Vol. 8 | No.

35 | January 2-15, 2016 | 80 Cents

www.thesouthasiantimes.info

New Year Special

Leading the Community by Serving

The Federation of Indian Associations of NY-NJ-CT, organizers of the largest India Day Parade for 35 years,
have also played a leading role in safeguarding Indias interests in USA. Recently they partnered in improving consular services,
joined the Clean India-Darjeeling project, and attempted two new world records, putting the Indian American communities
of New York metro area on top of the Indian diasporas worldwide.
The South Asian Times is proud to announce FIA as The South Asian Times - Organization of the Year 2015,
honoring and recognizing their valuable diverse services and innovative leadership.

All about FIA + Interview with President Ankur Vaidya: Pages 6-26

2015 Roundup: Pages 28-54

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Vol.8 No. 35 January 2-15, 2016 80 Cents

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Ankur Vaidya refocused

FIA on community service
By Parveen Chopra
New York: It was Ankur Vaidyas
vision and dedication for FIA and
the Indian community that won
him a second term as FIA
President. As he gets ready to pass
the baton to the incoming presi
dent, Anand Patel, Vaidya feels a
sense of accomplishment for hav
ing refocused FIA (Federation of
Indian Associations NYNJCT) on
community development, going
beyond the image that FIA just
organizes the annual India Day
Parade, which is no mean achieve
ment either.
With FIA being declared T he
South Asian Times Organization
of the Year 2015, Vaidya gave an

FIA President Ankur Vaidya

ice yielded a winwin for the com

munity as well as an enhancement
to FIA. Holding visa camps, part
nering with relief agencies during
Hurricane Sandy, representing the
Indian Americans at White Houses
Asian American initiatives and on
Captiol Hill, participating in Clean
India Campaign Darjee ling
Sanitation Project, participating in
PBDs the list is impressive that is
bound to leave a legacy for the
future leaders of FIA.
Yet, a pragmatic Vaidya is not
the one to sacrifice the big event.
The celebration like India Day

Continued on page 4
exclusive interview to this paper.
He said his teams zooming
methodically on community serv

For Vaidya interview and other

FIA stories >> pages 626.

Nikki Haley to give GOP

response to Obamas
State of Union
Washington: South Carolina
Governor Nikki Haley, who is
occasionally mentioned as a VP
pick by her party, will deliver the
Republican
response
to
President Obama's final State of
the Union address.
She will address the nation on
the night of January 12 after
Obama's speech, congressional
leaders said on Tuesday.
"Nikki Haley has led an eco
nomic turnaround & set a bold
agenda for her state, getting
things done and becoming one of
the most popular governors in
America," House Speaker Paul
Ryan said in announcing her as
the person to de liver the
Republican address. "Governor
Haley knows the American
Dream and wants to see every
American share in it, and we're

TERRORISM 28

Hillary Clinton has pledged to

address immigration issues such
as family reunification visas.

Hillary set to
engage Asians,
IndianAmericans
IndianAmerican Governor of
South Carolina, Nikki Haley
pleased that she will be deliver
ing this year's Republican
Address," added Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConne ll.
Incidentally, Bobby Jindal, the
other Indian American to serve
as Governor, had delivered the
GOP response to Obamas first
State of the Union address.

NEWSMAKERS 40

Washington: Democratic presi

dent ial frontrunner Hillary
Clinton has launched an outreach
group to engage Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders, an increas
ingly potent voting bloc, as she
looks to broaden the appeal of her
campaign. The group 'AAPI (Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders)
for Hillary' was launched in
California in presence of a large
number of Asian American leaders,
including IndianAmericans. At the

CARTOONS 64

Continued on page 4

The condemnation from Islamabad is sought to reassure India lest the

reengagement between the neighbors after high level contact
between PMs Modi and Sharif is derailed again.

Pak PM, Army

& ISI chiefs
all condemn
Pathankot attack
Islamabad/New
Delhi:
Condemning the Pathankot attack
in one voice for the first time fol
lowing a terror strike in India
Pakistan's civilian and military
leadership on Friday promised full
cooperation with New Delhi in
eradicating the menace of terror
ism from the region, a denuncia
tion that would be reassuring for
Indian government.
T he decision was taken at a
meeting chaired by Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif and attended by
Army chief, General Raheel Sharif,
ISI chief, Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, DG
Military Operat ions, Nat ional
Security Advisor, Minister for
Interior and Advisor to PM on
Foreign Affairs.
"T he meet ing discussed the
Pathankot attack, expressed con
demnation of this incident, and
reiterated the country's commit
ment to cooperate with India to

SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 68

completely eradicate the menace

of terrorism afflicting our region,"
read a statement issued by PM
Sharif's office.
The condemnation will be heart
ening for both national security
advisor Ajit Doval and Prime
Minister Narendra Mo di, who
scripted a stunning turnaround in
re lat ions, after they received
assurance from the Sharif govern
ment that even the Pakistan army
was in favor of engagement with
India.
The Pakistan statement said the
meet ing chaired by the PM
reviewed the progress made on the
information provided by India. "It
was decided to remain in touch
with the Government of India in
this regard," it said.
The meeting also expressed that
after the confidence built on the
goodwill generated by the recent

Continued on page 4

excellence in journalism

January 2-15, 2016

Letter from the Publisher

Dear Friends,
Happy New Year, we wish you and your family a very joyous
2016. Hope, the New Year will bring more peace, prosperity and
wisdom to us all.
We are proud to present our annual New Year's Special
Edition, coinciding with featuring the "The South Asian Times
Person of the Year."
There are numerous individuals who have scaled great heights
in serving the communities at large and deserved to be the
"Person of the Year." It was a tough task to narrow down the
ultimate nomination and selection. We congratulate and admire
all those who have contributed towards the uplift of humanity.
Since 2010 when we first presented Special Edition of The
South Asian Times celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the
Federation of Indian AssociationsNYNJCT (FIA), we have been
closely watching the role of FIA towards betterment of Indian
diaspora in the United States. Over the years with the change in
FIA leadership and the organization paying heed to the commu
nitys feedback on its functioning, several significant changes
have come about in the structure of FIA, reestablishing its reputation as the preeminent community
organization to which Indian Americans can turn to and have their concerns voiced through. Growing
from a nonprofit body organizing mega entertainment events to a community centered association, FIA
took a lead in helping us resolve our visa and passport issues through visa camps, raised voice against
work discrimination faced by our community at appropriate forums, partnered with relief agencies to
reach out to our people affected during natural calamities such as Hurricane Sandy, represented Indian
Americans at White Houses Asian American initiatives, took community voice to Capitol Hill, participated
in CleanIndia Campaign via Darjeeling Sanitation Project and many other initiatives.
The efforts to create two new world records through the annual India Day Parade2015 and all other ini
tiatives of FIA have conclusively put Indian communities of New York metro area on top of the world map
of Indian diasporas.
Despite some shortcomings and community concerns about the transparency in internal functioning of
FIA leadership, we appreciate and salute the hard work and dedication of the 45 years old organization
which has played a pivotal role in uniting Indian diaspora in our adopted land, America. It goes without
saying that innumerable selfless manhours have gone into achieving this and FIA deserves all the acco
lades. They have preserved and promoted the patriotic emotions in each Indian soul, thousands of miles
away from our home.
It is a matter of immense pride for us as a leader in IndianAmerican media fraternity to announce FIA as
the Organization of the Year 2015 for the efforts it has taken to be there for its community members in all
its capacity.
Since its inception, The South Asian Times has earned an immaculate reputation in its excellence in jour
nalism: value based content, clean and crisp display and qualitative advertising. We, the team at The South
Asian Times, sincerely thank all our supporters who have been our partners in our gracious success. Our
family oriented, unique vision has set new trends in South Asian media industry of North America both in
print & online. We take great pride in being a leader in ethnic news print media a most read and adored
newspaper in the tristate area.
For yet another year we present our New Year Special edition. Hope you enjoy the result of the efforts
put in by our editorial team.
With warm greetings,

Kamlesh C. Mehta
Chairman & Publisher

Chairman and Co-Founder

Kamlesh C. Mehta

Associate Editors:
Hiral Dholakia-Dave

Co-Founder: Saroosh Gull

Contributing Editors: Meenakshi Iyer,

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

President: Arjit Mehta

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

TURN PAGE

Priyanka Chopra wins

People's Choice TV award
for Quantico role
Los Angeles: Bollywood star
Priyanka Chopra has become
the first South Asian actress
to win a People's Choice
Award. She won the award for
"favorite actress in a new TV
series" for her role as an FBI
agent in the US thriller
Quantico.
The 33yearold was com
peting against actresses like
Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee
Curtis, Lea Michele and
Marcia Gay Harden in the cat
egory. Tweeting an image of
herself with the award, she
thanked her fans for voting
for her.

Pak PM, Army & ISI chiefs ...

Ankur Vaidya refocused...

Continued from page 3

high level contacts, the two coun
tries would remain committed to a
sustained and comprehensive dia
logue process.
The people of Pakistan, the state
ment further said, have evolved a
political consensus for action
against all terrorists and terrorist
organizations without distinction.
Some quarters in Pakistan, how
ever, expressed fears that the for
eign secretarylevel talks slated for
midJanuary might be put off for a
few days or weeks by the Indian
side, if it was not satisfied with the
outcome of the investigation leads
provided to Islamabad through
diplomatic channels.
Sharif, in his recent telephonic
conversation with Modi immedi
ately after the Pathankot assault,
had promised full cooperation to
New Delhi over alleged linkages of
the terrorists with some elements
on this side of the border.

Continued from page 3

Parade is a sign of the prosperity
of a community and the grandeur
it displays portrays our communi
ty. At 3.2 million strong, our com
munity needs to focus on how to
elevate the grandeur of our events
not shrink it, he asserts.

Hillary set to engage...

Continued from page 3
launch, Clinton pledged to address
the concerns of the community,
including those related to immi
gration and visa. In her speech, she
pledged to work to reduce the
backlog for family visa to reunite
immigrant families. "Applicants
from the AsiaPacific region make
up about 40 percent of the family
visa backlog. Some from the
Philippines have been waiting for
a visa for 23 years. If you're a US
citizen and your brother lives in
India, it will take at least 12 years
just to get him a visa," the former
Secretary of State said.

Jaipur (India) Bureau

Prakash Bhandari
Prakash@TheSouthAsianTimes.info

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

Cartoonist: Mahendra Shah

Chief Operating Officer:

Ginsmon P. Zacharia
P: 516 776 7061
ginsmon@hotmail.com

West Coast Correspondent

Pooja Jain,
Pooja@TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Art and Design: Vladimir Tomovski

Bhagwati Creations,
Dhiraj Kumar

Managing Editor: Parveen Chopra

P : 516.710.0508
Editor@TheSouthAsianTimes.info

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Meenakshi Iyer
Delhi@TheSouthAsianTimes.info

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TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

FIA PROFILE

One of the largest umbrella Indian organizations in the US, FIA of the tristate
area has rendered unwavering and unbroken service to the Indian community
in the country for 45 years. Known for holding since 1981 the India Day Parade
in NYC, the largest celebration of Indias Independence Day outside India,
FIA has been growing in proportion to the exponential growth of
numbers and clout of the community. Lately it has started
refocusing on community service and development.
By SATimes Team
irst generation Indians in America
w ill remember that on Indias
Independence Day, August 15, the
main event is the countrys prime minis
ter hoisting the flag at Red Fort in Delhi
and giving a speech, akin to the State of
the Union given by US presidents from
the White House. The grand parade with
floats and performing contingents and
showcasing Indias military might is held
along Rajpath in the capital on January
26, marking Republic Day. Here in
America, though, the tradition has taken
root of holding parades on a weekend
before or after August 15 to celebrate
what has come to be called India Day.
By now the world famous India Day
Parade is of course held annually right
here in New York. It takes place along a
13block stretch of Madison Avenue in
the heart of Manhattan. And the credit for
the parade goes to Federation of Indian
AssociationsNYNJCT, which has grown
to be one of the largest and most
esteemed umbrella organizations of the
Indian community in America. FIA repre
sents over 500,000 vibrant Indians and
gets significant grass root support from

them. Having existed in some form since

the year 1970, the FIA has blossomed
into a commendable organization that has
become an ef fective mouthpiece and

mobilizer for the community. Speaking

precisely, FIA nomenclature was adopted
in March 1978. Earlier since 1970, it was
active as Joint Committee of Indian

Bollywood star Parineeti Chopra flanked by Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay and

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar atop a float at India Day Parade 2015.

Organizations.
FIA represents various issues that con
cern a growing Indian community at the
local, state, and national levels. Over the
years, it has also tried to project a truthful
and real image of India to the mainstream
community and also further the interests
of Indians residing in the US. Even the
India Day Parade introduces Indian cul
ture and ethos to the mainstream commu
nity.
During Ankur Vaidyas first term as
President in 2014, FIA hosted a number
of community events to embrace cultural
diversity, connecting with the new and
emerging communities and helping them.
Events held included the town hall meet
ing hosted to address the flaws in visa
processing, passport and customer serv
ice issues, meeting with members of the
Congress to discuss the Immigration Bill
S744, a job forum for the diaspora, and of
course Dance Pe Chance competition to
celebrate Indias Republic Day and the
34th annual India Day Parade, as well as a
multistate visit to India to promote and
enhance the recognition of NYCs India
Day Parade. In the neighboring New
Jersey, Freedom Celebration Events were
held at the Garden Exhibit Center.

FIA PROFILE

IDP 2015 Grand Marshal Arjun Rampal, other dignitaries and FIA officials ringing the closing bell at Nasdaq.

Actors Sunny Deol and Raveena Tandon were the star attraction at the 2014
parade.
Besides undertaking various
initiatives, FIA was represented
at conferences and community
consultation forums, expanding
collaborative partnerships with
agencies and organizations in
the area with a focus on the bet
terment of the Indian diaspora.
In 2015, under Vaidyas leader
ship, the visa camps FIA suggest
ed and helped organize in associ
ation with CKGS and the Indian
consulate was something the
entire community is grateful for.
With the earlier service
provider/processing agency,
there were major backlogs and
poor service causing nightmares
to applicants. FIA

FIA is the voice of

the community as
well as India on
Capitol Hill.

has associated with about eight

visa camps including one in
Raleigh, NC and Boston. CKGS
has been e f ficient and has
brought multiple community
organizations together and
replicated the tested model
and have performed 30
visa camps and assisted
over 5,000 community
members all over the
country.
FIA is also sup
port ing
the
D a r j e e l i n g
Sanitation Project,
which is part of
Prime Minister
Narendra Modis

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio graced the 2014 parade.

Clean India initiative.
Talking about his two terms as
FIA president, Ankur Vaidya says
that if you are not a photoop fig
urehead, the hefty tasks the
position entails takes a lot out
of you. Stepping down, it is
not the end of the road of
community service for
him. He has come across
so many cases of dire
straits some Indians
here get into, and not
enough grassroots
org anizat ions to
he lp out, he is
mulling start ing a
nonprofit himself.
Vaidya and some
other FIA of fi

cials also feel that the organiza

tion should open itself to become
more representative of all com
munit ies and age g roups.
Already, nonGuajrati names can
be read in the roster of executive
committees and other commit
tees. Young blood also needs to
be infused. When youths join,
they should be guided, mentored,
but also given freedom. T he
attempt to make two Guinness
World Records at the 2015 India
Day Parade was also aimed at
enthusing the youth.
People familiar with the histo
ry and achievements of FIA give
full credit to Ramesh Patel, who
served two terms as its President
in 198890 and has been

FIA PROFILE

8
Chairman for many years now. Called
variously as Iron Man, Sardar Patel of
the Indian community and Bhisham
Pitamah of FIA, he was ready to lead
when the community was just finding
its feet. He was among the first to
realize the importance of uniting the
community to influence political,
diplomatic and legislative decisions.
Not only FIA, he played a pioneering
role in forming numerous organiza
tions to represent and fight for issues
of the Indian diaspora. He used his
oratory skills and team building abili
ties to represent the issues of the
community to lawmakers and other
decision makers in the country. Now
people may not remember, but he was
involved with the campaign to end the
Dotbusters menace in New Jersey in
the late1980s and to lobby ferocious
ly to get the historic Pressler

Shashi Tharoor came down from India to participate in the India

Day Parade last year.
Amendment passed which stalled the
transfer of weapons and aircrafts to
Pakistan.
As President of the IndianAmerican
Forum for Political Education (IAFPE),
the "Friends of India" Caucus was pro
posed by the IAFPE members. Using
his close relations with the lawmak
ers, Ramesh Patel worked on imple
menting this caucus to enhance their
understanding of India as a large
democracy and a natural strategic ally
of America. He also played a key role
in furthering U.S.India Civilian
Nuclear Agreement by meeting lead
ers in the Congress and the Bush
Administration to turn the tide in
India's favor.
Ramesh Pate l also ensured FIA
became a great platform when Indian
Prime Ministers visited America, from
Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Rajiv

Three media moguls Sudhir Parikh, Kamlesh Mehta and HR Shah posing with
star cricketer Virendra Sehwag at the 2015 parade.

Vivek Ranadive, businessman and owner of NBA team

Sacramento Kings, at the 2014 parade.

Gand hi to Chandra She khar, P.V.

Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
IK Gujral and Dr. Manmohan Singh.
In the 1980s, FIA came up with the
idea of inviting Bollywood stars to its
parades to attract crowds. And it
worked beautifully. Since 1983, some
of the biggest names from Bollywood,
music as well as politics have served
as Grand Marshals of the grander
parade.
The 34th India Day Parade in 2014,
for example, was marked by the pres
ence of Bollywood celebrities Sunny
Deol, Raveena Tandon, Kailash Kher
and Daler Mehndi, as well as Vivek
Ranadive, who owns an NBA team.
Key civic and community leaders,
marching bands and other social
groups join the parade to show their
support. A massive wave of patriot
ism descends on the streets of New
York
with tricolors seen everywhere to
Salute India. For many years now the
highlights of IDPs is the floats depict
ing Indian culture and traditions. The
hundreds of thousands who throng
the parade enjoy the great pageantry
of Indian arts, crafts, music and cui
sine.
Amidst the old and loud deshbhakti
songs blaring from trucks come bands
of live music. The Jallosh Dhol Tasha
band stand out with their lezhim and
drums in a burst of saf fron. T he
parade ends in a colorful Indian fair
which features cuisine from India, and
stalls showcasing Indian handicrafts
and textiles.
Even the Empire State Building is lit
up in Indian tricolors around August
15 in a salute to India.
A day or so before the parade, the
Grand Marshal and other dignitaries
as well as FIA officials are invited to
Nasdaq to ring the closing bill to mark
Indias independence day. And a day
after the parade, FIA also now holds a
gala reception usually in New Jersey
where people can mingle with the
celebs.

Praise for the Parade

Actor Arjun Rampal was the Grand Marshal at the
35th India Day Parade in 2015. Upcoming star
Parineeti Chopra was the guest of honor at the event
attended by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar, India's Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay
and former union minister Shashi Tharoor, among
others. Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag was the
guest star cricketer in the parade. Khattar congratu
lated the huge gathering of Indians and lauded the
achievements of the diaspora Many prominent peo
ple and community leaders were happy to give gush
ing sound bytes to the media.
Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP and celebrated
author known to New Yorkers as former Under
Secretary General of the UN, had come down from
India to join the Indian National Overseas Congress
float at the parade. He told a news agency that the
event has been growing in importance and visibility
over the years. "This shows Indians have really
arrived and made a mark in this society. It is a great
celebration of the motherland in the new country,"
he said.
He cited the dismal growth and literacy rates, life
expectancy and maternal and child mortality figures
when India got its independence and said that India
has made tremendous improvements in the past 68
years "but we can't afford to be complacent".
Calling the parade a 35yearold institution, Dr.
Sudhir Parikh of Parikh Media Worldwide, said the
annual event not only showcases Indias culture and
heritage, but it also brings the second generation of
IndianAmericans closer to India, and connects the
mainstream American society to it as well. This way
the parade serves a much bigger purpose than just
celebrating Indias Independence Day, he added.
"Indians have the perfect balance between modern
and traditional and have great cultural values," said
Parineeti, who wore a blue Manish Malhotra gown.
Ce lebrating Indias 69th Anniversary of
Independence at the India Day Parade in New York
tops the world in its size and enthusiasm when it
comes to spontaneous exuberance of grandeur and
pageantry of India in all its colors, cultures, cos
tumes, dances and music, said Harbachan Singh, a
top of ficial of INOC USA. It has always been an
exhilarating experience to be part of the India Day
Parade, said George Abraham. It is indeed a time to
celebrate freedom, liberty and justice, a Nehruvian
legacy for India.

E xcl u s i v e I n t e rv i e w

Ankur Vaidya

Refocusing FIA on community development

The South Asian Times:
What were the major achievements of FIA in 2015?

By Parveen Chopra
Ankur Vaidya has served two terms as
President of FIA. Perhaps it is first time since
the Bhisham Pitamah of FIA, Ramesh Patel
served two terms in 1988-90. Vaidya was
also the youngest ever FIA President when
he was elected President in 2014 at age 34.
No matter what some people would say,
helming a non-profit community organization may bring some momentary name and
fame, but it ultimately demands a lot of sacrifice, claiming chunks from your time you
could have spent on building your business
or furthering your career. Vaidya agrees.
Interviewing Ankur Vaidya is a journalists delight. He is forthright and candid in
his views, yet pragmatic and focused on the
daunting job he has voluntarily taken. The
most daunting part of FIA Presidents task
is to lead the team to organize the mammoth NYC calendar event, India Day Parade,
that attracts over 200,000 people. He calls
inviting Bollywood stars at the parade as
Grand Marshals a necessary evil - because
without them youd lose the crowds. Holding the parade entails huge expenditure but
he finds it critical in showcasing the Indian
communitys grandeur.
Yet, Vaidya sees FIAs main role as addressing the issues of the community, aiding in its growth and clout. He has tried to
refocus FIA to the extent he could.
He also agrees that FIA should find
ways to attract the youths, who should be
brought in, guided and supported. FIA attempting two Guinness Book records at the
2015 parade was a step in that direction
(the attempt did not succeed). Not projecting his own persona or professional life,
Vaidya says suffice it to say that I am a
civil engineer with interest in real estate.
In the exclusive interview Vaidya gave
to The South Asian Times, he discussed
FIAs achievements during his two-year
term, the visa camps last year that he had
first proposed, even the ticklish issue of
FIA executive committees dominated by
one community - Gujaratis.

FIA President Ankur Vaidya: The highlights are in contrast to

what traditionally FIA has associated with, that is, community
entertainment. We, as a team for the past three years from the
time we took responsibility to this year (2015), zoomed methodically on community service, which has yielded a win-win
for the community as well as an enhancement to our non-profit
community organization. Be it supporting community youth issues, issues with the travel documentation for our community
members, back in the time with the visas and the passports
and now to some degree with only the passports, be it undocumented community members needing religion based last rites
/ funeral rituals, supporting our up and coming youth who
need that additional push from a united community voice for
the mainstream community to know that our community stands
behind both our youth in fortunate as well as unfortunate cases.
In the past three years we have also partnered with Red Cross
during Hurricane Sandy to provide language interpretation as in
remote counties where communicating with Indian and Bangladeshi origin migrants was becoming a task for the hurricane relief workers as well as FEMA personnel. FIA has represented our
community and actively participated in the Asian Heritage celebrations in multiple NYC, NJ & DC events including the events
held by Hon. Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Chris Christie and
the White House Asian American Pacific Islander conferences.
On our motherland front, FIA has actively participated in
the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas for the past three years including the participation in the Regional PBD that was held in
Los Angeles. In 2015 FIA took a 34-strong delegation to the
PBD in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to show our commitment to our
motherland. FIA has actively associated with the White House
Asian American Pacific Islanders (WHAAPI) initiatives including attending multiple conferences and break-out sessions on
issues faced by the Asian Americans in the USA and has had
Ankur Vaidya, 2-term FIA President 2014-15
an instrumental role in bringing focus to
This proposal was sponsored in part
work discrimination and underpaid em- the visas and passport backlog nightmares.
ployment cases that are rampant with the At one point, there were 130 emails per day by Anil Bansal (Chairman of IAB) and FIA
received on issues pertaining to visas and for the liability insurance and other funds
communitys newly migrated immigrants.
FIA has also participated in raising passport and as we reached the ousted agen- needed. A visa camp setup was successawareness to make our vote count by edu- cys location to seek answers, the mistreat- fully tested and implemented in the Iselin,
cating voters of their rights and options and ment and corruption were on public display. NJ headquarters of IAB in February 2015.
We proposed to CKGS and the CGI-NY our
Since then FIA has associated with about
exercising them to make our voices heard
and thus making our communities better intentions of taking the Visa Application eight visa camps including one in Raleigh,
for our future generations. We have asso- Centers to the community neighborhoods. NC and Boston. CKGS has been efficient
ciated with Robertwood Johnson Hospital After a few tweaks we were able to put to- and has brought multiple community or(RWJ) in 2014 to promote RWJ initiatives gether a module with the assistance from ganizations together and replicated the
for the South Asian community and the CKGS and Indus American Bank (IAB) and tested model and have performed 30 visa
camps and assisted over 5,000 community
personalized focus RWJ has portrayed for tie up a community benefitting proposal.
our community. FIA has supported in our
term the NYPD Desi Society and their initiatives and events, and in 2013 took our
communitys voice to Capitol Hill to make
our voices heard by our Congress members
on the clauses that were incorporated in the
bill S-744 that would have been detrimental to our community immigrants and small
businesses. The same year, FIA also participated in the State Departments Diwali
celebrations under the leadership of Asst.
Secretary South Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal.
SATimes: FIA helped hold visa camps in
2015 to bring Indian consulate to peoples
doorsteps, a laudable initiative. Please give
details and whether such camps will go on?

Ankur Vaidya with his Vice President

Srujal Parikh at The White House Initiative for Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders.

Ankur Vaidya: When the camps were first

proposed in the run up to CKGS entering as
visa processing agency, there were major
backlogs that were pushed forward causing

Ankur Vaidya personally attending to applicants at a visa camp.

