The Indian Panorama

Year: 2022

  • Edison Public Library and GOPIO-Edison organize a successful Diwali and Thanksgiving Celebration

    Dignitaries, GOPIO-Edison officials, artists and audience at the Diwali Event at North Branch, Edison Public Library, Edison, NJ

    EDISON, NJ (TIP): Global Organization of People of Indian Origin Edison NJ Chapter (GOPIO-Edison, NJ) hosted the “Diwali & Thanksgiving” celebration at North Branch of Library in Edison, NJ. The event was fully subscribed, and the audience came with family and children to participate. This was the third successful event organized by GOPIO-Edison since it was relaunched in March 2022.

    The program started with lighting of lamps by dignitaries including Edison Councilman Ajay Patil, GOPIO Edison Chapter President Pallavi Verma Belwariar and GOPIO Life member Dr. Ramesh Pandey. GOPIO-Edison Team members also joined to light the lamp. The Library Hall was beautifully decorated with garlands, photobooth and welcome desk. The Diwali Event Started with registration networking with tea that had generated lots of interest and people started coming from the Tristate area. Many came with their families to join the celebration and cultural event at the Edison Public Library. Before the start of the event, audiences enjoyed the tea and snacks and the opportunity for attendees to interact freely.

    GOPIO–Edison Chapter President Pallavi Verma welcomed everyone. She appreciated the community coming together for the two major celebrations. She gave a brief about GOPIO-Edison which was relaunched in March 2022 and successfully conducted a “India Book Launch” event on April 10th in the same library in partnership with Indian Consulate, NY and another event on November 6th for “Investment and retirement planning” with experts. The community had very enthusiastically participated in both the events and was fully subscribed. Emcees for the Diwali event were Srishti Agrawal and Anumegha Saxena and both conducted the program very well, engaging the audiences with games and bringing each participant to stage. The cultural celebration event participants were Mohita, Arhan, Dyksha, Verchas, Verad, Kaivalya and Hanshit. The event also saw singing by Pratibha, Yogesh, along with Pallavi singing some popular Bollywood numbers for entertainment.

    At the end, all participants were given appreciation certificates for their participation. The program ended with GOPIO-Edison Board member Chitranjan Sahay Belwariar giving a vote of thanks to all the participants, Library staff, media partners, and audiences. He also thanked Dr Thomas Abraham, Chairman GOPIO International for his guidance for the GOPIO-Edison. Ritesh Agrawal managed the registration desk and guided the audience for the event and provided the benefits of becoming a member of GOPIO-Edison Chapter. The link for membership is tinyurl.com/GOPIO-EDISON-MEMBERSHIP.

    The president of the chapter, Pallavi Verma and GOPIO Edison team were very encouraged to see audience turnout of the event and they have lined up some more events in Edison Public Library which they explained in details and can be found on GOPIO-Edison Facebook page www.Facebook.com/GOPIO-Edison Those who want to donate may contact GOPIO-Edison at 848-459-5918 or send an e-mail gopio.edison.nj@gmail.com or send donation using www.paypal.me/GOPIOEdison

    (Based on a press release)

  • A tale of two wars

    A tale of two wars

    India must learn from mistakes of 1962, Pakistan from its excesses of 1971

    The 60th anniversary of the India-China war is a great opportunity for our politicians, military leaders and strategic thinkers to take stock of what went wrong.

    By Rajesh Ramachandran

    The number 1962 is etched deeply in the Indian psyche, not merely as the year of a devastating defeat in war, but also as a metaphor for national humiliation. Something that reminds the nation of the perils of political hubris and nepotism in the military. The 60th anniversary of the India-China war, thus, is a great opportunity for Indian politicians, military leaders, strategic thinkers and commentators to once again take stock of what went wrong and plan to prevent another ‘Himalayan blunder’.

