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SCI-TECH 26

Washington After Ted Cruz and John Kas ich bow ed ou t, Donal dTrump is the presumptive GOPnominee for the President race.But he has work to do to unify theparty and line up support of theestablishment.

As of Thursday, his march to theWhite House encountered fierceresistance from within theRepublican party as senior law‑makers hesitated to endorse him,party luminaries said they'd skiphis nominating convention andothers pondered the potential of athird‑party bid, reported CNN.

House Speaker Paul Ryan saidhe's "just not ready" to supportTrump, becoming the highestelected Republican official to raiseconcerns about the real estate bil‑lionaire since he became theparty's likely standard‑bearer afterwinning Indiana primary.

In an interview with CNN's JakeTapper, Ryan said he wants Trump

to unify "all wings of theRepublican Party and the conser‑vative movement" and then run acampaign that will allowAmericans to "have something thatthey're proud to support andproud to be a part of."

"And we've got a ways to go fromhere to there," Ryan said.

Trump is not caving in. Hedeclared in a statement that "I amnot ready to support SpeakerRyan's agenda." He added,"Perhaps in the future we canwork together and come to anagreement about what is best forthe American people. They havebeen treated so badly for so longthat it is about time for politiciansto put them first!"

CNN reached out to 16Republican elected officials, lead‑ers and major fundraisers associat‑ed with former Presidents RonaldReagan, George H.W. Bush, George

New York Former Punjab chief minister, and currently the stateCongress chief and MP, CaptainAmarinder Singh is scheduled toaddress the Punjabi diaspora onMay 7 at the Long Island Hiltonhotel in Melville, NY. There willalso be a QA answer with the for‑mer Maharaja of Patiala.

Ostensibly, the popular leader istravelling through the US and

SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30

Amarinder Singhto address

Punjabi diaspora

Presumptivenominee, Trumpfaces resisance within GOP

Punjab Congress chief and MP,Captain Amarinder Singh.

(Photo courtesy: punjabicitizen.com)

House Speaker Paul Ryan has saidhe is not yet ready to support

Trump as GOP nominee.

Head of Science of Spirituality/Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj attractedthousands to his talks in New York and New Jersey last week and opened a new center in Perth Amboy,

NJ. The last major engagement of his visit to the area was an address to the United Nations on May 3,where he went accompanied by his wife, Mata Rita Ji. Detailed story on page 3)

By SATimes Team

New York Among the five IndianAmericans selected for the pres‑tigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor this year, three are fromthe New York area.

Overall about 90 distinguishedimmigrants to the United Stateswill receive the medal institutedby the National Coalition of Ethnic Organizations (NECO) at acolorful ceremony on Ellis Islandhere on May 7. Model‑actress

Padma Lakshmi, host of popularreal i ty show ʻTop Chef ʼ , hasadded another feather in her capwith the 2016 Medal. Besidesher, the two others from the NewYork area on the list are Dr AjayLodha, and Dr Rekha P. Bhandari.

Dr. Lodha is President‑Elect of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin(AAPI) and is the past presidentof AAPI‑QLI and of RajasthanAssociation of North America

3 Ellis Island medalistsfrom New York area

(from left) Dr. Rekha P. Bhandari, Dr Ajay Lodha and Padma Lakshmi

Continued on page 4 Continued on page 4 Continued on page 4

Sant Rajinder Singh caps his NY-NJ visit with UN address

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3May 7-13, 2016TheSouthAsianTimes.info T R I S T AT E C O M M U N I T Y

United Nations An "overwhelm‑ing majority" of UN memberswant more permanent membersadded to the Security Council tomake its decision‑making "moreparticipative and democratic",according to India and the threeother aspirants for permanentseats.

Speaking on Monday at theIntergovernmental Negotiations(IGN) on Security Council reform,India's PermanentRepresentative Syed Akbaruddinsaid the categories of both per‑manent and non‑permanentmembers must be expanded to

bring about "an equilibrium thatreects the current situation."He was speaking on behalf of

G4 ‑ India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, which are jointly pushingfor reforms and mutually sup‑port each other for a permanentseat in an expanded council. TheIGN session dealt with categories

of membership and regional rep‑resentation, the most divisivetopics of the reform process.

A 13‑member group known asUniting for Consensus (UfC),which included Pakistan and isled by Italy, reiterated its opposi‑tion to adding permanent mem‑bers, the core of its position onthe reform process.

Without naming the group orany country, Akbaruddinresponded that their position of expanding only the non‑perma‑nent category would result infurther tilting the balance in thecouncil in favor of the ve per‑

manent members, whose specialpowers are a holdover from1945 in a world that has dramat‑ically changed with the rise of new powers and the UN itself increasing its membership bynearly three times, from 51 to193. When the UN was founded

United Nations Renowned spiritualmaster Sant Rajinder Singh JiMaharaj, head of Science of Spirituality, is no stranger to theUnited Nations. He was a featuredspeaker at the Millennium WorldSummit in 2000 when he deliveredhis message of inner and outer peacethrough spirituality to an interna‑tional audience of religious and spir‑itual leaders.

On May 3, he gave his secondaddress at the UN, sponsored by theUNSRC SaluS Well Being NetworkClub in collaboration with Science of Spirituality. Appropriate to the occa‑sion, his topic was, “Meditation as

Medication for the Soul,” based onthe title of his book by the samename. The Rev. Susana Bastarrica,president, UNSRC SaluS, and VijayNambiar, Secretary‑General Ban Ki‑moonʼs special advisor on Myanmar,introduced the spiritual master. Forthe next hour, Sant Rajinder Singh JiMaharaj spoke to an attentive audi‑

ence about the benets of medita‑tion, emphasizing that relaxation,stress relief, better concentration,and improved relationships are

byproducts of meditation, not itssole purpose. The prime purpose of stilling the body and mind in medita‑tion is to experience God within our‑selves. He also said that in meetingwith world leaders, he found theyare seeking peaceful solutions toconict. They are realizing thatbecoming more peaceful themselves

through an interest in meditation,they are able to make better judg‑ments in challenging situations. SantRajinder Singh Ji Maharajʼs life and

work can be summed up as a contin‑uous journey of love and service. Hispeace paradigm ‑ transforming livesthrough meditation ‑‑ is an achiev‑able construct that will heal theworld one soul at a time. As head of Science of Spirituality, he is interna‑tionally recognized for his worktoward promoting human unity.

New York The Third InternationalHindi Conference ‑ Americas con‑cluded on May 1 at the IndianConsulate here with a resolutionurging the Government of India tosupport the establishment of a

ʻHindi Centerʼ in USA.“There is a great need to estab‑lish an institution for promotingand standardizing Hindi teachingand learning similar to institutionssuch as the Confucius Institute forChinese, Goethe Institute forGerman, Alliance Francaise forFrench, Servantes Institute forSpanish”, said Dr. Gabriela NikIlieva, coordinator of the SouthAsian Language Programs at NYUand the Head of AcademicsCommittee of the Conference. Dr.Ilieva, who is developing Hinditeaching and learning materialsand teacher training programs

based on the prociency guide‑lines of the American Council onTeaching Foreign Languages, pro‑posed to collaborate with scholarsand practitioners engaged inTeaching Hindi as a SecondLanguage (THSL) in non‑Hindiregions in India and overseas tostrengthen Hindi pedagogy. Shesupported the proposal to hold an

international conference inVishakhapatnam in India in early2017 to provide an internationalforum exclusively focused onTHSL.

Padma Bhushan Dr. LaxmiPrasad Yarlagadda, who presidedover the concluding session of thethe conference, proposed to holdthe conference in Vishakhapatnamin collaboration with HindiSangam Foundation, USA and LokNayak Foundation,Vishakhapatnam.

The Hindi meet was organized

by the Indian Consulate in associa‑tion with Hindi SangamFoundation. Dr. Manoj KumarMohapatra, Deputy Consul Generalof India, said that the Consulate

will continue to extend its supportfor future Hindi events.

Dozens of Hindi scholars pre‑sented their research and vision ontopics related to the eld of Hinditeaching in India and overseas dur‑ing the 3‑day conference. Dr.Heinz Wessler, Hindi professor atUniversity of Uppsala, Sweden, inhis keynote speech emphasized the

need for developing a frameworkfor testing studentsʼ prociency.He highlighted the increased pres‑ence of Hindi in the digital worldand suggested innovativeapproaches for developing rich

Hindi content on the Internet.Dr. Olga Kagan, Director of theNational Heritage LanguageResource Center, initiated a discus‑sion on the challenges of teachingHindi as a heritage language inUSA and suggested developingstrategies relevant and suitable forthe 21st century learners' inter‑ests, needs and goals.

Dr. Surendra Gambhir, whotaught Hindi for more than 36 ye ar s at th e Un iv er si ty of Pennsylvania, proposed a need‑based model explaining heritagelanguage maintenance.

Dr. Rakesh Ranjan of Columbia

University presented an overviewof the existing resources and sug‑gested aligning them to create apipeline of year‑round opportuni‑ties for interested learners at thecommunity, school and collegelevel. Maura Collinge of theNational Foreign Language Center,University of Maryland, presentedthe efforts of the federally funded

STARTALK Initiative for K‑16 stu‑dents and teachers to promotequality‑ and standards‑based Hinditeaching and learning. Later, sever‑al STARTALK Hindi program direc‑tors presented the unique features

of their programs. Dr. VijayGambhir traced in her presenta‑tion the expanding contexts andchanging approaches of the Hinditeaching eld in the US.