E xcl u s i v e I n t e rv i e w
than Riwo Norbhu (ex-head of Air India operations in New York) who has been an ally
and a supporter of FIA. Now with our new
team of President Anand Patel and Executive Vice President Andy Bhatia handling this
project, I am sure we will surpass our next
benchmark of collecting $20,000 for it.
SATimes: Any plans to increase membership?
How can one join FIA? In what capacity?

members, creating history by truly portraying their intention of serving our community here via efficient service with a
smile. Their gesture clearly displays their
commitment to go the extra mile when the
community needs it.
We do have plans for the camps though
they come at a cost and as a community
organization without the eminent need an
agreement to push the expenses becomes
tough due to lack of funding sources.
Moreover, the efficiency CKGS brought in
the processing by the Visa, OCI and renunciation has subsided the surge seen once.

Ankur Vaidya: FIA is an umbrella organization of organizations, as much as we would

love and like to at the moment individuals
cannot become members. However, a nonprofit community organization can certainly
add to our fold and become a member by filling out an application after confirming the
criteria set forth by our Board of Trustees.
SATimes: How can an Indian American reach
out to FIA for assistance-any helpline number?
Ankur Vaidya: We constantly hear from our
community via our website: www.fianynjct.
org / info@fianynjct.org. We do not have a
helpline number, however direct numbers of
designated committee members are placed
on the website and updated regularly.
Normally
disinterested in
getting clicked
with celebs, Ankur
Vaidya is yet seen
here with Omi Vaidya
of 3 Idiots fame and
his executive team
members Sanjay
Amin and Srujal
Parikh.

In most cases now normal processing

and turnaround times have been restored.
I compliment Mr. Kiran Nambiar and his
team at CKGS who have elevated the level of
service while adding thorough professionalism to their portfolio.
SATimes: What was the reach and impact
of FIAs Clean India (Darjeeling) project?
Ankur Vaidya: We have achieved good progress with funds - over $10,000 collected and
counting. We want to do more with this initiative aligned with the vision of Hon. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi who has strongly
pushed for the Clean India campaign. The
added motivation for FIA is a strong personal connection to the Darjeeling Sanitation
project which is spearheaded by none other

SATimes: From time to time FIA has faced

criticism of keeping executive positions in
the hands of a small coterie of individuals
from one community. What is the truth? If
criticism is valid, what steps FIA is taking
to become more representative of the entire Indian community in the tristate area?
Ankur Vaidya: From the time I entered the
Executive team, FIA has persistently tried to
shrug this stigma. We as a team have went
above and beyond in portraying merit based
recruitment and not favoritism in the organization which I believe can be very easily
understood if you review the committee of
the past 3 years. I cannot speak for what
happened beyond the time frame I entered
into the core executive team but I want
to add a statistical fact: If I run an Indian

Ankur Vaidya (left) with FIA delegation and Rep. Cathy Rogers
at Capitol Hill during the S-744 resolution submission.

organization in London or in Brampton,

Canada, and claim that majority of the
members are from one community then I
also need to consider the demographics.
Those areas I mentioned are predominantly Punjabi community concentrated areas
and the likeliness to have majority Punjabis in an organization there are high.
That does not mean those Indian organizations are biased against other communities
or provinces. It is a similar scenario here,
majority of our volunteers who participate
contribute and dedicate their time and efforts
are from one region. I want more participation and involvement from different groups,
however, there is only so much effort you can
place in a voluntary organization. It is voluntary as the name says it and I assure you we
dont push always volunteers on the contrary
we need more volunteers time and again to
the point where due to lack of help we are
forced to hire 15 to 18 helpers during the
busy event season for helping us with tasks.
SATimes: Please also respond to the other
criticism in the press that FIA has not been
transparent about its accounts.
Ankur Vaidya: FIA is funded in majority
from sponsorships from corporations and
individual donors. The money is spent on
community benefitting events and community celebrations such as the visa camps,
Dance Pe Chance, India Day Parade (IDP),
etc. Whenever you perform community
events relating to causes, events of a scale
and magnitude of the India Day Parade
there will be expenses that are incurred
that can be swayed and misused to cause
blame. No one in FIA is salaried and usually
the President and a couple of others have

Ankur Vaidya along with Anand Patel and FIA team at the Community Reception held in New Jersey
to welcome Indias Ambassador to the US, Arun K. Singh (fourth from left).

personal expenditures in excess of $20,000

each in realizing the position during their
respective tenures. This does not account
for the priceless aspect of missed opportunities on the personal business front or
time spent away from the family.
When all is said and done, for the executive team its a thankless job. For those who
see it from the other side of the fence with
reason and for our organizational and communitys transparency of the accounting
perspective in mind, we just had our annual
body meeting in the last two sittings (Sept
30 and Dec. 12, 2015) where up-to date accounting statement signed and sealed by
an accounting firm was circulated.
During my executive committee tenure,
we mandate all executive committee members sign each months accounting statements after getting them complied by an
independent accountant. These are our
voluntary efforts by us volunteers, but for
those viewing with tinted glasses or should
I say tinted vision, they procure and make
the statements available with their take
and comments from time to time, questioning of the accounts. I am all for rightful and
constructive criticism but not individual
motive driven bashing that is often seen.
For those questioning IDP expenditures,
I urge them to question the Thanksgiving
Day Parade as well, where the organizers
keep the cost a secret but there are articles
and blogs with estimated expenditure over
$8 million. They outspend the India Day Parade more than 15 times. Why not question
the expenditure and ask them to use that
same money for causes instead of celebration. The celebration is a sign of the prosperity of a community and the grandeur it
displays portrays our community. At 3.2
million strong, our community needs to focus on how to elevate the grandeur of our
events not shrink it. Celebrity expenditure
if negated would cause the event to lose
crowds. Unfortunately, the modern day gods
and goddesses (celebrities) are the only
way to draw massive crowds to the tune of
2,00,000 plus even for a highly symbolic
event celebrating Indias independence day.
So, instead of bickering, lets come together to play a unifying role in this great land
of opportunity and play our supporting roles
of elevating our community and its people
who are striving and surging here and support the causes and celebrations instead of
criticizing them. We are from one motherland, mangoes of different branches from the
same tree. Lets identify ourselves in a unifying group as mangoes and not as a divided
group mangoes from the right branch or
mangoes from the high branch, etc.

Da r j e e l i n g S a n i tat i o n P ro j e c t

FIA pledges to build 100 bathrooms in Darjeeling

Air Indias former Regional ManagerAmericas, Riwo Norbhu, who had his last
posting in New York, retired in the Fall of
2014 and returned to Darjeeling, in West

Bengal, where he grew up. He decided to help the people there

to build toilets with his own funds and with the help of his friends
in India. In September 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Swachh Bharat campaign in his Madison Square Garden speech in New York and FIA leaders began to look for opportunities to be part of this national campaign.
As Norbhu knew many people in FIA through his work at Air
India, some of the people who had heard of his efforts thought
of supporting him instead of looking for another organization.
His approach was of interest as the recipients had to also contribute towards building toilets. FIA has pledged to help build
100 bathrooms (toilet-cum-shower) in Darjeeling where more
than 60% of the population lacks basic toilet facilities.
A tax deductible contribution of $200 represents 57% of the
cost of building a bathroom for a family that must contribute
the balance 43% of the cost for
procurements of local supplies
and labor. FIA has been
soliciting donations in the
Fall of last year for it in
the form of a check for any
contribution payable to the
Federation of Indian Associations, NY-NJ-CT- Tri State.

Further details may be

obtained from any FIA executive
committee members or by
contacting Andy Bhatia
at 917 476 0725.

After retiring as Air Indias Regional

Manager-Americas, Riwo Norbhu
has been helping people with
building toilets in Darjeeling.

Andy Bhatia, Executive Vice President, FIA, has been coordinating the Darjeeling Sanitation Project since early 2015.

FIA suggested, CKGS perfected

CKGS successfully conducted over 30 visa camps all
over USA, serving 5,000 people at their doorsteps
Applicants being served by CKGS at a visa
camp using Indus American Bank location.

14
ox & Kings Global Services (CKGS)
announced on Sept 21, 2015 the suc
cessful completion of 30 visa camps
across 20 locations in the US. These camps
facilitated the Visa, OCI and Renunciation of
Indian passport servicing of thousands of
applicants over a period of six months. After
a proposal from FIA President back in
September 2014, the camps commenced in
starting from the Indus American Bank (IAB)
head of fice in Iselin, NJ from February
2015.
After the initial round of camps in associa
tion with FIATristate / CKGS / IAB / CGINY,
various other community organizations
joined in, resulting in over 30 visa camps
which concluded in San Francisco Bay Area
on September 12, 2015. Overall, more than
5,000 applicants were serviced and advised
about their documentation, enabling them
to complete their applications utilizing the
visa setup format provided by CKGS in their
respective neighborhoods.
Congratulating CKGS, Consul General in
NY, Dnyaneshwar Mulay said, "The visa
camps have played a critical role in bringing
the community closer to the Indian con
sulate. The outreach efforts mean that con
sular services are a pleasant experience
now." Speaking after the conclusion of visa
camps, Kiran Nambiar, Vice President &
Country Manager, CKGS, said, The primary
aim behind setting up the visa camps across

CKGS receives
praise for its
services

FIA President Ankur Vaidya (in the middle) flanked by CKGS Country Manager
Kiran Nambiar, Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay, and
others at the conclusion of the visa camps.

ing exceptional service to the

Indian community and US citi
zens planning to travel to India.
Extending the hours of opera
tions by working weekends and
holidays, organizing visa
camps, launch of new website,
taking additional of fice space
to accommodate more appli
cants in the waiting area
CKGS has taken many initia
tives in the past two years!
CKGS has launched the beta
version of the new website and
Burning midnight oil at a visa camp. Indian Visa regime has
the fully functional website is
many rules that make it difficult for ordinary folk to understand,
CKGS goes out of its way to help.
expected to Go Live in 46
weeks time. Applicants find it
his is excellent service difficult to understand the visa type and all
as compared to any past the rules, regulations, documentation
experience I had. I am required to complete their application. For
very impressed and highly rec example, there are 17 dif ferent visa cate
ommend this to all to my gories it is easy to get lost. Our new website
friends & family members. Its design aims to address just this. The first
like Marriott in hotel services as page widget gathers the information from the
compare to junk motel in corner of applicant and then displays only the informa
the town, wrote Darshana Patel, a tion regarding the visa category that one is
palpably happy applicant.
eligible for, says Kiran Nambiar, Vice
This is just one of the many apprecia President & Country Manager CKGS.
tion letters that CKGS has received over the
In a remarkable initiative, CKGS introduced
last one year. CKGS, with the support of the visa camps, in collaboration with FIA, to
Embassy of India in Washington, DC & its raise the service level to all the applicants
consulates in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, wanting to visit India. CKGS organised 30+
Houston and San Francisco, has been render successful visa camps across America.

Extending
business hours,
holding visa camps,
new website,
enlarging oce space
to accommodate more
applicants CKGS has
taken many initiatives
to serve better.

various locations was to bring in an element

of convenience to those who wish to travel
to India from the US. We are happy to
announce that we have successfully serviced
applications of over 5,000 applicants at
their doorstep within a span of six months.
He thanked the Embassy of India in
Washington D.C. and the Indian consulates,
adding, We kicked off our visa camps in
February 2015 in association with FIA; the
support we have seen from local Indian
associations and the community has been
overwhelming.
Said Ankur Vaidya, President FIA (NY
NJCT), "From the time CKGS took over the
highly stressed and 'standof fish' situation
when incomplete and pending application
process and sensitive documentation being
left in a state of limbo was the norm, CKGS
has established the right attitude, priority
and commitment to serve the community.
They have expeditiously cleared the back
logs and have brought the visa/OCI to
unprecedented ease and pace along with
exceptional customer service all with a
smile. With the support from the Embassy
and the respective consulates around USA
they have created history by taking their
ef ficient ef forts to the doorsteps of the
Indian community in the USA and thus have
left a positive impact on the community in
turn reflecting that positive branding on the
Government of India and the External
Affairs Ministry of India."
The sheer size of America makes it impos
sible for applicants to visit the application
center in person. For example an applicant
living in Seattle, Wash, will have to spend
thousands of dollars in flight tickets and a
full two day trip to San Francisco Application
Centre. So, we took the OCI camp to Seattle.
It costs us a lot of money to do this, but we
are committed to the cause of the Indian
community, added Nambiar.
Letter to CKGS from Jagdish Sharma, of
Indo American Friendship Forum, confirms
this: Really CKGS went out of way to serve
the Seattle area Indian community with full
force Your full teams dedication for the
cause is exemplary indeed without any break
working nonstop for long hours.
Balaji Radakrishnan, President of India
Association of New Hampshire, wrote: As the
saying goes, proof of pudding is in the eat
ing; all of the patrons of the visa camp
gave overwhelmingly positive feedback on
every one of your staf f members. Thanks
again for your exceptional service and sup
port! Ankur Vaidya of FIA, Nirav Patel of
Triangle Gujarati Association/ Yogi Divine
Society, Srinivas Gunukula of India
Association of North Texas have all appreciat
ed CKGS. CKGS is the only authorized Service
Provider for Embassy of India and its con
sulates across USA for facilitating visa, OCI,
Renunciation of Indian Citizenship support
services.

PROFILE

Ramesh Patel

16
By SATimes Team
South Asian Times editor remembers
witnessing in awe some years ago the
fiery and impassioned Ramesh Patel,
FIA Chairman, rail against officials of Indian
consulate in New York. It was a meeting
called by the consulate with community lead
ers and media to discuss the issue of pass
port surrender after hue and cry in the com
munity over high surrender fee slapped sud
denly by the Indian government. Ramesh
Patel raised his voice, articulating the anger
of the community. Eventually, Indian diaspo
ras pressure bore fruit, and the fee blow was
softened.
But for the editor the episode left a lasting
impression about how strongly Ramesh Patel
cared for the community, fighting for which
he would throw decorum out the window.
Other oldtimers remember other tougher
fights Patel fought and won during his over
four decades of community activism for
example the Dotbusters episode when
Indians were targeted in Jersey City for look
ing Indian.
No wonder he is often referred to as the
Iron Man, the Sardar Patel of Indian commu
nity, and, of course, the Bhisham Pitamah of
FIA. He has been active in FIA since 1984,
was its first twoterm President in 198890,
and has been its Chairman ever since you
can remember.
For his decades long singlefocus work on
behalf of the Indian diaspora in USA, he elic
its awe and admiration in equal measure
from community leaders. As was witnessed
when he was felicitated by FIA for winning
the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in
May 2013. Over 300 guests from all walks of
life gathered included government officials,
FIA stalwarts, FIA past presidents, communi
ty leaders, entrepreneurs, friends and family.
The then FIA President Sanjay Amin praised
the commitment and service of Ramesh Patel
and the dedication, devotion and sacrifices

The Sardar Patel of Indian community

made by Mrs. Sucheta Ramesh Patel. Amin
also highlighted FIAs growth under the
chairmanship of Patel. H.R. Shah and Dr
Sudhir Parikh, both recipients of the Ellis
Island Medal themselves, said Patel deserved
the honor for his stellar achievements. There
was also an acknowledgment certificate from
the NYPD Union (Ramesh Patel put in 24
years in the police force, rising to senior
positions). On his part, Patel dedicated the
medal to FIA.
But even that coveted medal is too small
compared to what Ramesh Patel has done for
the cause of promoting the interests and
aspirations of the Indian diaspora in the USA.
Realizing the importance of uniting the
community to influence political, diplomatic
and legislative decisions, he played a
pioneering role in forming
numerous organiza
tions to represent
and fight for issues
of the Indian dias
pora. He also nur
tured leaders of
associations of
I n d i a n
Americans, and
used his oratory
skills and team
building abili
ties to represent
the issues of
Indian diaspora
to US Senators and other decision makers in
the country. He has also been a cultural
ambassador of India by organizing India Day
Parades and cultural events in the USA to
showcase Indian culture and bring the com
munity members together to celebrate their
roots.
As a true representative of Indian commu
nity, Ramesh Patel had the distinction of
honoring Indian Prime Ministers from Indira
Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi to
Chandra Shekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal

Ramesh Patel receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2013.

Ramesh Patel,
FIA Chairman

Bihari Vajpayee, IK Gujral and Dr. Manmohan

Singh.
Ramesh Patels many initiatives have
shown remarkable results. He has successful
ly lobbied against bills that go against India
or the Indian community, raised funds for
support to victims of natural disasters and
terror attacks, and created a sense of pride
among Indians in the USA. The organizations
he formed have been catalysts for the forma
tion of associations of Indian professionals
and businesspeople that have driven the eco
nomic growth of the Indian diaspora in the
USA.
Ramesh Patel started community work
soon after arriving to study in America in
1967. He created the Indian Student
Association at the Stevens Institute of
Technology in Hoboken, NJ. This posed
many challenges at the time as the number
of Indian students arriving was too small to
have a voice in American colleges.
Realizing the level of distress among
Indian students caused by homesickness and
culture shock, Patel took upon himself to
make them comfortable. He would help new
arrivals register at the college, find them
suitable lodging and boarding. More, to help
them feel at home, he secured the use of
auditorium at the Stevens institute for
screening Hindi movies. He also organized
Diwali celebrations and other events at the
campus. Next came encouraging Indian stu

dents to take up gainful jobs.

When Ramesh Patel was invited to attend
an address by Smt. Indira Gandhi, Prime
Minister of India at the time, at Columbia, he
presented a check of $100,000 to her as
contributions to the PMs Fund and Family
Planning Fund. When Mrs Gandhi expressed
the need for an umbrella organization to
bring Indians in America together (some
thing that Ramesh Patel too believed was a
necessary step for the Indian diaspora to be
empowered), he worked towards forming the
IndoAmerican Association of New Jersey
from 19731992 and further developed the
Federation of Indian Americans (FIA). He
held positions of President, VicePresident
and Jt. Secretary of FIA between 1984 and
1990. The initial days of running FIA were
not easy the team had to work hard to get
knowledge about the systems, politics and
legislations in the USA.

Immigration Fight for

Family Reunification
In the mid1980s came a bill called
Simpson Mazzoli Immigration Reform and
Control Act that aimed to control immigra
tion of Asians and Hispanics. The proposal
that concerned the Indian community was
reducing the quota for family reunification
visas. If passed this bill would not have
allowed the development of the Indian dias

17
pora in the USA to the extent that it has.
Ramesh Patel lobbied strongly by collecting
petitions from Asians, seeking support from
Congress members and representing the
case to concerned authorities. After thou
sands of calls and faxes sent against this reg
ulation, meetings at Capitol Hill, etc, the bill
was stalled and finally status quo prevailed.

Dotbusters Fight for

Protection of
Indian Community
While Patel was President of FIA and the
Indo American Association of New Jersey, a
street gang nicknamed Dotbusters threat
ened Indians in 1987 with violence and
vandalism. The gang, named for the bindi or
dot that Indian women use to adorn their
foreheads, assaulted Indians and planned
extreme violence on the persons and proper
ties of Indians. Among the many racial inci
dents in Jersey City, the most heinous was
the beating of Navroze Mody who went into
coma and died after a few days. Ramesh Patel
met senior officials and initiated protests to
ensure that the New Jersey government,
which included some people prejudiced
against the Asian communities, took an anti
hate crime stance. As a result, the Senator
from New Jersey not only announced strict
punishment for racial violence against
minorities but also declared that juveniles
involved would be prosecuted as adults.
Robert Menendez, currently US Senator,
Union City Major and NJ State Assemblyman
then, introduced a bill in New Jersey assem
bly to form a task force monitoring and col
lecting data for racially motivated attacks on
minority, eventually ending the menace.

Pressler Amendment
Fight for National Security
One issue that concerned India was the US
Governments military package to supply
sophisticated AWACS military plane and F15
Aircrafts to Pakistan. Realizing the implica
tions on crossborder terrorism in India
because of such aircrafts that could carry
nuclear arms, Ramesh Patel motivated the
Indians living in the US to be part of the
effort to stall the supply of these aircrafts.
50 buses were chartered to bring Indian ori
gin people from all North East states to
Capitol Hill in Washington DC for a rally to
protest and make Senators aware of the
potential danger of such supplies. Stephen
Solarz, Chairman of the House Committee,
was presented a memorandum. The result:
the historic Pressler Amendment was passed
which stalled the transfer of weapons and
aircrafts to Pakistan.

Though stern looking, Ramesh Patel is considered a great orator, and as these pictrures show, can be charming and witty too.

Realizing the importance of uniting the community to influence

political, diplomatic and legislative decisions, Ramesh Patel played a
pioneering role in forming numerous organizations to represent and
fight for issues of the Indian diaspora. He used his oratory skills and
team building abilities to represent the issues of the community to
lawmakers and other decision makers in the country. He has also been
a cultural ambassador of India by organizing India Day Parades and
cultural events in the USA to showcase Indian culture and bring
the community members together to celebrate their roots.
guard of moves seeking empowerment of
Indian Americans to secure more lobbying
power in the US Government and administra
tion. On more than one occasion, he lobbied
successfully in Washington DC when critical
votes related to India were being discussed
before Congress.
During his tenure as President in 198890,
FIA expanded to a 76member organization
and opened a permanent office in New York.
Besides FIA, he also served as Chairman of
National Organizations of Indian Americans
(NOIA). When Patel became President of
National Federation of Indian Americans
(NFIA) for two successive terms from 1988
92, he organized many events to improve the
quality of life of Indians in the USA. As chair
man of the Gujarati Association of North
America (GANA), Ramesh Patel was instru
mental in organizing the first ever Gujarati
Convention in 2006.
Another unique landmark in the communi
ty work of Ramesh Patel is the installation of
the Mahatma Gandhi statue in New York.
The idea of having this statue at a prominent
place in the city was proposed by Yogesh
Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
Taking on the challenge of convincing the
city authorities, Ramesh Patel and other
community leaders succeeded in getting the
statue installed at Union Square, where it is
felicitated every year on 2nd October.

AntiTerrorism Stand
Ramesh Patel strongly believes that terror
ism attacks should be strongly condemned

and in his rallies he has often argued that

there is nothing more cowardly and dastard
ly than terror attacks on the innocent citi
zens. In 1984, during the India Day Parade
led by Grand Marshal Raj Kapoor,
Ambassador P.K. Kaul and Mayor Edward
Koch, the floats were attacked and destroyed
by a group of Khalistani militant activists
creating panic. A few months later, FIA
organized a rally mourning and condemning
the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi by a
Khalistani sympathizer. Unconcerned about
his safety, Ramesh Patel kept having blunt
dialogues with Khalistani activists, telling
them to take up issues with the Indian gov
ernment instead of cowardly attacks on
innocent people. Ramesh Patel also worked
to dispe l erroneous be liefs about the
Kashmir issue resulting from Pakistani prop
aganda. One of his major rallies was outside
the UN building in 1995, which aimed to
highlight evils of terrorism, create awareness
about why Kashmir is an integral part of
India, and bring to fore the Simla Agreement
between the two countries.
After the catastrophic terror attack on
World Trade Center, Ramesh Patel led rallies
and released advertisements expressing soli
darity of the Indian community with the USA.
Ramesh Patel actively campaigned to raise
support for victims of natural disasters and
terror attacks. Following the Kargil War, he
worked with then FIA President, Yashpal Soi,
to raise a substantial amount for injured sol
diers and the families of martyrs, which was
sent directly to the army welfare fund.
He personally visited Gujarat following the

Empowerment of
Indian Diaspora
Ramesh Patel has long been in the van

Ramesh & Sucheta Patel with then Senator Hillary Clinton when she visited New Jersey.

Latur earthquake on January 26, 2001. This

earthquake killed and wounded tens of thou
sands and destroyed about a million proper
ties including houses. He was a catalyst in
the creation of the delegation that visited
Gujarat later in the same year, visiting earth
quake af fected sites from Ahmedabad to
Kutch district. This visit led to Bill Clinton,
who came with the delegation, to form the
America India Foundation (AIF) with money
raised by the Indian American associations.

IndiaUSA Relations
Ramesh Patel has always taken every
opportunity possible to further ties between
India and the USA. Around the beginning of
the 1990s, Indias command economy was
seen as being proSoviet Russia and there
was a lack of understanding about Indian
issues in the USA, with many prejudiced sen
ators proposing bills that went against India.
When Ramesh Patel was President of the
IndianAmerican Forum for Political
Education (IAFPE), the "Friends of India"
Caucus was proposed by the IAFPE mem
bers. Using his close relations with the law
makers, Ramesh Patel worked on implement
ing this caucus to enhance their understand
ing of India as a large democracy and a natu
ral strategic ally of America.
Ramesh Patel also played a key role in fur
thering U.S.India Civilian Nuclear Agreement
by meeting leaders in the Congress and the
Bush Administration to turn the tide in
India's favor.
The Senate passed the agreement by a
bipartisan vote of 8613 after the Congress
voted in its favor by 298117. He arranged
several high level meetings between the US
Lawmakers and their Indian counterparts in
order to facilitate a better understanding
amongst the two countries, a step that led to
the Ndeal.
He has also been promoting the idea of
investing in India among the Indian
Diaspora. Ramesh Patel continues to be com
mitted to empowering the Indian community
today and often expresses his pleasure at the
political clout that Indians have begun to
command with an accelerating presence in
the political system, the growing number of
Indian professionals including lawyers, and
the increasing wealth of the community.

ENTERTAINMENT

18
ederation of Indian Associations cele
brates Republic Day of India by hold
ing an inimitable dance competition,
Dance Pe Chance every year for the
young generation of the tri state area of
NJ, NY and CT. The competition is usually
held on the last Saturday of January or
first Saturday of February. FIA promotes
the rich cultural heritage, music and vari
ous dance forms of India through Dance
Pe Chance. The 2015 edition boasted 625
participants and 26 performances.
The grand event promoting the second
generation of the Indian diaspora was
held at the prestigious State Theater on
Jan 31. Renowned dignitaries and celebri
ties attended this sold out show.
I am proud of all participants whose
performance will inspire our youngsters
to keep alive our culture and tradition,
which is the main goal of FIA in organiz

To celebrate
India's
Republic Day,
FIA has been
holding a
highoctane
dance
competition
for the past
12 years.
ing Dance Pe Chance competition for the
last few years, says Ankur Vaidya,
President, FIA.
Celebrities such as Amir Ali, Sanjeeda,
Kamya Punjabi, Violinist Daisy Joplin, Omi
Vaidya among others have graced the

event in the past. Dance Pe Chance also

provides a grand platform to dancers and
choreographers, to showcase their talent.
It is a Bollywood dance extravaganza
that sets all of New Jersey alight with the
vivacity and passion that epitomizes

Bollywood. The highoctane show features

the glitz and glamour associated with the
songs and dances of Bollywood.
The 2016 event too is equally promising
and hopes to surpass your entertainment
expectations.

