The Indian Panorama

Year: 2013

  • Modi’s Model of Development: MYTHS AND REALITIES

    Modi’s Model of Development: MYTHS AND REALITIES

    The author finds much untruth in the claims that Modi has provided the best model of development in the State of Gujarat and that Gujarat has made rapid strides in every field. Quoting extensively from various authentic sources which he has laboriously indexed, he accuses Modi and his supporters of creating a myth that fails to stand the scrutiny of reality.

    As I write this, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is creating news everywhere through his speeches and propaganda, as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. It has not only created quite an excitement in the Indian electoral scene that is getting ready for the 2014 general election, but also with a core NRI segment around the globe and the USA in particular. Modi is running for the most important office in India with some heavy baggage accumulated over the years as the Chief Executive of Gujarat through his divisive rule and autocratic ways. Modi is largely disliked by the Muslim minority in Gujarat, who accuse him of culpability in the communal violence that has killed over a 1000 people and destroyed crores of rupees worth of properties.

    When Reuters asked him earlier this year if he regretted the killings in 2002, he said, if “someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is.” He has never ever expressed regret for the gory mayhem of Muslims; much less apologize for the incident. This cavalier attitude by a man who is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the State is deeply troubling to peace loving people everywhere in India. It has been a matter of concern to the civilized world, led by USA that has repeatedly refused Visa to Modi taking cognizance of his human rights violations.

    Supporters of Modi in the Diaspora are quick to forgive him on many of his transgressions on the reasoning that what he has done for Gujarat in terms of development somehow qualifies him to be the Prime Minister. They seem to believe that he could uplift the middle class, and root out corruption especially in the public arena. However, the question that needs to be answered is whether the rest of India needs a Gujarat Model of development to bring peace and prosperity to its own citizens.

    However, the truth is Gujarat does not figure even among the 10 most developed states. Among the country’s 28 states, Gujarat has been ranked 12th – surpassed even by the hill state Uttarakhand (sixth) – according to the underdevelopment index formulated by a panel under Raghuram Rajan, current Governor of Reserve Bank.

    The new index is based on averages of ten sub-components – monthly per-capita income, consumption expenditure, education, health, household amenities, poverty rate, female literacy, share of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the total population, urbanization rate, financial inclusion, and connectivity. Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu led the list of the top 10 among the most developed states according to this report.

    Let us look at some of the Statistics here. In 10 years 60,000 small-scale industries have been closed down .

    Gujarat ranks 5TH in F.D.I.
    The state’s total debt was less than Rs 10,000 crore when the BJP first came to power in Gujarat in 1995. Gujarat’s actual debt has mounted from Rs 45,301 crore in 2001-02 when Modi took over to Rs 1,38,978 crore on December 30, 2012.

    The debt would mount to Rs 2,07,695 crore as per the state government’s budget estimates by 2015-16 .

    Gujarat is at 8th position in agricultural growth. Gujarat never achieved 10% growth in Agriculture sector.

    As per Government of Gujarat’s own statistics from year 2005-2006 to 2010-2011, growth in GSDP in Agriculture and Allied sector is 3.44% only: not double digit or 10% .

    Close to half of the state’s children under the age of 5 (44.6 %) are known to be suffering from malnutrition.

    70 per cent are said to be anemic while 40 per cent are underweight . Health expenditure in Gujarat has fallen from 4.25% in 1990-95 to 0.77% in 2005-2010. Gujarat occupied the second position from the bottom in terms of allocation of health in state budget .

    According to report on Global Hunger (2009), among the major 17 states in India, Gujarat ranks 13th with a Hunger Index of 23.3. The state has been declared as an “alarming state” along with MP, Jharkhand and Bihar . Gujarat has 32% poverty in 2001 and it reached 39.5% in 2011. 40 out of 100 people are poor. Statistics of the NSSO show that the percentage of reduction of poverty between 2004 and 2010 was the lowest in Gujarat, at 8.6 per cent . Data shows that 67 per cent of rural households in the State ranks 10th in the use of latrines .

    If one independently looks at various human development indices whether it is literacy, education, quality healthcare, consumption, expenditures, infant mortality, gender ratio, minimum wage, underage employment of children, sanitary facilities in public schools, etc., Gujarat has quite a distance to go to catch up with other states. According to Economist and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen,”If you look at HDI data from Gujarat, you will see a large difference between the levels of development of tribals and non-tribals, and between those of urban and rural people.

    When the statelevel average is worked out, the overall score (of Gujarat) would fall short of those of several other states…The growth rate of the state is good. It has attracted industrial investment and registered agricultural growth. But in HDI like infant mortality, it is on par with Bihar”. It then begs the question: why is this myth about the Gujarat model of development is being trumpeted around? In the past several years, it appears that the Modi PR machine has done an effective job passing misinformation for the consumption of the masses. A large segment of the NRI population also bought into the idea that Modi could cure India’s ills by applying the Gujarat formula.

    When it comes to corruption, Modi is generally considered corruption free. However there is an additional myth that he is so tough on corruption that Gujarat faces less of it than other states. This is not an honest assessment. It is mainly the perception of Modi’s admirers outside Gujarat that he has created a corruption-free state. The truth is that the problems most Indians are troubled by are also faced by Gujaratis. One only needs to look at the real estate transactions with regard to taxes or underground smuggling and distribution of alcohol to see the glimpse of what is taking place under the radar. People in Gujarat continue to report cases of corruption to the Commission that is empowered to look into it.

    It has been reported that in 2010, the Commission received 7339 complaints regarding corruption which was considerably higher than 2009’s 7093 complaints. Commission observed that out of 7339 complaints, 352 were of serious nature and investigations had been ordered. A certain segment of the Diaspora is indeed passionate about defending Modi and supporting him for higher office. However, let that be based on rational arguments with supporting facts, not based on myths and hearsay that may not bode well for us or India in the long run.

  • Of Sants and Babas

    Of Sants and Babas

    It must be the darkest Kaliyug that our Sants and Babas have turned in to common criminals. They are in the news most of the time for all the bad reasons. As a child, I remember Sant Nihchal Singh Ji of Jagadhari visiting my maternal grandfather in Giridih, Bihar. I was naughty, very naughty. My mother took me to Sant Ji and requested him to bless me to be not so naughty. Sant Ji recommended to my mother a verse from Gurbani that she should recite while waking me up in the morning. My mother very religiously recited the verse while waking me up. I did not understand what the verse meant.