A session on local and globalissues in Hindi literature was mod‑erated by Dr. Susham Bedi, recent‑ly honored by the President of India for her contribution to Hindiliterature in the Indian Diaspora.Speakers from India made interest‑ing presentations on Hindi lan‑guage and literature in theDiaspora. Renowned litterateur Dr.Prem Janmejai, who taught Hindiin Trinidad, narrated the struggle

of indentured laborers to raisetheir social status while in theprocess losing their language inthe new environment. Dr. Wesslercapsule research on Dalit literaturein Hindi.

A lively Kavi Sammelan, conduct‑ed by Dr. Bindeshwari Aggarwal, of NYU, was also held on the secondday of the conference.

At the inauguration of International Hindi Conference (from left) Dr.Heniz Wessler (Uppsala Univ., Sweden), Purnima Desai (Hindi Sangam),

Ashok Ojha (Coordinator), Padma Bhushan Dr. Laxmi Prasad Yarlagadda,HR Shah, Consul General Riva Ganguly Das, Dr. Susham Bedi (Columbia)

and Dr. Bijoy Mehta (Hindi Sangam).

In his second address at the UN, the spiritual master spoke onʻMeditation as Medication for the Soulʼ.

Indian govt urged to support Hindi center in USA

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharajspeaks at the UN

Most nations for adding permanentmembers to UNSC: India

Continued on page 4

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Presumptive nominee,Trump faces resisancewithin GOPContinued from pageW. Bush and former Vice PresidentDick Cheney. Speaking on back‑ground, none of them said they wereplanning to go to this summer'sRepublican convention. They didn'tsay they would vote for Democraticfront‑runner Hillary Clinton. But theysaid they were not yet supportingTrump.

2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romneydeclared he'd skip the convention,

jo in in g at le as t th re e pr io rRepublican nominees ‑‑ John McCainand both Presidents Bush ‑‑ in declin‑ing to attend the event.

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake toldCNN's Manu Raju that "some of Trump's positions" make it "very dif‑ficult for me" to support him.

Meanwhile, Nebraska Sen. BenSasse went on a lengthy Facebookdiatribe against Trump and conserva‑tive blogger Erick Erickson said somemembers of Congress have joined hiseffort to recruit a third‑party candi‑date.

Despite the day's tumult, Trumpgained some allies, including formerTexas Gov. Rick Perry, his one‑timerival in the 2016 race. Bobby Jindalalso has said he will vote for Trump.

The first effort at detente betweenTrump and Ryan, RepublicanNational Committee spokesman SeanSpicer told CNN's Wolf Blitzer onThursday evening, could come nextweek. The RNC is attempting to setup a meeting between Trump andRyan. The speaker's spokesmantweeted that he'd be "happy toattend."

Among the problems: The twoaren't on the same page in terms of policy.

On free trade, taxes, immigration,the minimum wage and more, Trumphas broken from conservative ortho‑doxy ‑‑ a problem for Capitol HillRepublicans who have prized purityin recent years.

3 Ellis Island honoreesfrom New York areaContinued from page(RANA). A graduate of RNT MedicalCollege, Udaipur, Rajasthan, he com‑pleted his residency at FlushingHospital, NY, and is the Founder andPresident of Queens Medical Services,a primary care practice with two loca‑tions serving Queens since 1995 andis a partner in Hillaire and NesconsetNursing homes.

Dr. Rekha Bhandari, according to herLinkedIn profile, is an internist special‑izing in Internal Medicine – Geriatrics.She is Chief Medical Officer, AllureGroup and is also af f i l iated withKingsbrook Jewish Medical Center,and Buena Vida Continuing Care andRehab as well as working from twoRidgewood, NY locations. She was pre‑viously with Wyckoff Heights MedicalCenter. She earned her MD from NorthShore‑ LIJ University Hospital.

Two other winners of the medal are:Akkaraju V.N. Sarma, MD, a familyphysician in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. He is currently licensedto practice medicine in Pennsylvaniaand is affiliated with Einstein MedicalCenter; and Dr Prerna Mona Khanna,Triple board certified medical doctor,humanitarian and disaster volunteer.Then there is Pakistan‑born medicalprofessional Mehmood Khan who isthe vice‑chairman and chief scientificofficer of PepsiCo. Since 1986, theEllis Island awards pay homage to theimmigrant experience and the contri‑bution made to America by immi‑grants and their children. The medalsare awarded to native‑born and natu‑ralized US citizens.

Amarinder Singh to addressPunjabi diasporaContinued from pageCanada to drum up support for hisparty, which is trying to get back topower in Punjab, where elections aredue in February 2017. According toreports, the ruling Akali Dal has lostmuch of the support and Aam AadmiParty is gaining ground after winningDelhi.

Letter to the Editor

I just returned f rom a trip to Delhi and hadtwo positive experiences. Firstly, a day priorto my flight to India, I realized that my Indiavisa had expired. I was panicking that I will haveto cancel my ticket, till my cousin informed methat PM Modi had started an emergency e‑visascheme. Skeptical, I applied online and calledcustomer service to be assured that it will beready in a day or two. The website asks you toapply 4 days in advance, so I did not have muchhope. I broke journey at Frankfort. An hourbefore boarding the onward flight to Delhi, I gota text message that my visa was issued. This isamazing. I am very impressed with this govern‑ment. On alighting at Delhi, there was a separatee visa counter and I was waived thru without ahitch!

Secondly, I noted that there were no moreplastic bags in the shopping areas. Instead,wherever I went, I was given a cloth bag to carrymy goods. Awareness of global warming! Lookslike India is retaking her role of showing thepath to the rest of the world again!! ‑

Dr Sanjeev V asishthaAllentown, PA

Most nations for adding permanentmembers to UNSC: IndiaContinued from page 3in the rubble of World War II, the ve victors ‑‑Britain, China, France, the Soviet Union and the USassumed for themselves permanent council member‑ships and veto powers.

After more than 20 years of stalling, the councilreform process gained momentum last year when anegotiating text was adopted at the last session of the General Assembly overcoming sustained opposi‑tion to it from a determined small group of countrieslike Pakistan and Italy.

Akbaruddin referred to the negotiating documentwhich is based on a survey of UN members on coun‑cil reforms and said: "It is evident from the positionssubmitted in the text that an overwhelming majorityof member states support expansion in both cate‑gories." Of the 122 countries that made written sub‑missions for the survey, 113 ‑‑ or more than 90 per‑cent ‑‑ supported expanding both categories of coun‑cil membership, he said. They include the 54 mem‑bers of the African Union, 42 from the L.69, which isa group supporting reforms, the CaribbeanCommunity (CARICOM) members, the G4 and 21others, in addition to two permanent members,Britain and France, he said.

Warren NJ: An Indian‑Americans for Trump 2016 dele‑gation of four, includingPresident Dr. A.D. Amar andSecretary‑Treasurer DaveMakkar, joined in at the openingof Trump for PresidentHeadquarters in Edison, NJ onMay 3, 2016. The delegationwas invited and given a VIPtreatment at the event. While itwas expected to be the start of an intense battle for New

Jers eyʼs 51 delegat es, a sharpturn in events that resulted inSenator Ted Cruz and, later,Governor John Kasich suspend‑ing their campaigns for theWhite House, has made Donald JTrump to be the undisputed pre‑sumptive nominee of the

Republican Party for the USPresident. Indian‑Americans forTrump 2016 is invited by the

Republican Party leadership toplan how Indian‑Americans forTrump 2016 can assist theentire country ticket.

The Indian‑Americans forTrump 2016 is a registeredPAC with FEC, formed byprominent Indian‑American pro‑fessionals and communityactivists in January 2016 to helpthe election of Donald Trump.The officers of the Indian‑Americans for Trump 2016 hasurged all Americans, specificallythe Indian‑Americans, to join inthe effort, and support Trump inhis endeavor to make Americagreat again by electing him thenext President of the USA.

Dr. Amar can be contacted at amardamar@yahoo.com.

Indian‑Americans for Trumpteam joins in as NJ HQ opens

Dr AD Amar, Professor of Management at the Stillman

School of Business at Seton HallUniversity, South Orange, NJ, is

the brain behind Indian‑Americans for Trump.

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Washington DC: Indian actressPriyanka Chopra is glad to meetU.S. President Barack Obama and

First Lady Michelle Obama as sheattended the White HouseCorrespondentsʼ Dinner here.

The 33‑year‑old “Quantico” star,who is currently shooting in theU.S. for the bigscreen “Baywatch”reboot, dazzled the last eveningʼsaffair in a deep‑cut, black andsheer‑stripe gown.

Priyanka took to Twitter to shareabout her meeting with theObamas.

“Lovely to meet the very funnyand charming @barackobama andthe beautiful @flotus. Thank you...,” she wrote along with a pic‑ture.

At the Washington‑insider event,attended by journalists, celebrities,politicians and advertisers, Obamadid not hold back and he took jibesat Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump,CNNʼs Jake Tapper among others.

The 2016 White HouseCorrespondentsʼ dinner, which wasPresident Obamaʼs last in office,

was hosted by comedian LarryWilmore. (PTI)

Washington DC:Once a fieriestcritic of Donald Trump and a for‑mer presidential contender,Indian‑American Bobby Jindal hassaid he would vote for the NewYork billionaire if he were to bethe Republican party's pick.

"I do think he'll be better thanHillary Clinton, I don't think it's agreat set of choices. If he is thenominee, I'm going to be support‑ing my party's nominee. I'm nothappy about it ... but I would votefor him over Hillary Clinton,"

Jindal told CNN in an interview. Jindal , a fo rmer Gover nor of

Louisiana, was himself a presiden‑tial candidate till a few monthsago. His popularity ratingsdropped below one percentagesoon after he launched a scathingattack against Donald Trump fromthe National Press Club last year.

