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See VISA, Page 12

By MANU SHAHFrustrated with rampant

corruption, rising crime and high prices, a cross section of India appears to be yearning for an honest government that will deliver.

With the ruling Congress Party’s reputation taking a nosedive, the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are promising an alternative.

With its almost defi ant win in Delhi, the AAP has taken everyone by surprise but voters

still seem wary of giving it national government status.

The contender for the top slot appears to be the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate – Narendra Modi.

While AAP leader – Arvind Kejriwal comes like a breath of fresh air with a squeaky clean image and good intentions, Narendra Modi brings with him a proven track record of good governance and an ability to energize the masses with his sharp sense of humor and oratory skills.

Houston isn’t immune to the

election fever heating up in India.

During the India Culture Center’s Republic Day celebrations at the Stafford Centre on Feb. 1, political organizations like the BJP, the AAP and the Overseas Volunteer for a Better India (a movement launched by Sri Sri Ravishankar of the Art of Living) put up booths to sign up volunteers.

The Congress party didn’t put up a booth this year as one of its main activists, George

NEW DELHI: The US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, will be meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on Thursday, Feb 13, signalling the end of a nine-year-long U.S. boycott following the Godhra riots.

In 2005, the US had cancelled Modi’s visa under a domestic law on the issue of “severe violations of religious freedom”. Ever since it had refused to review its policy.

Powell apparently wants to meet Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate, to discuss issues related to the Lok Sabha polls and his vision for the country, sources said.

They said the Ambassador’s request for a meeting has been accepted by Modi and exact time and date are being fi rmed up.

“Most likely, the meeting will take place on Thursday,

February 13,” a source said.Before Powell’s formal

request, the US Embassy offi cials recently held a meeting with some senior offi cials of Gujarat government, during which they may have discussed the 2002 riots, among other subjects.

That interaction apparently set the stage for the meeting between Powell and Modi.

In Washington, a US State

Local survey echoes Indian politics; BJP in the lead

Supporters of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party, left, and AamAdmi Party in Houston displayed their passion for India’s political future by having booths at the IFEST 2014, marking India’s Republic Day at Stafford Centre on Feb. 1

Penguin India withdraws book on Hinduism

Penguin India has agreed to withdraw American Indologist Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History from the Indian market. Story on Page 7.

US envoy Powell to meet Modi

NEW DELHI: The Government of India

has decided to extend its visa-on-aarival program to tourists from 180 countries from the present 11 countries.

Eight countries — Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia — are excluded from the new program. Rajender Chaudhry, a spokesman for the Tourism Ministry, said

these countries are likely to have been excluded because of security concerns or rocky bilateral ties with India. The new program will likely be in place by October this year.

Analysts hailed the decision saying it would boost tourism, earnings from which could help defl ate the country’s bloating fi scal defi cit. This is a “game changer for the Indian economy,” Rajiv Biswas, IHS

India extends visa-on-arrival to 180 nationsGlobal’s chief economist for Asia, said in a statement.

“The new liberalized visa regime has the potential to make India one of the most favored tourist destinations of the world,” Jyotsna Suri,

See VISA, Page 7

See MODI, Page 12

PAGE 2 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Chinmaya Mission Houston www.saumyakasi.org 10353 Synott Road Contact: Sugar Land, TX 77478 Jay Deshmukh 832-541-0059 281-568-1690 Bharati Sutaria 281-933-0233

Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya

MAHASIVARATRIMAHASIVARATRIMAHASIVARATRI Come, celebrate and receive Lord Siva’s grace and blessings

Sunday, March 2nd 2014

( Temple Hours 8:30 am – 2:00 pm & 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm )

Maha Mrtyunjaya Homa

8:35 am - 10:30 am CMH Session1 11:20 am - 1:00 pm CMH Session2

( In Chinmaya Smrti Building — Homa sponsorship per family: $21 )

Thursday & Friday, Feb 27 & 28th, 2014

Utsava Yajamana: $25,001 Puja Yajamana: $10,001 Arati Yajamana: $5,001 (Puja Sponsorship with Ksirabhiseka: $21 per family)

Thursday, Feb 27 Friday, Feb 28

Ksirabhiseka Seva by Devotees 9:00 am - 9:45 pm

Ksirabhiseka Seva by Devotees 9:00 am - noon & 5:00pm - 9:45 pm

Mahanyasa Purvaka Rudrabhiseka 9:00 am - 11:30 am

Rudrabhiseka 9:30 am - 11:30 am

Laghunyasa Ekadasa Rudrabhiseka 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Mahanyasa Purvaka Rudrabhiseka 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Arati & Prasada 10:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Arati & Prasada 9:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Meditation & Midnight Arati 10:30 pm - 12:00 am

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 3

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Mahatma Gandhi Library organized a tribute to the father of the nation in a Shraddhanjali at the Unity Houston Church on Sat-urday, Feb 8. Consul General Parvathaneni Harish was the chief guest at the program attended by a large number of children. Ma-hatma Gandhi died on Jan 30, 1948.

The program began with an introduction of the Shraddhanjali by Sharma Dronamraju and invocation by Mindy Lawrence of Unity Houston.

Chinmaya Mission singers presented Gandhiji’s favorite bhajan, Vaishnav Janato... by singers Sucheta karandikar and Jamuna Murali, accompanied on the harmonium by Dr Mahendra Gohil and on the tabla by Arun Sabhapati. They also sang another song Dedi hume azaadi from the fi lm Jagruti which is a paean to the Mahatma.

Shraddhanjali to Mahatma GandhiDr. Sitaben Kapadia, who

was a teenager when Gandhi passed away, recalled the stir and discussions created by Gandhi’s Quit India call among the elders around her. She once saw Gandhiji from a distance of about ten feet, she said. “It was truly a darshan for me... I remember how his face glowed with that radiant smile.”

Children of DAV Montes-sori School and DAV Sanskriti School of Arya Samaj of Great-

er Houston sang two songs -In-saaf ki dagar pe, and Chhodo kal ki baatein. A children’s skit on the impact of Mahatma Gan-dhi’s philosophy on the world was presented by Alison Gore, Thomas Gore, Rithu Sarathy and Umrith Sarathy. Smriti Ahuja, second place winner of the speech contest held for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti in October, recited her speech on the Pen being mightier than the Sword.

Rev. Ron Lister of Unity Houston spoke on the impact

Gandhiji had on South Africanfeedom fi ghter Nelson Man-dela.

Gandhiji’s AutobiographyBook Club discussion takesplace every second Sunday ofthe month at Arya Samaj ofGreater Houston from 12:30 to1:30 p.m. For information, callManish Wani at 713-829-6979

Children of Arya Samaj’s DAVMontessori School and DAV San-skriti School sang two songs thatcalled for peace, truth and jus-tice.

PAGE 4 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

India HeraldIndia Herald (USPS 017-699) is published every Wednesday (for a

subscription rate of $25 per year) by India Herald Inc, 13643 La Concha Lane,Houston TX 77083-3438. Tel: 281-980-6746. Periodical postage paid at Houston,Texas and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toIndia Herald, P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, TX 77487.India Herald welcomes articles, letters for publication. Website: www.india-

herald.com Email: editor@india-herald.comPublisher: Seshadri Kumar. Executive Editor: Rajeev V. Gadgil.c India Herald. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part of any

material herein, without permission, is prohibited. India Herald assumes noliability resulting from action taken based on the information included herein.

TOPIC OF THE WEEK

Sharad Pawar’s Last Gamble?In an unusually swift move Sharad Pawar has endorsed his confi-

dant Praful Patel's statement exonerating Narendra Modi of any rolein the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.

Aam Aadmi Party’s IntransigenceHaving scorned the national lokpal legislation as too feeble to “even

catch a mouse”, the AAP government in Delhi promised to enact itsown Jan Lokpal Bill. The bill is predictably heavy-handed — the janlokpal would have the power to initiate proceedings, investigate andprosecute cases and could impose life imprisonment on officials. TheAAP is intent on ramming this bill through, calculating that the DelhiCongress will not risk pulling the government down on the eve of LokSabha polls. The only hitch, though, is that the AAP’s action is illegal.Given that it will be partly funded from the Consolidated Fund of theCapital, the Jan Lokpal Bill needs the lieutenant governor’s permissionto be introduced in the assembly. The lieutenant governor of Delhiconsulted the solicitor general of India, who confirmed that the billcould not go to the assembly without the former’s permission.

The AAP, though, has never come across an obstruction that itcould not paint as a confrontation between itself and the Corrupt Es-tablishment. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to theLG in which he suggests that the building face-off over the Jan LokpalBill between the Delhi government and the letter of the law is onaccount of corrupt forces banding together to oppose the AAP, whichis alone in resisting the corruption and criminalisation of politics. Morespecifically, he claims that “it is not written anywhere in the Constitu-tion” that the bill needs sanction from the Centre, and that a Unionhome ministry directive was being passed off as a constitutional re-quirement. He argues that this directive itself is unconstitutional. Cast-ing the matter also as an assault on Delhi state’s autonomy, he asks, “ifall bills need the Centre’s permission, why bother having an election?”Kejriwal misrepresents the points of contention. The demand of moreautonomy for Delhi merits a separate, more sober discussion. As faras the Jan Lokpal Bill is concerned, however, it is not the will or whimof a Congress-run home ministry, but the law, enacted within a consti-tutional framework, that stands in his way. The Government of Na-tional Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 clearly mandates that theLG’s permission is required in such cases.

The AAP has often conveyed a disregard for rules, suggesting thatthey are empty protocols that exist to serve a corrupt system. All toooften, it has ended up showing a dangerous contempt for the rule oflaw itself, treating warrants as mere niceties, trying to arm organisedcrowds with sweeping powers over local government bodies. Thistime, the jan lokpal has simply hit a wall — the law of the land. TheAAP would do well to back off. — Indian Express

VOICES

The flutter this has generated across thepolitical spectrum is true to form. TheMaratha strongman is known to play hiscards so close to his chest that no one -perhaps not even he - is quite sure of hishand. This reputation for inscrutability hasserved him well ever since he entered pub-lic life in 1967.

Against the heaviest of odds - allega-tions, never proved, of humongous financial impropriety and links withthe underworld, two divorces with the Congress, not to speak of thou-sands of farmers' suicides under his watch - he has been chief minis-ter of Maharashtra four times and held portfolios of defence and agri-culture at the Centre.

The good word that the NCP supremo has put in for the BJP'sprime ministerial candidate could well be meant to pressure Congress,his senior ally in Mumbai and at the Centre, to offer his party moreseats for upcoming general elections. Another message could well bethat he is open to cut a post-election deal with the BJP-led NDA orwith a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition of parties.

In the latter case, given his boundless ambition, he may even fancyhimself as the helmsman of such a government. All of this, however, ismore pie in the sky. With NCP steadily losing ground in Maharashtra,Pawar won't command numbers of his own to call the shots. He hasno ace left up his sleeve. — The Times of India

Apni Gali Mein Sher!India should immediately arrange a home series and break all the

batting records out there, otherwise at this losing rate, fans will stopworshipping their cricket gods. — Shaleen Baloch’s letter in TheHindu after India’s defeat in the first Test in New Zealand

By Chander Suta Dogra

Each time a political leadermakes a benign comment onNorth India’s infamous khappanchayats, it gives these archaicresidues of community-based jus-tice systems a life-saving boostershot.

This time it is the turn of theparty with a difference. The AamAdmi Party (AAP) turned a softgaze on them when its leader,Arvind Kejriwal, said recently thatthere is no need to ban these bod-ies because they serve a culturalpurpose.

He was countered by UnionFinance Minister P. Chidam-baram, who, while speaking to stu-dents of the Shriram College ofCommerce said that khappanchayats are retrograde orga-nizations that cannot be a part ofIndia’s culture.

“I am appalled to see some-body say it is a part of India’s cul-ture,” he said. But his fellow Con-gressman and the Chief Ministerof Haryana, Bhupinder SinghHooda, was quick to defend thesebodies. Hooda told reporters at afunction in Haryana that khappanchayats “are like NGOs” whowork in the social sphere, and arecertainly a part of our culture.

Kejriwal and Hooda, both, hailfrom Haryana — the State thathas the largest and most belliger-ent concentration of khaps.

Khap panchayats have beenaround since the 7th century andperhaps even earlier. They aresaid to have coronated the 12-year-old Harshavardhan, who inturn gave them their saffron flagwith a deep red sun in the middle.

In the 13th century, khappanchayats came to the aid ofRaziya Sultan and helped her fightoff an attack from her rebelliousTurkish nobles. She rewardedthem with 60,000 buffaloes.

Her tomb lies on the outskirtsof Kaithal, deep in Haryana’skhap country. Khaps are also be-lieved to have given men andmaterials to the Marathas againstAhmed Shah Abdali, in the thirdbattle of Panipat.

They came up as dispute re-solving, village-based bodies, dis-pensing cheap and quick justicein matters relating to debts, con-tracts, adultery and inheritance ofproperty.

Their decisions were taken asthe “voice of god,” but all thatchanged when, in the second halfof the 19th century, the British dis-placed them by establishing statu-tory, local, self-governing bodiesat the village level and judicialcourts for legal relief.

In the olden days, khappanchayats were more inclusiveand Sarvkhaps comprised peopleof all castes and communities.Today, with their clout diminishedto the realm of social traditions,marriage practices and customs,khap panchayats represent thedominant Jat community inHaryana and parts of UttarPradesh and Rajasthan.

