The Indian Panorama

Year: 2013

  • Dutt gets four more weeks to surrender

    Dutt gets four more weeks to surrender

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Supreme Court on April 17 granted four more weeks to film actor Sanjay Dutt for his surrender to serve 3.5 years in jail, holding that the CBI had no business to oppose his plea as it did not even bother to challenge his acquittal under the prevention of terrorism law.

    A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan said Dutt could take four more weeks from tomorrow, the deadline set in its March 21 judgment, before his surrender. Dutt had approached the SC seeking six months for his surrender to complete his acting commitments involving seven movies and an investment of over Rs 278 crore. “We are not inclined to extend the time by six months. However, we extend the time by four weeks from tomorrow.

    It is made clear that no further extension will be granted,” it said in the order. A trial court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) had cleared him of the charges of his role in the 1993 serial blasts at 13 locations in Mumbai in which over 250 people were killed and more than 700 injured. However, the TADA court convicted and sentenced him to six years for illegal possession of fire arms and ammunition. While the CBI did not challenge his acquittal under TADA charges, Dutt appealed against his conviction which resulted in the SC reducing his sentence by one year.

    Since he has already served 1.5 years of his sentence during the trial period, he has to serve out the remaining 3.5 years. “You did not seek review of his acquittal under TADA,” Justice Sathasivam told Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval when he objected to Dutt’s plea for extension of time.

    The Bench did not agree with the ASG’s contention that granting extension of time amounted to SC reviewing its own verdict without any review petition from Dutt. It said Section 148 of the Civil Procedure Code empowered it to release convicts for a maximum period of 30 days.

    The SC also enjoyed immense powers under Article 142 of the Constitution for the purpose, it said. Allaying the apprehension of the ASG, who argued for the CBI, that the relief being granted to Dutt would open the flood gates for other convicts, numbering about 100, in the case, the Bench said it would deal with such a situation on a case-to-case basis. Pointing out every case was different, the Bench carefully noted in its order that it was granting relief to Dutt in view of the “peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and the reasons stated in the petition.” Dutt’s senior counsel Harish Salve had clarified at the outset that his client was seeking “mercy” without resorting to any constitutional and legal provisions

  • Mayawati Woos Upper Castes Ahead Of Ls Polls

    Mayawati Woos Upper Castes Ahead Of Ls Polls

    LUCKNOW (TIP): With an eye on upper caste vote bank, BSP chief Mayawati announced names of 36 candidates for Lok Sabha polls, 18 of whom are Brahmins. Seeking to exploit the upper caste card to the hilt, she alleged atrocities were being committed on such people during the Samajwadi Party rule in Uttar Pradesh. “Just as Dalits are facing onslaughts, atrocities are being committed on Brahmins too under the Samajwadi Party government,” Mayawati told reporters on the sidelines of Brahmin Bhaichara Samiti office bearers’ meeting here.

    Citing the instance of humiliation to a Brahmin family in Etawah, she said most of those in the echelons of power in the SP government came from that district and it was a wellknown fact that people belonging to ‘sarv samaj’ (the entire society) are harassed there. “But Brahmins bear the maximum brunt of atrocities in Etawah…when the incident (of humiliation) took place, BSP raised the matter in the Assembly.

    Besides, its local unit tried to take up the issue and help them get justice,” she said. Mayawati regretted that during the last Assembly polls, the upper castes and Brahmins got influenced by non- BSP parties and did not vote for her party, “for which they are now repenting“. “For ensuring that they do not get further misled by the false propaganda of those parties, a detailed programme has been worked out by BSP to apprise them of various works done by my government in their interest. Besides, they would be apprised of atrocities on Brahmins under the SP rule,” she said. On why upper castes had got disenchanted with BSP in the last Assembly polls, she said, “Though our vote percentage rose, we lost seats due to our opponents’ (Congress and BJP) conspiracy, but we have learnt a lesson and would not allow them to succeed this time,” she said.

  • BJP slams JPC draft report

    BJP slams JPC draft report

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Slamming the leakage of the draft JPC report on 2G scam as a “gross breach of Parliamentary propriety”, BJP on April 18 said its contents appeared like Congress documents where attempts have been made to save its leaders including the Prime Minister. “The media showed the JPC draft report on 2G scam extensively.

    This is a gross breach of Parliamentary propriety where any report draft is debated, discussed, amendments are moved in the formal meeting and thereafter views are taken,” BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad told reporters. “The draft report looks like a Congress document and not a JPC report in which there is an overpowering desire to save its leaders including the Prime Minister and the finance minister in the 2G scam and yet to objectively consider the wider ramification of this massive scam which shamed the country,” he said. Prasad said he was yet to go through the report as it was given to the members on Friday only. “This is a matter of grief and surprise that violating the tradition of discussing the draft report in the meeting in which amendments would be moved, even before a discussion could take place, this has come out in the media.

    This is highly unfortunate and we condemn it,” the BJP leader said. He said that whatever has come out in media on the contents of the JPC report, “We have strong objections over it and we shall convey our serious objection, firmly and forcefully in the formal JPC meeting which is scheduled for April 25.” However, the chairman of the JPC, PC Chacko rubbished opposition’s charges. Denying allegations of favouring the ruling party, Chacko said he did not work on the committee as a Congressman.

    Meanwhile, telecom minister Kapil Sibal warned against jumping to conlusions based on what had appeared in the media as the content of the draft report. He said it is time to learn from mistakes in the past so that they are not repeated in the future. The JPC has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum allocation, saying he was “misled” by the then telecom minister A Raja whose assurances stood “belied”. The draft report of the JPC also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore estimated by CAG, saying it was “ill-conceived”.

  • J&K Minister Slaps Bureaucrat

    J&K Minister Slaps Bureaucrat

    SRINAGAR (TIP): A Jammu & Kashmir minister’s guards allegedly thrashed a bureaucrat after he slapped him thrice in the state’s Kishtwar town on Thursday. Kishtwar Development Authority chief executive officer Riaz Ahmad Choudhary said the guards attacked him after he questioned Sajjad Kitchloo why he had slapped him without any provocation. “But I do not know why he slapped me.” Choudhary said he would have killed him. “The minister was shouting at me telling his men to arrest me. They would have shot me.” Kitchloo said he was attacked while Kitchloo was waiting for CM Omar Abdullah’s arrival in presence of top police officers.

  • Forgotten mathematics legend Vashishtha Narayan Singh back in academia

    Forgotten mathematics legend Vashishtha Narayan Singh back in academia

    PURNIA (TIP) : Legendary mathematician VashishthaNarayan Singh, who had been languishing in penury, has joined the BhupendraNarayanMandal University (BNMU) in Madhepura as a visiting professor. The 67-year-old Singh started work on April 17 after the university’s academic council gave the goahead to his appointment following media reports, about how he was living like a destitute in his village home at Basantpur in Bhojpur district, 70km from Patna. Singh, who has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, is a schizophrenia patient. “It was a day of pride for BNMU when Singh accepted the university’s offer,” Anant Kumar, the university’s vice-chancellor, said on Thursday. He expressed confidence that Singh’s health would improve fast as a result of his association with academia again. “Teaching has always been Singh’s first love,” Kumar said.

    An alumnus of the well-known Netarhat School, Singh was in the US from 1965 to 1974 and worked on space theory at Nasa before returning home. He tied the knot in 1974, but his wife deserted him after he suffered his first attack of schizophrenia in 1976. He has taught at IIT Kanpur, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai) and the Indian Statistical Institute (Kolkata). “An extraordinary teacher of mathematics, Singh will prove an asset to the university and a guiding spirit for research scholars and postgraduate students,” syndicate member Jai Krishna Mehta said.

    Former university faculty member Umesh Nandan hoped the appointment as a visiting professor would help Singh lead a normal, decent life. Registrar B N ‘Vibeka’ told TOI the university was yet to take a decision on the pay package to be offered to Singh. “He will be paid as per the provisions and statutes that govern the universities of the state,” he said. In his conversations with the university’s teachers and officials, Singh said he was fond of teaching functional mathematics. Singh, who arrived at the university headquarters on Tuesday, was accompanied by his brother Ayodhya Singh and nephew Nitesh Kumar Singh. In conversation with the university teachers and officials, including registrar B N ‘Vibeka’, Singh said he was very fond of teaching functional mathematics. He likes reading religious books and plays the flute as well in his spare time.

