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Vol.9 No. 20 September 10-16, 2016 80 Cents New York Edition

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Clinton, Trump on back foot in


CommanderinChief forum
New York : Hillary Clinton spent a
third of the time fending off ques
tions about her emails. Donald
Trump struggled to explain his
secret plan to defeat the Islamic
State. Both presidential candidates
walked into Wednesday nights
CommanderinChief forum on NBC
seeking to prove themselves ready
to serve as commander in chief.
Clinton sought to showcase her
superior experience, and Trump to
indict her foreign policy along with
President Obamas. Instead, both
almost immediately found them
selves on the defensive.
The Democratic nominee, appear
ing first at the forum held by NBC
News and a veterans group, was
hit with detailed questions about
her use of a private email system as
secretary of state, as well as her ini
tial support of the Iraq war both
of which she has called mistakes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends gala dinner at ASEAN summit in


Laos on Sept 7, along with President Obama and others.

Her Republican counterpart,


meanwhile, faced broader queries
about his qualifications for the
Oval Office, his many past contro
versial statements about the state
of the military, and even his appar
ent admiration for Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
The result was a scattered hour
at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space

Museum that set the stage for a


particularly bitter leadup to the
first presidential debate in under
three weeks where the candi
dates will not be constrained by the
guide lines put in place on
Wednesday by moderator Matt
Lauer that they should refrain from
attacking each other. Clinton noted

Continued on page 4

Ambani bets on
$20 billion
mobile network
Mumbai: With his $20 billion
investment in mobile, Reliance
chairman
M u k e s h
Ambani is bet
ting on a fast
e v o l v i n g
Internet land
scape in a
country where
Mukesh Ambanis
nearly a billion
Jio unleashes
people are still
price war
not
online.
Reliance Jios 4G network, which
reaches more than 80% of the
country, of ficially went live
Monday with a set of generous
introductory offers. Indians will be

Indian acid attack survivor Reshma Qureshi walked the ramp for
designer Archana Kochhar at the New York Fashion Week on
Thursday to put spotlight on violence against women and
inspire hope and confidence in other acid attack survivors
that they can lead a normal life. (Photo courtesy AFP)

Continued on page 4

Assertive
Modi at ASEAN
PM takes shots at China on sea
dispute and Pak on terror even as
Obama backs Indias entry into NSG.
Vientiane, Laos: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi used two global
summits on Thursday to excoriate
Indias neighborhood rivals, first
targeting Beijings muscleflexing
in the South China Sea and then
seeking strongest action against
statesponsors of terrorism to hit
out at Islamabad.
Modi named neither country in
his speeches, but his twin attacks
before top Asian leaders as well as
US President Barack Obama were
seen as a strategic move to send
out a strong message against New
Delhis nucleararmed foes.
In recent weeks, India has ratch
eted up criticism of Pakistan,
accusing it of inciting protests in
Kashmir, while ties with China
have been fraught over Beijings
blocking of New Delhis entry into
the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

President Obama met Modi on


Thursday and extended US sup
port for India's NSG membership.
China is also wary of Indias
growing presence in the South
China Sea.
At Thursdays East Asia Summit
in Laos, Mo di stepped up his
attack on Pakistan , speaking of a
country whose compet it ive
advantage rests solely in produc
ing and exporting terrorism.
The time has come for us to
stop this global exporter of terror,
he told the summit, also attended
by Chinese premier Li Keqiang.
We need to target not only the
terrorists but also their entire sup
port ing ecosystem. And our
strongest act ion should be
reserved for those state actors
who employ terrorism as an

Continued on page 4

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ANALYSIS 11

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RELIGION 16

SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30

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September 10-16, 2016

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September 10-16, 2016

Sunny and Reshma walk for India launches advanced


weather satellite
Archana Kochhar at NYFW
New York: Designer Archana
Kochhar showcased the rural art
of India here as part of New York
Fashion Week with her collec
tion, A tale of two travels. The
collection was inspired by her
travel to the Taj Mahal and the
village of Banjara tribe.
Sunny Leone, the rst
Bollywood actress to ever walk
the ramp at NYFW, looked
resplendent as the showstopper
in an ivory Archana Kochhar
gown. Reshma Qureshi, an acid
attack victim who made world
wide headlines for her story,
opened the show for the designer
in a beautiful ivory gown, which
was offset with digitally printed
motifs, to create awareness of
the init iat ive Bring Beauty
Back.
I am so excited. Its unbeliev
able that I just walked at NYFW
wearing Archanas Banjara
Collection.
The energy here was superb
and the response we received
was phenomenal, shared Sunny
Leone, a former adult entertain
er, after the show It is a great
honor to be one of the few

in textbook style

Adult entertainerturned Bollywood actress Sunny Leone and


Reshma Qureshi backstage at New York Fashion Week
(inset) fashion designer Archana Kochhar. (Photo courtesy AP);
Indians to have showcased at
New York Fashion Week, for the
second t ime, said designer
Archana Kochhar. I am honored
to have Reshma Qureshi walking
the ramp and showcasing differ
ent facets of beauty to the world.
Beauty should not be afrmed by
a certain height, color or size, it
is beyond that. It should be an
allinclusive concept. We need
such acceptance in society and I

think such endeavors of mine


will increase sensitivity towards
this concept in our society,
Kochhar added.
I was very excited. This was
my rst time at New York said
Reshma Qureshi. I am hoping
that my participation in this run
way will inspire hope and con
dence in other acid attack sur
vivors, that they can lead a nor
mal life.

Sriharikota, Andhra
Pradesh: India suc
cessfully launched
its
INSAT3DR
advanced weather
sate llite in copy
book style on
Thursday evening
using its heavy
g e o s y n ch r o n o u s
sate llite launch
Panoramic View of GSLVF05 being
vehicle (GSLVF05)
moved from VAB towards
rocket. Around 17
Launch Pad (Image : indianexpress)
minutes after lift
of f from the Satish Dhawan ight of the GSLV rocket on
Space Centre here at 4.50 p.m., T hursday g ives the Indian
the GSLV ro cket slung the space program a muchneeded
2,211 kg satellite into a geo boost as getting the third stage
synchronous transfer orbit cryogenic eng ine rig ht is
(GTO), from where it would be important for its future space
guided to its nal geostation programs as well as for com
ary orbit. With the launch of mercial launches.
"Today we reached one more
INSAT3DR, the Indian space
agency has successfully landmark, successfully putting
launched three sate llites the weather monitoring satel
weighing over two tonnes of lite into orbit," ISRO's
the six satellites weighing over Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar
two tonnes it had own in a said. T he sate llite's life
GSLV rocket. The successful expectancy is 10 years.

Indian American woman


held for campaign donations
SERENA WILLIAMS
AND ANDY MURRAY
OUT OF US OPEN
Flushing Meadows, NY: T he
world No 1 Serena Williams lost
on Thursday in the seminals.
Firsttime major seminalist from
the Czech Republic Karolina
Pliskova beat her 62, 76(5).
Serena was thus stopped short of
winning a record 23rd Grand
Slam. Britain's Andy Murray made
his earliest Grand Slam exit of the

year as sixth seed Japan's Kei


Nishikori fought back to win their
quarternal in ve sets. Murray,
seeded second, led by two sets to
one but eventually lost 16 64 4
6 61 75. The Wimbledon cham
pion lost his rhythm after rain
brought the roof across, then his
cool when the stadium sound sys
tem interrupted a break point.

New York: A young Indian


American woman who ran unsuc
cessfully for New York City
Council in 2015 from Queens was
arrested Tuesday for faking dona
tions to get matching taxpayer
funds for her campaign, authori
ties said. Celia Dosamantes, 25,
was released on $15,000 bail.
Dosamantes allegedly forged 32
contribut ion cards totaling
$3,255, then led the documents
with the Campaign Finance Board
(CFB) in an attempt to get match
ing funds of nearly $19,530 from
the city, ofcials said.
CFB
allegedly
caug ht
Dosamantes redhanded during a
compliance visit last summer,
according to assistant district
attorney Nicholas Leddy.
The SUNY grad led two disclo
sure statements with the CFB in

Celia
Dosamantes
had run for
NY City
Council
last year.

August 2015, court papers show.


These llings included dozens
of forged documents that purport
ed to show contributions to her
campaign that were never, in fact,
made, Leddy said. The forged
contribution cards appear to have
been digitally altered from legiti
mate contribution cards. Shes
also charged with submitting a
copy of a digitally altered check,

ofcials said. All of the donors


who appear on the contribution
cards and the check at issue in
this indictment conrmed that
they did not make the donations
reected in those documents,
Leddy said. She faces 1/ to 4
years in prison on 35 counts of
of fering a false instrument and
attempted grand larceny.
Defense lawyer Joseph Corozzo
said, We deny any allegations of
criminality in this matter and feel
that the evidence will vindicate
Miss Dosamantes.
Dosamantes previously worked
as an aide to Assemblyman David
Weprin (DQueens), who was sur
prised to hear of her arrest. She
was a good worker, I had no prob
lem with her, said Weprin. You
never want to hear something
like this.

September 10-16, 2016

TURN PAGE

Olympic champ Ryan Lochte suspended


for 10 months and World Championships
New York: Twelvetime Olympic medalist Ryan
Lochte has been suspended for 10 months for
the incident in Rio Olympics that caused an
embarrassment for America, media reported
on Wednesday.
He will also forfeit $100,000 in bonus
money that went with his gold medal at the
Olympics.
The punishment was handed down by both
the International Olympic Committee, the
United States Olympic Committee and USA
Swimming.
Lochte's suspension is longer than that of
the other three U.S. swimmers he was with at
the gas station that night in Rio.
Lochte will also be banned from the 2017

Lochtes suspension stems from false


robbery claims that he and three other US
swimmers made while in Rio for the
Olympics last month. (Photo courtesy AP)
world championship meet, which will be held
in Budapest next July.

Puja performed on LI beach


Long Island: Rameshwaram
Shiv Puja was performed on
August 22 on Auspicious
Nagpanchami
day.
Dr.
Mandakini Patel arranged this
puja and about 30 people
attended. It was performed at
Robert Moses State Park beach
on Long Island in Field 2 at the
Sea Shore. She said that the puja
was dedicated to all the loved
ones, of seven generations past
and future. Most important we
prayed for souls who lost their lives in the
9/11 tragedy in 2001.
Dr Patel wants to tell the desi community to
do similar Shiv puja on beaches or river banks

wherever they live in the USA because many


of us cannot travel due to health or financial
reasons to places in India like or
Rameshwaram.

Amrita Fadnavis to visit


Ganesh pujas in NJ

mrita Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra chief


minister Devendra Fadnavis, will visit two
Ganesh pujas in connection with Ganesh
Chaturthi. On Sept 9 she will go in the evening to
792 Newark Avenue, Jersey City. And on Sept 10,
she will grace the puja at 90 Grovers Mill Road,
Plainsboro, the Indian Consulate New York said
in a release.

Amrita is wife of Maharashtra CM


Devendra Fadnavis

Assertive Modi at ASEAN


Continued from page 1
instrument of state policy. The fresh jibe
came three days after Modi launched a
sharp attack on Pakistan, telling G20 lead
ers that one single nation in South Asia
was spreading agents of terror.
Earlier in the day, Modi launched a veiled
criticism of Chinas belligerent stand on the
South China Sea, saying India believed the
threat or use of force to resolve disputes
would complicate matters affecting peace
and stability.
India urges all parties to show utmost
respect for the Unclos, he told the India
Asean Summit, referring to a UN conven
tion on laws governing the seas.
(Source: HT)

Clinton, Trump on back foot in


CommanderinChief forum
Continued from page 1
that Trump, who appeared at the forum sepa
rately, supported invading Iraq, but found
herself forced to answer yet again why she
had voted to give President George W. Bush
the green light.
"I think the decision to go to war in Iraq,
and I have said that my voting to give
President Bush that authority was, from my
perspective, my mistake, she said, promising
yet again not to commit ground troops to
Iraq ever again and ruling out additional
ground troops in Syria.
Trump, appearing after Clinton, insisted to
Lauer that he had opposed the war despite
telling radio host Howard Stern in 2002 that
he supported it quickly turning to criticize
the current state of American foreign policy
under Obama.
Presented with his past statement that he
knows more about ISIS than the generals,
Trump responded that those same generals
he would have to work with have been
reduced to rubble under Obamas leader
ship.
And he repeated his lament that the United
States failed to take the oil in Iraq, an idea
that national security experts across the
political spectrum have panned as ludicrous.
Thought Lauer missed an opportunity to
corner Trump on his support for the war, he
did press the Republican nominee on an
apparent contradiction between his declara
tion that he would have top generals present

Jaipur (India) Bureau


Prakash Bhandari
Prakash@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Chairman and Co-Founder
Kamlesh C. Mehta

Associate Editors:
Hiral Dholakia-Dave

Co-Founder: Saroosh Gull

Contributing Editors: Meenakshi Iyer,


Nilima Madan, Melvin Durai,
Dr Prem Kumar Sharma, Ashok Vyas,
Dr Akshat Jain, Ashok Ojha

President: Arjit Mehta

TheSouthAsianTimes.info
him with a blueprint to defeat ISIS with his
longstanding intimation that he already has a
secret plan to do so.
I have a substantial chance of winning, but
if I win I dont want to broadcast [the plan],
Trump explained. The fact is, we have had
the worst and you could say the dumbest
foreign policy."
Trump was perhaps most emphatic in
defending his past comments about Putin,
despite the fodder those remarks have pro
vided for attacks from Clinton and her allies.
I think when he calls me brilliant Ill take
the compliment, but its not going to get him
anywhere, Trump told Lauer, who had just
listed a roster of controversial Russian
moves, including Moscows reported culpa
bility for the hack of the Democratic National
Committee earlier this year.
Trump responded that Putin has an 82 per
cent approval rating in Russia: Hes been a
leader far more than our president has been
a leader.

Ambani bets on $20 billion


mobile network
Continued from page 1
able to use Jio for free until the end of
2016, and pay as little as Rs 149 rupees a
month for data after and free voice calls for
life.
"Anything and everything that can go
digital is going digital at an exponential
rate," Ambani told investors last week at his
company's annual general meeting. "Life is
going digital."
If the Jio network succeeds, Ambani will
be able to capitalize on a seismic shift that
could see hundreds of millions of Indians
come online in the coming years in most
cases via a smartphone.
Ambani is taking a big risk building a net
work from scratch. He has invested bil
lions constructing nearly 100,000 tele
coms towers across India. He estimates
that Jio already covers some 18,000 cities
and 200,000 villages. By March 2017, his
aim is to reach 90% of the population.
Rival networks have responded to the
launch of Reliance Jio with special offers of
their own, making a price war a near cer
tainty. Airtel has slashed its prices for 3G
and 4G service by 80%, and Vodafone
(VOD) has boosted the amount of data in
its plans by nearly 70%.

IANS Newswire Services


IANS Washington Bureau
Arun Kumar
arun.kumar@ians,in

Photographs: Gunjesh Desai/


masalajunction.com.
Xitij Joshi/xitijphoto.com

Printing: Five Star Printing, NY

Photo Journalist: Sandeep Girhotra

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September 10-16, 2016

TRISTATE COMMUNITY

Like in Kolkata, Mother Teresas sisters


in New York serve the poorest
By Arul Louis
New York: Mother Teresa, who has been
declared a saint by Pope Francis on
Sunday, has been hailed as the "Saint of the
Gutters of Kolkata." But her sisters find
they are needed as much in New York, the
richest city of the US.
Suf fering and want know no national
boundaries. And neither do compassion
and charity as the international brigade of
Mother Teresa's sisters bear witness in
NYC.
Barely five miles from New York's fabled
"Billionaire's Row" overlooking Central
Park, sits the nation's poorest area, the
South Bronx where Park Avenue sheds its
glitz for grit. Clad in bluebordered white
cotton saris, Mother Teresa's Missionaries
of Charity toil there tending to NYs
unwanted, the homeless and the rejects.
"We do feel Mother Teresa's presence
here in these sisters," Nancy Rivera, who
grew up in the area, told IANS. Rivera has
since moved up and now lives in a welloff
area, but still returns to her childhood
neighborhood to volunteer at a church
near Mother Teresa's sisters.
She said that when she sees them pick
homeless people off benches on the streets

Sister Regipaul, a native of Thrissur in


Kerala, heads Mother Teresa's Missionaries
of Charity convent in NYs South Bronx,
the poorest area of the US with a
segregated population of African
Americans and Latinos. (Photo : IANS)

On her days off, Police Captain Rachel


Evans, volunteers to serve food to the
poor at a facility run by Mother Teresa's
sisters in New York's South Bronx.
(Photo credit: IANS)

to clean and feed them, she senses "the


invaluable presence of Mother Teresa."
She added, "I am one of the lucky ones to
have met her in person."
Considered the poorest area in the US,
census figures have pegged the percentage
of people below the poverty line in the
South Bronx at 38 per cent and it rises to
49 per cent for children.
Sister Regipaul, the head of the convent
in the South Bronx, said that 20 sisters

from the US, Canada, Poland, France,


Argentina, the Netherlands and India work
there running a shelter for 18 homeless
men, a soup kitchen that provides ready
meals for the needy and a service that dis
tributes food supplies to about 200 poor
families, many of them immigrants adrift in
an alien land.
Another convent in Manhattan's Harlem
has a shelter for homeless women with a
soup kitchen, and in Brooklyn the sisters

Symposium focuses on Bhagavad


Gita and Management
Anaheim, CA: A symposium at the 76th Annual
Meeting of the Academy of Management titled
"Looking into the Bhagavad Gita for Managing
Organizations to Become Meaningful," looked
back to the ancient Indian text for guidance in
the management of business and organizations
of the twentyfirst century.Professor A.D. Amar,
Stillman School of Business, was chosen to con
duct an All Academy Theme Symposium of his
creation at the meet.
The Academy of Management is a leading
professional association for management and
organization scholars and academics. The
Annual Meeting is attended by more than
10,000 business and management researchers
and professionals from around the world; the
76th Annual Meeting was held in August at the
Anaheim Convention Center.
The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu text narrating
Indian intellectual and spiritual tradition that
is a few thousand years old; it is also, as
Professor Amar noted in his symposium pres
entation, part of the core curriculum and, thus,
required a reading for all undergraduate stu
dents at Seton Hall. Because, as Professor Amar
notes, the Bhagavad Gita "very artfully inter
twines work and life with spiritualism, it lends
itself to modern management." Amar writes:
The Bhagavad Gita considers humans as multi
potential spiritual entities that work to seek
meaning and a place in the larger plan of exis
tence. There is some learning in The Bhagavad
Gita for everyone connected with management.
For example, it guides how to achieve the goal
of creating a purpose and meaning for what
employees do at work. The meaningfulness of
the work they do has been a factor in employ

provide a home for unwed mothers, she


said. A more remarkable service is the
home run by the sisters for AIDS patients
in downtown Manhattan. The sisters were
among the first to step in to care for AIDS
patients in the early 1980s when the
newlydiscovered disease spawned fear
and prejudice.
The sisters clean, feed and provide for
the patients at the center, Regipaul said.
The Missionaries of Charity are organ
ized into three regions in the US. In the
East Coast province headed by a Korean,
Sister Rose Clara Lee, over 100 sisters
work in 17 centers, three in Canada.
Mother Teresa began the New York mis
sion in 1971 and the late Sister Nirmala,
who succeeded her, worked here for a
while. Regipaul, who hails from Thrissur in
Kerala, worked in Kolkata and Mumbai
before coming to the US 35 years ago. A
difference between India and here is that
the poverty of the spirit is greater in the
US, she told IANS. "In India, it is easier," she
said, adding "If the people are hungry you
give them bread to eat, and it satisfies the
need. Here the poverty is greater; they
need food, but they are also very lonely.
The loneliness is greater suf fering than
poverty."

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Professor A D Amar (first from left)
at the symposium
ees' decision in picking the best companies to
work for in America. They trade of f higher
salaries for a better organizational culture that
meets this condition. That is what makes man
agement's understanding of how to make work
meaningful so important. Successful managers
run their organizations so that their employees
actually fulfill their desire to attain their pur
pose and meaning through the work they do.
For the symposium, Professor Amar assem
bled a team of Bhagavad Gita experts, includ
ing Communication Professor Jon Radwan,
who teaches the Bhagavad Gita at Seton Hall
and chairs the Faculty Senate's Core
Curriculum Committee that requires instruc
tion of the ancient text. Professor Radwan's
presentation, entitled "Leadership and
Communication in the Bhagavad Gita: Unity,
Duty, and Equanimity," covered these titled
concepts within the ancient text and talked
about how their introduction into the work
space can make organizations more meaning
ful. He also discussed how lessons from the
Bhagavad Gita can guide businesses in the
West even (or especially) in the context of the
last decade's prevalence of corporate greed.

