Vol.9 Issue 35 - Dec 24-30 Dec, 2016

The South Asian Times
e x c e l l e n c e
Vol.9 No. 35 December 24-30, 2016 80 Cents
i n
j o u r n a l i s m
New York Edition
India steps up engagement

with Team Trump
New Delhi: After foreign secretary
S. Jaishankar, it was the turn of
national security advisor Ajit
Doval to engage with the outgo
ing and incoming US administra
tions. During a visit to the US this
week, Doval held talks with secre
tary of state John Kerry, national
security advisor Susan Rice as
well as incoming NSA Michael
Flynn.
Neither side provided details of
the conversation, but sources said
Doval and Flynn both with
backgrounds in intelligence work
and counterterrorism con
nected well.
Doval, an of ficer of the Indian
Police Service, has become a leg
end for his counterterrorism and
counterespionage operations
done w ith the Inte lligence
Follow us on
TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Trump proposes
strengthening US
nukes capacity
Putin too talked of stronger
N-capability, igniting fears of
a new arms race
Indias national security advisor Ajit Doval (right) and

General (retd) Michael Flynn, the American NSAdesignate,
met in Washington on December 19.
Bureau, an agency he later head
ed. Flynn rose to acclaim as an
intelligence of ficer at the US
Defense Intelligence Agency and
Under Kohli, India

extends unbeaten
streak to 18 Tests
New Delhi: The world's No. 1 Test team has beaten
England by an innings and 75 runs in Chennai on
Tuesday to extend their unbeaten streak to 18
matches, a new landmark for
Indian cricket. Earlier
record was remaining
unbeaten for 17 Tests,
chalked
up
between
September 1985 and March
1987. Now Virat Kohli's
team has carved out a
slice of history by
breaking the
record with its
18th match
w i t h o u t
Virat Kohli, captain of
defeat.
Indias Test team
This Indian
team last lost a Test in August 2015, to Sri Lanka
in Galle by 63 runs. Since then, they have rebound
ed in the series opener to Continued on page 4
played a significant role in deal

ing with insurgency in Iraq and
Afghanistan, emphasizing the
Continued on page 4
Our New Year Special

to feature PBD
he annual New Year Special edition of The

South Asian Times will welcome 2017 by
featuring The South
Asian Times Person of the
Year 2016" and Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas2017.
The South Asian Times is
the Print Media Partner for
PBD2017, organized by the
Ministry of External Af fairs
of Government of India and
scheduled for January 79, 2017 at Bengaluru,
India. Besides its New York edition, The South
Asian Timess New Year special issue will also be
printed in Bengaluru and distributed at PBD2017.
Said Kamlesh Mehta, Chairman of The South
Asian Times, Our previous New YearcumPerson
of the Year special issues were read by well over
half a million people all over the world. This year
too, we will be featuring an Continued on page 4
Washington: Presidente lect

Donald Trump said that the United
States must greatly strengthen and
expand its nuclear capacity.
"The United States
must
g reatly
strengthen
and
expand its nuclear
capability until such
t ime as the world
comes to its senses
reg arding
nukes,"
Trump tweeted.
On the President ial
transition team's website,
Trump's staffers say that he
"recognizes the uniquely
catastrophic threats posed by
nuclear weapons and cyber
attacks". According to the website,
Trump will modernise the nuclear
arsenal "to ensure it continues to
be an effective deterrent".
Trump may have reacted to a
speech Russian President Vladimir
Putin gave Thursday in which he

praised his country's military oper
ations on behalf of Syrias Assad
regime and made a case for how
Russia could become
stronger.
We
need
to
strengthen the mili
tary potent ial of
strateg ic nuclear
forces, he said, espe
cially in respect with
missile complexes that
can reliably penetrate
any existing and prospec
tive missile defense systems.
In other words, Russia needs
to ensure that its arsenal of
nuclear weapons can avoid inter
ception by the enemy.
The primary enemy that might
intercept those missiles is, of
course, the United States and its
allies in the North Atlantic Treaty
Continued on page 4
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December 24-30, 2016
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Demonetization will cut corruption,

ght terror: Indian community
New York: Commending the
demonetization move by the NDA
government, a group of Indian
Americans have said that this
would not only help eliminate
corruption and fight terrorism
but also fast track digitization of
economy. The IndianAmericans,
participating in a panel discus
sion on demonet izat ion in
Hicksville, Long Island, said
demonetization was a step that
was long due and this would
help them realise their dream of
a corruptionfree, transparent
and developed India.
It is a revolutionary step that
will transform India. It would
prope l India on the path of
becoming a developed country in
the years to come, said Jagdish
Sewhani, president of the
American India Public Af fairs
(from left) Dr Narindra Kukar, Prem Bhandari, Jagdish Sewhani , Dr Shashi Shah, Dr Yashpal Arya, Dr Vijay
Arya at the seminar on demonetization in Hicksville, NY
Committee, which organized the
seminar. Not only the decision
was daring and required a deci
sive leadership, but also the
implementation was a Himalayan
task, he added.
Think about the scale of opera
t ion. 125 billion people and

replacing more than 80 per cent
of the currency at a notice of just
a few hours. Indian government
has come out with flying colors
in the monumental implementa
tion of this decision, Sewhani
said, adding no other country

would have implemented it bet
ter.
Referring to the opposition to
demonetization, Sewhani said
surprisingly it is coming from
those who earlier wanted the
government to fight corruption.

Ajay Lo d ha, president of
American
Asso ciat ion
of
Physicians of Indian Orig in
(AAPI), said the IndianAmerican
doctors fully support the move.
This would help us realize our
dream of a corruptionfree India,
he said, adding that he would
convey the sentiments of AAPI in
Bangalore next month where he
would attend the Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas (PBD). We are
happy that such a step has finally
been taken, Lodha said.
Dr Shashi Shah, president of the
Association of Indians in America
(AIA), said there is great enthusi
asm among Indian Americans on
the latest step being taken by PM
Modi with regard to fight against
corruption, demonetization and
digitization of economy.
The only Indian-American elector GOPIO to discuss notebandi

withstood dump-Trumpers
at meet in Bengaluru
Washington: India born
to 227 votes.
engineerentrepreneur Ash
Khare had emerged as a
Khare achieved some
fierce critic of those calling
celebrity as one of the 20
for Trumps defeat and his
electors from Pennsylvania
story, of an immigrant from
who became the face of
India batting so aggressive
defiance to calls for desert
ly for the presidentelect,
ing Donald Trump in the
ran across media platforms,
electoral college vote on
TV, web and print. CNN ran
December 19.
an article about him titled,
T he 68yearold immi
From immigrant to elector:
grant from Kanpur who
I am living the American
now lives in Warren, PA,
dream. Khare came to the
dreaded opening his letter Based in Pennsylvania, US in 1969 with just $8 in
box or email. Khare told the Ash Khare as one of the his pocket. A graduate of
media he had received
IIT Kanpur in metallurgy, he
538 electors was
17,000 calls including some besieged by calls and came to the US to study and
at really odd hours, and so messages to not vote settled here.
many letters that the local Trump in the electoral
He has always been a
post of fice had assigned
Republican , in sharp con
college vote.
him his own delivery man.
trast to most other Indian
People were writing to him from all Americans who are Democrats or at
over the country and even other coun least start as one. And he built himself a
tries. This is harassment, Khare said, reputation in the party, he said, as
blaming the Clinton campaign for using someone who raises money and deliv
their vast resources to peddle the ers votes.
dumbest, stupid ideas to explain to
And supporting Trump? That was
their donors why she lost despite the easy. His message is the right message
phenomenal amount of money she for America, Khare said. On illegal
spent. Khare, a Republican for decades, immigration, caring for veterans, police
didnt budge and voted to formalize and race relations, Obamacare, Khare
Trumps election as the 45th president said Trump has picked up all the right
of America with a huge margin of 304 issues.
New York: T he Global

Organization of People of
Indian Origin (GOPIO) is
hosting its convention on
Jan 56, 2017 in Bengaluru
in conjunction with PBD
conducted by the Ministry
of
External
Af fairs,
Government of India. The
GOP IO convent ion w ill
attracts investors, political
functionaries, business lead
ers from India and abroad.
Union Minister of State for
External Af fairs M.J. Akbar
GOPIOs Community Service Awards recipients this time
will open the GOPIO meet
include Abraham M. George, of Shanti Bhavan,
which will discuss demoneti
and
California based Chandu Patel, who has set
zation and other issues.
up a health facility in Gujarat.
One group that will be hit
GOPIO Community Service Awards will
hard by the government's restrictions will be
hundreds of delegates reaching Bengaluru also be presented at the finale banquet event
for the convention from all over the world, of the convention. This years awardees are:
said Sunny Kulathakal, Convent ion Abraham M. George, founder of several
Convener. Earlier GOPIO President Niraj social projects including Shanti Bhavan in
Baxi wrote to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley New Jersey and Tamil Nadu, India; Chandu
to extend by six months the cutoff date for Patel, who has set up the Sabarkantha
Health and Research Foundation (SHRF) to
depositing the demonetized notes.
"NRIs and PIOs should be allowed to augment the Gujarats healthcare system. Dr.
exchange whatever amount they have as George Cherian, leading the American
long as they show the proof of past conver Mission Hospital in Bahrain; Vinod Patel
sion of foreign currency to Indian currency who has served at local level as well as MP
in the last 10 years," said Thomas Abraham, in Fiji; and Ram Buxani, Chairman of the ITL
Cosmos Group in Dubai.
Chairman of GOPIO International.
Rs. 3,590 crore of undisclosed income

detected after demonetization
New Delhi: T he Income Tax
department has detected over
Rs. 3,590 crore of undisclosed
income, while more than Rs. 93
crore in new notes have been
seized as part of its country
wide operations against black
money hoarders post the
demonetization of two high
value currencies by the govern
ment. Official sources said that
the taxman has carried out a

total of 760 search, survey and
enquiry operations under the
provisions of the Income Tax
Act since the note ban was
declared on November 8, even
as the department has issued
3,589 notices to various entities
on charges of tax evasion and
hawalalike dealings, t ill
Wednesday.
US arrests
Pakistani in fake
degrees scam
New York: US law enforcement
has announced the arrest of a
Pakistani national for his alleged
role in a $140million fraud in
fake school and college certificates
called the diploma mill run by
Axact, a Pakistani firm prosecuted
by authorities there in 2015.
Umair Hamid, the 30yearold
de fendant, was arrested on
December 19, US attorney for the
Southern District of New York
Preet Bharara said in an
announcement on Wednesday,
identifying him as the assistant
vice president of international
relations of Axact.
Hamid has been charged with
wire fraud, conspiracy to commit
wire fraud and aggravated identity
theft in connection with a racket
collecting, according to authori
ties, $140 million from tens of
thousands of customers in many
countries, including the US.
As alleged, while promising the
rewards of a higher education,
Umair Hamid was actually just
peddling diplomas and certifica
tions from fake schools, Bharara
said, announcing the arrest and
charges.
TURN PAGE
The department has seized

cash and jewelry worth over Rs.
505 crore during the same peri
od even as the new currency
seized is valued at more than
Rs. 93 crore. The total undis
closed income admitted or
detected as part of this action,
till December 21, is more than
Rs. 3,590 crore, the sources
added.
INOC is lending a
hand in Punjab
poll campaign
Mohinder Singh Gilzian, INOC President (5th from left), with

Congress workers in Bainsa, Punjab on December 12.
New York: Although complete
list of the candidates is yet to be
re leased, Mohinder Sing h
Gilzian, President of the Indian
National Overseas Congress
(INOC), USA is already on the
g round in Punjab and cam
paigning for Congress candi
dates. We are committed to
supporting Captain Amarinder
Singh and the Congress party to
return to power in the state
where corruption and misman
agement under Akali rule have
become the order of the day and
negatively impacting the lives of
the ordinary citizens, said Mr.

Gilzian. We want to see Punjab
return to its glory days as a
mo de l state where we have
achieved greater development
in the so cial and economic
realm, he added.
It is expected that elections in
Punjab will be held towards the
end of January or early
February. INOC, USA promises
to do all it can that include send
ing additional volunteers to
Punjab to help the party win
back the state for the sake of its
citizens and the Congress party.
Trump proposes strengthen

ing US nukes capacity
Continued from page 1
Organization (NATO). The language
echoes old Cold War rhetoric: Our
missiles must be able to serve as a
deterrent to usage, by existing as a
threat to enemies.
The trend since the late 1980s has
been in the opposite direction, wind
ing down the stockpiles of weapons
held by the United States and Russia.
Trumps and Putins comments
suggest a possible reversal of that
direction, but its not entirely clear
what Trump mean with until such
time as the world comes to its senses
regarding nukes. Perhaps it means:
As long as Russia is revamping its
own arsenal, suggested Washington
Post.
India steps up engagement

with Team Trump
importance of intelligence. This was
the third senior level engagement
between India and the Trump admin
istrat ion start ing w ith Prime
Minister Narendra Modis congratu
latory call to the Presidentelect
within hours of his election.
India and the US have improved
security and intelligence cooperation
in the past few years,
including in sensitive areas like
AfPak. From frowning on India's
presence in Afghanistan, the US has
evolved its position significantly. In
recent years, the US has openly wel
comed Indian part icipat ion in
Afghanistan's security sector.
The challenges to global security
are expected to only increase in the
coming years. It would be important
for India to gauge the security priori
ties of the incoming US administra
tion and talk about India's own inter
ests in the neig hborhoo d. T he
Islamic State and its implications
would play a big role in the security
calculations of both countries in the
coming years.
USRussia relations are also impor
tant for India. While the incoming
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
Donald Trump administration has

not taken an adversary approach to
Russia, it remains to be seen whether
the US intends to reset Russia rela
tions to more normal ones. One of
India's interests here would be for
the US to wean Russia away from
China's vicelike g rip. How the
Trump administration deals with
China will have huge implications for
India's security interests, particularly
in the Indian Ocean.
Under Kohli, India extends

unbeaten streak to 18 Tests
beat Sri Lanka 21, South Africa 30
at home, West Indies 20 away, New
Zealand 30 at home and now
England 40.
Still, India are some way short of
the record for most consecutive Test
matches without defeat, the 27 of
West Indies between 1982 and
1984. India also have to win another
four Test series to equal the nine
straight wins of England between
1884 and 1892 and Australia from
2005 to 2008. However, Kohli's side
looks set to break another Indian
record, that of the most unbeaten
Test matches on home soil 20,
achieved between 19771980. The
current streak stands at 19, with one
Test versus Bangladesh and four
ag ainst Australia lined up in
FebruaryMarch 2017.
Our New Year Special to

feature PBD
extraordinary visionary from the
IndianAmerican community who
has made a big impact on the diaspo
ra with his generous & courageous
actions.
Earlier Person of the Year have
included Pramukh Swami Maharaj,
the BAPS spiritual head; NYC Mayor
Bill de Blasio, and Indias
Ambassador to the UN, Hardeep
Singh Puri, as well as a community
org anizat ion, the Federat ion of
Indian Asso ciat ions ( Tristate
chapter).
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
Contacts
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West Coast Correspondent

Pooja Jain,
Pooja@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Art and Design: Dhiraj Kumar Showaan

Vladimir Tomovski
Bhagwati Creations,
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TRISTATE COMMUNITY
International award for

neurooncologist Sumul Raval
Indian origin
exofficial charged
in bribery scheme
New York: An Indian origin for
mer official of one of the largest
pension funds has been charged
in a prostitutes and drugs' bribery
scheme involving billions of dol
lars in business.
A director and strategist at the
New York State Common
Retirement Fund (NYCRF),
Navnoor Kang "allegedly steered
billions of dollars of business to
brokerdealers who bribed him
with luxury vacations, highpriced
watches, drugs, cash, and more,"
Preet Bharara, the Indian origin
New York federal prosecutor said
Wednesday.
Court documents seen by IANS
also listed the services of prosti
tutes and strippers, "night club
bottle service" and a Panerai
watch worth $17,420 among the
Navnoor Kang
bribes allegedly received by Kang.
He was arrested in Portland in
Oregon and was to be produced
before a federal judge there,
Bharara said.
Kang, 38, is a former tennis pro,
who played in international tour
naments in 2005 and 2006.
New York: Sumul N. Raval, a leading

neurooncologist at Monmouth
Medical Center and Community
Medical Center in New Jersey, has
recently been honored with a presti
gious international award for state
oftheart treatment to people with
brain tumors.
Raval, a boardcertified neurolo
gist who completed fellowship in
neurooncology at Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center in New
York, was presented with the GBM
(Glioblastoma Multiforme) Heroes
Award during the 21st annual sci
entific meeting of the Society for
NeuroOncology in Scottsdale,
Arizona. The honor recognizes indi
viduals who have dedicated their
lives to helping patients with GBM
and their families, according to
CURE magazine that organized the
Scottsdale meeting.
T his years conference drew
3,600 neurooncologists, neurosur
geons, radiation oncologists, neuro
Dr Sumul Raval
(Image courtesy: njmonthly.com)
radiologists and scientists from 55
countries, and is said to be the most
comprehensive neurooncology
meeting in the world.
This is an amazing, onceinalife
time honor, said Raval, noting that
the global recognition is especially
rare for a doctor at a community
hospital. I am humbled and grate
ful to receive this award.
Both the Monmouth Medical
Center and the Community Medical
Center, where Raval works, are

RWJBarnabas Health facilities, New
Jerseys biggest health care system.
Raval is founder and director of
the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor
Center at Monmouth Medical
Center, New Jerseys first and most
comprehensive facility specializing
in brain tumors that brings leading
edge care to the local community.
The program draws patients from
across the country and as far away
as Sweden, Russia, Venezue la,
Turkey and India. Raval has earned
national recognition for participat
ing in clinical trials to advance
knowledge about treatment options
for brain tumors, and his research
has been published in peer
reviewed medical journals and also
presented at national meetings of
the American Society for Clinical
Oncology. He is very deserving of
this honor, said Robert Braun, vice
president of cancer services for
RWJBarnabas Health.
SACOs holidays event

Rajat Gupta disagrees with
bridged the gap between
insider trading ruling
New York: Indiaborn former
Goldman Sachs director Rajat
Gupta has disagreed with a US
Supreme Court ruling that shar
ing corporate secrets is illegal
even if the person who revealed
the information did not receive
anything in return.
Gupta is arguing in appeal that
the government lacked evidence
to show he "received even a
penny" for passing insider infor
mation.
In a landmark ruling earlier
this month relating to the insid
er trading conviction of Illinois
resident Bassam Yacoub Salman,
the Supreme Court unanimously
ruled that sharing corporate
secrets with friends or relatives
is illegal even if the insider pro
viding the tip doesn't receive
anything of value in return.
68yearold Gupta is a free
man now after completing a
prison term on insider trading
charges but is not giving up his
legal battle to overturn his con
viction, arguing that he served
two years in jail for conduct that
is not criminal even though the

government lacked evidence to
show he "received even a penny"
for passing confidential board
room information to now jailed
hedgefund manager Raj
Rajaratnam. In May, Gupta's
team of lawyers had argued in
papers before the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals that the judge
ment of the Manhattan district
court finding Gupta guilty of
insider trading "should be
reversed" and his "conviction
should be vacated."
Gupta's appeal comes on the
back of a ruling by the
Manhattan appeals court that
for an insider trading conviction
prosecutors must show that a
defendant received a personal
benefit for passing illegal tips.
Gupta's lawyers have cited the
ruling that led to the reversal of
insider convictions of hedge
fund managers Todd Newman
and Anthony Chiasson in
December, 2014. In fresh court
papers following the verdict in
Salman's case, Gupta said there
is "a fatal inconsistency" and he

was "substantially prejudiced by
the invalid theory of benefit pur
sued at trial; and that his entitle
ment to re lie f is in no way
af fected" by the verdict in the
Salman case.
"The issue on this appeal is
whether the government's bene
fit theory (that Gupta tipped to
maintain a good relationship
with Rajaratnam), and the dis
trict court's instruction that the
benefit could be modest, intangi
ble and nonfinancial, are fatally
inconsistent with Newman's quid
pro quo requirement: an
exchange of a tip for a benefit
that is 'objective, consequential,
and at least potentially pecu
niary'," Gupta's lawyers said in
court papers.
The government said Gupta's
appeal lacked merit even under
the Newman ruling and the
Salman verdict "confirms the
validity of the District Court's
jury instruct ions and thus
defeats Gupta's claim of error at
the outset."
communities and faiths
Several
individuals
and
organizations
were
honored at
the event
Edison, NJ: Across the world, while

many countries and communities are
often at o dds, SACO (South Asian
Community Outreach) has been bring
ing these peoples together on one plat
form. On December 14, SACO tried to
bridge the gap between communities
and faiths through the joy and spirit of
the holidays with an Interfaith Holiday
Party here featuring prominent person
alities of different religions, countries,
and elected officials.
One highlight of the event was com
ing together of the Indian and Pakistani
communities. Along with political lead
ers, religious scholars such as a Jewish
Rabbi, a Christian priest, Muslim Imam,
and Hindu Pandit were honored at the

event, encouraging the sense of unity
essential to our nation today.
Dignitaries present included Counsel
General of Nepal Krishna, Counsel
General of Pakistan Raja Ejaz Ali, state
senators Sam Thompson, Ray Lesniak,
Pat Diegnan, Assemblywoman Nancy
Pinkin, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, and
Edison Mayor Tom Lankey.
SACO honored many people and
organizations for their contributions.
Among those recognized were
Pakistan Day Parade, Indo American
Cultural Asso ciat ion, Friends of
Maharashtra, Asa Di Var and Yuva Hindi
Sansthan
TRISTATE COMMUNITY
IN BRIEF
Pioneer Club of Keralites

celebrates ChristmasNew Year
Assemblyman David Weprin, Principal Jeffery Slivko and Student Organization