They have become undemo-cratic, oppressive and in conflictwith the law. But because Jatscomprise almost 25 per cent of the

population inHaryana, politi-cal parties are in-dulgent towardsthem. The AAP— which aimsto form a gov-ernment inHaryana laterthis year — itturns out is nodifferent fromthe other partiesin this respect.

To say thatthey serve a“cultural pur-pose” is debat-able in the mod-ern, liberald e m o c r a t i ccountry that In-dia now is. Be-sides approvinghonor killings, inrecent years,

Retrograde avatar of repressive traditions

khap panchayats have mounted a campaign against the Hindu Suc-cession (Amendment) Act 2005 that gives equal inheritance rights towomen. Last July, a khap in Jhajjar forbade a farmer from giving hisdaughter some money in return for withdrawing a legal case that shehad filed to get her share of the family’s ancestral land.

The reasoning being that it would embolden other girls to followsuit. Activists in Haryana have for long been saying that the oppositionto same gotra or inter caste marriages by khaps is actually aimed atpreventing the economic empowerment of girls because those whochoose their own marriage partners are more likely to go on and de-mand their share of ancestral land.

At the height of the Manoj and Babli honor killing case, when thekhaps threatened to disrupt law and order in Haryana if the master-mind behind the killings was arrested (he was honored with the awardof “Jat Gaurav”) they got their first taste of the political clout theyhave come to wield.

A helpless administration watched a succession of khap panchayatsbeing held in support of the killers.

But the adverse publicity that the khaps got as a result of theirsupport for honor killings, triggered some course correction and thereis now a conscious effort to refurbish their much dented image byprojecting a socially responsible facade. But this change is more cos-metic than fundamental.

One such effort was undertaken last June in Bibipur village in Jinddistrict where the local sarpanch held a women-driven sarvkhappanchayat comprising several major khaps of Haryana.

The agenda was to combat female foeticide and scores of womenwere invited to participate.

But as soon as some women activists tried to raise the issue ofequal share of girls in ancestral property, they were shooed off thestage. It is another matter that Hooda presented the Bibipur panchayatwith Rs. 1 crore for its efforts.

A spate of similar panchayats on female foeticide followed, prompt-ing Dada Baljeet Malik, head of the Malik khap to say, “We hope thatnow none will term us as Talibanic or kangaroo courts.” Some khapshave also decreed against extravagant marriages and alcoholism.

But when it comes to substantial issues of women’s rights, or tosupporting the case of an oppressed woman against her husband andfamily members, khap panchayats almost always take the patriarchalview.

Neither does a khap panchayat ever oppose Dalit oppression oratrocities against the marginalized. On the contrary, khaps have stoodagainst Dalits in the couple of incidents of violence against Dalits thattook place in Haryana in the last few years.

Says D.R. Chaudhary, academic and prominent crusader againstkhaps, “Mere passing of resolutions against social evils will not makea difference. Instead of imposing restrictions on girls, khap panchayatsshould fight the anti-social elements responsible for crime againstwomen and support the right of girls to choose their life partner andensure them a share in their parental property.”

Last year, after a couple was brutally hacked to death in Rohtak fordefying marriage norms, a large khap panchayat banned girls in theirarea from using mobile phones and wearing jeans.

The khap heads decided that such a restriction will end honourkillings as it will prevent young girls from interacting with boys. Nosuch restrictions are imposed on the boys.

So, whenever a politician justifies their activities by terming them ascultural institutions rooted in the past, s/he gives them a new lease oflife. What was a dying institution a decade ago, has been revived andgiven some legitimacy by vote bank politics to enable it to emerge in aretrograde avatar.

Now, Kejriwal too has a hand in this endeavor. — The Hindu

A Khap mahapanchayat in Kurukshetra, Haryana.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

An Indian American employeeof Schwan’s, a food service com-pany based in Marchall, Minne-sota, has filed a federal lawsuitcharging the company and co-workers with using racial slurs andphysical attacks.

Sandeep Gupta was born inIndia, raised in Hong Kong, anddecided to make America hishome. He says home became anightmare when he decided towork here at Schwan's in Texasin 2007. It’s a 60 plus year old homefood delivery service, according toa report on Fox News (channel26) in Houston.

Gupta started in Austin andeventually became a location gen-eral manager in Houston beforehe quit last year, because he sayshis supervisors treated him withinsults and racial slurs.

Gupta told Fox News, “All Ican tell you everyday is beingcalled a rug head, sand n***er, be-ing called a turbine head, readingan article about a terrorist bomband hearing ‘why do you peopleact this way’."

According to a federal lawsuitGupta filed against Schwan's hesays he confronted his supervisorsover and over again about howthey were treating him and it onlygot worse.

Gupta told Fox News his co-workers even photo shopped apicture of him superimposing aSWAT Team around him. It wasan attempt to make him look likea terrorist. He said because of fi-nances and his personal situation

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he was stuck (at Schwan’s) foryears. “We'd just started the adop-tion process... my son is adoptedand we needed stability so I de-cided I just got to stick around andI let it happen and I think that'sone of the reasons why I want thisword to get out to people it's notokay no matter what your familysituation is,” Gupta told Fox News.

“What was absolutely unforgiv-able is the fact that they wouldchase him around the corporateoffice with a yard stick,” TejParanjpe, Gupta’s attorney. “Theywould hold him down. There wasthree managers each of themwould pin him down and theywould start punching him in thegroin. This is why all of his othercolleagues were around.”

Attorney Raj Mahadass alsorepresents Gupta. He told FoxNews, “In all my years of prac-tice I have not seen it so system-atic for so many years in multipleoccasions even after he went andtold his direct supervisor to stopthis continued.”

For now Gupta is unemployedand looking for work but he sayshe rests easier knowing he isstanding up to a company thatmade his life a living nightmare.

Schwan's issued this statementto Fox News: “Given this issuerepresents a pending legal matter,we are unable to provide specificinformation at this time. We cansay, however, that we take seri-ously our responsibility to providea work environment free from ha-rassment or retaliation of any kind.Our policy is to recruit, hire, as-sign and promote employees on thebasis of their qualifications andwithout regard to age, race, color,creed, gender or any other legallyprotected status. We also stronglyencourage employees to reportinappropriate behavior.

“Mr. Gupta did not report anyalleged inappropriate behaviorprior to resigning. We intend tovigorously defend the matter.”

Man sues employer over racial slurs, physical attacks

Sandeep Gupta

All IAA events are supported by grants from the City of Houston throughHouston Arts Alliance (HAA)

Tuesday, March 18, 8pm, Jones Hall: ZAKIR HUSSAINTuesday, March 18, 8pm, Jones Hall: ZAKIR HUSSAINTuesday, March 18, 8pm, Jones Hall: ZAKIR HUSSAINTuesday, March 18, 8pm, Jones Hall: ZAKIR HUSSAINTuesday, March 18, 8pm, Jones Hall: ZAKIR HUSSAIN and Masters of Percussion featuring Zakir Hussain (Tabla), V.

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Saturday, May 10, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen):Saturday, May 10, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen):Saturday, May 10, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen):Saturday, May 10, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen):Saturday, May 10, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKARTHE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKARTHE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKARTHE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKARTHE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Tribute by maestro’s disciples II:

Featuring Pandit Ronu Majumdar (Flute), Shubhendra Rao (Sitar), Partho Sarathy (Sarod), and Abhijit Banerjee (Tabla).

Saturday, June 21, 8pm, Wortham Center (Brown). REKHA BHARDWAJ LIVE IN CONCERT.Saturday, June 21, 8pm, Wortham Center (Brown). REKHA BHARDWAJ LIVE IN CONCERT.Saturday, June 21, 8pm, Wortham Center (Brown). REKHA BHARDWAJ LIVE IN CONCERT.Saturday, June 21, 8pm, Wortham Center (Brown). REKHA BHARDWAJ LIVE IN CONCERT.Saturday, June 21, 8pm, Wortham Center (Brown). REKHA BHARDWAJ LIVE IN CONCERT. The three-time winner of best

playback singer award, bollywood sensation Rekha Bhardwaj accompanied by full band enthralls with her bollywood hits and

sufi scores.

Saturday, July 12, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): CARNATIC VIOLIN featuring Dr. L. SubramaniamSaturday, July 12, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): CARNATIC VIOLIN featuring Dr. L. SubramaniamSaturday, July 12, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): CARNATIC VIOLIN featuring Dr. L. SubramaniamSaturday, July 12, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): CARNATIC VIOLIN featuring Dr. L. SubramaniamSaturday, July 12, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): CARNATIC VIOLIN featuring Dr. L. Subramaniam (violin), Ambi

Subramaniam (violin), Sandeep Das (tabla), Mahesh Krishnamurty (mridangam), and Satyasai (morsing, ghatam).

Saturday, September 6, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): BOLLYWOOD RISE Saturday, September 6, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): BOLLYWOOD RISE Saturday, September 6, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): BOLLYWOOD RISE Saturday, September 6, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): BOLLYWOOD RISE Saturday, September 6, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): BOLLYWOOD RISE - A spectacular East-West dance fusion from

Hollywood’s Karmagraphy. Featuring a large multicultural troupe of professional dancers, singers, and acrobats- Asians,

Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics- Bollywood Rise connects Indian tradition with a variety of Western styles. With

amazing and eclectic choreography, Karmagraphy sets these diverse dances to popular Bollywood tunes, and the audience

walks away exhilarated and energized by the most entertaining dance concert experience!

Saturday, October 18, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): TARANGSaturday, October 18, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): TARANGSaturday, October 18, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): TARANGSaturday, October 18, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): TARANGSaturday, October 18, 8pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): TARANG - A cross-cultural blend of melody and rhythm by a group of

innovative musicians, is a presentation of traditional Indian classical music wrapped in Western form. The concert features

Japanese percussionist Kenny Endo (Taiko drum and more), Cuban percussionist John Santos (Timbal and more), Indian

percussionist Abhijeet Banerjee (Tabla and Pakhawaj), Snehashish Majumdar (Double Neck Mandolin), and Kala Ramnath

(Violin)

Sunday, November 2, 6pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Sunday, November 2, 6pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Sunday, November 2, 6pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Sunday, November 2, 6pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Sunday, November 2, 6pm, Wortham Center (Cullen): THE LEGACY OF RAVI SHANKAR. Tribute by maestro’s disciples

III: ANOUSHKA SHANKAR IN “TRACES OF YOU”. Showcasing the multi-genre ensemble comprised of Sitar, Indian percussion,

Hang percussion, Cello, Vocals, Shehnai, and Keyboards, the concert features pieces from Anoushka’s seventh CD ‘Traces

of You’. Having lost her father and guru, Ravi Shankar, during the making of this album, it was inevitable that her loss became

the main focus of the songwriting. This album is the most congruent synthesis of Anouska’s classical Indian roots, her sitar

playing skills, and her composition and songwriting talents.

Indo-American Association Announces 2014 SeasonIAA proudly announces 2014 season of nine events, including three concerts celebrating the legacy of Pandit Ravi Shankar in whichthe legacy of Pandit Ravi Shankar in whichthe legacy of Pandit Ravi Shankar in whichthe legacy of Pandit Ravi Shankar in whichthe legacy of Pandit Ravi Shankar in whichthree generations of maestro’s disciples pay him tribute. three generations of maestro’s disciples pay him tribute. three generations of maestro’s disciples pay him tribute. three generations of maestro’s disciples pay him tribute. three generations of maestro’s disciples pay him tribute. As in previous years, IAA is offering Patron and Season Subscriptions whichprovide more than 50% savings, choicest seats, and the convenience of mailed tickets.To subscribe, call 281.648.0422 or go onlineTo subscribe, call 281.648.0422 or go onlineTo subscribe, call 281.648.0422 or go onlineTo subscribe, call 281.648.0422 or go onlineTo subscribe, call 281.648.0422 or go online - www.iaahouston.comwww.iaahouston.comwww.iaahouston.comwww.iaahouston.comwww.iaahouston.comTo encourage student participation, IAA is offering 50% discount to all students on all tickets to all concerts in 2014.

PAGE 6 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

FEEDBACK

Indian Music Society of Houston Presents

SAT, Mar 1 @ 9 a.m.Jones Hall, Univ of St. Thomas

Ticket: $25

3906 YOAKUM Blvd

Accompanied By:Pt Ashish Sengupta on Tabla;

Shri Vyasmurthy Katti on Harmonium

3901 Yoakum Blvd

A 501 ©(3) Organization Promoting Hindustani Classical Music

A Concert of Morning Ragas by

Pt. Rajan & Pt. Sajan Mishra

Programs are subject to change for reasons beyond the control of Indian Music Society

of Houston. IMS Programs are partially funded by a grant from Houston Arts Alliance.

Rajan and Sajan MishraRajan and Sajan MishraRajan and Sajan MishraRajan and Sajan MishraRajan and Sajan Mishra are part of a 300-year-old lineage

of khayal singing of the Banaras gharana, the Mishra brothers

have been performing to audiences all over Indian and the world

for many years.

They were both accountants in a small shop when they gave

a performance in the presence of Satguru Jagjit Singh. The

Satguru, realizing their talent, offered to pay double their living

wages in exchange for them to put in more time to practice

their vocals. The rest is history and they gave their first concert

abroad, was in Sri lanka in 1978, and soon they went on to

perform in many countries across the world including, Germany,

France, Switzerland, Austria, USA, UK, The Netherlands, USSR,

Singapore, Qatar, Bangladesh and Muscat.