Ji nd al ha d th en de sc ri be d

Trump as an "egomaniac" who was"devoid of substance" and "danger‑ous."

But in the interview Jindal saidhe would vote for Trump arguingthat he is better than Clinton, whois likely to be the Democratic pres‑idential nominee.

"I think Donald Trump hastapped into middle class anxieties.He's doing well in part becausevoters are responding to what heis saying, he's saying, look, he'llfight for them," Jindal said hoursbefore Donald Trump won theIndiana primary and became theRepublican presumptive nominee.

But at the same time, Jindal saidit would be tough for DonaldTrump to defeat Hillary Clinton.

"I think Donald Trump is goingto have the hardest time beatingHillary of all the candidates thatran for president," he said.

New York: Democratic candidatefor the North Carolina state Senate Ja y Ch au dh ur i, wh o wo n th eMarch 15 primary and was contin‑

uing his campaign for Nov. 8 gen‑eral elections was sworn‑in asstate Senator April 25 by guberna‑torial proclamation. This makesChaudhuri the first Indian‑American and first South Asian inthe North Carolina legislature, andonly the 4th nationwide. This April16, the Wake County DemocraticCommittee voted unanimously toput Chaudhuri in the District 16Senate seat, to replace incumbent Josh Stein who declared he wasresigning to focus full‑time on hisrace for Attorney General. On April21, Governor Roy McCrory,released a ʻProclamationʼ making

the appointment official. On April25, surrounded by his wife andtwo daughters, Chaudhuri wassworn‑in by a Court of Appeals judge. In his resig nat ion let ter ,Stein recommended Chaudhurireplace him not only because theIndian‑American had won the pri‑mary but also because of his quali‑

fications. His win in November wasalmost a sure thing becauseDistrict 16 leans Democratic.

Chaudhuri handily won theMarch 15 primary with more than

60 percent of the vote. The 46‑ year old attorney faces of f againstRepublican Eric Weaver inNovember.

Chaudhuri has a Masters inInternat ional Affairs fromColumbia University and a lawdegree from North CarolinaCentral University.

Priyanka Chopra with President Obama & the First Lady Michelle Obama(Image: Instagram)

Barack Obama is funny,charming: Priyanka Chopra

New York A stock broker of Indian descent has been chargedin an alleged $131 million stock

manipulation scheme after inves‑tigations by a task force set upfor President Barack Obama'swar on financial crimes, federalofficials announced Wednesday.

Pranav Patel of Tamarac,Florida, participated along witheight others in the multi‑statescam "through a dizzying roundof unauthorized trades" to pumpup the share price of a companywith no business operations,Robert L. Capers, the federalprosecutor in Brooklyn said.

The 35‑year‑old Patel wasscheduled to appear laterWednesday in a federal court inFort Lauderdale, Florida, for legalproceedings to bring him toBrooklyn for t r ial . The caseinvolved the NASDAQ‑tradedstocks of ForceField Energy Inc.,which claimed to be a world‑widedistributor LED lighting prod‑ucts.

The nine from four s tates

across the US were charged withsecurities fraud, conspiracy, wirefraud, money laundering and

making a false statement to lawenforcement officials.

The charges followed actionsby the President 's FinancialFraud Enforcement Task Forcethat "was established to wage anaggressive, coordinated, andproactive effort to investigateand prosecute financial crimes,"Capers' office said.

The nine, who included NaveedKhan of Staten Island, New York,"designed an elaborate but fraud‑ulent scheme built on lies, kick‑backs and manipulated tradingactivity to defraud the securitiesmarkets, the investing public andtheir clients," Capers said.

"They took a company withessentially no business opera‑t ions and l i t t le revenue anddeceived the market and theircl ients into bel ieving i t wasworth hundreds of millions of dollars through a dizzying roundof unauthorized trades and

deceptive promotions.""The scheme ended up costing

investors approximately $131

million in losses," according toDiego Rodriguez, the AssistantDirector‑in‑Charge of the FederalBureau of Investigation (FBI)New York Field Office.

The prosecutor's office allegedthat a ForceField official hired

Ja red Mi tch el l, the ma na gi ngpartner of a financial firm, to paykickbacks using offshore bankaccounts in 2014 to Patel andfour other stock brokers for buy‑ing ForceField shares in theirclient's accounts to manipulatethe price.

The announcement did notidentify the official, but RichardSt‑Julien, who was ForceField'schairman and founder, wasarrested in April last year andcharged with securities fraudconspiracy and paying through aBelize‑based company thealleged participants in a schemeto manipulate the company'sshare prices. (IANS)

Once a critic BobbyJindal now says hewill vote for Trump

Indian descent stock broker charged inalleged $131M stock market scam

Jay Chaudhuri with family(Image courtesy: theunn.com)

Jay Chaudhuri sworn inas North Carolina Senator

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Bollywoodʼs leading singer SureshWadkar will be having a twohour music workshop on May

14th at TV Asia, Edison where he willbe teaching how to tackle the intrica‑cies of Bollywood music.

Suresh Wadkar heads a music insti‑tution with a legacy of over 83 yearsand perseveres to maintain the tradi‑tional and timeless quality of Hindus‑tani Classical music.

Much of Classical Music has now be‑come evident in the popular culture of Bollywood songs and music. He worksincessantly towards spreading theroots of music far and wide into theworld through apt guidance and in‑struction.

An interactive session with an in‑

trigued audience provides an opportu‑nity to understand and create a bondwith Bollywoodʼs ever changingrhythms and melodies and sing to per‑fection along with Suresh Wadkar.This grand opportunity is now comingto New Jersey after a highly successfulworkshop in Dubai.For More Informa‑tion call: 646 641 0936

Plainview NY: IALI (India Association of Long Island) organized First Jugalbandi of Rhythm of the Mind and Melody of theSoul on April 29.

Under the leadership of Beena Kothari,President of IALI, attendees from childrento seniors met at the Plainview Public Li‑brary Auditorium for four and a half hours for some fun and entertainment.The event was attended by ShardaJi , whosang her famous song “Around the Worldin Eight Dollars.”

There were four Forums: Meditation Fo‑rum chaired by Narinder Kapoor, HealthForum chaired by Dr. Jag Kalra and Dr. Vi‑

jay Chhabra, Sports Forum chaired by

Karishma Ahluwalia and Sangeet Forumchaired by Jyoti Gupta.

Shikha from TAS (Theory of Arts & Sci‑ences) came with her plethora of art sup‑

plies for making art projects for all ages.A four year old child made a plate art proj‑ect and gave her a sense of having fun andachievement. The program was emceedby Jyoti Gupta and Amita Karwal, chair of Cultural Events.

The program was partially sponsoredby Salil Javeri who spoke about his teambeing available to evaluate the existing in‑surance policies and to take advantage of the new programs for reduction of premi‑ums for insurance policies.

IALI presents four forums

North Brunswick Township India DayCommittee (A service Project of Non‑Prot Organization Agraj Seva

Kendra) in collaboration of NorthBrunswick Board of Education and NorthBrunswick Department of Parks, Recre‑ation & Community Services will be or‑ganizing its rst annual Science sympo‑sium/science fair for the North BrunswickTownship students Grades 4 through 12.

This science symposium will provide aplatform for these young scientists to dis‑play and share their innovative ideas. Theresponse has been overwhelming withmore than 50 Elementary, Middle andHigh School teams, (more than 130 stu‑dents) registered to participate at this

symposium displaying a variety of proj‑ects. The students will also get a chance tolisten to some noted scientists includingNorth Brunswickʼs own aspiring scientist,Ryan Catalano.

At this event the young minds will get achance to present their thoughts in vari‑ous areas of STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering & Mathematics) with help of models, and posters. Awards will be pre‑sented to the best ideas at various cate‑gories to motivate and recognize the tal‑ents. The event is open to the public from10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the NBTHS Com‑mons (Admission is free). Additional in‑formation can be found athttp://www.nbtscientists.org.

Dr. Sid Gautam, a professor of economics at MethodistUniversity where he found‑

ed and led its Center for Entrepre‑neurship, passed away on April 28at his home town Fayetteville,North Carolina. He had spent hislife striving to meet higher expec‑tations, both in his personal lifeand in his 44‑year career atMethodist University where he createdprograms and awards recognizing localbusinesspeople and boosting the commu‑nity's sense of itself. Dr. Gautam was 74.In recent years, Dr. Gautam had turnedsome of his considerable energies to pro‑moting healthy living. About 2010, he be‑gan hosting free monthly programs at Ki‑wanis Recreation Center where peoplecould learn and practice simple yogamoves and attend seminars on varioushealth issues. Dubbed Happiness Yoga,the program drew its name from Dr. Gau‑

tam's belief in the connection be‑tween happiness and health.

Dr. Gautam founded the Centerfor Entrepreneurship in 1973and a few years later began hold‑ing two annual symposiums, onefocused on the local and nationaleconomic outlook for the coming

year and the other on the stockmarket.

He and his advisers also recognized lo‑cal business people through awards.

Dr. Gautam was quite involved in the In‑dian community activities as Life MemberGOPIO which recognized him for his con‑tribution to Entrepreneurship. He trav‑elled around the world and spoke at thevarious GOPIO convention and forumsconnecting entrepreneurship and Indiancultural values. Dr. Gautam is survived byhis wife of 53 years, Indira, his daughterPragati, son‑in‑law Dr. Anil Sharma, andtheir children.