    But I liked to hear the cadence of the sweet voice of my mother and her meditating posture. As soon as she had finished, I would give her a pinch and rush out for the day of loafing. Her recitals of verse probably did not change me much. But she certainly had its calming effect. She stopped complaining about my being naughty. But I am glad she did not have to face an Asa Ram or a Narayan Sain. Both have proved how innocent faith of devotes can be abused. There have been Sadhus, Sants, and Babas all the time. In fact, Bharat is a land of Sadhus and Babas. And they always had a potent voice in the community. Going back in to ancient times in India, we find stories of how even the powerful kings preferred no to antagonize a Sadhu.

    A Durvasa certainly was feared more than a Rakshasa. But they were good intentioned people, not the kind that we have today. That is why I said at the outset it must be the darkest Kaliyug that we have such Babas. To add to the list of these illustrious Babas, we now have Baba Ramdev. I admire the man for his sheer enthusiasm in demanding the most stringent punishment for the corrupt. I have met him a couple of times in New York and spoken with him.

    I have always found him spitting venom against Congress Party in general, and against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in particular. Let me share with you, my dear readers, I have often wondered how this man, with little education, rose from a common villager in Haryana to become the master of a vast business empire worth Rs. 1100 crore. This comment will become long if I started on how he amassed this wealth. So, I will leave it for some other time. The story of Babas and Sants will always be there. Nothing special about it. It is what we make out of those stories that counts.

  • The Geopolitics of Nuclear Proliferation It is not easy for Iran and the US to end mutual hostility

    The Geopolitics of Nuclear Proliferation It is not easy for Iran and the US to end mutual hostility

    The author sees no end to three decades of mutual hostility and suspicion between Iran and the US.

    Just after the foreign ministers of the self-styled “international community” (comprising the EU members and the US) together with their Russian and Chinese counterparts met the Iranian Foreign Minister in Geneva, the Foreign Ministers of India, China and Russia issued a statement which recognized “the right of Iran to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including for uranium enrichment, under strict IAEA safeguards and consistent with its international obligations”.

    This was an important declaration as the Republican right wing in the US, egged on by a predictable alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia, would like to scuttle any possibility of an agreement that ends sanctions against Iran in return for Iran accepting safeguards mandated by the IAEA on all its nuclear facilities. Israel wants a termination of uranium enrichment and plutonium production in Iran, together with an end to Iran’s implacable hostility to its very existence. American policies on clandestine nuclear enrichment have been remarkably inconsistent. The country responsible for triggering the proliferation of centrifugebased uranium enrichment technology was the Netherlands.

    It was the Dutch who carelessly granted A.Q. Khan access to sensitive design documents on centrifuge enrichment technology when he worked at the Holland-based Physical Dynamic Research Laboratory, a sub-contractor of the “Ultra Centrifuge Nederland”. Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has revealed that after Khan’s activities came to light, he was prepared to arrest Khan in Holland, but was prevented from doing so in 1975 and 1986 by the CIA. It is well known that the Reagan Administration had tacitly assured Pakistan that it would look the other way at Pakistani efforts to build the bomb.

    If President Reagan looked the other way at Pakistani proliferation, President Clinton winked at Chinese proliferation involving the transfer of more modern centrifuges, nuclear weapon designs and ring magnets apart from unsafeguarded plutonium facilities to Pakistan. The A.Q. Khan-Iranian nexus goes back to the days of Gen Zia-ul-Haq when the Iranians received the knowhow for uranium enrichment from Khan. Iran is now known to possess an estimated 19,000 centrifuges, predominantly at its enrichment facilities in Natanz. It has an old plutonium reactor used for medical isotopes which, it says, is to be replaced by a larger reactor together with reprocessing facilities being built at Arak.

    Given the clandestine nature of its nuclear program, its activist role in the Islamic world and its virulent anti-Semitism, Iran’s nuclear program has invited international attention. This has resulted in seven UN Security Council Resolutions since 2006, which called on Iran to halt enrichment and even led to the freezing of assets of persons linked to its nuclear and missile programs. There have also been cyber attacks (Stuxnet) by the Americans and the killing of some of Iran’s key scientists, believed by the Iranians to have been engineered by the Israelis.

    While Iran’s nuclear program enjoys widespread domestic support,what have really hurt the Iranians are the crippling economic sanctions by the US and its European allies. These sanctions have led to the shrinking of its oil exports and spiraling of inflation. They have been crucial factors compelling Iran to seek a negotiated end to sanctions, without giving up its inherent right to enrich uranium that it enjoys under the NPT. Crucially, the US can now afford to review its policies in the Middle East.

    Its dependence on oil imports from the Persian Gulf has ended, its oil production will exceed that of Saudi Arabia in the next five years and it is set to become a significant exporter of natural gas. The emergence of Saudi backing for al Qaeda-linked Salafi extremists in Iraq and Syria is not exactly comforting as the Americans prepare to pull out of Afghanistan. While the Obama Administration may make soothing noises to placate the ruffled feathers in Riyadh and Jerusalem, rapprochement with Iran does widen its options in the Muslim world at a time when Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Sharif proclaims that Shia-Sunni tensions are “the most serious threat not only to the region but to the world at large”.

    But it would be unrealistic to expect that negotiations between the P 5 and Germany on the one hand and the Iranians on the other will produce any immediate end to the Iranian nuclear impasse. The Israelis and the Saudis, who wield immense clout in the Republican right wing, the US Congress and in many European capitals will spare no effort to secure support for conditions that the Iranians would not agree to.

    Iran already has one nuclear power plant built by the Russians at Bushehr, with another 360 MW plant under construction at Darkhovin. It currently has stockpiles of uranium enriched to either 3.5%, which can be used in power reactors, or to 20%, which can be relatively easily further enriched and made weapons grade. The Iranians are reported to have agreed that the highly enriched uranium will be converted into fuel rods or plates. Iran has an old plutonium reactor for medical isotopes, which it requires to shut down.

    It is constructing a larger plutonium research reactor at the city of Arak. The Iranians claim that the reactor at Arak is set to replace the existing plutonium reactor, which is being shut down. This is not an explanation that skeptics readily buy. In the negotiations at Geneva, France reportedly took a hard-line position, demanding that the construction of the Arak plutonium reactor should stop and that there should be no reference to Iran’s “right” to enrich uranium. This is not surprising.