Coordinator William Sasso with Irwin Altman Middle School 172 students.
MS172 students unite to

donate hundreds of toys
Pioneer Club members at the event
nnual Christmas New Year Dinner
banquet of the Pioneer Club of
North America was held at the Cotil
lion Restaurant in Jericho, New York on
Dec 15th. Pioneer Club has primarily con
sisted of members who are the early set
tlers from Kerala to the United States.
Zachariah Mar Nicohlovos, Metropoli
tan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian
Church was the Chief Guest and delivered
an inspiring message of hope and exhort
ed the gathering not to forget the less for
tunate in our midst. Jesus himself was a
refugee at a point in his life on earth and
required help and assistance from others,
Thirumeni added.
President George Abraham welcomed
the guests, and this was followed by Prof.
Joseph Cheruvelil reminiscing interesting

stories from the old days. Bishop Achoy
Mathews spoke about the Pioneer Club
and the need to help each other in the
sunset of our lives.
Ven Paramaswaran, who came to the US
in 1954, was honored with the Ponnada
by His Grace Zachariah Mar Nocholovos.
George Thaila, Director of the Social
Service program under the aegis of Pio
neer Club, spoke about the volunteer serv
ices provided by the members of the
group. Rev. Peter Paulose in his remarks
suggested that the club could take some
initiative in compiling stories from the
early immigrants to be passed on to the
next generation. He offered his assistance
in this endeavor.
Tristate South Asian students

support New Delhis street children
hroughout December, high school

and college students as well as
young professionals of South
Asian descent living in the Tristate re
gion are helping thousands of Indias
street children to choose play over labor
by giving them the chance to play in
stead of being forced to work to feed
themselves and their families. Butter
flies USA, a NYbased nonprofit is run
ning its 201617 winter crowdfunding
campaign to support the Right to Play
programs of Butterflies, a child rights
and advocacy organization based in
New Delhi, India.
New York City resident and Vice Pres
ident at JP Morgan Chase, Harbani Rana
is the Treasurer of Butterflies USA. As
an undergraduate at Baruch College

more than 10 years ago, she was asked
by a Dean to visit the Butterflies head
quarters in New Delhi over winter
break. Her positive report moved a
cadre of college administrators to found
Butterflies USA.
The current Right to Play Campaign
focuses on providing equipment, uni
forms, and coaching for a variety of
sports and games, as well as equal ac
cess by youth of all classes and abilities
to properly maintained fields and play
grounds. So far, Butterflies USA has
raised more than half of its $18,000
goal, which would be directed toward
safe play for each of the 1,800 children
Butterflies reaches.
undreds of children across Queens

will get a special surprise this holi
day season thanks to the Students
of Irwin Altman Middle School 172 and As
semblyman David Weprin. Weprin joined
MS 172 Principal Jeffery Slivko and Stu
dent Organization Coordinator William
Sasso in Bellerose to collect toys raised by
the 6th, 7th and 8th graders for Assembly
man Weprins districtwide Holiday Toy
Drive.As children gathered to show the toys
collected, Weprin thanked the students and
staff of MS 172 for helping with the Holi
day Toy Drive. Each toy donated means an
extra special surprise for a younger child in
our community said Weprin. A big thank

you to Principal Jeffery Slivko, Student Or
ganization Coordinator William Sasso and
all the students for this wonderful dona
tion.
The Holiday Toy Drive, which was
arranged by Assemblyman Weprins Office
and began in November 2016, was
arranged to benefit charitable organiza
tions including HeartShare Human Servic
es of New York's Cuomo Early Childhood
Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Metro
Queens; both of Richmond Hill. Donated
toys will be distributed to these organiza
tions prior to December 25th.
Humanitarian Award for Drs

Neelima and Mukul Parikh
he United Way of the Capital Regions

Tocqueville Society recently honored
Drs. Neelima and Mukul Parikh with
the 2016 Humanitarian Award.
The society said that the Indian American
physician couple, of Mechanicsburg, Pa.,
were honored for their outstanding commit
ment to improving lives throughout the re
gion. The Humanitarian Award is presented
annually to a local leader, or leaders, who
meets the criteria of having a commitment to
voluntary systems of human services; having
a creative approach to serving the commu
nity; are outstanding in providing leadership
and working with others; provide sustained
service over a period of years; are inspira
tional in encouraging others to serve; their
actions have had or will have a major impact
on changing and saving lives; and, produce
results that are clearly visible and tangible.
The two doctors have practiced anesthesiol
ogy since 1984 at West Shore Anesthesia
and Riverside Anesthesia Associates, respec
The United Way of the Capital Regions

Tocqueville Society honored Drs Parikh
with 2016 Humanitarian Award
tively, and both have served in leadership
positions within their profession.
Since the 1980s, Neelima and Mukul have
used their medical talents, as well as their
spirit for philanthropy, to take medical mis
sion trips to parts of India, Africa, Haiti, the
Philippines and Thailand. These trips are fi
nanced using personal vacation time as well
as personal funds. The couple strives to com
plete two mission trips a year, according to
the United Way news release.
NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Presidentelect Donald Trump thanks

IndianAmericans for role in polls triumph
Washington, DC: Presidentelect
Donald Trump has acknowledged
the contribut ion of Indian
Americans in his electoral tri
umph, saying his victorious cam
paign did "great with the Hindus."
"We have a lot of people here
tonight from the Indian commu
nity, Hindus. We did great with
the Hindus," Trump said while
addressing thousands of his sup
porters during a "Thank You"
rally in Orlando, Florida, the key
battle ground state where he
emerged victorious.
The event in Florida, which has
a sizeable IndianAmerican popu
lation, was attended by a large
number of community members.
T his is for the rst time that
Trump has acknowledged the
contribution of IndianAmericans
in his historic electoral victory.
"Where are they? We have a
big group. There they are. I want
to thank you. You folks were
"We have a lot of people here tonight from

the Indian community, Hindus. We did great
with the Hindus" - President-elect Donald
Trump said addressing his supporters at
'Thank You' rally in Orlanda, FL.
amazing. They were amazing and

voted
and
they
were
fantastic,"Trump said, pointing
his ngers to the Indian
American community present at
the rally.
Fortnight before the elections,
Hindus welcome govt.

funded projects
researching yoga benets
New York: Various US universi
tiesmedical/clinical centers
hospitals are undertaking
research projects exploring
yogas possible help in treat
ment of various illnesses,
according to a database pub
lished on US National Institutes
of Health (NIH) website.
Funded/administered by
Nat ional
Center
for
Complementary and Integrative
Health (NCCIH), Nat ional
Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, National
Inst itute on Drug Abuse,
National Cancer Institute, etc.
all part of U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services;
and U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs; cost for some
of these projects is listed at
over halfamillion dollars each.
Project titles listed include
looking into yogas help in the
treatment/re lief/interven
t ion/management/care of
PTSD, sleep disturbance, chron
ic pain, symptom management
for breast cancer, arthritis,
antenatal depression, urinary
incontinence, smoking cessa
tion, substance abuse, type 2
diabetes, insomnia, depression,
pain perception and pain con
trol, anxiety disorder, etc.
T hese projects are being

undertaken at Indianapolis
Veterans Af fairs (VA) Medical
Center, University of California
San Francisco, University of
Minnesota, Duke University,
NIH Clinical Center in
Maryland, Providence Butler
Hospital, Boston Brigham and
Women's Hospital, Rho de
Island Miriam Hospital,
Alexandria University of
Pennsylvania, University of
Ro chester, Massachusetts
General Hospital, Boston
University, etc.; as per as the
website.
NIH website also points out
that NCCIH is currently sup
porting research on how prac
ticing yoga may af fect: HIV,
immune function, menopausal
symptoms, multiple sclerosis,
diabetes risk, etc.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed
we lcoming
these
state
funded/administered research
projects looking into possible
usage of yog a in various
health/medical related issues,
called it a step in the positive
direction.
Zed urged all major world
universities/medical
centers/hospitals to explore
various benets yoga offered.
Trump attended a charity event

organized by Republican Hindu
Coalition.
This was for the rst time a
presidential candidate attended
an IndianAmerican event. In his
address, Trump pledged to work
for betterment of IndiaUS rela

tionship and said he would be the
best friend of India in the White
House. He praised Prime Minister
Narendra Modi for his economic
reforms and steps that he has
taken to remove bureaucratic red
tape. After Trump's address, his
family members visited temples
in both Florida and Virginia; a
rst time for a presidential cam
paign. The Trump Campaign also
released an advertisement in
which he was seen saying "Aab Ki
Baar Trump Sarkar", copying
Modi's historic 2014 election
punchline.
Republican Hindu Coalition

chairman Shalabh Salli Kumar
said all this had an impact on vot
ing pattern of IndianAmericans,
who tradit ionally have been
strong Democratic supporters.
Based on a survey, Kumar said
more than 60 per cent of the
community members voted for
Trump this time.
In his address, Trump asked
people to dream big. "Dream big
and bold and daring. I am asking
you to believe in yourself and
asking you to believe in America.
Together we will make America
great again," he said.
Madhu Valli from Virginia

crowned Miss India USA
Washington, DC: Madhu Valli, an
emerging hip hop artist, has been
crowned Miss India USA 2016. A
resident of Virginia, Madhu, 19, is
a student at the George Mason
University majoring in music and
communication.
With 14 dif ferent sing les
already recorded in her kitty,
Madhu's ambition is to become
the next biggest star in the music
world, said a media release issued
by the organizers.
This is the 35th year of the pop
ular beauty pageant for Indian
Americans. At the beauty pageant,
Sarita Pattnaik from Texas was
declared Mrs India USA. Sarita is
an Interior Designer by profession
and mother of two children. She
wants to be a social activist and
become a voice for women's
Miss Teen India USA, Rhea Manjrekar (Left), Miss India USA, Madhu Valli
(Centre) and Mrs. India USA, Sarita Pattnaik after their crowing at the
beauty pageant in Fords, New Jersey on Sunday. (PTI)
empowerment. Rhea Manjrekar
from New York was crowned Miss
Teen USA. Rhea loves to work for
homeless children and has raised

over $50,000 in last two years for
the cause.
Child prodigy Tiara Abraham releases

debut album in six languages
Houston: An Indian American child
prodigy, Tiara Thankam Abraham, has
released her rst album, a collection of
nine world holiday songs, in six lan
guages.
Tiara, 10, who entered college at the
age of seven, is the younger sister of
Tanishq Abraham, a contestant on the
Lifetime reality show, "Child Genius.
The album, titled Winter Nightingale,
comprises her renditions of some classic carols and
holiday songs, sung in English, Spanish, Italian,
German, Latin and French.

The Abrahams are second generation
immigrants from Kerala, India. Their
grandparents came to the United States
when they were children.
Tiara is enrolled at the American River
College in Sacramento, Calif., the same
school from where her brother graduat
ed in May 2015. Currently a junior, she
has big plans after school. "When I grow
up, I want to be a soprano opera classical singer,"
she said.

l By Roopsi Narula
New York: California based Indian

American Maya Vishwakarma recently won
the Best Creative Producer Award, 2016 for
her do cumentary Bag huvar: Swaraj
Mumkin Hai, in the Festival of Globe
International Film Festival in San Francisco.
What is it about this documentary that
instantly strikes a chord with the viewers
hearts?
Well, this mustwatch Hindi documentary,
directed by Pankaj Shukla, is a story of
Baghuvar, a tiny village in Madhya Pradesh,
India. But what is it about Baghuvar, which
made it so compelling for Maya to bring
forth this story for the world to watch and
admire?
The documentary is a reaf firmation for
any romantic, who ideally always believed
in the notion of selfsuf ficiency of an
empowered Indian village but had some
where lost hope that such a selfsustained
community can exist beyond the world of
intellectual discourse.
The first look of Baghuvar in the docu
mentary is that of beautiful green sur
roundings, which instantly has a soothing
effect on the eyes. The viewer experiences
the joy and nostalgia of seeing an Indian
NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Yes, Swaraj is possible!
Maya Vishwakarmas prize winning docu

mentary highlights potential of selfsus
tained and selfempowered communities
village. As the documentary progresses, one
watches with awe the remarkable progress
made by this village in raising the standard
of living for its inhabitants, entirely by the
ef forts of the village community. The vil
lagers have turned every difficulty into an
opportunity to create a model village of
Baghuvar. The documentary shows with
g reat details how the villagers have

achieved Swaraj or selfrule. The village
boasts of clean drinking water, a toilet in
every house, wellfunctioning underground
drainage system, rain water harvesting,
ecofriendly waste management, infrastruc
ture development and provision of educa
tion for the villagers. What is more refresh
ing is to know that in spite of all the good
work being done by this village community,
the villagers do not strive to seek any media
attention. For them, this is their way of life;
of treasuring their village, viewing it as
their prized possession, of preserving its
rich heritage with a sense of community
ownership and participative decision mak
ing. The problems of the village are solved
in community meetings, which are open to
participation by all. Decisions are taken col
lectively. The village has a history of having
never conducted elections and of choosing
the members of Gram Panchayat unani
mously. This cuts down the expense of
polling and in turn, the village gets reward
ed by the Government of India. The vil
lagers volunteer to keep the village clean
and to do minor repair work, which may be

required from time to time. PDS (Public
Distribution System) shops in Baghuvar
have ample stock, which is handed out fair
ly to those who have the ration cards. There
have been no instances of adulteration in
food items. Socially, Baghuvar has such pro
gressive ideals that untouchability is con
sidered a sin and even intercaste marriages
are solemnized with the collective blessings
of the village community.
By the time you finish watching this docu
mentary, a viewer gets to experience the
joy and satisfaction of knowing that the
dream of Swaraj is actually a reality some
where in a distant village of India. The doc
umentary satiates the idealism of a Swaraj
enthusiast and reaffirms their faith in the
tremendous potential of selfsustained and
selfempowered communities. Yes, Swaraj is
indeed possible!
(Roopsi is a Swarajenthusiast and a digi

tal marketing professional based in New
Jersey. She can be reached at roopcnaru
la@gmail.com)
EMBASSY OF INDIA
Be The Match Stem cell donor registry
gets a Silicon Valley introduction
CELEBRATES HANUKKAH
Washington, DC: Embassy
of India organized celebra
tion of the Jewish festival of
Hanukkah at Ambassador
Navtej Sarna's residence on
December 19. The event
was attended by around
200 guests including lead
ing members of the Jewish
community, representatives
from US Administration,
Congressional staff, busi
ness, thinktanks and media.
The event has been held at
the Indian Embassy for the
last 15 years.
Lighting of the Menorah at the
Following the lighting of
Hanukkah celebrations at the
the Menorah, Ambassador
Ambassador's Residence.
Sarna evoked the rich and
of
terrorism.
Stanley
historic Jewish tradition in India and threat
the continued deepening of bilateral Bergman, Honorary President of
ties as reflected in the recent high American Jewish Committee recalled
level exchanges of visits. In his re his growing years in South Africa
marks, Ambassador Ron Dermer, where they celebrated Diwali and
Ambassador of Israel to the US de Hanukkah together. Congressman
scribed the gathering as a celebra elect from Maryland, Jamie Raskin
tion of the remarkable history of emphasized that this was a celebra
both our nations. He noted the truly tion of freedom and democracy. Oth
unique ability of both Israel and In er speakers referred to the strength
dia to balance the currents of glob ening IndiaUS relationship based on
alization while preserving their iden democratic traditions and human
tity. Also, both countries face the values.
New York: The worlds largest data

base of stem cell donors through
the National Marrow Donor
Program (NMDP) often struggles
with inclusion of multicultural
donors from the South Asian com
munity. The fear and apprehension
of the process of being a donor usu
ally dont get addressed leading to a
poor source of donor pool. Dr
Akshat Jain, an internationally
renowned stem cell transplant spe
cialist of Indian origin brought this
concept to the Silicon Valley this
past week by organizing a stem cell
donor drive at the Jain Center of
Northern California in Milpitas,
California.
He partnered with the people who
do it best Be The Match the reg
istry arm of NMDP and shared his
desperation as an oncologist and
stem cell specialist, when he has to
provide a treatment for cancer or
other blood disorders in children or
adults of South Asian origin who
require a stem cell match. The reg
istry consists of more than 70%
Caucasian donors predominantly
and more often than not, Dr Jain
sees a challenge for transplanters
across the world to establish a full
Dr Akshat Jain along with Be the Match volunteers explaining the

importance of being a donor.
match for their patients of South
Asian origin.
The act of signing up as a donor
and if found to be a match, the odds
of which are 1 in 500, can end up
saving precious lives with little to
no discomfort to the donor, is the
real service to the re ligion of
humanity and is above all forms of
philanthropy.
Stem cells get collected from the
donor either from the blood like a
blood donation or the bone marrow
of the hip bone through a needle
under anasthesia. Either process
takes less than 6 hours and the

donated stem cells are then puri
fied, condensed and then given to
the patient suf fering from life
threatening cancer.
The drive held on Dec 17 at the
Jain center in the heart of Silicon
Valley successfuly energized the
sharp minds of the Silicon Valley
that comprises of a diverse group of
multiethnic professionals, when
explained to them in their native
language by someone like Dr Jain,
who shares a similar ethic back
ground.
NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Scientists develop oral vaccine

against Salmonella infection
Houston: Scientists, including one
of Indian origin, have developed an
oral vaccine against Salmonella
the deadly bacteria responsible for
one of the most common food
borne illnesses in the world.
Oral vaccination is simplest and
least invasive way to protect peo
ple against salmonella infection,
researchers said.
Taking this vaccine by mouth
also has the added advantage of
using the same pathway that sal
monella uses to wreak havoc on
the digestive system, they said.
"In the current study, we ana
lyzed the immune responses of
mice that received the vaccination
by mouth as well as how they
responded to a lethal dose of sal
monella," said Ashok Chopra, pro
fessor at The University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston
(UTMB). "We found that the orally
administered vaccines produced
strong immunity against salmonel
la, showing their potential for
future use in people," said Chopra.
There is no vaccine currently
Prof Ashok Chopra and a team of scientists have developed an oral

vaccine against the deadly bacteria (Image courtesy: tmc.edu)
available for salmonella poisoning.
Antibiotics are the first choice in
treating salmonella infections but
the fact that some strains of salmo
ne lla are quickly deve loping
antibiotic resistance is a serious
concern.
"Another dangerous aspect of
salmonella is that it can be used as
a bioweapon this happened in
Oregon when a re lig ious cult
intentionally contaminated restau
rant salad bars and sickened 1,000
people," researchers said.