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September 10-16, 2016

TRISTATE COMMUNITY

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

IN BRIEF

Govt. of India announces Global


Design Competition for National
War Memorial in New Delhi

he Ministry of Defence, Govern


ment of India has conceived a Na
tional Memorial in order to honor
the memory of all soldiers and their sac
rifice. The Memorial is envisaged at a
central location in the national capital
as a structure and space depicting the
solemnity of the purpose. As a tribute to
the brave, it would combine architec
tural aesthetics and public sentiment,
and serve as a place for people to show
their respect for the soldiers for their
extraordinary ef forts to protect the
nation.
The selected site is located in the
heart of New Delhi, within the CHexa
gon of New Delhi and lies in the close
vicinity of India Gate and Chattri. An In
ternational Design Competition is pro
posed for the design and implementa
tion of this commemorative National
Memorial. This will be a two stage con
test. Competitors will be required to
submit their Stage 1 entries on

https://www.mygov.in/, and the top


nine entries selected from the Stage 1
submissions will be eligible to partici
pate in the Stage 2 of the contest. Each
of the shortlisted nine entries from
Stage 1 will be eligible for a prize of
$2,000 on submission of Stage 2 entry.
Selected nine Entries/Participants
will be asked to submit detailed de
signs, including 3D Models and will be
required to give a presentation before
the jury on an assigned date. This glob
al competition is open to all designers
having at least one team member as a
qualified registered architect.
The top three winners will be eligible
for awards of $30,000 (first prize),
$25,000 (second prize) and $20,000
(third prize).
Last date of online submission for
Stage 1 is Oct 2nd 2016.

For any queries contact:


m.singh@spa.ac.in

Telangana American Telugu


Association organizes blood
donation drive in LI

The event saw participation from 16 teams

American Youth Cricket


League organized in Edison

onoring the progressive nature of


youth cricket, National School of
Cricket USA organized American
Youth Cricket League in Edison Township
NJ from September 25th. 16 different
teams participated in Under13 and Under
15 age categories from all over United
States and Montreal, Canada.Young crick
eters enjoyed competitive tournament with
their parentssupport on outfield. Award
ceremony was held at TV Asia Auditorium
on September 4th with gala dinner and kids

performances. The final match was played


between Montreal Cricket Club & Cricmax
Cricket and was won by Cricmax team in Un
der 13 category. It was coached by former
cricketer Ashok Patel. Final award ceremo
ny was held at the Woodrow Wilson Middle
School Ground and the award was present
ed by Edison Council Man Ajay Patil, Ashok
Patel, President Srujal Parikh, Tushar Sukha
dia from Indus American Bank and the tour
nament ended with a vote of thanks by Sec
retary Arpit Shah.

Dr. Steve Gupta appointed international


chair of World Spiritual Awareness Forum

r. Steve Gupta has been named In


ternational Chairman of the World
Spiritual Awareness Forum (WSAF)
of Shri Brahmrishi Ashram, Tirupati, India.
Founder and president of Eastons
Group of Hotels, a multimillion dollar
company, Dr. Guptas story began with
hard work, determination and vision. It
was in 1973 that Gupta and his wife Rash
mi left their home in India to venture to
Canada, with very little money in their

pockets. Now over 40 years later, Gupta,


Rashmi and their four children Reema,
Shelley, Suraj, and Reetu, work as a team
to run the empire he and his wife found
ed.
Over the years, Dr. Gupta and the hotel
chain have earned many accolades, but
his most recent appointment as Interna
tional Chairman is at the top of his list. I
was humbled, honored and totally sur
prised, Gupta commented.

President Pranab lauds Akshaya Patra for


its "focus on educating our children"

elangana American Telugu Asso


ciation (T.A.T.A.), New York, team
ing up with New York Blood Cen
ter, organized a mobile blood drive in
Suffolk County, Long Island, New York
on Sept 4. More than 100 T.A.T.A. mem
bers and families attended the camp to
donate blood for the generous cause.
Ranjeeth Kyatham, Regional Vice
President, spearheading the drive, said
the T.A.T.A. Blood Drive is a unique hu
manitarian event organized in Long Is
land, New York, and applauded the
donors saying each drop of blood do
nated will save a live. He thanked all the
T.A.T.A. volunteers for their untiring ef
forts in making it a huge success.
While addressing Media New York's
TATA team said they want to take its or
ganizational activities to next level by

participating and organizing social


causes in mainstream America as well
as in motherland India. In that pursuit,
Dr. Pailla Malla Reddy garu contributed
Rs. 50 lakhs and Dr. Sudhakar Vidiyala
donated Rs. 10 Lakhs to Mission
Kakatiya in Telangana State. Recently
Dr. Malla Reddy also donated Rs. 13
Lakhs to Telangana Samskrutika
Sarathi team led by Rasamayi Balkrish
na for promotion of arts and cultural
activities. TATA team appreciated the
donors for coming forward to donate
blood and giving the gift of life to peo
ple who desperately in need of it. The
entire event was supported and en
couraged by TATA Chair, Advisory
Council Dr. Pailla Malla Reddy, a noted
businessman and philanthropist from
New York.

n
August
27th,
the
President of
India,
Pranab
Mukherjee, attended
Akshaya Patra's 2
Billionth Meal Cele
bration event in Ban
galore. Akshaya Pa
tra served its 2 bil
lionth meal to gov
ernment school chil
dren this year.
Stressing the im
portance of educat
ing India's young people, President Muk
erjee stated that India must, "focus on edu
cating our children and training our work
force if we want to take advantage of In
dia's demographic dividend." He congratu

lated Akshaya Patra on serving its 2 bil


lionth meal and said,"A hungry stomach
does not listen to anything. All that it needs
is food. We should aim at creating a hunger
and diseasefree society."

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NATIONAL COMMUNITY

Trump's remarks unnerve


IndianAmericans: Aruna Miller
Kolkata:
T he Indian
also accompanying her on
American community in the
the visit, however, defended
United States is greatly con
Trump, say ing people
cerned by Republican presi
around Trump were now
dent ial nominee Donald
expecting that he would
Trump's remark ag ainst
make people understand his
Mexicans and Muslims and
point of view without being
that Indians were taking
rough.
away jobs from the country,
"I am anticipating that
Democratic legislator Aruna
relationships will increase
Miller has said.
between India and USA
"T he rhetoric that all
because both need each
Mexicans are rapists and
other. The relationship is
Muslims are terrorists are
more than just based on
of g reat concern to the
business but it's about part
Aruna Miller
IndianAmerican communi
nership and about national
ty. He continues to ridicule outsourcing and and international security," he said. The two
call centers," Miller, a leg islator from politicians are impressed by the high voter
Maryland told reporters. A Democratic repre turnout in India. "I wish the high level of inter
sentative and a member of the House of est that the people here have about American
Delegates since 2011, she is on a visit to elections was the same in America," Miller
Kolkata and New Delhi to talk about the ongo said , adding in the midterm polls, about 38
ing US presidential elections, which has gener per cent of eligible voters turned out last time.
ated global interest. The Hyderabadborn
"We have built up barriers for voters as in
American citizen said Trump's statements some states it is mandatory to have a voter ID
against immigrants are not going down well card to cast ballots. It is easier to buy
with the IndianAmerican community as well. weapons than vote. We need to drop those
Republican senator Wayne Harper, who is barriers," she said.

September 10-16, 2016

Two IndianAmerican
teens selected for
prestigious poet program
Washington, DC: Two IndianAmerican
teens are among ve students selected
for the prestigious National Students
Poets Program, the White House has
announced.
US First Lady Michelle Obama would
welcome the budding poets, including
IndianAmericans Maya Eashwaran and
Gopal Raman, at the White House on
September 8, an ofcial announcement
said.
Eashwaran (17) is from Alpharetta in
Georgia and Raman is from Dallas in
Texas. The other three are Stella Binion
from Chicago, Joey Reisberg from
Towson in Maryland and Maya Salameh
from San Diego in California.
Since its incept ion in 2011, the
National Student Poets Program has
showcased the essential role of writing
and the arts in academic and personal
success for audiences across the coun
try. Each year, the ve National Student
Poets are chosen from a pool of out
standing writers, grades 911, who have
received a national Scholastic Art and

Maya Eashwaran, Gopal Raman


Writing Award for poetry.
A rst generation IndianAmerican,
Eashwaran writes about foreigners,
often incorporating personal experi
ences dealing with assimilation in the
modern age.
For Raman, a senior at St Mark's
School of Texas, poetry distills images
and emotions into a form that brings
people together. He cites poets like Billy
Collins, Wallace Stevens, and Walt
Whitman as his inspirations.
T his is the rst t ime that Indian
Americans have made it to the presti
(PTI)
gious program.

IndianAmerican CEO charged IndianAmericans kick


off foot campaign for
with ill treatment of worker
Washington, DC: An Indian
American CEO of an IT stafng
and consult ing rm has been
charged in the US with callous
treatment of a domestic worker
who had come from India to work
for her.
The Department of Labor in its
complaint alleges that Himanshu
Bhat ia, the CEO for Rose
International and IT Stafng, paid
her domestic service worker $400
a month plus food and housing for
work being performed during 15
and half hours a day seven days a
week at her home in San Juan
Capistrano and other luxury resi
dences in Miami, Las Vegas and
Long Beach, California.
According to the complaint led
by the US Labor Secretary Thomas
E Perez on August 22 in the US
District Court for the Central
District of California, the domestic
service worker identied as Sheela
Ningwal was subject to callous

Himanshu Bhatia allegedly forced


her maid to sleep beside dogs
abuse and retaliation. She was
forced to sleep in the garage on a
piece of carpet alongside Bhatia's
dogs when she was ill, and being
left without food when Bhatia left
her residence for days, the com
plaint alleged.
Additionally, Bhatia conscated
Ningwal's passport, restricting her
free movement and only made
available to the domestic service

worker when she had to travel to


perform domestic service duties at
Bhatia's penthouse in Miami, it
said.
Bhatia terminated Ningwal in
December 2014 after catching her
researching the topic of "labor
laws" on line and after the domes
tic service worker refused to sign
a document Bhatia authored, stat
ing that she was being paid an
adequate salary and had no
employment dispute with Bhatia,
the complaint said.
T he department's Wage and
Hour Division found that Bhatia
violated the Fair Labor Standards
Act's minimum wage and record
keeping provisions from July
2012 to December 2014, as well
as the act's antiretaliation provi
sion.
Rose Internat ional and IT
stafng and consulting rm that
had more than $357 million in
revenue in 2011.

Donald Trump

Washington, DC: Volunteers of


IndianAmericans for Trump
2016 started oldfashioned cam
paigning to sell Trump and his
agenda for American president
among prospective voters in New
Jerseys Mercer and Monmouth
counties, a media release said.
IndianAmerican supporters of
the Republican presidential nom
inee Donald Trump have
launched the traditional doorto
door campaign, arguing that this
mode of campaigning is still an
ef fective tool to win peoples
heart ahead of the November 8
general elections.
Volunteers of IndianAmericans
for Trump 2016 started oldfash
ioned campaigning to sell Trump
and his agenda for American
president among prospective vot
ers in New Jerseys Mercer and

Monmouth counties, a media


release said. A D Amar, president,
IndianAmericans for Trump was
joined by political activist Satya
Dosapat i Narayana, West
Windsor Township Republican
Committee person Rimma
Rosenberg, Mercer County
Republican Committee Second
Vice Chair Colleen DiPastina and
her husband and Monmouth
County Republican State
Committeeman John Costigan
and his wife, the media release
said. The campaigners present
ed evidence in the form of past
behavior to convince the voters
why Hillary Clinton will not be a
good president and why Trump
will be good. With a few excep
tions, they hope they changed
minds of some voters, the media
(PTI)
release said.

September 10-16, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NATIONAL COMMUNITY

Arun Agarwal receives prestigious


honor at a global business summit
Dallas, Texas: Arun
home textiles compa
Agarwal, CEO of Dal
ny Nextt, which is as a
lasbased home tex
key supplier to big re
tiles company Nextt,
tailers such as Wal
was among nine suc
mart, Target, Kohl's
cessful Indians hon
and Dillards; the
ored at "Celebrating
$500million compa
69, Pride of the Na
ny
manufactures
tion Series Awards
home
textiles,
gar
NEXTT CEO
and Business Summit
ments,
apparel
fab
Arun Agarwal
201516," organized
rics and polyester
by URSAsiaOne and attended by yarns, primarily from India, and
top government officials, celebri sells under popular name brands
ties and entrepreneurs in India.
such as Trina Turk, Kathy Ireland,
Held at the Taj Lands End Hotel Jessica McClintock and Raymond
in Mumbai last week, the global Waites.
business summit focused on the
Last year, Agarwal was awarded
development initiatives of the In NRI of the Year by TIMES NOW
dian Central Government and fe and ICICI Bank and was selected
licitated some of the greatest con as a 2014 Minority Business
tributors to India's economy. Oth Leader by the Dallas Business
er highlyinfluential awardees in Journal, while Nextt was ranked
cluded: Indira Nooyi, CEO Pepsi 17th in the 2014 Dallas 100 list of
Co, Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft, fastest growing companies select
Gautam Singhania, Chairman & ed by the Caruth Institute for En
MD of Raymond Group among trepreneurship
of
Southern
others. Agarwal runs Dallasbased Methodist University (SMU).

Barack Obama nominates first ever


Muslim to federal judiciary bench
Washington, DC: President Committee, a position he has
Barack Obama has nominated a held since 2012.
From 2006 to
PakistaniAmerican, the first
2011, he served as
Muslim on the federal judici
CoChair of the
ary bench for the US
Litigation
District Court of Columbia.
Department in
I am pleased to nominate
t
h
e
Mr Qureshi to serve on the
Washington, DC
US District court bench. I
of fice. Qureshi
am confident he will serve
has also served
the American people with
on the District of
integrity and a steadfast
Columbia
Bar
commitment to just ice,
Associations Legal
Obama said in a statement.
Ethics Committee
Abid Riaz Qureshi is a
since 2015.
partner
in
the
Born in
Washington, DC
Pakistan,
of fice
of
Qureshi
Latham &
Abid Qureshi (image : patheos.com)
earned
Watkins LLP,
his bache
where
he
specializes in cases involving the lors deg ree in 1993 from
False Claims Act, health care Cornell University and his law
fraud, and securities violations. degree in 1997 from Harvard
He currently serves as the Global Law School. If confirmed, he
Chair of the firms Pro Bono would fill the seat left by US

Chicago Deputy Mayor Andrea


Zopp meets Indian Americans
Chicago: Asian American Advisory Council
hosted an elegant reception for Chicago
Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp with a mission
to provide an opportunity for the Asian
American leaders to diligently interact with
the Deputy Mayor in identifying ways in
which the Asian America community can be
a proactive partners in shaping the destiny
of the City of Chicago at a reception held
at The Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago
on August 24, 2016.
Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp who is also
the Chief Neighborhood Development
Of ficer in her remarks thanked the
Asian American leaders for the honor of
their attendance and outlined the meaning
ful role the Asian Americans play in con
tribut ing to the upliftment of city of
Chicago. Deputy Mayor Zopp outlined the
central vision of Mayor Rahm Emmanuel in
fighting some of the intractable struggles
faced by the city and applauded the resolve
and the will of Mayor Emmanuel in building
stronger neighborhoods,communities,
improving schools, reducing crime and ush
ering an allround economic growth and the
improvement of the quality of life in the
City.
Smita Shah, Chair of the ChicagoDelhi

Chicago
Deputy Mayor
Andrea Zopp
seen with [L to
R] Hina Trivedi,
Iftekhar
Shareef, Smita
Shah, Babu
Patel & Keerthi
Kumar Ravoori

Sister City Committee, introduced Deputy


Mayor Zopp to the Indian American com
munity leaders and apprised the Deputy
Mayor of the Indian Americans deep abid
ing commitment to lending unwavering
support towards the Mayor Emmanuels
mission for the City of Chicago. Smita Shah
said the meeting of Deputy Mayor Zopp
represents an outstanding opportunity for
the Asian American leaders to interact and
identify innovative solutions to ameliorate
the city and added under the leadership of
Mayor Rahm Emmanuel the city continues
to rise from the depths of despair to heights

of breathtaking prosperity.
Keerthi Kumar Ravoori in statement
said Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is truly a
steadfast champion of the City of Chicago
and added under his leadership it perva
sively augurs a comprehensive economic
growth. Iftekhar Shareef thanked Deputy
Mayor Andrea Zopp for the opportunity to
interact and in sharing valuable insights
and pledges the communitys commitment
to working together with her of fice in
advancing the Mayor's goals. Among the
attendees include Babu Marsha Patel, Dr.
Ashish Sen and Hina Trivedi.

District Judge Rosemary Collyer,


who took senior status in May.
President Obamas nomination of
Qureshi has been hailed by the
Muslim American community.
A judiciary that reflects the
rich diversity of our nation helps
ensure the fair and just adminis
tration of the law, and it is vital
for American Muslims to be
included. Qureshis profound
commitment to the rule of law
and justice for people of all back
grounds makes him an excep
tional nominee, she said.
I commend President Obama
for taking this important step in
continuing to pick the best and
brightest from every community
to serve as part of our nations
judiciary, said Farhana Khera,
former counsel to the US Senate
Judiciary Committee and execu
t ive director of Muslim
Advocates, a national legal advo
cacy organization.

Animal lovers
worldover to unite
to demand Animal
Act in India
New York: India Unites for Animals, a
peoples initiative, is having an event at
Union Square, San Francisco on Septem
ber 18th, from 3.30 6.00 pm.
This is part of launch of a worldwide
movement against animal abuse.
Animal lovers from around the world
are expected to come together on Sep
tember 18th from over 45 cities in In
dia, and 20 cities worldwide to demand
Animal Act in parliament against animal
cruelty in India. An animal welfare act
covers pets, stray animals, farm animals,
lab animals, wildlife and even animals
raised for food. While India does have
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
(PCA), its laws on animal abuse have be
come archaic because the PCA Act has
not been adequately updated since it
was enacted in 1960.
The proposed act will lead to stricter
punishments against cruelty towards
animals. Presently, a criminal can get
away with a fine of only Rs 50/ US$0.75,
irrespective of the severity of the crime.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NBCs CommanderinChief
Forum ends in tie

New York: The two main White


House candidates were grilled
when they appeared back to
back on stage in halfhour seg
ments here on Wednesday in
CommanderinChief Forum tele
cast by NBC, and none of the two
could be said to have emerged a
winner.
Unusually for a US presidential
candidate, Donald Trump made
unflattering remarks about
America's military leaders. He
said the generals had been
"reduced to rubble" during
President Obama's administra
tion
Trump was quizzed by NBC
host Matt Lauer on his previous
complimentary remarks about
Putin, and responded: "He does
have an 82% approval rating. I
think when he calls me brilliant
I'll take the compliment, ok?"
The property magnate recently
drew sharp criticism when he
urged Russia to dig up the emails
that Mrs Clinton deleted from
her email server.
Trump's remarks came hours
after US Defence Secretary Ash
Carter said Russia "has clear
ambition to erode the principled
international order". In a speech
at Oxford University, Mr Carter
also appeared to allude to sus
pected Russian involvement in
hacking of Democratic National

Both candidates were asked some tough questions


by the NBC moderator. (Photo courtesy AP)
Committee computers in the US.
Mrs Clinton, who appeared first
on stage by virtue of a coin toss,
found herself once again on the
defensive over her private email
server. A US naval flight of ficer
told the former secretary of state
he would have been jailed if he
had handled classified informa
t ion as she had done. T he
Democratic nominee replied: "I
did exactly what I should have
done and I take it very seriously.
Always have, always will."
Mrs Clinton also said her 2002
Senate vote in favor of the Iraq
War was "a mistake". But she
said it meant she was in "the best

possible position" to ensure it


never happened again.
Mrs Clinton also pointed out
that Mr Trump had also once
supported the invasion. T he
moderator forgot to call out
Trumps lie that he had opposed
the Iraq invasion.
The former secretary of state
vowed to defeat the Islamic State
group, though she emphasized:
"We are not putt ing g round
troops into Iraq ever again."
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton's
forum of fered a preview of the
questions they will face in their
three forthcoming presidential
debates.

TRUMP UP TWO POINTS


AGAINST HILLARY: POLL
Washington: Republican presidential
nominee Donald Trump has a twopoint
edge over Hillary Clinton in the latest sur
vey of likely voters out on Tuesday, as the
Democratic nominee's postconvention
lead has largely evaporated.
Trump and Clinton start the race to
November 8 with the New York billionaire
topping Clinton 45 to 43 per cent in the
new survey, with Libertarian Gary
Johnson standing at 7 % among likely
voters in this poll and the Green Party's
Jill Stein at just two per cent, CNN report
ed. The topsyturvy campaign for the
presidency has seen both Clinton and
Trump holding a significant lead at some
point in the last two months, though
Clinton has topped Trump more often
than not. Most recently, Clinton's conven
tion propelled her to an eightpoint lead
among registered voters in an early
August CNN/ORC Poll. Clinton's lead evap
orated despite a challenging month for
Trump, which saw an overhaul of his cam
paign staff, announcements of support for
Clinton from several highprofile
Republicans and criticism of his campaign
strategy. According to CNN, most voters
expect to see Clinton prevail in November
and 59 per cent think she will be the one

September 10-16, 2016

US AFFAIRS

After Labor Day, Hillary Clinton and


Donald Trump campaigns
have gone in high gear.
to get to 270 electoral votes vs. 34 per
cent who think Trump has the better shot
at winning. Neither major third party can
didate appears to be making the gains
necessary to reach the 15 per cent thresh
old set by the Commission on Presidential
Debates, with just three weeks to go
before
the
first
debate
on
September 26. The CNN/ORC Poll was
conducted by te lephone between
September 1 and 4 among a random
national sample of 1,001 adults. The sur
vey includes results among 886 regis
tered voters and 786 likely voters. For
results among registered or likely voters,
the margin of sampling error is plus or
minus 3.5 percentage points.