    France has recently concluded a $1.8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and is the recipient of large Saudi investments in its sagging agricultural sector. The Iranians are hard bargainers and will not unilaterally give any concessions unless these are matched by a corresponding and simultaneous lifting of economic sanctions. Having already concluded an agreement with the IAEA, granting the IAEA access to its uranium mine and heavy water plant, Iran is unlikely to agree to yield to demands to stop the construction of its new plutonium reactor.

    More importantly, given the continuing gridlock in Washington between the Obama Administration and the Republican-dominated Senate, the Obama Administration will not find it easy to secure Congressional approval for easing sanctions against Iran, especially in the face of Israeli and Saudi opposition. It is not going to be easy for Iran and the US to end over three decades of mutual hostility and suspicion.

  • India Seeks Congressional Help over Immigration Bill

    India Seeks Congressional Help over Immigration Bill

    WASHINGTON (TIP): India has sought Congressional help in addressing its concerns over certain alleged discriminatory provisions of the comprehensive immigration bill, which if passed into law would adversely impact Indian IT companies. “One of the concerns, Indian businesses are seeking to address, and where the US Congress can help them, is about the current debate, on restrictions on the movement of high-skilled non-immigrant professionals employed by Indian IT companies into the United States,” Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Charges d’Affaires of the Indian Embassy in the U.S., said.

    “These discriminatory provisions, if they are enacted, will essentially create a market access barrier, for Indian IT companies in the US and will, not only cause damage, to their operations, but will also impact the ability of US companies, who depend on their services to innovate, grow and be competitive, and affect the local economies,” Mr. Sandhu said on Tuesday. He was addressing the ‘Indian American Meetup’ event organized by the GOP Conference and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at the Capitol Hill.

    The Indian IT industry has led the way, in strengthening the India-U.S. trade and investment relationship, Mr. Sandhu said adding that today, companies like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and HCL employ well over 50,000 U.S. citizens and support more than 280,000 other local U.S. jobs. “They are integral, to the operations of many US companies, helping them in developing new products, and improving operations and efficiencies,” he argued. Trade and economic partnership, remains a central pillar of expanding India-U.S. ties, creating jobs for hundreds of thousands of people in both countries, he said.

    “Our bilateral trade today, has reached $100 billion, and maintains an upward trajectory. Indeed, despite global economic slowdown, US exports in goods and services to India, which is nearing $50 billion, have grown by an impressive 12 percent, in the first half of 2013,” Mr. Sandhu said. Noting that U.S. is an important source, for foreign direct investment, in India, he said for the U.S., India is now, among, the fastest growing sources, of inward investment. More than 65 large Indian corporations, including TATA, Reliance, ESSAR, Piramal and others, have invested in the U.S., about $17 billion, in a number of U.S. states, including Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Kansas among others over the last five years, he said. Taking note of the concerns expressed in U.S. about the pace of reform in India and its investment climate, Mr. Sandhu said New Delhi is sensitive to these views.

    “Government of India has focused, on improvement of our investment regulations, leading to significant FDI liberalization, in the past year, in a number of sectors, of U.S. interest – including, multi-brand and singlebrand retail, civil aviation, telecommunications and defense,” he observed. “In addition, clearances for pending projects, have been fast-tracked, taxation issues have been addressed upfront and clarified, and the much talked about Preferential Market Access guidelines for private sector companies have been kept in abeyance,” Mr. Sandhu said.

  • 26/11 intended to provoke Indo-Pak war: US expert

    26/11 intended to provoke Indo-Pak war: US expert

    WASHINGTON (TIP): As the fifth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks approaches, US counter-terrorism expert Bruce Riedel says the horrific Lashkar-e- Tayyeba assault, aided and abetted by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Al Qaeda, was intended to change dramatically the future of South Asia, perhaps even by provoking a war between rising nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

    “Five years after Mumbai, justice has yet to be served,” writes Riedel in The Daily Beast, pointing out how Hafiz Saeed, the LeT founder and mastermind of the Mumbai plot, roams freely in Pakistan and remains “a darling of the ISI and regularly calls for more attacks on India and America”. Riedel, a former CIA analyst who has advised four US presidents on South Asia, termed the Mumbai attack the most important terror strike since 9/11, noting: “The targets were the same, Indians, Americans, and Jews, the targets of the global jihad started by al-Qaeda in the late 1990s.

    I pointed this out to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team at the time in several briefings in my role as South Asia transition director after his election (in 2008).” “We know a great deal more today than ever about the attack, its planners, and the critical American hand in the plot,” Riedel says, while going into the “most shocking” role played by Pakistani-American jihadi David Coleman Headley who helped plot the attack by mapping the targets during his five visits to Mumbai between 2005 and 2008 – and each time stopping in Pakistan on the way back to report his surveillance results to LeT and the ISI, and get new instructions.

    In his confession of guilt under a plea bargain deal with the US investigators, Headley said the raid also was planned with active ISI involvement at every stage, pointing out that at each of his meetings in Pakistan, he used to meet ISI officers as well as the LeT leaders. “Sometimes the ISI gave him particular assignments separate from what the LeT asked,” Riedel notes, citing the example of the agency tasking Headley with taking photos of an Indian nuclear facility near Mumbai.

  • Jobs key for world’s 49 poorest countries: UN

    Jobs key for world’s 49 poorest countries: UN

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The population in the world’s 49 poorest countries is projected to double to 1.7 billion by 2050 and job creation will be crucial to prevent increasing poverty, social unrest and mass international emigration, according to a new report launched on November 20. The Least Developed Countries Report 2013 urges these countries to take action to upgrade infrastructure, greatly expand credit, improve education and spur domestic firms and entrepreneurs to create new jobs.

    According to the report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, strongly increasing investment and improving services such as transportation and electricity supply will increase the value and variety of the goods and services produced by these impoverished countries which is vital to helping these 49 impoverished countries create a total of 16 million new jobs needed every year.

    The report notes that job creation was disappointing even during the “boom” years from 2002 to 2008 when the economies of the least developed countries or LDCs, averaged an economic growth rate of 8% per year. From 2000 to 2012, employment growth in the LDCs averaged 2.9 percent per year, it said. “The growth we have seen in LDCs in the last couple of decades is a jobless growth,” Mussie Delelegn, head of UNCTAD’s New York office told a news conference launching the report.