First annual NBT ScienceSymposium on May 22

Suresh Wadkar to hold a musicworkshop in NJ

Dr Sid Gautam passes awayin North Carolina

IN BRIEF

Dr Sid Gautam

Singer Sharda (second from left) and IALI President Beena Kotaari (third from left)

When times got tough and we couldn’t afford healthy food,SNAP HELPED.- KARIMA, GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Brooklyn

WATCH OUR STORY AT FoodHelp.nyc

Now it’s easier to apply online at FoodHelp.n yc

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7May 7-13, 2016TheSouthAsianTimes.info N AT I O N A L C O M M U N I T Y

San Francisco: A 48‑year‑oldIndian‑American woman has beenshot dead in California with policearresting her husband for hermurder.

Sonia Nallan ‑‑ a technicalrecrui ter at EncoreSemiconductors ‑‑ was allegedlyshot dead by her husband JamesNallan, also an Indian‑American,at a home on Indigo Oak Lane,San Jose.

Jam es, 63, was ar reste d andbooked into the Santa ClaraCounty Jail for murder.

Ofcers arrived to nd her withat least one gunshot wound,police said. She was rushed to thehospital, where she was pro‑nounced dead.

The motive in the shooting thattook place on Saturday is stillunder investigation, San JosePolice Department said. There areno outstanding suspects.

Nallan has left behind her twosons ‑‑ Sahil, 21, who attends UCBerkeley and Nitin, 20, whoattends UC Irvine. Chris Nallan,

the suspect's younger brother,visited the Nallans' two‑storystucco said the family is in shock."They had a wonderful relation‑ship," he was quoted as saying byThe Mercury News.

James and Ms Nallan met at atechnology rm and had beenmarried for decades, Chris Nallansaid. About seven years ago,

James suffered severe injuries in

a fall while doing home repairs.And he fell into a coma for threemonths.

When he awoke, his personalityhad changed dramatically, hisbrother said. Once fun‑loving andengaging, he became withdrawn,and his moods were unpre‑dictable, Chris said. Sonia Nallancared for her husband, who wasunable to work, he said. (PTI)

Washington DC: The number of Indian students in American universi‑ties and colleges is nearing two lakhas latest ofcial data released saidthat they now number over 194,000,a jump of more than 31 per cent inone year.

"The number of F&M students fromIndia studying in the US grew from148,360 in March 2015 to 194,438in March 2016, an increase of 31.1per cent," according to the latest 'SE‑VIS by the Numbers', a quarterlyreport on foreign student trends pre‑pared by Student and ExchangeVisitor Program (SEVP).

There are nearly 1.2 million inter‑national students with F (academic)or M (vocational) status studying inthe US. SEVIS is part of USImmigration and CustomsEnforcement's (ICE) HomelandSecurity Investigations (HSI).

Based on data extracted from SEVISMarch 7, international student enrol‑

ment at US schools increased 6.2 percent compared to March 2015. InMarch, there were 8,687 US schoolswith SEVP certication to enroll inter‑national students, a three per centdecrease from the previous year, ICEsaid in a release. According to thereport, 82 per cent of F and M stu‑dents from India pursue degrees in aSTEM eld. STEM stands for science,technology, engineering and mathe‑matics.

"More STEM students are fromIndia than any other country," it said.

On the other hand, 69 per cent of all F & M students who pursue mathe‑

matics and statistics coursework arefrom China, it said.ICE report said 40 per cent of inter‑

national students studying in the US,equaling almost 479,000 individuals,were enrolled in STEM coursework.

Approximately 417,000 interna‑tional students from Asia pursuedSTEM studies, an increase of 17 per

cent since March 2015, it added.In March, more than 75 per cent of

the M (vocational) student populationwas male.

Sixty‑four per cent of M studentsmajored in transportation and materi‑als moving, with a focus on air,ground or marine transportation.

Among US schools, New YorkUniversity, the University of SouthernCalifornia, Northeastern University,Columbia University and theUniversity of Illinois rank onethrough ve for schools with thehighest international student popula‑tions. More than 10,000 international

students were enrolled at each schoolin March. As many as 77 per cent of all international students are fromAsia.

The top 10 countries of citizenshipfor international students included:China, India, South Korea, SaudiArabia, Canada, Vietnam, Japan,Taiwan, Brazil and Mexico. (PTI)

ERIC PARKER TO GO ON TRIAL IN SURESHBHAI

PATEL ASSAULT CASEWashington DC: An American police ofcer, who brutallyassaulted an Indian grandfather that left him paralyzed, willnow face a fresh trial for misdemeanor assault next month.

Eric Parker will stand trial on June 8 and June 9 for misde‑meanor assault against Sureshbhai Patel, an elderly Indianman who was taking a stroll around his son's neighborhood inAlabama when he was brutally assaulted by the police ofcerin February last year.

Newly‑appointed Limestone County District Judge Douglas"Doug" Lee Patterson said he was ready to move forward wi ththe trial since it is a misdemeanor and there was no need toprolong the case, according to a local television station.Parker was cleared of federal civil rights charges in January,after two mistrials. Parker's attorney Robert Tuten told WAAY31 that he plans to appeal if he is found guilty.

If convicted Parker faces up to one year of imprisonment.He was red from the force after the alleged attack on Patel.

The former Alabama police ofcer also faces a lawsuit ledagainst him by Patel.

The assault had sparked outrage in the Indian communityand India had raised the issue with the US, demanding expedi‑tious investigation into the matter. The Governor of the USstate of Alabama had apologized for the brutal police assaulton Patel. (PTI)

New York ARepublican busi‑nesswoman whocalled DonaldTrump a “racist,misogynist ip‑op‑per” will not get achance to voteagainst him thissummer at theRepublican NationalConvention, accord‑ing to a WashingtonPost report.

D.C. GOP leadersvoted not to certify the electionof Rina Shah Bharara as a con‑vention delegate after they saidthey discovered she lives inVirginia, not the District ̶ a vio‑lation of party rules.

But in an interview Tuesday,Bharara red back, saying sheoffered the party proof that sheʼsa D.C. resident, and she vowed togo to Cleveland for this sum‑

merʼs conventionanyway.

“This is all Trump‑driven. They aresearching for any‑thing to get rid of me,” Bharara said. “Ihave not been dis‑honest; itʼs actuallythe D.C. party thatis overstepping itsauthority. . . . I waselected, and Iʼmgoing to Cleveland.”

The investigationinto Bhararaʼs eligibility to be aRepublican delegate waslaunched after Breitbart.com, aconservative media outlet andone of the earliest chroniclers of Trumpʼs longshot bid for thepresidency, reviewed Bhararaʼsproperty records and herInstagram account, nding pic‑tures of a home she says she co‑owns in Virginia.

San Jose woman shot deadallegedly by husband

Number of Indian students in US

jumps 31 per cent

Sonia Nallan (left)ʼs husband James (Sonia photo courtesy: Indiawest.com) (James photo courtesy: Sfgate.com)

Rina Shah Bharara(Photo: Twitter)

Indian Americanbarred from beingdelegate at RNC for

criticizing Trump

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8 May 7-13 2016 TheSouthAsianTimes.info N AT I O N A L C O M M U N I T Y

By Geeta Goindi

Wa s h i n g t o n D C :The annualBaisakhi celebration at the IndianEmbassy Residence is always a col‑orful, vibrant and ebullient eventhighlighting the rich culture of Punjab. This year was no exceptionas community activists, predomi‑nantly Indian‑American Sikhs,attended a function hosted byAmbassador Arun K. Singh and hiswife Dr. Maina Chawla Singh onApril 23.

In his welcome remarks on thefestive occasion, Amb. Singh notedthat Baisakhi is celebrated as thenew year in Punjab and other partsof India. He told the gathering, “Inthe spirit of the unity in our diversi‑ty, in the month of April, the new

year is celebrated in many states of India ‑ in Bengal, Assam, states inthe south ‑ which also shows as for‑

mer Prime Minister ManmohanSingh said, ʻOur differences do notdivide us, they define us,ʼ and wegrow up in the midst of our unity indiversity.”

At the outset, accomplished ragiBhai Kirpal Singh of the SikhFoundation of Virginia, accompa‑nied by Bhai Onkar Singh and BhaiKaram Singh, rendered a soulfulshabad, ʻManas ki jaat sabhai ekai

pehchanboʼ, by tenth Sikh GuruGobind Singh Ji, which recognizesthe whole of humanity as one. Amb.Singh alluded to the shabad, “Ithink that is a very important mes‑sage in todayʼs global contextmarked by extremism, exclusion,violence and terrorism”.

Amb. Singh spoke of heightenedIndo‑US engagement in the contextof important, high‑profile visits,

beginning with PM Modiʼs US visitin September 2015 which includedstops on the west coast. “There is alot of focus on the existing coopera‑tion and opportunities we have indigital technology, renewable ener‑gy, innovation”, he added.

Greeting and mingling withguests at the Baisakhi celebrationwere: Deputy Chief of MissionTaranjit Singh Sandhu; Minister of

Community Affairs, N.K. Mishra;and Minister of Press, Informationand Culture, SridharanMadhusudhanan.

In his opening remarks, FirstSecretary Suneet Mehta highlightedthe importance of Baisakhi whichmarks “the establishment of theKhalsa Panth, the commencementof the harvest season and a new

year.”The program also featured: an

address on the significance of Baisakhi by Dr. Pavanjit KaurSawhney, a Maryland neurologistand a philanthropist; a musical seg‑ment by singers Raj Nijjar andManjot Kaur; energetic Punjabidances by talented teens of theManassas‑based Virginia School of Bhangra; and closing remarks byParamvir Singh Soni, Chairpersonof the Guru Nanak Foundation of America (GNFA).

Kolkata:Thrilled at the detection of the elusive gravitational waves acentury after Albert Einstein's pre‑diction and the first observation of collision of two black holes at theInterferometer Gravitational‑waveObservatory (LIGO), two young US‑based Indian researchers working onthe project say the waves act as asixth sense for humans to compre‑hend the universe.