MOST MILLENNIALS
ARE POLITICALLY
INDEPENDENT: STUDY
New York: Although millennial
voters are seen as a key demo
graphic factor for a political
victory in the US, their political
views dif fer significantly from
their parents or young people
of previous generations, finds a
recent research.
In an increasingly individual
istic culture, large groups
such as political parties are
getting less popular
among American
millennials
people
born
between the early
1980s and 2000,
the study said.
"Americans,
especially young
people, are abandoning the
two major political parties to
declare themselves politically
independent," said lead
researcher Jean Twenge,
Professor at the San Diego State
University, in California.
"Independent" doesn't neces
sarily translate into politically
moderate, he said.
The study found that as of
2014, nearly half (46 per cent)
of adult Americans identified as
political independents, includ
ing 59 per cent of millennials

aged 18 to 29. Both of these


numbers are record highs.
Further, political views have
also become more polarized in
recent years, w ith tw ice as
many adults in the 2010s
describing themselves as either
extremely liberal or conserva
tive than adults in the early
1970s.
T hose who do claim alle
giance to one of the two
major political par
ties in the US are
more homogenous
in their views.
T hese were once
liberal and conserva
tive members of both
parties, however, today
the vast majority of those
who identify as Republicans
hold conservative views and
those
who
ident ify
as
Democrats hold liberal views,
the study noted.
In addition, there has also
been an uptick in conservatism
among young people, in recent
years.
High school seniors in the
2010s were 38 per cent more
likely to identify as conserva
tives than their agematched
peers in the 1970s.

Prez debate moderators


are set; Trump is in
Washington: Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz,
Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace have been
selected to moderate this years presidential
debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates
announced last Friday.
Mr. Holt, the anchor of the NBC Nightly News,
will moderate the first debate on Sept. 26; Ms.
Raddatz of ABC and Mr. Cooper of CNN will mod
erate the town hall debate on Oct. 9; and Mr.
Wallace of Fox News will handle the final debate
on Oct. 19. All are firsttime presidential debate
moderators. Additionally, the CBS News corre
spondent Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice
presidential debate on Oct. 4.
As it did four years ago, Univision, the Spanish
language broadcaster, protested the absence of a
Hispanic moderator.
The debates may be the best remaining oppor
tunity for both candidates to reshape the 2016
race and for Donald J. Trump, who is trailing
in the polls, to gain ground against Hillary
Clinton. Debates have allowed challengers and
relative political newcomers to reach out to reluc
tant voters, providing reassurance about their
qualifications. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton
helped put to rest questions about their pre
paredness for the presidency in confident debate
exchanges, and George W. Bush defied the carica
ture of himself as a lightweight by holding his
own against Al Gore. Even Mitt Romney, who ulti

The first presidential debate will be held at


Hofstra University on Long Island Sept 26.
mately lost to Mr. Obama, shook up the 2012
race late in the season by routing the president in
their first debate. Presidential debates, though,
draw enormous ratings themselves, far greater
than the 21 million average for Sunday Night
Football games, the highest rated regular pro
gramming in television. The first presidential
debate in the 2012 election drew around 70 mil
lion viewers. And despite the controversy
Trump earlier expressed apprehensions about
the debate dates and moderators before finally
announcing that he will take part in all three
debates the debate platform has gained signifi
cant attention in this election cycle. The first
presidential debate this fall will be held at
Hofstra University on Long Island, the second in
St. Louis and the final one in Las Vegas. The vice
presidential debate will be held at Longwood
University in Farmville, Va.

10

September 10-16, 2016

US AFFAIRS

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Exantiterror official unafraid


to tell America the truth
Philip Haney insists his intelligence on terror links was
ignored by the Obama administration leading to the
San Bernardino and Boston marathon mayhem.
By Robert Golomb
erhaps some of us have forgotten the
14 Americans who on December 2,
2015 were slaughtered while attend
ing a job related county department of
health training event in San Bernardino, CA.
For those who may have forgotten, Philip
Haney, a founding member in 2003 of the
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
and later a terrorism analyst at DHS
National Targeting Center (NTC) and cur
rently best known to the American public
through his numerous appearances on TV
and radio news programs as a fierce critic of
the Obama Administrations handling of the
events leading up to the massacre, has some
advice.
That advice Haney, 63, whom I inter
viewed in West Nassau County, NY, offered
me was simple. Search the internet for the
slaughter in San Bernardino, he stated, and
look at the pictures and read just a bit about
the lives of the 14 innocent men and women
who were killed. The images of their loving,
kind, wonderful faces will come back to your
mind. in my mind, at least, they will
remain until the moment I die.
I have to live with the knowledge, he con
tinued, that the people {who were murdered}
might very possibly be alive today had the
heads of the Obama Administrations intelli
gence community not prevented some of
their members from doing our jobs.
This stunning charge did not come as a
surprise to me, because like millions of
Americans who had watched the Fox News
Kelly Files on the evening of December 10,
2015 I had heard him make the same allega
tion:
From November 2011 to June 2012
Haney had been assigned by the DHSs NTC
to identify foreignborn Muslims with links
to terrorist organizations entering America.
During that time, he discovered that hun
dreds of Muslims with af filiations with
Tablighi Jamaat, a worldwide pro jihadist
organization with at least 70 million mem
bers, were easily entering and then freely
roaming throughout the United States.
Haney also learned that Tablighi Jamaat
had connections with the global Deobandi,
an even larger international Islamic move
ment, whose leaders control thousands of
mosques throughout America, Africa, Europe
and the Middle East. Located in Riverside,
CA, Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah of America is
one such mosque. Among one of this
mosques regular worshippers was Syed
Rizwan Farook, the monster who along with
his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who herself had
known associations while living in her native
Pakistan with the prosharia, pro jihad
group, Al Huda, massacred innocents in San
Bernardino. Referring to a database he was
assembling at the direction of DHS Chief

Counsel concerning organizations with


alleged links to terrorism, Haney told me,
Shortly after I left NTC, the Civil Rights and
Civil Liberties divisions of DHS, along with
urging of the State Department deleted a
total of 67 records, including detailed infor
mation on individuals and organizations
af filiated with the Tablighi Jamaat move
ment. Haney noted how DHS rationalized
their decision, telling him that since Tablighi
Jamaat had not been officially designated as
a terrorist organization, they were con
cerned that the investigation was unfairly
profiling members of the group, possibly in
violation of their civil rights. I found it
inconceivable, Haney lamented, that given
the information we had provided, and in
addition, the 1200 law enforcement actions
we had already taken, that such a group was
exempt from any further investigation.
Recalling, however, that he still was hope
ful that the DHS would reverse its decision,
he later found out the opposite was the case:
Rather than use the intelligence we provid
ed to launch a further probe into Tablighi
Jamaat, the DHS and the DOS effectively ter
minated the entire investigation.
He then explained to me as he had done
with Megan Kelly six months earlier, how
the massacre in San Bernardino might have
been averted had the DHS acted differently.
According to Haney, Syed Rizwan Farook
would have probably been on a nofly list
because of his association with the Dar Al
Uloom Islamiyah Mosque and thus his wife,
and then fiance, Tashfeen Malik, would
have been denied the K1 marriage visa
granted to fiances of legal immigrants to
enter the United States due to her associa
tion with Syed. This would have negated the
facts on the ground that led to the mas
sacre, Haney stated.
The former counterterrorism official then
speculated that the same could be inferred
about the victims of the Boston Marathon
Bombing on April 15, 2013, almost three
years before San Bernardino. On that awful
day in Boston, as they stood a short distance
from the races finish line, three spectators
were killed and 260 people were injured
including six who lost legs, the youngest
amputee a 7year old girl. The two barbar
ians who perpetrated this act against
humanity were named Tamerlan Tsarnaev
and his younger brother, Dzhokhar.

As Haney explained them to me, the events


in Boston sounded eerily similar to those
which were to transpire in San Bernardino
later: When I was in DHS as early as 2009
and for the next 4 years, we were collecting
data on the Islamic Society of Boston
Mosque {the mosque which the Tsarnaev
brothers attended}.
Haney informed me that he had provided
evidence that the mosque had strong ties to
terrorist organizations, including AlQaeda,
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite
this evidence, the Obama Administration
failed to infiltrate the mosque an inaction,
he believes, which proved tragic: Had law
enforcement been allowed to properly inves
tigate the mosque, they well may have been
able to uncover the brothers plot.
The rest of his sobering story speaks of a
federal government that appears to hold an
inverted conception of good and evil. While
Haney in the past had received numerous
written commendations from his DHS supe
riors for his work in identifying Islamic ter
rorist groups posing imminent threats to
America, shortly after the Boston Marathon
attack, he found himself the subject of a DHS
investigation, charging him with leaking
information about it.
Haney told me that he did not break any
law, but rather was the victim of the Obama
Administrations efforts to retaliate against
him simply for telling the truth: This was a
classic case of reprisal against a whistle
blower. I provided accurate, compelling evi
dence that totally contradicted their narra
tive {which} is that Islam is a benign and
loving religion, and therefore possesses no
credible threat to the United States.
Although the charges against him were
eventually dropped, and he retired honor
ably in July of 2015, Haney conceded that
he did not feel fully vindicated until he was
given the opportunity to testify at the
Judiciary Committee oversight hearing
chaired by Senator Ted Cruz in Washington
DC this past June 28.
Also attending the hearing, titled Willful
Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts

to Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating


Terrorism, were Republican Senators
Grassley, Graham and Sessions, and
Democrat Senators Feinstein and Schumer.
During the hearing, Haney offered names
and descriptions of global Islamic organiza
tions presently operating in the US. During
his testimony Haney maintained that the
Obama Administration had ordered DHS to
modify over 820 records related to these
networks. Included in some of those records,
Haney noted, were intelligence information
that, he believes, if correctly applied, might
have prevented the June 12, 2016 Orlando
nightclub terrorist massacre, which claimed
49 innocent American lives.
If he needed any further vindication, it
came, he felt, two days later during Senator
Cruz same Senate hearing. Confronted by
Cruz with Haneys allegation that the gov
ernment had mishandled more than 800
documents, the Obama Administrations
chief witness at the hearing, Homeland
Security Chief Jeh Johnson responded that
he was unaware of the allegation; as for the
man making those charges, Johnson testified
that he would not be able to identify Mr.
Hanen (sic) if he walked in the room.
It was a remark that Haney be lieves
proved his own case for him: Remember
what I told Megyn Kelly on national televi
sion just six months prior. How is it possible
that Johnson, as the Homeland Security
Chief, would have no knowledge concerning
the serious statements I had made? {So}
when he claimed to Senator Cruz that he
doesnt even know who I am, the American
public had to realize that Secretary Johnson
and the {Obama} administration are not
telling the whole truth about the threat that
radical Islam presents to America and the
entire world.
As the interview came to an end, Haney
gave me a signed copy of the book, See
Something, Say Nothing, which he co
authored with journalist Art Moore. Haney,
who resides in Georgia with his family, had
come to the New York area as part of a book
promotion and lecture tour.
Haney, however, cautioned that because
the book documents even beyond what he
had proffered during the interview how the
policies of the Obama Administration had
made America susceptible to past terrorist
attacks and how the current repetition of
those same failed policies continues to make
America vulnerable today, I might find it
unsettling. Haney was right. I did find the
book, which took me just two days to com
plete, unsettling, and, yes, even frightening.
Which is why I urge you to read it.

Robert Golomb is a nationally and interna


tionally published columnist. Email him at
MrBob347@aol.com and follow him on
Twitter@RobertGolomb

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

September 10-16, 2016

ANALYSIS

11

Decoding Trumps immigration speech in Phoenix


By Shivaji Sengupta
ast week on Wednesday, Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump
made an important policy speech on
immigration at the Arizona Convention
Center on Phoenix. The speech came on the
same day be visited Mexico to meet with its
President, Henrique Pea Nieto. In fact, the
two events followed right after one another:
Trump had a closed door conversation with
Nieto, appeared jointly with him for a press
conference; then left Mexico to go straight to
Arizona to make his important speech.
What is the connection, if any, between the
Mexico visit and an immigration policy
speech? Was Trump trying to make it seem
that Mexico of all countries a country he
has derided for over a year because of the
tremendous influx of undocumented migrants
from there, and threatened them with build
ing the Wall will now be in agreement with
his extremely provocative immigration poli
cies? Or was it simply that he needed a "for
eign ambiance" to his presidential bid, just as
candidate Barack Obama had done eight
years ago, visiting heads of states in Western
Europe? If so, why Mexico? Possibly, his advi
sors such as Chris Christie and Rudolf Giuliani
encouraged him to do it. Christie, well known
to the Mexican President, may have even
helped in procuring the invitation.
On hindsight, this whole day was carefully
planned. His advisors may have told him:
Keep a low profile in Mexico. Let the

In his 10point plan, the one about the 11 million undocumented migrants to be
forcibly deported was entirely missing. Is it possible that all the sound and fury that
Trump created on the Arizona stage was simply to distract his supporters
from this glaring omission? (Photo courtesy: MGN Online)
American people see you can behave like a
president. But in Arizona do not seem like you
are going back on the promises you made in
the Primaries. If you do, you would lose all
those blue collar workers who are ready to
support you in November.
Thus, the contrast between the two visits
was overwhelming. Whereas in Mexico he
was timid, in Arizona he was loud, almost dra
conian in spelling out his own brand of immi
gration laws. Some may have expected him to
continue the tone of reasonableness and com

promise he had started several weeks before,


seeming to backtrack on banning all Muslims
to enter this country, and deporting by force
if necessary the 11 million undocumented
people living in the U.S. Instead, Donald
Trump burst into that Conventional Hall in
Phoenix shouting like a man possessed. His
10point immigration policy speech did not
really state anything new; but the vehemence
with which he delivered the speech took a lot
of people by surprise.
Of the 10point plan, the one about the 11

million undocumented migrants to be forcibly


deported was entirely missing. Trump had
built his campaign on the basis of driving
these people away. Can Trumps supporters
live with this compromise? Is it possible that
all the sound and fury that Trump created
on the Arizona stage was simply to distract
his supporters from this glaring omission? In
the end will this seeming departure affect his
standing with his core constituency?
We shall see.
He never quite explained how he was going
to make Mexico pay for it and repeated time
and again that the wall would be built and
Mexico would pay. This promising slogan
soon caught the attention of millions of blue
collar white Americans who, in the past few
decades had become unemployed, poor and
frustrated, blaming squarely the Federal
Government's trade and foreign policy, espe
cially involving Mexico and other contiguous
countries who, Trump claimed, drained out all
the jobs from this country.
Undocumented, migrant workers from
Mexico and other central and South American
countries were willing to do the same jobs
that white American workers refused to do
for the pay they were offered. Many refused
to work at all, creating an employment vacu
um filled in by Mexicans.

The writer is Professor of English and Vice


President for Academic Affairs at Boricua
College in NYC. He writes regularly for The
South Asian Times

Governments behind rise of IS, Al Qaeda: Hardeep Puri


Puri was Indias ambassador to the UN, his term coinciding with the period in 2011-12 when India was a non-permanent member of
the UNSC, thus making his new book Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos an insiders account.
New Delhi: Terror organizations
like the Islamic State (IS) and the
Al Qaeda could rise only because
governments of dif ferent coun
tries funded them at one point of
time or the other in their early
days, Hardeep Singh Puri, former
Indian Permanent Representative
to the UN, said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a panel discussion
at the launch of his book "Perilous
Intervent ions: T he Security
Council and the Politics of Chaos"
(HarperCollins) by Vice President
Hamid Ansari in Delhi, , Puri said
that governments did not foresee
how the IS and the Al Qaeda
would become "hydraheaded"
monsters when funding them
while intervening in troubled
spots in the world, IANS reported.

Calling for greater introspection


in the procedure followed in man
dating interventions of national
sovereignties of countries by the
UN Security Council, he said not
enough discussions take place in
the world's highest decisionmak
ing forum which alone has the
power to decide on whether inter
national intervention can be made
or not in a troubled country or
region.
"(But) the Security Council can
take these decisions only through
discussions," he said, and regret
ted that the due process of discus
sions was not followed in deciding
on the Libyan intervention in
2011.
He gave the example of Iraq and
said that the military action in

According to Puri, both Muammar Gaddafi of Libya & Saddam Hussein


of Iraq enjoyed Western support for a long time but when they fell out of
favor, intervention was mandated on flawed premises. (File photos)
that country in 2003 was "based
on false surmises". According to
Puri, both Muammar Gaddafi of
Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq
enjoyed Western support for a
long time but when they fell out
of favor, intervention was mandat

ed on flawed premises.
Puri was the Indian envoy to the
UN from 2009 to 2013, coincid
ing with the period in 201112
when India was a nonpermanent
member of the UNSC.
Re leasing the book, Vice

President Ansari said that it was a


timely and wellwritten one.
"India has been a nonperma
nent member of the UN Security
Council only on seven occasions
since 1946, the last being the
term 20112012," Ansari stated.
"For
this
reason
alone,
Ambassador Hardeep Puri's book
has uniqueness for being 'an
insider's account'," he stated.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,
who was the guest of honor,
talked about his personal associa
tion with Puri for 46 years and
narrated some anecdotes from
their shared past. Puri is also a
member of the BJP though he
holds no party or official position
and remains an unofficial adviser
on foreign affairs.

12

September 10-16, 2016

INDIA

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

MODI CALLS FOR 'STRONGEST ACTION'


AGAINST SPONSORS OF TERROR
Vientiane (Laos): Without nam
ing Pakistan, Prime Minister
Narendra Mo di said that
strongest act ion should be
reserved for those states that use
terrorism as an instrument of
state policy.
"We need to target not only the
terrorists, but also their entire
supporting ecosystem," Modi
said while addressing the 11th
East Asia Summit here, te pre
mier leadersled forum of the
AsiaPacific region.
"And, our strongest act ion
should be reserved for those
state actors who employ terror
ism as an instruments of state
policy," he said.
Stating that most countries in
the South Asian region were pur
suing a peaceful path to econom
ic prosperity, he said: "But, there
is one country in India's neigh
borhoo d whose compet it ive
advantage rests solely in produc
ing and exporting terrorism."
IndiaPakistan relations have
soured in recent times following
the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen
terrorist Burhan Wani in Jammu
and Kashmir in July. Pakistan
described Wani as a "martyr".
Over 70 people have died in
largescale violence in the state
since then.
Stating that terrorism was the
most serious challenge to open
and pluralistic societies, Modi

ASEAN members in a group with Indian PM Narendra Modi (seventh from right at the 14th ASEANIndia Summit in Vientiane, Laos. (Photo: PIB)
called for collective ef forts to
combat the scourge.
The Prime Minister said that
India remained committed,
including through membership
of export control regimes, to pur
suing total and verifiable elimi
nat ion of weapons of mass
destruction. Since its inception in
2005 India is a founding mem
ber the East Asia Summit has
played a significant role in the
strategic, geopolitical and eco
nomic evolution of East Asia.
"India will remain steadfast in
the shared pursuit of regional,

strategic political and economic


priorities within the East Asia
Summit framework," Modi said.
Earlier on Thursday, speaking
at the 14th IndiaAsean Summit
here, in an obvious reference to
Pakistan, Modi said "export of
terror" was a common threat to
the region. "Export of terror,
g row ing radicalisat ion and
spread of extreme violence are
common security threats to our
societies," he said. He said Asean
was central to India's Act East
Policy while describing the ties
with southeast Asia as a "source

Modi, Obama meet


Vientiane (Laos): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday
met US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the 14th India
Asean Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit here. "Two democracies
and a defining partnership of our era! PM meets President Obama,"
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted with
pictures of the two leaders. The two last met when Modi visited
Washington in June. The second IndiaUS Strategic and Commercial
Dialogue was held in New Delhi last month. Earlier on Thursday, Modi
addressed both the IndiaAsean and the East Asia Summits here.
of harmony". On the sidelines of
the two summits, Modi also held
bilateral meetings with host and
Laos Prime Minister Thongloun

Sisoulith, South Korean President


Park Geunhye, and State
Counsellor and Foreign Minister
of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi.