    “Consequently what we see is the bulging demographic trends, we see persistent poverty … accelerated urbanization and rising inequalities.” The report said LDCs face “a stark demographic challenge:” The population of 858 million in 2011 is projected to double to 1.7 billion by 2050, and the population aged 15 to 24 is expected to soar from 168 million in 2010 to 300 million by 2050.

  • Three killed, two injured in US apartment shooting

    Three killed, two injured in US apartment shooting

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Three people were fatally shot and two were injured at an apartment complex in the US city of Houston, a media report said. The shooting happened at around 5pm on November 19, Xinhua reported. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, a man shot all the five victims in the head. Police have launched a manhunt to track down the gunman. The motive of the shooting is not yet known and the identities of the victims were not released.

  • US hedge fund adviser pleads guilty to child porn charges

    US hedge fund adviser pleads guilty to child porn charges

    NEW YORK (TIP): Prominent hedge fund adviser Ezra Zask pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in a New York court on Novmber 19, avoiding jail time for the charges. The founder of hedge fund consulting firm SFC Associates and author of numerous books on investing was arrested in his Manhattan apartment in July of last year after police, acting on a search warrant, found numerous illegal videos and images on his computer, the New York City police department said.

    Zask entered the guilty plea in front of New York Supreme Court Judge Larry Stephen and is scheduled to be sentenced in March. “The agreed upon sentence is one of probation,” Zask’s lawyer Alan Futerfas said. Zask formed SFC Associates in 1991 after he founded a fund managing more than $1 billion for institutional and individual investors, according to the company website. SFC associates senior principal Jean-Baptiste Carelus did not respond to a request for comment. The firm advises clients on asset allocation and risk management and Zask has served as an expert witness in dozens of banking industry cases. His resume also includes several university teaching positions and degrees from Princeton and Columbia.

  • American Sikh to get $50k for bias at work

    American Sikh to get $50k for bias at work

    NEW YORK (TIP): A Sikh man in the United States will receive $50,000 as compensation in an out-of-court settlement of a religious discrimination lawsuit against a car dealership in New Jersey for denying him a job for maintaining a beard. Gurpreet Kherha had filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a lawsuit in 2009 against Tri- County Lexus, where he had applied for a position as a sales associate and was qualified for the job.

    EEOC said after the car dealership requested Kherha to shave his beard, he refused to comply due to his religious beliefs. The dealership denied him the job, the agency charged. According to the lawsuit, Tri-County Lexus had a “no-beard” policy for sales and administrative personnel and it strictly enforced its dress code policy without granting reasonable religious accommodations.

    The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Kherha by rights group Sikh Coalition and the EEOC. Under the settlement, the car dealership would pay $50,000 to Kherha and the firm has been urged not to discriminate on the basis of religion in future.

  • Karzai wants US president to acknowledge army’s errors

    Karzai wants US president to acknowledge army’s errors

    NEW YORK: Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants a letter written by US President Barack Obama that will acknowledge military mistakes made during 12-year war in his country in return for allowing American counterterrorism raids on private Afghan homes, a media report said. Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi has said the letter would be tantamount to an apology, though not directly using that word, a report in the New York Times said.

    In return for a letter from Obama, that will be a display of contrition by the President for military mistakes that have hurt Afghans, Karzai would end his strong opposition to American counterterrorism raids on private Afghan homes, an issue that has become very contentious between the two allies. According to Faizi, US secretary of state John Kerry has offered to write the letter but Karzai wants the letter from Obama instead. Faizi said Kerry has agreed to those terms, the NYT report added. However, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice has flatly denied that there would be any presidential apology.

  • Obama, Bill Clinton unite at JF Kennedy’s grave

    Obama, Bill Clinton unite at JF Kennedy’s grave

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A pair of Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton silently honored John F. Kennedy at the former US leader’s grave November 19, marking the 50th anniversary of his assassination. Obama and Clinton, along with First Lady Michelle Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, laid a large blue and white wreath on the sun-dappled grave of JFK, who was gunned down in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

    They then stood together, with hands on hearts, as a bugler played the US military lament “Taps” before observing a moment of silence. Extended members of the Kennedy clan looked on at the tableau of presidential power — past, present, and possibly future. The observance came after Obama awarded Bill Clinton and 15 other luminaries of the arts, sport, science and innovation the highest honor for US civilians, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was first minted by Kennedy. Later Wednesday, Obama will pay tribute to Kennedy’s legacy at a speech at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington honoring medal awardees.


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    Kennedy grave and eternal flame is in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington on a hillside with a paved area fashioned from Cape Cod granite quarried from near the Kennedy clan’s home base in Massachusetts. The eternal flame was lit by Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline Kennedy during his funeral in 1963 and she was buried beside her husband after her own death in 1994. The poignant moment of remembrance came two days before the official half-century anniversary of the death of Kennedy, who was gunned down in an open-top limousine in Dallas, Texas, in a crime which traumatized the world.

    The ceremonies have sparked a prolonged period of national and media reflection on the unfinished legacy of Kennedy, his tragedy-crossed family and of the evocative period in the early 1960s when his political star illuminated the world. Kennedy’s closest living relative, his daughter Caroline, however, was not at Wednesday’s ceremony. An early supporter of Obama’s presidential ambitions, she has just set off on a new chapter of her life as the US ambassador to Tokyo.

    The joint Obama-Clinton appearance at the grave site represented the latest show of unity between two political power families who waged a bitter 2008 Democratic presidential nominating duel. Hillary Clinton is now the red-hot favorite to land the Democratic nomination for the 2016 election — but has not said whether she will make another run for the White House. Presidents Clinton and Obama, two-term leaders both, laid claim to the legacy of John F. Kennedy in their own White House runs. Clinton was famously pictured meeting Kennedy at an event in the White House Rose Garden in July 1963, and has reminisced about how he set eyes on the presidency himself after shaking JFK’s hand.

    Obama, who was two years old when the 35th US president was killed, accepted Kennedy’s torch of Democratic Party idealism in a key moment in the 2008 campaign — which irked the Clintons — when president Kennedy’s late brother, senator Edward Kennedy endorsed Obama at American University in Washington. The two presidents stood together at a painful political moment for Obama, when he may be looking for political inspiration, after being brought low by the botched implementation of his signature health care law.

