The Indian Panorama

Year: 2013

  • Promoting Goa Tourism in NYC

    Promoting Goa Tourism in NYC

    Goa’s Tourism officials make a stop in NYC to promote the beach community’s charm, hospitality and relaxing lifestyle to Americans

    NEW YORK (TIP): After showcasing the amenities and characteristics of India’s most visited vacation destination all over Europe, Goa’s Department of Tourism made its first stop in North America , in New York City. The goal of the Goa Tourism Road show 2013 was to expose Americans to the magic of this quaint, beach community.Whether tourists want to explore ancient churches or build sand castles on Goa’s 20+ beaches, there is never a lack of indoor or outdoor activities to relax the mind and stimulate the soul.


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    Visiting Deputy Chief Minister of Goa Francis D’souza, Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar and Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation addressed a press conference. Seen in the picture are media representatives. Also seen is The Indian Panorama reporter Kajol Bishnoi ( Front row, third from right)

    Goa’s top officials Francis D’souza, Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, Dilip Parulekar, Tourism Minister of Goa, Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Mrs. Sujata Thakur, Regional Director for India Tourism, shared stories about their beloved state. Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Sujata Thakur said, “Goa is a unique destination, with the magnificence of all elements- Mountains, sea, beaches, and rivers. It has a majestic old world charm, a rich cuisine and, above all, a relaxing atmosphere where tourists can unwind themselves.

    The culturally rich people of Goa are friendly and hospitable and always ready to welcome tourists and help them in every way. While in Goa, one finds all day to day worries disappear. The gala event started with a press conference where Goa officials interacted with US Media. When asked what Goa government was doing to deal with the menace of drug use in Goa which had become a second Mexico or Columbia, Nikhil said the government had steps to control the situation so that tourists could enjoy their stay in Goa to the fullest.


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    Nrityalina Centre for Performing Arts presents a Goan folk dance

    The visiting delegation emphasized that Goa Tourism was keen on tapping the huge base of international tourists by promoting the state during the non-peak months from April to October. The department is currently focusing on North American cities with multiple road shows planned in New York, Los-Angeles and Houston. The cultural dance presentation after the press conference was an impressive part of the road show. Goan cuisine served on the occasion evoked appreciative comments.

  • NY Mayor elect’s daughter speaks of her struggle with substance abuse

    NY Mayor elect’s daughter speaks of her struggle with substance abuse

    NEW YORK (TIP): Coming on Christmas eve, Chiara de Blasio’s statement about her battle with substance abuse must inspire those, particularly the young, suffering from the scourge. The 19-year-old daughter of New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is reported to have spoken about her personal struggles, saying she spent years battling substance abuse and depression, in a four minute video released Tuesday, December 24, on the eve of Christmas by the incoming mayor’s transition team. She said she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana to deal with clinical depression and anxiety.

    “It made it easier, the more I drank and did drugs, to share some common ground with people,” she said, speaking under soft lights with piano music tinkling in the background. “It didn’t start out as, like, a huge thing for me, but then it became a really huge thing for me.” She said she thought she could escape the problem by leaving for college in California, but her sense of “physical insecurity” only grew worse. “My mom was trying really hard to help me and my dad was doing the same, but obviously he was really busy,” she said. “They were both very emotionally committed to trying to find out some way to get me better.” De Blasio said she eventually found success in group therapy at a treatment center in New York. “Removing substances from my life opened so many doors for me. I was actually able to participate in my dad’s campaign,” she said in the video. “Getting sober is always a positive thing, and by no means is it easy – it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done – but it’s so worth it.

    “In a statement accompanying the video, Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, said they were “so proud of Chiara and love her deeply.” “As parents, our instinct has been to protect our daughter and privately help her through a deeply personal struggle,” they said in the statement. “But not only has Chiara committed to her own health, she is also committed to helping young people everywhere who face similar challenges.” The campaign did not say what prompted it to release the video on Christmas Eve, a day when many news consumers are more concerned with travel or shopping than current events. The announcement was framed as a way to help others struggling with depression and substance abuse during the holiday season. Rumors swirled during the mayoral primary campaign that Chiara had battled drug issues. But the de Blasio campaign fiercely beat back reporters who pursued the topic, saying that his two children were off limits from the press. No media outlet published a story.

    Yet even as the campaign pleaded for privacy, de Blasio’s family played a key role in his campaign. De Blasio was frequently joined at campaign events by his wife, and McCray is considered his top adviser who will wield considerable influence at City Hall. Both Chiara and her brother stumped for their father and appeared in television ads. Dante appeared first, and the teen’s soaring Afro and heartfelt descriptions of his father was the most effective ad of the campaign, helping de Blasio surge in the polls. Chiara de Blasio’s ad appeared closer to Election Day and she gave a sunny description of her dad’s vision “that leaves no one behind.” She also introduced her father at his raucous primary night party. She gave one hint about some of her struggles after being spotted in tears at a parade in September. She told reporters that she sometimes suffered from anxiety.

    In the hours after the video was released, de Blasio briefly appeared outside his Brooklyn home and, flanked by the other three members of his family, repeated how proud he was of his daughter. The mayor-elect did not take questions.During the campaign, de Blasio spoke about his father’s substance abuse, particularly with alcohol. His father later committed suicide.White House Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske released a statement late Tuesday praising Chiara de Blasio’s decision “to give voice to the millions who suffer from substance abuse disorders.”

  • Can Harvard stop awarding so many As?

    Can Harvard stop awarding so many As?

    NEW YORK (TIP): CNN Reporter Stephen Joel Trachtenberg has put a question mark on the evaluation of performance of students at the iconic Harvard University in an article published December 6. The article reads as under. In case anyone had a shadow of a doubt that most Harvard students are precocious, smart, if not learned, we hear from the lips of Harvard’s Dean of Undergraduate Education, Jay M. Harris, that nearly all the students at Harvard are indeed above average — so much so that the median grade given is an A- and the most frequent grade awarded is an A! What are we to make of the news? Well, first of all, this is not exactly news.

    Harvard and many elite colleges across the country have witnessed the creeping ivy of grade inflation for quite some time — a situation that has just about eliminated failure as a possibility. It makes one wonder why the school bothers giving grades at all. In the mid-1970s, when I was a dean at Boston University, there were rumors that a certain professor was indiscriminately awarding a final grade of A to all his students. That was unusual back then when most professors graded on the bell curve and only a handful of the best students received an A. Some actually failed and most received grades of B or C. But in the case of this particular professor everybody got an A. As a test, I surreptitiously enrolled a fictitious student into the roster of his next class. This “nobody” never came to class, never wrote a term paper and never took an exam. At the end of the semester the mysterious student received an A. That led to a discussion with the professor.

    In a tone of righteous indignation he claimed I had overstepped my bounds to play such a trick on him.With righteous indignation I claimed that he had underperformed as a professor by acting in a reckless manner, grading his students with careless abandonment. Steam came out of both our ears. I believed his actions were a mark of failure in academic responsibility. Grades serve several purposes. They are a tool that measures a student’s progress in relation to others in a class; they allow financial aid and scholarship committees to assess merit; and they culminate in a 4-year overall performance record in the form of a college transcript. Academic strengths and weaknesses are discovered over a period of time. To some extent Harvard’s faculty have abandoned their responsibilities to their students as well as to those who wish to judge their students: Admission officers at law and medical school; faculty selecting graduates to mentor them for advanced degree programs; employers deciding between applicants for jobs. Decades ago, professors were often characterized by their students on the severity of their grading.

    Professor Smith is a tough grader — no one gets an A. Or, Professor Jones is an easy grader — no one fails.What can be said today? All the professors are easy marks as well as easy markers. Why give everyone an A? When the admissions office puts together a freshman class full of high school valedictorians who have perfect grades and SAT scores, there is no doubt they are bringing capable students to the campus. But the power has shifted from the faculty to the students and a new form of entitlement on the part of students has developed. If students are paying $55,000 a year, they may feel they have paid for the As in dollars as well as sense. Is there an unspoken academic transaction that is filtering into the university landscape now that tuition prices are in the stratosphere? Has higher education morphed into a consumer business in which the customer is always right? It seems like it. First, universities have to compete for students in the marketplace. Then faculties do the same after students enroll. Professors want to be popular. They want good ratings from students at the end of semester reviews just as the students want good grades from them.