Celebs like Omi Vaidya of '3 Idiots' fame are invited to Dance Pe Chance
to encourage young participants.

Chhavi Dharayan

Rupal Patel

Chair, DPC 2016

I got associated with FIA
in the year 2011. I had the
opportunity to be the CoChair
of Dance Pe Chance 2012. It
has been a magnificent journey
wherein I got an inimitable
opportunity of community serv
ice and was instrumental in
promoting Indian culture, her
itage, music and dance. Dance
Pe Chance is a dance competi
tion held in commemoration
of Indias Republic Day every
year in the month of
January/February.
I had the much venerated

privilege of being the Chair per

son for Dance Pe Chance 2015.
The event created history with
the maximum number of partic
ipants( 624). As the Chair per
son for Dance Pe Chance 2016,
I look forward to an equally
magnificent competition as was
last year. More than 12 schools
are anticipated to participate
and more than 600 participants
will showcase their talent as
they prance on the stage of
prestigious State Theatre.
I was inducted in FIAs
Executive Committee of 2014

Founder, Arya Dance Academy

For the past 12 years, Arya Dance
Academy has been a part of FIA's
dance competitions. Each year, we aim to
present a unique and flawless presentation
which the audience will enjoy. Thanks to the
hard work and dedication of the Arya stu
dents and our team of instructors, we
are blessed to have won numerous
first place awards at the prestigious
competition. We look forward to this
year's Dance Pe Chance and wish all
the teams best of luck!

and 2015 in the capacity of

Joint Secretary. For the year
2016 I will be working in the
capacity of Secretary.
Chhavi runs an IT consultancy.

Arya Dance Academy now has 435

centers across 38 states

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

LOOKING AHEAD

Getting community to come together

is IDPs best achievement
20
nand Patel, incoming President of
FIA, told The South Times that during
his presidency (2016), hed like to
stay the path that FIA has been following
for the past 40 years. But, yes, he stated,
We will like to add value to the relation
ship between India and US. Also help
resolve any crisis if it comes up for the
community.
On the visa camps held last year with
service provider CKGS and Indian con
sulates, Mr Patel said they became neces
sary because of the earlier bad service pro

vided by BLS. Well resume them if

required.
Among the achievements of FIA, he cites
many issues such as immigration that FIA
has pursued tirelessly over the past 40
years. The significance of FIAs signature
India Day Parade, in his view, is not just the
numbers that throng it in New York every
midAugust, but the spirit of love for India
it brings in NRIs. That the community can
come together, march together, stay togeth
er, is the best achievement of the parade.
About links with other FIAs the promi
nent ones are in Chicago and California,
one is coming up in GeorgiaAnand Patel
says that FIAs Chairman of many years
standing Ramesh Patel communicates with

them. Anand Patel also points out that

besides the two nonGujaratis in his execu
tive committee, there are quite a few indi
viduals from other communities in sub
committees. FIA is open to and invites all
who want to work hard in service of the
community, he stresses.
Associated with FIA for many years, he
was Executive Vice President in Ankur
Vaidyas team in 2015. He will take oath as
President along with his team on January
30 at the Dance Pe Chance event in New
Brunswick, NJ.
Franklin Lakes, NJ based Anand Patel is
one of the largest Dunkin Donuts fran
chisee with 45 outlets in New Jersey.
Parveen Chopra

Anand Patel

Incoming FIA President

FIAs New Executive FIAs Venerable Board of Trustees

Committee

(From left): Mohin Patel, Chhavi Dharayan, Anand Patel (President),

Andy Bhatia, Mahesh Bhagia, and Mahesh Dubal
The General Council Meeting of the Federation of Indian Associations
(FIA) of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut was held on December
13th 2015 at Royal Albert Palace in Fords, NJ.
The Election Committee, headed by Yash Paul Soi (Chairman), Ram
Gadhavi and Dr. Pravin Pandi, announced the results of the election of
the Executive Committee for the year 2016. The elected members are:
n
n
n
n
n
n
n

Anand Patel (President)

Andy Bhatia (Executive Vice President)
Mahesh Bhagia (Vice President)
Chhavi Dharayan (Secretary)
Mohin Patel (Joint Secretary)
Mahesh Dubal (Treasurer)
Ankur Vaidya (Immediate Past President)
FIA Chairman Ramesh Patel welcomed the
new Executive Committee.

Ramesh Patel is called the Bhisham

Pitamah of FIA. He has been associated
with FIA since 1984, was twoterm
President in 198890 and Chairman ever
since people can recall.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

TEAM SPIRIT

Office-bearers on
why FIA matters

22

Privileged to serve the organization that has been serving the Indian community for 45 years.

I
served
as
President of FIA in
2013. My wife Daxa
Amin and I are associat
ed with FIA for seven
years. I have lived in USA
for almost 30 years and
am an IT professional.
From the beginning we
have been involved in
various community activ
ities.
During my term as FIA
president we looked at
FIA President 2013
the major issues con
cerning our community and associated with various charity
based organizations that reach out to people in need. We
aggressively addressed the visa processing issues and
brought in methods for efficient visa processing. We also
honored community leaders who have devoted their life to
social and community causes. We lifted FIA to new heights in
the value we provide to the community.
It was my great pleasure to pass the presidency to Ankur
Vaidya who is a young, dynamic and versatile community
leader. I have been a part of his Executive team in 2014 and
2015. Under him, FIA has reached new heights not only in
addressing the real concerns of the community but also in
showing by example how a community based organization
should work to served the community.
The best example of Vaidyas work came when his team
organized a number of visa camps in association with the
Consulate General of India and CKGS at various places
in North East America. I watched how a high num
ber of elderly people came and Vaidya's team
assist them in all steps of visa application
process.
ipin
I also have seen Ankur Vaidyas
Patel
capability in reaching out to
was
high ranked diplomats to
President of FIA in
activate them to quickly
2011 and currently sits on
resolve our communi
its Board of Trustees.
tys concerns/prob
The one highlight of his term he
lems. I also con
remembers was the ceremony at
gratulate him
the Empire State Building to light it
for
record
up in the colors of the tricolor in com
breaking
memoration of Indias Independence
crowd at
Day, which was a first.
I n d i a
And the one thing he suggests FIA should
D a y
get into is politics. FIA should support South

Sanjay Amin

Asian candidates to get elected and also do

fundraising for them. This should start from the
school/town/county to state levels. This would
make our communitys presence felt in the main
stream, he argues.
Bipin Patel also wants the organization to help
women in distress, like in domestic abuse cases.
To get young people involved in FIA and thus in com
munity affairs, Patel suggests that seniors should step
down from their positions, making way for the new gen
eration while giving them guidance give them freedom
too. He agrees that the problem persists in other commu
nity organizations too. He draws a parallel to Indian poli
tics: Only when Advani and Joshi stepped aside could
Modi become prime minister in 2014.
He also agrees that FIA being an organization of Indians
should be representative of all communities.
On linking with other FIAs elsewhere in America, Bipin

Parade in 2015 and 2016 and passing the message of our

motherland to next generation of Indian Americans.
On behalf of FIA, I also thank and congratulate The South
Asian Times for support, recognition and encouragement.
I am Vice President
of FIA and have
been part of the execu
tive committee for the
last five years, handling
PR and securing spon
sorships for the organi
zation.
My passion for serving
the community comes
from my parents who
served a small town of
Gujarat through Lions
Club. I was leader of a
team coordinating the
Vice President
first ever South Asian
4th of July celebration in Edison Township through South
Asian Community Outreach. I have also served as a CoChair
in Dushera Festival in Edison. I was part of Prime Minister
Modis visit event in 2014 and handled PMs security and
public relations. I am also Vice President of the Edison
Cricket Club which has legends like Sunil Gavaskar as hon
orary members. I work for NYPD.

Srujal Parikh

Saurin Parikh

Alok Kumar

General Secretary

Treasurer

It has been my honor

and privilege to serve
this
organization
as
Secretary (2014) and
Parade Chair (2015), both
under the exemplary leader
ship of President Ankur
Vaidya. I am also grateful to
the FIA Trustees for giving
me this opportunity to serve
my motherland while living
in the US.
As Parade Chair my pri
mary responsibility was to
work with the city officials
Parade Chair
and acquire all required
permits for the parade and to ensure that every
thing functioned in sync.
says.
My wonderful team assisted me and
Bipin
worked by my side to make sure we
Patel is a suc
achieve success. It was a first for
cessful business
FIA to enlist with the
man who has inter
Guinness Book of World
ests in retail, restaurants
Records to try to break
(including 9 Buffalo Wilds
two records on the
Wings) and real estate, spread
same day: most dif
out over New Jersey Maryland
ferent flags flown
and Pennsylvania, but all consoli
simultaneously
dated now under his Ampal Group.
and
most
He is still one of the major investors in
confetti
Indus American Bank, of which he was
popped at
chairman for over two years before step
a single
ping down to focus on his business. During
event.
my term at Indus, I helped over 75 business

Nishil Parikh

FIA should back

South Asian candidates
get elected
Bipin Patel,
Member, FIAs Board of Trustees

Flanked by actress Rani Mukherjee and Ramesh Patel

(FIA Chair) Bipin Patel as FIA President ringing the
closing bell at Nasdaq on August 22, 2011
to mark Indias Independence Day.
Patel remembers that during his term in 2011, they used to
talk to other FIAs to catch ideas. Yes, we should help
fund young politicians even beyond the tristate area, he

owners guiding them get loans, he states.

Patel is also the first person from Indian origin to
serve on the Board of National Association of
Convenience Stores (NACS), with over 2,000 retail
member companies operating more than 75,000
stores in the US and 300,000 stores worldwide.
Patel also served as Chairman and founding president
(now retired) of Asian American Retailers Association
(AARA), which has over 1,000 gas stations, convenience
stores, and liquor stores as members.
A man of many parts, Patel also produced the Bollywood
movie The Hangman (2005) starring Om Puri and
Shreyas Talpade but it ran into some problems before a
delayed release. Now he is ready to venture into another
film project. This neversaydie spirit has made him a suc
cessful entrepreneur and sought after community leader.

-Parveen Chopra

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

COMMENTS

Commendation by
community leaders
24

Sunil Modi
President AIA-NY

Ravi Batra
Eminent Attorney
Saint Patrick's Day Parade is perhaps
NYC's most famous. It's had some
issues, but it remains the world's largest and
New York's pride.
FIA, under the strong and determined lead
ership of Ramesh Patel the Sardar Patel of
United States has established itself as the
preeminent organization that deals with a
whole host of issues important to the
community year round and then has an elec
trifying parade that makes every New Yorker
on that day an honorary Indian. That America
permits the Irish and inter alia, the Indians to
celebrate their ancestry while being patriotic
Americans is part of America's unique great
ness in human history.
So, I salute every president of FIA, including
Ankur Vaidya, but especially the iron man
Chairman Ramesh Patel.

I am happy to congratulate FIA for its

yeoman service to the Indian commu
nity in the tristate area. Since its inception
in 1970, the FIA has blossomed into a com
mendable organization that has become an
effective mouthpiece and mobilizer to the
community. It is in this spirit that since
1981, the annual India Day Parade is held in
New York City to present Indias progress
and unity in the many diversified communi
ties in this area. As the President of the
Association of Indians in America, NY
Chapter, I have worked closely with FIA. Our
teamwork grew even stronger during the
coordination of PM Modis visit to New York
in 2014. Under Ankur Vaidyas able leader
ship the FIA has spread its wings for the
comprehensive community development.
Congratulations to FIA once again for their
selection as Organization of the Year by The
South Asian Times.

I am happy to note that The South Asian

Times is bringing out a special issue featuring
FIA (NYNJCT) as the Organization of the Year
2015. In this regard, I also would like to put on
record the magnificent contribution made by FIA in
uniting the Indian communities and bringing them
closer to local people for the last few decades.
The Consulate and FIA have had a long collabora
tion and we hope this will continue as always. The
Consulate General of India, New York, along with FIA
has successfully organized visa camps to address
problems IndianAmericans face while going
through the process for visas and other consular
services. Be it Ministerial visits, outreach events, pro
moting programs launched by the Government of
India or making events like International Yoga Day
and Constitution Day a huge success, FIA has always
lent their full support and cooperation.
We wish FIA all the success in their future endeav
ors. We shall continue to strengthen our partner
ship in the future to bring India and the USA closer.

Anil Bansal

Naveen Chandra

Executive Chairman & Founder, Indus American Bank

Head- International Business, Times Network

FIA of tristate is a dynamic organization

that has done a lot of good work in the
past on behalf of the Indian American communi
ty and continues to do so, in additional to organ
izing the India Day Parade for the past 35 years
without any help from the Government of India.
New Yorks India Day Parade is the largest out
side India and in 2015 it attracted nearly
300,000 people as per NYPD estimates.
In the last three years that I have participated
in FIA activities on behalf of the Indus American
Bank, the Indian community bank with branches
in New Jersey and Long Island, I have come to
know some of its founders and current leaders.
They are all volunteers and deserve our appreci
ation for managing the affairs of FIA success
fully for 45 years.
It is commendable that the dedicated team
leaders under the guidance of FIA Chairman
Ramesh Patel and the Board of Trustees, go out
and raise funds every year from the community
and corporations to pay for the India Day
Parade, which is a huge undertaking. The
Parade in 2015 took on a totally different
dimension as the current twoterm President,
Ankur Vaidya and his executive committee,
attempted to enter the Guinness Book of World
Records.

We congratulate the FIA NY, NJ &

CT for winning the coveted South
Asian Times Organization of the Year
award 2015. The FIA has been doing a
terrific job of building the community in
North America with their various initia
tives for the last 45 years.
Any organization that spans a large
geography needs to have an agenda for
progress and development of its commu
nity and most importantly an effective
leader. All credit for this recognition must
surely rest on the shoulders of the age
Naveen Chandra presenting a
less Mr. Ramesh Patel, Chairman of FIA.
plaque to India Day Parade 2013
Mr. Ramesh Patel has tremendous ener
Grand Marshal Vidya Balan.
gy and enthusiasm and has been the
torchbearer of this great tradition of holding the India Day Parade in New York.
With my experience across various global markets, I can say that an event of this
magnitude is not only difficult to execute, but is enormously challenging to grow
in scale and size and all credit to Mr. Patel and his team at FIA.
Times Now, as Indias leading news channel has had a great relationship with
FIA NYNJ&CT for the India Day Parade for the last 4 years in partnership with the
FIA leadership team. Working together we have been able to add the global
broadcast of the parade to take it to over 10 million viewers and also up the
celebrity quotient with stars to help scale the event to where over 300,000 people
have begun to participate, making it arguably the worlds largest Indian
Independence Day parade. We would also like to congratulate FIA 2015 President
Ankur Vaidya and his able team members including Srujal Parikh among others
for building the FIA brand over the years.

Anil Bansal honored for IAB's support to the

Parade. With Parineeti Chopra, Virendra
Sehwag and Arjun Rampal.
Another first was the visa camps organized by
FIA in New Jersey, Long Island, Boston, North
Carolina, etc. We were happy to have them use
our bank locations in Iselin, Plainsboro and
Hicksville where more than one thousand peo
ple were assisted.
In response to Prime Minister Narendra
Modis call for a Swatch Bharat, FIA pledged
to help build 100 bathrooms in Darjeeling area
at a cost of $20,000.
We value our partnership with FIA and will
continue to support it.

45 years of Glorious History

26

Everybody knows FIA organizes the mammoth India Day Parade

with glamorous film stars as Grand Marshal. But behind the
scenes, FIA has also been doing yeoman service as an
effective representative and mobilizer of the
Indian community in America.

IA is one of the largest and most powerful umbrella

organizations of the Indian community. How it came
into being in early 1970s and how it has blossomed into
a commendable organization to become an effective mouth
piece and mobilizer for the community is a fascinating story
as outlined in the following highights.
In the late 1960's, a large number of Indian students were
in the New York metropolitan area. They formed student
groups and along with some other Indian associations start
ed representing the community in the tristate area.
Came a call from the Indian consul general and a joint com
mittee of community organizations was formed under the
leadership of Rajan Ghosh, tasked to celebrate India's
Independence and Republic days. The committee adopted its
constitution in 1975 and changed the name to Federation of
Indian Associations in 1977.
Thomas Abraham was elected as the first President of FIA.
The FIA participated in the Parade of Nations. India Day cele
bration was organized as a festival and fair at Columbia
University campus attended by American politicians.
In January 1978 FIA held its first Folk Dance and Folk
Music Competition at the Republic Day celebration. Also, in
May 1978, FIA, in cooperation with other Indian associa
tions, hosted a public meeting in honor of Prime Minister
Morarji Desai.
In May 1980 FIA arranged the First National Convention of
Asian Indians in North America which was an immense suc
cess. In 1981, the first India Day Parade was launched with
marchers, floats, bands, and political leaders both Indian
and American. It began a tradition, giving Indians here a
sense of identity and pride.
Next year started the tradition of inviting prominent Indian
dignitaries as Grand Marshals, beginning with Zubin Mehta.
The FIA also played a key role in educating the community
about the discriminatory SimpsonMazzoli Immigration Bill,
which proposed restrictions on the second and fifth prefer
ences, which went against the concept of family reunifica
tion.
During the Presidency of Sudha Acharya in 198384, 17
new organizations joined the FIA. The India Day Parade that
year started a new tradition by inviting Bollywood star Sunil
Dutt as the Grand Marshal.
By now FIA was recognized as a major representative of
the Indian community and members of the FIA participated
in briefings arranged by the White House and the State
Department in Washington DC.

The first India Day Parade was held in 1981. The tradition of inviting film stars as Grand Marshal started
in 1983. Hema Mailni became the first female star to be invited in 1990.
The FIA participated in a series of hearings held by the
Mayor of New York's Task Force Committee and conveyed
the concerns and problems of the Indian community. One of
the positive outcomes was a decision by the City to increase
the recruiting of Asian Indians in city agencies. The FIA con
tinued its efforts to improve IndoUS relations and participat
ed in the campaign to block the sale of AWACS to Pakistan.
Ramesh Patel served as President for two successive terms
from 198890. His term started with a public meeting, which
was attended by Governor Kean of New Jersey, Attorney
General Edwards, Ambassador Kaul among others. The focus
of the meeting was race relations in Jersey City and other
areas of New Jersey where a high population of Indians
resided. The Ninth India Day Parade was a notable because

Film stars and celebs from India Day Parades 19812014

actress Hema Malini was the first woman Grand Marshal of

the parade. By this time FIA expanded to a 76member
organization. FIA opened a permanent office in Queens, New
York. Prabir Roy, a loyal and dedicated supporter of FIA,
donated the office space.
In early 1990s, in response to popular demand, the
Republic Day Celebration was shifted from New York to New
Jersey.
To mark the 47th Indian Independence Day, the FIA
released 47 doves into to the air before the start of the
parade. The honorable Mayor Giuliani and the honorable
Ambassador Sidhartha Shankar Ray actively participated in
the parade. For the first time Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jain
and Christian religious groups marched with their banners to
show their unity for democracy. For the first time Empire
State Building was lit with the tricolor light for four days.
The year 1994 was the turning point of IndoUS relation
ship. Through the tireless ef forts of Ambassador Ray in
Washington, with the help of FIAs Ramesh Patel, Prabir Roy
of New York, Swadesh Chatterjee of North Carolina, a strong
proIndia caucus was established in US Congress.
Congressman Dan Burton's AntiIndia bill was defeated in
Congress. The Larry Pressler Amendment stopped weapons
sales to Pakistan and President George Bush branded
Pakistan as sponsor of terrorism.
In 1998, FIA, along with other organizations, participated
in honoring Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
In 2001, FIA donated for the Gujarat Earthquake relief and
the World Trade Center fund.
Albert Jasani, president of FIA in 2002, became instrumen
tal in installing a 26 feet statue of Sardar Patel at the premis
es of his oyal Albert Palace in New Jersey.
The FIA remains pledged to continue its service to the
Indian community and to stand strong behind any cause that
effect India and Indians in America.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

TERROR ROUNDUP

28

Islamic State waged war

on world in 2015
From the streets of Copenhagen and Paris to Texas and Tunisia, the Islamic State (IS) with its
strong social media strategy and growing network executed brazen and horrific killings and
beheadings in the name of Islamic extremism in 2015
Charlie Hebdo shooting

At 11.30am on January 7, masked gunmen forced their

way into the of fices of French satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo an outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism in
Paris and opened fire killing 12 people. The masked gun
men could be heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as they ram
paged through the office building.
Harrowing mobile phone footage emerged of wounded
policeman Ahmed Merabet being executed by the attackers
as they fled. He held his hands up in surrender but the ter
rorists fired a fatal shot to his head.
Two days later, Amedy Coulibaly, armed with a Skorpion
submachine gun, an assault rifle, and two Russianmade
Tokarev pistols, entered a Hypercacher kosher supermarket
at Porte de Vincennes in east Paris. He killed four people
and took several hostages.

Copenhagen cafe
shooting

Just a month later, a gunman targeted a public event in

Copenhagen. Film director Finn Noergaard, 55, was shot
dead and three police of ficers injured when Omar Abdel
Hamid ElHussein a gangster recently released from
prison opened fire.
He was believed to be attempting to kill Lars Vilks, a
Swedish art ist known for his crit ical draw ings of
Muhammad, who was speaking at the 'Freedom of
Expression' event. Hours later, ElHussein blasted 37year
old Jewish security guard Dan Uzan to death outside a syna
gogue during a bat mitvah celebration and wounded two
police officers.
Later that morning, he was finally tracked be police and
was shot and killed. It emerged ElHussein was a talented
kickboxer who had been released from jail only two weeks
earlier.

Tunisia beach
massacre

The El Kantaoui beach in at Port elKantaoui was crowded

with holidaymakers as lone gunman Seifeddine Rezgui
arrived on the shore at around 11.55am on June 26.
Five minutes later he opened fire on dozens of innocent
tourists sparking a horrifying gun and grenade rampage
which claimed the lives of 39 people.
Eyewitnesses described seeing Rezgui arrive on the beach
on either a small boat or a jet ski.
He calmly strolled along the beach with his gun hidden in
a parasol and chatted with people on the beach.
The 23yearold ISIS killer is believed to have been identi
fying Western targets and telling some Tunisians on the
beach to "go away now".

Russian plane
bombing in Egypt

Early in the morning on October 31 Metrojet Flight 9268,

operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, disintegrated
above the northern Sinai in Egypt after flying from Sharm
elSheikh International Airport, Egypt, en route to Saint
Petersburg, Russia.
The Airbus A321231 was carrying 217 passengers
mostly Russian tourists and seven crew members, making
it the deadliest aircraft bombing since Pan Am Flight 103 in
1988. The Sinai branch of ISIS claimed responsibility soon
after, even posting pictures of the bomb they claim brought
down the plane. Russian President Vladimir Putin has
slapped a 30m bounty on the heads of the Islamic State
bombers and launched devastating revenge bombing runs
soon after the tragedy.

The Paris massacre

On November 13, a series of coordinated attacks in Paris

led to the slaughter of 130 people including one British
man.
There were six separate assaults, including two suicide
attacks and a bombing near the Stade de France stadium
and shootings at a restaurant.
But the most devastating was a massacre inside the
Bataclan theatre, where US rock band Eagles of Death Metal
were playing to a packed crowd.
Two gunmen first sprayed cafes outside the concert hall
with machinegun fire, then went inside. Gunmen then
opened fire on the panicked audience in a sickening pro
longed assault and detonated suicide vests as police closed
in.
ISIS claimed the attacks, saying they were revenge for
French airstrikes on their fighters in the Middle East.

California mass shooting

Tashfeen Malik , 29, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook,

28, carried out a shooting rampage left 14 people dead at a
Christmas party in Southern California.
They stormed the Inland Regional Center, the social serv
ices agency, where Farook worked and opened fire with
assault rifles on December 2.
Farook, 28, a USborn son of Pakistani immigrants, and
Malik, 29, a Pakistani native he married last year in Saudi
Arabia, were slain hours after their attack in a shootout with
police. The FBI said it is treating the mass shooting as an act
of terrorism, citing the couple's declaration that they were
acting on behalf of the militant group ISIS, as well as a large
cache of weapons, ammunition and bombmaking materials
seized in the investigation. The couple's motives remain
unclear. But if the crime proves to have been the work of
killers driven by militant Islamic ideology, as the FBI sus
pects, it would mark the deadliest such attack on U.S. soil
since Sept. 11, 2011.

GLOBAL OVERVIEW

29

Building on 2015 successes

By John F. Kerry
anaging world af fairs requires sin
gleminded concentration on future
challenges, for past accomplish
ments provide no guarantee of continued
success. They can, however, lend confidence
that, with the right preparation and effort,
positive results will follow. International
leaders have an opportunity to build on sev
eral major achievements of 2015.
Of these, most important is the recent
global agreement in Paris to prevent the
most harmful impacts of climate change.
Earlier negotiating efforts had failed because
of divisions between industrialized and
developing nations. By reaching out to
China, the worlds leading emitter of green
house gases, and by emphasizing the incredi
ble economic potential of clean energy tech
nology, we were able to secure an agreement
that sends the right message to all. We have
a shared responsibility now to sustain the
momentum generated in Paris.
In July, the United States and our negotiat
ing partners agreed with Iran on the Joint

Comprehensive Plan of Action, a blueprint

for blocking all of Irans potential pathways
to a nuclear weapon. As it agreed to do, Iran
has since begun dismantling critical ele
ments of its nuclear facilit ies and, on
December 28, shipped a major portion of its
enriched uranium out of the country. We
must continue to monitor implementation of
this agreement closely to ensure that the
specter of a nucleararmed Iran is removed
as a threat to Middle East security and global
peace. In October, after seven years of nego
tiation, the US joined 11 other nations along
the Pacific Rim in signing and sending to
Congress the TransPacific Partnership
(TPP), a trade agreement that will ensure
heightened labor and environmental stan
dards in 40% of the global economy. The
TPP will support American prosperity by
lowering barriers to our exports and helping
to level the commercial playing field for our
workers and entrepreneurs.
A year ago, some public health profession
als were estimating that as many as one mil
lion people would die before the outbreak of
the Ebola virus was brought under control.
Instead, the US joined with partners in the
international community, and with strong
local partners in West Africa, to educate peo
ple about the virus and contain its spread,
thus spelling the difference between death
and life for hundreds of thousands of people.
The past year also marked important dem
ocratic gains in such countries as Nigeria,
Burma, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. With US
help, Colombia moved closer to ending the

The US Secretary of State cites climate change

pact, the Iran deal, and ebola control as
achievements in 2015, while Syria crisis/ISIS
remains the biggest challenge for 16.
Threepronged strategy in Syria
Meanwhile, the conflict in Syria, the refugee crisis it has spawned, and the violent extremism
to which it has contributed, remain a foremost challenge to us all. Americas strategy is three
fold. First, we have intensified our campaign through the 65member international coali
tion we have mobilized to defeat the terrorist group known as ISIL or Daesh. Just this week,
Iraqi forces, with coalition support, retook the provincial capital of Ramadi, further reducing
the area controlled by the terrorists. Our efforts are directed both at Daeshs core networks in
Syria and Iraq and at strangling attempts by the terrorists to establish branches or inspire
attacks elsewhere including the US. Second, we are working with partners to prevent vio
lence in the Middle East from spreading and to care for refugees and other victims. Third, we
have launched a renewed diplomatic initiative to deescalate the conflict in Syria, encourage a
political transition, and isolate the terrorists. This initiative has, for the first time, brought all
the major international players together while providing a timetable for negotiations between
the responsible opposition and Syrias government. The obstacles to peace in Syria remain
daunting, but the need for a settlement is compelling, and the more progress we make toward
that goal, the easier it will be to mount a truly sustained and unified effort against Daesh
the foremost embodiment of evil our generation has known, and a foe we are absolutely deter
mined to defeat. Despite turbulence and tragedy, the past year has provided fresh hope that
the world community can come together and tackle even the hardest problems. That is good,
because the demands of leadership are relentless and, as one calendar is replaced by the next,
we must prepare and, indeed, we are preparing for the new tests that await.

worlds longestrunning civil war. At the UN,

countries from across the globe agreed on a
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

setting important goals in child nutrition,

gender equity, education, poverty, and
health.