India to stand by new Myanmar government: Modi


Vientiane (Laos): Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said India will
always stand by the new
National League for Democracy
(NLD) government in Myanmar.
He said this during a meeting
w ith State Counse llor and
Foreign Minister of Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi on the side
lines of the 14th IndiaAsean
Summit and the 11th East Asia
Summit here.
T his was the first meeting
between the two leaders since
the Nobel peace laureate's NLD
assumed power in Myanmar in
March this year.
"Prime Minister complimented
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on the
victory of the NLD in the elec
tions," External Affairs Ministry
spokesperson told media here
after the meeting.
Stating that Modi welcomed
Suu Kyi as an icon of democracy,
he said: "The Prime Minister
said India would always stand
with the government and people
of Myanmar as the new govern

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Aung San Suu Kyi on the sidelines
of the 14th ASEANIndia Summit at Vientiane, Lao. (Photo: IANS/PIB)
ment strives to fulfill the aspira
tions of the people."
Modi also said that he was
looking forward to receiving Suu
Kyi in Goa next month for the
BRICSBimstec
Outreach
Summit.
India has assumed the chair
manship of BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, South Africa) and
has invited the leaders of the
Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative

for MultiSectoral Technical and


Economic Cooperation) coun
tries to the Goa summit.
Modi said that cooperation in
disaster management would be
one of the important elements of
the summit given that several
countries in South Asia continue
to face natural disasters, accord
ing to Swarup.
"Daw Aung San Suu Ky i
thanked Prime Minister and said

she was looking forward to visit


ing India where she had always
felt 'at home'," the spokesperson
said.
Suu Kyi spent a considerable
part of her early life in India and
was educated at Lady Shri Ram
College in New Delhi.
Last
month,
Myanmar
President U Htin Kyaw was in
New Delhi on his first of ficial
visit abroad after assuming
charge. In Thursday's meeting,
Suu Ky i brie fed the Prime
Minister on the progress in the
peace and reconciliation process
in Myanmar even as both the
sides positively assessed India
Myanmar security cooperation.
"They discussed further coop
eration in areas such as dairy
farming, animal husbandry and
agriculture," Swarup said.
"T he Prime Minister spoke
about a possible agreement on
pulses which had been discussed
during
External
Af fairs
Minister's visit to Myanmar."
External Af fairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj visited Nay Pyi


Taw last month following which
President Kyaw came on a four
day visit to India.
Modi and Suu Kyi also dis
cussed cooperation in the area
of the countries' shared
Buddhist heritage, according to
Swarup.
Earlier in the day, Modi also
held bilateral meetings with host
and Laos Prime Minister
Thongloun Sisoulith and South
Korean President Park Geun
hye.
The IndiaAsean Summit was
being attended by the leaders of
India and 10 southeast Asian
nations Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Sing apore,
Brunei,
Cambo dia,
Laos,
Myanmar,
Vietnam
and
Thailand.
T he East Summit was also
being attended leaders of the 10
Asean nat ions and those of
India, China, Japan, South Korea,
Australia, New Zealand, the US
and Russia.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

INDIA

GST will unleash significant


economic activity: Obama
Vientiane (Laos): US President
Barack Obama expressed confi
dence that the Goods and Services
Tax (GST), passed by the Indian
parliament last month, will unleash
significant economic activity.
He said this during a meeting
with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on the sidelines of the 11th
East Asia Summit here.
This could well be the last bilat
eral meeting between Modi and
Obama before the latter demits
office in January next year.
The two last met in June when
Modi visited Washington.
According to sources, during
Thursday's meeting, both leaders
reviewed the immediate priorities
in the strateg ic partnership
between the two countries.
"President Obama praised Prime
Minister Mo di's init iat ives to
reform the Indian economy," the
sources said.
"In particular, he said that the
passage of GST will unleash signifi
cant economic activity."
Obama also praised Mo di's
vision of entrepreneurship and
innovation, saying it would be
"very important for a country like
India", it is learnt.
On his part, the Prime Minister
praised the President for his con
tribution to the IndiaUS relation
ship and the g row ing trust

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Barack Obama.


between the two sides. The Second
IndiaUS Strategic and Commercial
Dialogue was held in New Delhi
last month. Obama, according to
the sources said, said that he has
always been a friend of India and
would continue to be a "strong
partner of India and help in any

Indian rocket lifts off with


INSAT-3DR weather satellite
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh):
An Indian rocket with an over
two tonne INSAT3DR advanced
weather satellite blasted of f
from the Sriharikota spaceport
here.
At precisely 4.50 p.m. the
Geosynchronous Sate llite
Launch VehicleDevelopment 5
(GSLVF05) rose into sky with a
deep growl, breaking free from
the second launch pad at the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre
here. The launch was delayed
for 40 minutes due to a delay
in fuelling the rocket's third
stage

The 49.1 metre tall rocket,


weighing 415.2 tonne rapidly
rose towards the blue sky,
spewing a thick orange plume.
The rocket would sling the
INSAT3DR satellite, which can
also aid in search and rescue
(SAR) operations, into a geosyn
chronous transfer orbit (GTO)
around 17 minutes into the
flight.
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) scientists
at the mission control centre
here are intensely peering at
their monitors to observe the
rocket's progress.

way I can". "Discussions then


focused around climate change
issues and energy cooperation,"
the sources said.
"T he two leaders reviewed
progress on Indo US collaboration
in nuclear energy, solar energy
and innovation."

September 10-16, 2016

13

Navjot Sidhu launches


new political front;
blasts Badals, AAP
Chandigarh:
Cricketerturned
politician Navjot
Singh Sidhu has
f o r m a l l y
announced a new
polit ical front
'AwaazePunjab'
say ing that his
fight was against
the system and
the leaders who
had
"ruined"
Punjab. Sid hu
Cricketerturnedpolitician
said the move to
Navjot Singh Sidhu.
launch the new
political front, which will con The former Rajya Sabha mem
test all 117 assembly seats in ber had on September 2 floated
the elections to be held early the new political front online.
Sidhu was flanked by former
next year, was to ensure that
Indian
hockey team captain
people in Punjab and Punjabiat
Pargat
Singh, a legislator of
won. "Our slogan is 'Punjab will
win' this time. Punjabiat will Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali
win. Our fight is against the Dal, and two independent legis
system that has ruined Punjab. lators, Balwinder Singh Bains
People with selfish interests and Simarjeet Singh Bains, dur
have overridden interests of the ing the launch of the political
state. People want change in front.
Pargat Singh was last month
governance," Sidhu said.
"At this stage, AwaazePunjab suspended from the Akali Dal
is not a party. It is a forum for for "antiparty" activities.
Sidhu had resigned from the
goo d governance," Sid hu
Rajya
Sabha on July 18, fuelling
announced, adding that the
speculation
that he may join
forum should be given 15 days
the
AAP.
to work out its future course.

HC quashes appointment of AAP's


21 parliamentary secretaries
New Delhi: In a setback to the
Arvind Kejriwal government, the
Delhi High Court quashed the
appointment of 21 parliamen
tary secretaries after the AAP
government conceded that the
Lt Governor's approval was not
taken in the matter.
Following the submission of
the government and in light of
its recent judgement giving pri
macy to the LG in administrative
control of the capital, a bench of
Chie f Just ice G. Rohini and
Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal
quashed the appointments.

The AAP government told the


court that the appointment of
21 parliamentary secretaries
was made without approval of
the Lieutenant Governor. The
court was hearing a public
interest litigation (PIL) challeng
ing the AAP government's deci
sion to appoint 21 party legisla
tors as parliamentary secre
taries. Earlier, the government
had defended its decision to
appoint the party MLAs as par
liamentary secretaries, saying
the move does not amount to
creation of a "public office".

After coming to power in


Fe bruary 2015, the Arvind
Kejriwal government appointed
the parliamentary secretaries,
say ing this would facilitate
smooth functioning but made it
clear that they won't receive any
remuneration or perk of any
kind from the government, that
is, no burden on the exchequer.
The order, however, permitted
them to use government trans
port for of ficial purposes and
earmarked space in the minis
ters' offices to help them in the
official work.

14

September 10-16, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

OP-ED

The Mahatma's murder: Battlelines


drawn between Rahul, RSS
By Amulya Ganguli

Belgian admirer of India's saf fron


brotherhood, Koenraad Elst, said in his
book, "Mahatma Gand hi and His
Assassin", that the murder caused a huge set
back to the Hindu nationalists. Sundar Singh
Bhandari, a pracharak of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who was the gov
ernor of Gujarat at the time of the 2002
riots, said that the "propaganda related to
Gandhi's assassination went on for 50 years.
In the same way, people will continue to talk
of Godhra", which is a "black stain on the
BJP".
That the "propaganda" is continuing can
be seen from Rahul Gandhi's reference all
over again to the role of the RSS in the
Mahatma's killing, undeterred by the
Supreme Court's call for an apology.
Notwithstanding the flipflop evident in his
initial observation that he blamed only those
associated with the RSS for the death and
not the organisation itself, and his subse
quent statement that he stood by his earlier
direct condemnation of the RSS, there is little
doubt that the battle lines have been drawn
between the notsoyoung prince and the
Nagpur patriarchs.
Gandhi has even taken his confrontation
with the RSS a step further by withdrawing
his petition to the Supreme Court seeking
the quashing of the defamation proceedings
against him filed by the RSS and asserted
that he is ready to face trial. It appears that

It appears that the Congress vice president


has decided that raking up the Mahatma's
assassination is the best way to corner the
RSS and the Sangh parivar.
the Congress vice president has decided that
raking up the Mahatma's assassination is the
best way to corner the RSS and the Sangh
parivar.
There is little doubt that, as the admirers
of the RSS like Elst and Bhandari have
acknowledged, the assassination has been
haunting the parivar ever since Nathuram
Godse fired the shots on January 30, 1948.
Nor is Godse persona non grata for the saf

fron camp for his crime. While the Shiv


Sena's Bal Thackeray once said that Godse's
statues w ill replace those of Gand hi,
Rajendra Singh or Rajju Bhaiya, who was the
RSS sarsanghchalak between 1993 and
2000, said that Godse's "intention was good
but he used the wrong methods".
It is this adulatory view of the assassin
which was recently expressed by the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Sakshi
Maharaj, when he described Godse as a
patriot. He was quickly silenced by his party,
which has now donned a moderate mask. But
the revelation of the parivar's high regard
for the Mahatma's killer only outed a "secret"
which is generally known.
It is also the BJP's weak point. Not surpris
ingly, the fact of the assassination and the
name of the killer were omitted from a "his
tory" book being written in 2002 during the
phase of saf fronisation of education under
the then Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.
The writer, Hari Om, purportedly a profes
sor, explained that the constraints of space
and time and the font size led to the
omissions which were like writing the life of
Christ without mentioning the crucifixion.
Gandhi's offer, therefore, to face a trial is
not something which will enthuse the BJP
and its mentor, the RSS, for not many outside
the groves of academe can anticipate what
can emerge from the archives of historians
once the Pandora's box is opened.
Inadvertently or otherwise, Gandhi has hit

a sore point of the Hindutva brigade, whose


political potential can prove to be useful for
the Congress and the BJP's other opponents.
It is difficult to say, however, if they can
make full use of whatever revelations are
made in the courtroom because of their
abstruse nature. The exposures may also be
of more interest to scholars than to the gen
eral public. But since politics is about per
ceptions, the airing of the longgone events
cannot but bring to life a period of history
when the Congress and the RSS were vastly
different from what they are today.
In judicial terms, however, no closure can
be applied to a case of this nature, for the
ghastly deed has been done and the unre
pentant guilty punished.
It will also be wrong to assume that the
BJP's political clout will be visibly dimin
ished if the taint of the assassination darkens
the image of the RSS since, to many, it is an
old and familiar story. From this standpoint,
the trial will be more of shadowboxing than
a substantive exercise.
However, the political fallout may see the
BJP and the RSS to be more on the defensive,
especially if the parivar's hotheads in the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal use
the occasion to praise Godse and excoriate
Gandhi.
The Congress, on its part, is unlikely to
experience a dramatic revival of fortunes, for
it will continue to be judged by its present
day economic and political policies rather
than by what happened seven decades ago.

After failed peace bid, Mehbooba is running out of options


By Sarwar Kashani

he Kashmir Valley is reeling


under the bloodiest unrest it
has seen in years and, to
nobody's surprise, the twoday
visit of the allparty delegation of
parliament members has done lit
tle to improve matters. Chie f
Minister Mehbooba Mufti now
appears to be running out of
options in the valley after the
failed bid to open talks with sepa
ratist leaders, who refused to
speak to a section of MPs from the
delegation. The already complex
crisis in the state may now have
become even more complicated.
As is evident, the central govern
ment has been unwilling to give
legitimacy or extend an olive
branch to separatists who have
been spearheading the agitation
w ith unending stonepe lt ing
protests, triggered by the July 8
killing of militant commander
Burhan Wani.
Mehbooba, a re luctant first
woman Chief Minister of the trou
bled state, had invited separatist

J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.


leaders for talks with the delega
tion in her capacity as the presi
dent of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), if not as the head of
an elected government.
The separatist leaders, most of
whom are either in jail or detained
in houses, rejected the of fer out
right, saying that talks would be
futile unless their set of demands
including demilitarisation of

civilian areas and accept ing


Kashmir as an international dis
pute were first met.
These are demands Mehbooba is
powerless to fulfill, and the central
government is unlikely to acqui
esce to.
In this apparent battle of egos,
Mehbooba and her PDP seem to
be caught between the proverbial
rock and a hard place. Political

analysts are of the view that the


PDP is losing its electoral popular
ity due to the trail of death and
destruction in the aftermath of
Wani's killing.
At least 74 persons, including
two policemen, have been killed in
the nearly two months of violence.
Over 12,000 have been injured.
And the worst hit is the south
Kashmir region the political bas
tion of the PDP where most of
the deaths have occurred in firing
by security forces.
Analysts say that, after losing on
account of her party's decreasing
popularity, more so in the south,
Mehbooba is left with two options
now: Crack down harshly on sepa
ratists or step down to make way
for Governor's Rule.
"It is a dif ficult decision. But
what are the options," asked a vet
eran academician of Kashmir
University, requesting he should
not be named. "In this deadly
chaos, PDP's junior partner, the
BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), is
consolidating its electoral bases in
Jammu and Ladakh," the teacher

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

told IANS on the phone from


Srinagar.
Aijaz Khan, a former separatist
and now a PDP functionary, said if
Mehbooba does not step down, it
was more likely that the govern
ment would deal with separatists
with an "iron hand".
"She will have enough time to
regain the lost confidence of her
voters before the next elections.
Her priority should be governance
and not politics. She can restore
normalcy with tough governance;
let the government function first,"
Khan told IANS.
"Or else the government must go
and the PDP should prepare for
fresh polls."
But quitting at this juncture
could be akin to political suicide
for Mehbooba who has built the
PDP through grassroots cam
paigning since the late 1990s.
After her father, Mufti Mohammed
Sayeed's death in January,
Mehbooba had unw illing ly
assumed the of fice because she
was not happy with the PDPBJP
alliance.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Mumbai/Hyderabad/Bhopal/Chen
nai/Bengaluru: Ganesh Chaturthi,
marking the beginning of 10day
festivities, was celebrated across
the country on Monday with the
installation of idols of the ele
phantheaded god.
Cities in various states wore a
fest ive look as the fest ivit ies
kicked of f amid gaiety and the
prayers by devotees.
Mumbai and the rest of
Maharashtra shifted into a festive
gear with the arrival at homes and
public places of thousands of big,
medium and small idols for the
annual Ganeshotsav.
The festival, initiated in an open
public format in 1892 by
Mumbai's Bhausahe b Laxman
Javale alias Bhau Rangari, enters
the 125th year. It was popularized
on a mass scale by freedomfighter
Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak
from 1893 onwards in Pune to
unite the people ag ainst the
British Rule and in the struggle for
Indian Independence.
At Mumbai's King's Circle, one of
the biggest draw is the 68kg pure
gold Ganapati adorned with 325
kg silver, including a 15kg silver
marquee for the idol installed at
the GSB Seva Mandal.
Among the celebs, film stars like
Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan,
Ranbir Kapoor, Nana Patekar, sev
eral Marathi actors, TV stars, and
others like Lata Mangeshkar have
installed Lord Ganesh idols at their
homes in Mumbai.
T housands of idols were
installed in Hyderabad and other
parts of Telangana. The festivities
also began amid fanfare in Andhra
Pradesh.
In Hyderabad, Lord Ganesha's
idols of all sizes and in dif ferent
colors and 'avtars' were installed
in specially decorated 'pandals' or
on makeshift platforms in residen
tial neighborhoods and commer

FESTIVAL

September 10-16, 2016

15

Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations underway at Shrimant Dagdusheth


Ganpati pandal in Pune on Sept 5.
BJP chief Amit Shah at Lalbaugcha Raja pandal on Ganesh Chaturthi in
Mumbai. Lalbaugcha Raja is the most famous Sarvajanik Ganapati, dis
played at Lalbaug, a prominent locality, during Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
cial centers. About 40,000 idols
have been installed in public
places.
Like every year, the tallest idol
has been installed in
Khairatabad, the heart of
the city. This year, the
org anisers
have
arranged 58foot tall
idol. Long queues of
devotees were seen at
the biggest idol.
The festivities will
conclude on September
15 w ith a mammoth
immersion pro cession,
which brings the entire city to a

halt. As the festivities are coincid


ing with Muslim festival of 'Bakr
Eid',

People participate in a Ganesha procession in Jaipur on Sept 6.

police is making additional securi


ty arrangements to maintain law
and order. 'Bakr Eid' will be cele
brated on September 13.
T housands of people across
Karnataka celebrated the begin
ning of the festival with religious
fervor and piety.
In Bengaluru, the famous
Dodda Ganesha temple
at Basavangudi in
the southern sub
urb, was the cen
tre of activity,

A Ganesh idol
being
immersed in
Ulsso Lake a day
after Ganesha
Chaturthi in Bengaluru.

as the people from across the city


made a beeline since morning to
pray and worship him with offer
ings.
In Madhya Pradeshs Bhopal
city, people were seen visiting the
Birla temple and other temples
since morning. Grand Ganesha
statues are being installed in pub
lic places where religious and cul
tural programs related to the festi
val are being held.
Ganesh Chaturthi, also called
Vinayaka Chaturthi was celebrated
across Tamil Nadu with people
performing prayers before clay
idols of the elephantheaded god.
People also thronged Vinayaka
temples, where special prayers
were conducted before the grand
ly decorated idols.

Artistes perform during "Nenapina Hokali" (Memorial Festival) during a program


organized by Kannada and Culture Department in Bengaluru on Sept 8. (Photos: IANS)

16

September 10-16, 2016

RELIGION

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

POPE FRANCIS HAILS TERESA:


NOW A SAINT, ALWAYS A MOTHER

A tapestry portraying Mother Teresa hung in St. Peter's Square


at the Vatican during the canonization ceremony. (Photo courtesy AP)
Vatican City: Pope Francis on
Sunday declared Mother Teresa
of Ko l k a t a , r e ve r ed f o r h e r
work among the poorest of the
poor, a Saint of the Catholic
Church.
" W e d ec l a r e a n d d e f i n e
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be
a Saint," the Pope said, to a roar
from a 100,000 people gath
ered at St. Peter's Square here,
including many Indians who
held or waved the Indian flag.
With the 16th century basili
ca of St Peter's glinting in the
late summer sun, Francis led a
ritual mass that has barely
changed for centuries. He pro
claimed, "We enrol her among
the Saints, decreeing that she is
to be venerated as such by the
whole Church. In the name of
the Father, and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit."
"We may have some dif ficulty
in calling her 'Saint' Teresa,"
Pope Francis said. "Her holi
ness is so near to us, so tender
and so fruitful that we continue
t o s p o n t a n eo u s l y c a l l h e r
Mother," he said hailing her as
the personification of maternal
love.
It was Pope John Paul II, who
met her often, had put her on a
fast track to canonization two
years after her death instead of
the usual five.
Cardinal Angelo Amato read a
brief biography of the work of
the Nobel Peace Prize winner
Mother Teresa and then asked
the Pope to canonize her in the
name of the Church. Hundreds
of Missionaries of Charity
S i s t e r s a t t e n d ed t h e e ve n t ,
along with several heads of

state of government.
About 1,500 homeless people
from across Italy were brought
to Rome in buses to attend the
celebration and then a pizza
lunch served by 250 nuns and
priests of the Sisters of Charity
order, media reports said.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
in 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia,

Mother Teresa founded the


Missionaries of Charity in
1950. After doing iconic work
in the slums of Calcutta (now
Kolkata) that won universal
acclaim, she died in 1997 at the
age of 87. She was beatified in
2003, the first step to saint
hood. Two miraculous cures of
the sick after Mother Teresa's

Pope Francis during the canonization ceremony of


Mother Teresa at Vatican City on Sept 4.
death have been attributed to
her intercession.
Many Indians made the trip
to
R o m e,
among
them
Abraham, an expatriate living
in London, who said Teresa's
life had set a unique example to
t h e w o r l d . " S h e p r a c t i s ed
Christianity. The majority of
Christ ians only spend their

time talking about it," he said.


The joyful celebratory atmos
phere in the Vatican was mir
rored in Kolkata, where candles
and flowers were laid on
Teresa's tomb at the headquar
ters of her order. "It is a day of
rejoicing, a day of gratitude and
a day of many, many blessings,"
senior sister Mary Lysa said.