    Gut courses, once the exception, have become more common. Faculty tenure, promotions and raises may turn on such matters right along with publications and other measures. University life, long a contact sport, has been upgraded to a blood sport. It’s become a “dogeat- dog” business in which departments try to fill quotas for majors. And then there are the parents who are quick to speak out if they think their sons or daughters are under appreciated. Is there a solution that can stop grade inflation? Yes, of course. In 2004, Princeton readjusted their grading system instructing the faculty not give more than 35% of their undergraduate students A or A- grades, and apparently Yale is currently discussing a similar adjustment. Harvard faculty should construct a ladder that has a rung at the bottom, middle and top. Last week, I had the privilege to chair the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee for the D.C., Maryland, North Carolina district.We interviewed 13 semi-finalists and selected 2 award winners. All 13 were exceptional; the final decision came down to the splitting of hairs. Out of the 32 Rhodes Scholars named across the United States, Harvard students came away with 6, an impressive outcome however one slices the pie. Perhaps they are all A students. But now we know many Harvard students receive As.

  • Diplomats Falling Victim to Maids Pursuing American Dreams

    Diplomats Falling Victim to Maids Pursuing American Dreams

    ” The visa fraud allegedly committed by Devyani Khobragade was in fact committed by Sangeeta Richard as she misrepresented her terms of employment to the US Embassy during her interview with the Consular officer to get an A3 domestic worker visa, which would later enable her to leapfrog to a trafficking T Visa”, says the author.

    Devyani Khobragade’s arrest has resulted in an unprecedented Indo-US row which shows little sign of abating. Since I was Consul General in New York from September 2008 till February 2013, I feel duty-bound to put the situation in a full and correct perspective. Devyani worked as my deputy towards the end of my term. Moreover, I also faced a lawsuit about which some misinformed comments continue to be made in sections of the media. I met (Devyani’s domestic help) Sangeeta Richard several times at the consulate. She not only seemed happy and cheerful, but also struck me as being quite well-groomed and educated – not the usual type of domestic worker. Given the recent history of problems faced by the consulate, I advised Devyani to be careful. I also told her that there were plenty of people around who could misguide Sangeeta and create trouble.

    Cases of desertion by domestic assistants are not new. For decades, domestic assistants accompanying our diplomats to the US have gone missing, preferring to stay there illegally and pursue their dollar dreams. Countless security guards, including many from the police and paramilitary services, have also done likewise. Although the US authorities have invariably been informed whenever this has happened, they have done nothing to nab them. As is well known, the US has a very large number of illegal, undocumented aliens who provide cheap labor. However, in October 2000, the US Congress enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). In terms of this Act, our domestic assistants who abscond can now obtain a trafficking visa by alleging that they were subjected to involuntary servitude and not paid wages as per US laws. They can get a three year T Visa which gets converted to full resident status. Naturally, such persons allege that they would face extreme hardship if they were deported back, as Sangeeta Richard has done.

    In return, they have to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies against the alleged traffickers – their former employers. Then in 2010, New York State enacted the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, after which there has been a spate of lawsuits filed by domestic workers. HOOK OR CROOK Devyani Khobragade may have fallen victim to a common menace – maids desperately seeking green cards. It is no secret that many Indians go to the US and try to stay on by hook or crook. Thousands of Sikhs have managed to obtain political asylum by alleging that they are being persecuted in India and thus getting full resident-status. Privately, many of them admit that they only took the asylum route as it was the only way they could get a Green Card. However, the US authorities continue to give asylum visas to many Sikh applicants, blindly ignoring the fact that the Sikhs are a thriving community in India, and that our Prime Minister is himself is a Sikh. However, the asylum visa is not available to everybody.

    This is where the TVPA has opened the doors to people like Sangeeta Richard, who can obtain official passports as domestic assistants of our diplomats, get an A3 visa from the US Embassy, reach US shores, work there for some months, abscond and then obtain a T Visa. The visa fraud allegedly committed by Devyani Khobragade was in fact committed by Sangeeta Richard as she misrepresented her terms of employment to the US Embassy during her interview with the Consular officer to get an A3 domestic worker visa, which would later enable her to leapfrog to a trafficking T Visa. Now, a few words about two earlier cases which took place in New York. Shanti Gurung worked as a housekeeper for Dr Neena Malhotra, Consul for over three years. I met her often as she would come to the consulate to attend functions such as Republic Day, Independence Day, Diwali, Baisakhi etc, as well as music concerts, and she was always happy and contented. I was shocked when she went missing on the eve of Dr Neena’s departure from New York on transfer, and even more shocked when she filed a lawsuit a year later against her employer alleging confinement, forced labor, slavery, illtreatment etc.

    No doubt, she did so to obtain a T Visa. Mrs. Santosh Bhardwaj worked as my housekeeper for two years in India and four years in Morocco before joining me as my domestic assistant in New York in February 2009. Eleven months later, in January 2010, she absconded from the consulate building where she lived. Seventeen months after that, she filed a suit against me alleging slavery, forced labor, nonpayment of full wages etc. She alleged that she was not given proper accommodation and was made to sleep in a storage area. She also made an allegation about an incident of sexual harassment. These allegations were prominently reported in the media. Six weeks later, her lawyers filed an amended suit in which the allegation about sexual harassment and being made to sleep in a storage area were voluntarily dropped. The suit alleged that I had not paid her wages at $10 an hour as per the contract. Here, I would like to draw attention to the website of the US State Department which states the following: “As of March 2011, the Department has decided that no deductions are allowed for lodging, medical care, medical insurance or travel.

    As of April 2012, deductions taken for meals are also no longer allowed”. However, Mrs. Bhardwaj worked for me in New York from January 2009 till February 2010, when deductions for perks were allowed by the State Department. If perks are included, the emoluments of my domestic assistant were considerably more than what she was to get under the contract. A fully furnished one bedroom apartment in the Upper East part of New York does not come for less than $2,500! Added to this were the expenses towards water, electricity, heating, air-conditioning, food, medical cover, travel passages (including for home leave) plus a handsome salary. BIASED & HIGH-HANDED The emoluments of all officials posted by the MEA to Embassies and Consulates include salary and perks; the emoluments of a domestic assistant accompanying an Indian diplomat are built into the officer’s own package, and also include salary and perks. It is only after March 2011 that the US State Department has begun to disallow deductions for perks for domestic assistants. Litigation in the US is a very expensive and stressful process.

    Most lawsuits end up in an out of court settlement without acknowledgement of wrongdoing. I, too, had no option but to settle the case. India’s view has been that the domestic assistants of our diplomats hold official passports and should be outside the purview of US labor laws. The US side has not agreed to this, insisting that US laws apply to them. This impasse continues. What about the future? We should either get the US to agree to our position or change our present arrangement relating to the domestic assistants. Our officers should not be caught in this sort of situation arising from how the Ministry of External Affairs interprets the emoluments given to domestic assistants and how differently the US authorities interpret them. This would prevent the sort of ordeal which Dr Neena, Devyani and I myself have gone through. It is understood that the MEA is trying to revamp the system and may itself sign contracts with domestic workers instead of officers having to do so. Will this revamped arrangement shield officials posted at our Consulates fully? I am afraid not, for one must recall the case of Krittika Biswas, a 12th grade student and daughter of a Vice-Consul serving under me in New York.

    She was arrested and handcuffed in front of her fellow students at her school on the charge of cyber-bullying one of her teachers, although she asserted that she had a diplomatic passport. She was not allowed to contact her parents or anyone till the evening, and was kept in a detention centre for 28 hours with prostitutes and drug addicts in the same manner as Devyani. My colleagues and I had to run from pillar to post to get her released. She was not taken back to her school but had to attend a sort of reform school. Later, it was discovered that it was not Krittika but another student who was responsible for the cyber-bullying, but he was not arrested. What can one make of this except that the New York law enforcement agencies were biased and high-handed? The Krittika Biswas case makes me apprehensive that given the US position on immunity, even if we were to revamp our system relating to domestic assistants, we will not be able to guarantee that officials in our Consulates will not be arrested or dragged into law courts for some reason or another in future. The US is a highly litigious country where suing people is a sort of favorite pastime. Family members of consulate officials are not given any ID cards and have absolutely no immunity. Hence, they are even more vulnerable.

