen (at least 21 years of age)

• If you are fiancé of US Citizen(K1 non-immigrant)

• If you are child of fiancé of USCitizen (K2 non-immigrant)

2. Employment BasedGreen Card

3. Investment Green Card

Foreign entrepreneurs who in-vest in a commercial enterprisethat will benefit the U.S.economy

• Invest $500,000 and createat least 5 full-time U.S. jobs.

• Invest $1,000,000 and cre-

ate at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs.

4. Green Card throughRefugee or Asylum Status

• US must have been grantedasylum status at least 1 year ago

• US must have been admit-ted as a refugee at least 1 yearago

5. Green card Lottery (DVLottery)

• The Diversity Immigrant VisaProgram (Green Card Lottery)makes available up to 55,000Green Cards annually, to ran-domly selected entrants fromeligible countries.

• The DV lottery is run once a

The top three countries of origin fornaturalization: 1, 03,550 people of Mexican

origin, 46,100 of Indian origin and 41,285 fromPhilippines attained Citizenships in 2016.

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program(Green Card Lottery) makes available up to55,000 Green Cards annually, to randomlyselected entrants from eligible countries.

year, usually in October, and se-lectees are randomly chosen bycomputer, who may then applyfor diversity immigrant visa.

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Dr. Prasad Thotakura, an In-dian American Communityleader, over three decades ofcommunity service earned thereputation as a 'man with visionand mission', 'communityleader with compassion andcommitment', 'very sensibleand ever accessible'

India Post46 May 18, 2018Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Indian journalist arrested in AustraliaMELBOURNE: An Indian jour-

nalist charged with an aggra-vated people smuggling offenceby Australian authorities for facili-tating the travel of a "fake mediacontingent" to attend the Com-monwealth Games will stay incustody for six more weeks, amedia report said here.

Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 46,was detained along with eightothers by Australian BorderForce (ABF) officers at theBrisbane Airport in March be-cause his companions' accredi-tations were not genuine.

The Commonwealth Gameswere held on the Gold Coastsouth of Brisbane from April 4-15.

The eight, aged between 20and 37, were allegedly holdingtemporary activity visas andclaiming to be accredited me-dia representatives, Brisbane

Times reported.Sharma is described in court

documentation as a journalist.Prosecutors claim his accredita-tion was genuine but he "facili-tated" the group's travel, the re-port said.

Sharma, who is from Haryana,appeared in BrisbaneMagistrate's Court and chargedwith an aggravated people

smuggling offence, which car-ries a minimum five-year sen-tence if convicted.

The charge applies to any-one accused of smuggling fiveor more people and carries a

maximum sentence of 20 years.Sharma is also accused of

causing "false or forged" docu-ments to be presented on be-half of his eight fellow travelersin relation to a visa application,between December 2017 andMarch this year.

Legal Aid solicitor Axel Beardused Google Translate to com-municate with the accused as

he stood in the dock during thefirst brief hearing.

Sharma was remanded incustody in Brisbane Magistrate'sCourt with his matter adjournedto June 22 at the request of

commonwealth prosecutors.In another blow to his legal

cause, he will no longer be rep-resented by private law firm Le-gal Guru after failing to satisfythe terms of his retainer.

He will instead by repre-sented by Legal Aid.

His case has been delayed asAustralian Federal Police con-tinue preparing their brief ofevidence, with time being takento examine a laptop and ninemobile phones.

The ABF confirmed the othereight had been taken into im-migration detention.

Local authorities had beentipped off by officials inBangkok that the group mightnot be genuine, the ABF hadsaid in a statement describingthe group as a "fake media con-tingent".

All nine people were found

to be carrying 'false or forged'documents.

Australian Border ForceQueensland regional com-mander Terry Price said any at-tempts to exploit the Common-wealth Games and Australia'svisa program would not be tol-erated.

"Anyone wishing to enterAustralia, including athletes,team officials, spectators andthe media, must hold a valid visaand accreditation and must bedeemed to be a legitimate visi-tor," he said in a statement.

Gold Coast 2018 Common-wealth Games Corporationchairman Peter Beattie had saidthere was no concern despitethe security scare.

"There should be no issue inrelation to security at theseCommonwealth Games. None atall," he said. PTI

Local authorities had been tipped offby officials in Bangkok that the group

might not be genuine

UK to review visa denial for Indian professionalsLONDON: The UK Home Office

has agreed to review the cases ofhundreds of highly-skilled Indianprofessionals being denied theirright to live and work in the coun-try over "trivial" tax corrections.