    The Tribune has been publishing a series of articles commemorating the 60th anniversary of the war and some of our readers found it revealing that even in defeat, Indians in uniform displayed extraordinary fortitude. Former Chief Election Commissioner MS Gill was so thrilled to read of the brave Sikhs fighting till the last man and the last bullet, not allowing their posts to be run over, that he phoned in for more stories of individual valor; and, letting out his characteristic chuckle, Gill sahib also wanted us to chronicle the tale of a member of an old colonial-collaborator family who ran away from the battlefield, leaving his turban behind. Well, let the cowards lie and the fearless be remembered. PM Jawaharlal Nehru, defense minister VK Krishna Menon, Army chief Gen PN Thapar, defense secretary O Pulla Reddy, Intelligence Bureau Chief BN Mullick, Corps Commander Lt Gen BM Kaul and others are, rightly, blamed and remembered for their respective roles in sending India’s matchless troops to death on the icy heights of the Himalayas without even basic winterwear, to say nothing of war-winning materiel. None of them is spared for the lack of preparedness and for getting conclusively fooled — politically, diplomatically and militarily. Now, after every incident in the north and east — be it at Doklam or Ladakh — Indians are reminded of the 1962 debacle, making policy-makers aware that no number of military exercises with the US at the eastern border will ever be enough to remain prepared against the neighbor’s ambition to be a world leader. Compare the Indians’ somber remembrance of their defeat with that of the Pakistanis’. The 50th anniversary of the 1971 War fell a year ago. Not much was heard from the all-powerful Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, which had been exulting over the Americans handing over Afghanistan back to them: Why look back when the future looks rosy, with a $450-million military grant, getting dropped from the FATF watchlist and getting reinvited to the tango at Pentagon! Yet, the Pakistani military leadership did the unthinkable recently, which was one part ridiculous and one part scary. Former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, on his retirement tour to military units, blamed the political leadership for the 1971 defeat. As if that was not enough, he claimed that only 34,000 troops fought the war for Pakistan against 2.5 lakh Indian and two lakh Mukti Bahini fighters. It is a well-documented fact that just 3,000 Indian soldiers defeated 30,000 Pakistani troops in the final battle for Dhaka. Of course, everybody but Bajwa knows that 92,000 Pakistani officers and men were captured as prisoners of war and that India treated them with honor and returned them graciously even as Indian pilots were languishing in Pakistani prisons. The Pakistani government had even issued a postage stamp in April 1973, seeking the return of 90,000 PoWs.

    Worse, Bajwa seems to have forgotten that Pakistan was ruled by Yahya Khan, a military General, who claimed to be a descendent of Nadir Shah, the medieval invader who sacked Delhi. The debauched dictator was feted in Washington for facilitating Nixon’s National Security Adviser Kissinger’s meeting with Mao, thus opening the US-China strategic partnership lasting for about 40 years. Yahya Khan had chosen an equally brutal General, Tikka Khan — the Butcher of Balochistan — to be the governor of East Pakistan and another General, AAK Niazi, to be the military commander. The three Generals were responsible for the worst post-WW-2 genocide which the western media forgot to report. The official Bangladeshi count of the deaths during the conflict that ended in the Liberation War is 3 million dead — half the number of the victims of the Jewish holocaust. Officially, Pakistan admits that 26,000 civilians were killed.

    Of the three million killed, at least half could be Hindus, but Indira Gandhi (whom Nixon loved to call ‘that b***h’) did not have a political agenda to count or categories the bodies of the innocent dead. Over one crore refugees poured into India. While Hollywood still has not made a movie on the Bengali holocaust, the American leadership celebrated Yahya during the holocaust and Tikka soon after. Tikka succeeded Yahya as the chief of army staff. The US, of course, did not think it right to deny visas to the butchers of Bangladesh. The death of hundreds of thousands, if not three million, never seemed to have overwhelmed the predecessors of those who denied the Gujarat chief minister a US visa over a communal riot that was investigated for 10 years by his political rivals.

    The fatalities of the 13-day war that India won were few compared to the civilian deaths. But western-funded organizations like Amnesty International, which sought the commutation of the death sentences of the foot soldiers of the old US allies, never really investigated the 1971 war crimes or established the murders and rapes committed on the explicit orders of Yahya, Tikka and Niazi. Had their crimes been established, and their political careers exposed and visas denied to them, their successors would not have launched their Islamist misadventure in Kashmir that resulted in the exodus of Hindus from the Valley, nor the Kargil incursion, nor the attack on Mumbai.

    After every failure, the Pakistani army gives itself a fig leaf of lies, blaming a non-existent political leadership. There was only a military leadership, in alliance with the US, in Pakistan in 1971, just as there is one now, too. Wonder what mischief the new one is up to.

    (The author is editor-in-chief of Tribune,  India) .

     

  • All hopes on CJI Chandrachud

    All hopes on CJI Chandrachud

    Unafraid of taking a stand, the top judge looks set to uphold justice

     “Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju wants to dump the Collegium system of choosing judges for the High Courts and the Supreme Court. CJI Chandrachud is not going to allow that to happen. The people should keep their fingers crossed. If the political executive is given a free hand to select judges for the superior courts, we will soon get only ‘committed judges’ on the pattern of ‘committed bureaucrats’.”