    An atmosphere of fear already pervades our Consulate in New York, and the New York Consulate is no longer a sought-after posting for this reason. What are we to do in such a situation? Some of my former colleagues go to the extent of saying that if diplomats posted in our Consulates in the USA do not enjoy immunity, then we should close down these Consulates and do all Consular work from the Embassy in Washington DC, where our officials enjoy immunity. This is not so cynical as it may sound. Firstly, Consular work relating to passports, visas, OCI cards, PIO cards has already been outsourced. Instead of bringing the documents to the Consulates, the outsourcing company could courier them to the Embassy. Secondly, a large number of persons already send their applications to the Consulates by mail, and they would instead have to send these to Washington DC.What difference would it make if someone living in Boston has to send the application to Washington DC instead of to New York? Of course, the Embassy’s consular Section would have to be considerably strengthened for handling the additional load.

    All other work such as information, culture, outreach and economic would also have to be done from Washington alone, which is not so difficult in today’s age of instant electronic communications. DON’T DRAG FEET As regards all the endless protocol work involving receiving and seeing off delegations which keep coming to New York, it could be done by the Permanent Mission to the UN, whose officials enjoy immunity. At present, the protocol load is shared by the Permanent Mission and the Consulate. Again, the protocol wing of the Permanent Mission will have to be augmented. I know that this suggestion by my former colleagues may be dismissed as being too cynical. There is no doubt, however, that our officers posted at the Consulate in New York have begun to feel very insecure after all these recent cases, and the same may also be true for the other Consulates in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Atlanta. How will India protect its diplomats posted to the consulates given the US position on immunity? Drastic situations call for drastic steps, and if we can’t learn from bad experiences, then we alone are to be blamed. Foot-dragging will not get us anywhere.

  • Removal of a foreign citizen from a foreign sovereign: the durable injustice

    Removal of a foreign citizen from a foreign sovereign: the durable injustice

    The author who is an eminent attorney pleads for a graceful resolution, with no lasting after-taste of excessive legalities in the tangled case of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragde. “Nuremberg Laws taught us that law alone isn’t enough to be right, as history is always a better judge, and millions lost their lives to coldly calculated laws that aided efficiently engineered deaths in the Holocaust”, says he.

    The impressive Mission Impossiblelike clockwork in the removal of the Richards family, two days prior to the public arrest of DCG Devyani Khobragade, albeit, with warm coffee and courtesies extended, leaves one scratching one’s head while suffering a legal headache caused by a “Gordian” tumor – competing sovereignty and competing legal actions. If these events were not ill-advised and tragic, they could make for a great paraphrased performance of “Who’s on First” by famed comedians Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. After all, no one has cited the existence of an empowering or enabling prior-judicial determination in the United States adjudicating Sangeeta Richards as a “human trafficking victim,” and an issuance of a court judgment granting her a “T” visa – such a determination would at a bare minimum, given our cherished adversarial system of justice, have required Devyani, given her physical and VCCR-availability, to be notified and given an opportunity to be heard in such a civil or administrative court proceeding.

    To further grant, as reported, Sangeeta’s husband, Philips, and their children, Jannifar and Jatin, also a “T” visa, human trafficking victims, while they were all physically in their homeland, on foreign soil and a territory of a foreign sovereign, let alone a friendly one, seems to do un-needed violence to the rule of law and the comity of nations, and is perhaps the most durable injustice that must not be allowed to become a precedent – if meritbased legal sovereignty is to survive in our world of 194 countries. Even though most witnesses take the oath seriously and tell the truth, because sometimes witnesses will exaggerate or outright commit perjury, our Founding generation, a gender-neutral term adopted by our Chief Justice Roberts, created the Confrontation Clause, enshrined in the Sixth Amendment, to fillet open and expose falsity in court. Nobody can argue that a domestic worker in India, making market wages, given a chance to get to be “legal” in the United States may tell a tall tale to win the immigration lottery.

    While witness-intimidation or witnesskilling is one of the worst offenses to any judicial system in any country, and United States and India are no exception; law enforcement is always authorized to protect witnesses within its own territory. To do so on foreign soil, requires informed consent by the foreign sovereign. Those who leave India, via a scheduled commercial flight, are required to fill out and sign immigration and custom forms required by the Republic of India. It has been widely reported that there was then pending, weeks if not months prior to American proceedings, legal proceedings in Indian Court that enjoined Sangeeta, and an arrest warrant had been issued for her, given her alleged violation of the terms and conditions of carrying an official Indian passport, rather than a mere citizenpassport. Just as a soldier who goes AWOL is subject to being court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the service, an Indian carrying an Official passport is subject to face charges in India.

    It would be relevant to any court, that Sangeeta, given her current tale of victim-hood, wins a T-visa and backdoors into a Green Card. Motive evidence is powerful. Surely, the persons who were removed could have material evidence relevant to prior-initiated judicial proceeding in India, in addition to Sangeeta obviously having material evidence for such Indian proceedings. In that context, and history, the extra-judicial removal of foreign citizens of a foreign sovereign, with potential fraud being perpetrated in the exiting-paperwork at the Indian airport, leaves one breathless at the audacity and scope of the acts taken to vindicate the alleged violation of our wages & hours laws and related visa-fraud, consciously and purposefully aided and abetted by Sangeeta. If one believes Devyani, than Sangeeta was happy to make much more money working in New York than in India. The immediate resolution of this selfinflicted wound is a graceful resolution, with no lasting after-taste of excessive legalities.

    Nuremberg Laws taught us that law alone isn’t enough to be right, as history is always a better judge, and millions lost their lives to coldly calculated laws that aided efficiently engineered deaths in the Holocaust. The long-term solutions are two fold: 1. create a new category of foreign diplomatic domestic workers, who must be treated at least as well as required by their own nation’s laws; and 2. every nation on earth, despite Ricardo’s comparative advantage, adopts our labor laws, including, hours & wages. Given the Arab Spring, and every person on earth wanting their version of the American Dream, including, American freedom, we should all work towards such a beautiful day. Meanwhile, the T-visa is not an appropriate way to grant amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens in the United States, especially, with criminal cases pending against them in their country of citizenship; nor is it proper, at taxpayer expense, to have our diplomats locate the family members of such illegal aliens on foreign soil and fly them all here – 11 million may well mushroom to 50 million legal T-visa holders. Methinks, the AFLCIO and even cities and states, already under fiscal budget pressures, may loudly object.

    It is one think to always invite a few Einsteins of the world here, it’s another to add millions more to the un-employed ranks. Hopefully, given the proven legal brilliance and sound prosecutorial discretion of Preet Bharara, and the deep, history-rich and lofty experience of our Secretary of State John Kerry, a distinguished lawyer and former warrior, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate, and a history-making president Barack Obama, re-elected to prove history right while washing our constitutional original sin, a resolution can and will be crafted to find grace and renewed dignity for all. Luckily, India, speaking with one voice, itself exceptional and note-worthy, is represented by: a lawyer-poet-author Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, a kind and courtly gentleman, fully at ease with the need to calibrate power and reciprocity, and whom I have gotten to know and respect, as I already do Secretary Kerry and said so; Prime Minister Singh, who has earned worldrespect, including, singular honors from President Obama, and I and my wife have witnessed the body-hug in the East Room of the White House in November 2009; President Mukherjee, a powerful and proven governmentalist and an India-patriot; and principled and capable opposition leaders, in sync with their constitution, to deliver a robust democracy to India.

    If with this cast of superb bilateral leadership at this time of needless crisis, if we remain mired in an endless well filled with conflicts of law, as if it was mud, then leadership and wisdom would have failed us all. As a superpower, it is incumbent upon us, the United States, to remain a beacon in human history and light the way to a better day. As Christmas and the new year is upon us, I am sure we will, and accordingly, wish everyone a world that is just and fair, legal and proper, and the pursuit of happiness with equal protection of the law everywhere

  • Lord, Forgive them, for they know not what they do

    Lord, Forgive them, for they know not what they do

    Ignorance of law is no excuse. And ignoring the law is also no excuse. What has now come to the fore in the case of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade is that she had full immunity at the time of her arrest on December 12. She should not have been arrested. But she was. And in blatant violation of Geneva Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Article 4 Section 11A specifies “immunities from personal arrest or detention and from the seizure of their personal baggage” of all representatives of members to the United Nations.