  • Indian American Devotee Ramalinga Raju Donates $3 Mn To Tirumala Temple

    Indian American Devotee Ramalinga Raju Donates $3 Mn To Tirumala Temple

    TIRUPATHI (TIP): In a princely offering, an NRI devotee from US donated $ 3 Mn to the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala. M Ramalinga Raju, an entrepreneur based in the United States, handed over the offering in the form of a demand draft to top temple officials, temple sources said.

    They said this was the first such large cash offering made by an individual devotee from overseas. Raju presented the DD to Tirumala- Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman K. Bapiraju and the temple Joint Executive Officer K.S. Srinivasa Raju at the temple. He requested the TTD, administering the cash-rich ancient temple, that Rs 11 crore be used to make a golden garland “sahasra nama mala” weighing about 35 kg and utilise the balance Rs five crore for the construction of a free-meal complex for pilgrims at Tiruchanur near here, they said. This is the second large cash offering since last month. On March 27, a Chennaibased pharmaceutical firm had donated Rs two crore to the hill shrine, they added.

  • Prachanda meets Xi, seeks more Chinese aid for Nepal

    Prachanda meets Xi, seeks more Chinese aid for Nepal

    BEIJING (TIP): Nepal’s Maoist leader PushpaKamalDahal alias Prachanda sought more financial and technical aid from China during his first meeting with the country’s new President Xi Jinping. Hailing the “traditional friendship” between the two countries, Prachanda thanked the Chinese side for its selfless assistance to Nepal, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Known for his pro-China stance in Nepal, Prachanda who heads the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is visiting Beijing for the first time after Xi took over as the leader of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and President. To take the Nepal-China friendship to a higher level, he looks forward to more financial and technical support from Beijing as well as more practical cooperation between the two sides on infrastructure, water conservancy projects and tourism, he said.

    China has scaled up its relations with its Himalayan neighbour in the recent years pumping in a lot of aid and resources. Nepal on its part is cracking down on the Tibetan refugees to prevent the spread of anti-China sentiments. Prachanda said Nepal will continue to firmly adhere to the one-China policy and he believes that the “Chinese dream” of national rejuvenation will be realised under the leadership of the Communist Party with Xi as the general secretary. Xi pledged to boost cooperation saying China attaches great importance to bilateral ties with Nepal. The China-Nepal friendship is not only in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, but also conducive to stability and development in the region, he said. In pursuit of common development, Xi said China will continue to seek peaceful development and win-win cooperation with Nepal and other neighbouring countries. After his returns from Beijing, Prachanda is also likely to visit India.

  • North Korea lays out tough pre-conditions for talks

    North Korea lays out tough pre-conditions for talks

    SEOUL: North Korea laid down rigid preconditions on Thursday for dialogue with Seoul or Washington, including the withdrawal of UN sanctions and a guaranteed end to South Korea-US joint military drills. The list of demands from the North’s top military body was swiftly rejected as “incomprehensible” by South Korea which, together with the US, has made any talks conditional on the North taking steps towards denuclearisation. Dialogue has become the new focus of a blistering rhetorical battle that has sent military tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula ever since the North carried out its third nuclear test in February.

    Some analysts see the North’s engagement in a debate over dialogue — no matter how unrealistic the conditions — as a welcome shift from the apocalyptic threats of nuclear war that have poured out of Pyongyang in recent weeks. “I don’t think Pyongyang really expects these conditions to be met,” said Yang Moo- Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “It’s an initial show of strength in a game of tug-of-war that at least shows a desire to have a dialogue down the line,” Yang said. The first step demanded by the North’s National Military Commission was the withdrawal of “cooked up” UN sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear test in February. North Korea has repeatedly cited the sanctions as a prime trigger for the current crisis.

    The other main bone of contention has been ongoing joint South Korea-US military drills, which have involved the deployment of nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers. Both countries must provide international guarantees that such “nuclear war drills” will never be repeated, the commission said. “Dialogue and war games can never go together,” it added. South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young called the North’s pre-conditions “absurd” and said it was time for Pyongyang to choose engagement with the international community over provocation. “We strongly urge the North to stop making such incomprehensible demands and to make the wise choice we have repeatedly urged,” Cho told a press briefing. Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group, ruled out any suggestion that the North was softening its position and said those hoping a dialogue might emerge were being wilfully naive. The North, Pinkston argued, had bound itself to a course that could only end with its recognition as a nuclear power — a status that is anathema to the United States and its allies.

  • Bhullar’s Death Sentence-International NGO’s File “Urgent Appeal” With United Nations

    Bhullar’s Death Sentence-International NGO’s File “Urgent Appeal” With United Nations

    NEW YORK (TIP): Seeking United Nations intervention, international human rights NGOs have approached UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture after the denial of commutation plea by the Supreme Court of death row convict Devenderpal Singh Bhullar. The urgent appeal to Honorable Juan Méndez UN Special Rapporteur on Torture seeking immediate intervention, has been jointly filed by “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) a US based advocacy group, “Canadian Sikh Coalition” (CSC), a Canada based NGO and “Movement Against Atrocities and Repression” (MAAR) a Swiss NGO.

  • Election council to audit vote in Venezuela

    Election council to audit vote in Venezuela

    CARACAS (TIP): Venezuela’s electoral council announced Thursday night that it would audit the 46 percent of the vote not scrutinized on election night in a concession to opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, who said he believed the stolen votes that cost him the presidency are among the unaudited. “We are where we want to be,” Capriles, looking satisfied but wary, told a news conference after the announcement. “I think I will have the universe of voters needed to get where I want to be.” Capriles had demanded a full vote-by-vote recount but said he could live with the National Electoral Council’s ruling, an apparent turnaround for President-elect Nicolas Maduro, whose government had looked all week to be digging in its heels.

    Maduro, the late President Hugo Chavez’s anointed successor, is being inaugurated on Friday and was in Lima, Peru, on Thursday night for an emergency meeting of South American leaders to discuss his country’s electoral crisis.”We know where the problems are,” said Capriles, referring to the votes cast in the 12,000 voting machines that council President Tibisay Lucena said would be audited beginning next week and would take a month to complete.

    The 40-year-old state governor called on his supporters to back down from confrontation and play music, preferably salsa, instead of banging on pots, as they have been nightly all week since the council ratified Maduro’s victory in order to protest what they considered a stolen ballot. Venezuela’s opposition had been battered for years by Chavez and many say political repression has only increased under Maduro.

    Capriles said he will insist that every single vote receipt be counted and compared to voter registries as well as to voting machine tally sheets. In announcing the audit, Lucena did not say whether authorities would do that. But a council spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not permitted to be named, said the audit would be done as Capriles specified. Venezuela’s electronic voting system emits receipts for every ballot that are boxed up with the tally machines.

    Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s election by a slim 260,000-vote margin out of 14.9 million ballots cast. He had squandered a double-digit lead in the polls as Venezuelans upset by a troubled economy, rampant crime, food shortages and worsening power outages turned away from a candidate they considered a poor imitation of the charismatic leader for whom he long served as foreign minister. Capriles maintains the vote was stolen from him through intimidation and other abuses and presented a long list of abuses. No international election monitors were scrutinizing the vote

  • Veerappan Proves Mast Cells Have Critical Role In Initializing Pulmonary Fibrosis

    Veerappan Proves Mast Cells Have Critical Role In Initializing Pulmonary Fibrosis

    NEW YORK (TIP): Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, deadly disease that affects five million people worldwide. It is irreversible, its cause is poorly understood, and it has a median survival of only about three years. A new study by a team led by Indian-American scientist Dr Arul Veerappan of Dr Silvers Lab of Weill Cornell Medical College of prestigious Cornell University in New York implicates mast cells-an immune cell involved in allergic asthma-in the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis could lead to new, more effective therapies.

