10 vol 6 epaper

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Washington DC: In a momentous

ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court

struck down key elements of the

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

on Wednesday and, by refraining to

uphold a ban in California

(Proposition 8), allowed for a

resumption of same-sex marriages

in that state.

While that 5-4 verdict respects

and takes a cue from the shift in

public opinion and has been hailed

widely, the apex courts decision

killing federal oversight provisionin the Voting Rights Act has mainly

attracted brickbats from the liberals

and the minorities.

The DOMA ruling means same-

sex couples lawfully married in the

District of Columbia and the 12

states including New York that

have sanctioned same-sex marriage

cannot be denied federal benefits

such as health care, custody, pen-

sions and survivor benefits that are

routine for

New Delhi/Dehradun: Persistent efforts

over the past more than 10 days have suc-

ceeded in the evacuation of more than

100,000 people, including locals, from the

rain and flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand as

authorities cremated many bodies in

Kedarnath Thursday. Around 1,800 people

are still stranded in the state.

With 12 days elapsing since the flood-rain

tragedy hit the state, a clearer picture of the

massive losses has began to emerge. Over

1,500 roads have been swept away, while

around 2,000 houses and 154 bridges have

been damaged.

The bodies of 18 security personnel -

ITBP, IAF and the National Disaster

Response Force (NDRF) - who were among

the 20 killed in Tuesday's chopper crash,

were also recovered.

NDM A vice chai rm an M. Shashidhar

Reddy said : "Approximately 1,829 people

are still stranded all

The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m

Vol.6 No. 10 June 29-July 5, 2013 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Travel 16 Bollywood 18 Spiritual Awareness 30First Person 14 excellence in journalism

Bouquets and brickbats for Supreme Court rulingon gay marriage and on voting rights

Washington, DC:

Already hailed as his-

toric, the US Senate

voted 68 to 32

Thursday to pass the

Border Security,

E c o n o m i c ,Opportunity, and

I m m i g r a t i o n

Modernization Act,

one of the most dra-

matic immigration

overhauls to pass the

Senate in decades.

The legislation will

put 11 million immi-

grants who entered the

country illegally on a

path to citizenship, boost border security and

set up a system to keep American business

owners from hiring illegal immigrants. As

senators filed into

Immigration reform billsails through Senate

14 Republicans voted for it, but the Housecontrolled by their party may not be that kind.

Shudh Prakash Jasuja (shown with white scarf), the most

well known face of Indian National Overseas Congress (I)in United States, has been appointed its President by DrKaran Singh, Chairman of the NRI Cell, Congress (I) ofIndia. Jasuja has served as Vice President of INOC(I) forover a decade and considered as most prominent leaderof INOC(I).

Shudh Jasuja: New INOC (I) President

Members of the bipartisan Gang of Eightthat authored the immigration reform billand piloted it successfully in the Senate.

5 Supreme Court justices struck down Defense of Marriage Act,

while 4 including Chief Justice John Roberts were the minority vote.

Continued on page 4Continued on page 4

Continued on page 4

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TheSouthAsianTimes.info June 29- July 5, 2013

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3June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY

Washington: The United States

will suspend trade privileges for

Bangladesh because of concerns

over labor rights and worker safe-

ty that intensified after hundreds

died there in the global garment

industry's worst accident.

Obama administration made its

announcement Thursday, the cul-

mination of a years long review of

labor conditions in the impover-

ished South Asian nation.

Democratic lawmakers have

been pushing for the step. Underthe Generalized System of

Preferences, Bangladesh can

export nearly 5,000 products

duty-free to the U.S., its leading

market. While the GSP covers

less than 1 percent of

Bangladesh's nearly $5 billion in

exports to the U.S. and doesn't

include the lucrative garment sec-

tor, it could deter American com-

pa ni es fr om in ve st ing in

Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, one of the world's

poorest coun tries , is anxious to

keep the trade benefit. While the

immediate economic costs may

not be significant, it carries repu-

tational costs and may sway a

decision by the European Union,

which also is considering with-

drawing GSP privileges. EU

action could have a much biggereconomic impact, as its duty-free

privileges cover garments.

Bangladesh's government says

it is taking steps to improve work-

er safety after the April 24 col-

lapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that

killed 1,129 people, and to amend

the nation's labor law.

US to suspend Bangladesh trade privileges White House holds first-ever briefing on Sikh civil rights issuesWashington, DC: It was a historic

first as the White House held in

Mid-June a briefing on Sikh civil

rights issues.

The briefing was organized in col-

laboration with the White House

Initiative on Asian Americans and

Pacific Islanders and the White

House Office of Public

Engagement at the request of the

Sikh Coalition.

Approximately 50 activists from

around the country attended the

br ief ing . The ass embled gro upincluded graduates from the 2011

and 2012 classes of the Sikh

Coalition's Sikh Advocate

Academy.

The leaders and activists were

given a briefing in the Eisenhower

Executive Office Building.

Commissioner Chai Feldblum of

the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission;

Kimberly Walton, Assistant

Administrator of TSA and John

DiPaulo of the Office for Civil

Rights at the Department of

Education talked about the federal

government's efforts to combat

employment discrimination, airport

pr of il in g, an d sc ho ol bu ll yi ngrespectively. In addition, Karen

Chaves, Policy Advisor to the

White House Initiative on Asian

Americans and Pacific Islanders,

spoke about the work of the

Initiative to address Sikh and

br oa de r As ia n Am er ic an an d

Pacific Islander concerns.

Sikh community leaders and activists posing in front ofthe White House.

By Jinal Shah/SATimes

New York:Flashing lights,blar ing horn s and inne r

peace? If there were ever a

pl ace to te st your yo gic

focus, it's Times Square in

Manhattan. On June 21, I

too decided to test my yogic

focus at the NYC Summer

Solstice Yoga so I put on my

yoga pants, grabbed a mat

and landed at the unusual

venue - you got to admit,

pra cti cin g yog a at Times

Square is the ultimate con-

tradiction considering yoga

is supposed to be for inner

peace and works best when you are all by

yourself. Anyway, I was late in registering my

name so I decided to try my luck with spot

registration along with my mother, also a yoga

enthusiast (who had come all the way from

India) and sister. There were some 16,000

enthusiasts just like me trying to find tranquil-

ity at what is arguably the worlds glitziest

and busiest street. The event fittingly named

Mind over Madness included five classes

taught over the course of the day. The routine

hustle and bustle did indeed swirl around the

yoga practitioners, who performed their Surya

namaskars and Shavasanas on small pedestri-

an islands on Broadway between 48th and

43rd.

Metal fence guarded groups of practitioners

as they listened to leading yoga instructors

belting out directions. Taxis honked and fire

trucks blared by with their

sirens loud. Yet, the yogis

and yoginis were unfazed

as they posed on their mats.More people walked in all

day long, some for free

yoga mats, some for fun

and photos. It was quite a

sight to see yogis practic-

ing on sheets of cardboard.

As for us, we were at the

other side of the fence for

most part of the day, taking

pictures just like any curi-

ous foreign tourist milling

around to see thousands of

Americans stretch to

instructions. We missed the

afternoon Bikram Yoga

session and waited for the next one Rodney

Yee who NYTimes christened as The First

Lady of Yoga. First we were asked to relax.

We settled down next to a veteran yogi, took

our shoes off and made ourselves comfortable

sitting in the middle of Broadway. In fact I felt

as if I was in a simulated ride, everything

around me moved at an unprecedented pace

even the cycle rickshaw!

Soon the hum of Om (with an accent!) rose

above the everyday wailing of police sirens

and honking of rude taxis. Half way through

as I gazed up at the sky up past the looming

skyscrapers, the instructor said breath it all

in, it is all a part of you." One deep breath in,

in the middle of all the commotion, suddenly

made me realize that all the high-rises, the

flashlights, the noise, the smell and the people

- are part of me, my existence.

Practicing the great Indian export@ Times Square

New York: In a year of

countless accomplishments,

India Abroad for the first

time chose two Indian-

American icons jointly as its

Person of the Year 2012.

US Congressman Dr

Amerish Ami Bera, only

the third Indian American to

be elected to the Congress ,

was honored as Person of

the Year for Political

Achievement. USAID

Administrator Dr Rajiv Raj

Shah was declared Person of

the Year for Public Service.