30

PRESIDENTIAL

ELECTION

GOP grapples with in-house

problems - Trump and Cruz
Barack Obama
unveils actions to
curb gun violence
Washington, DC: President Barack Obama
on Tuesday unveiled some executive
measures on gun
control, includ
ing expanding
background
checks and call
ing for "a sense
of
urgency"
about gun vio
lence. Obama on
Tuesday present
ed a series of executive orders to help pre
vent some 30,000 people from getting
shot to death every year.
His executive actions, without Congress'
approval, widen background checks on
potential gun buyers, the BBC reported.
Wiping away tears, Obama recalled the
Sandy Hook primary school shooting in
2012 where 20 children and six adults
were killed. "Every time I think about
those kids, it gets me mad," the president
said, wiping away tears.
More than 30,000 Americans lose their
lives by guns, Obama said, adding that the
US is "the only advanced country on the
Earth that sees this kind of mass violence
erupt with this kind of frequency".
Anybody in the business of selling
firearms must get a license and conduct
background checks or be subject to crimi
nal prosecutions, Obama said.
He said his administration will hire
more people to process background
checks to make the system more efficient,
and add 200 more agents and investiga
tors to ensure the "smart and ef fective"
enforcement of gun safety laws, Xinhua
news agency reported.
The administration will also invest $500
million to expand access to the treatment
of mental illness across the country, he
said. T he leader of the House of
Representatives, Republican Paul Ryan,
said the plans were certain to be chal
lenged in the courts.
"His words and actions amount to a
form of intimidation that undermines lib
erty," he said. Leading Democratic candi
date Hillary Clinton tweeted: "@POTUS is
right: We can protect the second
Amendment while protecting our families
and communities from gun violence. And
we have to." Meanwhile, sales of guns in
the US appear to have risen, amid specula
tion in recent weeks that the White House
was going to tighten the law.
"T he gun lobby may be holding
Congress hostage right now, but they can't
hold America hostage," Obama said.

Washington, DC: The prospect of either man as the Republican

nominee is setting off alarm bells among officials and operatives
across the country.
With only weeks before GOP primary voters first cast their bal
lots, the level of alarm among establishment Republicans about the
enduring dominance of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is reaching
new heights reports Politico.
In private conversations with several former aides, Mitt Romney,
who in March will keynote the National Republican Congressional
Committees annual fundraising dinner, has expressed rising frus
tration about Trumps prolonged lead in polls and has argued that
the realestate mogul could inflict lasting damage on the partys
brand.
In Washington and elsewhere, meanwhile, Republicans are on the
hunt for a political entity that can be used to stop Trump.
One growing worry about Trump or Cruz, top party of ficials,
donors, and operatives across the country say, is that nominating
either man would imperil lawmakers in downballot races, especial
ly those residing in moderate states and districts.
Trump and Cruz are worrisome to most Republican candidates
for governor, senator and Congress, said Curt Anderson, a long
time GOP strategist and former Republican National Committee
political director. Some will say they are not worried, but they are.
Romney has been calling around to former advisers to sound
them out about the race, and to kvetch about Trumps surprising
durability. The concern is particularly acute in the Senate, where
Republicans are fighting to preserve a relatively slim fourseat

DNC chairwoman
Schultz under fire for
Clinton favoritism
Washington, DC: Amid charges that she is blatantly tipping
the presidential primary scales in favor of Hillary Clinton,
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie
Wasserman Schultz is coming under fresh fire from pro
gressives who want her removed from her post immediate
ly.
T he progressive advocacy group RootsAction said
Tuesday that a 4dayold petition calling for Wasserman
Schultzs ouster had received 23,000 signatures. Schultzs
detractors argue that she has wounded the Democratic
Partys credibility by essentially rigging the presidential pri
mary process in favor of Mrs. Clinton.
The head of one of the two big political parties in the
United States is trying to manipulate the presidential elec
tion process by limiting direct debate and tilting the nation
al party apparatus in favor of one candidate. This is unac
ceptable, RootsAction.org cofounder Norman Solomon
said in a statement.
For months, the DNC and Wasserman Schultz in partic
ular has faced charges that it wants to make the primary
process as smooth as possible for Mrs. Clinton while limit
ing opportunities for other candidates such as Sen. Bernard
Sanders of Vermont, a liberal favorite.
RootsAction and other critics say specifically that Ms.
Wasserman Schultz has used the partys primary debate
schedule to reduce media exposure for Mr. Sanders and the
partys other presidential candidate, former Maryland Gov.
Martin OMalley.
Critics say another example of favoritism toward the
Clinton campaign is the fact that the DNC last month tem
porarily cut off the Sanders camps access to crucial voter
files kept by the party.
The ordeal began when a Sanders staffer accessed private
data belonging to the Clinton campaign. Although Sanders
acknowledged his campaigns error, he, along with support
ers and critics of the DNC, argued that it was a massive
overreaction to suspend his access to the partys voter file.

majority, defending more than half a dozen seats in hardtowin

swing states. In Wisconsin, some party officials fret that a Trump or
Cruz nomination could sink Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who
faces a tough race against his predecessor, Russ Feingold. Some top
party strategists have spent months considering how the outcome
of the primary will impact congressional races.
Since last spring, the National Republican Senatorial Committee
has been poring over research and polling data in hopes of better
understanding how each of the Republican candidates running for
president would affect GOP hopefuls running for Senate. The com
mittee has held internal meetings to discuss the pros and cons of
each presidential contender and how they would affect each key
Senate race.

Bill Clinton hits

campaign trail for wife
in New Hampshire
Washington, DC: Bill
Clinton hit the cam
paign trail for his wife
in New Hampshire for
the first time this elec
tion season on
Monday, boasting of
Hillarys record as an
activist and organizer
before reaching elect
ed office.
The former presi
dents reentry into pol
itics during an organ
izing event in Nashua,
New Hampshire,
marks a new phase of the campaign. Bill touted his wifes devotion to
the common good in Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina and as First
Lady, even while exposing himself and Hillary to criticism from
Republicans.
She hadnt been elected to anything, but everything she touched
she made better, Bill told the crowd, recounting Hillarys early days
as a legal activist for minority children and dealmaker in the White
House.
The former presidents emergence on the campaign trail comes
with all the risks and messiness of the 2016 campaign season.
Republicans have already assailed Bill Clinton for being a blast from
the 1990s past, and Donald Trump has begun dredging accusations
of sexism against him for the Monica Lewinsky affair and other
scandals.
Trump has turned into Clintons chief antagonizer, tweeting last
week: I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about womens issues so that
voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those
women. The billionaire also said that Bill has a penchant for sex
ism. But Bill ignored most of the Republican field in his speech, and
instead focused on the bread and butter of Hillary Clintons pitch:
that she has always been activist for the common good.

INDIA TOP 5

32

TOP 5 POLITICAL
PERSONALITIES
WHO MADE NEWS
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar once again proved that he is the true 'chanakya' of Indian politics. In
the assembly elections in Bihar in 2015, Nitish Kumar forged grand alliance of
JDURJDCongress to keep NDA out of power in the state. In the leader
ship of Nitish Kumar, the grand alliance won 178 seats out 243mem
ber House. Bihar elections were being deemed as battle between
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar who snapped
17yearold ties with BJP after former's elevation as saffron
party's prime ministerial candidate in 2013.
The Bihar outcome led to open dissidence in the
The most followed person on Twitter after
BJP, whose four senior leaders L.K. Advani includ
Prime Minister Narendra Mo di, De lhi Chie f
ed publicly called for a thorough review of the
Minister Arvind Kejriwal never missed the opportuni
defeat. The statement was seen as an attack on
ty to hog the limelight. After winning Delhi Assembly
Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, his Man
polls with huge majority in February 2015, Kejriwal land
Friday.
ed into many controversies.

Arvind
Kejriwal

Lalu Prasad Yadav

For a politician who seemed to be at the peak of his populari

ty when 2015 dawned, having led the BJP to a historic win in
the general election and later in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and

Year 2015 was very special for veteran politician and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu
Prasad Yadav. Rashtriya Janata Dal president was instrumental behind the Grand Alliance's
massive victory in recently concluded Assembly polls in the state. Also, Yadav successfully
launched his sons in politics. His younger son Tejsawi Yadav became Bihar Deputy Chief
Minister. Yadav also revived his relation with Gandhi family. Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi shared dais with Lalu Prasad. Also, Lalu Yadav
capitalised 'reservation' debate in poll campaign which was triggered by RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat.

J Jayalalithaa
J Jayalalithaa took oath on
May 23, 2015 as the Chief
Minister for the fifth time after
the Karnataka Hig h Court
acquitted her and three others
of corruption charges in a dis
proportionate assets case.
The people of Tamil Nadu cel
ebrated her comeback as the
CM and she resolved a series of
issues like release of Tamil fish
ermen, Cauvery water dispute,
Periyar dam issue with Kerala until rains crippled the normal life in Chennai and adjoin
ing areas in the state. Chennai floods turned into India's worst natural disaster in 2015
with death toll crossing the mark of 200. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the
state and announced a package of Rs 100 crore which came as a huge relief for the resi
dents. Jayalalithaa faced criticism for allegedly pasting her 'AMMA' stickers on relief materi
als and food supplies given to the floodhit people.

Jammu and Kashmir, Modi suffered the maiden electoral defeat of his
career in Delhi in February. It was a personal blow for Modi because the
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which swept away the BJP in assembly polls,
was led by Arvind Kejriwal, who Modi crushed in the Lok Sabha elec
tion in Varanasi in May 2014.
Kejriwal government's achievements in 2015 include slashing
electricity tariff for households, announcing audit of private dis
coms, free water for households, anticorruption helpline and
passing of Lokpal Bill.
Nitin Jayram Gadkari is a renowned name
Kejriwal remained in headlines for his public outrage
in the world of Indian politics. Born on 27
against PM Modi, sacking his Cabinet colleagues,
May 1957 in Nagpur, Nitin Gadkari completed
demand for bringing Delhi Police under state gov
his M.Com and L.L.B. from University of Nagpur.
ernment and the tussle between him and
Currently he holds the Union Transport Ministry in
Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
the BJP led central government cabinet.
The recent CBI raids at Delhi CM's office
If one has to underscore the achievement of Road
led to a fierce outrage from AAP which
Transport Ministry in past one year then the acceptance of
raised DD CA issue. T he party
PPP model by the investors on five different projects has to be
sought Finance Minister Arun
inculcated.
Jaitley's resignation in
The IT based egovernance initiatives such as efollowing, epay,
the DDCA case.
overweight cargo (OWC) and over dimensional cargo (ODC) approvals have been introduced. A platform for infrastructure and materi
als providers, INAMPRO, linking the suppliers to theroad contractors and users has been commissioned.
The ministry have also laid a blue print where it said that it would construct 30 km roads per day in next two years. The ministry has also
launched an ebook where achievements of Road and Transports Ministry will be mentioned.

Nitin Gadkari

INDIA TOP 5

34

Globe-trotter Modi,
'neighborhood first'
Narendra Modi's foreign policy initiatives have
realised the true potential and role of the world's
largest democracy, India, on the world stage in 2015
Narendra Modi:
30 countries in 18 months

He may have been in the firing line of opposition lead

ers for his frequent visits abroad but Prime Minister
Narendra Modi seems undeterred by the flak and even
the jokes on his foreign visits to set a new benchmark
for India's foreign policy initiatives and make India a
global power.
In just over 18 months after becoming prime minister,
Modi has already visited 30 countries, three of them the
United States, France and Nepal seeing two visits each.
His first visit, within 20 days of assuming office, was to
closest neighbor Bhutan in June 2014.
That Modi is not in any foreign holiday mode can be
gauged from his hectic schedules in all the countries he
has visited so far and the number of summit meetings
with top leaders, including US President Barack Obama,
British Prime Minister David Cameroon, Chinese
President Xi Jinping and the heads of state and govern
ment rulers of the other countries.
Modi has addressed lawmakers in various countries
from Australia to the United States but his penchant
seems to be in a rockstar role in addressing biggish gath
erings of Indians settled abroad. From his first mega
show at New York's Madison Square Garden to stadia in
Sydney and Dubai to the recent show at London's iconic
Wembley Stadium (where even British Prime Minister
David Cameroon was present), Modi has created an
image of being a hit with NRIs.

Sushma Swaraj
was not far behind
Narendra Modi is not trying to usurp the role of the
ministry of external affairs (MEA) or for that matter of
External Af fairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Though
Sushma Swaraj is generally not part of Modi's foreign
entourage, she certainly should not be feeling left out.
The minister has herself been crisscrossing the globe
in the same period having been to 28 countries as well,
clearly indicating the importance the Modi government
is attaching to foreign policy matters and getting India
the tag of a world power in the future.
Swaraj, like Modi, too is not on any junket and is ensur
ing India's diplomatic outreach and strategic partner
ships in the present and the future.
According to Sushma Swaraj, India's engagement with

Hands off,
SC tells government

China has been with a greater sense of confidence,

whether it be the vexed boundary issue or exploring eco
nomic opportunities.

The year just ending would go as one of reaffirmation

by the supreme court of its primacy in judicial appoint
ments that was sought to be taken away by the govern
ment scrapping the collegium system in place since
1993 and replacing it with a National Judicial
Appointments Commission (NJAC).
The government's move was viewed as interference in
the independence of the judiciary. The appointment of
judges is now likely to be more criteriabased and trans
parent as the collegium system had come under fire for
its opaque functioning.
The year 2015 will also be remembered for the
Supreme Court sitting in the early hours of July 30 to
hear the last ditch but unsuccessful attempt by Yakub
Memon convicted for the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb
blasts to escape the gallows.

National Herald case

rocks Congress

DDCA scam and CBI raid

in Delhi Secretariat

Subramanian Swamys private criminal complaint

against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son
and the Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi, in
connection with the National Herald newspaper was a
political setback for the Congress Party in 2015.
The motherson duo of Indias erstwhile first political
family had to appear in a court for getting bail to in the
case.
Swamy filed a complaint on November 2012, alleged
that both Sonia and Rahul have committed fraud and
land grabbing worth Rs. 16 billion (US$240 million) by
acquiring a publicly limited company called Associated
Journals Limited (AJL) through their owned private com
pany, Young Indian.
A court directed Sonia, Rahul and five others accused
to appear before it on December 19.
Congress called it as a political vendetta and they even
disrupted parliament activities.
However, as per the courts direction, Sonia and Rahul
appeared in the Patiala House courts complex in Delhi
and got bail in the case.
The bail had been given on personal bonds of Rs.
50,000 each. The next hearing in the case is scheduled
for February 20, 2016.

T he whole story of De lhi and District Cricket

Association (DDCA)s alleged scams in the past was start
ed anew after the Central Bureau of Investigations raid
at the Delhi Secretariat on December 15.
Hours later, while reacting against the raid, the anti
corruption crusader and the chief minister of Delhi,
Arvind Kejriwal, termed the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi as a coward and a psychopath. He shouted
against the CBI raid at his office, allegedly in connection
with a corruption case involving principal secretary
Rajendra Kumar.
Kejriwal also targeted finance minister Arun Jaitley by
saying that the CBI officials were searching for the files
of DDCA, which allegedly has the name of Jaitley.
Hours later, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and former
Indian cricketer Kirti Azad targeted Jaitley via twitter. He
made corruption allegations linked to the DDCA that
Jaitley headed for 13 years, till 2013. Azad also joined
with opposition parties in raising the matter in the Lok
Sabha. Azad was later suspended from the party for tar
geting Jaitley.

OP-ED

38

Net neutrality war: Fought by elite

minority for ignorant majority
who view Free Basics as a humane inter
vention, some Internet is better than no
Internet for the worlds unconnected, of
whom a billion are in India. The intensi
ty, of the opposition to Free Basics, is
certainly unique to India, Zuckerberg told
me, Why it is surprising, apart from the
fact that it happened at all, is that it hap
pened in the country that has the biggest
need to connect its people.
No doubt there are honorable reasons to
preserve netneutrality. But some activists
are also investors or have been influenced
by investors in startups and they have
deep commercial interests in ensuring
that service providers do not become very
powerful. There is so much at stake for
them that they are overreact ing to
Facebook.
So, as it goes with all of activism, there
are the good, the pious and the selfserv
ing, all trying to coopt the general public
who do not have the time to read beyond
a type of modern journalism that goes: 10
Things You Need to Know About
If Indias poor were denied their
kerosene and food subsidies, and cheap
railway tickets and electricity, they would
hit the streets and bring the nation to a
halt. If they fully understood what they
are being denied by Indias Internet
activists, they would do the same.
The activists say there are other ways of
giving free Internet access to the poor.

By Manu Joseph
one of the six emojis that Facebook
is currently testing may capture
how Mark Zuckerberg feels about
India these days. When I spoke to him on
the phone a few days ago, the chairman of
the social networking service seemed per
plexed but hopeful.
He is very close to giving free access to a
portion of the Internet to a billion Indians
who cannot af ford to be online, but a
group of activists from a fortunate minori
ty that consumes most of Indias band
width have unleashed a campaign, includ
ing on Facebook, to stop him from achiev
ing this end. And, for the moment, they
have won.
Facebook has created a platform called
Free Basics that can give free access to a
fraction of the Internet to anyone who has
even a cheap feature phone. And, most
Indians have at least such a phone. As Free
Basics is an access to a fraction of the
Internet and not the whole, the activists
say that the platform violates the principle
of net neutrality, hence must be blocked in
India. According to Zuckerberg and those

Facebook is fighting the Free internet service battle in India via splashy fullpage ads
(see above) and special writeups like the one written by
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Times of India.
Ways that they did not bother to create in
all these years. For instance, they say, a
service provider can give away some free
data to the poor every month. But then
how would a service provider know who is
poor? Historically, the Indian elite have
benefited more from subsidies for the
poor than the poor themselves. Also, are
the activists comfortable with the thought
that the free data can be used up in a day
on pornography?
The flaw in Free Basics is not that it is
corrupt but that it is too serious. Like

many technological innovations for the

poor, Free Basics presumes that what is
important to the poor are the very grave
aspects of life, like information and health.
T he fact is that the poor have best
embraced a technology when it is fun. But
then fun is expensive as it usually contains
heavy data. Not necessarily, Zuckerberg
said, Connecting with friends can be fun,
he said. At that point he sounded like the
chairman of Facebook, which he is.
(The opinion piece appeared in The
Hindustan Times)

Congress at 131: Not a happy birthday

By Amulya Ganguli

he Cong ress's 130th birthday,

which was observed by the party
recently, could not have been a
happy occasion. True, the party has lately
shown faint signs of life after its humiliat
ing drubbing in the 2014 general elec
tion. It fared much better, for instance, in
the Bihar assembly elections than it has
done in recent years and has been able to
establish itself in rural Gujarat for the
time being at the Bharatiya Janata Party's
(BJP) expense.
The Congress has also performed satis
factorily in an assembly byelection and
in several local bodies in another BJP
ruled state Madhya Pradesh.
But these few swallows do not make a
summer. In Bihar, the "national" party
came a poor third to the two major
regional parties the Janata DalUnited
and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and there
is little chance that it will be able to move
ahead in the near future.
Elsewhere in the Hindi belt, such as in
Uttar Pradesh, it occupies the third or
even fourth place behind the Samajwadi
Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the
BJP. Since the scenario is virtually the

The present motherandson duo of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi

resembles a decaying zamindar family surrounded by a band of
servile courtiers who are out of touch with the outside world.
same from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu
via Odisha, where the regional parties
rule the roost, the Grand Old Party can
hardly be regarded as a national party
any more.
Why the downhill slide? Several rea
sons can be mentioned. One is apparently
the belief among the voters because of
their 1975 experience that the party can
not be entrusted with total power any
more. It is not impossible that this belief

has been strengthened by the admiration

for Indira Gandhi expressed by her
grandson, Congress vice president Rahul
Gandhi. "She is my role model", he has
said, adding that he would have acted like
her as when she faced "severe assault" by
"destabilizing forces", which was the stan
dard explanation for her draconian meas
ures in 1975.
It is noteworthy that while other
Congressmen have been mildly critical of

the Emergency Jairam Ramesh said it

was a mistake because it enabled the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to enter
the mainstream the party's first family
has been largely silent.
A second reason why the Congress is
stumbling is its familiar tryst with cor
ruption. It has lost power twice in recent
years because of its association with
sleaze in 1989 when the Bofors how
itzer scandal brought down the Rajiv
Gandhi government and in 2014 when
the plethora of scams led to the
Manmohan Singh government's ouster.
In addition to its authoritarian trait, as
demonstrated in 1975, the party has
always had to continuously battle the
perception of being corrupt.
The third, and perhaps the most cru
cial, reason is its pathetic dependence on
the NehruGandhis which has turned a
"mass movement into a feudal oligarchy",
to quote from Rajiv Gand hi's 1985
speech.
Instead, the present motherandson
duo of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
resembles a decaying zamindar family
surrounded by a band of servile courtiers
who are out of touch with the outside
world.

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

INDIAN AMERICAN NEWSMAKERS

40

2015 NEWSMAKERS
Indian Americans who were in spotlight for
reasons more right than wrong
Nikki Haley

The Washington Post named South

Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as the top
governor to make the
most news this
year, citing her
response to the
Charleston
Church shoot
ing, the subse
quent debate and
lowering of the
Confederate Battle
Flag from State House
grounds, and her actions during October's
unprecedented statewide flood. CNN also
listed Haley among the 9 politicians to
watch in 2016. Haley's name has floated
around since her historic 2010 run for
governor in the state as a possible nation
al political name, and all year she's fielded
questions about the Republican ticket in
2016.

Preet Bharara
The most recent convic
t ion of the former
majority leader of
the New York state
Senate on corrup
tion charges was
yet another feather
in the already
crowded cap of Preet
Bharara, the US attorney
in Manhattan. This also meant that two of
the most powerful men in the state lost
their jobs at the hands of a U.S. attorney
who has sought to clean up the state capi
tal. The guilty verdict against Dean Skelos
by a 12person jury in federal court in
Manhattan came less than two weeks
after a jury found former Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver guilty of honest
services fraud, extortion and money laun
dering. Bhararas office prosecuted both
Skelos, a Long Island Republican, and
Silver, a Manhattan Demo crat. For
Bharara, the verdicts are emblematic of
his move from a watchdog of Wall Street,
where he has faced setbacks on his insid
ertrading prosecutions, to the sheriff of
Albany.

Bobby Jindal
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a one
time rising Republican
star whose populari
ty has plummeted
in his own state,
dropped out of
the presidential
race, conceding
that he was
unable to find
any tract ion. He

withdrew days before a runoff election in

the Louisiana governors race, a contest in
which the candidates in both parties have
intermittently criticized the oncepopular
incumbent. Ive come to the realization
this is not my time, he said on Fox News.
Jindal had unveiled a series of policy
proposals, ferociously attacked Donald J.
Trump and spent considerable time court
ing conservatives in Iowa, which begins
the presidential nominating process.
None of it worked. He raised little money,
did not rise high enough in the polls to
appear on the primetime debate stage
and was overshadowed by unconvention
al candidates such as Trump and Ben
Carson. His more immediate challenge
was most like ly money : He had just
$261,000 on hand as of the start of
October.

Sundar Pichai
Sundararajan Pichai shot to fame when
he became the CEO of tech giant Google
in August 2015. Earlier, while heading
Googles products division, his vision of a
separate
browser
(Chrome) impressed
the then CEO Eric
Schmidt. Pichai
joined Google in
2004 and rose to
the top. He was
also a potential can
didate for the top jobs
at Microsoft and Twitter as
well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also con
gratulated Pichai on his appointment as
Google CEO. During his first visit to India
after taking on the new role in December
2015 he said Google will hire more engi
neers, ramp up existing campuses, open a
huge new campus in Hyderabad and
expand its R&D facility in Bangalore. The
company is partnering with the govern
ments skill development arm to train 2
million developers in India. It will roll out
free public wifi spots in 100 Indian train
stations in the coming year.
Its rural internet program Project Loon
will move from pilot phase and cover
300,000 Indian villages. Project Loon, a
network of internetbeaming highaltitude
balloons, will help connect villages and
towns that have no fiberoptic infrastruc
ture. The program is yet to clear regulato
ry hurdles in the country, though. No
doubt Pichai will be at the helm of it all
during this transformation phase.