    By Julio Ribeiro

    Thank the Almighty for the gift of the new Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, who speaks up when necessary and is not afraid of taking a stand. If columnists and writers were morally obliged to ‘recuse’ themselves from writing on persons with a biased slant, I would have had to ‘recuse’ myself on commenting about Justice Chandrachud. The reason is that his father, former CJI YV Chandrachud, was my teacher at Government Law College in 1948-50. If the political executive is given a free hand to select judges for superior courts, we will get only ‘committed judges’ on the pattern of ‘committed bureaucrats’.

    Later, when I joined the Indian Police Service and was appointed the SP of Pune City (I was the last Superintendent to head that city’s police as it was upgraded to a Police Commissionerate while I was still its SP in 1965). His father was the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. Every month, he visited Pune, and the first stop he made on his way from the railway station to his place of residence in the city was the Superintendent’s office to touch base with an old pupil. Sometimes, Justice Jal Vimadalal, another of my law college teachers, would accompany him. During such visits, my office would literally stop functioning as the entire staff would leave their desk to get a glimpse of these eminent judges! My own stock rose proportionately to the number of times the judges peeped into my room. This is the principal reason why I feel elated when my friends spare kind words of praise for some of the orders passed by the CJI’s Bench, since he assumed the highest office in the nation’s judiciary.

    The most glaring injustice the present CJI has taken upon himself to tackle is the recent trend of the judiciary at almost all levels to reverse, in practice, Justice VR Krishna Iyer’s dictum of ‘bail not jail’! Amendments to the UAPA Act make it almost impossible for subordinate judges to release those accused of terrorist acts on bail, but even when the offences with which they are charged do not disclose an act of terrorism, the lower judiciary is afraid to use its powers to correct basic wrongs, thereby ensuring that those who have not been convicted, not even faced a trial, languish in jails for years together without any hope of defending themselves.

    Justice DY Chandrachud, in a public speech he delivered recently, commented that judicial officers at the district and taluka levels are afraid of making mistakes and prefer to go along with the NIA, the ED and other Central investigation agencies who tailor their investigations to keep inconvenient people in jail despite lack of any evidence necessary to convict them. The process becomes the punishment in such cases. After years of languishing in jail, these accused will, in all probability, go free. But at what cost?

    Prof Anand Teltumbde, arrested two years ago in the Bhima Koregaon case, remarked on his release on bail recently that he had to spend two years of his life in prison, though he had committed no crime! Rona Wilson, another activist imprisoned without trial for years in that same case, alleges that the evidence downloaded by the NIA from his computer was planted there. He got the matter examined by experts in the US. The expert opined that it was the neatest plant that he had discovered in his long career in this field!

    With the disclosure that a spy software of Israeli origin called Pegasus had been purchased by our Intelligence agencies a few years ago, the needle of suspicion points at the Central Intelligence agencies and those who pull the puppet strings! Since no attempts to expedite the trial have been put in motion, it can safely be concluded that the plan is to ensure that persons who are inconvenient, but who the agencies find difficult to get convicted, will spend jail time for years without trial. This is against all canons of jurisprudence. The judiciary must oppose such cynical usage of criminal laws and procedures in the interest of equity and good conscience.

    Home Minister Amit Shah recently stated in an election speech in Gujarat that the BJP had taught anti-social elements in his state a lesson they would never forget. He was referring to the anti-Muslim riots after the burning alive of 59 karsevaks on a train in Godhra in 2002. It was the most damaging statement by a BJP leader. The 2002 mayhem had shocked the conscience of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — of Shah’s own political party. Yet, an upright IPS officer, RB Sreekumar, was thrown in prison, along with activist Teesta Setalvad. He languished there for many months till the judiciary finally found its voice and released him on bail. What major crime did Teesta and Sreekumar commit by pursuing the perpetrators of inhuman rapes and killings?

    Sreekumar was penalized for simply obeying the law and the Constitution. Most colleagues played safe and avoided the problem altogether. Some decided to collaborate with the ‘teachers of lessons’. If the judiciary had not changed course and decided to do its constitutional duty to implement the laws impartially, Sreekumar would have had to cool his heels in a cell for some more months, maybe even years.

    After Shah’s statement, it is clear that by targeting Teesta and Sreekumar, the State was pursuing the victims rather than the culprits. It is the duty of the judiciary to correct such wrongs.

    Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju wants to dump the Collegium system of choosing judges for the High Courts and the Supreme Court. CJI Chandrachud is not going to allow that to happen. The people should keep their fingers crossed. If the political executive is given a free hand to select judges for the superior courts, we will soon get only ‘committed judges’ on the pattern of ‘committed bureaucrats’.

    Our jails are overcrowded. The majority of those in jail are awaiting trial. In Mumbai, there are many undertrials who have travelled on trains without purchasing tickets! They have no way of arranging for bail as they are mostly homeless and jobless. Successive governments have not been able to reduce their number. But surely, no government should fill jails with those who do not subscribe to its ideology.