In earlier studies, the UTMB
researchers developed potential
vaccines from three genetically
mutated versions of the salmonella
bacteria, that is Salmone lla
Typhimurium, that were shown to
protect mice against a lethal dose
of salmonella. In these studies, the
vaccines were given as an injec
tion. The findings were published
in the journal Frontiers in Cellular
and Infection Microbiology. (PTI)
Vijay Sazawal appointed to US Civil

Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee
Vijay Sazawal (Image courtesy: dayafterindia.com)

Washington, DC: Indian American Vijay Sazawal, a
wellknown atomic industry expert, has been re
appointed to the prestigious Civil Nuclear Trade
Advisory Committee (CINTAC) of the US Department
of Commerce.
The 69yearold Srinagar born Sazawal is the only
Indian American in the advisory committee along
with 38 other members.
Maintaining US leadership in the nuclear industry
is critical to our countrys economic vitality and to
global efforts to combat climate change, US Secretary

of Commerce Penny Pritzker said while announcing
the appointments.
The Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee is a
valuable mechanism for private sector representatives
to contribute to policy discussions and work with gov
ernment leaders to create the conditions that will
strengthen US competitiveness in this sector, Pritzker
said in a statement.
Sazawal was born, raised and schooled in Srinagar
and came to the US in 1970 to pursue his PhD in
Structural Mechanics at Michigan Tech.
In 2015, he received a distinguished alumina award
from the university. After completing his doctoral
degree in 1975, Sanzawal joined Westinghouse
Electric Corporation in the Advanced Reactors
Division as part of the design and technology team
working on the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project.
As a director of Government programs of US
Enrichment Corporation (USEC) Inc, Sazawal was
involved in Track2 discussions preceding the comple
tion of the 123 agreement between India and the US.
Dr. Sazawal, who was first appointed to CINTAC in
2011 for a twoyear term, is a long term advocate of
Kashmiri Padits. He is also a founding member of the
IndoAmerican Kashmir Forum (IAKF) and served
twice as its president.
Indian pleads guilty

to H1B visa fraud
Washington, DC: A 32yearold
Indianorigin immigration manag
er for an IT company has pleaded
guilty for committing H1B visa
fraud in the US.
Hari Karne, who hails from Hy
derabad, faces a maximum poten
tial penalty of five years in prison
and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
According to federal prosecu
tors, Karne's conspirators recruit
ed foreign workers with purport
ed IT expertise who sought work
in the US. The conspirators then
sponsored the foreign workers' H
1B visas with the stated purpose
of working for SCM Data, a US
based company, and MMC Sys
tems' clients throughout the US.
When submitting the visa pa
perwork to US Citizenship and Im
migration Services, the conspira
tors represented that the foreign
workers had fulltime positions
and were paid an annual salary, as
required to secure the H1B visas.
"Contrary to these representa
tions and in violation of the H1B
program, the conspirators paid
the foreign workers only when
they were placed at a thirdparty
client who entered into a contract
with SCM Data or MMC Systems,"
the Department of Justice said in
a press release.
"The conspirators told the for
eign workers who were not cur
rently working that if they wanted
to maintain their H1B visa status,
they would need to come up with
what their gross wages would be
in cash and give it to SCM Data
and MMC Systems so the compa
nies could issue payroll checks to
the foreign workers. "Karne, who
was a US immigration manager
with SCM Private Limited in India,
which had service agreements
with SCM Data and MMC Systems,
admitted that he advised foreign
workers to pay SCM Data and
MMC Systems in cash the approx
imate amount they were sup
posed to be paid by the compa
nies in order to generate false
payroll records," federal prosecu
tors alleged. Karne further admit
ted that in February and March
2015, in response to a US Depart
ment of Labor audit, he assisted
SCM Data and MMC Systems in
the preparation of false leave slips
for foreign workers that were sub
mitted to the US Department of
Labor's to conceal the fact that
the foreign workers were not paid
during those time periods as re
quired by federal law.
INDIANORIGIN STUDENT
WINS $15,000 AWARD
Washington, DC: An IndianAmer
ican student, along with his team
mate, has won $15,000 at an in
novative and entrepreneurial
skills competition here for devel
oping a safer and moreeffective
allergy skin test.
Samir Raju, a freshmen at Uni
versity of Texas, and his team
mate Benjamin Rubanov took the
first prize home at the UT Dallas
Business Idea Competition finals
for their business concept 'Skin
Aware'. Skin Aware detects aller
gic reactions using much smaller
doses of allergens than other tests
currently on the market, accord
ing to the UTD news release.
The idea was conceived after
Rubanov watched his younger
brother suffer from anaphylactic
shock while undergoing an aller

gy skin test. He was then deter
mined to develop a safer, moreef
fective test. Based on patent
pending technology developed by
Walter Voit at the UT Dallas Alan
G MacDiarmid NanoTech Insti
tute, Skin Aware employs nano
litersize doses, it added.
Second place went to Unibees,
an app that has been used by UT
Dallas students for the past sever
al months to find free food at
campus events. The app has been
developed by Abinav Varma Ka
lidindi, Sanjay Kurani and Chan
dra Kiran Achanta who were
awarded USD 5,000 for their ef
forts. The annual competition was
held at Naveen Jindal School of
(PTI)
Management here.
10
US Affairs
Washington D.C. mayor

signs assisted suicide bill
Washington: Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has signed a controversial physician-assisted suicide bill. The bill, if it goes
through Congress, will allow terminally
ill but mentally capable patients, aged 18
years or older, to legally end their lives, Xinhua news agency reported. According to the
bill, which the DC Council approved in November, doctors will be allowed to prescribe
fatal medication to patients with less than
six months to live. These patients must make
two requests over a period of two weeks and
ingest the drugs themselves. Mayor Bowser
signed the legislation on Monday, clearing it
to be sent to Capitol Hill for a 30-day review,
according to the Washington Post.
However, it is unclear if Congress will approve the legislation, said the report, noting
Trump formally elected

45th US President
that local opponents of the law have vowed

to press the Republican-controlled Congress
to void the bill. Under the US Constitution,
Congress has to sign off on all DC laws. If approved, the earliest date the law would take effect would be next October. Every terminally
ill adult should have the freedom and liberty
to make their own decisions about how they
want to die in comfort and peace, in consultation with their family, physicians and spiritual
leaders, said Donna Smith, an organizer with
the national right-to-die advocacy group Compassion and Choices. Since 1998 when Oregon
became the first US state enacting physicianassisted suicide law, the practice has now been
considered legal by a court ruling in Montana
while by similar laws in the states of Washington, Colorado, Vermont and California.
Obama offers blunt view of

why Dem lost the election
Washington: President Barack Obama
on Monday offered one of the most blunt
assessments of the Democratic partys failure to win the White House in 2016, arguing that the party needs to reframe its
debates for suburban and rural voters.
In an interview on NPR, the outgoing
president chalked up Hillary Clintons popular vote win, but failure to woo voters in
more rural states like Wisconsin, Iowa, and
Michigan, to structural hurdles based on
where Democrats live, as well as the partys
failure to frame the debate for voters.
We have a scrambled political landscape
right now. There are some things that we
know are a challenge for Democrats
structural problems. For example, population distribution, oftentimes younger voters, minority voters, Democratic voters, are
clustered in urban areas, Obama said.
The president continued: As a consequence, youve got a situation where there
are not only entire states but also big chunks
of states where, if were not showing up, if
were not in there making an argument, then
were going to lose. And we can lose badly,
and thats what happened in this election.
While he denied that there was anything
wrong with the core argument of the
Democratic message around issues like
raising the minimum wage, he admitted
that there were failures on our part to give
people in rural areas or in exurban areas,
a sense day-to-day that were fighting for
them or connected to them.
Some of it is the prism through which

theyre seeing the political debate take
place. They may know less about the work
that my administration did on trying to
promote collective bargaining or overtime
rules. But they know a lot about the controversy around transgender bathrooms
because its more controversial, it attracts
more attention, Obama said.
He continued: I think that on something
like the Affordable Care Act, you have people
who are benefiting right now from Obamacare
who either dont know its Obamacare or consider that as a given and then end up voting
on Second Amendment rights. So part of the
reason its important to show up, and when I
say show up, I dont just mean during election
time, but to be in there engaging and listening and being with people, is because it then
builds trust and it gives you a better sense of
how should you talk about issues in a way that
feel salient and feel meaningful to people.
During Mondays interview, Obama also
reiterated his pledge to spend part of his
time out-of-office coaching Democrats and
identifying potential future Democratic
leaders, a pledge that has not necessarily
encouraged many Democrats still bitter
about the election outcome.
Indeed, some on the left have already attempted to brush aside Democratic National
Committee chair candidate Tom Perez, the
head of the Department of Labor who some
view as a White House favorite (though
Obama has not weighed-in on the race).
After leaving White

House, Obama has
pledged to coach
potential Democratic leaders.
Donald Trump received 304 electoral college votes, 34 more than the 270
needed for his election. The calls to electors to dump Trump did not work.
New York: Donald John Trump has
been formally elected to lead the most
powerful nation by its electoral college,
setting him on course to take over as the
45th President of the US next month.
With the electors overwhelmingly
spurning calls by Hollywood celebrities,
politicians and activists to defect from
Trump, the president-elect on Monday
received 304 electoral college votes, 34
more than the 270 needed for his election.
Democratic Party candidate Hillary
Clinton received only 227 votes despite
her 2.9 million lead in popular votes.
With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead, Trump
said in a message to the nation. I will
work hard to unite our country and be
the President of all Americans. Together,

we will make America great again.
The final step in the election process is
for the Congress to certify the electoral
college results on January 6 ahead of the
inauguration scheduled for January 20.
The last minute appeals to patriotism
fuelled by Democratic President Barack
Obama administrations claims that Russia had interfered in the US elections did
not turn Trumps electors against him
nor the oft-repeated questioning of his
suitability for the job.
The appeals to conscience, in fact, backfired when five electors elected by their
voters to vote for Clinton turned against
her while only two Trump electors voted
against him, but for other Republicans.
Obama bans oil drilling

in Arctic, Atlantic
Washington: President Obama has permanently banned offshore drilling in areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
According to the White House, Obamas
move on Tuesday will prevent future leasing of certain offshore areas for oil rights,
CNN reported.
His successor, Donald Trump, who has
promised a policy allowing more US energy production, would face legal challenges
if he attempted to reverse Obamas order.
The White House said Obama was declaring the entire US portion of the Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the Beaufort Sea indefinitely off limits for future
oil and gas leasing, citing critical protection for the marine mammals, ecological
resources and native populations.
Canada also announced on Tuesday
that it will freeze its offshore oil and gas

exploration in its Arctic waters.
The US is also declaring 31 canyons off the
Atlantic coast off-limits for drilling, citing
critical and irreplaceable ecological value.
The White House said the decision was
for a strong, sustainable and viable Arctic economy and ecosystem.
It cited native cultural needs, wildlife concerns, and the vulnerability of the region to
oil spills as some of the reasons for the ban.
The decision relies on the 1953 Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act, that allows
presidents to withdraw lands from future
leasing, the CNN said.
It has been used by past administrations
to restrict oil exploration on the West and
East coasts, though each time the ban on
leases was given an expiration date.
US AFFAIRS
Trump suggests Berlin

attack affirms his plan
to bar Muslims
Washington: President
elect Donald J. Trump
seemed to suggest on
Wednesday that the
deadly truck attack on a
Christmas market in
Berlin vindicated his
proposal during the
presidential campaign
to bar Muslims from
entering the United
States.
You know my plans,
Mr. Trump said to
A truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday,
reporters who asked
killing 12 people and wounding nearly 50 others.
whether the attack on
Monday, in which a
the blustery front steps of his MaraLago
Tunisian is being sought, would cause him estate in Florida, were cryptic and left room
to reevaluate his proposals to create a for broad interpretation.
Muslim registry or to stop Muslim immigra
But hours later, one of his advisers said he
tion to the United States. All along, Ive was only restating his most recent position.
been proven to be right. One hundred per
Presidentelect Trump has been clear that
cent correct.
we will suspend admission of those from
It was not clear whether Mr. Trump was countries with high terrorism rates and
reaf firming his muchcriticized call for a apply a strict vetting procedure for those
wholesale ban on Muslim immigration or seeking entry in order to protect American
his subsequent clarification that he would lives, said Jason Miller, the communica
stop only those entering from countries tions director for the transition. This might
with a history of Islamic extremism. As with upset those with their heads stuck in the
many of his pronouncements since his elec politically correct sand, but nothing is more
tion last month, the remarks, delivered on important than keeping our people safe.
11
Obamacare enrollment rises,

even as GOP pledges repeal
Washington: About 6.4 million people have
signed up for health insurance next year
under the Affordable Care Act, the Obama
administration said Wednesday, as people
rushed to purchase plans regardless of
Republican promises that the law will be
repealed within months.
T he new signups an increase of
400,000 over a similar point last year
mean the health care coverage of millions of
consumers could be imperiled by one of the
first legislative actions of Donald J. Trumps
presidency. Consumers still have until the
end of January to enroll.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of
health and human services, said the number
of signups was remarkable in view of
headwinds created by premium increases
for 2017 and by the uncertainty of the
entire health law after Mr. Trump takes
office on Jan. 20.
Almost 20 million people have gained
coverage under the law and the percentage
of those without insurance has dropped to
record lows. Mr. Trump and Republican
leaders of the House and the Senate have
vowed to repeal the 2010 law as one of the
first legislative actions of the Trump era.
To lay the political groundwork,
Republicans have portrayed the law as col
lapsing under its own weight, unable to
hold down health costs or provide the insur
ance choices its advocates promised.
But the 6.4 million signing up on
HealthCare.gov through Monday could

undermine the argument that the law is in
free fall. The five states with the most peo
ple enrolling for coverage on the site
through Monday were Florida, with 1.3 mil
lion plan selections, Texas (776,000), North
Carolina (369,000), Georgia (352,000) and
Pennsylvania (291,000). Mr. Trump carried
all those states. And the 6.4 million figure
does not include data from states like New
York and California that use their own digi
tal marketplaces.Democrats say that repeal
ing the law will cause chaos and catastrophe,
jeopardizing coverage for people who use
HealthCare.gov and millions more who have
been able to enroll in Medicaid.
For their part, Republicans reiterated
their concerns.
This disaster of a law has led to massive
premium spikes, less choice for patients and
a collapse of the exchange markets, and no
amount of spinning from the White House
can hide this ugly reality, AshLee Strong, a
spokeswoman for Speaker Paul D. Ryan of
Wisconsin, said Wednesday.
The Trump team tried to allay concerns
by promising a smooth transition to a new
version of health care coverage, echoing
congressional Republicans, who have float
ed the idea of quickly repealing the law and
then delaying the effective date for several
years as they try to agree on a dif ferent
approach to the nations health care
problems.
12
INDIA
After corruption charge,

Modi mocks at Rahul
Varanasi: A day after Rahul Gandhi

hurled corruption allegations,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
made fun of him, asking where
was the "earthquake" the Congress
leader had threatened.
"There is a youth leader in the
Congress who has just learnt to
speak. I am glad that he (Gandhi)
has started to speak now.
"In 2009, it was very difficult to
find out what was inside this pack
et. Good he has started speaking.
And there was no possibility of any
earthquake.
"Had he not spoken, the county
would have faced a big earthquake.
And the country could not have
recovered for 10 years," Modi said
sarcastically at an event at the
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in
Varanasi, his Lok Sabha con
stituency.
Gandhi had threatened to make
damning disclosures against Modi.
He said in Gujarat that Income Tax
do cuments showed Mo di had
taken kickbacks from corporate
houses when he was the Chief
Minister. Modi is on a daylong trip
to Varanasi where he is to lay
foundation stones of several proj
Rahul Gandhi said that Income Tax documents showed Modi had
taken kickbacks from corporate houses as Gujarat CM.
ects and address Bharatiya Janata
Party activists.
Modi did not spare former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and for
mer
Finance
Minister
P.
Chidambaram either. Like Gandhi,
both have denounced the demone
tization of high value currency.
Modi said he never thought that
a few political leaders and political
parties would stand with the cor
rupt when the government tried to
clean up black money through the
note ban. About Manmohan Singh,
Over 90% of Tata Steel

shareholders oust
Wadia as Director
Mumbai: Over 90 per cent shareholders of Tata Steel
voted to remove industrialist Nusli Wadia as independ
ent Director of the compa
ny, it announced on
Thursday.
According to a Tata Steel
statement, 90.80 per cent of
company shareholders
voted Wadia out of its board
of directors in an extraordi
nary general meeting (EGM)
here on Wednesday.
Nusli Wadia
"Both institutional and
(image : livemint.com)
retail (shareholders) voted
in the similar pattern with significant majority well
beyond the 3/4th majority mark in all categories," the
statement said.
Wadia did not attend the EGM, which had the agenda
of taking shareholders' approval for the removal of Tata
Sons ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry and Independent
Director Wadia from its Board of Directors.
Mistry had stepped down from his position as a mem
ber on the Board of Directors of Tata Steel.
Modi said: "When I spoke about

cashless economy, he said how can
this technology function where 50
per cent people are poor.
"Now, tell me whether he is giv
ing his own report card or mine?
Whose legacy am I bearing now?"
In similar vein, Modi attacked
Chidambaram: "He said in a coun
try where there is no electricity in
50 per cent of the villages, how
can you implement cashless econo
my. "I want to ask if he is talking
about his report card or mine?"
TN GETS NEW CHIEF

SECRETARY REPLACING
RAMA MOHANA RAO
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu govern
ment has appointed Girija
Vaidyanathan as the Chief
Secretary in place of P.Rama
Mohana Rao. Vaidynathan was
Additional
Chief
Secretary/Commissioner of Land
Administration prior to this.
She will also hold the additional
charge
of
Vigilance
Commissioner and Commissioner
for Administrative Reforms the
posts additionally held by Rao.
The shifting of Rao comes after
raids by Income Tax officials.
Searches were also conducted in
Rao's office in the state secretari
at and in several other places
connected to Rao, his son and
others.
According to IT officials, raids
were held in 12 locations. A sen
ior official in the IT Department
said cash in new currency was
seized from the raided premises.
The raids at Rao's residence
ended Thursday morning.
Rao was appointed to the post
overlooking the seniority of sev
eral IAS officials.
Informed sources said the
P.Rama Mohana Rao.

searches of Rao's residence and
office were linked to the earlier
IT raids on the residence of busi
nessmen J. Shekhar Reddy,
Srinivasalu and Prem.
The IT department recently
seized 177 kg of gold and cash
totalling Rs 96 crore in old 500
and 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 34
crore in new currency from the
three.
A contractor, Reddy had report
edly executed a lot of work for
the Tamil Nadu government. The
Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) arrested all three on
Wednesday.
Leaders of the DMK and PMK
demanded the immediate dis
missal of Rao.
India can't use Dalai Lama

against China: Chinese media
Beijing: It is way beyond India's capa
bility to employ the Dalai Lama and
Mongolia against China, a Chinese
newspaper said on Wednesday, call
ing New Delhi a "spoilt kid". The
Global Times, which is known to
reflect the thinking of the Chinese
leadership, wondered what made
India so confident when even the US
thought twice before "messing" with
China on sensitive issues. An oped in
the daily followed a meeting Indian
President Pranab Mukherjee had
with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
India also pledged financial support
for Mongolia after Beijing punitively
hiked tarif f on trucks following his
visit after Mongolia hosted the Dalai
Lama.
"New Delhi has long held the Dalai
Lama issue as leverage that it can use
against China. Mukherjee met the
Tibetan separatist in exile in India
this month, probably as moral sup
port to Mongolia, which mired itself
in diplomatic trouble after receiving

the Dalai Lama in November," said
the Global Times piece authored by
Wen Dao.
"India wants to disturb China's pace
of development by taking advantage
of China's national and international
problems, most of which have noth
ing to do with India's national inter
ests," Wen wrote.
"India has used the Dalai Lama card
from time to time in a retaliatory
move against China," it said.
The Dalai Lama have lived in India
since fleeing his homeland in 1959.
The Global Times said Mongolia
gave in to Beijing and said sorry for
hosting the Dalai Lama before New
Delhi could start the $1 billion credit
line it had promised to Ulan Bator.
Mongolia "tried to seek support
from India, hoping that by allying
with China's competitor, Beijing
would be forced to give in.
"India's way of dealing with the
issue shows, once again, the gap

between its ambit ion and its
strength. It is way beyond India's
capability to acquire leverage against
China by employing a proxy or chal
lenging China's bottom line."
The newspaper asked India to learn
lessons how Beijing and US
Presidentelect Donald J. Trump dealt
with the situation after he spoke to
Taiwanese President Tsaiing Wen on
telephone.
"After putting out feelers to test
China's determination to protect its
essential interests, Trump has met
China's restrained but pertinent
countermeasures, and must have
understood that China's bottom line
sovereign integrity and national
unity is untouchable.
"Even the US would have to think
twice before it messes with China on
such sensitive problems, so what
makes India so confident that it
could manage?
INDIA
13
Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung resigns

New Delhi: Lt. Governor Najeeb
Jung has resigned and said he
will return to academics, "his
first love". In a brief statement,
Jung thanked both Prime
Minister Narendra Modi as well
as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal, with whom he had been
lo cked in a turf battle for
months.
"He thanks the Prime Minister
for all help and cooperation he
received during his tenure as the
Lt. Governor," the statement said.
Jung became the Lt Governor
on July 9, 2013 when a
Congressled coalition was in
of fice. T he Modi government
retained him even as it replaced
most Governors in the states.
"He also thanks the Chie f
Minister of Delhi for his associa
tion in the last two years," the
statement said.
Jung thanked the people of
We did good work for

Delhi with Jung: Sisodia
New Delhi: The Delhi government and outgoing Lt Governor Najeeb
Jung did "very good work" in the capital despite their bitter turf war,
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
"Despite the bittersweet experiences (with the Lt Governor), I can
say that we did very good work for Delhi along with Jung," the Aam
Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
"All the best for the future," Sisodia added, shortly after Jung
resigned as the Lt Governor of Delhi.
Najeeb Jung was locked in a turf battle with Arvind Kejriwal.