    A CBS News poll published Wednesday found that the president’s approval rating was down to 37% — his lowest ever. In the Medal of Freedom ceremony, Obama said that Clinton’s presidency proved that it was possible to grow the economy, cut the deficit and invest in science, technology and education — remarks which mirrored his own core political argument to American voters. Kennedy’s killing was blamed on a gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was said to be acting alone. But the 50 years since have been replete with conspiracy theories centering on whether Oswald was the true culprit and if he was acting on his own initiative or was part of a wider plot.

  • Modi purported event ‘at Capitol Hill’ exposed as fake

    Modi purported event ‘at Capitol Hill’ exposed as fake

    Republican Party leaders deny inviting Modi to address Congressional leaders Sangh Front in the US, NIAPPI / Shalabh Kumar Reported to the Ethics Committee for fraud

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Republican leaders have denied extending an invitation to Narendra Modi to address Congressional leaders and Indian- Americans via video link next week and accused a US-based supporter of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate of “misrepresenting” their party. Chicago-based Shalli Kumar, a supporter of Modi, has been served with a “cease and desist” letter by the office of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers advising him to stop misrepresenting the Republican Party and one of its top lawmakers.

    Amidst mounting criticism from secular forces, Republican Party leaders yesterday said that they have not invited Modi to address them via video link at the Capitol Hill on November 19, in what could be a major embarrassment for the Gujarat Chief Minister. Kumar, who had earlier this year taken a group of Republican lawmakers to Gandhinagar for meeting Modi, was sent the cease and desist letter by Rodgers, after it was brought to her notice that the Indian-American has issued a flyer in which he had inappropriately used the House seal and also put names and pictures of several top Republican lawmakers without their permission.

    However, in a letter, which was circulated along with Kumar’s invitation letter, Rodgers had mentioned about “Bharat Divas” and the invitation to Modi to address the Indian- Americancommunity and the Congressional leaders via video link. Rodgers’ office did not respond to questions on this letter. A close associate of Modi in the US confirmed that the Gujarat Chief Minister was not addressing the controversial Capitol Hill meeting.

    “He (Modi) will not address the November 19 event,” Jagdish Sewhani of the Indian-American Public Affairs Committee, said. “Please be assured that Mr. Modi has not been invited to address the House GOP Meetup. We have sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to Mr. Shalli Kumar advising him to stop misrepresenting the GOP Conference and Chairman McMorris Rodgers,” Nicolas D Muzin, Director of Outreach & Coalitions, House Republican Conference, said in an email. The email was in response to some Indian-Americans who had raised the issue of Modi being invited to address the Republican Party’s annual meet at the Capitol Hill for Indian- Americans.

    “Additionally, I believe he (Kumar) is in violation of ethics rules regarding improper use of the Congressional seal, stationary, and indicia. I have been in touch with the House Committee on Administration about steps we can take to properly distance ourselves from his actions,” Muzin said in the email. Congressman Pete Sessions in a statement distanced himself from the November 19 event called “Bharat Divas” at the Capitol Hill organized by the National Indian American Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI) headed by Kumar.

    This event was being organized on the same day when Rogers and Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had invited scores of Indian- Americans from across the country at the “Indian-American Meetup”. ‘The Indian-American Meetup’, organized by the Republican Party Conference and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is scheduled to be addressed by top Republican leaders. “The meet-up will provide a unique opportunity for leaders of Indian- American communities across the country to connect with Members of Congress to discuss legislative and policy priories, both on the domestic and foreign policy fronts,” an invitation letter signed jointly by Rodgers and Royce, said.

    “We want to hear about the issues that are important to you, so that we can work together to secure a more prosperous America,” the invitation said. In his flyer attached with the “Bharat Divas” invitation letter, Kumar named and put pictures of several top Republican lawmakers as expected attendees. Many of them yesterday said they were not aware. “It has come to my attention that the NIAPPI recently used my name and image on an invitation to an event that it is hosting in Washington, DC, on November 19. At no point in time did I agree to attend this event, nor did I approve of the use of my name or image on this invitation,” Congressman Sessions said in a statement.

    “Further, I did not see the invitation until it had been distributed publicly. Had I known that my name and image were on this invitation before it was distributed, I would have requested that they both be removed,” he said. “Additionally, I have contacted NIAPPI to request that they remove my name and image from this invitation and that they explicitly ask my approval before using my name or image in any of their materials going forward,” Sessions said. Kumar could not be reached either by phone or email.

    Meanwhile in a letter to House of Representative Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Coalition Against Genocide complained that the promotional material for the “Bharat Divas”, carries the seal of the US House of Representatives, as well as pictures of the top leadership of the Republican Party, including those of Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

    “We urge you to issue a statement distancing yourself from the event and the organizers, and ensure that you do not aid and abet a misrepresentation of the Republican Party’s position on India,” the Coalition said in a letter yesterday. “One of the deeply alarming aspects of this event is that all the ‘senior leaders’ from India invited to this event are associated with the Hindutva supremacist movement and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Chief Minister Narendra Modi of Gujarat, who will address the gathering via satellite video,” the letter said. The matter has been taken up seriously with the organizers of the “Bharat Divas” and they have been asked to remove it immediately.

  • Jhumpa Lahiri loses out on US National Book Award

    Jhumpa Lahiri loses out on US National Book Award

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Pulitzer Prize winning Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri’s new novel, “The Lowland” failed to win the 2013 US National Book Award in fiction losing out to author James McBride. McBride’s “The Good Lord Bird”, about the journey of a young slave in the 1850s scored over Lahiri’s tale of two brothers set in Kolkata of the 1960s. Other fiction finalists were Rachel Kushner for “The Flamethrowers”; Thomas Pynchon for “Bleeding Edge”; and George Saunders for “Tenth of December”.

    Award giving ceremony in New York, the judges praised McBride for “a voice as comic and original as any we have heard since Mark Twain.” McBride, 56, who said he hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech because he didn’t expect to win against the likes of Pynchon, Lahiri and Saunders, said, “They are fine writers. But it sure is nice to be here.” The annual awards, presented by the National Book Foundation, honour American authors for published works over the past year in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature. The nonfiction award was won by George Packer for “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America”.