In fact, these "ripples in the curva‑ture of space and time" will provideinformation on the cosmos thatwouldn't have been possible by peer‑ing through any kind of telescope,say Karan P. Jani and NancyAggarwal, who are elated at theprospect of India getting a thirdLIGO (observatory) and being at theforefront of new‑age astrophysics.

Last month, India and the USsigned an agreement for a new LIGOproject in India during PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's visit toWashington. The agreement wassigned between India's Departmentof Atomic Energy and the US'National Science Foundation (NSF).

The prime minister also met Indianstudent scientists, includingAggarwal and Jani, associated withthe LIGO project. "Gravitational

waves are a completely new way of seeing the universe. It's like humanscan now perceive the sixth sensebeyond the five, to comprehend theuniverse," Jani, a fourth year PhDresearcher in astrophysics at theGeorgia Institute of Technology inAtlanta, told IANS via email.

The gravitational waves weredetected on September 14, 2015 byboth of the twin LIGO detectors,located in Livingston, Louisiana, andHanford, Washington. The LIGOObservatories are funded by the NSFand were conceived, built, and areoperated by Caltech and the MIT.

Physicists have concluded that thedetected gravitational waves wereproduced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two blackholes to produce a single, more mas‑sive spinning black hole. This colli‑sion of two black holes had been pre‑dicted but never observed.

Jani and Aggarwal explained thedetectors led to "direct observationof existence of black holes as also adirect observation of mergers of twoblack holes into a bigger black hole."

"The energy released during colli‑sion was 50 times more than all thestars in the universe combined at

that instance," added Jani, whosework involves simulating black holeson supercomputers and searchingfor massive black hole collisions inLIGO data.

The breakthrough was made bythe LIGO Scientific Collaboration(LSC) (which includes the GEOCollaboration and the AustralianConsortium for InterferometricGravitational Astronomy) and theVirgo Collaboration using data fromthe two LIGO detectors.

The LSC currently includes over1,000 members from 90 institutesand 16 countries. India is the thirdhighest right now in terms of mem‑bership.

At the heart of the mammoth hunt‑ing game to catch the unicorn aretools called interferometers whichwork by merging two or moresources of light to create an interfer‑ence pattern that can be measuredand analyzed.

"It is a 4 km light interferometer...in fact LIGO is the most precisemeasurement ever done. This meansa lot of technology research has tobe done to make LIGO," Aggarwal, afourth year PhD student at MIT LIGOLab, told IANS via email. Aggarwal isstudying quantum mechanics to

improve the precision of gravitation‑al wave detectors and is glad that thestarting of the LIGO India projectopens up a new opportunity for herto work in her native country.

"A lot of technological develop‑ments that were made for LIGO havefound independent applications inscience as well as industry and LIGOIndia will create a lot of opportuni‑ties for Indian scientists and engi‑neers and improve the general scien‑tific and technological environment,"Aggarwal emphasized.

They hope to "share the discoverywith a larger audience", a requestput in by Modi during their meeting."During our meeting, the prime min‑ister said he would like the LIGO sci‑entists to make frequent India tripsto popularize the science in collegesin India. We also talked aboutphysics outreach in India for schoolchildren, the importance of hands‑ondemos and the importance of learn‑ing material in languages other thanEnglish," Aggarwal informed.

"Also, due to the participation, thetraveling of Indian scientists abroadand international scientists to Indiawill definitely strengthen the inter‑national relations for India," she said.

(IANS)

Karan P. Jani and Nancy Aggarwal (left) with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during his meeting with LIGO researchers in

Washington DC in March. (Photo: PIB)

Gravitational waves 'sixth sense' tounderstand universe: NRI researchers

Baisakhi celebrated at DC Embassy Residence

Indian Ambassador Arun K. Singh addressing the gathering at the Baisakhi celebration in the EmbassyResidence. (right) A Baltimore‑based group performs the Gidha at the Baisakhi event.

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9May 7-13, 2016TheSouthAsianTimes.info U S A F F A I R S

Washington Presidential hopeful DonaldTrump was declared the "presumptive GOPnominee" by Republic National CommitteeChairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday

after his sweeping victory in Indianaforced his main rival, Texas Senator TedCruz, out of the race.

Born in 1946 in New York, Trump startedhis career in his father's real estatefirm in 1968 after gradua‑t ion f rom Whar tonSchool of Business atthe Universi ty of Pennsylvania, andwas given control of the company in1971 , when herenamed thecompany "TheT r u m pOrganization".

Since then,T r u m pexpanded thebusiness bybuilding casinos,golf courses, hotelsand other propertiesand started marketing

his name on a number of building projects andcommercial products and services.

He was also famous as a reality televisionstar through his 14‑season run as the host

of "The Apprentice".Trump announced his presidential candi‑dacy in June 2015, portraying himself as a

Washington outsider.The announcement ended his long history

of presidential flirtations that startedin 1987 and were revived in1999, 2004, 2008 and 2012elections.

During his announcementspeech, Trump famouslysaid: "I 'm real ly r ich,"adding that he was theright person to replacethe current "loser" to runthe country. His cam‑paign slogan is "Make

America Great Again".Though Trumpclaimed in July 2015

that his net worth was

"in excess of" $10 billion, Forbes estimated that the realestate mogul's net worth stood at $4.5 billion.

Trump drew widespread criticism when he said in hispresidential announcement speech that Mexico was

sending "rapists" and drug dealers to the US.Since that, the New York property developer hadrepeatedly vowed, if elected president, to deport about11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

In another outburst of emotional remarks, Trumpcalled for a "total and complete" ban on Muslims enter‑ing the US in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks onNovember 13 last year.

However, his blunt and sometimes incendiary remarksabout Latino immigrants and Muslims never seemed totake its toll in his polling numbers.

Since last September, Trump has stood atop virtuallyal l Republican polls . According to the latestRealClearPolitic polling average, Trump now enjoyed45.4 percent of national support within the party, com‑pared to his only rival Ohio Governor John Kasich's 20.2percent.

According to a Washington Post analysis released inDecember, Trump's support skewed male, white, poorand uneducated Americans.

Trump has married thrice and has five children.

Detroit "We cannot let Barack Obama's

legacy fall into Donald Trump's hands,"Democratic front‑runner Hillary Clintonhas said.

"Let's not endanger the promise, thepotential, the dream of our country bygiving in to these voices of hatred," theSenator and former Secretary of Statesaid on Sunday night.

She was addressing a NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) dinner, whereshe contrasted Obama and Republicanhopeful Trump.

In her speech in Detroit, she mentionedTrump's ties to the "insidious birthermovement" and his initial struggle to dis‑avow former Ku Klux Klan leader David

Duke, The Washington Post reported.Clinton said bringing the countrytogether was more urgent than ever withObama's presidency ending.

The NAACP dinner was her first publicevent in Michigan since losing the state'sMarch 8 primary by a percentage and ahalf to rival Bernie Sanders.

Attendee and Clinton supporter ShawnThomas said he thought she struck theright tone on Sunday in going afterTrump but he urged caution.

"Everybody who goes after Trump justgets dragged into the mud," he said.

Washington PresidentBarack Obama ended

his final White HouseC o r r e s p o n d e n t sDinner on Saturdaynight with what wasthe 'coolest' exit by apresident in historywhen he said, "Obamaout", dropped the micand walked away fromthe podium.

Hundreds of well‑known journalists,politicians, and celebri‑ties attended the din‑ner, which was held atthe Washington HiltonHotel.

Vice President Joe Biden, in attendance forthe first time in eight years, joined Secretaryof State John Kerry and other governmentofficials, NBC News reported.

Obama began his speech apologizing forbeing late, saying he was operation on "CPT"‑ an acronym for "colored people's time" thatwas controversially used by New YorkMayor Bill DeBlasio during a skit last month

with Democrat front‑run‑ner Hillary Clinton.

Obama said CPT stoodfor "jokes that white peo‑ple should not make".The president alsobragged about his recentpopularity in the polls."My approval ratingskeep going up. The lasttime I was this high I wastrying to decide on mymajor."

Republican front‑run‑ner Donald Trump, a reg‑ular in recent years, didnot attend the dinner,however Democratic

hopeful Bernie Sanders did. "Bernie, you

look like a million bucks," Obama told him."Or to put it in terms you understand, youlook like 37,000 donations of $27 each."

Obama wondered aloud why Trump didnot attend. "Is he at home eating a Trumpsteak? Tweeting out insults to AngelaMerkel? What is he doing?"

Obama ended his speech with the two finalwords: "Obama out".

Don't let Obama's legacyfall to Trump: Clinton

Hillary Clinton addressing a NationalAssociation for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP) event.(Photo courtesy The Detroit News)

President Barack Obamaat his final White HouseCorrespondents Dinner.

(Photo: AP/PTI)

Republic National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus declared Donald Trumpthe ̒ presumptive GOP nomineeʼ after Indiana went his way and Ted Cruz suspended his campaign. (Photo courtesy Esquire)

Trump is 'presumptive GOP nominee'

Obama ends his final correspondents'dinner with 'Obama out'

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Chennai A total of 3,785 candi‑dates are in the fray in the May16 elections for the 234‑mem‑ber Tamil Nadu state assembly,the Election Commission said.

The candidates include 3,463males and 320 females. Thereare also two candidates from thethird‑gender.

The Radhakrishnan Nagarassembly constituency, fromwhere Chief Minister J .

Jaya lali thaa is con tes tin g, hasthe highest 45 candidates.

