The Indian Panorama

Month: September 2016

  • WAR HYSTERIA GRIPS AREAS CLOSE TO BORDER WITH PAK

    WAR HYSTERIA GRIPS AREAS CLOSE TO BORDER WITH PAK

    AMRITSAR (TIP): Panic gripped the border belt of Amritsar district sharing boundaries with Pakistan following the evacuation orders announced through public address system on September 29.

    KEY NUMBERS
    38: Estimated number of terrorists killed in the launchpads in Pak-occupied Kashmir.
    12.30-4.30am: The time taken for the mission.
    1-3km: Distance beyond the LoC that the soldiers in the surgical strike had to traverse.
    WHY
    The strikes were India’s first direct military response to the attack on the Uri army base earlier this month that
    killed 18 Indian soldiers and was blamed on Pakistan based militants.

    THE TARGET
    The strikes aimed at “neutralising the terrorists” had caused “multiple casualties”, officials said. An official said troops
    killed militants numbering in the double digits, and that no Indian soldier was killed.
    Most of the casualties were “terrorists”, said a source, insisting India had not been targeting the Pakistani army.
    An army official based in Kashmir said two Indian soldiers were wounded while returning from the raid – one stepped on a
    landmine and another was shot.

    Nation is united against terrorists
    This is a strong message that conveys our country’s resolve to prevent further infiltration and attacks on our security forces and our people.
    – Sonia Gandhi, Congress president

    It showed the army’s determination and will to ensure the nation’s security.
    – Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal (United)

    Today’s strikes signal the rise of a new India where the government desn’t get cowed down by nefarious designs of terrorists.
    – Amit Shah, BJP preside

    Bharat Mata Ki Jai. The entire country is with the Indian Army.
    – Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party convener

    Situated just between 700 and 1,000 meter from the Indo-Pak Border, the residents of Ranian, Daoke, Kakkar, Dharial, Chak, Dharia, Pandhori, Bachiwind, Kawe and Manj villages said the existing situation reminded them of the wars of 1965, 1971 and Kargil.

    Amritsar DC Varun Roojam met the police and administrative officials to discuss further plan of action following orders of evacuation within 10 km radius of the international border. All schools have been shut and residents have been asked to move to safer places.

    Bir Kaur, 75, said: “We had been uprooted thrice in the past. Now, that our families are hardly self-reliant, the same ‘unpleasant’ evacuation orders have been issued to displace us.”

    Ranian village sarpanch Kehar Singh said: “I have received no information from the administration about the alternative arrangements made to take care of the families of my village. After it was announced that the village should be vacated, people started feeling terrorized and I am helplessness.”

    Harbhej Singh, member in charge of Kakkar village, said the youth had decided to stay back. “This is sheer injustice. Whenever any border area development scheme is announced, we are ignored but when there’s a crisis we are the first ones to be displaced,” he said.

    In Jammu and Kashmir, as tension mounted on the border after India conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday night, the J&K Government asked people living in the vulnerable places on the international border (IB) and the LoC to move to safer zones.

    According to official data, 48,543 families, which live close to the LoC and the IB, had to be given shelter in the wake of shelling from across the border in 2013 and 2015. A total of 457 villages covering 4,51,856 people are located at the IB and the LoC in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu region. Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Simranjeet Singh said 40 to 45 vulnerable hamlets along the IB had been identified in Jammu district only. “We have informed the inhabitants of these villages to move to safer places,” the Jammu Deputy Commissioner said, adding that the residents of these villages always bear the brunt of border tension.

    Kathua Deputy Commissioner Ramesh Kumar also confirmed that the evacuation of the people living in vulnerable areas had been started. “We have already identified vulnerable villages and the residents have been asked to move to safer places,” said Kumar. Around 50 vulnerable villages have been identified in Kathua district. Kumar said the authorities had already prepared a plan to evacuate other villagers to safer places within 30 minutes in case the situation worsened further.

    People of a border village in Amritsar leaving for a safer place on September 29. PTI
    People of a border village in Amritsar leaving for a safer place on September 29. PTI

    Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Sheetal Nanda said the authorities were keeping a strict vigil on the situation. “We have already prepared a contingency plan to evacuate the people at the time of the crisis,” Nanda said. Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, Haroon Malik, while confirming that a contingency plan was already in place, said the authorities had initially asked people living within the radius of 2 km of the LoC to remain alert. “We have already formulated a plan to evacuate people within no time in case of any eventuality,” Malik said.

  • Out of BJP crease, Sidhu dangles his bat before Cong, AAP

    Out of BJP crease, Sidhu dangles his bat before Cong, AAP

    CHANDIGARH (TIP): Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is back in the game of hitting sixes. As if political fronts coming up in Punjab are not enough to tie voters in knots, the former BJP MP is giving a new spin to state politics every week.

    The latest from Sidhu’s not even one-month-old forum, Awaaz-e-Punjab, is a tie-up bait thrown to both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress. The Awaaz forum has set a condition for the Congress — any alliance is only possible minus its state chief Captain Amarinder Singh, who, the forum says, has been in “cahoots with the ruling Badals”.

    Is Sidhu not able to make up his mind or is he a shrewd bargainer, who wants to extract the best deal? Many in the AAP and Congress have a third theory —he (Sidhu) is playing one against the other as his much-hyped forum has failed to gather political mass. No leader or workers from any party have joined his forum, which remains what it was when announced – a confused quartet.

    Though neither the AAP nor Congress have so far given an offer Sidhu cannot refuse, they are trying to catch him, not as much owing to his political equity, but his damage value if he joins the rival camp. Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor is learnt to have told the party that Sidhu may dent the Congress prospects in Punjab if he goes the AAP way. And many in the AAP feel Sidhu can boost the Congress campaign to the detriment of the party.

    On Amarinder, Sidhu’s close aides say the bad blood between the two runs deep as the former Punjab CM had “played a negative role” in his conviction in a road rage death case by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2006. “Contrary to Amarinder’s claims, his relations with Sidhu’s father, Bhagwant Singh, who was an advocate general in his government, were not cordial,” they say. But there could be more palace intrigues. A lobby within the Congress, which is opposing Amarinder being named as the CM face, is also backing Sidhu. At a time when Captain loyalists are raising the pitch to announce him as the CM candidate and the entire campaign is centred around him, Sidhu can queer the pitch for the state Congress chief.

    Though Amarinder had reacted sharply to the forum’s statement saying: “This game of playing one against the other will not work. Do they think Congress president will throw me out of the party so that they can ally with Awaaz-e-Punjab? They cannot disassociate me with the Congress.”

    Sidhu’s bouncers have also thrown the AAP in a tizzy. Its leaders HS Phoolka and Punjab convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi are batting for Sidhu but others like Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann have said the party cannot have poll alliances.

    Owing to his inconsistent utterances, Sidhu’s bargaining chip has lost much of its value. His shifting stance and ambivalence from a man who calls himself a “protector” of Punjab’s interests but remains incommunicado when he shoots his comedy shows in Mumbai, likes to engage the media in one-way communication through issuing statements and holding press conferences when back in New Delhi, and his meeting Congress and AAP leaders alternatively does not seem to be helping Punjab, Punjabi or Punjabiat, that Awaaz-e-Punjab proudly espouses.