    At the time Devyani was arrested, she was an Advisor to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations. And in that capacity she enjoyed full immunity. Section 16 of the same Article specifies that the expression “Representative” shall be deemed to include all delegates, deputy delegates, advisors, technical experts and secretaries of delegations. She was accredited as advisor on August 26 and was transferred to the permanent mission after the arrest and is currently holding the position of counselor. Will Preet Bharara who presided over the hauling up of the Indian diplomat now say he did not know the law or he will say he did not know Devyani was not only the Deputy Consul General at the Indian Consulate but also had a position with the UN? Your ignorance either way has cost the two friendly nations a lot. Yes, a lot.

    What will you say now, Mr. Bharara? Will you own up and feel sorry? But that’s not going to help. Neither will it restore the wronged lady’s honor, nor it will assuage the hurt feelings of a nation and it will also not help restore the warmth of relationship and trust between two friendly countries. Again, another lapse on the part of prosecution has come to light. The amount of $4,500 quoted by Bharara as salary promised to Sangeeta by Khobragade was actually just a mention of the employer’s salary on the help’s visa application form. Here is how the flub could have occurred. Sangeeta Richard was required to submit a form DS-160, along with her visa application and a screenshot of the actual online application here. The application seeks the applicant’s work/education/training information. It asks for the present employer’s name and then asks for month salary in local currency. Who’s month salary? The obvious answer is the visa applicant’s monthly salary. But here is where Sangeeta Richard put in her employer Devyani Khobragade’s monthly salary, which is approximately $ 4500 per month, whereas she should have put in $ 1560 per month – the negotiated $ 9.95 per hour for a 40-hour work-week which works out to $ 390 per week x 4 weeks = $1560.

    Devani’s attorney Daniel Arshack is right when he said, “It is clear that Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent who handled the investigation and arrest of Dr Khobragade and who drew up and swore to the accuracy of the formal complaint in this case, simply made an error in reading the DS 160 form which supported the visa application for the domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard. He erroneously and disastrously believed that the $4,500/month salary entry on the form was Ms Richard’s expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base salary to be earned by the employer, Dr Khobragade, in the United States”. Will Mark Smith be able to defend himself or Preet Bharara? The more vital question is: will the US administration be able to defend the incompetent prosecutors? Let us end the legal squabbles and try to get back the niceties lost because of the ignorant and erring prosecutors. I sincerely hope the saner elements on both the sides hear me.

  • Stockton Sikhs travel to Florida to confer a Special Award on Professor Harold A Gould

    Stockton Sikhs travel to Florida to confer a Special Award on Professor Harold A Gould

    DELRAY BEACH, FL (TIP): Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society, Stockton travelled to Delray Beach, Florida on December 13 – 15, to honor its commitment to recognize scholarly studies on Sikh Pioneers in America, their pluralistic conception of Indian nationalism, and their lobbying efforts to involve the US government in securing freedom for India. The Society celebrated 100th Anniversary of Stockton Gurdwara last year from September 22-to October 13, 2012. More than two dozen scholars from America, Canada, Britain, and India joined in presenting their papers on evaluating the role of Ghadr movement in instilling passion for freedom in Indians who had been living a wretched life under the British rule in India.

    But one very accomplished scholar who keenly wanted to join the historical event, but could not travel from Florida to Stockton due to the old age and sickness of his wife. He is none other than Professor Harold A. Gould who taught for 23 years in the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and since 1991, has been a Visiting Professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society considered Gould’s book, Sikhs, Swamis, Students and Spies: The India Lobby in the United States, 1900-1946, as one of the profoundest studies about Indian Pioneers journey in America. Dr. Gould makes groundbreaking disclosures about United States of America’s role in pressurizing Britain for freeing India after World War II.


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    Professor Gould, with his award and family at his home in Delray Beach, Florida

    The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society established links with the local Sikhs of Florida and invited them to the event that took place on December 14, 2013 from 2 PM- 5 PM. Dr. Ravinder Mahal, Dr. Sirtaz Sibia, Attorney Arvind Singh, American Sikh Fateh Singh and many other prominent members of Florida Sikh Society attended the event. Professor Gould’s son Armeen Gould specially came from Pittsburgh to make arrangements for the function along with his sister, and brother in law . The delegation to Florida comprised of Stockton Gurdwara President, Amrjit Singh Panesar, General Secretary Daljit Singh, Executive member and former president Harnek Singh Atwal, Centennial Committee Chairman Manjit S. Uppal, Centennial Coordinator Bhajan Singh and Centennial Conference Convener and media coordinator Dr. Amrik Singh. Dr. Amrik Singh started the program by introducing Dr. Harold A Gould and his sterling scholarship in South Asian Studies.

    He recounted how Stockton Gurdwara has been integral to starting an organized freedom movement from the Pacific Coast and how its founder president, Harvard educated Professor Teja Singh was instrumental in creating support of President Woodrow Wilson in declaring right to self-determination and freedom as integral to human progress. When the question of sending delegates to Peace Conference in December 1918 came in focus, the fund collected for establishing a Gurdwara in Berkeley, were instead used for representing India at Versailles Peace Conference. He also brought to the attention of audience prominent visitors like Sarojani Naidu in 1929, Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit in 1946 and 1948 to Stockton Gurdwara.

    Amarjit Singh Panesar briefly described lives of Sikh Gurus and their teachings for recognizing equality, liberty and fraternity in all human beings. Bhajan Singh then presented a slide show that captivated the audience for about an hour. Manjit S Uppal described in detail about Stockton Gurdwara’s effort to continue the legacy of Sikh pioneers in uniting and awakening a sense of self – esteem in people living on the margins of the society. The society thanked Dr. Ravi Mahal for inviting the delegation to Florida Gurdwara and honoring Professor Gould there on Sunday, December 15, 2013. The visit created a lot of goodwill and interest in history of Indians in America for more than hundred years.

  • SFJ case against Badal dismissed

    SFJ case against Badal dismissed

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A US court dismissed on December 23, an alleged human rights violation case against Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, saying the New York-based Sikh group never physically served the summons on him. Dismissing a petition for “panel rehearing” filed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD-Amritsar) the seventh circuit court of appeals on Monday upheld its decision regarding service of summons to Badal.

    The court also rejected SFJ claim that Badal’s State Department security team was complicit in shielding Badal from suit. The trial court had dismissed the SFJ lawsuit against Badal on the grounds that a Chicago-based Sikh Surinder Pal Singh Kalra was served with the summons instead of Badal at Oak Creek High School, Wisconsin, on August 9 as claimed by SFJ. SFJ petition for “panel rehearing” had argued that 30 days given to plaintiffs were not sufficient to complete jurisdictional discovery to find out whether it was Kalra or Badal who was served or Kalra’s testimony was fabricated or influenced by Badal’s agents.

    SFJ attorney Gurpatwant S Pannun said SFJ and SAD will now file a “motion to remand” the case to district court to establish that alternative service of summons through Hague Service has been accomplished on Badal. The Hague Service is a treaty signed by both India and United States which allows service of judicial papers between the signatory countries without diplomatic involvement, Pannun said. The Sikh groups have retained the services of “Process Forwarding International” (PFI), a Washington based company to accomplish service on Badal in India. The two groups have accused Badal of “protecting and commanding a police force responsible for torture and extra judicial killings of Sikhs in the state of Punjab” during his tenure for more than 12 years from 1997 till 2002 and from 2007 till present. The groups will also file an appeal with the US Supreme Court challenging the appeals court’s order, Pannun said. The plaintiffs have till March 23 to do so.

  • Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to celebrate achievements of Telugu women and youth

    Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to celebrate achievements of Telugu women and youth

    NEW JERSEY (TIP): Telugu Association of North America (TANA) will be hosting a one day conference to celebrate the achievements of Telugu women and youth on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at Royal Albert Hall in Edison, New Jersey. The day-long conference would feature lectures, forums and workshops on various issues that affect first and second generation Telugu women and youth in the United States. Mohan Nannapaneni, President of TANA, stated that TANA is organizing this special Conference as part of its efforts to identify and address the special needs of Telugu women and youth.