The chief ministerial candi‑dates of other major parties,

who are contesting, and thetotal number of contestants intheir constituencies are ‑‑ DMKpresident M. Karunanidhi(Tiruvarur ‑ 15), DMDK founder

A. Vijaykant (Ulundurpettai ‑ 25)and PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss(Pennagaram‑15).

The AIADMK has teamed upwith several small parties. Butall will be contesting under theformer's two leaves symbol inall the 234 assembly seats ‑‑ afirst in the ruling party's history.

The DMK has teamed up withthe Congress, two Muslim par‑ties, a Dalit party, and severalsmaller outfits.

The DMDK, founded by actor‑turned‑politician A. Vijaykant,has teamed up with the two

communist parties, VCK, MDMKand TMC while the PMK is goingalone.

(Photos: IANS)

New Delhi Police said this week that theyhad busted a major Jaish‑e‑Mohammed(JeM) terrorist module and arrested threesuspects who were planning an attack inDelhi and neighboring areas. Ten suspects,

with alleged links to the Pakistan‑basedgroup, were being questioned.Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh

later sent the three ‑‑ Mohammed Sajid,Shakir Ansari and Sameer ‑‑ to 10 dayspolice custody.

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED), 11live batteries, six dry batteries, two timerdevices, three pipes and 250 grams of explosive powder to be used for makingbombs were recovered from them.

Special commissioner of Police (Specialcell) Arvind Deep told IANS that 10 morepeople were being questioned for possiblelinks to the JeM and for providing logisti‑cal support to the terror cell.

Police officials said the terror module

was active and plotting to target "sensitiveareas with maximum footfall like busymarkets, shopping malls and other crowd‑ed places in Delhi and the national capitalregion".

Police said the module was being closelymonitored by special cell of Delhi Policewith the help of the Intelligence Bureaufor the last six months. It was busted after

separate raids in parts of Delhi and neigh‑boring Uttar Pradesh.

A police officer, requesting not to benamed, said the suspects confessed tohave learnt online how to assemble IEDs.

They were now trying to procure moredevices and execute their plan, the police

officer said.Sajid, in his early 20s and a tailor by pro‑

fession, was said to be one of the mostwanted terrorists, whose left palm gotburnt while assembling IED some timeago.

He was arrested from his house in

Chandbagh in Gokulpuri in east Delhi.Police claimed to have found residues of burned explosives in Sajid's house.

Police believe that Sajid may have beenassembling a bomb when it triggered acci‑

dentally and burnt his hand."Shakir is the main accused and washeading the module. He was in directtouch with JeM operatives in Pakistan andwas planning to visit Pakistan in comingdays," the police officer said.

Shakir was arrested from his residencein Deoband in Saharanpur district of UttarPradesh with the help of the state's AntiTerrorist Squad. Sameer was arrested fromhis house at Loni in Ghaziabad.

Both Shakir and Sameer were said to bedirectly linked to the Jaish, which is sus‑pected for the January 2 attack on theIndian Air Force base in Pathankot.

The police said the three arrested and 10detained knew each other and were in

touch with each other through WhatsApp."They held several meetings and the

most recent known meeting was onDecember 20 at Sajid's house," Deep, thespecial commissioner, told IANS. He addedthat all the terror suspects did recce atseveral places in Delhi and NCR.

Most of the detained suspects are below30 and are residents of Delhi.

N e w D e l h i Defense MinisterManohar Parrikar said the probe inthe AgustaWestland helicoptergraft case will focus on thosenamed in the Italian court judg‑ment.

"There is an agreement that cor‑rupt practices were involved in pro‑curement of AgustaWestland heli‑copters. The previous governmentrecognized these and put on holdthe group in 2014, and the presentgovernment passed the order,"Parrikar said in the Rajya Sabha,replying to a short duration discus‑sion on the issue.

The minister said "corrupt prac‑tices" was the central matter, and itwill be "unmasked" through inquiry.

"Given the above background,these inquiries will necessarilyfocus on the role of those named inthe judgment of the Italian court. Itis also important for ensuring acomprehensive investigation,"Parrikar said.

"The ministry of defense has writ‑ten to both ED and CBI to take intoaccount the contents of the judg‑ment and conclude the investiga‑tion expeditiously," he said.

The judgment names Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi, then IAF

chief S.P. Tyagi, Congress leaderAhmad Patel and others.

Parrikar also said that it was"most obvious" thatAgustaWestland was "favored" at

every stage of the deal.

The Congress has, however,stressed that the judgment does notindict anyone.

A dissatisfied Congress alsostaged a walkout from the houseafter Parrikar's reply, and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad saidhe was "disappointed" over theresponse.

Congress leader Abhishek ManuSinghvi, participating in the debate,said the mention of Sonia Gandhi,and others including PranabMukherjee and Ahmad Patel, in the

judgement from the Milan court didnot indict them, and only mentionedthem as VVIPs who would use the

choppers."By this logic all of the former

including present president shouldbe indicted... Mrs. Gandhi was men‑tioned as someone flying on the

chopper," he said.Former defense minister A.K.

Antony, meanwhile, told the govern‑ment not to "threaten and black‑mail" but to take action against thebribe takers.

"It is true... beyond doubt there iscorruption in this deal... All legalhurdles are over, you have to actnow," Antony said.

"Now corruption has been proved,we can win the arbitration case...get thousands of crores of rupees ascompensation," Antony added.

The discussion that lasted aroundfour hours, also saw opposition

members demand for a SupremeCourt monitoring to the inquiry.

Several members also questionedwhy the issue was being debated inthe Rajya Sabha when there was noconclusive evidence, and the coun‑try is facing severe problems likedrought.

BJP member SubramanianSwamy, who was named by Antonyas trying to threaten the Congress,meanwhile said the CBI can, as perthe law, question the person men‑tioned as the "driving force" behindthe AgustaWestland deal, indicatingat Gandhi.

The multi‑crore‑rupee scam resur‑

faced last month after the names of some Congress leaders, including of party chief Sonia Gandhi, were saidto have figured in a judgment by anItalian court.

1 0 May 7-13, 2016 TheSouthAsianTimes.info I N D I A

3,785 CANDIDATES IN FRAYFOR TAMIL NADU ELECTIONS

Jaish plan to attack Delhi busted

AgustaWestland chopperprobe widens

The three Jaish suspects were produced at the Patiala House Court.

DMK chief K Karunanidhi releases party's manifesto ahead of TamilNadu assembly polls.

Defense MinisterManohar Parrikar.

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By mit Kapoor

Manufacturing in India has not beenparticularly strong. This is becauseof a host of reasons emanating fromthe India's socialist era. Prominent amongthese include labour laws resulting in tradeunionism, licenses for regulating productionactivity and the like.

But the performance of the sector evenpost that period (initiated in 1980s and cul‑minating into the reforms of 1990s) hasbeen far from stellar. Although manufactur‑

ing sector has grown overall, the share of manufacturing in GDP has stayed constant ataround 15 percent. The choice for con‑sumers has increased manifold, but the out‑put of manufacturing growth has beensteady.

In comparison to the services sector, themanufacturing sector has been clearly a lag‑gard. In spite of this, a large number of sub‑sectors have developed and deepened themanufacturing capability like the automotiveindustry, pharmaceutical industry, etc.Another prominent feature of Indian manu‑facturing is that still a massive portion isdone by the small and medium sector enter‑prises.

It is in this light of this context and back‑drop that the recent move by theDepartment of Industrial Policy andPromotion (DIPP) (which awaits final

approval of the finance minister) becomesimportant. The move does away with the 30percent sourcing requirement for Apple, theCupertino based technology giant. Thesourcing requirement mandates that in sin‑gle brand retail 30 percent of content is tobe sourced locally. The apparent logic beinggiven by the Indian government is that it can

grant companies an exception if they arefound to make state‑of‑the‑art and cutting‑edge products.

Apple till date has not been able to enterIndia, but most likely sees India as a keymarket as it has a low smartphone penetra‑tion (

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13May 7-13, 2015TheSouthAsianTimes.info B O O K S

By M.R. Narayan Swamy

In March 2013, National Security Adviser ShivshankarMenon called Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan presi‑dent's brother who ran the war against the Tamil Tigers.Menon promised Indian support at the UN human rights votein Geneva and wanted to know which countries may voteagainst Sri Lanka so that he may persuade them not to do so.But when the vote came, Colombo was stunned: India itself had voted against Sri Lanka.

A perplexed Gotabhaya soon learnt the story behind theIndian 'betrayal'. Apparently, then Home Minister P.Chidambaram, with a shrinking support base in Tamil Nadu,persuaded Congress president Sonia Gandhi to go for a nega‑tive vote. The matter reached Prime Minister ManmohanSingh who, "unable to say no to the high command, simplykeeled over and complied". India scored a diplomatic self‑goalbecause one of its politicians wanted to win more votes in hishome state.

Singapore‑based Indian journalist Ravi Velloor reveals this ‑and much more ‑‑ in his scholarly study of the ManmohanSingh decade and how the economist‑turned‑politician's fail‑

ure to check corruption led to the rise of Narendra Modi and avirtual decimation of the Congress in 2014. Ravi's admirationfor Modi shows but he is no cheerleader of the BJP orHindutva ideology. The BJP was "a mediocre political institu‑tion" until Modi came along, he says, and argues that a stresson "Indutva" (Indianness) ‑ not Hindutva ‑ may perhaps offer alasting glue to 21st century India.

The book is a follow up of the reportage Ravi did for TheStraits Times of Singapore over many years, producing storiesbased on his extensive connections with key actors in theIndian government, diplomacy and the military, not to speakof his equally rich contacts outside of India.