    The study is published in DNA and Cell Biology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. In the article “Mast Cells: A Pivotal Role in Pulmonary Fibrosis,” Dr. Arul Veerappan and colleagues from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, showed that in mice unable to produce mast cells, a chemical trigger known to cause pulmonary fibrosis does not result in disease. However, when the researchers introduced mast cells into the lungs of these mice, disease protection was reversed and the mice developed pulmonary fibrosis. The authors identify a role for two key compounds produced by mast cells-histamine and renin-and propose that they promote fibrogenesis when mast cells are activated early in the course of the disease.

    Editor-in-Chief Carol Shoshkes Reiss, Departments of Biology and Neural Science, New York University, New York says, “Randi Silver’s lab has shown, in this compelling paper that mast cells contribute to the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. These observations are important and may lead to the development of new therapeutic modalities to prevent deterioration of lung function.” Dr. Arul Veerappan had earlier proved that an enzyme released by mast cells in the lungs appears to play a key role in the tightening of airways that is a hallmark of asthma – pointing to a potential new target for treatment against the illness.

    Reporting in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Dr Arul Veerappan at Weill Cornell Medical College explained that during an immune response, mast cells release the enzyme – called renin – which in turn produces angiotensin, a potent constrictor of the smooth muscle that lines airways. Mast cells are normally present in small numbers in all organs, and are best known for their role in allergy, shock, wound healing and defense against pathogens.

    The genesis of the new study came through the efforts of the study’s lead author Dr. Arul Veerappan. He looked closely at rings of bronchial tissue from rodents, discovering that mast cells in these rings released renin along with other substances. “You ended up getting the same biochemical cascade that we had seen elsewhere – newly produced renin bringing about a local rise in angiotensin in tissues,” Veerappan says. “That’s a big achievement, because it supports the notion that the mechanism we have discovered is not just a laboratory phenomenon – it’s actually occurring in the living human lung,” co-senior author Dr. Roberto Levi, professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College notes. New research suggests that local renin production may also be crucial in diseases marked by tissue fibrosis (stiffening). In fact, Dr. Silver’s lab is now looking at the role locally produced renin might play in a rare, deadly illness called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), where lung tissue becomes increasingly inflexible over time.

  • N KOREA TRIP: LSE Students Blame Institute For Risk

    N KOREA TRIP: LSE Students Blame Institute For Risk

    LONDON (TIP): Students from London School of Economics have started receiving email threats from North Korea after it was revealed that a BBC crew came with them undercover filming from within the secretive state. The students now blame the LSE for “putting them at risk”. LSE had last week accused the BBC of putting students in serious danger by infiltrating a college trip to get into North Korea and film. LSE said the BBC deceived the institution as one of its reporters lied about being a PhD student.

    In an open letter to the LSE, the students accused the Institute of putting them in danger by revealing details of the operation. “Our main consideration here was that the BBC agreed that the documentary would not reveal our names or that of the LSE,” they wrote. “We feel that we have now been put in more risk than was original thought of as a result of the LSE’s decision to go public with their story,” the letter said.

    They criticised the LSE for “going public” without consulting them, consequently exposing both the individuals involved and the institution. “We valued the trip as a rare chance to see North Korea from the inside,” they wrote in the letter sent to the chairman Peter Sutherland and the director of LSE Craig Calhoun. “Nothing happened on the trip which would indicate that we were put in danger, and we returned safely.” The BBC had said that the footage “is strongly in public interest” and will go ahead to air the programme.

    BBC also said that if they were caught, the students and the crew would face “possible arrest and detention”. Three BBC journalists formed part of three student group and spent eight days within North Korea. The journalists ravelled to North Korea with members of a LSE’s Grimshaw Club. LSE had last week sent a strong letter to all members of the university, deploring BBC’s actions. It said “The programme has been produced using as cover a visit to North Korea from 23 to 30 March 2013 in the name of the Grimshaw Club, a student society at LSE. The School authorities had no advance knowledge of the trip or of its planning.”

  • Older Adult Volunteers honored

    Older Adult Volunteers honored

    AAPI INFIGHTING TO THE FORE
    AAPI is a representative organization of American physicians of Indian Origin. The 30 year old organization has a membership of more than 52,000.

    AAPI claims proximity with the centers of political power in USA. Senators and Congressman are said to be at the beck and call of AAPI leadership. So far so good.

    But AAPI is not without its blemishes. There have been instances when scuffles broke out at meetings, particularly at election meetings, There have been accusations of gangsterism by some elected officials. There also have been allegations of misuse of AAPI funds against some officials of the organization. There were instances when some approached the courts with their complaints. Educated professionals have often been found to conduct themselves in an undignified manner unbecoming of their profession.


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    Forget the number of AAPI members who have been sentenced to various prison terms and penalties for unethical and fraudulent practices. One can find them in hordes in public records.

    The latest in the series was a scuffle at a meeting to hold BOT election on March 22, 2013. We believe the following letter from Chair, AAPI Board of Trustee, Durgesh Mankikar to AAPI President Narendra Kumar throws ample light on the infighting in AAPI, an organization supposedly of gentlemen, and of course, ladies. When will our crème de la crème give a better account of themselves? Indian Americans will like to know

    “Dear Narendra, “I write in response to your March 25 email to your “BOT Friends.” “I have helped you in the initial stages of your Presidency in acquiring BOT loans, even beyond the 5%, since there was no money in AAPI, and to stabilize your fledgling Presidency.

    Again, I helped you during the Audit, when you were concerned about ” a Forensic Audit ” and losing Vijaya, who was exonerated previously twice by our AAPI committees, and some BOTs were still demanding a Forensic Audit, and I came to your rescue once more. Also, unlike previous Chairs, I even gave a personal donation both to the magazine as well as to the “Shreya Ghoshal” fundraiser. Even last year, I called Shobha Gupta to withdraw her suit against AAPI.

    I have given seed money this year for Shanker Mahadevan fundraiser and asked every BOT member to join the regional groups of this fundraiser. “But you came into Conference Rm 226, on March 22, at the Rennaissance Hotel at a duly pre arranged AAPI BOT Election, with a group of people to disrupt the meeting, and physically snatched ballots and tore off the ballots—a reprehensible act bordering on criminality.

    Only the Chair of BOT can decide when and where the BOT Election can be held, and all the voting members of the BOT were duly informed, including both the candidates and the non-voting members were invited to observe the process. “I became emotional during the Governing Body, because you were running a tirade against me all morning, despite the fact that I had helped you all along to survive and thrive as AAPI President. And you too, had returned the $ 175,000 to the BOT, and we had a wonderful EC/BOT relationship until then.

    I feel you are overly stressed out by the upcoming Convention and now your behavior has become bizarre. “This BOT meeting was announced over a month ago, and was informed to everyone, to start at 7 pm. The BOT Members did not feel they could make it until 9 pm, so it was postponed to 9 pm. Dr Suresh Gupta wanted to “dance” at the entertainment program, so it was delayed until he and Dr Naresh Parikh were available.

    Since we needed someone neutral to observe the process of voting, Dr Rajam Ramamurthy, ( ex-Chair, BOT ), Dr Jayesh Kanuga ( ex-BOT ), Dr Vijay Koli ( Past President ) and Dr VK Raju ( Chair, Blindness Prevention Committee), were invited by me, in the capacity of BOT Chair, when you, Dr Vinod Shah and Dr Singhvi came in, snatched the ballots and disrupted the meeting and tore off the ballots, which were numbered and signed by Dr Ramamurthy. Dr Suresh C Gupta, Dr Vinod Shah and Dr Ajeet Singhvi hurled loud innuendos and curse words, a behavior uncalled for from Physicians who are also Officers and ex-Officers of AAPI. “You and I may have disagreement about whether the ex-Presidents should or should not be allowed on the BOT, and I have asked you many times to send the issue to the General Body and get it approved, as until then, it is not a Bylaw, and we, as BOT, can only deal with that which is passed by the General Body.

    Again, after Dr Singhvi brought the suit against me as BOT Chair, I wanted the Arbitrator to decide the status of the ex-Presidents. As I mentioned at the Gov Body and later to you too, that I have learnt a lot from both Dr Sanku Rao and Dr VK Shah and even wanted to bring other Presidents including you, in future, to strengthen the BOT, but membership of the ex-Presidents has not yet been authorized by the ByLaws committee or the General Body.