    (The author is a former Governor and a retired IPS officer)

     

  • Great responsibility: On India’s G20 presidency

    During G-20 presidency, India must etch its global dreams on domestic landscape

    The Government launched its year of the G-20 presidency on December 1 with some pomp, and 100 monuments from Kashmir to Kanyakumari lit up with India’s G-20 logo symbolizing the motto “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or “one earth, one family, one future”. In an editorial essay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to making India’s year of chairmanship as one that will focus on “healing our ‘One Earth’, creating harmony within our ‘One Family’ and giving hope for our ‘One Future’”. There are plans for about 200 G-20 meetings across India. The preparatory and ministerial meetings will culminate in grand plans for a G-20 Summit, which will bring leaders of the ‘P-5’ countries and others to New Delhi next September. India has taken the baton from Indonesia, which had a difficult time in even scheduling meetings and ensuring full participation due to differences over the Ukraine war. There was even uncertainty till the end over whether all major leaders would attend; whether they would agree to a joint photo-opportunity (they did not), and whether there would be a joint statement — which was eventually forged. Like Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Mr. Modi will have to travel abroad to ensure that all G-20 leaders and invitees attend at the highest level. And officials will have to burn more midnight oil to achieve consensus on statements.

    Symbolism and logistical coordination aside, the Government has a tough task ahead in conducting substantive negotiations to bring together a comprehensive G-20 agenda, where officials said they would focus on counter-terrorism, supply chain disruptions and global unity. In 2008, the first G-20 summit-level meeting in the U.S. was during a moment of crisis for the world’s financial systems. In 2022, the task for Mr. Modi and his team is equally crucial, given the lasting effects of the Russian war in Ukraine, western sanctions on energy that will deepen this month, economic downturns, pandemic worries and climate change issues that are testing the foundations of globalization and an interconnected global economy. In his editorial, Mr. Modi said India would forge its G-20 agenda through its tradition of “collective decision-making” that, like India’s national consensus, would be made “… by blending millions of free voices into one harmonious melody”. At a time India itself faces economic distress and social and communal tensions, the Government should be prepared for more scrutiny on upholding such ideals. Having raised the pitch on India’s global prominence as G-20 President, and its power to shape the global narrative, the Government may find that with great power comes great responsibility, and a greater spotlight on its ability to translate its global dreams into the domestic landscape as well.

    (The Hindu)

     

  • The Kashmir Files row

    View IFFI jury head’s remarks in cinematic context

    It’s been a huge commercial success, but The Kashmir Files has been mired in controversy since its release in March this year. The film, which revolves around the exodus and killing of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, has drawn conflicting opinions. There’s been praise for its poignant depiction of a tragic period as well as criticism for being loose with facts and fanning communal sentiments. The film’s endorsement by the BJP added a political and divisive tinge to the debate. Now, the strong words used against it by the Israeli chairman of the jury of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa have created diplomatic ripples. The Israeli ambassador has had to make an immediate intervention with an outright apology. His open letter lashes out at his countryman for abuse of hospitality.

    A stinging critique of any movie vying for wider recognition would have led to furious reactions, but accompanied by critical discussions that a film festival facilitates. That Israeli writer-director Nadav Lapid’s observations were aimed at The Kashmir Files touched a raw nerve. A sensitive subject, the emotions surrounding the events, the tight mesh of politics and an Indian setting with ministers in attendance — a heady mix, for sure. The filmmaker termed it a propaganda and vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of a prestigious film festival. The viewpoint would find many takers. However, Lapid slammed shut all attempts at nuanced conversations or artistic critique by politically labelling the movie vulgar.

    The envoy’s rebuff says it is insensitive to speak about events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound. Fair advice, but wasn’t the jury head commenting on a cinematic production he was asked to judge? It would make sense to view the scathing review of The Kashmir Files only in the cinematic context. The notion that it undermines the plight of Kashmiri Pandits would be a false reading.

    (Tribune, India)

  • Two Indian Americans at center of Hunter Biden’s laptop story

    Two Indian Americans at center of Hunter Biden’s laptop story

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Two Indian Americans – Congressman Ro Khanna and Vijaya Gadde – prominently figure in US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s laptop story whose full disclosure Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced would be released on the microblogging site. Musk, the world’s richest man who purchased Twitter last month, said on Friday, December 2,  that he would release details about what he characterized as Twitter’s “suppression” of a controversial story done by the New York Post newspaper about Hunter Biden’s laptop that was published before the 2020 US election. He also tweeted that it would be “awesome” and there would be a “live Q&A” on the topic. The story claimed to contain emails retrieved from a laptop belonging to Hunter. The New York Post said it learned of the emails’ existence from Trump’s ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and obtained the emails from Trump’s personal lawyer at the time Rudy Giuliani.