     

    Source: HT

  • CAUVERY TALKS FAIL, UMA BHARTI SAYS SHE’LL FAST TO PREVENT UNREST

    CAUVERY TALKS FAIL, UMA BHARTI SAYS SHE’LL FAST TO PREVENT UNREST

    NEW DELHI (TIP): As a meeting convened by the Centre on the Cauvery issue failed to achieve any breakthrough, Union water resources minister Uma Bharti again appealed to both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for peace on the water sharing issue and said she may go on a hunger strike on the border of the two riparian states if there is any report of a fight between them.

    “I am ready to sit on hunger strike, if required, to maintain peace in both the states,” said Bharti after the marathon meeting that lasted for four hours. The attempt to resolve the deadlock in the meeting chaired by her failed with Tamil Nadu refusing to accept Karnataka’s proposal that an expert committee be sent to the river basin to assess water availability. Karnataka wants such visits to assess the ground situation before it releases water to Tamil Nadu as directed by the Supreme Court.

    Chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah and PWD minister of Tamil Nadu E K Palaniswamy along with senior officials of respective state governments attended the meeting. It was convened as per the direction of the Supreme Court. Bharti said delegation from both the states presented their views on the Cauvery water dispute. “I have noted the views expressed by both the states, which will be conveyed to the Supreme Court through the attorney general of India,” she said.

  • I AM AGAINST RSS IDEOLOGY, SAYS RAHUL GANDHI

    I AM AGAINST RSS IDEOLOGY, SAYS RAHUL GANDHI

    GUWAHATI (TIP): Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said here that he was opposed to the RSS ideology that intended to divide the country.

    After appearing in the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in a defamation suit filed against him by the RSS, the Congress vice-president said such cases wouldn’t deter him from continuing his fight for the interests of the downtrodden and suppressed.

    “I work for the suppressed, downtrodden, unemployed, poor farmers of the country. These cases are filed against me to prevent me from working for the weaker and deprived sections. But I will not be deterred by such designs,” he said.

    The CJM court here released Rahul on a bond of Rs 50,000 in a criminal defamation case filed against him by the RSS. The court has fixed November 5 as the next date of hearing. Counsel for the RSS, Bijon Mohajan, said the Congress vice-president did not apply before the court to spare him from personal appearance in the case during further hearing. Gandhi will be asked to submit his explanation of the offence during the next hearing.

    Gandhi appeared in the court at 10 am and came out at 10.45 am. The hearing was conducted amid tight security. Coming out of the court, Rahul drove to Rajiv Bhawan to address a meeting of party leaders, but not before he paid tribute to Swahid Kushal Konwar, a freedom movement martyr, at Nehru Park in front of the court premises.

    The case was filed against him by RSS member Anjan Bora because of Gandhi’s comment made against the RSS accusing the latter of conspiring to prevent him (Gandhi) from entering Barpeta Satra (a Vaishnavite monastery) in western Assam during his visit to the state in December 2015. Gandhi, however, had visited the monastery later in the day of his padayatra.

  • JUDGE HELD OVER RS 22-LAKH BRIBE

    JUDGE HELD OVER RS 22-LAKH BRIBE

    NEW DELHI (TIP): A senior civil judge, her husband and a lawyer were arrested here on Thursday on charges of demanding a bribe of Rs 22 lakh from a person to settle a complaint in his favour.

    Searches conducted at the residence of the judge, Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal, led to the recovery of Rs 94 lakh in cash, two locker keys and several documents. Rachna, the senior civil judge (West) of Tis Hazari courts in Delhi, had appointed lawyer Vikas Mehal as the local commissioner for conducting an inspection of a disputed property and submitting a report.

    The lawyer is claimed to have demanded a bribe of Rs two lakh for himself and Rs 20 lakh for the judge for deciding the matter in the favour of complainant, CBI sources said. As an initial payment, Rs five lakh was to be paid by the complainant. After the complainant approached the CBI, the investigators laid a trap. The lawyer was caught red-handed while reportedly accepting Rs five lakh as bribe on behalf of the judge.

  • NHRC ISSUES NOTICE TO CBI OVER EX-BUREAUCRAT’S ‘SUICIDE NOTE’

    NHRC ISSUES NOTICE TO CBI OVER EX-BUREAUCRAT’S ‘SUICIDE NOTE’

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The NHRC issued notice on Thursday to the CBI over the alleged torture of suspended senior bureaucrat BK Bansal and his family that led to their suicide, an official statement said.

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director to share a copy of the suicide note purportedly written by Bansal, which includes the names of the CBI officers and officials whom Bansal held responsible for the suicides of his wife and daughter as well. The NHRC also asked the central agency to file a report within 72 hours on the action taken regarding the allegations made in the “suicide note”.

    The commission asked the CBI director also to give the name of the head constable whose name is not mentioned but who is referred to as ‘mota’ (fat) havaldar in Bansal’s suicide note.

    “They (CBI officers) cannot be allowed to resort to physical assault, mental and physical torture of an alleged offender or his family members. It is supposed to be a protector and defender of human rights,” the NHRC statement said.

    Corporate affairs ministry officer Bansal, who committed suicide along with his son Yogesh at his house in Neelkanth Apartments in east Delhi on Tuesday, in his suicide note said that the CBI officers not only tortured him but also his wife and daughter, which drove them too to commit suicide on July 19.

    “… it (Commission) fully endorses the reported statement made by BK Bansal in the suicide note to the effect that even if he was at fault in the case, why were his wife and daughter pushed to suicide,” the NHRC said.

    Bansal had mentioned CBI deputy inspector general Sanjeev Gautam in his “suicide note”, quoting the officer as telling him (Bansal) that he will torture his wife and daughter to such an extent that the whole family will “beg for death but won’t get it”.

    “Even if I was at fault, why were my wife and daughter forced to commit suicide,” Bansal asked in the note.

    The suicide note, accessed by IANS, named besides DIG Sanjeev Gautam, Superintendent of Police Amrita Kaur, Deputy Superintendent of Police Rekha Sangwan, Investigating Officer Harnam Singh and an unnamed havaldaur for “murdering my wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27”.

    The suicide note — a copy of which was also widely circulated on Twitter — cites DIG Gautam as claiming that he was “Amit Shah’s man”.

    Two months ago, Bansal’s wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, committed suicide by hanging themselves from ceiling fans in their apartment on July 19 after Bansal was questioned by the CBI.

  • $5.5m paid to middleman in Embraer deal: CBI sources

    $5.5m paid to middleman in Embraer deal: CBI sources

    NEW DELHI (TIP): A total of $5.5 million was paid as commission to a middleman based abroad in the Embraer deal, the CBI has found in what it considers as a major breakthrough in its probe into allegations of kickbacks in the $208-million aircraft contract. Without naming the middleman or location where the agent could be based, CBI sources said the agency is in touch with the law enforcement agencies of that country for further details in the matter.

    The sources said the agency, through its sources, has found that $5.5 million (approx Rs 36 crore as per present exchange rate) was paid as commission to influence the deal in favour of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. They said the agency, which has registered only a preliminary enquiry in the matter, will soon be converting it into a regular FIR as enough prima facie material has been found by it to proceed in the case.

    The deal of three aircraft which were to be used by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for airborne radar systems was inked in 2008 with Embraer. A Brazilian newspaper recently alleged that the company had taken the services of middlemen to clinch deals in Saudi Arabia and India.

    According to defence procurement rules of India, middlemen are strictly barred in such deals. Leading Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo had reported that the company allegedly paid commissions to a UK-based defence agent to finalise the deal with India.