Sushma Swaraj leads Indian


leaders at Canonization

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on Pope Francis in


Vatican day after the canonization. Mother Teresa was
conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1980.
Vatican City: External Af fairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj repre
sented India at the canoniza
tion ceremony of Mother
Teresa here.
Chief Ministers Mamata
Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal

led two statelevel delegations


from West Bengal and Delhi
respectively.
Union minister Harsimrat
Kaur Badal, Lok Sabha MPs
Prof KV Thomas, Jose K Mani,
Anto Anthony and Conrad K

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief


Minister Arvind Kejriwal during the canonization ceremony. Also
seen AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and singer Usha Uthup.
Sangma and Deputy Chief
Minister of Goa Francis
DSouza were also part of the
delegation.
On Saturday, Swaraj said at a
reception hosted by Indias
Ambassador to Italy Anil

Wadhwa. I have come here


with a delegation from dif fer
ent parts of India, with those
of dif ferent faiths to pay
respects to the life of Mother
Teresa.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

RELIGION

September 10-16, 2016

17

She taught virtue of unconditional


love: Christian leaders, admirers

The Peace Nobel laureate also attracted criticism for poor quality of care her mission
gave despite money pouring in from around the world and for trying to convert those
in her care to Christianity.
New Delhi: Christian leaders
and admirers of Mother Teresa
on Sunday expressed happiness
at her sainthood, saying she
spoke the language of love and
compassion.
The
Catholic
B i sh o p s
Conference of India (CBCI) in a
t w ee t s a i d : " W e p r a y f o r
Missionaries of Charity found
ed by Mother. God bless them
with many vocations of girls to
serve like her."
"T he poor whom she loved
are also ours," it said in another
tweet.

John Dayal, Secretary General


of All India Christian Council,
said Mother's sainthood is
another honor for the land of
Mahatma Gandhi.
"Mother is now of ficially a
Saint of the Catholic Church.
She always was the saintly
Mother for everyone else. This
only adds to the joy of every
one who admired her persona
and the lesson in love and com
passion she taught us."
"For us in India, the joy is per
sonal. And honor to the land of
t h e M ah a t m a . We a r e m o r e

A special postage stamp and an Indian Post Special Cover released to mark Mother
Teresa's canonization by Indian postal department.

blessed for these lives who


lived amongst us and served
the people," he said.
Former
E l ec t i o n
Commissioner Navin Chawla,
who wrote Mother Teresa's
biography, said Mother's work
was great and any criticism of
her was irrelevant.
" Yo u c a n i m a g i n e t h a t i n
1948, when Bengal was still
reeling under the terrible after
ef fects of the terrible famine in
which four million people had
died, and the part it ion that
came in 1947 and into that she

stepped as a sing le nun, no


h e l p e r, n o c o m p a n i o n , n o
money to speak of. She had just
go t t h a t c a l l t h a t sh e m u s t
serve God," Chawla told CNN
News18.
"Those who criticisze Mother
Teresa, do they know what is
the reality of our streets? Could
they spend a few days working
in the streets and the slums
with their own hands before
they criticized her?" he said.
Christian theologian Father
Francis Gonsalves appreciated
the unconditional love Mother

Teresa showered on thousands


of destitute and poor.
"The beauty of Mother Teresa
is her power of love, uncondi
tional love. She was a messen
ger who always had something
to teach others, not through
sermons but through compas
sion and mercy," he said.
Father Savarimuthu Sankar,
of the Archdiocese of De lhi,
said: "Mother Teresa taught us
the real virtue of love and that
we should not give from our
abundance but share whatever
we have."

Mother Teresa's mission lives on in Kolkata, grows worldwide


Kolkata: Nineteen years after
her death, the order founded by
Mother Teresa is going strong
even without her charismatic
leadership.
The Missionaries of Charity
g ained world renown, and
Mother Teresa a Nobel peace
prize, by caring for the dying,
the homeless and orphans gath
ered from the teeming streets of
the city in eastern India.
By 2012 the mission consisted
of over 4,500 religious sisters
and operated in over a hundred
countries. They have 19 homes
in Kolkata alone which include
homes for women, orphaned
children, and homes for the
dying, and for those dying of
AIDS; a school for street chil
dren, and a leper colony. These
services are provided without
charge, to people regardless of
their religion or social status.
The mission drew criticism for
propagating what one skeptic

Missionaries of Charity nuns watch live telecast of Mothers canonization at the Mother House,
global headquarters of her mission in Kolkata. (Photos: IANS/MEA)
has called a cult of suffering; for
failing to treat people whose
lives might have been saved

with hospital care; and for trying


to convert the dest itute to
Christianity. While staying true

to their cause, the Missionaries


of Charity say they have respond
ed to their detractors. "There is

no change in our way of treating


the sick and dying we follow
the same rule that Mother had
introduced," said Sister Nicole,
who runs the Nirmal Hriday
home in Kalighat, the first to be
set up by Mother Teresa in
1952.
The nuns no longer picked up
people "randomly" of f the
streets, she said, and only took
in the destitute at the request of
police.
"Any good work will be chal
lenged but if the work is gen
uinely good it will survive such
criticism and carry on to be
God's true work," said Nicole.
Kolkata Archbishop Thomas
D'Souza played down any sug
gestion that Mother Teresa was
not loved and respected by peo
ple of other faiths in a city that
is home to 170,000 Roman
Catholics.

(Stories: IANS)

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

September 10-16, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

DIASPORA

September 10-16, 2016

19

Sikh contestant racially abused


in popular UK bakery show
London: A 28
yearold Sikh man
in the UK, com
peting in a pop
ular television
bakery show,
has suf fered
racist abuse
after appear

ing in the first two episodes of


the show, according to a media
report.
Rav Bansal, who has proved
popular on The Great British
Bake Of f (GBBO) show, said he
was asked whether he was a
"P***" by a stranger who
referred to the "notsoBritish
Bake Of f."
"So today I was asked 'Are
Rav Bansal
you the p*** on the not so
(Image :
British bake of f?' Really, in
dailymail.co.uk) 2 0 1 6 ? , " h e q u e s t i o n ed o n

Festival of India across 6 cities of Australia


New Delhi: A 10weeklong festival showcasing
dance, music, theatre, sports and other visual
arts from India and Australia is set to launch
next month across six cities of the island nation,
and aims to foster cultural ties between the two
countries.
The "Confluence: Festival of India," which was
announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
during his visit to Australia in November 2014,
will witness some of the finest elements from
the rich tapestry of Indian culture and civiliza
tion. Celebrating the initiative that is scheduled
to continue till November this year, a reception
was hosted at the High Commission in New
Delhi. "Culture is central to the AustraliaIndia
relationship and this impressive festival will
provide a great opportunity for the people of
our two nations to deepen their understanding
of each other's cultures," Harinder Sidhu,

Australian High Commisioner said.


The wide array of events lined up for the gala
spectacle will include Odissi and Bharatnatyam
performances by Nrityagram and Kalakshetra, a
lifesized puppet show by contemporary pup
peteer Dadi Pudumjee, singer and composer
Raghu Dixit's unique mix of world music, spell
binding music of Sonam Kalra's Sufi Gospel
Project and Bollywood flash mobs among oth
ers. The performances will be spread across
iconic locations like Opera House, Federation
Square, QPAC, Festival Centre, Old Parliament
and Perth Concert Hall in the cities of Adelaide,
Alice Springs Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne,
Perth and Sydney.
"This event will provide an insight about
Indian culture to people who otherwise only see
it once in a while in some sanitized television
programs.

Twins delivered at 37 weeks' may prevent stillbirths: Indian-origin scientist


London: Twins should be delivered at the 37th
week of a mother's pregnancy period to reduce
the risk of stillbirths and newborn deaths, say
researchers led by an Indianorigin scientist.
Twin pregnancies are high risk with a 13fold
increase in rates of stillbirth in monochorionic
twins (twins that share the same placenta), and
a fivefold increase in dichorionic twins (twins
with separate placenta), compared with single
ton pregnancies, the study said.
In dichorionic pregnancies, the risk of still
births and neonatal death were balanced until
37 weeks' gestation.
However, delay in delivery by a week (to 38
weeks) led to an additional 8.8 deaths per
1,000 due to an increase in stillbirth.
In monochorionic pregnancies, the risk of
stillbirth appears to be higher than neonatal

death beyond 36 weeks' gestation.


In addition, rates of neonatal morbidity,
including respiratory distress syndrome, septi
caemia, or neonatal seizures, and admission to
the neonatal intensive care unit showed a con
sistent reduction with increasing gestational
age in both monochorionic and dichorionic
pregnancies, the researchers said.
"We know that women with twin pregnancies
have a higher risk of stillbirth compared to
women with singleton pregnancies, and this
risk gets higher the later they are in pregnan
cy," said Shakila Thangaratinam, Professor at
the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
"However, earlier delivery can put the babies
at risk of problems associated with being born
premature ly including neonatal death,"
Thangaratinam added.

twitter alongside an angryface


emoticon.
Fellow contestant Benjamina
Ebuehi replied to the tweet, say
ing "so horrible.
"Meanwhile, another baker on
t h i s y e a r ' s sh o w, S e l a s i
Gbormittah, wrote, "W hat is
happening?"
"This makes me livid! I'm
sorry that these people exist!
You're g reat and absolute ly
British! Keep on keeping on!"
another wrote.

Bansal lives in Kent, south


east England, and studied crimi
nology but went on to work in
the field of student support at
City University, London.
He is one of ten remaining
contestants on GBBO this year,
and has won fans for his good
natured humor in the tent.
The GBBO has previously
been praised for being one of
t h e m o s t e t h n i c a l l y d i ve r s e
shows on prime time television.
(PTI)

Indian billionaire's
Australian mansion
to be demolished
Taj Mahal
ontheSwan
(Image :
au.news.
yahoo)

Melbourne: A 70milliondollar unfinished


mega mansion dubbed 'Taj Mahal onthe
Swan' owned by controversial Indian bil
lionaire businessman Pankaj Oswal in
Australia's Perth is set to be torn down by
the city council, amid allegations of unpaid
taxes and violation of building code.
Pankaj and wife Radhika Oswal had
planned to build the Indianstyle mansion in
Perth, where the Swan River meets the
southwest coast. Had it been finished, the
palace would have included seven domes, a
temple, gym, swimming pool and parking
for 17 cars.
The residence was said to emerge as
Perth's most expensive home on the 6,600
square metre block of land in luxurious
riverside suburb of Peppermint Grove for
which the couple had already paid more
than 22 million dollars. Its construction

stopped in 2010 when Oswals' fertilizer


empire collapsed and they left Australia
amid allegations of unpaid taxes. They are
now locked in a legal battle against the
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
for allegedly undervaluing shares of their
company Burrup fertilizers to recoup mil
lions of dollars in loans.
The couple made an undertaking in State
Administrative Tribunal last year to demol
ish the building by September 30 this year
but till last month no preparations were
made.
The council was owed 108,000 dollars in
unpaid rates and Australian Tax Office has
freezed the sale of the property over non
payment of taxes.
The demolition contract was now final
ized and work was likely to start early next
month, according to media reports.
(PTI)

20

September 10-16, 2016

Families urge UN to
probe whereabouts of
missing in Lanka
Colombo: Hundreds of
relatives of those miss
ing during and after
Sri Lanka's 30year
long civil conict
urged UN Chief Ban
Kimoon to launch an
international probe to
nd their where
abouts.
T he UN Secretary
General, who is on the
nal leg of his two
day ofcial visit to the
People urge UN for an international probe
island nation, visited
to find their missing kins whereabouts.
former
wartorn
Jaffna where he visited a reset called for an internat ional
tlement site and met with dis probe.
Ban, earlier in the day, told a
placed people. Just before his
arrival, hundreds of people had g athering in Colombo that
lined outside the Jaffna Library, while Sri Lanka had made
holding placards and pictures progress, there was still much
work to be done in order to
of those missing.
Sri Lanka faced a 30year redress the wrongs of the past
civil conict between govern and to restore the legitimacy
ment troops and Tamil Tiger and accountability of key insti
rebe ls which ended in May tutions, particularly judiciary
2009 with the defeat of the and security services.
He also urged the govern
rebels.
T housands of people have ment to speed up the return of
been listed as missing in the land so that the remaining com
nal stages of the war and the munities of displaced people
families have cont inuously can return home.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

SUBCONTINENT

Pakistan spreading terror,


Modi tells G20
Hangzhou (China): Prime
Minister Narendra Modi told the
G20 member countries how
Pakistan was spreading terror in
South Asia and using terrorism as
an instrument of state policy.
He also appealed the grouping to
"isolate and sanction supporters of
terrorism".
At the twoday G20 summit which
began in the eastern Chinese city of
Hangzhou, India raised the issue of
terrorism at various sessions.
Modi told Chinese President XI
Jinping how the scourge of terror
ism was affecting the region.
"There are some nations that use
it as an instrument of state policy.
One single nation in South Asia is
spreading agents of terror in our
region," Modi said, without naming
Pakistan. India's ties with Pakistan
have soured after Islamabad
declared Jammu and Kashmir ter
rorist Burhan Wani, shot dead by
security forces, as a "martyr".
"For us a terrorist is a terrorist,"
Modi said. He was speaking during
his intervention at the last session
of the G20. The Prime Minister said
"growing forces of violence and ter
ror pose a fundamental challenge"
and urged the international commu
nity to act in unity and respond

Bangladesh executes
war criminal Mir Quasem
Dhaka: Bangladesh executed anoth
er top JamaateIslami leader Mir
Quasem Ali for war crimes commit
ted during the country's Liberation
War in 1971. "Ali has been hanged
to death at 10.30 pm (local time),"
the superintendent of the
Kashimpur Jail said, reported
Xinhua. Bangladesh ordered execu
tion of death row war criminal
Quasem as he chose not to seek
presidential pardon after losing the
final legal battle.
Earlier, his family was asked to
An ambulance carrying the body of Mir
meet Quasem one last time at the
Quasem Ali amid tight security in Gazipur.
Kashimpur Central Jail.
In a Facebook post, Quasem's
daughter Sumaiya Rabeya said her father ties during the 1971 Liberation War in
was a softhearted person who would cry Chittagong earned him the nickname
"Bangali Khan".
every time he made a speech.
A day after the Supreme Court upheld
She said the family was going to meet
his
death penalty for war crimes, Quasem
him, probably for the last time, and had
had
sought time to decide his next course
come to terms with his impending execu
of action.
tion.
He was sentenced to death in 2014 by
This would only make him a martyr,
something that he had struggled for dur the country's specially const ituted
ing his entire life, the Dhaka Tribune International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), for
the atrocities he committed during the
quoted Sumaiya as saying.
Quasem's w ife Khandaker Ayesha 1971 Liberation War as an AlBadr com
Khatun was asked by the prison authori mander.
His last review petition was rejected by
ties to meet her husband on Saturday
afternoon. The 63yearold Jamaate the Appellate Division of the apex court
Islami leader and business tycoon's atroci on Tuesday

PM Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping during G20 Summit.

Modi to visit Pakistan?


New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit
Pakistan in November to attend the Saarc Summit, according to India's
High Commissioner in Islamabad. But New Delhi said that no decision had
been made yet. "Decisions and announcements of such nature are not
made so far in advance," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson
Vikas Swarup tweeted. Swarup's remarks came a day after the High
Commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, told an event in Karachi that the visit
was possible despite tense IndiaPakistan ties.
against terrorism. "India has a poli
cy of zero tolerance to terrorism.
Because anything less than that is
not enough," he said. In his meeting
with President Xi, Modi expressed

concern over terrorism emanating


from Pakistan's restive regions of
GiligitBaltistan and Pakistani
Kashmir where the China Pakistan
Economic Corridor is coming up.

Alert sounded in Nepal


amid fears of clashes
Hundreds
of police
personnel
have been
mobilized
in different
areas of
Nepalgunj.

Kathmandu: A day after late King


Birendra Shah's statue was removed and
attempts were made to reinstall it in
Nepalgunj city, the police sounded a high
alert across the country to avoid clashes
between supporters and opponents of the
king.
The bust of Shah installed at Dhambojhi
Chowk in Nepalgunj was pulled down by
security personnel as it led to an alterca
tion between the police and the erstwhile
monarch's supporters, the Kathmandu
Post reported.
Earlier, a group of youths reinstalled the
statue which was pulled down during the
People's MovementII in 2006.
Some demonstrators, including cadres of
the Rastriya Prajatantra PartyNepal,

gathered again to reinstall the king's bust.


But this could not be done as the police
force was deployed at the site, T he
Himalayan Times reported.
Many areas in the city were cordoned
of f by the police to avert any possible
clashes between the supporters and oppo
nents of the monarchy and the police
forces.
"No one should carry out activities that
give rise to conict and hampers the peace
and security," said a senior police ofcial.
A statue of Birendra Shah installed at
Dhambojhi Chowk in Nepalgunj was
pulled down by protesters during People's
MovementII in 2006. The political parties
could not reach a consensus over whose
statue should be erected there.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

INTERNATIONAL

September 10-16, 2016

21

Rousseff abandons
Brazilian capital after ouster

BRICS leaders at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou.

G20 summit ends with


consensus on world growth
Hangzhou (China): The 11th G20 Summit
ended, reaching extensive consensus on pursu
ing innovative, invigorated, interconnected and
inclusive world economic growth.
"Held at a critical time for world economic
growth and the transformation of G20, the
Hangzhou summit attracted wide attention
from the whole world and carried high expecta
tions," Xinhua quoted Chinese President Xi
Jinping as telling the media.
Leaders of G20 members, guest countries and
international organizations exchanged views on
topics including more effective global economic
and financial governance, robust international

trade and investment, inclusive and intercon


nected development on September 4 and 5.
They also discussed prominent issues affect
ing the world economy, including climate
change, refugee, antiterrorism financing and
global public health. "Facing current risks and
challenges in the world economy, we will con
tinue to reinforce macro policy communication
and coordination," Xi said at the closing meet
ing. "We are determined to break a new path
for growth to inject new dynamism into the
world economy," Xi said, adding that a G20
Blueprint on Innovative Growth was unani
mously adopted at the summit.

British MP Keith Vaz


quits key post over
sex scandal
London: Labour MP Keith Vaz stepped
down as chairman of the Home Af fairs
Select Committee after a report claimed
he paid for the services of two male sex
workers.
"It is in the best interest of the Home
Affairs Select Committee that its impor
tant work can be conducted without any
distractions whatsoever," BBC quoted
the Yemenorigin MP as saying.
"I am genuinely sorry that recent
events make it impossible for this to
happen if I remain chair." At the week
end, the Sunday Mirror published pic
tures showing the Leicester MP with
male sex workers in a flat in north
London that he owns.
Illegal drugs were mentioned during a
secretly recorded conversation.
According to the BBC, Conservative
MP Andrew Bridgen said he would refer
the matter to the Commons Standards
commissioner and may also report Vaz
to the police.
A married fatheroftwo, Vaz said he
was referring the paper's allegations to
his solicitor.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the
public must have confidence in its politi
cians, while Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn said it was a "private matter".
He was the parliament's longestserv
ing British Asian MP and has chaired the

Vaz was parliament's longestserving


British Asian MP.
influent ial Home Af fairs Se lect
Committee since 2007.
In his statement he said: "The integrity
of the Select Committee system matters
to me. T hose who hold others to
account, must themselves be account
able.
"I am immeasurably proud of the work
the committee has undertaken over the
last nine years, and I am privileged to
have been the longest serving chair of
this committee.
"This is my decision, and mine alone,
and my first consideration has been the
effect of recent events on my family," he
said.

Brasilia: Brazil's deposed presi


dent, Dilma Roussef f, left the
capital city of Brasilia to return
to her adopted hometown of
Porto Alegre.
A few dozen supporters were
waiting outside as Roussef f
abandoned Alvorada palace, the
presidential residence, which
she continued to occupy during
the Senate trial that ended on
August 31 with her removal
Rousseff ruled out any involvement in
from ofce, EFE news reported.
electoral politics in the near future.
Waving the red banners of
Roussef f 's Workers Party, the group for her role in resistance to the 1964
chanted "No to the coup" and "Temer out" 1985 military dictatorship.
She moved to Brasilia in late 2002 to
referring to new President Michel Temer.
Temer was swornin last week after serve as energy minister in the Workers
senators voted 6120 to oust the coun Party government of President Luiz
try's rst woman president less than Inacio Lula da Silva, who two years later
named Rousseff as Cabinet chief.
halfway through her second term.
Lula anointed Rousseff as his successor
Roussef f, who denied having commit
ted the budgetary manoeuvers that and she won the 2010 presidential con
formed the basis of the charges against test, going on to secure a second term in
her, called the impeachment process a 2014.
Rousseff, who says she is returning to
"parliamentary coup".
Rousse f f, 68, was born in Be lo Porto Alegre so she can be close to her
Horizonte but lived for nearly four daughter and grandchildren, has ruled
decades in Porto Alegre, where she set out any involvement in electoral politics
tled after spending three years in prison in the near future.