    As I mentioned to you, the ex- Presidents “issue” should either be decided by the General Body or the Arbitrator, an opportunity that we have lost once again. “Your behavior of Friday evening was uncalled for, and reprehensible, especially since a) you are the President of the organization, and b) you also sit on the BOT as an ex-officio Member without a Vote, but were invited by me both by e-mail as well as in person in that capacity. Even at the Gov Body, I did not bring out this event, to maintain your dignity as the President of the organization and to maintain decorum, and I feel your this email from yesterday is uncalled for.

    Regardless of what the Gov Body passes, since it is filled with Presidential appointees, and may be because of that, your EC decisions or the Gov Body decisions, according to our Bylaws, are not binding on the BOT. Our Election was completed with a proper quorum that evening in the presence of ex-BOT Chair, Dr Ramamurthy and at our Spring Gov Body, as per our Bylaws, and I recommend that you accept our decision and do not send out any ballots by Tru ballots or by anyone else. I do not want to be party to breaking our own Bylaws.

  • Bank of America Profits up in Q1, but Mortgage Income falls and EPS come up short

    Bank of America Profits up in Q1, but Mortgage Income falls and EPS come up short

    NEW YORK (TIP): Bank of America BAC -3.66% recorded net income of $2.6 billion in the first quarter, significantly above last year’s $653 million, on $23.7 billion in revenue. Earnings of 20 cents per share were short of estimates. Shares dropped 3.3% on the miss in pre-market trading, to $11.88. The bank reported an increase in deposits and a 57% increase in mortgage originations, though mortgage banking income was down from a year ago. As a result, net income in consumer and business banking declined slightly from 2012.

    Chief Executive Brian Moynihan lauded “Solid increases in loan growth to small businesses and middle-market companies, four straight quarters of steady growth in mortgage originations, record earnings in wealth management, and another quarter near the top in investment banking fees,” while CFO Bruce Thompson touted a $1 billion decrease in noninterest expenses year-over-year. BofA lowered its provision for credit losses in the quarter, as did rivals JPMorgan Chase JPM -1.11% and Citigroup C -1.91%, given improvements in the U.S. housing market and a slowly improving outlook for the economy at large. The firm won Federal Reserve approval to repurchase up to $5 billion in stock last month, which marks its first buyback since being propped up by the government during the financial crisis.

  • Governor Cuomo Nominates Mta Chairman & Ceo

    Governor Cuomo Nominates Mta Chairman & Ceo

    ALBANY (TIP): Governor Andrew M. Cuomo nominated , April 12, Thomas F. Prendergast to serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Mr. Prendergast has served more than three years as president of MTA New York City Transit, which runs the subway and bus system in New York City, and has served as the MTA Interim Executive Director since January 1, 2013.

    He replaces Joseph Lhota. “Tom Prendergast is a consummate public transit leader who is the ideal candidate to oversee the nation’s largest transportation system,” said Governor Cuomo. “The MTA plays a vital role in New York’s economy and the daily lives of the millions of commuters who use its services.

    Tom has vast experience in infrastructure and transportation and has spent years managing commuter railroads as well as New York City’s subways and buses. From the track bed to the budget to modernizing our system for the 21st Century, I can’t imagine anyone having a better understanding of how the region’s vast system operates and the challenges that it faces.” “It is an incredible honor to be nominated to lead the largest transportation network in North America, and to work with Governor Cuomo and his administration on the many challenges facing the MTA,” Prendergast said. “The MTA will improve the customer experience, operate more efficiently and build for the future. And we will aggressively rebuild smarter and better in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

    Governor Cuomo has demonstrated his strong support of the MTA in fully funding our capital plan, in allocating additional funding to the MTA in his latest budget, and of course in his leadership during and after Sandy struck. I look forward to working with the governor, his management team, the MTA Board and the 66,000 dedicated employees of the MTA family.” In 2011, the Governor’s MTA Search Advisory Committee conducted a national search to find and recommend the most talented candidates to lead the MTA. Mr. Prendergast was highly recommended by the Committee, and Committee members were consulted in his nomination that was announced today.

    The advisory committee was composed of leading public transportation experts and management professionals in the public and private sectors. The Governor’s appointment of an MTA chairman and CEO is subject to Senate confirmation. Mr. Prendergast is a career public transit officer and former MTA executive who was appointed President of MTA New York City Transit in November 2009. Prendergast, then the CEO at TransLink in Vancouver, B.C., returned to New York and took office December 1, 2009. A native of Chicago, with a systems engineering degree from the University of Illinois, Mr. Prendergast began his career at the Chicago Transit Authority in 1975. From there, he joined the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, then moved to the New York City Transit Authority in 1982 as Assistant Director of System Safety. In 1984, he was named Chief of the TA’s System Safety Department. In 1987 he became Staten Island General Manager, and in 1989, the agency’s Chief Electrical Officer. Then in 1991, he was named Senior Vice President of the Department of Subways.

    In 1994, Prendergast left Subways’ SVP office at Jay Street in Brooklyn to become President of the Long Island Rail Road. In 2000, he left the public sector to work as a consultant in transportation. Over the next eight years, he worked on numerous project and program management assignments in the UK, North America and Asia. He returned to the public sector in 2008 with his move to TransLink, Vancouver’s public transportation system.

    Fernando Ferrer, Acting Chairman of the MTA, said, “As a longtime public servant with broad expertise in transportation issues, Tom Pendergast will be a first rate leader for the M.T.A. He has served the M.T.A. well in his current and former positions, including playing an integral role in guiding the agency’s successful preparations and response to Hurricane Sandy. Governor Cuomo could not have chosen a stronger or more qualified individual to lead the M.T.A.” “Tom Prendergast has the hands on skill and long commitment to transit to make a great head of the M.T.A. The Straphangers’ Campaign has found Tom to be accessible, knowledgeable, smart and fair,” said Gene Russianoff, Staff Attorney for the NYPIRG Straphangers’ Campaign. “Tom is a great choice to provide continuity of strong professional leadership of the MTA in the face of daunting fiscal challenges and with a major capital program underway. He will have the full confidence and support of the business community,” said Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City.

  • GOPIO Condemns Bombings in Boston

    GOPIO Condemns Bombings in Boston

    NEW YORK (TIP): The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) expresses strong and unequivocal condemnation of the bombings on April 15, 2013 directed against innocent victims in Boston, Massachusetts, USA that killed three persons and left many more injured. GOPIO considers this brutal, senseless and despicable act as unforgivable and unjustified criminal action targeted to create fear among innocent citizens. We recognize that these senseless attacks at other times in various cities around the world are meant to cause terror among innocent citizens of respective countries.We all grieve that such inhumane and uncivilized crimes have been perpetrated against innocent people in the country of so many immigrants from countries around the world.We join with all community organizations and agencies in USA and worldwide in our condemnation as we share the pain and anguish of innocent citizens affected by national tragedy.We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and offer prayers for the speedy recovery of those injured.

    GOPIO commends the first responders, the general public,municipal authorities and medical facilities of Boston, state officials of Massachusetts and federal government of USA for their prompt and diligent efforts in providing emergency services to the survivors and their families. GOPIO fully supports all measures taken by the all officials and community groups to bring security, calm and confidence to the people and encourages all efforts to prevent similar attacks in the future. For more information, please contact GOPIO International at +1-818-708-3885, Email: indersingh@sbcglobal.net GOPIO is a non-partisan, non-sectarian global organization with chapters in several countries, actively promoting the interests of people of Indian origin worldwide by monitoring and addressing current critical issues of concern, and by enhancing cooperation and communication between groups of Indians living in various countries

  • Alien Tort Statute’s extra-territorial wings clipped and Charles Dickens Smiles

    Alien Tort Statute’s extra-territorial wings clipped and Charles Dickens Smiles

    NEW YORK (TIP): The Alien Tort Claim Act or ATS violated the core principle of respectful co-existence by and between sovereigns/nations in the comity of nations – and invited retaliatory reciprocity whereby other nations could pass laws that exposed United States citizens to liability on foreign soil for acts done here in the United States. ATS was a sovereignty killer – and that was its core sin.