    DRDO had purchased three aircraft from the company in 2008 and customised them for serving airborne radar system known as airborne early-warning and control systems or AWACS for the Indian Air Force.

  • Hoboken train station crash: One dead and dozens hurt in New Jersey

    Hoboken train station crash: One dead and dozens hurt in New Jersey

    HOBOKEN, NJ (TIP): A woman has been killed and 108 other people injured, some of them critically, after a commuter train crashed into Hoboken railway station in the State of New Jersey, early morning on September 29. The train reportedly went through ticket barriers and into the reception area of Hoboken station. Images show extensive damage to the train carriages and station, with part of the building roof caved in.Witnesses described a scene of horror at the station.

    A huge emergency services operation swung into action following the crash, with firefighters and transport staff helping people from wrecked carriages.Hoboken is across the Hudson River from New York City. Many commuters use the busy station to travel into Manhattan.

    New Jersey Governor Chris Christie confirmed there had been one fatality. She has been identified as Hoboken resident Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, aged 34.

    Christie said she was struck by debris while standing on a platform.

    Governor Christie said the train’s driver – later identified as Thomas Gallagher, aged 48 – was in serious condition and being treated at a local hospital but was co-operating with investigators.

    “We have no indication that this is anything but a tragic accident,” he added.

    Governor Christie said officials had no estimate on when the NJ Transit section of the Hoboken Terminal would re-open.

    The structural integrity of the part of the building used for PATH commuter trains has been deemed safe and was expected to resume service later on Thursday.

    The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) vice chairman, Bella Dinh-Zarr, said the agency would be looking into whether there were any similarities between Thursday’s crash and one at the same station in 2011 that injured 34 people.

    An NTSB investigation found excessive speed to be the main cause of the 2011 accident.

    History of recent deadly passenger train crashes in US

    April 2016; Chester, Pennsylvania: two die and 31 injured as a train collides with a digger

    May 2015; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: a train travelling between Washington DC and New York City derails – eight people die and 200 of the 243 people on board are injured

    February 2015; Oxnard, California: passenger train hits vehicle on the tracks – the train driver dies and 29 people are injured

    February 2015; Valhalla, New York: passenger train hits a car in suburban New York City, killing six train passengers

    US rail safety

    In 2008 the US Congress passed a law requiring all trains to install Positive Train Control (PTC) systems by the end of 2015.

    But most rail companies were unable to meet the deadline as the system is expensive and complex to install. Some rail lines -including New Jersey Transit – threatened to shut down completely if it was enforced. In response, Congress extended the deadline to install PTC systems to 2018.

    Rail lines can then apply for an additional two-year extension to finalize updates and test the system. But safety targets for New Jersey’s commuter trains say PTC installation should be completed by 2018.

    According New Jersey Transit’s most recent PTC progress report, none of the 440 trains on the New Jersey Transit rail line are equipped with PTC, nor have any employees been trained on the equipment.

    PTC safety systems are designed to automatically override the actions of train engineers if the locomotive is travelling too fast. In effect, they act as a safeguard against “human error” which could cause derailments or collisions.

    The system uses wifi, GPS and a specific coding system to relay real-time information from trains to control centers.

  • India ‘launches surgical strikes against militants’ in POK: Uri avenged

    India ‘launches surgical strikes against militants’ in POK: Uri avenged

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Mounting a swift counter-terror operation across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army announced, September 29 that it had neutralized terrorists waiting to infiltrate. The brave military man oeuvre has been hailed across the country.

    The operation was aimed at preventing attacks being planned by Pakistan-based militants, a senior army official said.He said “significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them”.

    At a joint press briefing by the army and the foreign ministry, officials said the “motive of the operation was to hit out at terrorists who were planning to infiltrate into our territory”.

    India’s Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, also blamed Pakistan for “being unable to control terror activities in territories under its control”.

    “Based on receiving specific and credible inputs that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control to carry out infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states, the Indian army conducted surgical strikes at several of these launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists,” a statement said.

    It said the “surgical strikes” had caused “significant damage to terrorists”.

    The Press Trust of India quoted sources saying the operation took place between midnight and 04:30 local time on Thursday, September 29, that it was a combination of helicopter and ground forces, and seven militant “launch pads” had been targeted.

    Some unconfirmed Indian media reports said more than 30 militants had been killed in the operation.

    The entire operation was monitored for the entire night by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval from the Army headquarters in New Delhi.

    Narendra Modi’s BJP government swept to power promising a tough line on Pakistan, so it has been under tremendous pressure to retaliate after the 18 September attack on the army base in Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir. The raid was the deadliest of its kind for years.

    “I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished,” Mr. Modi declared just hours after the base was attacked.

    There was also much talk of whether India should continue with its doctrine of “strategic restraint” against Pakistan.

    The response in India has been predictably supportive of the army. The Indian Panorama received reports of ecstatic celebrations of the Indian military strike in various parts of India. All political parties, regardless of differences with the ruling BJP have expressed total approval of the military action. That is the strength of democracy in India.

    Pakistan prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, criticized the “unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces” and said his military was capable of thwarting “any evil design to undermine the sovereignty of Pakistan”.

    Islamabad says India’s stance is a “blatant attempt” to deflect attention from human rights abuses in the region.

    Meanwhile, nations across the world are watching the situation. Britain on Thursday asked India and Pakistan to exercise restraint in the wake of surgical strikes by Indian troops across the Line of Control, while China said it was in touch with both countries to reduce tensions.

    A spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office said: “We are monitoring the situation closely following reports of strikes carried out by the Indian Army over the LoC in Kashmir. We call on both sides to exercise restraint and to open dialogue.”

    In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing that China was in “communication with both sides through different channels” and hoped Indian and Pakistan “can enhance communication, properly deal with differences and work jointly to maintain peace and security”.

    Shuang was responding to questions on whether tensions between India and Pakistan after the terror attack in Uri had figured in the first anti-terror dialogue between New Delhi and Beijing earlier this week.

    A foreign ministry statement issued on Wednesday had said China values Pakistan’s position on Kashmir but hopes Islamabad and New Delhi will resolve the issue through dialogue and “maintain regional peace and stability by joint efforts”.

    India has “all legal and internationally accepted rights” to respond to any attack on her sovereignty and territory, Iqbal Chowdhury, advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said after the surgical strikes.

    Chowdhury said there had been a “violation from the other side andBangladesh always believes that any aggression or attack on the sovereignty…and legal right of a country is not acceptable”. He appealed for “restraint” from all sides to ensure peace in the region.

    There was no immediate reaction from the US to the surgical strikes. Hours before India announced it had carried out the strikes, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice called on Pakistan to “combat and delegitimize” terror groups operating from its soil, including Jaish-e-Muhammad, which Indian blamed for the attack in Uri that killed 18 soldiers.

    Rice condemned the “cross-border attack” on an Indian Army camp in Uri and highlighted the “danger that cross-border terrorism poses to the region” during a phone call to her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. She said the US expects Pakistan to take “effective action to combat and delegitimize United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and their affiliates”.

    This was seen as a major snub for Pakistan after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s attack on India in his speech at the UN General Assembly.

    “It were as if Rice was rebutting Sharif here,” said an Indian diplomat obviously pleased with the US response, which some in India had perceived as insipid so far, given the context of terrorism being a shared challenge.

    Rice’s comments were also seen as significant against the backdrop of the foreign policy crisis in South Asia over India’s boycott of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit in Islamabad.