'I'm no American puppet':


Philippines president
Washington/Manila:
US
President Barack Obama had
better think twice about raising
the issue of Philippine extra
judicial killings, warned the
country's confrontat ional
leader.
"Who does he think he is? I
am no American puppet. I am
the President of a sovereign
country and I am not answer
able to anyone except the
Filipino people," Philippines
President Ro drigo Duterte
scoffed in a speech. "Son of a
b****, I will swear at you."
Duterte was elected president in June.
Duterte went on to blame
the US for causing the unrest on the south have a meeting, this is something that is
going to be brought up," Obama said, refer
ern Philippines Island of Mindanao.
"As a matter of fact, we inherited this ring to the Philippines' controversial record
problem from the United States," he said. of combating drug crime since Duterte took
"Why? Because they invaded this country office earlier in 2016.
"Look at the human rights of America
and made us their subjugated people.
along
that line. The way they treat the
Everybody has a terrible record of extra
migrants
there," CNN quoted Obama as
judicial killing. Why make an issue about
saying.
fighting crime?"
Since Duterte was elected, more than
In response, the White House cancelled
President Obama's upcoming meeting with 1,900 people have died, including at least
Duterte in Laos this week, where Obama is 700 in police operations that were part of
attending a meeting of Southeast Asian lead the President's hardline war on drugs.
"Double your efforts. Triple them, if need
ers, CNN quoted National Security Council
be. We will not stop until the last drug lord,
spokesman as saying.
Earlier, hinting that his planned meeting the last financier, and the last pusher have
with Duterte may not go forward, Obama surrendered or put behind bars or below
said, "I always want to make sure if I'm hav the ground, if they so wish," Duterte said
ing a meeting that it's productive and we're during his State of the Nation speech on
getting something done," "If and when we July 25.

22

September 10-16, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

BUSINESS

Modi, Abe review progress in civil nuclear cooperation


Vientiane (Laos): Prime Ministers
Narendra Modi of India and Shinzo Abe of
Japan have reviewed progress in the India
Japan Civil Nuclear Cooperat ion
Agreement and the highspeed rail project.
Officials said Modi conveyed his condo
lences over the recent typhoon that hit
Japan and the Japanese killed in the terror
attack in Dhaka in July.
Abe said Japan was not going to suc
cumb to terrorism and wanted to further
strengthen cooperation with India in the
area of counter terrorism.
It was Modi's first bilateral meeting here
on the sidelines of the 14th IndiaAsean
Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit.
Mo di and Abe discussed further
strengthening and diversification of trade
and investment ties.
They discussed the upcoming Japanese
Industrial Parks in India and cooperation
in the area of ship breaking.
They also reviewed the progress in the
IndiaJapan Civil Nuclear Cooperation

PM Narendra Modi meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sideline of the
14th ASEAN India and 11th East Asia Summits at Vientiane, Lao. (Photo: IANS/PIB)
Agreement and the highspeed rail project.
They also discussed regional issues and
international developments.

Modi said Japan had technology and


innovation while India had the power of
youth and a huge market. The IndiaJapan

Starting Rs 60,000, Apple


iPhone 7 in India from October 7
San Francisco: Apple iPhone 7 and
iPhone 7 Plus will be available for iOS
lovers in India beginning October 7 the
last in the list of countries.
Available in silver, gold, rose gold and
the new black finish (jet black), iPhone 7
and iPhone 7 Plus will be available in
32GB, 128GB and 256GB models, start
ing at Rs 60,000.
The new jet black finish will be of fered
exclusively on the 128GB and 256GB
models from Apple authorised resellers
and select carriers, the Cupertinobased
tech giant announced on Wednesday.
Preorders for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
begins from September 9 and the ship
ping will start from September 16 first
in 25 countries and other countries a
week later.
All iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models
will include EarPods with "Lightning
Connector" and a Lightning to 3.5 mm
Headphone Jack Adapter, also sold sepa
rately for Rs 2,500 and Rs 900, respec
tively.
"Appledesigned accessories including
leather and silicone cases in a range of
colours will be available starting at Rs
2,900 and iPhone 7 Smart Battery Case
will be of fered in black and white for Rs
8,900," the company said.
Lightning Docks in several colour

iPhone 7 and
iPhone 7 Plus
will be available
in 32GB, 128GB
and 256GB
models, starting
at Rs 60,000.
(Photo: Apple
Twitter)

matching metallic finishes will also be


available for Rs 3,700. iPhone 7 has
water and dust resistance, duallens cam
era (in iPhone 7 Plus), 4.6inch retina HD
display, a new home button, 7 MP HD
front camera and 12 MP rear main cam
era, no traditional 3.5 mm headphone
jack, iOS 10, A10 fusion chip and and
longest battery life to date.
The new iPhone features new
advanced camera systems that take pic
tures like never before, more power and
performance with the best battery life
ever on an iPhone, immersive stereo
speakers and wide colour system from
camera to display.
T h e n e w l y l a u n ch ed A p p l e Wa t ch

Series 2 will be available in gold, rose


gold, silver or space grey aluminium, or
silver or space black stainless steel cases
paired with a wide variety of bands start
ing at Rs 32,900. The new ceramic Apple
Watch Edition starts at Rs 110,900 from
select Apple authorised resellers and
carriers. Apple Watch Nike+ starts at Rs
32,900.
Apple Watch Series 1 will be available
in gold, rose gold, silver or space grey
aluminium cases paired with a Sport
Band and starts at Rs 23,900.
T h e n e w A p p l e d e s i g n ed w i r e l e s s
AirPods including charging case will be
available for Rs 15,400, beginning in
late October in India.

partnership could, therefore, produce


global products and be a winwin relation
ship for both.
He expressed appreciation "for the con
sistent support" rendered by Japan in
India's infrastructure development, tech
nology upgradation and skill building.
Abe said he was looking forward to
Modi's visit to Japan for the annual sum
mit and expressed the hope that it would
promote a new era of bilateral coopera
tion.
Abe recalled that 2017 would mark the
60th Anniversary of the JapanIndia
Cultural Agreement and hoped to see more
Indian tourists visiting Japan.
External Af fairs Ministry spokesperson
Vikas Swarup earlier quoted Modi as say
ing that his first meeting was with "a spe
cial friend and a valued partner".
"Furthering the relationship with great
est potential, 1st bilateral is w/special
friend & valued partner, PM AbeShinzo,"
Swarup tweeted.

Dell says on verge


of digital revolution
New Delhi: As the world's largest tech
nology merger between EMC and Dell
formally came into being, the driving
force behind the $67 billion marriage,
Michael Dell, said that this was just the
beginning and "the real show is just get
ting started," in the coming digital revo
lution. "We have the products, the servic
es, the talent and the global scale to be
catalyst for change and guide customers,
large and small, on their digital journey,"
the Chairman and CEO of the merged
entity Dell Technologies told an online
Q&A session with the press and analysts
from the company headquarters in
Texas, United States. T he merger,
between the giants in storage systems
and personal computer markets, has
been in the making for almost a year and
the last regulatory hurdle, from Chinese
authorities, was crossed late last month.
Dell Technologies, begins operating
immediately. EMC shareholders had
approved the transaction on July 19,
with approximately 98 percent of voting
EMC shareholders casting their votes in
favor of the merger, representing
approximately 74 percent of EMC's out
standing common stock. EMC sharehold
ers will receive $24.05 per share in cash
in addition to a newly issued tracking
stock linked to a portion of EMC's eco
nomic interest in the VMware business.
EMC shareholders are expected to
receive approximately 0.111 shares of
new tracking stock for each EMC share.

23

September 10-16, 2016

Sports

India gear up for 2016 Paralympics

Rio de Janeiro: Represented by


their largest ever contingent, India
will hope for an improved medals
tally when the Paralympic Games
start here this week. A total of 19
Indian athletes will feature in 10
disciplines at the Games which
will be held September 7-18. The
Sports Ministry announced that
the Indian gold medalists from the
Paralympic Games will be awarded
Rs.75 lakh, the silver medalists will
get Rs.50 lakh while Rs.30 lakh will
be given to the bronze medalists.
Among the Indian athletes, javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia,
who became Indias first Paralympic gold medallist in Athens 2004,

will be taking part in his fourth


edition and will hope to finish on
the podium this time as well.
The 2016 Paralympics will see
as many as 4,300 athletes competing for medals in 23 disciplines.
Apart from archery, athletics, boccia, cycling, para canoe, equestrian,
football (five-a-side, seven-a-side),
goalball, judo, para-triathlon, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting,
swimming, table tennis, volleyball,
wheelchair basketball, wheelchair
fencing, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair rugby, which featured in the
previous edition as well, canoekayak and triathlon will make their
debut at this years Paralympics.

The 10 categories of impairment


recognised by the International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) are
impaired muscle power, impaired
passive range of movement, limb
deficiency, leg length difference,
short stature, hypertonia, ataxia,
athetosis, vision impairment and
intellectual impairment.
India has so far won a total of
eight medals at the Paralympic
Games, including two gold, three
silver and three bronze. Of these,
one gold, three silver and and two
bronze medals have come in athletics while swimming and powerlifting have yielded a gold and a
bronze respectively.

Sania knocked out of womens


doubles at US Open

New York: Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova


were beaten 6-7 (3), 1-6 by top
seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina
Mladenovic in the womens doubles quarter-finals of the US Open,
thereby ending Indias campaign
in the tennis tournament.
Sania Mirza was Indias last representative at the US Open after
Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian
partner Gabriela Dabrowski lost in
the mixed doubles quarters.
Caroline and Kristina were
down 1-4 in the first set as SaniaBarbora got an early break to
jump to a 3-1 lead at the Grandstand Court here on Tuesday.
Sania, worlds top ranked doubles player, then held her serve
comfortably to consolidate the
lead 4-1. Up 5-2, the Indo-Czech
pair received two break points
to close out the first set but
couldnt produce the killer blow
and quickly paid the prize.
Mirzas serve came under severe threat, facing three break
points, and was broken in the
first instance itself. Garcia then

held her serve easily to be on


level terms at 5-5.
With the scores locked at 6-6,
the set needed a tiebreaker to
break the deadlock. The French
pair raced to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker and was not under much
trouble as they clinched it 7-3.
The domination of the top seeds
progressed into the second set,
getting an early lead by breaking
Strycovas serve to go 2-0 up. Sania and Barbora were subjected to

extreme pressure as they were unable to find a way to snap the flow
of the proceedings, trailing 0-3.
A light drizzle held up the
match for a while and the players
had to retrieve to the locker room
to wait. The delay could have broken the momentum of the top
seeds but they hardly looked hassled and took it smartly in their
stride breaking their opponents
again after resumption of play to
enjoy a commanding 4-0 lead.

Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova at US Open.

A total of 19 Indian athletes will feature in 10 disciplines


at the Games which will be held September 7-18.

Tourists buy a
fifth of 1.6 mn
tickets for Rio
Paralympics

Rio de Janeiro: A fifth of the


1.6 million tickets already sold for
the 2016 Summer Paralympics, in
which the opening ceremony will
be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
are now in foreign tourists hands,
according to officials.
The Paralympic flame was already lighted at a ceremony in Rio
de Janeiro on the eve of the Paralympics Games start, EFE news
reported.
Embatur, the Brazil Tourism
Board, reported that 300,000 of
the total tickets sold until last
Sunday were acquired by foreigners, mostly from the US, Germany,
Britain, Japan, and France.
Vinicius Lummertz, the Brazilian Tourism Board head, said that
tourism will grow in the coming
years in Brazil due to the extensive

coverage that the international


press gave to the Olympic Games
and are expected to give to the
Paralympics.
According to the latest figures
from the Organising Committee,
1.6 million tickets to the Paralympics, or 64 per cent of the 2.5 million tickets available to the public,
have been sold until now.
Sales increased significantly
after the closing ceremony of the
Rio 2016 Olympics on August 21,
before then only 300,000 tickets
had been sold and this would have
been insufficient to finance every
delegations trips and meals.
The Brazilian Paralympic Committee added that the number of
tickets sold for the Rio 2016 Paralympics will be higher than that of
the Paralympics in Beijing 2008.

Kohli retains No.2 spot,


Rohit slips in ODI rankings

Dubai: Indias Test captain


Virat Kohli retained his second
spot while opener Rohit Sharma
slipped a place to seventh in
the latest One-day International
(ODI) cricket batting rankings.
Kohli has 813 points, a fair distance behind South African AB de
Villiers (887) while compatriot
Hashim Amla (778) is third. Rohit has 750 points just ahead of
team-mate Shikhar Dhawan (737),
according to a release by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
England batsman Joe Root
surged into the top five for the first

time after a stellar performance


against Pakistan, which earned
him the player of the series
award. The 25-year-old scored
274 runs in the series, which
helped him leapfrog New Zealands duo of Kane Williamson
and Martin Guptill as well as
Rohit into fourth position in the
latest player rankings.
Englands Alex Hales has risen
four places to reach 20th spot
after aggregating 223 runs in
the series, including a belligerent 171 in the third ODI. Captain
Eoin Morgan has gained four

places and is now 24th.


The good news for Pakistan
was the movement of its captain
Azhar Ali and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed. Azhars 208 runs in
the series has seen him move up
15 places to 33rd, while Sarfraz,
who was the highest run-getter
in the series from either side
with 300 runs, has moved up 21
places to 39th position.
Sarfraz had a productive series
with the bat when he scored 55,
105, 38, 12 and 90 in the series.
Azhar and Sarfraz are the
only two Pakistan batsmen, who

The Paralympic flame was already lighted at a ceremony in


Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the Paralympics Games start.

featured in the recent series against


England, to figure inside the top 50.
The next highest Pakistan batsman
is Shoaib Malik in 67th spot.
Australia, which scripted a 4-1
series win over Sri Lanka, saw
Aaron Finch and George Bailey
move up two and three places,

respectively. Finch is now 15th


while Bailey claims the 17th spot.
The bowlers table is led by
Sunil Narine of the West Indies,
while Trent Boult of New Zealand
is in the second place. Australian
Mitchell Starc jumped two rungs
to be third.

24

September 10-16, 2016

Two Facebook comments a


day can keep worries away
New York: Just 60 comments ple talk in person," Kraut noted.
from close friends in a month
The study, published by the
two comments per day can Journal of ComputerMediated
impact your feelings of well Communication, was based on
being and satisfaction with life 1,910 Facebook users from 91
just as much as getting mar
countries who were recruit
ried or having a baby, sug
ed with Facebook ads.
gests new research.
Each agreed to take a
W hat really makes
monthly survey for
people fee l goo d is
three months.
when those they
By
considering
know and care
about write per
sonalized posts
or comments.
Passively read
ing posts or
oneclick feed
back such as
"likes" do not make
(Image courtesy: indianexpress.com)
much of a dif ference,
the findings showed. "It turns mood and behavior over time,
out that when you talk with a the study revealed that
little more depth on Facebook Face book interact ions w ith
to people you already like, you friends predicted improvements
feel better," said one of the in such measures of wellbeing
researchers Robert Kraut, as satisfaction with life, happi
Professor at HumanComputer ness, loneliness and depression.
Interaction Institute, Carnegie
"We're not talking about any
Mellon University in Pittsburgh, thing that's particularly labor
Pennsylvania.
intensive," Moira Burke, a
"That also happens when peo research
scient ist
at

Facebookwho earned a PhD. in


humancomputer interaction at
Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh, said.
"This can be a comment that's
just a sentence or two. T he
important thing is that someone
such as a close friend takes the
time to personalize it. The con
tent may be uplifting, and the
mere act of communication
reminds recipients of the
meaningful relationships
in their lives," Burke noted.
The findings run counter
to many previous studies
based on user surveys, which
often have shown that time
spent on social media is associ
ated with a greater likelihood of
loneliness and depression.
"You're left to wonder is it
that unhappy people are using
social media, or is social media
af fecting happiness?" Kraut
said.
The new study was able to
resolve this "chickenoregg"
dilemma by using Facebook
logs to examine counts of par
ticipants' actual Facebook activ
ity over a period of months.

Matchmaking firms help N. Korean


defectors find spouses in S. Korea
Seoul: Park Myeonghee, a 35yearold
North Korean defector, still vividly remem
bers how happy she felt when she walked
down the aisle to get married to a man she
met in the South.
On occasion she had to fight back tears
thinking about her parents left behind in
the North and herself risking her life when
crossing the North KoreaChina border
years before. But when she stood side by
side with her husbandtobe, she started to
look forward to the life she dreamed about.
Marriage might be one of the best ways
for people like her to settle down, but it
was hard to meet somebody. Also, she did
n't have anyone who could fix her up on a
blind date. It was when she happened upon
an online site exclusively intended for
matchmaking between North Korean
women and South Korean men that she
made headway.
"I am so grateful that I met him," Park
said, adding that she met her husband on
her first attempt at this kind of matchmak
ing. She is one of the steadily increasing
number of North Korean defectors seeking
to find their lifelong partners in the South
through matchmaking companies, whose
business has been growing fast in recent
years. There are no of ficial figures, but
industry experts say that the number of
these matchmaking companies stood at
around 10 in the early 2010s but has risen
to around 70 these days. NK World is one
of them and known as a leading matchmak
ing company fixing up dates between

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

LIFESTYLE

(Image courtesy: yonhapnews.co.kr)

North Korean women and South Korean


men. It claims to have about 8,000 mem
bers, including 2,000 women from the
North. Kim Soojin, CEO of the company, is
a North Korean defector herself who left
her home country with her husband and a
sevenyearold daughter in January 2006.
While running a community site for
North Korean women, she realized that
there is a "demand" out there from South
Korean men who are interested in marry
ing North Korean women.
"Since I started the business years back,
our company has helped over 500 North
South Korean couples get married," she
said. "Around 3040 people men and
women sign up for our service every
month these days." Behind her brisk busi
ness are an increasing number of North
Korean defectors.

Bullying likely to depress


women more than men
New York: Women who were bullied
in their childhood are more likely to
struggle with emotional damage,
greater levels of depression, anxiety
and posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) than their male peers, accord
ing to a study.
The study, published by the journal
Social Psychology of Education men
tions that childhood bullying inflicts
the same longterm psychological
trauma on girls as severe physical or
sexual abuse and may linger for
years, negatively af fecting victims'
mental health and wellbeing into
young adulthood.
For the study, the researchers
involved 480 college student partici
pants and surveyed about their expo
sure to a variety of traumatic experi
ences including bullying, cyber bul
lying and crimes such as robbery,
sexual assault, and domestic and
community violence from birth till
the age of 17. Students also reported
on their psychological functioning
and symptoms of depression, anxiety
and posttraumatic stress disorder.
Experiencing bullying was the
strongest predicator of PTSD symp
toms among the college students,
surpassing other types of trauma
such as exposure to community vio

(Image courtesy: yespunjab.com)

lence or being abused or neglected


by adults.
"Bullying victimization significantly
predicated students' current levels of
depression and anxiety over and
above other childhood victimization
experiences. This research suggested
that college students' psychological
distress may be connected in part to
their perceptions of past childhood
bullying victimization experiences,"
said Dorothy Espelage, researcher at
the University of Illinois.
Students who experienced one
interpersonal trauma were at the
greatest risk of being victimized in
other ways and of developing PTSD,
the study indicated.