RajanRajanRajanRajanRajan (born 1951) and SajanSajanSajanSajanSajan (born 1956) Mishra were born

and brought up in Varanasi. They received their musical training

from their grandfather, Bade Ram Das Ji Mishra, their father,

Hanuman Prasad Mishra, and from their uncle, sarangi virtuoso,

Gopal Prasad Mishra; they started performing while they were

still in their teens. They moved to Ramesh Nagar in Delhi, in

1977, where they continue to live.

They were awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2007, Sangeet

Natak Akademi Award, jointly in 1998, the Gandharwa National

Award for 1994-1995 and the prestigious National Tansen

Samman 2011-2012.

For tickets: Govind Shetty 713-922-2501

Suresh Shenoy 281-935-4653 or

www.tickets2events.com

Recently I have read many ar-ticles in community news aboutIndia House and Harris HealthSystem suggesting it is to be char-ity clinic and the bubble of euphariaseen in the voices of India houseleaders needs to be pierced be-fore it is too late.

I consider it my duty as a Hous-tonian for 43 years and involvedwith Indian community to lay thefacts.

This is completely misleading.The facts are that it is not a char-ity clinic by any definition and onewill have to pay at least $68 touse it if you have no insurance. Itis a regular Harris Health Systemclinic, being supported by all the

Questions over Sareen Clinic at India Housetax payers.

A charity clinic, as I understandit, is a free clinic or charges only afew dollars and is run by volun-teers.

The articles also suggest that itis to be the India House Clinic, butthe fact is it will be 100 percentadministered, owned and governedby Harris Health System and runby their salaried doctors. Indiahouse will have no say in runningthe clinic. India house has simplyleased the space to Harris HealthSystem.

The sign outside the buildingsays Sareen Clinic and HarrisHealth System: no where does itmentions India House. This raises

I am very surprised about the ignorance of so many long-term resi-dents of Houston about India House and statements of former friendsof India House.

I am equally surprised and wondering as to the motives of peoplequestioning the public for answers rather than questioning the organi-zation about which they have concerns. The correct place and forumfor discussion is the Board room where the discussions are takingplace and decisions are being made.

Many statements in the "Letter to the Editor" are incorrect and Iam very thankful to you to give me the opportunity to respond. IndiaHouse has never declared the Sareen Clinic to be a "Charity Clinic"and the statement that no patient will be seen without depositing $ 68is also incorrect. The author would have been better served if he hadbeen attending the meetings of India House, open to the public, andwould have been a participant in decision making, if he had not beendelinquent and had not allowed his membership to lapse for non-pay-ment of dues.

Dr Virendra Mathur,Trustee, India House

more questions as part of thebuilding space being is donated bya trustee who has already donatedthe same part to India House.

How can he donate the do-nated segment? If anything at all,the donation has to be made byIndia House and the plaque doesnot say it.

Transparency is the secondquestion. The Board of Directorswho have donated thousands ofdollars were not consulted. Thedecision was made by the Boardof Trustees and hopefully by theExecutive Committee.

Such an important decisionshould have the consent of allBoard of Directors and the India

House council. Since they did not have a general body, why was ithushed up?

India house has no money to manage the property and they aremaintaining the building with the money donated by the Board andTrustees. By getting the rent from Harris Health System, it will easethe money problem. And by finding a willing donor in Bal Sareen, itwas constructed to the exact specification of the Harris Health sys-tem.

Who is the winner? Clearly the Harris Health System.They gotbuilding to their specification in the best location in that area withoutspending a penny and with few dollars of rent.

All this talk of partnership and collaboration is just nonsense and isjust a sweetner for swallowing a bitter pill.

It looks like India House is for sale or rent. I am thinking if I start myown club, they will surely find a donor and build the place according tomy specification so they get regular rent to run the place.

Ladies and gentlemen, do not visit India House from Monday toSaturday as you will not find a place for parking and the building willbe occupied by lots of ill and weird people as there is not a separateentrance for the clinic.

Dr. Satish JhingranPast President ICC, Indian Doctors Association, founder, Indo

American Charity Foundation, Director, India Doctors Charity Clinic

India House trustee repliesIllegal Indian workers in Saudi desperate to return home

DUBAI: A group of Indiancleaners in Saudi Arabia, living inpathetic conditions after their workcontracts expired two years ago,are desperate to return home.

The workers, mostly from theIndian states of Andhra Pradesh,Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, said theywere recruited by a maintenanceand contracting company in Taifcity in Mecca Province in 2010,but have since then not been paidtheir salaries on time and weredenied their residency permits, theArab News reported Monday.Taif Municipality's cleaning projectis under a contractor.

"We are just exhausted andfrustrated. We do not want to stayanymore with our employer andwe want to return home," one of

the workers was quoted as say-ing. The workers said the em-ployer has not handed over theiriqamas, residency permits givento expatriates in Saudi Arabia, tothem since their arrival in thecountry four years ago and lastweek one of their colleagues wasdetained by security forces dur-ing a campaign against illegal s.

They said it was common prac-tice among municipality cleaningcompanies across the country notto hand over iqamas to the clean-ers as a precautionary measureto prevent them from fleeing theirjobs.

The workers went on striketwice for non-payment of wagesand for not getting their iqamas.

Last year, police had to inter-

vene to quell a protest by theseworkers. Taif Municipality has notrenewed the cleaning contract ofthe company which expired in Oc-tober 2013 due to poor workrecord and frequent labour strikesthat resulted in garbage piling upin the hill resort city. Since then,the condition of these workers hasfurther aggravated.

The workers said they get only600 Saudi riyals (around $160) permonth and that too was not paidon time. "We are without iqamaor money. We had asked the In-dian consulate in Jeddah for helpand they had advised us to comeover to Jeddah to lodge an officialcomplaint, but due to having noiqama we simply couldn't travel,"one of them said.

As a large number of Indian Americans attended the Republic Day celebration, a survey was conducted to fi nd out what Houstonians think of the outcome of the coming elections.

The survey was set up at the ICC booth to ensure credibility and it was conducted by two youngsters.

A total of 174 people participated and the results are as follows:

The BJP emerged as the clear choice of a political party (77 %) with Narendra Modi as the ideal candidate for the post of Prime Minister (85.7%) followed by Rahul Gandhi (6.3%), Arvind Kejriwal (5.7%) and regional leaders (2.3%).

The three most important

issues that people thought would dominate the elections was corruption (28.9%), stability of incoming government (19.4%) and price control and infl ation stability (14.3%).

Issues like job creation, GDP growth and others accounted for the remaining percentage.

The AAP did score a victory of sorts coming out marginally ahead of the Congress on the question of supporting a political party with AAP at 10.3% and INC at 7.5%.

In a further breakdown 73% of those surveyed were men while 27 % were women. 82% of the men and 63% of the women were in favor of BJP.

It was also interesting to see that only 3.1% of the men were in favor of the Congress and 19.6% of the women were for the Congress. Among men, 9.4% supported the AAP while

13.% of the women were in favor of AAP.

Many women also commented that the safety of women should be a priority of the incoming government.

1.7% of those surveyed were less than 20 years old, 39.7% were in the age group 20-40, 28.7% in 40-60 and 29.9% in the 60 plus category.

73.8% of the men in the age group 20-40, 80.5% in the age group 40-60 and a whopping 90.7% in the 60 plus group supported the BJP. 50.0% of the women in the 20-40 group, 77.8% in the 40-60 group and 90.0% in the 60-80 age group supported the BJP.

About 13% thought the current economic and administrative condition in India ranged from excellent to good while the majority thought it was average (35.8%), poor (25%) and very

poor (26.1%). One gentleman obviously didn’t agree with any of the above choices and wrote WORST in big block letters.

When asked how AAP would fare in the Lok Sabha polls, a supporter thought the party stood a good chance of winning 20-30 seats, which is a good start while Gitesh Desai from the BJP camp believes “the Modi wave that is currently surging across India could bring the BJP/NDA tally to more than 272 seats and in the worst case scenario possibly 220 seats.”

George Abraham from the Congress was equally confi dent that the Congress would win the elections.

It’s fi nally a matter of waiting and watching, for in a matter of months the debate will be settled one way or the other.

COMMUNITY NEWS

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPENI welcome the opportunity to learn about your unique goals and needs. Together we can create a strategy designed to help guide you along the path to financial well-being. Call to schedule a consultation today.

IndiaFrom Page 1

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 7

Penguin India has agreed to withdraw American Indologist Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History from the Indian market following an out-of-court settlement with Delhi-based complainants, who had moved the court alleging “distortion” aimed at “denigrating Hindu traditions.”

Ms. Doniger said she was “deeply troubled by what it foretells for free speech in India in the present, and steadily worsening, political climate.”

However, she was full of praise for Penguin’s efforts to save the book. “Penguin India took this book knowing that it would stir anger in the Hindutva ranks, and they defended it in the courts for four years, both as a civil and as a criminal suit.”

The publisher, she said, was fi nally defeated by the “true villain of this piece – the Indian law that makes it a criminal rather than civil offence to publish a book that offends any Hindu, a law that jeopardises the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation brought against a book.”

As word got around, Penguin India came in for fl ak. Describing the decision as “atrocious,” Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said: “The book is not blasphemous. She is a scholar without any political agenda. The organisation that demanded Penguin take such action is clearly some Taliban-type outfi t. It is distorting and destroying our liberal traditions.”

Swapan Dasgupta, who describes himself as “politically conservative,” tweeted: “Very uneasy about Penguin decision on Wendy Doniger book. Ideas & academic studies however contentious cannot be handled by censorship.” In its 2011 case, Shiksha Bachao Andolan Committee (SBAC) said the book intended to defame Hindus and denigrate Hindu traditions.

As per the February 4 settlement posted on social media by SBAC, Penguin India has agreed to that the book is “completely withdrawn/cleared from the Bharat (Indian territory) at the earliest and within a period not exceeding six months.”

Penguin India has also given an undertaking that it “respects all religions worldwide.” It has got an assurance that all civil and criminal cases/complaints would be withdrawn.

Book on Hinduism withdrawn

PAGE 8 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

or call for info.(713) 665-4665

Chandra & David Courtney Tabla and Vocal

Classes in Houston,Mission Bend,& Sugar Land

Visit www.chandrakantha.com

Classesnow ongoing

Maha SivaratriFeb 27 & 28

Maha Sivaratri celebration atSri Saumyakasi Sivalaya. Medi-tation and midnight Aarti from10:30 p.m. to 12 midnight on Feb27. Aarti and Prasada from 9:30p.m. to 10 p.m. on Feb 28. Vari-ous pujas on both days. MahaMrityunajay Homa on Sunday,Mar 2, from 8:35 a.m. to 10:30a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.For details, call Jay Deshmukh at832-541-0059 or Bharati Sutaria281-933-0233 or visit www.saumyakasi.org

Sri Meenakshi TempleFeb 27: Maha Sivarathri at

6:30 p.m. Temple is located at17130 McLean Road in Pearland.Visit www.meenakshi.org

Vedic FairSat., Mar 1 @ 3:30 p.m.

Second annual Vedic Fair spon-sored by Ashirwad - A Blessing.From 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. at CincoRanch High School, 23440 CincoRanch Blvd in Katy. Call GeetaRavula 281-808-2159 or visitwww.ashirwadablessing.org formore information.

COMMUNITY NEWSHoli songs, storiesSun., Mar 2 @ 3 p.m.International Hindi Association

Houston in association with JVBPreksha brings Holi ke HindiBol. A free event at the JVB Cen-ter between 3 to 6 p.m. RSVPnecessary. Call 281-382-0348.Come enjoy Holi with Hindi po-etry, songs, incidents & stories.

Arya Samaj SatsangWeekly Havan Satsang every

Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.DAV Sanskriti School Sundays 10a.m. to 12 noon. - Havan, Hindiand Naitik Shiksha classes. DAVMontessori School for ages 2 to 7years. Call Arti Khanna 281-759-3286. Free Yoga classes on Sat.Sanskrit & Upanishad classes Tue.6-8 p.m. At 14375 Schiller Rd. (betWestpark & Bellaire off Hwy 6).281-752-0100.

Vedanta SocietyVedanta Society of Greater

Houston, 14809 Lindita Drive(77083) has classes every Sun-day from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.on Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 1st& 3rd Sunday; Bhagavad Gita,2nd Sunday; on works of Swami

Vivekananda, 4th Sunday; HolyMother Sarada’s Gospel, 5th Sun-day. Swamis of Ramakrishna Or-der visit to conduct retreats andtalks. www.houstonvedanta.orgor 281-584-0488.

Chinmaya MissionSunday satsangs for adults,

youth and children. Unique BalaVihar program for each grade,from PreK to Grade 12. Satsangsin two sessions between 8:35 a.m.to 10:15 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. -1p.m. Bala Vihar students cantake shloka, bhajan and orchestraclasses or classes for Hindi,Telugu, Marathi, and Gujarati. At10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land(77498) New members visit wel-come desk bet. 8 to 8:45 a.m. or10:15 to 11:30 a.m. Visit www.chinmayahouston.org or contactBharati Sutaria 281-933-0233.

Durga Bari TempleDurga Bari temple is open from

9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Mon.thru Sat. Sandhya aarti at 6:30p.m. Temple closes at 7 p.m. Sun-day special from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.Puja services - Priest BishnupadaGoswami 281-597-8100 Temple islocated at 13944 Schiller Rd (offHwy 6 bet. Bellaire & Westpark).Call Ganesh Mandal at 713-797-9057 / 832-423-8541.

Telugu FellowshipTelugu Christian Fellowship

meets every third Saturday of themonth at Triumph Church, 10555W. Airport Blvd., Stafford TX77477 at 6:30 p.m. Join us for atime of praise, worship and fellow-ship. Worship is in English. CallChris Gantela 281-344-0707, or

Rev. V. Gurrala 281-997-0757.