Delhi too for "their support and
af fection, especially during the
one year's President Rule" lead
ing to the assembly elections that
led to a AAP victory in February
2015. A former IAS officer from

the Madhya Pradesh cadre and a
former Vice Chancellor of Jamia
Millia Islamia in New Delhi, Jung
gave no reason for his sudden
decision to step down. Jung's

tenure was marked by a sharp
escalation in tensions between
his office, which reported to the
central government, and the Aam
Aadmi Party government of
Kejriwal.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal said that he was sur
prised by Lt. Governor Najeeb
Jung's sudden resignat ion.
"Jung's resignation is a surprise

to me," Kejriwal tweeted, after
Jung resigned from the office.
Kejriwal, who was involved in
nasty turf wars with Jung since
the Aam Aadmi Party leader
assumed of fice in Delhi, wished
the Lt. Governor well for his
future.
"My best w ishes in all his
future endeavors."
Hawala trader Paras Nitish to take final decision on

Lodha arrested,
demonetization after Dec 30
sent to ED custody
New Delhi: The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) said it has
arrested hawala trader Paras Mal
Lodha here for converting over
Rs 25 crore demonetized notes
linked to industrialist J. Sekhar
Reddy and lawyer Rohit Tandon
into new currency. A city court
later sent Lodha to sevenday ED
custody.
The Kolkatabased business
man was arrested on Wednesday
evening after hours of question
ing by the ED officials.
"We had called Lodha on
Wednesday for questioning him
over the conversion of more than
Rs 25 crore of old notes to new
currency in Shekhar Reddy and
Rohit Tandon cases. He was
arrested later," said an ED offi
cial.
The ED booked Lodha under
the provisions of the Prevention
of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)
and produced him before a court
here on Thursday seeking his
custody to track other accused
involved in the corruption.
Additional Sessions Judge
Sanjeev Jain sent Lodha to seven
day ED custody.
Lodha, a leading businessman
with interests in real estate and
mining, was intercepted by a
team of ED sleuths at the
Mumbai airport on Wednesday
while he was trying to flee to
Malaysia.
The ED's move came when it
got a tipoff about Lodha plan
ning to leave India, as it had ear

lier issued a look out circular
against him.
Officials said that separate
teams were sent to Kolkata and
Mumbai to arrest Lodha who
facilitated businessman Shekhar
Reddy and owner of T&T law
firm Rohit Tandon convert their
old high value currency into new
currency.
The Central Bureau of
Investigation
(CBI)
on
Wednesday arrested Reddy, a
former Tirumala Tirupathi
Devasthanam Board Member,
and two others from Chennai for
money laundering after Income
Tax (IT) department recently
seized 177 kg of gold, Rs 96
crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee
notes and Rs 34 crore in new
currency from their premises.
Cash amount of Rs 13.65
crores, including Rs 2.60 crore in
new currency notes, was seized
from south Delhi's Greater
KailashI office belongs to
Tandon during a raid conducted
by Delhi Police on December 10.
Sources said that Reddy had
executed a lot of work for the
Tamil Nadu government,
Patna: After completion of 50

days of demonetization, JDU
President and Bihar Chie f
Minister Nitish Kumar will take a
final decision on continuing his
support or opposing it, said a
party leader.
"The party has been taking feed
back from its leaders and workers
over the demonetization decision
of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi," state Janata DalUnited
(JDU) President Vashisht Narain
Singh told the media here.
The Prime Minister has claimed
and assured the people of a nor
mal situation after 50 days. "So,
after complet ion of 50 days,
Nitish Kumar will take a final call
on the issue," Singh said.
Last Monday, Nitish Kumar him
self said a cashless economy is not
possible in India now and added
that it will take its own time to
take shape with the development
of the country.
"At present, cashless economy is
JDU President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

not possible in the country. Cash
based transactions will decrease
slowly with the pace of our devel
opment process," Nitish Kumar
said. This is widely being seen as
his statement ahead of shifting his
old stance on demonetisation.
He said: "Even a deve loped
country like the US has only 40 to
45 per cent cashless economy."
Nitish Kumar then added that

only demonet izat ion is not
enough to root out black money.
"The central government will also
have to initiate action against
benami properties."
Nitish Kumar has been support
ing the note ban, much to the
embarrassment of his allies the
RJD and the Congress.
Indian child's custody: Sushma contacts envoy in Norway

New Delhi: External Af fairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj has got in
touch with India's Ambassador to
Norway following reports that a
fiveyearold Indian child was sep
arated from his parents, who have
been accused of beating him up.
"I have asked the Indian
Ambassador in Norway to send
me a report," Sushma Swaraj
tweeted.
According to reports, the child
was taken from his kindergarten
school on December 13 without
the parents being informed and is

being kept at a children's welfare
home some 150 km away from
Norwegian capital Oslo.
His mother, Gurvinderjit Kaur,
was also taken into custody and
was subjected to interrogation.
The child's father, Anil Kumar,
who runs an Indian restaurant,
has denied all the allegations and
said that his son was asthmatic.
This is the third such case in
Norway involving Indian children.
In 2011, a threeyearold and
and a oneyearold were separated

from their parents but were later
reunited when the UPA govern
ment took up the issue w ith
Norwegian authorities.
In another case of alleged child
abuse in December 2012, a seven
yearold and a twoyearold were
separated from their parents. The
mother got a 15month prison
term and the father was jailed for
18 months. The two children were
sent to the custody of their grand
parents in Hyderabad.
14
OP-ED
April 2017: Earliest India will get its cash back

By Sahil Kini
nationwide will depend on how

many bank notes the government
wants to put back into circula
tion.
If the government wants to
introduce Rs 9 lakh crore ($135
billion) or 35 per cent less
money than it pulled out it will
take up to May 2017, and if it
wants to reintroduce the entire
Rs 14 lakh crore ($210 billion)
that it withdrew, that could take
up to August 2017. The crux of
the problem is change, specifical
ly the Rs 500 note, which India's
presses cannot, currently, print
in adequate numbers. As on
November 30, 2016, less than 10
crore (100 million) Rs 500 notes
were printed and ready (or two
days worth of printing), accord
ing to an RBI source, quoted in
Mint.
#We arrive at the crux of the
problem: India needs to print at
least 681 crore (6.81 billion) Rs
500 notes. In Scenario 2, the Rs
500 requirement is for 1,181

crore (11.81 billion) notes.
However, the peak print ing
capacity of the presses is 5.56
crore (55.6 million) notes a day
or 0.8% of what it should be.
At this rate, we will take any
where between 122 days and
212 days to print enough Rs 500
notes. Given the fact that the RBI
started printing Rs 500 notes in
earnest after November 30,
2016, printing all the required
500s will be completed only on
March 10, 2017 (Scenario 1), or
July 8, 2017 (Scenario 2).
Taking into account the time
taken for cash transportation and
the speed at which banks can
push out the money, calculations
indicate that complete disbursal
of Rs 9 lakh crore can happen in
early April 2017.
In other words: India awaits
some "April showers" but a full
"monsoon" will have to wait until
July.
THE CHALLENGE BEFORE SASIKALA

IN POSTJAYA TAMIL NADU
1972, the party has thrived solely

on the basis of the popular appeal
of its leaders both MGR and
Jayalalithaa.
If Janaki failed in her political
career, it was because of the
absence of the kind of popularity
enjoyed by her husband and later
by Jayalalithaa.
In this respect, the personality
oriented AIADMK is dif ferent
from a cadrebased party like the
DMK. This is the reason why the
DMK was able to survive the rift at
the top between two of M.
Karunanid hi's sons, and the
advanced age of the leader him
self, to win 89 seats in the 234
member assembly in the last elec
tion with 31.6 per cent of the
votes, only nine per cent short of
the AIADMK's vote share.
As for Sasikala, another disad
vantage besides her lack of charis
ma is the "baggage" of a family.
Moreover, she and her relatives
are still under the cloud of malfea
sance.
It has to be remembered that
despite her closeness to
Jayalalithaa, the latter evicted her
for a while from her Poes Garden
residence following charges that
Sasikala's family had used her
proximity to the former Chief
Minister to make financial gains.
For the present, the AIADMK
members may have anointed her
as the party chief out of deference
to their former leader's memory.
But politics is a cruel game. If
Sasikala stumbles, either because
of her inability to attract crowds
or a failure to demonstrate organi
zational skills, she may not last for
long at the top.
e are a few days away

from Prime Minister
Narendra Mo dis 50
day deadline to end the worst
effects of the scrapping of 86 per
cent by value of India's curren
cy. In the chestthumping, hand
wringing and controversy that
has ensued since the announce
ment on November 8, 2016,
there has been an absence of
facts on the question of remone
tizing India.
An extrapolat ion of 2016
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data
on the capacity of Indian printing
presses and currency distribution
indicates that, at current rates,
the Prime Minister's deadline will
not be met. Getting adequate
money to banks and ATMs
India awaits some "April showers"

but a full "monsoon"
will have to wait until July.
By Amulya Ganguli
ynastic succession is not the
only means of attaining
power in India. As the rise
of Sasikala Natarajan in the
AIADMK in Tamil Nadu shows,
being the companion of a leader
revered by the party is another
route.
Jayalalithaa, too, followed this
pattern. When her mentor M.G.
Ramachandran died in 1987, his
widow, Janaki, assumed his man
tle and became Chief Minister, but
for a mere 24 days. Following an
electoral defeat of her breakaway
faction of the AIADMK in 1989,
she had no option but to step
aside, as MGR's costar in the film
world and longstanding compan
ion, Jayalalithaa, took the reins of
a reunited party in her hands.
This line of nondynastic ascent
to power is different from the one
which is becoming the norm else
where. There are a number of par
ties where political power has
been passing from father or hus
band to the wife or the widow and
then to the children.
The 132yearold Congress is
the most notable among them. In
the aftermath of Rajiv Gandhi's
assassination, his widow Sonia
inherited his mantle (after a brief
interregnum when Sitaram Kesri
was the party president) and is
now expected to bestow the
organisational position on her
son, Rahul.
Similarly, the Rashtriya Janata
Dal in Bihar has seen its leader,
Laloo Prasad Yadav's wife, Rabri
Devi, become Chief Minister after
him. Now, it is their sons who are
If Sasikala stumbles, either because of her inability to attract

crowds or a failure to demonstrate organizational skills,
she may not last for long at the top.
ministers in the state.
In the Samajwadi Party in Uttar
Pradesh, the Chief Minister's posi
tion has become a matter of fami
ly lineage as also in the Akali Dal
in Punjab where the family of
Chief Minister Parkash Singh
Badal holds sway. In Odisha,
Naveen Patnaik is a former Chief

Minister's son. The fathertoson
passing of the baton has also been
seen in the DMK in Tamil Nadu
and the National Conference in
Jammu and Kashmir.
If the AIADMK is proving to be
somewhat different, the reason is
that neither MGR nor Jayalalithaa

had any children.
But Sasikala's rise has shown
that proximity to the leader may
provide an equally potent claim
for inheritance, at least to the
ambitious.
However, it is not an entitlement
which is as secure as that of a
family member. The dif ficulties
which Jayalalithaa experienced in
this respect could only be
removed by her electoral victory
at Janaki's expense.
It is after all the voters who have
the final say in a democracy and
in 1989 it used to be said that
they chose the mistress instead of
the widow.
T here is little doubt that
Sasikala, too, will have to wait for
the imprimatur of the electorate
to confirm her legitimacy as a suc
cessor.
But, irrespective of whether she
wins an election or not, it is obvi
ous that her uphill political jour
ney will be far more arduous than
Jayalalithaa's.
For starters, she doesn't have
the latter's charisma or the kind of
polit ical experience which
Jayalalithaa gained through years
of tutelage under MGR. Instead,
Sasikala comes across as a reclu
sive, dour personality.
It is noteworthy that ever since
MGR broke away from the DMK
and constituted the AIADMK in
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
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16
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
Kareena, Saif blessed

with son Taimur
ollywood's star couple
Saif Ali Khan and Kareena
Kapoor Khan was blessed
with their first child, a son,
whom they have named Taimur
Ali Khan Pataudi.
Celebrities like Karan Johar
and Sonam Kapoor sent out
congratulatory messages for
the new parents.
Kareena, daughter of veteran
actors Randhir Kapoor and
Babita, delivered the baby at
the Breach Candy Hospital in
Mumbai.
A statement released on
behalf of the actors read: "We
are very pleased to share with
you all the wonderful news
about the birth of our son:
Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi, on
December 20, 2016.
"We would like to thank the
media for the understanding
and support they have given us
over the last nine months, and
of course especially our fans
and well wishers for their con
tinued affection. Merry
Christmas and a happy new
year to you all...With love, Saif
and Kareena." Kareena and
The couple got married in

October 2012.
Saif, who have worked together

in films like "Tashan",
"Kurbaan", "Agent Vinod", LOC
Kargil" and "Omkara", got mar
ried in October 2012.
Saif, the son of veteran
actress Sharmila Tagore and
the late Mansoor Ali Khan
Pataudi, was earlier married to
actress Amrita Singh and
shares two children with her
daughter Sara and son Ibrahim.
He is doing "extremely well"
after becoming a father again,
says his sister Soha Ali Khan.
"Delighted to welcome
Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi into
the world. Both mother and son
are healthy and doing well.
Father is doing extremely well,"
Soha tweeted.
Kareena's father Randhir
said: "The entire family is over
whelmed and is welcoming the
new member in our family....
Thanks for all the blessings."
Taimur which in Persian
language means iron has
already been dubbed as "mini
Nawab" by film fraternity mem
bers.
Filmmaker Karan Johar
tweeted: "My Bebo had a baby
boy! I am so so happy! Taimur
Ali Khan."
'WAJAH TUM HO':

A poorly conceptualized drama
Akshay ghts the

corrupt in 'Jolly
LLB 2' trailer
Akshay plays a lawyer in the film.
kshay Kumar released the trailer of his

upcoming courtroom comedy drama film
"Jolly LLB 2". The actor looks promising as a
lawyer while he tackles the corrupt with some
comical elements.
Quite like its first part, "Jolly LLB", which fea
tured actor Arshad Warsi in the title role, "Jolly
LLB 2" too promises to be an outanout entertain
er which sheds light on courtroom proceedings.
Besides Akshay, the film directed by Subhash
Kapoor features Huma Qureshi and Annu Kapoor.
Actor Saurabh Shukla, who won the National
Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in "Jolly
LLB", has returned in its sequel.
Zsa Zsa Gabor

dies at 99
ith a warped story replete with

major plot holes, "Wajah Tum
Ho", is a murder mystery, char
acteristic of the TSeries stable. The
thriller revolves around the hacking of
GTN (Global Time Network) a television
news channel which claims the highest
TRP ratings and thereafter broadcasting
live murders. The investigating officer,
Kabir Deshmukh (Sharman Joshi) accuses
the owner and CEO of the channel, Rahul
Oberoi (Rajneesh Duggal) of indulging in
this tactic to raise the falling TRPs of the
channel.
Siya (Sana Khan), the channel's legal
advisor defends Rahul. But she is pitted
against Ranveer Bajaj, the police attorney,
who also happens to be her love interest.
Their personal and professional lives clash
and in the process some old case files are
reopened. In the process, the mystery of
the old cases and the current murders are
solved. While the actors are committed,
they play their parts in a very perfunctory
manner. Sharman Joshi as Kabir
Deshmukh and Sana Khan as Siya, in spite
of the mediocrity, are the best of the lot.
Rajneesh Dugal as Rahul Oberoi,
Zsa Zsa would have turned 100 in February.

ungarianborn Hollywood's darling actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99, her
former publicist Edward Lozzi has said. Born
Sri Gbor, she ruled the silver screen in the 1950s
and 1960s, ABC news reported. She got her break
in the show business in Europe, competing in the
Miss Hungary beauty contest in 1936 and singing
in Richard Tauber's Austrian operetta "The Singing
Dream" later that year. Her first major Hollywood
movie was 1952's "Lovely to Look At." That same
year, Gabor starred in her breakout film, "Moulin
Rouge". For the next two decades, she captivated
audiences in a number of films, including "Lili,"
"Touch of Evil," "Death of a Scoundrel" and "Boys'
Night Out."
st.
The films star ca
Himmanshoo
Malhotra as Karan Parekh Rahul's friend
and a construction magnate along with
Gurmeet Chaudhary as Ranveer Bajaj are
equally efficient.
The plot starts on an interesting note
and is engrossing till it crumbles near the
climax with absurd logic and an ever
stretched action sequence which seems
farfetched and ridiculous. Vishal Pandya's

direction is tacky in parts. His action
sequences though well choreographed are
not exciting enough to give a teeth clench
ing, edgeof the seat experience. Instead
they are pristinely sterile and unintention
ally funny. Overall, "Wajah Tum Ho" is a
frivolously made film that is churned out
from a poorly conceptualized story.
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
17
Salman Khan to release

his own app on birthday
ollywood superstar Salman
Khan announced that he will
release his own app later this
month on the occasion of his 51st
birthday, on December 27.
Salman tweeted the news and
shared an image in which he has
revealed his plans for the app.
"On December 27, it is my app's
birthday. Only for you," reads the
image.
While Salman didn't share more
information regarding the app, it
is sure to be like a birthday treat
for his fans.
On the film front, the
"Dabangg" star will next be seen
in Kabir Khan's "Tubelight".
xt be seen in
Salman will ne
elight.
ub
T
the film
Bollywood films ban lifted in Pak

he Pakistan Film Producers
Association chairman slammed the
decision to lift the selfimposed ban
on Indian movies, which was in place for
around two months.
The film screened was "Freaky Ali", a
romantic comedy featuring Nawazuddin
Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan and Amy Jackson.
In September, the Pakistani film indus
try banned screening of Indian movies in
reaction to a ban on Pakistani artistes in
India by the Indian Motion Picture
Producers Association. Pakistan Film
Producers Association Chairman Syed
Noor criticized the reintroduction of
Indian movies in Pakistani theatres. "It's a
commercial move devoid of any patriot
ism. When the government has officially
banned the Indian content, why are

the exhibitors not realising this
fact?" "There is no uniform policy. I
want to know who put a ban on the
screening of Indian movies and
who lifted it," Noor was quoted by
Dawn as saying. According to film
circles, the cinema owners across
Pakistan have suffered about
Pakistani Rs 150 million loss and
some 100 employees lost their
jobs since the Indian movies
were stopped being screened.
The film Freaky Ali,

featuring
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui, was
screened.
Actors Amitabh Bachchan

and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
at the award function.
Amitabh, Aish,
SRK honored at
Stardust Awards
ollywood stars Amitabh

Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan
and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
won big at the starstudded
Stardust Awards.
The awards ceremony was
attended by celebrities like Kajol,
Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma,
Richa Chadha, Diljit Dosanjh,
Manisha Koirala, Sridevi and Anil
Kapoor. Legendary singer Asha
Bhosle, who won the Living Legend
award at the ceremony, presented
the Viewers' Choice Best Actor
Male award to Amitabh, who had
films like "Wazir", "Te3n" and
"Pink" this year. Aishwarya handed
over the Editor's Choice Best Actor
Of The Year Male trophy to Shah
Rukh for his act in "Fan".
Big B presented the Editor's
Choice Iconic Role of the Year

award to his daughterinlaw
Aishwarya. Filmmaker Omung
Kumar congratulated Aishwarya,
who acted in his film "Sarbjit".
The Best Filmmaker Of The Year
award went to Ram Madhvani for
"Neerja", a biopic on air hostess
Neerja Bhanot who lost her life
while saving passengers from ter
rorists on board hijacked Pan Am
Flight 73 in September 1986.
Sonam Kapoor, who played
Bhanot in the film, received the
Editor's Choice Best Actress award.
Her costar Shabana, who played
her mother in the biopic, bagged
the Best Supporting Actor (Female)
trophy. Best Actor In A Negative
Role award went to Jim Sarbh for
"Neerja".
Nobody understands what I feel: Kangana

ctress Kangana Ranaut, who got
involved in a legal battle with actor
Hrithik Roshan earlier this year,
spoke her heart out while sharing her
"part of the story" of their alleged
romance. She says that she felt naked
when her letters were exposed and also
that nobody understands what she feels as
a woman during tough times. While
attending Reebok's first Fit To Fight
Awards, Kangana hinted at Hrithik and
said that she "felt extremely naked and
vulnerable when the letters were exposed".
"The world knows me as an achiever. I
think a lot of importance is given to the
worldly achievements. But as a woman, the
most favorite part of my personality is
how I see myself as a lover. And if I am a
fan of any aspect of my personality, it is
my ability to love and stay in love even
Kangana was attending Reebok's

Fit To Fight Awards.
though my world or environment does not

respond in the same way," Kangana said.
Kangana went on to criticize people who
didn't think about her as a woman while
talking about her. "People have seen how I
put up a strong front to fight but nobody
has seen that side of me what I feel as a
woman when I am subjected to that kind
of brutality," she said.
Talking about the letters and mails
which were exposed by Hrithik during the
legal battle, Kangana said: "This speech is
dedicated to the letters of a lover which
were brutally exposed to the world.
"How did I feel as a human being? Every
letter that you write to your lover holds a
lot of vulnerability. You are exposing a
part of your soul or yourself, not to the
world, but to an individual."
"I felt extremely naked in front of the
world. I cried for nights in my room and

the worse is that most of it was not even
the genuine stuff. People made fun of me.
Even today I become the butt of jokes
when I sit with my friends. But I never
answered to that brutality with the same
sort of spirit and I see myself as a winner
there." Issues between the two began
when Kangna hinted at Hrithik being her
"exboyfriend" when she said in an inter
view that she fails to understand "why
exes do silly things to get your attention".
The actress lodged a legal complaint
against Hrithik for "misusing" the confi
dential emails and photographs of the time
when they were together.
Hrithik later filed a complaint with the
cybercrime cell, claiming an imposter had
been emailing Kangana from a bogus
email ID, pretending to be him.
18
CINEMA
A still from the film featuring Fatima Sana Shaikh and Aamir Khan.
Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari, real life champion wrestlers Geeta
and Babita, Aamir Khan, and real life Mahavir Singh Phogat
l By Parveen Chopra
Film details
hough Aamir Khans first lead role

came in 1988 in Qayamat Se
Qayamat Tak, the noteworthy phase
of his illustrious acting career started
with Lagaan (2001). In many subsequent
films like PK, Rang De Basant i, Dil
Chahata Hai, Ghazini, 3 Idiots, and Fanaa,
he is the dominating presence. A project
he takes up has to be unique promising
an impact. He immerses himself in each
of his roles completely, to the extent of
carrying that role and look outside the
studios too. He takes a year or two or
three to complete a film, but each turns
out to be a big blockbuster.
The transformation he underwent to
play Mahavir Singh Phogat in Dangal
endangered severe health consequences,
a risk very few actors will be ready to
take. The 51yearold had to gain weight,
going from 68 kg to 93 kg in six months
to convincingly play the ageing wrestler
during the first phase of the films shoot.
Dangal is also produced by Aamir Khan.
And it carries a strong message for con
temporary India, of emancipation of
women. Fittingly, the film based on a real
life story, is set in Haryana, where daugh
ters are not the preferred sex, giving the
state the worst ratio of 879 per 1000
Aamir Khan can get Oscar for Dangal: Kunal Kohli
Film: Dangal;
Director: Nitesh Tiwari;
Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar,
Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra,
Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar.
males. Well, the film does take liberties
for cinematic ef fect with the inspira
tional story of amateur wrestler Mahavir
Singh Phogat and his famed daughters,
Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari. The
ambitious father wants to achieve his
vision of winning a gold medal for his
country in an international arena through
his progeny. But in the initial humorous
episodes in the film, he keeps begetting
daughters one, tww, three, four. But
when the two older girls end up thrash
ing boys in the street, he sees a glimmer
of hope, and soon turns a tyrant father
forcing the two reluctant girls to take to
training as wrestlers. The turning point
for the girls comes when they are invited
to the wedding of an underage friend
who would end up getting relegated to
becoming a glorified maid as wife and a
mere child bearing machine.
The plot keeps you engrossed right till
the end and the climax, with the slow
motion shot of Geeta toppling her oppo
ilmmaker Kunal Kohli has lauded Aamir Khans new film Dangal, saying the
actor can bag an Oscar for the sports drama. Kohli, who earlier directed Aamir
in the 2006 film Fanaa, took to Twitter on Monday to say, Dangal is one of the
finest films ever made in the world. Like Geeta got the gold. Aamir can get the Oscar
best film ever. In Dangal, Aamir plays the role of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat.
He underwent rigorous workout sessions for the role. He had to gain weight, going
from 68 kg to 93 kg in six months, for his role of the ageing wrestler during the
first phase of the films shoot.
nent to w in the gold medal at the