The awards were present-

ed by Preet Bharara, US

Attorney for the Southern

District of New York.

The 10th annual India

Abroad Person of the Year

Awards gala was held at The

Pierre in Manhattan last

weekend.

Dr Romesh Wadhwani, the

self-made billionaire

founder of the Symphony

Technology Group who is

donating 80 percent of his

wealth to charitable causes,

and Dr Natwar Gandhi, who

br ou gh t th e Di st ri ct of

Columbia back from the

brink of financial ruin as its

CFO, were awarded the

India Abroad Lifetime

Achievement Award 2012.

India Abroad Publishers

Special Award for

Excellence went to Amrit

Singh, the senior legal offi-

cer for National Security and

Counterterrorism, Open

Society Justice Initiative.

Accomplished daughter of

Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh, her report,

Globalizing Torture: CIA

Secret Torture and

Extraordinary Rendition,

received widespread atten-

tion in the international

media.

Ami Bera and Raj Shah jointly are

India Abroad Person of the Year

USAID Administrator Raj Shah and CongressmanAmi Bera. (Photo: Paresh Gandhi/Rediff.com)

You may ask, isnt yoga forinner peace and works best

when you are all by yourself?(Photo: Jinal Shah)

Also honored was AmritSingh, human rights

activist known for herground breaking work,and daughter of Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh.

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4 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoTURN PAGE

Immigration reform bill sails...

Continued from page 1

their seats, not only the magnitude of

immigration reform, but the spirit of

bipartisanship hung over the chamber as

the original architects of the bill, the

"gang of eight" reflected on the legisla-

tive battles that lie behind them.

The bill attracted 14 Republican yays,

a key step to boosting the bill's momen-

tum before it goes to the GOP-controlledHouse where the odds for bipartisan

immigration reform remain slim. House

Speaker John Boehner doubled down

Thursday on his promise that he will not

bring any legi slat ion to the floo r that

cannot garner a majority of the

Republican caucus, even a compromised

agreement that may be forged between

the House and the Senate in conference

committee.

"For any legislation, including the con-

ference report, to pass the House it's

going to have to be a bill that has the

support of the majority of our members,"

Boehner said.

One of the reasons the legislation was

able to garner so much Republican back-ing Thursday was that from the begin-

ning, the gang of eight brought together

some of Washington's oddest policy bed-

fellows.

The Chamber of Commerce and

unions like the AFL-CIO came together

to negotiate the future flow of low-

skilled workers, the American Farm

Bureau and the American Farm Workers

Union agreed on a program to reform the

number of farm workers brought to the

country and the Catholic church and

evangelicals came together to prod the

process along.

Over 100,000 rescued, 1,800 still ...


over Uttarakhand and we are hopeful

that the rescue operation would be over

by Friday."

The National Disaster Management

Authority, an autonomous body to coor-

dinate disaster preparedness, said

104,095 people had been evacuated from

the state till Thursday.

Reddy said 560 people have died, 463

have been injured and 344 missing in the

floods.

"Around 2,000 houses were damaged

as well as 154 bridges," he told

reporters.

Reddy also said that several roads,

which had been closed due to the rescue

operations, have now been opened. The

roads from Uttarkashi to Gangotrri,

Joshimath to Badrinath and a few roads

going towards Rudryaprayag are stillclosed due to damage in landslides and

repair work was on.

Bouquets and brickbats for Supreme ...


both mem bers of conventional mar -

riages. The ruling did not address

whether gays have a constitutional right

to marry and thus will have no impact on

the more than 30 states that do not allow

same-sex marriages or recognize the

legality of those who move from states

where they are legal. As a result, sup-

porters and opponents of gay marriage

were bracing for battles ahead on the

issue.

On striking down key parts of theVoting Rights Act of 1965, the court

freed the Southern states from federal

oversight of their election laws and set-

ting off a fierce reaction from civil rights

advocates and Democratic leaders.

The court's conservative majority

moved Tuesday to rein in a law that is

credited with transforming the South by

ensuring blacks could register and vote.

The court left open the possibility that

Congress could fix the law, but the parti-

san gridlock that has dominated the leg-

islative branch in recent years appears to

make that unlikely.

In a third major decision pending

before it, the court on Monday hedged

its bets, allowing affirmative action to

survive in college admissions but

imposed a tough legal standard, ruling

that schools must prove there are no

workable race-neutral alternatives to

achieve diversity on campus. In a way,

the decision amounts to a warning to

colleges nationwide that the courts will

treat race-conscious admissions policies

with a high degree of skepticism.

Three honored by INOC (I)New York: At a receptionINOC(I) hosted for Dr Karan

Singh, chair, Foreign Affairs

Cell of Congress (I) party on

June 20th at World Fair Marina

in Queens, three prominent

Indian Americans were honored.

Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori is

Professor and Executive Vice

Chairman of the Radiation

Oncology Department at The

Ne w Yor k- Pr es by te ri an

Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical

College in New York City. He is

also Chairman of Radiation

Oncology at The New York

Hospital Medical Center ofQueens. Dr. Nori has treated

Indias ruling UPA chairperson,

Mrs.Sonia Gandhi at Memorial

Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Hospital in NY.

Peter Bheddah is a business-

man and philanthropist. In 1972,

he founded IDC Marketing

Corp., one of the first Indian

American-owned firms in the

wholesale electronics sector. In

1994, he began assisting the less

fortunate through the IALI and

the Interfaith Nutrition

Network. He is past president

and a director of the Nargis Dutt

Memorial Foundation, which

has provided over $5 million of

cancer detection equipment to

Indian hospitals.

Gobind Munjal, a CPA by pro-

fession, has worked as a Senior

Vice President of Finance and

Mergers & Acquisitions and

served on the Board of Directors

of the International Division of

Tata Group of Hotels in the

USA. In 2006 he started his own

advisory and consultancy serv-

ices. He served as President of

India Association of Long

Island (IALI) in 2011.

Acclaimed Bollywood actress VidyaBalan will be the Grand Marshal atIndia Day Parade organized by FIA inNew York on August 18, 2013.

Dr. DattatreyuduNori

Peter Bheddah Gobind Munjal

Our next issue, dated July 6-12, 2013,

celebrates Americas Independence Day

(July 4). You are invited to share your

views on what makes America special,

and/or your experiences of living and

working in this country.Please email the

article in about 300-500 words by July 2

to [email protected]

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

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Washington, DC: Asserting that theIndian Patents Act related to phar-maceutical products is not discrimi-natory against foreign companies,

the Indian ambassador to the UnitedStates, Nirupama Rao, offered con-cerned lawmakers to discuss the is-sue for the sake of long-term bilater-al and strategic partnership betweenthe two countries.

"My senior colleagues at the em-bassy stand prepared to come andmeet with your key officials or yourconstituents to engage in a friendlyand substantive exchange of viewsso as to promote deeper understand-ing, and to seek mutually satisfacto-ry solutions, in a spirit of friend-ship," Rao said in a letter to the USlawmakers. Explaining the existingIndian laws and policies to protectintellectual property, Rao wrote theletter to members of the Senate IndiaCaucus and the House of Represen-tative Congressional Caucus on In-dia and Indian-Americans.

The letter dated June 20, comes inresponse to the series of letters frommore than 250 US lawmakers in re-cent days - from both the members

of Senate and the House of Repre-sentatives - addressing either theSecretary of State or US Presidentalleging the trade policies to be dis-

criminatory."As a member of the Senate IndiaCaucus you have always been astaunch advocate of strong India-USrelations and our strategic partner-ship. We are deeply appreciative ofyour commitment to further thecause of friendship between ourcountries," Rao said.

"India has a well-settled, stableand robust intellectual propertyregime. The three main pillars of thisregime are comprehensive laws, de-tailed rules to back them up, andstrong enforcement mechanisms, in-cluding for dispute resolution. In In-dia, the IP framework is rooted inlaw," she said.

Rao said that that the highest share(20-30 per cent) of all patents grant-ed in India has gone to US nationalsand corporations. Of all the patentsgranted for pharmaceutical inven-tions between 2005 and 2011, morethan 85 per cent were owned by for-eign companies in India, she added.

5June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY

India ready to discuss patent policieswith US lawmakers: Nirupama Rao

By Jinal Shah/SATimes

New York: If there was any doubtthat Diwali had become a well-en-

trenched event on New York Citysmulticultural calendar, wait until thisDiwali. Thanks to a new initiativeby Evolve group, New Yorkers willexperience more than just fireworksthis season. India Unlimited anew enterprise- promises to show-case India on a bigger and a bolderplatform.