Sahaj Marg MeditationSahaj Marg (Natural Path)

Meditation and Spirituality (www.sahajmarg.org) A natural, simplesystem of Raja Yoga meditationand spiritual practice. Weeklysatsangs held in the Houston area.Email Radheshyam Miryala, MDat meditate_ houston@yahoo.com or meditate.galveston@gmail. com.

Hare Krishna DhamHouston’s original Vedic

temple, ISKCON of Houston. At1320 W 34th St. (77018). DailyDarshan & Arati Times: 4.30am,7am, 8.30am, 12noon, 4.30pm,7pm, 9pm. Sunday Festival: 5.30pm to 7.30 pm. Weekly Gitaclasses for adults; 281-433-1635or harekrishna dham@gmail.com

Sathya Sai centersSathya Sai devotees meet on

Sundays from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30p.m. at two locations in North andSouth Houston; Sai Spiritual Edu-cation classes for children, medi-tation, study circle, bhajans andservice activities. Call RaghuAmara (North) 832-418-3842 orAjit Paralkar (South) 281-788-4786. www.saicenterofhouston.

Heritage ClassesAshirwad’s Heritage

Classes in Katy, Cypress andSugar Land for kids 4 to 18 yrs -meditation, Yoga, slokas, storiesfrom scriptures, Vishnu Sahasra-nam, bhajans, competitions andfun activities. Adult meditationclasses by appointment only. Reg-

ister at www.ashirwadablessing.org or Sri Ravula 281-995-0930.

Gandhi LibraryMahatma Gandhi Library

Book Club: Meets 2nd Sundayof each month; 12:30 PM at AryaSamaj Greater Houston, 13475Schiller Rd. Join the discussion ofthe great man’s autobiography –The Story of My Experimentswith Truth. For info Call ManishWani 713-829-6979.

Saumyakasi SivalayaSri Saumyakasi Sivalaya is lo-

cated at Chinmaya Prabha, 10353Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX77478. Temple timings: Mondayto Friday: 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noonand 5:00 - 8:00 PM Saturday andSunday: 8:30-2:00 PM and 5:00 -8:00 PM. For more informationContact 281-568-1690 or JayDeshmukh at 832-541-0059 orvisit www.saumyakasi.org.

Veerashaiva SamajaVSNA Houston is a group of

families who believe in Veera-shaiva dharma (Basava dharma).Monthly Mahamane program forprayer and discussion on VachanaSahitya followed by Prasada. Con-tact: vsnahouston@gmail. com832-545-1185 (Jyoti Biradar).

Shiv Shakti MandirSanatan Shiv Shakti Mandir,

6640 Harwin. Open daily 7 a.m.to 8 p.m. All major festivals, aswell as birthdays, naam karan, en-gagement and other ceremonies.Call Pandit Virat Mehta 713-278-9099 or Hardik Raval 361-243-6539 for puja or other ceremonies.

Deepa A. ThakurAttorney at Law

Immigrationvakil@aol.com

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44

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 9

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President gives assent to T-Bill NEW DELHI: With President Pranab Mukherjee giving his nod

on Monday for the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill, 2013, it is allset to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

UPA managers are waiting for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly’sapproval of the Vote-on-Account. They are also engaged in talks withOpposition parties as well as Seemandhra MPs in a bid to secure theirsupport for bifurcation of the State.

The Assembly was adjourned till Wednesday after Chief MinisterN. Kiran Kumar Reddy tabled the documents on Vote-on-Account onMonday. Mr. Reddy later had a brief meeting with Governor E.S.L.Narasimhan, fuelling speculation that he might have submitted his res-ignation.

But sources in the Chief Minister’s office described it as a courtesycall. In the normal course, the Governor addresses a joint session ofthe Legislature ahead of the presentation of the budget. But, as it isVote-on-Account, the Chief Minister decided to brief the Governor,the sources added.

Expectations are that once the Assembly clears the Vote-on-Ac-count, the Congress could consider action against Mr. Reddy, who hasrevolted over Telanagana.

The Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh will be held simulta-neously with the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April/May. The openrebellion by its Chief Minister coupled with a no-trust vote by sixSeemandhra MPs has been a matter of serious concern for the Con-gress. Concerned over the deadlock in Parliament, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has invited the BJP brass in Parliament for lunch onWednesday to consider ways of breaking it.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told The Hindu on Mon-day that the government's intention was to get the Telangana Bill passedin both Houses this session.

HYDERABAD: AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N. KiranKumar Reddy has decided to goahead with his decision to quit onThursday, Feb 13. He is also be-lieved to have told confidants thathe will launching a new politicalparty soon.

The resignation may come onthe day the Telangana Bill is ex-pected to land in Parliament. Butdetails on that development arestill unclear.

The Prime Minister and Con-gress floor managers are yet toinform the Lok Sabha Secretariaton inclusion of the Bill intomorrow's list. Clarity will comeonly after the Revised List ofBusiness is issued.

Meanwhile, after days of ne-gotiations with the BJP that hadmade an orderly House a condi-tion for its support to theTelangana Bill, the Congress lead-ership on Tuesday finally acted toexpel six of its Lok Sabha MPsfrom the Seemandhra region whohad given notice for a no-confi-dence motion against the govern-ment, opposing the division ofAndhra Pradesh.

The MPs expelled by Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi are

Andhra CM Kiran Reddy to resign

Sabbam Hari, G.V. HarshaKumar, V. Arun Kumar, L.Rajagopal, R. Sambasiva Rao andA. Sai Pratap.

Congress general secretaryAjay Maken said the move wasanother step toward the creationof Telangana, to which the partywas committed.

But UPA managers still facethe uphill task of keeping order inboth Houses, paralysed since lastWednesday over Telangana.There are 25 Lok Sabha MPsfrom the Seemandhra region —18 from Congress (including thesix expelled members), three fromYSR Congress and four from

Telugu Desam Party.A clearer picture on the Bill’s

fate may emerge after Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh’s dinnermeeting on Wednesday with topBJP leaders L.K. Advani, SushmaSwaraj and Arun Jaitley.

The BJP wants the Bill to in-clude provisions to addressSeemandhra concerns, and theUPA needs the main Oppositionparty’s support to pass it.

In a statement, the Leader ofthe Opposition in the Rajya SabhaArun criticised the UPA for nottaking sufficient steps to recon-cile the creation of Telangana withSeemandhra.

Effectively just six days wereleft of the current session, he said,but the Telangana Bill had noteven been introduced.

Declaring “a lurking suspicionthat the UPA is prolonging the is-sue,” he wondered if its intentionwas to render the issue infructuousin the present session. Congresshopes that the expulsions wouldsober down Telangana opponentsin the party including AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N. KiranKumar Reddy appeared prema-ture. Ananta Venkatrami Reddy,among the 12 remaining CongressMPs from Seemandhra, told jour-nalists, “We will see that the bill isdefeated.”

NO AMENDMENTThe bill to create a separate

Telangana does not require a Con-stitutional amendment and the newstate can be carved out by a simplemajority in Parliament.

The Law Ministry has told theLok Sabha Secretariat that the billto bifurcate Andhra Pradesh doesnot require a Constitutional amend-ment and passage of a simple leg-islation, as planned, was enough.

In an opinion rendered to theLok Sabha secretariat on Wednes-day morning, the Law Ministry hascited Article 3 and 4 (2) of theConstitution to support its view.

Kiran Reddy... new party soon?

India defends drug safety recordNEW DELHI: India defended the safety standards of its vast

generic drugs industry Monday as the US Food and Drug Administra-tion chief arrived in the capital to discuss quality concerns.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg's trip follows a string ofimport restrictions slapped by the body on products made by Indianpharmaceutical heavyweights Wockhardt and Ranbaxy over safetyconcerns. India's lower cost medicines should not be viewed as "cheapand spurious", Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in New Delhias Hamburg opened her eight-day visit.

"Efficacy of the Indian drugs should not be judged on the basis oftheir cost," he said, adding that "the input cost in India is much less thanthat in the developing countries due to the less expensive human re-sources".

India's generics industry is a massive supplier of copycat lifesavingdrugs to the United States and over 200 other nations, many of thempoorer countries. On the first day of Hamburg's trip, India's healthministry and the FDA signed a statement of intent on cooperation inthe field of medical products between the two countries.

Speaking ahead of her talks with Indian government officials, Ham-burg said the FDA’s "engagement" with its Indian regulatory counter-parts was "critical to our ability to effectively promote the health andsafety of American and Indian consumers".

"I look forward to enhancing our existing relationship and identify-ing additional opportunities for collaboration," she said.

India's commerce minister Anand Sharma told reporters both sidesbelieve "this is a partnership which is very important".

The two sides have agreed to create an "institutional framework"involving "sensitising and educating the pharmaceutical industry" overthe certification of medicines, he said.

179 fraudulent NRI marriagesNEW DELHI: Indian missions in five countries have received a

total of 179 complaints about fraudulent NRI marriages since 2010-11. According to the data made available in Lok Sabha by OverseasIndian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Wednesday, 66 such caseswere reported in the five countries of New Zealand, Slovak Republic,China (Hong Kong), UK and USA in 2012-13.

In 2011-12 the total number of cases was 50. In 2010-11, therewere 45 such cases. In 2013-14, 15 cases have been reported so farby Indian Mission in UK and three cases in the US.

Ravi said that the recommendations made by the National Com-mission for Women with regard to redefining overseas Indians as in-cluding NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), the definition ofdesertion, the definition of parental child abduction and making thescheme available to women facing charges parental child abductionwere incorporated in the revised scheme which came to effect onNovember 30, 2011.

He said his ministry operates its schemes for giving legal and finan-cial assistance to Indian women deserted by their overseas husbandsthrough empanelled NGOs and legal organisations.

“Such assistance under the MOIA’s scheme is provided throughmissions in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia,Singapore and the Gulf countries,” Ravi said.

He added that the amount of assistance provided per case underthe scheme is up to $ 3,000 in developed countries and $ 2,000 indeveloping countries.

PAGE 10 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

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Warren, 21-year, veteran prosecutor, addresses the national media on his “No refusal program.”

the vice president of New Delhi-based Federation for Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said in another statement.

On Feb 6, India announced it sought to extend its visa-on-arrival program to tourists

from 180 countries, including the U.K., U.S. and China, in a bid to accelerate slow growth in tourism. Previously, only 11 countries — Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia — were covered under the scheme, which began in 2010.

Those visas were valid for 30 days and cost $60. Eight countries — Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia — are excluded from the new program. Rajender Chaudhry, a spokesman for the Tourism Ministry, said these countries are likely to have been excluded because of security concerns or

rocky bilateral ties with India.The Tourism Ministry, in a

note on its website, said it found that the scheme had encouraged more tourists to visit India. In 2013 for instance, more than 20,000 visas were issued on arrival, about fi ve times more than in 2010.

Under the new program, the ministry said, travelers can register for an Indian visa online. The visas can then be collected on landing at one of the 26 international airports across the country.

Rajeev Shukla, India’s planning minister who made the announcement, said it could take about fi ve to six months to get the expanded visa-on-arrival program off the ground. The fi rst of these visas, he said, are likely to be issued in October.

The extension of visa-on-arrival and electronic travel authorization to citizens of 180 countries will be implemented initially at nine airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Goa and Trivandrum. Both facilities are likely to be implemented by the end of the year.

International tourist arrivals to India last year grew at their slowest pace since the 2008 global economic downturn,

rising just 3%, compared with a 6% in 2012 and a more than 9% jump in 2011.

This slowdown, in part, was prompted by widespread concerns over women’s safety in India, which dominated national consciousness after the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in December 2012.

A series of high-profi le attacks on foreigners, including the gang rape of an American last June and of a Danish tourist last month, further dented India’s image as a popular tourist destination, travel agents said.

To allay fears abroad, India spearheaded an aggressive campaign to contain damage, including greater security at popular tourist destinations, and released commercials encouraging the masses to treat women travelers better.

“A small incident blown out of proportion can break the image of a country, as we saw in December 2012,” Chaudhry, the Tourism Ministry spokesman, said.

More than 6.8 million tourists visited India in 2013, up slightly from 6.6 million in 2012 and 6.3 million in 2011. Local media reports have said the government plans to attract 12 million tourists by 2016.

VisaFrom Page 1

Department spokesman told PTI, “We can confi rm the appointment (between Modi and Powell).”

”This is part of our concerted outreach to senior political and business leaders which began in November to highlight the US-India relationship,” the spokesperson said.

The go-ahead, just before the announcement of general elections in a few weeks from now, seems to have been taken after intensive debate within the various wings of the Obama Administration -- the White House and the State Department in particular -- with crucial inputs from the members of the Congress, and the infl uential leaders of the corporate sector, the US India Business Council in particular.

In the past few weeks, a series of public meetings organized by infl uential think tanks here have had concluded that the BJP-led

by Modi was currently headed to win the upcoming general elections and the US needs to review its policy to do business with him.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday clarifi ed that regardless of the scheduled meeting, there was “no change” in Washington’s long-standing visa policy or in its “strong advocacy for human rights around the world”. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki suggested that despite Ambassador Powell’s plans to meet Mr. Modi in Gujarat, the U.S. was effectively holding fi rm to its 2005 decision to deny Mr. Modi an entry visa.

Asked to explain why the U.S. had decided to have its offi cials meet now, Ms. Psaki responded, “We are often engaged in concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders. We began doing that months ago, if not years ago… to highlight and continue our U.S.-India relationship. This is an effort in that engagement.”

ModiFrom Page 1

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 13

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By AMRUTA HOUDEYuva for Sewa (YFS) is an

international internship offered by Sewa International (www.sewausa.org).

It’s a unique opportunity for young adults to develop a global perspective and to be the change for those who need it. I found this internship through a past intern and here’s my jour-ney:

As I stared out the tiny air-plane window on my seeming-ly never-ending journey to the other side of the world, I imag-ined what this summer was go-ing to be like. All I knew was that I would be living without my family and friends, focus for 10 weeks was to be a full-time volunteer, and my project title was “Developing tools and approaches to teach science in rural schools.”

Little did I know that I would end up having one of the most enriching and unforgettable summers of my life.

I worked with a nongovern-mental organization (NGO) in Pune, Maharashtra called Sewa Sahayog (http://sevasahayog.com/). Their objective is to connect corporate volunteers with local NGOs.

One of Sewa Sahayog’s projects is Samutkarsha which works directly in slums in Pune and some of its initia-tives are: abhyasikas (study centers for students in 1st-10th grade run by older students in the slums; mahila bachat gat (women’s microfi nancing sup-port groups); and sanskar ken-dras (weekly sessions to instill good values in kids through fun activities).

I worked on designing a program, which connects cor-porate volunteers with slum-dwellers every week for 40 minutes to teach science. They will utilize a handbook that I’ve designed based on the 7th-10th grade school syllabus, which guides them through an effective science lesson.

The session starts off with the volunteer clearing up all the basic science concepts for that day’s topics through discussion and interactive learning. After this, the students will apply this knowledge through a hands-on experiment, which uses materi-als that are found in slums so that kids can see how science is all around them.

The last section is an inter-active discussion on science in everyday life to explain how simple processes around them relate to science.

One of my secondary proj-ects was working in a vasti in Yerwada, Maharashtra that has initiatives run by an NGO called Surajya (http://www.surajyaprakalp.org).

The vasti, which I volun-teered at, has a major safety issue for girls to the point that some are not safe in their own homes.

My objective was to provide

the girls with basic martial arts training so they had the ability to defend themselves in any unsafe situations. I focused on teaching them techniques, which they can use in any com-mon situations they may poten-tially face. As the days went by it was extremely rewarding to see a quick rise in confi dence in this group of girls.

The transformation I saw in myself from the initial anxiet-ies and impressions during the plane ride to India till the end of my internship was tremen-dous. I experienced many situ-ations where I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, from riding on the public buses to living in a hostel with only ba-sic amenities.

And through all these ex-periences I got the opportu-nity to meet and work with so many incredible people, who are more than just friends or fellow volunteers, but are now my family.

I came in thinking that I was going to volunteer to help oth-ers. But by the end I under-stood that doing ‘sewa’ (self-less service) is just giving back to the community, which has given me so much. The memo-ries and experiences I’ve had this summer will remain with me forever.

I am currently fi nal year stu-dent at Georgia Tech studying Psychology.

I am involved with various organizations including Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Sewa International, Vibha, Emerging Leaders, Maharashtra Mandal of Atlanta, and volunteering at local events. I also enjoy danc-ing, reading, playing the violin, and karate.

Yuva for Sewa is a summer internship offered by Sewa In-ternational USA that focuses on service projects in India and Caribbean countries. It is an opportunity for college stu-dents to contribute their time to a larger movement of serving humanity.

If you wish to know more about the program log on to http://www.sewausa.org/yuva-sewa-appeal and be a part of this wonderful experience. Interested candidates, please apply online @ http://www.sewausa.org/yuva-sewa-2013 before March 15th, 2014.

Yuva for Sewa internship

Houde

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 15

INDIANS ABROAD

BielsteinJUDGE R.H. “SANDY”

COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 4

Fair, Just, EffectiveRe-elect

COMMITTED TO JUSTICE AND THE PEOPLE OF FORT BEND COUNTY

• Judge of County Court at Law #4 since January 2001

• 44 years experience in the criminal justice system

• United States Marines

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for unit combat action against the North Vietnamese Army

• B.A., University of Houston (English and History)

• Houston Police Officer for 20 years

· Master Peace Officer certification

· Retired as a Homicide Lieutenant

• J.D., South Texas College of Law, 1989

· Graduated with honors while working full-time with HPD as

a Homicide Lieutenant

• Private practice as a trial lawyer in both criminal and civil matters, family law

and representing abused and neglected children, including extensive practice in

Fort Bend County courts.

· Bill McQuillen Memorial award for defending the rights of individual police

officers

• First judge to be elected to County Court at Law #4

· Graduate of the Judicial College of the State Bar

· Serves on the Council of Judges

· Past Administrative Judge for the County Courts at Law

· Chairman of the Juvenile Board of Fort Bend County

· Established first therapeutic DWI/Drug Court in Texas graduating 235

probationers from an intensive treatment and supervision program with a

recidivism rate of less than 10%.

• Life Member of the Fort Bend County Fair Association

• American Legion, Post 271 and China Post Number One, Shanghai (in exile).

• Life member, National Rifle Association

• Life member, Rosenberg Railroad Museum

• Member, Rosenberg Lion’s Club.

• Married to Marsha Bielstein with three sons, two grandsons and a

granddaughter.

• Lives outside of Rosenberg in Fort Bend County.

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Global Organization for Divinity will present a Bharatanatyam classical dance ballet titled “Radhe…Radhe…A Story of Love for the Supreme” on March 15, starting at 4:15 p.m. at the CA Nelson Auditorium located at 2337 N Galveston Ave, Pearland.

The presentation will be in commemoration of the fourth anni-versary of the organization’s prayer house, Namadwaar, located in the Pearland/Manvel area.

The dance ballet will depict the divine love of Sri Radha Rani, who stands for the epitome of devotion to God, and whose love for Lord Krishna is held in high esteem even today by millions of devotees around the world.

The performance, which is choreographed by well-known Houston danseuse Surabi Veeragavan, will weave an English nar-rative with the beautiful musical compositions of His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji to speak of Sri Radha Rani’s love.

This is a unique opportunity to experience Sri Radha – the One who does not easily reveal Herself – visually, through the words and anubhava of a mahatma. The avatara and greatness of Sri Radha - the only one who is capable of bestowing Krishna prema bhakti - are portrayed in this enchanting dance performance.

For the fi rst time in Houston, both the choreography and music direction for this production have been put together entirely by young, blossoming local artistes.

Surabi Veeraragavan, the choreography director, is a talented dancer with several performances to her credit. She has learned Bharatanatyam under many accomplished teachers including the world-famous danseuse Ms. Chitra Vishveshvaran, and currently continues to evolve under distinguished Houston teacher, Ms. Padmini Chari.

Uma Ranganathan, the music director, is a wonderful vocalist who learned under Dr. K. Vageesh of India and is currently under the tutelage of the eminent Ms. Rajarajeshwary Bhat of Houston. Uma is an accomplished musician and also a dancer who, apart from lending her voice to the production, has also composed the entire background music and dance score for it.

The production also brings together several dancers not only from the Houston area but also from other parts of the USA. Dancers who will participate in this production include Surabi Veeraragavan, Anu Nagasimha, Maya Iyer, Shubha Soman, Akila Raman, Nisha Gosar, Kavya Rajan, Roopa Nagarajan - all from the Houston area, Suwetha Kalyan from Dallas and Nrithi Subra-manian from Minneapolis.

This unique dance ballet is sure to delight the audience with its spiritual, musical as well as visual grace and beauty. Tickets – $10 general and $25 preferred seating – can be purchased online at events.sulekha.com or by calling 281-303-5828 or 281-402-6585. Sponsors are welcome. For more information, please call the above numbers or email houston.god@godivinity.org.

Global Organization for Divinity (G.O.D.) is a worldwide or-ganization that aims to promote peace, harmony and universal love amid cultural diversity. It is involved in several spiritual, cultural and social activities across the world and in several cities in the USA, including the Houston area.

The Namadwaar prayer house in Houston (Pearland/Manvel area) is one of over 20 such Namadwaars around the world, and the only one in the USA, where the “Hare Rama… Hare Krish-na…” Mahamantra is continuously chanted. For more informa-tion about G.O.D. or Houston Namadwaar, visit www.godivinity.org.

Bharatanatyam Ballet on Sri Radha Rani

Surabi Veeraraghavan

NEW YORK: Indian-origin Ashok Varadhan has been appoint-ed co-head of the Goldman Sachs’ securities division, the largest and most profi table of the global in-vestment bank’s four units.

Varadhan, 41, is currently the head of macro trading in Gold-man’s Securities Division and will join Isabelle Ealet and Pablo Sal-ame as co-head of the securities division.

In an internal memo, Goldman’s chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, on Monday had said that Varadhan has been an “effective voice on a number of fi rmwide, regional and divisional committees”, includ-ing the management committee, growth markets operating commit-tee and fi rmwide risk committee.

“As a long-tenured leader in the securities division, Ashok has demonstrated dedication to our cli-

ents and a deep understanding of our business,” Blankfein said.

As co-head of the securities di-vision, which generates the most revenue and profi t for Goldman, Varadhan would build on Gold-man’s client franchise across its fi xed income, currency and com-modities and equities businesses.

A Duke University graduate, Varadhan joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 in Swaps Trading and af-ter heading the dollar derivative trading, he ran North American interest rate products and became global head of foreign exchange in 2007.

He was named managing direc-tor in 2000 and partner in 2002.

He is the son of eminent Indian-American academician Srinivasa Varadhan, a Chennai native who is professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical

Sciences at New York University.The senior Varadhan was

awarded the Abel Prize, consid-ered equivalent to the Nobel Prize and awarded for outstanding scien-tifi c work in the fi eld of mathemat-ics.

The securities unit is the largest of Goldman’s four divisions and people who have co-headed the unit previously have gone on to as-sume top-ranking positions at the bank.

It includes the bank’s fi xed-in-come, currency and commodities operations as well as its equities unit.

Varadhan serves as vice chairman of the US Treasury Borrowing Advisory Commit-tee. He also serves on the board of directors of DUMAC, which manages Duke University’s en-dowment.

Ashok Varadhan appointed co-head of Goldman Sachs’ securities

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Model-turned-actress KatrinaKaif has always been a stunner.This is perhaps what madeL’Oreal Paris sign her as its fourthIndian brand ambassador, afterAishwarya Rai, Freida Pinto andSonam Kapoor.

Fresh off the success ofDhoom 3, she made her debut asthe brand’s ambassador in hertrademark elegance and simplis-tic style to launch its latest hair carerange. Post-launch, MetroPlusspoke to Katrina to find out whatmakes her the diva she is. Ex-cerpts:

According to a recent survey find-ing, you are the most searched forBollywood actress celebrity online.

I think it is fun. I love theInternet. It’s nice if people aresearching you because it meansthey are interested in your workand about what’s going on. Itwould be a compliment that peopleare looking you up, excited to fol-low you and want to know aboutyou.

Looking back at your career, doyou think you have had a fashion /style evolution of sorts?

I’ve put most of my interestsor whatever I wanted to do withmy styling or looks into my filmsand the characters I’ve played.Most of my roles have beenyoung, fun roles that aren’t toospecific. I’ve had a lot of freedomthat way. Also, I often find ideaswhen I am travelling or shopping.A lot of what I pick up I put intomy films. Personally, sometimes I

Katrina, a L’Oreal ambassadorthink I have kept myself a littlesimpler, a little more basic becausethat’s more representative of me.But that’s not to say that in an adfilm, photo shoot or campaign Iwouldn’t love to try somethingnew.

Where are you right now in thatevolution?

In a phase I’m usually in —wearing whatever you are com-fortable in, makes you feel good,and what suits your body. I feelit’s important that a womandresses for her body type too, pluswhat she feels confident in. Be-cause I feel every woman knowsherself the best.

A celebrity has to look good allthe time. Does that ever tire you?

Yes, it is a lot of pressure. Justbecause you are an actor, doesn’tmean you are not going to havegood days and bad days, feel alittle tired or under the weather. Itis tough, but the most importantthing is not getting obsessed orcarried away about looking goodall the time. If you are looking lessglamorous one day or tired, it’sokay, because you are human.

Which of your roles resemblesthe real you — in personality and infashion?

It would be a toss betweenNew York and Zindagi Na MilegiDobara. Personality-wise, itwould be both, and style-wise,probably Zindagi...

What do you miss the most aboutyour days as a model?

The shows used to be fun. Weused to have a really good time. Iremember hanging out with JesseRandhawa, Fleur Xavier, Sapna,Sheetal Mallar… we were allfriends. We used to go to a res-taurant after a show. They werea nice group of people and we hada pretty good time.

What are your thoughts for thisValentine’s Day?

I would just like to say find andprotect your identity as a woman.Love yourself first and then you’llfind someone who will love you.

— Madhumita Srinivasan inThe Hindu

Zoya Akhtar, who directedthe blockbuster hit Zindagi NaMilegi Dobara, is in the lime-light again with her new project.

The director, who was keento have real-life cousins Ranbirand Kareena play brother-sisteronscreen, has now allegedlysigned former couple RanveerSingh and Anushka Sharma forthe movie. The movie will seePriyanka Chopra playingRanveer's sister and Anushkahis love interest.

Zoya`s brother Farhan Akhtar

will also be a part of the movie.It remains to be seen if Ranveer-

Anushka will be able to recreate themagic of Band Baaja Baaraat.

Ranbir, Kareena together in Zoya Akhtar film?

12 flops, 2 hits, Bollywood is cold!Anushka comes cleanon ‘lip job’ rumor

Her look on Koffee withKaran earned Anushka Sharmathe sobriquet of 'joker lips'.Tweeples wondered if it was alip job or if she has been acci-dently hit by the bat of allegedboyfriend Virat Kohli. The specu-lation began after the teasers forKaran Johar's show first appearedon TV and have not ended evendays after the show was aired.

Even a statement fromAnushka's spokesperson denyinga lip job failed to help. "Her com-petitors are planting stories.People are surprised because theyhaven't seen her in a long time asshe was busy shooting. It'smakeup - Anushka uses a lipplumper," the statement said.

The actor has now cleared theair with a really long tweet inwhich she says, "For a short whilenow I have been using a tempo-rary lip enhancing tool and thatalong with make-up techniques (Ihave learnt over the years) is thereason why there might be achange in the appearance of mylips. Having stated this fact let mevery vehemently assure everyonethat I have by no means gone 'un-der the knife ' or done any kind of'plastic surgery' or undergone anyintrusive procedure."

She goes on to say that lip en-hancing has been part of her 'look'for Anurag Kashyap's BombayVelvet where she plays a jazzsinger in the '60s-'70s.

"Everyone goes through goodand bad days. Did I think I looked

Halfway through the firstquarter of 2014, Bollywood’shit count is still thanda. Ofthe 14 films that have re-leased so far, it’s only SalmanKhan’s Jai Ho and DivyaKhosla’s Yaariyan that havemanaged to do decent busi-ness. Despite the rave re-views, Hasee Toh Phasee(HTP), which released onFriday, has collected onlyabout Rs. 10 crore in its firstweekend, continuing thetrend of a dismal box-officestart every year.

Experts aren’t -surprised.“January is always mild interms of business. AfterChristmas and New Yearvacations, box-office busi-ness is always on the lowerside,” says Adarsh.

Indeed, while 2013 endedwith huge grossers such asKrrish 3 and Dhoom: 3, 2014so far seems to be like a lullafter the storm, with Janu-ary releases such as DedhIshqiya, Mr Joe BCarvalho, One by Two,Karle Pyaar Karle, MissLovely and Paranthe WaliGali managing to collect onlybetween Rs. 1 crore to Rs.30 crore. Apart from HaseeToh Phasee the other twoFebruary -releases —Heartless and Ya Rab —have had poor business.

“January has been a loss-making month this year too,but that has been a norm formany years. We alwayshave a slow start and then the momentum picks up,” says trade -ana-lyst Atul Mohan. “Last year, too, we had only Table No 21 and Race2 in break-even brackets. Even in 2012, we had only Agneepath as amajor hit while the other 10 releases of that month were washouts.”

“Usually, December is a big release month... it eats up all the boxoffice -potential. In January, -business is always dismal. Jai Ho andYariyaan have still done well. Also, North and Eastern India are verycold at the start of the first quarter, and many prefer to wait for thecold wave to go before they release a big film,” says Girish Johar ofSahara Movie studios.

Trade analysts are hopeful that business will pick up at the boxoffice in the next few weeks. “We expect a good volume of businessfrom Hansee toh Phansee, Gulab Gang, Gunday and Highwayas each has its own USP,” says Atul Mohan. “While Gunday is anout-and-out commercial film, Gulab Gang will see both the massesand the classes queue up,” says Girish Johar.

Madhuri Dixit’s Gulab Gang, PriyankaChopra’s Gunday and Imtiaz Ali’s Highwayare expected to do well at the box office.

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 17

REVIEW/PREVIEW

Cast: ParineetiChopra, SidharthMalhotra, AdahSharma. Director:Vinil Mathew

The rom-com hasbeen a much-bat-tered genre inBollywood off late.Devoid of chemistryor amusing mo-ments, these films

By Sophia Asare & Rahul ReddyAttorneys at Law

The H-1B Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Cap season will begin on April 1,2014. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reachedthe statutory H-1B cap of 65,000 for FY 2014 within the first week ofthe filing period, and we expect FY 2015 to be no different. With lessthan three months before the start of the new H-1B season, we stronglyrecommend that employers get an early start on new H-1B filings.

THE ANNUAL CAP: The current annual cap on the H-1B cat-egory is 65,000, with an additional 20,000 visas are allotted for theadvanced degree exemption limit.

Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have beencounted previously against the cap do not count toward the congres-sionally mandated H-1B cap. The following H-1B petitions do not fallunder the cap:

• Petitions to extend the amount of time a current H-1B workermay remain in the United States.

• Petitions to change the terms of employment for current H-1Bworkers.

• Petitions to allow current H-1B workers to change employers.• Petitions to allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a

second H-1B position.Further, petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the

annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at institutions of higher edu-cation or related or affiliated nonprofit entities, nonprofit research or-ganizations or governmental research organizations.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW: If you intend to file cap-subjectH-1B petitions on April 1, 2014, the earlier you get started the better.Plan accordingly for Department of Labor (DOL) Labor ConditionApplication (LCA) (Form ETA 9035) processing times as you beginpreparing your H-1B petitions. A certified LCA must be submitted atthe time of filing the H-1B petition. A copy of the LCA is acceptable.

In addition, you must submit evidence of the beneficiary’s educa-tion credentials at the time of filing the H-1B petition. If you are indi-cating that the beneficiary is qualified based on a combination of edu-cation and experience, substantiating evidence, such as an educationevaluation, must be submitted at time of filing. Plan accordingly for thetime it will take to gather education documents and any required sub-stantiating evidence of the Beneficiary’s qualifications.

We recommend that you consult with an attorney if you intend onfiling new H-1B petitions on April 1, 2014.

Attorney Rahul V Reddy can be reached at 713-953-7787. Web:www.rnlawgroup.com

Be ready for 2015 H-1B quota

Hasee Toh Phasee: A very watchable rom-com

meander on hoping to cash in on the young actors’ fan base.But this one’s different. For starters, it has one of the best casts

(central and supporting) one has seen in the longest time.Sidharth Malhotra who made his debut with Student of the Year

plays Nikhil, the son of an IAS Officer. He is the proverbial blacksheep of the family; he’s in another city altogether when his parentsare arguing about what he’s doing behind his locked room door.

When he has escaped to Mumbai to attend a friend’s wedding, hediscovers someone who’s nuttier than him. Carrying an impossiblyheavy bag and scaling a wall, he meets Meeta (Parineeti Chopra).

We are told Meeta is addicted to popping pills, does a weird eyething when she’s had too many of them, was a drug addict once, andis also her family’s black sheep.

But why does she pop pills? Is she an addict, does she do it becauseshe has a medical condition, a mental one? The reason turns out to betotally unconvincing. You wonder if the makers have turned her “tooweird” because a heroine with a brain cannot be normal, right?

Once you’re past that, this is a supremely fun character. I mean,how many times have you seen a central character in a Hindi filmhave a sense of humour, wolf down food and even toothpaste. She’ssmart, funny, very brave and unputdownable. It’s the kind of charac-ter you warm up to instantly.

Ditto Nikhil, except when he confuses self-respect with ego andclaims to have conquered his ego when he begs people for money.

Both have shades of grey but at the core are utterly lovable, nice,lost people. And naturally when they find each other, almost a twinsoul, love happens pretty quickly. Which is great except, one of themis, err, unavailable.

The romance is heartfelt andthe central actors share a warmchemistry that’s an absolute treat.

Parineeti tiptoes carefullyaround this difficult character andmakes us root for her. It’s a rolethat requires physical comedy,deep emotions, expressing innerconflict and a sense of child-likejoy. Parineeti gives it all this andmore. Sidharth Malhotra matchesstep. His role is an equally con-flicted one, though we don’t quiteunderstand his worries.

Both these actors can master-fully express the strength of theircharacters, while simultaneouslyrelaying their vulnerability. AdahSharma is wonderful as one whois never quite sure if she’s in love.

The supporting cast deservesspecial mention – Manoj Joshi andSharat Saxena who play the girland boy’s father respectively anda lean comedic actor who canreally make you laugh. Heartfeltand technically sound, the film isa mean debut by advertising manVinil Mathew. Go watch!

IMMIGRATION

One by TwoCast: Abhay Deol, Preeti

Desai, Lillete Dubey, RatiAgnihotri, Darshan Jariwala.Director: Devika Bhagat

Abhay Deol plays boring AmitSharma. That's what his ex-girl-friend calls him when he tries adrunken serenade to win her back.

On the other end is Samara(Preeti Desai), who is an ambi-tious dancer. Not shying awayfrom feigning illness to beat aqueue or to sleeping with some-one to get to the top, her charac-ter has a shade of grey that makesher more human and real. Thingstake a turn, when her estrangedwealthy father enters her life.

Amit is all set to get married toa totally mismatched person andhe doesn't protest strongly. Sa-mara is competing for the topprize at a dance reality show.While she moves gracefully,there's no real dance at all, whichis glaring especially when we seeher performing at the competition.

So yes, a rom-com that doesn'thave nuanced, arresting charac-ters is doomed to begin with. Inthis hellish mix of cliched charac-ters, right on top is Samara'smother. This character played byLillette Dubey, reinforces the ste-reotype that a woman could havea great kid, a mind-blowing apart-ment, and financial security, butshe's doomed to be an alcoholic ifher man has ditched her. And godforbid, if she's had a child out ofwedlock, how can she be stable?

About the only respite in thefilm are the livewire songs and thebit of shayari. This poetry thatsees the cops of Mumbai let outtheir inner poet is equal parts hi-larious and philosophical.

Abhay Deol is still great play-ing a bland character. Preeti Desaihas spunk, confidence, and enoughscreen presence to hold theviewer's attention. Writer-directorDevika Bhagat makes a film that'slike an elongated sitcom. The filmmanages to stand initially, but goesquite berserk towards the finale,much like its characters.

New Zealand wins first Test;India falls short by 40 runs

India’s Olympics suspension liftedA ban on India's Olympic Association (IOA) has been lifted, allow-

ing the country to return to the Olympic fold, officials said.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended India in

2012 for electing officials accused of corruption, in breach of the Olym-pic charter. But on Sunday the IOA conducted fresh elections whichwere seen as fair.

Indian athletes have been competing at the Sochi Winter Gamesunder the IOC flag but can now do so under their own. Three Indianathletes are participating in the ongoing Sochi Winter Games, and noneis expected to win. Shiva Keshava, India's top winter sports athlete,finished 37th in a 39-man field. During a luge training session, he man-aged to get back on his sled seamlessly after coming off it.

This is the first time a suspension of a national Olympic committeehas been lifted during an Olympic Games and it comes into effectimmediately.

"The decision means Indian athletes can compete for their nationalOlympic committee. They can walk behind their national flag at theclosing ceremony," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

The IOA has elected a new board, led by world squash chief NRamachandran, which meets international requirements that no per-son convicted or facing corruption allegations can be included.

The IOC suspended India in December 2012 for holding electionsin defiance of the Olympic charter and appointing officials facing cor-ruption charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Abhay Singh Chautala was elected unopposed as president andLalit Bhanot as secretary-general of IOA in the elections which weredeclared void by the IOC.

Bhanot spent 11 months in jail in 2011 on corruption charges linkedto the event before he was released on bail. Chautala has close linksto his predecessor Suresh Kalmadi, who is on bail on similar charges.

India conjured up hopes of a recordrunchase before a lower middle-or-der collapse saw the visitors slump toa 40-run defeat against New Zealandin the thrilling first cricket test and handover a 1-0 lead to the hosts in the two-Test series here on Sunday, Feb 9.

Chasing 407 to win, India resumedtheir second innings at 87 for one andthe visitors were on course withShikhar Dhawan (115) and Virat Kohli(67) sharing 126 runs for the thirdwicket but pacer Neil Wagner tookfour crucial wickets in the post—lunchsession to derail India’s chase at EdenPark in Auckland.

After a series of low scores,Dhawan returned to form today as he cracked a patient century andanchored the Indian innings along with Kohli, who too looked in goodtouch.

But Wagner’s double blow left India tottering at 270—5 at tea andit was left to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja,who launched a counterattack to leave the Kiwis dazed but once theydeparted India failed to overhaul the target as they were dismissed for366 in 96.3 overs.

Wagner (4/62) took the wickets of Dhawan, Kohli, Zaheer Khan(17) and Dhoni (39) to return with an eight-wicket haul from the match,while Tim Southee (3/81) added three wickets to his three-wicket haulof the first innings. Trent Boult (3/86) also contributed with a three-wicket haul. Earlier, India started the day still in need of 320 runs andDhawan and Pujara looked to provide them a solid start.

In the very first over of the day, Dhawan reached his half century,getting the milestone ticked off early, facing 75 balls and hitting fivefours. Dhawan had a shaky start as he survived a couple of LBWshouts, even through they seemed to be sailing over the stumps.

The Kiwis were bowling a nagging line and length, especially Southeeand he was soon rewarded in the fifth over of the morning, he bowleda near-perfect delivery to Pujara who could do nothing but play at itand edged it the keeper. Pujara was out for 23 runs (71 balls, 1 fours,1 six), leaving a mountain to be climbed for the rest of the batsmen.

Kohli then came out to bat and patiently saw off Southee’s superspell of 6-3-4-1. At the other end, Dhawan too continued to bat cau-tiously as the 100-run mark came for the chase in the 32nd over. Theytempered their batting according to the situation, mixing aggressionwith defence.

New Zealand 1st innings 503 all out (McCullum 224, Williamson113, Anderson 77; I Sharma 6 for 134, Zaheer 2 for 132) and 2ndinnings 105 all out (Taylor 41, Williamson 3, McCullum 1, Southee14, Wagner 14; Shami 3 for 37, Zaheer 2 for 23, I. Sharma 3 for 28)

India 1st innings 202 all out (R. Sharma 72, Dhawan 0, Vijay 26,Rahane 26, Jadeja 30, Dhoni 10, Zaher 14; Boult 3 for 38, Southee 3for 38, Wagner 4 for 64) and 2nd innings 367 all out (Dhawan 115,Kohli 67, Pujara 23, R. Sharma 19, Rahane 18, Dhoni 39, Jadeja 26,Zaheer 17; Boult 3 for 86, Southee 3 for 81, Wagner 4 for 62)

Shikhar Dhawan scored 115in a losing cause

SPORT

SPIRITUALITY/SELF IMPROVEMENTPAGE 18 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

By Philip Goldberg

The way Americans under-stand and practice religion hasbecome decidedly Vedantic – lessin form, although there is plentyof that than in spirit.

Survey results from organiza-tions such a Gallup, Harris, andPew; academic institutions likePrinceton’s centre for the studyof religion; university based socialscientists; and media outlets fromNewsweek to Beliefnet.com allsupport this conclusion.

The body of research over re-cent decades points to the follow-ing trends.

Spiritual independence: Onesurvey asked, “Do you think ofspirituality more in a person andindividual sense or more in termsof organised religion and churchdoctrine?”

Almost three-quarters optedfor “personal and individual.”

Direct experience: A 2005survey asked respondents, “Whydo you practise religion?”

The most frequent answer (39percent) was “To forge a personalrelationship with God.”

Tolerance: Exclusivism is indecline; pluralism is in the ascen-dancy. A 2008 survey found that70 percent of Americans agreedthat “many religions can lead toeternal life.”

Fluidity: A Princeton sociolo-gist has identified a shift from a“dwelling spirituality,” in which “aspiritual habitat defines one’s re-lationship to God,” to a “seekingspirituality,” where “we seek Godin many different venues.”

Nonliteralism: Wuthnow saysthat number of people who believethe Bible is the literal word of Godhas “dropped remarkably since the1960s.”

A different kind of God:Over 90 percent of Americanscheck “yes” when asked if theybelieve in God. But increasinglythey see God as an abstract.

These trend lines coincide withthe appearance of a new religiouscategory: “Spiritual but not reli-

I am spiritual, but not religiousgious” (SBNR).

Robert C Fuller, author of a bookon SBNRs, describes them thisway: “Forsaking formal religiousorganisations, these people haveinstead embraced an individual-ized spirituality that includes pick-ing and choosing from a widerange of alternative religious phi-losophies.

“They typically view spiritual-ity as a journey intimately linkedwith the pursuit of personal growthor development. They are spiri-tual pragmatists looking for usablewisdom wherever they can find itThat a distinction has emergedbetween religion and spirituality isin itself a major change.

Why is this shift in the spirituallandscape relevant to AmericanVeda?

Because it was spearheadedby trendsetting baby boomerswhom sociologist Paul H Ray la-beled “cultural creative” – thevery cohort most likely to havebeen involved with eastern spiri-tuality in the 1960s and 1970s –and it spread from them to themainstream.

One of the values shared bycultural creatives, who are nowsaid to number forty to fifty mil-lion, is what Ray calls a “a newsense of the sacred.”

In their search for “universal,practical spiritual principles thathave intrinsic value and do notdepend on ecclesiastical author-ity,” and they tend to draw froma variety of tradition.

W C Roof, a religious scholarat the University of Californiacites the rise of panentheism (notto be confused with pantheism),which he defines in Vedantic lan-guage: “The self is the indwellingof God. The world is the abode ofGod. All is one, and one is all. Inthe tradition of the ancientupanishads, we find the onenessof our Atman with the all.”

Like all complex social phenom-ena, these trends have multiplecauses.

But every reputable analystsays that access to India’s spiri-tual teachings has been a centralfactor.

Today, large numbers of peoplewho never heard the wordVedanta are, in outlook and prac-tice, Vedantists.

They view spirituality as a de-velopmental process in whicheach person’s path must constantlyadjusted to suit his temperament,circumstances, and ever-evolvingneeds.

What could be more American?— Abridged from the

author’s American Veda

By G.S. Tripathi

The second chapter of theBhagwad Gita is a primarysource of eternal knowledge. Be-wildered by the challenges beforehim, Arjuna seeks Krishna’s inter-vention in removing his ignoranceand leading him on the path ofrighteousness.

In response, Krishna talksabout the immortality of soul,knowledge of eternity and thetransient, supremacy of action be-reft of desire for its fruits and thenecessity of being equipoised un-der the spell of dualities of life.

Just as a body experiences dif-ferent stages of life such as child-hood, youthfulness and old age,death is also an inevitable process.However, with decay of body, thesoul is not affected.

For those who are born, deathis inevitable. Similarly for thosewho die, birth, too, is inevitable.However, the latter is incompre-hensible. Ordinarily we do notknow what happens after death.It is basically a belief.

However, it is a strong beliefand our own philosophy is builtaround it. Let me try a scientificsimile.

Electronics is an outgrowth ofsemiconductors which are ordi-narily understood through a com-bination of chemistry and quan-tum theory. In the ground state, asemiconductor is described sim-ply by two bands.

The lower valence band iscompletely filled with electronsand the upper conduction band,separated by a small energy gapfrom the valence band, is empty.

A semiconductor can be ex-cited by various means such asheat or light energy or even by im-purities. When an electron is ex-cited from the valence band to theconduction band, it is consideredas annihilated in the former andcreated in the later.

Thus something which decaysreappears again elsewhere. Itsnature, too, changes. The electronwas localised or confined earlier,but after excitation it is free.

In the same chapter, Krishnatalks about senses and sense ob-jects. The quality of a person isascertained from the response ofhis senses to sense objects.

If the response is negative, thenhis senses are under control andthe person is said to be in a stateof equipoise. If the senses are af-fected by sense objects, then theperson loses control over himselfand his conscience is lost.

A person with a lost consciencecan harm himself and his fellow-men. Conscience never lets usdown, provided it is guardedagainst attackers -- lust, angerand greed. If conscience wins weare happy and blissful. If, how-ever, the attackers win, we losecontrol over ourselves and fallfrom the blissful state.

It always keeps one ordered.If we do not listen to the voice ofour conscience, all order is lost inus and we are vulnerable to at-tacks by its destroyers. It is indeedtrue that no one has complete con-trol over the three vices, which,

Krishna speaks on knowledge, actionaccording to the Gita, can lead one to hell-like situations.

Conscience is a kind of internal force that results from values ac-quired from education, adherence to moral and spiritual practice inthought and action, strength of mind, fearlessness, freedom and truth-fulness.

Many of the wrong doings would not have happened if we listenedto our conscience. If the conscience is weakened by aforesaid en-emies, then we lose order and become devilish.

We commit crimes and, as a consequence, are lost to the mercy ofcircumstances.

The Gita teaches us how to overcome the three vices and establishsupremacy of conscience. Although it is hard to attain completely,sincere effort could lead us from sorrow to bliss.

When national and otherfrontiers disappear

By J. Krishnamurti

How long will it take for na-tional frontiers to disappear?

A: It depends on you. If yousay, I am Hindu and you are Mus-lim, or the Muslim says, I amMuslim and you are Hindu, Catho-lic, Protestant, Buddhist, commu-nist, socialist -- that you are patri-otic, we are the greatest, all thatstuff.

So as long as you worship theflag, you are nationalist, patriotic,as long as there are ...racial, na-tional, religious differences, therewill be wars and there will be noend to frontiers.

You are following people, yourleaders, saints, gurus, teachers, sothat you have lost all sense of yourown clarity, because you are nota light unto yourself. You are thelight of somebody else, perhapswho is dead and gone.

So, you have to find out how tolive a different kind of life, and youwill, if you are educated properly,if you are acquainted with allthings of life.

What is the future of democ-racy in India?

To be a democrat you mustthink for yourself, not be per-suaded by propaganda, by anyleader or guru. Only then can youcall yourself a true democrat.

You must have right education,not just technical education. Be atotal human being, intellectually ca-pable, to reason clearly, precisely,without any personal projection inthinking. If you are a democrat inthat sense, then you will createthe right administration, not forIndia but for the whole world.There must be universal planning,and only a true democrat can dosuch things for he loves people,not a system.

Is there no way to save theworld from destruction?

First, understand what wemean by ‘world’, by ‘destruction’.

The world is where you live,isn’t it? School, boarding house,playfield, your friends, family, thenthe relationship of that family toother families and the relationshipof the many families to the state,the country, to other countries, andso on and on, like ripples whenyou drop a pebble in a lake.

That is what we call the world.It’s much more complex, butsimple, leave it at that for the mo-ment.

What do we mean by that worddestruction? War, killing eachother, destroys people. Killing each

other is a very expensive business.So war destroys not only the

country, people, land, and trees,and human beings but it also de-stroys the economy.

People become more violent,more destructive, more vicious—there is anger.

So, when we talk about de-struction, it means not only out-ward things like trees, aeroplanes,men, but also inwardly it destroysyou. So can that be saved?

When you create hate, greed,envy, ambition, all that is also de-struction. The world can be savedfrom destruction only by you.

How you think, feel, live, on theplaying field, in your boardinghouse, the way you eat, the wayyou talk, whether you are greedy,envious, and all that, and extendit. Then only it is possible.

It starts from a little pebble.Therefore education matters

immensely, not what you aretaught, not from books, though thatmatters — mathematics, geogra-phy, history and all the rest of it;but what matters much more iswhat you are, how you behave,what you think, whether you arenationalistic, whether you saywell, Bihar, my country, my lan-guage, my little courtyard.

If you think in those terms youare destroying the world.

— Abridged from interactionwith students Rajghat, 1965and 1967. Courtesy: KFI.

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Present MomentThe secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the

past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but tolive in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

— Gautama Buddha Transformation can only take place immediately; the revolution is

now, not tomorrow. — J KrishnamurtiFinish each day and be done with it. You have done what you

could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them assoon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenelyand with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

— Ralph W Emerson

INDIAINDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 19

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MUMBAI: The much-awaitedTerminal 2 of the Mumbai inter-national airport and the Sahar el-evated road corridor was openedfor the public on Wednesday, Feb12.

The 2.2km Sahar elevated roadthat connects Western ExpressHighway (WEH) with the newTerminal 2 of the InternationalAirport was inaugurated byMaharashtra chief ministerPrithviraj Chavan on Wednesday.

"We recently inaugurated theEastern Freeway, Terminal 2 ofthe international airport and nowthe Sahar elevated road. Throughthese projects we are trying tosolve traffic problems of this city,which is the financial capital of ourcountry," Chavan said.

The Rs 400 crore project whichmissed several deadlines earlier,offers seamless and signal-freeconnectivity from Western Ex-press Highway, cutting the traveltime by around 30 minutes.

Mumbai T2, Sahar elevated road open to public

The government and theMumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority(MMRDA) are working towardscommencing some of the delayedtransport projects that are aimedat solving traffic woes, Chavansaid.

"The first phase of Metro Railproject- Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar- is likely to commenceoperations next month. Similarly,the Santacruz-Chembur LinkRoad will also be open for ve-hicles in the next 2-3 weeks. Thework on the third metro-Colaba-SEEPZ, is also likely to start soon,"he said.

The state government hassought Rs 12,500 crore from the14th Finance Commission for de-velopment of infrastructureprojects in Mumbai.

"We want to provide all thenecessary amenities to the publicto make Mumbai an internationalcity," Chavan added.

MNS stir: Raj calls for calmMUMBAI: MNS chief Raj Thackeray was on Wednesday, Feb

12, arrested at suburban Chembur here as the state-wide 'rasta roko'against toll plazas called by the party began with several protestersbeing taken into custody for disrupting traffic at many places acrossthe state.

Thackeray said he had made it clear to the government that he wasnot interested in "empty negotiations".

"The CM should fix a deadline to review the flawed toll collectionsystem and introduce accountability and transparency in it," he said.However, he added that party activists have been told not to destroypublic property or disrupt peace.

Thackeray, who left his home in central Mumbai at about 10am,was stopped in Chembur and arrested by police as he headed towardsthe Vashi toll booth. He had planned to lead the road blockade at theVashi toll plaza. The MNS chief was released after around two hours.He asked party workers not to resort to violence.

The stir has commenced despite police serving a notice to Raj warn-ing against participating in the agitation. Thackeray, whose supportersvandalized scores of toll plazas across the state over the last fortnight,said traffic on the state highways was stopped from 9 a.m.

However, in some relief for commuters, Raj had said on Tuesdaythat life in cities would not be affected. "We have decided to excludeschools and colleges from the stir in view of exams. The cities won'tbe affected by the stir," he had said.

Cell phones savesman from tigress

JABALPUR: Whenever mor-tals are in danger, says the scrip-ture, the Almighty assumes a novelavatar and descends on earth tosave them. Dairy owner BeniramRangdale says that in his case, Hetook the form of a mobile phone.

The 50-something resident ofthe Adivasi-dominated Baihar vil-lage in Balaghat district recentlyhad a close encounter with death.He spent an agonizing three hoursup on a tree with a furious tigresswaiting below. Just when hethought it was all over, the phonecame to his rescue.

"I realized that though I did nothave a gun, the phone in my handcould be an equally potentweapon," says Rangdale. He sentout a telephonic SOS to his friendsand the search party that arrivedsoon after managed to scare thetiger away.

Five days later, the little hand-set has joined the resident deitieswho sit in the pooja alcove of theRangdale household. He will notpart with his lucky phone at anyprice, he says. Baihar is a heavilytiger-infested territory, barely 10km off the Kanha national park,and escaping the jaws of a preda-tor in these parts involves a hugeamount of luck.

Yuvraj, Karthik get big bucks at IPL auctionAll-rounder Yuvraj Singh drew the biggest bid after the first four

rounds of the Indian Premier League players’ auction with Royal Chal-lengers Bangalore clinching his services for a whopping Rs. 14 crorein Bangalore on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik emerged as asurprise big draw going for Rs. 12.5 crore to Delhi Daredevils, whohad decided not to retain a single player before the auctions.

Batsman Kevin Pietersen, whose England career came to an abruptend after a disastrous Ashes campaign, fetched a huge Rs. 9 crorepurse, bought by Delhi Daredevils, the franchise he played for lastseason.

Naxalites extort Rs. 140 cr annually NEW DELHI: Naxals have been extorting money to the tune of

Rs. 140 crore annually from contractors, businessmen and corporatehouses besides their front organisations are suspected to be receivingforeign funds clandestinely.

“Though an exact quantification of their finance is not possible, ithas been assessed in a study conducted by the Institute of DefenceStudies and Analysis, Delhi, that the CPI-Maoist has been collectingnot less than Rs. 140 crore annually from a variety of sources,” Min-ister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh informed Rajya Sabha in a writ-ten reply on Wednesday.

He also said possibility of certain front organisations of CPI (Maoist)clandestinely getting foreign funds cannot be ruled out.

Singh said the main source of funds for the Maoists include extor-tion from ‘tendu patta’ contractors, extortion from infrastructure/de-velopment work contractors, ‘levy’ from businessmen and corpo-rate houses.

In addition, they rob banks and public and private properties to aug-ment their finances.

“The Left Wing Extremists groups, particularly the CPI (Maoist),extort considerable ‘levy’ from various illegal mining mafia groups inNaxal-affected states,” the Minister said.

Naxals are trying to set up organisational bases in the Northeast toforge ties with other insurgent groups to meet their military needs andthe Assam- Arunachal Pradesh border has emerged as another the-atre of Maoist activities, the government said. “The CPI(Maoist) hasdeveloped close fraternal ties with Northeast insurgent groups like theRevolutionary People’s Front and People’s Liberation Army ofManipur. Both the outfits have agreed upon mutual cooperation in theareas of training, funding, supply of arms and ammunition,” he said.

The minister said the Upper Assam Leading Committee (UALC)of CPI(Maoist) is presently operating in Assam and Arunachal Pradeshand have been involved in incidents of looting of weapons and extor-tion from local villagers.

39 new express trains Passenger fares and freight

rates were left untouched onWednesday in the interim rail bud-get, which talks about plans aboutinvolvement of private sector andFDI as part of efforts tomodernise the largest transportnetwork in the country.

Presenting the interim budgetfor four months in the Lok Sabha,Railway Minister MallikarjunKharge said an independent RailTariff Authority is being set up torationalise fares and there was aproposal to expand dynamic pric-ing of tickets in line with the air-line industry.

He announced the launch of 17new premium trains, 39 expresstrains and ten passenger trains inthe coming year and providing railconnectivity to Katra andVaishnodevi in Jammu and Kash-mir, and Meghalaya andArunachal Pradesh in the North-east.

INDIAPAGE 20 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014

PAKISTAN

PESHAWAR: Three back-to-back explosions occurred insidePeshawar’s Shama Cinema onTuesday, killing 13 people andleaving at least 19 others injured.

According to DawnNews,multiple explosions occurred whena show was ongoing in the cin-ema house.

Subsequently, 11 people werekilled whereas 19 others were in-jured, an official at Lady ReadingHospital, Syed Jameel Shah, saidwhere the wounded persons wereshifted by rescue sources formedical treatment. Two of the in-jured later succumbed to theirwounds, taking the death toll to 13.

Capital City Police Officer(CCPO) Ejaz Ahmed speaking tomedia representatives earlier saideight people were killed and 22others were injured.

An emergency was imposed inLRH and additional staff was ur-gently summoned after the inci-dent.

Ahmed furthermore said threegrenades were used and up to 80people were in the cinema at thetime of the explosions.

Meanwhile, security forcescordoned off the site of attackwhereas army personnel sealedthe area from Shami Road.

Shama Cinema is situated inthe busy Bacha Khan Chowk areaof Peshawar.

The blast at the cinema came11 days after a similar attack atPicture House Cinema situated inKabuli Bazaar area of Peshawar.

The attack also came as nego-tiators for the government and forTaliban militants met for a secondtime as part of efforts to end thebloody seven-year insurgency.

Scraps of human flesh, blood-soaked shoes and caps littered thefloor of the hall after the blasts,an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Akbar Khan, 62, whose leftarm and left thigh were injured,told AFP from his hospital bed thathe was watching a movie when adeafening blast rocked the audi-torium. “It seemed like a hot ironrod pierced through my left armand leg as I was hit by ball bear-ings,” he said.

Pakistani Taliban spokesmanShahidullah Shahid denied involve-ment. “We condemn the blast, itsnot our activity,” he told Reuters.

Three blasts hit Peshawar cinema; 13 killed

Rescue workers comfort a man grieving over the death of his brotherin the attack in the cinema house in Peshawar.

ISLAMABAD: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has as many as500 female suicide bombers readyto act, Maulana Abdul Aziz, oneof three negotiators representingthe TTP, said in an interview withBloomberg News. The TTP seesno urgency to reach an agreementwith the government, the Maulanasaid at his Islamabad seminary.

“You should know that at themoment they have at least 400 to500 female suicide bombers inWaziristan and other tribal areas,”said Maulana Aziz, referring to theTTP. “The government shouldrealise the situation and their de-mands.”

Maulana Aziz said the Talibanwere most interested in imple-menting Sharia. The US militarypresence in Afghanistan is “a verysmall factor” in the fight, he added,disputing statements by PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khanand others.

“They (Taliban) are fighting forthe implementation of Sharia,”Aziz said at the seminary wheresome 1,300 female students arestudying. “It’s the law of naturethat when people don’t get theirrights, they pick up arms.”

The number of female suicidebombers mentioned by MaulanaAbdul Aziz “is a very exaggeratedfigure”, said Muhammad AmirRana, director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for PeaceStudies. “The Taliban are wayahead in the propaganda war, andthey have given a tough time to

“TTP has 500 female suicide bombers”

9 of family shot deadPESHAWAR: At least nine

people were killed on Wednesday,Feb 12, after unidentified armedmen attacked a house located onthe outskirts of Peshawar,DawnNews reported.

In the Budhbher area of thecity, unknown militants entered ahouse and launched an attack byopening fire and hurling hand gre-nades. At least nine people losttheir lives in the assault.

Superintendent of police (SPrural) Peshawar Rahim Shah saidPir Israr whose family was tar-geted, directly held no affiliationwith any peace committee andwas an ordinary man.

Armed militants entered thehouse of Pir Israr last night andseparated women from the malemembers of the family. They tiedthe hands and feet of the men ofthe family and shot them dead.

the state,” he said. “Female sui-cide bombers have been used, butnot too many.”

Maulana Aziz, who was jailedfor two years after the raid on LalMasjid, last week temporarilywithdrew himself from the talkswith TTP because the governmentinsisted the negotiations be heldunder the Constitution. He willremain on the TTP’s committee,he added.

“The Taliban are in no hurry,”the Maulana said, when askedwhether the group wanted a dealsoon to avoid a military strike.“They say they are not worriedabout it. They have been in a stateof war for the past 10 years.”

“If the military has weaponsand air power, they (Taliban) havesuicide bombers,” Maulana Azizsaid of the Taliban. “You cannotmatch them. Suicide bomberseven destroyed the power ofAmerica in Afghanistan.”

Maulana Aziz

Gas prices: Ambani, Moily in FIR NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and

petroleum minister Veerappa Moily have been named in the FIR filedby Delhi's anti-corruption branch on Wednesday on the issue of gaspricing. Earlier reports had said the two were not named in the FIR.The FIR also names Murli Deora and retired official VK Sibal.

This comes a day after Arvind Kejriwal alleged conspiracy on theissue of gas pricing.

The ACB has registered a 38-page FIR on the issue.On Tuesday, Arvind Kejriwal had levelled charges against Mukesh

Ambani, Veerappa Moily and Murli Deora accusing them of conspir-ing to raise the price of gas.

He had also accused Mukesh Ambani's company of artificially cre-ating a crisis to shore up the price of gas.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal said the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) hasbeen asked to probe the matter based on a complaint filed by formercabinet secretary TSR Subrmanian, Admiral Tahiliani - the formerNavy chief, and eminent lawyer Kamini Jaiswal besides a formerExpenditure Secretary.

Without explaining whether Delhi government has jurisdiction toprobe the case, Kejriwal alleged that Reliance Industries Ltd wasbenefited as oil ministry decided to hike the natural gas price to USD8 per million British thermal unit as against current USD 4.2 fromApril 1. He alleged that RIL did not produce adequate gas from east-ern offshore KG basin block so as to put pressure on the governmentto hike the price.

BIZARRE MOVEIn another bizarre move, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi

has now announced a reward for power bill defaulters. According toreports, those who did not pay their power bills between October 2012and April 2013 will have to pay only half the amount.

Reports said that an announcement in this regard was made byDelhi PWD Minister Manish Sisodia. According to the announce-ment, this scheme is to benefit those who had supported the campaignof the Aam Aadmi Party against alleged inflated electricity bills.

Power tariff in Delhi was an important campaign issue for AAP inthe run up to the Delhi Assembly elections. AAP founder ArvindKejriwal had promised to slash the power tariff by 50 per cent afterbeing voted to power.

After coming to power, the AAP government has come downheavily on power discoms in Delhi, seeking a CAG audit on them.

PM saddened by melees in ParliamentNEW DELHI: Venting his anguish over disruptions in Parliament,

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said his heart bleedsover what is happening in the House and it is sad for democracy.

"My heart bleeds to see what is happening in the House," he told agroup of MPs soon after disruptions in Lok Sabha over Telanganaissue during presentation of the interim Rail budget.

"It is sad for democracy that such things are happening even afterall appeals for calm," the Prime Minister said.

Singh's comments came after the storm over Telangana on Wednes-day derailed the presentation of the Interim Rail Budget 2014-15 withrailway minister Mallikarjun Kharge being forced to cut short his speechin Lok Sabha because of the turmoil.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath also condemned theincidents in Lok Sabha.

"It is very unfortunate...., the obstruction and creating disturbancesand all kinds of unruly scenes....This is a very bad precedent for thefuture Lok Sabhas," Nath told reporters outside Parliament House.

India business show in Lahore NEW DELHI: Exploring the 'business route’ to improve relations

between the two countries, Pakistan will host three-day 'India Show'in Lahore beginning February 14.

It may just be a coincidence that this mega business show of 'made-in-India' goods in Pakistan will begin on the Valentine's Day, but theoccasion will indeed provide an opportunity for people-to-people con-tact - a key to improve relations between two countries having check-ered past. The 'India Show' will be organized in the backdrop of in-creased efforts by the respective governments at confidence-buildingmeasures leading to the possible grant of the Non-DiscriminatoryMarket Access (NDMA) status to India by Pakistan.

"The event meets the purpose of ensuring continuous and increas-ing engagement between our business communities and exploring pos-sibilities of expanding business relations with Pakistan", said JyotsnaSuri, senior vice president of the Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI).

Suri, chairperson of Bharat Hotels Limited, said, "It is also an affir-mation of the FICCI's belief that increased trade and investments willgo a long way in improving the relationship between India and Paki-stan besides achieving the common goals of inclusive growth".

The Show will be organized by FICCI in partnership with the India'sministry of commerce and industry. The Federation of Pakistan Cham-bers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Lahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (LCCI) and Trade Development Authority of In-dia (TDAP) will support the event which shows the "best of India inthe 21st century".

Police told to look for anti-drone activistISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered

the government to produce an anti-drone activist — who was appar-ently detained by the country's intelligence agencies — at a hearingon Feb 20, his lawyer said.

Kareem Khan was picked up from his home on the outskirts ofIslamabad on Feb 5, according to his legal team, just days before hewas due to testify before European parliamentarians. “The Rawalpindibench of Lahore High Court has sought reply from the intelligenceagencies through the government, ordering the intelligence agenciesto produce Kareem Khan on Feb 20 or give the reason behind hisarrest in writing to the court,” his lawyer Shahzad Akbar told AFP.

He said the police had also produced its report before the court“denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khan”.

“The police in their report did mention that Khan was picked up bymen wearing police uniform but they said it was not them,” he said. “Iam not very hopeful that the intelligence agencies will produce Khanor tell the court why they have arrested him, we know how the intel-ligence agencies work in this country; they are answerable to no one.”

Akbar said it would be an achievement simply to learn from thegovernment which agency had detained Khan and why.

The freelance journalist was fighting a legal case in which he hadnamed both the CIA's former station chief and the government fortheir roles in the US drone campaign in the country's tribal areas.

Khan's brother and teenage son were killed in a drone attack inNorth Waziristan in December 2009. Pakistan has passed a new lawallowing its security forces to detain terror suspects for up to 90 dayswithout disclosing their whereabouts or the allegations against them.

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INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 • PAGE 23

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