    Rice’s remarks, reaffirming President Barack Obama’s “commitment to redouble our efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism throughout the world”, were seen as an endorsement of India’s position. The US had not named Pakistan in its first reaction to the Uri attack.

    The statement also tapped into a growing sense of dissatisfaction and frustration with Pakistan, a non-NATO ally and a major beneficiary of US financial aid and arms supplies.

     

  • Hillary Clinton Wins the First Presidential Debate

    Hillary Clinton Wins the First Presidential Debate

    NEW YORK (TIP): Democrat Hillary Clinton on September 26, defeated Republican Donald Trump in the first presidential debate, 62% to 27%.

    Clinton and Trump took to the stage at Hofstra University on Long Island, Monday, September 26 to begin their first presidential debate and sparred over jobs, taxes, the Islamic State, guns and the former secretary of state’s undisclosed emails, media reports said.

    Moderator Leslie Holt of NBC News opened the 90-minute debate at Hofstra University, Long Island, New York, with the first topic, “Achieving Prosperity” where the first question about putting money back into Americans’ pockets and creating jobs was directed to Clinton, CNN reported.

    Clinton, the first woman to represent a major US party in the presidential race, mentioned her granddaughter’s birthday, and talked about everything from gender pay gaps to paid family leave, to presidential temperament.

    Trump gave a classic answer about China and Mexico stealing American business and jobs.

    “We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us, we have to stop companies from leaving the United States,” he added.

    Clinton also called on Trump to apologies to people who have worked on the real estate mogul’s properties and have not been paid in full, Politico reported.

    Do “the thousands of people that you have stiffed over the course of your business not deserve some kind of apology from someone who has taken their labor, taken the goods that they’ve produced and then refused to pay them?” Clinton questioned her rival.

    “I can only say that I’m certainly relieved that my late father never did business with you.”

    Following Trump’s opening remarks about reducing taxes, Holt asked Clinton to defend her plan to increase taxes.

    Regarding tax returns, Trump said “I will release my tax returns – against my lawyer’s wishes – when she releases her 33,000 emails that have been deleted.”

    Clinton responded by saying that there was something “really important, maybe even terrible that he’s trying to hide,” Politico reported.

    “Maybe he doesn’t want the American public, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid no federal taxes,” Clinton said.

    Clinton also admitted that she “made a mistake” about her use of a private email server while at the State Department.

    Trump went on to blame Clinton for the rise of the ISIS by noting the Democrat had laid out some of her plans on her website.

    “You’re telling the enemy everything you want to do,” Trump said as Clinton shook her head in amusement. “No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.”

    Moderator Holt brought up the recent fatal police shootings of African-American men and asked about healing along lines of race and racism.

    “Unfortunately, race often determines too much,” Hillary said, adding “We have to restore trust between communities and the police… everyone should be respected by the law and everyone should respect the law.”

    Trump said the country needed law and order. “African Americans and Hispanics are living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street you get shot,” he added.

    Clinton called for gun control in the US, saying “We’ve got too many military-style weapons on the streets. In a lot of places, our police are outgunned… we need to keep guns out of the hands of those who could do harm.”

    The debate was divided into 6 segments with 15 minutes given to each nominee. Two minutes were allotted to answer a question asked by the moderator, two minutes to reply and the remaining time for the nominees to debate.

    The polls clearly found Hillary Clinton a winner in the debate. Two reputable polls released Wednesday showed that respondents thought Hillary Clinton won Monday night’s debate by a wide margin.

    An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll found that 52 percent of respondents thought Clinton won, to 21 percent who thought that Trump came out ahead.

    Another from Reuters/Ipsos found that 56 percent of respondents thought Clinton won, to 26 percent who declared victory for Trump.

    Meanwhile, Donald Trump complained about every part of the first presidential debate, from his opponent to the moderator to the subsequent poll results, during a Thursday campaign appearance.

    “I had to put up with the anchor and fight the anchor all the time on everything I said,” Trump said of the debate’s moderator, Lester Holt, at a rally in Bedford, New Hampshire. “What a rigged deal.”This was the 20th US presidential debate and wasorganized by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

  • An Invitation to Celebrate Dedication of Diwali Stamp at the Indian Consulate

    An Invitation to Celebrate Dedication of Diwali Stamp at the Indian Consulate

    NEW YORK (TIP): The Diwali Stamp Project, headed by Ranju Batra, in association with the Consulate General of India, New York, is hosting the United States Postal Service (USPS) Inaugural Dedication Ceremony of Diwali Stamp on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, 12 Noon, at 3 East 64th Street, New York, NY.

    While the release of the Diwali Stamp by USPS is a momentous occasion for the Indian American community, it also serves to bring United States and India closer together.

    Air India has lent support to Diwali Stamp Project by offering 10 free Roundtrip Tickets for winners of the raffle which will be drawn at the Consulate on the occasion of the dedication of the Diwali Stamp. Buy Stamps now to be eligible for the raffle. For more information, email to ranjubatra@aol.com.

    Please be a part of this historic occasion.

    While the entry to the program is free, it will be necessary to rsvp to Ranju Batra at ranjubatra@aol.com by October 3, 2016.

    The program is as follows:

    • 12 Noon: Diwali Stamp sales by USPSCancellation and autographing
    • 1 P.M.: Stamp dedication ceremony starts
    • 2 P.M.: Lunch Reception; Diwali Stamp sales by USPS- Cancellation and autographing
    • 3.15 P.M.: Free Raffle Draw of Air India Free Roundtrip Tickets
  • Predictions For The Month Of October 2016 – Horoscope & Astrology By Bejan Daruwala

    Predictions For The Month Of October 2016 – Horoscope & Astrology By Bejan Daruwala

    Librans in Focus – “Nothing too much, the golden mean, the middle path” is a typical Zoroastrian commandment. It applies very specially to you Librans as balance and poise go with you. From September 8 Jupiter will be in your sign, Western Astrology. You will be the conductor of arts, music, science, beauty, films. BUT IT IS YOUR ABILITY TO NEGOTIATE AND SETTLE ANY DISPUTE WHICH WILL BE OF SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE RIGHT THROUGH THIS YEAR AND THE NEXT. So powerful is the combination of Jupiter in Libra and Saturn in Sagittarius that it could lead to a new peaceful order. God has taken your hand. Respond with all you have.

    Aries: March 21 - April 19

    Aries: March 21 – April 19 | Astro physicists tell us that the movement of Earth to Space is responsible for our climate. In the same way your movements forceful, determine and positive will help you in trips, ties, communication, journey, maybe with a stop – over. A chance to divorce or marry is possible. At Satsang and meetings believe it or not God will preside invisibly.

    Taurus: April 21 - May 21Taurus: April 21 – May 21 | Every metal has a frequency and also a certain beauty. You Taureans have the impossible combination of utility and beauty. In October you will have the strength of Hercules and the generosity of Mother Teresa. Face opposition boldly but graciously. Be sure that Mother Nature loves you immensely and will never allow anybody to hurt you.

    Gemini: May 22 - June 21Gemini: May 22 – June 21 | The rings of the planet Saturn in the galaxies has bewitched even the astro physicists because they are huge, powerful and yet so very delicate and thin like our hair. You have the ability to live at many levels right from technological to the spiritual. Children, hobbies, entertainment, marriage, wild passionate creativity lead you to the altar.