India Unlimited, a 10 day festivalstarting from October 24 will show-case Indian achievements, festivals,culture, royal traditions, and luxurytravel through special events andprojects at various locations all overManhattan.

In our current global atmosphere,we are witnessing a unique socialphenomenon where relations haveextended across cultures and peoplewant to know more about each oth-ers values and traditions, saidSapnna Vats, co-founder of Evolve.It is with this philosophy in mindthat we have created India Unlimit-ed, an opportunity to bring Indiacloser to the world and share the

magnitude of our countrys achieve-ments with mainstream America.

The events will include an awardsceremony, Broadway musical show-casing the legend of Rama (HinduGod), specially-curated tastingmenus at fine dining Indian restau-rants, art contests, and fashion andcomedy shows.

Experience India Unlimited this Diwali

New York: Le Corbusier: An Atlasof Modern Landscapes, newly in-stalled at the Museum of Modern Artis a sprawling introduction to the lifeand work of this Swiss-born giant.The exhibition continues throughSeptember 23.

The shows curators, Jean-LouisCohen and Barry Bergdoll, havemarshaled hundreds of drawings,watercolors, paintings, models and

films, a cornucopia gleaned to a largeextent from the Fondation Le Cor-busier. Theyve commissioned large-scale photographs by Richard Pareand fabricated full-size reproduc-tions of furnished rooms. Theresnearly everything that could practi-cally be exhibited here, including theproverbial sink, albeit not a kitchensink but one from the architects tee-ny seaside cabin, abreast the gulf of

Monte Carlo, where, in late summer,1965, when he was 77, after a swimagainst doctors orders, his deadbody washed onto the beach.

Born Charles-douard Jeanneret ina provincial Alpine village in 1887,Le Corbusier became a maker ofpure, Cubist form, having evolvedhis voice from the whitewashedwalls and Pentelic marble that he hadadmired.

The lengthy Op-Ed in The

New York Times is wel-

come, given the author's inti-

mate love of words, vision and ap-preciating the effects of time and

travel upon people, religions, na-

tions and history. I read beyond the

necessary management of bilateral

expectations, on a host of issues and

perceptions, a desire for a new tryst

with destiny between the country

Columbus set out to find and thecountry Columbus ended up caus-

ing birth of.

The pre-election India and the

post-election United States is a self-

contained "check and balance" of

democracy. Yet, within arms reach

of our Secretary of State John Ker-

ry, a warrior, politician and states-man, and India's Foreign Minister

Salman Khurshid, an author, politi-

cian and philosopher-statesman, is a

new tryst with destiny that seeks to

make history more honest and a fu-

ture more perfect.

United States has done much,

from helping India's freedom in

1947 to hoping to see a "special re-

lationship" partner like Great

Britain. The natural love affair be-

tween the oldest and largest democ-

racies is rooted in history and citi-

zenship even more than govern-

mental. It is the will of natural law,

above the rule of law, that India and

United States find their "sweet spot"of trust and reliance no matter the

issues or perceptions.

Our Declaration of Independence

and the Constitution ought not be

forgotten, as the relationship be-

tween us and India is rooted in same

beyond the Boston Tea Party.

Ravi Batra

Eminent Attorney, New York

Letter to the Editor

Columbus: Kerry & Khurshid, Obama & Singh

Le Corbusier exhibition opens at Museum of Modern Art

Chandigarh hosts the largest of Le Corbusier's many Open Hand sculptures,standing 26 metres high. Seen here the Legislative Assembly designed by him.

He was architect of Indias first planned city Chandigarh

A 10-day fest will see specialevents at various locations all

over Manhattan

Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan performed at Nassau Coliseum in LongIsland, NY, June 15 in a concert presented by ARIZ Inc as a grand

finale to his US tour. The King of Qawali and Sufi music sang his hitsongs such as Afreen Afreen and Sajda. He sang his most popular

song Tere Mast Mast Do Nain on stage alongside his son, Shaadman.

Events include:

Global Indian LeadershipAwards 2013

Laughter Rockets ComedyShow with headliner Papa CJ

Ramayana, the BroadwayMusical

Festive Feast with VikasKhanna of Master Chef India

The Splendid Indian ClosetFashion Show

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan regales New Yorkers with his popular songs

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

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6 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoNATIONAL COMMUNITY

IN BRIEF

Gayatri Pariwar appeals to help Uttarakhand flood victims

Gayatri Pariwar (www.awgp.org) has

made an appeal to join the flood relief

work in Uttarakhand. Shantikunj (

Haridwar, Headquarter of Gayatri Pariwar) has

taken up the task of providing the relief and re-habilitation work on a war footing.

The government of India has provided the

disaster management team of Shantikunj with

helicopter services to distribute food and life -

saving needs of stranded persons. Its volunteers

are helping army and paramilitary persons on

24/7 basis. The Shantkunj Ashram is prepared

to provide accommodation and medical facili-

ties for thousands of returning pilgrims. Free

staying arrangements has been made in Shan-

tikunj for victims as well as their relatives for

over 3000 people. Three state governments (

Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan ) have set up their

control and command headquarters in Shan-

tikunj for the relief operations. Narenda Mod-

iji ( CM Gujarat) and Shivrajsingh Chauhan

(CM, MAdhya Pradesh) visited Shantikunj to

oversee the relief operations. Ministers and ad-ministrative staff over seeing relief operation

from many states of India are working hand in

hand with volunteers from Gayatri Pariwar.

Over 50000 meals and many other items

have been shipped to the affected areas in col-

laboration with military and government agen-

cies. Dr Pranav Pandya ( Head, Gayatri Pari-

war) has taken a sankap to revive the Hi-

malayan region of Uttrakhand over next three

years and Shantikunj will support reconstruc-

tion of over 50 villages.

One can make tax deductible donation in

USA at the following center of Gayatri Pariwar.

Gayatri Chetna Center ( In Memo: please

write- for Uttrakhand Flood Relief), 240, Cen-

tennial Ave, Piscataway, NJ 08854

Phone:732-357-8200

One can also make online donation at

http://www.gayatricenter.org/donations.php

Indian American convicted for murder

An Indian American man has been

convicted of murder of another In-

dian American man outside a Sikh

temple in the US state of California in 2008.

A jury in Sacramento convicted Gurpreet

Singh Gosal, 28, for the second degree mur-

der of Parmjit Pamma Singh outside the

Bradshaw gurdwara in Sacramento, Califor-

nia, during a Sikh sports festival Aug 31,

2008.

According to the jurors, Gosal fired a

weapon but did not hit anyone.

However, it was his friend, Amandeep

Singh Dhami, who shot and killed Singh

over a long-running dispute between the

two, the Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.

Dhami has reportedly fled to India after

the incident with help from friends.

"I think the jury did a good job, deputy

district attorney Anthony Ortiz, who had

asked the panel for a fi rst-degree conviction

on Gosal under an aiding and abetting theo-

ry, was quoted as saying.

"The case had some major issues and they

worked through them, and I think they came

to a just verdict.

--Compiled by Hiral Dholakia-Dave

Sree Sreenivasan named Metropolitan Museums first

Chief Digital Officer

Thomas P. Campbell,

Director and CEO of

The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, has an-

nounced the appointment of

Sree Sreenivasan as the Mu-

seums first Chief Digital

Officer. He is currently

Chief Digital Officer at Co-

lumbia University and a

member of the faculty of

Columbia Journalism

School, where he teaches

social and digital media.

At the Metropolitan Mu-

seum, he will explore new

digital opportunities for the

Museum and lead its Digital Media Depart-

ment, which is responsible for managing

and producing digital contentespeciallydocumentation and interpretive materials

on the Museums collectionand for de-

livering it to a variety of audiences, both

online and in the galleries. He will join the

Museum on August 12.

Mr. Campbell stated, in making the an-

nouncement: Sree comes to the Met with a

strong background in the communication of

ideas. His work in traditional journalism,

his role as a commentator on technology

and media issues, and his expertise in web-

sites and social media will all be key to the

Museums work in the digital space. His

academic background will also position

him well within our commu-

nity of scholars, and we look

forward to working with him

as we leverage mobile, in-

gallery, and online platforms

for the Mets collections.