Commonwealth Games in Delhi, is exhila
rating.
The national anthem is used as a mag
netic device to extract the feel of patriot
ism, and unwittingly, the audience land
up giving Geeta and the film a standing
ovation.
What keeps you glued to the screen,
from the beginning is Aamir Khans trans
formation into a Haryanvi. The actor not
only reinvents himself, he tips his films
with this novelty factor that wows his
audience. This time, playing an aging
wrestler, with added pounds and flab to
his otherwise chiseled frame, he mesmer
izes you w ith aplomb. He literally
breathes and lives the life of Mahavir
Singh Phogat in rural Haryana. Aamir
DANGAL' BETTER THAN

'SULTAN': SALMAN KHAN
omparison between the two
wrestling dramas released in 2016
were inevitable. Actor Salman Khan
has heaped praise on Aamir Khan's
"Dangal", calling it a much better film
than his own "Sultan".
In Ali Abbas Zaffar's "Sultan", which
released earlier this year, Salman played
a wrestling champion from Haryana
whose successful career wreaks havoc in

his personal life. "My family saw 'Dangal'
and thought it was a much better film
than 'Sultan'. Love you personally Aamir
but hate you professionally," wrote
Salman on his Twitter page on Friday.
Aamir responded to his tweet by saying:
"Salman Khan, in your 'hate' I feel only
love. 'I love you like I hate you'."
succeeds in the coachs role that will fetch

him many awards. The real life Mahavir
Singh Phogat also was awarded the
Dronacharya Award by the Government
of India.
Zara Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar, the
younger versions of Geeta and Babita,
also do a commendable job, laying the
foundation for Fatima Sana Shaikh and
Sanya Malhotra who play the older ver
sions of the characters. Sakshi Tanwar in
a passive role as Mahavirs wife, does not
have much to do.
The songs and background score mesh
seamlessly with the narrative. On the pro
duction front, the international games are
realistically recreated with precision and
overall the film has a very realistic look
and feel.
OP-ED
19
Western media wrong on spate of

issues: Time for Indian media
l By Saeed Naqvi
ince I had been to the region some time

ago, a school invited me for a talk on
Syria, particularly Aleppo, and why
Assad was killing his own people.
This is not true I said. Why do you have
this impression?
Because this is what we read in our news
papers, one student said.
Even in the Hindi newspapers which my
grandfather reads, chipped in another.
Teachers were worse. Their minds were
more firmly made up. They had seen it all on
TV, and next days newspapers confirmed
what they saw at night.
How does one cope with this challenge? I
agree that world affairs are not the staple in
hundreds of thousands of higher secondary
schools in India. But the occupation of
Afghanistan, Iraq, war in Syria, bombing of
Gaza, the postQaddafi mayhem in Libya,
Ukraine, Trumps shock victory, Europe bolt
ing from the stable of liberalism, are all
events that must, willynilly, come into every
ones focus, even in schools, the better ones
certainly.
And they will all come through Western fil
ters. And on all these issues, a large segment
of the Western media has been woefully mis
leading. I shall never tire of repeating myself:
now is the time for an Indian, global, multi
media network. The students I addressed
were 17 and 18 years old. Their world view
was being shaped by what they watched on
TV and read in newspapers. Since there has
The Syrian boy, Omran Daqneesh,

whose impassive, bloodied image
showed horrors of wartorn Aleppo.
never been an Indian journalist, leave alone
an Indian news bureau, in any of the live
news theatres listed above, we are witness to
an entire generation in the thrall of the only
sources they have for information on global
events.
In fact, the world view on show in that
school hall, is not a casual inclination
towards a way of looking at the world. It has
solidified over generations.
Up to the 1990s, BBC World Service News
and Reuters were the routine sources of
world news. The hegemonic embrace of the
global media began in 1991 when Peter
Arnett of the CNN inaugurated the new, inva
sive age of the global TV. He beamed live
images of Operation Desert Storm in
February of that year. This was the first time
that a war was brought into our drawing
rooms. This was also the first time when BBC
was beaten by cousins from across the

Atlantic. I still remember John Simpson driv
ing around Baghdad with his satellite tele
phone for BBC World Radio. BBC World
Service TV was born later.
The televised coverage of Western tri
umphalism divided the world into two hostile
audiences the victorious West and a
humiliated Muslim world. This was the base
on which hostilities simmered; 9/11 detonat
ed an almighty explosion the war on ter
ror, which ostensibly brought the West into
conflict with many Muslim societies on vary
ing perceptions of terrorism.
Parents of those I was addressing in the
school had been fed on this media diet for its
understanding of world affairs.
An important fact is often overlooked.
Operation Desert Storm and the subsequent
Information Order coincided with new eco
nomic policies bringing India in line with
globalization, then on a gallop. The World Is
Flat, declared Thomas Friedman in his best
selling book. He was treated like a local hero
by Bengalurus IT pundits.
The neoliberal economic policies rapidly
augmented the ranks of the Marutiplus mid
dle class. To cater to the burgeoning con
sumerism this class brought in its wake,
came the mushroom growth of electronic
media.
Both the media as well as the new middle
class found itself out of sync with another
reality. The country was gripped by unprece
dented social disharmony after the Babri
Masjid was pulled down by BJP volunteers
on December 6, 1992. This was the period

when Manmohan Singh, as Prime Minister
P.V. Narasimha Raos Finance Minister, was
promoting new economic policies.
The new middle class was looking at the
stars. A bonanza was writ on the horizon. He
was impatient with the conflation in his mind
of the war on terror and social disharmony in
India. The Muslim was spoiling the game.
The new TV channels, creatures of globaliza
tion, were brazenly imitative of the way the
Western media covered the war on terror. As
I have said earlier, Western coverage created
a distance between nations Western and
Muslim. Indian coverage distanced 180 mil
lion Muslims with a distinct nuance on the
war on terror. It strengthened majoritarian
ism. I am not for a moment suggesting that
all the Western media dissembles. They do,
however, see the world from their own per
spective. For us to swallow everything doled
out to us by these sources will cause us to
lose sight of reality.
What nationalism taunted a scholar
recently in London. You dont allow travel
between yourselves and a neighboring coun
try you helped create. I thought this was the
usual harangue about a Pakistan policy we
have grown accustomed to. But his punchline
was devastating:
And your entire elite, without exception,
aches for a Green Card for its progeny, to be
parked permanently in the United States of
America what nationalism?
Saeed Naqvi is a commentator on political
and diplomatic affairs.
CPEC: PAKISTAN'S NEWEST HOLY COW COULD

ALSO BECOME ITS MILLSTONE
l By Shabir Choudhry
akistan faces many serious problems

and among them is the status and
invulnerability of holy cows, and peo
ple who are above Pakistani laws. The
ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
is not a living being, yet it has also gained
the status of being one and people are
warned of serious consequences if they
dare to oppose or criticize this new holy
cow.
People are accused of being "ant i
Pakistan" and "agents" of foreign powers
because they dared to criticize holy cows
and some are facing sedition charges for
attacking CPEC and demanding a share in
the accruing benefits.
I am also among the "bad guys" who are
perceived as "disrespectful" critics of this
holy cow and who demand a fair share of
the benefits because it runs without permis
sion through our land, GilgitBaltistan,
which is part of the former princely state of
Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani of ficials,
some Pakistani people and Kashmiri foot
soldiers of Pakistan may not like what I
write or say. Their dislike and even hatred

do not deter me from speaking out to pro
tect and promote the interests of the people
of Jammu and Kashmir state.
In my opinion, CPEC could have the fol
lowing negative effects on GilgitBaltistan:
8 The status of Jammu and Kashmir dis
pute and Gilg itBalt istan can change
because of the CPEC
8 A serious danger of demographic

changes; already hundreds of thousands of
nonlocal people reside there and control
local economy and politics
8 Exploitation of our resources will
increase
8 Growing influence and power of secret
agencies of Pakistan and competing inter

ests of secret agencies of other countries
8 Stationing of foreign troops to protect
the CPEC route
8 Possible stationing of nonstate actors
of countries or groups who want to sabo
tage the project
8 A serious danger that GilgitBaltistan
could become a battleground for competing
interests of countries and their proxies
The CPEC could be a holy cow to some
Pakistanis but to China it is an economic
project with strategic and military signifi
cance. The Chinese are very cruel business
men they will fully exploit Pakistan just
like Pakistan is exploiting resources of
Pakistanoccupied Kashmir and Gilgit
Baltistan. What one fears is that despite
much hype and attraction, CPEC will prove
to be a white elephant for Pakistan and it
could prove to be Pakistan's Waterloo.
Because of poor economic performance
and rampant corruption, Pakistan has diffi
culty in paying back loans obtained at very
lowinterest rates. One wonders how
Pakistan is going to pay back the loan
incurred on CPEC with very highinterest
rates. People need to be told that more than

$35 billion has been taken as the loan at
very highinterest rates for this ambitious
project.
Anyone who crit icises the CPEC or
demands a rightful share is portrayed as an
"agent of enemy" and "antiPakistan" and
that forces thinking people to remain quiet
on the topic. However, some genuinely
believe that this economic project could be
a "gamechanger" but they are not sure in
whose favor it may change the game.
May be keeping the above in mind,
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, a Kashmiri religious
and political leader, while speaking on the
CPEC said: "It is an opportunity for J&K also
to be part of the old Silk Route, once again.
We can be part of the CPEC, even before
the resolution of Kashmir issue and become
part of the Central Asian discourse rather
than a South Asian discourse. Kashmir can
become a gateway for India as well."
He further said, "I am sure India will also
want to be part of CPEC", but did not
explain the reasons for his feeling so.
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
The writer is a Kashmiri activist
20
DIASPORA
Surjit Babra becomes worlds rst Sikh to own an airline

Toronto: Ludhianaborn Surjit
Babra doesnt hold any MBA or
business degrees but he went on
become the worlds first Sikh to
start an airline in 1988.
Gifted with extraordinary busi
ness acumen, Torontobased
Babra,65, turned his SkyLink Group
into a multimilliondollar conglom
erate of SkyLink Aviation, SkyLink
Travel, SkyLink Express, SkyLink
Holidays and Dollar Rent ACar,
with each servicing a particular
segment of travel, tourism, aviation
and cargo transport.
Born in Ludhiana, Babra left the
city for Kenya when was just two.
Our family was moving in and out
of Ludhiana quite often.
From Kenya, he moved to London
as a student. At that time, I got a
parttime work as a helper in a
travel of fice. Then that man gave
me the fulltime job. Thats how I
got a break into this profession.
Then I started a retail travel agency
called SkyLink solely to promote
India.
As he learnt the tricks of travel
trade, young Babra saw a big
opportunity for himself as a gener
al sales representative in the huge
North America market. So I left
London and landed in Toronto in
Surjit Babra with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau

1979 to set up my small travel
office in Canada. By that time I had
developed a great passion for busi
ness and we set about establishing
our of fices in New York, LA,
Chicago, Vancouver and Montreal,
he says. Then he ran into an Israeli
immigrant Walter Arbib who was
also a former travel agent. The two
joined hands to float their own
SkyLink airline in 1988.
It was the burning passion of
two Canadian immigrants (me and
Walter) to succeed that drove our
business to new heights. Every year
we are progressing towards new

milestones. By the time 9/11 hap
pened, we had become a very visi
ble and respected brand. Thats
why we survived when many air
lines sank. Soon, SkyLink became
globally known as the UN, the Red
Cross, and US and Canadian gov
ernment agencies hired it to fly
relief supplies or personnel to trou
bled spots of the world be it the
tsunami or the rescue mission dur
ing the Rwanda killings, etc.
Lauding the humanitarian mis
sions of SkyLink, Ontario included
the SkyLink profile in its school

textbooks. It was a very satisfying
moment for us at SkyLink. Babra
also got the Mother Teresa
Humanitarian of the Year Award by
Friends
of
IndioAmerican
Community (FOIAC) and City of Los
Angeles in 2005.
However, he describes the airlift
ing of new 149 birs (copies) of the
Sikh holy Guru Granth from
Amritsar to Canada by his airline as
the most satisfying event of his
life. The local Sacha Sauda came to
me for bringing the holy books
from India. Since the Guru Granth
Sahib is a living guru for us,
SkyLink made arrangements that
each bir was seated on an individ
ual seat.
In 2008, Babra and his partner
started strategically exiting from
their multimilliondollar aviation
business empire by selling its vari
ous segments to pour money into
his newly created investment com
pany SkyLink Capital.
However, as this father of three
was about to retire in 2014, a new
opportunity presented itself.
The American food processing
giant Heinz was closing its plant at
Leamington in Ontario. We four
partners formed as investor group
called Hig hbury Canco Corp,

bought this plant and saved 250
jobs, says Babra who was honored
with the Business Person of the
Year award in 1996 by the Indo
Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Asked what is the secret of his
success, he narrates a leadership
program in Las Vegas in which the
participants were made to walk
over hot burning coals.
T his exercise was meant to
prove that mind can conquer any
thing. One should have a continu
ous desire for self improvement
and burning passion to succeed.
And Babra links the success of
the Punjabi diaspora to the same
mantra. The last Sikh Guru meant
the same thing when he said `sava
lakh se ek ladaun. This, coupled
with the Sikh jaikara or war cry, is
the secret of the Punjabi success
story globally.
Though he has now branched
into a new business as well as
become a venture capitalist, Babra
still owns SkyLink Express which
operates a fleet of small aircraft to
provide courier services across
North America from its facilities in
Mississauga, Hamilton, Vancouver,
Montreal, Quebec and Halifax.
(News source: newseastwest.com)
Indianorigin tycoon to rescue Vedic culture growing popular

UK's last Aluminium smelter
among Indian diaspora
London: Indianorigin
metal tycoon Sanjeev
Gupta said he will invest
a whopping 120 million
pounds in Britain's last
aluminium sme lter as
part of a deal to rescue
the site and safeguard
hundreds of jobs.
Gupta's Liberty House
and his father's related
business, Simec, will pay
around 330 million
pounds to acquire the
plant at Lochaber, in the
western
Scott ish
Hig hlands, and two hydroe lectric
plants that power it. The group has
committed to invest a further 120 mil
lion pounds, creating up to 600 jobs in
coming years, Gupta said.
"Today is the start of an exciting new
chapter in Scotland's manufacturing
story and the Scottish government and
its agencies will keep working with
Sanjeev Gupta and the GFG Alliance to

help them realize their enterprising
vision for Lochaber," said Scotland's
First Minister, Nicola Strugeon, during a
site visit.
Gupta, in his 40s, is executive chair
man of Liberty House Group and of the
wider family concern GFG Alliance
strategic board.
New Delhi: Vedic culture is still relevant and

gradually becoming more popular among
Indian diaspora, especially in the youth, said
researchers and scholars at a seminar held in
the national capital.
The World Association for Vedic Studies
( WAVES Internat ional) and Wider
Association for Vedic Studies (WAVES India)
organized an event titled "Scientific Aspects
of Vedic Knowledge" from December 16 to
18, where the importance of Vedic culture in
the contemporary world was discussed.
An aspect which was prioritized at the
event was the presence and influence of
Vedic culture among Indian diaspora. The
speakers emphasized that the cultural events
like music and dance have contributed a lot
in keeping alive the Vedic culture. "Cultural
activities are contributing a lot to keep the
customs alive. In the Caribbean countries like
the West Indies and Jamaica, the Indianori
gin people are mostly from the states of Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar and they sing the folk
music, This is how the customs are carried
ahead," Indrani Ramprasad, who is working

as an independent researcher in Trinidad and
Tobago, told IANS at the event. Bal Ram
Singh, organizer of the event and Professor at
the School of Indic Studies, US, said that the
Indian diaspora in the US is now gradually
becoming aware of the existence of Vedic sci
ence and it is becoming popular among
youths as well.
"Lot of institutes and organizations like
Chinamaya Mission, Ramakrishna Mission
and even colleges have started organizing
Vedic classes in the US where the Vedic
knowledge is being taught and the youths are
showing interest to learn," added Singh.
Not just the Indian diaspora, but the US
people too are taking to the Vedic practices
like Yoga, learning Vedas, and many are even
opting for cremation instead of traditional
burial.
Held at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, the
event saw seminars, discussions and interac
tive sessions on numerous topics related to
(IANS)
Vedic culture.
SUBCONTINENT
21
Pak not to accept alteration Kabul urges UN to verify

cross-border terrorism
in Indus Waters Treaty
Islamabad: Fearing that India is
buying time to complete two dis
puted water projects, Pakistan
made it clear that it would not
accept any mo dificat ions or
changes to the Indus Waters Treaty
after New Delhi said it was ready to
bilaterally resolve its dif ferences
with Islamabad over the pact's
implementation.
The treaty, signed in 1960, gives
India control over the three eastern
rivers of the Indus basin the Beas,
the Ravi and the Sutlej while
Pakistan has the three western
rivers the Indus, the Chenab and
the Jhelum. The IWT also sets up a
mechanism, the Permanent Indus
Commission, which includes a com
missioner from each country.
Talking to Dawn, Special
Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq
Fatemi said: "Pakistan will not
accept any mo dificat ions or
changes to the provisions of the
Indus Waters Treaty. Our position
is based on the principles
enshrined in the treaty. And the
treaty must be honored in...letter
and spirit".
Earlier, a spokesman for the
Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Vikas Swarup, told reporters in
New De lhi that the resolut ion
process required more time. "India
has always believed that the imple
The Indus Water Treaty recognizes World Bank as an arbitrator.

mentation of the Indus Waters
Treaty, which includes the redressal
of the technical questions and dif
ferences, should be done bilaterally
between India and Pakistan," he
said. "We believe that these consul
tations should be given adequate
time."
India's request for more time,
however, alarmed Pakistan.
Islamabad argued that India used
the same strategy on previous
occasions, completing a project
during the dispute and then insist
ing that since the project was
already complete, it could not be
mo dified. T he current dispute
revolves around the Kishanganga
NEPAL BACKS
'ONE CHINA' POLICY
Kathmandu: Nepali
Prime Minister Pushpa
Kumar
Dahal
'Prachanda' said his
country will stick to the
"OneChina" policy,
media reported.
In a meeting with a
visiting senior Chinese
of ficial Liu Qibao,
Prachanda said Nepal
will push forward vari
ous cooperation pro
grams with China solid
Prachanda said Nepal will push
ly, Xinhua news agency
for various programs with China.
reported. US President
e lect Donald Trump angered ous and steady deve lopment
China by talking to President Tsai since the two countries estab
Ingwen of Taiwan an island lished diplomatic relations. Liu is
which Beijing claims as its own. member of the Political Bureau of
No US President has spoken to the CPC Central Committee and
Taiwan's head in almost four head of the CPC Central
Publicity
decades. Nepal's political parties Committee's
expect to conduct closer Department.
China is willing to make joint
exchanges and cooperation with
the Communist Party of China efforts with Nepal to implement
(CPC) and push the Nepali the two leaders' consensus,
Chinese re lat ions forward, expand bilateral pragmatic coop
Xinhua quoted Prachanda as say eration, and figure out the com
ing. Liu said ties between China mon destiny of the two countries,
and Nepal have achieved continu he said.
(330 megawatts) and Ratle (850

megawatts) hydroelectric plants.
India is building the plants on the
Kishanganga and Chenab Rivers,
which Pakistan says violate the
IWT. Tensions over the water dis
pute increased late last month
when Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi threatened to block
the flow of water into Pakistan.
International experts fear that the
threat, if implemented, could lead
to armed clashes between the two
sides. New De lhi soug ht the
appointment of a "neutral expert"
while Islamabad asked the World
Bank to appoint the chairman of
the Court of Arbitration.
United Nations: Invoking the

Amritsar Heart of Asia declara
tion, Afghanistan has reiterated
the call for an international setup
to verify crossfrontier terrorism
and expose government organiza
tions that promote terrorism.
"Verification of nefarious activi
ties would present our neighbor
hard evidence to undercut their
'plausible deniability' and blame
games, and shift the focus to
where it should be, a unified
response to countering terrorism,"
said Afghanistan's Permanent
Representative Mahmoud Saikal
at the United Nations Security
Council in a speech laced with
criticism of Pakistan's role in ter
rorism. Saikal said the Heart of
Asia meeting in Amritsar, India, on
December 4 "acknowledged the
support that terrorism derives in
our region" and called for "dis

mantling of regional terrorist
sanctuaries and safe havens".
The Afghan envoy chastised the
international community for its
failure to tackle terrorism.
"Scattered, fragmented and slow
counterterrorism measures have
been exploited by terrorists to
manoeuvre, spread violence, and
create discord among people," he
said. In a direct criticism of
Islamabad, Saikal said it provided
a winter haven for the Taliban
while reviving the seasonal idea of
peace talks.
"Winter is about to start in
Afghanistan," he said, adding that
"most Taliban men return to the
warmth of madrasas in Pakistan
for rest and recuperation and to
refuel for the next fighting sea
son."
Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to UN Mahmoud Saikal.
Raheel Sharif helped me out

in leaving Pak: Musharraf
Islamabad: Former Pakistan
President General Pervez
Musharraf has claimed that ex
army chief Gen Raheel Sharif
helped him leave the country by
keeping the government from
pressuring the courts.
Participating in a talk show on
Dunya News, he said: "Well he
(Raheel Sharif ) did help me. I
have been his boss and I have
been the Army Chief before him...
he helped out, because the cases
are politicized, they put me on
the ECL, they turned it into a
political issue."
When asked to explain how the
recently ret ired army chie f
helped him, Musharraf said Gen
Sharif played a role in "releasing
the pressure" on courts to pre
vent him from leaving the coun
try. "Behind the scenes, the army
chief had a role to release that
pressure by dealing with the gov
ernment."
"Once he (Gen Sharif ) got the
government to relieve the pres
sure that they were exerting, the
courts gave their judgment and
allowed me to go abroad for
treatment," Musharraf elaborat
Musharraf had left the country for Dubai in March earlier this year.
ed. Talking about his case,
Musharraf said Pakistani courts
"unfortunately... give decisions
under pressure behind the
scenes" and this pressure was
relieved by Gen Sharif with an
"influencing" role.
Musharraf had left the country
for Dubai in March earlier this
year hours after the interior min
istry issued a notification to
remove his name from the exit
control list. T he government

not ificat ion followed the
Supreme Court's order to lift the
ban on his foreign travel.
But the order from the top
court had come with the rider
that the federal government or
the threejudge special court try
ing the retired general for trea
son was free to make decisions
to regulate his custody or restrict
his movement.
22 December 24-30, 2016
INTERNATIONAL
World leaders condemn killing of Russian envoy

Ankara: World leaders expressed
shock and grief over the killing of
Russian ambassador to Turkey
Andrei Karlov and termed the assas
sination a "provocation" and an
attempt to disrupt peace.
T he Russian ambassador was
killed by a Turkish policeman in
protest against Moscow's involve
ment in Syria's Aleppo, BBC report
ed. It was not clear whether the 22
yearold Mevlut Mert Aydintas had
links to any militant group.
The shooter in a video that cap
tured the killing can be heard
yelling "Don't forget about Aleppo,
don't forget about Syria" and using
the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar"
(God is great).
The killing took place a day after
protests erupted in Turkey over
Russia's support for Syrian
President Bashar alAssad.
Turkish President Recap Tayyip
The scene of the shooting attack in Ankara.