Bela Bajaria
Amid a shakeup of NBCs comedy pro
gramming department, Bela Bajaria was
promoted to president of Universal
Television in June 2015. Bajaria had been
exec VP of Universal TV since joining the
Peacock in 2011. The promotion is a
recognition of her success in revitalizing
NBCs revamped production operation.
She was given a mandate to beef up its

creative roster and

sell shows to out
side networks as
well as deliver
new shows to
NBC. Bajaria,
who had a long
run at CBS before
moving to NBC, is
known to be a rising
star in the NBCUniversal exec ranks.
On Bajarias watch, Universal TV fielded
comedies Brooklyn NineNine and The
Mindy Project for Fox and drama Bates
Motel for A&E. It also steered comedy
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to Netflix
after it was initially developed for NBC.

story. T he
humanities
medal hon
ors an indi
vidual
or
organization
whose work
has deepened
the nation's understanding of the human
experience, broadened citizens' engage
ment with history and literature or helped
preserve and expand Americans' access to
cultural resources. Lahiri's novel "The
Lowland" was among the books Obama
took w ith him while vacat ioning in
Martha's Vineyard, an island summer
resort in Massachusetts.

Aziz Ansari

Priyanka Chopra

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansaris new

series on Netflix, Master of None, gar
nered a volume and tenor of critical and
viewer praise that would make a veteran
show runners heart
skip a beat. Among
other compli
ments, the 10
episode series,
which centered
on the quotidian
travails and tri
umphs of Ansaris
Dev Shah, a commer
cial actor making his way
in NYC, has been lauded as a perfect dis
tillation of Ansaris best comedy and a
thrillingly assured, engrossing, effective
series. The New Yorker even declared
that Master of None feels like the future.

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra wowed

a different set of audiences with her act
ing prowess in her
first
American
series, Quantico.
ABCs newest
show,
which
aired for first
t ime
in
September 2015
follows
Alex
Parrish (played by
Chopra) and a group of fel
low FBI recruits as they endure a training
camp in Quantico, Virginia. Chopra is cer
tainly the first bona fide Bollywood star to
bag a prime time spot as a lead.

Sanjay Patel

DisneyPixar released Director Sanjay

Patels animated short Sanjay's Super
Teamthe first from
the studio that fea
tures an Indian
American family
as the main
characters
fo cused on a
young boy who
would rather spend
his day watching
superheroes on TV than partake in his
dad's religious meditation. The seven
minute short debuted in June 2015 at the
Academy International Animated Film
Festival in France, and was screened in
theaters before the release of Disney
Pixar movie T he Goo d Dinosaur in
November. Director Sanjay Patel based
the short of f his reallife experiences
growing up as the son to an Indian immi
grant in San Bernardino, Calif.

Jhumpa Lahiri
President Barack Obama presented the
2014 Nat ional Medals of Arts and
Humanities to Pulitzer Prize winning
IndianAmerican author Jhumpa Lahiri in
September 2015 for enlarging the human

Tulsi Gabbard
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (DHawaii) contin
ued her harsh criticisms of the Obama
administration's for
eign policy, saying
actions against
the Islamic State
g roup
could
lead the U.S.
into a "devastat
ing nuclear war"
with Russia.
It's not the first
time she has made waves
by bucking her party. Gabbard, a vice
chairwoman of the Democratic National
Committee,was an outspoken critic of
Demo crat ic Nat ional Committee
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
and her decision to limit the number of
Demo crat ic de bates and claimed
Wasserman Schultz disinvited her from
the first Democratic debate in return. She
also criticized the administration for
avoiding using the word Islamic to
describe terrorists. But Gabbard make it
very clear that she's not concerned about
going against Democrats."I serve the
American people. I serve the people of
Hawaii," Gabbard said. "I'm a veteran, and
I hear from so many of my fellow soldiers
and those who I've served with how con
cerned they are that we repeat these
same mistakes of the past."

NATIONAL COMMUNITY ROUNDUP

41

An Eventful 2015 it was.....

It was a significant year in the history of Indian
American community. PM Modi's West Coast
visit, Yoga Day at UN, another spell of desi kids
at bees.....several milestones achieved.
PM Modi gets a rousing
welcome in Silicon Valley

radicals as they are conflated with Muslims by many

Americans.
The spike included assaults on hijabwearing students;
arsons and vandalism at mosques; and shootings and
death threats at Islamicowned businesses.
Eighteen of the episodes came since the shooting in
San Bernardino on December 2 which left 14 people
dead which included assaults on elderly Sikhs and gurd
waras vandalized.

Indian Americans generous

gifts to varsities
When PM Modi pitched Digital India plan
The Indian diaspora gave a rockstarlike reception to
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September
2015 during his visit to the Silicon Valley when he met
the tech titans and pitched for Digital India plan.
Tech honchos including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google
chief executive Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya
Nadella, hailed the prime minister for his vision of digiti
zation and innovation in India.
Prime Minister Modi also invited Apple to set up a
manufacturing base in India to which CEO Cook respond
ed positively.
Nadella said it will announce cloud computing systems
from data centers in India, calling it a "big milestone". In
his remarks, Nadella said Microsoft's plan is to partner
with the Indian Government to bring in lowcost broad
band connectivity to 5,00,000 villages in India.
Google announced that it will soon help India set up
base for free WiFi at 500 railway stations.
The prime minister also visited Facebook headquarters
and attended a Q&A session. Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg said he considers India a "temple" of knowl
edge from where he took inspiration to rebuild Facebook
when the company went through a "rough patch" and
was on the verge of being sold over 10 years ago.

Rise in hate crimes against

Sikhs and Muslims

Sikhs become casualty of antiMuslim sentiments

Hate crimes against Muslim Americans and mosques
across the United States tripled in the wake of the terror
ist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, with
dozens occurring within just a month.
Sikhs too increasingly became the target of racial
attacks as they are frequently mistaken for terrorists and

Chandrika & Ranjan Tandon donated $100 million to NYU

The latest to join the elite list of philanthropic Indian
Americans is Georgina Joshi Foundation which gifted $1
million to Indiana Universitys Jacobs School of Music.
Louise AddicottJoshi and Yatish Joshi have established
an extraordinary philanthropic legacy supporting many
causes, including musical educat ion on Indiana
Universitys Bloomington and South Bend campuses.
Previously the Polytechnic School of Engineering of
New York University (NYU) received a $100million con
tribution from Chandrika Tandon, a musician and NYU
trustee, and her husband Ranjan Tandon. The school will
be renamed NYU Tandon School of Engineering in recog
nition of the couples contribution.
Similarly a new, $18 million outpatient pavilion at St.
Marys Healthcare in Amsterdam, NY is nearly ready to
open, thanks in part to a $1 million donation from
Govind and Jyothi Rao, an Indian American couple. The
family had previously pledged $250,000 to the facility at
the start of its capital campaign last year but increased it
to $1 million. In August 2015, a historical celebration of
the establishment of three endowed chairs Shri
Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies, Dhan
Kaur Sahota Presidential Chair in Sikh Studies and Swami
VivekanandaDCF (Dharma Civilization Foundation)
Presidential Chair in Modern India Studies in the
School of Humanities at the University of California,
Irvine was held. The Jain chair endowments came from
Dr. Jasvant and Dr. Meera Modi and Mr. Rajesh (Raju)
and Mrs. Neeta Shah and from Dr.Harvinder and Mrs.
Asha Sahota for Sikh Studies Chair.
A total of four chairs these three chairs plus the
Thakkar FamilyDCF Presidential Chair in Vedic and
Indic Civilization Studies signed earlier in 2015 will
anchor the religious studies program at UCI by perma
nently securing facultyled research and instruction in
influential Indian religions and culture and help estab
lish a multidisciplinary campus for Indian studies at a
prominent public university in United States of America.

All Star Cricket creates

a buzz in the US

Cricket fans in the US got three live T20 treats

For the South Asians and Caribbeans starved of crick
et in America, the threecity Cricket AllStars series
extravaganza came in November 2015 as manna from
heaven. Twentyeight of the best cricketers of the past
20 years joined master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and
Australias spin wizard Shane Warne to play three T20
matches in Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles besides
New York.
And those marquee names included
Saurav Ganguly, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Glenn
McGrath, Wasim Akram, Curtley Ambrose, Kumar
Sangakkara. The series was a 3way partnership
between Sachin, Shane Warne and Ben Sturner, whose
New York based Leverage Agency is producing and
promoting the mega event. All the players have been
signed up for 15 games over the next three years. And
in the future, All Stars games could also be played in
England or India. These exhibition matches were com
plete entertainment package with galas, meetand
greets, community clinics, fireworks in Houston during
Diwali a festive celebration for cricket fans.

International Yoga Day in

the United Nations

UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon, External Affairs

Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at
the Yoga Day celebration in the UN
As part of International Yoga Day on June 21,
External Af fairs Minister Sushma Swaraj lead the
events at the UN in New York. June 21 the day that
marks summer solstice in the northern hemisphere
was designated as the International Day of Yoga at
Indias instance in December 2014 after Modi recom
mended it at his UNGA speech. The Indian Embassy in
Washington and the Consulate General of India in New
York also lined up events to mark Yoga Day. In New
York and adjoining cities, as many as 11 events were
advertised, including an annual event at Times Square.
The Indian Embassy in Washington that initiated Yoga
Day celebrations with a talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on
April 29 also hosted Yoga on the Mall.

SUBCONTINENT ROUNDUP

42

Year of see-saw ties

between India-Pak
Bilateral ties between neighbors Pakistan and India swung
wildly in 2015 -- from a breakdown in talks to resuming the
interrupted dialogue at the highest level of government.

Thaw in IndiaPak
relationships

The year began on a chilly note when Zakiur Rehman

Lakhvi, said to be mastermind of Mumbai terror attack,
managed to secure bail after six years of incarceration.
Since then, bilateral relations have been through ups and
downs more downs than ups.
But as the year drew to a close, there was a dramatic
thaw in the frosty relations, with Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi stopping over at Lahore, on his way
home from Afghanistan, to meet Pakistan Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif on the latter's birthday.
Earlier, the two south Asian leaders had had an
impromptu meeting in Paris on November 30, on the
sidelines of the Climate Summit.
The Paris meet was followed by the National Security
Advisers of the two countries Ajit Doval of India and
Naseer Khan Janjua of Pakistan holding talks in
Bangkok on December 6.
Two days later, India's External Af fairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj participated in the Heart of Asia confer
ence in Islamabad where she also met the Pakistani
prime minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz.
The conference turned out to be a gamechanger for the
two South Asian nuclear neighbours.
Observers say that 2016 is likely to see major step up
in exchanges between the two feuding neighbors, as the
course had been set by Modi's surprise visit to Lahore
and the subsequent dovish statements issued by Sharif.

A year of miseries
for Nepal

Nepal suf fered many jolts in 2015 as two massive

earthquakes left a trail of devastation with the only glim
mer of hope being the promulg at ion of a new
Constitution but that also resulted in protests by
Madhesis, largely of Indian origin, and strain in Indo
Nepal ties. Nepal was hit by powerful earthquakes on
April 25 and May 12, as well as hundreds of aftershocks
that killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed half a mil
lion houses. The economic damage of the quake was esti
mated to be USD 7 billion.
Despite the boycott by the Madhesis, Nepal's major
parties forged an agreement and announced the
Constitution on September 20 with over 85 percent of
votes. According to the new charter, the country was
divided into seven federal provinces, which was rejected
by the Madhesi community. Following the promulgation
of the Constitution, there was widespread agitation by
Madhesi and Tharu communities of southern and west
ern Nepal who claimed it was a move to politically mar
ginalize them. The protests led to the blockade of key
border trading points between India and Nepal, causing
shortage of essential goods and medicines in the land
locked Himalayan country. In August, Nepal's Parliament
elected K P Sharma Oli, chairman of the CPNUML, as the
new Prime Minister.

Landmark land
boundary pact with
Bangladesh

Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh in June saw the

exchange of instruments of ratification of the landmark
land boundary agreement. It was a relief for over 50,000
people living in 162 enclaves across both countries as
India and Bangladesh swapped enclaves, bringing to an
end the 68yearold boundary dispute. The June 67 visit
of PM Modi also saw IndiaBangladesh developmental
cooperation scaling new heights, with India pledging a
$2 billion Line of Credit for Bangladesh. The two coun
tries took a host of steps to enhance trade and connectiv
ity, including the launch of two new bus services. The
two countries are a part of the subregional cooperation
between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal to enhance
connectivity and regional integration.

BhutanIndia ties on
an upward curve
The visit of Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay
to India in January focused on optimizing cooperation in

the field of hydropower the centerpiece of economic

cooperation between the two countries. The two sides
reiterated their commitment to the 10,000 MW initiative
and in this context, to the early implementation of the
four JVmodel projects, totaling 2120 MW.

Booster for Sri

LankaIndia ties

Within months of the newlyelected Sri Lankan

President Maithripala Sirisena taking charge of the
island nation, twoway visits were held by the leaders
and foreign ministers of India and Sri Lanka.
During Modi's visit to Sri Lanka in March, India
pledged $318 million Line of Credit for railway upgrada
tion, unveiled a currency swap agreement of US $1.5 bil
lion to help stabilize the Sri Lankan rupee and to develop
Trincomalee as a regional petroleum hub.

India helps
reconstruct strifetorn
Afghanistan
Amid the backdrop of the unfolding transition in
Afghanistan, India sustained its engagement with the war
torn country. During the visit of Afghan President Ashraf
Ghani in April 2015, India reiterated its commitment to
the reconstruction of the strifetorn country. The two sides
focused on working towards a more liberalised business
visa regime. India continues its assistance to the construc
tion of the IndiaAfghanistan Friendship (Salma) Dam in
Herat, expected to be completed in the first half of 2016.

Engagement
improved with
Maldives, Myanmar
India also engaged with the Maldives leadership
despite political volatility in the island country. This was
reflected in the meeting between the foreign ministers of
India and the Maldives on the sidelines of the UN summit
in New York in September. Bilateral relations with
Myanmar improved with the first IndiaMyanmar Joint
Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting held in New
Delhi on July 16. Steps were taken to further enhance
the existing air connectivity and extending a $500 mil
lion Line of Credit to the Government of Myanmar for
development priorities.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

Dowling College wishes you a Very Happy New Year

BUSINESS INDIA ROUNDUP

44

India became fastest growing

big economy
Top 10 economic trends

GDP goes north

Notwithstanding a sharp cut in the government's growth forecast at the fag end,
2015 will go down as the year when India emerged as the fastest-growing large
economy, despite setbacks such as 12 months of negative export growth, another
bad monsoon and roadblocks to the far-reaching goods and services tax regime.

A friendly budget

India's real GDP in the first half of the

current fiscal grew at 7.2 percent as per
official data, which was slightly lower in
comparison to the GDP growth of 7.5 per
cent in the previous fiscal. In January,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lobbied
for easy norms for Indian IT companies as
they are contributing to the creation of
jobs in the United States. Indian IT com
panies are creating skilled jobs in the
United States; and, helping US companies
stay ahead. They have also helped US mil
itary veterans rebuild their lives, Modi
said in his joint address with the visiting
US president Barack Obama to the India
US Business Summit.

Jaitley's first full union budget also

announced an agreement earlier in the
year with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
that it constitute a Monetary Policy
Committee to determine by majority vote
on the policy rate required to achieve the
inflation target. Meanwhile, RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan cut the interest rate in
January for the first time in nearly two
years and followed up with two other
reductions to bring down the central bank
lending rate to 6.75 percent.

Healthy Forex
reserves

Insurance saw
major boost:

Forex reserves were a little above $350

billion in November 2015 as compared to
a little over $270 billion in July 2013. Net
foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows
increased to $17 billion in the first half of
201516 in comparison to $15.8 in the
same period last year. The second quar
ter's current account deficit logged at a
level of 1.6 percent of GDP.

Growth forecast
on a high

On the fall in the value of the Indian

rupee, the finance ministry's midterm
economic review attributed it consider
ably to the major devaluation of the
Chinese yuan. The changes overall, how
ever, led many global institutions like the
World Bank, International Monetary
Fund, Asian Development Bank and some
UN institutions to upgrade India's growth
forecast to some 7.58 percent, calling it
the fastest expanding globally, surpassing
China.

Manufacturing takes
a nosedive:

India's eight core industries, represent

ing major infrastructure sectors, grew at
2.3 percent in the AprilSeptember period
of the current fiscal, compared to a rate of
5.3 percent in the same period of the pre
vious fiscal the fall in growth rate
caused by lower expansion in electricity,
coal and cement sectors and negative
growth in steel and natural gas sectors.

The passage of the insurance bill to give

more power to the watchdog and permit
49 percent foreign equity was 2015's
highlight for the $60billion industry in
India that can help in expanding the reach
of this crucial social security beyond the
current 3.8 percent.

Falling oil prices

renewed hopes:

What defined India's petroleum sector

in 2015 was the plunge in global crude
oil prices driven by a supply glut that saw
the Indian basket of crude oils fall by over
60 percent from levels of well over $100
a barrel to less than $35. While this
reduced foreign exchange outflow and
improved the country's current account
deficit position, producers piled up major
inventory losses. The price of domestic
natural gas fell this year on applying the
NDA government's new formula for calcu
lation, and was cut 18 percent, from
$4.66 per unit to $3.82 per unit, for six
months starting October 1.

Bears yanked key

Indian equity indices

Bears yanked key Indian equity indices:

In what was a dramatic year for the
Indian stock markets, key indices scaled
record highs, only to see their valuations
drop sharply over the months. As a result
the two most quoted indices the 30scrip
sensit ive index (Sensex) of the S&P
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the 50
scrip Nifty of the NSE fell by 5.00 percent,
4.1 percent, respectively. In comparison,
the two indices had logged gains of 29.89
percent (Sensex) and 31.38 percent
(Nifty) in 2014 to emerge as best per
formers g lobally. T he Sensex was
amongst the worst performing bench
marks in the BRICS nations.

Boost for defense

manufacturing:

The Make in India initiative got a huge

push with Russia agreeing to manufacture
upwards of 200 light helicopters in India,
a move that once again made it this coun
try's top supplier of military hardware,

while purchases worth over Rs.2 lakh

crore ($30 billion) were approved.
The year also witnessed diversification
in India's defense partners, with the US
entering the field prominently in the
beginning of the year. France was also in
the limelight due to the stilltobecon
cluded for 36 Rafale combat jets. Russia
accounted for 70 percent of India's arms
imports in 201014, will build the Kamov
Ka226 helicopters in India and will also
fabricate 12 new nuclear reactors at two
sites.

10

Start-ups, Digital India

dominated IT growth

Digital India dominated IT growth: The

startup revolution and the government's
Digital India initiative dominated the
Indian IT industry landscape in 2015.
According to Nasscom, about 18,000
startups, with a combined valuation of
$75 billion, employ around 300,000
across the country.
On the software services front, IT bell
wethers Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),
Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro and HCL were
able to grow their revenue by 510 per
cent yearonyear despite the global tech
nolog y spend declining in 2015.
According to a Nasscom projection, IT
exports will grow 1214 percent to reach
$110112 billion and the domestic mar
ket by 1517 percent to touch $5557 bil
lion by March 31, 2016.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

SPORTS

46

Milestones and controversies

ruled Indian sports

3
Top 5 sports personalities
in India
Sania Mirza

The year of controversies

topped the badminton charts after win
ning the Indian Open Super Series final
earlier this year.
She became the first Indian woman to
reach the All Eng land Badminton
Championships final in 2013. The Indian
shuttler though failed to deliver the
knockout punch in the final losing to
Spanish shuttler Carolina Marin.

4
Sania personified Indian tennis with a
stupendous rise that catapulted her to the
tip of women's doubles rankings. Her
association with Swiss great Martina
Hingis formed the basis of an unstoppable
juggernaut as they complimented each
other perfectly to win an astonishing nine
titles, a fairy tale journey adorned with
prestigious victories at Wimbledon and
US Open.
SaniaMartina made the top spot in
world rankings their own and were
named the Women's Doubles World
Champions by the International Tennis
Federation (ITF).

Vijender Singh

Away from
t e n n i s ,
Vijender
Singh grabbed
headlines
w ith
his
exploits in the
ring.
T he
Haryana man
started his
journey in the
professional
circuit on an
explosive note
with three back
toback knockout and technical knockout
(TKO) wins.
He registered a TKO win over English
Sony Whiting on his debut before knock
ing out another British pugilist Dean
Gillen in the opening round of his second
fight.
The longterm future of the sport got a
legup w ith the launch of the Pro
Wrestling League (PWL).

Saina Nehwal
For Saina Nehwal, 2015 should have
been the most satisfying year. She joined
a few of the rarest athletes from India
who have reached the No. 1 ranking in
individual sport. The Hyderabad shuttler

Sports in India recorded several milestones in 2015 - from boxer Vijender Singh's
explosive professional debut to Sania Mirza's superb run and Saina Nehwal's exploits
to wrestling joining the burgeoning bandwagon of leagues. Indian cricket, however, was
hit by a plethora of controversies which threatened to overshadow on-eld events.

Ravichandran Ashwin
ll was not well with Indian cricket
as the sport went through a dis
heartening year, both onandof f
the field. India, who had won the World
Cup after 28 years in 2011 under the
leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
failed to defend their title in March
2015, as they went down to hosts
Australia in the semifinals by a big mar
gin. Cohosts Australia went on to clinch
their fifth World title beating New
Zealand.
More than the World Cup loss was
when the Indian Premier League (IPL)
saw a new low with Chennai Super Kings
(CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) being
suspended for two years. Both fran
chise's officials Gurunath Meiyappan and
Raj Kundra were found guilty of betting
and were suspended for life from all
cricketing activity.
Following the suspension, the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to
bring in two new teams (Pune and
Rajkot) for the tournament.
In India, the cricket board, which liter
ally runs the sport worldwide, is facing
serious trouble if the leaked sweeping
changes recommended by the Supreme
Court appointed Rajendra Mal Lodha
Committee to cleanse the sport's admin
istration are true. It is going to be a long
drawnout battle and the Lodha commit
tee will get to know a thing or two from
the trial balloon it let off before finaliz
ing the actual report. The world of sport
is in for a major upheaval in the New
Year. Had anyone thought at the begin
ning of the year that the two most pow
erful men of football, Sepp Blatter and
Michel Platini would be in the doghouse
by the yearend? Or that Lord Sebastian
Coe, chief of International Association of
Athletics Federations (IAAF) chief would
have a dark shadow looming over him on
the sensational doping controversy
involving Russian athletes? No.The year

There was something dif ferent about

Ravichandran Ashwin when he stepped
out on to the Sydney Cricket Ground in
January. And it showed specifically in his
second innings spell, when he snared four
wickets on a flat surface. He picked a five
for in six of India's next eight Tests in
2015, which included a careerbest haul
of 12 wickets in Nagpur.
He was an unstoppable force against Sri
Lanka in Sri Lanka and South Africa at
home as India romped to series victories.
The icing on the cake was the number
one ranking in the ICC's Test, allrounders
list. He has become the first Indian bowler
since Bishan Bedi in 1973 to achieve the
milestone of finishing the year in number
one Test position.

Leander Paes

The Kolkataborn tennis star continued

doing what he is known for winning
titles. In 2015, he achieved a phenomenal
feat of becoming the 47th player to reach
a century of doubles pair when he shared
the court with Marcel Granollers at Aegon
Open Nottingham. Paes went past 700

match wins when he won the first round

at Roland Garros. The former World No. 1
has won 17 Grand Slam titles in his 25
yearlong career. He made merry by win

of controversies All was not well with

Indian cricket as the sport went through
a disheartening year, both onandoff the
field. India, who had won the World Cup
after 28 years in 2011 under the leader
ship of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, failed to
defend their title in March 2015, as they
went down to hosts Australia in the semi
finals by a big margin. Cohosts Australia
went on to clinch their fifth World title
beating New Zealand.
More than the World Cup loss was
when the Indian Premier League (IPL)
saw a new low with Chennai Super Kings
(CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) being
suspended for two years.
Both franchise's of ficials Gurunath
Meiyappan and Raj Kundra were found
guilty of betting and were suspended for
life from all cricketing activity.
Following the suspension, the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to
bring in two new teams (Pune and
Rajkot) for the tournament.
In India, the cricket board, which liter
ally runs the sport worldwide, is facing
serious trouble if the leaked sweeping
changes recommended by the Supreme
Court appointed Rajendra Mal Lodha
Committee to cleanse the sport's admin
istration are true.
It is going to be a longdrawnout battle
and the Lodha committee will get to
know a thing or two from the trial bal
loon it let off before finalizing the actual
report. The world of sport is in for a
major upheaval in the New Year.
Had anyone thought at the beginning
of the year that the two most powerful
men of football, Sepp Blatter and Michel
Platini would be in the doghouse by the
yearend? Or that Lord Sebastian Coe,
chief of International Association of
Athletics Federations (IAAF) chief would
have a dark shadow looming over him on
the sensational doping controversy
involving Russian athletes? No.
ning the US Open in 2015. He partnered
with Swiss star Martina Hingis to clinch
his ninth mixed doubles grand slam title
his third with Hingis.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

CRIME AND NATURAL DISASTERS

48

CRIMES THAT
SHOOK INDIA
Kalburgi's murder was also one of the
developments that sparked the controver
sial award vapasi as a protest against
growing intolerance and the Sahitya
Akademi's silence on the issue.

Sheena Bora
murder case

With elements
of
money,
fame,
love,
revenge, and
p o s s i b l e
incest,
the
case has been
one of the most
sensational ones this year. Sheena Bora,
Indrani's daughter from an earlier rela
tionship, was killed in April 2012 and her
body was dumped in the forests in Raigad
and set fire to.
Arrested on November 19 from his
home in Worli, media baron Peter
Mukerjea is the husband of Indrani
Mukerjea, who is a coaccused along with
her exhusband Sanjeev Khanna and for
mer driver Shyamwar Rai in the murder
of her daughter Sheena Bora.
Among other things, the CBI is probing
the financial angle as the motive behind
the killing, with Mukerjea revealing
investments worth crores of rupees in for
eign bank accounts.

When freedom of speech

was silenced

On February
16 this year,
G o v i n d
Pansare, a
s e n i o r
Communist
Party
of
India leader
and leader of
the antitoll
agitation in
Maharashtra,
and his wife Uma were shot at close range
by two unidentified assailants who came
on a motorcycle. Pansare later succumbed
to the bullet injuries on February 20 in a
Mumbai hospital while Uma survived.
The CPI leader authored Shivaji Kaun
Hota, a biography on Shivaji, who is
hailed by rig htw ing outfits across
Maharashtra as an icon.
In a similar incident on August 30, ratio
nalist thinker MM Kalburgi was shot by
assailants on a motorbike pretending to
be students.
The Sahitya Akademi award winner was
known for his progressive views on
Karnataka's revered Lingayat community,
which did not go down well with many.