    The poetry award went to Mary Szybist for “Incarnadine”. The young people’s literature award was won by Cynthia Kadohata for “The Thing About Luck.” London-born daughter of immigrants from West Bengal, 46-yearold Lahiri, who lives in New York’s Brooklyn last month lost out on the prestigious Man Booker Prize for contemporary fiction writers from the Commonwealth and Ireland. In a review of her latest novel, the New York Times noted: “Jhumpa Lahiri first made her name with quiet, meticulously observed stories about Indian immigrants trying to adjust to new lives in the United States, stories that had the hushed intimacy of chamber music.”

  • Punjabi owners of UK’s Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in multimillion- pound lawsuit

    Punjabi owners of UK’s Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in multimillion- pound lawsuit

    LONDON (TIP): Prominent British Sikh hotelier Jasminder Singh, head of Britain’s Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels group is all set to take on his 86-year-old father in a bitter legal face-off over family wealth worth the £415 million. Bal Mohinder Singh who spent years in Africa before moving to UK in 1973 is suing his eldest son Jasminder (62) for taking full control over the family fortune and refusing to follow the Sikh tradition of sharing the family wealth. The case will come up in the high court in London from Tuesday. Both Bal and Jasminder are highly respected by the Asian diaspora in UK.

    They still share a seven-bedroom home but are not in talking terms. Owners of famous London landmarks like the Vanderbilt, Savoy Court and May Fair, the hotel group is now worth an estimated £415 million. It is believed that Bal had put Jasminder in charge of the business because of his acumen in English and finance. But according to the case filed in Court, Bal alleged that in 2010, his son forced him to retire and then refused to share business profits with the family. “As the head of the family, I have to be respected and the fact that I was forced to retire by Jasminder was very, very painful for me.

    I was devastated with being forced out and since then my health has failed. My wife is unwell too. When I travel to the high court I will be in an ambulance and it will be very difficult and stressful to have to give evidence against Jasminder,” he said. Bal has also told the court that Jasminder has been trying to get him and his wife Satwant Kaur Singh to leave their home and move out.

    Jasminder allegedly also refused to provide a chairlift for his mother who can no longer climb the stairs. Bal has accused his son of abandoning the “Mitakshara” system which calls for sharing of wealth among family members under the Sikh traditions. Bal began his business in the Kenyan port of Kisumu where he ran a restaurant and nightclub. Jasminder was born in Tanganyika in 1951. If successful, Bal could end up claiming a third of the joint family assets.

  • US Sikh body gets more time for plea against Sonia Gandhi

    US Sikh body gets more time for plea against Sonia Gandhi

    NEW YORK (TIP): A US federal court has given Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) time till Dec 3 to file an amended complaint against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in an alleged human rights violation case. Despite opposition from Gandhi’s attorneys, the federal court here Monday granted the Sikh rights body’s request for more time to amend its complaint about her role in protecting and shielding Congress party leaders who allegedly participated in the November 1984 anti-Sikh violence.

    SFJ and violence victims are seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Gandhi for allegedly shielding and protecting Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and other Congress party leaders. While SFJ claims that the court summons were served on Sonia Gandhi through hospital and security staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York on Sep 9, Gandhi’s attorneys are challenging the service of summons.

  • Indian-American woman dragged to death by pickup truck

    Indian-American woman dragged to death by pickup truck

    BOSTON (TIP): In a tragic incident, a 58-year-old Indian- American woman was killed when a youth struck her with a pickup vehicle and dragged her for nearly five kilometres after an altercation at a motel, police said. Kanchanben Patel and her husband, who worked at the motel, were hit by the youth who had an altercation with them about the illegal use of a room. Moses Acloque, 22, hit Kanchanben with his pickup truck and dragged her for three miles, killing her, police said.

    Acloque was arrested in Foxborough late Monday night just after a state trooper reported seeing the body of Kanchanben under his Ford F150 vehicle. Employees at Arbor Inn Motel told police that Acloque and another man had sped away from their property after refusing to pay their bill when he hit the couple, who recently celebrated becoming US citizens. After smashing one car, MyFoxBoston reports, he struck Kanchanben and her husband. Acloque was arraigned this morning in Wrentham District Court on multiple charges, including leaving the scene of an accident causing death, prosecutors said.

  • Lakshmi Mittal’s London home street among world’s most expensive areasa

    Lakshmi Mittal’s London home street among world’s most expensive areasa

    LONDON (TIP): London’s leafy Kensington Palace Gardens – home to Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has been found to be the world’s second-most-expensive street. Mittal owns house number 9a and 18-19 on this treelined street. He has however put his neo-Georgian mansion on sale. The selling price for the 14,736 square feet property (9a) has been earmarked at just £110 million- seven million pounds below what Mittal had bought it in 2008. The 12-bedroom palatial home was the most expensive in Britain when he had bought it for £117 million. It was bought for Mittal’s son Aditya from Israeli- American financier Noam Gottesman.

    Realtors say properties here change hands for as much as £122 million on an average. The road is also home to Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Tamara, French, Russian and Japanese embassies and some of the world’s most famous billionaires including Roman Abramovich. At an average price per square metre being as high as $107,000 or £69,900, (Rs 69 lakhs) the avenue whose latest tenant is the future kings of England – the Duke of Cambridge prince William and his toddler son prince George is second only to The Peak in Hong Kong. With its panoramic views over Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbour, the prestigious Pollock’s Path has been found to be the world’s most-expensive street priced at $120,000 per square metre.

    According to the recently released Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013, the total real-estate holdings of the world’s billionaires are estimated at $169 billion, which equates to an average of $78 million per billionaire. Billionaires own an average of four homes, many of which are based in trophy cities such as London, New York and Paris.

    Monaco’s Avenue Princesse Grace – home to Roger Moore, Lewis Hamilton and Helena Christensen is the third most expensive street followed by France’s Boulevard du General de Gaulle with an average price per square metre being $79,000. It is home to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Paul Allen and Charlie Chaplin. Singapore’s Paterson Hill is the fifth most expensive road followed by Chemin de Ruth in Geneva. Located in the heart of Switzerland’s Cologny, Chemin de Ruth is Switzerland’s most-expensive street.

    Romazzino Hill in Sardinia is the 7th most expensive street while property prices at Ostozhenka in Moscow hover around $29,000 per square metre. The world’s most famous Fifth Avenue in New York is the 9th most expensive street in the world. Incase you want to buy a property here, you would have to shell out $28,000 per square metre. New York’s rich and famous have flocked to Fifth Avenue since the 1900s.