Sonia Gandhi's firm belief after the 2009 Lok Sabha victorythat massive sops to voters would help win future electionstoo fundamentally affected the Sonia‑Manmohan relationship,Ravi says. But what really undid Manmohan Singh was sleazethat he seemed unable to check because of what he called

"coalition dharma". Though Shashi Tharoor and A. Raja wereforced out of the government, the damage had been done by2011, so much so that the Congress was in no mood to cele‑

brate that year the two decades of free market reforms theprime minister himself had unleashed in an earlier avatar.

If Chidambaram was more concerned about his votes inTamil Nadu than India's standing in Sri Lanka, DefenceMinister A.K. Antony shuddered to take on China. And if

Manmohan Singh looked wooden towards the end of histenure, it was because he had "started showing signs of earlystage of Parkinson's disease". This was a closely guardedsecret, unknown to many even in the Prime Minister's Office(PMO). The overtly mild‑mannered Manmohan Singh, we aretold, remembers every slight but the vindictive streak is most‑ly kept hidden. Ravi is gung‑ho on India, despite its manyteething problems. With a firmly entrenched democraticprocess, India's diversities have not affected the rise of anational consciousness. But although it has a good chance of overtaking Britain and France to become the world's fifthlargest economy by the end of this decade, India will have to,Ravi warns, present a coherent and convincing face to theworld if it wants to be taken seriously.

Ravi is among those who feel that it has been a while sinceIndians felt secure in the knowledge that in Modi they have astrong leader. But he thinks ‑ unlike most Modi backers ‑ that

Modi may be in the wrong party. (A la Vajapyee?) If Modi hasto succeed in the long run, there will have to be a more coop‑erative brand of domestic politics. Modi's go‑it‑alone personal‑ity shuts out the outreach to others needed to build the con‑sensus on which the pillars of a new economic regime have torest. He must cut loose from the Hindutva brigade, from theBJP too. (Wishful thinking?)

As for Modi's government, Ravi is unsparing ‑ "the talent inhis cabinet can be squeezed into the back seat of a MarutiSuzuki subcompact". And so, in a perverse way, in Modi'sstrengths also lie India's fragility.

Ravi has disdain for Rahul Gandhi ‑‑ "a political liability forthe Congress". He feels the future battle lines in Indian politicsmay well revolve between Modi and the head of India's

youngest political party, Arvind Kejriwal ‑ "one intent on swift‑ly building the cake, the other on distributing it first". This istruly a great book.

By Vikas Datta

Is a particular female form – curvy is thecustomary popular term – a random nat‑ural occurrence, or does it have a deeperobjective? And what makes for the keeninterest?

It may seem only a preoccupation of curi‑ous adolescents or a subject of adult maletitillation, but the obsession over the femalebody is present throughout any modernsociety – magazine covers and advertise‑

ments are a good indication. But is a partic‑ular female form – curvy is the customarypopular term – a random natural occur‑rence, or does it have a deeper objective?And what makes for the keen interest?

Surprisingly the answers donʼt lie innatureʼs whimsies, or lust or a sort of voyeurism, but in the human bodyʼs myste‑rious workings, the subtle but logicalprocesses of human evolution and the keyhuman instinct for the propagation and sur‑vival of the species. And to prove his con‑tention, David Bainbridge marshals manyconvincing arguments and considerableresearch, both scientific and social.

A reproductive biologist and clinical vet‑erinary anatomist at Cambridge University,

he trained as a veterinary surgeon but hasstudied various facets of human life, includ‑ing pregnancy, the genetic underpinningsof sex, the teenage period, middle age – allwhich he has presented in a series of popu‑

lar science books. In his sixth, he takes onthe provocative (in more senses than one)

issue of the “origins and power of femalebody shape”, in particular, the bodyʼs “biolo‑gy, the mind it contains, the culture thatsurrounds it – and why it has turned out tobe the strangest thing in existence”.

On his motivation, Bainbridge says therewere “two simple observations whichspurred me to study the female body shape”– first the fact that humans are the “onlyspecies in existence with curvy females, andthis bizarre uniqueness demands an expla‑nation”, and then “that women think abouttheir bodies more, and in fundamentallymore complex ways, than men think abouttheirs”. And he sets out to “discover whereall this came from.”

He is doubtful whether his personal and

academic background makes him the idealperson to write on the subject, but then heis “also not certain who the ideal personcould be”. However by avoiding the existingongoing arguments about the subject, and“taking a more ʻzoologicalʼ approach to thisuniquely human phenomenon”, he can“answer some questions which others donot like to ask” and that a “purely culturaland sociological approach cannot explainthe power of the female form without anunderpinning of evolution, biology and psy‑chology”.

Divided into three parts, the first concen‑trates on the “bodily biology of womanli‑ness”, where he explains how they endedwith their “unusual shape”, how each young

woman becomes that way, the “dramaticvariations” and the body shapeʼs effect of health and fertility, and the second how thebody affect the mind – of what it means toʻinhabitʼ or desire one, and how “modern

women negotiate the conflicting pressuresof food, mood and shape”.

Third, he takes up the bodyʼs relationshipwith the outside world or “how differentcultures and social environments judge,modify, conceal, celebrate and condemn thefemale body”, for a “combined physical‑mental‑societal” understanding makes itpossible to explain the obsession – and itsimplications.

Despite the fascinating subject, it mayseem too technical but Bainbridge enlivens

it with wit and wide range of referencesfrom the Bhagavad Gita to Barbie (andDanish band Aquaʼs Barbie Girl song), toMartina Navratilova to Marilyn Monroe, todifferent standards of the ideal female formfrom Jayne Mansfield to Audrey Hepburn,and to the advantages of the ʻlittle blackdressʼ and why women wear shoulder pads.There is also a range of research, includingone which calculated that “the average pairof high heels causes pain after being wornfor 66 minutes and 48 seconds”.

Even reaching out for this book, let beingseen reading it publicly, can seem a poten‑tially embarrassing, or liable to invite trou‑ble from feminists or moralists. But likeBainbridge, take the risk of being deemed a

“biased voyeur” rather than a “dispassion‑ate observer” and let yourself amazed bythe process and paths of human life, andhow it adapts to the conditions of the milieuit inhabits. ‑IANS

India Rising: Fresh Hope, New FearsBy Ravi Velloor;Straits Times Press;

Pages: 368 ; Price: Not mentioned.

WHY CONGRESS WILTED, WHY MODI BLOOMED

THE FEMALE BODY AND A SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR CURVES

Cambridge zoologist David Bainbridge'sstudy of the female body shape, and its

scientific reasons

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London Award‑winning Mumbai‑born sculptor Anish Kapoor hasopened the world's tallest and

longest tunnel slide on theArcelorMittal Orbit.The 61‑year‑old London‑based

artist sounded reluctant about theidea of his 114‑metre‑high steel cre‑ation to mark the 2012 LondonOlympics being converted into aslide measuring 178m in length and76m in height. "The mayor foistedthis on the project and there was amoment where I had to make a deci‑sion ‑ do I go to battle with themayor (Boris Johnson) or is there amore elegant or astute way throughthis," he told reporters.

Kapoor's solution was to get well‑known experimental artist Carston

Holler on board to design the addi‑tion to his creation. "I knew of Carsten's work so I thought, well,who better than a fellow artist to join up with and make this a positivestory rather than a negative... Ithought it was the right thing to do.It's one art work becoming part of another work," Kapoor said. The

sculpture in the Olympic Park innorth London itself costs 19 millionpounds, 16 million pounds of which

was paid for by Lakshmi N Mittal'ssteel company ArcelorMittal, and 3million pounds by the UK govern‑ment. It was expected to attractthousands of tourists and bring inannual revenues of 1.2 millionpounds from ticket sales. It costs asteep 12 pounds for a ride to the topand visitor numbers did not match

up to predictions. The structure wasfound to be losing as much as10,000 pounds a week in 2014.

The new slide, which will cost 5pounds over and above the 12pound ticket for the top, opens to thepublic from June 24. "We are hopingBoris will be the first one down andthat this will still be Europe when hegets to the bottom," Kapoor said inreference to the June 23 in‑outEuropean Union referendum.

L o n d o n Asha SinghKanwar, an Indian‑originprofessor has been con‑ferred honorary doctor‑ate by UK's OpenUniversity for her excep‑tional contributions toglobal education, social justice and human devel‑opment. The degree waspresented by PeterHorrocks, Vice‑Chancellor of the OpenUniversity (OU), lastweek. Reading from thecitation, ProfessorBelinda Tynan, Pro Vice‑Chancellor, said that theOpen University "recognize(s) herexceptional contribution to globaleducation, social justice andhuman development."

Kanwar is considered one of theworld's leading advocates forlearning for development and hasbeen the president and CEO of the

Commonwealth of Learning (COL) since2012. Before joining theCOL, she was a consultantin open and distancelearning at UNESCO'sRegional Office forEducation in Africa(BREDA) in Dakar,Senegal.

She received her under‑graduate, master's andMPhil degrees fromPanjab University andwas awarded a scholar‑ship for a DPhil programat the University of Sussex, which she com‑

pleted in 1986. She was also aFulbright Fellow for post‑doctoralresearch at Iowa State University,where she was later invited toteach, and was a Visiting Fellow atthe Universi ty of Leiden, theUniversity of Toronto and the OpenUniversity of Hong Kong.

erlin Two secondary schoolstudents accused of carrying outa bomb attack on a gurudwara inthe German city of Essen nearlytwo weeks ago are radicalIslamists and sympathisers of theISIS and al‑Qaeda, authoritiessaid.

The two allegedly detonated afire extinguisher filled with explo‑sives at the entrance of theNanaksar Satsang SabhaGurudwara on the evening of April 16. Before setting off theexplosion, the students unsuc‑cessfully tried to break into the

gurudwara through the entrancedoor, North Rhine Westphalia(NRW) Interior Minister Ralf

Jaeger said in a report presentedto the home affairs committee of the state parliament inDuesseldorf.