Vyapam:
The killer scam

T he Mad hya Pradesh Professional

Examinat ion Board scam, known as
Vyapam, shook the nation when it resur
faced in June this year.
More than 1,000 financial irregularities
were reported in Vyapam since 1970 to
which objections were raised by the
state's audit teams.
Madhya Pradesh has been mired in the
Vyapam scam for years, but the irregular
ities eventually came to light when 20
people were arrested in 2013 for imper
sonating candidates appearing for the
2009 medical entrance examination.
Fortyeight people associated with the
Vyapam scam have died mostly under
mysterious circumstances.
When freedom of speech was silenced

Nepal quake,
Chennai floods top
natural disasters
N E PA L

Mumbai double murder:

A gory revenge?

CHENNAI

The recent Hema Upadhyay murder in

Mumbai has shocked everyone by its
graphic brutality. The barelyclothed bod
ies of Hema and her lawyer Harish
Bhambani were wrapped in plastic sheets,
packed in cardboard boxes and thrown in
a large open drain near Dahanukarwadi in
Kandivali West, a suburb in northwest
Mumbai. The motive behind the murders
is still not clear, but police said Hema and
her husband, who married in 1998, were
involved in a legal battle for divorce for
the past five years. Her husband and
artist Chintan Upadhyay has been arrest
ed in the case.

Oscar Pistorius guilty

of murder

A South African
court
in
December over
t u r n e d
Paralympian
Oscar Pistorius's
culpable homi
cide conviction
and essentially
charged him with murder for killing his
model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius was convicted at the Pretoria
High Court in October 2014 of culpable
homicide of Steenkamp, whom he
allegedly mistook for an intruder at his
Pretoria home on Valentine's Day 2013.
Pistorius will later granted bail.

rom earthquakes to floods, bush

fires to hurricanes, 2015 had more
than its share of recordbreaking
natural disasters.
A magnitude7.8 earthquake struck
Nepal on April 25, killing more than
8,800 people. It damaged or destroyed
nearly 900,000 buildings, created ava
lanches in the Himalayas, and left
almost 1 million children out of school.
Major aftershocks, including a magni
tude7.3 tremor three weeks later,
slowed recovery ef forts and added to
the devastation.
At least 379 people died and 100,000
acres of crops were destroyed as inces
sant rains continued to batter Chennai
in early November. The rains have also

affected at least 80,000 people in north

ern parts of neighbouring Sri Lanka. A
depression formed in the Bay of Bengal
has triggered rains in coastal areas of
India's Tamil Nadu state and Sri Lanka.
In October, Afghanistan and Pakistan
also experienced a powerful earthquake.
That magnitude 7.5 quake was centred
in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province,
near the Pakistan border. More than
360 people are known to have died,
most of them in Pakistan.
In mid May, India was struck by a
severe heatwave, with temperatures
soaring to 50 degrees in some parts.
More than 2,500 people died in what
was one of the worst heatwaves in
India's recent history.

BOLLYWOOD ROUNDUP

49

Movies that ruled box-office

Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bajirao Mastani

T his is one Salman Khan film

which doesn't rely on the superstar's
stardom alone to drive boxoffice suc
cess; instead it banks on performanc
es. A super blo ckbuster and
biggest grosser that minted Rs
600 crore, let's say, this is
Salman's Swades.

Period dramas are particularly

challenging in the multiplex mar
ket but Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
most ambitious take on the scan
dalous relationship between a
Maratha warrior and a Muslim
princess is a cinematic feat
worth acknowledging.

Baahubali: The Beginning

Masaan

Talvar

Piku

Easily the most visually appealing film

of the year, this one narrates the story of
a man oblivious of his lineage on a jour
ney of se lfdiscovery. Director S S
Rajamouli proved that he isn't contained
by his imagination. It sets a milestone in
visual technique and also establishes a
benchmark in storytelling.

Set in the g hats of

Varanasi, 'Masaan' allows
one to experience the life
and situations of its charac
ters with such immersion
that you feel their joys and
sufferings as your own.

Based on the AarushiHemraj

doublemurder case that
rocked the country in 2008,
'Talvar' is a case study in adap
tation. It manages to hold our
attention and interest while
narrat ing a story that has
already been told.

'Piku' is a delightful film about

the idiosyncrasies of an eccentric
old Bengali man and his daugh
ter's ability to tolerate him. Both
Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika
Padukone narrate a sweet story
of suffering that packs in enough
laughs and tears.

B-Town's headline moments

* Intolerance in India: Actors Shah

SAT has
Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan's com
compiled a ments on the state of affairs in the
country landed them in a soup.
mix of the
Shah Rukh Khan went from
newsy,
being called 'Badshah' to being
called a "Pakistani agent",
serious and
while Aamir was asked which
even quirky
country he felt safe in.
moments
* Anushka Sharma blamed
that left a
for India's cricket World Cup
string of
semifinal loss: Blame one
celebrities
guy's girlfriend for an entire
team's loss. What does one
and their
say? It happens only in India!
fans
wondering
* Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and
racism: It was truly a case of per
what went
ception that dragged Aishwarya Rai
wrong.
Bachchan into trouble for starring in
a jewelry brand ad. She was labeled
"insidiously racist" for "representing aris
tocracy from a bygone era poised and relaxing.

* Salman Khan, the 'bhai' of all controversies: On

May 6 came a judgment holding the actor guilty in a
September 2002 road accident in Mumbai. But the
emotional "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star walked free when
the Bombay High Court acquitted him in December.
* FTII logjam: The students of Pune's Film and
Television Institute of India (FTII) went on an indefi
nite strike to protest against the appointment of
actorBJP member Gajendra Chauhan the chairman
of the facility. And the saga continues...

* When India missed Ghulam Ali: This was a miss,

not to be missed in the list of controversies for 2015.
The singer canceled all his shows in India. Dear all, at
least let the music play!
* Censorship: Cut, mute and swap: Hollywood's
James Bond entertainer "Spectre" released with a
shortened kiss while "Angry Indian Goddesses" saw
words like "Saala", "Indian figure" and "Sarkar" get
ting removed.

Hollywood gave Indian films run for their money

2015 has been
phenomenal as the
domestic box office collections
of the top five Hollywood titles
stood at over a staggering Rs.500
crore ($75 million). With films such as
"Fast and Furious 7" (Rs.155 crore) and
"Jurassic World" (Rs.103 crore) making it
to the once elusive Rs.100 crore club like a
walk in the park, the odds have finally
shifted in favor of the big studios. Other
films like "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
(Rs.78 crore) , and "Mission Impossible:
Rogue Nation (Rs.69 crore) also
appealed to the masses. Alfonso
Cuaron's
scifi
drama
"Gravity" was a block
buster in India.

ODD BUZZ

50

Bizarre and buzzworthy

Year 2015 had its share of moments and events
which got the virtual world tweeting, talking
and sharing. A small recap
Self Driving Cars

Cars with selfdriving features created

quite a buzz in 2015. Google tested for
the companys autonomous driving tech
nology with a bubbly, beetlelike exterior,
the interiors obviously ditched the steer
ing wheel. Tesla leapfrogged Detroit to
become the first carmaker to roll out
widespread selfdriving features with its
autopilot software in October. Teslas
tech, an overtheair push, allows the car
maker to instantly upgrade autonomous
tools to thousands of cars (something
Google cant currently do).

Miss Universe faux pas

Fans rue Zayn Malik

quitting boy band
The Internet
is home to
many, many
passionate One
Direction fans,
so when the
b
a
n
d
announced in
March
that
Zayn Malik was
quitting, every
one freaked out. In a Facebook post,
Malik explained, I am leaving because I
want to be a normal 22yearold who is
able to relax and have some private time
out of the spotlight. Devastated fans
reacted by screaming and crying. Though
the band said it planned to continue as a
foursome, Twitter raged for days, lament
ing the loss of Zayn and his signature
high notes. Seven months later, fans were
st ill comment ing on that orig inal
Facebook announcement, begging Zayn
to come back in several dif ferent lan
guages.

Death of Cecil the Lion

In one of the most unexpected endings

to a Miss Universe final, Miss Colombia
was mistakenly crowned as the winner.
The host Steve Harvey had accidentally
read out the wrong name. His mistake
meant one of the worlds most watched
beauty pageants ended in shock and tears
as Miss Colombia was demoted to being
the first runnerup, and Miss Philippines
was declared the of ficial winner. For
around 90 seconds, Miss Columbia
Ariadna Gutierrez was crowned the win
ner and had been given her flowers. She
was basking in her moment of glory on
stage.She was then forced to give up her
crown to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo
Wurtzbach. The ending left viewers on
the edge of their seats.

Many people had never heard of Cecil

the Lion when he was alive, but they cer
tainly heard about him after he died. He
was an attraction at the Hwange National
Park in Zimbabwe and was being studied
by the University of Oxford when, in July,
he was slaughtered. Backlash against the
killer, quickly identified as 55yearold
Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, was
swift and fierce.
Celebrities like Sharon Osbourne, Newt
Gingrich and Ricky Gervais chimed in on
social media, mourning the lost lion and
chastising Palmer. And latenight host

Jimmy Kimmel, usually known for wit and

levity, got choked up in a segment about
Cecil. He called the incident a disgusting
tragedy and encouraged his viewers to
donate to donate to Oxfords Wildlife
Conservation Research Unit. His appeal
resulted in 2,600 people donating more
than $155,000.

The Dress. Was it blue?

Or golden?

fashioned, stringofletterstype words at

all. In an acknowledgement of just how
popular these pictures have become in
our (digital) daily lives, it is an emoji
(emoticon). That too that of face with
tears of joy.
Oxford University Press partnered with
keyboardapp company SwiftKey to deter
mine which emoji was getting the most
play this past year. According to their
data, the Face With Tears of Joy emoji,
also known as LOL Emoji or Laughing
Emoji, comprised nearly 20% of all emoji
use in the U.S. and the U.K., where Oxford
is based.

Angelina Jolie
Syndrome
Picture of a dress went viral online. And
whether it was blue and black or white
and gold ended thousands of friendships,
romances and professional relationships
around the world. It all began back in
February with a Tumblr post, which fea
tured a slightly washedout photo of a
dress alongside a seemingly innocent
question: Is this dress white and gold or
blue and black? (Apparently it really
could go either way: some people saw the
former, others the latter.) The debate real
ly hit a nerve and got everyone debating
because everyone was so sure about
the colors they were seeing.

Oxford word of the year

isan emoji

Oxford Dictionaries, as owned by the

Oxford University Press (OUP), made his
tory by announcing that their Word of
the Year would not be one of those old

If you pay extra attention to the proba

bility of dangerous diseases that you may
suffer from in the future, you are proba
bly suffering from what is being termed
as Angelina Jolie syndrome.
The politicization and commercializa
tion of health issues in todays Western
culture have led to growing healthism
a peremptory idea of selfpreserving
behavior.
This approach criticizes everything that
fails to fit into the glamorous standards of
a beautiful, young and slim body.
More widespread displays of healthism
include the boom in diets, fitness fads,
plastic surgery, organic food along with
the popularity of mobile apps for health
monitoring.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

PA S S AG E S

52

Farewells in 20-fifteen
APJ Abdul Kalam

He broke into Bollywood with Satyajit Rays Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), and
went on to become a household name with
roles in Raj Kapoors Ram Teri Ganga Maili
and Henna. Internationally he will be remembered for his role of Sardar Patel in
Richard Attenboroughs magnum opus,
Gandhi. In 1980s and 1990s he was considered Britains highest-profile Asian actor
for his leading roles in My Beautiful Laundrette and TV series Tandoori Nights.
In 1995 he was awarded an OBE, the first
Asian to receive this British honor.

Omar Sharif

Former Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (APJ) Abdul Kalam passed away
on July 27 after collapsing during a lecture
in IIM, Shillong. He was 83.
Considered as the Peoples President,
Dr Kalam served as Head of State between
2002 and 2007 during the NDA government. Afterwards, he relentlessly taught science to the youth of India. Kalam authored
numerous inspirational books including India 2020, Wings of Fire and Ignited Minds.
Kalam was one of Indias most eminent
scientists and had the unique honour of
receiving honorary doctorates from 30
universities and institutions. He was also
known as the Missile Man of India. He
was awarded Indias highest civilian award
Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Omar Sharif, best known for his roles

in classic movies Lawrence of Arabia and
Doctor Zhivago, died in Cairo in July aged
83. He had Alzheimers disease.
Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe
awards and an Oscar nomination for his
role as Sherif Ali in David Leans 1962 epic
Lawrence of Arabia.

Charles Correa

Leonard Nimoy is better known as Mr

Spock for playing the legendary character
in the original Star Trek television series.
He died of pulmonary disease in Los Angeles at age 83.
He reprised the Mr Spock role in Star
Trek franchise for the big screen, enchanting generations of audiences with his depiction of half-human, half-Vulcan character.

Indias renowned contemporary architect Charles Correa died on June 16 following a brief illness in Mumbai. He was 84.
Correa led the creation of architecture for
post-Independence India. He designed the
famous monuments and buildings of the nation ranging from Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum in Ahmedabad; Madhya Pradesh
Legislative Assembly in Bhopal; National
Crafts Museum, New Delhi; Bharat Bhavan,
Bhopal and British Council, Delhi. He also designed McGovern Institute for Brain Research
at MIT, Boston and Champalimaud Centre
for The Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. India
awarded him Padma Vibhushan in 2006.

Ashok Singhal

Gunter Grass

Sadhana Shivdasani
Hindu leader Ashok Singhal died on Nov
17 at the age of 89. He served the international working president of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) for over 20 years.
Singhal was a key organiser of the first
VHP Dharma Sansad in 1984 held in New
Delhi, attracting hundreds of sadhus and
Hindu notables to discuss the issues of rejuvenating Hinduism. The movement for
reclaiming the Ramjanmabhoomi temple in
Ayodhya was born here. Singhal soon became the chief architect of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement.

Saeed Jaffrey

Saeed Jaffrey, India-born British actor,

died in London in November of a brain hemorrhage. He was 86.
Jaffreys versatility and fluency in many
languages allowed him to shine on stage,
TV and film in a career that spanned six decades and more than 150 Indian, American
and British movies.

Mr Spock

Retired Bollywood actress Sadhana Shivdasani passed away in mid December in

Mumbai after battling with cancer. She was
74 and a widow. A top-rung Bollywood star
in the 1960s and 1970s, Sadhana was born
in Karachi. Later her family settled in Bombay. She entered films as a child artiste in
1955 with a minor appearance in Raj Kapoors film, Shree 420. Her career took off
with Love in Shimla (1960) with co-star
Joy Mukherjee. Paired with top heroes of
her, Sadhana had a successful career with
notable films like Hum Dono Ek Musafir,
Ek Hasina, Asli Naqli, Mere Mehboob,
Woh Kaun Thi, Rajkumar, Waqt, Aarzoo,
Mera Saaya, Ek Phool, Do Mali till her voluntary retirement in 1994. Sadhana is credited with introducing the famous fringe
haircut - known as her trademark Sadhana
Cut - and tight body-hugging churidar-kurtas as a much-copied fashion in Bollywood.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in

Pennsylavania, Swami Dayananda Saraswati
died on Sept 23 in his ashram in Rishikesh
in India at age 85. He was a renowned traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta.

Nobel laureate German novelist Gunter

Grass died on April 13 in Luebeck, Germany. He was 87.
He was a novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
His writings mainly focused on the Nazi
era, the horrors of the war and the destruction and guilt that remained after defeat
of Germany. He is best known for his first
novel, The Tin Drum published in 1959.

R. K. Laxman

Eminent cartoonist R.K. Laxman died

on Jan 26, 2015 due to cardiac arrest in
Pune. He was 93.
One of the post-Independence Indias
greatest caricaturists, he was the creator
of The Common Man which was published
in Times of India newspaper. He was also
an illustrator, humorist and novelist.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

ce l e b r at i o n s

54

World celebrates
Xmas and New Year

Britain welcomed the New Year as thousands of people gathered on the banks of the River Thames in London to watch a spectacular fireworks display.

A million people, many of them tourists,

thronged Times Square in New York on New Year eve
to watch the ball drop.

Fireworks explode as smoke billows from the nearby Address Downtown

Hotel which caught on fire hours earlier, near the Burj Khalifa,
the worlds tallest tower in Dubai, on Dec. 31, 2015.

Decorations in Kolkata for Christmas in December 2015.

Russians ringing in the New Year in Moscow.

SPOT NEWS

55

Nikki Haley to deliver GOP

response to Obama address

French contingent
to join in Republic
Day parade,
Hollande chief
guest
New Delhi: For the first time ever, a for
eign contingent will participate in the
Republic Day parade French troops
w ill
march
down
the
Rajpath on January 26, official sources
said.
Sources from the defence ministry
confirmed that a contingent of the
French army will participate in the
march.
French President Francois Hollande is
the chief guest at the Republic Day cele
brations this year.

Washington: South Carolina's Indian

American Governor Nikki Haley, mentioned
as a possible vice presidential candidate,
will deliver the Republican response to
President Barack Obama's final State of the
Union address on Jan 12.
With Republican leaders in Congress
choosing Haley for the final rebuttal, two
IndianAmerican politicians would be book
ending their responses to Obama's speech
es as Louisiana's outgoing governor Bobby
Jindal did so to his first address in 2009.
In recent years, Republicans have used
the rebuttal to showcase the diversity of
the party's elected officials.
Born Nimrata "Nikki" Randhawa to Sikh
immigrant parents from India, Haley is the
first minority governor in South Carolina's
history and currently the youngest gover
nor in the country. She was reelected to a
second term in November 2014.
"Nikki Haley has led an economic turn
around and set a bold agenda for her state,
getting things done and becoming one of
the most popular governors in America,"
Speaker Paul Ryan said announcing the
Congressional leaders' decision.
"In a year when the country is crying out
for a positive vision and alternative to the
status quo, Governor Haley is the exact

Grewal appointed top law

prosecutor In NJ county

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

right choice to deliver the Republican
Address to the Nation," he said.
"Nikki Haley is a proven leader and com
mitted reformer who believes deeply in the
promise of the country we all share,"
Republican Senate majority leader Mitch
McConnell said.
"Not only has Governor Haley fought to
bring opportunity and prosperity to the
people of her state, but she's also demon
strated how bringing people together can

bring real results," he said. "Governor Haley

knows the American Dream and wants to
see every American share in it, and we're
pleased that she will be delivering this
year's Republican Address?."
Haley said she was honored to be asked to
deliver the Republican address to the
nation. "This is a time of great challenges
for our country, but also of great opportu
nities. I intend to speak about both," she
said.

Overseas Indians ministry to merge with MEA: Sushma Swaraj

Will take Up ministries' merger with Centre: Kerala CM
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will take up with the Centre the
merger of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Af fairs (MOIA) with the
Ministry of External Affairs, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said.
The decision to do away with the MOIA was not correct, the chief min
ister told reporters in Delhi. "We will take up the issue with the prime
minister and others concerned since the ministry is crucial for Kerala as
thousands of its residents are working abroad," Chandy said.

Union External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj.

Gurbir Grewal being sworn in as acting Bergen County prosecutor.

New Jersey: An Indianorigin man
has been appointed as the top law
enforcement of ficer of Bergen
county in New Jersey, a media
report said.
Gurbir Grewal, 42, was sworn in
as acting Bergen county prosecutor
on Monday. He is the first South
Asian prosecutor in the state and
the first person of Sikh religion to
occupy one of the highestprofiles
in the state, NorthJersey.com
reported on Wednesday.
"It is truly an honor and a privi
lege to join the Bergen county pros
ecutor's office as the acting county
prosecutor," Grewal was quoted as
saying.
He said the office of the Bergen
county prosecutor in "many real
ways sets the standard for other
prosecutor's offices throughout the

state".
Since 2010, the former federal
prosecutor has prosecuted white
collar crimes for the US Attorney's
Office in Newark and most recently
served as chief of the Economic
Crimes Unit in Newark.
Grewal said he hopes to work to
build on the reputation of his office
and enhance it. "I want to spend my
time here just seeing how I can
make this an even better place," he
said.
Grewal, who "cares deeply" about
the county and is "deeply commit
ted to public service", takes over
from John L. Molinelli who ended
his 14year tenure in the post last
week.
Grewal was nominated for the
post by New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie two years ago.

New Delhi: Union External Af fairs

Minister Sushma Swaraj on
T hursday said the Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) will
be merged with her ministry.
She said her merger proposal was
accepted by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
"As minister for external af fairs
and overseas Indian affairs, I real
ized that substantial work of MOIA
is done through our missions
abroad," she said in a tweet.
"Therefore, I proposed to Hon'ble
prime minister that MOIA should be
merged with the ministry of exter
nal affairs," she added. "The prime
minister has kindly accepted my
proposal. So the MOIA will now be
part of the ministry of external
affairs," the minister announced.
The MOIA, dedicated to the multi
tude of Indian nationals settled
abroad, was established in May
2004 as the ministry of NRI affairs.
Later, it was renamed the Ministry
of Overseas Indian Af fairs in
September 2004.

Former chief minister VS Achuthanandan said the merger would "seri

ously affect" Keralites living abroad.
"It is an insult to the diaspora (from Kerala). Moreover, the state gov
ernment's Norka department (agency that looks after the welfare of the
Kerala diaspora) will face a tough time after the merger of the two min
istries. This (decision) should be reconsidered," Achuthanandan said in a
statement. As many as 90 per cent of Kerala's 23.63 lakh people living
abroad are in MiddleEast countries, with UAE accounting for 38.7 per
cent of these, followed by Saudi Arabia with 25.2 per cent.

Acharya Lokesh Muni ji greeting the Dalai Lama on his 80th birthday in
New Delhi. The birthday celebration was attended by many religious
and political dignitaries including former PM Manmohan Singh.

56

NATIONAL SPOT NEWS

Vivek Ranadive to lead UC

Fund to invest in innovation

Sonal Bhuchar
appointed to OneStar
National Service
Commission
New York: IndianAmerican Sonal
Bhuchar has been appointed to
One Star Nat ional
Service Commission
in Texas that pro
motes volunteerism
and oversees adminis
trat ion
of
the
AmeriCorps programs
in the US state. Bhuchar, a profession
al physiotherapist at Therapeutic
Concepts and office manager at Sugar
Land MedPed was appointed to the
One Star
Nat ional
Services
Commission by the Texas Governor,
Greg Abbott, with her term lasting up
to March 15, 2018.
Originally from Mumbai in India,
Bhuchar got her bachelor's degree in
physical therapy from Bombay
University. She currently serves as a
board of member in leadership posi
tions for Child Advocates of Fort
Bend, chairman for the Literacy
Council of Fort Bend, board member
for Fort Bend Cares and board mem
ber for the City of Sugar Land PARCS.
She has formerly served as a board of
trustee and board president for the
Fort Bend Independent School
District. The IndianAmerican physio
therapist also ran for the District 26
Texas state representative seat in
2012, but was not elected.

Indian firm to pay

$100000 for using
pirated software
Washington, DC: An Indian textile
company has agreed to pay a penalty
of $100,000 to settle charges of using
pirated software that gave it competi
tive advantages over American busi
nesses. Headquartered in Madhya
Pradesh's Indore city, Pratibha Syntex
Ltd exports clothes to top American
companies including Walmart.
"Pratibha Syntex engaged in illegal
business pract ices that placed
California garment companies at a dis
advantage, while hurting American
software companies' ability to develop
new and innovat ive pro ducts,"
California Attorney General Kamala
Harris said. The case assumes signifi
cance as this is first time that a state
government has secured a legally
enforceable judgment against an inter
national company for such violations.

New York: University of California offi

cials announced Dec. 15 that Vivek
Ranadive, an Indian American Silicon
Valley entrepreneur, will lead a fund
and build a team to invest in innovation
opportunities at U.C. campuses.
U.C.s Of fice of the Chief Investment
Officer will be an anchor investor, com
mitting $250 million to the cause.
Vivek is a visionary who has trans
formed the way businesses operate
across the world and developed his own
innovations in Silicon Valley, U.C. chief
investment of ficer Jagdeep Sing h
Bachher said in a statement.
The U.C. Board of Regents approved
the concept of investing in innovation
emerg ing from the U.C. system in

Vivek Ranadive
September 2014. The innovation would
touch disciplines such as life sciences,

Beena Kothari is IALIs

new president

Sitting from left: Vimal Goyal (Treasurer), Gunjan Rastogi (VP), Satnam S. Parhar
(President 20142015), Beena Kothari (President 2016) & Lalit Aery (Secretary). Behind
them are membersatlarge.
Hicksville, NY: The India Association of
Long Island (IALI) has announced its
new executive council after concluding
the elections. Beena Kothari is the new
president and Gunjan Rastogi its vice
president. This was announced at IALIs
38th AGM on Dec 27 at Mint restaurant
in Garden City.
The meeting was attended by over 200
IALI members and many Past Presidents.
The outgoing President Satnam Singh
Parhar hig hlig hted the Mission

Accomplished of acquiring an India

Center for IALI members. He also
reported that they managed to get the
Real Estate Tax Exemption backdated
from Day 1 from the Nassau County and
New York State. The physical center will
give IALI the ability to expand their pro
grams besides increasing the frequency
of their programs. Parhar and Gobind
Munjal, India Center Chair, thanked
everybody, particularly those who con
tributed funds to purchase the building.

technology, energy, agriculture and

materials, all using no tuition or state
funding.
Ranadives entrepreneurial begin
nings were with Teknekron Software
Solutions, which he founded. The com
pany provided the engine to digitize
trading on Wall Street. He also founded
TIBCO, which created technology that
helps communication between entities,
manufacturers, governments and
organizations across the world.
Also the owner of NBA team the
Sacramento Kings, Ranadive has
authored three New York Times best
sellers and writes his view of a values
driven world grounded in research and
technology.