    The necessary clipping of its wings now makes it lawful. While it is risky to predict what the Supreme Court might do, I am glad my prediction came true in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. ATS, like Responsibility to Protect (R2P), while well-intentioned and humane, also has an underbelly of being a sovereignty-killer. Surely, no one can be against human rights, but using laws that have core birth defects or can be applied improperly need to be watched carefully – to paraphrase Charles Dickens, “the law must never be an ass.”

  • “GANG OF EIGHT” Senators formally file Immigration Bill -Border security is the cornerstone of immigration reform

    “GANG OF EIGHT” Senators formally file Immigration Bill -Border security is the cornerstone of immigration reform

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A bipartisan group of senators formally filed legislation early Wednesday, April 17 calling for border security as the cornerstone of immigration reform. The bill also would prevent undocumented immigrants from reaching full legal resident status until after the government takes steps to keep unauthorized workers from getting jobs in the United States, according to a summary released before the bill was filed. The measure drafted by the “Gang of Eight” senators says “high risk border sectors” — those with at least 30,000 illegal crossings a year — must be sealed off before most undocumented immigrants could start their journey to legal residency. It makes exceptions for law-abiding immigrants who arrived in the United States as children and completed high school. It also exempts some farm workers, according to the summary. Conservative senators have insisted on border security as a condition for the legislation. Some Democrats, whose party controls the chamber, have agreed.

    Quota-based border security
    The bipartisan bill lays down strict criteria for the creation of a secure border. It calls for $3 billion to beef up border security, which includes fortifying fences, staffing up patrols and acquiring surveillance technology from the Department of Defense — including drones and drone pilots, according to the summary. It also requires constant surveillance of high-risk border areas and demands that border officers turn back at least 90% of those who attempt illegal border crossings each year.

    The path to legal residency? Border security
    Only undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before December 31, 2011 would be eligible for legal residency, according to the bill summary. They also can’t have any felony convictions in U.S. or foreign courts. But smaller offenses can also block residency. The bill would block applicants with more than three misdemeanor convictions, including for offenses such as reckless driving, trespassing or vandalism. Voting illegally also triggers ineligibility and authorities can turn back applicants if they have certain infectious diseases or questionable “morality,” according to the summary.

    Time and money
    The bill would also require undocumented immigrants to pay a penalty of up to $500 for having come to the United States illegally and also pay any back taxes before receiving temporary approval to stay. But that approval — call registered provisional immigrant status — opens up most U.S. jobs and allows the applicant to travel outside the country and return legally. The status lasts for six years and can be extended for an additional $500 fee, if the applicant has not gotten into any trouble with the law. After 10 years as provisional residents, immigrants could become lawful permanent residents by following the same guidelines as immigrants who enter the country legally. That process includes a $1,000 fee.

    Blue card for Agricultural workers
    The proposal also calls for issuing agricultural workers a new type of legal status card: a blue card. Agricultural workers who are currently in the country illegally would be allowed to apply for the card if they have worked in the U.S. agriculture industry for at least 100 days in the two years prior to December 31, 2012. Applicants must also pay a $400 fee, show they have paid their taxes and have not committed a crime. The bill caps the blue cards at about 112,000 for the first five years. Blue card holders would be eligible for permanent legal residency in five years, half the time of other adult immigrants in the country illegally, according to the summary. The proposal would also set minimum wages across several categories of agricultural workers.

    Members of the Republican-led House of Representatives are working on their own immigration overhaul plan, which also includes border security measures. Authors of the newly released Senate immigration bill touted the package Thursday, April 18, as a “bipartisan breakthrough” in advance of a critical hearing, as opponents began to organize against the bill — claiming it doesn’t do enough to enforce existing immigration law. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has put his conservative reputation on the line with his involvement in writing the bill, took to the floor late Thursday afternoon to defend it.

    Though critics have homed in on the bill’s pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Rubio said the package would also fix a “broken” legal immigration system so that foreign students trained in America would not be sent back home once they’ve learned their skills. “If there wasn’t a single illegal immigrant in the United States, we would still have to do immigration reform,” Rubio said. As for the path to citizenship, which would give up to 11 million illegal immigrants a shot at legal status, Rubio said “the alternative is to do nothing” — which he described as “amnesty.” Rubio and the seven other co-authors, who formally unveiled the legislation at a press conference Thursday, are hoping to avoid the fate of the 2007 immigration bill, which died amid heated criticism from both sides of the aisle.

    Republicans have bluntly professed an interest in courting Hispanic voters, and some prominent members, including Rubio, have lent their name to the effort.

  • Gun background check compromise, assault weapon ban fail in Senate

    Gun background check compromise, assault weapon ban fail in Senate

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The centerpiece proposal on background checks in the proposed changes to a gun control bill failed to win enough support in the Senate April 17. The vote on the so-called Manchin-Toomey amendment was 54 in favor, 46 against – failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to move ahead. Four Republicans supported it, and four Democrats voted no. A controversial Democratic plan to ban dozens of military-style assault weapons was also defeated by a vote of 40 to 60.

    The votes were a setback for President Obama, who angrily blasted Republicans for defeating the background check compromise, saying “the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill.” “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said, promising that “this effort is not over.” A number of other amendments also failed to earn the 60 votes necessary to pass: A GOP proposal including a number of changes, 52 to 48; a bipartisan amendment to stiffen penalties for “straw purchasers,” 58 to 42; a GOP-backed amendment that would have permitted “national reciprocity” of state-issued concealed carry permits, 57 to 43; and a GOP plan to extend gun rights for veterans, including those deemed unable to manage their financial affairs, 56-44.

    The raw emotion of the background check amendment defeat played out in the Senate gallery just after Vice President Biden read the vote count. “Shame on you!” at least two women were heard shouting. “We’re sick and tired of the death in this country and these legislators stand up there and think it’s a bunch of numbers,” said Haas, whose daughter, Emily, was wounded in the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech. “It’s a shame, it’s appalling, it’s disgusting,” she added. The chief architects of the plan to expand the national gun background check system, Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.) and Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.), acknowledged in interviews early Wednesday, April 17 that their proposal lacked sufficient support. After the vote, Toomey expressed regret, but said that it was time to move on. “I did what I thought was the right thing for our country.

    I sought out a compromise position that I thought could move the ball forward on an important matter of public safety,” he said in a statement, adding later, “We have a lot of other very important issues to deal with such as getting the economy back on track, dealing with the debt ceiling and creating more jobs for Pennsylvanians.” Before the voting began, Biden, who is leading the Obama administration’s gun control effort, sounded quite frustrated with misinformation being spread by opponents to the bipartisan compromise Wednesday.

    Speaking during a “Google Hangout,” Biden reiterated that the proposal would not create or lead to the creation of a federal gun registry. “Nothing can be further from the truth,” he said. Biden also dismissed suggestions that the measures would infringe upon people’s constitutional right to bear arms. “There is no – zero – no infringement on the Second Amendment, not one single thing being proposed,” he said. In the hours before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) also attempted to rally last-minute support for the bill by issuing an ominous warning to his colleagues. “If tragedy strikes again…if innocents are gunned down in a classroom, theater or restaurant, I would have trouble living with myself as a senator, as a husband, a father, or grandfather and friend, knowing that I didn’t do everything in my power to prevent that incident,” Reid said. Shortly before the vote, Sen.

    John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he would support the background check plan, saying that while he was a staunch defender of Second Amendment rights, the bipartisan proposal is “not overly burdensome or unconstitutional.” “Is this a perfect solution? No. will it prevent all future acts of gun violence? Of course not,” McCain said. “Would it have prevented the most recent acts of gun violence? In all likelihood, no. But it is reasonable, and it is my firm conviction that it is constitutional.” Meanwhile, only one day after suffering defeat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday, April 18, set aside President Barack Obama’s plan to curb gun violence but promised to keep searching for a compromise.

    Reid said Democrats would keep negotiating on the proposals, even though the Senate rejected all the vital elements of the legislation prompted by the December massacre of 20 children and six adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.