    11
    Aruna Katragadda Miller, Member of Maryland House of Delegates, is the first Telugu Woman to be elected to a state legislature in US. Delegate Aruna Miller will be a Guest of Honor at the TANA Women and Youth Conference.

    He noted that as the social fabric changed over the last five decades, the needs and aspirations of Telugu women in North America also changed and TANA wanted to offer a platform to discuss the recent developments and come up with plans to address them. The Conference would also celebrate the many achievements of Telugu youth in vastly divergent fields. Many other Telugu women and youth who excelled in various fields will be participating in the Conference and their achievements will also be celebrated. The daytime program is open mainly for women and youth. It will be followed by a special cultural program in the evening with famous singers, dancers and artists and is open to general audience.


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    Subha Vedula, semifinalist of American Idol 2012 season. Ms. Vedula, the first Indian female in history to make it to the top 20 females of the hit reality TV show, American Idol, will be a special guest.

    For details contact:
    Mohan Nannapaneni, President (508) 612-6676, president@tana.org Satish Vemana, Secretary : (703) 731-8367, secretary@tana.org Lakshmi Devineni, Chair Person Legal & Immigration Service Committee (732) 822-2493, devineni@yahoo.com Ravi Potluri: (267) 252-2496, ravicpotluri@yahoo.com

  • Target customers file lawsuits after data security breach

    Target customers file lawsuits after data security breach

    MINNEAPOLIS (TIP): Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, faces almost two dozen lawsuits filed by customers after a computer security breach exposed data on 40 million debit and credit cards. Customers have filed complaints seeking class action status for their suits in state and federal courts from the company’s home state of Minnesota to California and New York. Most accuse Target of failing to protect their private information.

    The information obtained during the breach “is a treasure trove for identity theft criminals who could use it to gain access to credit card and other private and valuable information about customers,” one of the plaintiffs, Alfonso E. Alonso III of San Francisco, said in a complaint. Target said Thursday, December 19 that security for the cards may have been breached between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 during purchases in stores. While the chain said it had identified and resolved the issue, the compromise occurred during the most important period of the year for retailers, with shoppers already showing reluctance to spend. In its latest statement, Target said December 24, it’s unveiling a special website for to communicate with customers.

    The retailer said “limited incidents” of fake communications claiming to be from the company prompted it to set up the dedicated channel for posting information about the breach. Since disclosing the breakdown the Minneapolis-based company has agreed to give some shoppers free credit reporting, assured them they wouldn’t be responsible for fraudulent charges and offered a 10 percent discount on purchases last weekend to regain their trust. Massachusetts is among states probing the security breakdown. The company also said it is “actively partnering” with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Secret Service on a continuing forensic and criminal probe. Neither entity is investigating Target, according to the statement.

    Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for Target, said the company “typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation.” Meanwhile, one of the victims of Target security breach is targeted again, in Maryland. George Nader, who is a deputy police chief in a county let slip the card, issued him after the breach on Friday, December 20. Nader “unknowingly dropped his newly acquired credit card” at a restaurant on Route 1.Within an hour, the police said, two people, termed “Scrooges,” had scooped up the plastic and started shopping. It was not immediately clear whether Nader has yet received a third card.

  • Same-sex marriage now legal in Utah & New Mexico

    Same-sex marriage now legal in Utah & New Mexico

    S. Saluja SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (TIP): A federal judge, on December 20, struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying the law “conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process under the law.” In striking down the state law, which voters had approved in 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby wrote in a 53-page ruling that the state’s “current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason.

    “Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional,” he said. A day earlier, on December 19, the New Mexico Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in the State, declaring in a ruling that it is unconstitutional to deny a marriage license to gay and lesbian couples. There are 18 States now that allow same sex marriage. 7 States have allowed pursuant to Court decision. These are California (June 28, 2013), Connecticut (Nov. 12, 2008), Iowa (Apr. 24, 2009), Massachusetts (May 17, 2004), New Jersey (Oct. 21, 2013), New Mexico (Dec. 19, 2013), Utah (Dec. 20, 2013). 8 States have allowed same sex marriage through State legislation.

    The states are Delaware (July 1, 2013), Hawaii (Dec. 2, 2013), Illinois (law will take effect June 1, 2014), Minnesota (Aug. 1, 2013), New Hampshire (Jan. 1, 2010), New York (July 24, 2011), Rhode Island (Aug. 1, 2013), Vermont (Sep. 1, 2009). 3 States have allowed same sex marriage by Popular Vote. These states are Maine (Dec. 29, 2012), Maryland (Jan. 1, 2013),Washington (Dec. 9, 2012). Massachusetts is the first State to allow same sex marriage while Utah is the latest to join. However, Illinois legislation to allow same sex marriage will take effect on June 1, 2014.

  • Texas woman admits to sending ricin to Obama & Bloomberg

    Texas woman admits to sending ricin to Obama & Bloomberg

    DALLAS (TIP): A Texas woman and former actress Shannon Guess Richardson pleaded guilty Tuesday, December 10 to sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, under a deal that her attorney has said would cap prison time at 18 years. Richardson entered her plea in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, to a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. Richardson was arrested in June after authorities said she tried to implicate her ex-husband, Nathan Richardson, after he had filed for divorce.

    Prosecutors say Shannon Richardson mailed three letters from New Boston, outside Texarkana, then went to police and claimed that her husband had done it. The letter to Obama, according to a federal indictment, said: “What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president.” Prosecutors say investigators noted inconsistencies in Richardson’s statements and later learned that she had purchased materials online to produce ricin, a toxin that can cause respiratory failure if inhaled. Richardson, 35, has had minor roles in the television series The Walking Dead and the movie The Blind Side. She also is the mother of six children – including one child born prematurely while she was in custody this year.

    Her attorney, Tonda Curry, said last month that she and prosecutors agreed to a deal capping Richardson’s sentence at 18 years. Prosecutors say Richardson faces life in prison for the charge to which she pleaded guilty. A federal judge ultimately will sentence Richardson at a later sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. “Shannon is anxious to admit her role in ordering the components to make the ricin, her role in the letters that contained the ricin, and to tell the government who else was involved in those offenses,” Curry said. Curry did not say more about Richardson’s possible motives or whom she might name.

  • HeartGift-a nonprofit in Dallas to restore health of children’s heart

    HeartGift-a nonprofit in Dallas to restore health of children’s heart

    DALLAS (TIP): Haven’t heard of HeartGift Foundation? You must know then. Since 2000, more than 200 children from 28 countries have received lifesaving heart surgery, courtesy HeartGift Foundation. The relatively new do-gooder HeartGift Foundation, a nonprofit agency based in Austin with five chapters, is now in Dallas. HeartGift’s mission is to provide heart surgery to disadvantaged children living in developing countries where specialized medical treatment is scarce or nonexistent. The Dallas chapter handled four patients in 2013 and will be able to handle 12 per year.

    All medical work here is done at Children’s Medical Center, and HeartGift Dallas’ patients benefit from the generosity of the medical staff, such as pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons Dr. Joseph Forbess, Dr.Kristine Guleserian and Dr. Vinod Sebastian, who donate their skills to repair all HeartGift children’s hearts during their stays in Dallas. In Dallas, HeartGift Dallas works on a contract with Children’s and UT Southwestern that allows HeartGift to save the lives of 12 children a year at a low, flat cost. The HeartGift chapters bring children in for about one month. The child and a family member, typically the mother, stay with a volunteer host family. The child spends about one week in the hospital receiving heart surgery. The agency raises money to pay the partnering children’s hospitals $15,000 to help offset costs of surgery.

    Professional medical services are donated. Through reduced hospital charges and donated medical services, every donated dollar provides $13 of value. The mortality rate for the surgeries is 2 percent. Each HeartGift chapter has a local board of directors, and each hospital appoints a HeartGift Medical Selection Committee to review all cases referred to the program. The local HeartGift staff also recruits and trains a host community for the child. Some host families are drawn to the role because they share the same cultural background as HeartGift patients or because their own children have been through open-heart surgery. A host community is also recruited to help make the job of the host family easier. The Episcopal School of Dallas was the host community for a young patient named Marvin from Christmas Island.