Erdogan said the attack was aimed
at hurting ties with Russia.
Erdogan spoke to Russian
President Vladimir Putin over
phone and both leaders agreed that
it was an act of "provocation".
Putin said the act was "undoubt
IS 'brainwashing' children
to attack Europe
The vast majority of children recruited by the terror group are

Syrians and Iraqis.
London: T he Islamic State
group is providing children
apps to access violent jihadi
websites and offering rewards,
if young recruits say they were
willing to attack monuments in
Europe.
The attempt to "create a new
generat ion of terrorists",
according to British military
and security of ficials, comes
amid evidence of the IS's bid to
recruit children in the West to
carry out attacks in Europe and
America, the Independent
reported.
The terror group has set up
kiosks in the areas it controls in
Iraq and Syria where children
can use apps to read the
g roup's online mag azine
Rumiyah, as well as a website
that teaches them Arabic.
The terror group has been
increasing the use of child
fighters in a battle for survival
in Iraq and Syria. Pictures of
guns and tanks abound in the
childrens' Arabic learning web

site along with those of land
marks in Europe and America.
Col. John Dorrian of the US
led coalition against the IS said:
"What they do is despicable.
They are willing to use children
to carry out suicide attacks.
Their apocalyptic vision is of
damaging society everywhere
they have gained control."
"The targets are places like
the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben
and the Eiffel Tower," he said.
There has been a sharp rise in
the numbers of children on the
frontline up to 50,000
according to estimates in the
wake of the heavy losses the
Islamic State has suf fered in
Iraq and Syria.
The vast majority of children
recruited by the terror group
are Syrians and Iraqis. There
are also around 50 from
Britain, along w ith smaller
numbers
from
France,
Australia.
edly a provocation aimed at disrupt

ing the normalization" of ties and
the "peace process in Syria".
Condemning the attack as an act
of "terrorism", Russian Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said Turkey had given
assurances that there would be a

comprehensive investigation, and
those responsible would be pun
ished. T he UN Security Council
strongly condemned the killing
while Secretary General Ban Ki
moon said he was appalled by "this
senseless act of terror".
The attack was also condemned
by other countries.
US Secretary of State John Kerry
said: "We stand ready to offer assis
tance to Russia and Turkey as they
investigate this despicable attack,
which was also an assault on the
right of all diplomats to safely and
securely advance and represent
their nations around the world."
"Shocked to hear of despicable
murder of Russia's ambassador to
Turkey. My thoughts are with his
family. I condemn this cowardly
attack," British Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson said.
German Interior Minister Thomas

de Maiziere said his country stood
with Turkey in a common fight
against terrorism. French President
Francois Hollande "strongly" con
demned the killing.
India's External Af fairs Ministry
condemned the "dastardly act".
"There can never be any justifica
tion for violence and terrorism,"
ministry spokesperson Vikas
Swarup said in a statement.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
said Beijing firmly opposed terror
ism in all forms.
Turkey blames the movement for
July 15 failed coup aimed against
Erdogan.
Taking up the Ankara posting in
July 2013, Karlov had to grapple
with a major diplomatic crisis last
year when a Turkish plane shot
down a Russian jet close to the
Syrian border.
US spying in our waters, says China

Beijing: China brought up the
case of the American drone cap
tured in the South China Sea and
denounced what it called were
surveillance activities of the
Pentagon ships and aircraft in its
territorial waters.
"US ships and aircraft have
been carrying out close recon
naissance and surveillance activi
ties in China's coastal waters,"
said Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Hua Chunying and
urged Washington to put a stop
to these activities.
According to Beijing, these
activities have been going on for
a long time and endanger naviga
tion security of the area, reports
Efe.The Pentagon maintains that
Chinese frigate Huangshan at the South China Sea.

its drone was engaged in scientif
ic research and was captured by
the Chinese Navy outside the
waters that Beijing considers its
own in the South China Sea.

Hua added that the matter is
being discussed by the military
of both countries.
Venezuela to delay
demonetization after protests
Caracas: Venezue lan President
Nicolas Maduro has delayed the
withdrawal of the 100bolivar ban
knote until January 2.
T he sudden change of policy
came after days of economic crisis
in the South American state, the
BBC reported.
Maduro said in a national broad
cast that his country was victim of
international sabotage, which pre
vented the new 500bolivar curren
cy notes from arriving in time.
Many Venezuelans spent several
days in long queues trying to hand
in or swap the old notes.
Thousands of shops were shut
because of a cash crunch, and the
public were forced to rely on credit
cards or bank transfers. Many were
left without food. Anger spilled over
on to the streets and skirmishes
were reported in six cities. Many
President Maduro said the aim was to tackle gangs

which hoard Venezuelan currency.
were taken into custody.
In Caracas, people waved their
100bolivar bills in the air and
chanted "they're useless!" They
turned and ran as police in riot gear
fired tear gas. The government said
the scrapping of the 100bolivar
note was necessary to prevent

smuggling. The president said the
aim was to tackle gangs which
hoard Venezuelan currency abroad,
a move he previously described as
part of the "economic war" being
waged against his government.
SPORTS
23
Ruthless India thrash England to pocket series 40

Chennai: Riding on Karun Nair's unbeaten
303 and leftarm spinner Ravindra Jadeja's
seven for 48, a ruthless India hammered
England by an innings and 75 runs in the
fifth cricket Test and clinched the fivematch
rubber 40.
The Virat Kohliled side have now extend
ed their unbeaten streak to 18 Tests the
longest in the history of Indian cricket bet
tering India's earlier record of 17 Tests with
out a defeat between September 1985 and
March 1987.
The 40 victory is also India's highest
against the English side since the 30 win in
the 199293 series.
Jadeja, who emerged the wreckerinchief
in the second essay, took his overall match
tally to 10 wickets with his three scalps in
the first innings.
Skipper Kohli, who emerged the highest
rungetter from either side (655 runs with
two centuries) was named ManoftheSeries
for his efforts.
Newcomer Karun Nair (303 not out), who
converted his maiden ton into triple century
in India's first innings was awarded the
ManoftheMatch.
On Tuesday, a spineless England reeled
under Jadeja's pressure in their second
innings as the visitors lost their last six wick
ets within a span of just 15 runs to be
The 40 victory is also India's highest against the English side

since the 30 win in the 199293 series.
bowled out for a meagre 207 at the M.A.
Chidambaram Stadium here.
After conceding a 282run lead, England
started positively with the openers skipper
Alastair Cook (49) and Keaton Jennings (54)
setting the tone with a 103run stand
before losing four quick wickets.
Eng land were 167/4 in their second
innings at tea as the centurion in the first
innings, Moeen Ali (44), and allrounder Ben
Jadeja, Ashwin second Indian

duo to occupy top spots
Dubai: Leftarm spinner Ravindra Jadeja's career best
10wicket haul against England in the Chennai Test
has helped him vault to the second spot, just behind
his topranked teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, in the
International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test
bowlers.. This is just the second time the top two spots
in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers have been
occupied by India players, with the pair emulating left
arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and legspinner
Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, who were ranked one and
two in 1974.
Jadeja's performance in the series has earned him
66 points and helped him leapfrog over Josh
Hazlewood, James Anderson, Dale Steyn and Rangana
Herth to be positioned within eight points of Ashwin.
Among others, India's comeback man Ishant Sharma
moved up two places to No. 23 while Wahab Riaz of
Pakistan (up two places to a career best 24th) and
Australia's Jackson Bird (up five places to 48th) are
the others to make upward movements.
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, Indian
opening batsman Lokesh Rahul and triple centurion
Karun Nair have made huge gains.
ICC Test
topranked
Ravichandran
Ashwin.
First Sikh cricketer in Pakistan to join national academy

Lahore: Pakistani cricket has seen Christians and Hindus represent the country at home
and abroad, but for the first time a Sikh has secured a place in the National Cricket
Academy. Mahinder Pal Singh, who hails from Nankana Sahib (Lahore), is among the list
of top 30 emerging cricketers in the country, Geo News reported.
In a video circulating on social media, Singh expressed his desire to make Pakistan
proud and thanked his coach and the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board for having
faith in him and recognising his talent. Singh said he was proud to be able to represent
the entire Pakistani Sikh community and to have secured a place at the Pakistani Cricket
Academy.
Pakistan's cricketing history has only seen seven nonmuslim cricketers representing
the country. Over the years Pakistan cricket has been missing out on on regular interna
tional cricketing events on home soil, which has been served as the prime reason for the
Pakistani cricket that was facing a dearth of new talent.
Stokes (23) offered some resistance with a

63run fifthwicket stand.
Coming back from the break, the Indian
bowlers completely dominated the proceed
ings as the visitors kept losing their wickets
rapidly.
The English team's vulnerability to spin
was vividly exposed as seven of their bats
men Joe Root (6), Jonny Bairstow (1), Liam
Dawson (0), Adil Rashid (2), Stuart Broad (1),
Jake Ball (0) and Jos Buttler (6 not out)

failed to reach the double figures in the sec
ond innings.
England resumed the day at 12/0, trailing
by 270 runs, as India posted a record first
innings total of 759/7 declared.
Cook (47) and Keaton Jennings (46) were
at the crease when the first session of the
day came to a close.
But England's slide started shortly after
play resumed in the postlunch phase.
Cook was the first to be dismissed, with
his team's score at 103 in the 40th over,
edging a widish delivery of f Jadeja to K.L.
Rahul at leg slip.
Cook's opening partner Jennings also per
ished soon after, at 110/2 in the 44th over.
He danced down the track to negate Jadeja's
spin but managed only to scoop a simple
return catch to him.
England were jolted with the departure of
both the openers.
Earlier, India rode on the 25yearold
Nair's (303 not out) to post their highest
ever total of 759/7 declared in the first
innings. Opener Lokesh Rahul (199), sea
soned stumper Parthiv Patel (71) and all
rounder Ravichandran Ashwin (67) also con
tributed heavily to the Indian score after
England elected to bat and scored 477 in
their first essay.
Nation celebrates
Karun Nair's triple ton
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, Bollywood icon
Amitabh Bachchan and several
cricketing personalities hailed
Karun Nair's landmark innings
of 303 not out during the fifth
and final Test against England.
Karnataka middleorder bats
man Nair became only the sec
ond Indian after former opener
Virender Sehwag to slam a
triple ton here.
Nair's marathon innings also
helped India declare their first
innings at a mammoth 759/7
their highest against any oppo
nent surpassing the previous
Karun Nair became only the second Indian after former
best of 726/9 declared against
opener Virender Sehwag to slam a triple ton here.
Sri
Lanka
in
2009.
"Congratulations on the historic triple centu Bishan Singh Bedi wrote: "Club 300's awe
ry @karun126! We all are delighted & proud some & awfully 'exclusive'..@karun126 hope
of your remarkable feat," Modi tweeted. With U realise Many a giant o World Crkt r bereft
India leading the series 30, the knock was o this membership! Enjoy/relish it Son!"
"Whoa... Mount Everest Climbed Again.
like icing on the cake for them.
Bachchan wrote on Twitter: "KARUN NAIR Triple century in only his third Test innings.
303* vs England. This no 'white wash' you Unbelievable stuff. Well played, Karun Nair.
'distempered' them. DISTEMPERED : emo #INDvENG," former cricketer and now a pop
ular analyst Aakash Chopra said.
tionally or psychologically disturbed !!."
"Congratulations to Karnataka's Karun
Sehwag, who was the first Indian to score a
triple hundred, welcomed the 25yearold as Nair @karun126 for scoring world record
he became part of the elite club of Indian maiden triple century," a tweet from CM of
triplehundred scorers. "Yay ! Welcome to Karnataka read.
Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar also
the 300 club @karun126. It was very lonely
here for the last 12 years 8 months. Wish congratulated Nair. "Aaj hamari Bhartiya
you the very best Karun. Maza aa gaya," team ke khiladi Karun Nair ne 303 run kiye.
Main unka Abhinandan karti hun aur puri
Sehwag wrote.
On Facebook, he wrote: "Nair batted like a team ko badhai deti hun (Today our Indian
Shayar! Full Flow! Welcome to the club. Was team player Karun Nair scored 303. I con
really very lonely." Former Indian captain gratulate him and the team).
24
BUSINESS
US dollar rises after

RBI withdraws onetime
deposit norm, Rs 5,000 limit Yellen's remarks
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) in a sharp Uturn with
drew the circular for KYCcompli
ant accounts that barred people
from depositing over Rs 5,000 in
old currency more than once till
December 30.
The central bank said that on
review ing its not ificat ion of
November 19, it is advising banks
to withdraw the two conditions for
fully KYCcompliant accounts.
On November 19, the RBI had
announced that deposits of demon
etized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes
in excess of Rs 5,000 w ill be
allowed only once till December
30 that too after strict scrutiny.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
had said that onetime deposit till
December 30 will not invite scruti
ny by bank officials.
According to the earlier notifica
tion, when a person deposits over
Rs 5,000 in withdrawn currencies,
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that onetime deposit till
December 30 will not invite scrutiny by bank officials.
the account will be credited only
after questioning him or her, in the
presence of two bank officials, as
to why the notes had not been
deposited earlier. The bankers
were to keep the explanatory
statement on record for a future
RCOM announces
tower deal with
Brookfield Infra
Mumbai:
Re liance
Communications Ltd. (RCOM)
announced the signing of bind
ing agreements for the acquisi
tion of its nationwide tower
assets by affiliates of Brookfield
Infrastructure Partners LP and
its institutional partners.
RCOM will receive an
upfront cash payment of
Rs 11,000 crore ($ 1.6
billion) on comple
tion of the transac
tion, a move that
will help it reduce
de bt by 70 per
cent, the company
said. "The transaction will repre
sent the largestever investment
by any overseas financial
investor in the infrastructure sec
tor in India, and is a strong
reflection of the confidence of
the international investment
community in the longterm
growth potential of the Indian
economy," an RCOM statement
said.
RCOM will also receive Class B
nonvoting shares in the new
tower company, providing 49 per
cent future economic upside in
the towers business, based on
certain conditions, the statement
said.
"RCOM expects significant
future value creation from the
B Class shares, based on
growth in tenancies arising
from increasing 4G rollout
by all telecom operators
and fast accelerating
data consump
tion," the state
ment said. RCOM's telecom tow
ers will be demerged into a sepa
rate new company that will be
100 per centowned and inde
pendently
managed
by
Brookfield Infrastructure, "there
by creating the secondlargest
independent and operatorneu
tral towers company in India",
the statement said.
audit trail. The decision created

confusion, when Jaitley contradict
ed the RBI notification, saying peo
ple will not be questioned if any
amount of old currency is deposit
ed in one go, but repeated deposits
may provoke queries.
New York: T he US dollar

climbed against most major cur
rencies over Federal Reserve's
posit ive remarks about the
country's labor market.
In late New York trad
ing, the euro fell to
$1.0392
from
$1.0405, and the
Brit ish
pound
dropped to $1.2361
from $1.2399.
T he Australian
dollar increased to
$0.7255
from
$0.7245.
The dollar bought 117.71
Japanese yen, hig her than
117.36 yen in the previous ses
sion.
T he dollar inched up to
1.0286 Sw iss francs from
1.0268 Swiss francs, and it
slipped to 1.3379 Canadian dol
lars from 1.3412 Canadian dol
lars. Enditem
Chair of the Federal Reserve
Janet Yellen said in a public
speech on Monday: "After years
of a slow economic recov
ery, you are entering
the strongest job
market in nearly a
decade," adding that
there are also indica
t ions that wage
growth is picking
up.
Analysts said her
remarks bolstered
market speculation
for a tighter pace of rate
hikes next year than previous
ly expected.
Meanwhile, the greenback
climbed against the yen after
the Bank of Japan (BOJ) left its
monetary policy unchanged
after the conclusion of its two
day policy meeting.
Mistry's resignation a
strategy, says Tata Sons
Mumbai: Tata Sons said that the
announcement of its ousted
Chairman Cyrus Mistry quitting
the positions held by him in the
group companies is a deliberate
strategy on his part.
Mistry informed that he will step
down from all the group compa
nies which have called extraordi
nary general meetings (EGMs) to
remove him from their respective
boards.
"Tata Sons has taken note of the
public announcement of the resig
nation by Cyrus Mistry from the
Boards of Tata companies. Mistry's
resignation is a deliberate strategy
on his part, knowing fully well that
the overwhelming majority of the
shareholders were not in support
of his actions," Tata Sons said in a
statement.
"Unfortunately, Mistry continues
to make baseless, unsubstantiated
and malicious allegations using
selective disclosures of informa
tion against the very institution he
claims to have the highest regard
for." "Tata Sons strongly resents
the claims by Mistry to align with
the values and ethics of Jamsetji
Cyrus Mistry informed that he will step down from

all the group companies.
Tata and the Tata Group. On the
contrary, Mistry and his family
companies have not upheld the
high standards and values set by
Jamsetji Tata and his successors.
Mistry has done precious little to
build the goodwill of the Tata
Group, built through the hard
work and dedication of its employ
ees," the statement read.
According to the holding compa
ny of the industrial conglomerate,
Mistry has been a Director of Tata
Sons since 2006 and as such was
fully involved in all the key deci
sions that the group had taken

over the years.
Earlier in the evening, Mistry
revealed that he will step down
from positions held by him in Tata
Group companies.
"Having deeply re flected on
where we are in this movement for
cleaning up governance and
regaining lost ethical ground, I
think it is time to shift gears, up
the momentum, and be more inci
sive in securing the best interests
of the Tata Group," Mistry said in a
letter.
Deember 24-30, 2016
BOOKS
25
Son of Mother India, married

into Uncle Sams family
Prof. Joseph Cheruvelil, who taught for 39 years at St Johns University in
NYC, had come to America in 1960, and his name is inscribed on the
Immigrants Wall of Honor on Ellis Island. He has just published his
book of autobiographical reflections, which in his words is
both intensely personal, and intentionally universal.
The Book
uperficially, A Passage to
America Notes of an Adopted
Son is an anecdotal depiction
of Joseph M. Cheruvelils own little
world, at least parts of it. His jour
ney is filled with allusions to the
masterpieces of world literature
(including the title, which invokes
E.M. Fosters A Passage to India),
and to the major issues and events
which shaped history during the
20th and 21st centuries. Education
is his major theme; geography and
history are his guides, myths and
legends, his tools.
T he hefty book at 764 pages
deals with Josephs childhood at
Kannadi village in Kuttanad, his
Book Extract
efore the dawn of time
was Mahavishnu, the Lord
of the Universe. After the
Big Bang he appeared on a ficus
leaf (Ficus Religiosa) afloat on
primordial waters. He is at once
Indra, Rama, and Krishna; King
of gods and redeemer of man.
From his navel rose Brahma
on a lotus plant. All creation
sprang from him.
And from Brahma rose Shiva,
Cosmic dancer and destroyer.
In the beg inning was the
Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.
JOHN, 1
And Adam knew Eve, his wife
and she bore Cain and his
brother Abel and Adam knew
his wife again; and she bore a
son and called his name Seth.
GENESIS, 4
Abraham begot Isaac; and
Isaac begot Jacob; and Jesse
graduate years at University College

in Thiruvananthapuram, his stints
of teaching at Christ College,
Irinjalakuda, and St. Xaviers
College in Tirunelveli, India. In
1960, he secured a scholarship,
came to the United States, and stud
ied at Loyola University in Chicago,
and the University of Mississippi.
Thereafter, he became a teacher of
English at St. Johns University, New
York, for 39 years.
Joseph has aimed the book for a
specific audience. In America, this
is for the secondgeneration immi
grants, who do not have a clear pic
ture of India, he says. In India, I
wanted to give the collegegoing
generation an idea of life in the
United States, its history, culture,
society, and technology.
begot David the king; and David
begot Solomon; And Matthan
begot Jacob; and Jacob begot
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of
whom was born Jesus.
MATTHEW, 1
And
Mathai
married
Thresiamma, and begot Joseph,
Varghese, Mary, and James.
And Simon married Mary, and
begot Eva, John, Rose and ten
other children.
And I, Joseph, married Rose,
and begot Sheila and Roy.
Sheila married Vijai, and
brought forth Seth and Neil. And
Roy married Anita.
Books have been an integral
part of my life as a teacher;
every time I finished a good
book, I thought of writing one;
however, only after I retired, I
found time to put my thoughts
on paper.
Superficially, this book is an
anecdotal depiction of my own
little world, at least parts of it.
Submerged therein, more seri
The Author
rofessor
Joseph
M.
Cheruve lil was born and
broug ht up in the Lake
District of Kerala. Often described
as Gods Own Country, the state is
we llknown for its lush green
mountains, spice estates, rice
fields, coconut groves, white sandy
beaches, and snakeboat races.
Educated in Kerala, Illinois, and
Mississippi, he served on the facul
ty of the English department at St.
Johns University in New York City
for many years until his retire
ment in 2005.
He was awarded the Universitys
Gold Medal for Outstanding
Achievement in Teaching. He
ously, is an account of my life

long love af fair w ith g lobal
issues, and my perceptions of
the potentates who shaped
them. Education is my major
theme; geography and history
are my guides; myths and leg
ends, my tools.
Some paragraphs may read
like an internal monologue or a
confession, while some others
like the notes of a doubting
Thomas. I am not sure whether
I have been a Huckleberry Finn
looking for escape and mischief,
or a Thomas Merton searching
for inner peace. There are frag
ments of Descartes, Locke, Kant,
and Aquinas in my psyche,
though I lack their concentra
t ion and erudit ion.
Also,
Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Joyce.
I have been a son, lover, hus
band, father and grandfather. I
have two brothers, one sister,
one wife, one daughter, one son,
one soninlaw, one daughterin
law, and two g randsons.
Professor Joseph M. Cheruvelil

