HOUSTON (TIP): Three teenagers were killed and another one was injured during a shooting incident at a gas station in the US state of Texas over the Christmas weekend, police said. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, was arrested on Monday afternoon, Xinhua news agency quoted Police Chief Jeff Bryan in the Dallas suburb of Garland as saying. In a surveillance video of the shooting, which took place on Sunday night, the shooter got out of the passenger side of a pick-up truck, walked up to the front door and opened fire into the gas station convenience store from the doorway. Police said he fired more than 20 rounds from a .40 caliber pistol. The shooter then got back into the pick-up and fled with a male driver, whom police said they are still searching for. The victims were three boys aged 14, 16 and 17, police said.The youngest, identified as Xavier Gonzales, was ordering tacos for his family when he was killed.Bryan said it appears Gonzales was just at the “wrong place at the wrong time”.The injured person, a 15-year-old store employee who just started to work in the store last week, was hospitalized and in stable condition, said the police. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive, according to local media reports.
TORONTO (TIP): Scientist Dr Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan, real estate mogul Bob Singh Dhillon, and renowned pediatrician Dr Pradeep Merchant have been bestowed with the Order of Canada — one of the country’s highest civilian awards. The three Indian-origin Canadians have been honored for their outstanding achievement, dedication to the community, helping in building a better nation and promoting bilateral ties between Canada and India.
Internationally renowned scientist and innovator Dr Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan; real estate mogul Bob Singh Dhillon, also known as Navjeet Singh Dhillon; and renowned pediatrician Dr Pradeep Merchant were among the 135 individuals honored with the prestigious award, according to a press note uploaded on the website of the Governor General of Canada on Wednesday.
According to the citation, Lakshmanan from Mississauga, Ontario, was honored “for his philanthropy and for his expertise in hydrometallurgy and business, which have greatly benefited his profession, community and Canada-India relations”.
Founded in 1997, Bob Dhillon’s Mainstreet Equity Corp is the first Sikh-owned company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, a newspaper reported.
The merchant from Greely, Ontario, has been honored “for his long-standing contributions to his community, including his philanthropy and his leadership in the promotion of bilateral ties between Canada and India,” according to the citation.
CHICAGO (TIP): More than a year after the vaccine was rolled out, new cases of Covid-19 in the US have soared to the highest level on record at over 2,65,000 per day on average, a surge driven largely by the highly contagious omicron variant.
The previous mark was 2,50,000 cases per day, set in mid-January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The fast-spreading mutant version of the virus has cast a pall over Christmas and New Year’s, forcing communities to scale back or call off their festivities just weeks after it seemed as if Americans were about to enjoy an almost normal holiday season. Thousands of flights have been cancelled amid staffing shortages blamed on the virus.
The number of Americans now in the hospital with Covid-19 is running at around 60,000, or about half the figure seen in January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
While hospitalizations sometimes lag behind case numbers, the figures may indicate omicron is not making people as severely ill as previous versions, as many experts suspect. Covid-19 deaths in the US have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 1,200 per day to around 1,500.
Several European countries, including France, Greece, Britain and Spain, also reported record case counts this week, prompting a ban on music at New Year’s celebrations in Greece and a renewed push to encourage vaccination by French authorities.
2021 is on way out. And as the year departs,it leaves behind its memories.
As I look back at the year nearly gone by,I find that it has been a painful year,painful for many people across the world. At least in one case the whole world has suffered terrible pain and it has been caused by the Corona virus that took the shape of the pandemic and shook the whole world.
Nobody may have forgotten how people were dying like falling leaves in the autumn season. Even the most prosperous nations with vast resources found that they were not fully equipped to provide even the hospitalization required to save the lives of the people. There were not enough beds, and surely there was no medication available to save the people’s lives. That was the pain that most of the world suffered.
Besides pain caused by the pandemic, one witnessed a growing belligerence among people and nations. One could see a tendency to create conflicts rather than resolve conflicts, rather than prevent conflicts.The world has witnessed during the last one-year terrible growth of belligerence and intolerance. In the US, that belligerence was evident when Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol in Washington, threatening the lives of the lawmakers.
It was evident in the shootings, in the killings, in the discourses of the lawmakers who never ever hesitated in uttering the harshest words for their opponents.
I am from India,and it is said about Indians that you can take an Indian out of India, but you cannot take India out of an Indian. So, all Indians who have made foreign lands their homes tend to stay emotional with the country of their origin. It is s quite natural that the happenings in India affect Indians here. It has really been a very painful year for people in India. They have to put up with a government which does not rule by the law but over the law. Indian democracy has under the present government turned into a kind of autocracy. The authoritarian rule is too much for a people who have enjoyed a certain kind of freedom for almost 65 years.
The present government has been very harsh to many sections of society. The fundamentalist Hindus in the ruling party have created a situation in India where the people of other faiths feel insecure. Over the years the belligerence of the rulers has been growing, and now they have started openly threatening the minorities – Muslims and Christians. There have been instances when even their basic human rights have been trampled underfoot. One shudders to think of what lies in the future. It appears that Indian Government rather than uniting the people of the country is more interested in dividing them, and we all know very well why they need to divide. They need to divide to rule; and that’s a very dangerous game that they are playing. My heart goes out to the people of India who have to suffer under an autocratic rule. I hope 2022 will bring about favorable changes for the people of India.
Karnataka should not pursue regressive legislation in the name of curbing conversion
It is unfortunate that Karnataka has joined the band of States that want to enact regressive laws aimed at policing the private lives and beliefs of citizens in the name of preventing unlawful conversions. After getting the approval of the Assembly, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 has not been tabled in the Legislative Council, presumably in anticipation of the ruling party’s strength in the Upper House turning favorable later. While several States have laws that criminalize conversion on the basis of force, fraud or inducement/allurement, the trend has been to include ‘marriage’ as an illegal means of conversion. Karnataka has now made ‘a promise of marriage’ a means of unlawful conversion. It is needless to say that the idea of presuming that a conversion has or is about to take place alongside an inter-faith marriage is patently unconstitutional as it interferes with the right to privacy, marital freedom and freedom of belief. What makes the Karnataka anti-conversion law quite sinister is that its introduction in the legislature is running in parallel with a series of targeted attacks on churches, Christian prayers and Christmas celebrations. Belligerent right-wing groups are out in the field with what appears to be an agenda to create an impression that religious conversion is rampant and that urgent legislative action is necessary to stop the trend. Anti-conversion laws have been upheld by the courts in the past on the ground that conversion by allurement, force or fraud poses a threat to public order and should be curbed. However, the only threat to public order seems to arise from rampaging groups out to create social discord.
It is true that the Supreme Court has held that the right to propagate religion does not include a right to convert, and that the state can frame laws to prevent conversion through fraud, force or inducement. However, in a pushback against using this legal position to enact laws to preclude inter-faith marriages and render the parties vulnerable to prosecution, the Gujarat High Court has stayed provisions of a State law that made conversion ‘by marriage’ an offence, pointing out that it placed in jeopardy all marriages of those between two different faiths. Regarding the prior notice requirement in the Karnataka Bill for individuals intending to convert, it must be noted that the Himachal Pradesh High Court struck down a similar provision in 2012, holding that asking someone to disclose plans to change one’s faith violates the right to keep one’s religious beliefs private and secret. Anti-conversion laws should target only forcible or fraudulent conversion and not be open to grave misuse; there is no place for provisions that allow family members and associates to complain to the police to interdict lawful marriages. Such laws will plunge society into regressive medievalism.
Bhavan Directors pledge to realize Bhavan’s cherished goals of promoting education and Indian culture
Minesh Patel, Dr Navin Mehta, Ravi Iyer, Dr Parveen Chopra, Sudhir Vaishnav, Padma Shri Dr H R Shah.
NEW YORK (TIP): Bhavan USA the famous Indian Institute of Culture and Arts completed its glorious journey of forty years and Who’s Who in Indian community in the Northeast USA were present to celebrate this important milestone at the Romanti Auditorium of Bhavan’s campus on Fashion Ave in New York, December 13. A well-known freedom fighter in India’s struggle for freedom from British, with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi, founded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1938 in India to preserve, promote and celebrate five thousand years old cultural heritage of India.Today, BVB has 119 institutions in India and 7 abroad, with another 367 constituent institutions. The entire world was coming out of economic depression at that time. Mahatma Gandhi had already energized Indian masses and unified them, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his associates were executed in 1931 and freedom fighters were willing to pay any price to free India. That’s the time when people wanted to celebrate and show pride in their own culture by unifying their diverse religions, cultures, languages, customs and come together as one formidable Bharat and fight against the British through nonviolent movement of Mahatma Gandhi. Cultural celebrations added a potent force in Indian community as we do when we organize India Day parades in America and celebrate India’s culture to find a place of pride in our own towns, counties and metropolitan cities. Mahatma Gandhi showed to the world that we can shake the whole world in a gentle way when you take your own cultural values seriously and fight your battles in a disciplined way by marching your beats to reach the goal.
The founder of Bhavan Dr. K. M. Munshi” s Cultural movement or revolution filled the vacuum, filled Indian’s hearts and minds with love of their own culture and pride in their own country.
Dr. K. M. Munshi knew very well that British wanted to increase western influences by attacking India’s traditional educational system, ignoring India’s rich cultural heritage, and create a bureaucracy that helped British to maintain foreign yoke. Mahatma Gandhi appeared before Macaulay’s commission to make the British realize that they were doing more harm than good to the Indian educational system becauseit was based on Indian values of respect, sacrifice, family, doctrine of Karma, positive outcomes based on emotional intelligence and not sheer intelligence that could be used against humanity for exploitation and destruction of cultures and races.
In New York State we have 128 billionaires out of which 46 of them live in New York City. Yet the responsibility of preserving, developing and celebrating Indian culture depends on Indian community and not others. It’s fairly on the shoulders of Institutions like BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN and likeminded institutes and associations. The way Indian Community is growing with their culture we may be able to make a cultural contribution to America.
In a short period of four to five decades, Indians created a respectable place of distinction economically with education and fertile minds in technology, sciences, medicine, business and other fields. America is developing a liking for Yoga, meditation, Indian cultural performances and above all Indian values that are based on strong ties to family, vegetarianism, not excessive involvement in materialism and investing in business and also supporting many causes of humanity surrounding their neighborhoods.
Air India Regional Manager (America) Sunil Daware and Bhavan stalwarts addressed the gathering L to R: Sunil Daware, Padma Shri Dr.HR Shah, Dr. Navin Mehta, Dr. Parveen Chopra, Sudhir Vaishav
The current Board consists of several Philanthropists and dynamic leaders. Padma Bhushan Dr. Jayaraman, S. P. Hinduja family, Padma Shri Emeritus Chairman Dr. H.R. Shah’s help in setting up Romanti Auditorium in his daughter’s name who he lost during his early struggles, Chairman Dr. Navin Mehta, Vice Chairman Mr. Kenny Desai, Secretary Dr. Parveen Chopra, Executive Director Mr. Sudhir Vaishnav, Director of Operations Mr. Minesh Patel, Ex Chair Dr. Dinker Rai, Ex Chair Prof. Robert Goheen of Princeton University who was erstwhile United States of America’s Ambassador to India and several India’s Consul Generals in New York and several India’s Ambassadors to United Nations have worked on the Board of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA. Several known Directors were represented by Mr. Ravi Iyer.Well known CPA Dwarka Kalantry is the current Treasurer of the Bhavan, USA.
The current Board of Directors has many distinguished leaders. Almost half of them have been conferred Ellis Island Medal of Honor, with Congressional approval, and military honors which they share with six Presidents of United States of America, and several of them have worked as President of Federation of Indian Associations of New York Tristate Area organizing largest parade of Indians and Americans outside India. Our Secretary Dr. Parveen Chopra is the only Asian American who has been conferred Liberty Bell Award by the largest Nassau County Sub Urban Bar Association; Haywood Burns Memorial Award by the largest New York State Bar Association; and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award as well as the Dr. Martin LutherKing jr. Philanthropy Award by the Dr. Martin Luther King Committee of America.
Prime Ministersof IndiaAtal Behari Vajpayee, PV Narasimha Rao,and Inder Kumar Gujralwere among the dignitaries who visited the Bhavan in New York.
Bhavan USA has organized some of the mega shows like Amitabh Bachchan and whole Bachchan family’s tribute to family stalwart Harivansh Bachchan Rai; Pankaj Udhas’s mega show in New York City; Padma Bhushan Anupam Kher’s Show ‘KUCCH BHI HO SAKTA HAI’ in 2020 at Romanti Auditorium; three-day conference on Ayurveda, Yoga, Meditation and Astrology at Fashion Institute of Technology’s Auditorium.Pandit Ravishankar, Anup Jalota and some other artists have also performed at the Bhavan.
A view of the gathering.
Giving a description of the work undertaken at the Bhavan to The Indian Panorama, Bhavan Executive Director Sudhir Vaishnav said that the primary concern of the Bhavan is promoting Indian culture and spreading education. As such, the Bhavan runs special classes to familiarize young Indians with Indian culture, Yoga, Ayurveda and the classical forms of language, music and dances. The Bhavan organizes joint programs with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, the Indian Embassy at Washington D.C. and the Indian Consulate in New York. The library at the Bhavan is richly stacked and available to general public.
The Fortieth Anniversary Grandcelebration was held at the Romanti Auditorium on December 13, 2021, with packed dignitaries from tristate area with many distinguished artists joining the celebrations and was sponsored by Dr. & Mrs. Parveen & Usha Chopra, well known in tristate area.
(With inputs from a Press Release issued by Dr. Parveen Chopra)
INTRODUCTION : In order to engage in a fair and informed discussion, analysis andobjective assessment, with a proposal on the subject “The Future of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD)”, it is necessary to present brief relevant backgrounds of both Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD). This would reveal the initial objectives, PBD’s inception, its successes, and the consequences of its reduction in scope, outreach and intensity among the Indian Diaspora. It would also attempt to justify the proposal for amore robust and active re-engagement of the Indian Diaspora as originally envisioned by PBD when it was first formulated, and the resounding appeal to the Indian Diaspora in the first twelve (12) years of its annual convention.
It is mybeliefthat I am uniquely qualified to present this perspective and proposal on “The Future of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD)”in view of my experience, expertise and active involvement over a long period of time with the Indian Diaspora. I have been directly involved with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) since the inception to 2016, closely collaborating on specific PBD conference sessions, chairing or being a presenter at each PBD, as well as providing much valued advice and recommendations and suggestions to MOIA on PBD. I have traveled extensively among Indian Diaspora and other countries, given lectures, organized and participated in diaspora conferences, written articles and collaborated on several notable publications.
PREAMBLE : The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA): “Ministry was established in May 2004 as the Ministry of Non-Resident Indians’ Affairs. It was renamed as the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in September 2004. Positioned as a ‘Services’ Ministry, it provided information, partnerships and facilitations for all matters related to Overseas Indians: Non-Resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin. The Ministry was merged with the Ministry of External Affairs on 7 January 2016. The government said that the decision was taken in line with government’s “overall objective of minimizing government and maximizing governance” and that it will help the government address duplication as well as unnecessary delays”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Overseas_Indian_Affairs
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PBD : “Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on 9thJanuary every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.
PBD conventions are being held every year since 2003.Since 2015, its format has been revised to celebrate the PBD once every two years and to hold theme based PBD Conferences during the intervening period with participation from overseas diaspora experts, policy makers and stakeholders. These conventions provide a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and people of the land of their ancestors for mutually beneficial activities. These conventions are also very useful in networking among the overseas Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable them to share their experiences in various fields.
Fifteen PBDs:To connect India to its vast overseas diaspora and bring their knowledge, expertise and skills on a common platform, the PBD Convention – the flagship event of MOIA is organized from 7th-9thJanuary every year since 2003. Fifteen PBDs have been held earlier in various places of India so far”.
Besides the annual PBD held in India (rotated in major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad), MOIA held a series of 1-day regional PBDs (RPDs) to better outreach and accommodate those in regions/countries outside of India and addressing issues specific to those regions or countries. These countries included: Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom (London), Netherlands, Canada and USA. These were focused and highly successful events which were also attended by those who could not attend or did not attend the annual PBD held in India.
PBD AS ENGAGEMENT WITH INDIAN DIASPORA
The annual PBD (until 2016) was a welcome engagement event by the Indian Diaspora as a “Diaspora meeting” with attendees from most countries, small and large, where people of Indian origin reside. These include persons of Indian origin (PIOs), citizens of other countries by birth or naturalization, as well as non-resident Indians (NRIs). Attendees welcomed the opportunity to meet, participate in the conference sessions and engage in discussions in meaningful and substantive ways. They felt a sense of jubilation and belonging and expressed the feeling that the Government of India cared for the Indian Diaspora in a substantive way.
Conference sessions included region specific updates and issues, presented by notable speakers from those regions. Information from these sessions provided information, education, awareness and opportunities for cultural, commerce and academic exchanges.
Minister Vayalar Ravi Minister George Fernandes
In addition, it was exciting to witness the Prime Minister of India inaugurate every PBD and welcome the Chief Guest selected among notable PIOs. It was more exciting to witness the President of India bestow the coveted annual Pravasi Bharatiya Saman Awards (PBSA) to a several higher achievers and outstanding PIOs and NRIs of the Indian Diaspora.
THE DEMISE OF MOIA& CURTAILMENT OF PBD
MOIA was established in May 2004 and initiated the annual PBD as its flagship event, a global convention held from 7th – 9thJanuary every year since 2003. The Ministry was merged with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on 7 January 2016. There was no longer a “Diaspora Minister” as MOIA minister was often called. The “Diaspora Minister” visits to near and far reaches of the Indian Diaspora ended in 2016 and the India Diaspora lost its high-level representation within the Government of India.
It should be stated that over the years, PBD gradually became a showcase of the Government of India and the bureaucracy rather than an annual convention of the Indian Diaspora. Although there were several important schemes and policies implemented, they were done at the bureaucratic level, sometimes without relevant input or consultation with the Indian Diaspora.
In addition, the annual PBD was changed to a biennial event, thereby depriving the Indian Diaspora of the engagement, excitement, anticipation and enormous benefits of the annual PBD. The changes by MEA to make the widely accepted PIO card become the OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card caused a lot of confusion at first and was not welcome by many PIOs born and living in multi-ethnic societies where national loyalties remain a thorny issue. These changes further alienated many in the Indian Diaspora who feel that the once respected engagement and outreach have diminished in scope and intensity.
DIASPORA AFFAIRS WITHIN MEA
MOIA was established in May 2004 as a full central government ministry of the Government of India. With that portfolio and supporting staff, MOIA made significant and continuing outreach and visited the far corners of the Indian Diaspora and responded fairly efficiently to queries, input and suggestions from Indian Diaspora organizations, groups and individuals.
The Ministry was merged with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on 7 January 2016 as Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA) with a Secretary of OIA and reduced supporting staff. The Secretary of OIA was also assigned other portfolio duties not directly related to the Indian Diaspora. As such, the once vibrant level of Indian Diaspora outreach and engagement were relegated primarily to the consular offices in the various countries. This was a tremendous change and had consequences of its reduction in scope, outreach and intensity among the Indian Diaspora.
Author with MEA Minister Smt Sushma Swaraj
PBD CHANGES
The goal of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was to connect and engage the Indian Diaspora in all corners of the globe, and it was a tremendously exciting convention of NRIs and PIOs when it was launched in 2003. With the establishment of India’s Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), the Indian Diaspora felt and embraced a real high-level connection to India knowing the serious intent by the Government of India to actively engage the Indian Diaspora.
India continues to actively engage the Indian Diaspora on many fronts with schemes and policies which contribute to more investments in India, increased bi-lateral trade, cultural exchanges and improved working conditions for NRIs in the Gulf State. This effort continues to be quite beneficial for the development of India. However, similar outreach and exchanges are not evident in other countries and regions where investments in India are not readily forthcoming.
The sentiments shared by many is that the engagement with the Indian Diaspora, in particular those born outside of India 2 generations and more, diminished in dramatic ways when MOIA was merged to a department within the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the annual PBD was held every 2 years with a different format, and the PIO card was merged with and replaced with the OCI card. While the concept should remain consistent and should be preserved, PBD seems to have lost its ideals, focus, direction and management. In my view, it has become more bureaucratic than diasporic.
PROPOSAL – PARTNERSHIP FOR ROBUST RE-ENGAGEMENT
For an increasing Indian Diaspora now residing or working at all levels on society in almost every country, with rapid advances in technology and PIO mobility globally, the PBD every 2 years would be missing many important matters which can make it more engaging and pro-active. Simultaneously, regional PBDs would be more relevant especially for those who cannot attend PBDs in India, while addressing matters of interest to the respective countries and region. Clearly, there is urgent need for active and continuing re-engagement with the Indian Diaspora at the level that made MOIA the diaspora engagement ministry and the PBD the flagship event, along with RPDs to revive outreach, engagement and addressing global and country specific Indian Diaspora issues related to connectivity, culture, history, academia, commerce and NRI/PIO issues.
Clearly, PBD with associated RPDs, need to be urgently invigorated and reorganized for renewed relevance and increased global participation. This can be more efficiently achieved with a committed team of Indian Diaspora experts, as well as event planning and management, working in collaboration with MEA/OIA.
The proposed changes would be:
PBD to be revert to an annual event, to be held in India on 7-9 January, with planning, coordination and management by a global non-profit Indian Diaspora organization which can be a federation of several notable Indian Diaspora organizations and institutions such as academia. This effort would be in collaboration with MEA/OIA which is important for policy changes resulting issues and concerns raised at PBD and RPD events. Hosting by the global non-profit Indian Diaspora organization with support of MEA/OIA. Funding would be from international private and government sources.
RPD to be held 4 times annually in countries/regions with significant NRI/PIO population, rotated and scheduled around notable dates and events. It is to be coordinated and managed by the same global non-profit Indian Diaspora organization, in collaboration with MEA/OIA. Hosting by Indian Diaspora organizations in the country/region. Funding would be from national private and government sources. Recommendations: Africa, Far East, Oceania, Caribbean, Europe, North America. Dates: April, June, August, October – spaced 2 months apart and 3 months after the annual PBD.
Focus on issues of relevance, concern and interest to the global Indian Diaspora of NRIs and PIOs and addressed by experts and diaspora participants, selected objectively on the basis of merit. Issues would include Human rights, gender equality, next-generation and social justice, inter-ethnic relations and establishment of “sister” cities, villages and colleges in India with countries of the Indian Diaspora Proposals, recommendations and resolutions to be distributed to various governments, international agencies and institutions with continuing follow-up by assigned personnel.
PBSA should be more efficiently organized, based strictly on merit, geography and NRI/PIO representation, transparent and managed by the organizing global non-profit Indian Diaspora organization, in collaboration with MEA/OIA.
(Guyanese born of Indian parents, the author was educated in USA and resides in New York, USA. He is President of Indian Diaspora Council and a past president of GOPIO. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards including India’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) in recognition of outstanding community service.He can be reached at AshookRamsaran@gmail.com)
A manic irrationality is being seeded in Indian society, with hate-filled words having an impact on the rights of all.
Between December 17 and 19, 2021, a militant Hindu religious assembly was held at Haridwar, Uttarakhand where speakers amplified targeted hate messages. Organized by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the head priest of the Dasna Devi temple and a high-ranking officer of the Juna Akhara (a sect of Hindu seers), the assembly had many speakers who raised the bogey of an Islamic threat to India and Hindus.
Carnival of hate
Swami Prabodhanand Giri, president of the Hindu Raksha Sena, a right-wing organization, said, “… you have seen this at the Delhi border, they killed Hindus and hung them. There is no more time, the case now is that either you prepare to die now, or get ready to kill, there’s no other way. This is why, like in Myanmar, the police here, the politicians here, the army and every Hindu must pick up weapons and we will have to conduct this cleanliness drive. There is no solution apart from this.” Yati Narsinghanand, a repeat hate-speech offender, also offered ₹1 crore to any youth who would rise up to be a “Hindu Prabhakaran” (a reference to the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), in a clear incitement to violent behavior. Swami Darshan Bharti, a proponent of the Hindu right, again called for restrictions on the buying of land by Muslims in Uttarakhand.
I do not want to further amplify the hateful words that were spoken in that carnival of hate at Haridwar. I will instead offer some trajectories of thought. How should we be thinking about these events and processes?
Mass indoctrination
First, let us recognize that there is a manic irrationality that is being carefully seeded in Indian society today and that hate-filled words have an impact on the rights and well-being of all. This process involves consistent and repetitive hate speech and fear speech against minority groups by Hindutva ideologues, which is resulting in a mass cult-like indoctrination aimed at making Hindus believe that they are under immediate threat by those that are not exactly like them. In doing so, a non-existent and unverified threat is manufactured and presented. The speakers at the Haridwar event, between their speeches, painted a picture of an India which is under threat of being taken over by Islamists, and therefore they reasoned, all Muslims must be treated with hate and suspicion. Then the purveyors of this hate speech offered a solution — Hindus must take up weapons against all Muslims in acts of self-preservation. What they effectively outlined for the followers is a fictitious reason for genocide followed by a call to engage in the genocide of Muslims. Second, we need to think about why in India it has been so difficult to isolate and prosecute hate speech even when it so clearly, dangerously and imminently asks for the weaponization of the majority and the murder of Muslims. Why do Indian policymakers still not clearly recognize the extent to which hate-filled narratives lead to actual events that involve a loss of lives, injury to people, loss of dignity and the stripping away of rights of targeted groups?
No distinction
In India we do not make a distinction between hate speech and fear speech. Hate speech (speech that expresses threats, abuse, violence and prejudice) against any community works most effectively when the public sphere has first been saturated with fear speech. Fear speech expresses unknown and unverifiable threats that create a sense of anxiety and panic in individuals. It is purposefully vague. A classic example is the spread of the “satanic panic” in the United States in the 1980s, where the bogey of satanic cults committing ritual child abuse led to deep and widespread public fear.
In India, when Hindutva ideologues tell Hindus that they are under threat by Muslim others, the ideologues are creating mass fear and panic. Every time they re-articulate a trauma inflicted on the Hindu community in the past, they are mobilizing an emotion of eternal hurt combined with presenting a targeted group in a negative stereotype. This has special purchase on people when societies are undergoing conditions of economic, social and political inequality and uncertainty. What such speech also encourages someone to do is simple — pick a side. Being in the middle of debates is no longer an option.
Third, what we have been witnessing in India is the sustained escalation of hate speech and fear speech towards an end goal which involves the violent expulsion of Muslims from the Indian body politic. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to coalesce an electorally beneficial Hindu identity around itself and over time it has blessed the rise of extreme Hindu leaders, thereby creating incentives for other such militant religious careerists, many of whom were in attendance in Haridwar. All of them followed the communal formula that can benefit them, and the BJP, politically.
A transformation and support
Fourth, in over a century, Hindutva ideology has progressed from a loose-cluster of fringe organizations to a sustained grass-roots political movement that has electorally managed to capture state institutions. This capture is important. This is why Swami Prabodhanand Giri can confidently talk about enlisting the police and army in a safai abhiyaan (cleanliness drive). The attendees know that they have the support of the ruling party and its institutions. They are almost sure that they can beat prosecution under existing laws that criminalize hate speech. They also instinctively understand through repeat experimentation that hate speech can lead to violence by their followers against targeted groups and that fear speech can diminish the barriers to people engaging in violence.
Fifth, the display at Haridwar that was attended by at least two functionaries of the BJP, Ashwini Upadhyay and Udita Tyagi of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha, was in direct contravention of the rights of citizens that are clearly worded in the Indian Constitution. Speakers threatened of an 1857-style mutiny against Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh (sedition), incitement to arms and violence.
One speaker, Sindhu Sagar Swami, even bragged about entrapping 10 Muslims in fake cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. All of these are offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Set in 2014
Finally, let us also acknowledge that the Haridwar hate conference has occurred in the broader context of the escalation of attacks on minority groups, attacks on churches and mosques and the disruption of prayers. The manner and tone for such events to occur was set in 2014. What is becoming clear is that the current Indian state seeks to turn common Hindu citizens into enforcers of its majoritarian vision at the neighborhood level. The self-styled godmen at Haridwar are the facilitators of this process, allowing the BJP just the right amount of distance to allow for plausible deniability in domestic and international fora. This is most certainly a dangerous path for India because mass political and social radicalization does not come with power-steering. Those in power would be well advised to start making the moves to check this growing radicalization as effectively as they seem to move to check the fictitious anti-national activities of their fictitious domestic enemies.
(Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan is a political scientist and journalist. She is also the creator of the India Violence Archive, a citizen’s data initiative aimed at recording collective public violence in India. Twitter@vsirnate)
Ravi Batra, eminent attorney and Chair, National Advisory Council South Asian Affairs, addressed the 15th Anniversary Conference of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities’ Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies. It was held in Vienna on November 5. He spoke at the panel “Recruitment and representation of national minorities in police services in order to improve operational practices, trust and accountability when preventing and managing conflict”. His presentation was titled, “Lessons Learned for National Policing from BLM and January 6th Insurrection: United States Passed the Stress Test”.
His recommendation: Have a police force that is multi-ethnic, and “of the people,” “by the people” and “for the people.”
‘I am happy to report, that whenever I have decided to act in case of police officer who dishonored his badge, I have defeated the government’s claims of Qualified Immunity in federal courts, including, the lofty United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as in Biswas v Kwait (City of New York), 576 F. App’x 58 (2d Cir. 2014). To help reduce Policing errors, the Police force must itself be multi-ethnic, matching the society it bravely protects. Our police force must be “of the people”.’
Full Text of the speech of Mr. Ravi Batra at the 15th Anniversary Conference of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities’ Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies
“Lessons Learned for National Policing from BLM and January 6th Insurrection: United States Passed the Stress Test”
By Ravi Batra
Chair, National Advisory Council South Asian Affairs, US
“Dear Moderator Denise Mazzolani,
Thank you for your warm welcome.
I attended the Permanent Council yesterday and heard the comprehensive report of the HCNM. I am honored to support the High Commissioner on National Minorities’ Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies. Indeed, it is clear that there is an undeniable nexus between the 17 SDGs the UN General Assembly adopted in 2015, during the tenure of SG Ban Ki-moon, and the Recommendations of 2006 we celebrate today. Indeed, today’s topic isn’t about Human Rights, but how to have better peace & security. We cannot have a better and more sustainable future if we don’t give due deference to: Mother Nature, to resolve Climate Crisis; the power of the silent Cultural tsunami – created by a mixture of place, language, ethnicity, gender, religion and history – on the efficacy of laws we enact; and the co-dependency between Law & Order and Justice, so our societies can have both public safety and public peace. Permit me a moment to show how police officers are needed for thepublic to be safe: for over twenty years, I have served as pro bono legal counsel to the National NYC Police Department 10-13 Organizations, to better serve the needs of retired NYPD officers. After the CrownHeights race riot of 1991 in Brooklyn, which brought pain andtragedy to the African-American and Jewish-Americancommunities, a Jewish judge and an African-American judgeformed an organization, Blacks & Jews in Conversation, tobring school children of both communities to the Courts andinteract with judges and bar leaders. After a few years of myinvolvement, I was invited to be a Co-Chair, and the name waschanged to Not Just Blacks & Jews in Conversation. Thepower of conversation well exceeds the power of ignorance. Finally, permit me to add the indispensable need of Law & Orderfor society to exist. The Greeks said: Order is beauty, and Beautyis order. The killing of Brian Watkins, a 22-year-old Mormon tourist, senselessly killed in NYC in 1990 proves the importance ofpolice officers and public safety. Then NYC Mayor Dave Dinkinsand Council Speaker Peter Vallone created a ” Safe Streets, SafeCity” program to hire more police officers, and I was delighted toplay a small role in its passage as a New York state law.
The 2006 Policing Recommendations, which time and events since, have only made them tougher to achieve, and yet, more essential to accomplish if we are to keep our nation-state civil, merit-based, with equality and justice for all.
Exceptionalism: United States, Built Better in 1787 to Build Back Better in 2021.
I come from the United States of America, a nation unique in human history as it has exceptionalism rooted in our Declaration, and then, concretized in our separated-powers regime embedded in our Constitution in 1787. I wish only to share our experiences, not to lecture, and in fact, hope to learn from my distinguished co-panelists andin the Q & A session, how today’s Gordian Knot – aka Policing in MultiEthnic Societies – can be solved, as we in the United States have just witnessed the birth of a movement, Black Lives Matter, in 2020 after the pent up – actual or perceived – systemic injustice was lit on fire by the breathless death of George Floyd, a predicate to President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better. And, then, we had an Insurrection on January 6th of this year, but we passed the stress test and Joe Biden was lawfully and peacefully inaugurated POTUS. We have not had such an event since our war of 1812 with our British cousins, when the White House was burned down. That the shrinking majority may feel threatened by Equality, worries me, and causes me to reach-out with compassion to all: white and black, yellow and brown, straight or not. Equality is a utopian goal, but is no easy panacea. We need to be sensitive to the needs of each community, be they majority or minority.
Individual rights v. the Public Good.
It is no secret that from King John in 1215 at Runnymede, and thereafter, individuals have been seeking rights from their sovereigns. After our Declaration, we codified them into our Bill of Rights in 1787. I must pause at Gettysburg for Abraham Lincoln, for his stated recipe is necessary for all societies under law. If governments are to be legitimate and to survive, they must be “of the people,” “by the people,” and “for the people.” Lincoln’s Gettysburg recipe is a covenant, a promise, by government to the governed, which I submit, remains the only sure pathway to achieving the HCNM’s Recommendations on Policing Multi-Ethnic Societies.
Cultural Norms v Gender Equality: Immolation and Birth of Arab Spring.
The problem remains, however, how to un-package and apply that to our social media-infused societies – each of which have different cultural norms, and are not a fictional Hollywood society created in a juicerblender for every place on earth. Tunisia showed that gender equality – a lady officer’s instructions – to a male street-vendor was perceived by him, and most others, as a cultural insult, and he self-immolated: an act that caused the birth of the Arab Spring, a cultural bite-back to genderequality. We, in the United States, are experiencing a rebirth too – but with today’s mores imposed on history, and equality across a multiethnic society, with BLM – it’s our American Spring. Beyond seeking rule-of-law Equality across race, gender and sexual orientation, I submit to you to not ignore the hubris of certainty that social media (SM) provides even to those new to the burdens of power, rather than cherishhumility, born and die as we all shall, imperfect human beings, seeking
God’s benevolence and forgiveness.
Certainty-based Perception of Equality & Justice vs. Humility based-Didactic Discourse.
Our societies are now a vortex of competing certainty – misinformation is now a weapon, used by enemies foreign and domestic to pierce our sovereignty and destroy the public peace – and traditional media has been beaten, and the salutary benefits of their editorial intermediation lost to the mob rule of any active fractional group with SM-certainty. Short of God, there is no perfection. Yet, people young and old, issue fiats of how society must be changed, and statues removed from public places. My revolutionary hero is Thomas Jefferson who penned the Declaration.
My Hero was imperfect, as all of us even today are. Yet, Jefferson’sstatue is being removed from the NYC Council Chamber. This is wrong.We ought not burn our forebearers’ pictures or remove statues, because they were not perfect like God. This is Hubris. I will merely hat-tip to the issues caused by different ethnic members of society praying in different religions – each to be better and absolved of sin, be it only on Judgment Day as in Judaism and Hinduism, through a Confessional as in Christianity, or directly as in Islam. That Godfearing people would fight another group, who pray differently, has always puzzled me as the height of hubris. Pope Francis, beyond dispute, is correct when he says: treat all religions with respect.
Thomas Becket: God over King; Rule of Law Must Honor Nature.
This, then, is the beginning of the core of our problem. You see,
Freedom of Speech – our First Amendment and First in the Bill of Rights – is the right to be wrong, insult, and otherwise opine to expose one’s ignorance. Lincoln famously said: “[I]t is better that people think of you as a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubts.”
Today, SM gives no deliberative time, as there is a premium on being fast and furious. The Right to be wrong or insult, is believed to be protected by the First Amendment, when there is no such right against our fellow citizens, as that right exists only against our Government.
Let me be clear: there is no First Amendment right against your fellow citizen. Indeed, libel and defamation laws provide proof that there is no 1A immunity or inviolability. Indeed, I sued Dick Wolf, creator of Law & Order TV show, and NBC, in “Batra v Wolf” for “libel in fiction” and won a landmark decision confirming such a right. So, nations must educate about speech – and that insult, while at times a basis for great comic relief – can be unlawful if it leads to violence or breach of the public peace as Hate-Speech does.
homas Becket, famously resigned as Lord Chancellor and stayed only as Archbishop of Canterbury, selecting God over King. There are still lessons to be learned from Becket’s choice, as God teaches us to “walk humbly with thy fellow man” and follow the “Golden rule.” We must make sure our rule of law honors God. Pope Francis just told president Joe Biden that he is a good Catholic. Exactly. God over King.
The Golden Rule – from Confucius, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.
The Jewish Sage Hillel said: “That which is hateful to you, do not unto another: This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary…”.Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, answered a Question, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”: “‘You shall love the Lord,your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40.
It’s worth stating the Islamic text on the Golden Rule: “Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious” (Q:4:36). In fact, the Quran goes beyond the Golden Rule, by stating in more than four places: “Return evil with Kindness” 13:22, 23:96, 41:34, 28:54, 42:40. In a multi-ethnic society, we really need to apply the Mandate: “return evil with kindness.”
Badge of Honor – Police Protecting Us vs Policing the Police; Qualified Immunity.
No society can hire and retain any police officers, if we don’t protect them from legal liability, when they risk their life to keep us safe, and have to make life and death decisions in the blink of an eye. They can legally shoot the innocent, while in error protect the guilty. See, for example: 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot and killed on April 20th of this year by a Columbus Ohio police officer Nicholas Reardon answering a domestic dispute call – about 15 minutes before a judge announced that a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. That Bryant had called the police for help was of no moment. As, when Reardonarrived on the scene, he saw a woman wielding a knife and someone else at risk of being hurt or killed. Surely, Reardon ought not be charged with murder.
Sometimes, a Police Officer does wrong, and matters end up in court. And, there the legal doctrine of “Qualified Immunity” works to shield the defendant-police officer from being sued and causes a dismissal of the lawsuit – unless a clearly established right was violated. To protect the majority of good police officers, the bad ones must be justly disciplined.
I am happy to report, that whenever I have decided to act in case of police officer who dishonored his badge, I have defeated the government’s claims of Qualified Immunity in federal courts, including, the lofty United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as in Biswas v Kwait (City of New York), 576 F. App’x 58 (2d Cir. 2014). To help reduce Policing errors, the Police force must itself be multi-ethnic, matching the society it bravely protects. Our police force must be “of the people.”
Conclusion: Depoliticize Issues to Permit Merit-Based Resolution.
I conclude by wishing OSCE and the HC on NM Kairat Abdradhmanov
every success, thank Ambassador Andrei Dapkiunas and Amb. Alena Kupchyna for their valuable input, and note with pride the participation of U. S. Senator Ben Cardin, as well as mention that our dear friend, Congressman Greg W. Meeks is now the first African-American to become Chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. Chairman Meeks is a natural ally for more justice in an inclusive society, and a government that looks like all of us. Build Back Better means to honor Mother Nature at Glasgow, and here, at OSCE HCNM: have a police force that is multi-ethnic, and “of the people,” “by the people” and “for the people.” Just as different flowers make a flower garden more beautiful, so does diversity make our society better. Policing is good law-enforcement when it is free of politics,merit-based, delivering equal justice for all.
2021 is exiting and 2022 is about to enter. So, adieu to one, and welcome to the other. We all have had a mixed kind of experiences in 2021 and we may have our hopes and apprehensions about 2022. The Indian Panorama decided to reach out to readers to have their comment on what impacted them the most in 2021, and what concerns them the most in 2022. We are glad that the response has been quite enthusiastic; we received comments from as many as 15 readers of The Indian Panorama. So, here we go with their comment. Please note we have not edited any, and, as such, the editorial board may please not be held responsible for the mistakes, if any.
We thank the readers for their time and love, and wish them a Happy New Year – EDITORIAL BOARD
Dr. VK Raju, Founder & President Eye Foundation of America, Morgantown, WV
My reflections on 2021
COVID-19 has affected our lives, our economy and nearly every nook and corner of the globe. More than 5 million covid deaths are reported globally and increasing. The US record for daily Coronavirus cases has been broken as two highly contagious variants- Delta and Omicron- have spread across the country.
In 1918, the flu epidemic death rates varied among different groups. It is sad to say that 100 years later, this history repeated itself. Any specific therapies of the day had little impact on the disease. A hundred years later it is still true of covid 19.
While few living people can recall the great flu epidemic of 1918, we can continue to learn its lessons, for example: 1. Common sense value of hand washing, 2. Wearing masks; 3. Vaccinations. Speaking about vaccinations, what percentage of the population recollects smallpox and polio? Smallpox was eradicated because of vaccinations. Polio is eradicated from the planet except for isolated cases in only two countries because of vaccinations. In the case of polio, the Rotary International played a key role. It brought together the political will, professional will, and people’s will. Compare that with the covid situation in US.
Benjamin Franklin said once,” in 1736, I lost my son, a fine boy of 4 years old to smallpox. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I have not given it to him by inoculation. This mentioned for the sake of parents, who omit that operation on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child dies: my example showing that the regret might be the same either way. Therefore, the safer should be chosen.” Today, living in such an advanced world, many of us get the basic facts wrong. In spite of the many advances in public health, one might say that it is too easily forgotten here and seen as having not enough impact in the rest of the world. There are > 700,000 physicians in USA and only less than 1% practice public health. Yearly flu infections cost the USA more than $87 billion annually, and it can be prevented by developing a universal vaccine at a fraction of the cost. We know the old adage “prevention is better than cure”. Yet prevention is celebrated in principle and resisted in practice.
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Amita Singh, Owner, Daminis, Indian fashion retail store, Edison, NJ.
Dreams can be realized at any age, with hard work and a vision
One always dreaded the ‘C’ word, never quite comprehending the multiples it brings. As I was growing up and entering my adolescence, I was taught to respect ‘Mother Nature ‘and ‘Father Time’. Today my two cents worth would be to also trust science and a human’s resilience and spirit. Covid has taught us that there are multiple aspects of life that are out of our control. As a single woman, in my apartment during the worst of the pandemic, with my business closed, all I could realize was that it could always be worse. I have also within me, recognized my own personality to accept and overcome what I cannot change. It could be termed as maturity. Personally, it has risen me to another level. This is ‘POWER’.
Today I celebrate me, the family that truly connects with me and not just because we share a family tree. I have also grown to respect friends that have an honest, not always agreeable, discussion with me and participate in my life. I have grown to cherish time that others make for me and not the gifts they bring nor the accolades. As we enter 2022, recognizing life can’t get any worse yet it can, I want to remember lessons learnt, not to be easily forgotten. I want to celebrate the strength within me to make small changes that leave those around me in a better place. Be it in words, action, holding hands or just offering my shoulder.
Life is not difficult; we make it so by the choices we make!
So I think and believe!!!
Wishing every ‘Indian Panorama’ reader a very happy New Year! May 2022,bring you gifts that sustain you as a human being and are not fleeting. History is a cruel reminder. Let’s rise & shine!
May you create precious memories that are passed onto the next generation!
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Ashook Ramsaran, President Indian Diaspora Council International, New York
Impactful Issue of Year 2021 and Primary Concern for 2022 – by Ashook Ramsaran
Most impactful issue of 2021: The continuing spread, unknown trajectory and devastating effects of Covid-19 and its variants, inequity of Covid-19 vaccines globally and the tremendous impact on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. The unexpected toll globally in 2021 has been hugely impactful: The unprecedented numbers of those who died, got infected, were physically and mentally affected, displaced, lost their jobs and loved ones, and experienced inordinate disruption in their way of life. Disproportionately affected were front line medical, emergency food industry workers, the poor, and working parents. Covid-19 induced poverty increased by over 100 million people worldwide. Business, travel, education and purchasing of food and goods changed dramatically in ways never before imagined. While technology allowed some sectors to continue at reduced levels, the untold consequences will have long lasting impact into the future.
Issue of primary concern in 2022: The continuing devastating effects of global climate change with continued resistance to taking necessary steps to reverse the trend and save our planet. While promises are made and broken, there is absence of a coherent strategy and global leadership on the dire impact of changing climatic conditions due to mankind’s adverse influence on the environment. Developed and developing countries, as well as business self- interest, have largely failed to acknowledge science and physical changes taking place: unprecedented levels of pollution, global temperature rise, floods and droughts, forest fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and storms, increasing respiratory problems among all ages, availability of healthy foods, water and air. Climate changes will affect everyone’s lives and livelihood in unprecedented ways.
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Dr. Thomas Abraham, Chairman, GOPIO International, Stamford, CT
The 2021 continued to be a year in turmoil with a global pandemic continuing to hit the USA, Europe, India and many other countries very badly. When the pandemic hit India severely in April/May/June 2021 and causing lack of Oxygen supplies, the Indian Diaspora community organizations including GOPIO came forwarded to ship massive number of oxygen concentrators to India. The good part in the USA in 2021 was the change over to a new administration which had put together many concrete steps to help American people from the disaster caused by the pandemic. The administration also helped to bring back a robust economy with a very low unemployment. The Corona Virus affected everyone including our Diaspora community. We lost many friends in India due to the pandemic. For Indian Americans, it was an extraordinary year with Indian/African origin Kamala Harris sworn in as Vice President of the USA. By the middle of the year, we could start organizing programs with physical presence, however, the new Omicron variant spreading fast in the USA and all over the world, has alerted us to be cautious. As we enter the New Year, let us hope that our world comes back with normal life in 2022. I wish everyone a healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
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George Abraham, Vice Chairman, IOCUSA
Another tumultuous year is passing by as we are on the threshold of a New Year. We were told to wear masks, wash our hands, take vaccines twice, take a booster shot, keep a safe distance, and we complied with them all. However, Omicron couldn’t care less, and once again as this virus (manufactured or not) made its way all-around, creating havoc and spreading panic. I am nostalgic for those days when I was indeed a free man enjoying life as a normal human being.
It is also sad to see that politicians are using this crisis to advance their own interests rooted in the ideology of their choice. These elected representatives who are supposed to serve us are acting as our Lords and Kings. They have succeeded in depriving people like me of going into a Dunkin’ Donut’s shop and enjoying a coffee and apple fritter in-house in the last several weeks. I wonder whether they are genuinely concerned about my health or usurping their authority and exercising power over all of us. The primary responsibility of the government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. If they are genuinely concerned about our security, they will not defund the police and facilitate a rise in crime that threatens every law-abiding citizen. However, today the authorities are busy yanking a whopper jr. from a kid’s hand at a Burger King joint rather than arresting and detaining marauding youths who are engaged in ‘smash and grab’ burglaries all around! It is amazing how our world has just turned upside down!
Our only hope for 2022 is that common sense will prevail across the board! May I wish everyone a peaceful and healthier New Year!
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Mabel Pais, Writer on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Health & Wellness, and Spirituality, New York.
In 2021, the COVID-19 virus that began to make its appearance in the latter half of 2019, pervaded us and took the lives of 10s of 1000s of humans, first in the western countries, then most countries, one by one.
My wish for all of us to stay healthy in 2022 and live productive lives is to develop a healthy immune system that will NOT get impacted by any deadly virus. I think this can happen if we live as a co-existent, interdependent human society where we look out for one another.
The demise this week of Nobel Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Anglican bishop, theologian, and peace activist brings home the message: “I am, who I am….because…. we are, who we are.” “I am… because…. you are.” – Ubuntu thoughts. Our survival and our thriving are inextricably connected.
Treading in the footsteps of another Nobel Prize laureate Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other peace seekers, it is fitting to accept this co-existence and inter-dependence of us humans as absolutely vital to our survival and prosperity, if we wish to continue to thrive on Mother Earth. Mother Earth is our home. We cannot abuse our Mother who nurtures us and allows us to live and flourish day by day. Would we abuse our human mother? I doubt it. Let’s treat Mother Earth with the respect and caring she has bestowed on us for millennia. Let’s stop abuse of nature: the flora and fauna with which we have been gifted from birth.
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Urmilesh Arya MD FACP, President, National Association of Indians in America, New York
Impact of Covid on USA
One of the issues that impacted US as well as the entire world is the Covid 19 crisis. In US more than 52.5 million suffered from this infection out of that more than 833,000 people died. As of Dec 16, 2021, 1 in 6 US resident have been confirmed infected and 1 in 409, people died. Many hospitals did not have enough staff to meet the demand and many countries had shortage of PPE, Respirators and oxygen supply. The pandemic made an increase in Violence, robberies and lootings, a constant threat.
Addictions, mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, loneliness, and social isolation affected more to young generation between18 to 34 years of age. Preventive care delayed because of Covid infection
The pandemic has created a need of support in the areas of Housing / Homelessness, Health care, Nutrition / Food support, Mental Health, Domestic Violence, care for seniors etc.
The major invention to control pandemic was invention of vaccine. According to CDC 241.6 million people (73%) has received at least one dose, out of that 62 % are fully vaccinated. Recently there is a 41 % increase in new covid cases. People who are getting hospitalized are those who are not vaccinated.
Pandemic has changed the life of people, how we work, learn and interact as social distancing guidelines have led amore virtual existence both personally and professionally. The good news is people were using this time to get healthier in many areas, better eating habits, improved sleep pattern, modifying on exercise program and healthy dietary changes. Quarantine made them value their relationships. Children have benefited from being able to spend more time with family. Also, people reevaluated how they spend their time and the life goals.
There is a new variant of concern in 2022, covid Omicronthat spreads fast but less severe than beta and delta variant, symptoms are same as that of Flue.
Vaccines clearly raise antibody and strengthen the body defense against infection. People feel a great concern about effect of Covid in 2022. Bill gates said, the biggest concern is “people’s distrust in Government.” Chief executive officers of Companies like Health care, Restaurants, manufacturing etc., think hope for return of economy to normal is misguiding. Stock market may crash, Recession may happen. President Joe Biden said “we are experiencing the strongest economic recovery in the world. Even after inflation, our economy is bigger, and our families have more money than they did before pandemic.” We got to think positive and hope for a better future. Wish you all a Happy New year and there is a healthy, happy and pandemic ending 2022.
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Gobind Bathija Entrepreneur and Community Leader, New York
As 2021 comes to a close, it is sometimes difficult to remove yourself from the immediate challenges that face us and reflect on what has evolved as a result of those challenges. India’s commitment to the development and implementation of COVID-19 vaccinations and treatment programs is a testament to their dedication to the safety and welfare of its citizens regardless of Sector. With respect to the fight against the Covid Pandemic, India is unified. All necessary steps are being taken to ensure India is prepared well to face the continued challenges and threats posed by the continued pandemic of the corona virus. India has even addressed the Indian men’s love of spitting with officials introducing penalties for such actions combatting the airborne dangers in the spread of the virus. While united in the fight against Covid and with a growing economy, India continues to face challenges with Sector unification. The Public Corruption Index (PCI) still measures close to historical highs. In 2001, the PCI measured at 31 and currently measures at an historical high of 42.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proven credibility in making the grandest of decisions to combat global and internal threats, including corruption and the pandemic. PM Modi took immediate action at the early stages of the pandemic by shutting down the economy on the grandest possible scale. He put the country first ahead of the political effects. PM Modi can never be accused of not doing enough. PM Modi should continue to lead with visions of improving quality of lives, strengthening of human freedoms and aspirations, and deepening democracy. While leaders around the world are pre-occupied with immediate challenges, PM Modi presents the initiatives for the next 25 years marking the Centenary of Indian Independence including making India stronger, more prosperous, more inclusive and equal and more democratic. This will result in less corruption, and a safer, cleaner, stronger economic world power of India.
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Harpreet Singh Toor, Co -Founder & President, South Asians for Global Empowerment
The Year 2021 was a very challenging year as we were still in Covid-19, which we still are, and we also have a new President for US. There was such a contrast in personalities with outgoing president, but the challenges were still the same. The withdrawal from Afghanistan for US, the Farmers Protest and resolution for India and Russia knocking on the door of Ukraine. The 2022 is beginning with two major challenges for world. One is Covid-19 still raging and geopolitical challenges from Russia, China and Taliban. I hope and wish we have more Statesmen in the world. Still, wishing a Best and Healthy New Year to all of you. Best wishes for Indrajit Saluja for his tireless work and efforts to put the issues in a proper perspective.
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Sunil Mehra, MD, FACP, FCCP, Professor of Clinical Medicine Former Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, and Director of MICU
We had a rough 2020-2021 for the entire world. Covid impacted the lives of everybody. It struck humanity with vengeance as Pandemic of the century. We lost a few million people in the world with USA losing more than half a million. It causes an economic downfall for many professions including medical field. 2022 is starting with surge in Covid omicron numbers making lots of people sicker esp. kids and unvaccinated individuals. My best wishes to readers of Indian Panorama and entire world for a better healthier life. May God be on our side and give us hope and strength
Health, health and health was one fear or issue for a lot of people in 2021 and it will continue in 2022 also. The atmosphere around covid is unpredictable. Various theories are being spread by many different people. It’s hard to really know what is true. I think it’s better to listen to doctors and scientist but then there are peoplewho do not agree. For me personally taking care of myself and be responsible towards my wellbeing and not getting sick. has been a concern. So far, I am fine, and I will continue taking care of myself and my health in 2022. My suggestion is to be responsible towards your wellbeing and learn to be more grateful to the universe and the people in your life. Explore within you happiness, contentment and inner peace.
Once one practices this exploration then it can be easier to face challenges in life.
Then there are realities of living such as work, family, finances etc which bring another challenge for individuals depending on their circumstances. I think the US had four cross-cutting issues- COVID-19, economic recovery, racial equity, and climate change. But the most important issue has been covid in 2021 and it will continue in 2022. Having said this, I still say welcome 2022 with hope and self-care responsibility.
so Happy New Year! It sounds good to say it and to hear it!
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Mike Ghouse- motivational speaker, thinker, author, and interfaith wedding officiant, Washington, D.C.
2021 went away swiftly, even before we realized it, so will be 2022
We have a choice to reluctantly accept what comes our way or choose to shape the future we want. We can carry a rotten face and sulk about things that went awry or have a plan for 2022.
A good plan is not difficult to write; let me simplify it for you. All you have to do is cut a few pieces of pocket-size paper or get 3×5 cards. On the top of each piece of paper, write this out.
Personal health
Family health
Family finances
Income and what to spend on
Job situation
Education
Vacation
Volunteering
Whom to donate
Other items
As your mind races through different topics, take each piece and write down the bullets, don’t worry about priority or sequence at this time. Just jot down the points as they come to you. Once you have enough points on each piece of paper and start thinking about each item, could you write it down or absorb it?
Now, you have the complete data to do whatever you want to do with it. Experience has shown that it gives you peace of mind when you come to this point; the scattered brain comes together.
What is my plan?
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Gobind Munjal – A dedicated and committed Community Worker, New York
Let me first congratulate Prof Saluja for having completed 15 years of publication of The Indian Panorama. I wish Prof Saluja and the staff of The Indian Panorama all the success and best wishes in their endeavor to serve the Indian Community by bringing truthful reporting and making it an informative and educative publication. It gives me immense pleasure to know that The Indian Panorama is bringing out a special edition on the occasion of the New Year.
I am sure the new year edition will record events of 2021 much like 2020, a source of misery to people all over the world. In addition to a lot of deaths, the Coronavirus in the form of new variants continue to adversely impact the businesses and the economy causing a shortage of work force, supply constraints and high inflation. One thing is good that very effective Vaccines were made within a record period of time, which have proved to be a good defense against this deadly virus and people are learning to live with it. As we bid goodbye to 2021, we hope that the new year will bring hope and prosperity and put an end to this pandemic. The things will come back to normal, and world will be a much better place to live in. I wish Prof. Indrajit Saluja and The Indian Panorama continued success and wish everybody a Happy New Year!
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Rajendar Dichpally, General Secretary, IOCUSA, New York
As the year 2021 comes to an End, we look back at the past year with a sense of despondency and also sorrow on the destruction that the second wave of Covid-19 – 2021 caused to human lives, especially for American Indian’s. I still have nightmares listening to horror stories of the collapse of the healthcare system in India caused by the second wave of Virus that hit the country like a tsunami. I have personally lost so many loved ones in my own family and friends. There was nothing we could do to control the situation and looked on helplessly as the virus took away so many lives in India and USA with quick succession.
I was fortunate to work with some good organizations like Gandhian Society to do whatever little we could to help the situation in India. This Virus has taught us that life is so fragile and unreliable and only thing we can do is live a life to the full and try and be a good human being.
As we enter 2022, we are again on the verge of another wave of the virus that has mutated in the form of Omicron, and we are looking at more troubling times. I pray to God to grant the world relief of this virus and let the world breathe easy again, let the children begin to enjoy their childhood again, let businesses flourish and let there be happiness, Good Health and happiness again in this world. Let us again unite to fight this battle together and emerge victorious against the virus. God Save this world and bless all the people who love on this earth. Amen.
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Indu Jaiswal RDN CDN, Chair Indian American Forum, New York.
As we approach the end of 2021 and are looking forward to New Year 2022, we are still going to face tremendous challenges. We hope that year 2022 will be better than 2021. We are still facing the Pandemic of the COVID -19. all over the world however Vaccine and Booster shots are providing better hope in times to come. We also hope that people affected with mental Health challenges will think positive and become more tolerant. Pandemic has affected the Mental Health of people, Despite the arrival of Omicron Variant of COVID – 19 all over, we still feel positive that with constant Vaccinations this variant will be controlled. We Look forward for positive progress against COVID 19. Another factor is to hope for better environment, address Global warming so we do not have to face extreme weather. As people will start returning to work and to normal lifestyle, things will improve. Also as, Global economy will improve, and people will have better expectations. We all must be positive in our thoughts, and we continue to Salute out Frontline workers who continue to work tirelessly in providing us Quality health care and save our lives. We also want to Salute members of All armed forces and police officers for protecting our everyday lives. On behalf of Indian America Forum Members of Board of Trustees and Executive members we wish all of you Happy and Healthy New Year 2022
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Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Maryland
May this New Year bring along love, prosperity, health, and peace in everyone’s life to make this year a beautiful one for all. We wish the New Year unfolds new goals, new happiness, and new achievements and brings smiles and joy for all of us. Na.e saal me.n pichhlii nafrat bhulaa de.n, Chalo apnii duniyaa ko jannat banaa de.n.(Parveen Shakir).
After receiving a doctorate from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1972, I served as a faculty member at the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. In 1994, joined the Veterans Health Administration, US Government as Scientific Review Advisor until retirement in 2020. I have served with several Indian literary and cultural organizations.
Comments of readers are invited on the views expressed here.
“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools,” is a famous quote of Napoleon Bonaparte who said that people should keep positive attitudes if they want to meet their goal or accomplish a task or effectuate some kind of change. He cautioned against getting side-tracked or to believe that anything was impossible.
This quote sums up Punjab’s political scenario. What one could not visualize three months ago was now turning out to be a reality. Everyone, except for the ruling Congress party, is working for a change. Sworn enemies are friends to fight the common enemy. They are going overboard to forge alliances and coalitions with the sole aim of accomplishing a task, grab the power. Never before Punjab had so many coalitions or alliances in the fray for political supremacy in the 117-member State Assembly. Traditionally, Punjab has been ruled by two parties – Congress, the oldest national party, and the Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest regional party. It is not to undermine the role the coalitions have played in chartering the destiny of this border State. Though elections are still to be announced, new parties and new coalitions are hitting the horizon to send a strong message to the traditional players that battle of the ballot early next year is not going to be easy.
Punjab needs a change is the shout, loud and clear.
The oldest political alliance – Shiromani Akali Dal- Bharatiya Janata Party – has already become a part of history. Interestingly, three of the four major political players of the 2017 Assembly elections, will have new partners. The ruling Congress is an exception. It may go to the polls on its own.
Coalitions or alliances are an accepted political reality. Requisites for an alliance or coalition to make a political statement are a common minimum program and seat adjustment besides at times deciding the leader of the coalition.
Coalitions and defections also go hand in hand. While the BJP is scouting for Sikh faces, other parties have a tough challenge on hand to check defections. The BJP has been successful in getting at least three of sitting Congress MLAs, all Sikhs, in its fold and may get more in the coming days. Electoral alliances are looked upon as a part of the electoral strategy to draw maximum political advantage. That may be one reason that most political alliances or coalitions are announced on eve of the elections.
Coalitions and defections are closely linked. After reorganization on November 1, 1966, when the first popular Government assumed office in the State in March, 1967, it was a coalition government led by Justice Gurnam Singh with representatives of Jana Sangh (Dr Baldev Parkash) and an Independent (General R.S. Sparrow) in it.
It was the beginning and since then Punjab witnessed several coalition governments, mostly headed by Shiromani Akali Dal. Interestingly, at times, Akalis enjoyed clear majority in the Assembly, but still continued to keep the partnership with the BJP intact. Ultimately, this oldest coalition of the country ended after the BJP government went ahead with the controversial Farm laws. Though the government yielded to a year-long agitation of the farmers to rescind the laws, both the SAD and BJP, have gone ahead with new alliance partners for the coming elections. While the SAD has chosen Bahujan Samaj Party as its partner, the BJP has decided to go with the breakaway Congress group – Punjab Lok Congress – headed by the displaced Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. This alliance has a third partner in the break group of Taksali Akalis – Sanyukat Shiromani Akali Dal) led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. As of now, the SAD-BSP alliance has not only reached agreement on seat adjustment and common minimum program, but also chosen Sukhbir Singh Badal as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-Sanyukat Akali Dal have constituted a panel to decide on seats and common minimum program.
The most talked about alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the recently floated Samyukt Samaj Morcha is viewed as a formidable opponent not only to ruling Congress but also to the other two alliances.
The Samyukat Samaj Morcha, an umbrella political outfit of 20-odd Farmers Unions, is headed by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal. A section of AAP had been projecting him as the probable Chief Ministerial candidate of the AAP-SSM alliance. The probability of this Alliance becoming real is diminishing by day.
Since one of the essential ingredients of an alliance is seat adjustment, SSM may feel handicapped as the AAP has already announced candidates for 88 of 117 seats, thus leaving little scope for the other partner to chip in its candidates on its winnable seats. Will this alliance become a reality is a question agitating many minds.
Congress appears to be going to the battle of the ballot on its own. With star campaigner and the President of the Pradesh Congress Committee Navjot Singh Sidhu going about his 13-point agenda of restructuring fiscal health of the State, it appears an uphill task as his differences with his own party government in the State continue to hawk media headlines.
Further, the party losing its MLAs to Bharatiya Janata Party, may be a cause of concern for the party high command. Three sitting MLAs – Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Fateh Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Laddi – have already defected to the BJP. This is in addition to the displaced Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who has floated his own party.
Differences apart, both Navjot Singh Sidhu and Congress Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi are running against the time as the promises made to electors of Punjab in 2017 are far from honored. Announcements made in recent months need a close follow up for implementation before the Model Code of Conduct comes into play.
(The author is the former Chief of Bureau of The Tribune. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)
GENEVA (TIP): The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems. Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, December 29, said at a press briefing that he’s “highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta — is leading to a tsunami of cases.” “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods,” he added, citing the pressure as not only new Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalization but also a large number of health workers getting sick themselves. Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases, Xinhua news agency reported.
“But we are undermining the other side at the same time — it could be dangerous… we shouldn’t undermine the bad news just focusing on the good news,” he said. “We don’t want people to be complacent, saying this is not severe, this is mild. And we have to be very careful in that narrative,” he added. According to Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, though Omicron looks like being more transmissible, having a shorter incubation period, and causing a mild disease, it’s based on the largely young population that the variant has been infecting. Since the Omicron wave has not been fully established in the broader population, Ryan said he’s “a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in the older and more vulnerable populations.” “I think it’s really important over the coming weeks that we keep suppressing transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can,” he added.
OTTAWA (TIP): Canada met its target of granting 4,01,000 foreigners’ permanent residency in 2021 by focusing its efforts on temporary residents already in the country, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Thursday, December 23. Canada, which depends on immigration to drive its economy and support an aging population, saw new permanent residents falling over 45 per cent to 1,85,000 in 2020, when borders were largely closed due to Covid-19.
The majority of the new 4,01,000 permanent residents – a figure reached for the first time in more than a century – were already in Canada on temporary status, according to a statement from the immigration minister. “Last year, we set an ambitious goal. Today, we achieved it,” Fraser said.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has relied on immigration to boost the Canadian economy since coming to power in 2015, setting an annual target of about 1 per cent of the country’s population of nearly 38 million.
The government has said it hopes to add 4,11,000 new permanent residents next year.Official data released earlier on Thursday showed Canada’s economy likely expanded for the sixth consecutive month in November, coming very close to pre-pandemic levels.
NEW YORK (TIP): Mayor-elect Eric Adams announced Wednesday, December 29 afternoon that he will hold his swearing-in ceremony at the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, shortly after the stroke of midnight when the ball drops and rings in the new year.
“Times Square has long been synonymous with the New Year — a place of excitement, renewal, and hope for the future. These are the same themes that animated my campaign and will inform my mayoralty, as I prepare to lead the city out of this challenging period,” Adams said in a statement. “I am deeply humbled to officially take the oath of office at this iconic occasion, and to participate in the transfer of leadership that is a cornerstone of our democracy.” Adams will be sworn in by the city clerk and joined by his family members. Initially, Adams was scheduled to have a joint inauguration ceremony with City Comptroller-elect Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams at the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn on Saturday evening — a major break from traditional inaugurations held on the steps of City Hall. However, due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, the political leaders agreed to postpone the event. Times Square Alliance President Tom Harris congratulated the mayor-elect for joining the iconic celebration.
“We are honored and thrilled that Mayor-elect Adams has chosen to be sworn in before the world in Times Square after the clock strikes midnight,” Harris said in a statement. “The New Year is a time to look forward to the future and we are looking forward to working with Mayor-elect Adams to continue the recovery of Times Square and the rest of our city.”
NEW YORK (TIP): Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004. The verdict, found after jurors deliberated for five days, capped a monthlong trial featuring sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14, told by four women who described being abused as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s palatial homes in Florida, New York and New Mexico.
All told, Maxwell was found guilty of conspiracy to entice minors to travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, conspiracy to transport minors to travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, and sex trafficking a minor.
She was acquitted on one count of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
The defense had insisted Maxwell was a victim of a vindictive prosecution devised to deliver justice to women deprived of their main villain when Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019. During the trial, prosecutors called 24 witnesses to give jurors a picture of life inside Epstein’s homes — a subject of public fascination and speculation ever since his 2006 arrest in Florida in a child sex case.
A housekeeper testified he was expected to be “blind, deaf and dumb” about the private lives of Epstein, a financier who cultivated friendships with influential politicians and business tycoons, and Maxwell, who had led a jet-setting lifestyle as the favorite child of a media mogul.
She faces the likelihood of years in prison — an outcome long sought by women who spent years fighting in civil courts to hold Maxwell accountable for her role in recruiting and grooming Epstein’s teenage victims and sometimes joining in the sexual abuse.
Pilots took the witness stand and dropped the names of luminaries — Britain’s Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump — who flew on Epstein’s private jets.
Jurors saw physical evidence like a folding massage table once used by Epstein and a “black book” that listed contact information for some of the victims under the heading “massages.”
There were bank records showing he had transferred $30.7 million to Maxwell, his longtime companion — onetime girlfriend, later employee. But the core of the prosecution was the testimony of four women who said they were victimized by Maxwell and Epstein.
I want to commend the bravery of the girls – now grown women – who stepped out of the shadows and into the courtroom,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the verdict. “Their courage and willingness to face their abuser made this case, and today’s result, possible.” Three testified using first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy: Jane, a television actress; Kate, a former model from Great Britain; and Carolyn, now a mom recovering from drug addiction. The fourth was Annie Farmer, a psychologist who chose to use her real name after being vocal about her allegations in recent years.
They echoed one another in their descriptions of Maxwell’s behavior: She used charm and gifts to gain their trust, taking an interest in their adolescent challenges and giving them assurances that Epstein could use his wealth and connections to fulfill their dreams. They said the script would darken when Maxwell coaxed them into giving massages to Epstein that turned sexual, encounters she played off as normal: After one sexual massage, Kate, then 17, said Maxwell asked her if she’d had fun and told her: “You are such a good girl.”
Carolyn testified that she was one of several underprivileged teens who lived near Epstein’s Florida home in the early 2000s and took up an offer to give massages in exchange for $100 bills, which prosecutors described as “a pyramid of abuse.”Maxwell made all the arrangements, Carolyn told the jury, even though she knew the girl was only 14 at the time.
Jane said in 1994, when she was only 14, she was instructed to follow Epstein into a pool house at his Palm Beach estate, where he masturbated on her.
(The lone count on which Maxwell was acquitted applied only to Jane.)
“I was frozen in fear,” she told the jury, adding that assault was the first time she had ever seen a penis. She also directly accused Maxwell of participating in her abuse.
Maxwell’s lawyer asked Jane why it had taken so long to come forward.
“I was scared,” she said, choking back tears. “I was embarrassed, ashamed. I didn’t want anybody to know any of this about me.”The last to testify, Farmer described how Maxwell touched her breasts while giving her a massage at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch and how Epstein unexpectedly crawled into bed and pressed himself against her. Maxwell, 60, vehemently denied the charges through her lawyers. Still, she declined to take the risk of testifying, telling the judge: “The government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt so there is no reason for me to testify.” “The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things that Jeffrey Epstein did,” one of Maxwell’s lawyers, Bobbi Sternheim, emphasized to the jury. “But she is not Jeffrey Epstein and she is not like Jeffrey Epstein.”Maxwell’s legal team questioned whether the accusers’ memories were faulty or had been influenced by lawyers seeking big payouts from Maxwell and from Epstein’s estate in civil court.The legal fights involving Epstein and Maxwell are not over: Maxwell still awaits trial on two counts of perjury. Lawsuits involving the abuse allegations also continue, including one in which a woman not involved in the trial, Virginia Giuffre, says she was coerced into sexual encounters with Prince Andrew when she was 17. Andrew has denied her account and that lawsuit is not expected to come to trial for many months.
NEW YORK (TIP): Those holding Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards need Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) permission to buy agricultural land, farmhouses and plantation property. But they need not seek the RBI’s prior approval to buy or transfer immovable property in India, said the apex bank in a clarification after it received a large number of queries based on newspaper reports on a Supreme Court Judgment.
The Supreme Court’s judgment on February 26, 2021, in a civil appeal was related to provisions of FERA which has been repealed. At present, NRIs and OCIs are governed by provisions of FEMA and do not require prior approval of the RBI for acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India, other than agricultural land, farmhouse and plantation property. The sale and transfer will have to be as per the terms and conditions laid down in Chapter IX of the FEMA (Non-debt Instruments) Rules of October 17, 2019, said the RBI.
By Astro Friend Chirag – Son of Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla
Aries : Ganesha saysthis year you will have a very good progress by your hard-working nature. But it would be difficult dealing with people who try to hamper your hustle this year. Trust your instincts and make sure that you do not allow people who do not wish the best for you in your life this year. Your energies even though extremely strong are still scarce and you must ensure that you’re channeling your energy in the right direction and utilizing it to the best of your benefit. You should also make your health your priority this year and make sure that you’re staying hydrated and happy. Keep your mental health a priority amidst all the hustle and the hassle that you do this year. This is a year when you will seem to be more in touch with your intuition. Your attention will be drawn to financial matters during the second half of the year. You will be very willing to offer your support when a friend or loved one needs it. Some decisions will need quick thinking hence keep a habit of staying alert, aware and on top of your game.
Taurus : Ganesha says, you will have a very prosperous year. This year will bring more clarity and focus to your thinking. You will obtain a new level of maturity this year. This year your finances will rise, and you will make a good amount of gains from old investments. A friend or someone you work with might give you the impression that they aren’t happy with your behavior in January although they won’t say make a big deal out of it, you have to make sure that you’re aware and vigilant about your behavior towards other people this year. During the first two or three months of this year, you might feel as if there are too many challenges that prevent you from achieving your goal this year.
Gemini: Ganesha says, your partner will be very supportive of you this year whether it’s your health or your business. They will take care of things that you need to get done this year and this will facilitate a lot of thoughts in your mind about moving forward with this relationship. Your business will need you to make a crucial move this year which includes a lot of investments, and you have no one to guide you at all. You will need to spend a lot of time analyzing and strategizing your future business plans this year. You will spend the entire first six months working hard on your business this year. You will spend this year feeling content and grateful. Your mental health is doing well this year, and you will be in a good mood throughout this year.
Cancer : Ganesha says, this is a very relaxed year for you as your professional and personal life will all work out quite well for you this year. You will enjoy this year a lot. Make sure you take time to relax in the second half of your year. You’ll feel a vague restlessness that will pester you to consider new career options. You will face a lot of challenges with your partner as well this year. Although the differences between you and your partner are minor, they also make you a very compatible couple if you’re willing to make certain sacrifices and communicate efficiently. In this year you will understand that you and your partner have similar likes and dislike and you will still need to make minor compromises and mutually work things out.
Leo : Ganesha says, this year is full of joy for you, because of a lot of love and appreciation from your partner. This year will be only about receiving love and feeling absolutely at home with your family. You will experience positive changes in your loved ones that you have wanted to see. While you strive to achieve your professional goals, you will receive support, empathy, and understanding. This is the year of your life that you will always remember as being extremely beautiful. This year will also be extremely lucrative for you as well. Make sure that you’re making the most of this year by inculcating a positive mindset and making sure you’re doing the best you can. Avoid comparing yourself with other people on social media or in real life. Be vigilant when it comes to trusting people with your finances this year.
Virgo : Ganesha says, you’ll receive an unexpectedly huge amount of money this year. You’re full of joy and exuberance this year. Your business will do great in this year. Hyperactive energies will cause you to rush things. If you give in to the thoughts that are rushing you, you will experience anxiety and a fastened heart rate, both of which only hinder your progress and make your thought process blur and hard to understand at the beginning of the year. Take some time off in the middle of the year because that is the time when you might struggle with your mental health.
Libra : Ganesha says, this year will be lucrative for your business, provided you stay focused and do not get involved in things that no longer are meaningful or lucrative for you. This year is lucky for you in terms of work and finances hence to reap the full benefits of your good luck work as hard as you can this year. Your happiness and peace will improve your health this year. This year is a great year for you to reflect on your past, learn from your mistakes. Your mood, energy levels, and strength will all be great this year. You do not need to worry about your health this year at all but make sure you maintain all the healthy habits that you have developed throughout the year.
Scorpio : Ganesha says, everything will work out quite well for you this year. You will enjoy your life a lot this year because you have been working hard in the past couple of days. Make sure you take time out to have fun this year as well. Your health will be amazing this year. You will have a very positive year. You will get slightly overwhelmed at the beginning of the year but don’t lose your focus. Over thinking about the future will harm your current projects, which are likely to do very well if you remain calm and composed this year. Make sure that you’re giving enough time and attention to your family this year as you might be extremely preoccupied with work, especially at the beginning of the year. You need to redeem yourself in the eyes of your family this year by paying attention to them as well.
Sagittarius : Ganesha says, you will have a great time with your loved ones and your partner this year. You will make great progress by learning new skills in your business as well hence all in all this is a great year for you. An entirely new and different work opportunity will open up for you this year which will bring a lot of fortune in this year itself. You need to think out of the box as well as go the extra mile to reap amazing benefits from this opportunity. Your relationship which has been stuck at the same stage for a while now will move forward this year.
Capricorn : Ganesha says, you will go through a positive shift this year when it comes to your mental and physical health. This positive shift will help you to participate and indulge more in social events. You will have an overall fun year. Try to spend as much time as you can with your loved ones who have fallen sick. Spending time with them will keep you happy. That would be a philanthropic decision you should make this year. You will gain a lot of profit in your business this year. Your quality of work will significantly improve this year as you have invested a lot of time in learning new things. Your focus on your goal as well as your patience will be very commendable this year.
Aquarius : Ganesha says, positive energies will be heightened for you this year. You will have the most amazing start to the year as you’re likely to go on a vacation and spend time relaxing and rejuvenating. You have been working hard and it will pay off this year. Do not feel guilty about spending your money this year on the things you love to do. This year you will get well-deserved appreciation after a long duration of hard work. You will have a lot of confidence this year that’ll guide you to achieving a lot of success and appreciation from your colleagues. A lot of success and great health is on your way this year. Your love life will have you daydreaming throughout the year. It might feel like you’re existing in heaven this year.
Pisces : Ganesha says, this will be a calm and composed year for you. This is a positive thing. Taking time to relax and unwind will prove beneficial for your business as well as your personal life at the beginning of the year. If you do not let the stress and anxiety of the busy life get to you, you will easily tread through the beginning of the year. You will feel appreciated this year for your efforts by your family this year. You won’t face any major problems in your love life at the beginning of the end of the year at all. Your health might keep bothering you at the end of the year and will leave you with little to no amount of energy if you’re not vigilant about your health especially at the end of the year.
By Astro Friend Chirag – Son of Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla
Aries : Ganesha says home, family, house and the property scene will definitely predominate, as will your interactions with siblings, children, even extended family. There is no doubt that this will be your major priority. For some time at least, the home could be the base of operations. Yes, a home-away-from-home is also on the cards, or perhaps acquiring a second home or property if you are so inclined. Ganesha says your family will be of utmost importance to you whether spouse, parents, children, siblings, or all of them. These are emotional times.
Taurus : You should take care not to get into a shell now, says Ganesha. It is all going your way and so do not allow emotions to cloud your life. You will work well, love well, and react well. Family demands and professional concerns will be handled with flair. Once again, it is your capacity to multi-task, to communicate well that will be emphasized. Liberty, joy and creativity in their widest sense form the tripod on which you base your existence. There is rapid progress in all spheres of your life. With a little luck, there will be outstanding success. You are able to rise above petty squabbles.
Gemini : There are domestic issues that make you sit up and think. There are many family issues that you need to solve first before making sure of your professional moves. You look at your roots, your family and your work with new eyes. You look at security for loved ones and will work towards it very seriously. This could be a month of strange impulses and ideas, and some unusual events too. But Ganesha says that the money is pleasingly stable, if not good, since your sources of income will multiply and that’s always important. This is an excellent time to achieve real stability in your relationships.
Cancer : You will be seriously looking at growth in all areas of life. There are many influences working on you. Ganesha feels that this month is a fine time to study, improve your mind and to be receptive to ideas and opinions different from yours. There is a much wider canvas for you to paint on. Do not get bogged down in old fashioned ideas and ego hassles. Change is the only truth, and you have to accept it. You strive to improve your skills, knowledge, wisdom, and acquire new techniques and improve the vistas of your mind. The life of the intellect will hold promise and excitement. Ganesha assures you of success in your efforts.
Leo : Ganesha says you shed your inhibitions and work your way through heaps of letters and emails. This is the internet age and I know that I should stick to emails, but then you can be emotional and would love to hear from loved ones in their own handwriting! Communication and contacts will start from this month itself, announces Ganesha! Love will definitely also take a front seat and so indeed will finances and money matters. Journeys or plans to travel are probable on and after the 13th. Partnerships, new deals, positive tie-ups are emphasized, so also are collaborations, local and foreign. Try to take a breather and fix priorities.
Virgo : You slow down a bit and think issues over. You have to deal with mounting expenses and are mired in your own doings of the last few months. You look for more meaning in whatever you do and take recourse in spiritual books perhaps, even gods and godmen. But there is more than intellectual movement; you move physically too on business and for pleasure. You look at inner growth and greater knowledge which you realize will help you achieve all that you have set your sights on. There will be intrusions from others which you should guard against. You have been moving fast and in different directions.
Libra: Your emotions are at play and many of the decisions you take now may not be too practical. So, Ganesha asks you to take care. You realize that all kinds of practical considerations have to be dealt with now. You turn your attention to financial matters. The money planet, Jupiter gives a rocket thrust to your money-related activities, inspiring you to give your best. Joint finances for loans and public trusts and charities and philanthropy, buying and selling, investing are all bunched together. You are being pulled in several directions, so once again Ganesha’s advice is to prioritize.
Scorpio : Some conflict situations may also have to be dealt with in the personal/family angle. There could be a measure of disillusionment and hurt in store for you. I have to tell it like it is, insists Ganesha. Therefore, my astro-tip is, be reasonable and do not take slights and hurts too much to heart. Journeys, festivities, celebrations, pilgrimages, invitations, functions, research, travel and ties keep you mighty busy. Ganesha is with you and will help you in matters of the heart. This month finds you gaining momentum in the publicity and information sectors.
Sagittarius : Ganesha ensures happiness. This is a very comfortable month. Friends help you, your mate will be affectionate and attentive, money pours in, food and fun keep you in high spirits, and the social and professional buzz energizes you. A marvellous time for you in terms of achievement, fulfilment, great times with loved ones, outings and just plain fun. You are motivated and happy. You look for love, romance, happy times and the simple pleasures of life. In this month of contradictions, you feel you’re moving ahead and yet standing still.
Capricorn : There will be a merry pace and gait to whatever you undertake now. Make the most of this period as it is beneficial. It is your birth month, and both Mars and Venus have something to contribute, in order to liven things up for you. You are eager, even keen to meet life head-on, give it your best shot. This is a month to grab what you want and be assertive. Enhanced activity almost always happens in a birth-phase. Do remember, however, that both the good and the bad always get energized so don’t make rash moves or take hasty decisions.
Aquarius : The happy and positive influences continue and I suggest you do not spare the horses! Just believe in me and Ganesha and go for broke! At any rate, the money scene will be good, or at the least, adequate. On the personal and family level, you’re eager to give of yourself. A good month, full of gains, fine moments, lots to do and lots to enjoy. You feel challenged to perform in several spheres and will have to deal with mounting expenses. You look for new ways to earn more and at the same time you ask more out of life; you desire a lot more than a humdrum existence.
Pisces : Your interactive skills and good interactions will help ensure that this is an excellent month to win friends as well as influence people and bag contracts, assignments and have tons of affection and caring. Travel and correspondence and communication by all possible media will boost your image. Let me just say that trips, ties, bonds, connectivity are more or less the theme for this month. This phase will bring out the best in you, but in a strange way that may not be evident at first.
By Astro Friend Chirag – Son of Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla
Jan 3- Ganesha says you will gain a fresh and new perspective about life today. Today things will be easier for you as your luck will be lending you strength and creating a niche of favorable opportunities for you. These opportunities will take your business far and you will realize that today itself.
Jan 4- Ganesha says you will experience all the good things that life has to offer today. Great opportunities will knock on your door today, be open-minded about them, they can work in your favor shortly. Focus on outsourcing your work, it will be beneficial for your personal as well as professional life because you need to give your attention and time to both. You will have an amazing day today because you have been dedicated to making your happiness a priority today. You will experience a positive shift in everyone’s behavior towards you today because your positivity is contagious.
Jan 5- Ganesha says you will earn a lot of respect and appreciation from a new prospect and all of your colleagues today. The stars are making you be the best you can be today. You’ll be really happy today, thinking about the deal you closed today. You will be a force to reckon with today because you have been feeling super happy and motivated even though things have not worked out as you would have liked them to today in terms of your work life or personal life, but you will still not give up and do your best today itself.
Jan 6- Ganesha says your day is relaxing easy and full of love for you. Your partner will be very supportive of you throughout the day today and will do all that is required so that you can have some time for yourself. Use this time to recharge and rejuvenate. Your love life will flourish like never before. Be prepared for a lot of positive surprises. You are extremely close to finding that person that will support you in everything, you are about to discover new ways to express your love towards the person you love. Today is a great day for your relationship to flourish into the next big thing.
Jan 7- Ganesha says today you will be provided with ample opportunities to prove yourself at work which, in turn, may also lead to your promotion. For those concerned with business, you may expect some additional benefit from the government or an added advantage from your business partner. Today your day will be so much fun and adventurous. You will gain new experiences and skills, which will help you to create your new path. Today you may spend time learning and gathering knowledge to add value to your life.
Jan 8- Ganesha says your business will work out great for you today. You will take a lot of pride in your decisions and hard work. Your loved ones will shower you with praises and appreciation for all that you have done to get to this point today. Your day today will be filled with little things that spark joy and happiness in your life. No major positive event will occur in your life today. You will need to shrug off the negative thoughts to feel like your most positive self and work hard to feel happy and satisfied with how much you have worked today.
Jan 9- Ganesha says today you will feel energetic. You will be practical in your outlook towards your life today, which will help you to provide a strong sense of happiness and stability in life. You may get new opportunities today. Today you’ll lead the project at work. You may begin new tasks and show a lot of spontaneity in executing them. The day may surprise you with a travel plan. Your day with your partner will be good as well.
By Astro Friend Chirag – Son of Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla
Aries
Ganesha says, this week is going to be a good week. Your member of the family will return home this week after completing their foreign employment, study, or other commitments. You’ll develop the courage you’ll have to confront the bad. This week, you’ll be bored of your business frontiers because you’ll be doing the identical work every day. Businesspeople will gain a lot of cash in the first half of the week, but the second half of the week will be challenging. Investing in a corporation is best done on Wednesdays and Fridays. On the romantic front, you will enchant your partner’s thoughts this week. You might feel burdened because you are unwilling to control your urges. In regards of your wellness, you’ll have to exercise extra caution in order to avoid contracting the illness. Do not be even a bit sloppy this week.
Taurus
You’ll either be building realms in the skies or being really unrealistic this week. You’ll have a lot of thoughts about things you want ahead. The positivity of others will motivate you to take a stride ahead. Individuals who have newly started a firm may find it difficult to cope with the early setbacks in their professional lives. Don’t worry; your business will develop, but it will take some time. Individuals in scientific and economic professions will have to make sure that their carelessness is kept to a minimum.
You’ll be capable to guarantee that your partner feels the similar thing towards you when it comes to your relationship. If you and your partner have a quarrel during the second half of the week, try to settle it prior the Saturday. If you’ve been identified with pressure before, you’ll require to be extra attentive about how you live.
Gemini
You’ll be capable of putting your brain talents to excellent service this week. You’ll also enjoy valuable connection with your folks this week. Your petitions will be answered this week. In terms of your profession, your colleagues will take you seriously this week. You’re more likely to get effort travel opportunities in the second part of the week. Your intelligence will amaze your adversary, who will use it as a cue to back off and avoid you. Property difficulties, on the other hand, may give you anxiety, especially on Thursday.
If you’re already wedded, the change in your viewpoint will have a distinct impact on your marriage. This week, your more relaxed demeanor will be the spark for a beneficial shift in your relationship. In regards of your wellness, you will feel better this week. Your lack of movement will not be an issue this week. Make certain you’re placing your expertise to good use.
Cancer
This is supposed to be a spectacular week for individuals with cancer. Your eighth house foretells that you would not simply only establish a career but also get more popularity this week. In regards of interpersonal relationships, spouses will be able to strengthen their connections this week, as Venus’s movement implies. Those who are unmarried will locate a compatible companion amid their coworkers.
In regards of your chosen profession, you may have a conflict with your employer or employees early in the week. If you operate in medicine, you may have trouble keeping up with the time crunch. If you work in the corporate environment. You’ll be able to get a good bargain on mortgage loans this week. You must take decent care of yourself in respect of your wellness, since you may face judicial issues as a consequence of your neglect.
Leo
This week, your opponents may bring you troubles, but you will acquire decency and recognition in public. This week, you will be capable to surpass your competitors in your professional activities. If you work, your sixth house is in good shape this week, which means you’re more likely to be promoted. This week, if you’re in company, you’ll need to work on your patience. Consider starting anything fresh in a collaboration firm this week.
In regards of your relationship, you’ll be a slightly extra contemplative with your partner throughout the first half of the week. The first half of the week will be devoted to problem-solving. If you’re wedded, you can have a budgetary argument with your partner. This week, you’ll start a new workout program to improve your wellness. If you don’t want to damage oneself, you need to be more aware of your workouts.
Virgo
This week, your instincts will be amplified. You’ll be distracted since there will be numerous social gatherings and festivities. Your business facades will be well-cared for this week. This week, fabrics, clothing, and urban planners will generate more revenue. Planet in your seventh house will alter in the second half of the week, potentially upsetting your relationships. Your partner’s previous relationship will be the basis of decreasing confidence in existing connections this week in your relationship. Make a point of discussing it with your companion. You must stick to your medical coverage and exercise routine throughout the week in order to preserve your wellness.
Libra
This week, you may not be effective in setting desirable goals, but you will dedicate more energy to worthy reasons and helping people. Your acquaintances and allies will be there for you at all times. On the job, you’ll quarrel with your bosses over insignificant issues. Keep your chin low if you don’t want to jeopardize your stellar image. Make sure you only sign good transactions on Thursday and Friday if you’re in the corporate business. The share markets will be on your favor this week.
In aspects of your marriage, your partner will pursue peace within oneself, prompting you to give them more alone space. If you’re engaged, you might be thinking about starting a family this week. You will feel better this week in regards of your wellness. You will be capable to improve your psychological wellness this week. You’ll also be starting a new regimen this week.
Scorpio
This week, maintain a watch on oneself to ensure you’re not overextending oneself. Your kind nature will get you into difficulty this week. You also should control your rage this week, as Rahu’s negative change may worsen your bipolar tendencies. During the first half of the week, you will allocate more attention to oneself. Your excitement will bring to a flood of great thoughts, but the first half of the week will also bring revenue damage.
You will learn from your colleagues on the business arena. This week, your salary is also likely to rise. You must minimize completing deals on the very last four days of the week in regards of your organization. In terms of your wellness, you must not follow the regimen you designed for oneself this week, or you risk putting your wellness in jeopardy.
Sagittarius
This week, the positive vibe will keep you secure and comfy. You will be proud of your achievements, but you must be careful with your finances. In your professional life, you will require further assistance in dealing with huge quantities of cash. If you are searching for a place to work, now is a good moment to begin your search. If you operate as your tenth house, surprising revenues will flood your bank account. On the job front, avoid engaging into any arguments with anyone this week.
On the marriage front, you may not like how your partner responds to your artistic side, but you’ll be able to adequately express matters to them this week. It’s probable that getting your wellness back on course could take some time. You’ll make it a priority to look after your wellness.
Capricorn
Your week will be hectic as the deadlines for your contributions loom, but you’ll still have a plenty on your plate. Your week will be packed with dangers, but you will gain a wealth of knowledge. Employment will take up the first half of the week, while spending time with the children will take up towards the end. Practically, you will be commended for your endeavors, but you may find that a time pressure is a big cause of aggravation.
You will be capable of building setup and communicate convincingly your thoughts in the second section of the week. Families with children will be encouraged by Sun, who will draw them nearer along. Things will start to change in terms of your wellness in the latter half of the week. Make time for oneself this week as well.
Aquarius
This week, your emotional turmoil will hinder your progress. Your emotions will be a little hefty till the middle of the week. Your cognitive reliance on others will lead to issues. Since Saturn is still traversing in an intractable scenario, you’ll have to throw in additional effort at work this week. The second half of the week is the optimal moment to participate in the financial industry.
This week, your partner will desire more solitary period than usual. They’ll be extra self-centered this week, but they will have the opportunity to make apologies in the second half of the week. You will be allowed to think easier about your condition this week. Your difficulties with glucose concentrations will be remedied this week.
Pisces
This week you will get a chance to showcase your talents. You will have to be more cautious of deceptive people this week in terms of finances. You might not get a chance to overlook your family obligations in the latter half of the month. Your business fronts will be all settled this week. Second half of the week will be more fortunate for everyone in the academic field and medical field. Your relationship fronts will be good this week, but singles must be more careful this week as their Venus is not favorable this week. Your health will be fine this week. You need not worry about anything.
A self-sufficient America that provided for all its needs in World Wars I and II is now dependent on foreign nations for the necessities of its national life.
“Because we admitted into an alliance to contain Russia all of its former Warsaw Pact allies and three former Soviet republics, we are now close to sword’s point with a Russia that our own actions have driven into an entente with the greatest rival the U.S. has ever known: China. And who built up China, with four times our population, into the first world power with a capacity to challenge America across all fronts — strategic, military, diplomatic and economic?
Capitalist America did.”
As 1991 turned into 1992, America appeared to have arrived at the apogee of its national power and world prestige. President George H.W. Bush had just sent an army of half a million men to expel, in a 100-hour campaign, Saddam Hussein’s invading army from Kuwait. The world, including Russia, China and Iran, had supported U.S.-led military action to overturn Iraq’s aggression. Our Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, had just collapsed and disintegrated into 15 nations. The Warsaw Pact had dissolved. All of Eastern Europe was free. We were the sole surviving superpower. In the reviewing stand on Constitution Avenue for the victory parade of the troops of Desert Storm, the thought occurred: This is what it must have been like when the generals returned in triumph to Rome to take the cheers of the crowds.
But, instead of making America again “a normal country in a normal time,” as Jeane Kirkpatrick had urged, we set out on our path to empire.
There was much hubristic talk in those days of a “unipolar moment” in which we would establish a “benevolent global hegemony” and create a New World Order under U.S. dominance and tutelage. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright explained: “If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future.”
Three decades after those heady days, how has it gone for us?
Today, the world’s other great powers, Russia and China, are united against us in a “relationship” that, the autocrat Xi Jinping says, “in its closeness and effectiveness … even exceeds an alliance.”
Russia is issuing virtual ultimata against any further advance of NATO into Ukraine or Georgia. Beijing, after digesting Hong Kong, is indicating that the time draws near for its annexation of Taiwan.
How did we get here?
At age 90, Mikhail Gorbachev, who gave up power in December 1991, identifies a primary cause: “The triumphal mood in the West, especially in the U.S. Arrogance and self-confidence went to their heads.”
Indeed. Back in February of 1997, George Kennan, the architect of Cold War containment of Joseph Stalin’s USSR, implored America not to seize its triumphal moment and move NATO into Eastern Europe:
“Expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.”
“Such a decision may be expected to inflame the nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion; to have an adverse effect on the development of Russian democracy; to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations, and to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking.”
So said Kennan. And so it came to pass, as Russia has placed 100,000 troops on the borders of Ukraine and told us that any further expansion of NATO into its border states, or the installation of weapons there that can threaten Russia, would be intolerable — and resisted.
Because we admitted into an alliance to contain Russia all of its former Warsaw Pact allies and three former Soviet republics, we are now close to sword’s point with a Russia that our own actions have driven into an entente with the greatest rival the U.S. has ever known: China.
And who built up China, with four times our population, into the first world power with a capacity to challenge America across all fronts — strategic, military, diplomatic and economic?
Capitalist America did.
Clinton Democrats and Bush Republicans, reveling in the riches global trade would realize for our prosperity, threw open America’s markets to production from anywhere and everywhere on earth.
U.S. corporations swiftly began to transfer production out of the United States to where it could be done cheapest — the People’s Republic of China. From 1991 on, China surged and eventually swept past the U.S. as the first manufacturing power on earth. A self-sufficient America that provided for all its needs in World Wars I and II is now dependent on foreign nations for the necessities of its national life. Meanwhile, a mighty China is rolling up islands, rocks and reefs in the South and East China seas and warning the United States against any effort to prevent the reunion of Taiwan and the motherland.
These, then, are three of the historic blunders that have forfeited for us the unique position America held at the close of the Cold War.
First, alienating Russia by treating it as an incorrigible and permanent enemy by pushing our alliance onto its front porch.
Second, pursuing a globalist trade policy that China exploited to become an economic and military rival of the United States.
Third, America’s plunge into the Middle East, with our forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and then Syria, Libya and Yemen.
They availed us nothing and led only to death and destruction.
Of the passing of that preeminence we had in 1991, let it be said: We did it to ourselves.
(The author isa political commentator, columnist, politician and broadcaster)
By Ravi Batra