US bans antibacterial soaps that


may do 'more harm than good'
Washington, DC: Overthecounter consumer
antiseptic wash products containing certain
active ingredients can no longer be market
ed in the US, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has ruled. The rule
removes one or more of 19 specific active
ingredients, including the most commonly
used ingredients triclosan and triclocarban
from overthecounter antibacterial hand
and body washes.
Companies will no longer be able to mar
ket antibacterial washes with these ingredi
ents because manufacturers did not demon
strate that the ingredients are both safe for
longterm daily use and more effective than
plain soap and water in preventing illness
and the spread of certain infections, the FDA
said in a statement on Friday issuing final
rule on safety and effectiveness of antibac
terial soaps.
"Consumers may think antibacterial wash
es are more ef fective at preventing the
spread of germs, but we have no scientific
evidence that they are any better than plain
soap and water," said Janet Woodcock,
Director of the FDA's Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research (CDER).
"In fact, some data suggests that antibac
terial ingredients may do more harm than
good over the longterm," Woodcock noted.
This rule does not affect consumer hand
"sanitizers" or wipes, or antibacterial prod
ucts used in health care settings, FDA said.
The agency issued a proposed rule in
2013 after some data suggested that long
term exposure to certain active ingredients

(Image courtesy:
newsmax.com)

used in antibacterial products for example,


triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar
soaps) could pose health risks, such as bacte
rial resistance or hormonal effects.
Under the proposed rule, manufacturers
were required to provide the agency with
additional data on the safety and effective
ness of certain ingredients used in overthe
counter consumer antibacterial washes if
they wanted to continue marketing antibac
terial products containing those ingredients.
This included data from clinical studies
demonstrating that these products were
superior to nonantibacterial washes in pre
venting human illness or reducing infection.
Antibacterial hand and body wash manufac
turers did not provide the necessary data to
establish safety and effectiveness for the 19
active ingredients addressed in this final
rulemaking. For these ingredients, either no
additional data were submitted or the data
and information that were submitted were
not suf ficient for the agency to find that
these ingredients are generally recognized
as safe and effective.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

BOOKS

September 10-16, 2016

Defying the British Raj a French hero with his tiger

Review
By Vikas Datta

Once Upon a Time in


India -The Marvelous
Adventures of Captain
Corcoran

he Raj seems an integral part of our his


tory, but was not a certainty with anoth
er European power fiercely contesting
British influence in the subcontinent much of
the 18th century, and coming quite close to
supplanting them. Were it not for some mis
calculations and lost battles, we might have
ended up as the worlds largest Frenchspeak
ing nation. What could have our course been
in such an eventuality?
A tantalizing glimpse of a possible demo
cratic, republican dispensation can be seen
this longobscure classic, unearthed and
translated by British journalist and author
Sam Miller, about the exploits of a most sin
gular French adventurer, accompanied by an
unprecedented aide, in mid19th century
British India, on the eve of 1857 .
This adventure by Alfred Assollant, a little
known French author of the 19th century,
was most popular in his time and later (as
Miller tells us, 20th century fans included the
likes of French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre
and Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci), trans
lated into most European languages, save
English its targets, but failed to make him
famous or rich. It is still in print but not much
read or known.
Assollant (182786) was by no means the
only Frenchman to write about India take
his more famous contemporary Jules Verne
(also a lawyers son) with The Steam House

Author: Alfred Assollant


(translated by Sam Miller)
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 252;

(also known as The End of Nana Sahab), and


a notable character, Captain Nemo of Twenty
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1871 and
more, revealed to be Indian and with great
hatred of the British.
It is this vein Assollant seemed to have pio
neered in his 1867 work. His French hero is
brave, enterprising, and courteous while his
British opponents are mostly brutal, venal,
inef ficient or arrogant and Indians, with
exceptions, correspond to the prevailing

stereotypes of noble savages, with a stress on


both words.
The plot seems to be simple. In Lyons, the
prestigious Academy of Sciences, at its ses
sion in Septemberend 1856 is told about the
death of one of its members, who was just
about to leave for India, to search amid the
mountains known as the Ghats, near the
source of the Godavari River for the Guru
Karamata, the most important sacred books
of the Hindus, long hidden from European
eyes but left a considerable sum to whoever
takes his unfinished job.
An academy member suggests they open it
to the public, but it is only in May the follow
ing year, do they find someone who proves to
meet all requirements.
The only thing that Captain Corcoran has
the impatient fiveyear old Louison waiting in
the other room, and some learned members
suggest chastisement before they find she

The democracy deficit


and some simple solutions
emocracies, at a time when they predom
inate both across the globe and as an
aspiration, are paradoxically facing a cri
sis too. Were we to find, across various demo
cratic nation, how much faith people have in
their elected representatives, political parties,
and legislatures, the responses are likely to be
quite same and not very flattering to any of
these prominent institutions. What accounts
for this?
Surprisingly, the reason lies in the prevalence
of democracy's indispensable tool elections, in
consonance with some social and economic
changes in the last few decades, especially dur
ing the 1980s, contends Belgian author and
thinker David Van Reybrouck, who cogently
and persuasively sets out his case and offers
some remedies.
Citing a recent World Values Survey, based
on 73,000 people in 57 countries, he says 91.6
per cent of the respondents said they believed
that democracy was a good way of governing a
country. However, it also "showed that world
wide over the past ten years, there has been a
considerable increase in calls for a strong
leader 'who does not have to bother with
Parliament or elections', and that trust in par
liaments, governments and political parties has
reached a historical low". "It would appear,"
says Van Reybrouck, "that people like the idea
of democracy but not the reality of it, or at any
rate the current reality". He ascribes this in
part to the experience of new democracies, par
ticularly those in the former Soviet bloc, and
recently in the Middle East for the disappoint
ment when they find out "that in practice
democracy is less than an ideal system, espe

25

Against Elections -The Case


for Democracy
Author: David Van
Reybrouck;
Publisher: Bodley
Head/Random House India;
Pages: 208;
cially when democratization is accompanied by
violence, corruption and economic decline".
However, democracy is the best bet, he says,
for it strikes an optimum balance between the
two key requirements of any political dispensa
tion efficiency and legitimacy but there are
many issues af fecting it, manifested in low
turnouts in elections, ennui with the political
process and declining membership of parties.
And Van Reybrouck approaches his examina
tion most clinically with this slim volume divid
ed into four main parts "Symptoms",
"Diagnoses", "Pathogenesis" and "Remedies."
His description of the symptoms is hardhit
ting, and though his frame of reference is most
ly Western Europe, some will have a global res
onance and most others will strike also a chord
anywhere.
It is inarguable that in the "twentyfirst cen
tury, sovereignty, one of the basis of the nation
state, has become a relative concept", which
also implies that the "great challenges of our
day climate change, banking crises, the euro
crises, the economic crises, of fshore fraud,
migration, overpopulation can no longer be
dealt with adequately by national govern

ments".
But more startling, but true, is his argument,
well supported by examples, how, politics,
which has been the art of the possible, has now
"become the art of the microscopic" with the
"inability to address structural problems is
accompanied by the overexposure of the trivial,
fueled by insane media that, true to market
logic, have come to regard the exaggeration of
futile conflicts as more important than any
attempt to offer insight into real problems..."
And in this, "democracy has become compar
atively toothless but at the same time noisier."
How it got that way, and what role are played
by elections which Van Reybrouck tells us
have been only been accompanying democra
cy, which is milleniaold, for just about the last
two centuries, are dealt with his eyeopening
book. His argument on what elections, which
date from the American Revolution (1776) and
the French Revolution (1789), were actually
designed to achieve is most startling but if
you consider the existence of a professional
political class, you will realize he has a point.
Is there a way out? Yes, he says and takes us
back to the birthplace of democracy, not mat
ter how imperfect, in Athens to show what we
can consider. And it wasn't thousands of years
ago only, variants persisted in some prominent
cities of Europe like Venice and Florence down
to the modern era and even some attempts at
replicating it are being made in the modern
world.
In his provocative but wellargued thesis,
India is not mentioned but it is not difficult to
imagine how some problems seem of our coun
try only and act.

happens to be a Royal Bengal tiger and hun


gry. Bedlam ensues.
The scene then shifts to India, to the court
of the Holkar, Prince of the Marathas, at
Bhagavpur on the Narmada, where the
British, sensing some trouble in the wind, are
seek to disarm him, and even suborn his
prime minister for the purpose. But sailing up
the river is his French savior.
After a confused melange of revolts, kidnap
pings (including of Holkars beautiful and
charming daughter Sita), sieges and pitched
battles, Corcoran finds himself the master of
the situation, as well the ruler of the kingdom
and husband of the princess. But will his radi
cal measures of equitable governance go
down well with his traditional subjects or the
nobles who think they have a better claim to
power? Assollant, who was quite radical in
real life (he lost his teachers job for his
views) makes his hero a vessel for his ideas,
but colonialism puts paid to this attractive
option. No matter how open and radical at
home, the French and the British never fol
lowed this rule in most of their colonies.
But subtext, some errors in his depiction of
India and its customs, and the narratives
shifting moods from pure farce with which
it begins to a more dark tone later apart,
Assollants work is not only a dated, literary
curiosity but an engrossing tale which needs
to be relished. Miller, who did a commendable
job here, needs to bring out the other adven
(IANS)
tures too.

An easytograsp
Bhagavad Gita
Amazing Secrets of
the Bhagavad Gita;
Author: E.D. Viswanathan
Reybrouck;
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 297
By M R Narayan Swamy

hen E.D. Viswanathan published


his "Am I a Hindu?" which took
the form of a lively discussion
between a 14yearold American born
Indian and his father, covering all aspects
of Hinduism it proved an instant hit. The
author follows the same style to explain,
lucidly, what the Bhagavad Gita is all about.
This time the discussants are an inquisitive
grandson and an informed grandfather.
This is not another translation or commen
tary on the immortal Gita.
Instead of explaining each verse and each
chapter, the book gives a summary of the
ideas and concepts found in the Gita,
organized according to easytorefer topics.
No issue relevant to modern living is over
looked: caste system, status of women, Sati,
mind, sense organs, how to deal with
stress, spirituality as well as the best time
to pray and the best time to die! Eating
like a glutton, neglecting one's studies, con
stantly staying on social media like
Facebook, texting, drinking and using
drugs are all examples of life controlled by
the sense organs. As Viswanathan explains,
"Many have no idea that they do not have
(IANS)
to be a Hindu to become a yogi.

26

September 10-16, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD

Big B prepares granddaughters


for a 'difcult' world
M

Filmmaker Farah Khan is known for


making several big budget films.

Bollywood is going
through a tough
time: Farah Khan
ilmmaker Farah Khan, who is
known for making several big
budget films, says Bollywood is
going through a tough time.
"Bollywood is going through a really
tough time. The kind of taxes that are
put on a Bollywood movie is crazy.
Hollywood movies come here but
their taxation is half of ours. They are
not taxed as we are," Farah told
reporters.
"It has become very expensive to
make a movie and now everyone
wants to watch on phone. That's
going to be the future. Also, half of
the money the government takes, so
it is becoming difficult," she added.
However, this phase in Bollywood
doesn't scare her as a filmmaker.
"It doesn't scare me but they
(Government) have to figure out a
way to control it. It's the budget that's
wrong, especially the small budget
movie that you have to worry about,"
she said.

egastar
Amitabh
Bachchan has asked his
granddaughters

Aaradhya and Navya Naveli


Nanda not to live within bound
aries defined by the world just
because they are girls, but take
their decisions in life.
He has added that their sur
name will not protect them from
the dif ficulties they might face
because they are girls.
T he 73yearold star also
advised them to not live "in the
shadows of people's judgment"
supported by their own wisdom.
On Teachers' Day, the "Paa" star
penned an open letter to his
granddaughters, telling them it
is a dif ficult world for women,
and hoping that they will change
things for good.
The letter read: "My very dear
est Navya and Aaradhya, you
both carry a very valuable legacy
on your tender shoulders
Aaradhya, the legacy of your par
dada ji (great grandfather), Dr
Harivansh Rai Bachchan...and
Navya, the legacy of your par
dada ji, Shri H.P. Nanda. "Both
your par dada ji gave your pres
ent surnames celebrated fame,

The letter was shared by the actor on Facebook.


dignity and recognition! Both of
you maybe a Nanda or a
Bachchan, but you are also
girls...women! And because you
are women, people will force
their thinking, their boundaries
on you."
Navya Naveli is the daughter of
Amitabh's daughter Shweta
Nanda, who also has a son named
Agastya. And Aaradhya is
Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai's
daughter. The cine icon also
shared that it will be his honor to
be known not as "Amitabh
Bachchan, but as your grandfa

ther". The letter reads: "They will


tell you how to dress, how to
behave, who you can meet and
where you can go. Don't live in
the shadows of people's judg
ment. Make your own choices in
the light of your own wisdom.
Don't let anyone make you
believe that the length of your
skirt is a measure of your charac
ter." "Don't let anyone's opinion
of who you should be friends
with, dictate who you will be
friends with. Don't get married
for any other reason other than
you want to get married. People

will talk. They shall say some ter


rible things. But that doesn't
mean you have to listen to every
one. Never ever worry about log
kya kahenge (what will people
say)." "At the end of the day, you
are the only one who will face the
consequences of your actions, so
don't let other people make your
decisions for you. Navya the
privilege your name, your sur
name offers you, will not protect
you from the difficulties you will
face because you're a woman." He
wrote to fouryearold Aaradhya
that "by the time you see and
understand this, I may well not be
around. But I think what I am say
ing today shall still be relevant.
This may be a difficult, difficult
world to be a woman. But I
believe that it is women like you
that will change that". "It may not
be easy, setting your own bound
aries, making your own choices,
rising above people's judgment.
But you can set an example for
women everywhere. Do this and
you would have done more than I
have ever done, and it will be my
honour to be known not as
Amitabh Bachchan, but as your
grandfather!"

Akira: Ace performances with a strong story


crime based act ion
drama, "Akira", meaning
"graceful strength" in
Sanskrit, is the story of a
strong girl who fights against
all odds to prove her inno
cence.
A simple story, narrated from
the Invest ig at ing Of ficer,
Rabiya Sultan's point of view,
the narrat ive starts of f in
Jodhpur.
After witnessing a brutal acid
attack on one of the girls in her
vicinity, young Akira is induct
ed into martial arts, in order to

defend herself by her progres


sive father who is mute.
Soon, in selfdefense, she
injures a boy and lands up
spending three years in a
remand home.
On the performance
front, Sonakshi Sinha in
the titular role does offer
a fine act. With swift
and vigorous move
ments she gets into the
skin of Akira but there
is that something that
keeps her away from a
cent percent perform

ctor Pulkit Samrat is


thankful for the love
and support he got in
the virtual world
via Twitter
but he has
vowed
t
o
never
tweet
again.
T he actor
took to the
microblogging
site to rant about
reports related to his
image and personal life.

Pulkit
Samrat logs
out of
Twitter
Pulkit was in news for his rumored relation with costar Yami Gautam.

ance.
Anurag Kashyap as
the
de bauched
A s s i s t a n t
Commissioner of
Police
Govind
Rane is impres
sive and does jus
tice to his charac
ter, making one
suf ficiently abhor
his unethical ways.

Akira is a well made


film worth a watch
for its story.
Pulkit was in
news for his sep
arat ion
from
w ife
Shweta
Rohira, and his
rumored re la
tionship with his
"Sanam Re" co
star Yami Gautam.
The actor post
ed: "I care a damn!
damn! damn! This
world is full of d****
and we entertain
them! T he day we
stop entertaining
them, we are strong!

He is aptly supported by
Lokesh Vijay Gupte as
Inspector Rajeshwar and
Nandu Madhav as constable
Baburao. T he director has
astutely dealt with the subject
with no major deviation. With
minimal sound design and con
strained camera movement,
the film offers a realistic feel.
The background score and the
production design add to the
viewing experience. But the
languid pace of the telling is
what holds it back from being
a crisp and engrossing thriller.

Else, we are weak!"


The "Fukrey" star went on to
add: "No more tweets! Am
done! Thank you for all your
love and support! This virtual
world was good but not good
enough! To f**k with image!"
Reports of Pulkit and Yami's
closeness surfaced while they
were shooting for filmmaker
Divya Khosla Kumar's directori
al "Sanam Re". The pair was
also seen sharing screen space
in "Junooniyat".
However, both the actors
have remained mum on their
relationship status.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD

September 10-16, 2016

27

RISHI KAPOOR WANTS TO SUCCESS, FAILURE


DO MEATY NEGATIVE ROLES AFFECTS ME:
ABHAY DEOL

eteran actor Rishi Kapoor


says he wants to do nega
tive roles, but only with
substantial content. The 64year
old star shared his views on
exploring the genre on Twitter
when a fan asked him when he
w ill essay a g rey character
onscreen again.
"Must get a meaty role which I
can get my teeth into. Actor can
not go beyond a well written
character in the script," Rishi
tweeted on Monday night.
He was lauded for portraying
neg at ive roles in films like
"Agneepath" and "DDay".
Rishi was last seen on the sil
ver screen in "Kapoor & Sons",
which also featured Alia Bhatt,
Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad
Khan. He ef fortlessly essayed
the character of a nonagenarian
in the film.

Rishi Kapoor is remembered for his


negative roles in films like Agneepath.

Horror films have repeat value


with good music: Mahesh Bhatt
i l m m a k e r
horror, then it has
Mahesh Bhatt
the repeat value,"
says
horror
Bhatt said.
genre does have a
He
added:
repeat value if it
"We have made
is
served
the franchise
w i t h
w ith
g reat
"great
romance
music".
so that
"Horror
films do
h a v e
repeat
Bipasha Basu in a still from Alone.
value if
the music is good, that's what becomes a special kind of com
the evidence says. Horror is a ponent which we add."
component so when you have
Bhatt, who has w ide ly
great music served with great explored the horror genre in

BOLLYWOOD JUDGES YOU ON YOUR


LOOKS, SAYS SWARA BHASKAR
ctress
are judged on
Swara
your looks.
Bhaskar,
There's no avoid
who was last seen
ing it...Taught me
onscreen in the
the meaning of
film "Nil Battey
and how to follow
Sannata", says
the adage 'when
that actors are
in Rome, do as the
judged on the
Romans do' Ask
basis of their
Swara Anything."
looks in
Another user
Bollywood.
asked the "Tanu
Swara treated
Weds Manu" star
Swara was last seen
her fans and follow
if
Bollywood's
onscreen in the film
ers to a question
glamour has over
Nil Battey Sannata.
and answer session
powered the ele
on Twitter, where a fan asked her
ments of different theatre forms?
one lesson that the Hindi film
Swara shared that the two
industry has taught her.
mediums should be viewed in
And she answered: "That you
competition.

e has tasted success as


well as faced failure in
showbiz, and
actorproducer
Abhay Deol says as a
star "success as well
as failure" of a film
leaves an impression
on your mind.
He has delivered
hits like "Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara" and
"Dev. D", and saw set
backs with duds like
"Aisha" and "One by
Two".
Asked if a failure of a
film affects him, Abhay
told IANS over phone
from
Mumbai:
"Obviously. It is not a
happy time when a film
doesn't
do
well...Everything affects
you, success affects you
and failure also affects
you...You have to be
inhuman (for not getting
affected)." The 40yearold star
added that "most of the actors by
nature are sensitive", and that is
why they get affected by ups and
downs. "We get affected by so
many things," he added.
The "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!"
actor feels if individuals are not

the industry, is now ready with


his home pro duct ion "Raaz
Re boot", starring Emraan
Hashmi and Kriti Kharbanda.
The "Zakhm" maker says he is
particularly happy with the
response that the film's teaser
and music have garnered.
Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the
fourth installment of the "Raaz"
franchise features Emraan with
south Indian actress Krit i
Kharbanda. The film has been
shot in Romania.

cclaimed talents Nawazuddin


Siddiqui and Tannishtha Chatterjee
were on Monday named Best
Actors at the debut edition of the Lonavla
International Film Festival India (LIFFI),
where the Best Director honor went to
Anant Mahadevan for "Rough Book".
While Nawazuddin was lauded for bring
ing alive the struggle of real life hero
Dashrath Manjhi in "Manjhi The Mountain
Man", Tannishtha's portrayal of a teacher
with a difference in "Rough Book" won the
LIFFI jury's heart.
Tannishtha shared the Best Actor (Female)
Award with her National School of Drama
senior Bhagirathi Bai Kadam who has deliv
ered a powerpacked performance in
Assamese film "Scarecrow". The two shared
a hug on stage, and Nawazuddin's award
was collected by "Manjhi The Mountain
Man" director Ketan Mehta.
LIFFI, organized by actorwriterdirector
Riju Bajaj, businessman Madhav Todi and
San Franciscobased doctor Anamika
Sharma at the Triose Plaza here,
began on September 1 with
a promising gathering of
some of the film indus
try's veterans like Govind
Nihalani, Shyam Benegal,
Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna
Pathak Shah, Deepa Sahi
and more.

affected by the surroundings,

in
The actor was last seen
.
egi
Jay
aag
"Happy Bh
then somewhere they have
become insensitive.
"If we are not affected by our
environment, then we have some
where become insensitive. It
might be good in a way because
you might not be affected by any
thing and be calm always," Abhay
said.

LIFFI:
Nawazuddin,
Tannishtha win
Best Actors

Nawazuddin Siddiqui won


the award for
"Manjhi The
Mountain Man".