  • Looking East, Looking West: U.S. Support for India’s Regional Leadership

    Looking East, Looking West: U.S. Support for India’s Regional Leadership

    Today, I’d like to talk about India’s growing influence, felt in the East through its “Look East” policy and in the west, particularly as we move toward the transition in Afghanistan. I’ll highlight how India’s engagement in these areas is crucial to U.S. foreign policy objectives and our pursuit of a stable, secure and prosperous region. India’s leadership has powerful implications that extend beyond its immediate neighborhood – as a beacon of democracy, stability, and growth. India has much to offer all of us, including communities right here in Cambridge. Harvard University’s increased engagement with India, through events like this, through its South Asia Institute, its research center in Mumbai, President Faust’s 2012 visit to India, through over 1,500 Harvard alumni in India, as well as a myriad of research projects, academic collaborations and student and faculty exchanges, testify to India’s growing prominence and our recognition of its increasing importance in the global arena. Massachusetts, likewise, has become a pioneer in forging closer relations with this key partner.

    The State Department strongly champions and supports state-to-state and cityto- city engagement,which is now a vital part of advancing our economic and people-to-people relationships. This year alone, at least eight American Governors are leading trade and other missions to India, not only to develop new markets but to attract job-boosting investments. Massachusetts was an early pioneer: back in 1995,when then-Governor Weld announced plans to forge an alliance with Karnataka, such engagement was a novel concept and a new approach. Governor Weld had the foresight to know that those who didn’t pursue ties with India would miss out on the many rewards this relationship has to offer. His delegation, consisting of 22 U.S. companies, paved the way for numerous U.S. firms to open in and around Bangalore. Today, Massachusetts is one of India’s top 25 trading partners in the world, and last year India received nearly $300 million of this state’s exports. But I hardly need to tell this audience how critical the U.S.-India relationship is.

    Those of you involved in collaborations with India, particularly in academia and research, are fully aware of the benefits. But our bilateral partnership benefits not only our two nations; it is of vital importance to a global vision for a future of shared prosperity. During his visit to India in 2010, President Barack Obama recognized the promise of our shared future and hailed the U.S.-India relationship as “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.” We and our Indian friends have taken significant steps to realize that vision. We established a Strategic Dialogue chaired by the Secretary of State and External Affairs Minister to give strategic direction to the wide range of bilateral dialogues between our two governments. We have expanded counterterrorism cooperation, intelligence sharing, and law enforcement exchanges that have helped make both of our countries safer, but clear-eyed about the threats that persist. Bilateral trade has grown by 50% from $66 billion to $93 billion in the last four years and is set to cross $100 billion this year.

    Indian foreign direct investment in the United States increased from $227 million a decade ago to almost $4.9 billion in 2011 – investments that have created and support thousands of U.S. jobs. Another growing component of our bilateral relationship with India is defense trade. Since 2000, sales to India have surpassed $8 billion, representing both an excellent commercial opportunity for U.S. companies but also advancing a vital component of our bilateral security relationship.We will continue to pursue defense trade cooperation with India, including a whole-of-government effort led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to reduce bureaucratic impediments, ease transactions between buyers and sellers, increase cooperative research, and focus on coproduction and co-development opportunities. We have grown our partnership with India on export controls and non-proliferation.We have worked closely with our companies to help them move deeper into India’s nuclear commercial markets, and we hope to announce more tangible commercial progress by the next Strategic Dialogue.

    We have increased our collaboration on clean energy through programs such as the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE). Since its creation, PACE has mobilized over $1.7 billion in renewable energy financing to India and has driven full-spectrum activity from basic research to development and commercialization in solar technology, advanced biofuels, and building efficiency. India is hosting the Fourth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in New Delhi later this month. The CEM offers a tremendous opportunity for partnership on a range of clean energy technologies, particularly in buildings and appliance efficiency, that are among the world’s most ambitious. And we have witnessed an expansion of our already robust people-to-people ties, particularly in the educational arena,where there is great demand. India has about 600 million people under 25.

    The next generation can only fulfill their roles as economic drivers if equipped with the right training and skills. India aims to increase its higher education enrolment from under 20 percent to 30 percent by the end of the decade. That means it needs 50,000 more colleges and 1 million more faculty. Since the first iteration of the U.S. India Higher Education Dialogue last year,we have focused our efforts on such critical areas as skills training and workforce development by strengthening community college collaboration. We are preparing for another round of Obama Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiatives awards,which will further partnerships and junior faculty development between U.S. and Indian higher education institutions in priority fields and we have sought to encourage more Americans to study in India and build American expertise about India and by ramping up our Passport to India initiative.

    With its strong democratic institutions, unprecedented demographic growth, economic promise and rising military capabilities, India is poised to play a critical leadership role both regionally and globally.With rising power comes greater global responsibility and in moving beyond its tradition of non-alignment, India has established its credentials as a responsible player in the global arena.We are committed to working together, along with others in the region, toward the evolution of an open, balanced, and inclusive architecture. India has long been an integral member of the Asia-Pacific region, sharing cultural and historical ties that have laid the foundation for its expanded engagement of today.With its “Look East” Policy, initiated in 1991, India began to work more closely with its Asian partners to engage the rest of the world, reflecting the belief that India’s future and economic interests are best served by greater integration with East and Southeast Asia.

    Today, India is forging closer and deeper economic ties with its eastern neighbors by expanding regional markets, and increasing both investments and industrial development from Burma to the Philippines. India is also seeking greater regional security and military cooperation with its neighbors through more intensive engagement with ASEAN and other near neighbors. This week, in fact, India and China held their annual counterterrorism dialogue and focused on pan-Islamic extremism in the backdrop of Afghanistan’s transition. Such interaction evinces Beijing and Delhi’s interest in coordinating to work together for stability in Kabul in 2014 and beyond. Trade, and by extension maritime security, are key components of our bilateral collaboration. The economic dynamism of South, Southeast and East Asia, along with improving relations between India and its neighbors to the East, has spurred the region’s interest in revitalizing and expanding road, air, and sea links between India, Bangladesh, Burma, and the rapidly expanding economies of ASEAN. From 2011 to 2012, trade between India and the countries of Southeast Asia increased by 37%.

    This emerging Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor, as we have come to call it, is a boon for the region and for the United States, providing our own economy with potential new markets. Linkages and infrastructure investments between the rapidly expanding economies of South Asia and those of Southeast Asia are a critical component to integrating regional markets to both accelerate economic development and strengthen regional stability,while helping unlock and expand markets for American goods and services. An India that is well-integrated into the Asia’s economic architecture, that pursues open market policies, and that has diverse and broad-based economic relationships across the East Asia region is not only good for India, but is good for the United States and the Asia- Pacific region as a whole.

    But trade can only prosper when maritime security is assured. Oceans are essential to India’s security and prosperity, as they are to ours. By volume, 90% of the goods India trades are carried by sea. India therefore has a strong interest in guaranteeing unhindered freedom of navigation in international waters, the free flow of commerce, and the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes. But beyond its own economic benefit, India realizes that the economic integration enabled by the improvements of connections across Asia, will lead to prosperity that benefits all nations. India’s growing naval capacity and modernization have enabled its strong presence across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and further bolstered its role as a net security provider in the maritime domain.

    Already in the Western Indian Ocean region, New Delhi is demonstrating its growing maritime capabilities with a robust counter-piracy approach that serves common regional interests and many of their own nationals held hostage in Somalia. As a founding member of the international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, India has shown great leadership in the efforts to confront and combat piracy stemming from Somalia which threatens trade flows to and from Asia. Our shared vision for economic integration and the promotion of regional stability also extends westward. The United States and India are both strong supporters of a more economically integrated South and Central Asia, with Afghanistan at its heart — what we call the New Silk Road vision.

    At the core of this vision is an Afghanistan at peace and is firmly embedded in the economic life of the region. Such an integrated region will be better able to attract new investment, benefit from its resource potential, and provide increasing economic opportunity and hope for its citizens. Improving connections between South and Central Asia is made all the more urgent as Afghanistan moves through the transition process and puts its economy on a more sustainable private sector-led footing. The countries of the region have embraced a new vision for Afghanistan that places it at the center of a rejuvenated network of commerce, communications and energy transmission, a “land bridge” connecting the Middle East and central Asia to the dynamic markets of China, India and Southeast Asia. Its economic development and ultimate economic integration into the larger network of regional markets is yet another piece of the New Silk Road tapestry. As Afghanistan increasingly takes the lead in its own security, political, and economic situation,we also strongly support the constructive role that India is playing in Afghanistan’s ongoing development.We look to India to play an active part in ensuring that that stability and security endure and that the gains made in Afghanistan over the past 11 years are sustained. Indeed, great challenges lie ahead. But India is committed to our shared vision for a peaceful, stable and secure Afghanistan and has already proven its commitment to assume a greater role in enabling that vision to come to fruition. In 2011, India pledged through the signing of a wide-ranging strategic agreement to train and equip Afghan security forces.