    Community service director Christi Morrow got her students excited about giving back. They treated Marvin to lunches at the school, football games, pep rallies, meals delivered to the host home and lots of love. The First United Methodist Church in Frisco was the host community of Tabiria, also from Christmas Island. They hosted her and her mother in a congregation member’s home and showered them with love, meals, outings, transportation and visits at the hospital. To donate to HeartGift Dallas, make checks payable to HeartGift and specify “Dallas Chapter” in the memo line. Mail to HeartGift Dallas, 11700 Preston Road, Suite 660 #394, Dallas, TX 75230. You can donate online at heartgift.org. To get involved or learn more about the agency, call executive director Barbara Johnson at 817-773-7662 or email her at bjohnson@heartgift.org.

  • American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin Honors 4 at 2013 Fall Meeting

    American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin Honors 4 at 2013 Fall Meeting

    DALLAS (TIP): American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin (AACIO), at its Fall meeting December 4, honored Greg Behar, President and CEO of Boehringer lngelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Joseph M. Chalil, Associate Director, Health Science Executives, Boehringer Ingelheim USA, and Dr. Dinender K. Singla, a graduate of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India for their achievements in the field of Cardiology.

    In addition, AACIO Young Investors Award was given to Dr. Ganesh Athappan and the Dr. Madhukar Deshmukh awards were given to Dr. Forum Kamdar and Dr. Manavjot Siddhu. AACIO awards the Dr. Krishna Ramaswamy and two Dr. Madhukar Deshmukh Young Investigator Awards at the AACIO dinner meetings held each year during the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association annual convention in March and November. The finalists presented their abstract at the meeting and each received $1000.00 award and a plaque The Fall 2013 annual event, organized by AACIO in coordination with Texas Indo- American Physicians Society (TIPS), North East Chapter and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin was held at the Dallas Convention Center Theater Complex in Dallas, TX on November 17th, and was attended by over 200 physicians from around the nation.

    Dr. Navin Nanda, the Founding President and Chairman of the AACIO Board of Directors, while lauding honorees for their contributions and achievements, said, “AACIO is proud to honor some of the stalwarts of the pharmaceutical industry like Greg Behar and Chris Kaplan as well as some of the upcoming personalities like Jo Chalil. They have made significant contributions to medical therapeutics in the area of cardiology.” Dr. Nanda is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease, Senior Scientist, Minority Health and Research Center and UAB Center for Aging, and UAB Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, President Elect, who had represented AAPI at the event, congratulated AACIO for its consistent good work, both in the academic and the applied fields, and reaching out successfully to American Heart Association, and working in tandem with them in many spheres.

    He had special praise for the three Scholarship Awards that are given out each year to young aspiring medical students for poster sessions and in investigative sectors. “We at the national AAPI are proud of these activities,” he said. Dr. Jahagirdar, who will assume charge as the president of the national AAPI in June next year, pledged AAPI’s continued support in the future. In his inaugural address, Dr. Kul Aggarwal, president of AACIO, and Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Missouri and Chief, Cardiology Section, Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital, Columbia, Missouri, stated that AACIO provides a central forum for physicians and scientists of Indian origin, living in the United States, who have interest in Cardiovascular Medicine. “Indian Cardiologists are playing an increasingly important role in the provision of Cardiovascular services and also as academic thought leaders in the United States. We are proud of our colleagues.

    AACIO is your organization and joining it adds strength to all of us,” he said. The American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin (aacio.org) was formed in 1986 and after crossing puberty, the organization has reached the excited stage of youth after nineteen years. A Symposium, which was part of the meeting was organized by Drs. Navin C. Nanda and Kul Aggarwal. In his insightful presentation on “Newer anticoagulants in the management of a trial fibrillation and stroke prevention” Dr. Sanjeev Saksena, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Rutgers-RWJ Medical School Medical Director, Piscataway, New Jersey, Electrophysiology Research Foundation, Warren, New Jersey & Editor-in- Chief, Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology, provided an overview of modern trends. Dr. Amit Khera, Associate Professor, Director, Preventive Cardiology Program, Program Director, Cardiology Fellowship and Dallas Heart Ball Chair in Hypertension and Heart Disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Texas, addressed the audience on “Emerging therapies in dyslipidemia management, beyond statins.” Dr. Nanda educated the audience on “Choice of anti-platelet therapy in acute coronary syndromes.”

    With more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Greg’s experience includes leadership roles in marketing, sales, business operations and general management. Greg joined Boehringer lngelheim in 2009 as Corporate Vice President of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Franchise. That same year he became Vice President, Corporate Division Prescription Medicine, leading 14 countries including Northern Europe, Canada and Australia. Prior to Boehringer lngelheim, Greg worked at Novartis Pharma AG in roles of increasing responsibility in Spain and at global headquarters in Switzerland. Another honoree, Dr. Singla has received numerous honors and awards, and has been invited to give talks throughout the world. He also served as a chair/co-chair for scientific meetings, and well published in various peer reviewed journals. He is funded by the National Institute of Health and the American Heart Association grant awards since 2004.

    He has served as an editorial board member for different journals, and is the current Academic Editor for Plos one and Associate Editor for Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. Srinivas Reddy Gunukula serves on the Board of Directors of The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano and Director of Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Care at the Heart Hospital McKinnney Campus. He is well known among the Cardiology community in Dallas. Dr. Joseph M. Chalil is a Fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives and is Board Certified in Healthcare Management. He serves as Co-Chair, AAPI Industry Physician Committee and Scientific Advisor, AAPI Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Stroke Network. Dr. Chalil holds three US Patents involving usage of sensors inside Human Body in addition to other applications. His research background includes Clinical Trial Management in Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Myeloma, and publications in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The Asian American Business Development Center, NY has awarded Dr. Chalil the 2013 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award. He is a Visiting Professor at various Universities and serves on various company Boards. He is an expert in US Healthcare policy and a strong advocate for patient centered care.

  • Chamber of Commerce backs Cornyn in primary

    Chamber of Commerce backs Cornyn in primary

    DALLAS (TIP): “Senator Cornyn is a conservative champion for the American free enterprise system. He has a proven record on issues important to the business community and has received a 90 percent lifetime voting record with the U.S. Chamber,” U.S. Chamber National Poltiical Director Rob Engstrom said in a statement. “The Chamber is proud to stand with him.”

    The endorsement is the latest example of establishment conservative and business groups stepping up for Republicans facing right-wing challenges. The Chamber has also endorsed Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a close friend of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) who is facing a Tea Party challenge. Other groups, including former Rep. Steve LaTourette’s Main Street Alliance, have promised to spend heavily for centrist candidates. Stockman, who surprised many with his decision on Monday, December 9 to run against Cornyn, has not yet received the same support from national conservative groups.

    The deep-pocketed Club for Growth, the biggest player on the right, said on Tuesday, December 10 it wouldn’t get involved in the race. Meanwhile, FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservatives Fund have been critical of Cornyn and haven’t ruled out involvement in the contest. Cornyn has nearly $7 million cash on hand for the race, while Stockman has just over $30,000 – and $160,000 in campaign debt. Just to be clear: Nobody in Texas thinks Stockman has a snowball’s chance of winning against Cornyn, and they’re probably right. “This is going to be an irritant,” says Matt Mackowiak, an Austinbased Republican strategist. “But it’s only an irritant.”

  • Christmas Celebrated around the World

    Christmas Celebrated around the World

    NEW YORK (TIP): Christmas Eve was marked by festivities and preparations around the world today. The faithful prepared for midnight services in places both traditional and unusual. At the Vatican, worshipers filled Saint Peter’s Basilica for Pope Francis’s first Christmas midnight mass as pontiff. Thousands more gathered outside in St. Peter’s Square. He was assisted by more than 300 cardinals, bishops and priests. In his homily, Pope Francis urged people to lead humble lives. “If our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, and the constant pursuit of self interest, then darkness falls within and around us,” he said.

    In a break with tradition, Pope Francis himself performed a task usually given to an aide. He carried a figurine of the baby Jesus to the altar at the start of the mass. The statue of Jesus was then placed in the manger of a life-size nativity scene behind the altar. In Bethlehem, parades filled the streets, as Christian pilgrims and tourists from around the world poured into Manger Square, considered the birthplace of Jesus. Decorations and holiday lights adorned the West Bank for the evening’s celebrations. And in Afghanistan, U.S. troops in Kabul marked the 13th Christmas Eve for American forces in Afghanistan with candles and hymns. In India which has a sizeable Christian population, Christmas was celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm.

