IndiaPost-01-08-2010

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CONTENTS

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YES 62%

Last week’s result

NO 38%

This week’s question

INDIA POST [email protected]

Do you approve of changes inIndia visa rules?

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Will H1B visas number goup in 2010?

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Violent assaulton WestTexas Sikh

FIA affairsdragged tocourt again

Indian arm of USfirm to hit fullproduction

L.A. Zoo receivesgift of babymonkey

3 Idiots rakesin $2.15 m infirst weekINDIA WON’T CHANGE

NEW VISA RULESNEW DELHI: Unfazed by reservations from nations like

the US and UK, the Government appears to be in no moodto relent on the new visa rules for tourists, saying it wouldnot like to compromise with the country's security interests.

Citing the changes made by several countries likeAmerica and Britain after terror strikes, senior officials ar-gue that it should be left to the Home Ministry to chalk outthe plans for securing the nation.

They maintained that the government has not received

any complaint from any country, including the US or theUK, after the new visa rules were implemented, but clarifi-cations have been sought by Washington and they havebeen addressed.

"When some foreign missions based in India soughtclarity, we told them that if someone has to worry abouttourists' arrival, it is India which has to worry and not anyother nation," they said on the condition of anonymity.

Details on page 35

Rajaratnam indicted for securities fraudIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Raj Rajaratnam, Man-aging member of Galleon managementwho was arrested for his alleged in-volvement in the largest hedge fundinsider trading case in history, hasbeen indicted by the US Attorney's Of-fice on 17 counts of conspiracy andsecurities fraud crimes.

The indictment was returned lastmonth by a Manhattan federal courtfollowing the charges filed by PreetBharara, the US Attorney for theSouthern District of New York andJoseph Demarest, the Assistant Di-rector-in-Charge of the New York of-fice of the FBI.

Details on page 4Raj Rajaratnam

GANGA AARTI: A priest with lighted lamp performs evening prayers on the banks of the Ganges on the eve of The ‘Magh

Mela’ festival at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, in Allahabad on December 30,

2009. Sangam is one of Hinduismís most important centers where thousands of people take holy dips at the

confluence during the month-long fair that begins on December 31

Governor PatQuinn getsIndians' backing

Thotakura toreceive 'BharatGaurav' award

Prasad Thotakura

Advani will be‘permanent guide,philosopher’

NGO Prathampresented Indianof Year award

Mother Teresaon new USstamp

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January 8, 20102

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BollywoodWaiting for marriageAfter remaining single for four years,Vivek Oberoi says he wouldn't mindmarrying a girl of his parents' choice.

1Cover Story:New visa rules

10Community:Fundraiser for Quinn

18India:No to CTBTResisting Japan's push for signing CTBT,India has said the onus of taking the leadin this regard lies with US, China.

26Life Style:

Rajkumar Hirani's 3 Idiots has emergedthe biggest grosser for any Bollywoodfilm in North American theaters in 2009.

39Techbiz:

Dr Dayal Meshri’s AFTL Hyderabad, In-dia would graduate from R&D PilotPlant to full scale production.

29Travel:MysoreMysore has never failed to mesmerizetourists with its quaint charm, rich heri-tage, magnificent palaces and gardens.

Full production

IADO led by president Ram Gajjela hosteda fundraiser for Illinois Governor PatQuinn who is seeking election.

India is in no mood to relent on the new visarules for tourists, saying it would not like tocompromise with the country's security.

Idiots win

I have always been somewhat skeptical about what they call heightenedsecurity or VVIP security. I feel that sophisticated security systems or height-ened security cordons around heads of state only marginally act as deter-

rents and are not even "fool" proof.I mean, take some of the recent incidents for instance - the White House

dinner gate crashers; the man who managed to pull a bloody punch at the Italianprime minister; the woman who literally knocked down the Pope during theChristmas mass - all of which were breaches that did not involve sophisticatedterrorist or criminal network members, but the most ordinary of civilians.

And talking of threats from terrorist -- trillions of dollars have been spent since9/11, 2001 in security measures around the world, especially on airline travel, andstill a man who perfectly fit the profile of a terrorist traveled undetected on anAmerican airline and almost bombed the aircraft with all passengers on board butfor his own botched handling of the explosives and not because he was caught bythe security personnel through the innumerable check points that he passed.

And then there was the Fort Hood incident where an army physician whosebehavior had been raising red flags over several months, actually went on akilling spree on an army base.

True, it's a chaotic world that we live in today and security agencies arespread thin in not only their resources, but in trying to match the ingenuity ofterrorists every day. But when you think of the kind of money that goes into thesesecurity measures and you have instances of innocent Sikhs being harassed atairports because of their turbans or a known film star like Shah Rukh Khan isdetained just because his name is Khan, you begin to question the efficacy of these"sophisticated" measures.

Incidentally, I think the White House owes Manmohan Singh an apology be-cause it was as much a security threat for the visiting Indian prime minister as itwas to President Obama when the gatecrashers joined them for dinner, uninvited.

India Post January 8, 20104

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Rajaratnam indicted for securities fraudIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Raj Rajaratnam,Managing member of Galleonmanagement who was arrested forhis alleged involvement in thelargest hedge fund insider trad-ing case in history, has been in-dicted by the US Attorney's Of-fice on 17 counts of conspiracyand securities fraud crimes.

The indictment was returnedlast month by a Manhattan federalcourt following the charges filedby Preet Bharara, the US Attorneyfor the Southern District of NewYork and Joseph Demarest, theAssistant Director-in-Charge ofthe New York office of the FBI.

Danielle Chiesi, an employee ofNew Castle Funds, formerly theequity hedge fund group of BearStearns Asset Management hasalso been indicted on similarcounts along with Rajaratnam.

According to the indictment,inside information was given astips by insiders and others athedge funds, public companiesand firms - including Intel, IBM,

McKinsey & Company, AkamaiTechnologies and Polycom, as aresult of which Rajaratnam, Chiesiand others earned millions of dol-lars of illegal profits for themselves

and the hedge funds with whichthey were affiliated.

Further, it said, Rajaratnam en-gaged in overlapping schemeswith Ali Far and Roomy Khan --both of whom have pleaded guilty

to insider trading charges and arecooperating with the Government- as well as Chiesi and other co-conspirators to trade on the basisof inside information in several

publicly traded companies.Specifically, these individuals

engaged in insider trading inPolycom, Hilton Hotels Corp.,Google, Clearwire Corporation,Akamai, Advanced Micro De-

vices, and PeopleSupport, Inc.Among other things, telephone

conversations betweenRajaratnam and Chiesi, interceptedbased on court-authorized wire-

taps of phones, revealed that ac-cused routinely received InsideInformation directly or indirectlyfrom insiders and provided it toeach other for the purpose of trad-ing based on the information.

Raj Rajaratnam, billionaire founder of the Galleon Group, a major hedge fund,

is led in handcuffs from FBI headquarters in New York.

The indictment chargesRajaratnam with five counts of con-spiracy to commit securities fraudand six counts of securities fraud;and charges Chiesi with threecounts of conspiracy to commitsecurities fraud and seven countsof securities fraud. Each of the con-spiracy counts against carries amaximum sentence of 5 years inprison and a maximum fine of thegreater of $250,000 or twice thegross gain or loss from the offense.Each of the securities fraud countscarries a maximum sentence of 20years in prison and

a fine of $5 million. As a resultof the charges against them,Rajaratnam faces a maximum termof imprisonment of 145 years, andChiesi faces a maximum term of 155years in prison. The indictmentalso seeks forfeiture of the pro-ceeds of the charged crimes.

The related cases against MarkKurland, Anil Kumar, RobertMoffat, and Rajiv Goel are pend-ing on criminal complaints.Bharara also noted that the inves-tigation is continuing.

Prasad Thotakura to receive'Bharat Gaurav' award

India Post News Service

NEW DELHI: India Interna-tional Friendship Society (IIFS),New Delhi, has announced glo-bally reputed "Bharat GauravAwards" for the year 2010. PrasadThotakura, a well known NRICommunity leader from Dallas,Texas is one of the recipients ofthis prestigious award for his com-munity service achievements.Thotakura along with other recipi-ents will be honored with BharatGaurav Award and a Certificate ofExcellence at a high profile GlobalFriendship Day gala banquet tobe held on January 7 in New Delhi.

Prasad Thotakura has beenserving the Indian American com-munity in the USA for the last fif-teen years in different capacities.By profession Prasad is a ChiefOperating Officer of an e-com-merce company eknazar.com. Heis currently serving as the Execu-tive Vice-President of the TeluguAssociation of North America(TANA) and the General Secretaryof the Indian American FriendshipCouncil (IAFC) besides serving asan Advisory Board of Director ofthe Dallas Conventions and Visi-tors Bureau.

Former CBI Director SardarJoginder Singh is serving as theChairman of the India Interna-tional Friendship Society (IIFS),

while Chief Minister of HimachalPradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal,former Governor MadanlalKhurana, former Election Commis-sioner GVG Krishnamurthy andJustice Hanumanthappa are serv-ing as Directors of the same.

In conjunction with the PravasiBharatiya Divas 2010, India Inter-

national Friendship Society is or-ganizing "Global Participation inIndia's Economic Development"conference on Jan. 7 in New Delhi.This conference will be attendedby the elite corporate leaders,economists, entrepreneurs, sev-eral high profile professionals andNRI delegates across the globe.

Mukul Wasnik, Minister ofSocial Justice & Empowerment

will attend as a Guest of Honorand Iqbal Singh, Lieutenant Gov-ernor of Pondicherry, will be theSpecial Guest.

The list of awardees for 2010include - A.M. Rajbansi, MEC forSports & Recreation Govt. ofSouth Africa, Baroness SandipVerma, Member House of Lords,UK, Sukh Dhaliwal, Member ofParliament, Canada, Dr. BhagwanShani, USA, A. Jagannatha, SaudiArabia, Prof. V. Kumar, USA,Sudhir Gopi, UAE, A. Nagarajan,UAE, Mukesh Wani, USA andPrasad Thotakura, USA.

Some of the past recipients ofthis honor include - Late MotherTeresa, Noble Laureate, Late B.D.Jatti, Former Vice President of In-dia, Dr. Bishma Narain Singh,former Governor, Digmabr Kamat,CM of Goa, Cricketer SunilGavaskar, Veteran Actors ShammiKapoor, Rajesh Khanna, DevAnand etc.,

India international FriendshipSociety (IIFS) is a fifteen-year oldnon-profit organization estab-lished with an aim to forge greaterunity and integrity among thepeople of Indian origin living allover the globe. The society alsoaims to enhance India's strongerrelationship and forge greaterfriendship and cooperation withall countries irrespective of theirsize or status.

Medvedev wishes happyNew Year to Patil, SinghMOSCOW: Russian President

Dmitry Medvedev has expressedconfidence that the coming yearwill provide "new opportunities"for India and Russia to advancetheir mutually beneficial projectsin the interest of global and re-gional security and stability.

In his separate New Year mes-sages to President Pratibha Patiland Prime Minister ManmohanSingh, Medvedev underlined thatthe exchange of Years of Russiaand India in eachother's countrywas a "major"event in the bilat-eral relations.

"I am confidentthat in the NewYear, we will be ableto open new oppor-tunities for advanc-ing various mutu-ally beneficialprojects for thebenefit of thepeoples of our countries, in theinterest of ensuring global and re-gional security and stability,"Medvedev wrote to the PM, ac-cording to the Kremlin.

The message to Patil appreci-ated the development of relationsof the two countries in 2009, inparticular, cooperation in the fieldof economy, culture and in hu-manitarian fields.

"The outcome of your visit toRussia (in the first week of Sep-tember) clearly testifies this,"Medvedev wrote to her.

In a separate message to Singh,Medvedev highly valued thismonth's bilateral summit in Mos-cow during the former's visit toRussia.

"Important agreements werereached (at the Summit) to impartan additional dynamism to thewhole complex of bilateral coop-

eration in the political, trade andeconomic, cultural and humanitar-ian fields.

Medvedev wrote to the Indianleaders: "The Year of India in Rus-sia had acquired a unique charac-ter by its diversity and scale andits substantive program had pro-vided very wide opportunities toacquaint with the rich culture andart of your nation. -PTI

Danielle Chiesi, anemployee of NewCastle Funds, formerlythe equity hedge fundgroup of Bear StearnsAsset Managementhas also been indictedon similar countsalong withRajaratnam

Thotakura along withother recipients will behonored with BharatGaurav Award and aCertificate of Excel-lence at a high profileGlobal Friendship Daygala banquet to beheld on January 7 inNew Delhi

Medvedev wrote to the Indianleaders: "The Year of India inRussia had acquired a uniquecharacter by its diversity andscale and its substantive programhad provided very wide opportu-nities to acquaint with the richculture and art of your nation


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Advani will be 'permanent guide and philosopher': GadkariNEW DELHI: L K Advani will

play a role well beyond the spe-cially-created position of Chair-man of BJP Parliamentary party,according to the new party Presi-dent Nitin Gadkari who made itclear that the 82-year-old veteranwill be a "permanent guide andphilosopher" for the whole party.

"Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L KAdvani are our role models andsource of inspiration.....Advanijiwill be permanent guide and phi-losopher for the whole party,"Gadkari told PTI in an interview.

He was responding whenasked whether Advani's rolewould be limited to BJP's Parlia-mentary affairs after his appoint-ment to the newly-created post ofChairman of Parliamentary Party.

Advani quit the post of Leaderof Opposition in Lok Sabha onDecember 18 in the face of attacks

from within following the party'sdismal performance in the generalelections. He was made the Chair-

man of Parliamentary Party, amove that gave an impression thathis role would be confined to Par-

liamentary affairs of the party.52-year-old Gadkari, who is a

new-comer at the national scene,

does not see it as a disadvantagebut feels it is an "asset" as hewould not be "biased".

Gadkari, whose appointmenton December 18 came at a timewhen the party is going through

a bad phase, said some correc-tive measures were needed andhe would bring out a blueprint inthis regard within three months. .

Gadkari, a management gradu-ate who has the challenging taskof reviving the party that hasbeen going through bad phaseand has been afflicted by infight-ing, said his remedial mantra wasthat leaders should speak less tomedia.

He said most of the problemsplaguing BJP were due to unnec-essary talking by some leaders,both on-the-record and off-the-record and this needs to bestopped.

"Kam bolna, nahi bolna(speaking less, not speaking).This is the exact medicine myparty needs. It will take care of90 per cent of our problems," thenew BJP chief said.

Gadkari said he would enforcediscipline in the party along withmutual trust and would sooncome out with detailed plans forthe organization and a politicalstrategy to expand its base asalso broaden the NDA.

Some senior leaders have beenleaking details of internal con-fabulations as well as communi-cations to press and taking pot-shots at their colleagues throughthe media.

Gadkari does not want to talkabout events that happened in theparty before he took over its reins."Choro kal ki baatein, kal ki baatpurani (let bygones by bygones),"he said reciting the famous songof 'Hum Hindustani' movie andadded that he wanted to work for abright future for the party.

The BJP chief said he wouldlay thrust on "performance audit"for the leaders who would begiven responsibilities to revivethe party and expand its baseamong various castes and com-munities and regions.

His aim is to increase theparty's vote-share by 10 per centand expand its reach to the south,West Bengal and Haryana. -PTI

Nitin Gadkari

Mother Teresa on new US stampWASHINGTON: India's Nobel

Peace prize winner Mother Teresawill be honored on a US postagestamp on her birth centenary andthe portrait of the "diminutive"Catholic nun by award winningAmerican artist ThomasBlackshear II would feature on it.

"With this stamp, the US PostalService recognizes Mother Teresa,who received the Nobel PeacePrize in 1979 for her humanitarian

work," the US Postal Service saidas it released the list of new post-ages to be issued in the year 2010.

"Noted for her compassion to-ward the poor and suffering,Mother Teresa, a diminutive Ro-man Catholic nun and honoraryUS citizen, served the sick anddestitute of India and the worldfor nearly 50 years," the US PostalService said.

The postage stamp honoring

Albania-born Mother Teresa isexpected to be issued on August26, her 100th birth anniversary.

The stamp features a portraitof Mother Teresa painted byaward-winning artist ThomasBlackshear II of Colorado Springs,Colorado, it said.

In 1996, the then President BillClinton and the US Congressawarded Mother Teresa honoraryUS citizenship. -PTI

Nepal bill for oath-taking in mother tongueKATHMANDU: In a landmark

move, Nepal's government hastabled a bill in Parliament to en-able President and Vice Presidentto be administered oath of officein their mother tongues in a bid toresolve a row over ParmanandaJha's taking of the pledge in Hindifor the second highest post.

Indian-origin Vice PresidentJha, who belongs to the Madhesicommunity, has remained inactivein the post after the SupremeCourt ruling five months back de-clared as "unconstitutional" hisoath-taking in Hindi instead of theofficial Nepali language.

Security and other facilities forJha, who took the oath last year,had been withdrawn after the apexcourt's order.

The coalition government ledby CPN-UML introduced the billseeking seventh amendment tointerim Constitution to allowPresident and Vice President totake the oath of office and secrecyin their mother tongues.

Once the amendment is en-dorsed by Constituent Assembly,it will reactivate the post of Vice

President Jha, according to gov-ernment officials.

Minister for Law and JusticePrem Bahadur Singh, who tabledthe bill in the 601-member House,said that it would allow Jha to takethe oath in his mother tongue.

"Jha's position is currently of

an elected VP, who has not beensworn in. So this bill has beenbrought to the House so that hecould take oath in his mother lan-guage," Singh said.

The government will instantlyimplement the amended provisionto resolve the issue, Singh told

Parliament.However, Madhesi Peoples'

Rights Forum (MPRF) said themove would not guarantee rein-statement of the Vice President,with its MP Jayprakash Gupta ask-ing the government to withdrawthe bill and table another one thatwould ensue restoration of Jha.

The main opposition UnifiedCPN-Maoist has also opposed thebill.

But, two other major Madhesiparties, MPRF (Democratic) andSadbhavana Party, have favored it.

Jha, a prominent leader fromthe Terai plains bordering India,has been supported by the par-ties from the region in the lan-guage row.

They have been urging theCPN-UML-led government to rec-ognize Hindi as the official lan-guage and reinstate Jha.

Nepal's Terai plains are hometo about half of the country's 30million people, and the residentsof the region, known asMadhesis, have long complainedof discrimination by the country'shill communities. -PTI

Jha, a prominentleader from the Teraiplains borderingIndia, has beensupported by theparties from theregion in thelanguage row

The BJP chief said he wouldlay thrust on "performanceaudit" for the leaders whowould be given responsi-bilities to revive the partyand expand its baseamong various castes andcommunities and regions


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2009 witnessed rise of Congress, decline of BJPNEW DELHI: Rise of Con-

gress, further decline of BJP andthe relegation of the Left and someregional parties to the marginsmarked the highs and lows of poli-tics in 2009 as price spiral posesan intense challenge to the gov-ernment in the New Year alongwith Naxal and cross-border ter-ror.

The sudden demise of Y SRajasekhara Reddy in a helicop-ter crash saw Congress flounderin Andhra Pradesh, a state he haddelivered to the party on a platterin two consecutive elections.Topping it, the Centre tied itselfup in knots over the separateTelangana by its flip-flop as theyear wrapped up.

2009 turned out to be a water-shed year for Indian politics withCongress' good showing in theLok Sabha polls, especially dis-playing revival signs in a state likeUttar Pradesh that has also raisedhopes of its comeback in the Hindiheartland.

Against the back of Mumbaiterror attacks and the negativeeffects of a global downturn, theCongress campaign in the Mayelections was it was no time to

experiment with any new combi-nation.

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh was the first CongressPrime Minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to get a secondconsecutive term.

In fact, the Congress tally ofover 200 in the 543-member Lok

Sabha, 50 seats more than it gotin 2004, surprised even many aCongressman.

No political party had got suchnumbers after 1991 with electionafter election witnessing a frac-tured verdict.

The year ringing out will be re-membered for the failure of the BJP

as also the Left parties to get theiract together and virtually livingin a different world which camecrashing after the electoral verdictof May 16.

CPI (M) General SecretaryPrakash Karat led the charge ofthe Third Front which consistedof the BSP, RLD, JD-S, AIADMKand the Left parties, which came acropper.

In fact the elections generallydid not turn out to be good formany regional parties barring thelikes of Navin Patnaik's BJD andNitish Kumar's JD (United).

The BJP got nothing right de-spite projecting L K Advani, its'iron man' as the 'strong' leader incomparison with a 'weak'Manmohan Singh as much waterhad flown from the Ganga sincethe Ayodhya issue took it to thecentre stage.

BJP was in the battle gear tooearly but the tactics and strategyof the Congress appeared to havestumped it with the ruling partyprojecting the "trinity" of SoniaGandhi, Manmohan Singh andRahul Gandhi to telling effect.

It was a year when RahulGandhi came into his own as a

leader as he successfully led thebattle in key Uttar Pradesh givingsleepless nights to the BSP andthe SP.

The Firozabad Lok Sabhabypoll, in which Mulayam SinghYadav's daughter-in-law Dimplewas defeated, was indicative ofthe changing winds. .

With BJP's tally in the LokSabha reduced from 138 to 116, itwas time for a generationalchange as 52-year-old NitinGadkari took over the reins fromRajnath Singh while Advani him-self made way for Sushma Swarajas Leader of Opposition in theLok Sabha.

The Left parties got the sever-est drubbing in the Lok Sabhaelections held in the backdrop ofthe Nandigram incident and thedevelopments at Singur in WestBengal which were exploited tothe hilt by Trinamool Congresschief Mamta Banerjee.

In fact, the Left parties are fac-ing a threat to their very existenceas their strongholds of West Ben-gal and Kerala were shaken to theroots and the assembly electionsthere are scheduled for 2011.

A highlight of the Lok Sabhaelections was that generallythose parties and leaders amongUPA and allies who sided withCongress, survived or thrived,while those who tried to sidelineit, almost fell by the wayside.

For instance, Lalu Prasad'sRJD was down from 27 to justfour and Ram Vilas Paswan methis waterloo with his LJP draw-ing a blank after they partedways with Congress.

Almost similar was the fate ofSamajwadi Party, which hadhelped the UPA-I survive after thewithdrawal of the Left support tothe Government. Its tally dippedfrom 39 to 22. -PTI

2009 saw Chinese incursions, Sukhoimishaps, Agni-II failure

NEW DELHI: It was not happytidings in 2009 for the DefenseMinistry which was stung by thealleged role of four generals in theDarjeeling land scam and the fail-ure of BrahMos and Agni-II mis-sile tests.

The Ministry came under pres-sure to punish the generals afteran army probe held them respon-sible for the sale of the 70-acreestate in Darjeeling to a privaterealtor.

The Army Headquarters is nowconsidering the report. The gen-erals may face summary dismissal,court martial or punitive adminis-trative action.

Repeated incursions and air-space violations by Chinese mili-tary in Arunachal Pradesh andLadakh region of Jammu andKashmir too engaged the defensetop brass's minds during the year.

To boost their defense pre-paredness, India floated a Requestfor Information (RFI) for light-weight tanks to deploy them alongthe Chinese border and alsobased a Sukhoi fighter squadronof IAF in Tezpur in Assam.

It also activated the Nyomaadvanced landing ground inLadakh during September for op-erating AN-32 transport aircraft,enabling faster troops movement.

The failure of BrahMos andAgni-II missile tests bruised theimage of DRDO.

But the silver lining was Indiajoining an elite group of nationslike the US, Russia, the UK, Chinaand France when it laid the keel ofa 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraftcarrier and a 6,000-tonne nuclear-powered submarine for the navy.

President Pratibha Patil createdhistory by becoming the first In-

dian woman to ride as a co-piloton a Sukhoi and later capped it byboarding aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

The year was marred by 13 IAFplane crashes, including twoSukhois' that shattered the frontline fighter jet's mishap-free recordsince induction in 1996, and aNaval Sea Harrier jet crash thatbrought down the already deplet-

ing naval aviation's fleet.The year began with high-level

political and military meets to ide-ate on the defense of the 7,500-km-long coastline, culminating inthe navy getting charge ofcoastal security and setting up ofCoastal Command under theCoast Guard chief.

In its anti-piracy efforts in theIndian Ocean, the navy won ac-colades for nabbing nine piratesoff Seychelles, apart from ward-ing off attacks on merchant shipsin the Gulf.

It also had two North Koreanships intercepted near Andamanand Nicobar in August and offKochi in November, both sailingsuspiciously and anchoring offIndian coasts. Naval ships res-cued two Coast Guard men, whowere abducted by Sri Lankan fish-ermen in December.

India also got its sole aircraftcarrier INS Viraat, which turned 50on November 18, repaired and re-fitted at Kochi this year.

The Navy floated RFI for carrier-borne aircraft as a back-up if navalLCA project was delayed beyond2015, and also got delivery of thefirst four of the 16 MiG-29Ks jetsfrom Russia for Admiral Gorshkov,though the warship is scheduled toarrive only by 2012.-PTI

BOXERS IN PAK: Indian boxers Naresh Singh (L) and Sanjay Singh

(R) leave the arrivals hall of Jinnah international Airport in Karachi on

December 31, 2009. India has sent its first sports team to Pakistan in

more than a year as a seven-member boxing team flew into Karachi

to compete in an international tournament

2009 turned out to bea watershed year forIndian politics withCongress' good show-ing in the Lok Sabhapolls, especiallydisplaying revivalsigns in a statelike Uttar Pradesh

The BJP got nothingright despite projectingL K Advani, its 'ironman' as the 'strong'leader in comparisonwith a 'weak'Manmohan Singh

Repeated incursionsand airspace violationsby Chinese military inArunachal Pradesh andLadakh region ofJammu and Kashmir tooengaged the defensetop brass's mindsduring the year


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2009: Indian sweets, drinksand clothes get copyrights

NEW DELHI: Places famous fortheir food, drink or clothes -- likeTirupati Ladu, Goa Feni andBanarsi Saree -- from much beforethe days of copyrights and trade-marks won the exclusive right touse these names in 2009.

After a lull of more than twoyears, the Chennai-based Geo-graphical Indication Registrydusted off old applications andgranted GI certificates to'Tirupati Ladu', a sweet manufac-tured by the Tirumala-TirupatiDevasthanam-administered LordVenkateswara Temple, the'Banarasi Sarees', famous forfine quality and elaborate pat-terns woven in silk in Banarascity in Uttar Pradesh, and the'Goan Feni', a fermented drinkmade from cashew or rice in Goa.

While modern copyright lawsas we know it originated in Brit-ain as late as 1662, these prod-ucts that have been given GIrights have been in productionsince yore.

The Banarsi fabrics (hiranyavastra), for instance, have foundmention in the Vedas as has thecity.

Other GI tags granted duringthe year were for MalihabadiDusseheri Mango from UP,Puneri Pagadi of Pune,Tangaliya Shawl of Gujarat,Vazhakulam Pineapple andCannanore Home Furnishingsfrom Kerala, Appemidi Mangoand Kamalapur Red Banana fromKarnataka) and the famousSantipore Saree from West Ben-gal. -PTI

Bangla approves power exchangeproposal with India

DHAKA: The Bangladesh cabi-net has cleared the proposed land-mark power exchange deal withIndia which will allow the importand export of electricity amount-ing to over 900 million units perannum.

The Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU), expected to besigned during Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina's January 10 visit toIndia, will allow both countries toexchange power according to theirrespective needs.

The project cost is estimated ataround USD 200 million and theproposal also carries an option topurchase power from both publicand private sectors of India, offi-cials said here.

"The cabinet last night approved

the proposed MoU which will al-low both countries to sell or buyelectricity from each other depend-

ing on availability, need and priceof electricity," PM's press secretaryAbul Kalam Azad told PTI.

Energy ministry officials saidthe price of electricity would besettled once the deal was inkedexpectedly during Hasina's firstvisit to India after assuming powerthis year.

Power division secretary AbulKalam Azad, who met Indian offi-cials in New Delhi last month, hadtold PTI that the proposed MOUsuggested exchanging of electric-ity for nearly 17 hours a day and atechnical committee would workout details or modalities of coop-eration after the signing of the deal.

The state-run Power Develop-ment Board (PDB) chairmanAlamgir Kabiar said the exchangevolume would be as high as 250mw initially and could eventuallybe as high as 1,000 mw. -PTI

GAMES FLAME: The President Commonwealth Games Tanzania,

Gulam Rashid carries the Queenís Baton 2010 Delhi through Dar Es

Salaam Airport accompanied by the Secretary General, Filbert Bayi

and Treasurer Charles Nyange on December 28Issue of racial attacks dominateIndo-Australian ties

MELBOURNE: Indo-Australiaties were in the news in 2009 forall wrong reasons - a spate of ra-cial attacks on Indians, particularlystudents, forced the two govern-ments to act to contain the fallouteven as they agreed to take theirstrategic relations to a new level.

Relations between India andAustralia started to stress out inJune this year after racial attacks

on Indians prompting the Govern-ment here to control the damageby assuring New Delhi that Aus-tralia was indeed the best placefor students pursuing higherstudies.

The attack on Shravan Kumar,hailing from Andhra Pradesh,came as a rude shock for Indiansafter his comatose pictures wereflashed on television channels.Over 30 students and some com-munity members were attacked byAustralians since June.

Though Australian Govern-ment assured India and studentsthat their safety would be takencare of, there was no let up in theattacks against Indians as almostone or the other kind of assaultson Indians continued.

A number of top diplomats andleaders, including Victorian Pre-mier John Brumby and AustralianPrime Minister Kevin Rudd, vis-

ited India in 2009 to reassure Indi-ans that that country was saferfor foreigners.

During Rudd's India visit, thetwo countries signed a number ofagreements on various fields, butAustralia refused to supply Ura-nium to India, saying New Delhiwas not a signatory to the Nuclearnon-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The attacks also led Indians to

come out on the streets and pro-test against attacks on them andthe government for not takingsteps to prevent them.

India also summoned the Aus-tralian High Commissioner in NewDelhi to protest against continuedattacks on India and External Af-fairs Minister S M Krishna trav-eled to Melbourne in August toget a first-hand account of thesituation there.

Krishna returned to New Delhiwith an assurance from the KevinRudd Government that Australiawill take all possible steps to con-tain attacks on Indians. Australiaalso claimed that the attacksagainst Indians were not raciallymotivated.

Australia also appointed PeterJoseph Varghese, an ethnic In-dian, as High Commissioner toIndia.

The issue also revealed some

sub standard colleges impartingeducation to overseas studentsand a serious audit on over 40educational institutions led to clo-sure of colleges here that left thou-sands of Indian students in limbo.

The attacks also had an impactof Indian students enrolment inAustralia with a report saying thatit is expected to slide by a whop-ping 21 per cent and the countrycould lose around 70 million USDin revenue.

In 2009, Australia also announcedsupport for research efforts targetedat the challenges both countries facein energy, food and water, health andenvironment fields.

Australia also announced thatit will invest USD 50 million forAustralia-India Strategic Re-search Fund, USD 1 million for aninnovative Australia-India solarcooling research project and USD20 million for research into dry-land farming in India. -PTI

Fewer Indians to enroll in Australia, $70m loss in revenueMELBOURNE: Enrolment of

Indian students in Australia is ex-pected to slide by a whopping 21per cent over safety worries in theaftermath of violent attacks onthem and the country could losearound 70 million USD in revenue.

In its latest projection, TourismAustralia has said the recent spateof attacks on students will resultin 4,000 fewer Indians coming toAustralia to study next year.

"The downturn is expected inresponse to concerns that the In-dian community have had aboutsafety," Head of TourismAustralia's forecasting committee

Bernard Salt said.As the slide in inflow of Indian

students comes about, Australiacould lose over USD 70 million inrevenue, the study said.

"What we are saying is thatbased on consideration of visaapplications, there is 20 per centhit in the number of Indian stu-dents coming in 2010," Salt said,adding that it was hard to saywhether this drop could be a"knee-jerk, one-year reaction".

Gautam Gupta, President of theFederation of Indian Students inAustralia, however, said the slumpwould not be as severe as feared

earlier after a spate of attacks onstudents of Indian origin up toJune this year.

"Our fears were that the slidecould touch as high as 50 per cent.But it is going to be only 21 percent," he said.

Australia's education industryhas in recent years witnessed anunprecedented boom with thevalue touching as high as USD 15.4billion a year and is listed as thecountry's third biggest exportearner. Students from India make-up for 19 per cent of those enrollingin Australian universities. Last yearas many as 117,000 enrolled. -PTI

The project cost isestimated at aroundUSD 200 million andthe proposal alsocarries an option topurchase power fromboth public and pri-vate sectors of India,officials said here

The attack on Shravan Kumar, hailing from AndhraPradesh, came as a rude shock for Indians after hiscomatose pictures were flashed on televisionchannels. Over 30 students and some communitymembers were attacked by Australians since June


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Obama lashes out at 'systemicfailure' in intel network

WASHINGTON: US PresidentBarack Obama has hit out at the"human" and "systemic failure"as it came to light that Americanagencies had prior informationthat might have averted the nearcatastrophic attempt to blow up aDetroit-bound airliner.

Asserting that "this is unac-ceptable," Obama asked his ad-ministration to submit by Decem-ber 31 a report on the failed Christ-mas Day attack.

The President's hard commentscame as media reports said thatCIA knew about the Nigerian ter-ror suspect, but the informationwas not passed on to other agen-cies.

Breaking away from his Hawai-

ian vacation for the second day,Obama said: "When our govern-ment has information on a knownextremist and that information isnot shared and acted upon as itshould have been... a systemicfailure has occurred".

"An extremist boards a planewith dangerous explosives thatcould cost nearly 300 lives... I con-sider that totally unacceptable," theUS President said as recriminationsmounted over the failed attack.

"The reviews I've ordered willsurely tell us more. But what al-ready is apparent is that there wasa mix of human and systemic fail-ures that contributed to this po-tential catastrophic breach of se-curity," he said.-PTI

Jet plot well planned, amateurishlyexecuted: Dutch government

THE HAGUE: The failed attackon a US airliner last week was pro-fessionally prepared but carriedout amateurishly, Dutch InteriorMinister Guusje ter Horst said here.

The method and the explosivesused were similar to those em-ployed in earlier attacks, she tolda press conference, adding thatthe explosive was not easy tomake.

Nigerian Umar FaroukAbdulmutallab, 23, is accused oftrying to blow up a Northwest Air-lines Airbus as it was landing atDetroit on December 25 after a

flight from Amsterdam's Schipholairport.

"The preparation of the failedattack against passenger flightNW 253 Amsterdam-Detroit wasfairly professional, but its execu-tion was amateurish," Horst said.

"The explosive used is not easyto make and its production is notwithout risk," she added, quotingfindings of the probe launched byDutch authorities.

"The modus operandi and ex-plosive are similar to earlier at-tacks," she said, without givingfurther details. -AFP

Man with the 'Best job in the world'stung by lethal jellyfish

MELBOURNE: The man whohad the "Best job in the world"hadn't bargained for what he got,a Briton who was hired to managean idyllic Australian island resortwith fat perks was stung by a po-tentially lethal jellyfish.

Ben Southall - whowon an internationalblog contest to manageAustralia's Hamilton Is-land to promote tourism- wrote that he waslucky to survive a ven-omous bite by anirukandji jellyfish.

Saying he had expe-rienced a "crazy 24hours" post-Christmas,Southall said after beingback from a ski session withfriends, he climbed to the beachto feel a small bee-sting.

Hours later, he started gettingtingling sensation on his handsand feet, which later led to highfever, headache, chest tightnessand high blood pressure forcing

the resort staff to rush him to hos-pital.

Doctor diagnosed thatSouthall had been stung by poi-sonous irukandji jellyfish andgave him strong anti-biotics tosleep off the venom.

"Horrible incident. Lesson learnt- always wear a stinger suit," theBriton said after he recovered.Southall said he was supposed tobe relaxing in the last two days ofhis job on the island, but now iswary of myriad deadly creatures thatabound near the famed island.-PTI

MASS MARRIAGE: Indian brides and grooms sit during a mass marriage ceremony for some 35

poverty-stricken couples from the India-Pakistan border area at a ceremony on the outskirts of Amritsar on

December 29, 2009. Marriage is a costly affair in India prompting some parents to have their children married

at mass marriages, allowing them to save money on organization costs

'Don't check-in passengers withstapled Chinese visa'

NEW DELHI: The DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation has in-structed all airlines not to check-in any passenger who has a Chi-nese visa stapled on his or herpassport.

The instruction, issued latelast evening, asks all airlines to"ensure that they do not check-inany passenger with stapled Chi-nese visa on their passports," of-ficial sources said here.

The DGCA instruction comesweeks after India declared as "in-valid" the standalone paper visasgiven by the Chinese embassy

here and consulates in Mumbaiand Kolkata to Indians fromJammu and Kashmir andArunachal Pradesh.

A travel advisory issued by theExternal Affairs Ministry lastmonth asked those going to Chinato ensure that their visas are pastedon their passports. "Such papervisas stapled to the passport arenot considered valid for travel outof the country," it said.

Following the advisory, theCivil Aviation Ministry issued adirective that passengers holdingstapled visas should not be

checked-in for travel out of India.In November, New Delhi had

slammed this practice of issuingseparate visas "to certain catego-ries of Indian nationals on thebasis of their domicile, ethnicityand/or place of issue of the pass-port".

India also took up the issuewith China at the highest levels.Apparently, the Chinese em-bassy has not stopped the prac-tice, which has provoked NewDelhi to issue the travel advisoryrendering separate visas as in-valid. -PTI

Taliban commanders contact Imranfor peace talks with govt

LAHORE: Pakistani Talibancommanders have contactedcricketer-turned-politician ImranKhan to broker peace talks withthe government, but he said hewould act as a mediator only ifauthorities give their consent.

"The Taliban have contactedme for peace negotiations withthe government. But I will onlyplay a mediator's role if the gov-ernment gives its consent,"Khan said, but did not mentionwhich faction of the localTaliban had contacted him.

Khan, who heads the Tehrik-e-Insaaf party, has opposed mili-tary operations against theTaliban and other militantgroups.

He had earlier offered to actas a mediator between theTaliban and government. Therehad been no response from the

government to his offer to medi-ate with the Taliban.

Some leaders of the ruling Pa-kistan People's Party and sec-

tions of the media have criticizedKhan for what they describe ashis "pro-Taliban" stance.

Interior Minister RehmanMalik too has made it clear thatthe federal government has nointention of holding talks withthe Taliban or other terrorists.

"They must surrender beforeany peace talks can be initi-ated," he said.

However, the Taliban in thenorthwestern Swat valley hadwelcomed Khan's offer to bro-ker peace talks.

Khan has also called on thePPP-led government to convenea meeting of all political partiesto discuss challenges confront-ing the country. -PTI

‘I will only play amediator's role ifthe governmentgives its consent,’Khan said

Ben Southall - who won aninternational blog contest tomanage Australia's HamiltonIsland to promote tourism -wrote that he was lucky tosurvive a venomous biteby an irukandji jellyfish


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CIA officers killed in Taliban suicidebombing in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: A suicidebomber targeted a US base in east-ern Afghanistan killing eight ci-vilians, most of them employeesof the CIA, in the deadliest singleattack on a US intelligenceagency.

The suicide attacker detonatedhimself at a forward American op-erating Base

Chapman in Khost Provincenear the Afghan border with Paki-stan, an area believed to be con-trolled by Taliban warlordJalaludin Haqqani.

The US had recently set up theCIA base in the Khost Provinceto launch Predator drone attackstargeting the Haqqani network,whose Taliban fighters operate onboth sides of Afghan-Pakistanborder.

Media reports said an Afghannational was also killed in the at-tack which left six other Americanswounded.

The CIA did not either confirmor deny the reports.

The State Department spokes-man, Ian Kelly, however con-firmed the death of eight Ameri-cans.

A Congressional source ABCNews that all the dead were con-nected to CIA.

"Eight Americans were killed inan attack on a US military base inRegional Command East in Af-

ghanistan.We mourn the loss of life in this

attack, and are withholding furtherdetails pending notification ofnext of kin," Kelly said in a state-ment.

The Washington Post re-ported, "The attack representedan audacious blow to intelligenceoperatives at the vanguard of US

counterterrorism operations inboth Afghanistan and Pakistan,killing officials whose job in-volves plotting strikes against theTaliban, al-Qaeda and other ex-tremist groups that are active onthe frontier between the two na-tions."

"It is the nightmare we've beenanticipating since we went intoAfghanistan and Iraq," John EMcLaughlin, a former CIA deputy

director who now serves on aboard that supports children ofCIA officers slain on the job, wasquoted as saying by the daily.

"Our people are often out onthe front line, without adequateforce protection, and they put theirlives quite literally in jeopardy,"McLaughlin said.

"It was the worst day for theCIA in terms of loss of life sincethe war in Afghanistan beganeight years ago," ABC News said.

The suicide bomber blew him-self up in either the gym or thedining facility on Camp Chapmannear the Pak border in Khost prov-ince, according to one US officialin Kabul, the news channel said.

The same official says all thosekilled were civilians, and a sepa-rate official in Washington saidthe base is not used by State De-partment employees -- suggestingthe victims may be intelligenceofficials.

The attack appears to havebeen the result of an extraordinarylapse in security, one of the fewtimes that any militant has man-aged to elude guards and attackinside a US facility, ABC newschannel said.

A Taliban spokesman in Af-ghanistan claimed responsibilityfor the attack and even went onto claim that 16 Americans hadbeen killed in the strike. -PTI

ROEMER AT TERESA HOME: Shortly after the Christmas holiday, Ambassador Timothy Roemer visited the

Jeevan Jyoti Home for Disabled Children on December 29, 2009. Run by Missionaries of Charity, an

organization founded by Mother Teresa in 1950, the home was established to care for

children with a range of disabilities

I tried hard not to be anactor: Soha Ali Khan

N E WD E L H I :When youare born in afamily of ac-tors, you areexpected tobecome anactress even-tually. Thesame hap-pened withSoha AliKhan, de-spite her try-ing veryhard not tostep intoBollywood.

W i t hyesteryear'sb e a u t yq u e e nS h a r m i l aTagore asmother ands u p e r s t a rSaif Ali Khanas brother,one wouldhardly expect Soha to take up anyother profession, but she insiststhat she was initially reluctant tobecome an actress.

"Taking up acting was nevermy aim and I have tried very hardnot to be an actor. I took up otherprofessions like banking, but thenthere was a wish to become a partof the entertainment industrysomehow," Soha told PTI.

And it was this wish which shecould not escape and it led her tothe sets of 'Dil Maange More', thefilm she made her Bollywood de-but with.

She is a prominent face in thefilm industry now, with 'Rang DeBasanti' and 'Mumbai Meri Jaan'in her kitty. Soha has carved aniche for herself with off-beat filmslike 'Khoya Khoya Chand' and 'DilKabaddi' instead of going the full-blown 'masala movie' way.

"I like to keep it varied and workin every genre as my aim is to per-form. Many a times you do notget a chance to perform in glam-orous films. I would like to be partof those films where I can provemyself as an actress," said Soha.

Soha, whose last Bollywoodrelease was 'Tum Mile' withEmraan Hashmi, is happy that shedoes not have to compete with hermother or brother in acting sinceboth of them are successful intheir respective spheres. But shedoes seek their appreciation attimes.

"I don't turn to my family mem-bers for advice. But when my filmis released I want amma (Sharmila)to watch it because her female per-spective comes handy.

"When I am signing a film withan unknown party, I might ask bhai(Saif) for his opinion. He is moreexperienced and will knowwhether the script will turn out tobe a good film.

But ultimately it's my choicesince it's me who has to play therole," said Soha.

The actress is a proud daugh-ter and admires her mother'sachievements as an actress, butshe makes it clear that she is nottrying to ape Sharmila in any way.

"I don't want to imitate any ac-tress, even my mother. I admire herfor her body of work in everygenre, be it acting in Satyajit Ray'sfilms or working with DenzelWashington. She is an icon forme," said Soha.

She is all praises for the way inwhich Sharmila has struck a bal-ance between work and family andcarried out both successfully.

"People say that you have toleave work after marriage, but mymother is still working. This yearitself she has done three films. Itis very difficult to become a suc-cessful actress, wife and mother,but she has done it all," said Soha.

The 31-year-old actress isquick to hush you up once youmention her age, saying, "Shh,you are not supposed to tell any-one! I am actually 16, eternally. Ifeel that I am small, petite and lookyoung so my age does not mat-ter."

The actress is currently shoot-ing a Sudhir Mishra film 'Tera KyaHoga Johnny' with Shiney Ahujaand has an English film named 'LifeGoes On' up her sleeves. -PTI

The US had recently setup the CIA base in theKhost Province tolaunch Predator droneattacks targeting theHaqqani network,whose Taliban fightersoperate on bothsides of Afghan-Pakistan border

India Post www.indiapost.com January 8, 2010

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 1310

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Desi News

Details on page 12

Details on page 14

Governor Pat Quinn getsIndians' backing

A.Q. SIDDIQUI

CHICAGO: Indian AmericanDemocratic Organization (IADO)led by president Ram Gajjela andformer FIA president IftekharShareef hosted a fundraiser for Il-linois Governor Pat Quinn who isseeking election next month. It islearnt that over $15000 were raisedduring the event.

Ram Gajjella introduced PatQuinn and spoke about theGovernor's performance in the last10 months. Integrity, honest hardwork and development programsare keys to identify Governor PatQuinn, he said.

The Governor has signed along list of new laws that are bring-ing true reform to Illinois govern-ment. He is striving to hit hard oncorruption citadels that havestained the Illinois government.

Gov. Pat Quinn with Indian Community members at a fundraiser in ChicagoCont’d on page 12

FIA affairs dragged to court one more timeIndia Post News Service

CHICAGO: It seems that mem-bers of the Federation of IndianAssociations (FIA) are beset withperiodic itching problem takingtheir intra-organizational differ-ences to the court for resolutioninstead of sorting these out inter-nally.

The recent elections ( SundayDec 13, 2009) for the office bear-ers next year turned out to be ahot and acrimonious affair with agroup led by Secretary Sunil Shahalleging "irregularities and fraud"in registering member associationsamong other things. The electioncommittee headed by Anil Pillaideclared Sunny Gabhawla elected

President for 2010 bagging 14votes against four held by rivalcontender Sunil Shah.

Shah took objections to theway the elections were conductedalleging that some of their points

about the registration of memberassociations were overlooked.The group comprising Sunil Shah,Omkar Singh Sangha, Rev. Dr.Jaswant B Singha and HinaTrivedi decided to move the Cir-cuit Court of Cook County for a

temporary restraining order. Amember of the election committeewho would not like to identify him-self said it was regrettable that thematter has been dragged to court.He felt that the election committee

acted impartially and that the courtwas unlikely to set aside the re-sult.

John Miller of Woerthwein &Miller in a release to the media saidthat his clients have sought a tem-porary restraining order from a

Cook County Circuit Court Chan-cery Division in Chicago.

Two years ago the present FIAalso was dragged to court with agroup of members questioning thelegality of the constitution of theexecutive team. There was an elec-tion dispute ten years ago also. Thematter was again taken to the court.

Members of the community atlarge are weary of the FIA. Theyfeel it is run by some self-stylednetas who are more interested injostling their ways to be with poli-ticians at important events andhaving their pictures taken withthem for consumption of media.The community wants FIA to be atruly umbrella organization of In-dians, by Indians and for Indians.

Travelingexhibition on LordVishnu developed

SURI SWAMY

CHICAGO: Frist Center for theVisual Arts in Nashville (Tennes-see, USA) has organized a "trav-eling exhibition" titled "Vishnu:Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior".

The Center claims that it "willbe the first major museum exhibi-tion to focus on Vishnu". Open-ing in February 2011 and present-ing approximately 120 paintingsand sculptures that were made inIndia between the fourth and 19thcentury, this exhibition will serveas a brief survey of Hindu art stylesas well as an examination of theVaishnava tradition, it adds.

IAC holidaycelebrations forseniors and youth

NISHA SUTARIA

CHICAGO: The Indo-AmericanCenter (IAC) carried out its annualtradition hosting Holiday partiesfor both the Youth Program andSeniors Program.

The Youth Program holidayparty on December 22 packed theIAC Main Hall - it brought to-gether over 200 people of whichabout 130 were children.

Violent assaulton West TexasSikhIndia Post News Service

A Sikh graduate student wasthrown into a swimming pool

and brutally assaulted in WestTexas. The young man (identitywithheld for his protection) held apart-time job delivering pizzas toease the burden of his college ex-penses. He brought pizzas into ahome on a delivery and four mentook the pizza. Without paying,they began eating, while at thesame time hurling racial epithetsat the Sikh man and threateninghim. "I'm going to **** you up inIraq, I'm going to **** you up inAfghanistan, I'm going to ****you up over here."

Thousandsattend Darbar-E-Khalsa

Two years ago the present FIA also was draggedto court with a group of members questioning thelegality of the constitution of the executive team

January 8, 2010 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

11

IAC holiday celebrations for seniors and youthNISHA SUTARIA

Seniors Program coordinator assistant Govindbhai Lambacchia shares a

skit about the meaning of life

Santa offering gifts to seniors

CHICAGO: The Indo-AmericanCenter (IAC) carried out its annualtradition hosting Holiday partiesfor both the Youth Program andSeniors Program.

The Youth Program holidayparty on December 22 packed theIAC Main Hall - it brought to-gether over 200 people of whichabout 130 were children. In thespirit of Christmas, special guest

Santa Claus, played by Civics Co-ordinator Loknath Agarwal, gaveevery child an age and gender ap-propriate present.

"Being able to achieve our ulti-mate goal of giving all the childrenpresents was all we could hopefor," said Kali Cohn, IAC Devel-opment Coordinator. These pre-sents were graciously donated byseveral organizations, including

South Asian Progressive ActionCollective (SAPAC), National As-sociation of Asian American Pro-fessionals (NAAAP), IndianAmerican Bar Association (IABA),Ekya, Trikome Chicago, and indi-vidual donors.

Exceeding the average of 80seniors daily for the Seniors Pro-gram, about 175 seniors attendedthe Seniors Program holiday

party on December 23. The se-niors gathered and shared theirholiday cheer and favorite pas-times with each other, includingjokes, poetry, skits, songs, andholiday stories. "As a Christian,it's nice to have a program likethis in the community for Christ-mas.

Vedic Day Care Center celebrates ChristmasMOHAMMAD GHOUSE

Vedic Day Care Center children with teachers and Director Vrishabh Das

CHICAGO: Vedic Day CareCenter, a pre-KG learning insti-tute with oriental moorings, cel-ebrated its annual Christmasfunction in Chicago with a goodnumber of community membersand the staff of Day Care Center

in attendance.The occasion was celebrated

with different performances bychildren of the Center.

They sang devotional songs,Christmas carols, and performeda drama about the birth of Christ.

The children exchanged giftsamongst themselves, whichbrought them joy.

The celebration was joined byfriends and family.

The finale of the day was aChristmas lunch. It was a day to

celebrate with excitement andwas enjoyed by all. Throughoutthe years it has been determinedthat the Vedic Day Care wouldcelebrate all such occasions withgreat enthusiasm, which bringsenjoyment to the children.

The director of the CenterVrashbha Das expressed grati-tude to Mayur Patel, Dr. Agarwal,Dr. Devika Arya, Gopal Patel, Dr.CM Modi, Ashok Patel, andKalpesh Patel for their financialsupport.

Cont’d on page 12

‘Being able toachieve our ultimategoal of giving all thechildren presents wasall we could hope for,’said Kali Cohn

January 8, 2010India Post12 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Governor Pat Quinngets Indians' backing

The Governor has signed anew campaign finance law thatcreates the first-ever limits on con-tributions to candidates in Illinois.The tough new law aims at reform-ing state procurement procedures,making it a crime to trade politicalfavors for procurement contracts.Ram Gajjella also spoke aboutGovernor Pat Quinn's programsfor creating jobs in Illinois andhailed him as an old friend of In-dian community.

Governor Pat Quinn thankedIndian community members,IADO members, Ram Gajjela andIftekhar Shareef for coming for-ward to support him. He in factrecognized few faces among theguests and remarked, "I do nottrade old friends for new ones, butI keep getting new friends". Gov-ernor Quinn also hailed Indiancommunity as the hard workingpeople committed to education,ethics of service. "Indian commu-nity is represented at many placesin Illinois by doctors and otherprofessionals. President Obamaextended first state dinner to theIndian Prime Minister. It is a tokenof growing relations between theU.S. and India. The business withIndia has to grow; there shouldbe more import from India."

Speaking about his last 10months as the Governor of Illinois,he said he has been striving to re-form government at every level andto make sure that everyday peoplereceive proper value for their taxdollars. "With integrity and hon-

est hard work, we can repair ourreputation and prove to the world,and ourselves, that this is still theland of Lincoln," he said.

Later, Governor went to everytable and individually met all andshared few moments with them.Iftekhar Shareef and Ram Gajjellathanked all for joining thefundraiser.

Cont’d from page 10

Youth Program holiday party: Santa distributing gifts to young ones and children

IAC holiday celebrations forseniors and youth


MEHTANI WAY: A short stretch of private road leading to Mughal restaurant at Oak Tree Center on Oak Tree

Road in Edison, NJ, has been named after the owners of the restaurant group ó Satish and Sneh Mehtani ó

as ëMehtani Wayí in recognition of their contribution to the economic development of the city. At a brief event to

unveil the naming on Dec 30, outgoing Edison Mayor Jun Choi said such an honor was a ceremonial recogni-

tion, generally accorded to veterans, and did not need a formal City approval. On the occasion, Satish Mehtani

said the honor was recognition for the entire Indian American community. Seen in the picture are Satish and

Sneh Mehtani with Mayor Jun Choi (center) along with friends and supporters.-Pic Jay Seth

Life is a relationship, and bycoming to the IAC and sharingwith others, especially on thisspecial occasion, the members ofthe Seniors Program are buildingone… that's why they say 'themore, the merrier,'" said seniorAriel Christian. Each senior alsoreceived an IAC tote bag.

"Both holiday parties were asuccess. The IAC is happy tohave been able to bring peopletogether here to spread the holi-

day cheer among our staff, vol-unteers, clients, and communitymembers. Making a point to doso every year is important tous," said IAC Executive Direc-tor, Jay Luthra.