They have admitted carrying

out the attack, but denied that itwas a religious motivated opera‑tion, the report said. They toldtheir investigators that they did it"just for the kick of buildingfireworks."

The two from Essen and neigh‑boring town of Gelsenkirchen areknown to police as members of the radical Salafist sect of Islam,the report said. One of them wasinterrogated by police in connec‑tion with his involvement in casesof causing grievous bodily harmand attempted burglary. He hadalso expressed his sympathy for

ISIS and al‑Qaeda, the report said.His accomplice has been partici‑pating in a special program of theinterior ministry for Salafists whohave a tendency to get involvedin violence and are in danger of being drawn to IS and otherterror organizations.

14 May 7-13, 2016 TheSouthAsianTimes.info D I A S P O R A

Gurdwara bombing: Teen suspects

were ISIS sympathisers say

German authorities

London

Indian‑origin lawmak‑ers in the UK have launched anew cross‑party group to cam‑paign for Britain to remain amember of the European Union(EU) in the June 23 referendum.

The "British Indians for IN"campaign was launched withthe backing of 15 British‑Indianlawmakers including Keith Vaz,Shailesh Vara, Lord KaranBilimoria, Virendra Sharma andSeema Malhotra among others.

Those supporting the cam‑paign have signed an open let‑ter which reads: "We are BritishParliamentarians of Indian‑ori‑

gin and whilst we represent dif‑ferent poli t ical views, on awhole range of matters, webelieve that membership of theEU is an issue which transcendsparty politics."

"We are united in our belief that the UK is stronger, saferand better off as a member of

the EU.Contrary to the argumentmade by some that Bri tainneeds to leave the EU in orderto s trengthen i ts t ies withCommonwealth countries, webelieve that our membership of the EU helps to enhance andstrengthen the UK's partnershipwith countries like India."

"We wil l be encouragingeveryone to vote to remain inthe European Union, includingthe 1.2 million British‑Indianseligible to vote, whose votescould prove to be decisive indetermining the outcome of the

referendum," it said.Alok Sharma MP, who is help‑ing to co‑ordinate the cam‑paign, said that with more thana million eligible voters in theupcoming referendum, British‑Indians could "prove to have adecisive say" in our future rela‑tionship with Europe.

Indian‑originParliamentarians launch

anti‑Brexit campaign

Collapse of Caparo Firmsled to suicide of Angad

Paul: UK InquestLondon A British Coroner's courthas concluded that the collapse of some of Caparo Group firms had ledto leading industrialist Swaraj Paul'sson Angad Paul committing suicideby jumping from his home in centralLondon.

The 45‑year‑old was pronounceddead at the scene after being discov‑ered outside the property onNovember 8 last year.

"He was a very bright dynamicman, happily married with two chil‑dren and a comfortable existence, hetook his work responsibilities veryseriously. He was clearly worriedabout the business. He had felt thatit was his fault," coroner ShirleyRadcliffe said at the inquest atWestminster Coroner's Court inLondon. The businessman, philan‑thropist and film producer had beentreated by consultant psychiatricspecialists and was "self‑admitted" toa hospital on October 4, 2015, afterhis wife became concerned for hiswelfare but was released on October16, 'Evening Standard' reported.

Anish Kapoorʼs Olympic creationturns world's tallest slide

The steel creation is part of worldʼs longest tunnel slide on the ArcelorMittal Orbit in London (Photo courtesy: @AMorbit)

Asha SinghKanwar is one of world's leading

advocates of learning for

development(Photo:

unisa.ac.za)

INDIAN‑ORIGIN ACADEMICCONFERRED HONORARY

DOCTORATE IN UK

(News source: PTI)

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E V E N T 15May 7-13, 2016TheSouthAsianTimes.info

By Parveen Chopra

Hicksville NY: Over 200 Rotariansand elite members of the communi‑ty attended the Rotary LeadershipAppreciation Reception co‑hostedby Kamlesh Mehta, DistrictGovernor of RI 7255 (2015‑16)and his home club, HicksvilleSouth. The gala event also accord‑ed a welcome reception for the vis‑iting six‑member Rotary FriendshipExchange Team from India, belong‑ing to Rotary District 3170, whichextends from South Maharashtra toGoa and North Karnataka.

The Pledge of Allegiance waspresented by Town of Hempstead Clerk, NasrinAhmed. After Nassau CountyComptroller George Maragoswas inducted as honorarymember of Rotary Club of Hicksville South, he presentedplaques to all the honorees.

At perhaps the last big event of his term as DG of Dist 7255, whichextends from Brooklyn and Queensto Nassau and Suffolk counties,Kamlesh Mehta dedicated the occa‑sion to appreciate and recognizethe distinguished services of manyRotarian leaders to the district,“without whom I would not havebeen able to achieve what I haveduring my term”. Their names:PDG Arnold Quaranta, DistrictRotary Foundation Chair; GautamSanghavi CPA, District Treasurer;MJ Fitzgerald, District GovernorElect; Wendy Walsh, DistrictGovernor Nominee; JacquelineMilton, District Secretary; PrakashPisipati, Chair Website &ClubRunner; Jacquelyn RoseYonic, RYLA & Youth Services; andCheryl Rambler Goveia, Chair ‑District Literacy.

Also honored were current andpast officials of Rotary Club of Hicksville South ‑‑ Lionel Chitty(President), Arjen Bathija

(Treasurer), Ashok Varshney,Quddus Mohammed, Dr DevRatnam and ADG Salil Zaveri.

On the occasion Mehta also hon‑ored friends and supporters whoare not Rotarians but who, he said,“always opened their hearts andwallets for humanitarian servicesthrough Rotary”. The names inthis category were Anil Jain, chief of Vass Pipe & Steel Co, AW Mobilechief Ravinder (Johri) Kohli, HABBank (Senior Vice President,Rizwan Qureshi), Manju & RajaAmar (Portables), Kanchana &

Jagadeesan Poola, Bansi Shah andGurdev DP Singh.

The Rotary Club of HicksvilleSouth honored the services of itsmembers Daniel Flynn, Dr. DaveSharma, Ginsmon Zacharia,

Mukesh Modi, Nilima Madan,Preeti Dawane, Roopam Maini andParveen Chopra. Dave Sharma andhis new executive team were alsosworn in at the event byComptroller Maragos. DilipChauhan, Director of SouthEast /Asian Affairs for NassauCounty Comptroller, and EricKumar, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs ,Brooklyn District Attorneyʼs Office,

joined the club.Quddus Mohammed gave a

Power Point Presentation on thesuccessful programs undertakenby Hicksville South Rotary. It wasstarted in 2009 through the initia‑tive of Kamlesh Mehta. NilimaMadan was Emcee and Chair of theevent; Nishi Bahl, Suhag Mehta and

Roopam Maini were co‑chairs.Entertainment was provided byLong Island singer Valerie RoseGiannotti, who sings both inEnglish and Spanish, and studentsfrom Swati Vaishnav led

Nartanrang Dance Academy andDhruv Modi.

Extensive‑sumptuous interna‑tional cuisine was catered byAntun's by Minar in glitteringballrooms.

Johri Kohli, of AW Mobile, was honored by Nassau CountyComptroller George Maragos for his generous support to

Rotaryʼs humanitarian causes. He is flanked by his wife,Mona Kohli, and Nimmi and Kamlesh Mehta.

Kamlesh Mehta was presented a plaque by his home club

(Hicksville South) team appreciating his serviceto the Rotary movement over the past 6‑7 years.

The gala event on May 3rd was co-hosted by DistrictGovernor Kamlesh Mehta and his home club, Hicksville South.

Rotary Leadership

Appreciation Dinner held on LI

To honor the memory of PDG Late Tony Messineo, Past DistrictGovernors present came to the podium. (Photos: Anil Mathew)

The Rotary Friendship Exchange Team from western India wasaccorded a warm welcome.

The plaque on behalf of HABBank was received by its SeniorVice President, Rizwan Qureshi.

Dave Sharma was sworn in as nextRotary Hicksville South President

by Comptroller Maragos.

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16 May 7-13, 2016 TheSouthAsianTimes.info C U LT U R E

New York Gujarat SthapanaDivas was celebrated at theIndian Consulate here on May 2with song and dance, presenta‑tions and cake‑cutting ceremonyin the presence of ConsulGeneral, Mrs. Riva Das Ganguly.

This was the first ever celebra‑t ion of Gujarat Din at theConsulate, which was attendedby more than 125 invitedguests, dignitaries and the lead‑ers of community organizationsfrom the tristate area. The pro‑gram began with welcome fromSrujal Parikh, member of theGujarat Sthapana DivasCommittee.

In her inspirational video mes‑sage, Gujarat Chief Minister Smt.Anandiben Patel congratulatedall Gujarati community in theU.S. and across the world fortheir contributions and greeted

them on Gujarat Din.In here address, Mrs. Riva

Ganguly Das also praisedGujarat and Gujarati communityin the U.S. and across the worldfor their hard work, dedicationto public service and entrepre‑neurship. She mentioned thatthe state has given great leaderslike Mahatma Gandhi and SardarPatel who sacrificed their livesfor freedom and betterment of the country. Gujarat is knownfor their developments in petro‑chemical industry and tourismand under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi itwill continue to grow.

H.R. Shah, from TV Asia,Ramesh Patel, FIA, Dr. SudhirParikh, Dr. Navin Mehta, SunilNayak, Dr. Raj Bhayani, KennyDesai, and Peter Kothari wereamong the many community

leaders who addressed the audi‑ence.

The MC for the event wasNishi Parikh,