Until now, Ive had a

one-way, three-decade-long

love affair with the Met,

said Sree Sreenivasan, so I

am absolutely delighted to

have this opportunity to con-

tribute as part of the staff

and as the leader of the digi-

tal media team there. Much

of my work in recent years

has been about connecting

the physical and the digital, the in-person

and the online experience. Now I look for-

ward to forging new connections betweenthe superb, expansive collections of the

Metwhich are a true representation of our

shared global historyand the two billion

people who use the web. Sreenivasan has

been named one of Poynters 35 most in-

fluential people in social media; one of

AdAges 25 media people to follow on

Twitter; one of SPJs top 20 journalists to

follow on Twitter; one of OnlineCol-

leges.nets 50 most social media savvy pro-

fessors in America; one of GQ Indias 30

digital Indians; and one of the Huffington

Posts 50 media people to follow on Face-

book.

Volunteers preparing the food packets

Indian Consulate organizes photo exhibition on Sikh art and heritage

The Consulate General of India, New York

organized week long exhibition of photos

of Sikh Art and Heritage The Sikhs: A

Heritage of Valor and Devotion at Bharatiya

Vidya Bhavan, New York from June 19 till June

23, 2013. The exhibition was organized in asso-

ciation with the Indian Council of Cultural Rela-

tions.

Consul General Ambassador Dnyaneshwar

Mulay inaugurated the exhibition on June 19,2013. During his address he mentioned that the

Sikh tradition in India has contributed immense-

ly to the Indian philosophy and to the Indian way

of living making rich contribution to Indias uni-

ty in diversity. He also emphasized the fact that

the Sikh religion and culture has created strong

foot prints not only in India but now Sikh com-

muintys contribution has been recognized all

over the world and particularly in the United

states. He said the viewers of the exhibition

would appreciate the rich Indian heritage of

which the great Sikh heritage is the part.

The photo exhibition is by Sondeep Shankar,

an eminent photographer from India, and pro-

vides a glimpse of rich Sikh heritage and tradi-

tions. For more than two decades, Mr. Shankar

has roamed the length and breadth of India in an

effort to photographically document the heritage

of Sikhism, a religion whose teachings are

founded in the philosophy of humanism, plural-

ism and universal brotherhood. It was deeply in-

fluenced by the devotional movement and syn-

thesized liberal traditions of all religions preva-

lent in India at that time.

The exhibition was visited by large number of

members of the Indian community particularly

the Sikh community and also from various cul-

tural organizations.

The exhibition was visited by manycommunity members

Do you feel strongly about something?Do you want to overcome the writers block?Dear Reader,

Citizen journalism is an essential component

of a healthy democracy. Here is an opportunity

to make yourself heard. The South Asian Times

(TSAT) is your voice. If you feel strongly about

something, do share your views with us and

other readers. If you belong to a community

group, association or society, send us informa-

tion about its activities. Your contributions will

be published with your name and photograph in

the online and print editions of TSAT.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

and LinkedIn. We have surprise gifts for readers

who actively engage with TSAT on both print

and social media channels. Send your contribu-

tions to [email protected] and

dont forget to say Hi to us on Facebook, Twitter

and LinkedIn.

Managing Editor

The South Asian Times

Email press-releases, information on

community events, news announcements to our

Associate Editor Hiral Dholakia-Dave on

[email protected].

Hot Topics you can comment on:

1. Now that the Supreme Court has okayed Gay mar-

riages, do you think Indian American parents too will

be more accepting?

2. What do you think - cyber whistle-blower Edward

Snowden is a hero or a traitor?

3. What is your take on the Immigration Bill? How is it

going to affect you personally? Are you for or against it?

The South Asian Timese x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m

New York seniors celebrated Father's Dayon June 17 at a temple in Glean Oaks, NY.

The speakers, Jasubhai Bandhanikar,

Mrs Gopi Udeshi, Kantibhai Patel, andLabhubhai Upadhyaya, talked about thehistory of Fathers day and the effects

on culture in India and USA.

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

7/31

7June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY

Washington, DC: The US

Defence Secretary Chuck

Hagel has apologized to an

Indian American professor

for jokingly asking him if he

was a member of the Taliban

during a university event in

Nebraska early this week.

Hagel had jokingly asked

Robert A Gandhi, the Indian-

American Professor "you are

not a member of the Taliban,

are you?", before he rose to

ask a question to the Defence

Secretary at the event.

"He (Hagel) expressed

regret for any trouble this

caused the professor," the

Pentagon Press Secretary,

George Little, said, addingthat such a remark by the

Defence Secretary "was a

comment directed at no one

in particular," and a lame

attempt at humor.

Hagel personally called

Gandhi, who is an Assistant

Professor of Information

Assurance, at the University

of Nebraska, Omaha.

"They had a very good dis-

cussion and (Hagel) wanted

to leave no impression that

this joke was directed at any-

one in particular, including

the professor," Little said.

In a statement released bythe University, Gandhi said

he was honored to hear the

speech of the Defence

Secretary and get response

from him on his question of

cyber weapons.

"I was honored to attend

Secretary of Defence Hagel's

speech on Wednesday. I was

able to ask a question, and I

thoroughly enjoyed hearing

his answer. Before I rose to

ask a question, there was

apparently some confusion

that did not involve me,"

Gandhi said.

Gandhi's research interestsinclude information assur-

ance, regulatory require-

ments modeling and analy-

sis, software engineering,

knowledge-intensive soft-

ware systems, software

assurance, certification and

accreditation, software met-

rics and measures, and risk

assessment.

Hagel apologizes to Indian Americanprofessor for Taliban joke

Indian Americans among business

leaders Obama meets on immigration

Appeals Court upholds Rajaratnams conviction

Washington: President Barack

Obama met a group of top business

executives, including two Indian-

Americans, to discuss with them

the comprehensive immigration

reform. Addressing this small

group of nine top American CEOs

in the Roosevelt room of the White

House on Monday, Obama said

that immigration reform would be

a boost to the American economic

recovery.

The two Indian-American CEOs

were Farooq Kathwari, chairman,

president and CEO of Ethan Allen

Interiors Inc and Sunil Puri,

founder, First Rockford Group.Welcoming these "extraordinary

business leaders" Obama said, all

of these business leaders recognize

the degree to which immigration is

a contributor to growth, a contribu-

tor to expansion, a creator of jobs

but they also recogn ize tha t the

immigration system that we cur-

rently have is broken.

"We have a system in which we

bring out sta nding young peo ple

from all across the world to edu-

cate them here, and unfortunately,

too often, we send them right back

so that they can start companies or

help to grow companies some-

where else instead of here," Obama

said. "We have a situation in which

millions of individuals are in the

shadow economy, oftentimes

exploited at lower wages, and that

hurts those companies that are fol-

lowing the rules, because they end

up being at a disadvantage to some

of these less scrupulous compa-

nies," he added.He also noted that some of the

business owners at the table were

immigrants, and like the genera-

tions of immigrants that came

before them, these business leaders

came to this country to build a bet-

ter life and are now helping build a

stronger economy by creating

American jobs.

New York: A federal appeals court has

upheld the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam,

the former hedge fund manager who was

charged with orchestrating a vast insider

trading conspiracy.

Rajaratnams arguments are not persua-

sive, said the United States Court of

Appeals for the Second Circuit in

Manhattan in a decision published on

Monday.

The ruling validates the aggressive tactics

deployed by federal prosecutors in the gov-

ernments sweeping investigation into

insider trading on Wall Street, which has

resulted in more than 70 convictions or

guilty pleas since 2009.

For the first time in an insider trading

inquiry, and most prominently in the

Rajaratnam case, the authorities used wire-

taps a method typically reserved for

drug trafficking and organized crime cases

to record the telephone conversations of

traders.

Mr. Rajaratnams lawyers argued that

federal prosecutors had used deceptivemethods to obtain permission from a judge

to wiretap his cellphone. They accused the

government of leaving out crucial informa-

tion from its wiretap application, including

that the Securities and Exchange

Commission was already conducting its

own investigation.

The contents of those wiretapped conver-

sations, during which Mr. Rajaratnam and

his accomplices swapped confidential

information about publicly traded compa-

nies, led a jury to find Mr. Rajaratnam

guilty after a two-month trial in 2011. He is

serving an 11-year sentence at a federal

prison in Ayer, Mass.