    Cancer: June 22 - July 22 Cancer: June 22 – July 22 | All of us know that Cancerians are home birds. For one year the domestic scene will change for the better in every which way. Opportunities for job switch, investments, partnerships are possible. I am exaggerating it when I say that you may meet God face to face between this October and the next. Piety helps.

    Leo: July 23 -August 21Leo: July 23 -August 21 | “Prathamahim nama leta tava joi / jaga kaham sakala si dha hoi.” It means remember Ganeshji and then embark on any task or word. It will soon be your time for glory and greatness, travel and pleasure and status and prestige. At the same time if you delve deep in your heart you will find the rose of spirituality and great delight.

    Virgo: August 22 - September 23Virgo: August 22 – September 23 | You will discover the sheer complexity and beauty of life itself because now your heart will rule over your head which is so very rational and objective. Friends and family will help you all the way. The other happy news is domestic matters related to parents, in – laws, wife will improve. Prayers and bhajans are certainly advisable and absolutely necessary.

    Libra: September 24 - October 23Libra: September 24 – October 23 | As they say on TV for every project, “your time is now”. New projects, old ventures, activated, journeys, health problems, loans and funds and a certain discipline and confidence will mark all that you do. Live wisely and beautifully and nobly is what my heart is telling me. Be decisive and confident of victory.

    Scorpio: October 24 - November 22Scorpio: October 24 – November 22 | Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war”. It simply means that the greatness of peace is as great as the greatness of war. You will fight nobly and powerfully for the unfortunate, the weak, the helpless, the artist, the women who are down trodden and you will come up victorious.

    Sagittarius: November 23 - December 22Sagittarius: November 23 – December 22 | We are at our very best only when we face the greatest challenge and the danger. October will certainly show you the way to be courageous and confident. You will certainly succeed and prevail over all the odds because Jupiter your main planet is in the eleventh angle of friends, fame, happiness. Best to take help from spiritual masters, gurus, holy books and your own conscience.

    Capricorn: December 23 - January 20 Capricorn: December 23 – January 20 | Blow your own trumpet just as the elephant does. I know you are cool, critical, slightly cold and definitely well organized. It may surprise you to know that astro physicists tell us that the rings of Saturn are felt very powerfully on the snow and ice of the entire world. Your ruling planet is Saturn. Time to be boss man in all affairs.

    Aquarius: January 21 - February 19Aquarius: January 21 – February 19 | Science tells us that there is a type of shrimp which lives the water but makes a very loud sound all around. It is a hint for you to be extravagant, move in social circles, invite friends over, take a chance if you jolly well feel like it. Research, technological innovations and new values and thoughts in spirituality will help you greatly to be not only big but great.

    Pisces: February 20- March 20Pisces: February 20- March 20 | Loans and funds, renovation and decoration, travel and ties could make a changeover in your thinking and behavior patterns. The tinkle of money will be sweet music to your ears. But if you want to add real happiness and longevity to your years give freely of yourself to others. Charity and compassion are the life blood of the universe.

    bejanBejan Daruwalla is world’s most famous astrologer today. He appears regularly on world wide TV shows. Bejan who has been a professor in English, has authored a number of books on astrology. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi , on March 29, 2012, lunched one of Bejan’s books, ‘2012- End of the World? Bejan contributes to a number of journals and newspapers in many parts of the world which include Berkley Communications (London) Times of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) and The Indian Panorama ( New York and Texas). Bejan’s predictions have mostly been correct and people the world over rely on his predictions.

    As early as 1998 the publishers of the book, had said in the introduction of Bejan Daruwalla “Ganesha devotee, Bejan Daruwalla and Pete Sampras, the tennis champ, can now only compete against themselves. Today the whole world knows that Pete Sampras has created a history in the Wimbledon by winning the title for the 7th time and claiming a record breaking 13th grand slam title. Ganesha Bejan Daruwalla can never be wrong! Here’s what he had to say about Amitabh as early as November 15, 1999 in the outlook magazine. Good news for suave Amitabh……. From June 2000, his period of joy starts and 2001, itself is going to be proverbial cornucopia of plenty. In family drama he will make his mark, steal the thunder and slice his critics into silence! That’s for sure! I see the red carpet again for him. Ganesha nods in agreement.

    BEJAN DARUWALLA CAN BE REACHED AT  +919825470377 BETWEEN 2 & 5 P.M. AND 9 &11 P.M. (INDIA TIME)

    E-MAIL: INFO@BEJANDARUWALLA.COM

  • Volume 10 Issue 38 | Dallas | Sep 30

    Volume 10 Issue 38 | Dallas | Sep 30

    10 years
    Celebrating 10 Years of The Indian Panorama

    Print Edition ~ Digitally

     

    Volume 10 Issue 38 ~ Dallas ~ Sep 30

     


  • Volume 10 Issue 38 | New York | Sep 30

    Volume 10 Issue 38 | New York | Sep 30

    10 years
    Celebrating 10 Years of The Indian Panorama

    Print Edition ~ Digitally

     

    Volume 10 Issue 38 ~ NY ~ Sep 30

     

  • India Responds with Surgical Strikes Across Line Of Control in PoK on Terror Camps

    India Responds with Surgical Strikes Across Line Of Control in PoK on Terror Camps

    In a direct action on rising terror attacks launched from Pakistan into Indian Kashmir, The army has carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir to prevent Pakistani terrorists who had “positioned themselves at launch pads with the aim to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and other metros,” said the army today, Sep 29.

    “India conducted surgical strikes last night across the LoC to safeguard our nation, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday. Significant casualties have been caused to terrorists and those trying to shield them. We don’t have a plan to further conduct such strikes. India has spoken to Pakistan,” DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said while addressing the media.

    “There were launch pads at the LoC where terrorists were present waiting to infiltrate the nation and attack areas in Kashmir and metros across the country,” the DGMO said. No Indian casualties occurred during the surgical strikes that were carried out last night by the Indian Army.

    “We have recovered items including GPS which have Pakistani markings. Captured terrorists hailing from PoK or Pakistan have confessed to their training in Pakistan or in Pakistan controlled region,” Singh said.

    “I spoke to the Pak DGMO, shared our concerns and told him that we conducted surgical strikes last night: DGMO Singh said.

    The army also said Pakistan was informed – in keeping with protocol – of the cross-border strike and that the action came after escalating violations of the 2003 ceasefire. The army added that recently captured terrorists have confessed to their training and arming in Pakistan and Global Positioning Systems recovered from them further established their firm Pakistani connect.

    A surgical strike is “a calculated maneuver to ensure you deliver maximum damage which gives a big surprise to your adversary,” explained former air chief Fali Major, praising last night’s operation for its execution.

    PM Narendra Modi had informed President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President and former Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh on the surgical strikes. Jammu and Kashmir Governor and CM Mehbooba Mufti have also been informed about the surgical strike.

    The press conference was jointly conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan, in a statement issued has said: At least two Army men were killed as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire over the Line of Control in “Azad Jammu and Kashmir”. The exchange of fire began at 2:30am, ISPR said, and continued till 8:00am. “Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring Kel and Lipa sectors,” the statement said.

  • #Pakistan a Terror State: Petition In United States Qualifies For Official Response

    #Pakistan a Terror State: Petition In United States Qualifies For Official Response

    New York: An online White House petition asking for Pakistan to be declared as a state sponsor of terrorism has crossed 100,000 signatures, thus qualifying to get a response from the Obama administration.