Britain's Home Office ministerfor immigration, Caroline Nokes,was grilled by the influentialHouse of Commons Home Af-fairs Select Committee over me-dia reports that professionalswho came in on a Tier 1 (General)are being refused their IndefiniteLeave to Remain (ILR) over mi-nor, legally acceptable correc-tions in their tax returns.

"This potentially sends a ter-rible signal, does it not, to highlyskilled people of Indian or Paki-stani origin who have come overhere and have contributed to thecountry, bringing their skills,"questioned John Woodcock, anIndependent MP from the com-mittee.

"Of course, I do not want thiscountry to look like it isunwelcoming to people withhigh skills who have contributeda great deal. It is important to usthat going forward we make surewe have culture change in theHome Office," Nokes replied,stressing that she is determinedto address immigration-related

problems following theWindrush scandal involving Car-ibbean migrants from before the1970s being wrongfully deniedtheir citizenship rights in the UK.

"It is not about using rules tohave a 'computer says no' men-tality," she said.

The Chair of the committee,Labor MP Yvette Cooper, de-

manded why the minister hadnot asked for a "review of theseHMRC [Her Majesty's Revenueand Customs] related Tier 1 casesto find out how many of them

might be serious fraud cases andhow many of them might betrivial mistakes that any one of uscould have made?"

Nokes assured the committeethat a review will be undertakento establish whether "there is apattern here in what has gonewrong and whether they are mi-nor errors".

Sir Philip Rutnam, PermanentSecretary in the UK Home Office,told the committee that he willbe looking into evidence to seehow many of these refusals are

the result of a clear-cut case ofdeception and where perhaps"overzealous officials have beenerring on the side of doubtingpeople rather than giving themthe benefit of the doubt".

The affected professionals,such as doctors, academics andentrepreneurs, are all from non-European Union countries like In-

dia, Pakistan, Bangladeshand Nigeria who are basedin the UK on a Tier 1 (Gen-eral) visa. They were en-titled to apply for ILR or per-manent residency status af-ter a minimum of five years'lawful residency in the UK.While the visa category it-self was discontinued in2011, former applicantswere eligible to apply forILR until April this year if theymet the necessary require-ments.

However, legal expertsnoted a pattern of manysuch applications beingturned down by Home Of-fice caseworkers on the ba-sis of Rule 322(5), a discre-

tionary rule relating to anapplicant's good character. Manyof the professionals have sinceresorted to legally challenge theHome Office's approach of using

a minor tax correction to classifythem as "undesirable" migrants.

Aditi Bhardwaj, the coordina-tor of the Highly Skilled Migrantsgroup which has been protestingover such "unfair" refusals of ILRapplications, declared the UKgovernment's review into thecases a "minor victory".

"But there is a long way to go.Let us see how the Home Officeproceeds on this review. It isshocking that the minister claimsto have been unaware of thesecases, when we have documen-tary evidence to prove that shehad been made aware of this is-sue with Tier 1 applicants back inMarch," said Bhardwaj, whoseteam is now preparing its owndossier of evidence for theHome Affairs Select Committee.

While legal experts believeRule 322(5) is being used as a"near-automatic" means to denya residency application, theHome Office claims "robustchecks" are essential to avoid thepotential abuse of the country'simmigration or tax system.

"We take into considerationthe nature of the discrepancyand any explanation from theapplicant before making a deci-sion," a Home Office statementsaid. PTI

India Post 47May 18, 2018 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

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Immigration moderates to force House votesWASHINGTON: Republican

lawmakers with moderate viewson immigration defied partyleaders and took steps towardforcing election-year Housevotes on the issue, and a leaderof the group said they hadenough support to succeed.

The legislators want theHouse to vote on four bills includ-ing a bipartisan compromise, aconservative proposal and a lib-eral plan. Many of them face po-tentially competitive re-electionraces in November in congres-sional districts with large num-bers of Hispanic, suburban orother voters with pro-immigra-

tion views.With the bipartisan compro-

mise considered likeliest to pre-vail, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has opposed permitting thevotes and is expected to try topersuade GOP lawmakers to notsign on. Ryan has tried unsuccess-

fully to round up enough supportfor the conservative alternativeand has said he doesn't wantvotes on immigration legislationthat President Donald Trumpwon't sign.

But under the little-used pro-cedure, if 218 House members -a majority of the chamber's fullmembership - sign a so-called

discharge petition, Ryan couldnot prevent a vote on whetherthe chamber should consider theimmigration bills. The group hasalready begun collecting signa-tures.

The move comes nearly threemonths after efforts to pass im-migration legislation collapsed inthe Senate and never evenreached a vote in the House.Trump initially suggested a will-ingness to bargain on the issuebut turned down several com-promise offers.