Judge Jose A. Cabranes, writing for a

unanimous three-judge panel, said that the

trial court judge, Richard J. Holwell, had

properly analyzed the ostensible mistakes

in the governments application to wiretapMr. Rajaratnams phone.

Mr. Rajaratnam's trial highlighted an

array of witnesses used by the Justice Dept.

We cannot conclude that the government

omitted certain information about the

S.E.C. investigation with reckless disre-

gard for the truth, wrote Judge Cabranes,

who also rejected an argument by Mr.

Rajaratnams lawyers that Judge Holwell

had given the jury erroneous instructions.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel

New Delhi: The US Immigration

Bill (as it currently stands) can

impact India's Gross Domestic

Product (GDP), says a report by

JP Morgan. According to JP

Morgan, the outplacement clause

(by impacting the IT sector

growth and the subsequent mul-

tiplier consequences) could take

away as much as 0.3-0.4% of

India's FY15 GDP.

The outplacement clause

would restrict the placement of

H1-B workers at client sites. The

outplacement clause imposes

significant higher filing fees on

H1-B dependent employers

based on the percentage of non-

immigrants employed in thecompany. These companies cur-

rently pay $2,500 for H1-B visa

pr oc essing and an addi tional

$1,225 for premium processing.

There is a significant multiplier

impact this sector exerts on the

Indian economy via consump-

tion and growth of ancillary

industries (e.g. real estate, trav-

el/transportation, hospitability);

hence, this direct 'gap' or 'loss' to

India's GDP together should be

taken with its multiplier down-

stream impact of 2x, the report

says.

JP Morgan feels that its esti-

mated adverse impact on India's

FY15 GDP (including the down-

stream multiplier impact) due to

the outplacement clause in the

immigration bill at 0.3-0.4% is

large enough for the Government

of India to get worried about the

immigration bill (as it currently

stands).

"Even more worrying, perhaps,

is the adverse implications thisfinding has on downstream

lower-level employment this sec-

tor generates," it opines.

"India's IT exports include

three sub-segments - IT services,

BPO and R&D. The entire IT

exports sector at $87 billion

(Nasscom's FY14 estimate at the

upper-end) is about 4%+ of

India's GDP," says the report.

"On an incremental basis, it is

about 7-8% of India's GDP (the

sector is growing well above

India's GDP; so on an incremen-

tal basis its share is higher). The

pure IT services segment is the

most impacted sector among the

three sub-segment accounts (less

so BPO and R&D; impact of the

bill on the BPO industry is the

least)," it adds.

The bill will force Indian IT

companies to reduce their

dependency on H1-B workers,

given that it may require them to

fork out higher visa fee and

salaries to H-1B visa holdersover their American peers with

similar experience.

JP Morgan believes that the

impact of outplacement can be

offset by factors such as local

hiring, increasing the offshore

content of work and/or greater

automation.

Immigration bill can hurt India's GDP: JP Morgan

Raj Rajaratnam

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

8/31

8 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoUS AFFAIRS

Washington: In two rulings that

further enshrine gay rights, the U.S.

Supreme Court struck down key ele-

ments of the federal Defense of

Marriage Act (DOMA) on

Wednesday and, by refraining to

uphold a ban, allowed for a resump-

tion of same-sex marriages in

California.

In practical terms, the DOMA rul-

ing means same-sex couples lawful-

ly married in the District of

Columbia and the 12 states thathave sanctioned same-sex marriage

cannot be denied federal benefits

such as health care, custody, pen-

sions and survivor benefits that are

routine for both members of con-

ventional marriages.

Across the United States, gays

celebrated the latest victory in a

campaign for equal rights that

while far from over has swept

away centuries of secrecy and

decades of treatment as second-class

citizens. A half-century after land-

mark civil-rights decisions ended

discrimination against African

Americans, Wednesdays Supreme

Court rulings did much the same forsame-sex couples.

Lawmakers and courts have

lagged behind momentous shifts in

public attitudes.

President Barack Obama hailed

the courts rulings and condemned

the contentious DOMA that is still

vigorously defended by many con-

servatives and some on the Christian

right. The 1996 law restricted mar-

riage to being between a man and a

woman.

The ruling means stronger fami-

lies and communities across ournation: Millions of same-sex mar-

ried couples will gain access to all

of the rights and responsibilities

associated with marriage, said Rea

Carey, executive director of the

Na tiona l Gay and Les bia n Task

Force.

The rulings did not address

whether gays have a constitutional

right to marry and thus will have no

impact on the more than 30 states

that do not allow same-sex mar-

riages or recognize the legality of

those who move from states where

they are legal. Once same-sex mar-

riages resume in California, more

than a third of Americans will residein states where it is legal.

5 apex court justices struck down Defense of marriage Act, whilefour including Chief Justice John Roberts were the minority vote

A plane carrying a wing walker named Jane Wicker crashed at theVectren Air Show near Dayton, Ohio, and exploded into flames

Saturday in front of thousands of horrified spectators. The stuntwalker and pilot were killed instantly. The plane, which was usedfor training pilots during World War II, was registered to Wicker.

DOMA dead, court grants equal

status to same-sex couplesWashington: A sharply divided Supreme Court has

struck down a key part of the historic Voting Rights Actof 1965, freeing the Southern states from federal over-

sight of their election laws and setting off a fierce reac-

tion from civil rights advocates and Democratic leaders.

The court's conservative majority moved boldly

Tuesday to rein in a law revered by civil rights groups

that is credited with transforming the South by ensuring

blacks could register and vote. In doing so, the court

eliminated a tool that the Justice Department used hun-

dreds of times to prevent cities, counties and states from

adopting allegedly discriminatory voting rules.

The court left open the possibility that Congress could

fix the law, but the partisan gridlock that has dominated

the legislative branch in recent years appears to make

that unlikely.

Under the provision that the court struck down, nine

states and the city councils and local governments with-

in them were required to obtain advance approval fromWashington before changing their rules on voting and

elections, a process known as "pre-clearance." The goal

was to end the discriminatory schemes that for a century

after the Civil War had prevented blacks from register-

ing and voting. More recently, the law has been used to

ensure that black and Latino votes translate into elec-

toral power. Since it was first adopted in 1965, the law

has been repeatedly extended by Congress, most recent-

ly by a nearly unanimous vote in a Republican-con-

trolled House and Senate in 2006.

Speaking for a 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John G.

Roberts Jr. pronounced the pre-clearance process a

"resounding success" and then declared it unconstitu-

tional. The problem, Roberts said, is the formula that

Congress wrote for deciding which jurisdictions mustseek pre-clearance. That formula has not been updated

since the 1970s, and that, he said, is unacceptable.

"African American turnout has come to exceed white

voter turn out in five of the six states originally covered"

by the 1965 law, and it is nearly equal in the remaining

original states, he said. The Constitution rests on the

"fundamental principle of equal sovereignty among the

states," Roberts said, and if Congress is to single out

some of them for special oversight, it must do so "in

light of current conditions. It cannot rely

simply on the past."

Civil rights advocates gather outside theSupreme Court in support of the Voting Rights Act

Court kills Voting Rights Act federal oversight provision

Washington: The Supreme

Court on Monday allowed affir-mative action to survive in col-

lege admissions but imposed a

tough legal standard, ruling that

schools must prove there are no

workable race-neutral alterna-

tives to achieve diversity on

campus.

While the ruling was not a

sweeping pronouncement on the

future of affirmative action, it

amounts to a warning to colleges

nationwide that the courts will

treat race-conscious admissions

pol ici es with a high deg ree ofskepticism.

By a 7-1 vote, with one justice

recusing herself, the court sent a

case about the University of

Texas admissions policy back to

a federal appeals court for review,

and directed the appeals court to

apply an exacting legal standard

known as strict scrutiny.

The case was brought by

Abigail Fisher, a white woman

who applied to the university in

2008 and was denied, and

claimed that her constitutionalrights and federal civil rights

laws were violated.

The University of Texas admits

about three-quarters of its stu-

dents by guaranteeing a spot to

anyone who finishes near the top

of his or her high school class.

When Fisher applied, the stan-

dard was the top 10 percent of the

class. For the remainder of under-

graduate admissions, race is con-

sidered as one of many factors.