    Twitter initially limited the distribution of the story, citing concerns that it could be the result of a foreign disinformation campaign. But the social media company quickly backtracked on its response, with then-CEO Jack Dorsey calling the decision to block the link “unacceptable.” Khanna is the Democratic Congressman representing Silicon Valley in the US House of Representatives, while Gadde, an attorney, served as general counsel and the head of legal, policy, and trust at Twitter, before she was fired by new boss and CEO Musk.

    A series of tweets along with internal communications of Twitter was released by writer Matt Taibbi regarding the allegations that the social media platform during the 2020 election cycle had suppressed news and information related to the laptop of Hunter. According to the information released by Taibbi, Khanna appears to have questioned the decision of Twitter to restrict access to an investigative report of the New York Post newspaper on the laptop of Hunter. As the information started coming in, Musk in a tweet said: “Ro Khanna is great”. Khanna in a confidential email to Gadde opposed the so-called censorship by Twitter.

    “I say this as a total Biden partisan and convinced he did not do anything wrong. But the story now has become more about censorship than relatively innocuous emails and it’s become a bigger deal than it would have been,” Khanna wrote to Gadde. “In the heat of a presidential campaign, restricting dissemination of newspaper articles (even if New York Post is far right) seems like it will invite more backlash than it will do good,” Khanna wrote to Gadde and requested her not to share the text of their emails. Khanna said that such a move by Twitter seems to be a violation of the 1st Amendment principles. “If there is a hack of classified information or other information that could expose a serious war crime and the NYT was to publish it, I think NYT should have that right. A journalist should not be held accountable for the illegal actions of the source unless they actively aided the hack,” Khanna said. In response to Khanna’s email, Gadde defended Twitter’s policy and its decision on the Post story. “We put out a clarifying threat of Tweets earlier this evening to explain our policy around the posting of private information and linking directly to hacked materials,” she wrote.

    “The press secretary’s account was not permanently suspended – we requested that she delete the tweet containing material that is in violation of our rules and her account is restricted until she complies,” Gadde wrote to Khanna. Taibbi wrote that some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters. “Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly,” Taibbi wrote.

    “By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: ‘More to review from the Biden team.’ The reply would come back: ‘Handled,’” he noted. According to Taibbi, both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However, this system wasn’t balanced, he wrote. “It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right,” he said in one of the tweets.

    “The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives,” Taibbi said.

    (Source: PTI)

  • Biden says he would talk to Russia’s leader but only in consultation with NATO

    Biden says he would talk to Russia’s leader but only in consultation with NATO

    WASHINGTON D.C. (TIP): President Biden said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader expressed a desire to end his invasion of Ukraine, but Mr. Biden said he would  do so only  in consultation with NATO allies. “I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do,” Mr. Biden said during a news conference at the White House following a three-hour meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France. “But I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO allies. I’m not going to do it on my own.”

  • Hyatt to acquire Dream Hotels Group

    Hyatt to acquire Dream Hotels Group

    NEW YORK (TIP): Hyatt has agreed to acquire Sant Singh Chatwal’s Dream Hotels Group for up to $300 million. The deal includes 12 managed or franchised lifestyle hotels, like the Chatwal NY, the Margaritaville Times Square, and Dream Hotels brands, as well as another 24 in the pipeline with signed long-term agreements. The agreement will increase Hyatt’s portfolio by more than 1700 rooms, 30% in New York City alone.

  • Spouses of open work permit holders now eligible to work in Canada

    Spouses of open work permit holders now eligible to work in Canada

    The move will allow more than 200,000 workers who have family members in Canada  to support themselves

    TORONTO (TIP): In a bid to keep families of open work permit holders together, which includes many Indians, Canada has announced that starting 2023 their spouses will be eligible to work in the country. Open work permits allow foreign nationals to legally work for any employer and in any job in Canada.

    “Today we are making an announcement that will make it easier for employers to find workers and for families to remain together while they’re here,” Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced on Friday, December 2. “Today, I’m announcing that we’re expanding open work permit eligibility for spouses and dependent children of principle applicants who come through a variety of temporary programs,” he added. The move will allow more than 200,000 workers who have family members in Canada, or that will be coming to the country, to continue to be with their loved ones and work while they’re here to support themselves, the Minister said. With the new policy shift, the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) expects more than 100,000 spouses to fill gaps in the labor force.