    The faithful attended midnight mass in churches while a general atmosphere of celebration was witnessed in all major cities. Santa Claus has been a major attraction, as always. In the Philippines, survivors of last month’s catastrophic typhoon erected giant Christmas lanterns across the devastation in Tacloban. People in other towns sang and danced to holiday songs as they remembered lost loved ones. Some of 2013’s first Christmas Eve celebrations occurred in China, where guards and volunteers held back hundreds crowding into a Beijing cathedral for holiday services. And far above the planet, astronauts on the International Space Station performed a rare Christmas Eve space walk, only the second in NASA’s history, the goal, to replace a faulty cooling system that failed December 11, all this as American shoppers raced against time to find last- minute gifts.

  • Devyani Khobragade had full immunity when arrested: claim India government sources

    Devyani Khobragade had full immunity when arrested: claim India government sources

    NEW YORK (TIP): Did US attorney Preet Bharara overlook or chose deliberately to ignore the fact that Devyani Khobragade enjoyed full immunity when she was arrested on Thursday, December 12 for allegedly presenting fraudulent documents to the United States State Department in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter at housekeeper at Khobragade’s home in Manhattan? As it now turns out, diplomat Devyani Khobragade was accredited as an advisor to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, allowing her full immunity from personal arrest or detention, when she was picked up from her children’s school by US authorities.

    India Government sources said Khobragade was accredited advisor to the Indian mission to the UN on August 26, 2013 to help the mission with work related to the General Assembly, and her accreditation was valid until December 31. The sources claimed the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations Article 4 Section 11A specifies “immunities from personal arrest or detention and from the seizure of their personal baggage” of all representatives of members to the United Nations. Section 16 of the same Article specifies that the expression “Representative” shall be deemed to include all delegates, deputy delegates, advisors, technical experts and secretaries of delegations. She was accredited as advisor on August 26 and was transferred to the permanent mission after the arrest and is currently holding the position of counselor.

    Because she was attached to the permanent mission only temporarily (until December 31), the State Department was not required to issue its own identity card and it is possible that they may not have known about Khobragade’s status. Sources said this was all the more reason for the State Department to have informed India about the move to arrest Khobragade. As the diplomat was working as acting consul general, the US ought to have notified India about her arrest under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The MEA joint secretary who handles the US desk, Vikram Doraiswamy, was in that country on the day Khobragade was arrested, but he wasn’t informed about it. The alacrity with which the US “evacuated” Khobragade’s domestic help Sangeeta Richard’s family, two days before the diplomat’s arrest, rattled New Delhi. Bharara later justified this in a statement saying the Justice Department was “compelled” to make sure that victim, witnesses and their families “are safe and secure while cases are pending”. As the case now unravels fast, several US officials, especially those who handled Khobragade’s arrest, may have opened themselves to claims for damages and liability.

    The government has also discovered that the amount of $4,500 quoted by Bharara as salary promised to Sangeeta by Khobragade was actually just a mention of the employer’s salary on the help’s visa application form. The State Department’s own guidelines on diplomatic and consular immunity emphasize that law enforcement officials need to be sensitive because short-term official visitors from other States to the United Nations or to international conferences convened by the UN may enjoy full diplomatic immunity equivalent to that afforded to diplomatic agents. “Owing to the temporary nature of their visit, such officials will normally not have the usual official identity documents recognizable in the United States. Law enforcement officials (particularly in New York) should be sensitive to the existence of this situation and always coordinate with the US authorities indicated in the list of Useful Phone Numbers if confronted with an apparent offender appearing to fall into this category’,” it states. A diplomat’s daughter, Krittika Biswas, had last year filed a lawsuit in a NYC court seeking $1.5 million as damages for her wrongful arrest.

  • Arvind Kejriwal to be Delhi Chief Minister

    Arvind Kejriwal to be Delhi Chief Minister

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Soon after announcing the party’s intent of forming the government in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party leaderArvind Kejriwal met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. “I told the LG that AAP is ready to form government. LG told me he will send the proposal to President and get back after his direction,” Kejriwal said. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at Ramlila Maidan on December 28. The party took the decision to form the government at a meeting of political affairs committee after analyzing the results of the public referendum it had carried out in the last few days on the issue.

    Arvind Kejriwal, who led the debutante party to a spectacular victory in the polls winning 28 seats in the 70-member assembly, will be the chief minister of Delhi, party leader Manish Sisodia said. “We were called by the LG to discuss government formation on December 14. We had sought time to take a decision as ours is a party of common people and we want to their views. “We got responses from the citizens through website, phone calls, SMS and by holding public meetings and most of them favoured government formation by AAP. We are now going to give the letter to LG saying that AAP is ready to form the government,” Kejriwal told reporters at AAP’s office in Kausambi here, some time ago. He said the party held 280 public meetings across Delhi and in 257 such gatherings people favoured formation of government by the party while the rest opined that they it should not take powers.

    There has been deadlock over government formation in Delhi for nearly two weeks after the announcement of the results on December 8. AAP has 28 seats while Congress with 8 has agreed to give outside support. BJP is the single largest party with 31 seats in its kitty. A civil servant-turned-politician, 45-yearold Kejriwal had himself participated in scores of meetings in the last one week to know people’s views on government formation. The debutante party was under pressure to form government after BJP refused to do so and Congress wrote to Delhi lt governor about giving unconditional support to AAP to form the government. Earlier, both Congress and BJP had attacked AAP for refusing to form the government, saying it was shying away from the responsibilities knowing that it cannot fulfil the promises like cutting the power tariff by 50 per cent and providing 700 litres of free water daily to each household in the city.

    After the results of the polls were out, AAP had ruled out taking support of any political party to form the government, saying it will play the role of a “constructive opposition”. Asserting that there was no confusion over the chief ministerial candidate, Sisodia said Kejriwal has been party’s choice for the top post. “There were rumours about who will be the chief minister. AAP had said earlier that the party would contest election with Arvind Kejriwal as CM candidate. Then in our manifesto also we have reiterated this. After the election results were out, he was elected as the leader of the legislative party. So Arvind Kejriwal will be the chief minister,” Sisodia said. To criticism about holding public meetings on the issue, Kejriwal said unlike other parties, AAP wants participation of public on important issues and to bring real democracy.

    AAP, which made an electrifying debut in the polls, was formally launched on November 26, 2012. It came into existence following differences between Kejriwal and Hazare regarding whether or not to politicise the popular India Against Corruption(IAC) movement that had been demanding a Jan Lokpal Bill since 2011. Hazare preferred that the movement should remain apolitical while Kejriwal felt the failure of the agitation route necessitated a direct political involvement. The AAP has led several protests since its formation. Among these was a campaign against an alleged nexus between government and private corporations relating to price rise for electricity and water in Delhi. Another saw the party demanding justice for victims of sexual harassment and rape, including the introduction of a stronger anti-rape law. Hazare and Kejriwal made it known on September 19, 2012 that their differences regarding a role in politics were irreconcilable. Kejriwal had support from some wellknown people involved in the anti-corruption movement, such as Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan, but was opposed by others such as Kiran Bedi and Santosh Hegde.

  • Ambassador Dr. S. Jaishankar presents credentials to the US State Department

    Ambassador Dr. S. Jaishankar presents credentials to the US State Department

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Dr. S. Jaishankar, Ambassador of India to the United States, presented a copy of his credentials to the US State Department on 26th December, 2013. Ambassador Jaishankar met with Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, and Under Secretary for Management, Patrick F. Kennedy. Ambassador Jaishankar has succeeded Nirupama Rao who has since retired. Dr. Jaishankar comes to Washington, DC with more than three decades of diplomatic experience. Joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1977, Dr. Jaishankar has represented India’s interests and fostered friendly working relationships in countries around the world.

    Dr. Jaishankar’s first postings abroad were as Third and Second Secretary (Political) at the Embassy of India in Moscow from 1979 to 1981. From 1981 to 1985, he served as Under Secretary (Americas) and Policy Planning in the Ministry of External Affairs. He then spent three years from 1985 to 1988 as First Secretary handling political affairs at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, followed by two years as First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. In 1990, Dr. Jaishankar became Commercial Counsellor in Budapest. After three years in that position, he returned to India where he served first as Director of East Europe Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, and then as Press Secretary for the President of India.