Mum on affirmative action

Washington: The U.S. House failed to pass a

sweeping five-year farm bill with sharp cuts to food

stamps, a surprising development that sets the stage

for an uphill fight in Congress to craft a new law.

The Republican-led House soundly rejected a $500

bill ion measure by a vote of 195-234 , fail ing to

muster enough support from conservative

Republicans concerned about costs and Democrats

concerned about deep cuts to the country's popular

food stamp program.

Top leaders on both sides of the aisle quickly fell to

finger-pointing: Republicans claimed House

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi failed to deliver the

Democratic votes she promised, while Democrats

pinned the blame on the GOP for its inability to

bring enough support from the more than 60 mem-

bers within their own party who opposed the bill."We clearly have a profound disagreement. Don't

blame Democrats for the loss today," said House

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. "The

reason the bill lost today is because 62 of your mem-

bers rejected" a call to support the legislation.

Congress failed to pass a bill last year after GOP

leaders in the House were reluctant to call for a vote

because they did not think they had the 218 votes

necessary to pass it. Lawmakers were forced to

extend the old farm law through Sept. 30. Rep. Kristi

Noem, R-S.D., told reporters House GOP leaders

were weighing their options this time around, which

could include voting on the farm bill passed by the

Senate last week or moving forward on another

extension.

House Republicans had expressed confidence in

recent days that they had enough votes to pass the

bill, but some of the blame Thursday was directed

toward a pair of amendments including one that

would have required food stamp recipients to either

work or look for work for leading someDemocrats to withdraw their support. Still, farm bill

supporters were confident they could muster 40-60

Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. Instead, they

garnered only 24.

US House rejects $500 billion farm bill

Supreme Court rules on major issues

Ohio air show crash

leaves wing walker,

pilot dead

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

9/31

9June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info US AFFAIRS

Boston: Representative Edward J.

Markey, a Democrat who has served

in the House for 40 years, won a

promotion to the Senate on Tuesday

as he handily defeated Republican

Gabriel Gomez. Markey, 66,

replaces John Kerry, who stepped

down earlier this year to become

secretary of state.

With almost all precincts report-

ing, Markey was leading Gomez by

about 10 percentage points.

Markeys election does not change

the balance of power in the Senate,

where Democrats have 54 votes and

Republicans have 46. But

Democratic control had already

slipped by one earlier this month

after Frank R. Lautenberg of NewJersey died and was replaced by an

interim Republican.

Mr. Markeys win came as a sur-

prise to no one. The state has three

times as many Democrats as

Republicans, but most voters are

independents.

Yet, he ran a cautious campaign

that relied heavily on big

Democratic stars, including

President Obama, Michelle Obama,

former President Bill Clinton, Vice

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and

Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Democrats retain MA Senate seat Kerry vacated

Austin, TX: It started with one woman and

ended with the blockage of a bill that would

tighten abortion restrictions in one of the mostconservative states in the country.

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R)

announced early Wednesday morning that

time had run out on the measure amid an

hours-long opposition campaign from state

Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and a flood of protest-

ers who entered the state Capitol in solidarity

with her. While the setback for the bill may

only be temporary, it was hailed by abortion

rights advocates as a major victory.

At issue was a Republican-backed bill to

place stricter regulations on abortion in the

state. The bill, known as SB 5, would ban

abortions after 20 weeks and mandate that

doctors have hospital admitting privileges,

among other things.

Republicans were hoping to pass the bill onthe last day of the special legislative session.

But Davis, 50, launched a filibuster that would

stretch for nearly half the day, attract attention

from across the country and spur like-minded

activists to join her fight in person.

Partisanship and ambition are not unusual

in a state capitol, but here, in Texas, right now,

it has risen to a level of profound irresponsi-

bility and the raw abuse of power, Davis said

in a statement before launching her effort.

After speaking for hours, Republicans

derailed Daviss filibuster. She had run afoul

of the rules, they noted. And so the race was

on to try to pass the measure at quite literally,

the eleventh hour.

What came next was a period of confusion,

followed by an announcement from Dewhurst

that lawmakers had not passed the bill before

time had expired on the session. Hundreds of

prot es te rs ha d pour ed in to th e Ca pi to l.

Dewhurst blamed them for disrupting the pro-

ceedings.

Marathon filibuster, protestsblock anti-abortion bill in Texas

Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation high-wire artist, has success-fully completed a tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon withouta safety harness. The Florida daredevil performed the quarter-mile

crossing on a two-inch thick steel cable, 1,500ft above the LittleColorado River Gorge in Arizona. Last year he had traversed the

Niagara Falls. Next, hed like to attempt to walk a tightropebetween the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York City.

Long-term Representative Edward J. Markey is promoted to the Senate.

State Senator Wendy Davis filibusterstretched to half a day

7/28/2019 10 Vol 6 Epaper

10/31

10 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoINDIA

Dehradun: Heavy rains hit opera-

tions to evacuate thousands of

peo ple sti ll str anded in the

hills of Uttarakhand as

most helicopters could

not operate, while 20

people were killed as an

IAF Mi-17 crashedwhile returning from a

rescue mission, officials

said.

The state government has

put the death toll in the flood

disaster at over 1,000 and said it

could climb further. With more rain

and rising fog across the valley and

the hills, operations slowed down,

leaving more than 7,500 people

still stranded on the Badrinath

route.

Returning from a rescue mission

from Guptkashi and Kedarnath, a

newly-acquired IAF Mi-17 V5 hel-

icopter crashed north of

Gaurikund.While National Disaster

Management Authority (NDMA)

vice chief M. Shashidhar Reddy

put the toll at 20, the IAF said that

eight people, including five crew

members, were killed.

Eleven bodies have been recov-

ered, an IAF source said. The

search for survivors had to be

called off after it grew dark.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

expressed shock over the accident

while commending the armed

forces for their "selfless work" in

saving lives.

While Indian Air Force (IAF)

and army officials maintained that

the rescue operations would con-tinue, they admitted that the opera-

tions

"had taken a brief hit" and added

that they were now being "extra

cautious and not over zealous".

"All efforts are being done to pull

out the trapped people but we will

now take weather conditions and

warnings more seriously," an army

officer said.

The NDMA declared

Uttarakhand devastation a "severenatural disaster" and requested

leaders not to politicise the issue. It

also said it would send a team to

locate bodies under the debris.

Due to severe rains in Dehradun,

many helicopters like the Mi-17

with higher passenger capacity

were mostly grounded at the Jolly

Grant airport while smaller chop-

pers which tried to fly had to return

to their bases at Joshimath and

Harshil.

Fog prevented rescue sorties

around Devprayag, where a cloud-

burst in Dubh Mamora village left

two people dead and three missing

and washed away several houses,

while bad weather hit chopper mis-sions at Jangalchatti, Guptkashi,

and Gauchar.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Vijay Bahuguna said that

while weather had hit the

rescue operations, he

requested people not to

lose hope.

"We will reach everyperson who is stranded,

it is just that weather is

hampering the rescue

efforts," he added, contend-

ing that the number of people to

be rescued was well under 5,000.

Officials also added that the mass

funeral proposed for the people

who died in Kedarnath premises

and whose bodies are decomposing

there would happen in a day or

two.Personnel of the Armed Forces

Medical Services are working in

the state with 29 teams deployed

around Kedarnath while an emer-

gency centre has been set up at

Joshimath, an official release said.

Meanwhile, financial aid is pour-

ing in from across the spectrum. In

New Delhi, the NDMA vice chair-

man said MPs from all states could

each contribute Rs.50 lakh from

their funds for the relief work.

Public sector power companies

will donate Rs.25 crore towards

rebuilding flood-hit Uttarakhand.

India mourns

'Himalayan tsunami'From one tragedy to another: over 1,000 dead, 7,500

still stranded in the devastated Uttarakhand as death

toll likely to go up as many bodies, buried under debris,

are yet to be found; 20 people killed as IAF Mi-17

crashes while returning from a rescue mission

Despite crash,

IAF continues rescue opsGauchar: Despite Tuesday's tragic

chopper crash, the Indian Air Force

(IAF), defense and paramilitary

personnel involved in the relief and

rescue operations in flood-hit

Uttarakhand resumed their mission

to save those who are still stranded

across the hill state.According to reports, the Met

department predicted torrential

rains, which could trigger fresh

landslides. Bad weather is also

likely to obstruct the rescue opera-

tions in the upper regions of

Uttarakhand.