    This policy change, according to Fraser, will be implemented in three phases to allow people to continue to come and be with their families who are not simply amongst the highest skilled professions. The first Phase involves people who come through a high wage stream to the temporary foreign worker programme, the international mobility programme and the postgraduate work programme. This is expected to be launched early in the new year. The second phase will seek to expand access to the same rules for people who come in through a lower wage stream, “so people who are here making a contribution to Canada’s economy don’t have to make the tough decision to be apart from their children and their spouse while they do”. Fraser said. This phase will take root after consultations with Canadian provinces and territories.

    The third phase, the programme will be expanded to include families of agricultural workers, which would again require consultations with provinces and territories. Fraser said that the move will not only plug the gaps in the Canadian labormarket but will also make the immigration system more “compassionate”.

    “By recognizing that a person who is here making a contribution to our economy, deserves to be with their loved ones while they make that contribution,” he said. The policy change is likely to have an incredible impact on the Canadian economy, which lost almost $13 billion over the past year due to a nationwide labor and skill shortage in the manufacturing sector, according to a labor survey. The most recent job vacancy data showed there were 958,500 open roles in Canada in August and one million unemployed people. To address acute labor shortage, Canada unveiled its ambitious immigration plan last month to welcome half a million immigrants each year by 2025. The North American nation increased its 2023 immigration target to 465,000 and its 2024 target to 485,000, up 4 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

    (Source: IANS)

  • US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum welcomes extension of Ambassador Sandhu

    US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum welcomes extension of Ambassador Sandhu

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum, on  Wednesday, November 30,  welcomed the one-year extension in the tenure of Taranjit Singh Sandhu as New Delhi’s top envoy here, saying it will help consolidate the bilateral relations further. Ambassador Sandhu brings unparalleled expertise and experience in his interactions with both the legislature and executive branches of the US government, the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum said. “His extension will help consolidate US-India relations and take it to new heights,” the forum’s president and CEO Mukesh Aghi said in a statement. Congratulating Sandhu on his extension till 2024, Aghi said the ambassador has been a veteran of US-India relations, and an exceptional asset to the U.S.-India partnership, shepherding this relationship to new heights. “He has seen the evolution of the strategic partnership through his multiple years of experience in the U.S., right from his earlier years in the foreign service in the late 90s, to his stint as DCM and now as Ambassador in Washington,” Aghi said.

    “Ambassador Sandhu brings unparalleled expertise and experience in his interactions with both the legislature and executive branches of the US government,” Aghi said.

    (Source: PTI)

  • HOW CHANGE BEGINS WITH RAHUL GANDHI’S BHARAT JODO YATRA

    By Sharath Chandra Vemuganti

    Congress suffered major setbacks due to the rapid rise of communal politics in India. It may take some more time to see Congress regain its glory again. But I am confident that a significant change is about to occur in Indian politics, and the Bharath Jodo Yatra of Mr. Rahul Gandhi is the beginning of that forthcoming political change in India,” said professor Yogendra Yadav when I asked his opinion about the Walkathon.

    TheBharat Jodo Yatra drew mammoth crowds.

    I walked in a daze, my left foot following the right, right following the left. This movement became automatic. Lunch and dinner breaks were the only scale to measure the distance I walked on any given day are the only scale to measure the distance I walked because time flew away during the Yatra or the Walkathon. Minor soreness in my body, aching legs, and calluses in my feet was testimony to the number of steps I walked, around 30,000 each day.

               Slogans such as “Jodo – Bharath jodo,” “Jai congress,” and “Rahul Gandhi zindabad” filled the air. Scores of enthusiastic and excited congress sympathizers joined the already existing dense crowd forming a huge cavalcade that drove along the villages, towns, muddy roads, and national highways before encamping for food and rest. Every evening, the Yatra concluded with a roadside public meeting addressed by Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament from Waynad, Kerala. Tens of top congress leaders from Delhi and Hyderabad, hundreds of party workers, the CRPF, Telangana police, and other security forces all played roles in making the Yatra a success story every step of the way. “Most NGOs in the country that work at the grassroots level are represented as a symbol of solidarity. They are supporting a Congress leader for the first time in their lives,” said a senior journalist when I asked for his opinion. “Rahul Gandhi’s focus has been on the message of forging unity in the country, which is targeted to be divided into religious lines by the BJP,” he added. “I was always critical of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and non-serious attitude, but now I have to appreciate him. I can tell this “Any leader who goes to people and listens to their problems will always win” Rahul Gandhi is no exception,” said a senior IPS officer.