Bikram Choudhurys
wife seeks divorce
over rape allegations
New York: Rajashree Choudhury,
wife of the founder of Bikram Yoga,
Bikram Choudhury, is seeking a
divorce settlement after rape and
sexual battery allegations were
made against him by former stu
dents and teachers.
Six former students and yoga
teachers claim Bikram Choudhury,
who presides over a yoga empire
centered on practicing in 40 C heat,
had assaulted them as part of a
Superman complex he reportedly
had, reported the Independent.
Rajashree Choudhury, who built
the successful hot yoga brand
with her husband, has filed docu
ments saying she wants to divorce
him because of irreconcilable dif
ferences, the Daily Te leg raph
reported.
The 50yearold yogi is also filing
for a share of the couples homes
which includes properties in Los
Angeles, Beverly Hills and Honolulu
which under California divorce
law could bring her tens of millions
of dollars of the couples wealth,
according to show business site
TMZ. That law states that anything
earned while living together is
communal property and must be
shared, the Independent noted.

TANA urges Telugu students coming

to USA to be well prepared
New York: Telugu Association of North
America (TANA) in a press statement
said that it is very concerned about
recent reports of some students from
Andhra Pradesh with new student visas
not being allowed to enter USA and their
visas being revoked. TANA officials have
been working with the students, their
families, universities, airlines, immigra
tion consultants, Indian Embassy, Union

Ministry of External Affairs, and the US

Citizenship and Immigration Services to
resolve this crisis, according to Dr. V
Chowdary Jampala, President of TANA.
The US Borders and Customs of ficials
have a lot of discretion in determining
the bonafides of those seeking to enter
the country and need to be convinced
that the intentions of the visa holder are
genuine before they permit entry. If any

students experience any negative experi

ences during the screening process, they
are requested to inform TANA by send
ing an email to info@tana.org. TANA
also urges all students, visitors and their
families to familiarize themselves with
the TANA publication, Guidelines for
Staying Safe in America, available for
free at http://www.tana.org/helpline
teamsquare/safetyguidelines

RELIGION

57

Arsh Vidya Gurukulam

launches $7m expansion project
By Ashok Ojha
estled between green fields and the
hills of Poconos in Pennsylvania,
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, a 14acre
ashram established by late Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, attracts hundreds of
families every week, who come from all
over USA for rejuvenation, spiritual learn
ing, meditation and yoga sessions.
The visitors feel at home at the Ashram,
said Suddhatma Chaitanya, General
Manager and a devotee of Swami
Dayananda since 1998. We dont enforce
strict regulations over our visitors, who not
only engage in spiritual learning, but also
enjoy the fresh air and open space at the
campus.
A number of people visit the ashram to
fulfill their religious and spiritual needs.
The activities are supported by generous
donations of its members, said Suddhatma
adding that the existing facilities at the
Ashram are not adequate to cope with the
needs of increasing number of followers at

(Photos by Ashok Ojha)

(From left)A picture of the Gurukulams founder late Swami Dayananda Saraswati at the entrance of the prayer hall of the ashram. (2) A
Vedanta class conducted by Swami Pratyagbodhananda. (3) A row of cottages at Gurukulam are available for visitors and devotees.
the Ashram. A stateoftheart auditorium
facility along with a dining hall is currently
under construction at the Ashram. The
project will cost about $7 million and will
be ready by 2017, said Suddhatma.
The ashram, located at Saylorsburg, PA, is
one of the three spiritual centers estab
lished by Swami Dayananda, a Vedanta
scholar and teacher, who passed away in
Rishikesh, India on September 23, 2015.
The other two are located in Coimbatore
and Rishikesh.
Swami ji respected the lifestyle of mod
ern day seekers, said Swami
Pratyagbodhananda, a disciple of Swami
Dayananda. A resident of Surat, India, he

visits the ashram to conduct sessions on

the Gita, Upanishads, and Puranas for the
visitors. He also presides over the after
noon and evening rituals at the small
shrine of Dakshineshwara, a reincarnation
of Lord Shiva.
The Ashram conducts a variety of work
shops and camps for teaching yoga, medi
tation and Vedic philosophy, said
Suddhatma, Once the new construction is
complete we will have the capacity to
accommodate about 450 people in the
auditorium. We could also expand our pro
grams to help many more people.
A large picture of Swami Dayananda sits
on a chair near the entrance of the prayer

hall of the ashram, as if to welcome all visi

tors. His vision continues to guide the next
generation of leaders of the Gurukulum
quietly, said Swami Swatmaya
Vidyananda, who visited from Eugene, OR.
It is our job to continue the mission he
started to promote the teachings of
Vedanta.
Learned Vedanta teachers like Swami
Pratyagbodhananda and Swami Swatmaya
Vidyananda conduct Vedanta classes for
long hours. We invite learned scholars for
conducting camps around the year, said
Suddhatma. The ashram provides spiritual
classes for all ages. Our goal it to promote
the learning of Sanskrit and Indian values.

INDIA SPOT NEWS

58

Thousands at Mufti's funeral,

Mehbooba set to be new CM

At AAPIs 10th GHS opening in New

Delhi on Jan 1, President Dr. Seema
Jain and PresidentElect Dr Ajay Lodha.

AAPI summit mulls

Indias role in
global healthcare
New Delhi: T he 10th annual Global
Healthcare Summit (GHS) 2016 organized
by AAPI concluded here on Jan 3 with a
call to continue to focus on initiatives to
prevent diseases and make healthcare
af fordable, accessible and ef ficient for
Indias over a billion citizens. Building on
the past achievements and identifying new
areas to collaborate with the Government
of India, the GHS 2016 has been historic.
GHS helped establish Indiacentric guide
lines for management of Trauma and Brain
Injury (TBI). The TBI guidelines has been
made part of the curriculum by the
Medical Council of India, declared Dr.
Seema Jain, President of AAPI. An MoU to
eradicate tuberculosis was also singed by
AAPI, Government of India representatives
and NGOs. The 10th GHS, attended by over
500 delegates from around the world, was
packed with seminars, workshops and
symposiums on modern research and
healthcare topics. It of fered significant
contributions towards harnessing the
power of global Indian diaspora to bring
the most innovative, efficient, cost effec
tive healthcare solutions to India.
Mahesh Sharma, Indias Minister of State
for Travel and Tourism, applauded the
achievements and contributions of Indian
American physicians in the healthcare field
in the US and for their love for India, which
makes them come back to make a positive
difference in the healthcare delivery sys
tem here. Dr. Ajay Lodha, PresidentElect
of AAPI, urged all the delegates and guests
to be part of the next Global Healthcare
Summit to be held in Udaipur, Rajashtan
from Jan 14, 2017. The GHS, held annual
ly in association with the Indian Medical
Association (IMA), & Medical Council of
India (MCI), with cooperation from the
Ministry of Health & Overseas Indian
Affairs, has come to be recognized for the
many initiatives it has given birth to and
the numerous joint recommendations of
the standard of care for major diseases
affecting the people of India.

Srinagar: Thousands of fered the 'Nimaze

Jinaza' (funeral prayer) of Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad
Sayeed here on Thursday with his daughter
Mehbooba Mufti likely to succeed him, party
sources said.
More than 7,000 people, including VIPs,
family members and party activists, offered
the prayer at the huge ShereKashmir Cricket
Stadium in the evening, hours after his body
arrived from New Delhi where he passed
away on Thursday morning.
Senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar led the
prayer after which the body was taken to
Bijbehara, the hometown of the Muftis in
Anantnag district where the final Nimaze
Jinaza would be offered before burial.
Two senior PDP leaders, Muzaffar Hussain
Beigh and Altaf Bukhari, earlier handed over a
letter to Governor N.N. Vohra nominating
Mehbooba Mufti as the leader of their legisla
ture party which would entitle her to
assume charge as the new chief minister of
the BJPPDP coalition government.
PDP sources told IANS that the letter urged
the governor to administer the oath of office
to Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday evening
after Sayeed's last rites.
If and when she takes charge of Jammu and
Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti will have to prove
her majority on the floor of the 87member
assembly. She will also have to get elected to
the state assembly or be nominated to the
state legislative council (upper house) within
six months.
At present, she represents Anantnag in the
Lok Sabha. She would be the first woman
chief minister of the country's only Muslim
majority state. Leader of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Sayeed who sur
vived several attacks on him by militants

Mehbooba Mufti was set to take over as J&K Chief Minister

after her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed passed away.
was chief minister the first time in 200205
in a coalition government with the Congress.
In his second stint, he allied with the BJP to
become the chief minister in March last year
after assembly elections produced a hung
verdict. President Pranab Mukherjee lauded
his contribution to Jammu and Kashmir and
India through long years of public service.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said
Sayeed's "exemplary leadership had a major
impact on people's lives". Crediting him with
"statesmanship", he said: "Mufti Sahab provid
ed a healing touch to Jammu and Kashmir."
Sayeed was the third chief minister of the
state to die in office after G.M. Sadiq (1971)
and Sheikh Abdullah (1982).
Born in Bijbehara on January 12, 1936 to a
family of 'Peers', Sayeed tudied in Srinagar
and at the Aligarh Muslim University before
he joined politics in 1959.
After taking on the iconic Sheikh Abdullah,

Sayeed became a cabinet minister in Jammu

and Kashmir in 1972. Just three years later,
he became head of the state unit of the
Congress party.
He joined Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's
government in 1986 but quit the next year to
throw his lot with V.P. Singh, who revolted
against Gandhi's leadership and went on to
become the prime minister in 1989.
Sayeed became the home minister in the
V.P. Singh government.
Within days, however, militants abducted
his third daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, in
Srinagar, forcing the V.P. Singh government to
free five jailed guerrillas from Jammu and
Kashmir.
In 1999, after a brief stint again in the
Congress when P.V. Narasimha Rao became
its leader, Sayeed and daughter Mehbooba
Mufti floated the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP).

Pathankot attack: Nawaz Sharif

promises Modi prompt action
New Delhi: Dialling Prime Minister Narendra
Modi from Sri Lanka, Pakistan Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif promised "prompt
and decisive action" against terrorist groups
linked to the attack on the air base at
Pathankot in Punjab. Sharif gave the assur
ance after New Delhi provided "specific and
actionable information" to Islamabad
regarding the terrorists who mounted the
attack, and Modi underlined the need for
Pakistan to take "firm and immediate action"
against organization and individuals respon
sible for it. The SharifModi telephonic con
versation followed the killing of all six ter
rorists believed to be from Pakistan after
they sneaked into and attacked the Indian
Air Force base early on Saturday, leaving
seven security personnel dead.
T he United Jehad Council (UJC), an
umbrella grouping of Kashmiri militant
groups based in Pakistan headed by Syed
Salahuddin, on Monday claimed responsibili
ty for the attack. An official statement said
Modi got a call from Sharif "regarding the
terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base".

Bilateral talks: Ball in

Pakistan's court, says India

India has blamed the banned

JaisheMuhammad for the Pathankot
Air Force attack in which seven security
personnel (Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan
Kumar) and six terrorists were killed.
"Modi strongly emphasized the need for
Pakistan to take firm and immediate action
against the organizations and individuals
responsible for and linked to the Pathankot
terrorist attack," the statement said.
It said specific and actionable information
in this regard has been provided to Pakistan.
"Sharif assured Modi that his government
would take prompt and decisive action
against the terrorists," it added. This was

New Delhi: India said the ball was in

Pakistan's court on continuation of the
resumed bilateral talks, following the terror
attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in
Punjab. "As far as we are concerned, the ball
is in Pakistan's court. The immediate issue
is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack
and the actionable intelligence provided to
it," external affairs ministry spokesperson
Vikas Swarup said in a media briefing.
their first known conversation since Modi
dramatically flew into Lahore on Christmas
Day while returning home from Kabul and
spent some two hours with Sharif.
Radio Pakistan reported that Sharif tele
phoned Modi "and conveyed sorrow and
grief on the losses in (the) Pathankot terror
attack". It quoted Sharif as saying that ter
rorists always tried to derail the process of
peace between the two countries. "Pakistan
will investigate in detail on the leads and
information provided by the government of
India," it said.

INTERNATIONAL

60

THE HEROIC KURDS:

Americas mistreated ally
Kurds are an ethnic Muslim group in the Middle East who are peaceful
and liberal. They are also Americas boots on the ground in its war against
ISIS. Yet, they have been denied their own state or even official diplomatic
recognition for the already de facto independent Kurdistan.
By Robert Golomb
urdish freedom fighters, qui
etly allied with America,
made international headlines
in 2015 when they liberated from
the beastly rule of ISIS the Syrian
city of Kobani in January, and
again ten months later when they
freed the Iraqi city of Sinjar. That
rule which began with ISIS inva
sion of those two cities in late
2014 had been brutal: Christians
and Kurds in both cities had been
murdered and raped in countless
thousands. Their liberation by the
Kurdish freedom fighters had
saved countless others from the
same fate. It was a liberation that, it
was said by some at the time, was
made mainly possible by the
Kurdish/American alliance.
That alliance and the goodwill
that it created for America with the
Kurdish people did not begin a
year ago with the fight against ISIS,
but, rather began 25 years before
against another common foe,
according to AzadJabbar Mustafa,
the president of the Kurdish
Student Association, headquar
tered on the campus of Texas A&M
University.
The origin of the love and loyal
ty we Kurds feel for America did
not start with our common fight
against ISIS. It goes back to George
{HW} Bush who in 1991 led the
multinational force to push
Saddam Husseins army out of
Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War,
Azad told me during a lengthy New
York to Texas telephone interview
conducted recently. While Bush
decided to allow Hussein to remain
in power, the overwhelming victory
of America and her allies sent a
message to the victimized and bru
talized Iraqi Kurds that Hussein
was not invincible.
The historical suffering of those
Iraqi Kurds whose approximately
six million people currently living
mainly in Kurdistan in north Iraq
constitute 17% of the middle east
ern nations total population has
been fairly well documented. The
Kurds, an eclectic, peaceful Muslim
sect, which can trace its middle
eastern origins back 4,000 years,
were among the groups singled out
for destruction by Saddam Hussein.
That destruction began in 1983
when Husseins regime exterminat
ed 8,000 only male followers of the

Masoud Barzani, President of The Kurdistan Regional Government,

with the Peshmerga (soldiers) fighting ISIS.
revered Kurdish antiHussein
leader Mustafa Barzani. T hree
years later, the genocide became
even deadlier with Saddams ver
sion of the SS using chemical
weapons to kill more than 5,000
Kurdish men, women and children
in the ancient city of Halabja.
Despite worldwide condemnation
that genocide was to continue. In
1988 in what became known to
the world as the Anfal Campaigns
Saddams murderers, scouring
Kurdish communities throughout
the nation, captured, imprisoned
and then murdered 180,000
Kurdish civilians. Husseins last act
of genocide was to be committed in
1991. In what some in the Middle
East saw as retaliation for his
defeat in Kuwait, the dictator
ordered the slaughter of from
20,000 to 100,000 Kurdish Iraqis,
creating from the terror of this
slaughter hundreds of thousands of
refugees fleeing their cities and vil
lages for the temporary safety of
the isolated high mountains of
neighboring Iran and Turkey.
One of the people slaughtered in
1991 was Salar Jabbar Mustafa,
Azads older brother. For Azad
who left Iraq for America with his
wife and four children in 2012 to
pursue a PhD in engineering at
Texas A&M the murder of his
beloved brother was as painful as it
was seemingly inevitable. Salar
was a courageous man who was an
opponent of Husseins murderous
regime and paid the ultimate price
for it. I will never be able to get
over his death. Yet, in a tragic
sense, I should have been prepared
for it, because I had lost many
close relatives, including several
cousins and nephews, during
Anfal.
In 1991, however the horrible
year that Salar and thousands of

his fellow Kurds were slaughtered

the world saw the beginning of
the end of Husseins war of annihi
lation against the Kurds and other
ethnic minorities, and also saw the
start of the barbaric dictators
eventual downfall. Coinciding with
America, Britain and Frances
establishment of no fly zones over
northern Iraq, battle hardened
Kurdish freedom fighters, descend
ing from their hidden guerilla
camps in the Northern mountains,
engaged Iraqi soldiers in deadly
street to street combat. Suffering
overwhelming losses, Husseins
army was forced to flee, leaving the
Kurds the freedom to finally estab
lish their own se lfrule in a
province they named, T he
Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG).
This new Kurdistan government,
while neither recognized by any
nation in the world, nor given offi
cial status at the United Nations,
was from its first days through the
present, developing political and
economic systems and providing
governmental services, typical of
any sovereign nation. The KRG
was proactive from the start, Azad
explained. They elected their own
George Washington as president, a
great man named Masoud Barzani
{the son of Mustafa Barzani}, start
ed their own police force, deployed
soldiers to their borders to safe
guard our people from Hussein,
created a model civil and criminal
judicial system, built two large
international airports, and, most
importantly, developed a free mar
ket economic system that resem
bles that of America.
Despite this remarkable success,
Azad explained that throughout the
remaining years of the 1990s and
the first years of the new millenni
um, the Kurds were deeply trou

bled by the death and destruction

that Hussein was still able to
foment throughout Iraq, mainly
against the Shia minority: We no
longer felt threatened by Hussein
ourselves. We had soundly defeat
ed his army in 1992. T he
Peshmerga {soldiers} were closely
protecting our borders, making it
impossible for Hussein to even con
template an invasion. Yet, he con
stantly remained in our minds
because his horrible crimes against
his own people continued.
Describing those crimes, which, he
said, were similar to those commit
ted against the Kurds, Azad stated,
For Husseins barbarity against all
of his people, not just the Kurds in
the past, we wanted justice. As the
world knows, that justice was to
come. In March 2003 in what
became known as the Second Gulf
War, America, under President
George W. Bush, led an internation
al military coalition that toppled
Husseins regime. Forced into hid
ing, Hussein was captured by the
US soldiers in December of that
year, and under the orders of an
Iraqi tribunal Hussein was execut
ed in 2006. The justice the Kurds
prayed for had been served. With
Saddam gone, the Kurds expected
the world would finally recognize
the KRG, making Kurdistan an
internationally recognized inde
pendent nation and granting it full
membership in the UN.
Yet that was not to be. After
Saddam was gone, Azad recalled,
the leaders and all citizens of
Kurdistan hoped and expected the
international community would
recognize our suf fering under
Saddam and acknowledge our early
role in the fight to dispose him and
finally grant us our independence.
T hat independence was never
granted, and we remain a people
unjustly denied our own nation.
The political and moral argu
ments cited by Azad for granting
Kurdistan full independence might
seem to be beyond moral dispute.
However, there remain in the
region geographical, demographic
and ethnic factors existing as seri
ous diplomatic obstacles: There
are 35 million Kurds living in the
world today. Approximately one
and a half million of them live in
Germany, England, Australia, Israel
and America. But most are spread
out throughout Iraq (mostly in the

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

province of Kurdistan), Syria, Iran

and Turkey.
With all four of these nations
extremely protective of their bor
ders and frequently engaged in
their own internal religious and
ethnic strife, the idea of redrawing
the borders of each to create a
greater Kurdistan, as some in the
KRG have proposed, has created
fierce opposition in the region. In
addition, even granting full official
diplomatic recognition for the
already de facto independent
Kurdistan is opposed by the entire
international community, including
the Obama Administration.
Such opposition, Azad finds diffi
cult to understand. I find the
resistance to a Kurdish State quite
perplexing. Whatever the borders
of an independent Kurdish state
would ultimately be, it would be a
stabilizing and peaceful force in
the region, he stated. We have
helped stabilize the region by fight
ing and helping defeat Hussein,
and currently we are fighting with
America and her allies against ISIS
to create peace and stability in the
region.
Azad noted that with the excep
tions of the war against Iraq during
Husseins reign and the current
battle against ISIS, the Kurds have
never engaged in a conflict with
any other nation or people inside
or outside the Middle East. He also
emphasized that the Kurds treat
people of all religions and ethnic
backgrounds with equality and
respect. If you come to Kurdistan,
you will see Christians, Arab
Muslims both Sunni and Shia
Turkmen, Yazidis, Syrians and a
host of other groups living in free
dom, equality and peace alongside
the Kurds, he declared. In fact,
he added, if you visit our regional
neighbor Israel, you will learn that
there are more than 200,000
Kurds living there as loyal and pro
ductive citizens of the Jewish
state. For those in the West in
constant search of finding peaceful
Muslims who share their values,
hopes and dreams, you can easily
find them. T hey are called the
Kurds.

Robert Golomb is a nationally

and internationally published
columnist.
Mail
him
at
MrBob347@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter@RobertGolomb

WORLD SPOT NEWS

61

North Korea shocks world

with hydrogen bomb claims
IS' execution video
'desperate stuff':
Cameron
London: British Prime Minister David
Cameron condemned a new execution
video by Islamic State (IS), calling it a
"desperate stuff " from an organization
that is "losing anybody's sympathy".
In the video, a masked IS executioner
with British accent threatened to invade
the UK and called British Prime Minister
David Cameron an "imbecile," before
execut ing five men who appeared
shackled and dressed in orange boiler
suits. They were accused of spying
against the IS for the UK.
"It's desperate stuff from an organiza
tion that really does do the most utterly
despicable and ghastly acts and people
can see that again today," Cameron said
during a visit to east London on
Monday.
"But this is an organization that's los
ing territory, it's losing ground, it's, I
think, increasingly losing anybody's
sympathy, and this again shows what an
appalling org anizat ion we' re up
against," he added.
"They hate us not for what we do but
for what we are the fact that we are a
successful, tolerant, democratic, multi
faith, multiethnic nation," the prime
minister continued.

Washington: Defying global public opinion,

reclusive North Korea has claimed to have
detonated its first hydrogen bomb sending
political shock waves around the world and
even angering its ally China.
China joined the US, Russia, the European
Union and others in condemning the action
as a breach of international law and the UN
Security Council tentatively scheduled an
emergency meeting later on Wednesday at
the behest of the US and Japan.
Although North Korea's claims were taken
with a pinch of salt, detection devices
around the world recorded a 5.1 seismic
event on the country's northeast coast.
But calling the test a "complete success",
North Korea announced that the test was
ordered by its leader Kim Jongun, who has
said for weeks that Pyongyang has the abili
ty to build a thermonuclear weapon.
"If there's no invasion on our sovereignty
we will not use nuclear weapon," the North
Korean state news agency said. "This H
bomb test brings us to a higher level of
nuclear power." Ned Price, a spokesman for
the White House National Security Council,
said Washington had not yet determined
what kind of test was carried out, but that
he expected "North Korea to abide by its
international obligations and commitments".
State Department spokesman John Kirby
said "we have consistently made clear that
we will not accept" North Korea as a nuclear
state. "We will continue to protect and
defend our allies in the region, including the
Republic of Korea, and will respond appro
priately to any and all North Korean provo
cations." And as Foreign Policy magazine
put it, North Korea's fourth nuclear test
since 2006 "hasn't endeared the North to
any potential allies, as both China and
Russia have joined the chorus of internation

North Korea announced that the test was ordered by its leader Kim Jongun.

Abe, Obama confirm cooperation over nuke test

Tokyo: Japan and the US confirmed to closely cooperate to cope with the hydrogen bomb
test conducted by North Korea. The international community needs to take a resolute
action to send strong message to North Korea in order to prevent further provocations
from the country, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told US President Barack Obama
in a phone conversation. For his part, Obama said the nuke test was a threat to the region
and the international community, and the US would take measures to ensure the security
of its allies, including Japan. Abe strongly condemned the hydrogen bomb test, saying
the move was a "significant threat" to Japan's national security. Japan would consider
further sanctions against the North Korea, Xinhua news agency reported. After a magni
tude5.1 shallowfocus earthquake was detected in northeast part of North Korea, the
country's official media made a special report and announced it had successfully con
ducted its first hydrogen bomb test.
al condemnation of the test". It cited South
Korea's intelligence services and other
experts as saying they were sceptical that
the test was a hydrogen bomb and going by
the yield it looks similar to previous ther
monuclear tests carried out by Pyongyang.
North Korea's "assertion, if true, would
dramatically escalate the nuclear challenge
from one of the world's most isolated and
dangerous states," said the New York Times.
According to experts cited by Time maga

zine, the three previous tests, including the

most recent underground explosion in
2013, were of an atomic weapon, not the
exponentially more devastating hydrogen
variety. The other two tests were conducted
in 2006 and 2009. CNN cited David
Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, as
telling it last year that North Korea could
already have 10 to 15 atomic weapons, and
that it could grow that amount by several
weapons per year.

Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran after embassy attack

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia snapped
diplomatic ties with Iran and
asked all Iranian diplomats to
leave the country within 48
hours, the media reported.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel
alJubeir said he has informed
the UN Security Council of the
attack on the Saudi diplomatic
mission in Iran, and added that
the Saudi diplomats from the
mission had safe ly reached
Dubai, the UAE, Xinhua report
ed. He accused the Iranian
authorities of not taking any
measures to prevent the attacks
against the embassy in Tehran
and the consulate in the city of
Mashhad.
Ang ry Iranian protesters
stormed the Saudi diplomatic
mission to protest the Saudi exe
cution of 47 individuals on ter
rorism charges, including a
Saudi Shia cleric, Nimr alNimr.
The attacks violated interna

Angry Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi diplomatic

mission to protest the Saudi execution of 47 individuals
on terrorism charges, including a Saudi Shia cleric.
tional agreements, alJubeir
said, who also cited the Iranians'

previous attacks on the US and

British embassies.

He accused Iran of providing

protection for AlQaeda through
weapon trafficking.
For his part, Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani used the word
"inhuman" to strongly denounce
the Saudi execution.
He also urged relevant Iranian
departments to prosecute those
"extremist individuals" who
attacked the embassy and the
Saudi consulate in the city of
Mashhad.
Though Saudi Arabia has cut
diplomat ic t ies w ith Iran,
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister
Hossein AmirAbdollahian
responded that Riyadh's move
will by no way cover up "its
major mistake of execut ing
Sheikh Nimr".
Iraq expressed anger over
Riyadh's execution. Iraqi top
Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali
alSistani slammed the execu
tion as an "unjust aggression".

Saudi Arabia,
Iran must
deescalate
situation: US
Washington: The US is concerned
over the need for Saudi Arabia and
Iran to deescalate the situation in
the Middle East following diplomat
ic tensions between the two coun
tries, the White House said. "We are
urging all sides to show restraint
and to not further inflame tensions
that are on quite vivid display in the
region," Xinhua cited White House
spokesman Josh Earnest as saying.
Earnest said US Secretary of State
John Kerry had been in touch with
his Iranian counterpart. He will also
talk with his Saudi counterpart
soon.

BOOKS

62

Amb. Prabhu Dayal pens a book on Pakistan

hy would Zia want to climb five

floors of a hotel? Why did someone
think Zia could fix his TV? Was Zia
practising Urine therapy? W hat did
Christopher Lee and Alyque Padamsee have
in common?