The Air Force last night said that

its officers will continue the rescue

operation despite an IAF helicopter

crash near Gaurikund that killed at

least 20 people.IAF chief NAK Browne also

reached the spot to take stock of

the situation and review the rescue

work.

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11June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA

New Delhi: The era of

Rahul Gandhi, 43, has begun

in the 127-year-old Congress

with his stamp clear on the

recent party reshuffle that

saw the induction of 30

younger leaders as All India

Congress Committee

(AICC) secretaries who are

set to play a more active role

in the organisation, party

sources said.

"Rahul Gandhi's era hasbegun in the Congress. His

impact is clearly visible in

the recent AICC reshuffle,"

said a senior Congress leader

who did not wish to be

named..

An indication of this, he

said, is the fact that around

30 out of the 44 AICC secre-

taries are new faces, are rela-

tively younger and have

been Youth Congress lead-

ers.

In Gandhi's scheme of

things, the secretaries are set

to play a more active role on

the ground under the watch-

ful guidance of the respec-

tive general secretaries who

have been given charge of

various states, said party

sources.

"The secretaries will play a

more active role on the

ground. They will be on the

move, interact with state

leaders down to the block

level and bring crucial feed-

back to the centra l leader-

ship. The general secretaries

will guide them," said one

general secretary, who too

did not wish to be identified.

"The secretaries would

educate the local leaders

about the party's programs

and policies being imple-

mented by the central gov-

ernment," he added.

The party reconstituted the

all-powerful Congress

Working Committee and

reshuffled the AICC last

Sunday, a day before eight

senior leaders were inducted

into the Manmohan Singh

cabinet with an eye on put-

ting together a team ahead of

the assembly polls in Delhi,

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh and Mizoram

due by the year-end and the

2014 general elections.

Congress insiders said

Rahul Gandhi was careful

that states were allocated to

general secretaries and sec-

retaries based on geographi-

cal neighbourhood to facili-

tate their tours.

Rahul era begins in Congress

Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai: Gujarat chief min-

ister Narendra Modi met the

top brass of Maharashtra BJP

to discuss strategy for next

Lok Sabha elections but for-

mer party president Nitin

Gadkari was conspicuous byhis absence.

This is Modi's first visit to

the state after being appoint-

ment as BJP's poll campaign

committee chief.

BJP general secretary in-

charge of Maharashtra Rajiv

Pratap Rudy, party's national

spokesman Prakash

Javadekar, BJP deputy leader

in Lok Sabha Gopinath

Munde, state unit president

Devendra Phadanvis, Leader

of Opposition in Assembly

Eknath Khadse and in the

council Vinod Tawde were

prominent among those pres-ent during the closed door

meeting.

Former party president

Nitin Gadkari was, however,

conspicuous by his absence.

Modi discussed the prevail-

ing political situation in the

state and the party's organisa-

tional matters and alliance

with Shiv Sena.

Before the meeting,

Javadekar told reporters that

Modi is reviewing the party's

poll preparedness in all the

states. He will discuss about

Lok Sabha polls and formu-

lating alliances.

"The Sena-BJP alliance has

always been strong inMaharashtra. Efforts will be

to win the seats in Mumbai,

Pune and Marathwada which

the party lost in 2009," he

said.

The core committee of the

state BJP which met Modi

comprises state president,

vice presidents, general sec-

retaries, treasurer, organisa-

tion secretaries, and all the

Maharashtra unit leaders,

including Munde and

Gadkari, as invitees.

The other invitees in the

core group include national

treasurer and Rajya Sabha

MP Piyush Goel, former MP

Kirit Somaiya and formerstate president Sudhir

Mungantiwar.

Meanwhile, Javadekar

alleged that the trucks,

flagged off by the AICC from

Delhi on June 24 with much

fanfare for Uttarakhand

relief, have been stranded at

Rishikesh because the drivers

have not been provided with

money for purchasing petrol.

"This shows the Congress'

true intention," he said.

Javadekar also assured that

they will not politicise the

Uttarakhand tragedy since the

rescue operations are on.

Modi meets BJP leaders; Gadkari absent

This is Narendra Modi's first visit to the state afterbeing appointed as BJP's poll campaign committee chief

Rishikesh/Lucknow: The

Sikh holy shrine at

Hemkund Sahib, located

15,200 feet above sea level

in Uttarakhad, has been

shut for now due to heavy

rains, an official said.

"The road from Tayya

br id ge lead in g to

Hemkund Sahib is broken

at many places. So we

decided to shut the shrine

for some time," an

Uttarakhand official said.

He added that the gurd-

wara employees have

come down to Joshimath,

about 35 km away, and

would wait for "things to

brighten up". The doors of

the shrine were shut after

offering of prayers.

Hemkund Sahib is a

major attraction for Sikhpilgrims in Uttarakhand, a

state dotted with revered

Hindu shrines.

Meanwhile, rains halted

early Thursday and the

evacuation of people and

pil gri ms str anded in the

hills resumed in the

Badrinath area.

But Chamoli region is

experiencing heavy rains

since Wednesday evening.

Authorities have closed the

Chamoli-Joshimath high-

way owing to landslides.

Officials said that they

were forced to halt evacua-tion in the Patalganga and

Pagalnala areas due to

heavy rains.

"As of now, there is no

way people can come to

Joshimath," one official

said.

More than 4,000 people

are still stranded in the

Badrinath area as torrential

rains have crippled the res-

cue and evacuation opera-

tions in the past two days.

While thousands were

airlifted on clear days, the

inclement weather and

Tuesday's chopper crashwhich killed 20 people

have slowed down the res-

cue operations through the

air route.

The met department has

forecast more rains in the

hill state in the next two

days. Besides rains, heavy

fog in some places is also

slowing down the rescue

efforts.

Hemkund Sahib shrine shut in Uttarakhand

The Sikh holy shrine at Hemkund Sahib

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12 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoINDIA

Kashmir rail tunnel: A humanendeavor, engineering marvel

Banihal (Jammu and Kashmir):

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

opened India's longest rail tunnel

in Kashmir to provide a key link

between the Kashmir Valley andJammu region, even as UPA chair-

perso n Sonia Gan dhi sai d tha t

Kashmiris were fed up with vio-

lence.

Hours before ending a two-day

visit to the troubled state,

Manmohan Singh rode with

school children on the inaugural

run of the train through the 10.96-

km-long tunnel to link Qazigund

town in the valley with Banihal in

Jammu region.

The prime minister warmly

shook hands with the overjoyed

children and sat with them as the

diesel train made its way from

Banihal through the winding tun-nel, an engineering marvel that

took seven years to come up in a

mountainous region.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah

and central Health Minister

Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former

chief minister, were with the

prime minister in the train.

After reaching Qazigund,Manmohan Singh went back on

the same train to Banihal where

he told a meeting attended by

hundreds of people that the new

train link will boost Jammu and

Kashmir's economic development.

Today, we are dedicating a

marvelous and wonderful feat of

engineering crafted across theHimalayas," he said. "This is not

just an engineering marvel, but an

all weather link between the val-

ley and the rest of Jammu and

Kashmir.

"This will usher in a new era in

the development of the state, pro-

viding welfare and employment to

the people here."

The rail bridge between

Udhampur and Banihal -- the train

runs through the Pir Panjal moun-

tain range -- is the highest in theworld.

The tunnel was built at a cost of

Rs.1,300 crores. An eight-coach

train will operate on the route

from June 27. The link cuts the

distance between Qazigund and

Banihal towns by 18 km.

Congress president Sonia

Gandhi told the rally that the peo-

ple of Jammu and Kashmir "are

fed up with violence. They want

peace and development...

I know very well that painfulincidents happen here occasional-

ly but our democracy has enough

scope to sort out issues through

dialogue and negotiations."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating thenewly constructed railway line in Jammu and Kashmir.

Banihal: A 11-km railway tunnel across the

Pir Panjal mountain range, inaugurated by

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is not only

the longest such in India but an engineering

marvel and a "dream come true" for the peo-

ple of Jammu and Kashmir.

It took seven years for thousands of men,

most of them highly-trained and skilled in

tunnel building, who braved geographical

constraints and inclement weather to build the

all-weather tunnel. Some of the tunnel boring

machinery - an improved Austrian version -

has been used for the first time on such a large

scale in the country during the laying of the

tunnel.