These celebrations providedfamilies in need, especially thosewith children, the opportunity tocelebrate the holiday season.The IAC's goal was to make surethat these struggling familiescould also celebrate this timewith loved ones over a warmholiday meal, presents, and en-

tertainment.The Indo-American Center is

a not-for-profit community ser-vice organization serving theSouth Asian immigrant popula-tion. The mission of the Indo-American Center is to promotethe well being of South Asian im-migrants through services thatfacilitate their adjustment, inte-gration and friendship with thewider society, nurture their senseof community, and foster appre-ciation for their heritage and cul-ture.

Traveling exhibition onLord Vishnu developed

SURI SWAMY

CHICAGO: Frist Center for theVisual Arts in Nashville (Tennes-see, USA) has organized a "trav-eling exhibition" titled "Vishnu:Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior".

The Center claims that it "willbe the first major museum exhibi-tion to focus on Vishnu". Open-ing in February 2011 and present-ing approximately 120 paintingsand sculptures that were made inIndia between the fourth and 19thcentury, this exhibition will serveas a brief survey of Hindu art stylesas well as an examination of theVaishnava tradition, it adds.

According to the Center, thefirst section of the exhibition willintroduce Vishnu in his primaryform with subsections dedicatedto his attributes, his consorts, andhis legends. The second sectionwill examine his avatars (incarna-tions), as a group and then indi-vidually. The avatars that are morefrequently celebrated in art will bemore fully represented in the exhi-bition, with substantial subsec-tions dedicated to Rama and

Krishna. The third section willshow some of the ways thatVishnu has been worshipped, withimages of temples and ritual ob-jects.

This exhibition is organized byguest curator Dr. Joan Cumminsfrom Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn,New York).

Cont’d on page 15

According to theCenter, the first sectionof the exhibition willintroduce Vishnu in hisprimary form withsubsections dedicatedto his attributes,his consorts, andhis legends

Governor Quinn alsohailed Indian com-munity as the hardworking people com-mitted to education,ethics of service. ‘In-dian community isrepresented at manyplaces in Illinois bydoctors and otherprofessionals’

January 8, 2010 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

13

Thousands attend Darbar-E-Khalsa


DIAMOND BAR: The 24thDarbar-E-Khalsa celebrations or-ganized by the International Insti-tute of Gurmat Studies, Inc., wentoff magnificently. The event washeld on December 25, 2009, from6am to 4pm at the Diamond BarHigh School in Diamond Bar,

Southern California.It was a beautiful sunny day.

As always, devotees turned upwith their families and friends inthousands to pay respects to theirbeloved tenth great Guru, Sri GuruGobind Singh Ji, on his 343rdbirthday.

Inside the beautifully lit andtastefully decorated gymnasiumhall, the whole- day event startedwith melodious Asa Di Vaar byAkhand Kirtani Jatha of Los An-geles.

This was followed by spiritedShabad Kirtan by about 28 famousRagi Jathas and children's groupsrepresenting various Guru-ghars

of the Southland. SardarnisGurpreet Kaur and Harmala Kaurwith Sardar Ranjit Singh on theTabla led the IGS Kirtani Jatha ofover twenty singers.

In a short but impressive awardsceremony, Five Singhs, in their tra-ditional Khalsa attire gave away

the awards. Sardar Onkar Singh,from Mohali, Punjab, India wasgiven the International GatkaAward for promoting Gatka, theSikh martial arts, internationally.Sardar Sukdev Singh andSardarni Jaswinder Kaur of Ma-laysia were presented with theInternational Dasmesh Award fora life time of dedicated service tothe Panth and for creating inno-vative channels of sewa for pro-moting Sikh values and traditionin Malaysia.

Sardar Hardev Singh recited aspirited poem in Punjabi.Sardarnis Simran Kaur Khalsa

and Jessi Kaur, who participatedin the Parliament of World Reli-gions recently in Australia, spokeon the utmost need of sharing themessage of Sri Guru Granth Sahibwith the rest of the World.

Sardar Arvinder Singh ap-pealed to the Sangat for makinggenerous donations as the costof hosting this grand Gurpurabcelebration had gone up consid-erably over the years. Papa urgedall to take the upcoming US Cen-sus of 2010 seriously and to writePunjabi/Sikh in the Form against

the appropriate question of Race.Outside the hall, the entire area

looked festive, with people intheir colorful turbans, chunis andscarves mingling joyfully. Therewere long lines for deliciouschholey pathurey breakfast and,sumptuous Guru Ka Langar.There were about twenty vendorsbusy selling their goods underbright canopies.

About 3 pm, after the Dewanconcluded, the several thousandstrong sangat followed the golfcart carriage carrying Sri GuruGranth Sahib Ji's Palki to the heli-copter landing area. A few Gatka

players led the Khalsa Parade.Hundreds of youngsters carryingKhalsa flags and banners followed.Two groups of Punj Piaras escortedGuru Sahib's swaari to the waitinghelicopter. After a short Ardaas byBhai Jaswant Singh, Sri GuruGranth Sahib Ji was given a warmsend off as the helicopter gentlylifted up into the clear blue sky,amidst thunderous Jaikaaras ofBole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal.

Final Ardaas was performedby Sardarni Jasjit Kaur, Hukamwas read by Sardarni Manjeet

Kaur. Sardarnis Gurinder Kaurand Sumeet Kaur took care of thedecorations with the help ofSardar Manjit Singh of "Manjitflowers".

Sardars Maninder Singh,Gurkirpal Singh, Arvinder Singh,Ranjit Singh, Harsimran Singhand families played a key role inthe decorations.. Karah ParshaadDeg was provided by GurdwaraRaseda. Chholey Pathure sewawas carried out by Bhai ManjitSingh and Jatha. Sewa of ChaPakouras was done by Sardars JPSingh, Shingara Singh andJasmeet Singh.

Langar was catered bySardar Satpal Singh of DiamondPalace Cuisine of India. Langardistribution was coordinatedby Sardars Baljit Singh andKush Singh. Vendor coordina-tion was by Sardar AmarjyotSingh. Shoe Sewa was carriedout by Sardars Divraj Singh,Giri jesh Singh and family.Sardars Harvinder Singh andTejinder Singh looked after allthe eating arrangements andupkeep of the area.

Cont’d on page 16

The IIGS Jatha

The Majestic Dewan of Sri Guru Granth Sahib

The Khalsa parade

In a short but impres-sive awards cer-emony, Five Singhs, intheir traditional Khalsaattire gave away theawards. Sardar OnkarSingh, from Mohali,Punjab, India wasgiven the InternationalGatka Award forpromoting Gatka, theSikh martial arts, inter-nationally

January 8, 2010India Post14 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Violent assault on West Texas SikhIndia Post News Service

A Sikh graduate student wasthrown into a swimming pool andbrutally assaulted in West Texas.The young man (identity withheldfor his protection) held a part-timejob delivering pizzas to ease theburden of his college expenses.He brought pizzas into a home ona delivery and four men took thepizza. Without paying, they beganeating, while at the same time hurl-ing racial epithets at the Sikh manand threatening him.

"I'm going to **** you up inIraq, I'm going to **** you up inAfghanistan, I'm going to ****you up over here."

The men then grabbed the Sikhstudent and threw him into a swim-ming pool. The four attackers sur-rounded the pool, kicking him in

the head and body. Every time hetried to escape, they would stompor hit at him. For 20 minutes, heswam for his life trying to escape.He eventually seized an opportu-nity to flee and barely made it tohis car with two men in pursuit.

The Sikh man went to the hos-pital to address his injuries thenext day. He is now doing betterphysically, but is still emotionallyscarred because his attackershave been roaming free.

Local police do littleThough the local police were

called shortly after the attack, theyfailed to respond adequately. Thepolice classified the incident as amisdemeanor, which means thatthe attackers may not have toserve any jail time.

The attackers' behavior put thisyoung man's life at risk. The Sikh

Coalition and the victim said theyare appalled at this lack of action

by local police.The local police also did not

file the incident as a hate crime. Itis clear from the attackers' refer-ences to 'bin Laden' and 'Go backto Afghanistan' and the fact thatthey kicked off his turban that thisassault targeted not only him asan individual, but his Sikh iden-tity.

Harsimran Kaur, the SikhCoalition's Legal Director, con-tacted the local police departmentdemanding the men be chargedwith hate crimes. Although the lo-cal police department refused toprosecute the perpetrators, theSikh Coalition did not give up. Itcontacted the Department of Jus-tice (DOJ) which is now investi-gating the matter as a possible fed-eral hate crime.

"I was terrified that I would diethat night," the victim said. "Noone should have to endure some-

thing like this just because of theirreligion, ethnicity or appearance.I am grateful that the Sikh Coali-tion intervened or else I surelywould have not gotten any seri-ous response from any of the lawenforcement agencies."

Because criminal charges havenot been brought against thisyoung Sikh's attackers, they re-main free to live in the town wherehe was attacked. The student hasreceived numerous death threatsover the past few months. He re-cently fled the town and hasmoved into a new home. Theyoung man intends to continuehis education at another univer-sity.

Due to the sensitive nature ofthe case, the Sikh Coalition hasbeen asked not to release personalinformation at this time.

AID LA works for poorest in IndiaIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Associationfor India's Development (AID)'smission is to keep us all connectedto the poorest and mostmarginalized of Indians - theirlives, joys, struggles and suc-cesses; to channel the compassionand understanding, the energy andideas present in all of us, to make adifference. AID collaborates withgrassroots organizations acrossIndia in the fields of education,health care, environmental protec-tion and social justice.

AID LA, the Los Angeles chap-ter of the organization, is commit-ted to supporting projects in In-dia every year. It has issued anappeal to members of the commu-

hazards. Although productivityincreased over the short term, theyield gradually dropped, entailinggreater fertilizer consumption.

This further damaged the eco-sys-tems that rejuvenate soil fertility(e.g. worms made land airy and fer-tile) leading to a vicious cycle.

Project methodology: Thisproject focused on the tribal re-gion (13 villages in Birbhum Dis-trict, West Bengal) where soil deg-radation and inadequate water-supply had resulted in high un-employment and lack of means forlivelihood. To improve their socio-economic condition, the small andmarginal farmers were encouragedto use organic farming techniqueslike usage of bio-manure and bio-

nity and others to contribute sometime and money to help in AIDLA's work in India. It says that itis such generous monthly andannual donations that support thework of changing the lives of themost marginalized. One can beginby contributing to the annual OneFor India (OFI) campaign. Thecontributions are tax deductibleand will be effectively utilized,says AID LA.

AID LA meets the 2nd Sundayof every month at 11 am at UCLAand has a phone call the 4th Sun-day of every month at 2 pm. Meet-ings are open to all.

Showcase projectAID LA's showcase project for

2008-2009 has been the support ofthe Livelihood Generation via Or-

ganic Farming techniques inBirbhum District, West Bengal.

Project background: Over thepast 40 years since the "greenrevolution", there has been anoveruse of chemical fertilizers inagricultural land, resulting in se-vere soil degradation, besidessocio-environmental impacts likeland erosion, pollution and health

fertilizer for soil enrichmentthrough workshops for awarenessand knowledge-building withtechnical help from Agriculture

College at Viswa Bharti University,and through demonstration sitesto produce & sell bio-fertilizers.Women were educated about andinvolved in these efforts to createalternate means of livelihood.

Results: A considerablechange in the perception offarmers has been seen over past2 years. Women SHG-operatedvermicompost units are cur-rently producing bio-fertilizers.Small experimental lands aresuccessfully being used for or-ganic cultivation of vegetablesfor everyday use.

The Sikh man wentto the hospital toaddress his injuriesthe next day. He isnow doing betterphysically, but is stillemotionally scarredbecause his attack-ers have beenroaming free


15

It will be accompanied by afully illustrated catalogue with es-says and object entries byCummins and other distinguishedscholars in the areas of religiousstudies and anthropology. Thecurrently planned venues of thistraveling exhibition include FristCenter (February 25 to May 29,2011), Brooklyn Museum (June 24to September 18, 2011), and Port-land Art Museum in Oregon (Oc-tober 2011).

The vision of the Frist Centeris to inspire people through art tolook at their world in new ways.William R. Frist is Board Chairmanand Katie Delmez is Curator.Vishnu is "preserver" in the Hindutriad with Brahma and Shiva as theaspect of the Supreme. He had tenincarnations to establish dharma(divine law).

Indians across the countryhave applauded Frist Center fordeveloping this Hinduism focusedexhibition. Bhailal Patel, a commu-nity activist , said that the moveby the Frist Center not only needsto be welcomed by all right mindedpeople of Indian origin here but

that the lead given by Frist needsto be followed by other Museumsin the country.

Rajan Zed, who is president ofUniversal Society of Hinduism, ina statement in Nevada (USA) saidthat art had a long and rich tradi-

Traveling exhibition onLord Vishnu developed

tion in Hinduism and ancient San-skrit literature talked about reli-gious paintings of deities on woodor cloth. It was a laudable step forFrist Center to provide opportu-nity to the world to further exploreHinduism and its concepts.


Parliament of Religions showed we can work togetherSIMRAN KAUR KHALSA

It is 2010, and as a human racewe are still dying by our ownhands. Wars are still rampant,people still feel hate in their heartsfor another human being, and weare dying either through someonepulling the trigger, or by someonepolluting the food, the air and thewater, or by someone creatingvaccines that are deadlier than asimple flu. The most horrifyingaspect of this is that we are allow-ing it all to happen. We have notyet as a human race connected toour true soul connection. We havenot connected with the full spec-

trum of what this Creation is-- whatGod is about. And yet there havebeen, throughout the many cen-turies, incredible teachers andmasters who came to offer usglimpses of the infinite beauty that

Cont’d on page 17

this planet has to offer.We can give thanks to the

Council for a Parliament of theWorld's Religions. Every five

years, the Parliament cre-ates a venue for peopleof faith to come togetherto share their wisdom andknowledge for a betterworld; where all peopleare at peace with one an-other, where we can cometogether and find solu-tions to stop the pollu-tion, find solutions tostop hatred, find solu-tions to bring balance toa world that does noteven have a concept of

what true balance is.There is, thank God, still hope.

There are many teachers, andmany enlightened people on thisplanet who continue to offer thebasic teachings of love and re-

spect for this planet and for thehuman race.

During the Holy Season of themonth of December, The Parlia-ment of the World's Religions washeld in Melbourne, Australia fromDec. 3rd through the 9th. Repre-sentatives of all the world's reli-gions came from all over the worldto participate in the 2009 theme,"Making a World of Difference,Hearing Each Other and Healingthe Earth."

Just as Christians go on a pil-grimage to the Vatican, the Jewish

People go to Jerusalem, and theMuslims go to Mecca, so too doreligious leaders involved in inter-faith work go on pilgrimage, so tospeak, to the Parliament of theWorld's Religions.

6000 people gathered to talkabout the conditions that thisworld is faced with, focusing onsuch themes as: "Healing the Earthwith Care and Concern", "Over-coming Poverty in an UnequalWorld", Securing Food and Wa-ter for All People", "IndigenousPeoples", "Building Peace in the

Pursuit of Justice", "Creating So-cial Cohesion in Village and City",and "Sharing Wisdom in theSearch for Inner Peace".

The sub-themes of importancediscussed at the Parliament in-cluded: "United Nations Millen-nium Development Goals-chal-lenges and Opportunities for Glo-bal Stability"; "Poverty in WealthyCountries"; "Interreligious Part-nerships for Ending Hunger";"The Impact of Women in ConflictResolution"; "Muslim Women Se-curing Their Own Individuality";

Simran Kaur leading a workshop group

SKK with Sikh youth from India Religious leaders at the Parliament of Religions

Bhailal Patel, a com-munity activist , saidthat the move by theFrist Center not onlyneeds to be wel-comed by all rightminded people ofIndian origin here butthat the lead given byFrist needs to befollowed by otherMuseums in thecountry

January 8, 2010India Post16 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Over all coordination of theevent was carried out by SardarSarabdayal Singh. He andSardar Kaviraj Singh assistedby Sardarnis Gurpreet KaurPreeti, Geetika Kaur, TaranamolKaur, Prabhneet Kaur andRamneek Kaur managed the stagecoordination.

Thousands attend Darbar-E-KhalsaCont’d from page 14

Joint Kirtan by So Cal Raagi Jathas

Kirtan Singh Khalsa, Sarabjit Singh, Sharmaine Dias and Harbhajan Singh Samra

Simran Kaur Khalsa

The main courtyard and bazaar

Ceremonial sendoff to the Holy scriptures Vendors from India


17

Ahmadiyyas condemn terror bid on Northwest airlinerIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: TheAhmadiyya Muslim Communityhas strongly condemned the at-tempted Northwest flight 253 at-tack. In a statement, it says "AsMuslims who believe in the Mes-siah, Mirza Ghulam AhmadQadiani, the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity holds to the true Is-lamic teaching of peace and de-nounces any act that disturbs thepeace of any society and the se-curity of any community."

It says the incident involving a

23-year-old Nigerian with allegedties to terrorists violates Quranicprinciples, such as the Quranicdirectives "And create not disor-der in the earth" (Ch. 7: verse 57)and "whosoever killed a person…it shall be as if he had killed allmankind" (5:33). "Islam con-demns violence and the taking ofinnocent lives, and theAhmadiyya Muslim Communityrejects any claims from those whosay such acts follow Islamic prin-ciples. There is no place for vio-lence of this kind in Islam, andIslam has no need for those who

resort to violence in a so-calleddefense of their faith. "Reverencefor life is a part of Islam," said Dr.Nasim Rehmatullah, Vice Presi-dent of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity USA. "Islam teachesand requires Muslims to bemodel law-abiding and peace-lov-ing citizens, wherever, they live,"he added.

In the face of increasing vio-lence in the Muslim world, theAhmadiyya Muslim Community'sworldwide spiritual leader, MirzaMasroor Ahmad, has exhortedmembers of the Community to

"follow peace in your life." Fur-thermore, the founder of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community,Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani,emphatically declared that an ag-gressive "jihad by the sword" hasno place in Islam.

In its place, he taught his fol-lowers to wage a peaceful, intel-lectual "jihad of the pen" to de-fend Islam. Through his teach-ings, the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity has become the lead-ing Islamic organization to cat-egorically reject violence and ter-rorism in any form.

Parliament ofReligions showed wecan work togetherCont’d from page 15

"Aboriginal Women-Healing the Landand its People"; "Religion's Imperative toPresent 'the Other' Faithfully",

"The Disrespect of Women in Our Soci-ety" . . . Over 200 workshops/talks were of-fered everyday.

The Parliament of the World's Religionsis setting a beautiful example. It is showingthe world that we can come together andcommunicate with one another, that we canwork together, and that we can come to-gether hand in hand to figure out how toresolve world issues.

The next major step is for all people towalk hand in hand to help transform a worldthat is mostly disempowering the humanrace; for the world to come together to fightagainst injustice, and against the govern-mental tactics of creating fear in people,which only weakens the people. We cancome together to uplift one another, to in-spire one another to be truly human; to be apeople who use all of our senses; a peoplewho can connect with the Creator's Infinitetruths, wisdom, and knowledge; a peoplewho are in tune with our own cosmic real-ity; and in short-people who are in tune withthis earthly planet.

Let us continue one day at a time, one per-son at a time, to open up our body, mind, andsoul to the Infinite Truths that are within us.

May all the Sikhs, the Hindus, the Jains,the Zoroastrians, the Buddhists, the Jews,the Christians, the Muslims, the Pagans . . .may all religions come together to inspireone another and uplift one another throughthe wisdom that lies within their respectivefaiths. So many truths are available to us.We simply have to stop and really try andunderstand what the great prophets, teach-ers, masters, and Gurus were trying to teachus and show us.

It is impossible to depict what truly tran-spired during the week of December the 3rdthrough the 9th at the Parliament of theWorld's Religions. So many incredible reli-gious leaders as well as the simplest con-cerned human being came to interact, talk,listen, and be inspired by one another. Takethe time to view the Parliament of theWorld's Religions' website:www.parliamentofreligions.org

‘Islam condemnsviolence and thetaking of innocentlives, and theAhmadiyya MuslimCommunity rejectsany claims from thosewho say such actsfollow Islamicprinciples’

Briefs India India Post January 8, 2010www.indiapost.com18

NewsJapan wants India to sign CTBT;

PM puts onus on US, China

NEW DELHI: Resisting Japan'spush for signing ComprehensiveTest Ban Treaty (CTBT), India hasmade it clear that the onus of tak-ing the lead in this regard lies withthe US and China which are yet toratify the pact.

After his talks with Japanesecounterpart Yukio Hatoyamahere during which non-prolifera-tion and civil nuclear issueswere discussed, Prime MinisterMinister Manmohan Singh saidIndia was "deeply interested" inworking with Japan and other"like-minded" countries for "thecause of universal, verifiableand non-discriminatory disar-mament."

Japan, however, promised to

Wage hike for 7 medical institutesNEW DELHI: In a New Year

bonanza, the government hascleared a proposal for a wagehike for faculty members of pre-mier medical institutes like AIIMSand PGI Chandigarh bringingthem at par with their counter-parts in IITs and IIMs.

The proposal, which will costRs 91.60 crore to the exchequer,was cleared by a Union cabinetmeeting chaired by Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh, officialsources said here.

The new pay-scale will be

implemented with retrospectiveeffect from January one, 2006 whilethe allowance will be paid effec-tive from September one, 2008,they said.

Besides AIIMS and PGIChandigarh, Northeastern IndiraGandhi Regional Institute of

Health and Medical Science,Shillong, Vimhans, Bangalore,Jawaharlal Institute of Post Gradu-ate Medical Education and Re-search, Puducherry.

Faculties of two more institutesLokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Re-gional Institute of Mental Health,

West Bengal among worstperformers in NREGA: Pranab

KOLKATA: The Left Front Government in West Bengal isamong the worst performing states in providing work to ruralpeople under the National Rural Employment GuaranteeScheme, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here.

"West Bengal is among the states which are lagging be-hind in implementing the scheme," he told a convention ofPradesh Mahila Congress here and pointed out that thestate had failed to provide 100 days work to the rural pooras mandated under the Act. -PTI

31 MLAs of JMM-led coalition havecriminal cases

RANCHI: The new five-partycoalition in Jharkhand which is allset to assume power tomorrowhas 31 MLAs with criminal casesagainst them.

The coalition, headed by JMM,has 44 MLAs in the 81-member as-sembly. Leading the pack is ShibuSoren's JMM whose 17 out of 18MLAs have criminal cases againstthem, the National Election Watch(NEW) said on the basis of affida-vits of the elected legislators.

The only JMM MLA, whohas no criminal case against heris Sita Soren, daughter-in-law ofShibu Soren and widow of DurgaSoren. -PTI

relax curbs on hi-tech trade asthe two countries sought to im-part greater depth to their ties by

unveiling an action plan cover-ing defense and counter-terror-ism exchanges and vowing to

step up trade.At a joint press conference with

Singh after the talks, Hatoyama

said the two countries have "dif-ferences" over the issue of CTBTand Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Treaty (NPT).Noting that he had discussed

the issue with Singh, he said, "Iexpressed the hope that alongwith the US and China, India willsign and ratify the (CTBT)treaty.

"In response, Prime MinisterSingh said should the US andChina ratify the CTBT, a newsituation will emerge. I believe hehas stated it as a matter of fact,"Hatoyama said, adding "Wefirmly have to engage in theseendeavors."

On his part, Singh referred toIndia's "unilaterally-declaredmoratorium" on nuclear tests andsaid "that is a commitment we will

honor." He also underlined India's"impeccable record" with regardto non-proliferation. -PTI

Prime Minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

at the delegation level talks, in New Delhi on December 29

PM Manmohan Singh and the PM of Japan Yukio Hatoyama exchanging the

signed Joint Statement, in New Delhi on December 29

Tezpur, and Regional Institute ofMedical Sciences, Imphal, willalso get Sixth Pay Commissionbenefits as per the UGC scale.

Faculty of these institutes hadrefused to accept the revisedemoluments as per Sixth PayCommission recommendationsdemanding a pay hike at par withthose in the IIMs and IITs.

Health Minister Ghulam NabiAzad had carried out a study ofthe problems of the faculty mem-bers before making a note to theUnion Cabinet. -PTI

E S L Narasimhantakes charge asAndhra Governor

HYDERABAD: E S LakshmiNarasimhan has been sworn-in asthe Governor of Andhra Pradeshfollowing N D Tiwari's resignationin the wake of a controversy overa sting operation purportedlyshowing him in a compromisingposition with three women.

He was administered the oathof office by AP High Court ChiefJustice A Ramesh Dave at a brieffunction in the Raj Bhavan.

President Pratibha Patil hadasked Narasimhan, currently theChattisgarh Governor, to dis-charge the duties in the RajBhavan here till further arrange-ments were made.

Chief Minister K Rosaiah, hisCabinet colleagues, leaders of op-position parties, former Chief Min-ister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao andothers attended the function. -PTI

Army seeksspecialized close-quarter weapon

NEW DELHI: Learning fromthe 26/11 terror attacks, the Armyis buying specialized weaponsthat enable its commandos to"observe and fire" at the enemyhiding around a corner, a hurdleusually encountered during ur-ban warfare situations.

The Army has floated a Requestfor Information (RFI) seeking de-tails from manufacturers of such hi-tech close-quarter weapons thatcan be fired without exposing thetroops or with minimum exposureof the commando to enemy fire.

These urban warfare weaponsystems are likely to be suppliedto the Army's special forces andpara-commando units that gothrough specialized training forclose-quarter warfare and forspecialized operations. -PTI

Faculty of these institutes had refused toaccept the revised emoluments as per SixthPay Commission recommendations

At a joint press confer-ence with Singh afterthe talks, Hatoyamasaid the two countrieshave'differences"over the issue of CTBTand NuclearNon-ProliferationTreaty (NPT)

India PostJanuary 8, 2010 India 19

www.indiapost.com

Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyamameets Tata, Ambani

MUMBAI: Visiting JapanesePrime Minister Yukio Hatoyamamet top Indian industry leaders,including Reliance IndustriesChairman Mukesh Ambani andTata Group Chairman RatanTata, here.

During the meeting, the Japa-nese premier is understood tohave discussed a host of issues,primarily the bilateral trade rela-tions between India and Japan, aCII spokesperson told PTI. "Thediscussions were primarily onhow to improve trade between

India and Japan," the spokesper-son said.

Over 20 top Indian industrial-ists, including Bajaj group's chiefRahul Bajaj, Maruti Suzuki Chair-

man R C Bhargava, Godrej grouphead Adi Godrej, Godrej & BoyceChairman and MD Jamshyd NGodrej attended the meeting.

Hatoyama paid homage to thevictims of the 26/11 terror attacksat Hotel Taj and Trident, the twoluxury hotels which were targetedlast year by terrorists, here.

The 62-year-old Japaneseleader, who is accompanied by hiswife Miyuki Hatoyama and a high-level delegation, was received atthe Raj Bhavan by Governor S CJamir at a reception dinner. -PTI

Medical quota for rural experienceNEW DELHI: A quota of a dif-

ferent kind awaits medical stu-dents who are keen to pursue apost graduate course in medicinewith the Union Health Ministrymulling reservation of 25 per centseats in PG courses for MBBSdoctors who have practiced forthree years in rural areas.