Karachi Halwa is a witty but insightful por

trayal of Zia ul Haqs rule in Pakistan.
Ambassador Prabhu Dayal, known to the
Indian community in the northeastern USA as
an outgoing Consul General (200813), New
York, shares his recollections of that period
and keeps you laughing throughout his
account of the bumpy ride of Pakistans
domestic politics and its relationship with
India. He tells you how a Sahiwal cow was
brought into the equation, and where an ele
phant comes in.
Amb. Dayal says, The past, the present and
the future are in one continuous motion.
Whatever I witnessed in Pakistan during Zias
rule extends its long shadow not only over the
present times but will do so well into the
future also. He poses the ultimate question
whether the two South Asian giants can live

Former Indian Consul General in New York,

Amb. Prabhu Dayal and title page
of his book
as friends, offering his own suggestions.
On the personal front, when he was told of
his posting in Pakistan in late 1981, he was
devastated he initially believed that the

Pakistanis would be hostile to him. Though I

embarked on my stint in Karachi with no hint
of enthusiasm, the three and a half years I
spent there turned out to be unforgettable in
several respects and fill me with nostalgia
even today, after the passage of three
decades.
Dr Shashi Tharoor, Indian MP and writer of
repute has put in a good word, "Prabhu
Dayal's delightful bookWritten in a breezy,
anecdotal style, the book entertains even as it
illuminates."
Amb. Dayals wife Chandini Dayal has pro
vided illustrations with her deft pen for all the
chapters of the book.

'Karachi Halwa' is published in India by

Zorba Books and Kindle books are available
online at Amazon.

Inspiration for going on a spiritual quest

eleased nationwide in September last

year, Home at Last is an autobio
graphical account of Princeton, NJ
based Sarada Chiruvolus quest for selfreal
ization in the midst of a successful pharma
ceutical career. But rather than simply
abandoning work and family while search
ing for Enlightenment, she first found a way
to incorporate her spiritual discipline into
her everyday life with her family. Her story
related in common mans language serves as
a guide for modern spiritual seekers who
are interested in engaging in meditation and
spiritual practice. Home at Last talks about

New Jersey based Sarada Chiruvolu and

the title page of her autobiographical book

how an average individual can reach that

ultimate state of union with all of life. How
an enlightened consciousness navigates and
integrates our given life thereafter. That
union is the purpose and the ultimate goal
of human existence. Many of us know this in
theory, having heard it from our elders or
read about it in holy books, but we get
engrossed in mudane matters. Books like
Saradas can inspire us to go on the spiritual
quest, and persist with our meditational
practice. The results are bound to come, she
assures.
Part spiritual memoir, part meditation

handbook, Chiruvolus writings are clear

and accessible yet contain profound spiritu
al insights. She has dedicated the book to
her teacher and guru, Sri Amma
Karunamayi, who has written Foreword to
the book. Writes Amma, Sarada has trans
formed her life as a divine pure being
through her divine thoughts, silent medita
tion and service to society.

The book is published in America by

White Cloud Press, Oregon. It can also be
ordered from http://www.homeatlastbysara
da.com, where Sarada blogs.

HUMOR

64

Best of Mahendra Shah

Mahendra Shah is a prolific cartoonist in English, Hindi and Gujarati. He has been
drawing cartoons for The South Asian Times virtually from the inception of the
paper. We present here the best of his cartoons from 2015, handpicked by him.

Now that this movie is a hit, expect the sequel titled

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to be made soon.

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.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

Wishing our patients,

staff, and friends
Happy New Year

January 2-15, 2016

ASTROLOGY

66

By Dr Prem
Kumar Sharma

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

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

2016: THE YEAR OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES

Have you been waiting for promising and lucrative job to secure your future or
wishing for money that has been away from you, is there an ailment that has
besieged you or experiencing delay in your marriage to be solemnized? Then trust
forecast of 2016, made by world renowned astrologer Dr. Prem Kumar Sharma who
says that the coming year will bring positive and significant changes in your life.

ARIES the Ram

Lucky Months: January, June, July

Lucky Totka: Give your stationary items to the
poor people as charity. This would bring in
good results in professional and career front.

(March 21April 20)

CANCER the Crab

post March 2016.

Lucky Months: January, April, July, October
Lucky Totka: To welcome good health, keep
fresh flowers in your room.

spheres of life, wear a bracelet that has a solid

silver ball.

CAPRICORN the Goat

(December 22January 21)

(June 22July 22)

Year 2016 brings in positive news for you,
eliminating the negative aura. On
professional front, you will reach
zenith of your career starting
April or May. For job seekers the
third and last quarter looks more
promising. If in relationship, the year will be
hot and cold throughout. All day work and no
health care will make you sick, so you are ex
pected to take good care of your health for the
first half. Some rest in first half will make you
energetic and fit in latter half. On financial
front, you will be very strong and attain more
wealth. Your stars are in favor of travelling
abroad in 1st and 2nd quarter.
Lucky Months: April, May, November, Decem
ber
Lucky Totka: Invite fortune by wearing your
lucky birthstone embedded in a gold chain.

TAURUS the Bull

LIBRA the Scales

All your aspirations and hopes would be real
ized in 2016. Your health remains
perfectly excellent round the
year, leaving a small dip in
month August. On financial front,
you would be in your comfortable
zone, prominently due to wise investments you
had made in past. Legal and real estate matters
shall go in your favor. On professional front,
the months of May and June might not be fa
vorable but your strength will not let you
down. Your family life would be consistent
with November being the most significant one.
The second quarter of year flags travel to over
seas nation. Any property that is owned by you
will fetch good returns.
Lucky Months: May, June, July
Lucky Totka: To keep the negative energies
away from impacting your health, keep a crys
tal turtle to your bed side.

(September 24October 23)

For Librans, success is the word in 2016. Not
only on professional front, but you
will excel academically and other
spheres of your life in the first
quarter itself. The year looks
promising for people that desire
good health and total fitness. Financially you
look very strong, but this doesnt rule out the
need of being cautious. Post May, the stars pre
dict you visiting someone abroad. You are ad
vised not to invest in property related matters
in the first quarter.
Lucky Months: January, February, March
Lucky Totka: Keep yourself stress free by stick
ing to consumption of herbal products.

GEMINI the Twins

(May 21June 21)
Your life is expected to become very happen
ing in 2016. First quarter brings in
marriage or a new member to
your family. By the second quar
ter ie months of June and July
promise job switch or promotion
which will increase your pay scale. If things
have not been falling in their right place, then
now they would starting the last quarter. Your
family life would be extremely fulfilling and
happy.
If you have been longing for travel to any
overseas destination, then get ready for the
first quarter ensures this. You might get your
property renovated or acquire new one. Find
ing your true soul mate would not be easy task
this year.

AQUARIUS the Water Bearer

(January 22February 19)

LEO the Lion

Lucky Months: May, June, October, November

Lucky Totka: Bring positive aura in your life by
wearing silver ring in index finger of right
hand.

Lucky Months: April, May, November, Decem

ber
Lucky Totka: To taste success in professional
front, wear a blue color wrist band on right
wrist.

SCORPIO the Scorpion

(October 24November 22)

(April 21May 20)

Year 2016 brings in glorifying changes for
you. Years last quarter will bring a
professional break that you had
longed years back. Second quar
ter will bring in good news as you
are seen potential to qualify a com
petition or exam. In March and April, stars will
fall in right place, making you eligible to trav
el abroad. Since you tend to spend more than
what you earn, try to keep control over your fi
nancials. Family life would experience ups and
downs, as the year brings in fluctuating waves
in your relationships. Focus on nurturing
them. The last quarter says that there are pos
itive chances of you acquiring a property.

2016 will open new horizons for you. You

might attain strong accomplish
ment on professional and aca
demic front from April to June.
This will help you take a novel
direction. If there has been an ill
ness in the past, it would not continue this year
for 2016 promises fit and good health. You will
earn good revenue or profit from a negotiation
done in past. Waves of high and low would re
main in your relationship. Stability might elude
you. Travel bug is expected to bite you towards
year end. There is possibility of buying new
house.

(July 23August 23)

If there were things that you could not accom
plish the last year, then 2016 will
help you accomplish these.
Health related issues will be all
past now for 2016 promises
health throughout. On monetary
front, expect a wave in February and May, a
slight turbulence is expected in 2nd quarter
which will impact your professional life. How
ever you being strong will manage well. Efforts
would be required to keep your love and fami
ly life balanced and fulfilling. There are poten
tial chances of your travel. Investing in any
property and profits from the same cant be
ruled out.
Lucky Months: January, March, August, Sep
tember
Lucky Totka: To ensure that your cash register
keeps on ringing, take 3 IChing coinsm tie
them in red cloth and place in your wallet.

VIRGO the Virgin

(August 24September 23)
2016 promises significant positive changes for
people of this sun sign for there
would be sharp rise in profes
sional and personal spheres.
Profits are making their way to
reach you, if you engaged in busi
ness. Expect grand celebration in April, May,
June or July. Reap benefits from investment in
real estate. Even though your health remains in
shape round the year, yet be little cautious in
October. 2016 is perfect for Virgo love birds to
keep their love alive and grow more. Strong po
tential of travelling to overseas destination

2016 is all about success for you. Put in little

efforts to chart your career path
and reap positive results by the
1st or 2nd quarter itself. Recog
nition or scholarship is expected
in November or December, for the
students that aspire higher education. 2016
assures of financial security but desire to earn
big amount of money might not get fulfilled
this year. Romance and family life will have
their own share of waves which would go up
and down. The year would be favorable for
people in legal tiffs. Plan to make a foreign trip
would strength post June.
Lucky Months: February, March, November,
December
Lucky Totka: To attain victory in legal matters,
wear small green crystal in a chain around
your neck.

2016 guarantees contentment and happiness

in personal and professional
sphere. Months from May to July
look very favorable in profession
al front. You are set to accomplish
higher education this year. Give due
attention to your health in first quarter while
the rest of year will keep the health fit and fine.
Something prominent is expected in relation
ship or married life towards the second half of
year. There are possible chances of you going
on leisure trip in last quarter. Favorable stars
will help you acquire or inherit property.
Lucky Months: June, July, December
Lucky Totka: Do not accept or gift metal or
sharp edge items this year.

PISCES the Fish

(February 20March 20)

SAGITTARIUS the Archer

(November 23December 21)
What has not been attained will be accom
plished by you in 2016. January
would remain indifferent but
your career graph will rise all
through the year. Be slight cau
tious in years last quarter for you
might fall in trap of people in authority. Do
mestic life would witness some hardships and
might continue for some time. Your strength
will not let you down. Towards year mid, you
can earn or acquire wealth from inheritance.
You have a chance to visit to abroad post
March. You might buy house or vehicle by the
last quarter.
Lucky Months: February, May, July, October
Lucky Totka: To overcome challenges in all

2016 will push you towards realizing your po

tential. There are chances of being
bestowed with pride and honor in
your academic or professional
sphere towards start of year. A
prestigious position or promotion is
expected in 2nd or 3rd quarter. Health looks
promising throughout the year. If you do not
make efforts to calm or repair the situation
then marriage or relationship cracks would
widen.
Be cautious of investing your money in any
sort of property deal. Travel bug looks active
and might bite you soon.
Lucky Months: January, February, August
Lucky Totka: Get your electrical appliances re
paired soon and make certain they are not left
broken or dead at home.

67

ASTROLOGY
By Dr Prem
Kumar Sharma

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

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

Annual Predictions: For those born in this week (January 9-15 2016)

9th January, 2016

Ruled planet: Mars Ruled by no: 9
Traits in you: Being influenced by Mars, you are believed
to be the master of a charismatic personality. You are cour
teous, courageous, energetic, realistic, modest, and re
sponsive. You follow religion very keenly. However, you
have few problems in your attitude and that needs to be
worked on for the betterment of your individuality.
Health this year: You will enjoy a good health throughout
this year but provided you go for regular medical check
ups and take proper medication prescribed by the doctor.
Finance this year: As far as your financial condition is con
sidered, you will enjoy a better status as compared to the
last year. You will get enough benefits from your previous
investments. You may plan for new investments. You may
go for partnerships to start new ventures. Domestic as well
as overseas ventures will be successful this year. You need
to create new contacts for the growth in your business as
it will earn you more projects and money.
Career this year: You will enjoy a fruitful year as a result
of your past performances. You may get the expected
salary hike this year. You will be very much approachable
due to your knowledge, intelligence, and hard work. How
ever, you need to look after your professional etiquette
and try to perform much better than previous year.
Romance this year: Your romantic life will become stag
nant this year as you may not give enough time to your
beloved. If you are unmarried and planning to marry this
year, it may not happen because of the negative move
ments of your stars and planets.
10th January, 2016
Ruled planet: Sun Ruled by no: 1
Traits in you: Due to the positive effects of your ruling
planet Sun, you will have the characteristics of a good hu
man being. By nature, you are accountable, unique, coura
geous, committed, competitive, coordinated and intelli
gent. You should work on your negative personality traits
such as selfishness, dependency and pessimism.
Health this year: You need to take an appropriate care of
your health. You may fall sick in the middle months of the

year though those will not be serious. If you are a

sportsperson, you need to be very careful for your diet and
nutrition to perform better in your sporting events.
Finance this year: If you have planned to invest in the
stock markets, better to go for it this year as you will be
hugely benefited. You will gain ample amount of money
from your decisions regarding finances this year.
Career this year: You may get the chance to complete all
your previous assignments and this will enhance your re
spect as a brilliant performer in your professional circuit.
If you are into a profession that demands creativity, then
you will be very successful this year as far as your career
is concerned.
Romance this year: You will share a better relationship with
your spouse or partner this year as compared to the previ
ous year. You will find your partner supportive enough in
every challenge you face. If you are not married yet, this year
may prove to be the ideal year for you to get married.
11th January, 2016
Ruled planet: Moon Ruled by no: 2
Traits in you: Your ruler, the Moon makes you a very
friendly individual. You are simple, confident, realistic, sin
cere, and optimistic. You are very innovative and try to per
form your work in a different and efficient way. You need
to work hard on your characteristics of being jealous and
insensitive at times.
Health this year: You will enjoy a normal health this year.
However, you need to be in regular contact with your doc
tor to remain healthy. If you face some minor health issues,
you should take prescribed medication without neglecting.
Finance this year: You will be able to stabilize your finan
cial condition by reaping profits from your past invest
ments. You may also plan for new investments this year.
You will find enough new opportunities to start up a new
business that would yield money for you. You should in
vest in real estate or stock market for better returns.
Career this year: You will reach new heights in your pro
fession as you would be appreciated by your colleagues
and seniors for better productivity. Your decision making
capabilities would make you popular among your co
workers. Your profession related trips would become more
successful than
Romance this year: You may find yourself among the wed
ding bells if you are eligible. Your love life with your part
ner will flourish with the love, care, and support of your
partner.
12th January, 2016
Ruled planet: Jupiter Ruled by no: 3
Traits in you: Being ruled by Jupiter, you are courteous,
courageous, decisive, ambitious, disciplined, and realistic.
You are gifted with high imagination power, optimism, and
enthusiasm. However, behaving restless and dominating
may hamper your characteristics at times. You need to

work on your personality to make yourself better as an in

dividual.
Health this year: You may go through few minor health is
sues, which will create unwanted tensions for you
throughout the year. To avoid falling sick frequently, you
need to get your medical checkup done periodically.
Finance this year: You will be fortunate enough this year
to be among financial gains. All you need to do is to grab
opportunities to earn money. You will find plenty of earn
ing opportunities around you. However, you have to work
hard to gain that money. Overall, this year will give you fi
nancial stability and security.
Career this year: As far as your professional life is con
cerned you may find your job a bit monotonous. You need
to go for innovative ideas to get better in your profession.
Your decision making capacity may make you the favorite
to win an award in your professional circuit.
Romance this year: You may get engaged to your love this
year. You will enjoy a great marital life with your beloved.
You will find your partner supportive enough in every sit
uation. You should try and maintain a better relationship
with your partner to enjoy a better family life.
13th January, 2016
Ruled planet: Uranus Ruled by no: 4
Traits in you: Your ruling planet Uranus blesses you with
a charismatic character. You are able to impress anyone in
your surroundings with your nature and attitude. You are
generous, peace loving, disciplined, and creative in nature.
Your hard work pays off every time and you get success
as a result.
Health this year: Your health would remain very good this
year. However, you need to go for regular yoga exercises.
You should not ignore your healthy diet plan to remain in
shape. Go for regular medical checkups to avoid any hic
cups further.
Finance this year: You may go for a property transaction
this year and this will bring you a lot of money. You need
to be decisive to invest on real estate or gold as there are
risks involved. Do not trust any of your new partners as
they may cheat you. You may spend enough money on
buying a vehicle or renovating your property.
Career this year: You will obtain success this year because
of your hard work and dedication towards your work. Your
juniors may south you help in work and you should not
hesitate for the same. You need to be a bit punctual to get
a better appraisal towards the end of the year. You may
have to travel overseas for your project related work.
Romance this year: Your plans to go for holidays with your
partner may not work because of huge work pressure and
this may create disturbance in your marital life. You need
to take care of the emotional requirements of your partner
to lead a peaceful life this year.
14th January, 2016

Ruled planet: Mercury Ruled by no: 5

Traits in you: As you are ruled by planet Mercury, you are
intelligent, diplomatic, realistic, optimistic, decisive, and
friendly. You are very dashing as far as looks are con
cerned and this attracts lots of people towards you. You
should control your mood swings to make yourself a bet
ter person.
Health this year: Health wise you will enjoy a great time
throughout the year. You may suffer few minor health is
sues such as cold, headache or body aches. You need to take
proper medications to remain physically and mentally fit.
Finance this year: You will be among major financial gains
this year. You may go for a real estate transaction later this
year and this will bring you a lot of money to cherish. You
may start up a new business. If you are already into busi
ness, you may plan for expanding its territory this year.
Career this year: You need to focus on your profession and
put your cent per cent effort to achieve your expected
goals. You will be appreciated by your peers and seniors
for your efficient output. You may be assigned extra re
sponsibilities as you are very decisive and capable of per
forming wonders.
Romance this year: You will be in good terms with your
spouse or partner this year. You need to give enough time
to your partner to strengthen your relationship. You have
to be smart enough to handle minor critical things.
15th January, 2016
Ruled planet: Venus Ruled by no: 6
Traits in you: As you are ruled by Venus, you are opti
mistic, modest, focused, punctual, reliable, and dependant.
You are pretty interested in doing social work and charity.
However, you should control your mood swings, impa
tience, and whim.
Health this year: You need to focus on your health a little
more as you may fall sick frequently this year. You should
go for regular medical checkups to maintain a healthy life.
Your parents may fall sick towards the end of the year and
it will put you in immense pressure.
Finance this year: As far as your financial status is con
sidered, you will enjoy a healthy run this year. You may
redirect yourself to more profitable business. You may
plan for few business trips this year for your growth. You
should not get involved in any kind of partnerships as it
may hamper your business.
Career this year: You will be very impressive in your pro
fessional circuit this year. However, you need to work
smart and perform well to grow as a perfectionist. You
should take quick decisions to excel in your field. You may
have to help your ordinates to drive productivity.
Romance this year: You will share a blissful romantic rela
tionship with your spouse or partner. Your marriage is on
cards if you are yet to marry. You will find your partner
supportive enough in every crucial situation.

Stars Foretell: January 9-15, 2016

ARIES: Keep selfconfidence high and concen
tration to handle the pressure with
ease. Good advice from family
members brings gains. Monetary
position is likely to improve on
recovering of delayed payments.
Love life brings immense romantic
pleasure. Meditation and selfrealization prove
beneficial. You can make your vacation extra
special by planning it with your family and
friends. You might be purchasing a refrigerator
or any other gadget for your house. Performing
some ritual ceremony will highly benefit you.

TAURUS: This week even on confronting set

backs let these not deter you from
professional path. The company of
family friends will keep you in a
happy & relaxed mood.
Investment in antiques & jewelry
brings monetary gains and improve
ment in financial position. Traveling proves a
blessing in disguise by bringing a love in your
life. You will have ample time to do things to
improve your health. Spiritual vacation is a quest
for life, plan it and enjoy it with your family.
Purchasing of electrical appliances can be done.

GEMINI: Keeping business interests supreme in

mind would enable to conquer prob
lematic situations. Parental guid
ance in your decision would
immensely help. Long pending
arrears and dues will finally be
recovered. You are likely to get a new
friendship opportunity in the evening. Sound
physical health will enable to participate in out
door activities. Vacation full of beauty and histo
ry as well as exciting is waiting for you. A good
deal for residential property is ahead. A possibili
ty of an enhancement in your religious thinking.

CANCER: You are likely to encounter some chal

lenging situations at workplace. A
week when misunderstandings at
family front are sorted out with
ease. this week investment con
cerning residence will be profitable.
New romance that some of you are
going to experience would take the worries off
mind. You will be successful in getting rid from
tensions. Traveling on your own, with a friend or
with the whole family will be exciting and com
fortable too. Time to make investments on farm
lands. You are likely to plan a trip to pilgrimage.

LEO : Avoid getting influenced through persuasion

& pressurised situations at work
place. Believe it or not someone in
the family is watching you closely
and considers you a role model.
Financial hassles seem to get over as
someone lends a timely helping hand.
Health would remain fine despite a busy schedule
but dont take it for granted. Travel in comfort with
kids to an adventurous place might be possible.
Your investment plans are at full boom & you
might succeed in them. Inner opposition would
pave the way for a new development in you.

VIRGO: A hectic schedule awaits at professional

front this week. An important devel
opment at personal front brings
jubilation for entire family.
Promising week to invest surplus
money in real estate. You will be
attracted to someone special. A
sparkling laughter filled week when most things
proceed, as you desire. A trip that stimulates and
gives opportunity for work is coming ahead.
Your girlfriends desire for an apartment might
lead to its destination. You will be successful in
developing some social contacts for personal use.

LIBRA: Subordinates/coworkers would be very

helpful. A happy time in the compa
ny of friends and relatives as they
do many favours to you. A sound
financial health would enable to
invest on lucrative schemes. Warm
romantic thoughts occupy mind. Your
enormous confidence would help in enjoying a
healthy life. A luxurious getaway type vacation
with your spouse waiting for you. Time to plan a
gift for your parents may be their dream home.
this week by sticking to your beliefs & faith, you
succeed in achieving many personal favours.

SCORPIO: Handling subordinates might be a lit

tle tough this week. Enjoying the
company of close relatives will
brighten your evening. Your bril
liant ideas would help in bring
ing financial gains. Your charm &
generosity bring new romantic oppor
tunities for you. A very healthy week filled with
happiness & vitality. Thrilling experience is on
your way, as your trip is full of excitement Its
high time to think of purchasing a new office.
The good news for you this week is that you
would objectively evaluate yourself.

SAGITTARIUS: Traveling brings new overseas

business opportunities. Shopping
with family members will be
highly pleasurable and exciting.
A promising week to earn profits
in real estate and financial trans
actions. Love life brightens your week.
Pleasure trip would help in maintaining sound
health this week. Traveling for long can be
stressful and tedious. It might be the right time
to sale your empty plot as property rates are at
peak. You keep a vigilant eye at whats happen
ing around you.

CAPRICORN: You are likely to face some tense

moments at professional front. You
will be at the limelight in a social
gathering provided you attend. An
improvement in monetary position
makes it convenient to purchase
essential items. Your wit & charm would
help in catching the attention of opposite sex. Yoga
and meditation would help in keeping in shape and
mentally agile. Pack your bags as a happy, fun
filled holiday is looking forward. Your plan for a
new house will be in process very soon. You will be
able to shift your focus from personal to social life.

AQUARIUS : Auspicious week to start a new

venture. You will be the star of
attraction of familys gettogether
this week. This week longterm
investment would enable to
make substantial gains. Love part
ner would be extremely supportive
and in a loving mood. Blessings of a saintly per
son give peace of mind. An enriching vacation
full of fun is what you need. Your loan proce
dures for pursuing a plot will be in process. You
are likely to make a commitment without know
ing how to honour it.

PISCES: Unpredictable nature of boss is likely

to create some problems. Help
from family members would
take care of your needs.
Financial hassles will be eased
out w ith the he lp of your
friends. A romantic week as you
receive all praises from partner. Chances of
recovering from physical ailment are high.
Time to make your vacation a dream come
true. Investment in hotel industry can be the
right choice to be made. You succeed in
reassessing your strengths and weaknesses.

S p i r i t ua l Awa r e n e ss

68

New Years Message - Jan. 1, 2016

from Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I send you my warmest greetings for a Happy New Year. I pray that each of you experience
a year filled with Light, divine love, and spiritual fulfillment. These gifts are our birthright as
children of the One Creator. We already own these treasures, but it is up to us to open them.
There is nothing more that can be given to us from God as we are already blessed with Gods own divine nature that
sits within us. It is only we who fail to open these wondrous gifts.
To benefit and enjoy these special blessings from God, we merely have to know how to look within to find them. We
are like the children who have been given presents from our parents but instead of opening them, we only look at
the outer wrapping. In the same way, we look at the outer gift God has given us which is our human body, but do
not look at the boundless gifts within us. We stand in the way of our happiness.
To make this year one of fulfilling our spiritual goals, we should make a resolution to find the immeasurable treasures within through meditation. If we make it a habit to meditate daily with full accuracy, devotion, and consistency, we will find the bliss and joy that await within.
Besides daily meditation, we should weed out any failures in the ethical virtue. In this way, we can clean the mirror
so we can see the divine treasures within without any obstruction. We can develop nonviolence, truthfulness, purity,
humility, and selflessness. To further our progress, we can devote time to selfless service where we help others without any material reward for ourselves. This simple formula of mediation, ethical life, and selfless service can clean
off the layers of grime that keep us from experiencing the limitless bounties of God that await us within.
Our ability to experience spiritual fulfillment lies in our developing habits that accelerate our spiritual progress. We
already have God waiting for us within. If we open the package and look within, we will find God and achieve the
divine love and ecstasy that comes with union with our Creator.
I pray this year is one in which you reach the
ultimate goal of union with God and experience
the bliss, peace, and love that is our birthright.
Yours affectionately,

Rajinder Singh

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj is an internationally recognized spiritual

leader and Master of Jyoti Meditation who affirms the transcendent
oneness at the heart of all religions and mystic traditions, emphasizing
ethical living and meditation as building blocks for achieving inner
and outer peace. For more info visit www.sos.org.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

January 2-15, 2016

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