    “No one paid us to come, we were provided a vehicle with a full tank of diesel, and we’re covering all other expenses,” said a group of people from a village 200 km away from the Yatra. With great enthusiasm to see Rahul Gandhi,   people stood all along the roads, business streets, and residential colonies to see and greet Mr. Gandhi. They waved back happily when Mr. Gandhi waved at them. People from all walks of life stepped up with Rahul Gandhi. All ages of children, women, and men. Young Men dominated the Yatra.

    During the Yatra, people gave their opinions both explicitly and indirectly. When I casually questioned a bystander in the town of Kothur, en route to Hyderabad, about the Gandhi family’s leadership, he retorted, “Can you show me any leader in the Congress party who can pull such a huge crowd? “I don’t know what this huge presence of people indicates, but it is bringing back the long-buried memories of the Congress party,” said a merchant in a medical shop in Mahbubnagar. Many people said that they wanted to see Rahul Gandhi. Young people in Devarakadra town said they wanted to see and greet the TPCC president, Mr. Revanth Reddy.

     “My father drives a truck, and I am a college dropout. I support the Congress party because my father and grandfather supported it, “said a young Muslim man in Shadnagar.  Meeting Party workers from all 29 states of India at the Yatra’s camp was an entirely new experience for me.

             Mr. Rahul Gandhi was very sober and responsible when interacting with children, students, farmers, senior people, and party workers and heard about their difficulties. He was curious to know the local customs. Rahul ate their native food, danced with tribes, and played with kids. He prioritized people over leaders and did not campaign for Congress. I told Mr. Rahul Gandhi, “Every NRI, though they don’t vote in India, speaks daily to their parents, siblings, and friends. Thus, they can influence 2, 3, or 4 votes. Every inactive NRI vote is equivalent to 3 or 4 active Indian votes. Hence you should address a huge meeting of overseas Indians, and it should help connect the diaspora’s young generation to the Congress party”. He listened to me attentively and said that that was a good idea.

        Along the way, I was surprised and mostly disappointed when almost everyone I met, whether they were friends, relatives, or political leaders, was curious to know if  I was interested in electoral politics. Most of them did not understand that my social consciousness, patriotism, and belief in secularism and socialism led me to travel to India and join the Yatra.

    President of IOCUSA Mohinder Singh Gilzian flew to India, as did many NRIs to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
    IOC USA General Secretary Rajendar Dichpally also joined the Yatra.

    While hundreds of NRI’s participated in Yatra in India, as a mark of solidarity, members of the Indian overseas Congress organized walkathons in various countries, wherever they lived. Mr. Sam Pitroda, Chairman of IOC, and other leaders inspired the Indian diaspora across the globe, particularly in the USA. NRIs from various countries, including the USA, the U.K., Australia, and the Middle East, were seen participating in solidarity with the cause of the Walkathon, representing an umbrella organization, “The Indian overseas congress.” This effort is Indicative of the growing patriotism against nationalism and divisiveness in the Indi diaspora.

             Congress suffered major setbacks due to the rapid rise of communal politics in India. It may take some more time to see Congress regain its glory again. But I am confident that a significant change is about to occur in Indian politics, and the Bharath Jodo Yatra of Mr. Rahul Gandhi is the beginning of that forthcoming political change in India,” said professor Yogendra Yadav when I asked his opinion about the Walkathon.No recent national-level politician has undertaken this arduous Walkathon since former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar in 1982. Bharath Jodo Yatra will register itself as a milestone in the history of India that future generations will read about. Indisputably, Rahul Gandhi’s image has soared quickly. It has established Rahul Gandhi as a serious politician who is a patriot and people-oriented.When Rahul Gandhi finishes this Yatra in Kashmir, the people of India will see a new, much evolved national leader who will not only be an equal counterweight to Shri Narendra Modi but one who has heard one-on-one, the voices of more Indians than any leader in our history. Jai Hind.

    The author Sharath Chandra Vemuganti with Rahul Gandhi on Bharat Jodo Yatra.

    (Sharath Chandra Vemuganti, a Pharmacist in  New York,   hails from Telangana, India)

  • December 2 New York & Dallas E – Edition

    [vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Dual Edition” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Istok%20Web%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theindianpanorama.news%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F12%2FTIP-December-2-Dual-Edition.pdf”][vc_single_image image=”133814″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TIP-December-2-Dual-Edition.pdf”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”82828″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.theindianpanorama.news/advertising-media-kit-portal-indian-panorama/”][vc_single_image image=”82829″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.theindianpanorama.news/advertising-media-kit-portal-indian-panorama/”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Lead Stories This Week” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Istok%20Web%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theindianpanorama.news%2F”][vc_wp_posts number=”8″ show_date=”1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Two Indian-origin students drown in Missouri Lake of the Ozarks

    Two Indian-origin students drown in Missouri Lake of the Ozarks

    MISSOURI (TIP):  Two Indian-origin students from Telangana drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri over the Thanksgiving weekend even as one student was trying to save the other.