    Launched by Indian Americans on September 21, this petition has become the third most popular petition on the White House website with nearly 110,000 people signing the petition. The Obama administration now is expected to respond to it within 60 days.

    The online petition was created on September 21 and within 7 days has garnered enormous support.

    Congressman Ted Poe, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, along with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, introduced the ‘Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act’ in the House of Representatives.

    “This petition is important to the people of United States of America, India and many other countries which are continuously affected by Pakistan-sponsored terrorism,” the petition said.

    An initiative of the US President Barack Obama, “We the People” online petition at the White House website provides a window to American citizens to campaign before the administration on a particular issue.

    Currently on top of the list is the petition seeking to stop construction of “Dakota Access Pipeline” which has more than 210,000 signatures, followed by another petition seeking not to make “Kratom a schedule I substance” which has 137,000 signatures.

    Meanwhile the White House said that it is currently focused on enhancing its counter-terrorism capabilities with Pakistan.

    “That (designating state sponsor of terrorism) is a very specific process and determination that involves a legal process and assessment,” White House Deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said.

    “Our focus with Pakistan is to enhance their capability and to deal with terrorist threats on their soil. They are fighting a serious and sustained campaign against violent extremism,” he said.

    “We do believe that they are making progress and taking steps to counter terrorist violence, but at the same time we have been very clear that they need to target all terrorist groups, including those that target Pakistan’s neighbours, and close all safe havens,” Mr Toner said.

    Mark Toner reiterated that it is the longstanding American position that the US believes India and Pakistan really stand to benefit from the normalisation of relations.

    “We encourage both India and Pakistan to pursue and engage in direct dialogue that is aimed at reducing tensions,” he said.

    “We have long said that with regard to Pakistan, with regard to India, with regard to the region, there is no zero-sum game here. We are pursuing very close relations with India,” the deputy spokesperson said.

    “We have a deep and broad bilateral relationship and multilateral relationship, or work our multilateral issues with India. They are the world’s largest democracy and we share a very similar vision of the world. And we obviously have very close trade and economic ties with India, and also that extends to security cooperation,” he said.

    “Similarly, we want to see Pakistan better able to respond to the threat that terrorism poses and terrorist groups that seek refuge in its territory,” Mr Toner added.

  • “Pay to Stay” #College #Scam – 2 Indians Charged With Visa Fraud In New Jersey

    “Pay to Stay” #College #Scam – 2 Indians Charged With Visa Fraud In New Jersey

    Two Indians in the US state of New Jersey have been charged with visa fraud for recruiting foreign nationals at a “pay to stay” college where they maintained their clients’ student visa status with full-time work authorisations without having to attend classes.

    The two consultants pleaded guilty Tuesday, Sep 27, to federal charges that they used a fake New Jersey college in a “pay-to-stay” scheme to maintain their clients’ student visa status and get them full-time work authorizations.

    Harpreet Sachdeva, of Somerset, and Sanjeev Sukhija, of North Brunswick, each admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud in the scheme that enrolled foreigners in the fake University of Northern New Jersey.

    Sachdeva, 26, and Sukhija, 35, were among 22 people who authorities in April charged with recruiting foreign nationals to the purported for-profit college in Cranford.

    Federal officials actually had created the school as a sting operation to catch visa fraud.

    U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Tuesday that Sachdeva and Sukhija were Indian citizens present in the United States on foreign worker visas. They were working at Somerset-based Right OPT, a purported international student consulting company, Fishman said.

    Sachdeva and Sukhija were employed at Right OPT, a purported international student recruiting and consulting company located in Somerset, New Jersey.

    UNNJ represented itself as a school that, among other things, was authorised to issue a document known as a “Certificate of Eligibility for Non-immigrant (F-1) Student Status – for Academic and Language Students,” commonly referred to as a Form I-20.

    This document, which certifies that a foreign national has been accepted to a school and would be a full-time student, typically enables legitimate foreign students to obtain an F-1 student visa.

    With the visa, they can enter or remain in the United States while they make normal progress toward the completion of a full course of study at a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) accredited institution.

    According to court papers, Sachdeva and Sukhija told Right OPT’s foreign recruits that for a fee, they could enrol at UNNJ without having to attend any classes and that their enrolment would enable them to fraudulently maintain their non-immigrant status.

    With full knowledge that the recruits were not bona fide students and would not attend any course, earn credits, or make academic progress toward any legitimate degree at UNNJ, Sachdeva and Sukhija caused Forms I-20 to be issued to the foreign nationals.

    The duo also caused the foreign nationals to be reported in government databases as legitimate foreign students.

    In order to deceive immigration officials, Sachdeva, Right OPT’s foreign clients, and others obtained and created fraudulent student documents, including attendance records and transcripts, federal prosecutors said.

    After enabling them to maintain their student visa status, Sachdeva and Sukhija also conspired to secure fraudulent work authorisations for some of their foreign clients.

    In their guilty plea, they admitted that their intention was to profit from the scheme by outsourcing these foreign individuals through Right OPT as information technology consultants with various businesses in the United States for commissions.

  • Indian origin lawyer behind Huston shootout was a Nazi sympathizer

    Indian origin lawyer behind Huston shootout was a Nazi sympathizer

    An Indian-origin lawyer in military style clothing emblazoned with a swastika pointing to his Nazi sympathies went on an early morning shooting rampage on Monday, Sep 26, injuring nine persons in Houston, Texas.

    The Houston Police Homicide Division has confirmed that the suspect has been identified as Nathan Desai, 46, and he was killed by police.

    Nathan Desai
    Nathan Desai

    Desai, a Nazi sympathizer, went on a 20-minute shooting rampage that injured nine had 2,600 rounds of ammunition, a .45 semi-automatic handgun and a .45 semi-automatic Thompson carbine on him. Along with these, an edged weapon still in its sheath was also recovered by the police.

    Citing sources, the ABC13’s Eyewitness News said Desai used his car to stockpile ammunition and a tree for cover when he was shooting, right outside his condominium complex on Law Street.

    The police said they did not know why Desai went on the rampage hitting people at random.

    Desai’s name was written with the ‘S’ capitalised in media reports in Houston, making it sound European, but his father was identified as Prakash Desai.

    All of his victims survived but one person was critically wounded and five others were hospitalised, Houston Police acting chief Martha Montalvo said.

    Montalvo described the shooter as a lawyer who was having problems at his law firm. When the police responded to the shooting, he shot at them and was killed when cops returned fire, she said.

    The shooter’s father, 80-year-old Prakash Desai (Houston Chronicle said that Prakash Desai is a retired geologist) told Eyewitness News that Nathan had been troubled because his law practice was not doing very well and according to ABC 13, he had no active civil or criminal cases based on the Harris County court records. He had only two new criminal cases since 2013.

    He didn’t believe his son was the shooter as the two were said to have had dinner only 12 hours before the shooting.

    John Elmore, the property manager for The Oaks at West University, where Desai lived, said Desai’s behaviour had been erratic for the last two months. He seemed paranoid and thought someone was “out to get him”, Elmore said.

    In February, he and his law partner Kenneth McDaniel of 12 years parted ways and neighbours believed he was doing law work out of his condo.

    “We made a mutual decision, roughly in February, to simply no longer operate as a partnership for economic reasons,” said McDaniel. “I feel very sorry for him and for those people.”