    Following this service in India, Dr. Jaishankar went abroad again – to Tokyo in 1996 as Deputy Chief of Mission. In the year 2000, he was appointed the Ambassador of India to Czech Republic and served in Prague till 2004. Upon completing his time as Ambassador in Prague, Dr. Jaishankar returned once again to India, where he led the Americas Division in the Ministry of External Affairs. After three years heading the division, he again left India in 2007 to serve as High Commissioner to Singapore for two years. Most recently, Dr. Jaishankar was the Ambassador of India to China from 2009 to 2013. Dr. Jaishankar holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil in International Relations and a M.A. in Political Science. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Dr. Jaishankar is married to Kyoko Jaishankar and has two sons and a daughter.

  • Sikh leader found guilty of electoral fraud in New Zealand

    Sikh leader found guilty of electoral fraud in New Zealand

    MELBOURNE (TIP): A Sikh leader and six of his accomplices were on Thursday found guilty by a New Zealand court of forging election documents in a bid to win a local body poll in 2010. Daljit Singh, a member of the Labour Party, was found guilty by the Auckland high court on two charges of dealing with forged documents. Daljit produced papers which showed voters from remote areas actually live in the area of Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board in Auckland. Daljit, who was a candidate in the first Auckland “super-city” election in 2010, was found not guilty of 18 other counts of the same charge, the New Zealand Herald reported. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

    Six others were also charged with the same offence – Gurinder Atwal, Davinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Virender Singh, Paramjit Singh and Malkeet Singh. All were found guilty of at least one count each, while another accused Davinder Singh was found not guilty. Atwal, Singh’s “right-hand man”, was found guilty of 13 counts of dealing with the forged electoral documents. Prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said that at the time the Electoral Enrolment Centre (EEC) made it “rather easy” for people to go online and change their electoral address. Daljit and Atwal used the names of Sikhs to go on to the EEC’s website, he said.

    Once there they would change the address, to the local board area where Daljit was standing, and then download a declaration form which they signed and submitted. “The vast majority of those whose addresses were changed were unaware it was happening,” McCoubrey said. EEC staff became suspicious when they saw unusual patterns in address changes and eventually nailed Daljit and his accomplices. All court proceedings were translated by Punjabi interpreters in a marathon trial that lasted two months.

  • CARRIE UNDERWOOD PREACHES GOSPEL

    CARRIE UNDERWOOD PREACHES GOSPEL

    Carrie Underwood took to Twitter to preach the Gospel in response to the criticism that she received for her performance in ‘Sound of Music Live’. The 30-year-old singer wrote that mean people need Jesus and they will be in her prayers tonight, Us magazine reported. She further wrote that the Bible scripture in question commands people to rid themselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

    Kym Karath, who played Greti von Trapp in the original 1965 musical film ‘The Sound of Music’, said that he was mystified and disappointed so far by ‘SOM’ special and that he must admit that some scenes were actually painful to watch.

  • HEIDI KLUM GIVES UP LINGERIE MODELLING

    HEIDI KLUM GIVES UP LINGERIE MODELLING

    Heidi Klum has given up lingerie modelling. The 40- year-old supermodel says she would no longer feel ”comfortable” on a catwalk wearing only a bra and briefs. She told TV show Access Hollywood live: ”I wouldn’t model with my underwear down the runway anymore. I think I would find it a little uncomfortable, maybe. ”I still do photoshoots for [magazine] covers and different things or advertising stuff.

    ” The mother of four – who split from her husband, singer Seal, in 2012 and his now in a relationship with her former bodyguard Martin Kristen – also said she is happy to get older and embrace the lines of age rather than have surgery. She said: ”I wouldn’t say that I love [my crow’s feet], but that’s just the way it happens, right? We get wrinkles from smiling.

    ”I’ve never had any [cosmetic procedures]. I’ve been too scared, to be honest with you. I’m scared that all of a sudden you’re changing too much, your face starts changing, I don’t know ”I would have a hard time looking in the mirror and seeing something that I’m not used to seeing. I’d be afraid.”

  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

    PLOT: Katniss finds herself battling anxiety issues a year after winning the 74th Hunger Games. Her nightmares come true, when she is once again targeted by the Capitol, in an attempt to crush an oncoming revolution. Will the odds be in her favour this time around? REVIEW: Catching Fire picks up where The Hunger Games (2012) left off. By winning the previous season, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark ( Josh Hutcherson) are on the radar of the Capitol, for instilling a sense of hope among the oppressed people of Panem.

    Fearing, the two may spark a rebellion, the Capitol decides to clip their wings and move them around like chess pieces. A twist in the games by President Snow, throws them back into the bloodthirsty arena. Can they identify ‘who the real enemy is’? If you like ‘grim dystopian sci-fi films’, Catching Fire is a spectacular ‘edge-of-the-seat’ thriller, which is unnerving, emotionally intense and immensely engaging. Unlike most sequels, Francis Lawrence ensures that his installment is not just a remake. While the first focussed on the deadly games, this one’s more about the political moves and strategies.

    The film is strangely unsettling and uplifting at the same time. An early scene in the film shows Katniss, sitting alone in a train compartment, staring out the window. She reminds you of a bird trapped in a cage. Its metaphors, unsaid emotions like these that make the film brilliant. ‘There are no victors, just survivors’. The story has an acute relevance to contemporary society, where we are expected to be pawns in our day-to-day lives. Can you put your life on the line for others? Suzanne Collins’ teenage-pawn-turned-rebel protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) fights her own battles, making her one of the best role models of young adult fiction.

    All performances are solid but Jennifer Lawrence is the soul of the film. She makes you want to raise your fingers (District 12 sign) in respect of her incredible understated performance. Spine-chilling cinematography evokes that much required eerie feeling throughout. Dramatic costumes are another highlight. The film makes our hopelessness pit against our own indomitable spirit of survival. Who wins?

  • Club 60

    Club 60

    STORY:A couple in their 60’s loses their only son to gun violence in the US. With no reason to live and nobody to love, the two almost give up on life until they bump into the jovial members of Club 60.

    REVIEW: After the untimely death of their only son, neurosurgeon, Dr Tariq Sheikh (Farooque Sheikh) and his wife Dr Saira (Sarika) are unable to put the pieces of their broken life together. Tariq suffers from depression, while Saira struggles to cope with her husband’s suicidal tendencies. In an attempt to make a fresh start in life and to get rid of the ‘nothingness’ that haunts them, they shift to Mumbai from Pune.

    More than the city’s distractions, it’s their loud neighbour Manubhai (Raghubir Yadav), who manages to kill the deafening silence that plagues them with his somewhat annoying yet adorable antics. Manubhai introduces Tariq to members of his sports club – where life begins at 60. Club 60 has its heart in the right place. Sanjay Tripathy makes an earnest attempt to reach out to the elderly, who seek purpose in life. This one scene in particular where Saira doubts her longing for her son is heartbreaking. Farooque Sheikh and Sarika are outstanding.

    They prove what a huge role and huge difference, a ‘good casting’ makes in cinema. They hold the film together with their presence, even as the film deviates from tragedy to the unwanted naughty antics of the oldies. Guess the intention was to show mischief but the club members eying women of all ages and cracking jokes with sexual innuendo, makes them look way too lecherous for your liking. We wish the supporting characters were more defined and sincere.

    You don’t feel much for anyone except for the lead couple. Also the film gets a tad predictable in the second half. Why must everyone have a dark past? Club 60 is essentially a heartrending tale of a couple, coping with an irreparable loss. In spite of the flaws, you can watch it solely for the immensely talented Farooque Shaikh and the sublime Sarika.

  • HUMA DOES NOT WANT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON ANURAG KASHYAP

    HUMA DOES NOT WANT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON ANURAG KASHYAP

    Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi comes across as a very candid person who is quite honest and open about her views on films, her connect with meaningful cinema and being extremely happy to be in an interesting phase of her career. She said, “So many new subjects and interesting films are being made. I am so happy that I am getting to do newer films and people are interested in watching my work.

    I just hope that my audience only grows bigger.” However, when the conversation steered towards filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and about rumours that her friendship with the filmmaker has created differences in his marriage, she says, “I think the chat is over. It is for these reasons that we have our people to protect us and stand with us during interviews so that we don’t have to answer such questions.”