The proposal, which was for-warded to the Health ministry bythe Medical Council of India(MCI), is one of the many stepswhich the government is planningto take to address the problem offew doctors being keen to prac-tice in rural areas.

"The Government has pumpedin a huge amount of money tobuild infrastructure as part of theNational Rural Health Mission,but due to lack of doctors, mostof the Primary Health Centers andthe Community Health Centers areshut," MCI President Ketan Desaitold PTI.

Desai said the medical councilhad sent these proposals to the

ministry along with others like aseparate medical degree for therural practitioners and extra marksfor PG students who have prac-ticed in rural areas.

The MCI has called a meetingon February 4-5 with principals of300 medical colleges, the Direc-

tors of Medical Education of allstates and Union Health Ministryofficials in this matter.

The Centre is also contemplat-ing a separate, shorter durationbachelor of medicine course forstudents of notified rural areas inthe country.

The hinterland, where few doc-tors want to serve, could soonhave a dedicated corps of medicalpractitioners drawn from amongstudents raised in rural areas. -PTI

MCI President Ketan Desai

Pratham presented Indian of Year awardIndia Post News Service

NEW DELHI: Pratham, an NGOworking for a better life for chil-dren in India, has been selectedas the winner of the prestigiousCNN-IBN Indian of the Year awardin the public service category forits outstanding contributions inthe field of universal literacy andeducation among children. PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh, pre-sented the Pratham team with theaward at a glittering ceremony inMumbai on December 21.

The CNN-IBN award honorsand recognizes Indians whoseextraordinary endeavors havebuilt brand India. Winners arechosen through a rigorous four-step process. Other winners this

and AR Rahman (Entertainment).Pratham, in a statement said,

"This recognition of our work isa strong testimony to the scaleand effectiveness of Pratham'swork and the passion and dedi-cation of its people. Pratham hascome a long way from its originsin the slums of Mumbai, and istoday impacting the lives of mil-lions of children across India."

In his speech during the awardgiving ceremony, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said, "One or-ganization that does work for theupliftment of the silent majority isPratham. In honoring them today,we recognize a pioneering NGOmodel that draws on the expertiseand experience of educationists,corporates, workers, activists andprofessionals and unites them inthe common vision of a better lifefor all our children."

year include Rahul Gandhi (Poli-tics), Saina Nehwal (Sports), theSatyam revival team (Business),

Ruchika case: Court grants'no relief' to DGP RathorePANCHKULA: Facing immi-

nent arrest following filing of freshFIRs against him in the Ruchikacase, former Haryana DGP SPSRathore moved an anticipatorybail plea before the sessions courthere which did not grant him anyimmediate relief.

Abha, the lawyer-wife of 67-year-old Rathore, submitted be-fore District and Sessions JudgeS P Singh that "fabricated, twistedand forged" facts were being pre-sented by the family of RuchikaGirhotra in connection with themolestation case, in which theformer IPS officer has got sixmonths imprisonment.

In a 40-page petition, she al-leged that her husband was fac-ing a "nothing but a trial by themedia" and sought protection ofthe court.

To a question by the judge onwhether she was in possession ofthe copies of the fresh FIRs, Abhareplied in the packed courtroom,"We came to know of the FIRsand the fresh charges through themedia. We want protection of thiscourt in view of the media trial anddistortion of facts."

After hearing the arguments,the judge first adjourned the pro-ceedings, saying he would haveto go through the details and laterissued notice to the state for a re-ply on January one. The court didnot grant Rathore any immediaterelief on his plea.

Earlier in the morning, a grim-faced Rathore in sharp contrastto the wide grin he sported theday he got six months imprison-ment earlier this month, stepped

out of his residence after havingmaintained a low profile followinguproar in the media over his get-ting away lightly in the case.

Rathore refused to take ques-tions from the reporters and pro-ceeded to the court with his wife.

Contesting the charges madeby Madhu Parkash, mother ofAradhana, sole witness to themolestation in 1990, Rathore's wife

Abha, submitted, "MadhuParkash is forging the facts."Madhu was the complainant inthe molestation case.

Wearing a dark grey suit, blueshirt and a tie, Rathore was seatedin the court.

Commencing the arguments,Abha said that it was an 18 to 19year-old case and "Ashu (brotherof Ruchika) all these years neverraised the charge of 307 IPC (at-tempt to murder) in any court.

"In all the FIRs no such allega-tion of attempt to murder wasmade by Ashu. We came to knowabout this charge through themedia," she said. -PTI

The Center is alsocontemplating aseparate, shorterduration bachelor ofmedicine course forstudents of notifiedrural areas

SPS Rathore

'The discussionswere primarily onhow to improvetrade between Indiaand Japan'

India Post January 8, 2010www.indiapost.com

Real Estate20

Realty Tidbits

Factors that drive real estateprices in India

MUMBAI: What drives realestate prices in India? The factorsvary from city to city. In most coun-tries, the construction of a noisyairport may be reason for residentsto flee, but in India, the prospectof Mumbai's second airport com-ing up near Khargar is driving upprices. According to Gulam Zia,national director, research and ad-visory services, Knight Frank, theNavi Mumbai area - from Vashi toPanvel - is likely to grow fasterthan other locations in Mumbai.

This is primarily due to the ex-pectation that the new airportcould come up here in the next 6-7years in addition to the trans-har-bor link. The entire look of NaviMumbai could change in the com-ing few years, as Kharghar andNerul record multi-fold growth.Noida and Ghaziabad are comingup well due to the metro projectsshaping up in the vicinity.

There are plans to extend the

metro network to Manesar as well.These are the areas that are emerg-ing quite fast and good growth isexpected here.

In Chennai, it's the OMR - whichis short for Old MahabalipuramRoad -that is turning out to be thecity's IT corridor. The IT industryis the economic growth driver in

the region. Further up, the areaaround Mahindra World City isalso seeing a lot of development.Industrial growth in this region is ahuge contributing factor. Overall, abalanced mix of growth is beingwitnessed in this corridor.

Disruptions over Telangana

aside, for Hyderabad, the majorgrowth areas have always beenGachibowli, Madhapur, andShamshabad. Again, IT is the keydriver for growth. A huge amountof supply of real estate can be seenin Hyderabad. "Overall, the city isnot as attractive for investment asother southern cities at the mo-

ment, or for that matter other cit-ies in our top 10 list," says Zia.

In Bangalore, locations whichprovide good enough growth fromthe IT angle include, Sarjapur andthe Ring Road junction area. Apeculiar aspect to note is thataround the Electronic City and

Whitefield area, good develop-ment is being seen, but these twolocalities are struggling for infra-structure.

However, these two areas willsee good growth in the next twoyears. The other localities to watchout for include the area around theroad connecting the new airportand Hebal, as they are likely to growconsiderably in the coming years.

In the East, Kolkata is the onlycity that figures in the top 10 listof cities that are expected to seesubstantial growth. "Kolkata isalso banking on the IT story. Sev-eral projects are expected to comeup in Rajarhat and Salt Lake.

Other emerging locations in-clude Mahesh Tala and Tara Tala.Many new townships are beingconstructed in Tara Tala, gradu-ally transforming it from an indus-trial zone to a residential township.This will be a promising area in thefuture," informs Zia.

NRIs take closer look at real estateIndians living abroad are

equally eligible for housingloans from banks in India, but

with some riders. Christmas andNew Year see an influx of Indiansbased abroad. This year is no dif-ferent. This time, though, the non-resident Indians (NRIs) are takinga closer look at real estate here.The correction in property priceshas attracted many, who aim toreturn to India in the near future.

An NRI is an Indian citizen,holding a valid Indian passportand staying abroad for employ-

ment, business or vocational pur-poses. According to the ReserveBank of India and the Income TaxAct, an NRI can buy real estate inIndia and avail housing loans onresidential properties from banks.

They are only denied purchaseof agricultural land, farm house orplantation property in the coun-try. Calculation of eligibility and

interest rate for NRI loans is notvery different from that of the In-dian residents.

However, there are some pre-requisites for an NRI loan: check-ing of the qualifications, their cur-rent job profile, past experience,the probability of continuingabroad for the loan tenure, theprobability of servicing the loanwith an extended tenure in case ofreturn to India, and so on.

The loan-to-value (LTV) ratiofor NRIs varies from one bank toanother, though the calculation issame as in case of a regular homeloan. The down-payment for NRIhome loan is permitted throughdirect remittances from abroadthrough normal banking channelsor from deposit accounts in India,including a non-resident ordinary

rupee (NRO) account. The incometaken into account for calculatingthe home loan eligibility is therepatriable income, plus any in-come in India.

There are some additionaldocuments that they need to sub-mit with the application form.These include a copy of the pass-port and visa and general Powerof Attorney (PoA) in favor of alocal person as drafted by the bank

and duly attested by the Indianconsulate at the place of resi-dence. Most banks require thePoA to ease the process of deal-ing with the borrower.

A copy of the appointment let-ter and contract, salary certificate(in English) specifying name, dateof joining, designation and salarydetails and bank statements forthe last six months, both domestic(NRE/NRO/FCNR) and interna-tional, and a copy of local incometax returns filed in the country ofresidence will be needed.

As an NRI, one can enhanceloan eligibility by taking a joint loanwith a relative. However, for creditreasons, banks allow only a selectlist of relatives to become jointowners of the property.

Repayment of home loans forNRIs is permissible through specificsources, such as remittances fromabroad through recognized bankingchannels or from any deposit ac-counts maintained validly in Indiaor through a specified close relative.Tax deduction benefits on homeloan repayments cannot be availedunless the returns are filed in India.

Developers shiftfocus to affordablehousing

MUMBAI: Over the last 60years, a lot of development in In-dia has taken place to meet theessential needs of people such asroti, kapada and makaan. Evenduring the British regime, India didnot have slums. Rich people wereable to live lavishly and poorpeople were at least able to owntheir homes, although small ones,at cheap rates. However, now theparadigm has changed.

Amidst this scenario, public-private partnerships are happen-ing in urban development, includ-ing large infrastructure projectswhere there is a huge allocation offunds by the government of Indiato the tune of Rs 3 lakh crore. Thegovernment is also developingmetro projects such as theAndheri-Ghatkopar line, apartfrom the sea-link project connect-ing Haji Ali with south Mumbai.The Mumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority has comeup with schemes for rental hous-ing, creating small tenements of 160sq ft each. It thus becomes impera-tive for the government to focuson providing affordable housing.

Pearls Group opens Four-Star resort in Goa

Real Estate Company Pearls Group has launched itsfour-star resort at Colva Beach in South Goa. The

50-room four-star resort is set up on an old property,which was completely re-designed at the cost of Rs 30crore by the firm, which has its hold over businesses likereal estate, infrastructure, education, tourism, fast mov-ing consumer goods and media. Jyoti Narain, ExecutiveDirector, Pearls Oceanique Resort said, "The Group al-ready has properties in Himachal Pradesh, Masoori andGold Coast in Australia.

Unitech plan toraise bondsoverseas in trouble

Real estate firm Unitech's planto raise USD 700 million in

convertible bonds overseas hasrun into trouble with financialregulators opposing a waiver of athree-year lock-in for such invest-ments, a newspaper said. Despitethe opposition from the FinanceMinistry and the central bank, theForeign Investment PromotionBoard, responsible for approvingsuch investments, would reviewthe issue at its next meeting, thepaper said citing a governmentofficial familiar with the develop-ment.

Unitech has argued the con-vertible bonds should be treatedas debt until they are convertedinto shares.

In most countries, the construction of a noisyairport may be reason for residents to flee, but inIndia, the prospect of Mumbai's second airportcoming up near Khargar is driving up prices

The down-payment for NRI home loan is per-mitted through direct remittances from abroadthrough normal banking channels or fromdeposit accounts in India, including a non-resident ordinary rupee (NRO) account

www.indiapost.com21 India Post January 8, 2010

Health ScienceHealth Line

House and Senate look tofinal health care talks

WASHINGTON: How manyAmericans will get subsidized medi-cal coverage plus who will pay forit will be front-burner issues whenCongress returns next month tocomplete President Barack Obama'shealth care remake.

Pocketbook concerns join abor-tion and whether Uncle Sam shouldpeddle insurance as the top bonesof contention for negotiators whomust resolve difference betweenthe House and Senate bills.

The negotiations are the lastchance for Democrats to shape thelegislation to deliver concrete ben-efits to Americans skeptical that itwill help control skyrocketing pre-miums as it expands coverage tomillions more.

``People will really begin to fo-cus on some of the core issues thathave received less attention,'' saidRep. Chris Van Hollen, a member ofthe House leadership. ``These arethe bread-and-butter issues thatwill have the most significant im-pact on people's pocketbooks.''

The Democratic-controlled

Conn. chiropracticboard to discussstroke risk

HARTFORD, Conn.: A stateregulatory board that overseeschiropractors is consideringwhether patients should bewarned about a possible risk ofstroke from neck manipulation.

Connecticut's state Board ofChiropractic Examiners is expectedto issue a ruling on whether chiro-practors should be required to tellpatients about the risk of strokeand the symptoms of stroke.

A group of patients injured dur-ing chiropractic treatment has lob-bied the General Assembly to passlegislation requiring chiropractorsto notify their patients about therisks of neck manipulation.

Chiropractors have arguedthey are being singled out andthat the risks from adjustments arevery low.-AP

Four Statesweigh marijuanareform

OLYMPIA, Wash.: Washing-ton is one of four states wheremeasures to legalize and regulatemarijuana have been introduced.

Bills were introduced in Califor-nia and Massachusetts earlier thisyear, and this month, New Hamp-shire and Washington state prefiledbills in advance of their legislativesessions that begin in January. Mari-juana is illegal under federal law.

Marijuana advocates say thatwhile legalization efforts are notlikely to get much traction in state-houses anytime soon, the level ofinterest is increasing.

About two dozen other statesare considering bills ranging frommedical marijuana to decriminaliz-ing possession of small amountsof the herb. -AP

affordable for many of them.Those covered by big employ-

ers wouldn't see major changes,but individuals buying their ownpolicies and small businesseswould be able to shop for com-petitively priced plans in an insur-ance supermarket called an ex-

change. Medicare cuts and an as-sortment of taxes and fees wouldpay for the bills.

Democrats are under pressureto reconcile the House and Sen-ate versions before Obama's firstState of the Union speech. Notyet scheduled, it's usually deliv-ered in late January or early Feb-ruary. Republicans will wage leg-islative guerrilla warfare to delayan agreement.

There's not much time, and ap-

White House and Congress arenow closer to achieving near-universal health care than any of theirpredecessors. Extending health carecoverage to 30 million out of nearly50 million uninsured Americansbrings the president close to achiev-ing his top domestic priority.

Hard work still remains: the Sen-ate bill must be harmonized withthe version approved by theHouse of Representatives.

Broadly speaking, both billswould gradually expand coverage,while banning objectionable insur-ance industry practices such asturning down people with healthproblems. Eventually, all Ameri-cans would be required to carryhealth insurance, with governmentsubsidies to make premiums more

parently not much give either.Senate moderates say they

won't vote for a bill that changesthe basic terms they agreed to withMajority Leader Harry Reid.

Independent Sen. JoeLieberman of Connecticut andconservative Democratic Sen. BenNelson have drawn a line againstreintroducing a government-runinsurance plan to compete with thelikes of Aetna and Wellpoint. TheHouse bill includes it, but Reidneeds every member of his 60-votecoalition to overcome Republicanprocedural hurdles.

More difficult to solve is theissue of how to restrict taxpayerfunding for abortions. Abortionopponents disagree among them-selves over the Senate's approach.Abortion rights supporters arecompletely against the more re-strictive House language and aredivided on how the Senate hashandled it.

Obama will probably have tostep in to settle disputes and keepthings moving. -AP

Married withkids? Prove it,says agency

CHARLESTON, W.Va.: WestVirginia is asking public employ-ees to prove their dependents arewho they say they are or risk los-ing health insurance.

The Public Employees Insur-ance Agency will need to docu-ment that children, spouses andother dependents are eligible forcoverage by the agency.

Department of Administrationspokeswoman Diane Holley-Brownsays such audits are common in thepublic and private sectors, althoughthis is the first time for PEIA.

A survey by global benefitsconsultants Watson Wyatt foundthat about 60 percent of large U.S.companies conducted such re-views in 2009. -AP

Tips on being fitfrom a femalebodybuilder

NEW YORK: For Tennille Ray,maintaining her sculpted arms, 12-pack abs and muscled legs is afull-time job.

Ankle sprain is a most common injuryDIANA PINTO

Ankle sprains are the mostcommon injuries in aclinic and most people

inadvertently have suffered atleast one in their lifetime. Any-one from a well conditioned ath-lete to the most sedentary per-son can experience an ankle in-jury. Usually, the cause is acci-dental - e.g.: Stepping into a pot-hole, stepping off a curb or land-ing improperly while jumping.People who are overweight andthose who wear high heeledshoes are at an increased risk ofankle injuries.

Ankle injuries usually involvea sudden unexpected loss of bal-ance that results in a sharp twist-ing force at the ankle. Ligamentsare structures that control exces-sive movement of a joint. Whenan ankle sprain happens, the liga-ment is stretched too far, and is

either partially or completely torn.A "sprain" which is more serious,occurs when strong connectivetissue (ligament) that connectsone bone to another become over-stretched. An overstretched liga-

ment cannot be brought back toits original length. A "strain" oc-curs when a muscle or a tendon isoverstretched.

In some cases, a ligament cantear, and in some other cases a liga-

ment can pull off a fragment ofbone with it when it tears. When apiece of bone is chipped off with atorn ligament, it constitutes an"avulsion fracture".

Sprains account for at least 85%of ankle injuries andat least 50% of pa-tients who have hadan ankle sprain willhave a recurrence.

Common mecha-nisms of anklesprains:

Inversion anklesprains: The mostcommon type of anklesprain occurs when

the foot is falling inward.Out of all the ligaments, the

anterior talofibular ligamentshown in the image, sustains themost common damage. This liga-ment connects the ankle bone (ta-

lus) to the fibula) the smaller ofthe two bones in the lower leg).If the sprain is severe, there mightalso be damage to thecalcaneofibular ligament (whichconnects the heel bone to thefibula). In addition to ligamentdamage, there may also be dam-age to tendons, bone and otherjoint tissues, which is why it isimportant to get a professionalto diagnose your ankle sprain. Ifpossible an X-ray should be used,as small fractures of the foot arenot uncommon. Severelysprained ankles, where there is acomplete rupture of the anteriortalofibular, calcaneofibular andthe posterior talofibular liga-ments, results in the dislocationof the ankle joint - which is oftenassociated with a fracture.

Cont’d on page 22

Fig: Ligaments on the outer side of the right foot

Details on page 22

Those covered by big employers wouldn't seemajor changes, but individuals buying theirown policies and small businesses would beable to shop for competitively priced plans

India Post January 8, 2010Health Science Post22

www.indiapost.com

Ankle sprain is a most common injuryEversion ankle sprains: An-

other less common type of anklesprain is caused when the foottwists outwards forcefully. Whenthis happens, the inner ligament,called the deltoid ligament isstretched too far and patients willcomplain of pain on the inside ofthe ankle.

Symptoms associated with afracture:

Common symptoms associatedwith an ankle sprain are pain, swell-ing and bruising.

Grade I ankle sprains only

method of treatment - Rest, Iceapplication, Compression ban-daging and Elevation of the ankleduring Ice application. The first24-48 hours are crucial and criti-cal to treatment and most activi-ties need to be curtailed. Reha-bilitation is the most importantcomponent of managing an ankleafter the first 48 hours of injury.

Exercises include1) Stretching the calf muscle

and the Achilles tendon whileseated 3-4 times a day for sev-eral minutes.

2) Alphabet writing - Whileseated or lying down, write the let-ters of the alphabet in the air withyour toes. Make the letter as bigas possible.

3) Strength exercises include -a) Toe raises 10-20 times, 4 times a


Tips on being fit from a female bodybuilderNEW YORK: For Tennille Ray,

maintaining her sculpted arms, 12-pack abs and muscled legs is afull-time job.

Ray is a professional body-builder in the figure division -which means she has eye-poppingmuscles but is still expected to becurvy and feminine. She has beencompeting in the World NaturalBodybuilding Federation for abouta year, winning her debut and thenwent on to be named Miss Universeat a competition held in Barbadosearlier this year against more sea-soned professionals.

Ray was fit before she has beena personal trainer in New York since2001 but she didn't consider a ca-reer in bodybuilding until a friendat her gym suggested it. Then, anoverweight girl told Ray she wasso pretty she wanted to see her inmagazines and that if Ray did it,the girl would get in shape, too.

`Ìt really appealed to me, theidea that I could inspire this littlegirl,'' said Ray, who hopes eventu-ally to use her winnings for awellness center for children. So farshe's earned more than $5,000.

Last spring, she signed up fora retreat held by a pro bodybuilderthat taught some diet and exercisebasics. But Ray had to refine her

strategy as she went along.The transformation was difficult.

It took her about four months of in-tense, two-hour workouts and a se-rious amount of dietary restraint.Bodybuilders eat constantly, but it'sa very specific formula, heavy onprotein and vegetables and light onsodium and fats, Ray said. She wasoften cranky and exhausted. Sheturned down dinner invitationswith friends because it would behard finding something that fit herdiet. Giving up cheese was particu-larly tough.

`Ì thought, I eat healthy, thisshould be fine,'' she said. ̀ Ì was sowrong. It's a totally different wayof thinking. You're eating to feedyour muscles, not for enjoyment.''

Slowly she noticed her bodychanging, becoming moresculpted, and her energy return-ing. Her hard work paid off: Shewon her amateur debut in Septem-ber 2008 and turned pro.

``Tennille came in and kickedbutt right off the bat,'' said CharlieCarollo, vice president of theWNBF. ̀ `She's really disciplined,but she's also got God-given ge-netics that really help her out.''

Ray, who won't tell her age,works out regularly and bringsfood everywhere she goes,

munching on salad with mush-rooms, broccoli and fresh fish dur-ing a recent interview. She saysshe relies mostly on fresh veg-etables and natural nutritionalsupplements.

Other bodybuilders have turnedto steroids to make their musclesbulge. The WNBF bans controlledsubstances and drug tests, andgives polygraph tests before eachshow to combat drug use.

But even without drugs,women can harm their bodies bybecoming so lean, said MeaghanMurphy, features director for fit-ness at Self magazine.

``You have to have fat on yourbody,'' she said. ``The nutritionalaspects of body building scare me.There are not enough carbs, thereare supplements not monitored by

the FDA, perhaps they're toyingwith hormone cocktails. ... It's risky.''

Ray is often asked by strangerson the street how she got so fit.

``You don't have to go as ex-treme as me to be fit,'' she said.``You still feel good and success-ful just working toward your owngoals.''

Here she mentions five provenways to help keep fit, whetheryou're on the road to competitionor just want to squeeze into asmaller size:

PORTION CONTROL: Stepaway from that super-size drink.Half the battle of being in shapeis knowing when to put down thefork, Ray says. Eat five smallmeals a day instead of two orthree larger ones, and keep inmind that a serving of meat isabout the size of your palm. Pas-tas and other carbohydrates areabout a handful, or an ice-creamscoop, and bread is one slice.Veggies and fruits are best raw.

DON'T FEAR WEIGHTS:Weight training is good for you,Ray says, and there's no way theaverage person will bulk up like abodybuilder. Bicep curls withmore reps and less weight willhelp you achieve a more sculptedlook. Murphy says strength train-

day; b) Alternating walking onyour toes and heels for one minuteeach, 4 times a day

4) Balance training - These ex-ercises should be strictly recom-mended by your doctor or Physi-cal Therapist. Only after yourPhysical Therapist thinks you arecapable of starting balance exer-cises, must you advance with bal-ance training. Wobble boards,foams and standing on one legare some of the balance exercises

recommended for ProprioceptiveBalance training.

As you excel with therapy, yourPhysical Therapist may have youprogress to walking fast, joggingor more intense activities for ath-letes who participate in basketball,soccer or other sports.

Diana Pinto is a RegisteredPhysical Therapist practicing inNew York. She has experienceworking in a wide variety of Or-thopaedic cases.

Seated calf stretch

ing is essential. `Àfter 35, ifyou're not doing weight-bearingexercises you're at risk for os-teoporoses,'' she said. ``Just twodays a week. Light dumbbells tokeep bone density in check.''

DISCIPLINE: Being fit is a dis-tance event, not a sprint. It's OKto have that slice of pizza or anice cream sundae, but then getright back on the health horse, Raysays. Bring food from home whenyou're at work to avoid hiddencalories in takeout food, and savethe eating out for special nights.

BACK TO BASICS: Calisthen-ics, such as lunges, squats andpush-ups, are some of the bestways to get in shape, but often aresidelined for more exotic exercises.They require no weights, and canbe done anywhere. Ray suggestsalternating two different exercises,in two or three sets of 15, to toneand strengthen.

DRINK WATER: Ray drinksmore than a gallon of water a day,and it's possible you should too,depending on how much sodiumyou ingest, she said. If you're atwork, keep a bottle of water atyour desk and refill it at least fourtimes a day. If you're home, refillyour glass at least six times, shesays. -AP

Grade I anklesprains only causestretching of theligament andsymptoms arelimited to painand swelling

cause stretching of the ligamentand symptoms are limited topain and swelling. Grade II anklesprains involve a severe partialtearing of the ligament and thereis usually significant swellingand bruising caused by bleed-ing under the skin. Grade IIIankle sprains are complete tearsof the ligaments and the ankleis quite painful. Patients maycomplain of instability or a giv-ing way sensation in the anklejoint.

Treatment for Ankle sprains:The early treatment of a

sprained ankle is the RICE

'I thought, I eathealthy, this should befine,' she said. 'I was sowrong. It's a totallydifferent way of think-ing. You're eating tofeed your muscles,not for enjoyment'

India PostJanuary 8, 2010 Health Science Post 23

www.indiapost.com

Swine flu boosts demand for masksWILLISTON, Vt.: Recession?

What recession?At a Vermont facility that makes

protective masks for health careworkers and emergency respond-ers, business is booming. And it'slargely because of swine flu.

Triosyn Corp., a biotechnologycompany, recently started around-the-clock production of anti-mi-crobial respirators, which can helphealth care workers and emer-gency responders who come incontact with swine flu sufferersavoid getting infected themselves.

Originally developed for use bythe military, the disposable masksvaguely resemble the surgicalmasks worn by doctors and den-tists. But instead of protecting theatmosphere from excretions, therespirators are designed to filterwhat's inhaled by the wearer.

They carry an iodine-basedagent that filters the air beingbreathed in.

``The way that works is whenyou inhale and the particles comeinto the filter, they contact thisanti-microbial layer,'' said RolandBerry Ann, deputy director of theNational Institute for Occupa-tional Safety and Health's personal

protective technology laboratory,in Pittsburgh. ̀ Ìt takes some timefor the microbial layer to deacti-vate the virus, which eliminates orreduces the hazard of infection.''

The US Centers for DiseaseControl recommend the use of so-called N95 masks by all health careworkers who come in contact withH1N1 patients. The masks being

made by Triosyn add a layer of pro-tection that further limits exposure.