Speaking of Sons and Lovers, I
am a son of Mother India, who
married into the family of Uncle
Sam, and as such I have a dou
bleconsciousness. I was born
and raised in India. I studied in
Kerala, Illinois, and Mississippi,
and served as an English profes
sor at a large Catholic University
in New York City for many years
until I retired in 2005, to play
with my grandchildren and to
smell the proverbial roses in
blessed idleness.
For over four decades, New
York has been my home. Prior
to that I lived in the Deep South
hobnobbing with integrationists,
and at times harassed by segre
gationists. Also, I had the oppor
tunity to observe people and
places in several countries
including Japan, Sri Lanka,
Thailand; England, France, Italy;
Canada, Argentina, Mexico, and
Brazil.
I am Catholic in re lig ion,
Hindu in culture, Republican in
currently serves as a member of

the board of directors of the
Spartan Health Sciences University
in St. Lucia.
A loyal son of Mother India, now
a US citizen, he is a widely trav
eled and wellread observer of life
in several countries. For decades,
he has been very active in the
Indian community in New York.
He is a founding member of sever
al organizations including Kerala
Samajam of Greater New York, the
Pioneer Club of Keralites, Bharath
Boat Club, and the American
Sargavedi, a monthly forum for lit
erary discussions. He is involved
with various nonprofit organiza
tions and has authored several
art icles for Indianthemed
publications.
politics, and an eclectic in taste.
I prefer walking to running, sav
ing to spending, giving to receiv
ing, tranquillity to travail, read
ing books to watching sports
and funnies on television.
As one whose name is
inscribed on the Immigrants
Wall of Honor on Ellis Island, I
admit that it is likely that other
immigrants have encountered
similar situat ions and chal
lenges. Still, I believe that my
story is unique because years of
learning and teaching, observa
tions and reflection have impact
ed its narration and imagery. It
is at once intensely personal,
and intentionally universal.
My views are my own, and my
characters are real except
when obvious reasons dictated
otherwise, when I camouflaged
them to conceal their identities
and to protect their privacy.
To order the book, go to

www.apassagetoamerica.com
26
SELF HELP
Add a twist to your Holidays dcor

W
e all love our holiday traditions,

and that includes the way we deck
the halls from special ornaments
to favorite festive wreaths. However, you
may be looking for ways to revamp the
triedandtrue look, especially when enter
taining friends and family.
Here are some unique ideas for adding a
twist to your usual holiday decorating rou
tine.
table runners and tapestries can also add

warmth around the house. Crank up the
fireplace. Be sure that all your efforts work
to combat the brisk season with a touch of
coziness.
BEAUTIFUL
TABLESCAPES
MIX AND MATCH

Add dynamism and vitality to your home
by infusing older, vintage elements that
youve had and enjoyed for years with more
modern pieces that speak to you today.
You can also breathe new life into these
items by using them differently this year
for example, moving your favorite garland
from the bannister to the mantel, or hang
ing a wreath on a wall instead of a door.
THINK SCENT
When many people plan their holiday
decorations, they start with visuals. Why
not try mixing it up by focusing on fra
grance first? Scent is closely associated
with memory, so adding holiday fragrances
to your home allows you to both build new
memories for future seasons and reflect on
happy times in the past. For inspiration,

draw on the vibrant spirit and brisk weath
er that the holidays bring.
Use candles to add a finishing touch to a
holiday gathering. They also make for a
great host or hostess gift.
Check out the new holiday fragrance line
up from Yankee Candle, which offers both
classic favorites, as well as new modern
takes on traditional themes. Fragrances
include All is Bright, a blend of citrus on
Safe winter driving tips
hile winter can be a beautiful time of

year, it can also be a treacherous sea
son on the roads. Winter driving con
ditions require increased attention and an abili
ty to adapt quickly. In 2015, 8,010 people
nationwide were killed in car crashes between
December and March, resulting in an average
seven percent per month increase from 2014,
according to the National Safety Council (NSC).
These numbers are a warning to everyone on
the roads about how dangerous winter driving
can be. Winter looks more idyllic outside our
house windows than outside our windshield,
said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO
of the National Safety Council. The good news
is many cars are equipped with lifesaving tech
nologies. It is important that drivers under
stand how the technologies work in order to
drive safely in winter conditions.
In an effort to prevent crashes on the road
this winter, MyCarDoesWhat, an NSC and
University of Iowa initiative, is offering some
major pieces of advice for driving in winter
conditions.
8 Slow down. Drivers frequently underesti
mate how long it takes to brake and how diffi
cult it can be to steer on slippery roads.
8 Dont use cruise control on slippery sur
faces like ice and snow. It will diminish your
control and reduce your reaction time in the
event of a skid.
8 Remember, bridges and overpasses freeze
before roadways, so be alert in cold weather
when approaching one.
8 Many new safety technologies (like back
up cameras) have outside sensors that can
freeze or fog up. Always make sure they are
clear so they work their best.
MyCarDoesWhat also reminds drivers of the
safety technologies that can help vehicles adapt
in slippery and changing conditions.
warm musk, Bubbly Pomegranate, a mix

of juicy berries, pomegranate and citrus,
Alpine Martini, a tart concoction spiked
with mountain berries and fresh snipped
pine, and Christmas Thyme, a lemongrass
and thyme scent thats mingled with san
dalwood and musk
GET COZY
Incorporate wintry throw pillows, quilts
and blankets into living areas. Fabrics like
When hosting guests, dont just set the

table, create an impressive and unforget
table tablescape. One sleek and modern
way to do so is to add candles, tumblers,
vases, ornamental table toppers, fresh
greens and seasonal flowers.
Tumbler candles, such as those from
Yankee Candle, come in various sizes and
designs, so you can stagger the heights for
eyecatching appeal.
Consider using their Pure Radiance can
dles that feature a crackling LumiWick, cre
ating a soothing sound that evokes a fire
side.
This season, add fragrance, beauty, and
brightness to your home with unique twists
on traditional holiday themes.
The correct credit is included below. You
can run this credit at the beginning or end
of the story, in keeping with your publica
tion's style.
Why online banking

makes financial cents
8 Antilock braking systems (ABS) help driv

ers maintain control by preventing wheels from
locking up. ABS works differently than tradi
tional brakes, delivering and releasing precise
braking pressure to each wheel as needed. So,
dont pump the brakes if you have ABS. Just
hold them down firmly and look and steer in
the direction you want to go. The brakes may
buzz and vibrate when the ABS has activated.
8 Traction control helps you accelerate
without spinning out on slippery surfaces like
snow and ice.
8 Electronic stability control senses when
you may be losing control around a corner or
curve, and can stabilize your car if it begins to
veer off the road.
8 Adaptive headlights adjust to changing
roadway conditions such as curves to pro
vide optimum illumination along the roadway
during long winter nights and periods of low
daytime visibility.
8 The temperature warning feature pro
vides updates about upcoming roadway condi
tions such as black ice.
When there is snow and ice on the road,
antilock brakes can improve the stability of
your braking so you can steer better, said Dan
McGehee, director of the University of Iowa
National Advanced Driver Simulator.
Remember to hold the brakes down even
when they pulse and vibrate.
riven by lower banking fees, better

interest rates on savings accounts,
roundtheclock convenience and
mobile phone usage, more consumers than
ever are doing their banking online than at
brickandmortar locations.
The adoption of online banking has doubled
since 2004, reaching 71 percent of con
sumers in 2015, according to Javelin Strategy
& Research's Online Banking Forecast 2016.
And these numbers are growing, as more con
sumers are made aware of the different serv
ices they can take advantage of at home and
onthego.
From the distinct cost advantage over tradi
tional banks, (since they dont have the
expenses associated with maintaining a physi
cal branch network) to their flexibility and
convenience, here is a deeper look at how
online banks are providing advantages to
their customers.
CUSTOMERCENTRIC
FOCUS
For example, Ally Bank, one of the leading
online banks, is able to offer consistently com
petitive rates and is always open with 24/7
live customer service. In addition, most online
banks have a customerfriendly fee structure
in contrast to traditional banks, as they often
do not impose monthly maintenance fees and
typically offer lower fees on transaction serv
ices. When we launched Ally Bank seven
years ago, we were very focused on building
an obviously better banking experience for
our customers, says Diane Morais, chief exec
utive officer and president of Ally Bank. Our
focus is on designing competitive products

and features to meet our customers needs,
combined with the best technologies and cus
tomer experience.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Advances in digital technology have literally
put a broad range of services at customers
fingertips. Mobile payment services such as
Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and
Masterpass, and online bill pay and mobile
check deposit, mean customers can complete
many transactions from home or while onthe
go using mobile devices.
Most banking transactions that used to
require a visit to a brickandmortar location
are now conducted online, fundamentally
changing customer banking behavior and
expectations. Online banks are striving to
make handling personal finances simple and
flexible with no time wasted in line at a neigh
borhood bank.
To learn more about the advantages of
banking electronically, visit nationaldaycalen
dar.com/nationalonlinebankday. If you are
seeking a more modern banking experience,
its worth investigating online banking to
determine if its right for your pocketbook.
LIFESTYLE
Men more likely to quit job

due to bullying at workplace
London: Bully ing af fects men and
women dif ferently. Whereas it often
causes women to go on prolonged sick
leave or use antidepressants, men often
choose to leave the labor market alto
gether for a perio d of t ime, a new
research has found.
The researchers said it was a surprise
to learn that bullying does not seem to
increase men's sickness absence. "In
fact, it seems that men who are bullied
are more likely than women to go to
work even though they are actually
sick," said Tine Mundbjerg Eriksen,
Assistant Professor at School of Business
and Social Sciences, Aarhus University in
Denmark.
"At the same time, it appears that bul
lying affects men's salary level negative
ly, which indicates that the bullying
hampers their opportunities for pay
increases and promotions," she said.
One way of bullying is that your col
leagues or your boss impede your ability
to do your job properly, make changes
to your work or hand the fun and impor
tant tasks to others, she explained.
In the study involving over 3,000 peo
ple in both public and private organiza
tions, seven per cent of the respondents
reported that they were being subjected

to bullying. Of these, 43 per cent were
men.
When it comes to the type and fre
quency of bullying, the research, pub
lished in the journal of Labor Economics,
showed that men are just as exposed to
work or personalrelated bullying as
women, but are actually slightly more
exposed to physical intimidation than
women.
One in four Indians

receives unwanted
gifts: Survey
New Delhi: If you
find yourself with an
assortment of gifts
that are of no use to
you at the end of this
festive season, you
are not alone. The
average incidence in
India of receiving an
unwanted gift in
2016 was 26 per
cent compared to 16
percent, says a sur
vey.
A survey done by
OLX and IMRB, a
multicountry mar
ket research, reveals
that the trend of
receiving gifts that
one finds of no use is on the rise.
The average incidence rate of
receiving an unwanted gift is on the
rise by 26 percent in 2016 com
pared to 16 percent in 2014, said a
statement.
Indians are also increasingly re
gifting the gifts they do not want. As
many as 24 percent of the surveyed
households said that they regift
their unwanted gifts. In addition to
this, 14 percent admitted to throw
ing their unwanted gift items away,
seven percent said they sell them
while five percent claimed that they
give it away as a part of charity.

"Gifting is such an integral part of
socialization in India that it led us to
find out about the gifts that are of no
use to the recipient. We discovered
that a majority of such gifts are
either lying unused at home or are
regifted," said Amarjit Singh Batra,
CEO, OLX India.
"Thoughtless gifting and regifting
have increased in the last one year,
leading a large number of surplus
gifts in Indian households," he added.
The survey was done across 16
cities with 5,800 people.
27
Shortness of breath may

be a sign of heart failure
London: Suffering from chronic shortness of
breath? Beware, you may be at risk of a
potential heart failure or COPD (Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), a study has
found.
Shortness of breath, which is medically
known as dyspnea, is often defined as an
intense tightening in the chest, air hunger
or a feeling of suffocation.
"Shortness of breath is often a sign of
heart or lung disease because these two
organs are most closely involved in the res
piratory system," said Nasser Ahmadi,
research student at University of
Gothenburg in Sweden, in a statement.
Chronic shortness of breath can also be
considered as an equally important warning
signal as hig h bloo d pressure, the
researchers said.
However, shortness of breath is an often
overlooked symptom as people tend to asso
ciate it with ageing.
"The fact that people do not seek medical
advice for their breathlessness is often due
to people associating their symptoms with
the natural process of ageing. But if you
notice that you experience increased short
ness of breath during exertion, you should
seek medical attention," Ahmadi added.
The study showed that the faster the

detection, the better prognosis. With early
intervention, patients can avoid suf fering
and the need for hospitalisation decreases.
In the study, people with shortness of
breath for six weeks or more who sought
medical advice for their breathlessness were
found to have underlying diseases like a
potential heart failure or a hidden obstruc
tive lung disease that was developing.
Bask in the sunlight to

energize your immune cells
New York: Apart from helping for a
healthier living by producing vita
min D, getting some sunlight may
also energize T cells immune cells
that play a central role in fighting
infections in the human body, a
study has found.
"We all know sunlight provides
vitamin D, which is suggested to
have an impact on immunity, among
other things. But what we found is a
completely separate role of sunlight
on immunity," said Gerard Ahern,
Associate Professor at the
Georgetown University in the US.
"Some of the roles attributed to vita
min D on immunity may be due to
this new mechanism," Ahern added.
The findings showed that the skin,
which is the body's largest organ has
a large share of T cells approxi
mately twice the number circulating
in the blood stays alert to the
many microbes that can nest there.
While production of vitamin D
requires ultra violet (UV) light
known to promote skin cancer and

melanoma, the low levels of blue
light found in the sun's rays is safer
and helps makes T cells move faster.
This blue light, which can reach the
dermis the second layer of the skin
enables the T cells to move
throughout the body, the
researchers stated.
"T cells, whether they are helper or
killer, need to move to do their work,
which is to get to the site of an infec
tion and orchestrate a response. This
study shows that sunlight directly

activates key immune cells by
increasing their movement," Ahern
said. In addition, the researchers also
found that the synthesis of hydrogen
peroxide a compound that white
blood cells release when they sense
an infection in order to kill bacteria
and mount an immune response
activates a signalling pathway to
increase T cell movement. The study
was published in the journal
Scientific Reports.
Offbeat places to travel in upcoming year

New Delhi: Planning a vacation
but confused about destination?
Why not the theater district in
Seoul or the foodie hamlet within
Kuala Lumpurs bustling city cen
tre or a resident ial art ists
enclave in Minneapolis? Based on
the travel patterns of more than
140 million total guest arrivals
here is what Airbnb a commu

nitydriven hospitality company
has suggested some quirky desti
nations for the upcoming year.
Urban, but not dense: People are
flocking to laidback communi
ties that offer urban convenience
with a relaxed vibe. The serene
Milne burg district of New
Orleans, Phoenix Park, a district

brimming w ith g ardens and
wildlife close to Dublin, Ireland's
capital are some such places.
Glorious green spaces: Areas like
Rockclif fe Smythe in Toronto,
with large beautiful green spaces
makes an ideal place for a relax
ing visit.
28
HUMOR
Funny Side by Nury Vittachi
STRANGE STORIES OF ROBBERS

AND THEIR GETAWAYS
I
saw cops chasing a guy down the street

the other day. My first thought was,
"Man, those guys are going to get great
scores on their fitness band."
Police and robbers should agree to a 30
second window between any actual bank
robbery and the ensuing chase to give time
for both sides to turn their stepcounters
on. Robber: "Ready, chap?" Cops: "Wait.
Just need to click this. Okay, let's do this
thing."
Later, a reader sent me a news item from
Florida on a related subject. A young
female bank robber had no getaway car
so persuaded her dad to drive her to and
from the bank "for a job interview". She
robbed the bank and leapt back into the
car, telling him that the cash she was hold
ing was her salary in advance. The conver
sation must have been interesting: "Hi
sweetheart, how'd the interview go?" "Fine
thanks, Dad, now DRIVE GO GO GO GO
GO." (Bullets fly.)
This writer canvassed sources for other
of fbeat getaways and a colleague shared

an odd one from Ecuador. A professional
footballer was in the middle of a game last
month when police arrived to arrest him
for nonpayment of alimony. He pretended
to become injured (footballers spend most
of their training hours practising this) and
was transferred by stretcher to an ambu
lance while police watched helplessly from
the other side of the field.