    As the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan, India has given some $2 billion in aid to the country. Indian public and private companies are building the infrastructure which will carry the nation forward. They have built highways from Kandahar to Kabul and a new parliament building in the capital, put transmission lines between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and have plans to power Afghan cities through the Salma dam project and to help Afghanistan realize its mineral wealth through development of the Hajigak iron ore mines. On the soft power side, India’s Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training invited most senators in Afghanistan’s Upper House, the Meshrano Jirga, for a training session in legislative and budgetary processes in New Delhi, much as the JFK School of Government does for new lawmakers in Washington.

    There’s perhaps no better example of the potentially impact of the New Silk Road vision for Afghanistan and its region than the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, or TAPI. By connecting abundant energy reserves in Turkmenistan with rapidly rising demand for that energy in South Asia and providing Afghanistan with much-needed transit revenue, TAPI can be transformative for the region. While there’s still much to be done to make this project a reality,we are closer today than anyone would have thought possible just a few years ago, thanks in no small part to Indian leadership. Beyond these infrastructure efforts, India has rallied the international community to encourage further development and to garner the support needed to enable Afghanistan’s successful transition.

    Last year New Delhi hosted a major summit on international investment in Afghanistan’s economy. As Afghanistan shifts the foundation of its economy from aid to trade in the coming years, India’s regional role as a driver of economic prosperity and anchor of democratic stability becomes even more important. Later this month in Almaty, the United States, India, and other countries of the region, will meet to discuss how we can best support a secure and prosperous Afghanistan, integrated into its region. This gathering is part of the Istanbul Process, in which neighbors and nearneighbors support Afghanistan through a range of initiatives that advance security and regional economic cooperation. India has already demonstrated a clear leadership role through its chairing of a working group focused on expanding cross-border commercial and business-to-business relations.

    In conclusion, in Afghanistan as in so many other areas, meeting the challenges of today and seizing the opportunities of tomorrow demand cooperative responses and lasting partnerships.We have found, in India, a strong partner in our shared quest for peace, stability, and prosperity in South Asia, the Asia-Pacific region, and beyond. As India continues to grow economically and extends its engagement outward,we see that our strategic investment in partnership with India is paying dividends that will last for generations.

    An India that is well-integrated into the Asia’s economic architecture, that pursues open market policies, and that has diverse and broad-based economic relationships across the East Asia region is not only good for India, but is good for the United States and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole”, says the author

  • China-Pakistan nuclear axis- India factor behind their game plan

    China-Pakistan nuclear axis- India factor behind their game plan

    Last month Beijing confirmed its plans to sell a new 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactor to Pakistan in a deal signed in February. This pact was secretly concluded between the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission during the visit of Pakistani nuclear industry officials to Beijing from February 15 to 18. This sale would once again violate China’s commitment to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and is in contravention to China’s promise in 2004 while joining the NSG not to sell additional reactors to Pakistan’s Chashma nuclear facility beyond the two reactors that began operation in 2000 and 2011.

    While this issue is likely to come up for discussion at the June meeting of the NSG in Prague, Beijing has already made it clear that nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan “does not violate relevant principles of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.” This when the CNNC is not merely constructing civilian reactors in Chashma, it is also developing Pakistan’s nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities and working to modernise Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. At a time when concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear programme are causing jitters around the world, China has made its intentions clear to go all out in helping Pakistan’s nuclear development. At a time when many in India are contemplating a new bonhomie in Sino-Indian ties under the new Chinese leadership, China is busy trying its best to maintain nuclear parity between India and Pakistan. After all, this is what China has been doing for the last five decades. Based on their convergent interests vis-à-vis India, China and Pakistan reached a strategic understanding in mid-1950s, a bond that has only strengthened ever since.

    Sino- Pakistan ties gained particular momentum in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian war when the two states signed a boundary agreement recognising Chinese control over portions of the disputed Kashmir territory and since then the ties have been so strong that the Chinese President Hu Jintao has described the relationship as “higher than mountains and deeper than oceans.” Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zardari, has suggested that “No relationship between two sovereign states is as unique and durable as that between Pakistan and China.” Maintaining close ties with China has been a priority for Islamabad and Beijing has provided extensive economic, military and technical assistance to Pakistan over the years.

    It was Pakistan that in the early 1970s enabled China to cultivate its ties with the West and the US in particular, becoming the conduit for Henry Kissinger’s landmark secret visit to China in 1971 and has been instrumental in bringing China closer to the larger Muslim world. Over the years China emerged Pakistan’s largest defence supplier. Military cooperation between the two has deepened with joint projects producing armaments ranging from fighter jets to guided missile frigates.

    China is a steady source of military hardware to the resource-deficient Pakistani Army. It has not only given technology assistance to Pakistan but has also helped Pakistan set up mass weapons production factories. But what has been most significant is China’s major role in the development of Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure, emerging as Pakistan’s benefactor at a time when increasingly stringent export controls in Western countries made it difficult for Pakistan to acquire materials and technology from elsewhere. The Pakistani nuclear weapons programme is essentially an extension of the Chinese one.

    Despite being a member of the NPT, China has supplied Pakistan with nuclear materials and expertise and has provided critical assistance in the construction of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. Although China has long denied helping any nation attain a nuclear capability, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, himself has acknowledged the crucial role China has played in his nation’s nuclear weaponisation by gifting 50 kilogrammes of weapon grade enriched uranium, drawing of the nuclear weapons and tonnes of uranium hexafluoride for Pakistan’s centrifuges. This is perhaps the only case where a nuclear weapon state has actually passed on weapons grade fissile material as well as a bomb design to a non-nuclear weapon state.

    India has been the main factor that has influenced China and Pakistan’s policies vis-à-vis each other. Whereas Pakistan wants to gain access to civilian and military resources from China to balance the Indian might in the subcontinent, China, viewing India as potential challenger in the strategic landscape of Asia, views Pakistan as its central instrument to counter Indian power in the region.

    The China-Pakistan partnership serves the interests of both by presenting India with a potential twofront theatre in the event of war with either country. In their own ways, each is using the other to balance India as India’s disputes with Pakistan keep India preoccupied failing to attain its potential as a major regional and global player. China meanwhile guarantees the security of Pakistan when it comes to its conflicts with India, thus preventing India from using its much superior conventional military strength against Pakistan. Not surprisingly, one of the central pillars of Pakistan’s strategic policies for the last more than four decades has been its steady and ever-growing military relationship with China. And preventing India’s dominance of South Asia by strengthening Pakistan has been a strategic priority for China.

    But with India’s ascent in global hierarchy and American attempts to carve out a strong partnership with India, China’s need for Pakistan is only likely to grow. A rising India makes Pakistan all the more important for Chinese strategy for the subcontinent. It’s highly unlikely that China will give up playing the Pakistan card vis-à-vis India anytime soon. Indian policy makers would be well advised to disabuse themselves of the notion of a Sino-Indian convergence in managing Pakistan. China doesn’t do sentimentality in foreign policy, and India should follow suit.
    “But with India’s ascent in global hierarchy and American attempts to carve out a strong partnership with India, China’s need for Pakistan is only likely to grow. A rising India makes Pakistan all the more important for Chinese strategy for the subcontinent. It’s highly unlikely that China will give up playing the Pakistan card vis-à-vis India anytime soon”, says the author.

  • Terror in Bangalore Learn from Boston

    Terror in Bangalore Learn from Boston

    April 17 blast in Bangalore and the Boston terror attack, which happened a day before, offer interesting parallels. While it was the first terror strike after 9/11 in the US, in India terrorism remains a persistent challenge. In the US there was no political blame game.