Demand for protective maskswhich also are made by 3M andKimberly-Clark, among others hasa building full of production su-pervisors, packers, quality techni-cians and machine operatorschurning them out.

Parent company Safe Life Corp.is planning to add equipment at

the 16,000-square foot Willistonfacility, allowing it to boost pro-duction capacity in the new year,manufacturing up to 50 million in2010, said Richard Jaffe, chairmanand CEO of Safe Life, which isbased in San Diego.

Jaffe, who previously ran acompany that manufactured latexgloves, compares the demand forface respirators now to the marketthat developed in the 1980s forprotective gloves for health careworkers treating AIDS patients.

Triosyn has hired 80 peoplesince July, boosting employmentto 90 in the building, which is inan office park in this town neigh-boring Burlington.

The masks, which sell for $1 to$2 apiece wholesale, went into pro-duction here in mid-July and aresold to large distributors, saidBenoit Sicotte, general manager ofTriosyn Corp.

``We had planned way beforethe swine flu to manufacture thismask,'' he said. ``The demand isextremely high. Our goal right nowis to try to satisfy demand, work-ing around the clock, trying to helpprotect the health care worker asmuch as we can. The benefit of

getting as many out there as wecan is that people use it and getused it and will continue using itafter the threat of swine flu de-creases,'' Sicotte said.

Other makers are experiencingsimilar booms, said Berry Ann.

"They're not the only ones go-ing 24/7,'' he said.

"We think they are a benefit tohealth care workers, to reduce therisk of them becoming infected ifthey use the respirators and usethem properly,'' Berry Ann said.

``They definitely reduce the risk.''Triosyn, which has done about

$20 million worth of work for theUS Department of Defense, is work-ing on an $800,000 contract to de-velop an anti-microbial wounddressing for use by the military incurbing battlefield infection.

"If it works as well as we thinkit does, there's no reason whythings like this shouldn't be forevery ambulance and EMS re-sponder,'' said US Sen. PatrickLeahy, D-Vt. -AP

LSU ophthalmology clinic asuccess in Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, La.: When Hur-ricane Katrina flooded the LSUHealth Sciences Center in NewOrleans in 2005, administratorscalled on University Medical Cen-ter in Lafayette to help keep itsophthalmology clinic and resi-dency program afloat.

But instead of moving back toNew Orleans when the flood wa-ters cleared, the program had suchsuccess here, it has now become

a permanent part of UMC andLafayette, moving out of its tem-porary home and into a state-of-the-art facility earlier this month.

Located at 401 St. Julien St., thenew clinic spans 5,000 square feet,more than seven times larger thanthe previous facility.

It also fills an important role byproviding graduate medical edu-cation to dozens of resident phy-sicians. -AP

Originally developedfor use by the mili-tary, the disposablemasks vaguelyresemble the surgicalmasks worn bydoctors and dentists

24 India Post

6 Shaam Ho Chali Hain - Radio

7 Pankhon Ko - Rocket Singh

8 Aal Izz Well - 3 Idiots

9 Tu Jaane Na - APKGK

10 Sabse Peeche Hum Khade - AWKJanuary 8, 2010www.indiapost.com

1 Mann Ka Radio - Radio

2 Zoobi Doobi - 3 Idiots

3 Hichki Hichki - Paa

4 Paisa - De Dana Dan

5 Rasiya - Kurbaan

Neetu Chandra truly believesshe's the next Aishwarya Rai.Now why's that? It's because

she is working with Ram Gopal Varmaand Jag Mundhra and the Bachchanbahu has worked with these directorson her last films. But that's not all. Shedraws likenesses between her and theformer Miss World because she has nowmoved into an apartment inLokhandwala where Aishwarya lived inher early days. Maybe she is now look-ing towards having an AbhishekBachchan soon too, who knows?

Ranbir Kapoor is being tipped by producers asbeing the hottest star for 2010. The likeableyoung man is said to have been offered a 50cr

contract by UTV. "UTV is very happy with the wayRanbir's Wake Up Sid fared at the box office," saida source, "His forthcoming movie Rajneeti is alsowith UTV and the producers have taken a liking tothis young actor whom they dub as the Next BigThing in Bollywood. So they have offered him athree-film deal worth Rs50 crore which he has ap-parently signed."

Ranbir is currently filming in the US with co-starPriyanka Chopra for Anjaana Anjaani, which seemsdestined to be another hit romantic comedy. There isquite a long filming schedule ahead for the stars inNew York.

After remaining single for four years, Vivek Oberoi is readyto settle down. The actor, who has also turned into apoet, says he wouldn't mind marrying a girl of his par-

ents' choice.'My mom is specially very worried. Like any mother she wants

me to settle down. I don't mind an arranged marriage. The girlmy parents choose could be the girl of my dreams,' Vivek, whorecently featured in 'Kurbaan' as a journalist, said.

'I know there's someone out there for me. I just have tofind her. I don't know how it would happen. But with all herimperfections and mine, she'd be perfect for me. At themoment I'm very much single. I've been single for fouryears.

'I'm a normal guy. I do go out on dates. I enjoywomen's company. But nothing serious. I'm extremelyconservative about women. I cannot have a time passattitude,' said the 33-year-old.

Vivek laughs off the rumours linking him withNiroo Singh, one of the actresses from his forth-coming release 'Prince - It's Showtime'.

'That's all rubbish. I've been linked with 50girls in the last four years. At least 10 of themI've never met. No wonder my mother issearching for a girl for me. She wants me tosettle down,' he said.

India Post 25January 8, 2010

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

While Priyanka and her 12 avatars couldn't saveWhat's Your Rashee from falling flat she hasdecided to woo seven husbands in Vishal

Bharadwaj's next untitled project. The buzz around thetown says that Priyanka is already busy gearing up forthe tough act.

Excited on the prospect of wooing seven men, Priyankasaid, "Vishal's next film is a huge canvas film and it reallyis a challenging role for me. I am really looking forwardto it. The film is a dark comedy and has been brilliantlywritten. In recent times, for me every role be it Fashion,Kaminey or What's Your Rashee, has been difficult anda tough challenge to portray. However, I believe theyhave brought out the best in me."

Priyanka has worked with Vishal Bharadwaj in his criti-cally acclaimed Kaminey. Though Vishal is very particu-lar about his characters, he still hasn't finalized any actorother than Priyanka Chopra to play the lead in the newfilm, and the speculations are on as to who the sevenhusbands are going to be.

7 menWooingTwilight star Robert Pattinson has

swept our own Bollywood beautyKatrina Kaif completely off her feet.

And if all goes well she'll be meetingPattinson during her annual holiday withher family in London.

The minute Katrina's eyes fell onPattinson she got hooked to the Twi-light quartet. "I went and bought allthe four books Twilight, New Moon,Eclipse and 'Breaking Dawn'. I couldn'tput them down.

I've been racing through the adven-tures of the hottest vampire EdwardCullen for the last one week. I finishedreading three of the Twilight books inless than four days. Now I'm into thefourth. I just can't get enough of him."

And now Katrina wants to meet thereal Edward Cullen. "You don't under-stand. This is like an obsession for me.I can't get Robert Pattinson out of myhead. I see the love of my life in everyobject that moves or doesn't move. I'venever felt this way about any man be-fore."

Now a meeting between Bollywood'sblistering babe and Hollywood's blood-thirty heart-throb is discreetly being ar-ranged.

Says, the besotted actress, "Obvi-ously I can't stand under his window toget his attention. So yes, the meetinghas to be more formal. He says he'ssingle. But I don't believe him. That'swhat they all say."!

Kat's obsession

Precious

The eccentric Abhay Deol has recently added anotherprestigious feather to his cap. Bollywood's answer tointelligent cinema, Abhay is one of 15 people who was

featured in "Who Mattered Most in 2009" a poll by an es-teemed website that caters to top six cities in Asia.

The list included people from the Indian political and scien-tific arena as well as sports and the music industry.

Reveals a source, "From all the 15 featured on the list, thereare just three individuals from the film industry and one of themis Abhay. Just four years in the industry and he is the epitomeof contemporary offbeat cinema. He is an actor for the thinking

masses. The face of the alternative cinema."Adds the source "Abhay has been invited to end-less number of acclaimed film festivals across theglobe, he was a speaker for this year's TED (Tech-nology, Entertainment, Design) conference." Abhay

has created waveswith his perfor-mances in 'Dev D'and 'Oye Lucky,Lucky Oye'.

His next film'Road- the Movie' is

widely being appreci-ated at film festivals

across the world.

Abhay

www.indiapost.com January 8, 201026 India Post

SRIREKHA N. CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Raking in an impressive$2.15 million in the first week of its run inNorth American theaters, RajkumarHirani's 3 Idiots has emerged the biggestgrosser for any Bollywood film in 2009.

The Vidhu Vinod Chopra producedfilm with Aamir Khan in the lead cap-tured 12th place in the North AmericanBox Office charts, grossing $1.65 millionfrom 119 theaters over the Christmasweekend itself.

In first four days of its release, the filmmanaged to collect more than Rs. 100crores, making it the most successfulBollywood films ever, beating the previ-ous record held by Ghazini (2008), alsoan Aamir Khan starrer.

Reliance Big Pictures which re-leased 3 Idiots in 2126 screens world-wide including 366 screens overseas-the widest release for any Indian filmso far - has reported unprecedentedbox-office response from all over. Thefilm has set new records in ticket salesin towns and cities

Interestingly, Big Pictures took nochances when it came to protecting themost anticipated, if not hyped film, witheven journalists at pre-release pressscreenings were asked to deposit theircell phones and sign a confidentiality andnon-disclosure agreement before enter-ing the theater.

It is also perhaps the first Indian filmto be legally released on the popular

videosharing website Youtube.com.The film also stars in leading roles, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi,

Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani. Although loosely based onChetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone, the film, scriptedby Hirani, veers off widely from the book to bring the humanside of the travails of an insanely competitive higher educationsystem in India. The film has plenty of laughs akin to thedirector's earlier "Munnabhai" movies and in equal parts senti-

mentality and emotionaldrama that makes you

reach for the Kleenex. On thenegative is the length of the film and somewholly unnecessary song sequences.

Although loosely based onChetan Bhagat's novel FivePoint Someone, the film,scripted by Hirani, veers offwidely from the book tobring the human side of thetravails of an insanelycompetitive highereducation system in India

January 8, 2010 India Post

www.indiapost.com

27

Chetan Bhagat hits out at 'Idiots' teamMUMBAI: Renowned writer Chetan

Bhagat has not been duly credited by RajKumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra forthe blockbuster movie 3 Idiots. Chetan hasfinally broken his silence on the issue inhis personal blog and hit out at the 3 Idiotsteam which claimed that the movie was'loosely' based on the book Five PointSomeone. Although people who have readthe book found 3 Idiots as its screen adap-tation, the director, producer and the starshave shied away from crediting Bhagat forthe movie.

In his blog Bhagat wrote " The only rea-son it has surfaced after the movie's re-lease is because Five Point Someone has afew million readers, and when you copy apopular story claiming it as 'original' and'completely different', people are going tofind out".

He added "The case is as simple as themakers claiming the story as their own, andclearly it is not. Pre-release, the makersmade press statements like the movie isonly 'very loosely', '2%-5% inspired by thebook'. After release, those who have readthe book and seen the movie find the filmto be an adaptation of Five Point Some-one. The setting, characters, plotline, dra-

matic twists and turns, one-liners, theme,message - almost all aspects that make upthe story are from FPS"

An upset Bhagat added " I, frankly, wasshocked to see this. This is because I wasalso fed 'this is an original movie' line a lot.I wanted to see the final script - it was never

shown to me. I wanted to see the film be-fore release - it was not shown to me (eventhough trials had been done for people).What's more, the makers had called me totheir office and pressured me several timesto withdraw my 'Based on a novel by' credit,

which was by contract. They told me they'dreplace it with something like 'initiated by' - acredit that doesn't exist anywhere in the world.

I still told them that if the film is indeedoriginal, I'll happily withdraw the credit, butsomehow the promos don't tell me so. I askedthem to show me the film and they fell si-

lent" "The plot line was same - people meetat ragging, the first class with definition ofmachine, the friends separate, Alok (Raju)moves with Venkat (Chatur), Ryan (Rancho)helps Alok's father, Alok rejoins group etcetc. From Alok (Raju) jumping to stealing

the papers and calling out from Cherian (Vi-rus') office - the book came alive on screen. Iwas surprised and happy that FPS has madeit in such a grand way.

However, my family had not spotted mycredit in the beginning (there was none) andthey were feeling let down. A screenplay as-sociate credit to VVC had a prominent upfrontplacement. The story credit was not sharedwith me. And yes, all the office talk of a 'kingtreated like king' was a white lie"

Knowing the drastic consequences of tak-ing on the bigwigs in the industry he writes "Some people have told me that I should keepsilent. I did try to be silent but didn't work.Also, people say this is how Bollywoodworks. Sorry, I disagree. Not all Bollywoodworks like this. There are a lot of good peopletoo. And every event like this helps changethings for the better. And that is what I am allabout anyway. Like I said, I don't need any-thing. Even if I have no more movies madeon my stories or nobody wants to read mybooks and columns, I'll happily join ISKCONand dedicate my life to Krishna. But I will notshy away from the truth - ever"

Raj Kumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopraand Aamir Khan will have to do a lot of an-swering on the issue.

Chetan Bhagat

Walt Disney releases Taare Zameen Par on DVD


NEW YORK: Making it its first Hindilanguage release, Walt Disney StudiosHome Entertainment has come out with athree-disc DVD/CD setof the award winningAamir Khan film LikeStars On earth (TaareZameen Par).

Set to be releasedJan 12, Disney's first-ever Hindi-languagerelease, Like Stars onEarth includes seveninfectious Bollywooddance numbers, viv-idly imagined animatedinterludes and a brand new English-lan-guage track for a cross-cultural celebrationof creativity and individuality. "A little twin-kling star of a movie" according to BBC

Movie Reviews, Like Stars on Earth is asparkling example of why Indian cinemahas rapidly become the most popular filmimport to the US.

Originally brought to a worldwide the-atrical audience byUTV Motion Pictures,and produced, di-rected and starringAamir Khan, one ofIndia's most ac-claimed filmmakers(Lagaan, 2002 Acad-emy Award nominee,Best Foreign Lan-guage Film, India),Like Stars on Earthalso features young

newcomer Darsheel Safary in an astonish-ingly nuanced performance that earned hima 2007 nomination for Best Actor in India'sprestigious Filmfare Awards. Like Stars on

Earth was one of India's top grossing theat-rical films of 2007.

Taare Zameen Par created a sensationwhen it was first released two years ago,for its sensitive portrayal of childhood andfor its universal message that every childis special in his/her own way. The storyrevolves around an eight-year-old IshaanAwasthi, a misfit with his head in the stars,who learns that being different can alsomean being special.

Ishaan lives in a world where lettersand numbers make little sense to him ashe lives in a world of brilliant colors, livelyanimals and soaring kites of hisfantastical imagination.

It takes the sensitive handling of a draw-

ing teacher to help Ishaan find the power ofcreativity in him and thus in self confidence.

Even if one has already seen the movie, asecond watch is guaranteed to bring thatlump back in your throat if not a tear. And tothat extent, Disney makes it worth watchingwith extra perks like deleted scenes and mak-ing of the movie.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., arecognized leader in the home entertainmentindustry, is the marketing, sales and distri-bution company for Walt Disney, Touch-stone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax andBuena Vista product, which includes DVD,Blu-ray Disc and electronic distribution.Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is adivision of The Walt Disney Studios.

Knowing the drasticconsequences of taking onthe bigwigs in the industry hewrites " Some people havetold me that I should keepsilent. I did try to be silent butdidn't work. Also, people saythis is how Bollywood works.Sorry, I disagree. Not allBollywood works like this

Ishaan lives in a worldwhere letters and num-bers make little sense tohim as he lives in a worldof brilliant colors, livelyanimals and soaringkites of his fantasticalimagination

January 8, 2010India Post

www.indiapost.com

28

Japanese PM Deepika fan

Hollywood planning movieon Tiger Woods

A leading Hollywood producer has tolddailyexpress.co.uk news-

paper that he might make a movieon the Tiger Woods story. Theinfidelity story may be turned intoa TV movie and Oscar-winningactor Cuba Gooding Jr. is report-edly lined up to play the troubledcelebrity golfer.

Gooding Jr, 41, is reportedlybeing eyed for the high-profilerole by several Hollywood pro-ducers, who are vying to bethe first to make a film aboutthe sensational revela-tions in the New Year.

As soon as the Woodsstory made headlines, thebattle has been on to dra-matize the scandal for thescreen.

"It makes a great moviebecause people love thedrama of seeing someonereally successful fall fromthe top and then scrambleto pick up the pieces oftheir life. It proves thateven the world's greatestathlete is human just like therest of us but the movie needsto be made before the public losesinterest in Tiger so the race is nowon," a leading Hollywood pro-ducer said.

Woods, 34, shocked everyonewhen reports about his allegedaffairs with 14 women came outfollowing his accident Nov 27where he crashed his car into a firehydrant and a tree outside hisFlorida mansion. It was also re-ported that he had been attacked

by his Swedish wife, 31-year-oldformer model Elin Nordegren, priorto the crash.

Woods, who released a state-

ment admitting "infidelity",could face an expensive divorcewhich could see his wife of fiveyears walk away with more than

169 million pounds -- almosthalf his empire.

Woods last year earned anestimated 69 million pounds

from winnings and endorse-ments. After variouswomen came forward withaccusations aboutWoods, he now faces aprobe by US taxman overreports of cash payments

to his mistresses.He could also be investi-

gated over his alleged links tohigh-class call girls and moneypaid for sex.

In a recent statement Woodssaid he was taking "an indefi-nite break from professionalgolf".-Agencies

Recently, DeepikaPadukone was invitedto the Prime Minister's

residence at 7 Race CourseRoad, Delhi to have dinner withthe Prime Minister ManmohanSingh, Sonia Gandhi and 20cabinet ministers. The dinnerwas in honor of the JapanesePM Yukio Hatoyama and hiswife, Miyuki Hatoyama. Theyare presently visiting India andare huge fans of Bollywoodfilms.

They liked Deepika in OmShanti Om a lot and wanted tomeet her. The PM's office thencalled Deepika and asked her if

she would like to come to din-ner. The actress, who was shoot-ing for Ashutosh Gowariker'sKhelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se inGoa, readily agreed and took aday off from shooting.

She was very excited andnervous and felt that she wasprivileged and honored to beinvited to the occasion. Shewore a Manish Malhotra sareefor the event.

Jackson dominatedshowbiz 2009

It was supposed to be the yearof his greatest comeback andmaybe in some ways it was.

But along the way, the saga ofMichael Jackson's tragic demisebecame the biggest showbiz storyof 2009.

It was a Hollywood parable ofexcess and eccentricity, of geniusand weakness. But most of all it wasthe sad tale of a strange but bril-liant man-child trapped in the glareof a celebrity-obsessed world.

Jackson started 2009 a shadowof his former self - a man who manybelieved was on an irreversible

downward spiral. It had beenyears since he had released anysignificant music. But he still madeheadlines with reports of his im-pending financial ruin and bizarrestate of mind.

All that changed in Marchwhen Jackson, 45, announced thathe would perform an unprec-edented 50-appearance comebackengagement at London's 02 Arena.

If it went well, the London gigwould solve all the problems anddispel all the doubts about theformer King of Pop. But few out-

side his most loyal circle of fansand advisors believed he had themental and physical strength tocomplete the arduous challenge.

So when the first reports camein June 25 that Jackson had col-lapsed at his rented Bel Air man-sion and been rushed to hospital,initial speculation was that it wasa Jackson gambit to extricate him-self from a challenge he was toofrail to meet.

But within hours those suspi-cions turned to shock when it wasrevealed that Jackson was dead. InLos Angeles thousands of fansgathered at the hospital whereJackson's body lay, at the housewhere he collapsed and at his star

on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Across the world millions of

other fans took to the streetsto mourn. All were asking thesame questions: How did hedie? Was he really set to per-

form in London? And wasthe former King of Popreally on the verge ofbankruptcy?

By now many ofthose questions havebeen answered. Thecoroner's reportfound that Jackson'sdeath was caused by

an overdose of the hos-pital anesthetic propofol

administered to him by hispersonal physician Murray

Conrad. The case is still un-der investigation.

The release of the docu-mentary movie "This Is It",gleaned from rehearsal foot-

age for the London tour, appearedto corroborate the assertions ofhis advisers and producers thatJackson had created an amazingshow and that he seemed ener-gized and capable of handling thegrueling schedule.

Information about his estaterevealed meanwhile that despite amountain of debt, the Jacksonbusiness empire was a financialpowerhouse that was generatinghuge amounts of cash - for ex-ample, from the rights he held tomuch of The Beatles repertoire.

Michael Jackson

She was very excitedand nervous and feltthat she wasprivileged andhonored to be invitedto the occasion

After various womencame forward withaccusations aboutWoods, he now facesa probe by US taxmanover reports of cashpayments to hismistresses

January 8, 2010India Post29 www.indiapost.com

Statue of the demon Mahishasura atop

the Chamundi Hills

Entrance to the Ambavilas Palace, commonly known

as Mysore Palace

Mysore has never failed to mesmer-ize tourists with its quaint charm,rich heritage, magnificent palaces,

beautifully laid-out gardens, imposingbuildings, broad shady avenues and sacredtemples. The charm of this city leaves noone untouched.

Mysore is located in the South Indianstate of Karnataka around 140 km from Ban-galore. The city extends from latitude 12°18'in the North to longitude 76°42' in the East.It is well connected through road and railnetworks with other parts of Karnataka andIndia.

Mysore city was the capital of the oldroyal Mysore province. The word Mysoreexpands to "Mahishasurana Ooru" whichmeans the town of Mahishasura. The storygoes that the demon Mahishasura was killedby goddess Chamundeshwari atop theChamundi hill near Mysore, hence the name.Ever since, the Mysore royal family hasworshipped Chamundeshwari as the palacedeity. Hills dedicated to her stand at theeastern end of Mysore town today.

The Wodeyar family ruled Mysore since14th century except for a short period of 40

years when Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan werethe rulers.

Tourists attractions: The Mysore Pal-ace was built over one thousand years ago,in AD 897. Saracenic in style, the palace hasboth Hindu as well as Muslim influences.After a fire in 1897, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IVrebuilt the palace as we see it today, underthe supervision of architect Henry Irwin.The main building is of massive gray gran-ite with a tower covered by a gilded dome.A temple is situated within the royal court-yard.

St. Philomena's Church is one of theoldest churches in Mysore. Built in Gothicstyle, the church is among the largest inIndia. Stained glass windows and lofty tow-ers give this cathedral an imposing look.

Shri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallerywas established in 1875 and has a rare col-lection of some beautiful paintings from thesame era. The gallery is located in JagmohanPalace and exhibits paintings by Raja RaviVarma, Svetsolav Roerich and traditionalpaintings from Mysore. The traditional goldleaf paintings and some exquisitely carvedstatues in sandalwood, ivory and stone arealso exhibited in the gallery. The old paint-ings in the gallery have been done in min-eral and vegetable dyes and paints.

The Mysore Zoo was set up by the royal

family and housessome rare and ex-otic birds & ani-mals. Situatedamidst lush greensurroundings, thezoo has acquiredfame for breedingsome rare animalsin captivity.

T h eChamundeshwariTemple is one ofthe noted Hinduplaces of worshipand is situatedatop the ChamundiHill. On way to the

Chamundi Hills is the Lalitha Mahal, a guestpalace now converted into a heritage hotel.

Places around MysoreSituated around 19 km north west of

Mysore are the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam andthe Vrindavan Garden. The garden attractsthousands of visitors every year who cometo see its dancing musical fountains.

Fourteen km northeast of Mysore isSrirangpattnam, an island fortress and thecapital of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. Tipu'ssummer palace, Daria Daulat, has now beenturned into a museum.

Sangam, the confluence of two branchesof the Cauvery River, is situated around 3km off Srirangpattnam.

Ranganathittu is a bird sanctuary situ-ated around 18 km off Mysore and allows aclose view of exotic and common birds.

Somnathpur is situated around 35 kmeast of Mysore and is famous for theHoysala Temples that are still in excellentcondition.

Mysore citywas the capital of theold royal Mysore province.The word Mysore expandsto "Mahishasurana Ooru"which means the townof Mahishasura. The storygoes that the demonMahishasura was killed bygoddess Chamundeshwariatop the Chamundi hillnear Mysore, hencethe name

Cont’d on page 30

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one would remember for a longtime even after leaving the place.It is believed that the presidingdeity of the city has the power toconquer evil forces and this hasled the citizens to celebrate thefestival with much gaiety and fer-vor.

The tradition of celebratingDussehra with such grandeurstarted with the 16th-century rul-ers of Vijayanagar. After the disin-tegration of Vijayanagar Empire,the tradition was kept alive by rul-ers of Mysore and continues tillnow.

During the month of Octoberand November, for ten days theDussehra festival is celebrated andthe city is at its colorful best withmusic and dance, Sports, Literarycompetitions, fairs and exhibitionsall over. All this culminates in theDussehra procession and a torch-light parade on the tenth day.

Mysore: Rich heritage, magnificentpalaces & sacred temples

Eighty two kilometers away isthe Cauvery Fishing Camp, a para-dise for anglers where themahaseer is found in abundance.

The Bandipur National Park

is 80 km off Mysore on the way toOoty and a famous tiger reserve.Spread over an area of 875 km, thepark has a variety of animals suchas the tiger, barking deer, tusker,and bison.

Fairs & festivals:Dussehra in Mysore is a sight

Best time to visit: October toMarch. The weather in Mysore ispleasant throughout the year. Thesummers are warm and winterscool. April is the hottest monthwith the daily temperatures vary-ing between 21°C and 34°C whilein December, the coldest monthhere, the temperature ranges from16°C to 27°C. The average annualrainfall in the district is 761.9 mm.One can visit the city any time ofthe year but it is advisable to avoidthe rainy seasons.

Where to stay: Mysore pro-vides several options to touristsof different income groups com-ing to the city. The options rangefrom the guesthouses and budgethotels to medium range hotels andheritage hotels.

How to reachAir - The nearest airport from

Mysore is 140 km away in Banga-lore, from where one can takeflights for most of the importantcities in India.

Rail - Mysore is connected withmost of the metros like Delhi,Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennaithrough regular trains.

Road - There is a good networkof roads that connects Mysore toother important cities of the region.


The tradition of cel-ebrating Dussehra withsuch grandeur startedwith the 16th-centuryrulers of Vijayanagar.After the disintegrationof Vijayanagar Empire,the tradition was keptalive by rulers of Mysoreand continues till now

India PostJanuary 8, 2010 31Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

'New visa rules won't hit tourism'NEW DELHI: The Tourism Min-

istry insists the new visa ruleswould not affect inflow of visitorsand dismissed as a "joke" the ap-prehension of Minister of State forExternal Affairs Shashi Tharoorthat India would become a lesswelcoming destination.

Minister of State for TourismSultan Ahmed argued the newrules are aimed at those havinglong-term multi-entry visas whiletourists undertake visits for shortdurations.