``Congress hasn't done its job.So I'm going to force the issue,''Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., aleader of the effort to force im-migration votes, said in an inter-view. Another leader of thegroup, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.,whose South Florida district isabout three-fourths Hispanic, wasfirst to sign.

In a meeting with Ryan,Denham said he told the speakerhe had the backing he needs.

Under House rules, the earliestthe chamber would vote on thegroup's proposal is late June.

Asked about the moderates'effort, Ryan spokeswomanAshLee Strong said, ``We con-tinue to work with our membersto find a solution that can bothpass the House and get thepresident's signature.''

Denham introduced his pro-posal in March and has 248 co-sponsors, including virtually allDemocrats and more than 50Republicans. Ryan could wellconvince some Republicans tonot sign the petition, but No. 2House Democratic Leader StenyHoyer of Maryland said in a briefinterview that he expectedDemocrats to sign on.

Democrats have pushed thisyear to protect from deportationhundreds of thousands of youngimmigrants who've beenshielded by the Deferred Actionfor Childhood Arrivals program, orDACA. That program lets immi-grants brought to the U.S. illegally

as children stay in the country fortwo-year, renewable periods.

Trump ended DACA, created

under President Barack Obama,in March, though federal judgeshave kept it functioning duringlegal battles expected to lastmonths.

A conservative House bill wouldlet DACA's ``Dreamer'' recipientsstay in the U.S. temporarily, but alsoreduce legal immigration, allowconstruction of Trump's proposedborder wall with Mexico and crackdown on ``sanctuary cities'' thatdon't cooperate with federal immi-gration authorities.

The liberal ̀ `Dream Act'' wouldgive Dreamers a chance at citizen-ship.

The bipartisan compromise byReps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and PeteAguilar, D-Calif., would offer away for Dreamers to remain inthe U.S. legally but not offer citi-zenship. It would take steps to-ward toughening border securitybut not specifically authorizeTrump's wall.

As the fourth bill, Ryan wouldbe allowed to offer any plan hewants. AP

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., calls on a reporter during a news conferencewith House Republicans who are collecting signatures on a petition to force

House votes on immigration legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Woman flies UK to India onhusband's passport

LONDON: An Indian-originbusinesswoman managed totravel from UK's Manchester cityto New Delhi via Dubai on herhusband's passport before theserious security lapse waspicked up in India, promptingthe Emirates Airline to launchan investigation into the inci-dent.

Geeta Modha, who runsAlankar boutique in Rusholmearea of Manchester, left for theairport with husband Dilip'spassport by mistake for a busi-ness trip on April 23.

The 55-year-old was able tocheck-in and board the flightand was waved through a stop-over at Dubai on to New Delhibefore the error was picked up,according to 'ManchesterEvening News'.

As a holder of Overseas In-dian Citizenship (OCI), Geetawas expected to produce her

passport at Delhi immigrationand was denied entry to Indiaat that point.

"It's scary and worrying thatpeople aren't checking prop-erly," she told the newspaper.

"The fact they say they areso strict on security in airportsbut you can do this in 2018 isterrible. At check-in, the staff

member even made me movestuff from one bag to anotherbecause it was 2 kg over andyet let me travel with thewrong passport," she said.

Indian authorities madeGeeta travel back to Dubai towait for her own passport,which was flown to her byEmirates.

"Like all airlines, we workclosely with our airport han-dlers to ensure that all regula-tions relating to passportchecks are taken very seriously.In this instance our usual high

standards were not followedand we would like to apologiesto Ms Modha," a spokespersonof the airline said.

The airline said that airporthandlers ensured that ongoingtraining is provided to all staffso that they are kept updatedwith all regulations and secu-rity procedures.

"We are currently investigat-ing how this incident occurredand are working closely withthem to ensure that all trainingmaterials are properly re-viewed and full retraining isprovided for the staff in-volved," the spokespersonadded.

Geeta showed her passportat Manchester Airport duringcheck-in and again beforeboarding her flight and wasable to sail through customs.

During her scheduled stop-over in Dubai, she did not haveto show her passport becauseshe had an OCI card.

The error was only picked upas she was filling out her immi-gration form at Delhi Airport.

Manchester Airport said itwas the airline's responsibilityto check identification. PTI

Indian authorities made Geeta travelback to Dubai to wait for her own passport,

which was flown to her by Emirates.

The move comes nearly three months afterefforts to pass immigration legislation

collapsed in the Senate and never evenreached a vote in the House.