    The street is home to the most iconic landmark buildings and shopping centres in the US, including the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center and Saks. Property agents are currently listing a six-bedroom fifth-floor apartment at 995 Fifth Avenue for $29.9 million. The final entry at the top 10 most expensive streets list is Avenue Montaigne from Paris.

  • Woman pleads guilty to killing mom, abducting baby

    Woman pleads guilty to killing mom, abducting baby

    CONROE, TX (TIP): A Houston woman accused of killing a mother and abducting her newborn son last year avoided a possible death sentence by pleading guilty Tuesday, November 19, and accepting a sentence of life without parole. Verna McClain, 32, was awaiting trial on a capital murder charge for fatally shooting the new mother outside a pediatric clinic in the Houston suburb of Spring and snatching her 3-day-old son. Montgomery County prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty against McClain for the April 2012 slaying of 28-year-old Kala Golden- Schuchardt. The infant was found hours later safe with McClain’s sister, who told authorities McClain intended to adopt the child.

  • Texas students to host ‘Catch an Illegal Immigrant’ game

    Texas students to host ‘Catch an Illegal Immigrant’ game

    AUSTIN, TX (TIP): A conservative student group announced Monday they will play a “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game” this week on the University of Texas at Austin, drawing condemnation from Democrats and a threat of expulsion from campus officials, a report in USA Today says.

    The Young Conservatives of Texas have planned the game for Wednesday. Club members will wander the campus wearing signs that say “illegal immigrant,” and students who capture them and take them to the Young Conservatives’ recruiting table will get $25 gift certificates. “The purpose of this event is to spark a campus-wide discussion about the issue of illegal immigration, and how it affects our everyday lives,” a statement posted by the group’s spokesman, Lorenzo Garcia.

    The Texas Democratic Party pounced on the posting, condemning the game and pointing out that Garcia recently was a paid staffer with Republican Greg Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign. The Democratic party has been pushing Abbott to state his position on a Texas law that allows children brought into the country illegally by their parents to receive in-state tuition, legislation called the Texas DREAM Act. “While Abbott has said he doesn’t support the DREAM Act as it is, he refuses to say what he would change and if he supports it at all,” state Democratic chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said.

    “He must come out and immediately denounce Wednesday’s event. This style of hatred and fear is not the type of leadership Texas deserves.” Abbott’s Press Secretary, Avdiel Huerta, said the “campaign has no affiliation with this repugnant effort.” Many top Republican candidates have promised to repeal the Texas DREAM Act. Students affected by the law frequently stage protests on the Austin campus demanding changes to federal immigration law.

    Gregory Vincent, the university’s vice president for diversity, said students who participate in the game Wednesday would be exercising their freedom of speech “to the detriment of others.” “The YCT is contributing to an environment of exclusion and disrespect among our students, faculty and staff by sending the message that certain students do not belong on our campus,” Vincent said in a statement. “If the members of YCT carry out their plan … they are willfully ignoring the honor code and contributing to the degradation of our campus culture.” Students found guilty of violating the honor code could face expulsion.

  • Get Your Business Online program begins

    Get Your Business Online program begins

    GARLAND, TX (TIP): In partnership with Google, Mayor Douglas Athas is working with local businesses on an initiative to get Garland’s businesses online through Google’s Get Your Business Online program. Although 97% of internet users are now looking online to find local products and services, 58% of American businesses still do not have a website. Through increased participation in the Get Your Business Online program, Mayor Athas hopes to close that gap for Garland businesses.

    Get Your Business Online provides small business owners with a custom domain name, web hosting and access to educational resources – all free for one year. Since its debut in July 2011, the program has helped more than 135,000 businesses nationwide successfully get online and start growing. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and our community. We are constantly looking at ways to help Garland businesses grow and create jobs; this is an excellent tool to help. For example many shoppers use Google maps to find their destination.

    This is an opportunity for businesses to be listed and have basic information like business hours, instantly available,” said Mayor Athas. “The success stories from other businesses are why I am proud to launch this initiative in Garland.” Mayor Athas’ announcement adds Garland to a growing list of communities planning to take advantage of Google’s Get Your Business Online program this year. “Businesses have to be where their customers are, and that is online,” said Mayor Athas. Interested business owners can visit www.gybo.com for more information.

  • Supreme Court refuses to block Texas abortion law

    Supreme Court refuses to block Texas abortion law

    DALLAS (TIP): A sharply divided Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 19 allowed Texas to continue enforcing abortion restrictions that opponents say have led more than a third of the state’s clinics to stop providing abortions. The justices voted 5-4 to leave in effect a provision requiring doctors who perform abortions in clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

    The court’s conservative majority refused the plea of Planned Parenthood and several Texas abortion clinics to overturn a preliminary federal appeals court ruling that allowed the provision to take effect. The four liberal justices dissented. The case remains on appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. That court is expected to hear arguments in January, and the law will remain in effect at least until then. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the liberal justices, said he expects the issue to return to the Supreme Court once the appeals court issues its final ruling.

    The Texas Legislature approved the requirement for admitting privileges in July. In late October, days before the provision was to take effect, a trial judge blocked it, saying it probably is unconstitutional because it puts a “substantial obstacle” in front of a woman wanting an abortion. But a three-judge appellate panel moved quickly to overrule the judge. The appeals court said the law was in line with Supreme Court rulings that have allowed for abortion restrictions so long as they do not impose an “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion. Writing for the appeals court, Judge Priscilla Owen noted that the Texas law would not end the procedure, only force women to drive a greater distance to obtain one.

    Justice Antonin Scalia, writing in support of the high court order Tuesday, said the clinics could not overcome a heavy legal burden against overruling the appeals court. The justices may not do so “unless that court clearly and demonstrably erred,” Scalia said in an opinion that was joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy did not write separately or join any opinion Tuesday, but because it takes five votes to overturn the appellate ruling, it is clear that they voted with their conservative colleagues. Planned Parenthood and several Texas abortion clinics said in their lawsuit to stop the measure that it would force more than a third of clinics in the state to stop providing abortions.

    After the appeals court allowed the law to take effect, the groups said that their prediction had come to pass. In their plea to the Supreme Court, they said that “in just the few short days since the injunction was lifted, over one-third of the facilities providing abortions in Texas have been forced to stop providing that care and others have been forced to drastically reduce the number of patients to whom they are able to provide care. Already, appointments are being canceled and women seeking abortions are being turned away.” Breyer said the better course would have been to block the admitting privileges requirement at least until the court issued its final ruling because some women will be unable to obtain abortions.