    President Barack Obama reacted cautiously: “We still do not know who did this and why, and people should not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts”. In India politicians often fail to exercise similar restraint. A Congress leader lost no time in tweeting about electoral gains accruing to the BJP following the blast. Karnataka assembly elections are scheduled for May 5. The BJP did not let go the silly comment but hit back at the rival contender for power even as the Congress tried to undo the damage.

    Without waiting for a clearer picture to emerge, the Karnataka Home Minister claimed the BJP leaders were the targets since the attack happened close to the party office. Why blame the state leader when the Union Home Ministry itself speculated that the incident could be the handiwork of the Indian Mujahideen. The media itself does not wait for the truth to come out and flashes whoever has anything to say, logical or illogical, in a game of one-upmanship. Be it a terror attack or a disaster like an earthquake, our response often tends to be inadequate or inappropriate.

    More than ordinary people, politicians, policemen and official spokesmen need to be told how to act in a responsible manner in a difficult situation and not to create panic or spread misinformation. Leaders should vow to depoliticize terror and show exemplary behavior during an hour of crisis. Media briefing must be done by an authorized expert. The immediate priority has to be the care of victims and TV talk shows can wait until facts are known. An insensitive handling of an act of terrorism can have serious consequences. The NSG (National Security Guard) and the NIC (National Information Centre) need to be strengthened so that issues like intelligence failure and lack of coordination are taken care of.

  • Chidambaram, Aamir In Time’s 100 Most Influential Global List

    Chidambaram, Aamir In Time’s 100 Most Influential Global List

    NEW YORK (TIP): Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and actor Aamir Khan have been named by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world in its annual list of global achievers that also includes teenaged Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai and US President Barack Obama. Describing Indian politicians as typically being “warm and fuzzy, chronically late and terribly imprecise”, Time says Chidambaram, 67, is “detailoriented, works from 8 to 8 and has a reputation for getting a lot done.” Noting that Chidambaram’s experience is unsurpassed, the magazine said, as Commerce Minister in the 1990s, he played an important role as India opened its economy while as Finance Minister, he presented a pathbreaking budget in 1997.

    In a profile of Khan written by Academy award-winning musician A R Rahman, the 48-year-old actor has been described as a “straightforward” man and a “man of his word” in a “world of false diplomacy and evasiveness.” Rahman said Khan’s movies are commercial successes but they also display a sense of social responsibility by tackling important themes like poverty and education. His TV show, ‘Satyamev Jayate’, is ‘part journalism and part talk show’ and confronted India’s deepest social ills, from sexual abuse to caste discrimination. ‘He uses his gifts as a charmer to give his audience the most bitter medicine. Hypnotised, we take it without complaint. That’s Aamir’s magic at work,’ Rahman said.Khan’s debut TV show was not intended to provide solutions but to ask hard questions that the society is often reluctant to address. ‘By showing the courage to ask those questions, Aamir has started a movement that will help change the world in which Indians live. Jai Ho,’ Rahman wrote. Also making it to the Time 100 list are US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

    In her profile for Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said when he was first elected, the world saw the realisation of the American Dream. ‘Today, they see a leader who delivers – whether its ending the war in Iraq, imposing crippling sanctions on Iran or reasserting our role as a Pacific power and building a world with more partners and fewer enemies.’ Others on the list are, Indianorigin Attorney General of California Kamala Harris, Indian human rights lawyer Vrinda Grover, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, US popstar Beyonce and Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.

    Activist Malala Yousafzai, 15, is the youngest to have made it to the list. Writing for Time, Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Hillary and former President Bill Clinton, wrote that the Taliban almost made Malala a martyr but they ‘succeeded in making her a symbol’. Yousafzai is now writing a memoir to raise awareness about the 61 million children around the world who are not in school. This ‘indicates she accepts that unasked-for responsibility as a synonym for courage and a champion for girls everywhere. However Malala concludes her book, her story so far is only just beginning,’ Clinton wrote.

  • New norms for sensitive treatment of rape victims

    New norms for sensitive treatment of rape victims

    MUMBAI (TIP): The comprehensive protocol on the examination of sexual assault victims has recommended doing away with the insensitive twofinger test and unscientific practices such as giving undue importance to the build of the victim. The protocol, drafted by a panel set up by the state public health department, will pave way for more sensitive treatment of rape victims, and lays down guidelines on the collection and preservation of samples.

    The absence of a specific protocol had come into sharp focus during the death of three minor sisters in Bhandara in February. The department’s report said the sisters were sexually assaulted and murdered, while forensic experts stated that they had drowned. The government ultimately had to accept the report of the forensic experts.

    In several other cases of sexual assault, too, the evidence submitted by the public health department was found to be grossly inadequate. Faced with criticism by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court, the department set up a five-member panel headed by forensic expert Sudhir Nanandkar to draft a new protocol. The court directive came after Nagpur-based social worker Ranjana Pardhi brought to the notice of the high court that there was absolutely no uniformity in the procedure followed in the examination of sexual assault victims, resulting in confusion over the reports submitted by medical officers.

    It was contended that by and large, the reports were casual and there was a lack of seriousness in examining the victims. Apart from Nanandkar, the panel comprised gynaecology professor Rekha Davar, associate professor A P Khandekar, medical officer Ashok Nandapurkar and police surgeon S M Patil. The committee’s report draws from the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, the report of the Justice J S Verma panel and the new criminal law. “It was assumed that if the victim’s build is strong, then the chances of sexual assault were low. The panel found that such a concept was unsound, since even if a woman is of strong build, she will not raise an alarm if she is terrorized,” a senior bureaucrat said.

  • Team Including Indian Develops Tamiflu Rival

    Team Including Indian Develops Tamiflu Rival

    NEW DELHI (TIP): An Indian researcher is part of a team led by a renowned Japanese scientist that has developed a new way of making the only known drug used for treating bird and swine flu. Presently, the drug oseltamivir, known by its brand name Tamiflu, is made solely by the Swiss pharma giant Roche through a costly and secretive process. Kaliyamoorthy Alagiri, the son of a farmer in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, joined Masakatsu Shibasaki, a renowned organic chemist at the Institute of Microbial Chemistry, Tokyo, last year as a post-doctoral researcher.

    The discovery of the new synthesis for tamiflu would shake up the pharma world and end the Roche patent monopoly. In 2009, Roche reportedly earned nearly $2 billion from tamiflu global sales as governments stockpiled the drug to fight swine flu. Roche is currently making tamiflu by two methods.

    One involves extraction from the fragrant spice star anise, grown primarily in China and the other is biofermentation. Professor Shibasaki’s team used an easily available natural substance called glutamic acid as the starting point and synthesized the flu-drug. “Our process involves simple synthetic methods with inexpensive chemicals and minimum number of costand time-consuming chromatographic purification,” Shibasaki said.

    The real question now is whether the process discovered by Shibasaki and his colleagues can be upscaled and commercialized. Alagiri is confident that it can be. “There is high possibility for industrial scale production of tamiflu using our latest protocol starting from L-glutamic acid. We are now collaborating with a pharmaceutical company,” Alagiri told TOI from his village Karuvazhakkarai where he has come to spend a few days with his parents. Alagiri elected to join the Shibasaki Lab because of the fame of the Japanese master. Professor Shibasaki has authored over 500 papers and several books and he is one of the leading chemists in the world, Alagiri said. “Working in Prof. Shibasaki’s lab is a great learning experience. He gives full freedom and encourages his students to give their inputs towards research,” he said.On his part, Professor Shibasaki is quietly appreciative of Alagiri. “Alagiri was one of the top candidates and I offered him a postdoctoral position supported by my research grant,” he said. There have been many attempts to synthesise tamiflu earlier including one by E.J.Corey, the Nobel winning Harvard chemist, and one by Shibasaki himself.

    Although laboratory level success has been achieved, upscaling to production levels has been difficult. The recent outbreak of a new H7N9 bird flu virus in China has again revived interest in drugs to deal with these mutating viruses.

    A Roche spokesperson claimed the new strain is sensitive to tamiflu “according to preliminary reviews”. Scientists around the world are racing to decipher the mutated H7N9 virus that has caused over 20 deaths in China. So, Roche’s assertion is still wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Alagiri wants to move on to “Europe or US” for more research, and then come back to India to work for a “premier research institute”.