India Post May 18, 2018www.indiapost.comHoroscope48

Kindly read the predictions from your ascendant sign. If you do not know your ascendant sign then read thesame from Moon sign. If Moon sign is also not known then read it from the Zodiac sign. The ascendant sign which is

calculated from the birth details viz. date, month, year, time & place of birth gives 85 % accurate predictions. Theaccuracy of predictions from Moon sign get limited to only 50 %. The predictions from Zodiac sign are only 25 %

accurate. In nutshell the predictions from ascendant sign are most accurate. In getting personality analysis the traitsgiven by ascendant sign are 100 % accurate and that is the essence of Vedic Astrology.

VANEET SHARMA • 510-648-4899

Your Weekly Futureby VANEET SHARMA

MAR 21 to APRIL 20 JUN 21 to JULY 22 SEP 23 to OCT 22 DEC 22 to JAN 19

MAY 21 to JUN 20 AUG 23 to SEP 22 NOV 23 to DEC 22 FEB 19 to MARCH 20

APRIL 21 to MAY 20 JULY 23 to AUG 22 OCT 23 to NOV 22 JAN 20 to FEB 18

MAY 18TH - MAY 24TH 2018

“Felicitated andhonored by then

President of India ShriPranab Mukherjee"

The beginning ofthe week is

giving big indicationof drainage of ener-gies. Anger issues shall

be troubling and expenses would go outof control. You might have to travel a lot.There are indications of troubled rela-tions, arguments, injury, surgery and fi-nancial losses in this week. The biggestproblem in this week shall be the totalreduction in patience, courage and en-ergies.

This week shallprove to be

excellent for all areasof life but you shall befacing some mental

tensions. Avoid getting into argumentespecially with father otherwise the do-mestic atmosphere might get affected.The confidence and courage shall remainintact. The favor of destiny shall be avail-able especially in the last days of theweek. This week shall be full of luxuries,pleasure, travelling, conjugal bliss, do-mestic happiness and excellent love life.

You shall be suc-cessful in all

types of competitionsand educational activi-ties. You shall be get-

ting excellent favor of destiny. The be-ginning of the week shall be excellentfor your happiness from children. You shallbe engaged in entertainment related ac-tivities. Love life shall get improved. Yourpublic work shall win outstanding appre-ciation for you. The last two days of theweek are inauspicious for decision mak-ing and starting any new task.

You are advised tobe cautious

about your immunityin this week. You shallconcentrate more on

the practice of occult, Yoga and medita-tion etc. Hidden financial gains are prob-able. You can get into deliberations re-garding the settlement of paternal prop-erty. You might earn from speculation andlottery etc. too. Although you shall be fac-ing obstacles in accomplishing your taskshowever with the help of friends andpartners most of your tasks shall be ac-complished by the end of the week.

This week shall prove to be excellent for all

areas of life. You shall beenjoying continuous fa-vor of destiny, recogni-

tion in professional life as per expecta-tions throughout the week, which shallbring in some immediate gains. The sup-port of spouse, children, father and part-ners shall be available especially at thetime of financial burden. You are advisedto be cautious on two days after themedof the week as it might spoil your stateof mind and happiness.

The planetary tran-sit in this week

is excellent for attain-ment of an increase inincome. In the begin-

ning of the week most of your time shallget spent with friends and social activi-ties and everything in this week is posi-tive for you. The planetary transit is ex-cellent for your children. The last two daysof the week are excellent for travelling,merry making etc and your expenses shallremain controlled throughout the week.

The circumstancesand situations

in the beginning ofthe week shall helpyou to restore your

drained energies and you can expectmore gains. This week is good for earn-ing more gains and strengthen the in-come source. The day of 18th & 19th Mayare indicating more travel. The last twodays of the week are excellent for en-joying more luxury and happiness. Therewon't be any problem for you in thisweek.

Planetary transit indicates that

you shall be facingsome problems in thisweek. You shall be suf-

fering because of some health issues.People shall support you for your goodactions and intentions but your confidenceand will power shall decrease. There canbe sudden increase in your stress levelhowever family support shall protect youalways. Avoid getting into arguments withyour children and elder siblings.

The planetary tran-sit indicates

that you shall enjoyexcellent conjugalbliss, good harmony

with spouse and understanding withyour colleagues and seniors. Love life shallbe perfect. Your pleasure seeking activi-ties shall get multiplied. You shall be par-ticipating in the activities related to thecreation of strategies for improving work-ing efficiency and increasing your savings.You shall be travelling extensively andyour social influence is likely to increase.