    If courts ultimately find the law is invalid, “the harms to the individual women whose rights it restricts while it remains in effect will be permanent,” he said. Tennessee and Utah are the other states enforcing their laws on admitting privileges. Similar laws are under temporary court injunctions in Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wisconsin. In Texas, 12 abortion providers say they have attempted to obtain hospital privileges for their doctors, but so far none of the hospitals have responded to the requests. That means those clinics can no longer offer abortions, leaving at most 20 facilities open in a state of 26 million people. All of those facilities are in metropolitan areas, with none in the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico. Currently, only six out of 32 abortions clinics in Texas qualify as ambulatory surgical centers, and some have doctors who do not meet the admitting privileges requirement. Texas women undergo an average of 80,000 abortions a year.

  • Sikhs to take out a Parade to mark the 544th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak

    Sikhs to take out a Parade to mark the 544th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak

    DALLAS (TIP): The Sikhs of Dallas Fort Worth will be taking out a parade for the first time in the City of Richardson on Saturday, November 16, to mark the 544th birth anniversary of their First Master Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Speaking with The Indian Panorama, Surinder Singh Gill, a representative of Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Richardson said that all preparations for a grand parade have been made. He said that all local Gurdwaras (Sikh shrines) have come together to put up a grand show to commemorate the historic occasion.

    The Parade, as usual, will be led by the Living Master of the Sikhs, the Sikh Holy Scripture known as Shri Guru Granth Sahib. A number of dignitaries and officials have confirmed attending the Parade, said Mr. Gill. Among them are Mayors of adjoining cities, Police Chief, Members of City Council, and representatives of FBI and Justice Department. Also, a number of schools will be participating in the Parade The Gurdwara Singh Sabha management in a flyer inviting all to join the Parade, have said, “We seek to build and foster relationships with our neighbors, educators, uniformed officials, elected officials and, in short, with our fellow Americans. Sikhs have been an integral part of the DFW community for over 50 years and we look forward to sharing of information and experiences as we welcome you to celebrate with us.”

    The communication further says, “This open communication and interaction with one another will continue to strengthen our communities and build a solid understanding as we learn more regarding our similarities and faiths. Our children will grow in to a future of trust and confidence. In that respect, we humbly request you that you consider participating in this event with your fellow Sikh American neighbors. Speaking about the program, Mr. Gill said that the Parade will start around 11.30 A.M. after the morning prayers, from the parking lot of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Richardson and will cover a route of around 3 miles.

    Later around 2 P.M. it will return to the starting point where it will be terminated. Free kitchen (langar) is an essential part of the Sikh way of life. The Sikh Masters had enjoined upon their followers to share food with all. Thus, in all gurdwaras free food is available to all, without any discrimination. All along the route of the Parade, free food (langar) will be served. Many set up stalls en route to serve eatables and beverages to seek the blessings those served and the Master.

  • Dallas, Garland police get federal help in prosecuting violent offenders

    Dallas, Garland police get federal help in prosecuting violent offenders

    DALLAS (TIP): Last month, Dallas police detectives began partnering with FBI agents to investigate the city’s most violent crimes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dallas Police Department and Garland Police Department publicly announced Thursday, November 14, the formation of the Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force.

    The agencies will work together to bring federal prosecution to violent offenders, meaning harsher penalties in many cases. The task force will focus its resources on the most violent crimes including shootings, kidnapping and extortion. “Dallas police detectives with FBI agents will use a full range of contemporary tools and ground breaking investigative strategies to bring prolific violent offenders to justice,” said Dallas Police Chief David Brown Thursday morning.

  • US disputes Amnesty report on drones

    US disputes Amnesty report on drones

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The US has disputed a recent report by a prominent human rights group that by using drones it has acted contrary to international law.

    The United States “takes extraordinary care” to make sure that its counter terrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable domestic and international law, and that they are consistent with US values and policy, state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

    The state department, she said, has completed the review of the recently released report of London-based Amnesty International on use of drones in Pakistan, which according to it was in violation of international law. The state department also disputed the figures of civilian casualties by the Amnesty report, which Psaki said was on a very higher side.

    “To the extent that these reports claim that the US has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree. We have repeatedly emphasised the extraordinary care we take to make sure counter terrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable law,” Psaki said.

    “When there are indications that civilian deaths may have occurred, intelligence analysts draw on a large body of information, including human intelligence, signals intelligence, media reports, and surveillance footage to help us make informed determinations about whether civilians were, in fact, killed or injured,” she said. “Substantial information concerning US counterterrorism strikes is collected, obviously, through a variety of methods,” she added.

  • TENDULKAR EXITS FOR 74, INDIA BUILD LEAD

    TENDULKAR EXITS FOR 74, INDIA BUILD LEAD

    TENDULKAR EXITS FOR 74, INDIA BUILD LEAD MUMBAI (TIP): Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, two of India’s brightest young talents, were pummelling West Indies into submission at the Wankhede stadium on the second morning, but cricket had rarely felt this anti-climactic for Indian fans. During the first hour, however, Test cricket had rarely felt so alive. With Sachin Tendulkar playing what could be his final Test innings, his legion of fans were put through the emotional wringer. This whole series has been drenched in Tendulkar nostalgia, and every vintage shot he played today only highlighted what fans are going to miss in the days ahead. Every mis-step – like the two attempted upper cuts – caused massive anxiety. Fans were uncertain whether they wanted Tendulkar to be on strike – so they could lap up a few more of his shots – or at the non-striker’s end as the tension was close to unbearable when he batted.

    The assuredness with which Tendulkar played had made it seem inevitable that there would be a fairytale century in his final Test. The year-long wait for the 100th hundred should have taught Indian fans to be wary about expecting fairytale Tendulkar centuries and like at the Wankhede in 2011, a slip catch from Darren Sammy cut short Tendulkar’s innings on 74 and stunned a frenzied crowd into silence. The mute-button was on only for a few moments though, as the crowd regained its voice to appreciatively roar Tendulkar off the field. Tendulkar muttered a few words to himself, but as has been the case over virtually his entire career, he maintained his poise after being dismissed, acknowledging the adoring crowds as he trudged off.