"Tourists always come here ona short visit. This (new visa regime)will not affect their arrivals," hetold PTI while reacting toTharoor's view that tightening ofvisa rules would affect inflow oftourists. In his tweet, Tharoor hadwondered whether by tightening

of the visa norms, India would al-low terrorists to make it a "less wel-

coming" destination."If the MEA has done it, then it

must have taken into account all

Subhas Sarovar modernization from FebruaryKOLKATA: The neglected

Subhas Sarovar, one of the twoman-made lakes at Beliaghata inthe north-eastern part of the me-tropolis, is set for a Rs 5 croremakeover. "We want to makeSubhas Sarovar a tourist destina-tion and work will begin from Feb-ruary," West Bengal Tourism De-velopment Corporation managingdirector TVN Rao told PTI.

"The project would cost us Rs5 crore and be executed in private-public partnership with the sup-port of the Centre," he said.

In a first of its kind of joint ven-ture between the Kolkata Improve-

ment Trust (KIT) and West BengalTourism Development Corporation

(WBTDC), the lake area will be con-verted into a tourist destination

"The city needed more destina-tions for water sports like speedboats and paragliding and we areplanning to introduce such facili-ties here," the WBTDC official said.

According to the proposal,about Rs 1.44 crore will be spenton landscaping of the area andconstruction of a children's park.The area will have shelters for tour-ists with gardens and benches.

The condition of the lake hadworsened after Kolkata Improve-ment Trust (KIT) decided to ce-ment the banks of the lake. -PTI

factors, including safety and se-curity of the country," Ahmedsaid.

Making light of Tharoor's tweeton visa rule changes, Ahmed dis-missed it as a "joke" and said "histweeting should not be taken seri-ously."

Under the new rules an-nounced in the backdrop of thearrest of American terror suspectDavid Headley on the charge ofplotting attacks in India, any for-eign national holding long-termmultiple entry visas will have totake a two-month break before re-entering India.

However, this was amendedlater with the government sayingexception would be made for bonafide travelers if they submit itiner-ary details. -PTI

‘Tourists always comehere on a short visit.This (new visa regime)will not affect theirarrivals," he told PTIwhile reacting toTharoor's view thattightening of visa ruleswould affect inflowof tourists’

‘The city neededmore destinations forwater sports likespeed boats andparagliding and weare planning tointroduce suchfacilities here’

India Post January 8, 201032 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Snow cycling thrills inKashmir festival

GULMARG, JK: Snow cycling was thestar attraction of the three-day Kashmirsnow festival that started in this famous hillresort to attract tourists to the state.

All the 25 mountain riders taking part insnow cycling event were the darling of spec-tators who lustily cheered them when theevent was flagged off by Tourism MinisterNawang Rigzin Jora here.

"Snow cycling is an adventurous sportfull of thrill and risks. We have expert moun-tain bikers", Riyaz Ahmad Wani, an officialof Jammu and Kashmir Cycle Association,told PTI.

He said the riders have purchased im-ported mountain cycles for the event."Riding on snow needs imported cycles. We

use mountain bikes for this adventurousactivity", Wani said.

He said the snow cycling event includeseven km mass start in which 25 ace cy-clists participated. The cyclists rode throughwhole of the Gulmarg passes.

"We have received appreciation frommany countries for the event. We are goingto pitch for state-level and national eventsin future", Wani said.

Introduced in Gulmarg in 2002, snow cy-cling has added new dimension to adven-ture sports.

Another event that attracted attentionwas snow rugby. Introduced in 2007, theevent also witnessed a huge response fromadventure sports lovers. -PTI

Rock-cut Buddha in Kashmirto get protection

JAMMU: An eight-meter high rock-cutBuddha located in the remote Zanskar re-gion of Jammu and Kashmir, which is amongthe tallest of such sculptures in northernIndia, will be declared a State ProtectedMonument by the government.

Director General in the state archaeologydepartment Khurshid Ahmed Qadri said thenotification for declaring the sculpture ofChamba Buddha set atop Suru Kartse villagea protected monument will be issued shortly.

"We have decided to declare theBamiyaan-type huge rock-cut Buddha as aSPM. I had personally visited the site andstarted process of declaring it SPM. A noti-fication for its declaration as SPM would beissued shortly," Qadri told PTI here.

Qadri, who personally visited the monu-ment site, said the 1,400 year-old sculpture,would be the first ever SPM in Ladakh andadded it would be made the centre stage ofheritage tourism in that region. -PTI

Gujarat promotes Kutchfor adventure tourism

BHUJ: The barren drylands ofthe Rann of Kutch saw an impres-sive desert car rally this weekend,an event aimed at promoting in-dustry-friendly Gujarat as a favor-ite destination for adventure tour-ism.

The second consecutive 'AdaniKutch Desert Car Rally' was an in-dication of the efforts to developthe Rann, a barren region witness-ing frequent hostile weather, bybringing it into the internationalmap for adventure sports.

"The idea is to promote adven-ture tourism in Kutch and we havebeen getting good response. Thereis every possibility of its goinginternational in future as no otherplace on the earth provides somuch sprawling, obstruction-freeterrain such as the Rann," saidAjay Gadhvi, President of theKutch Infrastructure DevelopmentSociety (KIDS).

The 270-km car rally organizedjointly by KIDS and Gujarat Tour-ism recently saw 42 motorists, in-cluding several adventure loversfrom neighboring Maharashtra,taking part in the event in the semi-arid grasslands.

The rally also witnessed 28-year-old Dharmishtha Gor as the

lone girl participant. She was therunner-up last year.

Former Kutch MP PushpadanGadhvi said the purpose of orga-nizing this rally, which started fromVekaria Rann, was to attract tour-ists from across the world as wellas to promote adventure tourism

among the people of India.The winners of the event Jaydev

and Dhirender Singh, who got thefirst prize of Rs 51,000, said, "Therally is exciting and entirely a dif-ferent experience and we hope moreyouths from across the country willtake part in it in future". -PTI

The second consecu-tive 'Adani KutchDesert Car Rally' wasan indication of theefforts to develop theRann, a barren regionwitnessing frequenthostile weather, bybringing it into theinternational map foradventure sports

L.A. Zoo receives gift of baby monkeyIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Born on No-vember 27, 2009, a snowy whiteKikuyu colobus monkey was awelcome holiday surprise for theLos Angeles Zoo! The gender ofthe furry primate has yet to be de-termined, but at birth it weighedabout a pound and measuredaround eight inches long.

Because breeding is closelymonitored to comply with the Spe-cies Survival Program (SSP) and theL.A. Zoo's colobus monkeys aregenetically well represented in NorthAmerican zoos, the mother wasplaced on implant contraceptives inOctober 2008. They were meant tobe effective for a period of two years,which is why this adorable baby wassuch a surprise for the Zoo!

Found throughout the forestsof central Africa, the colobus is oneof the most striking primates in theanimal kingdom. Adult Kikuyucolobus monkeys have black bod-ies trimmed with long whitemantles. Infant colobus monkeysare born all white and do not startto get their black trim until aboutthree and one half months of age.

Colobus monkeys live in highlycohesive social groups. Thus, theinfant is enjoying attention fromits father, mother and another adultfemale. Check out their interac-

tions with their newest troop mem-ber at their exhibit located just pastthe Zoo's Mahale Café toward theperimeter road.

In celebration of the birth, theL.A. Zoo is inviting visitors to par-ticipate in a naming contest for thenewborn! Through January 11,2010, visitors can fill out a cardwith their contact information andname suggestion at the colobusexhibit, roundhouse exhibit num-ber 44 on Zoo maps!

Zoo staff members will reviewthe names and select the winner.

The name will be announced on theZoo's website on Monday, Janu-ary 18, 2010. The individual whosubmits the winning name will re-ceive a free behind-the-scenes-tourof the Zoo for up to six people!

This is a great time of the yearto visit the L.A. Zoo. There is theReindeer Romp, where patrons canvisit Santa's reindeer and enjoyother festive activities! Also, last-ing through January 10, 2010, visi-tors can skate their way throughthe holidays on the Zoo's first everskating rink (for a nominal fee)!

Colobus & baby

Found throughoutthe forests ofcentral Africa, thecolobus is one ofthe most strikingprimates in theanimal kingdom.Adult Kikuyucolobus monkeyshave black bod-ies trimmed withlong whitemantles

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35 India Post January 8, 2010www.indiapost.com

In Brief Immigration

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by reser-vations from nations like the USand UK, the Government appearsto be in no mood to relent on thenew visa rules for tourists, sayingit would not like to compromise withthe country's security interests.

Citing the changes made byseveral countries like Americaand Britain after terror strikes,senior officials argue that itshould be left to the Home Min-istry to chalk out the plans forsecuring the nation.

They maintained that the gov-ernment has not received any com-plaint from any country, includingthe US or the UK, after the newvisa rules were implemented, butclarifications have been sought byWashington and they have beenaddressed.

"When some foreign missionsbased in India sought clarity, wetold them that if someone has toworry about tourists' arrival, it isIndia which has to worry and not

any other nation," they said onthe condition of anonymity.

As per the new visa rules, notourist, having a travel documentvalid for 180 days, would be al-lowed to return to the countrybefore a cooling-off period oftwo months.

The new visa guidelines havebeen formulated after considering

all relevant aspects and giving thesecurity of the nation the top mostpriority, the officials said.

The comments also come a dayafter Minister of State for ExternalAffairs Shashi Tharoor ques-tioned the tightening of visa rulesagainst the backdrop of the DavidHeadley case and wryly said "26/11 killers had no visas."

Tharoor ticked offExternal Affairs Minister S M

Krishna has however ticked off hisjunior minister Shashi Tharoor forpublicly questioning new visaguidelines, saying if he had any"perceptions", those should bediscussed within the "four walls"of the government.

"These (issues) are not to be

discussed in public. If there areany perceptions, then I thinkthese should be sorted out withinthe four walls of the ministry,"Krishna told reporters when askedto react to Tharoor's comments onsocial networking site Twitter re-garding tightening of visa regime.

Krishna underlined that "thebusiness of government is far too

US pastor accusedof student visaconspiracy

SANTA ANA, California: Im-migration officials have accused aSouthern California pastor of help-ing foreigners fraudulently obtainstudent visas and handing outphony diplomas at a fake gradua-tion ceremony on a campus wherethey never attended class.

Immigration and Customs En-forcement said Wednesday that 65-year-old pastor Samuel Chai ChoOh surrendered to authorities.

Officials say Oh is accused ofconspiracy to commit visa fraudfor allegedly charging between$600 and $10,000 to help foreign-ers get visas on the premise theywould attend the Christian univer-sity he owns in Fullerton.

Authorities say Oh acknowl-edged that 75 percent of the 300 stu-dents at California Union Universitydid not regularly attend class.-AP

India in no mood to changenew tourist visa rules

10-year high inprosecution ofcriminal immigrants

FRESNO, Calif.: Federal offi-cials say the number of cases filedin Northern California against ille-gal immigrants with criminalrecords is at a 10-year high. -AP

Two men arrestedin NM for drugtrafficking

CLOVIS, N.M.: New Mexico au-thorities say two 31-year-old menhave been arrested and charged withdrug trafficking and conspiracy.

Officials with the Curry CountySheriff's Office say Jorge Sanchezand Felipe De Jesus Herrera-Gandara were taken into custodyand booked into the county De-tention Center.

They are being held without abond due to an immigration hold.They both are Mexican citizens liv-ing in the Clovis area.

Task Force agents received infor-mation that the two men would betransporting a large quantity of co-caine from west Texas to Clovis. -AP

USCIS grappling with Corpn right on H-1B visaCORA-ANN V. PESTAINA

Continued from last week'sarticle)

Despite our disagreementwith the USCIS' relianceon Darden, the US Su-

preme Court explicitly directslower courts to use common lawprinciples in defining statutoryterms where federal statuteshave failed to clearly do so.

A corporate entity establishedunder state law, such as NewYork, would look to New York law,which has long recognized thebasic proposition that corpora-tions are legal entities that existseparate and apart from the mem-bers who actually participate inthem. See Retopolis, Inc. v. 14thSt. Dev. LLC., 17 AD3d 209, 797N.Y.S.2d 1 [1st Dept 2005]; IslandSeafood Co. v. Golub Corp., 303A.D.2d 892, 759 N.Y.S.2d 768 [3dDept 2003]; and Stern v. Stern,799 N.Y.S.2d 164 [2004].

In response to the routineUSCIS Requests for Evidence("RFE") questioning the exist-

under Matter of Smith, 12 I&NDec. 772 (BIA 1968) which held,"In view of the fact that the peti-tioner has guaranteed the benefi-ciary full-time permanent employ-ment for 52 weeks a year with atwo week paid vacation and otherfringe benefits and that the ben-eficiary will be paid directly by thepetitioner who is responsible for

all payroll deductions and contri-butions, it is concluded that thepetitioner qualifies as the actualemployer of the beneficiary withinthe meaning and requirements ofthe Immigration and NationalityAct, as amended." So far, USCIShas refused to give weight tothese arguments.

If there are approvals, they arerare and a result of the petitioner'sability to establish that the ben-

eficiary will, despite petitioner'ssize, perform specialized dutiesconsistent with the H-1B and todemonstrate that thebeneficiary's employment will becontrolled by the petitioner.

Also, the chance of an ap-proval is greater if others arealso involved in the manage-ment of the entity. Petitionersmust endeavor to establish thepower to make final decisions andto terminate the beneficiary's em-ployment. For example, the em-ployer-employee relationshipmight be satisfactorily illustratedwhere petitioner's bylaws clearlydictate how the corporation willbe managed.

Petitioner may be able to show,through its bylaws, that its busi-ness and property will be man-aged by a Board of Directors andthat a majority vote of this Boardwill govern the employment, com-pensation and discharge of allemployees of the corporation.

ence of an employer-employee re-lationship, our colleagues in theimmigration bar have also argued,pursuant to Matter of Tong, 16I&N Dec. 593 (BIA 1978), thatsince self-employment is a viola-tion of INA §245's prohibition ofunauthorized employment, then,logically, one who is self-employedis an "employee."

In Matter of Tong, a noncitizen'sunauthorized self-employment washeld to preclude his adjustment ofstatus because INA §245 providesin pertinent part that "the provi-sions of this section shall not beapplicable to an alien…who here-inafter continues in or acceptsunauthorized employment prior tofiling an application for adjustmentof status…"

Further logical guidance exists Cont’d on page 37

Immigrantwidowed in crashgets residency

NEW YORK: A Jamaican womanwhose American husband died in aferry crash has been granted per-manent residency after years offighting to stay in the United States.

Lawyer Brent Renison says thegovernment approved permanentresidency for Osserritta Robinsonand she is dropping her appeal pend-ing before the U.S. Supreme Court.Robinson's husband was killed in a2003 Staten Island ferry crash.

President Barack Obamasigned a law in October overturn-ing a rule known as the ̀ `widow'spenalty'' that made foreigners sub-ject to expulsion if their Americanspouses died within two years ofmarriage and before their applica-tions for permanent residency hadbeen approved. -AP

serious" and "has to be conductedin a manner in which we decide."

While tweeting, Tharoor hadwondered whether tightening ofthe visa norms for foreign nation-als made any sense at all and if itwould actually "protect" security.

Contending that "26/11 killers hadno visas", the Minister of State forExternal Affairs had asked whetherIndia would allow terrorists to makeit a "less welcoming" destination.

Under the new rules whichcame after the David Headley case,any foreign national holding long-term multiple entry visas will haveto take a two-month break beforere-entering India. However, thiswas amended later, with govern-ment saying exception would bemade for bona fide travelers if theysubmit itinerary details.

Krishna emphasized that therewas no ambiguity on the visa is-sue and the External Affairs Min-istry and Home Ministry were onthe same page on this. -PTI

No tourist, having a travel document valid for 180days, would be allowed to return to the countrybefore a cooling-off period of two months

Petitioner may be able to show, through itsbylaws, that its business and property willbe managed by a Board of Directors

Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

January 8, 2010India Post36

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Like India, US too grapplingwith visa issue

WASHINGTON: Like India,the US too is now grappling withthe visa issue after the latest at-tempt by a suspected al-Qaedaoperative to blow up a plane overUS airspace.

While the matter of issuing avisa came under scanner in Indiaafter the recent arrest of DavidColeman Headley, the terror sus-pect charged with involvement inthe 26/11 Mumbai attacks, thesimilar problem knocked the USdoor after a failed bid to blow up aplane in Detroit.

Suspected al-Qaeda operativeand Nigerian national UmarFarouk Abdulmutallab was ar-rested after he failed in his bid todestroy Northwest Airlines flighton Christmas Day with over 270people on board.

And then came an argumentthat how come a person whosefather raised concerns about hisson in Nigeria was issued the visa.

The officials in both the coun-tries, however, argue that therewas no violation of law. But me-dia and experts wonder as to howterrorists took advantage of thesystem and authorities failed to

detect it in time.In the case of David Headley,

who is now languishing in a USjail, experts question the mannerin which visa was issued againstsuch an individual. To this, Indianofficials contend that at the timewhen his visa application was pro-cessed there was no informationabout the person's background.

While the 26/11 terror attackkilled over 170 people, nearly 300innocent people had a miraculousescape on December 25 whenAbdulmutallab failed in his at-tempt to ignite an explosive,which he managed to sneak in-side the plane.

"How this individual who had

been alerted to the authorities,the US Embassy, about his per-haps Islamic leaning to someradicalization, was still able tohave a visa, that visa not revokedand able to get on a US aircraft,"Homeland Security SecretaryJanet Napolitano was asked bya reporter.

To this, Napolitano replied:"Well, he was issued a visa for theUS in June of 2008, and those arequestions that we're asking our-selves. What is it that needs toconnect in that process thatmaybe wasn't connected? What -- needs to be changed? Whatneeds to be improved? We haveto work the problem, and that'swhat we're doing."

"(We are) Looking at the factthat he had a pre-existing visa toenter the US. Looking at the factthat he had -- was on the TIDElist," she said.

There's a generic list of any-body whose name pops up in anyway connected to something withthe word "terrorism" associatedwith it; has over half a millionnames on it," the Homeland Secu-rity secretary said. -PTI

Census estimates show populationrise in Oklahoma

TULSA, Okla.: The latest USCensus Bureau estimates showOklahoma's population rose bymore than 43,000 from July 2008 toJuly 2009.

The Census Bureau estimatesthe state's population at 3,687,050in July 2009, compared with3,644,025 in July 2008, for an in-crease of 43,025. The annual popu-lation increase was 39,780 in 2007and 34,238 in 2008.

Most of the overall populationincrease was fueled by people mov-ing to Oklahoma from other states,defined as domestic migration.

Domestic migration ac-counted for 18,345 new residentsto the state with internationalmigrants accounting for 5,340

additional people.Residents moving from within

the United States to Oklahomahave outnumbered internationalmigrants since 2006.

Tulsa Metro Chamber Econo-mist Bob Ball attributed much ofthe population increase to thestate's persistently goodeconomy, relative to the rest ofthe nation.

``Sure, we've been in recessionand we've lost a lot of jobs,'' Ballsaid, but he added Oklahoma hasfared better than other areas ofthe country.

Conservative lending prac-tices and a relatively low unem-ployment and cost of living haveall added up to making Okla-

homa an attractive place to relo-cate, Ball said.

Illinois, Ohio, Michigan andNew York are among the statesthat realized losses in net migrantpopulation since 2008.

``Where do those people go?''Ball said. `À lot of those peoplemoved to the Midwest.''

The balance of the state's popu-lation change came from the so-called natural increase, or the dif-ference between the number whowere born and the number whodied during the past year.

Nevada, whose populationsince 2000 has increased 32.3 per-cent, posted the largest percent-age growth in the nation for thedecade. -AP

There came anargument that howcome a personwhose father raisedconcerns about hisson in Nigeria wasissued the visa

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

USCIS grappling with Corpnright on H-1B visa


New law rekindles immigrant benefit debatePHOENIX: A new Arizona law

that expands the list of governmentbenefits denied to illegal immi-grants has left officials in citieswondering what exactly consti-tutes a public benefit and raisesquestions about whether the re-strictions got a full public airingbefore they were enacted.

The restrictions build on a 2004voter-approved law that deniedbenefits to illegal immigrants. Ari-zona Attorney General TerryGoddard later issued a legal opin-ion saying it applied only to a smallnumber of welfare programs.

The new law, part of a budgetpackage approved in August bythe Legislature, applies to a widerange of state programs. It con-tains requirements that applicantsprovide at least one form of iden-tification, including a birth certifi-cate or passport, and sign an affi-davit saying their documents areauthentic. It also gave any Arizo-nan the option of filing a lawsuitin a bid to remedy a violation.

“You don't have a right to getfree stuff at taxpayer expense ifyou are in the country illegally,''said Republican Sen. RussellPearce of Mesa, author of thenew restrictions.

Supporters say the restrictionswere needed to reduce the millionsof dollars that illegal immigrantswho get benefits are costing thestate each year and reverse the lim-its that Goddard's legal opinionput on the 2004 law.

Since the law took effect Nov.24, nearly 800 people who soughtpublic benefits from Arizona's wel-fare agency were unable to provetheir lawful presence in the coun-try. Their names were reported tofederal immigration authorities,who noted that they give top pri-ority to people who pose the great-

est threats to public safety.City officials and other crit-

ics say the new law's definitionof ̀ `public benefit'' is vague andthat the Legislature never reallyhashed out the details of thenew rules during a special ses-sion of the Legislature that waslargely devoted to the state'sbudget crisis.

It's clear that the new law ex-pands the list of governmentbenefits denied to illegal immi-grants. That's because it waswritten to apply to all state pro-grams, whereas the 2004 law wasinterpreted by Goddard as cen-tering on only several small wel-fare programs.

The law relies on a definition of``public benefit'' that's already infederal law. Under that definition,public benefits includes any retire-ment, welfare, health, housing,higher education and unemploy-ment benefits as well as anygrants, contracts, loans and li-censes provided by state and lo-cal government.

What exactly that means isopen to interpretation.

Pearce said the restrictions ap-ply to ̀ àny and all'' benefits, witha few notable exceptions, such asK-12 education and emergencymedical care that are legally avail-able to illegal immigrants under a

court ruling and a federal law, re-spectively.

Ken Strobeck, executive direc-tor of the League of Arizona Citiesand Towns, which filed an unsuc-cessful lawsuit challenging thebenefit restrictions and other pro-visions in a budget bill, said cityattorneys were disagreeing on themeaning of public benefits.

Would the restrictions apply topeople seeking library cards andcontractors who do business witha city? Or, Strobeck asked, wouldpeople have to attest to their citi-zenship when they sign up forwater and sewage services insmall towns that subsidize thecosts of their utility systems?

The Arizona Supreme Courtdismissed the league's constitu-tional challenge earlier this month.

The league claimed that billprovisions containing the benefitrestrictions and changes to poli-cies on development impact feesand building codes violated theArizona Constitution, becausethey fell outside budget-relatedtopics and because unrelated leg-islation was packaged in one bill.The court said the case can berefiled in a lower court.

Even though benefit restric-tions were considered by commit-tees, were the subject of some de-bate and were contained in sev-eral drafts of the budget, critics ofthe law insist that lawmakers stilldidn't give it a full examination.

Democratic Rep. KyrstenSinema of Phoenix, who votedagainst the bill, said most lawmak-ers were more focused on cuts inthe state's budget and paid lessattention to non-fiscal issues. Shesaid the budget was rushedthrough committee and floor hear-ings after legislative leaders gath-ered enough votes for passage.

``Was it publicly available? Yes.Was it widely available? No. Wasit available for a long enough timefor people to be informed and un-derstand it? Probably not,'' Sinemasaid, noting that she spoke outagainst the bill in a floor session.

Karen Peters, government rela-tions director for the city of Phoe-nix, said there was little opportu-nity for the benefit restrictions tobe properly vetted.

Peters said she talked it overwith key people in state govern-ment, but wasn't successful inconvincing them to defeat themeasure.

`Ìt got into a budget bill wherepolicy issues do not belong, andthere was never an opportunity to

hear both sides of the issue,'' Pe-ters said.

Pearce rejected the criticismthat the restrictions weren't fullydebated.

``Nothing flew under the radar.That's a specious fabrication bythose who are open-border anar-chists who refuse to protect thetaxpayer,'' Pearce said.

In any event, the debate overwhether the restrictions isn't ex-pected to fade away any time soon.

Goddard has been asked by astate agency to issue a legal opin-ion on the new restrictions.

And Strobeck said the leaguewas waiting until Jan. 15 to decidewhether to file its challenge in Su-perior Court. -AP

A Board of no fewer than threeDirectors, including the benefi-ciary, would mean that the ma-jority vote belonged to Directorsother than the beneficiary and es-sentially, that petitioner held thepower to make decisions for thecompany and to terminate thebeneficiary's employment. As aresult, the employer-employeerelationship is less likely to bequestioned.

Because few beneficiaries alsoown the petitioner, it is difficult toidentify a corporate structure thatwould satisfy a USCIS adjudica-tor. Despite the occasional suc-cess story, the trend continues tobe toward routine denials of thesecases. These denials are regularlyissued outside of the H-1B con-

text as well (e.g. L-1) on any peti-tion where the beneficiary ownsthe petitioner. While the USCIS'sfear of foreign nationals setting upU.S. corporations solely as a ve-hicle for self-sponsorship is cer-tainly legitimate, the governmentcannot let this concern overrideall reason. In order to make an ac-curate assessment of these typesof petitions, adjudicators ought toexamine the entire petitioner-ben-eficiary relationship on a case bycase basis, and to determinewhether the beneficiary will in-deed be working in the H-1B spe-cialty occupation.

‘You don't have a rightto get free stuff at tax-payer expense if youare in the countryillegally,’ saidRepublican Sen.Russell Pearce of Mesa

India Post 37

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January 8, 2010 Immigration Post

India Post38

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January 8, 2010Immigration Post

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Immigration forces preparefor rematch

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.: Groupson both sides of the immigrationreform debate in Arkansas don'tfind much to agree on, but theyboth see the new year as a chancefor a rematch.

The possibility of Congresstaking up immigration reform againand another ballot initiative cam-paign by an anti-illegal immigrantgroup have advocates of bothsides approaching 2010 as anotherbattleground year.

The announcement that a coa-lition of lawmakers in Washingtonare pushing for another try at re-forming the nation's immigrationsystem has mobilized activists inthe state once more.

A group of religious leadersfrom around the state that in-cludes state Appeals Court JudgeWendell Griffen has already be-gun campaigning for some typeof reform, calling it a moral issue.

Steve Copley, a Methodistminister and activist on immigra-tion issues, says he's hopeful thatthe push for reforms will comenext year after Congress ad-dresses overhauling the nation'shealth care system. Copley saidhe's hopeful that any legislationwill include a path to citizenshipfor the some 12 million peoplewho are in the country illegally.

``The system's broken andsomething needs to happen,''Copley said.

Key Republicans view thepush as an opportunity for a do-over, with former Republican Na-tional Committee Chairman EdGillespie saying in a recent LittleRock speech that it could help theGOP soften its image and possi-bly attract more Hispanic voters.