This week shall goexcellent for

all areas of life withbetterment on pro-fessional front in the

first half of the week and you shallbe enjoying the full cooperation ofyour spouse. The inflow of moneyshall be good throughout the week.You can expect good results in mat-ters related to harmony with spouse,and everyone and all people wouldaccept you as desirable and appre-ciable.

The planetary tran-sit in the be-

ginning of the week isindicating restorationof peace and confi-

dence but you need to control your ag-gression. You can expect to earn moregains with the support of family mem-bers. The first half of the week is best fordomestic happiness, children and enter-tainment activities whereas the secondhalf shall be good for conjugal bliss andpartnerships. You shall see stability inincome.

This week shallprove to be

excellent for your lovelife. You would remainbusy in settling some

domestic issues and children relatedmatters in the beginning of the week andif pursuing studies then this week shallbe better as compared to the previousone. Financial condition shall improve forsure. The health of mother shall improve.The last days of the week are favorablefor travel and recreational activities.

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Freedom is the essence ofthinking together

May 18, 2018

Page Sponsored by Sahaniswww.indiapost.comPhilosophy

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

A pupil of an Anglo-vernacular school inAllahabad was once asked

to define a river. The clever littlefellow gave a perfectly correctdefinition. When he was askedwhat river he had seen, this unfor-tunate mite, living at theconfluence of the Ganges andJumna, replied that he had notseen any.

He dimly had an idea that hisfamiliar world (which so easilycame to him through the me-dium of his own direct conscious-ness) could never be the greatlearned world of geography. Inlater life, he must have got theinformation that even his owncountry had its place in geogra-phy and actually had its rivers.

But suppose this news did notreach him at all, till some foreigntraveler told him one day that hiswas a great big country, that theHimalayas were great big moun-tains, that the Indus, Ganges,Brahmaputra were great big riv-ers - the shock of it could not butupset his mental balance, and inthe reaction against the self-con-tempt he had nursed so long, hewould lose no time in makinghimself absurdly hoarse by shout-ing that other countries were

J. KRISHNAMURTI

I think it is important to learnthe art of thinking together. Thescientists and the most unedu-

cated human beings think. Theythink according to their profes-sion, specialization, and accordingto their belief and experience. Weall think objectively or accordingto our own particular inclination,but we never seem to think to-gether, to observe together.

We may think about some-thing, a particular problem or asimilar experience, but this think-ing does not go beyond its ownlimitation. Thinking together notabout a particular subject but thecapacity to think together is en-tirely different. To think togetheris necessary when you are facingthe great crisis that is taking placein the world, the danger, the ter-ror, the ultimate brutality of war.

To observe this, not as a capital-ist, socialist, the extreme left or ex-treme right, but to observe it to-gether demands that we compre-hend not only how we have cometo this rotten state, but also thatwe together perceive a way out.The businessman or the politician

India's culture is worthyof being imparted to allBecause of the want of opportunity in our

course of study, we take it for grantedthat India had no culture, or next to none.

merely countries, but his washeaven itself! His previous under-standing of the world was wrong- due to his ignorance. His subse-quent understanding of the worldwas worse - it was ludicrouslyfalse with the falsehood of so-phisticated foolishness.

The same thing happens in thecase of our Indian culture. Be-cause of the want of opportunityin our course of study, we take it

for granted that India had no cul-ture, or next to none. Then, whenwe hear from foreign punditssome echo of the praises of India'sculture, we can contain ourselvesno longer and rend the sky withthe shout that all other culturesare merely human, but ours is di-vine - a special creation ofBrahma! And this leads us to thatmoral dipsomania, which is thehankering after the continual

stimulation of self-flattery.We should remember that the

doctrine of special creation is outof date, and the idea of a speciallyfavored race belongs to a barbaricage. We have come to understandin modern times that any specialtruth, or special culture, which iswholly dissociated from the uni-versal, is not true at all. Howeverthat may be, if we are to create acentre of Indian culture, we must

start with the belief that India has aculture, and one which is worthyof being imparted to all.

I know a section of my country-men will say to me: 'Not so fast. Letus know if you believe that our In-dian culture is the best in theworld, or, at least so good as to de-serve a place of honor in our edu-cation.'

Fortunately, in God's world, thetyranny of the one sole best is

not tolerated. There are numer-ous varieties of the best to keepeach other company. So let us notquarrel over that superlative ad-jective or take it too seriously.

It can be easily pointed outthat our culture has its supersti-tions and its shortcomings. Theyshow themselves too promi-nently only because its move-ment has stopped. European cul-ture also has its superstitions. Its

politics and its science are full ofthem. These do not become fa-tally unhealthy because theymove and they change - just liketheir caste distinctions, which arenot desperately oppressive be-cause they are constantly moving.