But perhaps the most costeffective get
away of recent times was a curious theft in
India this summer. Bank security guards
put a large cash payment in a tightly
secured train carriage. Robbers sitting on
the roof of the moving train cut a hole into
the carriage, snatched the money, and then
jumped of f. They were a huge distance
away when the robbery was discovered
and they hadn't spent a cent on a getaway
car.
Someone reading over my shoulder (GO
AWAY) has just referred me to a case from
Kent in 2008. The robbers had a regular
getaway car, but used a driver who just

didn't have the right mindset for car chas
es. They were only about 250 meters from
the place they'd raided when a traffic light
turned red. The driver stopped the car and
politely signaled right to show pursuers
which way they were going. Police caught
them within minutes.
Also in 2008 was a case in Malaysia
where robbers used a getaway car that was
too small for all the money they had stolen.
And there was a 2012 case in Texas where
a bank customer got so scared during an
armed robbery that she ran outside and
drove away in the first car she could find
which turned out to be the robbers' get
away car.
But going back to escaping on foot, a
long run through the center of any city will
boost your score on Pokemon Go and pro
vide good opportunities to distract police
of ficers chasing you. Robber (glancing at
smartphone screen): "Oh my goodness,
there's a legendary Articuno, a Pokemon
which has never been caug ht." Cop:
"Where? I mean, stop, there!" (Cops slow
down and pull out phones.)
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a
taxi to work, waving my fitness band out of
the window all the way.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
BEST
RATE
FOR
INDIA
AND
PAKISTAN
New York Head Quarter
422S Broadway
HICKSVILLE
NY 11801
5168271010
by Mahendra Shah
Mahendra Shah is an architect by education, entrepreneur by profession, artist and
humorist, cartoonist and writer by hobby. He has been recording the plight of the
immigrant Indians for the past many years in his cartoons. Hailing from Gujarat,
he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
ASTROLOGY
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
DECEMBER 2430, 2016

ARIES: A very good week to apply for
overseas job. Help from family members
would take care of your needs. You are
likely to earn monetary profits through most
unexpected sources. Blossoming love life brings
happiness. Good time to divert attention to spir
ituality to enhance mental toughness. Planning
a trip for your love will embrace you and your
spouse. Your plan to own a house is ought to be
in the right way. Efforts bring desired results, as
you get rid of drug addiction.
TAURUS: Promotions and monetary ben
efits for dedicated professionals. You
will enjoy the time spent with family
members and friends. A sudden inflow of funds
will take care of your bills and immediate
expenses. Romance is likely to intensify through
recreational activities & entertainment. A pleas
ure trip gives the muchneeded tonic to health.
Enjoy your holiday with love of your life. Plan to
invest in cafeteria or a bakery shop; it might
create new opportunities for you. You would
find yourself devoting much of your time in per
sonal development.
GEMINI: Pending proposals will get
implemented with the help of seniors.
Your generous behaviour would enable
to enjoy some lovely moments with family.
Monetary position is likely to improve on recov
ering of delayed payments. Romantic opportuni
ty comes your way as your sparkling sunshine
smile injures a lively & tender heart. Cutting
down the number of parties and pleasure jaunts
would help in keeping in good mood. Romantic
destinations seems appealing to you. You might
apply for bank loan as to get back the posses
sion of your mortgaged property. Your teaming
up with a set of ambitious people would augur
well for future.
CANCER: Good week for implementing

new plans and ventures. Friends and
family members would lend a helping
hand. Investment in antiques & jewelry brings
monetary gains and improvement in financial
position. Romance touches new heights, as part
ner positively responds.
A beneficial week to work on things that will
improve your health. Travel for fun and pleas
ure is what you demand. There are chances of
getting good amount from an older property of
yours. You develop new contacts by attending
social gatherings/parties.
LEO: Subordinates/coworkers would be
very helpful. An unexpected message
from a distant relative brings happy
news for the entire family. Long pending
arrears and dues will finally be recovered. You
are likely to find someone with whom you will
enjoy the ecstasies of love. Your confidence and
energy will be high this week. Small journey
with your office colleagues will be interesting.
The plot you were looking for can be profitable
from investment point of view. A visit to new
places where you have never gone before is on
the card.
VIRGO: Traveling brings new overseas
business opportunities. Relatives are
likely to give some valuable advice
regarding personal life. this week investment
concerning residence will be profitable. Love
comes your way as friendship turns into
romance.
A week when smile will perpetually be on your
face and strangers will seem familiar. Your boss
may ask you for your company to a friends
party. It is better to try for your office accom
modation as soon as possible. The week promis
es many exciting happenings.
LIBRA: Auspicious week to start a new

venture. You receive care and af fec
tion from family members. Financial
hassles seem to get over as someone lends a
timely helping hand. You are likely find com
fort in the arms of romantic partner. Your
energy level will be high. Better to channelise
it in a positive direction. Travel plan with a col
league might lead to a new relationship. Time
to think about your investment plans, as
investing residentially might be profitable.
Dont get surprised if you get unlimited respect
amongst your friends.
SCORPIO: Professional attitude at work
brings success. Matrimonial alliance for
eligible bachelor in family brings joy to
all. Promising week to invest surplus money in
real estate. Love and romantic encounter will
this week keep you in a cheerful state. Positive
outlook impresses those around you besides
keeping you fit & fine. Small picnic organized
by your company is good to change your
mood. Your investment can be done on a
cheap or smaller piece of land. A promising
week to combine personal charms with posi
tive & powerful thinking to winover adver
saries.
SAGITTARIUS: Seniors colleagues are
likely to lend a helping hand. A new
outlook will be the source of laughter
at family front this week. A sound financial
health would enable to invest on lucrative
schemes. Sudden romantic encounter is fore
seen this week. Charity work undertaken will
bring mental peace & comfort. Of ficial jour
neys prove to be more fruitful for you. Family
can be helpful on acquiring your property or
plot. A week when you would easily be able to
make a mark.
CAPRICORN: Hard work & dedication

would win the trust of seniors at work.
Enjoying a picnic with family will not
only bring joy but also help in clearing misun
derstandings. Your brilliant ideas would help in
bringing financial gains. A promising week for
romance when your innovation infuses a new
spirit in it. Meditation and selfrealization prove
beneficial. Fly away with your dreams, new
business horizons are ready to explore. Its time
to invest in property and get most profitable
method to maximize your bank balance. If you
attempt dif ficult tasks/encounter tough situa
tions you are likely to come out as a winner.
AQUARIUS: Mental clarity would
remove past business confusions.
Charming nature and pleasant personal
ity would make you the attraction of family func
tion this week. A promising week to earn profits
in real estate and financial transactions. Partner
brings immense romantic pleasure even if work
pressure occupies your mind You will have ample
time to do things to improve your health. A fun
filled holiday at an amusement and theme park
with your family is there. Investing overseas can
provide you new business opportunities.
PISCES: Travel undertaken for establish
ing new contacts and business expan
sion will be very fruitful. Family mem
bers appreciate the changes made in & around
the house. An improvement in monetary posi
tion makes it convenient to purchase essential
items. Romance rules heart & mind this week.
Sound physical health will enable to participate
in outdoor activities. An interesting cruise ship
is next place for your vacation. Selling your plot
might increase your bank balance. An auspi
cious week to bring changes by adopting a new
& more balanced attitude in life.
ANNUAL PREDICTIONS: FOR THOSE BORN IN THIS WEEK

24th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Venus Ruled by no : 6
Traits in you: Being number 6, you are lover of simplicity
and originality. You are always there to help others. You
are an ambitious person, who always climb the stairs of
success in whatever work you take in hand. You are very
outspoken in nature and good at solving other's prob
lem. The best quality in you is that you have an ability to
laugh at yourself and make others smile.
Health this year: This year as far as possible, avoid
overindulgence in the work you do. Keep in mind that
this will only affect your health. It would therefore be in
your interest to give body the muchneeded rest to keep
yourself physically fit.
Finance this year: Good year as investment progress by
leaps & bounds. You need to invest the money in a regu
lar income bond. You will also love to spend a lot of time
in collecting donations for charitable institutions.
Career this year: You are full of confidence and do not
underestimate you capabilities. In this year, you will try
to impose your ideas on others. This may not be liked by
your colleagues, who tend to drift away. You will achieve
success in your pursuit of knowledge.
Romance this year: This year, take a pledge that you will
not get disappointed on a sad beginning in romance.
Keep in mind that love being the matter of hearts takes a
little time in blossoming. Just be sincere in your efforts.
25th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Neptune Ruled by no : 7
Traits in you: Being number 7, you are an intelligent,
independent and kind hearted person. You know how to
play with words. Using your this quality you will easily
impress people around you. Your supportive nature
makes you famous in your group. justice. You love to be a
leader in a group and can easily sense positive and nega
tive energies coming from the people around you. This
year you might go for a foreign trip, which would be both
pleasureable and rewarding.
Health this year: This year try to start your day with jog
ging and make it an essential part of your daily routine. It
would help you in being in a very good shape. Moreover
in case of any ailment medicines will only effect when
you keep yourself physically fit.
Finance this year: This year your flourishing business
would bring rich dividends. The need of the hour is that
you invest in new business projects individually to regain
higher returns. You might also lend loans to someone,
which will be favourable to you.
Career this year: This year you will be able to pursue
many subjects, rather than confine yourself to any one.
Your honesty and loyalty, towards your work, will
impress your seniors. Those of you, who are in a teaching
line, will do well, professionally. Your skills and strong

determination will bring applaud for you.
Romance this year: This year if you are looking for a part
ner, then be ready to meet a dazzling beauty/handsome
guy who has the power to mesmerise you. However
before taking any initiatives make sure that he/she is the
right person & you are not under the spell of infatuation.
26th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Saturn Ruled by no : 8
Traits in you: Being number 8, you are a person who
loves challenges in life and always come out as a winner
which ever task you take in hand. You are very practical,
systematic and friendly person who is always there to
help needy people. You determination and sincerity at
work will fetch you both good finances and respect in
society. Although you don't like anyone assisting you, but
when you do any mistakes, you accept them easily and
learn not to repeat it again.
Health this year: This year you will start your day with a
positive attitude and a preventive care, which would bring
immense relief from your ailments. It will be in your inter
est to continue to enable yourself to enjoy a healthy life.
Finance this year: This year monetary gains in the form
of shares dividend will definitely improve your financial
health. Investing it for further income would not be a
prudent option. Rather spend it in purchasing a new
home appliance, which would be a better investment.
Career this year: You are full of energy and enthusiasm,
and would like to undertake big projects. In the coming
year, you will have to give up your lethargic tendency, if
you have to achieve success in the projects you have
taken in hands. You will get many opportunities, and it is
up to you, how much advantage you can take of these
opportunities.
Romance this year: You will go all out to give the best to
your family members. You do not like to reveal your sen
timents and emotions, even to your loved ones.
Sometimes, this creates misunderstandings. Sp, try to
express your love and emotions, this will do wonders for
you. You are easily attracted towards the opposite sex.
27th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Mars
Ruled by no : 9
Traits in you: Being number 9, you are one of the most
energetic, courageous and brilliant person, who success
fully completes the work taken in hand. You can be called
cleanliness freak person. You always help those who
need your help. You love to be in the company of those
people who are intelligent and sophisticated. You are
good at evaluating any situation and work accordingly.
For you emotional happiness is more important than
material happiness. Being focused in life, you climb the
ladder of success.
Health this year: This year make sure you make your
mind receptive to all the good things you will see in your
environment. To motivate yourself join some yoga or aer
obics classes. Keep your smile going which would work
like a troubleshooter against depression.
Finance this year: This year you need to reinvent your
business strategies to gain new opportunities. Taking
advice from friends would allow you to spend the money
on some lucrative projects. Initiate any action only after
making sure that this will be profitable to you.
Career this year: This year your imagination and new
ideas will catch the attention of your seniors, who will be
impressed with your creativity. You might also try to
dominate over others, by imposing your views on your
colleagues. This might upset them, so be careful towards
your attitude.
Romance this year: In love matters, you will have to be
very careful this year. Take a step forward, only when
you are sure of a positive response from the other end. A
little care for the sentiments of your love partner or your
spouse, will do wonders to bring harmony and peace in
your married life.
28th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Sun
Ruled by no : 1
Traits in you: Being number 1, you are a person who
loves originality in whatever work you do. By nature you
are an authoritative person and so you always take
charge of things which also makes you responsible per
son. If you take some task in hand, you are determined to
finish it. You are very soft spoken & kind hearted person.
Health this year: This year your health will generally
remain fine but don't take it for granted. Avoid eating
exposed food and try not to indulgence in negative think
ing, as this might hamper your physical & mental health.
Finance this year: Loan from bank for shortterm invest
ment will prove beneficial. If possible, invest the money
in reputed firms to yield good returns. Carelessness on
your part could cost, so go through all the documents
carefully before taking a lone.
Career this year: This year be assured that you will go all
out to achieve, what you want to. You will achieve pros
perity in whatever projects you take in hand. You will be
able to complete these projects with full sincerity and
dedication.
Romance this year: You are unable to express your emo
tions, and keep your feelings to yourself. But this year
don't hesitate in expressing yourself, else someone else
will take your love away from you. Try to mingle more
freely with your special friend.
29th december, 2016
Ruled planet: Moon
Ruled by no : 2
Traits in you: As dominated by the Moon, you are very
peace loving. You do not want to get involved in unneces

sary talks. You are reliable, emotional, generous, humble,
kind, mature, and optimistic. However, you need to eradi
cate selfishness from your nature to improve as an indi
vidual.
Health this year: As far as your health is considered you
may go through minor health issues this year. However,
regular medical checkups and proper medication will
solve this problem. You may go for Yoga and meditation
classes to remain healthy.
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: You will be successful professionally
this year. You will be additional responsibility and you
will well execute them to perfection. Your success may
get you various awards and rewards as well. You may
share your ideas with the higher management as it would
help you grow quickly.
Romance this year: You may get some good news from
your spouse or partner later this week. This will make
your relationship grow stronger. You may have to travel
to distant places to spend time youre your partner and
maintain a good relationship.
30th december, 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 domi
nating may hamper your characteristics at times. You
need to work on your personality to make yourself better
as an individual.
Health this year: As far as health is concerned, you will be
enjoying a pretty good health this year. However, some of
your family members may fall sick & that will bother you.
Finance this year: You may try your entrepreneurship
skills this year and you will be successful unexpectedly.
You will be able to get many projects, which you help you
establish as a good businessperson. You should go for
investments in real estate and stock market.
Career this year: You will get enough opportunities in
your professional life to prove yourself. You will create a
better impression on your seniors or higher manage
ment, which may result in promotion. You should work
efficiently to maintain your respect at your workspace.
Romance this year: You will spend a peaceful life with
your love interest this year. You will lead a blissful life
with your beloved with lots of love, care, concern, and
support.
30
SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
THE BASKETS OF PRAYERS
By Sant Rajinder Singh

Ji Maharaj
here is a story about how

God sent two angels to earth
to listen to the prayers of
humanity. One angel was asked to
collect all the prayers in which
people asked God for something.
The other angel was asked to col
lect all the prayers of thanks
giving.
The two angels descended to
earth and began their task. They
agreed to meet back in a month
with their results. The angel col
lecting prayers asking God for
something, soon became extreme
ly busy. There were prayers that
people had to help them earn
more money, or get a windfall, or
win a lottery. There were prayers
for God to cure people of illnesses.
T here were many prayers for
improved health of ones children,
spouse, parents, siblings, relatives,
and friends.
The angel filled the basket with
prayers that people had for world
ly objects such as a bigger house,
newer car, latest computer , jewel

ry, expensive clothing, and for
their children new toys. Some peo
ple prayed to God for a husband
or wife, for children or better rela
tionships. There were so many
prayers asking for things that the
angel had to obtain a van while on
earth to carry them all around!
In the meantime the other angel
traveled far and wide looking to
fill the basket with prayers of
thankfulness. One day passed, two
days passed, three days passed,
but no prayers of gratitude were
heard, the angel visited young
people and elderly people, men
and women, people of all coun
tries, all religions and all econom
ic levels. Still not a prayer of
thankfulness was heard. All that
this angel heard were the prayers
asking for things. Wondering
whether it was missing something,
the angel got on the angel hotline
to contact the other angel and
asked whether its basket of
prayers was being filled.
Oh, Yes, I have not only filled
one basket, but have filled many
more, said the angel. But in all
my collecting, I have not heard
any prayers of thankfulness
either.
For the rest of the month, the
two angels fulfilled their mission,
and were ready to return to God.
The angel collecting prayers of
requests was laden with many
baskets. T he ange l collecting
prayers of thankfulness had hard
ly any in the basket.There were a
By Sant Rajinder Singh

Ji Maharaj
man was once asked by a saint if he

would like to find God. First the man
said that he wanted to wait until he
got married and settled down. The saint
returned after the man married and settled
down, and again asked if he wanted to find
God. The man said, "When I am rich and
successful at my job I will look for God."
The saint returned when the man had made
a lot of money and was successful at his
career. He again asked the man if he want
ed to find God yet.
Now the man wanted to wait to find God
until after he had married off his children.
When the children were settled, the saint
returned. Then the man wanted to wait to
find God until after he had grandchildren.
Finally, on his deathbed he told the saint he
was ready to find God.
But by then his whole life had passed and
there was no time left. Let us not be like
that man. Let us make a choice while still
young and vital and in our full senses. Let
us not wait until it is too late.
We have been allotted a number of
breaths in this lifetime. We can either waste
them away or make full use of them to com
plete our course in spirituality. That is why
the Masters exhort us to make the best use
We can thank God by leading ethical

lives of nonviolence, truthfulness,
purity, humility and selfless service.
few prayers of thankfulness, but a

tiny amount compared to the
prayers of requests.
When God was presented with
their findings, God sighed. This is
nothing new, said God. You now
have a taste of what it is like being
God. People are always praying
for something from Me, which is

all right because at least they are
thinking of Me. But few ever
thank Me.
This story illustrates our human
condition. In life, many people
request others to do something
for them, but how many people
take an equal amount of time to

thank them. Similarly, we pray to
God for so many things that we
want, but how many take the time
to thank God?
The post of fice receives many
letters from children addressed to
Santa Claus before Christmas. Yet,
after Christmas, children do not
typically send a letter to Santa
thanking him for what they
received.
The next time the two angels
are sent by God to come to earth
to collect the prayers of human
beings, let us not disappoint the
one collecting prayers of thanks
giving. Let us be among those
who thank God for the gifts we
have received. Lets celebrate
Thanksgiving in the right spirit of
the festival.
Let us be among those who can
thank God for the many gifts we
have receivedfor our human
birth, for our health, for our food,
clothing and shelter, and for our
families. Let us also thank God for
our education and for our jobs.
However, let us not thank God
merely with words but with our
deeds.
We can thank God by leading
ethical lives of nonviolence, truth
fulness, purity, humility and self
less service. The deed most appre
ciated by God is meditating daily
so that we can connect with the
inner Light and Sound which is
the means by which we can return
to our True Home in the shortest
possible time.
MAKING OUR CHOICE NOW

of this current lifetime.
A spiritual Master undertakes the respon
sibility of making sure our soul will be
reunited with the Divine. This responsibility
is as that of a teacher making sure the stu
dent is ready for the highest degree for
graduation. It is his job to make sure we are
prepared and developed spiritually. If we
are not ready, he still has to guide us until
we are ready. Thus, even while under the
care of a Master, he has to make sure we
complete our course in spirituality.
When someone is seeking, they often are
fired up with intensity to find the right spir
itual Master, or the spiritual teaching that
can help solve the mystery of life and death.
Yet, after someone finds and joins a spiritu
al path, some become complacent. They
may feel that their quest has ended, but, in
reality, their work has just begun.It is like
applying for a school, college, or university.
We intensely fill out applications and sub
mit admission papers, and are thrilled when
we receive our acceptance letter. Yet,
their work is not endedit has just begun.
They must work hard to complete their
degree program to graduate. It is the same
on a spiritual path. Just finding the right
Master who can teach us a meditation prac
tice that provides proven results is the

beginning; we have to then start putting in
the ef fort and commitment to master the
meditation techniques to reach the goal of
realization of the Divine.
Once the great writer Mark Twain was
having a discussion with a businessman
who was known for being aggressive and
ruthless in his dealings with others.
T he businessman said to the writer,
"Before I die I would like to make a pilgrim
age to the Holy Land and climb to the top
of Mount Sinai to read the Ten
Commandments aloud at the top."
Mark Twain quickly replied, "I have a bet
ter idea. Rather than go to Mount Sinai
where Moses was g iven the Ten
Commandments, why dont you just stay
home here in Boston and practice the Ten
Commandments in your life!"
This humorous comment carries a signifi
cant meaning. Many of us read the
Commandments or advice given by the
great saints in the scriptures. Many of us
are happy even to preach what our holy
books say. But how many of us live up to
the teachings we follow?
There is a big difference between know
ing the theory and practicing it. It is not
enough to read the books or scriptures and

know the theory. We need to live up to
them in our own lives. If we learn a method
of meditation and instructions for progress,
that is not enough; the true heart of the
spiritual teachings is in the practice. It is
not enough to know what others have said
about it. It is essential that we have our
own firsthand experience of spirituality.
That can be accomplished when we sit in
meditation.
Progress is a matter of accuracy. We can
become accurate only by practice. Practice
makes perfect. If we expect to sit in medita
tion once or twice in our life and accom
plish spiritual progress, we are being unre
alistic. We need to practice daily.
It is said that if we take one step toward
God, God will take a hundred steps toward
us. The time we spend in meditation will be
richly rewarded.
Instead of mere ly reading the Ten
Commandments, live them. If we do our
meditations and lead ethical lives, observ
ing the virtues of nonviolence, truthfulness,
purity, humility, selfless service, and love
for all, we will be blessed with inner vision.
We will have the proof for ourselves of the
existence of our soul and God.
FR
FREE
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Maven
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wY
ork, NY 10038
New
York,
212-202-0933
5424 8th A
5424
Ave
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Br
ooklyn, NY 11220
Brooklyn,
718-285-8773
718-285-87
73
oadway
32 E Br
Broadway
New York,
Yoork, NY 10002
New
212-9966-1002
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136-61
136-61 441st
1st St
Flushing, NY 11355
718-939-0898
1803 Stat
Statee R
Route
oute 27
Edison,
Edison, NJ 08817
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153A CCentre
entre St
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wY
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New
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212-365-7456
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Ave
5703 8th A
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Brooklyn,
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ooklyn, NY 11220
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718-9723298
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Brooklyn,
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83 EElizabeth
lizabeth St
New
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Ne
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oork, NY 10013
212-566-8818
212-5
566-8818

"
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Vol.9 Issue 35 - Dec 24-30 Dec, 2016

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Vol.9 Issue 35 - Dec 24-30 Dec, 2016

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The South Asian Times

Vol.9 No. 35 December 24-30, 2016 80 Cents

New York Edition

India steps up engagement

Indias national security advisor Ajit Doval (right) and

Under Kohli, India

played a significant role in deal

Our New Year Special

he annual New Year Special edition of The

Washington: Presidente lect

Putin gave Thursday in which he

OWN YOUR FUTURE

x More than 60 undergraduate and graduate degrees

December 24-30, 2016

December 24-30, 2016

Demonetization will cut corruption,

t ion. 125 billion people and

said, adding no other country

government to fight corruption.

The only Indian-American elector GOPIO to discuss notebandi

New York: T he Global

December 24-30, 2016

Rs. 3,590 crore of undisclosed income

the taxman has carried out a

The department has seized

Mohinder Singh Gilzian, INOC President (5th from left), with

the ordinary citizens, said Mr.

Trump proposes strengthen

India steps up engagement

Jaipur (India) Bureau

Co-Founder: Saroosh Gull

Contributing Editors: Meenakshi Iyer,

President: Arjit Mehta

Donald Trump administration has

Under Kohli, India extends

Our New Year Special to

IANS Newswire Services

Photographs: Gunjesh Desai/

Printing: Five Star Printing, NY

Photo Journalist: Sandeep Girhotra

Cartoonist: Mahendra Shah

Chief Operating Officer:

West Coast Correspondent

Art and Design: Dhiraj Kumar Showaan

Managing Editor: Parveen Chopra

New Delhi Bureau

Web Editor: Bharat Bhushan Chopra

International award for

December 24-30, 2016

New York: Sumul N. Raval, a leading

Center, where Raval works, are

SACOs holidays event

is not criminal even though the

is "a fatal inconsistency" and he

communities and faiths

Edison, NJ: Across the world, while

and Hindu Pandit were honored at the

December 24-30, 2016

Pioneer Club of Keralites

Assemblyman David Weprin, Principal Jeffery Slivko and Student Organization

MS172 students unite to

Joseph Cheruvelil reminiscing interesting

Tristate South Asian students

hroughout December, high school