`Ì think there's an opportunitythere for Republicans to get thetone right in this debate and notcome across as anti-immigration,but pro-legal immigration,' 'Gillespie said earlier this month.`Às a whole, I think our party waspoorly positioned on the immigra-tion debate.''

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee

echoed those comments, notingthat he had ``paid dearly'' duringthe Republican presidential cam-paign for his past support of leg-islation that would have made thechildren of illegal immigrants eli-gible for scholarships and in-state tuition rates.

``Republicans have to be care-ful to distinguish between stand-ing for principles of law and or-der and recognizing the obviousissue of the growing demographicinfluence of the Hispanic popula-tion,'' Huckabee said. `Ì believethat most of the problem with ille-gal immigration is the fault of thegovernment because the govern-ment never controlled our borders.''

Finding that balance in Arkan-sas may be difficult, however,judging by this year's legislativesession.

A revived attempt to make chil-dren of illegal immigrants eligiblefor in-state tuition failed in theSenate despite a vigorous pushby its sponsor.

That push included a rare``committee of the whole'' hear-ing before the full Senate and lob-bying by heads of the state's ma-jor colleges and universities.

``The bottom line is this: Theyare in our state. They are not leav-ing,'' Sen. Joyce Elliott said ear-lier this year. ``We can choose tohave them here as educatedpeople, or we can choose to havethem here as folks that we denyan education to. That's ourchoice.''

The measure faced objectionsfrom lawmakers who said they

were worried that it would violatefederal law, and who also saidthey were afraid it would rewardillegal immigration by offering thelower rates.

The same chamber had halteda similar proposal in 2005 byElliott, who was then a Housemember calling for in-state tuitionas well as scholarships for the chil-dren of illegal immigrants. Thatmeasure passed the House, butfailed in the Senate despite removalof the scholarship provision.

That failure, in part, hasemboldened a group known asSecure Arkansas to try once morewith its own proposal that wouldrequire state government agenciesto verify that all those seekingbenefits are legal U.S. residents.

The group, which tried andfailed to get a similar measure onthe ballot last year, has gatheredabout 3,000 signatures in its ef-fort to get the proposal on nextfall's ballot. The group mustgather 77,468 signatures to placethe proposal on the November2010 general election ballot.

The measure is likely to faceresistance again from Gov. MikeBeebe, who opposed the pro-posal last year because he said itwould duplicate laws that are al-ready on the books. Beebe's of-fice has said the governor waslikely to again oppose the mea-sure if it was similar to last year'sproposal.

Jeanne Burlsworth, the group'schairwoman, said she thinks Se-cure Arkansas will be more suc-cessful this time because itstarted gathering signatures ear-lier and has a more organized cam-paign than it did last year.Burlsworth says she thinks thecongressional talks on immigra-tion reform will spur more inter-est in the restriction.

`Àrkansas has been a battle-ground state and I feel like thepeople are going to be more de-termined than they ever havebeen to see change,'' Burlsworthsaid.-AP

Teens plead not guilty to hatecrime charge

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.: A judgesays a Pennsylvania teen chargedwith a hate crime in the death of aMexican immigrant is a danger tothe community.

Judge Malachy Mannion de-nied bail for 19-year-old DerrickDonchak, citing three disciplinary

infractions he has incurred whilebehind bars. Donchak and 18-year-old Brandon Piekarsky bothpleaded not guilty at an arraign-ment in Wilkes-Barre on chargesstemming from the July 2008 beat-ing death of 25-year-old LuisRamirez in Shenandoah.

A jury had previously acquittedthe teens of all serious state chargesin the case, angering Hispanic lead-ers and civil-rights groups. The de-cision prompted Pennsylvania Gov.Ed Rendell to ask the Justice De-partment to pursue civil-rightscharges against the teens. -AP

A revived attempt tomake children ofillegal immigrantseligible for in-statetuition failed in theSenate despite avigorous push byits sponsor

39 India Post January 8, 2010www.indiapost.com

Tech News TechBizIndian arm of US firm to

hit full production

So Cal Edison helps lower customer billsIndia Post News Service

ROSEMEAD, CA: This holidayseason, many Californians findthemselves facing tough financialsituations, and Southern Califor-nia Edison (SCE) is reaching outto help. According to a recent sur-vey, about 12 percent of SCE'scustomers - 480,000 - are havingtrouble paying their bills.

SCE is asking its customers tocall the utility as soon as they thinkthey will have problems payingtheir electricity bills.

"There are so many ways wecan work with our customers,"said Lynda Ziegler, SCE's seniorvice president, Customer Service."We encourage them to call us sowe are aware they need help. Wehave many programs and servicesthat provide various forms of as-sistance."

SCE offers the following pro-grams for customers:

• The California Alternate Rate

for Energy (CARE) program pro-vides a discount of 20 percent ormore on income-qualifying cus-tomers' monthly electric bills.There are 1.2 million SCE custom-ers enrolled in CARE; an additional193,000 customers are eligible, buthave not enrolled.

• FERA, the Family Electric RateAssistance program, allows a dis-counted rate on the monthly billfor families of three or more whofall within the income guidelinesand exceed their baseline usage by30 percent or more.

• EMA, the Energy Manage-ment Assistance program, helps

income-qualified households con-serve energy and reduce theirelectricity costs. SCE supplies andinstalls energy-efficient appli-ances and equipment at no costto eligible customers. EMA ser-vices are available to homeownersand renters.

• EAF, the Energy AssistanceFund, grants up to $100 per yearto help customers who cannot paytheir electric bills. The grants areadministered by assistance agen-cies. EAF is funded by donationsfrom SCE employees, customersand Edison International, SCE'spublicly held parent company.

• SCE can offer assistance tocustomers having difficulty pay-ing their bills through paymentplans or extensions. Reaching outto SCE as soon as customers rec-ognize they may have problemspaying their bills will help avoiddisconnections and the fees anddeposits that often are required torestore service.

• Customers who rely on elec-tronic medical equipment may beeligible for the Medical Baselinediscounted rate.

• Customers who need addi-tional help should call 211 to con-nect with community service pro-grams throughout California.

In addition, SCE encourages allcustomers to keep bills low byconserving energy. Information onpayment plans, household energyguzzlers, and rebates and savingsare at www.sce.com/highbillhelper. Customers also canlearn many easy ways to save en-ergy at www.sce.com/tips.

NIDHI SOPARAWALA


MUMBAI: Dr Dayal MeshriPresident/CEO of Advance Re-search Chemicals, Inc, Tulsa,OK- US announced here re-cently that Advanced FluorineTechnologies Limited (AFTL)

The Advanced Fluorine Technologies Private Limited (AFTL) plant in Hyderabad Dr. Dayal Meshri with journalists in Mumbai

Hyderabad, India, its sister con-cern here, would graduate fromR&D Pilot Plant to full scale pro-duction of Fluorinated Telomersand their derivatives for theworldwide market.

Addressing a press conferenceat Samrat Hotel here, Dr. Meshrisaid 300 different products which

will be used for surface treatmentof all kinds of substances suchas fabrics made from cotton, ny-lon, rayon, wool and so on.

These products can be usedby the garment industry, carpetindustry, hospitals and the mostdelicate and expensive clothingdesigners for fabric protection.

These products can be highlybeneficial for laymen as well asthe upper section of society.Also, these products can be usedas anti-graffiti materials for sub-ways and other public placeswhere nuisance markings arefound.

Cont’d on page 41

Discoms to changeoverhead lines tounderground

NEW DELHI: In view of theCommonwealth Games, Delhi Gov-ernment has directed all the powerdiscoms to undertake conversionof all overhead lines crossing themain roads into underground net-work.

Finance Minister A K Waliasaid the discoms have been toldto complete the work of conver-sion of the overhead lines intounderground network as soon aspossible. Power regulator DelhiElectricity Regulatory Commissionhad permitted a budget of Rs 50crore to all the three discoms --BYPL, BRPL and NDPL to take upthe work.

Walia also expressed the confi-dence that conversion of overheadlines into underground networkalso help in overcoming frequentbreak-down in power supply. -PTI

Google'sAdMob deal introuble

Two advocacy groups haveraised concerns over Google's

acquisition of the mobile phoneadvertising firm AdMob.

Consumer Watchdog and Cen-ter for Digital Democracy havewritten an open letter to the U.S.antitrust regulators Federal TradeCommission (FTC) urging to blockthe deal between Google andAdMob.

Consumer Watchdog is a con-sumer advocacy organization andthe Center for Digital Democracyis an advocate of open access tothe Internet.

Airtel initiatesMiddle Eastnetwork

India's leading mobile operatorBharti Airtel has announced the

commencement of its 'Middle EastConnect Network' which will pro-vide wholesale data services to thetelecom operators in the MiddleEastern region.

With the initiation of this net-work service Bharti Airtel offers theunique advantage of at least 3multiple paths on every cableroute. In the press statementBharti Airtel states that the com-pany has added over 17 GBPS ca-pacity to the region.

Additionally, Bharti Airtel hasmade investments to connect theIndia-Middle East-Europe routevia three alternative paths onSEA-ME-WE 4, I-ME-WE and EIGsubmarine cable systems.

EditShare compatible withMac Snow Leopard

EditShare, the technology leader in cross platform collaborative ed-iting and shared media storage systems, has announced compat-

ibility for the recently released Apple's Snow Leopard OS.EditShare is an award-winning solution that facilitates multi-channel

ingest; shared storage and archiving solutions with special project shar-ing capabilities for Broadcast, Postproduction and DI editingworkgroups.

The releasing of compatibility with Apple OS was utmost necessity,as a large share of EditShare users uses the Apple hardware, said AndyLiebman, President and Founder, EditShare in a press statement.

SCE can offer assistance to customers havingdifficulty paying their bills through payment plansor extensions. Reaching out to SCE as soon ascustomers recognize they may have problemspaying their bills will help avoid disconnections

40 India Post TechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

January 8, 2010

FinComm suggests new path for fiscal consolidation: Kelkar

The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil receiving the report of Thirteenth

Finance Commission from the Chairman, Dr. Vijay L. Kelkar along with other

members, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: The FinanceCommission, which makes recom-mendations on sharing of tax rev-enues by the Centre and States,has suggested a new path for fis-cal prudence in its report submit-ted to President Pratibha Patil.

"We had been asked to sug-gest new path for fiscalconsolidation...we have recom-mended fiscal path for the next fiveyears (2010-15)," Finance Commis-sion Chairman Vijay Kelkar toldreporters at his office.

The government had last yearconsigned the Fiscal Responsibil-

ity and Budget Management(FRBM), the self-imposed fiscalprudence guidelines, to thebackburner when it stepped upofficial spending beyond its meansin order to insulate the economyfrom the global financial meltdown.

Fiscal deficit, a reflection ofgovernment borrowings, is esti-mated to touch 6.8 per cent in 2009-10, up from 6.2 per cent in the pre-vious fiscal, mainly on account ofthe stimulus measures.

The recommendations of the13th Finance Commission, FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee said,

"would be getting reflected in the2010-11 budget (to be presentedin the Lok Sabha in February nextyear)."

The report, Kelkar said, "Dealt

with sharing of tax revenue be-tween centre and states, distribu-tion of funds among states andsupport to local bodies."

The Finance Commission re-port assumes significance in viewof the ongoing reforms in indirectand direct taxes, which will have abearing on the tax collections.

The government proposes tointroduce the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) which will subsume lev-ies like excise, VAT and service taxfrom April 1, next year.

The Direct Taxes Code, which

will replace the Income Tax Act,1961, is currently in the public do-main for debate and suggestions.

As required by the Constitu-tion, the Finance Commission wasset up in November 2007 to sug-gest devolution of tax receiptsbetween the centre and the states.

The government extended theterm of the Commission in Septem-ber 2009 up to January end andrequested it to submit the reportby December so as to give effectto its suggestions in the Budget.

Besides Chairman, other mem-bers of the Commission are B KChaturvedi, Indira Rajaraman, AtulSarma and Sanjiv Misra.

The report, after being adoptedby the Cabinet, will be tabled inParliament.

Currently, states and the UnionTerritories get Rs 1.64 lakh crorein a year, or around 30 per cent ofthe shareable taxes collected bythe Centre. The total tax revenueof the government, which includeshareable and non-shareabletaxes, has been estimated at Rs6,41,079 crore during 2009-10.

The Twelfth Finance Commis-sion had recommended that 30.5 percent of the shareable central taxesshould be shared among the statesand the Union Territories. -PTI

Study on to see if Indiacan run bullet train

NEW DELHI: Can India haveits first bullet train that would runat a speed of 350 kms per hour?

The proposal is being exploredby the railways with the help ofthree companies, including aFrench and an Italian firm.

The report of the feasibilitystudy, being conducted on 533-kmlong Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabadsection, is expected to be submit-ted next month that will give anidea to the government whetheror not to go ahead with such a pro-posal.

"After examining the report, wewill decide on the next course ofaction," a senior railway officialtold PTI.

The feasibility study is beingconducted by Systra of Franceand Italferr of Italy along withRITES.

For a bullet train, a dedicatedcorridor would have to be built andofficials estimate that each kilome-ter of such a train would costabout Rs 100-150 crore.

The feasibility study is examin-ing the possible alignment, farestructure and volume of passen-gers in the proposed high-speedcorridor.

Besides the elevated route,study will look at the possibilityof underground route for the high-speed corridor.

"The cost of the feasibilitystudy is about Rs 15 crore and it isbeing shared by railways andMaharashtra governmentequally," said the official.

Even while the feasibility studyis underway, Japanese Prime Min-ister Yukio Hatoyama has offeredhis country's expertise in suchmodern technology. .

During his just-concluded visit,

Hatoyama said he would like to seebullet train technology in Indiaand pointed out that Japanesebullet trains have never been in-volved in any accident.

Indian Railways will await thefeasibility report of the proposedbullet train before deciding onseeking Japanese help for it.

According to an estimate, it willcost about Rs 100-150 crores toconstruct one km of elevatedhigh-speed rail corridor. -PTI

Fiscal deficit, a reflection of government borrow-ings, is estimated to touch 6.8 per cent in 2009-10, up from 6.2 per cent in the previous fiscal,mainly on account of the stimulus measures

A dedicated corridorwould have to be builtand officials estimatethat each kilometer ofsuch a train would costabout Rs 100-150 crore

41India PostTechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

January 8, 2010

The major raw-material is, hepointed out, supplied byHindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd(HFL), promoted by HindustanOrganic Chemicals Ltd (HOCL),and located in Hyderabad, India.Just after the completion of fullscale production at theHyderabad plant, AFTPL may goInitial Public Offer (IPO) as it ex-pects large market capitalizationfor its novel products.

With over 30 patents under hisbelt, Dr Meshri has seen to it thathis US venture Advance ResearchChemicals, Inc. (ARC) turns outto be one of the largest InorganicFluoride Specialty Chemical Pro-ducers in the world.

ARC makes over 300 chemicalsand also caters to a variety of in-dustries such as automobile, elec-tronic, plastic, uv-curing, semi-conductor, pharmaceutical indus-tries and so on. ARC has rapidlygrown into one of the premier spe-cialty chemical companies in theworld distributors in UK, Germany,France, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Is-rael, India, Australia and othercountries. ARC now provides qual-ity products with customer satis-faction to over 200 Fortune, 500companies.

Dr. Meshri is not only a scien-tist and industrialist but also aphilanthropist and community ac-tivist. He has helped a number ofcommunity oriented projects inUSA and in India. He has set-up aschool and Biochemical college in

Patan, India, named after his latewife, Dr. Indu Meshri who hap-pened to be a scientist in her ownright. Dr Dayal Indu MeshriSchool offers training from Pre-Kto high school to over 500 stu-dents. Last year he helped estab-lish Dr Indu Dayal Meshri collegeof Science and Biotechnology inPatan that teaches 190 studentsin bio-sciences.

Dr. Dayal Meshri has gifted Dr.Indu Mehsri Park/ and a beautifulgarden to the city of Tulsa, Okla-homa, USA. The park is located inthe centre of a most active hub"Brookside" Maple Ridge area.

He has been inducted in theHall of Fame of University of Idahoand is Honorary Professor at theUkrainian Technology University.He has been appointed by theGovernor of Oklahoma on theboard of Oklahoma Centre for Ad-

vancement of Science and Tech-nology (OCAST). He also serveson the board of Trustees of Uni-versity of Idaho, North GujaratUniversity, Global Alliance andother foundations. He is the Presi-dent of Alliance of Sindhi Asso-ciations of North America whichorganizes its convention eachyear in different parts of the world.

Dr Meshri has been honored

by Yuzhnoye Space Research In-stitute which is currently buildinglaunching pads for space shuttlesin India. He is life-time vice-chair-man for Siberian InternationalFluoride Conference which takesplace in Siberian cities every threeyears. He is also an author and co-author of many technical papers,books and has contributed tothree editions of encyclopediachemical technologies and is listedin Who's Who in technology.

Indian arm of US firm tohit full production

Dr. Dayal Meshri, CEO/President

of AFTL Hyderabad


2009: India won slowdown battle; lost to price riseNEW DELHI: India achieved the distinc-

tion of being the second fastest growingeconomy amid the global recession in 2009,but the joy was marred by the decade's sharp-est rise in food prices to the chagrin of com-mon man.

For a country that continued to lose onits exports throughout the year that hasgone by, economy achieved a remarkablegrowth of about seven per cent (duringApril- September 2009) on the back of fo-cused government stimulus in tandem withwell articulated interest rate-cum-monetarypolicy of RBI.

But it is a paradox of sorts that price linethat dipped from a 13-year high into nega-tive zone at one point during the yearclimbed sharply again, with food inflationtouching more than a decade's high of 20per cent.

From the growth focus, the governmenthad to concentrate on fighting the naturaldisaster ranging from drought to floods indifferent parts of the country that led to

shortages of foodgrains and fruit and veg-etable and the resultant spurt in their pricescaused a political storm.

To add to this roller coaster, develop-ments in the economy, including in the sharemarket, the general elections in May that

helped Congress led UPA to retain power,lent further color. In the New Year, fear ofrising inflation will continue to influence theeconomic policies, whether it is monetaryreview to be announced by the RBI on Janu-ary 29 or the Budget to be unveiled by Fi-nance Minister Pranab Mukherjee towardsthe end of February.

Powered by strong doses of three stimu-

lus packages, the Indian economy did well,only next to China in terms of growth. De-spite widespread drought and devastatingfloods in parts of the country, the economyduring 2009-10 is estimated to expand by 8per cent, up from 6.7 per cent in the previ-

ous fiscal.India's growth during 2008-09 dipped

from 9 per cent on account of the impact ofthe global financial crisis.

Stimulus, green shoots and exit policywill continue to remain the buzzwords asthe government in the coming year will moveforward to withdraw the extraordinary stepsit took to fight the impact of global melt-

down, domestic drought and spiraling foodprices.

The focus of economic planners duringthe initial months of 2009 was to continuethe stimulus to tide over the impact of fi-nancial crisis triggered by collapse ofAmerica's iconic banker Lehman Brothersin September 2008.

Not waiting for the election results,Mukherjee, while presenting an interim bud-get in February 2009 provided the thirdstimulus package to the industry to by an-nouncing tax cuts and raising public expen-diture.

These stimulus packages, backed by eas-ing of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank,yielded some results which economists de-scribed as "green shoots".

As the green shoots appeared, theeconomy started looking up and in the sec-ond quarter (July-September 2009-10) re-corded a high growth rate of 7.9 per cent,much more than anticipated by any analystor think tank. -PTI

But it is a paradox of sorts that price line that dipped from a13-year high into negative zone at one point during the yearclimbed sharply again, with food inflation touching morethan a decade's high of 20 per cent

Dr. Dayal Meshri hasgifted Dr. Indu MehsriPark/ and a beautifulgarden to the city ofTulsa, Oklahoma, USA.The park is located inthe centre of a mostactive hub "Brookside"Maple Ridge area


www.indiapost.com

HoroscopeARIES

Mar 21-Apr 20

January 8 to

January 14

You will start to enjoy company of a

new colleague at work. Strong Venus

will keep you comfortable as far as the

money is concerned. You will be seri-

ously exploring the possibility of start-

ing a new venture and looking for av-

enues to raise capital. Opponents will

try their hard but will not succeed. You

will travel to a nice place with family.

You will enforce certain rules in order

to make more money. You will become

little uncertain about a relationship

started very recently. Money will just

run out of your hands but you will meet

all commitments on time. You may be in

touch with a learned person for advice

and guidance. Cold weather may have

slight impact on your body this week.

Earlier plans are about to become real-

ity. Positive signals will bring energy

back and you will speed up the pro-

cess. Avoid any argument with a sib-

ling. You will spend lots of time on re-

solving an issue involving a child. You

will have only little left after paying pre-

vious bills. Spouse will give some prac-

tical ideas but you will ignore them.

TAURUS

Apr 21-May 20

LEO

Jul 23-Aug 22

SAGITTARIUSNov 23-Dec 22

VIRGO

Aug 23-Sept 22

CAPRICORN

Dec 23-Jan 19

GEMINI

May 21-Jun 20

LIBRA

Sept 23-Oct 22

CANCER

Jun 21-Jul 22

SCORPIO

Oct 23-Nov 22

AQUARIUS

Jan 20-Feb 18

PISCES

Feb 19-Mar 20

You will continue to make the right

choices about career. Change of strat-egy will save a lot in long terms. Extra

time you put in at work will not gowaste as soon you will reap rich re-

wards. You may need to see a doctorto consult about an issue bothering

you lately. Some of you may join ahealth club to get in better shape.

You will be spending extra hours on a

project and try to reach out many. You

will easily meet all commitments but will

be little concerned about future. Some

of you will be getting ready for a long

distance business trip also. Some

money will go on children and their im-

mediate needs. Spouse will be a great

helping hand.

You will make up your mind to chal-

lenge the decision. People at work will

be supportive and you will continue to

make rapid progress on assignment

recently undertaken. Even if you don't

like what people say, avoid any argu-

ments with them. You may put your

needs aside and fulfill what other close

family member want.

If waiting for finances for your upcom-

ing project, it will be arranged soon

with the help of a very old friend. You

may spend some money on fixing a

car or replacing some electric item in

the house. All meetings will go well

and you will keep getting the assur-

ance. It will be better to let past go and

look forward to a new beginning.

It is going to be an entertaining week

by all means. You will enjoy the com-

pany of a new person in life. Chances

are that you will be selected among

many for the job. You will quickly over-

come minor illness also. Money will

come but disappear fast mostly on

paying bills. Main business competitors

will call it quit making room for progress.

There will be few exciting develop-

ments in life. You will be offered a great

opportunity on very easy terms. Finan-

cially things will stay little tight for few

more weeks. Some of you may start a

new relationship with a person from

slightly different culture. You will call

overseas more frequently for an im-

portant reason this week.

Some one established and with politi-

cal background will be helpful. You may

go to see some who helped you in the

past and take some nice gifts also. It

will be helpful week for people con-

nected with high tech or medicine. You

will become cautious when it come to

spending money and ask family mem-

bers to do the same.

You will start to see lots of money in

the pipeline. Expenses will stay under

controls and bills will be lot less than

previous years. You will spend most of

the time indoors with family. A close

relative will call and mail some nice gifts.

Your popularity is on increase in pro-

fessional circle. Visitor from overseas

will confirm the date.

You may buy some fine and quality

items for the house. An important busi-

ness trip is in the air. You will lack sup-

port from a colleague at work. Some

of you will start some kind of loan pro-

cess also. An old friend will call to in-

vite you to a get together. Do not gamble

with money or make financial commit-

ments out of your reach.

Pollution impact on peoplenear industries to be studied

NEW DELHI: Impact of pollu-tion on the health of people resid-ing in and around industrial hubsin the country will be soon stud-ied by the Environment Ministry,days after it announced nationalambient air standards.

"Health issues in such areas isa matter of concern.

We are in talks with the PublicHealth Foundation of India (PHFI),an NGO, to study the health ofpeople living in and around thesetowns," Environment MinisterJairam Ramesh said recently.

There is a need to link environ-mental issues with the health is-sues with both being interlinked,he said referring to polluted clus-ters like Bhatinda in Punjab wherea large number of cancer cases arebeing reported due to pesticidecontaminated water.

The minister said that he hasbeen getting representations fromcitizen groups and people fromacross the country regardinghealth hazards due to poor qual-ity of air, water and land in indus-trial clusters such as Vapi andAnkleshwar in Gujarat andSingrauli in Uttar Pradesh.

"Besides health impact, there isa need to carry out a study to findout the impact of pollution on foodchain and water supply," headded.

There are around 88 industrialtowns which have been identifiedby the Environment Ministry ascritically polluted adversely affect-ing water, air and land quality, rais-ing health concern among the lo-cals.

The health study will be doneon the basis of the National Ambi-ent Air Quality Standards-2009,which provides a legal frameworkfor control of air pollution and pro-tection of public health and anycitizen can approach the court de-manding better air quality.

The national ambient air qual-ity standards have been revisedafter a gap of 15 years and do notdistinguish between industrial andresidential areas. "This is very im-portant. So far we had a lower stan-dard in industrial areas as com-pared to residential areas.

Now standards will be uniformirrespective of whether it is classi-fied as industrial area or a residen-tial area," Ramesh said. -PTI

January 8, 2010 India Post 43www.indiapost.com

44 January 8, 2010India Post

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

Parents looking for a groom

for their beautiful daughter,

American Citizen, 31years,

5'3" tall, Caste No Bar.

Please send your picture

and biodata to P.O.Box #

342, India Post

29274 Union City Blvd.,

Union City, CA - 94587.

MATRIMONIALSMATRIMONIALS

BRIDEGROOM WANTED

Well Settled in California,

Punjabi Khatri parents

looking for a suitable

professional match for

their beautiful daughter,

slim, 29 years, 5’5” tall

and well educated. Kindly

respond with photo and

biodata to P.O.Box # 340,

India Post, 29274 Union

City Blvd., Union City,

CA - 94587, USA.

Looking For A Suitable

Match For "Hindu

Punjabi" girl, 29, 5'5"

working. Boy Should

Be Tall, Good Looking,

Well Educated, Profes-

sional And Financially

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[email protected]

Hindu Punjabi parents

seek a suitable match for

their daughter, 32, 5' 8'',

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should be at least 6' tall,

professional, and brought

up in North America.

Email:[email protected]

or Call416-464-7471

PUNJABI FAMILY

INVITES

CORRESPODENCE

FOR THEIR WORKING

DAUGHTER 28 YRS

OF AGE, 5'6". SEEKING

US RAISED WORKING

BOY. SEND RE-

SPONSE [email protected]

OR CALL AT714-234-4921

Parents seeking

match for Punjabi

Khatri handsome son

born Nov. 1978, 5'9"

educated,

selfemployed. Alliance

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educated girl. Email

biodata and

photograph to

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or Call

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AT (818) 996-2825 AND/

OR EMAIL BIO DATA

WITH PHOTO AT

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matrimonial alliance for

their beloved, beautiful

daughter, age 26 years, 5

feet 5 inches tall, UC

graduate and profession-

ally employed in the bay

area. Please contact:

[email protected]

PUNJABI SIKH PARENTS

INVITE CORRESPON-

DENCE FROM WELL

ESTABLISHED FAMILIES

FOR DAUGHTER, 24 YRS,

BEAUTIFUL, SLIM, 5’3",

MASTERS-HUMAN

GENETICS, LIVING IN

INDIA. PROFESSIONALS

PREFERRED. PLEASE

SEND BIODATA WITH

[email protected]

PH:562-201-1130

42, youthful, handsome,PhD, professor in

prestigious university,IIT undergrad,

Brahmin, vegetarian, UScitizen, divorcee never

lived together,seeks partner

below 36, Indian values,caring, PhD, MD,

professionals, bio/photodetails must.