Excerpted from essay 'TheCentre of Indian Culture.' The157th birth anniversary ofRabindranath Tagore was ob-served on May 8

looks at this problem from a lim-ited point of view, whereas we aresaying we must look at life as awhole not as British, French or Chi-nese.

What does it mean to look atlife as a whole? It means to ob-serve the human being, ourselves,without any division of national-ity, to see life as one single move-ment without a beginning andwithout an end, without time,without death. This is a difficult

thing to understand because wethink of the part not the totality.We divide, hoping to understandthe whole from its part.

The art of thinking togetherneeds to be studied carefully, ex-amined to see whether it is at allpossible.

Freedom is the essence ofthinking together. You must befree from your concept, preju-dice and so on. I also must befree and we come together inthis freedom. It means droppingall our conditioning. It impliescomplete attention without anypast. The present world crisis de-mands that we totally abandonour tribal instincts that have be-come our glorified nationalisms.

Then what is a human being

to do facing this danger of sepa-ratism, of self-interest? I refusethe present pattern of socialstructures, the nonsensical irreli-gious ways. I refuse all that. So Iam totally isolated. This isolationis not an escape nor some formof ivory tower, some romantic il-

lusion. Because I see the futility,the divisiveness, the pursuit ofself-interest of nationalism, of ex-pansionism, of the irreligious life,I reject the total destructivenessof this society. So I stand alone.As I am not contributing psycho-logically to the destructive con-sciousness of man, I am in thestream of that which is goodness,compassion and intelligence.That intelligence is acting, con-fronting the madness of the

present world. That intelligencewill be acting wherever the uglyis.

Excerpted from Letters to theSchools Volume 2, 15th January1982. The 114th birth anniversaryof J. Krishnamurti was observedon May 11.

India Post52

J. Krishnamurti

To think together is necessary when youare facing the great crisis that is taking

place in the world, the danger, the terror,the ultimate brutality of war.

There is absolutely nothing to

do or fix - ever. Doing and fix-

ing are outgrowths of imagin-

ing a separate person and a

'doer'.

-John Wheeler

Everything is a concept!!!

Everything! So, who are you

without concepts?

- Michael Jeffreys

The very search for pleasure

is the cause of pain.

-Sri Nisargadatta

Consciousness cannot be

known by the mind. The

mind is an object. It does not

know anything. It is itself

known by Consciousness.

-Rupert Spira

Let go of what has passed.

Let go of what may come. Let

go of what is happening now.

Don't try to figure anything

out. Don't try to make any-

thing happen. Relax, right

now, and rest.

-Tilopa

Worry is like a rocking chair,

it gives you something to do

but it doesn't get you any

where.

-Zen proverb

Rabindranath Tagore

53Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

May 18, 2018 India Post

Horse tradingFor once the Exit Polls were right. They said the JD(S) of Deve

Gowda will be the kingmaker in Karnataka irrespective ofwhichever party wins the election. The BJP has emerged thewinner (105 seats) but failed by eight seats to get majority.And in this scenario it is the loser party the Congress with 77seats which gets to gain power by supporting the JD (S) chiefminister nominee, which in this case is likely to be H.D.Kumaraswamy, son of H.D. Deve Gowda, a former Prime Minis-ter of India. If this transpires, it would be Manipur & Goa in re-verse where the BJP in spite of being in minority, was able tocobble together a government.

The BJP supporters' celebrations over having won the elec-tion by being the largest party were short lived as the wholeissue of who will form the government moved to KarnatakaGovernor's court.

One thing is clear. There won't be a Karnataka governmentin a hurry. A lot of horse trading and deals are likely. Interest-ingly, Rahul Gandhi during campaigning had described the JD(S) as the 'B' team of BJP. And now they are waiting at DeveGowda's doorstep with folded hands. Deve Gowda had report-edly said he would disown his son Kumaraswamy if he joinshands with the BJP. If the situation changes, he might very wellsay the opposite against Congress.

During electioneering, Modi had chastised Rahul for bad-mouthing Gowda. Obviously he was throwing a line to Gowdajust in case BJP fell short of a majority. He had also praised DeveGowda who acknowledges that Modi had persuaded him tocontinue in politics. Rahul found it so important to come cleanon the subject that he gave an interview to Karnataka's DeccanHerald group of newspapers saying he was not attackingGowda at all; he was only inviting Gowda to explicitly declarewhether he was on "that side or this side". An epic ideologicalbattle was on between the Congress and the BJP.