A three-metre-wide road has also been pro-

vided inside the tunnel for maintenance and

relief and rescue operations in the event of

any eventuality.

"The tunnel has been made water-proof by

pr ov id ing a cont inuo us PV C memb rane

between the primary and secondary lining. It

is equipped with state-of-the-art air quality

monitoring, communications, fire-fighting

and emergency rescue systems," an engineer

at the site said, not wishing to be identified.

Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crores ($213 mil-

lion), the tunnel has reduced the surface dis-

tance between the Qazigund town in the

Valley and Banihal town in the Jammu region

by 18 km, besides providing an all-weather

surface link between the two regions. The

over 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway,

till today the only surface link between the

landlocked Valley and the rest of the country,

would often remain closed for days without

end in the winter months due to heavy snow-

fall on the Banihal sector of the highway.

After hitting out at Modi,Thackeray backtracks

Mumbai: Hours after criti-

cizing Narendra Modi for

his claims aboutUttarakhand rescue opera-

tions, Shiv Sena president

Uddhav Thackeray back-

tracked, clarifying that he

had not attacked the

Gujarat chief minister in

his editorial in party

mouthpiece "Saamana".

"I have not attacked

Narendra Modi . But, now

he has been given a new

role on the national stage.

We have some expectations

from him," Thackeray told

media persons at a media

briefing here.

He added that the obser-vations were directed more

at Modi's propaganda team

and "nothing political

should be read into this".

Thackeray reiterated that

Modi is a national leader

and they have nothing

against him. "He is not our

enemy."

This is the second con-

secutive day that Shiv Sena

has irked its ally, Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP) through

its scathing Saamana edito-

rials.

Thackeray had Monday

expressed "concerns" over

the depleting strength of

the National Democratic

Alliance, which is now left

with only three major con-

stituents the BJP, the Sena

and Akali Dal.

In the backdrop of the

recent political upheavals

within the BJP, he had alsoraised questions whether

the party was equipped to

ba g po we r on it s ow n

strength.

More embarrassing for

the BJP was Thackeray's

lavish praises for

Maharashtra Chief

Minister Prithviraj Chavan

while Modi was given a

strong tongue-lashing for

his claims in the ongoing

rescue efforts for

Uttarakhand deluge vic-

tims.

Thackeray had lauded

Chavan for adopting a

br oa d- mi nd ed ap pr oa chand ridiculed Modi for his

pa ro ch ia l at ti tu de wh il e

tackling the disaster fallout.

Targetting the chief min-

ister, the Shiv Sena presi-

dent said that now Modi

has been given a national

role to play by the BJP andhe should not speak in nar-

row terms for only

Gujaratis.

"Most of the rescue

works are being carried out

by the Indian Army and the

Indo-Tibetan Border

Police. They don't discrimi-

nate on the basis of the vic-

tims' state of origin or reli-

gion, but rescue them as

human beings," he assert-

ed. Thackeray hit out at

Modi 's propaganda

machinery for claiming

that 15,000 people from

Gujarat were rescued in a

day."It would be better if

Modi's propagandists exer-

cise restrain in the future,"

Thackeray concluded.

Manmohan, Sonia hail Kashmiriyat

Eight soldiers killed in SrinagarSrinagar: Eight soldiers were

killed and 13 others injured when

two separatist guerrillas attacked

an army convoy here with auto-

matic weapons and grenades,

police said. The attackers later

engaged in a gunfight with secu-

rity forces, leaving a CRPF offi-

cer and a policeman injured,

before fleeing the area.Coming a day before Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh and

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi

arrive on a two-day visit to

Jammu and Kashmir, the attack

occurred as the army convoy

passed through the Hyderpora

area on the Srinagar-

Muzaffarabad highway, a senior

police officer said.

"Militants opened indiscrimi-

nate firing from automatic

weapons at the army convoypassing through Hyderpora area

on the bye-pass," the police offi-

cer said.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray

Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, J&K Governor N.N. Vohraand J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on-board the train

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13June 29-July 5, 2013TheSouthAsianTimes.info OP-ED

Falling short of disaster management standardsBy Monish Gulati

The jury is still out on how the

blame is to be apport ioned

between human actions and

nature's fury for the Uttarakhanddisaster. However, from the disaster

management perspective the catas-

trophe has exhibited characteristics

of a complex event due the combi-

nation of hazards - flash floods and

landslides - and the inclement

weather which precluded access by

air to the region in the initial stages.

The resultant destruction of ground

transportation infrastructure also

impacted the time taken to respond.

Lastly being a hilly area the disas-

ter zone has got divided into isolat-

ed pockets of devastation which

has hampered relief work.

While a complete analysis of the

disaster will be possible when more

details are available at this stage it

is only possible to make an initial

assessment of the response to the

disaster. The representatives of the

Nation al Di sast er Ma nageme nt

Authority (NDMA) were found

doggedly responded to the media

on the government's response to the

disaster; indicating a lack of institu-

tional protocols and public aware-

ness of these. The NDMA is

responsible for formulating guide-

lines on responding to various dis-

asters but has no powers or the

infrastucture to enforce them, eval-

uate their implementation or con-

duct relief operations, as disaster

management is a state subject. The

Uttarakhand government has

admitted that, as pointed out by

CAG, it has fallen short of the dis-

aster preparedness standards laid

down by the NDMA.

The national executive committee

(NEC), which is chaired by the

home secretary is the implementa-

tion agency for the NDMA's disas-

ter management guidelines.

Articulating the national policy on

disaster management in national

and international forums is the

responsibility of the disaster man-

agement division of the home min-

istry which functions under the

Secretary (Border Management)

and should have been disseminat-

ing information on how the disaster

was being responded to.

An issue directly influencing theimpact of a disaster, particularly for

the ordinary citizen, is that of pro-

viding early warning. In India's dis-

aster management framework, the

Indian Meteorological Department

(IMD) is the nodal agency for gath-

ering information from the con-

cerned agencies and issuing disas-

ter-related early warnings. In this

case, the IMD warned the

Uttarakhand government of the

likely heavy rainfall in the region

48 hours in advance.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay

Bahuguna has told the media that

his government received IMD's

warning on rainfall but there was

no indication of cloud bursts, flash

flooding and landslides. The inter-

pretation of the early warning in

terms of its implications with

respect to the prevailing local con-

ditions of soil, river flow, among

others, is the responsibility of the

local disaster management officials.

Citizens at both the landslide hit

areas and downstream complained

of lack of any early warning. An

appropriate warning would have

left citizens better prepared and

saved lives.

Another critical area is that of

communication - both between

government agencies and between

citizens themselves. It was hearten-

ing to see that mobile communica-tion towers at Kedarnath survived

the devastation wreaked by the

flash floods. These, however, went

out of the grid when the power sup-

ply was cut off and generation sets

ran out of fuel, putting the area out

of communication. Availability of

cellular communication would have

aided in need assessment, relief and

rescue and coordination of the air

effort and provided much needed

psychologica l boos t to the sur-

vivors. This is another grey area in

the disaster management frame-

work as there are no guidelines

issued by the Department of

Communications for telecom com-

panie s for disaster-p roofing their

infrastructure and taking measures

for early restoration of the commu-

nications network.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

resulted in the enactment of the

Disaster Management Act, 2005,

and the creation of the NDMA. We

do not have to wait another disaster

to learn our next lesson and bring a

quantum improvement in how we,

as a nation, deal effectively with

natural and man-made disasters.

We do not have to wait another disaster to learn our next lessonand bring a quantum improvement in how we, as a nation, deal

effectively with natural and man-made disasters.

Uttarakhand:

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14 June 29-July 5, 2013 TheSouthAsianTimes.infoFIRST PERSON

By Sadhvi BhagawatiSaraswati

The rains began as we sang

the Hanuman Chalisa.

Typically if its raining

prior to the aarti, we set up under

the overhead awning. However, on

16th June, the skies were clear in

the afternoon after morning show-

ers, and the rain resumed only

once we had all gathered on

Gangas banks to sing Her glories

and meditate next to Her waters.

Jai Jai Jai Hanuman gosaain

kripa karaho gurudev ki

nyaainThe rain came down insheets as we clapped and sang

euphorically. Pujya Swamijis

(Swami Chidanand Saraswati)

eyes were closed and He

10 vol 6 epaper

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