    Desai owned several guns to protect himself against his clients, some of whom were “funny people and criminally-minded people”, his father said.

    The daily reported that the police found in his flat several military items that went back to the Civil War.

    Police found a Thompson submachine gun in his Porsche and a 0.45 caliber handgun that he used against the police.

    The Chronicle said that the police used a robot to examine his car and his flat for explosives.

  • Indian-American Doctor Charged With $9.5 Million Fraud

    Indian-American Doctor Charged With $9.5 Million Fraud

    WASHINGTON: A 48-year-old Indian-American doctor in Alabama has been charged with a health care fraud of USD 9.5 million through illegally conducted tests, and prescribing controlled substances for illegitimate purposes.

    Shelinder Aggarwal simultaneously filed guilty plea to the charges. In the plea, he agreed to forfeit his former clinic on Turner Street Southwest in Huntsville, along with USD 6.7 million, the Justice Department said yesterday.

    Dr Aggarwal had earlier repaid USD 2.8 million to Medicare and USD 45,843 to Blue Cross afer audits, according to his plea agreement.

    The agreement stipulates a 15-year prison sentence. A federal judge must accept the terms of the agreement before it is final.

    The doctor has been charged with one count of distributing a controlled substance outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose in July 2012 and with one count of conspiring to execute a health care fraud scheme against Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.

    According to the Justice Department, Dr Aggarwal surrendered his medical license in 2013, along with his federal Drug Enforcement Administration certificates to prescribe controlled substances, after the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners initiated an investigation.

    “Shelinder Aggarwal treated his medical license like a license to deal opiate drugs,” US Attorney White Vance said. “He also defrauded Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of more than USD 9 million by performing drug tests he never used to treat his patients. Thanks to this prosecution, Dr Aggarwal is no longer a drug dealer masquerading as a doctor,” he said.

    “His pill mill is closed, he must repay the money he stole from health insurers and he will serve time for his crimes,” Vance added.

    According to the court papers, Dr Aggarwal was a pain management doctor who operated chronic pain care dervices in Huntsville.

    The documents state that in 2012, about 80 to 145 patients a day visited Dr Aggarwal’s clinic. He saw majority of the patients and wrote all prescriptions.

    Initial patient visits typically lasted five minutes or less, and follow-ups two minutes or less.

    Dr Aggarwal did not obtain prior medical records for his patients, did not treat patients with anything other than controlled substances, often asked patients what medications they wanted and filled their requests.

    He also prescribed controlled substances to patients whom he knew were using illegal drugs and did not take appropriate measures to ensure that patients did not divert or abuse controlled substances.

    According to Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), Alabama pharmacies filled about 1,10,013 of Aggarwal’s prescriptions for controlled substances in 2012.

    That would amount to around 423 prescriptions per day if he worked five days a week, and resulted in about 12.3 million pills.

    The PDMP rated Dr Aggarwal as the highest prescriber of controlled substances filled in Alabama in 2012, with the next highest prescriber writing a third as many prescriptions.

  • Indian American Scientists To Get Macarthur Fellowship

    Indian American Scientists To Get Macarthur Fellowship

    WASHINGTON: Two Indian-American scientists are among 23 scientists who have won this year’s prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for showing exceptional creativity in their respective fields.

    The Indian-Americans — Mr Manu Prakash and Mr Subhash Khot are alumunus of Indian Institiute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur and Bombay respectively.

    Mr Prakash works as an Assistant Professor in Department of Bioengineering at the Stanford University, while Mr Khot is a theoretical computer scientist at the New York University. The MacArthur fellowships, popularly known as “genius grants,” are awarded to scholars who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future.

    It includes a stipend of USD 625,000, given over five years, designed to provide the recipients the flexibility to pursue their activities in absence of specific obligations.

    The MacArthur Foundation recognised Mr Prakash for his research that is “driven by curiosity about the diversity of life forms on our planet and how they work, empathy for problems in resource-poor settings, and a deep interest in democratizing the experience and joy of science globally.”

    “Mr Manu Prakash is not only one of the most innovative scientists of our day, he is also using his interdisciplinary expertise to improve human health around the world,” Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said.

    He said the scientist harnesses a wide array of technologies, including optical physics, computer science, fluid dynamics, biology and chemistry, to solve tangible human and scientific problems.

    It is fitting that his creative approach to applying scientific principles has been recognized as true genius by the MacArthur Foundation, Lavigne said.

    The Stanford University, in a release said many of Mr Prakash’s ideas come from his travels and from his childhood growing up in India.

    “Being in the field gives meaning to working in global health. It teaches you empathy, a driving force so strong that it transforms ideas into actions,” Mr Prakash said.

    Mr Khot is a theoretical computer scientist whose work is provides critical insight into unresolved problems in the field of computational complexity.

    His continued ingenuity and tenacity in exploring the potential of the UGC will drive this important and fruitful area of research for many years to come, the MacArthur Foundation said in a statement.

    Mr Khot received a B.Tech (1999) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and a PhD (2003) from Princeton University.

    Sri Lankan-American Ahilan Arulanantham is the third South Asian to bag this prestigious award. He is an attorney working to secure the right to due process for individuals facing deportation.

    Through advocacy and successful litigation of a series of landmark cases, Arulanantham has expanded immigrant detainees’ access to legal representation and limited the government’s power to detain them indefinitely, the Foundation said.

    In an interview, Arulanantham said he would donate his USD 625,000 prize for the welfare immigrant children.

  • Indians “Most Entrepreneurial” Finds US Report On Immigration

    Indians “Most Entrepreneurial” Finds US Report On Immigration

    New York: Immigrants contributed 2 trillion dollars to the economy in 2015-16 and Indians are “the most entrepreneurial” of all groups, a new US report on immigration claims, countering the premise that immigrants are a drain on the world’s largest economy.

    In a report titled the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, experts from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said that the estimated gross development product (GDP) growth due to immigrants’ contributions amounted to nearly 2 trillion dollars in the US.

    The report takes a comprehensive look at the fiscal and economic impact of immigration and confirms research from the past decade that showed immigrants and their descendants made valuable contributions to economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States.

    “Indian immigrants are the most entrepreneurial of any group including natives, and immigrant businesses represent more than a quarter of businesses in the transportation, accommodation, and recreation and entertainment sectors,” it said.

    It also found that immigration helps to slow the aging of American society, and labour force growth from 2020 and 2030 will “depend completely on immigrants and their US-born descendants.”

    There is little to no negative effects on the wages or overall employment levels of native-born workers, it asserted saying “any negative effects were small and were experienced primarily by other recent immigrants and those who did not graduate high school.”

    The question whether immigrants are a drain on the US economy has been at the heart of a furious debate. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying they “compete directly against vulnerable American workers.”

    His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has said immigrants contribute to the US economy whether they are here legally or not.

    The report has observed that the children of immigrants are among the strongest economic and fiscal contributors in the US population overall and educating all children is an important investment that will reap rewards in the future.

  • Indian-Origin Physician Gets National Humanities Medal In US

    Indian-Origin Physician Gets National Humanities Medal In US

    Washington: An Indian-American physician and author has been presented with the National Humanities Medal, America’s highest humanities award by US President Barack Obama for his contribution in the field of medicine.

    Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, Abraham Varghese has authored several acclaimed books including ‘My Own Country’ and ‘Cutting for Stone’.

    He was presented with the medal along with several other recipients at a ceremony held at the White House yesterday.