28

September 10-16, 2016

HUMOR

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Funny Side by Nury Vittachi

4 TRUE STORIES
ABOUT TAKING RISKS
I
NEVER USED TO be a
risktaker but then I had
children who would play
in the dirt and say things
like: Daddy, close your eyes
and open your mouth.
Parents soon learn what
true courage is.
Ive been thinking about
brave decisions after read
ing a news item: a couple
who got top score on a
farmthemed mobile phone
game took home A LIVE
COW as their prize.
Gamemaker
Dig ital
Media gives winners the
option of taking their award
in the form of steaks, but
the latest winners, from Tunisia, took the
entire cow as is.
That way they get the cow as a pet, but
also have the option of turning it in steaks
later, said reader Bernard Betts, who sent
me the news item.
***
Reading it reminded me of a solo sailor I
once met who went on long sea voyages
with a dog called Emergency Rations.
He assured me that the pooch had no
idea what his name meant, but it kept mak
ing worried eyes at me.
***
Anyway, I like that the cowwinners
chose the brave option. The same could be
said for UK university students who this

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he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

month elected a cat as honorary president,


I heard from reader Sara Padilla.
I added that to my list of unbelievable
buttrue election results.
In 1967 a tin of itchy foot powder was
elected mayor of a town in Ecuador;
in 1988, a chimpanzee stood for election
in Rio de Janeiro under the slogan Vote
monkey, get monkey (possibly the only
honest political slogan in the history of the
world);
and in 2004 the US public reelected
George W Bush, when it was clear to every
one else in the world that a tin of itchy foot
powder would make better decisions.
***
Of course, you can also make life inter
esting by making original decisions on a
smaller scale.
Reader Rajiva Singhe forwarded me a
news items about a US business traveler
who noticed a box on his hotel booking
form form labeled additional requests.
So Sean Fitzsimons wrote something silly
on it: If it's not too much trouble could you
build a fort out of pillows?
Hotel staff did.
Now he always puts in offbeat requests
(I would like a photo of a dog dressed as a
sea captain) purely to challenge hoteliers
and increase the amount of fun in the
world.
***
I immediately thought of additional
requests I could make for some of the
hotels I stay in around Asia:
1) A bed that doesnt collapse in the
night;
2) Edible food;
3) Staff which speak at least one of the
top ten human languages, etc.
That should challenge them!
***
Anyway, if I ever win a mobile phone
farmthemed game, Im definitely going for
the live cow option, whatever trouble I get
into.
WIFE: You said you wouldnt bring home
any more large useless items.
ME (covering ears of cow): Shhh! She
can hear you, darling.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

ASTROLOGY

September 10-16, 2016

29

Chandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874


Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899
psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com

By Dr Prem Kumar Sharma

SEPTEMBER 1016, 2016


ARIES: With your high confidence you will
be able to cross all hurdles at professional
front. Unexpected visit by old friend could
give you a pleasant surprise. Real estate invest
ment would be lucrative. Your wit & charm
would help in catching the attention of opposite
sex. You will be successful in getting rid from
tensions. A beautiful vacation you awaited for is
on your cards. Value the property at right price
to attract buyers for it. Dont abandon principles
especially at testing times this week.
TAURUS: Timely help of associates will
not only pass dif ficult times at work
but also help in regaining professional
edge. Good advice from family members will
help in reducing mental tension/pressure.
Investment in stocks & mutual funds would
help in earning profits. Love partner would be
extremely supportive and in a loving mood. A
sparkling laughter filled week when most
things proceed, as you desire. Destination with
a great deal is on your way, be ready for trav
eling. It always is exciting to begin looking at
homes for sale in your area. The week would
require a high sense the humour as tough situ
ations trouble you.
GEMINI: A promising week to start a
new venture in partnership. All are like
ly to be benefited. Sudden good news in
the evening will bring cheers for the entire
family. Longterm investment in stocks &
mutual funds will enable to earn profits. A
romantic week as you receive all praises from
partner. Your enormous confidence would
help in enjoying a healthy life. Be ready to
travel with a challenge, new connections will
help you. Buying cheap property in the right
location can provide you triple gain annually.
If possible, take decisions by relying on inner
strength and judgemental faculty.

CANCER: Your technical expertise


gives a decisive edge over competitors
at work. Your efforts bring success &
happiness at family front. Improvement in
finances is certain. You find pleasure and
enjoy ecstasies of love in the arms of partner.
A very healthy week filled with happiness &
vitality. Traveling abroad can be exciting
adventure that will be remembered forever.
Investing in property business sounds very
appealing. Dont forget to tighten loose ends by
learning some lessons from past.
LEO: Hard work of the past brings rich
dividends. However continue enhancing
your skills/adopt techniques for further
development. You achieve success in personal
work with the timely help & support provided
by family members. Speculation coupled with
some unexpected gains improves financial
health. You enjoy a lovely time as Cupid is on
your side this week. Pleasure trip would help in
maintaining sound health this week. Finally you
have found the time for your deserving break,
travel will be favourable. Banks love to finance
those, who invest in properties which are under
development. The week brings testing times,
requiring sticking to belief & values.
VIRGO: Dedication & loyalty at work
would bring desired results.
Misunderstandings with near ones in
the family will get cleared. A new source of
income will generate through influential con
tacts. A special message from beloved/lover
lifts spirits. Yoga and meditation would help in
keeping in shape and mentally ag ile.
Adventurous holidays, the best way to experi
ence with your friends, time to enjoy. A good
deal on commercial property might occur.
Dont afraid to express opinion especially
where it matters.

LIBRA: New ventures start on a posi


tive note. Children would do their best
to keep you happy. Investment made
this week would enhance prosperity and finan
cial security.
Love companion will be eager to meet you this
week. Blessings of a saintly person give peace
of mind. Take a trip, as there is some place
waiting for you. Their might be a chance of
acquiring a plot from your closed relative. Try
to cooperate despite obstacles no matter what
the situation is.
SCORPIO : You succeed in completing
projects efficiently provided you put in
all your ef forts. You are likely to be
benefited as family members positive ly
respond. An improvement in financial position
would enable to make important purchases.
Proposing might benefit, as chances of suc
ceeding in love are high. Chances of recover
ing from physical ailment are high. Great time
for perfect family vacation to an exciting
destination.
You might deal in some ancestral property or
any other parental property. Time to objective
ly evaluate yourself.
SAGITTARIUS : Hard work putin the
past will yield handsome rewards in
business this wee k. Parents and
friends will do their best to keep you happy.
You are like ly to earn monetary profits
through most unexpected sources. Search for a
true romantic friend might end this week.
Inexhaustible energy enables to participate in
outdoor activities. Travel opportunities full of
challenges are often the beginning of great
enterprises. A deal regarding residential prop
erty can start moving on its right path. Fast
changing times would require you to change
with it.

CAPRICORN: Business partners behave


supportive on executing strategies to
sort out pending problems. A promising
week to plan things for your progeny. A sudden
inflow of funds will take care of your bills and
immediate expenses. Blossoming love life brings
happiness. You attain a bloom in health on shar
ing happiness with others. You will discover
travel destinations that are unique and magical.
Discussing property matters with parents can
help for better innovations.
AQUARIUS: Innovative ideas & techni
cal expertise would enable to win the
confidence of seniors at professional
front. You would be the center of attraction at a
social gathering that you attend especially with
family. Monetary position is likely to improve
on recovering of delayed payments. Romance is
likely to intensify through recreational activities
& entertainment. A cheerful state of mind would
allow enjoying the perfect health. A trip that is
unconventional and adventurous will be
favourable enjoy every minute of it. Planning a
property might explore new horizons for you
and your family. High time to change approach
to make a mark.
PISCES: Service people, artists and those
in creative field will get several new
opportunities. You would prefer to relax
& enjoy the company of family members in the
evening. Investment in antiques & jewelry brings
monetary gains and improvement in financial
position. Romantic opportunity comes your way
as your sparkling sunshine smile injures a lively
& tender heart. Divine knowledge from a saintly
person provides solace & comfort. Dreaming of
traveling is good, but if possible than plan a trip.
Your friends and family will be of great support if
you are trying for an office. Make sure you sort
out matters amicably in friend circle.

ANNUAL PREDICTIONS: FOR THOSE BORN IN THIS WEEK


10th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Sun Ruled by no: 1
Traits in you: Due to the positive effects of your ruling
planet Sun, you will have the characteristics of a good
human being. By nature, you are accountable, unique,
courageous, committed, competitive, coordinated and
intelligent. You should work on your negative personality
traits such as selfishness, dependency and pessimism.
Health this year: You may remain worried for the health of
your spouse. Your will remain fit though it needs extra
care. You should regularly visit to your doctor for check
ups. Try to secure your parents health as they may suffer
from frequent ailments throughout this year.
Finance this year: This year may bring you huge financial
benefits. You will enjoy the returns of your past invest
ments. If you want to gain financial profits, you need to
work hard. You may invest in various profitable business
es. However, you should not start new partnerships or
trust new friends.
Career this year: You may get the chance to complete all
your previous assignments and this will enhance your
respect as a brilliant performer in your professional circuit.
If you are into a profession that demands creativity, then
you will be very successful this year as far as your career is
concerned.
Romance this year: If you are yet to be in a committed rela
tionship, you may get into one this year. If you are already
committed, then you may plan for marriage towards the
end of the year.
11th September, 2016
Ruled planet:Moon Ruled by no: 2
Traits in you: As you are influenced by the Moon, you are
confident, emotional, imaginative, simple, creative, courte
ous, and warm hearted. You can easily make friends
because of your nature so you enjoy enormous respect
amongst your friends. You should control your mood
swings and you should not be lazy.
Health this year: You will enjoy a normal health this year.
However, you need to be in regular contact with your doc
tor to remain healthy. If you face some minor health issues,
you should take prescribed medication without neglecting.
Finance this year: You may go through a moderate finan
cial condition this year. You past investments may not
bring you expected results. You may get minimal return
from your fixed savings and that would not make you
secure financially. You should not lend money to anyone
during this year as you may feel the requirement of money
at any point of time.
Career this year: You will be given more responsibility this
year as you have proved yourself to be an ef ficient
resource for your employer. You may expect a promotion

or salary hike later this year. You should guide your ordi
nates to perform better and bring unexpected results for
your organization.
Romance this year: You may find yourself among the wed
ding bells if you are eligible. Your love life with your partner
will flourish with the love, care, and support of your partner.
12th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Jupiter Ruled by no: 3
Traits in you: Being ruled by Jupiter, you are courteous,
courageous, decisive, ambitious, disciplined, and realistic.
You are gifted with high imagination power, optimism, and
enthusiasm. However, behaving restless and dominating
may hamper your characteristics at times. You need to
work on your personality to make yourself better as an
individual.
Health this year: You will be going through a not so very
good health this year around. You might need to take prop
er care of your health by frequently visiting your doctor
for medical checkups. You need to adhere to the medica
tions prescribed by the doctors for your betterment.
Finance this year: You may be able to improve your finan
cial conditions by find an extra source of income. You may
go for new short term investments. You will be able to
obtain luxury and happiness by spending money.
Career this year: Your confidence will convert you into a
winner. You will be capable enough to overcome any chal
lenge you need to face. The chances of your promotion and
transfer are high due to the organizational change.
Romance this year: You may get engaged to your love this
year. You will enjoy a great marital life with your beloved.
You will find your partner supportive enough in every situ
ation. You should try and maintain a better relationship
with your partner to enjoy a better family life.
13th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Uranus Ruled by no: 4
Traits in you: Your ruling planet Uranus blesses you with a
charismatic character. You are able to impress anyone in
your surroundings with your nature and attitude. You are
generous, peace loving, disciplined, and creative in nature.
Your hard work pays off every time and you get success as
a result.
Health this year: You would not remain satisfied as far your
health is concerned as minor illness may disturb you
throughout this year. To avoid these health issues, you need
to take care of your health by taking healthy food and medi
cines at time. You may go for yoga and meditation.
Finance this year: Financial gains will be plenty for you this
year as your past investments would pay off. You may
start few new business ventures. You may expand your
business in foreign as well. Do not trust new people as they
may prove untrustworthy. Do not lend a big amount of

money.
Career this year: Your efforts will bear results and you will
be appreciated with awards and rewards towards the end
of the year. You may get a promotion for your smart work
and efficiency.
Romance this year: If you are yet to be in a relationship,
this year is the ideal time to find a partner. You will get
ample support from your spouse in any critical decision
you have to take. You should show your love to your part
ner as it strengthens your relationship.
14th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Mercury Ruled by no: As you are influenced
by your ruling planet Mercury, you are intelligent, unique,
sensible, business oriented, dignified, optimistic and charis
matic. You are also pretty warmhearted and friendly.
However, you need not be restless and impatient always to
get your things done.
Traits in you: You will go through minor health issues this
year. You have to take regular advice from the doctor and
practice healthy nutrition and diet to remain healthy.
Meditation and yoga may help you in retaining a perfect
health throughout the year.
Health this year: Your new business alliances and partner
ships will help you earn financial stability this year. You
will receive all the pending payments and money you gave
away as loans in the past. You should go for investing in
real estates and share market.
Finance this year: You need to focus on your profession
and put your cent per cent effort to achieve your expected
goals. You will be appreciated by your peers and seniors
for your ef ficient output. You may be assigned extra
responsibilities as you are very decisive and capable of per
forming wonders.
Career this year: You need to focus on your profession and
put your cent per cent effort to achieve your expected
goals. You will be appreciated by your peers and seniors
for your ef ficient output. You may be assigned extra
responsibilities as you are very decisive and capable of per
forming wonders.
Romance this year: You should avoid any kind of conflict
with your beloved. Plan a long holiday with your spouse to
make your relationship stronger. If you are unmarried, you
should not get to a marital relationship this year as the
movement of your stars is not favorable for marriage.
15th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Venus Ruled by no: 6
Traits in you: As you are ruled by Venus, you are opti
mistic, modest, focused, punctual, reliable, and dependant.
You are pretty interested in doing social work and charity.
However, you should control your mood swings, impa
tience, and whim.

Health this year: You need to focus on your health a little


more as you may fall sick frequently this year. You should
go for regular medical checkups to maintain a healthy life.
Your parents may fall sick towards the end of the year and
it will put you in immense pressure.
Finance this year: You will get financial benefits if you have
invested in past. For future financial gains, you may invest
on real estate and stock market. You should study the mar
ket well before investing on anything. Do not be in a hurry
to invest as it may go in loss.
Career this year: As far as your professional life is con
cerned, you are expected to get a lot of opportunities
throughout this year. However, you have to work hard and
efficiently to convert those opportunities. Being a quick
decision maker, you may have to decide on many critical
matters in your professional circle.
Romance this year: You will share a good relationship with
your spouse. You may decide to turn your relationship into
marriage if you are not married yet. However, you need to
understand your beloved and provide the required emo
tional support for the betterment of your relationship.
16th September, 2016
Ruled planet: Neptune Ruled by no: 7
Traits in you: By nature you are sober, courteous, unique,
honest and courageous as you are ruled by the powerful
planet Neptune. Your charming nature attracts people
towards you. You love to face challenges and you fight
them pretty well by executing perfection. You need to
check for your impatience, rudeness, and frequent mood
swings.
Health this year: You may suffer some minor injuries due
to vehicle accidents. However, it will not be critical. You
may go through minor health issues during the initial
months of the year. Moreover, you will enjoy a sound
health throughout the year with proper medical checkups
and medications.
Finance this year: Your financial conditions will be very
stagnant this year. As you will not earn much or spend
much, you will lead a peaceful life in money matters. You
may invest for future. Do not lend or borrow money from
your friends or colleagues.
Career this year: This year you will reach to the peak of
your professional career and it will offer you huge finan
cial benefits. This year will be pretty rewarding for female
employees. You may get a better performance appraisal as
well as salary hike as compared to your expectations.
Romance this year: The emotional attachment with your
spouse or partner may blossom this year with lot of love,
care, and concern. If you are not married, then you may go
for a romantic relationship. You will enjoy a very blissful
time with your beloved.

30

September 10-16, 2016

SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Peace of mind, heart and soul

By Sant Rajinder Singh


Ji Maharaj

any people want to take


some time off from their
daytoday jobs so that
they can take a vacation. They
want to get away from the drudg
ery of their daytoday life to relax
and find some peace of mind.
They wish to get away from the
daily troubles and worries of life
and experience happiness by
being in a place where they can
enjoy themselves. Most people,
however, want to experience
peace not only for a few fleeting
moments, but for all times.
There are three levels of peace
that occur simultaneously. There
is peace of mind, peace of heart,
and peace of soul.
Peace of mind is not only essen
tial to our daily lives, but it is very
helpful in our spiritual journey
back to God. When we analyze
what happens during the day, we
know that there are countless
occurrences that keep us from
experiencing peace. When we

review what we did all day long,


we find that there were a lot of
disturbances, whether we had
problems at our jobs, in our fami
lies, or in any other activities.
Underlying all other distur
bances is the fact that most
human beings have an ongoing
fear of death. We are afraid of
dying, and that fear is always nag
ging us, always keeping us from
being peaceful.
There are only a few people in
the world who can go beyond
these disturbances, who can rise
above them and see life from a
higher angle of vision.
When we learn about the spiri
tual science, it gives us insight
into true peace of mind. When we
start to know about the spiritual
way, we realize that death is just
an illusion. We learn that our real
existence is not this human body,
but in reality we are the soul that
inhabits this body. There is no
doubt that our body will perish
one day, but the soul gives the
body life and never dies. It just
changes its state. Just as we
change our clothes, the soul
changes one body and goes to
another.
The seat of the soul is located
between and behind the two eye
brows. It is the place from which
the soul leaves the bo dy and
enters the worlds within. Once we
go into the worlds within, we see
the divine Light of God. We see
the inner sky, the stars, the moon,

Spirituality and meditation not only provides


us with peace of mind, but it also gives us
peace of heart. Each human being needs love
and each human being can give love. The spiri
tual path provides us with a means of lasting
love and happiness because the love of God is
beyond time and space.
and the inner sun until we ulti
mately reach our true spiritual
home and have union of our soul
with God.
Each of us is capable of enjoying
this spiritual flight through the
process of meditation. When we
enter the worlds within, then the
fear of death leaves us. We realize
that we are not the body but are
the soul, and the soul is immortal.
Spirituality and meditation not
only provides us with peace of
mind, but it also gives us peace of
heart. Each human being needs

love and each human being can


give love. The spiritual path pro
vides us with a means of lasting
love and happiness because the
love of God is beyond time and
space. The love that we get from
our universal Father, which can be
experienced through meditation
on the inner Light and Sound, is
not subject to change.
Being receptive to divine love is
like taking a dip in the ocean of
intoxication. Our hearts are filled
with peace. When we are loved by
God and we really feel it, then our

heart is dancing with joy. It is


filled to overflowing with the
divine nectar of Gods love. There
are no bounds to its ecstasy.
Every so often our soul awakens
to its true nature. The sweet voice
of God calls us. It tries to awaken
the soul, and we have an experi
ence which is st irring, which
changes our life. That experience
could be the haunting music of
the violins. It could be the verses
of a poet that speak of God or the
divinity we see in nature. It could
also be the shock we experience
when we lose a loved one and
realize that this body is not our
real home.
It is when we understand that
we are neither the body nor the
mind that our soul yearns to go
back to its True Home, and it
knows no peace until it is again
united with its Creator. We may
gain peace of mind. We may gain
peace of the heart. Peace of the
soul, however, only comes when
our soul merges with God.
When we enter those states in
which we experience peace within
us, then that peace radiates from
us to others. It goes from us to
everyone else that we come in
contact with. If you have peace in
your heart, if you have peace of
mind, if you have peace in your
soul, then that peace is going to
radiate from you to so many peo
ple, and you will become very
ef fective in spreading joy and
peace all around you.

LIFES AWAKENING MOMENTS

n each persons life a moment comes when we have a transcendent experience or a revela
tion in which we become aware that we have a higher purpose in this world. Suddenly,
amidst the daily rituals of waking up, getting dressed, going to work, eating, and sleeping,
we get a glimpse that there is something more to this life. That moment may come when we
are a child. It may come to us while a teenager, or it may come in adult life. Some may have it
when they are young adults, and some have it in their senior years of life. Whenever it comes,
it leaves us transformed. Suddenly, we begin to question who we are, why we are here, where
we go when we die, and what our purpose in life is.
Read about the life of any of the great saints and mystics and you will find some lifetrans
forming experience that awakened their quest. Once these burning questions arise, there is
no turning back. We are restless until we find the solution. Before our awakening, it is like we
are sleeping. Our soul has been asleep for aeons. We started out in the lap of God but became
lost in the attractions of the world. We have forgotten our true Home. We are in a state of
slumber or forgetfulness that we are souls, a part of God. We think we are the mind and the
body and have forgotten our true essence as soul, as a part of the Creator.

Sant Mat

ant Mat, the Path of the Saints, reflects


the core teachings of saints and mystics
through the ages. People new to this
path often say they are attracted by its sim
plicity, integrity, and effectiveness in foster
ing spiritual growth. Although Sant Mat was
born centuries ago in India, it is in many
ways ideal for the modern seeker. Followed
under the guidance of a living spiritual
Master, these teachings couple meditation
on the inner Light and Sound with an inclu
sive, positive way of living.
At the heart of Sant Mat are these simple
principles: There is one God of all creation,
though people worship the Lord by different
names and through dif ferent practices.
While Sant Mat respects all faiths, it stresses
that religion has two dimensionsouter and
inner. Sant Mat focuses on the inner dimen
sionthe deep spiritual essence known as
mysticism. Mysticism looks beyond rites, rit
uals, and scriptural knowledge and pursues
spirituality as a matter of personal inner
experience.
Sant Mat expresses the deepest values of
every great spiritual traditionlove for God,
compassion for Gods creation, and a daily

life grounded in ethical values. Sant Mats


unique contribution is distilling these noble
ideals into a simple, universal spiritual path
and then providing the tools and techniques
to make them a personal reality.
Sant Mat does not demand that we
renounce our families or societies. Instead,
we can pursue our spiritual goals while lead
ing normal lives.

The need for a


living master
competent teacher speeds our
progress. It's a common sense prin
ciple of life: studying with one who
has mastered the subject we wish to learn
accelerates our learning. That's why seek
ers throughout history have turned to
spiritual Masters. By virtue of their own
inner awakening, these Masters awaken
others. As much as we revere Masters of
the past, Sant Mat stresses the importance
of a living guide.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji


Maharaj

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

September 10-16, 2016

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