Reports say the Congress is likely to move its leaders to aresort in Andhra or Punjab to prevent poaching. During theRajya Sabha elections in Gujarat, it had sent its MLAs to aKarnataka resort. Now the reverse movement is likely to takeplace.

Both the BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa and JD(S)'sKumaraswamy have met Governor Vajubhai Vala and stakedclaim to form the government. What will the Governor do? Go-ing by the law, how will he decide?

As per the Sarkaria Commission recommendations, whichwere affirmed by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in2005, these are the options for the governor in case of a frac-tured mandate:

1. The governor can invite an alliance of parties that wasformed prior to the elections.

2. The governor can invite the single largest party whichstakes a claim to form the government with the support of oth-ers, including independents.

3. The governor can invite a post-electoral coalition of par-ties, with all the partners in the coalition joining the govern-ment.

4. The governor can invite a post-electoral alliance of parties,with some of the parties in the alliance forming a governmentand the remaining parties, including independents, support-ing the government from outside.

Since there is a BJP government at the Center there arelikely to be interesting developments in the days ahead.

India's dilemma in US-China trade war

DEVAGYA JHA

Chaos reigns in interna-tional trade relations today. International eco-

nomic interaction, or the with-drawal therefrom, has beenused as a tool to settle scores.India, which has historicallysought to play a balancinggame, finds accommodationbetween China and US fairlybaffling and evidently not to itsliking. While President Trump'spolicy of America first haspaved way for isolatingAmerica; in the words of formerUS Ambassador to India, Mr. Ri-chard Verma, striving to navi-gate America First with Make inIndia would threaten to leaveIndia also in isolation.

While the diplomatic words ofMr. Verma might indicate a pa-cific settlement of the issues be-tween the two nations, US ac-

tions belie any such sentiment.Being placed on the Special

301 watch list over the affectedUS IP right holders has rubbedIndia the wrong way. Togetherwith Wuhan Summit, India sid-ing with China and severalother nations at the World TradeOrganization over the imposi-tion of 'unilateral' trade mea-sures by the US, and impositionof duties on steel and alumi-num imports might be an indi-cation of which side Indiamight take in this trade warbetween the two giants.

The decision is not made anyeasier due to the unique posi-tion that the US occupies inIndia's exports. While account-ing for 16 percent of Indian ex-

ports, USA can also exerciseclout over UAE which happensto be the second largest trad-ing partner of India, after USAitself.

Deciding to favor China,however, might be steppingon a slippery slope for India interms of irreparable harm totrade relations with manyother countries.

Delhi & Beijing on tradeOne Belt One Road had

been the highlight of 2017and India's boycott of the samestruck a discordant note be-tween the two nations but theWuhan Summit has seen theleaders set differences aside infavor of bilateral trade to takeadvantage of'complementarities' betweenthe two nations.

Whether this includes beingin a similar position on the anti-dumping issue remains to beseen.

The issue is compoundedwith India's confusing stanceon raised tariffs where, whilebeing critical of nations closingup their economies, it hasraised its own tariff walls. Thiswas brought to prominencewith the Minister of Com-merce & Industry SureshPrabhu being critical of thetariff increase on steel and alu-minum by the US.

Principal Deputy AssistantSecretary for South and CentralAsian Affairs Alice Wells washowever comfortable brush-ing it off as a 'natural and oc-

curring difference' with India.An examination of the

American attitude would comeup short on substance andhigh on hypocrisy. China's re-taliation in the form of in-creased tariffs on soybeans,aircrafts, and cars distinctly im-plies the Dragon is yet to learnto roll over and play dead.

Reflections on the state-ments published by India andChina post the Wuhan Summitdo reveal a punch from ourAsian neighbor.

The word 'balance' is foundmissing from the Chinesedocuments and while the rea-son might be found in thestaggering trade deficit be-tween the two nations, the in-creased tariff on smartphonesby 20% announced by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley might im-ply that the gravity of the situ-ation is not lost on India.

Which side should Indiaback?

India, being a developingnation, cannot rely on isolationfor its development. WhileChina focuses on an 'open , in-clusive and balanced economicgolobalization' for multilateralrelations, the lack of the senti-ment on the bilateral front withIndia should warn India of thetreacherous waters it threat-ens to tread on siding withChina over the United States.

While it does run the risk oflosing out on the Chinese Out-bound Direct Investment, lossof a trillion dollars of ChineseForeign Exchange reserves in aperiod of three years owing toODI, and the traditional indus-tries being yet skeptical onwhether to treat China as aneconomic friend or foe, does in-dicate that India is yet oscillat-ing between the two options.