    “The 2015 National Humanities Medal to Abraham Verghese for reminding us that the patient is the center of the medical enterprise,” the citation of medal read.

    “His range of proficiency embodies the diversity of the humanities, from his efforts to emphasize empathy in medicine, to his imaginative renderings of the human drama,” a military aide to the US President said, reading from the citation.

    “All of today’s honorees work in an age where the stories we tell and the technologies that we use to tell them are more diverse than ever before, and as diverse as the country that we love,” Obama said on the occasion.

    Started in 1997, the National Humanities Medal “honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects”.

    As many as 12 medals are awarded each year. Mr Verghese is a critically acclaimed, best-selling author and a physician with an international reputation for his emphasis on empathy for patients in an era in which technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine, the Stanford University said in a statement.

    “I felt strongly then and now that what I was writing about, and my interest in the human experience of being ill or caring for the ill, was as much a part of medicine as knowledge of the function of the pancreas, for example,” Mr Verghese, also a vice chair of Stanford’s Department of Medicine, said.

    He also directs the Stanford interdisciplinary center, Presence, which reflects these interests.

    Born in Addis Ababa in 1955, Mr Verghese’s parents were recruited by Emperor Haile Selassie to teach in Ethiopia.

    He grew up near the capital and began his medical training there. When the emperor was deposed, Mr Verghese briefly joined his parents who had moved to the United States because of the war, working as an orderly in a hospital before completing his medical education in India at Madras Medical College.

    After graduation, he left India for a medical residency in the United States and like many other foreign medical graduates, he found only the less popular hospitals and communities open to him, an experience he described in one of his early New Yorker articles, The Cowpath to America.

  • No Exception On Helmet Rules For Sikh Workers In Canada: Quebec Court

    No Exception On Helmet Rules For Sikh Workers In Canada: Quebec Court

    TORONTO: Three Sikh truck drivers have been ordered to wear hard hats at work by a Canadian court which ruled that no exception can be made for them as the men lost a 10-year-long legal battle against religious discrimination.

    Three Sikh men who drove container trucks at the Port of Montreal had argued they had a right to wear a turban instead of a helmet based on Quebec and Canadian charter rights protecting freedom of religion.

    In a ruling released Wednesday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Andre Prevost recognised that the requirement to wear helmets violated the mens’ charter rights but ruled that safety should trump religion in this case, the Canadian Press reported.

    He ruled the port’s rules were justified because they protect workers against head injuries.

    “The risks are not lower because the claimants are Sikh and wear turbans,” he wrote in his decision.

    “The safety obligations of the defendants are not less stringent, either, towards the claimants than towards other workers,” the judge was quoted as saying.

    In a case dating back to 2006, the men had argued they were victims of religious discrimination after they were no longer allowed to enter the port’s terminals without protective headgear. The safety measures were put in place in 2005.

    Originally an accommodation was put in place allowing the drivers to stay in their trucks while containers were loaded, but that was eventually deemed not commercially viable because it increased the loading time.

    Julius Gray, the lawyer representing the three men, said he was disappointed by the decision but was encouraged that the judge recognised his client’s charter rights had been violated.

    Gray said he would meet with his clients next week to decide whether to appeal the decision.

    “I personally believe it’s a case that can be very easily and effectively appealed, so I hope that’s what they’ll do,” he said.

  • First Presidential Debate turns #Trump into a Lying Machine

    First Presidential Debate turns #Trump into a Lying Machine

    Readers: This is a strange Election where one has to vote for the lesser of two evils; this being said who would you vote for – someone who makes a mistake and admits it or the one who lies and lies more to cover the previous lie.

    November 8 will go down in history as the day “The World Stood Still”.

    By any equation, Hillary Clinton crushed Donald Trump in the first presidential debate.

    Trump was erratic, inconsistent and incoherent. He did not make a memorable case on any issue except perhaps his temperament (lol).

    Below are some of the things our good candidate Lied about in front of over 100 million viewers.

    • He lied about the loan his father once gave him.
    • He lied about his company’s bankruptcies.
    • He lied about his federal financial-disclosure forms.
    • He lied about his endorsements.
    • He lied about “stop and frisk.”
    • He lied about “birtherism.”
    • He lied about New York.
    • He lied about Michigan and Ohio.  
    • He lied about Palm Beach, Fla.
    • He lied about Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve.
    • He lied about the trade deficit.
    • He lied about Hillary Clinton’s tax plan.
    • He lied about her child-care plan.
    • He lied about China devaluing its currency.
    • He lied about Mexico having the world’s largest factories.
    • He lied about the United States’s nuclear arsenal. 
    • He lied about NATO’s budget.
    • He lied about NATO’s terrorism policy.
    • He lied about ISIS.
    • He lied about his past position on the Iraq War.
    • He lied about his past position on the national debt.
    • He lied about his past position on climate change.
    • He lied about calling pregnancy an “inconvenience” for employers.
    • He lied about calling women “pigs.”
    • He lied about calling women “dogs.”
    • He lied about calling women “slobs.”

    So… who won the debate?

  • Donald Trump Lauds Hindu Community’s ‘Fantastic’ Contributions To US

    Donald Trump Lauds Hindu Community’s ‘Fantastic’ Contributions To US

    Washington: US’ Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has praised Hindu community’s “fantastic” contributions to world civilisation and American culture.

    Mr Trump, 70, also confirmed that he would be addressing an Indian-American event in New Jersey next month, the proceeds of which will benefit global victims of terror.

    “The Hindu community has made fantastic contributions to world civilisation and to American culture, and we look forward to celebrating our shared values of free enterprise, hard work, family values, and a strong American foreign policy,” Mr Trump said in a statement.

    He issued a short 24-second video message inviting Indian-Americans to attend the “incredible” event on October 15.

    “Hello everyone, it is my pleasure to invite you to a Republican Hindu Coalition rally at the PNC Arts Center in New Jersey. I am very much looking forward to speaking to thousands of Indian-Americans and others about making America great again. I look forward to seeing everybody there. It would be an incredible evening,” Mr Trump said in his video message.

    According to the Trump Campaign, the all-day event brings together top actors, dancers, and singers from Bollywood, Hindu spiritual and civic leaders for a celebration of Hindu culture and heritage.

    “The proceeds of the event will benefit global victims of Islamic terror,” the campaign said, adding that the event christened ‘Humanity United Against Terror’ has been organised by Republican Hindu Coalition, which is founded and headed by Indian-American Shalli Kumar from Illinois.

    “I am looking forward to joining my good friend Shalli Kumar, founder and chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition for this terrific event,” Mr Trump said in an accompanying statement issued by his campaign.

    Mr Kumar, who on Sunday was appointed by Donald Trump to his advisory committee for people from Asia Pacific region, said he expects some 10,000 people to turn out for the event.

    This is for the first time in the last two presidential elections that a presidential has confirmed to attend a public Indian-American event.

    Mr Trump’s decision is seen as an attempt to woo the Indian-American community who can play a key role in some of the battle ground States like Virginia if the race is close.

    Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has held and attended a series of fund raisers organised by Indian-Americans across the country including at their homes.

    But those are all closed door events away from public glare.

    Ms Clinton, 68, often called as Senator from Punjab, and has a large following among the Indian-Americans is yet to make any public appearance before the community.

    But she has appointed a large number of Indian-Americans in her campaign team.

    A recent Pew Survey had said that Indian-Americans overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.