[email protected]

Khatri Family seeking a

suitable match for their

handsome, tall, non-

smoker, non-drinker,

professional son 26 yr old,

5' 9'' and well educated

family background.

Please contact

510-461-6891or email bio data at

[email protected]

ALLIANCE INVITED FOR A

26 YRS, 5.3 SINDHI GIRL.

BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT

AND SOPHISTICATED,

BORN & RAISED IN THE

U.S. LOOKING FOR SINDHI

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AGE, HANDSOME AND

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PLEASE REPLY WITH

PICTURE & BIODATA TO E-

MAIL:[email protected]

For Chanderika:Seeking alliance for

41 year old/5’5”Punjabi Khatri, wellestablished profes-sional teacher. Verybrief marriage an-

nulled. Seeking ma-ture, responsible

match from sincereprofessional/business-

man, West Coastpreferred. Email bio-

data/photo [email protected].

Nai Sikh 5.1’ 25 Girl B.M.I.T.; P.G.D.C.A., from India.

M.B.A (I.T) From USA. Has Student Visa and work

permit Trying for H-1B Visa

Brother Dentist in India. Father & Mother in USA

Seeks Suitable Immigrant boy from USA or CANADA.

Contact at Email: [email protected]

with Bio data and Photo

Experiencedbook keeper

neededFull time In Fountainvalley, email resumeto [email protected]

or fax to

714-557-1305$10.00 / hr.

Notice is hereby given that

sealed competitive bids will be

accepted in the office of the

GSA-Purchasing Department,

County of Alameda, 1401

Lakeside Drive, Suite 907, Oak-

land, CA 94612

NON-MANDATORY NETWORK-

ING/BIDDERS CONFERENCE,

North County RFQ #900677 for

Traffic Signal and Street Light-

ing Materials, January 13, 2010,

10:00 A.M. ñ General Services

Agency, 1401 Lakeside Drive,

Room 1107, 11th Floor, Oakland,

CA

NON-MANDATORY NETWORK-

ING/BIDDERS CONFERENCE,

South County RFQ #900677 for

Traffic Signal and Street Light-

ing Materials, January 14, 2010,

2:00 P.M. ñ Social Services

Agency, 24100 Amador Street,

California Poppy Room 225, 2nd

Floor, Hayward, CA

Responses Due by 2:00 pm

on February 17, 2010 County

Contact : Kelley Smith (510)

891-5670 or via email:

[email protected] At-

tendance at Networking Confer-

ence is Non-mandatory. Specifi-

cations and bid copies regard-

ing the above may be obtained

at the Alameda County GSA-Pur-

chasing Department or the Cur-

rent Contracting Opportunities

Internet website at

www.acgov.org.

1/8/10

CNS-1762592#

Notice is hereby given that

sealed competitive bids will

be accepted in the office of

the GSA-Purchasing Depart-

ment, County of Alameda,

1401 Lakeside Drive, Suite

907, Oakland, CA 94612

N E T W O R K I N G / N O R T H

COUNTY BIDDERS CONFER-

ENCE RFQ #900675 for HY-

BRID ELECTRIC-DIESEL

CRANE TRUCK, Monday,

January 11, 2010, 10:00 a.m.

ñ Lakeside Plaza Building,

1401 Lakeside Drive, Room

1105, 11th Floor, Oakland, CA

N E T W O R K I N G / S O U T H

COUNTY BIDDERS CONFER-

ENCE RFQ #900675 for HY-

BRID ELECTRIC-DIESEL

CRANE TRUCK, Tuesday,

January 12, 2010, 2:00 p.m.

ñ Public Works Agency, 4825

Gleason Drive, Conference

Room, Dublin, CA

Responses Due by 2:00 pm

on February 18, 2010 County

Contact : Tudor S. Mosu

(510) 208-9614 or via email:

[email protected] At-

tendance at Networking Con-

ference is Non-mandatory.

Specifications and bid copies

regarding the above may be

obtained at the Current Con-

tracting Opportunities Internet

website at www.acgov.org.

1/8/10

CNS-1763684#

January 8 , 2010 India Post 45

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

San Francisco based restaurant looking for a

EXECUTIVE CHEF/culinary graduate.

Must have 10 YEARS of experience.

(650) 271-2849

Executive Chef

MOTEL FOR SALEA 62 units economy Franchise motel on

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Quiznos in a prime location in InlandEmpire area for sale.

Only interested parties,CONTACT

[email protected] or

call (909)851-53955.30pm to 7.00pm only.

BUSINESS FOR SALE

1 MALE AND 1

FEMALE ENGLISH

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If you are interested in

the puppies.

Contact email

INTERESTEDIN PUPPIES?

[email protected]

PAYROLLACCOUNTANT

WANTEDCurrently seeking payroll

clerks and accountants.

Job comes with great

benefits,

Applicants should kindly

e-mail resumes or

inquiries to Guiseppina

[email protected]

FOR SALEHotel property inManhattan NY-

Chelsea .50,000 sq ftBuild able .50x100 lotUp to 24 Stories highPrice $13 Million J/V

possible.Only serious buyers-

Please. [email protected]

46 January 8, 2010India Post

www.indiapost.com

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January 8 , 2010 India Post 47

www.indiapost.com

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www.indiapost.com

DatebookNEW YORK

Upcoming

NEW JERSEY

Upcoming

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Sat Jan 9• Kirtilals - Diamonds and JewelryVenue: Embassy Suites, 121 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJTime: 11am to 6pmContact: 732-980-0500

Sat Jan 16• Sankrant CelebrationsVenue: MVCC, 143 State Route 35, Laurence Harbor, NewJerseyTime: 4pm 8pmContact: (732) 355-1782

Fri Jan 23

• Dance Pe ChanceVenue: Performing Arts Center, 108 Stirling Rd, Warren, NJTime: 6pmContact: 732-369-6626Highlights: Dance Pe Chance Competition from Rab Ne BanaDe Jodi, competition how it changes lives!

Sat Jan 30• Open MIC KaraokeVenue: Marathi Vishwa Community Center, 143 State Route35, Laurence Harbor, New JerseyTime: 2pm 6pmContact: 732 438 6867

Sat March 27• Marathi Vishwa-Vasantotsav 2010Venue: Crosroads Middle School- South, 195 Major Road,Monmouth Junction, New JerseyTime: 3pm to 8pmContact: 732-355-9844

Sat March 27• 2010 Spring FestivalVenue: Ocean Township High School, Ocean, New JerseyTime: 3pm to 9pmContact: 732-801-4694

Sat May 29• Vishwa Marathi Natya SammelanVenue: Raritan Center, New Jersey Convention Center, 97Sunfield Avenue, Edison, New JerseyHighlights: The VMNS will be hosted and executed by theUS branch of ABMNP, led by Dr. Meena Nerurkar and herteam. It will have an attendance of some V.V.I.P.s in the enter-tainment industry, about 200 top notch artists fromMaharashtra, the chief minister of Maharashtra and govern-ment representatives.

Every 4th Sat every Month• Durga Mata Ka JagaranVenue: 2335 S. Diamond Bar Boulevard, DBC Center, Dia-mond Bar, CATime: 6:30pmContact: 909-519-1579, 626-810-2345

Every Sat (start from Sat Aug 8)• Gurukul Classes for ChildrenVenue: Sindhu Center, South CaliforniaTime: 2pm to 4pmContact: 818-541-1754 & 909-576-1114Highlights: Children between the ages of 5 and 18. Chil-dren will be taught the Fundamentals of Hinduism, Prayers,Shlokas, Bhajans and Values of our culture.

Sat Jan 9, 2010• Where's the Green? Cleantech

and Money!Venue: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CATime: 8amContact: 626-395-5759

Sun Jan 17, 2010• Celebrate National Service DayVenue: M.A. Center, 10200 Crow Canyon Rd, Castro Val-ley, CATime: 2:30pm to 5pmContact: http://dayofservice2010.eventbrite.comHighlights: hands-on ecologicalactivities hosted by the Amrita Bala Kendra. Kids learn toplant and nurture trees with expert guidance with adulteco-volunteers. Bring your friends and family for a greatway to start off the New Year 2010

Wed Jan 13• Inner EngineeringVenue: Marina Village Conference Center, 1936 QuiviraWay, San Diego, CaliforniaContact: 866-424-ISHA

Sat Jan 23• Life Bliss ProgramVenue: 23015 Wrencrest Drive, Calabasas, CaliforniaTime: 9am to 6pmContact: 818-357-0644

Thurs Jan 7• South Asia seminar featuring George PatiVenue: Foster Hall, 1130 East 59th Street, Chicago, IllTime: 4:30pm to 6:30pmContact: 773-702-8637

Sat Jan 9• Thyagaraja AradhanaVenue: Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple, 1145 W. SullivanRoad, Aurora, IllinoisContact: (630) 844-2252

Fri Jan 15• Life is a Gift; Living an ArtVenue: Chinmaya Mission, 11 S. 80 Route 83,Willowbrook, IllinoisContact: (630)-654-3370

Sat Jan 16

• MILAP Chicago 2010Venue: Crescendo, 222 West Ontario Street, ChicagoTime: 6:30pmContact: 212-213-5960

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Sat Jan 16• Mata ki ChowkiVenue: PREM PRAKASH TEMPLE, 180 Burgher Ave,Staten Island, New YorkTime: 6pm to 1pmContact: 718-351-0483

Sat Jan 16• Miss International Pageant

with Priyanka ChopraVenue: Colden Center, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NYTime: 7pmContact: 718-200-9311

Sat Jan 16• Miss International Pageant

with Priyanka ChopraVenue: Colden Center, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NYTime: 7pmContact: 718-200-9311

Fri Jan 22• YaatraVenue: Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, New York CityTime: 8pmContact: (301) 469-8529

Fri Jan 30• Russell Peters: Green Card TourVenue: Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Avenue of the Ameri-cas, New YorkTime: 8pmContact: 212-930-5180

Sat Feb 27• Mohamana (Infatuated Love)Venue: Simple Studios, 134 West 29th street, NYCTime: 7pmContact: (800) 838-3006

Sat March 6• Bharata Natyam Student Recital 2010Venue: City Center Studios, 130 West 56th street, studio#3, NYCContact: (917) 214-6466

Sat May 1• Dancing STAR ka DamakaVenue: Shreenath Enterprise Inc, 220-15, 92 ave queensvillage, New YorkTime: 7pmContact: 347-513-8526

Sat Jan 9• Shaadi.Com & Shalabh Entertainment

present New Year New BeginningsVenue: Skye Lounge, 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,Washington DCTime: 7:00PMContact: 703-468-1820

Fri Jan 23• Sanskriti Saraswati PujaVenue: Quince Orchard High School, 15800 Quince Or-chard Road, North Potomac, Maryland, WDCTime: 8:30pm to 10pmContact: 301-983-0142

Fri Jan 29• Art of Living CourseVenue: Art of Living Center, 9502 Claychin Court, Burke,Virginia, WDCContact: 703-644-1615Highlights: The Art of Living Course gives participantsthe practical knowledge and techniques to unlock theirdeepest potential and bring fullness to life.

WASHINGTON DC

Upcoming

Sat Jan 9• Hindi - English bilingual story timeVenue: Dr. King Library, Children's Room., 150 E. SanFernando St, San José , CA Time: 4pm 4:30pmContact: (408) 808-2183

Sat Jan 9• Vocal Concert with Siddharth SriramVenue: Sangati Center, 3049 22nd Street, San Francisco,CaliforniaTime: 8pm

Sun Jan 10• Ashtavakra GitaVenue: Art of Living Santa Clara Center, 2370A Walsh Ave,Santa Clara, CaliforniaTime: 7pmContact: 408-480-4493Highlights: The Ashtavakra Gita documents the unveilingof the highest knowledge from a saint to a wise king manythousands of years ago. H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar showshow, in simple steps, King Janaka is taken to deeper levelsof understanding and how we can apply this knowledge toour own lives.

Tues Jan. 12• Kip Fulbeck: "What Next for Identity in

a Multicultural Society?"Time: 7pm

Thurs Jan. 21• Julia Moulden: "What Next for our

Work and our World?"Time: 7pm

Wed Jan. 27• Robin Sukhadia: "What Next for Global

Cinema, Politics and Culture?Time: 7pmVenue: Saint Mary's College of California, Soda CenterActivity Center, 1928 St. Mary's Rd, Moraga, CAContact: 925-631-4222

Sat Jan 16• Aero-beats WorkshopVenue: Chinese Cultural Center, 1344 Ridder Park Drive,San Jose, CaliforniaTime: 9am to 10amContact: 408-564-3140

India Post 49January 8, 2010

Page Sponsored by Sahanis

God has no marks, nocolour, no caste, and noancestors; No form, no

complexion, no outline, no cos-tume and so he is indescribable.He is fearless, luminous and mea-sureless in might. He is the kingof kings, the Lord of the proph-ets. He is the sovereign of theuniverse, gods, men and de-mons. The woods and dales sing

the indescribable. O Lord, nonecan tell Thy names. The wisecount your blessings to coinyour names.

(Jaap Sahib)It is of no avail to sit closing

both eyes and meditating like acrane. This world is lost, and thenext also, for those who go aboutbathing in the seas, desiring sal-

A human being has so

many skins inside, covering

the depths of the heart. We

know so many things, but

we don't know ourselves!

Why, thirty or forty skins or

hides, as thick and hard as

an ox's or bear's, cover the

soul. Go into your own

ground and learn to know

yourself there.

-Meister Eckhart

A perfection of means, and

confusion of aims, seems

to be our main problem.

-Albert Einstein

Access to the Vedas is the

greatest privilege this cen-

tury may claim over all pre-

vious centuries.

-J. Robert Oppenheimer

Never think there is any-

thing impossible for the

soul. It is the greatest her-

esy to think so. If there is

sin, this is the only sin ? to

say that you are weak, or

others are weak.

-Swami Vivekananda

If you live in unison with

your true Atman or Spirit, if

you always keep yourself in

touch with God in you, with

your own Self or Atman, you

are inspired all the time.

What is wrong with you is

that your mind comes in

contact with earthly mag-

nets on all sides, worldly

attachments which magne-

tize you and put you out of

order, you are no longer in

running order, deranged.

-Swami Ram Tirath

Look at the optimism of

Nature. Nothing can stop it.

Only the ego makes hu-

mans pessimistic, and this

causes suffering.

-Mata Amritanandamayi

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Philosophy

DR KRISHNA BHATTA

(Cont'd from last week)1. Knowing the mind:

Sit straight upright with spineand neck aligned. Eyesshould be closed or half

open looking at the tip of the nos-tril. I find it easier to close theeyes completely. Now, just watchthe thoughts that travel throughyour mind.

Try not to get attached to any ofthe thoughts. Also, try not to inter-rupt or stop any of the thoughts.Many good thoughts may start toflow. Again, just because these aregood thoughts, there is no need toget attached to them.

Mind does not like this ignor-ing and tries to allure you into get-ting attached to some kind ofthought material. Just try to con-tinue to maintain the neutrality to-wards any and all kind of thoughts.

At times you will get attachedto some of the thoughts. Onceyou realize it, you need to startagain as fresh as ever. You be-

have as if no interruption has hap-pened. Mind can now start get-ting bored.

You need to be careful. It alsostarts telling you that you havedone enough for today. Let ustry doing more tomorrow. Youought to treat all these as trafficon the road.

Let it all just transit. You setyour time before you start andcomplete the project, come whatmay. Half hour is the minimum

time I would suggest. If you aredoing it on a flight in a plane, youcan extend it to the time of theflight or make it an hour. Aftercertain time, it is not boring at all.

I would do this exercise and thisexercise alone for at least a week.After that it will be easier to moveon to the next exercise. Try to re-sist going on to second phasebefore completing a week. Youneed to practice this for a week tobecome proficient in knowingyour mind fully before movingforward.

2. Control of Mind - Dropping

of thoughtsThis exercise should be done

after one or two weeks of doingexercise 1. After that it becomesa combination of exercise 1 andthis exercise. The idea is to dropany thought that comes through.No discrimination is needed.

All thoughts that traverse themind need to be dropped. Once youstart the bad thoughts good onesstart coming. They need to bedropped too. Good, bad and ugly;

all thoughts need to be dropped.I was describing this technique

to a psychiatrist friend of mine. Shewas quite interested and even fasci-nated by the concept. The questionshe had is what happens if thethoughts reappear after dropping it.

Some thoughts will re appearand keep reappearing. There isno problem with that. You haveto keep dropping and keep drop-ping as many times as it keeps re-appearing.

You have to remember that theexercise is just to practice how todrop thoughts. It is not a judg-

ment on your capabilities. Thethought's reappearance shouldnot be taken as a defeat. No oneis winning and no one is losing inthis exercise.

The idea is to reverse the con-trol. The fact that you can dropany thought at will takes you onestep closer to getting control overyour thoughts.

Some thoughts are easier to dropthan others. Consuming thoughtsare lot harder to drop. They are

very tenacious. You almost haveto separate them from yourself be-fore they can be dropped.

Once you practice this exercisefor a while you can see the deeperthoughts that have stayed at-tached for quite a while and tendto stay there. The practice needsto continue. Indiscriminate drop-ping of all thoughts is the key.

That is why I emphasized thepoint of not using this exercise inreal life. This exercise is meant foronly the session of half to onehour a day.

(To be continued)

Exercises to control anddrop thoughts

recognise the Supreme Being;But became mad, boasting ofthemselves. They cared little torecognise the Real Essence. Buteach became absorbed in him-self and tried to establish hissuperiority over others.

(Bachittar Natak)All men are the same though

they appear different. The brightand the dark, the ugly and thebeautiful; The Hindus and theMuslims have developed in ac-cordance with their differentsurroundings; All human beingshave the same eyes, the sameears. The same body build com-posed of earth, air, fire and wa-ter. The names Allah and Abhekhare for the same God; The sameis referred to in the Puranas andthe Quran. All human beings arethe reflection of one and thesame Lord. Recognise ye thewhole human race as one.

Extend Thy hand to shield meLord, and all my heart's desiresfulfil; Ever may my mind dwellat Thy feet, deem me Thy ownand work my weal;

(Benti Chaupai)The 344th birth anniversary

of Guru Gobind Singh falls onJanuary 5

The world is entangled infalse ceremonies

GURU GOBIND SINGH

vation. They pass their lives invain dwelling in the midst of sin.

I speak verily; hear me all - Godis realised only through love.

(Swayya 9)Some worship stones, put them

on their heads or hang them roundtheir necks. Some insist that Godis in the South, others bow theirheads to the West. Some foolsworship idols, others waste their

time with worshipping the dead.The whole world is entangled infalse ceremonies and has notfound God's secret.

(Swayya 10)Without the support of the

One Name; Consider all religiousceremonies superstitions. Karta(The Creator) and Karim (Thebeneficient) are the names of the

same God. Razak (The provider)and Rahim (The merciful) are alsothe names given to Him. Let noman in his error wrangle over dif-ferences in names. Worship theOne God who is the Lord of all.

Know that his form is one andHe is the One light diffused inall.

Whoever was clever in theworld established his own sect.

No one tried to unite people inthe search for the Creator. En-mity, contention and pride in-creased. All, big and small, flaredup and started perishing in theirown rivalry. And none of themtried my way.

They who obtained a littlespiritual power struck out theirown way. None of them cared to

Try not to get attached to any of the thoughts.Also, try not to interrupt or stop any of the thoughts.Many good thoughts may start to flow

It is of no avail to sit closing both eyes andmeditating like a crane. This world is lost,and the next also, for those who goabout bathing in the seas

50 Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

January 8, 2010India Post

India Post

If Pakistan failsAMIT GUPTA

Much of Washington'sAfPak strategy hasbeen based on the idea

that Pakistan needs to propped upfrom possible implosion. US policyanalysts also point out that oneof the countries that would bemost affected by this breakupwould be India though this is usu-ally couched in alarmist terms ofIndia taking "action" over Paki-stani loose nukes.

Little has been written on thisissue by Indian scholars andabout how the US and Indiacould coordinate their actions incase of such an occurrence-C.Raja Mohan being a notable ex-ception and even he ended with

the optimistic conclusion thatPakistan was a long way fromstate failure and, therefore, it waspremature to have such debates.

Yet a discussion needs to bestarted on this issue mostly tocommunicate to Pakistan whatIndia's likely actions will be and,therefore, to prevent any worstcase scenarios being built inIslamabad over New Delhi's in-tentions.

Pakistani strategists andpolicy analysts base their worstcase scenarios on such percep-tions and they invariably involvepossible future conflict with In-dia. This has also been the worstcase scenario in the United Stateseven though it is probably onethat is furthest from the minds ofIndian policy makers.

What the two countries willhave to clearly define-in privatetalks or in public debate-is whatexactly is meant by implosion? Isit wide scale Jihadi activity? Is ita serious secession movement?Or is it the taking over of the Pa-kistani military by radical ele-ments?

It could be a combination ofany of these three as well. Hav-

ing clear discussions on the is-sue will permit India to take stepsto build confidence in Pakistanon Indian intentions.

Probably the first thing thathas to be made clear is that India,while strengthening its defensesalong the border, will not take ad-vantage of the situation and in-tervene in any way.

For a Pakistan army that viewsIndia as its principal threat, im-plosion would be seen as theeasiest way for India to make ter-ritorial gains or to put strong pres-sure on Pakistan to compromiseon political and sovereignty is-sues.

What the Indian government

would require from Pakistan are aset of measures it would need forNew Delhi to undertake so as notto be perceived as having hostileintentions.

Such coordination is possible,of course, both through directnegotiations with Pakistan or, in-deed, through second track di-plomacy. But it has to be donethrough Washington to convinceIslamabad of Indian intentions.

Additionally, it would be use-ful for New Delhi to have a crisismechanism in place where Wash-ington was constantly updatingit on on-going events in Pakistanand on the steps Washingtonwas taking to defuse the crisis.

Perhaps the most importantstep that India can take is to pub-licly declare what it sees as thebest end state in Pakistan. Froman Indian perspective that wouldbe the restoration of a unified Pa-kistan with a strong central gov-ernment in Islamabad. No Indiangovernment relishes the prospectof long term internal instability inPakistan both for the security andhumanitarian implications it hasfor New Delhi. It makes sense,therefore, to start these discus-

sions with Washington D.C. ei-ther directly or through the moreinformal route of debates at thevarious think tanks in the beltway.

The second measure to be un-dertaken with the United Statesand other nations in the regionwould be on how to carry out hu-manitarian operations in an im-ploding Pakistan.

India and the United Stateswould, by default, be the majoraid providers and, therefore, it isnecessary for the two to work to-gether to coordinate their strate-gies and to avoid the sort of prob-lems that arose during the Kash-mir earthquake of 2005.

At that time Indian aid could

not go through for some time be-cause of the natural security con-cerns of the Pakistani defense es-tablishment.

From a Pakistani perspective,perhaps the least intrusive mea-sure would be the provision of as-sistance through India's naval andmaritime fleets.

Delivery of this aid could bemade through Non GovernmentalOrganizations and the Red Crossboth to ensure efficient utilizationand to alleviate Pakistani con-cerns.

In fact, this could serve as thetemplate for any future humani-tarian operations in Pakistan andcould be worked as a confidencebuilding measure with Islamabad.

It is in India's interests to startsuch a debate and help lessen un-certainty in Pakistan and theUnited States about Indian inten-tions.

It will also help shape the de-bate within the United Statesabout its AfPak strategy which toa large extent continues to rest onworst case assumptions of statefailure in Pakistan and potentiallydangerous Indian intervention.

Courtesy IPCS

Bomb blast at Pakistanís Marriott Hotel

Chandigarh syndrome

People who have lived in Chandigarh swear by its plannedarchitecture, green beauty, low pollution and regulated traffic.There is another aspect of this city, home to three administra-

tions, which was highlighted recently by Manish Tewari, the Con-gress MP from Ludhiana. Tewari, who was born and brought up inChandigarh, wondered aloud during a discussion on NDTV aboutthe number of cases of misuse of official power originating from thecity of Chandigarh. Tewari was participating in a debate on theRuchika Girhotra case in which a Haryana top cop SPS Rathore,accused of sexually molesting the 14-year old girl, made life hell forher family leading her to commit suicide. Harassment and humilia-tion was heaped on the victim's family leading them to leaveChandigarh and seek a place where the powerful hands of the op-pressor could not reach. The forgotten case took new life after 19years when the accused cop was seen coming out laughing from thecourt which had given him a light six-month sentence and promptbail. He seemed to be cocking a snook at the justice system and thecivic society of India.

The case has transfixed the nation for the blatant manner in whichthe accused was able to use his position as Director General ofPolice to subvert the course of justice. It has shaken even the Cen-tral government which is now contemplating some change in crimi-nal justice laws. But once a case is out of limelight, even the govern-ments are known to be indulgent to highly connected criminals par-ticularly if they are close to the ruling party, as borne out in theManu Sharma case, who also hails from Chandigarh.

In 1999, Sharma, son of Venod Sharma, a powerful Congress leaderof Haryana, shot dead 34-year old Jessica Lall in a New Delhi bar justbecause she refused him a drink at a late hour. In 2006, he wasacquitted by the court. Public outrage resulted in Delhi High Courtconducting a hearing against the acquittal and Sharma was sen-tenced to life imprisonment. But interestingly, he was recently onceagain found in a Delhi bar in the company of some gangsters. Itturned out he had been granted parole by the Delhi government onthe flimsy ground that his mother was sick. Photographs in newspa-pers the next day showed his mother hale and hearty at a party inChandigarh. Once again public pressure forced him behind the bars,where he belonged.

Another famous case from Chandigarh relates to a drunk Punjabtop cop KPS Gill molesting Rupen Deol Bajaj, an IAS officer, at aparty. It was the guts of the lady that she filed a case against Gill. Thehighly honored Gill is known for quelling the militancy in Punjab andhe got off with a light sentence. But the incident highlights theChandigarh culture 'sin'drome where top administrators are not onlyconsidered above the law, the entire administrative machinery con-spires with them to oppress the victims.

The coveted city of Chandigarh is particularly unfortunate in thefact that it belongs to nobody. It is the capital of Punjab and also thatof Haryana but it belongs to neither. It is a Union Territory owingallegiance to the Central government and has its own administrativeset up. It has two Governors and one Lt Governor. The official writruns everywhere and woe betide anyone who runs foul of the offi-cials. The cases that have come up against public pressure wereexposed in Delhi. It is a surmise what happens to the cases whichdon't attract attention beyond Chandigarh.

The most importantstep that India cantake is to publiclydeclare what it seesas the best end statein Pakistan. From anIndian perspectivethat would be therestoration of a uni-fied Pakistan with astrong central gov-ernment inIslamabad

January 8, 2010 India Post 51www.indiapost.com

India Postwww.indiapost.com

January 8, 201052

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