This might provide a nudgefor reassessment of trade strat-egy on Capitol Hill and as a cer-tain Heath Ledger would havesaid, 'sometimes all it takes is alittle push'.

Devagya Jha is Final Year Stu-dent, National Law University,Delhi.

U S President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping

CHICAGOUpcoming

ATLANTAUpcoming

Sat, May 19• Bollywood Night at Cafe BaharVenue: Cafe Bahar Biryani & Grill,4090 Johns Creek Pkwy Georgia,Suwanee, GA 30024Time: 08:30 pm

Sat, Jun 09•FOMAA South East RegionalConventionVenue: Central Gwinnett High School,564 W Crogan St Georgia 30045,Lawrenceville, GA 30046Time: 05:00 am

1st and 3rd Sunday of Month• Chicago Children'sBal MukundCharacter Building Programand Hindi Literacy ClassesVenue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. HigginsRoad, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Next toNissan Dealership)Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @630-561-4807

Mondays and Fridays• Free ESL - English as SecondLanguage ClassesMetropolitan Asian Family ServicesVenue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL,Time: 10:30am to 12:30pmContact: 773-465-3105

Mondays and Fridays• Free ESL - English as SecondLanguage ClassesWhere: Metropolitan Asian FamilyServicesVenue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL,Time: 10:30am to 12:30pmContact: 773-465-3105

Swami Ishatmananda• Bhagavad Gita: Philosophyof lifeVenue: Public Library-95th Street 3015Cedar Glade Rd Naperville IL 60564Time: 1st friday of every month 7-8 pmContact: 630-637-0662• India Eternal: From theVedic Age to the PresentVenue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago10915 N. Main Street Glendale Heights,IL 60139Time: 10:00 pmContact: 630-655-8822

ILLINOISUpcoming

NEW JERSEYUpcoming

NEW YORKUpcoming

Fri, May 25• Fashion | Trade | AndCultural ExpoVenue: The New Yorker A WyndhamHotel, 481 8th Avenue, New York, NY10001Time : 11:00 am

Sat, Jun 09• Sing Pop Through the DecadesVenue: The Theater at St. Jean, 184East 76th Street, New York, NY 10021Time : 03:30 pmContact: 347-413-0987

Sat, May 19•Chitrashalabhangal K S ChitraMega Musical Live OrchestraVenue: Columbus OH - Dublin JeromeHigh School, 8300 Hyland-Croy Rd,Dublin, OH 43016Time: 05:00 pm

Sun, May 20• Ahimsa-Non voilence(Love for Humanity)Venue: Science Of Spirituality, 15Market St, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861Time: 10:30 am

Sun, Jun 03• “2nd Indian Theatre Festival"Venue: Schaumburg Prarie Center Of

Arts, 201 Court, Schaumburg, IL 60193

Time: 11:30 am

Sun, Jun 10• Bollywood Groove 7th Annual ShowVenue: Mylapore - Folsom, 1760

Prairie City Rd California, Folsom,

CA 95630

Time: 11:00 am

NORTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

Sat, Jun 02• Bannadavesha presents "Nothing

Like that" & "Aashadadha ondu dina "

Venue: Evergreen Valley High School,

3300 Quimby Road, San Jose,

CA 95148Contact: 732-766-84700

Sat, June 09• Brahma Kumaris of Southern

California present

"Awakening to the Call of Time"

featuring BK Sister Shivani as

the guest speaker.

Venue: The Dolby Theater in

Hollywood, CA

Time: 11:00 am in Hindi and

06:00 pm in English

Sun, Jun 10• Manzil ke Andaaz - Kathak

Solo by Esha Gupta

Venue: 3921 Fabian Way, 3921 Fabian

Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303Time: 06:00 pm

Sat, Sep 08• Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Live In

Concert - Bay Area

Venue: Event Center Arena at SJSU,

290 South 7th Street, San Jose,

CA 95112

Time: 08:00 pm

WASHINGTON DCUpcoming

Sun, May 20• Free ikPunjabi Mela 2018Venue: Bull Run Regional Park, 7700Bull Run Dr, Centreville, VA 20121Time: 12:00 pm

Sat, Jun 30• Inaugural DMV MusicFestivalVenue: Lamont's Entertainment Com-plex, 4400 Livingston Road, IndianHead, MD 20640Time: 12:00 pm

India Post54 May 18, 2018Datebookwww.indiapost.com


May 18, 2018

India Postwww.indiapost.com

May 18, 201856

Documents

NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA ... Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ex-CM Siddaramaiah wait to have an appointment with the Karnataka Governor at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru