Indo-Canadian Online

WALK FOR MEMORIES

2008-01-10T11:08:00.001-08:00

Alzheimer's Society of BC is organising "Walk for Memories" event to bring together people who want to help thousands of British Columbians touched by dementia. This disease affects many senior citizens in the South Asian community. Therefore, BC Sikh Youth has formed a team called Sikh Community of BC to participate in this good cause.
Make this event a success by joining or supporting the team. To register or sponsor go to www.bcsikhs.com/walkformemories
The date is January 27th. Check-in is at 12pm and the walk begins at 1pm. The location is the Promenade in White Rock.For further information they can contact Kulpreet Singh at 778-319-1699.

FAMILY IN AMBALA MOURNS CHICAGO KILLINGS

2008-01-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Ambala (Haryana) - The killing of three members of a family by a close relative in Oak Forest area of Chicago in the US is being mourned by a family in this Haryana town. Rajesh Kumar Arora, 30, his wife Monika Rani, 22, and their son Vansh, 3, died after Monika's father Subhash Chander, 57, set their apartment on fire Dec 31. Monika was five months pregnant. "We were informed by Chicago police that the bodies were all charred beyond recognition. They have asked us to send identification marks so that their bodies or ashes can be sent back to India," sobbing Om Prakash, the father of Rajesh, said.
Chander was arrested by the police and charged with first-degree murder. He told police investigators that he was upset that his daughter had married a man from a lower caste against his wishes. But Rajesh Kumar's family in Ambala disagrees with Chander's claim that he carried out the gruesome act because of the caste issue. "He is an alcoholic and used to fight with people and abuse them. He was nothing less than an extortionist. He used to force Rajesh and his wife to give him money. He should be given death penalty for killing three innocent people," Om Prakash said Thursday.
According to the police, Chander sprinkled his daughter and son-in-law's apartment with petrol, which he brought from the petrol pump where he worked. He then set the apartment on fire, giving the family no chance to escape. Rajesh and Monika got married in October 2002. He worked as a cashier in a petrol pump in Chicago. He had gone to the US on a tourist visa nearly 10 years ago and was an illegal immigrant. Though their son Vansh was born in US, his grandparents here had looked after him since he was seven months old. He went back to the US in July last year.
Rajesh's family runs an electronics shop in this city. "We do not even have the means to go to the US to get their bodies. We need help," Om Prakash said.

CHANDER'S SISTER SAYS FAMILY HAD NO PROBLEM WITH MARRIAGE

2008-01-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO - Subash Chander's sister said family members had no problem with the marriage. "It's the same culture, same everything," Kamla Devi said. "Kids marry all the time against their parents' will, but we - the whole family - accepted him as the son-in-law." Devi said that the family is from Chandigarh in India. Authorities said they did not know when the family came to the U.S., or precisely which castes husband and wife belonged to. Devi said her brother worked at a Wendy's restaurant but had to quit in September because of liver problems.

Chander set a fire last weekend that killed his pregnant daughter, his son-in-law and his 3-year-old grandson, prosecutors say, because he disapproved of his daughter’s marriage. Chander, who lives in Oak Forest, a suburb south of here, told investigators that he was upset with his daughter, Monika Rani, and her husband, Rajesh Kumar, for what he saw as “a cultural slight,” said Robert J. Milan, the first assistant state’s attorney of Cook County. Chander said that the couple had married without his consent and that Kumar was from a lower caste in India than Rani’s family, Milan said.

INDIAN FATHER IN US KILLS PREGNANT DAUGHTER, HER FAMILY

2008-01-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO — A man set a fire last weekend that killed his pregnant daughter, his son-in-law and his 3-year-old grandson, prosecutors say, because he disapproved of his daughter’s marriage. The man, Subhash Chander, who lives in Oak Forest, a suburb south of here, told investigators that he was upset with his daughter, Monika Rani, and her husband, Rajesh Kumar, for what he saw as “a cultural slight,” said Robert J. Milan, the first assistant state’s attorney of Cook County. Chander said that the couple had married without his consent and that Kumar was from a lower caste in India than Rani’s family, Milan said.

Chander, 57, was held without bail on Wednesday, charged with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and intentional homicide of an unborn child. Rani, 22, was five months pregnant with the couple’s second child. A defense lawyer assigned to Chander’s case did not respond to a telephone message. On Saturday night, firefighters were called to a blaze that was swiftly consuming an apartment complex where more than 70 people were inside. People raced down stairs, and others jumped from balcony windows. Remarkably, the authorities said, most escaped without serious injuries.
The authorities said the fire started outside the door of Apartment 209, where Rani, Kumar and their son, Vansh Kumar, 3, lived. A witness told the police that just after the fire started he saw a man matching Chander’s description in the hallway smelling of gasoline and carrying a plastic container. An attendant at a gasoline station told the police that Chander had bought a plastic container of gasoline at his station two hours before the fire. Not long after the fire, the police found the container in the garbage bin outside Chander’s apartment building, just across the street from his daughter’s building.
Chander acknowledged setting the fire, the authorities said, but said it had started during an unexpected confrontation with his family members. Chander told the police that his son-in-law had pushed him, leading him to spill the gasoline, which he had bought for a relative, Milan said. Chander said he grew angry, pulled out his lighter and set the apartment on fire, Milan added. Then, Chander said, he left, threw away the container and went home, Milan said, adding that he did not call the police, firefighters or his daughter.

TOY DRIVE A SUCCESS

2007-12-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

Harvey Kooner

Benevolent Brotherhood Society

Santa’s job will be a bit easier this year, as the Lower Mainland came together to honour the memory of Victor Ghirra through an inaugural toy drive. Over 1,500 toys packed the Riverside Palace in Richmond on Saturday, December 15th. All to pay tribute to the legacy of the man with a goldenheart: Victor Ghirra. “Victor is not with us today, but looking around and seeing all the generousity from people in the community; his spirit is stillwith us,” said Bobby Ghirra, General Manager of Riverside Hall and Victor’solder brother. The toys will be evenly distributed to: Children’s Hospital, Lower Mainland Salvation Army and the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.

Victor had a big heart. He donated thousands of dollars worth of toys to Children's Hospital for over 14 years. Whenever they asked: “Who are you? Which organization are you from?” He would say: "It doesn't matter who I am, those toys are for the kids and that's all you need to know." The touching part of this story is that Victor never told anyone about it. Individuals close to him did not even know about this good deed. His funeral was very moving. He passed away at the age of 37; he left behind 4 young sons and his wife. There were close to 2,000 people at his funeral. The Ghirra Family, The Benevolent Brotherhood Society, Riverside Halls and Vancity Insurance hope that these toys bring smiles to children’s lives.

To find out more about the Benevolent Brotherhood Society and how you canhelp. If you wish to volunteer your time, energy and efforts please contactthem at: hkooner@shaw.ca or phone: 604.671.4180.

KANDOLA FAMILY IN DISBELIEF

2007-11-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Sudarshan Kandola is in disbelief that her son Baljinder Kandola, who the whole family was so proud of for being a Canada Border officer, faces six charges including importing cocaine and guns, breach of trust and bribery. "I don't know how he got involved in it. He was so protective about his job. He would tell his own brothers never to get on the wrong side of the law because that would reflect badly on him."
Sudarshan said that for her son, Canada Border job was a dream come true. "My son was so happy to get the job. He was on top of the world. He would always be very careful of who he is talking to and who he is meeting. My son was very cautious about his company too. He didn't want to mingle with the wrong kind of people. All this just to protect his job, because he was loyal and didn't want any stain on his uniform," Kandola added in Punjabi.
The 35-year old Surrey man, a six-year border services officer, was arrested late Thursday night and is accused of allowing two Richmond men with organized-crime links to enter Canada illegally, one with an SUV filled with $6 million in cocaine and three handguns. Shaminder Johal, 34, and Herman Riar, 26, were driving the two vehicles packed with contraband. The men allegedly used Kandola's border booth at the Pacific Highway truck crossing to enter Canada in similar-looking GMC Yukons. They were arrested a short distance away, after police determined Kandola had arranged "safe passage" for them.
The three accused appeared in the Surrey Provincial Court on Monday to fix a date for a bail hearing. Dressed in red jail uniform, Kandola entered the court room with his head held down. The other two accused, however, were seen whispering to each other and smiling. The court room was packed with family members - while some of them stayed composed, the others were heard sobbing.
Sudarshan Kandola said that no one in her family knew about her son's intentions. "No. Nobody in my family knew anything. We didn't know it until his arrest. We are a happy family and everyone is earning well. They are all doing well for themselves. We do not get involved in such things. I have five sons and all are happy with their lives." She also mentioned that her doesn't have any criminal record and was never involved in any illegal activity, "that's why when the police searched our home, they didn't find anything. Th police came with a search warrant immidiately after his arrest and there was nothing they found."
The Kandola family owns a clothes shop and a herbal store in Surrey. Sitting in the family store with one of her grandsons, Sudarshan explained what the family is going through. Shortly after, she starts to cry, followed by her grandson. "This is difficult for the family. Baljinder has a young son and he is very attached to his father. He keeps asking for his father. What do we tell him?"

"I still can't believe it. I feel this is just a nightmare and will get over soon. My son wasn't like this. He would tell others to keep away from drugs, gangs or anything illegal." Sudarshan Kandola said that her son is a baptised Sikh who prays every morning. "He was so happy. I feel somebody brainwashed him into it. There is nothing lacking in our family. His wife has a good paying job. I don't know how he got into it. Sometimes when i think of it I feel may be his mind just changed. The other times I feel this is destiny, it had to happen."

GET WITH IT, WE ARE A MULTICULTURAL COUNTRY

2007-10-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Pooja Sekhon

As a new Canadian I believed that I am needed and wanted in this country. That my life, my values, culture and religion are important to this country. But every now and then some boorish individual tries to shake that belief. This time, that individual is CKNW's Bruce Allen. His "Reality Check" is one of the segments I enjoy the most, because it hits you right in the face. But in his recent segment, he went too far.
I am talking about the Reality Check broadcast on September 13 on CKNW. After the segment was aired, I received a couple of mails condemning the comments. I ignored them because I didn’t want to be a part of their race game. I hate to admit it, I was wrong. When I listened to the segment, I realized what they meant.
Eight days after it was broadcast, Surrey’s radio station RED FM picked up the issue and held an open line talk show. Other Punjabi media outlets followed. People who called in the talk show were most hurt by comments such as "you are not needed in this country", "shut up and fit in", and "hit the door".
“Hit the door”, that hits hard.
I thought people form a nation, not shopping malls and pubs. If we all hit the door, and by all I mean Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and all those who “don’t fit in”, what will be left of Canada. Has anyone ever thought of that?
Wherever there are different faiths, problem(s) arise. There are four main faiths in India, not to overlook the numerous unspecified ones. However, there is always a better way to solve every issue. We just have to look for it.
While I was writing this piece, I also found out that Sikhs in Los Angeles are planning a protest against a radio station after one its radio jockeys referred to turbaned Sikhs as wearing a “diaper” on their heads.
Coming back to Canada, what about the second generation Canadians whose parents immigrated from India and other South Asian countries. For this second generation, Canada is their mother country. They don’t want to “hit the door” and go back to India. They are born in a Sikh, Hindu or Muslim family, so they follow their religion. They don’t want to abandon their identity and be like the rest of them. They are as Canadian as any white Canadian. What are they suppose to do? Any suggestions.
Radio Station RED FM spoke to CKNW host Christy Clark on the issue. According to her, the comments were uncalled for. “We are not a homogenous European country where everybody has white skin and goes to the same Church. We are a country of people from all over the world, that’s our richness, that’s our strength. To tell people to go home if they don’t act like a European, that’s ridiculous. I think people who believe that if you live in this country, you should act like a European should go back to Europe. If that’s what they like, go back to Holland. Everybody is blonde and white in Holland.”
Clark further added, “Bruce is a great strength and he has very strong opinions. His views are from the Stone Age, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a right to express them. Fact is that in Canada there are people of European descent who still share those views. They are mostly older white people, but they are there and they have a right to express their views.”
Clark then spoke to Allen on her show and in his defense he said that he has always supported immigrant issues and that he was misunderstood. Eventually, he said, "I am sorry if I offended anyone."
Finally, this is not about Bruce Allen or some other individual. This is about the attitude that since we have come to this country we have to be like the rest. No, we don’t. We love this country. But, do I have to be like my neighbor to love this country. No, I don’t. We have our own identity, our own religion, culture and values. And, we are going to stick to it, whether someone likes it or not.
Nah, I am not doing Allen here. I am just trying to regain my belief that I am needed and wanted in this country.

RJ COMPARES TURBAN TO DIAPER, ANGERS SIKHS

2007-09-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sikhs in Los Angeles are planning a protest against a radio station after one of its radio jockeys (RJs) referred to turbaned Sikhs as wearing a "diaper" on their head. RJ Al Rantel was discussing US airport security in his talk show "KABC 790AM" on September 10 where he allegedly said that if his own 80-year-old mother had to take off her shoes during a security screening, "... then why shouldn't a Sikh be required to take off the hat that looks like a diaper they wear on their heads?"
The comment has angered the Sikh community, which said they would start protests if the RJ did not apologise. "If he does not correct himself on the air, we're going to put pressure on him," Navraj Singh told India-West, an ethnic Indian newspaper. "I'm getting calls from around the country, and Sikh temples are collecting signatures," said Singh, a resident of Encino, California, adding he was ready to lead a protest outside the radio station. Singh has written a strongly worded letter to Rantel, challenging him to an on-air debate. Rantel's team has not yet responded.
According to a new Homeland Security Department policy, which came into force on August 4, Sikhs have to remove their turbans at US airports for security checks. The new security guideline has already upset the large Sikh population in the US. Sikhs have often been confused as Muslims, and its members often suffer due to anti-Muslim sentiments. Hate crimes against Sikhs increased after September 11, 2001.

SONIA GANDHI IS SIXTH MOST POWERFUL WOMAN - FORBES

2007-08-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most powerful woman in the world while Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi has risen to second place in Forbes' magazine's annual list, the company said in a statement on Friday. "Merkel continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits, and stuck to her principles, getting G8 leaders to agree to significant cuts in carbon emissions, among other things," Forbes said. It said Wu Yi was a rising star in China's Communist Party, having hammered out trade agreements with Russia and overseeing the country's negotiations for accession to the World Trade Organization.
The magazine said the ranking is based on a composite of visibility - measured by press citations - and economic impact. The biggest mover on this year's list was Ho Ching - chief executive of Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings and wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - who jumped to third place from 36th last year, trumping U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who fell from second to fourth place. "Ho Ching is rarely seen or heard from. But increasingly she is a force to be reckoned with, as her dealmaking ambitions span the globe," Forbes said in a short profile of Ho.

World's 10 most powerful women in 2007 according to Forbes:

1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany

2. Wu Yi, Vice premier, China
3. Ho Ching CEO, Temasek Holdings, Singapore
4. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, U.S.
5. Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman, CEO, PepsiCo U.S.
6. Sonia Gandhi, Political party chief, India
7. Cynthia Carroll CEO, Anglo American, U.K.
8. Patricia A. Woertz, Cochairman, ADM U.S.
9. Irene Rosenfeld Chairman, CEO, Kraft Foods U.S.
10. Patricia Russo CEO, Alcatel-Lucent U.S.

For the full list click on www.forbes.com

SIKH OUTRAGE IN US AS TURBANS COME UNDER SECURITY CHECK

2007-08-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Washington: Sikhs in the US have complained of ethnic profiling after airport authorities forced community members to remove their turbans for security checks in the wake of a new federal policy that subjects travellers wearing headgear to additional scrutiny. "The federal government has equated our most precious article of faith with terrorism," said Amardeep Singh, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group for Sikhs. "It sends a message that the turban is dangerous. It sends a wrong message to society," he said. A Sikh businessman, Prabhjit Singh, said he was made to leave the screening line when he balked at the secondary search at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
"The supervisor made me feel like I had done something wrong," said the businessman, a motivational speaker from Maryland. "I felt for the first time in America that I had been targeted, and it was because of the way I looked," he was quoted as saying by The New York Times. The fact that the policy was put into effect without consulting Sikhs also rankled the Sikh Coalition, which puts the number of Sikhs in the US at 280,000. The Transportation Security Administration, which adopted and is enforcing the policy, said it was aimed not just at turbans but at any headgear and that it was one of the periodic adjustments made to address changing threats.
The change allows for screeners to pat down anyone who is wearing a hat or other head covering, even if the person clears a metal detector. The change was part of several new security measures initiated on August 4, but the change regarding headgear was not publicised and came to light only after many Sikh passengers underwent additional screenings.

KANISHKA TRAGEDY

2007-07-31T11:42:00.001-07:00

Fifteen years after Babbar Khalsa International leader Talwinder Singh Parmar, one of the two alleged masterminds of the mid-air bombing of Air India’s Kanishka airplane, was shown as having being killed in an encounter in Punjab, retired Punjab Police DSP Harmail Singh Chandi, who nabbed Parmar from Jammu in September 1992 and interrogated him for five days before he was killed along with five others, has come forward with the claim that Parmar was killed in police custody on the orders of senior police officers, who also asked his confession record to be destroyed.

In his confession, Parmar had named Lakhbir Singh Brar “Rode”, nephew of the late Bhindranwale and head of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation, as the mastermind of the bombing. Rode, who is now said to be holed up in Lahore, has never figured in the investigations of either the CBI or the Canadian authorities. Chandi has brought forward the entire record of Parmar’s confession, including audio tapes and statements, before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the John Major Commission of Inquiry that is reinvestigating the June 23, 1985 blast that claimed 331 lives off the Irish coast.

Chandi had been ordered by senior officers to destroy the records but he retained them secretly. The record was brought before the Major Commission due to seven-year-long investigations by the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), a Chandigarh-based ngo that conducted interviews of Parmar’s associates in India and Canada and pieced together a comprehensive report. The PHRO’s Principal Investigator Sarbjit Singh and lawyer Rajvinder Singh Bains flew to Canada along with Harmail in June and produced their findings before the Commission’s counsels.

A Canadian citizen, Parmar was shown as having been killed in an exchange of fire between police and six militants in the wee hours of October 15, 1992, near village Kang Arian in Phillar sub-division. However, evidence brought forward by Harmail (who was then DSP, Phillaur) shows that Parmar was interrogated between October 9 and 14 by senior police officers, where he revealed that the blasts were instigated by Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode. Parmar’s confession reads: “Around May 1985, a functionary of the International Sikh Youth Federation came to me and introduced himself as Lakhbir Singh and asked me for help in conducting some violent activities to express the resentment of the Sikhs.

I told him to come after a few days so that I could arrange for dynamite and battery etc. He told me that he would first like to see a trial of the blast...After about four days, Lakhbir Singh and another youth, Inderjit Singh Reyat, both came to me. We went into the jungle (of British Columbia). There we joined a dynamite stick with a battery and triggered off a blast. Lakhbir and Inderjit, even at that time, had in their minds a plan to blast an aeroplane. I was not too keen on this plan but agreed to arrange for the dynamite sticks. Inderjit wanted to use for this purpose a transistor fitted with a battery...That very day, they took dynamite sticks from me and left.
“Then Lakhbir Singh, Inderjit Singh and their accomplice, Manjit Singh, made a plan to plant bombs in an Air India (AI) plane leaving from Toronto via London for Delhi and another flight that was to leave Tokyo for Bangkok. Lakhbir Singh got the seat booking done from Vancouver to Tokyo and then onwards to Bangkok, while Manjit Singh got it done from Vancouver to Toronto and then from Toronto to Delhi. Inderjit prepared the bags for the flights, which were loaded with dynamite bombs fitted with a battery and transistor. They decided that the suitcases will be booked but they themselves will not travel by the same flights although they will take the boarding passes.

After preparing these bombs, the plan was ready for execution by June 21 or 22, 1985. However, the bomb to be kept in the flight from Tokyo to Delhi via Bangkok exploded at the Narita airport on the conveyor belt. The second suitcase that was loaded on the Toronto-Delhi ai flight exploded in the air.” Sarabjit said the PHRO’s probe has shown that Parmar was killed to hide the name of Lakhbir, who was an Indian agent. “After the Khalistan movement gained in sympathy in the West, especially in Canada, after the 1984 Blue Star operation and the killing of Sikhs in Delhi, a plot was hatched to discredit the Sikh movement. Parmar was roped in by Lakhbir at the behest of his masters.

The Punjab Police got orders to finish off Parmar as he knew too much about the main perpetrators. On the day of the Kanishka blast, an explosion took place at Japan’s Narita airport, where two Japanese baggage handlers were killed. The plot was to trigger blasts when the two aircraft had de-embarked their passengers but the 1 hour 40 minute delay in Kanishka’s takeoff led to the bomb exploding mid-air,” Sarbjit said. What gives credence to Sarabjit’s charge is the Source Report (in Tehelka’s posession) prepared by the Jalandhar Police soon after Parmar was killed. Based on information provided by Parmar — though not attributing it to his interrogation — the report makes no reference to Lakhbir.

Interestingly, Lakhbir, accused in many acts of terrorist violence, is wanted by the Indian Government in only a minor case registered in Moga, Punjab. The Red Corner Interpol notice, A-23/1-1997, put out by the CBI against Lakhbir states: “OFFENCES: House breaking, theft, damage by fire.” The PHRO told Canadian authorties that conclusive evidence existed of Parmar being killed in police custody and not in the “encounter” shown in FIR No 105 registered at Phillaur police station on October 15, 1992.

The PHRO report, AI Flight 182 Case, states “On October 14, 1992, a high-level decision was conveyed to the police that Parmar had to be killed...The contradiction in the FIR and post-mortem report (PMR) is too obvious. As per the FIR, Parmar was killed by AK-47 fire by SSP Satish K Sharma from a rooftop. The PMR shows the line of fire of the three bullets is different. It cannot be if one person is firing from a fixed position. The PMR is very sketchy and no chemical analysis was done. Moreover, the time of death is between 12am and 2am according to the PMR, whereas the FIR records the time of death at 5.30am.” Then Jalandhar SSP and now IGP, Satish K Sharma, denied the charge. “It was a clean encounter. The RCMP is bringing this up because they botched their investigations and failed to get convictions,” he said.

Tehelka

BIHAR TO HELP INDO-MAURITIANS TRACE ANCESTRAL ROOTS

2007-07-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

Mauritians of Indian origin, most of them from Bihar, will no longer find it difficult to trace their roots with the state government setting up a special cell to aid them. State Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is visiting Mauritius later this month, said he understood the pain of Mauritians of Bihar origin who are desperate to discover their ancestral lineage. His government would collaborate with Mauritius to prepare a comprehensive database of all Biharis who had migrated to the Indian Ocean country in an effort to help them track their roots.
A large number of Biharis, known as Girmitiya labourers, had travelled to various parts of the world, including Mauritius, in the 19th century to work in sugarcane and rubber plantations. The Bihar chief minister will visit Mauritius from July 27-31 on a special invitation of the Mauritian government. He will attend the Bihar Week there and address the National Assembly of Mauritius. Mauritius University will confer a doctorate degree on him. Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam invited Kumar to inaugurate the Bihar Week celebrations being organised by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in collaboration with the Mauritius government.
The week will mark the contribution of the people from Bihar to the island nation. It will also showcase the cultural bond between the two places, Mauritius High Commissioner to India Mukteshwar Chuni said. The Bihar Week celebrations in Mauritius will be the first of its kind outside India. It will help attract investments to the state and establish people-to-people contact on a bigger scale, officials said. "Our great grandfathers had sailed from India to Mauritius and had made important contributions to the socio-economic development of the country," Chuni said.
"The people of Mauritius have an emotional bond with Bihar as nearly 70 per cent people there are of Bihari origin," he said. The Bihar government had announced early this year that it would install a lifesize statue of former Mauritius Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who originally hailed from Bihar. Ramgoolam, who belonged to a village in Bihar's Saran district, was the first prime minister of Mauritius from 1961 to 1982. He is considered to be the father of the nation as he led his country to independence from Britain.
Chuni said Mauritius would help develop Ramgoolam's native village in Bihar as a historical and tourist destination. About 70 per cent of the 1.2 million population of Mauritius is of Indian extraction, a large number of them from Bihar with Bhojpuri as their native language.

14,000 ATTEND TELUGU MEET IN US ADDRESSED BY BILL CLINTON

2007-07-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

Over 14,000 people attended the Telugus' conference in Washington DC, July 5-7, addressed by former President Bill Clinton, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The 16th biennial conference was organised by Telugu Association of North America (TANA) representing 2,50,000 Telugus in the US and Canada. It was attended by Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's emissary, Heavy Industries Minister J Geeta Reddy, and the Union minister of state for HRD, Daggupati Purandhareshwari, besides business leaders and film stars.
Clinton, in his keynote address at the conference opening, referred to talk in the US about outsourcing to India. "What about in-sourcing?" he asked, referring to the Indians settled here who contributed significantly to the US economy. Clinton's remark, a TANA spokesperson said, was "an electrifying moment for the Indian community." Clinton added that India was becoming more and more important in the world. He cited the example of an AIDS medicine whose prices US manufacturers had to cut drastically because of competition from Indian pharma companies.
Clinton's presence at the conference was made possible by K Krishna Prasad, a Detroit businessman, who presented a $1 million check to the Bill Clinton Foundation. Prasad, also a conference sponsor, has been encouraging Telugus to make their presence felt in US politics. Telugus held a separate fundraiser for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in the city on July 5. The final sum raised was not available but it was said to be more than the $1 million they had pledged.
In his message to TANA, Chief Minister Reddy asked NRI Telugus to set up businesses back home, assuring them that their proposals would be cleared within a fortnight from a 'single window'. Naidu too looked for more NRI involvement in the state. "They should pool resources, adopt villages and develop them," he said. He also announced that he had raised $1 million for NTR Trust, which will use the funds for uplift of the poor. He is its managing trustee. The trust was set up in the memory of NT Rama Rao, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Naidu's father-in-law.
The business forum themes at the convention included biotech/pharma, IT, entrepreneurship/venture capital and real estate. They drew Telugu business and technology leaders from India and abroad. Prominent among the people at the forum were Vikram Akula, founder-chief of SKS Microfinance named Time magazine's 100 most influential people; KI Varaprasad Reddy, MD of Shantha Biotech; and Ramachandra Naidu Galla, chairman of Amararaja Batteries. Addressing the business forum, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Art of Living founder, said: "India had a tradition of entrepreneurship before the British Raj turned us into babus. That tradition has been revived now and needs to be encouraged."
The conference theme was the promotion of the Telugu language, following concerns that it is being edged out by English. N Balakrishna, leading Telugu film star and NTR's son, directed and played the lead role in Telugu Vijayam, a stage production about Krishnadevaraya, the 16th century king of the Vijayanagara empire, coming to earth and inquiring about the plight of the Telugu language today. Other celebrities at the convention included film heroine Illeana, comedian Sunil, dancer Shobha Naidu and thespian Gummadi. Actor Mahesh Babu dropped out at the last minute.
The convention also attracted second generation Telugu professionals. Three hundred of them had pre-registered for matchmaking. A tenth of them reportedly succeeded in finding suitable matches. Yadla Hema Prasad was the conference convenor. At the conference, presidentship of TANA passed from Bandla Hanumiaiah to Prabhakar Chowdhury, who runs an accounting firm in Houston. The next TANA conference will be held in 2009 in Orlando, Florida.

6 YEARS FOR BEATING 2 INDO CANDIAN MEN TO DEATH

2007-06-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has sentenced a 17-year-old boy to six years in prison for his part in the vicious beatings of two Indo-Canadian seniors in Surrey's Bear Creek Park in July 2005. The youth was found guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and robbery after he and another teen attacked the two elderly men with baseball bats in two separate attacks. Shingara Singh Thandi, 76, died of his injuries three weeks later in hospital. Mewa Singh Bains, 83, died of a stroke a month after the brutal attack. The other teen was sentenced to 3 years in April this year.

In delivering his sentence at the New Westminster courthouse on Thursday, Justice William Grist said he considered the extreme youth of the boy, even though he's been sentenced as an adult. But the judge said he also considered the magnitude of the crime, noting that both seniors died following the beatings. The youth, who has been in custody for 23 months, will now have to serve another 49 months. The Crown had asked for a seven-year sentence.

Families of the victims are not happy with the sentence. Mewa Singh Bains' son Dalvinder Bains said the sentence is too less and doesn't give a strong message to other youngsters against committing such a gruesome crime. Jhalmal Thandi, Shingara Singh Thandi's son, said the sentence wasn't decided in accordance to the crime.

RANDHAWA GETS 12 YEARS FOR KIDNAPPING

2007-06-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

A Surrey man who kidnapped a 22-year-old woman for ransom has been given 12 years and two months in jail for the January abduction of a Surrey businessman’s daughter. Amandeep Randhawa, 26 was sentenced today. He’d earlier pleaded guilty to kidnapping and robbery.
Surrey Provincial Court judge Peder Gulbransen also imposed a 10-year ban on owning firearms. Randhawa’s co-accused, Gurpreet Hundal, 33, is scheduled to begin a B.C. Supreme Court trial in New Westminster on Sept. 17 on charges of assault causing bodily harm, kidnapping with intent to hold for ransom, unlawful confinement, extortion and robbery.

Both men were arrested after the adult daughter of Surrey entrepreneur Jeet Jaswal was kidnapped and held for ransom by two abductors who demanded what RCMP described as “a large sum of money” from her family. It was several hours before she was freed. Jaswal owns MJM Furniture Showcase, a chain that describes itself as “one of the largest independent furniture stores in the Lower Mainland of B.C.” with outlets in Surrey, Coquitlam and Abbotsford.

JATINDER WARAICH'S TRIAL STARTS JUNE 16, 2008

2007-05-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Surrey: The murder trial for Jatinder Waraich will start on June 16, 2008, at the New Westminster Supreme Court. The trial will go on for 10 days and the jury will be selected on May 26, 2008. The trial date was fixed on May 17, 2007.

On the same day, Jatinder and Navreet Waraich's son's custody hearing was held at the Surrey provincial court. The interesting thing is that Jatinder too has applied for his son's custody. And, therefore, Children and Family Development Ministry has now intervened to ensure Jatinder doesn't get the custody. The custody fight is going on between the maternal and paternal grandparents. The baby at present lives with maternal grandparents, Dalwinder Kaur Gill and Dilbag Singh Gill. The decision regarding the custody would be made on October 23, 2007. The next hearing is on August 2, 2007.

WHY DONT'T MORE INDIAN FILMS DO WELL GLOBALLY

2007-05-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

The big cultural movie gap between India's vast film market and the rest of the world acts inhibits the nation's films from conquering new territory in global markets, a forum at the Cannes Film Festival was told on Sunday. "There is a huge rupture in tone, style and taste between Indian films and winners at international film festivals," Cameron Bailey, a representative of the Toronto Film Festival told the forum on Indian filmmaking. "Indian filmmakers could do more to educate audience about how to watch Indian films," he said.
The forum, hosted by Indian filmmaker and Cannes veteran Krishna Shah as well as Hollywood film producer Bhuvan Lall, sought answers to the lack of global box office acclaim for Indian film productions. Bailey went on to point out that films by Indian directors like Deepa Mehta's "Water" and Mira Nair's "The Namesake" had enjoyed international success because "their filmmaking sensibilities do not come from India, but from other cultures." The Indian movie business' lack of success in international markets compares to the recent accomplishments chalked up by South Korean, Iranian or Chinese filmmakers. No Indian film has yet earned $100 million globally or won a top film award.
This is despite the recent popularity of Bollywood movies, which some Indian filmmakers see as undercutting their attempts to forge a new global reputation for their country's industry. "Bollywood is stifling," Indian filmmaker Piyush Jha said. Jha, a director whose films include "Chalo America" and "The King of Bollywood", added, "Every time I go to a distributor and say I'm Indian, they say 'Oh, Bollywood' and the accompanying label of song and dance routines attached to that, have to be overcome yet again."
This year's Cannes is marking the co-anniversaries of 60 years of Indian independence and 60 years of the festival with a two-day mini-festival focusing on Indian cinema, which is being mounted as part of Cannes' Tous les Cinemas du Monde (Cinema of the world) section. Altogether, seven Indian films will be screened to reflect the linguistic, historical and creative depth of the nation's moviemaking and the growth of Bollywood. The Indian film business also has a big presence at the festival, as a consequence helping to compensate for the lack of entries in the competition this year.
But Hannah Fisher, a representative of the Bangkok Film Festival, said dealing with the Indian film business was extremely confusing as there were so many states on the sub-continent, making it a very bureaucratic and slow-moving process. Fischer went on to say she also "would like to tone down the melodramatics" in Indian films. Villages in an Indian film appear "glossy and not realistic" as in a Chinese film, said Mira Advari, a representative of the Hollywood Reporter. She also stressed that audiences have to be able to relate to the manner in which a story is told.
Apart from these factors, Derek Malcolm, film reviewer for London's daily Evening Standard, said one problem facing many Indian films was that they were very long and that the quality of their print was very poor. The subtitles are awful and done by bureaucrats in India, Malcolm said. Canadian movie producer David Hamilton believes that while film-making skills are available in India, the business side of the nation's movie sector needs to step up the pressure on the country's filmmakers.

FORMER CRICKETER MANINDER ARRESTED WITH COCAINE

2007-05-22T10:51:00.001-07:00

Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh was arrested along with a suspected drug peddler in New Delhi late on Tuesday and an amount of cocaine recovered from him. Sleuths of Delhi Police' Anti-Narcotics Cell conducted raids at Maninder's east Delhi residence and arrested the duo. The courier was identified as Sayan Siddique. "Maninder was nabbed near Preet Vihar area and one-and-a-half grams of the banned narcotics recovered from him. We were keeping a close watch over the two for the past 15 days," a senior police official said.

CANADIAN TEMPLE IN NEED OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS

2007-05-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

A Hindu temple, which was burnt down after 9/11, was repeatedly rejected financial help from the provincial government even though millions were handed out to other multicultural groups, alleges the Ontario-based temple's outgoing secretary. "I see everyday in the newspapers that the government is handing out money to various organisations and I appreciate it, but why are you forgetting us?" Ram Kamath of Hamilton's Hindu Samaj Temple said. Community members are upset by reports that other multicultural organisations that received grant money apparently had links to the Liberal party, Ram added. "The Ontario government has ignored the community's pleas for help," the Toronto Star newspaper quoted Kamath as saying.

The government has said that no money was available for religious projects, adding that the funds could only go to community groups. Kamath said the temple doubled as a community centre - with free services, including classes in traditional languages, religion, song and dance. MP Andrea Horwath said she has raised the temple's cause in the legislature several times. "They (the temple authorities) are very frustrated because the message they continued to get for the last five years is that there are no funds available," she said. "They were extremely shocked to find out that for a select few, in fact, there were funds available to the groups that I guess had an inside track," the MP added.

TEEN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN BEATING DEATH OF TWO INDO CANADIAN MEN

2007-04-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

A young offender has been sentenced to three years in custody in connection with the vicious beatings of two elderly Indo-Canadian men in a park in Surrey. The 15-year-old boy, who had been found guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and robbery, received the maximum sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In July 2005, Mewa Singh Bains, 83, and Shingara Singh Thandi, 76, were beaten with baseball bats by two teenagers in the public washrooms at Bear Creek Park. Thandi died three weeks later in hospital. Bains, who was beaten the day before Thandi, died of a stroke a month after being attacked. The boys, who cannot be identified because they were 13 and 15 at the time of the attack, had initially been charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of Thandi.

But the charge was reduced to manslaughter after B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Grist said the boys lacked the experience and foresight to show murderous intent. The two youths were not charged with murder in Bains's death because it could not be linked directly to the attack. In handing down his sentence on the one teen Wednesday, Grist said he considered the violent nature of the attacks on Bains and Thandi. He said the actions of the teen were shocking considering he was only 13 at the time. Grist acknowledged the youth expressed remorse for his actions but questioned if he was really sorry for what he did.

Families outraged

The families of the men expressed outrage at the sentence. Thandi's son Jhalman said the justice system has ignored his family's loss. "What [the judge] should keep in mind [is] that they killed two people and it was a planned attack, it did not happen … accidentally." The mother of the teen — who, under a court order, can't be identified — expressed her condolences to both families. "I feel really bad for what my son has done, but I just want to let them know that we're praying for them and their families." The second teen will be sentenced as an adult in mid-June.

INDIA PROTESTS PORTRAYAL OF TERRORIST AS A MARTYR IN SURREY VAISAKHI PARADE

2007-04-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

Vancouver: The government of India is launching a diplomatic protest over a parade in Surrey this month that included a float with alleged terrorist leader Talwinder Singh Parmar portrayed as a Sikh martyr. "We are very much concerned that this happened," said Zile Singh, India's deputy consul-general. "Diplomats from the High Commission office in Ottawa intend to raise the matter with the Canadian officials," he added. "This is not acceptable to us. We intend to convey that it is not acceptable, so the [Canadian] government understands. This should not happen again."

Parmar, a militant Khalistani advocate, has been identified in a B.C. court case as the mastermind behind a mid-air bomb explosion aboard an Air-India flight in 1985, en route from Canada to London, England. Born in Punjab and later made a Canadian citizen, he was killed by police during an encounter in India in 1992. There were 329 people killed in the Air-India bombing, which remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in aviation history. Singh said the portrayal of Parmar as a martyr was "very objectionable."

Indian officials were also concerned that some people involved in the parade showed their support for groups considered terrorist organizations and banned in Canada, the International Sikh Youth Federation and Babbar Khalsa. The Sikh community in Greater Vancouver holds two competing parades to mark the beginning of the harvest season in Punjab. Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar of Surrey held its annual Vaisakhi parade this year on April 7. The Vaisakhi Parade organized by Vancouver's Khalsa Diwan Society was held on Aoril 14.

The parade in Surrey attracted thousands of people including prominent B.C. and federal politicians. The parade had a float that included Parmar among the portraits of Sikh martyrs and some organizers wore work jackets with the word "Khalistan," the name proposed for an independent state for the Sikhs carved out of India.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR SPEAKS OUT

2007-04-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

A Port Coquitlam woman who survived being shot in the face by her estranged husband is speaking out against what she calls an epidemic of domestic violence in the Indo-Canadian community. In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Gurjeet Kaur Ghuman described how her husband climbed into her car last October in Port Coquitlam with a gun, shot her and then turned the gun on himself. Gurjeet Kaur Ghuman was left blind after her husband shot her twice in the head in October. Parmajit Singh Ghuman died, but the woman he intended to kill lived. "He actually shot me twice in my head, one right by my eyes and one right through my brain," she said. Ghuman, who is now blind, said she felt the need to tell her story because so many other Indo-Canadian women in B.C.'s Lower Mainland have been victims of domestic violence. Several have not survived.

NAVEEN ANDREWS UPSET OVER NOT KNOWNING HINDI

2007-04-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

British Indian actor Naveen Andrews, who plays Aishwarya Rai's abusive husband in Provoked, calls himself a fraud because he can't speak Hindi. Andrews' parents migrated to Britain in 1965 and endured all kinds of hardship and racism before his birth. Now, the Lost star is ashamed of himself and feels bad for his parents who might be disappointed in him because he can neither speak their mother tongue nor does he have any interest in discovering his roots, reports www.hollywood.tv. "As I get older I appreciate what my parents had to go through... They had to endure a lot of what I would've found unendurable," he said. "Life was very hard for them and yet they had this kid (Andrews) growing up in the 1970s speaking differently, acting differently, moving differently. It must've been very distressing to them. I'm a complete fraud. I go to India and I can't even speak my own language. They laugh at me."

SUNITA WILLIAMS TO RUN BOSTON MARATHON - IN SPACE

2007-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Of the 24,000 runners taking part in the Boston Marathon this year, one woman is planning to join from more than 300 km above the actual venue. Sunita Williams, an Indian-American astronaut in the middle of a six-month stint in orbit on the International Space Station, is an official entrant in the April 16 race. A Massachusetts native, Williams plans to run the 42 km on the space station's treadmill as the first person to participate in a marathon from space. She even has a so-called bib number, 14,000, forwarded to her electronically by the Boston Athletic Association.
Williams, 41, qualified for the race by finishing among the top 100 women in last year's Houston Marathon, with a time of three hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds, and has been working up her stamina in space over the last few months. "I think it's going as well as it can go," Williams said in interviews from the ISS broadcast on NASA TV, noting that she had already completed a 16-mile (25.6-km) run in preparation. "I think I'm almost there." The conditions are not quite the same.

There is no way of simulating the Boston race's most infamous stretch, known to runners as Heartbreak Hill: "Thank God, we can't," said Williams. But for anyone who thinks being in orbit gives an advantage, running on a treadmill in nearly gravity-less space carries its own challenges. "The treadmill itself isn't the easiest thing to run on," Williams said in a televised interview from the station with The Boston Globe. "It's going to be a little bit of a pain." The hip and shoulders of Williams will be strapped into a harness, connected to the treadmill by bungee chords.

INDO-CANADIAN AWARDED FOR SAVING SON

2007-03-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

An Indian man in Canada who lost his life while saving his son from drowning has been bestowed with the Governor General's bravery award. Prakash Mulchand, 44, and his eight-year-old son were fishing in the Assiniboine River in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba on August 3 in 2005 when the boy slipped into the raging waters and swept away by the current when he was fishing with his father and cousin. Mulchand immediately jumped into the water to save his son from the pounding waves, all the while calling for help.
The boy managed to swim to his father and grab on to him but the two were soon separated and carried away by the swirling current. The unconscious child was eventually recovered by a man who pulled him on to his personal watercraft and brought him to shore, where he was revived. Sadly, Mulchand, however, had disappeared under the surface and could not be saved. Governor General Michaelle Jean announced that the 44-year-old Winnipeg resident would be the only one of 13 new recipients of the Medal of Bravery to receive his decoration posthumously. Mulchand's family will be handed the Medal of Bravery at a later ceremony.

INDIANS HELD FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING IN MALAYSIA

2007-03-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

Two Indians, charged with drug trafficking in Malaysia, have been produced before a High Court judge for the trial. Trader Sheikh Dawood Usman Gani, 35 and Anwar Ali Usman, 45, who owns an electrical shop in Chennai, were brought before High Court Judge KN Segara on Friday. The judge fixed April 17-21 as the next date for the trial. They were arrested by the immigration police at the Kuala Lumpur International airport on February 14 after 54 kgs ketamine was allegedly recovered from their possession. In another incident, a college student from Saudi Arabia pleaded not guilty to trafficking and possessing 2,614 grams of heroin. The 20-year-old IT student faces the gallows for drug trafficking.

INDIANS HELD FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING IN MALAYSIA

2007-03-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

KOMAGATA MARU WILL BE RECOGNISED

2007-03-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

A memorial in Vancouver and a commemorative stamp are among the options the Canadian government is considering as part of the official recognition of the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which 354 Indian migrants were turned back from the country’s shores. But a section of Indo-Canadian community is insisting on its demand that Prime Minister Stephen Harper make a formal apology in Parliament for Canada’s rejection of Indian migrants, mostly Sikhs. It is an emotional issue with the Indian origin community here and Oscar nominated director Deeepa Mehta has announced her new film Exclusion based on the incident.
Conservative MP Jim Abbott, who spent the past four months consulting on the issue for the government, presented a report with his findings to members of the community over the weekend. The Department of Canadian Heritage helped Abbott put together a summary of what happened to the passengers aboard the Komagata Maru after a six-week study of historical documents. “I think it’s a celebration, I think it’s where we were and where we are now,” Abbott was quoted as saying by Canadian Press. “Where we were was excluding (354) people from Canada in a process that was completely legal at the time but that process wouldn’t be reflective of where we are as a nation now.”
The government is now considering a memorial in Vancouver’s Stanley Park and a commemorative stamp among the options as part of an official recognition of the incident. The Komagata Maru ship was chartered out of Hong Kong to carry Indian passengers. When it arrived in Vancouver, it carried 376 passengers, most of them of Sikh origin.Twenty-two of the migrants were deemed to be returning residents and allowed to disembark, but the rest were barred entry because of Canada’s immigration laws.

RESPECTING CANADA'S CULTURAL MOSAIC

2007-03-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

The small community of Hérouxville, Que., about half the size of Pemberton, was at the centre of a storm of controversy recently over a set of community “standards” issued by its town council for immigrants who might be thinking of moving into the community.In so doing, they managed to offend just about everyone — Muslims with an expressed prohibition on stoning, live burning and disfiguring of women, not to mention advice about when it’s acceptable to cover one’s face in public (only at Halloween, they said), Sikhs with a rule prohibiting children from carrying weapons “real or fake, symbolic or not,” even born-again Christians with the reminder that biology is taught in local schools.

Ham-fisted though the Hérouxville effort may have been, it is symptomatic of an issue with which Canadians, and to an even greater degree Europeans, have been struggling for some time: How, in a supposedly multicultural society, does one ensure that civil order is maintained and the lifestyles of established communities respected without greatly offending the sensibilities of immigrants from distinctly different cultures? In post-9/11 Europe, fears that allowing large numbers of immigrants — especially Muslims — is creating an ever wider us-vs.-them divide have sparked laws and practices that threaten immigrants’ civil liberties — the banning of hijabs (Muslim head coverings) in French schools, even a requirement by the Netherlands that immigrants undergo tolerance training aiming to gauge their reaction to scenes of homosexuals kissing and nude beaches.

In Canada, where the current policy is to allow some 250,000 immigrants per year using only job skills and the ability to speak English or French as criteria, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides a set of rules for living in a multicultural society. The charter, however, was only adopted in the 1980s and its boundaries are still being tested — witness last year’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling regarding the wearing of ceremonial kirpans (daggers) by Sikhs in schools.In spite of some discomfort with such practices, a poll last fall found that some 68 per cent of Canadians reject the notion that immigrants should have their religious beliefs and values screened before being admitted into the country. But is it possible to be too tolerant?

At what point does it become necessary to curb religious or cultural practices in the interest of harmony and order?It has become de rigeur in some circles to bash the policy of multiculturalism as having failed because it tends to pull countries apart, not bring them together. However, we would argue that what some perceive as those societies’ weaknesses are really strengths — that immigrants are part of the lifeblood of Canada’s social fabric and that homogeneity is no longer possible or desirable. The question is how far society should go to ensure that immigrants understand the community to which they are moving. “Rules” such as some of those laid out in Hérouxville are far too patronizing because they’re already included in the laws of the land.

“Guidelines” or “advice” run the risk of being patronizing as well. But without a doubt, it’s important to provide information to help new immigrants fit in.The answer, it seems to us, is for everyone to give something — immigrants a lot in most cases, established communities a little. While it’s not always possible to accommodate the sensibilities of everyone, it is possible for Canadians to change accepted practices to fit the new cultural mosaic.Remember the debate a few years ago over the wearing of turbans by RCMP members? As former governor general Adrienne Clarkson told Maclean’s, “The last time I saw the Musical Ride, there were two turbans, and no one seemed to care.”

HINGLISH SHOULD BE PART OF ENGLISH: STUDY

2007-03-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hinglish - a random mix of English and Hindi words - and Chinglish - a fusion of Chinese and English - should be made part of the British curriculum, suggests a British think tank. The suggestion has come from Demos, one of Britain's influential leftwing think tanks that said Britain was in danger of being marginalised due to an "outdated" attitude to the language. "English can no longer be seen as a single language, but more as a family of languages," said Sam Jones, co-author of the report. The report said that instead of naughty, pupils could be told to stop being a badmash and canteens might advertise machi-chips besides the conventional description of fish and chips.
But the proposal has already come under some sharp criticism with language experts, saying it would worsen matters, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. "It is important there is a standard set of English we all understand, whatever children might use in the playground or new words appear on the Internet," The Queen's English Society said. "Schools are already having difficulty teaching standard English because of a growing international influence, and they don't need to be further sidetracked," the society added. In Britain, Hinglish has been used on TV programmes such as The Kumars at Number 42".

CANADA TO RECOGNISE KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT

2007-03-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

The inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing has been delayed for about a month due to the ongoing wrangling over the public release of government documents. Retired Supreme Court Justice John Major, who is leading the inquiry into the bombing that killed 329 people, on Friday asked the lawyers of the commission and the federal government for a progress report on the effort to resolve the dispute by March 26. He said he would reassess the matter after getting the report and try to set a more precise timetable. It now appears that the hearing, which was to resume on March 19, will be put off till April 10.
Justice Major on Monday had said he might not be able to conduct the probe unless the government made public all documents. He had halted the proceedings on February 19 over the matter. Under his threat of shutting down the probe, Prime Minister Stephen Harper ordered his national security adviser to inform officials to be less restrictive with the documents. Meanwhile, Justice Major called witnesses for whom he did not require documents. Commission counsel Mark Freiman said on Friday they have identified about 800 documents so far where they consider federal secrecy claims to be excessive.
He added, however, that negotiations in the last three weeks have produced agreement with government lawyers to make more information available in about 100 of those cases, and work is continuing on the rest. "The first returns are encouraging, the documents are in much more usable shape," Freiman told Justice Major. "If that process continues, then we will be able to hold public hearings with adequate information." Federal lawyer Barney Brucker said the government is taking "as unrestrictive a view as we can" of the disputed papers and thousands of others demanded by the commission lawyers.
"We are working industriously, we are working tirelessly, we want to make this commission a success and help you do the best job you can," Brucker told the justice. Justice Major agreed to put off public hearings that he had intended to start on March 19 and asked for a progress report from both sides by March 26 on the dispute. Jacques Shore, a lawyer for the families of the bombing victims, said he appreciates it is a monumental task to collect and review all the documents needed. "Whatever has to be done must be done," he said. "The families have waited almost 22 years at this point. They're certainly prepared to wait a few more weeks."
Justice Major was named by the Conservative government a year ago after the country's longest and costliest investigation and a two-year trial ended in acquittals in March 2005. Relatives of the victims were devastated by the verdicts and demanded the inquiry. Air India Flight 182 from Toronto to London, originating in Vancouver, exploded and crashed off Ireland on June 23, 1985.

AIR INDIA BOMBING PROBE GETS DELAYED

2007-03-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

"The families have waited almost 22 years at this point. They're certainly prepared to wait a few more weeks." Justice Major was named by the Conservative government a year ago after the country's longest and costliest investigation and a two-year trial ended in acquittals in March 2005. Relatives of the victims were devastated by the verdicts and demanded the inquiry. Air India Flight 182 from Toronto to London, originating in Vancouver, exploded and crashed off Ireland on June 23, 1985.

MUKHTIAR PANGHALI ARRESTED

2007-03-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

Mukhtiar Panghali's arrest today evening came as no surprise. Somehow everybody in the community knew he is responsible for his wife Manjit Panghali's murder. But the Delta Police was just waiting for the right time - I guess. After his wife's murder, every public appearance he made, he would shed a tear or two, and the more often he did that the lesser the people believed in his innocence. The latest "foul crying" was experienced at his daughter's visitation rights case. He refused to let their daughter meet up with Manjit's family, who then went to the court and a trial was announced.

Manjit's family knew it all along who murdered Manjit, and they mentioned it unofficially to a lot of people, including me, in so many words. But they didn't want to go officially public with it, not until the police had completed their investigation. According to a Radio India report, Mukhtiar was arrested from his residence at about 5.30 PM. Although the Delta Police have not confirmed the arrest, they have not denied it either. The have called a press conference on Monday.

MAJOR OPTIMISTIC AIR INDIA INQUIRY TO CONTINUE

2007-03-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

OTTAWA — Air India Inquiry Commisioner John Major expressed cautious optimism today that his probe into Canada's deadliest experience with terrorism won't sink into oblivion due to government secrecy. Major, who threatened to shut down the inquiry last month because not enough internal documents were being made public, was responding to the government's commitment today to release more uncensored documents to the commission and victims' families by the end of this week.
The government of India, Vancouver police, and a senior RCMP official involved in the ongoing Air India probe were consulted as Ottawa sought ways to release more information without compromising national security, government lawyer Barney Brucker told the inquiry today. But he warned that excessive openness might be "potentially disastrous" by compromising important government sources in the fight against terrorism. "It would be like switching off a light and attempting to defend ourselves in the dark," Brucker said. Major said he's grateful the government is taking extra steps, though he said he's uncertain whether bureaucrats are as willing to open up the process. "I will have some skepticism about the troops behind you being able to follow your command," he said.
Major resisted a plea from a lawyer for the families of some of the 331 who died in 1985 as a result of the terror bombings orchestrated by Sikh extremists living in B.C. Jacques Shore said he'd like an extra two weeks to study documents once they are released by Friday. But Major said he will stick to next week's scheduled one-week adjournment unless the families, after seeing what the government provides to them later this week, provide a formal written request for more time. Major said he still fears that his probe could be jeopardized by continued delays. "We've seen commissions sink below the water and accomplish nothing," he said. (Van Sun)

PMs HOUSE ATTACK AIMS TO WIN OVER SIKHS

2007-02-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

Most political observers were shaking their heads when Prime Minister Stephen Harper attacked newly minted Liberal Member of Parliament Navdeep Bains. How low could the prime minister go, railed opposition members. The prime minister had viscerally demonstrated to what depths he was willing to sink in search of the almighty vote. Mounting calls for an apology went unheeded as Harper laid the ground for a new debate on the terror bill. Harper succeeded in setting a trap that everyone fell into.

The anti-terror debate was about extending unused provisions of a bill, which could present an abuse of power. Syrian treatment of Maher Arar and the current Chinese incarceration of Canadian Huseyin Celil have raised questions about the treatment of Canadian citizens in a post-9/11 security climate -- and the extension of the anti-terror laws reinforced those concerns.
When the previous Liberal government introduced anti-terror limitations, a five-year sunset clause was included to guarantee a review of dubious legal remedies, including preventative arrests. In extending those legal provisions, Harper could have run the risk of appearing too close to George W. Bush. Instead, the debate is all about the Liberals. By throwing the House into turmoil, the prime minister muddied the waters by casting Liberals in the role of protecting terrorists. His House attack was consistent with an ongoing campaign to portray the Conservatives as a law and order party that will protect Canadians at home and abroad, reinforcing expected Tory themes for the next election.

If, in the process, Harper promotes the image of Opposition Leader Stephane Dion as weak, that too meets Harper's political objectives. Exaggerated reports of Liberal party splits on the terror bill were designed to do just that. Dion was already under attack by negative Tory advertising before the prime minister tried to link him to terrorism.

NEWS STORY

Harper claims he was only repeating the contents of a published news story by Kim Bolan, an award-winning Vancouver Sun journalist, who last year penned the definitive Air India story entitled Loss of Faith: How the Air India Bombers Got Away with Murder. Last week she wrote a story claiming a relative of Bains was on the interviewee list for a potential Air India follow-up. She also linked Bains to a block of 250 Grit leadership votes that went to Dion via Gerard Kennedy. (That vote block was actually split between Sikhs and Muslims.)
Harper immediately picked up on the story, attacking the Liberals as soft on crime and terror. As his negative Dion ads showed, Harper is willing to run the gauntlet in return for future electoral gains. He is banking on the fact that most Canadians consider this odious approach a normal part of the rough-and-tumble of politics. Harper is also working hard to gain Sikh support in the lead up to a tight federal election.
The Sikh community is probably the most politically active minority group in the country. Like any other group, their views are not homogeneous. They run the political spectrum from those who support separation from India to those who don't. In the past decade, the number of Sikhs supporting separation -- which was at the root of the Air India bombings -- has waned dramatically as their attention focuses on Canadian politics. With six Sikh MPs, from a community estimated at 278,000, they had sufficient influence in the last Liberal leadership to help determine the outcome. Sikhs also hold the balance of power in up to a dozen ridings across Canada.
Harper managed to cobble together his first minority with some Sikh support drawn largely from gay marriage opponents. He needs to do everything possible to build on that support since, historically and in current Parliamentary representation, Sikhs are generally Liberal voters. Harper's antics this week were deliberately aimed at consolidating a fragile Sikh coalition. By tying Liberals to a failed Air India inquiry, Harper hopes to get the Sikh majority behind his party. Ironically, current inquiry problems are actually linked to a resistance by some government agencies to release pertinent documents.

POPULARITY DECLINING
Harper's antics could galvanize the entire community against him. Despite the recent polling frenzy, Conservatives are still less popular than when they formed a minority government. They have a long way to go to reach a majority. Consolidation comes before growth. This week's ugly performance in the House was a deliberate, albeit risky, attempt at consolidation.

Shiela Copps

Edmonton Sun

HARPER STEPS IN TO DEFUSE A-I IMPASSE

2007-02-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stepped in to defuse a bitter dispute over top secret government documents that could lead to the collapse of the Air-India Kanishka inquiry. On Monday, in hard-hitting language, retired Supreme Court judge John Major, who is leading the 1985 Kanishka inquiry, had threatened to close down the crash investigation unless the federal government released thousands of secret documents. Harper ordered national security officials Tuesday to look into the whole issue and swiftly expedite the investigation, the Star newspaper reported.
Major expressed frustration with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the department of foreign affairs for citing national security in denying information to the inquiry commission. "Let me be clear that I have instructed, and it is my understanding, that Justice Major has been given unedited all documents that related to the Air India inquiry, " Harper said. He also expressed his surprise at the news of Major's frustration. Harper also downplayed the amount of information involved in the dispute.
"What is at issue is in about 10 percent of the cases a dispute about what by law can and cannot be made public. I have instructed my national security adviser to meet with people in the various departments to impose a non-restrictive interpretation of the law and to expedite resolution of this dispute as quickly as possible," he said.

NRI EXAMINES DALAI LAMA AS MAN, MONK AND MYSTIC

2007-02-21T12:00:00.001-08:00

Indian American author Mayank Chhaya, who has written a biography of the Dalai Lama, wears his iconoclasm on his sleeve. Recently he floored a group of MIT students with the remark, "I have rejected even nihilism". Yet Chhaya's cynical detachment, seldom concealed, has stood him in good stead as an author. He has written two biographies - the most recent one an authorised biography of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. An earlier biography of technology evangelist Sam Pitroda was a bestseller in India. Man, monk, mystic will be published in India in February, followed in March by releases in the US, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Russia.

Random House is the US publisher. Chronicling the life of a spiritual head can be akin to walking on eggshells. But reviewers have been fulsome in their approval. "The end product is balanced - neither debunking nor hagiographic, but taking a Buddhist-style Middle Way toward its subject, even though the author is not himself a Buddhist," said the bible of the publishing industry, Publishers Weekly, in a starred review. Booklist noted "Chhaya carefully presents diverse viewpoints of the Tibet-China conflict while simultaneously drawing an insightful portrait of this enigmatic personage. "Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has called the book an "engaging portrait".

"Here was this exotic man the world had come to know about," said Chhaya of his first interaction with the Dalai Lama in 1997, "but there was no biography of his that would make him accessible to the uninitiated reader. I wanted to know the man behind the persona."What followed was two years of extensive interviewing, during which Chhaya spent several hours with the Dalai Lama in one-on-one meetings. "We talked about everything - from the Tibetan problem to his Nobel Prize, to his views on celibacy and sexuality," Chhaya said. The greatest aspect of the Dalai Lama's personality, said Chhaya, is his ability to reach out to everyone.

"What is most striking about him is his sense of familiarity in any surrounding, and his ability to reach out to anyone without any intermediary. If I had to describe him in one sentence, I would say he is deceptively profound with a charming sense of humour."Over the years, the Dalai Lama has become a larger than life figure. Several books have been written about him, including his autobiography "Freedom in exile". In 1999, legendary director Martin Scorsese made a film on him - "In search of Kundun" - and this year has seen the release of another documentary "Dalai Lama Renaissance" with a narration by actor Harrison Ford.Nevertheless, Chhaya said his book brought a unique perspective.

"What differentiates this book from others is that it attempts to look at the person of the Dalai Lama from three vantage points - of man, monk and mystic. It attempts to bring this fascinating figure of historic proportions within the grasp of the uninitiated reader," Chhaya said."I believe this is the first definitive biography of the Dalai Lama's life in exile which also puts the Tibetan cause within a modern context and tries to assess its future in the context of the new geo-political realities. The book attempts to make the highly complex issue of Tibet accessible to those who do not generally evince an interest in history," he explained.

Besides interviewing him, Chhaya followed the Dalai Lama's lectures whenever he could. "His stature has only grown. If earlier there were hundreds attending his lectures, now you have to book a stadium. He has emerged as the world's conscience-keeper," he said. Despite numerous films on the spiritual leader, Chhaya is not quite convinced if any of them catches the essence of his persona. "Many of them manage to capture the quintessence, but it is possible that many of them employ cinematic devices to dramatise certain events. The fact that the Dalai Lama's life has been so intrinsically dramatic lends itself to great cinema. I do not recall having seen anything that captures his incredible life so far in a manner of great cinema," he said.

Many young Tibetans today do not see eye to eye with their leader on the wisdom of the 'middle path', Chhaya said. "Many young Tibetan exiles, who were born outside Tibet and have not experienced the kind of hardship and struggle that the older generation has had to endure, display impatience with the Dalai Lama's non-violent middle path approach," the author noted." Although they uniformly respect the Dalai Lama, they believe in some sort of armed uprising. The Dalai Lama has been steadfast in his resolve against any form of violence because he sees the middle path as the only way out.

"The Dalai Lama has also, rather surprisingly, described himself as a half Marxist, half Buddhist. "His fascination with Marxism stemmed from the fact that as a philosophy, it sought equality and justice for all. In that sense it is very similar to Buddhism," said Chhaya.Even to those who are not his followers, there is no denying the Dalai Lama's personal magnetism that Chhaya can attest to. "Call it charisma, call it glow, but the man stands out. One can see why people are so taken up with him."

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR 0Z SIKH

2007-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

A Sikh has been given the 2006 lifetime achievement award in volunteering by the New South Wales (NSW) government. Bawa Singh Jagdev became the first Sikh to receive the prestigious award for volunteering which was handed to him by NSW Speaker John Aquilina at the NSW Parliament recently. Jagdev who arrived in Australia in 1975 from Kenya was among the first few to set up Sikh Council of Australia (SCA). The council provides a platform for Sikhs in Australia to liase with government and non-government agencies, according to Indianlink, an ethnic Indian newspaper.
Jagdev defended the kirpan that was threatened by the knife legislation passed by the NSW Government in 1997. He was instrumental in convincing the then NSW premier Bob Carr to amend the legislation to allow an average Sikh to carry the dagger. The 72-year-old former lecturer at TAFE, an adult education organisation in Australia, said SCA plans to build an old age home shortly. This will be in addition to the already existing two Punjabi language schools.

MANJIT PANGHALI'S FAMILY BATTLES TO SEE THEIR GRAND DAUGHTER

2007-02-15T10:34:00.000-08:00

Surrey: It started sometime last week. Mukhtiar Panghali suddenly and abruptly on January 29 2007 refused to let Manjit's family members meet their grand daughter. Manjit's family members have been given access rights to the child, wherein every Monday they could meet her for a couple of hours. But last to last Monday Manjit's father, mother and sister came home disappointed. Jasmine Bamra (Manjit's Sister) then went to the court again.
On Feburary 2 2007, I happened to be at the Surrey Provincial Court covering some other case when I saw Mukhtiar Panghali. The matter was not clear to me then. But when I tried to talk to him, he backed off saying "no comments." His lawyer, who I didn't even want to talk to, flared up and was very rude. I keep meeting lawyers every now and then, but none have shown such attitude. I then spoke to Jasmine and she explained the whole story to me.
Both the families, Mukhtiar, his brother and sister-in-law, and Jasmine, her husband, father and mother met again at the court on Tuesday Jan 13. Mukhtiar claims that his daughter hurt herself when she was visiting her mother's family. And, Jasmine says that it never happened. The judge tried his best to resolve the matter to avoid a trial by suggesting supervised visiting. He (judge) suggested that an independent agency ComCare can be present at all time when the child visits her maternal grand parents, but Mr. Mukhtiar declined all suggestions and asked his lawyer to call for a trial, which is on Friday, Feb 16.
This time, there were other journalists as well from Province, CTV, Global, and Channel M. After the hearing all of us (reporters) waited for hours for Mukhtiar to come out of the court to take his comment. But he kept hiding. Finally when he did come out, he straightaway walked to his car where his brother and sister in law were sitting. He was bombarded with questions from the media, he didn’t utter a word, didn't even look at any of us, bumped into CTV's reporter, sat in the car and took off.
Jasmine later told me that Mukhtiar is now planning to shift to Victoria for good.
At the trial on Feb 16, both the parties will present witnesses. Muktiar's family will try to prove that the child was injured and Manjit's family will try to prove the opposite.

AMU OPENING IN TORONTO ON FEBRUARY 16

2007-02-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

“Boldly rips away a tapestry of lies and cover ups … a first rate detective story.” - Hollywood Reporter

“Brilliant. Moving. Relevant .. Surprises you at every turn ... A must see film.” - Mira Nair

“Absolutely love Amu. A thoughtful and important film with a universal theme." - Acclaimed at the Toronto and Berlin film festivals, the internationally award winning film Amu opens across Canada starting with Toronto on February 16. The US release is slated for April. This independent feature film needs your support. We need you to make the opening weekend a success.

Check out the trailer and more at www.amuthefilm.com and please send this email far and wide.

TORONTO - FEB 16

Cineplex Carlton (Downtown), AMC Kennedy Commons (Scarborough), Empire Empress Walk (North York), Empire Square One (Missisauga), Woodbine (Hindi dubbed version)

VANCOUVER - FEB 23

Granville 7 (Downtown), Cineplex Strawberry Hill (Surrey)

MONTREAL - FEB 23

AMC Forum 22 (Downtown)

Winnipeg, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary etc. will be posted on the website by Feb 25. For further information: Publicist, Eric Ball – 519 740 1266 Jonai Productions, Toronto - 416 428 2039; Los Angeles – 323 655 1276

What starts out seeming like a standard "back to the roots" story, becomes a mystery of both personal and political implications in Shonali Bose’s feature debut, Amu.

Amu is the journey of Kajori Roy, a 21-year-old Indian American woman who has lived in the US since the age of 3. After graduating from UCLA Kaju goes to India to visit her relatives. There she meets Kabir, a college student from an upper class family who is disdainful of Kaju’s wide-eyed wonder at discovering the "real India". Undeterred Kaju visits the slums, crowded markets and roadside cafes of Delhi. In one slum she is struck by an odd feeling of déjà vu.

Soon after she starts having nightmares. When Kabir discovers that Kaju was an adopted child, he gets drawn into her personal mystery. Meanwhile Kaju’s adoptive mother – Keya Roy, a single parent and civil rights activist in LA, arrives unannounced in Delhi. She is shocked to discover that Kaju has been visiting the slums. Although Kaju mistakes her mother’s response to a typical Indian over-protectiveness – Keya’s fears are deeper rooted. Slowly Kaju starts piecing together what happened to her birth parents.

Mother and daughter clash as Kaju discovers she has been lied to her whole life. What was the truth? Why was it suppressed? As Kaju and Kabir undertake this quest they both discover their families involvement with a man made tragedy of immense proportions which took place twenty years before in the capital city of India: the massacre of thousands of people of the Sikh faith. In a searing climax the young people are forced to confront the reality of the past and how it affects the present.

INDO-CANADIAN WOMAN'S BODY FOUND AT HER RESIDENCE

2007-02-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Surrey: An Indo-Canadian woman was reportedly killed and her body was found at her residence by family members. Thirty three year old woman was married and had three kids. Surprisingly, her kids were home when when family members arrived this morning and discovered her body. The home is on 125th street between 58th and 60th avenue. The case has been handed over to Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and the search started this afternoon. Corporal Dale Carr with the IHIT says the woman's husband, three kids, and extended family members live in the home. Police do not have a suspect, and they are not releasing the cause of death. They are questioning the woman's family and neighbours.

NO NIQABS OR KIRPANS IN CANADA TOWN

2007-02-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

A small town in Canada - H’rouxville - has reportedly asked those who wear niqabs or carry kirpans (a ceremonial weapon carried by the Sikhs) to stay away and not settle there. The town has a meagre population of 1338. A sign at the town’s entrance reads: "H’rouxville welcomes you. Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your children to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.

"The town council of H’rouxville has adopted a declaration of ‘norms’ that the would-be immigrants need to be aware of before they settle there. Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid. Children cannot carry weapons to school, including kirpans, even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools. The declaration says that female police officers in H’rouxville, 165 km from Montreal, can arrest male suspects, and women are free to drive, dance and make decisions on their own.

"We’re telling people who we are. I asked myself, ‘How is it that these people can ask for such things? "And the only possible answer is that these people do not know who we are," The Mail quoted H’rouxville councillor Andr’ Drouin as saying.He added that the more accommodations are made for minorities, the greater the divide. "One of these days you will have (many divided) groups in Canada and groups in Canada, or groups in any country, doesn’t make a country."

PUNJAB ELECTION FEVER HITS SURREY

2007-02-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

Representatives of Punjab's political parties are busy campaigning and fundraising in British Columbia among the sizeable Indo-Canadian community, especially Sikhs, ahead of the Feb 13 polls in Punjab. The party members are focusing on Surrey where there is a large Indo-Canadian population. Although Indo-Canadians are not allowed to vote in Indian elections, but the campaign leaders are hoping to influence them enough so that they are able to sway votes back home among relatives.

Among the parties campaigning in Surrey is the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). Its leader Simranjit Singh Mann attracted more than 700 Indo-Canadians last week at the Grand Taj Banquet Hall when he gave a speech via webcam from India. Indo-Canadian Paul Brar, whose father-in-law is one of the candidates for the elections, organised a rally of more than 100 people in Surrey. "They (Indo-Canadians) can affect the outcome of the elections because sometimes the victory is decided by 1,000-2,000 votes, and a call from here is very important. People do listen to people from Canada and they vote that way," Brar said.

"It's not legal for political parties in India to accept contributions from a foreign source. But he said Indian citizens living abroad can make political donations," according to Ashok Kumar, consul general of India in Vancouver.

POLICE SEEKING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN THE MANJIT PANGHALI CASE

2007-01-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

Delta: The Delta Police Department is requesting public assistance in relation to the on going Manjit Panghali homicide investigation. Police require assistance in identifying and locating a witness. This person was captured on video at a premise (service station) in Surrey the evening Manjit Panghali was last seen, October 18 2006. Police wish to speak to this person as he may have made observations or have information pertaining to this ongoing homicide investigation. Anyone who may know this person, or if you are this person, you are asked to contact the Delta Police Department at 604-946-4411.

Background:

At 0920 hrs on October 23, 2006 the Delta Police responded to a report of a found body just off of the Delta Port Way in South Delta. As a result of this report, from a passerby, the Delta Police Department’s Serious Crime and Forensic Sections as well as the coroner attended the scene. On October 26 2006 the Delta Police confirmed the body found was that of 30 year old Manjit Panghali. Since the discovery of her body, there has been and continues to be an active and indepth homicide investigation underway.

WINNIPEG SIKH COMMUNITY STILL IN SHOCK

2007-01-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

Winnipeg: The Sikh community in Winnipeg is reacting with shock to news that police have formally charged three Sikh priests with a variety of sexual assault charges. All three teach at the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple in the St. Vital area. Gurdwara Nanaksar is one of only 17 temples of its kind worldwide - it is affiliated with a specific Sikh sect, Nanaksar Satsang Sabha. Others in the Sikh community worried about the scars the charges may leave on the reputation of the nearly 15,000 Sikhs in Winnipeg. The priests are alleged to have abused a Winnipeg man when he was a boy, over a period of more than five years from June 1990 to January 1996.
"The community is totally stunned by this," said Tej Bains, a retired social worker and activist. "We are still in shock and there's a number of factors. First of all, we just don't talk about sexuality and … we really honour our priests." Bakhshish Singh, 47, Kuljit Singh, 43, and Dalbag Singh, 37, all face charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching. Some Sikhs have identified the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple as that of a sect outside mainstream Sikhism in which religious leaders remain celibate.

The temple is one of three of its kind in Canada -- the others are in Brampton, Ont., and Surrey, B.C. Winnipeg's Gurdwara Nanaksar began in 1982. "This is very bad... any allegations of this kind reflect bad on the community as a whole," said Mohinder Singh Dhillon, who worships at Singh Sabha, a mainstream Sikh temple on Sturgeon Rd. The priests were first arrested Dec. 23 and are set to appear in court next month.They have been ordered to stay away from the alleged victim. They've also been told to hand over their passports and not be in the presence of anyone under 18 years without supervision.
Sheldon Pinx, the lawyer representing all three men, said last month that his clients maintain their innocence and deny all charges. Meanwhile, a police spokesperson says there may be more arrests in the case. Winnipeg police said two more priests were arrested last weekend and were released on a promise to appear in court. Sgt. Kelly Dennison added the charges are linked to an alleged kidnapping occurring earlier this month. The Free Press previously reported that on Dec. 14, a man armed with a sword and another man armed with a tire iron allegedly kidnapped two priests from the temple.

The men drove them to a residence in the Waverley area where they allegedly physically assaulted the priests. Jeewan Jyot Kahlon, 24, and Amandeep Singh Chana, 25, both face charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. At the time, police said a "personal dispute" was behind the incident and the victims knew their attackers.

MJM OWNER'S DAUGHTER'S KIDNAPPING CASE HEARING ON JAN 31

2007-01-25T22:37:00.000-08:00

Surrey: MJM Furniture owner Jeet Jaswal's daughter's kidnapping case will be heard on January 31. The concerned community members must attend the hearing to extend support to the family. This will also help other victims come forward, as the Surrey RCMP Major Crime investigators have reason to believe there may be other victims in the community that have not come forward to police. They had supposedly paid the ransom. There is absolutely no shame in letting th police know of the crime.

Background: Twenty two year old girl was kidnapped on January 19, 2007, at approximately 9:10pm. She was held against her will for several hours and the kidnappers asked for a huge sum of money. However, the culprits have been arrested and the girl is safe. Surrey RCMP has charged 26 year old Amandeep Randhawa and 33 year old Gurpreet Hundal for kidnapping, forcible confinement, exortotion and robbery.

MCGUINTY A STAR IN PUNJAB

2007-01-22T22:21:00.000-08:00

Amritsar: It was Dalton-mania in Punjab over the weekend as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his entourage were greeted here as something special. On his previous stops in his tour of India – Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai (Bombay) – McGuinty was received politely but nonchalantly. Indians in those cities have been inundated with foreign dignitaries in recent years and have become rather blasé about it. Gordon Brown, Britain's finance minister and putative future prime minister, and Anibal Cavaco Silva, president of Portugal, were in the same places at the same times as McGuinty and, naturally, drew more attention than a premier (which is not a term the Indians use) from some place called Ontario. But it was an entirely different story in Punjab, which is in the north end of the country and somewhat off the beaten track for foreign visitors.
Why did McGuinty go there?
Punjab is the homeland of the Sikhs, and there are some 250,000 Sikhs living in Ontario, including three MPPs who accompanied McGuinty on his tour: Harinder Takhar, minister of small business, and backbenchers Kuldip Kular and Vic Dhillon. They were all treated like visiting royalty from the time they touched down in Chandigarh (capital of Punjab) on Friday night and were given a police escort into town from the airport. The same evening, McGuinty and friends were the guests of honour at a sort-of state dinner at the Punjab Bhawan, the receiving place for visiting dignitaries. Their host was Amarinder Singh, chief minister (premier) of Punjab and the son of the last maharajah in the area. Key members of his government also attended, as well as local media, who jostled for position to get photos of McGuinty with Singh.
The next morning, McGuinty had breakfast with Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of the neighbouring state of Haryana. (Punjab and Haryana share Chandigarh as their capital.) Then it was on to deliver a speech to about 200 local businessmen before hopping a bus for a four-hour drive to Jalandhar, the birthplace of many Ontario Sikhs. His hotel was festooned with a sign: "Welcome Mr. Dalton McGuinty, hon'ble premier of Ontario-Canada." The welcome inside was rapturous as about 200 Sikhs – some of them on a visit from Ontario – crowded into a small hotel meeting room to get a glimpse of McGuinty. "I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to be the very first Ontario premier to visit Punjab," McGuinty said in a brief speech. "We feel very much at home here."
After the speech, members of the audience were lining up to shake McGuinty's hand and be photographed with him. It was not all harmonious. Some of the hand-shakers also bent the premier's ear on issues like the problems Punjabi residents have getting visas to visit Canada and the difficulties that professionals from Punjab have finding work in their fields once they settle in Canada. But overall the atmosphere was boisterously friendly. So it was, too, yesterday morning when McGuinty visited the 400-year-old Golden Temple at Amritsar, the holiest of holy places in the Sikh faith.
What all this had to do with a trade mission to India is a good question.
The business leaders who had been accompanying McGuinty at the earlier stops all abandoned the tour before it reached Punjab. Their absence in Punjab was disdainfully noted by the half-dozen representatives of the Punjabi-Canadian media following McGuinty on his tour. They peppered him with questions about what business was actually being transacted in Punjab, and McGuinty responded with bafflegab. The answer to the question, of course, is that the Punjab leg of the tour was an opportunity for McGuinty to have positive images of himself beamed back to voters in ridings in Brampton and Mississauga, where Ontario's Sikhs are concentrated.

DAUGHTER OF MJM FURNITURE OWNER NOW SAFE, CHARGES LAID AGAINST TWO

2007-01-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

Surrey: Twenty two year old duaghter of MJM Furniture's owner was kidnapped on January 19, 2007, at approximately 9:10pm. She was held against her will for several hours and the kidnappers asked for a huge sum of money. However, the culprits have been arrested and the girl is safe. Surrey RCMP has charged 26 year old Amandeep Randhawa and 33 year old Gurpreet Hundal for kidnapping, forcible confinement, exortotion and robbery.
Surrey RCMP Major Crime investigators have reason to believe there may be other victims in the community that have to date, not come forward to police. They are being strongly urged to do so at this time. Police has not released further information. The two accused are to appear in the court tomorow (Jan 23) at 1.30pm.
(Police hasn't released the name of the father or daughter, but I came to know that the rich Surrey businessman is none other than MJM Furniture's owner through some sources.)

THREE INDO CANADIANS TO FACE STIFF SENTENCES

2007-01-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

Three men found guilty in the gang-style kidnapping of an Abbotsford man are facing the possibility of stiff sentences in Vancouver Supreme Court. Sarpreet Singh Johal of Surrey, Harjit Singh Deo of New Westminster, and Jasvinder Mangat of Burnaby were found guilty of kidnapping using a firearm, and extortion using a firearm. Mangat was also convicted of assault causing bodily harm, and possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose. All were charged in connection with the May 2, 2005 kidnapping of Abbotsford resident Harjit Toor from his Coquitlam workplace.
Toor – who the kidnappers believed stole 300 pounds of marijuana – was bound, beaten, and held for ransom before being released two days later. The Crown and defence made lengthy submissions to Justice Arne Silverman when the accused first appeared in court for sentencing Jan. 8. The Crown is asking for a sentence of 10 to 14 years given the seriousness of the crime and the degree of the men’s involvement, said prosecutor Michel Huot last week. “Crown’s position is the accused had more or less the same degree of involvement in the kidnapping as Jethinder Raman Narwal and so should receive a similar sentence,” Huot said. Narwal, a Surrey resident, has already been convicted in the case and was sentenced in March to a total of 17 years in jail. The Surrey man was found guilty in the kidnapping of three people – including Toor – in three separate incidents in 2005.
Joe Bellows, Crown counsel for the Narwal trial, told the media after sentencing the prison term is believed to be the longest in B.C. for the offences for which he was convicted. When Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein handed down Narwal’s sentence, she gave him 22 months credit for 11 months already served, meaning he has more than 14 years in prison remaining. The trial for the roles played by Deo, Johal, and Mangat in the kidnapping started in September 2006 and ended with their conviction Oct. 20. At that time, a fifth man allegedly involved in the kidnapping, Davinder Singh Johal of Vancouver, was acquitted.

HARPER INCLUDES PUNJABIS IN APOLOGY LIST

2007-01-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

Such a view, which is certainly not shared by Prime Minsiter Stephen Harper and the party leadership, is no doubt what has impelled him to take what, for him, was an unusual step. Surprisingly, he has joined the Apology Parade, adding a new category, the Punjabis, to the lengthening list of past peoples to whom Canada feels it owes an apology and, presumably, compensation. This already includes the Chinese, Japanese, Ukrainians, Germans, Italians and Sikhs. The Parade is, in fact, an exercise in historical revisionism most uncharacteristic of Harper. It leans heavily on two assumptions. One is that modern Canadians are far more just and inclusive than their forebears.

They therefore want to distance themselves from their ancestors' evil deeds. Always, the accompanying explanatory rationale fails to take into account the dire historical circumstances that usually obtained when this or that dark deed was done. Second, the Apology Parade relies on the easily demonstrated assumption that modern Canadians know very little history, of their own country or anybody else's. It is grounded, that is, on ignorance. But surely one does not cavil over such esoteric objections. Think of those Toronto seats, man! So why not a word or two for the Punjabis?

PRAVASI AWARDS RIGGED, ALLEGE OVERSEAS INDIANS

2007-01-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

The curtain is barely down on the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas — the government's annual jamboree for overseas Indians — and the guests are grumbling about what a poor show it has been. Indian communities in the state of Illinois and the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), Chicago, say the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman – the awards for overseas Indians who have helped enhance the country's image – were rigged. They have now urged President APJ Kalam to order an investigation into the selection process.

FIA president Babu Patel said he would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee about the "humiliation" of the Indian Diaspora at the hands of the government. Speaking to HT, Patel said a proper evaluation would have been possible only after back-up information from the community. He alleged that the government ignored the groundwork done by prominent Indians to get the Indo-US nuclear deal through. The FIA, an umbrella of 25 Indian organisations, has also alleged that Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi nominated his friends for the Pravasi awards, including Dr M Anirudhan in the medical category.

But Ravi said he had "nothing to do" with the selection process which was handled by a committee headed by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. He, however, confirmed that Anirudhan was a friend of his. "I have known him since 1980 and as an MP, stayed with him in Chicago," Ravi told HT. He said some American Indians had personally canvassed for the awards in violation of the selection process. It is also alleged that recommendations made by the Indian embassy in the US were ignored.

Chicago's Consul General Arun Kumar, it is learnt, had recommended Dr Bharat H Barai and Raghu Nayak for their work on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Dr Barai told HT from Chicago that Ravi has "cleverly bypassed the merit selection process and substituted the merit list with names of his own friends". The government is also on the mat for keeping major opposition parties and leaders out of the summit. LM Singhvi, who had conceived the idea of a Pravasi Diwas, and JC Sharma, who put together the first two Pravasi events, were not invited. Singhvi said, "I was not invited.

It is a strange commentary on the politicisation of the event."Conceding the slip-up, Ravi said the invitations were indeed sent but they were sent late: "I was ill for a week and the invitations were delayed." Ravi said he had personally written to BJP's LK Advani to chair one of the sessions.

THOUSANDS ATTEND GURU PREMIERE IN TORONTO

2007-01-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

The South Asian community in Toronto was out in full force for the premiere of Bollywood film Guru and to catch a glimpse of stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. An estimated 1,200 Hindi cinema fans - some clad in vibrant saris, ghagra cholis (skirt-blouse) and flashy salwar kameezes - were seen outside the historic Elgin Theatre Thursday evening." They're the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of the Indian community," an excited Indian teenager was heard saying after seeing Abhishek and Aishwarya, who arrived a little late owing to a flight delay.

"The South Asian community is very important to our city and so is the film industry. Bollywood brings them together," said Mayor David Miller as he walked into the screening, the Canada Post reported.According to the 2001 Canadian census, 917,000 individuals identified themselves as South Asians, accounting for 23 percent of the total population.Bobby Bedi, producer of Guru said he chose Toronto for his premiere because it "by far is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world".The film is about the life of a young man who rose from poverty in a small Indian village in the 1950s to defy the odds and become a major textile merchant. "Guru" is loosely based on late business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani.

GURUDWARA TO MARK BHAI MEWA SINGH'S SACRIFICE

2007-01-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

New Westminster: This weekend, Sikhs will celebrate the sacrifice of Bhai Mewa Singh, who was hanged in New Westminster in 1915. The Sikh pioneer assassinated a local police inspector he believed was behind the widespread persecution of Sikhs. The Sikh temple Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar in Queensbrough will host the celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday there will be a youth program in English on Singh followed by a movie on the Komagata Maru. On Sunday there will be lectures and a slideshow presentation on a man considered a martyr for Sikhism. Local Sikhs celebrate Bhai Mewa Singh because his sacrifices remind them each year of the struggles Sikhs had to endure to gain equality in Canada.
Leading up to his execution, there were acts of injustice and discrimination against the small population of Sikhs, most located in B.C. Discriminatory acts by the government of the time included the 1907 Election Act, which deprived East Indians from voting in provincial and municipal elections. Other legislation prevented the children and wives of Sikhs from immigrating to Canada to join their fathers and husbands. The most obvious sign of discrimination was the Komagata Maru incident in 1914 when 376 Sikhs, Muslims and Hindu passengers aboard the ship Komagata Maru were denied entry at Vancouver harbour, despite the fact they were British subjects.
They were also physically threatened, denied food, water and supplies and not permitted to take their individual cases before the courts. Two months after they arrived, the ship left Vancouver and returned to Hong Kong. Early Sikhs also had to endure race riots and shootings of their leaders. In 1914, Bhai Mewa Singh shot Inspector William Hopkinson, after the policeman’s testimony led to the acquittal of a man accused of shooting a prominent Sikh leader. In the subsequent trial, Singh told the court he could no longer bear to witness the wrong done to his people.

OVERNIGHT HOMICIDE SHOOTING IN RICHMOND

2007-01-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

Richmond: The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has identified the victim in yesterday's Richmond incident. Kirk Robert Holifield of Ladner is the 35-year-old male. Richmond serious crime unit had called in the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team to investigate the overnight shooting death of a 35 year-old Caucasian male from the Lower Mainland.

At approximately 1230 AM on January 11, 2007 Richmond RCMP were called to the intersection of Shell Road and Westminster Highway after a male was discovered slumped over the wheel of his SUV. Once on scene it became apparent that the male was suffering from several gunshot wounds, he was taken by ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital were he succumbed to his injuries several hours later. At this point investigators do not believe that the incident has any links to the Thursday January 4, 2007 shooting spree in Richmond. Investigators are saying at this point in the probe this incident appears as though it was a targeted attack.

DECEASED FEMALE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS AMRITA SIDHU

2007-01-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Surrey: RCMP has confirmed that the body of a deceased female located on January 07, 2007 at 5:45 PM at Colebrook Road (just east of 152nd street) is that of 15 year-old Amrita Jyoti Sidhu. Amrita left an area hospital on January 05, 2007. She was last seen by hospital staff at 4:30 PM and was reported missing to police a short time later. Her whereabouts between the time of her departure from the hospital and the discovery of her body is unknown. The Surrey RCMP’s Major Crimes Section have conduct of this matter and are continuing their investigation. The cause of death is not being released pending autopsy results. Police are hoping to speak with anyone who may have seen or spoken to Amrita Sidhu between January 05 and January 07.

DELTA MAN BEATEN FOR MISTAKENLY CALLING 911

2007-01-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

Delta: A Delta resident, Jaskaran Singh Randhawa, was beaten and put behind bars on Thursday night for mistakenly dialling 911. “I was calling India and forgot to dial the international access number 011, before dialling India code. The call mistakenly went to 911. By the time I got a chance to explain it to the dispatcher that it was by mistake I dialled 911, the cops were in front of my house.” He told Indo-Canadian Online, “I tried to explain it to the police officers that it was all a big mistake, but they just pulled me out of my house and started beating me up. I was then taken to the police station and had to spend my night in jail.

Though the next day, Randhawa did try to make it business as usual, he could not get over the fact that he was mistreated by police officers for committing an innocent mistake. “My knees were aching and my arms were aching. But it was nothing when you compare that with the emotional trauma I went through that night. They made me feel like a criminal.” Randhawa contacted Indo-Canadian radio station RED FM and informed them about the mistreatment. He was featured on The Harjinder Thind Show. Randhawa has hired a lawyer and lodged a complaint against the officers. Charlene Brooks, Delta Police Department spokesperson, said that the department was investigating the incident.

NRIs IN CANADA AND US BOYCOTT PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS

2007-01-08T22:20:00.000-08:00

Surrey: About 850 Non-Resident Indians living in Canada and America have boycotted the upcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held in New Delhi from January 7-9 this year. According to the Surrey chapter of the NRI Cell, the unfulfilled promise of providing dual citizenship and right to vote to NRIs living in Canada and America forced the Indo-Canadians and Indo-Americans to boycott the event sponsored and organized by the Indian government. Talking to Indo-Canadian online, Vikram Bajwa of NRI Cell Surrey said, "In 2006, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to present a bill granting dual citizenship and voting rights to People of Indian Origin (PIOs), and nothing has been done so far". He added, "There are a lot of NRIs who still have family and property in India, and unfortunately, any threat to the family and property is never addressed."
“Great Pravasi” Mahatma Gandhi had arrived this week 90 years ago whose memory is honored and celebrate through this historic gathering. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who with his wife Kasturba, walked down the ramp of a ship at Apollo Bunder in Mumbai on the 9th of January 1915, returning to a home where he would for all time be remembered, revered and loved as Bapu. It is in celebration of Gandhiji’s arrival in Mumbai that this meeting is organized at this time of the year for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

YEARS OF MOLESTATION BY SIKH PRIESTS ALLEGED

2007-01-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

A Winnipeg man whose complaints about sexual misconduct led to the arrest of three Sikh priests last month was allegedly molested for more than five years, between the ages of eight and 14. As first reported in the Sun last week, three priests from the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple in St. Vital were arrested Dec. 23 amid allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct. Police were initially tight-lipped about the details, but cops revealed yesterday all three priests -- men aged 37, 43, and 47 -- are facing charges of sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference and sexual exploitation. The 37- and 43-year-old men are each facing an additional charge of anal intercourse.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Sheldon Pinx, the lawyer representing all three men, said last week that his clients maintain their innocence and deny all charges. Const. Jacquie Chaput, a police spokeswoman, said yesterday the alleged abuses are said to have taken place between June 1990 and January 1996. Police are only aware of one alleged victim, but Chaput said investigators would speak with additional complainants if any came forward. She also said additional arrests may be pending. Police have previously said a fourth suspect was believed to be in Vancouver.
The charges of sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and anal intercourse all carry maximum sentences of 10 years in prison upon conviction. Sexual exploitation -- defined as sexual touching or invitation by a person "in a position of trust or authority" -- carries a maximum five-year sentence. The priests have been released from custody on promises to appear in court, which they are scheduled to do next month. Their arrests have sparked shock among the Sikh community in Winnipeg and beyond. Some Sikhs have identified the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple as a member of a sect outside mainstream Sikhism. The temple is one of only 17 in the world affiliated with the Nanaksar Satsang Sabha organization.

NRI VOTING RIGHTS IN NEXT PARLIAMENT

2007-01-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

A bill granting voting rights to the NRIs would be introduced in Parliament during the next session, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said on Friday while ruling out a similar facility to the People of Indian Origins (PIOs). Addressing a press conference ahead of the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 7, Ravi said the Bill to amend the Representation of People's Act was earlier introduced but was referred to the Standing Committee.
The Committee had suggested a few amendments which would now be incorporated in the new Bill, he said. Amendments to the RP Act would be made to enable enrolment as voters of the Indian passport holders. But under the Indian Constitution anyone holding a passport of any other country cannot be granted voting rights and there is no proposal to amend it either, he said. Referring to the misuse of marriages by some NRIs, the minister said India was likely to join The Hague Convention on Private International Law.

This would enable protection of the interests of Indian girls who are trapped by the unscrupulous expatriates through marriages. The government has already launched a campaign to create awareness among the vulnerable sections so that they do not get exploited. The campaign would be carried upto village level. Over 1500 NRIs are expected to attend the three-day annual meet where Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar would be the Chief Guest.

INDIANS OVERWHELM CHINESE IN THE US

2007-01-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

If India is shining at home, the diaspora is dazzling in America. What is more, it has stolen a march over the Chinese. Indians founded more engineering and technology firms in the US over the past decade than any other immigrant group, a new study reveals. Between 1995 and 2005, Indian immigrants founded more companies in these sectors than Chinese, Taiwanese and British immigrants put together. A fourth of all engineering companies founded in the US over the past one decade were started by immigrants. In 2005, these companies had sales revenue of $52 billion and employed 45,000 employees.
As many as 26 per cent of these firms had Indian founders. These findings were revealed on Thursday in a study conducted by Duke University's School of Engineering and University of California at Berkely's School of Information. The findings underline again how skilled foreign workers hold the key to the development of technology and engineering industries in the US. Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and the author of the report, said many of the huge wave of Indian immigrants who arrived in the US after 1980 were knowledge workers.
This is borne out by two things: the fact that Indians obtained the most number of patents - after the Chinese - between 1995 and 2005; and that nearly half of all Indian-founded companies in the US are in the software sector. "These are the people who give the US its competitive advantage," Wadhwa said. "This shows that when Indians are given the environment, in which they can succeed, they can stand head to head with the best of the best, in Silicon Valley and elsewhere."

HUGE TURNOUT EXPECTED FOR DIASPORA CONCLAVE

2007-01-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Around 950 delegates from India and 42 other countries have registered for the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2007, the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Vigyan Bhavan Jan 7. Over 160 delegates from India alone have confirmed their participation in the event being organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)). The event is expected to act as a platform for networking between overseas Indians and their native country. The focus areas in the fifth edition of PBD, which has the theme 'Rooting for the Roots', would be social issues and how Indians abroad can contribute to India's development.

There will be dedicated sessions on education, healthcare, women, youth and investment. Among the prominent overseas Indians coming for this year's event are management guru C.K. Prahalad, who will be a panelist in the plenary session on challenges of India's development in the global context, and Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) chairman Thomas Abraham, who will speak on how to engage PIOs in India's development process. A working session on healthcare in the context of India's development will see Dr. Subramaniam Balasubramaniam, president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), and Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, special assistant on bio-defence to US President George W. Bush, participating.

Malaysia's Works Minister and Malaysian Indian Congress president Samy Vellu, a person of Indian origin, will be the guest of honour in a plenary on 'How to get $1.5 trillion of capital investment into India'. Sam Pitroda, chairman of India's Knowledge Commission, will be the chief guest in a plenary that will look into how India can leverage the knowledge skills of its diaspora. The chief ministers of Bihar, Delhi - the partner state for the event - Haryana and Gujarat will be attending the interactive sessions with states that are being organised with the view to explore partnership and investment opportunities in the states.

This year, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar will be attending the event as the chief guest.Sessions apart, cultural programmes are also being organised in the evening on all three days. This will include an evening on folk dances of India, a dance performance by well-known Malayali cine actress Shobhana, another by Hindi film choreographer Shiamak Davar's troupe and a sarod recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash. PBD is the flagship event of the MOIA. It aims to connect the 25 million-strong Indian diaspora spread across 110 countries.

SIKH PRIESTS FACE SEX CHARGES; TEMPLE IN UPROAR

2007-01-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

WINNIPEG: Members of a small Sikh temple are dismayed after charges of sexual misconduct were laid by police against three of its priests. "Everybody's shocked... this was the last thing that would have ever popped into my mind," said one member of Gurdwara Nanaksar, located on St. David Road in St. Vital. "There's a massive uproar - sex is not talked about... it's a very taboo topic," he said. Gurdwara Nanaksar is one of only 17 temples of its kind worldwide - it is affiliated with a specific Sikh sect, Nanaksar Satsang Sabha.
Priests at the temple are expected to be celibate, and from as young as age eight lead a monastic life of meditation and prayer, the member said. "(The priests) are raised in the temples - they don't have a choice in whether they are celibate or not," he said. According to the member, the priests in question are believed to still be conducting religious ceremonies at the temple, but in a limited capacity preventing them from having contact with minors. Others in the Sikh community worried about the scars the charges may leave on the reputation of the nearly 15,000 Sikhs in Winnipeg.
"This is very bad... any allegations of this kind reflect bad on the community as a whole," said Mohinder Singh Dhillon, who worships at Singh Sabha, a mainstream Sikh temple on Sturgeon Rd. Describing Winnipeg's small sect, consisting of fewer than 300 members, as "not for the general public, but run for certain people," Singh Dhillon referred to the priests as "temporary - they are recalled (to Punjab) every three or four years." Paramajit Gill said it's the first kind of incident he's heard involving members of his community, and hoped for a full inquiry into the allegations. "The Sikh people will not tolerate any incidents like this in our religion," he said.

Winnipeg police said the priests were arrested last weekend and were released on a promise to appear in court. Sgt. Kelly Dennison added the charges are linked to an alleged kidnapping occurring earlier this month. The Free Press previously reported that on Dec. 14, a man armed with a sword and another man armed with a tire iron allegedly kidnapped two priests from the temple. The men drove them to a residence in the Waverley area where they allegedly physically assaulted the priests. Jeewan Jyot Kahlon, 24, and Amandeep Singh Chana, 25, both face charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
At the time, police said a "personal dispute" was behind the incident and the victims knew their attackers. "It's one big sordid soap opera," Dennison said Saturday, noting police would not elaborate on the case. "This is historical. It goes back over time." The temple is one of three of its kind in Canada -- the others are in Brampton, Ont., and Surrey, B.C. Winnipeg's Gurdwara Nanaksar began in 1982.

PICS' CHARAN GILL GETS GLOBAL AWARD

2007-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

The executive director of PICS, Charan Gill, is one of the four people worldwide who will receive a community service award from Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) this week. GOPIO is holding its own convention in New Delhi to coincide with the much bigger Indian government sponsored annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to be held on January 7-9, is an event for people of Indian origin to get together once a year, exchange ideas, interact and do business. This year GOPIO decided to hold its convention a couple of days before the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The highlight of the GOPIO meeting will be the reception and grand awards banquet at the Ashoka Hotel on the evening of January 5th and Minister of Overseas Indian Affair Vayalar Ravi will be the chief guest. He will present the community service awards to Charan Gill, George Abrahams of Singapore, Nevin P Megchiani of Bahrain and Wahed Saleh of Netherlands.

2006: YEAR OF INDIAN DIASPORA

2006-12-31T18:27:00.000-08:00

When Sunita Williams soared into space with a container full of samosas, the term 'Indian diaspora' acquired a new meaning altogether. With samosas to munch on and the holy book Gita to read, Williams will be in space for six months where she will be the flight engineer of the International Space Station. So, for the next six months at least, the 20 million or so Indian diaspora will not only be spread across 110 countries of the world, but one of them will be in space as well! Sunita's father is of Indian origin while her mother is Slovenian. "I am half Indian, I'm sure Indian people are looking forward to seeing (another) person of Indian origin (after Kalpana Chawla) flying up in space," she said. With her achievement coming in the last month of 2006, Sunita has capped what has been one big year for the Indian diaspora.
Indian origin people made news in all fields, be it sports, industry, entertainment, politics or literature. In March, Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, popularly known as Monty Panesar, made his debut as a spinner in the England cricket team against India in Nagpur. In the 10 Tests he has played till now, he picked up 32 wickets, including a series-winning display against Pakistan, making him a national icon in England. Only the other day, in the course of the ongoing Ashes series Down Under, the turbaned 24-year-old from Luton became the first spinner to take five wickets at Perth, widely considered a fast bowler's paradise. Nicknamed 'Python', he also signed a 300,000-pound book deal in his very first year in global cricket.
At the FIFA World Cup in Germany, a footballer of Indian origin came under the spotlight. Vikas Dhorasoo took the field for France against Switzerland in a group match, playing in the midfield alongside Zinedine Zidane. In the process, Dhorasoo, whose forefathers migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Mauritius, became the first footballer of Indian origin to play in the World Cup finals.
Also in June, news came involving another member of the Indian diaspora that shook world industry. European steel maker Arcelor, the world's largest steel company, agreed to an euro 26.5-billion takeover bid by NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Narayan Mittal.

August was indeed a big month for the Indian diaspora. On August 14, India-born Indra Nooyi was appointed chief executive officer of $33-billion global convenient foods and beverages company PepsiCo. She became one of only a handful of women to head a top US company. Soon after her appointment, Forbes magazine named the 49-year-old Nooyi as the world's fourth most powerful woman after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi.
On August 23, Anand Satyanand, a person of Indian origin (PIO), took over as the new governor general of New Zealand. He is the first person of Asian ethnicity to become the Queen's representative in New Zealand. Satyanand began his speech on the steps of New Zealand's parliament in Wellington with a "namaste, namashkar, sat sri akaal, greetings to everyone!"
Soon afterwards, another PIO, Bharrat Jagdeo, was re-elected president of the Caribbean nation of Guyana. This is his third consecutive term in office since he took charge in 1999. And in October, Kiran Desai, daughter of prominent Indian origin writer Anita Desai, created literary history by becoming the youngest woman to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction at the age of 35. Desai won the award for her second book, The Inheritance of Loss, described by reviewers as "radiant, funny and moving family saga" and "the best, sweetest, most delightful novel". Born in India September 3, 1971, Desai is currently a student at Columbia University's creative writing course.
Hardly had the euphoria of Desai's achievement died, when India-born Western classical music conductor Zubin Mehta was honoured by the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in December. Born in Mumbai April 29, 1936, Mehta has conducted some of the most prestigious orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Kennedy Center chairman Stephen A Schwarzman called Mehta "a world treasure".
Among other recognitions, Thomas Kailath of Stanford University was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame; Indo-Canadian scientist Asit K Biswas received the 2006 Stockholm Water Prize, known as the Nobel Prize for environment.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar became the first woman to be made leader of the opposition in Trinidad & Tobago's parliament.
Indian American pioneer Appu Kuttan was awarded the 2006 Champions of Digital Literacy Inspiration Award.
NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul was appointed the inaugural chancellor of University of Westminster; and Lord Karan Billimoria became the first Parsi to enter Britain's House of Lords.

INDO-CANADIAN JOURNALIST DENIED INDIAN VISA

2006-12-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

For unspecified reasons, Canadian journalist and human rights activist, Sukhminder Singh, was denied an Indian visa to accompany Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty on his trade mission to India and Pakistan in January. It is not known if he was also denied a Pakistani visa. Singh, a former radio and television personality from Ontario, is the managing editor of the Punjabi-language newspaper, Sanjh Savera Weekly.

Singh said that the government of India often boasts itself for being the world's largest democracy, yet it has no problem with arbitrarily denying a short-term visitor visa to a journalist. "Within a democratic process everyone must have a right to freedom of opinion and expression," Singh said. He called on McGuinty to review the human rights record of India prior to his visit and also reminded the premier that, just as Canada’s last two prime ministers recently questioned China on its human rights, India also needed to be held accountable.

During his 16 years as a radio producer and host, and 11 years of television broadcasting, Singh brought serious issues to light with his commentary and editorial style. Singh said he is also a human rights activist who frequently speaks out against the Indian government for its oppression of the Sikhs - specifically, on the 1984 Indian army attack on Darbar Sahib, the Delhi pogroms and the disappearances of tens of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab. He volunteers with World Sikh Organization of Canada and Ontario Khalsa Darbar on issues related to Sikh-Canadians. Singh said that India's denial of access to humanitarian agencies and journalists makes it clear that India has a serious and shameful problem with its human rights record.

SIKHS IN CANADA DIFFER OVER SCHOOL POLICY

2006-12-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

A Sikh school's plans to expand has divided the community, with some saying that segregating the boys and girls from the larger Canadian society will only harm the students. Not everyone agrees. The Khalsa Community School in Mississauga has acquired five acres of land in Brampton and is drawing up plans to extend its program through high school. Started in 1995, the Khalsa School has grown from 68 pupils to 400. The school offers a means of holding on to the Sikh tradition.

Now some parents and others in the Sikh community believe that the policy of teaching the boys and girls without mixing them up in the classroom with others in the Canadian society is only isolating them. The Globe and Mail newspaper quoted Kaylene Brar, a teacher from another school, as saying: "Canada's USP (unique selling point) is its multi-ethnicity. Kids, at not just the Sikh school but other religious schools as well, miss out on cultural assimilation that starts at the school level." In her view, children must learn about different cultures and mingle with other children.

But Deepinder Gill, whose two daughters study in the Sikh school, does not agree. "It keeps them closer to their faith and their culture," he argued, in supporting of maintaining the school's Sikh identity. "I don't have to worry that they won't know anything about Sikhism. They are doing well academically," he said. At the school, students and teachers have their heads covered with turbans or scarves.
"We offer Sikh families a choice," said Harman Ahluwalia, vice-principal of the school. The school follows the Ontario school curriculum besides teaching 'kirtan', Sikh theology, Punjabi language and Sikh heritage. "People have different priorities, we give them a chance to exercise their choice," Ahluwalia said.
The Sikh population in Greater Toronto Area, now 150,000, is growing and the high school is expanding at the right time, said Roma Kaur, who is an editor of a women's magazine in Toronto. "The school's doing a good job of preserving the Sikh heritage, but it is time to upgrade it. I know there's been a demand for it," she said.

NRIs ARE MORE PRONE TO DIABETES

2006-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

Indians living in urban areas are far more overweight and abdominally obese than NRIs; however, more NRIs have diabetes than resident Indians, according to a four year study funded by the US Congress to study patterns of obesity and diabetes among NRIs and Indian citizens. The study was commissioned by Texas University and conducted jointly by Indian and American physicians in seven locations in the US, in the capital city of India, New Delhi, and in the rural area of a southern Indian state, Tamil Nadu.
The study found 17.4 percent NRIs were diabetic compared with 13.6 percent in Delhi and 9 percent in rural India. The higher prevalence of diabetes in NRIs is attributed to their lifestyles, a trend fast being adopted by urban India. All 2,146 subjects of the study were over 18 years of age. Of the sample 60 percent from the US, 50 percent from New Delhi and 32 percent from Tamil Nadu were male.It was found that NRIs also had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS), which is characterised by a set of risk factors that include abdominal obesity, low HDL cholesterol and high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. More than half of the patients with MS are at an increased risk of coronary disease.

SNEEZING BANNED ON KERALA ROADS

2006-12-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Sneezing and spitting on roads and in public places has been banned by the government of Kerala (southern most state in India) in an attempt to check the spread of communicable diseases. Orders were issued that responsible department head checks spatters and sneezers who pose a hazard and an inconvenience to the public. The state government was directed to provide spittoons in public places and offices and post signs to inform people of the ban.

WOMAN MEDALLIST AT ASIAN GAMES IS NOT A WOMAN

2006-12-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

Santhi Soudarajan, who won a silver for India in women’s 800m at the recent Doha Asian Games, has been exposed as not being a woman after a failed gender test. The revelation means lost medal for India. The Athletic Federation of India, which selected Soudarajan for the event, was allegedly aware of the issue as Soudarajan was denied a job in the Railways department after failing a similar gender test a while ago.

PUNJAB POLICE CELL DEDICATED TO HELP NRIs

2006-12-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

An innovative idea, started by the Punjab Police Department is providing assistance to NRIs who are being cheated in disputes over property, theft, marriage, or other areas. Known as the NRI cell of the Punjab Police, it is accessible by phone and email. The Cell has also started an NRI radio helpline for Indo Canadians, with the help of a radio station in Canada. Indo-Canadians can locally call a live program hosted by the radio station, which then connects the caller to the Cell through tele conferencing. Punjab Police is now trying to contact other radio and TV stations for this purpose.
Awareness of the Cell is not yet widespread, so the Punjab Police is hoping to spread their message to NRIs in many more countries. In a recent case, an Indo-Canadian approached the NRI Cell of the Punjab Police when his family was continuously attacked by miscreant gangs in their village. When Palwinder Singh sought the help of the local police, he was given no help. This made Palwinder Singh fly over to India from Toronto in an attempt to oversee the matter himself. He approached the NRI Cell and filed a case. The accused were soon arrested and put behind bars.
Located in Chandigarh, the Cell works 24 hours registering NRI grievances. Since its formation in 2004, the Cell has handled over 900 complaints. You can contact the cell by email at pbpolicenri@yahoo.co.uk. It is estimated that there are 12 million people of Punjabi origin around the world. The United Kingdom, Canada and the US followed by the Middle East have the largest immigrant population of Punjabis.

FUTURE GROOMS ROBS FIANCE'S HOUSE, BRIDE FORGIVES

2006-12-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

Strange as it may sound, but a groom-to-be stole jewellery and cash from her future wife’s home in Mumbai and is now in jail. The bride, however, says she has forgiven him for the theft and is now waiting for him to complete his sentence so that that the two can tie the knot. The bride’s father, who was earlier furious over his future son-in-law’s crime, is now ready to compromise and has given his consent for the union. After investigation the police found out that the groom stole a key to the house and when the family was away shopping for the wedding, he broke in and took the jewellery and cash.

PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS TO SEE HUGE TURNOUT

2006-12-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

With only a month to go before the curtain rises for the 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora, over 750 delegates from across the world have confirmed their participation. This is the fourth time the capital is hosting the event, to be held Jan 7-9, organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Delhi government.

After Delhi played host to the first three editions of PBD until 2004, the next two were held in Mumbai and Hyderabad successively.According to a CII official, block bookings have been made in all categories of hotels in the city to accommodate the delegates, expected to number around 1,200.Asked how would the latest event be different from the earlier ones, the official said: "This time we will have a very distinguished panel of speakers like (Nobel Laureate) Amartya Sen and (management guru) C.K. Prahlad.

"This apart, we are providing a networking platform which will allow members of the Indian diaspora to interact with the Indian industry. Logistically too, PBD 2007 will be much better than the previous editions."The focus of PBD 2007 will be education, health, youth, women and investment.There will also be a conference of parliamentarians of Indian origin, besides separate sessions to deal with issues of the Indian diaspora living in the Gulf, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, Canada and the US.

There will be a number of plenary sessions focusing on diverse issues like the role of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in promoting India's image abroad, partnership opportunities with Indian states and leveraging technology for development.Exhibitions and functions showcasing the art and cultural heritage and cuisines of India are also planned.Thirteen Indian states have confirmed their participation in the state plenary sessions, said a government official.

"Of these chief ministers of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala and Goa have confirmed they will head their state delegations," the official told IANS.Both the inaugural and valedictory sessions of the event will be held at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre.The annual conclave is seen as a key opportunity for interaction between India and its vast diaspora.In the Hyderabad edition of January this year, the Overseas Indian Citizenship (OIC) card scheme was launched and an agreement signed with the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) for improving rural healthcare in India. A remittance service for non-resident Indians was also unveiled.

DELHI TO WAIVE LUXURY TAX FOR NRI MEET

2006-12-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

The Delhi Government will waive the 12.5 percent luxury tax on hotel tariff for delegates attending the 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) to be held here January 7-9 next year. The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting held here Tuesday to review the preparations for the annual diaspora conclave. The Delhi government's move was seen as helping make the stay of delegates economical and even giving a boost to attendance, according to a press release.

PBD 2007 is being organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the government of the national capital territory of Delhi.In the meeting, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said all Indian associations abroad should be informed about the Delhi government's move.

There are about 1,000 associations of Indians living in different countries and their involvement will greatly facilitate the wide publicity of PBD 2007, the release quoted Ravi as saying. Held under the chairmanship of MOIA secretary Nirmal Singh, the meeting was also attended by representatives of the ministries of information and broadcasting, commerce, human resource development, home affairs, external affairs, science and technology, and civil aviation, apart from those from the Delhi government, CII and Delhi Police.

To be held under the theme 'Rooting for the roots', PBD 2007 is expected to be attended by around 2,000 delegates and will focus on education, healthcare, women, youth and investment.A new feature of the 2007 edition of the conclave will be the sessions devoted specifically to geographical regions, which have large concentrations of overseas Indians.Another major addition to the PBD this time will be a daily report-back session to capture the main outcomes and issues raised during the day.

BLOGSPHERE IS TURNING GREY

2006-12-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

There was a time when the Internet was almost the exclusive domain of youth. But that sort of ageism will soon be irrelevant, judging by the small but growing phenomenon of seniors turning to blogging.The greying of the web recently hit the spotlight in Britain, where a 79-year-old grandfather — who goes by the handle 'geriatric1927' — jumped straight on to the latest trend in blogging: vlogging (as in video blogging).

The widower has found fame as the oldest active member on YouTube, the video hosting site owned by Google on which he recounts to the camera stories from his own grandparents who lived in Victorian England (The adress of the website is (www.youtube.com/profile?user=geriatric1927).In France, the residents of an old people's home in Brittany contribute to a joint blog called 'Alleuxnautes' (alleux.over-blog.com), and a 'storytelling grandma', Laurence Lamiable, has found success on www.abreuvetascience.net/bloglaurence.

A retired Belgian woman, Annie (blog.syrie.be), has also been giving glimpses of her life in Syria, where she has been living for the past four years. Right now, they and other senior bloggers are on the fringe of the Internet revolution. But studies show their number is growing, especially in the 50-70 year age group."The tool is common among the young, but the gap between the 25-34 year-olds and the seniors is not as big as that," said Alexis Helcmanocki, the head of Ipsos's new technologies division which organised the poll. AFP

PAKISTANI FROM NY GUILTY OF FUNDING SIKH MILITANTS

2006-12-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani man living in New York was found guilty on Wednesday of wiring money and trying to send a foot soldier to a Sikh militant separatist group opposed to the Indian government. Khalid Awan was found guilty in Brooklyn federal court of transferring $25,000 and trying to recruit Harjit Singh, a former fellow prison inmate, to the Khalistan Commando Force in 2003.
Awan faces a maximum of 45 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 7. He was found guilty of all counts he faced, including providing material support or resources to terrorists and money laundering to promote terrorism. Awan was detained on federal credit card fraud charges as a material witness shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Inside prison he met Singh, who federal authorities say he introduced to Khalistan Commando Force leader Paramjit Singh Panjwar through phone calls placed from the prison -- in the hopes that after Singh's release he would travel to Lahore, Pakistan, to join the group. But Singh turned on Awan, telling federal authorities of his relationship with Panjwar, and Awan was soon being taped talking to the militant leader on the telephone about the $25,000 and Singh's future.
The militant group, formed in 1986, is made up of Sikhs who have tried to violently force India into letting them form their own state in the country's Punjab region. Aside from hundreds of bombings, acts of sabotage and kidnappings committed against the Indian government, the group is responsible for the murder of Chief Minister Beant Singh of Punjab in 1995, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

GANESHA GETS 'MADE IN USA' TAG

2006-12-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

After the Chinese, US gift and collectible major Lenox has begun manufacturing idols of Hindu god Ganesha. The decision came after an Indian American convinced officials at Lenox of their huge market potential. Simmi Chopra, who sells Lenox products at her collectibles shop outside Disney World in Florida, approached the company to think beyond Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to Hindu deities like Ganesha, Durga and Lakshmi.
But persuading Lenox executives in Pennsylvania to craft Ganesha wasn't easy. Lenox's collectibles are typically high-volume versions of recognisable characters created by Disney or Universal Studios. Chopra, a Sikh by religion, hopes to make Hindu gods and goddesses better known in the US, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
"When Simmi came to us, we didn't know if we wanted to do that," said Dennis Wood, Lenox vice president (sales). "But ... she convinced us she could market this to her faith market."
Once the company agreed, making the 15-inch-tall, 12-inch-wide, 24-karat-gold Lord Ganesha proved to be an uphill task. "The process itself was an extraordinary challenge," Wood admitted. Complexities such as a tiny mouse that serves as Ganesha's companion and the minute desserts in his hand were difficult to mould in Lenox quality. According to Chopra, it took three years to complete the project. Multiple moulds were tried and trashed along the way.
The first piece rolled out in June, and Chopra donated it to a Hindu temple in Greater Orlando, Casselberry. The second came with a $2,000 price tag. In all, 1,000 limited-edition pieces of Ganesha were manufactured and nearly all of them have been sold. Excited by the response, Chopra is now working on the second piece in the line of Hindu-themed sculptures — the sacred symbol 'Om' — due to be out early next year. "We want to try to place this in every house," Chopra said.
The idol of goddess Durga, representing female energy, is scheduled to be released in spring. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is likely to be out next fall. Lenox, established in 1889, has created gifts, tableware and collectibles for many US presidents and dignitaries. The company's USP is that it guarantees satisfaction - "You don't like it, bring it back." Chinese-made Hindu gods have already become a major draw in the Indian market, particularly during major festivals like Diwali.

YOU TUBE HELPS NAB CANADIAN MURDER SUSPECT

2006-12-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

The website YouTube that showed us air guitar impresarios, Diet Coke explosions and nine months of gestation in 20 seconds has helped catch a suspected killer, Canadian police say. Authorities in Hamilton, Ontario had posted surveillance video earlier this month on the popular website in which users share video clips — hoping for help to identify two "people of interest" in a murder case.
The one-minute video shows two young men entering a local bar hours before two others were stabbed in a brawl outside after a hip-hop music concert on November 17. One man died in the incident. Late Tuesday, a 24-year-old suspect turned himself in to police, accompanied by his lawyer, and was charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder, police said.
"I suspect YouTube may have had something to do with his decision to turn himself in," Detective Sergeant Jorge Lasso said. "A lot of people called us after seeing the video to give us information to help in our investigation."

YouTube and similar websites won superstar status in 2006, helping to transform the Internet from a window on the world into a stage on which people play out the mundane and the bizarre in home-made video clips. More than 100 million user-contributed video clips are viewed daily at the site, which was launched 18 months ago in San Bruno, California and bought for $2.1 billion dollars by Internet giant Google in November.
But this was the first case in which police used YouTube as an "investigative tool," Lasso said in an earlier interview. "We decided to post a video on YouTube because we felt it would more likely be seen by the people who attended this concert, who are in their teens and early 20s," he said. "I have children and they don't watch mainstream media, but they seem to be as informed as I am . . . We realized that if we want to target this demographic, we'd have to go to the web, where they get their information." Almost 16,000 people viewed the Hamilton police video online.

INDIAN ACCUSED OF FRAUS IN AUSTRALIA

2006-12-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

An Indian businessman in Australia accused of faking his mother's death to claim a $1 million insurance policy may not be extradited to the country until cleared by the Indian police. Pavan Shivnani, 35, of East Perth and the former chief of grain trader Australian Foods Company, is alleged to have taken out a life insurance policy on his mother's behalf with Norwich Union Australia in 2003, naming himself as the beneficiary.
Investigators claim that both Pavan and his wife Kanchan Shivnani, 31, who is also a co-accused in the case, obtained a fake death certificate from a doctor in India in 2004 and faxed the insurance company to cash in the policy. But an inquiry by the insurance firm found that Pavan's mother was alive, reported the Australian newspaper.
Kanchan appeared in Perth District Court on Tuesday, and will apply in February to get her charges heard separately from her husband, who is presently in India. Pavan is facing a police case in India resulting from a traffic accident and has had his passport confiscated. "My client is facing charges over a serious traffic crash in India. He is also being sued over a business debt incurred in India," Pavan's lawyer Paul Meyer said.
"The director of public prosecutions is trying to get extradition proceedings in place but it could take another year," Meyer said. Pavan is facing a further fraud charge over allegations he defrauded the Commonwealth Bank in 2003 by using false documents to obtain more than $450,000. The finance related to an Australian Foods order with a Taiwan company for a barley shipment.

Are we polite,eh?

2006-12-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

"Sorry," said one. "Sorry," said the second one. "Sorry," said the third. "Sorry," said the fourth. "Sorry," said the fifth passer by. I checked my self, my shoes, my bag, my jacket. Everything seemed fine. Then why were all these passers by saying sorry to me. Was it just because they overtook me? After a few weeks, on my first day on the sky train, a stranger fellow passenger said, "Hi! How are you?" Well, none of your business, I thought to myself. But I did manage a half hearted smile - out of courtesy.

Coming from New Delhi, I had never heard of greeting strangers, passers-by. Never experienced it either till I'd set my foot on this multi-cultural land. Canada came as a surprise to me. A pleasant one. So did the people in BC. Well, I cannot say about places like Toronto or Montreal. I have heard horror stories about these two places. Just kidding! Toronto was ranked third by Reader's Digest in the global courtesy ratings. Montreal was 21st.

As a new Indo-Canadian, I found it so difficult to smile at strangers or greet them. Something as simple as saying hello, became a fight for me. It just didn't come naturally. Every time I had to force myself to at least return the smile. The result: I stopped looking at people, pretending I was in a rush. At times on the sky train, I even pretended I was on the phone to avoid having a conversation with my fellow boarders.

Things have changed since then. I have completed almost 10 months in Vancouver (actually Surrey) and now I proudly and comfortably say sorry, hello, how are you to strangers, passengers etc etc. And I smile at anybody and everybody. Most recently, I even caught myself striking a conversation with a fellow sky train boarder. Believe me, I did.
No matter how much I loved and appreciated this courteous nature, deep inside I felt this politeness would crack under test - in a desperate situation. I was wrong. And I am glad I was proven wrong. During this month's heavy snowfall, the courteous level did go down, but negligible. The day after the heavy snowfall, I was walking down to the nearest bus stop in the morning. Had no choice but to share the snow-covered road with the vehicles. Out of 10 motorists that passed by, nine slowed down to avoid splashing snow at me. One didn't.

In the evening after work, due to bad weather and some other technical reasons, lesser number of sky trains was plying. The ones plying were over loaded. At Columbia sky train station, we had to wait in a long queue to board the expo line to King George. Some pushing and pulling did happen, but with a smile. Some did break the queue but said sorry. While some completely lost it acting as if they were the only ones stuck in a bad situation.
I, on the other hand, enjoyed being in queue after 10 months. In India, one has to stand in a queue almost everyday and everywhere. Let me shed some light on how the capital city of India works. (By the way I am proud to be an Indian, eh. None of the following shows my prejudice, only an insight into one of the most populous cities.) As I mentioned above, New Delhi is one of the most populated cities in the world. You see people anywhere, everywhere, every time, all the time. It simply becomes the survival of the fittest. It’s a situation of less supply and more demand. You want to be ahead of others to grab what is available.
About the queues, well, anywhere you go in Delhi there are long queues - at bus stops, at stations, airports, small shops, big shops, garment shops, shoe shops, movie halls, government offices, restaurants, fast food joints (Mac Donald’s), book stores, coffee shops, phone booths, doctor's clinics. Sometimes, even to pay a visit to a temple, one has to wait in a long queue. Now, considering the less supply and more demand situation, people have no time for politeness. It isn't that people aren’t polite. They just don’t have the time. They'd rather be earning some more money, or catching the overloaded bus than be polite. Right?
Coming back to Vancouver, or Canada as a whole, I am sure a lot of you born and raised here would not consider being courteous a big deal. Ask me - it is. Lately, I have noticed just making a short, harmless, courteous conversation with a complete stranger can be really healthy. That is because sometimes you come to know of things you weren't aware of, the other times it helps you keep your mind off a lot of trash, and finally, smiling while conversing makes you forget and forgive.
How's that, eh?

NRIs URGED TO INVEST IN ORISSA

2006-12-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

Describing Orissa as a state blessed by god, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Saturday called upon the Indian diaspora, especially Oriyas, to invest in the state to further its economic growth. Inaugurating a two-day convention of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and Oriyas from outside the state, Ravi said Orissa is a forward-looking state and has rich natural and mineral resources.
"Proper management of these resources would ensure that Orissa graduates to the level of a developed state," the minister said at the convention titled 'Emerging Opportunities in Orissa'. Hoping the convention would give an opportunity to NRIs for new initiatives and investment in Orissa, Ravi said that society could be fully developed only with social justice and equal opportunity and Orissa also could go ahead with this principle for development. Pitching for investment in the state, Orissa's Minister for Energy, IT and Culture Suryanarayan Patra said the atmosphere in the state was perfect for new projects. "In Orissa, we work as one - politicians, bureaucrats, government," he said.
Former chief justice of India GB Patnaik, addressing the gathering, said: "In this age of liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation, if the government does not come forward, then we can build our state with private enterprise, provided we have the will power." Orissa has seen high levels of investment in recent years. The state received 11 percent of the total foreign direct investment that has flowed into India this year, and, according to experts, there is potential for $30 billion worth of investment in the state.
Managing director of Posco India, the South Korean steel maker that is setting up a plant in Orissa, also gave a presentation of his company's plans. Three seminars - on IT and business process outsourcing (BPO), tourism and hospitality and on health and education - are being held during the convention. A five-day Orissa Utsav is also being organised at Dilli Haat from Dec 17-21. Around 100 delegates, including 40 from overseas, are attending the convention.

WINNIPEG INDO-CANADIANS DISCUSS FAMILY VIOLENCE

2006-12-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

Members of Winnipeg's Indo-Canadian community engaged in what they described as a first and difficult meeting Sunday night to discuss family violence in their culture. Community leaders, along with religious elders and counsellors, discussed sensitive subjects such as arranged marriages, spousal abuse and cultural pressures families may face after immigrating to Canada.
"We need to take responsibility if we become aware of it. And nobody wants to take responsibility because they're part of the problem," said Rubi Bedi, who attended the talks on Sunday. "Our elders, our priests ... our churches, our temples — they are all part of the problem. We are all part of it." The Sunday discussion came in the wake of the murders of a number of Indo-Canadian women this fall. In October, Navreet Waraich, 27, was stabbed to death by her husband in their Surrey home. Jatinder Waraich has been charged with second-degree murder.

INDIANS BOOST CHURCH ATTENDANCE IN BRITAIN

2006-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

In a role reversal of history, Indian priests are not only meeting the shortage of priests in churches in Britain, but Christian migrants from India, particularly from Kerala, are helping boost dwindling church congregations. Western missionaries in the 19th century trekked to remote tribal areas of India and converted tribes, who are now returning the favour by moving to places such as Wales to meet a shortage of priests there.

One of the first Indian priests to arrive in Wales to preach Christianity was Rev Hmar Sangkhuma, from the Diocese of Mizoram in northeastern India. Mizoram has a majority Christian population that was initially converted by missionaries from Wales between 1840 and 1960.Sangkhuma has been offering spiritual guidance to the local Welsh population in Maesteg, near Bridgend. Some time ago, a Methodist church in Swindon had its first Indian minister, Rev Ajay Singh.On taking over, Singh remarked that he was surprised that the congregation was not larger. "One of my aims while here will be to increase the size of the congregation; not to just fill the church, but for them to accept god," he had said.

During the colonial era, Christian missionaries were encouraged to spread the gospel in India's tribal areas, including the northeast. Much of the work was undertaken by missionaries from Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The Mizos consider the Welsh Presbyterian Church the "mother church'.Wrote former Home Secretary B.P. Singh in his book, "The Problem of Change: A Study of North-East India": "(The) impact of Christian missionaries on the tribal population was spectacular. "The Nagas, Mizos and Khasis in particular have undergone profound changes as a result of the spread of Christian ideals among them. Christianity taught these tribes the value of peace, tolerance and co-existence.

"The familiarisation of these tribes with new ideals, coupled with the subsequent independence and democratisation of the polity, have taken them into the modern world, with all its strengths and dangers. Church sources say that attendance in churches has been progressively dwindling in various parts of Britain. The 2001 census showed that fewer than one in 10 people in Wales regularly attended church or chapel that also faces a shortage of priests. The latest to report this is the county of Staffordshire, where recent migrants from various countries, including India, are helping boost congregations.

According to reports from Stoke, Staffordshire, the Holy Trinity Church in Hartshill hosts two groups of worshippers from North Staffordshire's Malayali community, who hail from Kerala.They meet on Sunday afternoons and evenings in the church hall. Their meetings boost church attendance. About 100 people in total attend the normal Sunday services, whereas around 80 Malayalis attend the two group sessions.

Roy Wilshaw, a churchwarden at Holy Trinity, said the new members were really making a difference to the church. He said: "It is lovely. We are in conversation with one another and we invite each other to special functions. It is good for us and good for them. It makes for a better relationship between the two communities."Mammen Philip, 34, said the Malayali community had used the Holy Trinity church hall free of charge for the last two years. Once a month the mass is held in the Malayalam language.

A priest travels from Birmingham to take the service at Holy Trinity. Philip said: "I think most British people are not very religious. There are 150 to 200 families from Kerala in North Staffordshire and most of them here are Christians, with 90 percent being Catholic. We are all religious."Every week, we go to church. When we came here we wanted to follow our customs and religion and teach our children how to grow in faith."Others boosting the church congregations in Staffordshire hail from Fiji and Poland.

INDO-CANADIAN YOUTH FIGHTING FOR LIFE

2006-12-11T23:50:00.000-08:00

An Indo-Canadian teenager is fighting for his life and his 11-year old friend is dead after plunging through the frozen surface of a pond in Ontario. Relatives identified the dead boy as Brunthan Nadarajah and 15-year-old Kishoban Alakeswaran as the boy who is listed in critical condition, according to the Star newspaper.

Rescuers struggled for nearly an hour Sunday before they could pluck Kishoban and Brunthan from the frigid waters of the small water retention pond. The nightmare began as a group of five young friends were walking across a field, taking a shortcut as they headed for a soccer game.As the boys walked past a pond, Kishoban and Brunthan, ignoring warnings from their friends, stepped out on the ice and began skipping stones across the frozen pond surface. Kishoban went through first, disappearing beneath the water as Brunthan, a Grade 6 student scrambled to save him. "Kishoban quickly disappeared under the water," one of the boys said.Brunthan struggled to stay afloat on his back, keeping his head out of the water, yelling "Save me! Save me! I can't breathe," the boy added.

However, Kishoban was the first to be pulled out, and rushed by ambulance to the nearest local hospital.Horrified bystanders said it took significantly longer before rescuers had Brunthan back on shore. He was immediately loaded into an air ambulance and rushed to Sick Kids. "It breaks your heart," said Sebastian Chiaramida, 44, one of Brunthan's neighbours. "It's been a traumatic day for everybody. It hurts, you've got young kids. Things like this always seem to happen around Christmas time. "Four police officers involved in the rescue had to be taken to hospital for hypothermia but were released after treatment.

FIRST GENERATION NRIs HEAD FOR INDIA

2006-12-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

They are the first generation Indians in the United States who migrated in the early 1960s. But even after spending nearly five decades in the fabled melting pot, they have not completely disconnected from India. This group of US citizens has found a way to get literally the best of both worlds - post retirement; they spend six months in their mother country and six months in their adopted country. Meet Shahmat Khan, Affiliate Research Professor at George Mason University, living in a sprawling bungalow in a Washington suburb. His wife and he have also bought a house in NOIDA and are in the process of transporting some of their exclusive stuff from their home in Washington to their new home in India.
Even as his wife calculated the cost of transportation, Khan tried to get answers to obvious questions such as the money required to lead a comfortable life in India. "Do you think with a monthly intake of a lakh of rupees, we will be able to live comfortably?" he asked. He is also not sure whether they should buy furnishings in India to deck up their NOIDA house to their American taste or to carry everything, from A to Z, from the US. "We are very excited as we will able to keep in close touch with our family and friends in India without distancing ourselves from our children," he added.
And they are not the only ones. Many Indians living in the suburbs of Washington, New York and elsewhere in the US or even Canada are now leading dual lives. After passing out from London School of Economics decades back, Liaqat Ali's obvious destination was the World Bank. On way to India for his six-monthly sojourn Ali said, "I landed in Washington DC in 1964 to work as an economist at the World Bank. We were only six Indians then. In those days Americans used to look at us with great puzzlement, they used to ask silly, inquisitive questions which often made my wife Sehba very angry." Liaqat retired after a distinguished career and has shifted base to Toronto after over 40 years in Washington. But he always spends six months in India.
He is happy maintaining two establishments, but is not sure how long this will remain feasible. He is involved in social work for his community in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh while his poet wife gets to mingle with her like-minded friends. "She loves the cultural life of UP, but at times gets furious over the frustrations of daily living in India. You need to know someone to get things done, unlike in the US where the system works. The phenomenon is raising eyebrows among Americans, who always believed their country could absorb people of every colour and background into one America. And here is a section of their population which is determined to preserve its own ethnic identity. (HT)

SOUTH ASIAN SOUGHT COUPLE FOR DOG-NAPPING

2006-12-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Burnaby: A Burnaby woman selling Chihuahua puppies has had one from the litter stolen.
Burnaby Police Constable Kalinda Link says an Indo-Canadian couple came to the seller's home on Colleen Street about 7pm Thursday to view a litter of tiny pups. After telling the seller that they wanted to take a male puppy out to show a realtive in a waiting car, the couple drove off with the pup.
Link says it's distressing, because the puppy is only five weeks old, "And that puppy has just been weaned from its mom and it really shouldn't be let loose from its mother until it is eight weeks." Link says the puppy will likely die because of its young age and the fact that it hadn"t had any vaccinations.

HOUSE-SIZE LIMIT SPURS CALLS OF RACISM

2006-12-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

A decision by Surrey council to restrict house sizes in a neighbourhood of ranch-style homes has led to accusations of racism. "I think it's racism," St. Helen's Park resident Kamaljit Thind said yesterday. "By this [decision], they are telling me I am not welcome here, that I am not allowed to build a home to fit my family."
Council on Monday night voted to limit the size of new homes in St. Helen's to 3,200 square feet, including the basement. The bylaw, the first of its kind in the city, was the result of two years of consultation with residents who wanted to preserve the North Surrey neighbourhood's character. But other residents, mostly of South Asian background, opposed the bylaw, calling it discriminatory.

MORE...

BE SMART AND SAFE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

2006-12-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Vancouver: With another weekend of pre-Christmas parties fast approaching, there are some do's and don't's to playing a good host. According to the BC Safety Council's Brian Lowes, ensuring your guests arrive home safely is key, even if it means not drinking at your own party, "You have to limit your own consumption of alcohol so that you retain your own judgement and ability to continue managing your party." One idea is to play tag team with your partner, "Couples often have, which one is going to be the designated driver, well, who's going to be the designated host." Lowes says having a plan for your Christmas party helps prevent any problems. If a guest is drunk, take away their keys and call them a cab.

INDIAN HELD FOR FRAUD IN UK

2006-12-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

An Indian employed with Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has been jailed for 18 months on charges of defrauding the service of thousands of pounds by exaggerating the number of women patients who went in for smear tests. Vinod Thapar, 62, was general practice manager with NHS. Thapar, of Cockfosters, north London regularly asked staff to falsify patients' medical records to show that women had received smear tests. The practice received extra money from the local primary care trust by claiming an exaggerated number of screenings, according to the Guardian.
"Changing the dates of smear tests meant screenings that may have detected cancer would have been delayed," Scotland Yard said. "Vinod Thapar's actions not only resulted in public finances being fraudulently obtained but they were also reckless with the health of the women whose records were falsified," said detective constable Grahame MacFarlane.
In October, Thapar pleaded guilty to four specimen charges of obtaining property by deception, costing the NHS 37,500 pounds. Police said it was impossible to estimate the total figure defrauded from the NHS. Thapar was also ordered by the court to pay 37,500 pounds compensation to a local Enfield and Haringey Primary Care trust on Friday.
The NHS was set up in 1948 and is the largest organisation in Europe. It is the 'public face' of the three publicly funded health care systems of Great Britain. The NHS provides the majority of healthcare in Britain, from general practitioners to accident and emergency departments, long-term healthcare and dentistry. It was founded in 1948 and has become an integral part of English society, culture and everyday life. It is recognised as one of the best health services in the world by the World Health Organisation.

BY LAW RESTRICTING CONSTRUCTION OF BIG HOUSES IN SURREY NEIGHBOURHOOD

2006-12-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

Surrey: The city of Surrey yesterday passed a by law restricting construction of over-size houses in a residential area of Surrey. This area is around The Khalsa School on 69th avenue and 124th street. The city council held a meeting yesterday after the neigbourhood appealed to restrict construction of big houses in order to maintain the beauty and heritage of the area.

However, the Indo-Canadian community wasn't too happy with the decision. Big houses are usually built by Indo-Canadians, therefore, the decision was seen as one preventing Indo-Canadians from buying houses in the nighbourhood. A lot of community members even made it a discrimination issue.

Mayor Dianne Watts said that the decision has got nothing to do with trying to prevent Indo-Canadians from buying houses in the area. A group of people want to preserve the beauty and heritage of their neighbourhood and they have a right to do so, she added.

Now...

Precisely, these people have a right to preserve whatever they want. But, in my opinion, people have a right to build super duper houses, if they wish to. In whatever case, it should not be made a discrimination or racism issue. Lets move over racism and start looking at things from a different angle and a different perspective.

WARNING ABOUT CONVENIENCE STORE THIEVES IN MAPLE RIDGE

2006-12-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

Businesses in Maple Ridge are being warned to keep their eyes open for a group of thieves. Two stores have been robbed in as many days.Police believe the group of 6 to 8 men and women enter the store together. While some distract store workers, others enter back areas and steal items such as cash and papers. One of the suspects is believed to be in her 40's, while the others are in their late teens or early 20's. All are thought to be Indo-Canadian.

STAR MEDIA GROUP PURCHASES CANADIAN IMMIGRANT MAG

2006-12-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

Star Media Group, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., has purchased the Burnaby-based publication, The Canadian Immigrant Magazine, the magazine’s publisher said today. Nick Noorani said Star Media Group will help launch the magazine nationally, with plans to print a Toronto edition in early 2007.
“For once, here’s a magazine born in Vancouver that is going to Toronto,” Noorani said. “I think it will be fabulous for us.” Noorani said he could not disclose the value of the deal. The Canadian Immigrant has a circulation of about 20,000 in the Lower Mainland. It carries articles about immigrant success stories, news and tips that help newcomers settle into Canada. Noorani and his wife Sabrina published the first edition of the magazine in April 2004, funding the publication through advertisement revenues and loans. (Van Sun)

GOOD ENGLISH IMPROVES MENTAL HEALTH OF ASIAN AMERICANS

2006-12-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Indian and other Asian men with good or excellent English skills are less likely to have mental health problems than those with poorer English proficiency, according to a new study of immigrants to the US. Asian Americans in general have lower rates of psychiatric disorders than American-born Asians and other native-born Americans with English-language proficiency the main variable among men and birthplace the key factor for women.

Asian-American immigrant women were far less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, substance abuse or psychiatric disorder in their lifetime than were US-born women, according to this first national epidemiological survey of the community. "Compared to all Americans, Asian Americans had lower lifetime rates of any disorder," said David Takeuchi, a sociologist and University of Washington social work professor and lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

"Roughly 48 percent of Americans will have some kind of a lifetime disorder. In our study, less than one in four Asian-American immigrants will have a disorder. However, that won't necessarily be the case for their children and grandchildren. If trends continue, rates for them will go up and that suggests that more investment is needed for prevention programmes. "The researchers used a questionnaire designed by the World Health Organisation to find out about incidents in the past year and lifetime of depression, anxiety, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, substance and alcohol abuse and eating disorders.

The questionnaire was available in six languages, although nearly three-quarters of the interviews were conducted in English. The study also found that there were no significant differences among the main immigrant groups, the Chinese, Filipinos and Vietnamese. Asian immigrants who came as elementary school-age children have an easier time learning English than older children, but are more at risk to develop a substance abuse problem.

American-born women are twice as likely to have a depressive disorder than Asian-born women.Among men, those born elsewhere are less likely to have a substance abuse problem than Asian-American men born in the United States. The study also raised a number of questions that Takeuchi said the researchers want to look at in the future.

He said they would like to compare the circumstances of immigrants who voluntarily migrate and those who are refugees." Someone who is a voluntary immigrant doesn't typically suffer the severe trauma that a refugee who is fleeing persecution or war does." And because social relationships can enhance or deter social mobility, the researchers also want to examine how discrimination is associated with mental health among Asian Americans.

Other papers in the journal look at the mental health of Latino and Black Caribbean immigrants to the United States. In general, all of the papers suggest that immigrants have lower rates of mental disorders than native-born Americans.

Data from the Asian-American paper was drawn from the larger National Latino and Asian American Study. For this paper, the researchers interviewed nearly 2,100 native-born or immigrant Asian Americans who were 18 or older. Participants included 600 Chinese, 520 Vietnamese, 508 Filipinos and 467 other Asians including Japanese, Koreans and Asian Indians.

NRI COP'S RACIAL CASE TAKES NEW TURN

2006-12-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Toronto: A lawyer representing an Indo-Canadian police official, who has filed racial discrimination charges against the police department, has accused a senior Canadian police officer with interfering in the case. Toronto lawyer Peter Thorning has said that police superintendent Kevin Chalk of the city of Waterloo, in southwestern Ontario, had sent e-mails to police officers in connection with the racial discrimination charges that his client, constable Rajiv Sharma, had brought against the police department.

A report in The Record, a local newspaper, quoted Thorning as saying that the e-mails have undermined his client's ability to defend himself. In November 2004, Sharma, an 18-year-old veteran in the police force, had filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) alleging that he was a victim of persistent harassment and discrimination since 1992 within the force in Kitchener where he was posted. Asians, mostly Indo-Canadians, comprise less than three percent of Kitchener's population of over 400,000.

In February 2004, Sharma was charged with neglect of duty, discreditable conduct, insubordination, corrupt practices and engaging in secondary activities. Secondary activities refer to a person holding a second job. The charges against Sharma stem from his alleged involvement with a private security firm, according to the Record. In his complaint to the OHRC, Sharma accused a number of senior officers of discouraging other officers from working and socialising with him.

"I believe that not only are racial minority citizens profiled, but racial minority police officers are also subjected to this impermissible conduct," Sharma was quoted as stating in his nine-page complaint.Speaking to the Record, Thorning said that he was starting to interview Sharma's fellow officers when the first of Chalk's two e-mails was sent.

"I am not saying he (Chalk) is obstructing justice," Thorning said. "But he is obstructing a legal procedure. He has put up barriers to the finding of truth." The lawyer has lodged a complaint with the police force, the Waterloo regional police board and the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services, which oversees policing in Ontario.Sharma, who is currently on sick leave, is scheduled to appear for a disciplinary hearing on Jan 29.

"RUSSIA IS UNSAFE FOR INDIAN STUDENTS"

2006-12-01T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hindustan Times spoke to Anjangi after she was attacked in Russia. She is a student there.

Tell us about the attack on you?
Anjangi: It was April 19, just before Hitler’s birthday and people were afraid , something might happen. I was coming home after having dinner with my sister. Just as I was entering a darkened archway right in front of our hostel, I felt someone was following me. I started walking faster, but one boy suddenly rushed up behind me and pushed me down. A second one then came from the other side and slit my throat. It happened very fast. I tried to chase them, but realised that I was bleeding profusely I staggered into the . hostel, and fellow students called the ambulance. I then underwent an operation that saved my life.

The attack on your fellow student last Sunday was very similar, wasn’t it?
Anjangi: He just went out to buy bread around 8 pm. In the same archway where I was attacked, five boys wearing black headbands stabbed him seven times. He managed to get into the hostel. People tried to help him. But he died from an excessive blood loss.

What do you feel about the atmosphere for Indian students in Russia?
Anjangi: I want to say this to all the students in India who are thinking of coming to Russia: it is very dangerous. You get the highest quality education over here, but there is no security for foreigners. There is a lot of fascism, and it is growing. The Russian government is doing nothing about it. There is no guarantee of one’s life.

STS-116

2006-12-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

STS-116, the next Space Shuttle mission on the shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on December 7, 2006. What makes this launch special is Sunita Williams, Flight Engineer on the mission. Yet another Person of Indian Origin to be proud of.

Kalpana Chawla made Indians proud as being the first Indian woman in space. Her last shuttle mission, however, ended in a tragedy. Women of Indian origin whether born in or out of India are clearly doing a great job.
In addition to being on the Space Shuttle Mission STS-116 Sunita Williams will join Expedition 14 (already in progress) on the International Space Station. So she will soon be first person of Indian origin to actually live in Space.

Sunita William's Bio:

This is what she will be eating during the mission:

And here is an interview:

Now, this leads me to a different debate altogether... I wonder whether India stands to gain by collaborating with the US in these space missions. India's first astronaut went to space with the help of the soviets. Should we try to send another via the US shuttle missions? Is there any value to such a collaboration?

INDIAN ORIGIN IN FRAY FOR TOP FOOTBALL POST

2006-12-01T22:53:00.000-08:00

A former Indian origin player of the Seychelles football team is among three candidates in the fray for the post of president of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). Suketu Patel, re-elected as chairman of the Seychelles Football Federation Wednesday, a post he has held since 1994, will face 1988 African Footballer of the Year and Zambian legend Kalusha Bwalya and Namibia High Court judge Petrus Damaseb in Saturday's election for the post of COSAFA president.

The election is being held after Botswana's Ismail Bhamjee stepped down from the post after being involved in a World Cup 2006 ticket sale scandal.Patel, 54, a former Seychellois goalkeeper, has also served in the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). He was also a member of the organising committee of FIFA world under-17 championships.Patel got a shot in the arm for his race to the COSAFA presidency with South Africa expressing its support for him.

"I have trust and faith in that man (Patel)," South Africa Football Association president Molefi Oliphant told the News 24 website."I sat with him on the CAF executive committee while he was the chairperson of the finance committee of CAF."COSAFA has to be strong and progress so we support the individual who we believe will push the region to a higher level," Oliphant was quoted as saying.

Zambia's Bwalya has also expressed confidence of winning the election.Now a businessman and TV analyst, Bwalya told BBC Sport: "With 25 years of playing the game which transcends across the globe, I have ensured all the stakeholders understand where I am coming from and what I am bringing."COSAFA is a powerful football body comprising countries in the southern Africa region.Its 13 members are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SINGHS A ROARING SUCCESS IN SINGAPORE ARMY

2006-12-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

General JJ Singh became the mascot of the Sikh community when he took over the reins of the army last year. And now the Singhs are roaring out loud in Lion City, Singapore, making their presence felt in the island-nation's Armed Forces (SAF).
Ravinder Singh has become the first Sikh to rise to the rank of brigadier general and assume the command of a frontline formation - the 6th Singapore Division. This is one of the SAF's three Combined Arms Division that has elements of infantry, armour, artillery, combat engineers, signals and air defence artillery.
SAF's web publication cyberpioneer quotes Ravinder Singh as saying, "Having enjoyed the challenges my career has given me, this promotion is really the icing on the cake. Work hard, do your best, and the SAF will definitely reward you accordingly - with challenging duties and ample recognition."
The SAF has a career military force of about 20,000, supplemented by 30,000 personnel on active national service and almost three lakh reservists. The ethnicity in Singapore's population is sufficiently reflected in the armed forces, which account for almost 8-10 per cent soldiers of Indian origin.
Singh's leap into prominence only re-emphasises the contribution these soldiers have made to the SAF. Singapore's first defence adviser in India, Colonel Perdit Kumar Tiwari, is also of Indian origin.
The genius of a battery of officers who trace their roots to India is shining brightly in the SAF. Lieutenant Colonel Deep Singh, for instance, served as Singapore's first military consultant to the United Nations.
In 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Sukhvinder Singh Chopra led an SAF contingent to the Middle East, as part of Singapore's contribution to multinational reconstruction effort in Iraq. More recently, Lieutenant Colonel Jaspal Singh Sidhu was the 'Mother Goose' responsible for controlling the fighter aircraft display at the National Day Parade 2006.
It's evident that ethnic background does not matter in the SAF - there are equal opportunities for the Chinese, Malays and Indians.

NRI TO SUE DUTCH BANK FOR RACIST REMARKS

2006-12-01T22:30:00.001-08:00

London: An NRI senior executive is suing the Dutch bank ING for more than 100,000 pounds alleging that she has been a victim of racist remarks in the bank and that her career hit a 'glass ceiling' because of her race. Forty two-year-old Meena Sagoo alleged that not long after joining the bank her boss told her how the rest of the staff had likened her to a character in the popular BBC TV comedy, The Kumars At No 42 .

Sagoo who earns 80,000 pounds a year will claim at an employment tribunal that another Asian, Brij Bharati, was nicknamed Bindi Bhaji - an Indian dish of okra and spices - by boss Richard Mutter. According to a report in The Daily Mail on Friday, she further claimed that her white colleague Chris Taylor caused offence by repeatedly discussing the British Raj with her. And she said other Asian and black members of staff were subjected to racist remarks following the September 11 attacks in America. She is bringing an employment tribunal claim for race discrimination and victimization against ING Services Limited.

The bank and Mutter, a managing director, strongly deny all her allegations. The case is due to be heard in February. British born and of Indian descent, Miss Sagoo from Hounslow, West London, joined ING's London Wall offices in the city in 2002 and became a vice-president a year later. She worked in an IT department developing computer systems for the bank's human resources team.

100-YEAR-OLD HINDU TEMPLE IN MALAYSIA RAZED

2006-12-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

Kuala Lumpur: A 100-year-old Hindu temple in Malaysia has been demolished following a court order. The deities will move to a new site provided by the authorities. Contractors appointed by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) bulldozed the Sri Muthu Mariamman temple Thursday at Skudia in Johor in southern Malaysia after a court order Tuesday seeking vacation of the temple premises, reported the New Straits Times Friday.

The temple was situated at the Uniroyal Linden Estate, a rubber plantation that was home to around 1,000 families. UTM, a public university with its main campus in Skudai, had first made claims on the plantation in 1992. Prior to that, in 1975, Malaysia's education ministry had bought off the plantation land for UTM.

Since 1992, there have been various attempts to save the temple. Help was sought from the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the premier political party representing the Indian community in Malaysia, and the Johor state government. Ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus, comprise around eight percent of Malaysia's total population of around 24 million.

The New Straits Times report quoted temple president A. Subramaniam as saying that his family had been looking after the temple for three generations."Soon after the sale of the plantation land to UTM in 1975, most menfolk lost their jobs and subsequently in 1987 UTM asked us to move out of our quarters," he told the newspaper.

"We were lucky to obtain low-cost houses through MIC."Temple authorities are planning to move the deities to another location provided by the Johor state government.A UTM lawyer told the dialy on condition of anonymity that the demolition process was carried out smoothly and there were no protests or demonstrations.Meanwhile, Malaysian Hindu Sangam president A. Vaithilingam has condemned the demolition. "While it is true the education ministry acquired the land for UTM, the authorities should have been fully aware that the old temple existed there," he said in a statement.

INDIAN EATERIES IN NZ VANDALISED

2006-12-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

Two Indian restaurants in New Zealand were targets of vandalism and arson last week, but its owners have ruled out racism as the motive. Sunny Grewal, who, along with his two brothers run the Pankawalla and India Today restaurants in New Plymouth, said that in all his years in New Zealand he had never faced the problem of racism.

"We have been six years in New Plymouth, and seven-and-a-half years in New Zealand, and I think not even once has there been any problem here," Grewal told the Taranaki Daily News. A fire at the Pankawalla restaurant last Sunday morning caused damages to the tune of NZ$200,000.

The owners also found cash and other items missing from the restaurant after the incident. Vandals also targeted the India Today restaurant at around the same time.Grewal also expressed his gratitude to the people of New Plymouth for their support after the incident, adding that he couldn't have expected this in Australia, where the three brothers had grown up.

The main city in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, New Plymouth, has a population of less than 50,000. Asians, including ethnic Indians, comprise less than two percent of the city's population."I've had phone calls from people we don't even know," Grewal told the newspaper. "I don't think it's racist at all - but maybe it's something we don't know."

The brothers' partner, Depak Ahluwalia, said the Grewals are very upset."They have put their heart and soul into it (the restaurants)," the Daily News report quoted him as saying.Insurance assessor Andrew Brooke said that work on rebuilding the Pankawalla would be carried out as quickly as possible with the resources available.

"We've made some inquiries today and there are people willing to help us. A surprising number of people have stuck their heads in the door to offer help," he said.Meanwhile, New Plymouth police said that investigations into the incidents are still at an early stage.