    The victims were identified as Uthej Kunta (24) and Shiva Kelligari (25) by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, according to local media reports.

    Troopers received a call around 2:40 pm Saturday requesting assistance to find two people last seen in the water at the .5-mile mark of the main channel near the Bagnel Dam, the media reported.

    The drownings occurred when Kelligari began to struggle in the water, went under, and did not come back up. Kunta dove into the water to rescue Kelligari and did not come back up. The body of the first man was recovered by rescue crews and pronounced dead two hours after the incident on Saturday. Crews couldn’t recover the second body until 9 am Sunday morning.

    Bradley Kinkade manages the Airbnb the men were staying in. He says he called 911 after hearing cries for help.

    ” I grabbed my phone called 911 and my daughter also grabbed hers and called 911,” said Kinkade. “My brother jumped in the water tried to save him but by the time he got to the kayak, they were already gone.”

    Both men had come to the US from Telangana, India, to pursue a graduate degree in data science at the University of St Louis. “We mourn with Uthej and Shiva’s friends and loved ones, their classmates and professors, the staff members who supported their journeys here at SLU, and all those who grieve,” SLU officials wrote in an email to students. Meanwhile, Telangana minister K T Rama Rao in a tweet said that he has asked his team to assist the victims’ families in getting the bodies back as soon as possible. “I have already asked my team @KTRoffice to assist the family in getting the mortal remains back asap,” he tweeted.

  • Indian-origin Gurdeep Randhawa becomes first Indian to be appointed to a state presidium in Germany

    Indian-origin Gurdeep Randhawa becomes first Indian to be appointed to a state presidium in Germany

    BERLIN (TIP): Gurdeep Singh Randhawa, an Indian-origin German national, has been appointed to the Thuringia state Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party presidium. Randhawa has been an active member of the CDU and has served in the party for several years now. His commitment to the party and hard work has been recognized by the CDU leadership and in August 2022, he was elected as the first representative of the Indian community in Germany.

    This was the first time that an Indian has been appointed to any state presidium in Germany by the CDU.

    Randhawa was earlier elected as the counsellor from Amt Wachsenburg and presidium member of the CDU from district Ilm. He has been closely associated with the Indian community and has been carrying their voice to the CDU leadership on some core issues affecting the community.

    In a way, this development ensures that the Indian community has direct presence in state parliament affairs of the CDU in Thuringia. With the latest appointment of Randhawa, the Indian community in Thuringia would have more visibility in terms of connecting with the powerful CDU leadership. In a brief message after his appointment, Randhawa mentioned that his appointment was the recognition of the role that Indians have played in building the German economy and society over the years. He said he wanted to set an example for young Indian-origin Germans to contribute towards building a strong Germany and also healthy and robust Indo-German relations.

     

  • Indian-origin Jayathi Murthy becomes President of Oregon State University

    Indian-origin Jayathi Murthy becomes President of Oregon State University

    EUGENE, OR (TIP): India-born eminent educator Jayathi Y Murthy has become the 16th President of the Oregon State University (OSU) – one of the top universities in the United States renowned worldwide for its cutting-edge research and facilities, particularly in the fields of AI, robotics and advanced technology.

    Murthy, 64, is the first woman of color to lead OSU that works on addressing some of the most pressing issues facing the planet from climate change to sustainability.

    An IIT Kanpur alum, Murthy is a leader in higher education engineering teaching, research, and service. She is widely recognized as a champion for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and has made it her top priority at OSU.

    “Advancing diversity, equity and inclusion is a deeply held conviction of mine and is central to my work as an educator and administrator,” Murthy said. “As an engineer, I have often been the only woman in the room since I was 16.” Murthy said international engagement and contributing to a global community are OSU priorities.

    “At Oregon State, we celebrate the contributions and perspectives of more than 2,500 international students from over 100 countries and many international faculty and scholars engaged in the university. The unique backgrounds and experiences of international students and faculty enrich Oregon State’s teaching, research and community engagement.” The US public university has more than 34,000 students enrolled in various academic and research programs. Indian students comprise the second largest group of international students at OSU after China.

    “As someone who came to the US to attend graduate school from India, I know the challenges – and new opportunities – you may face,” Murthy said. “Please know that at Oregon State, we are here to support you. And we welcome you warmly to Beaver Nation.” “My own journey is a story of access to education and opportunity to grow and achieve. I thank my parents for being incredibly far-seeing. They gave me opportunities as a young girl in India to attend one of the country’s finest engineering schools. My parents provided me the opportunity to come to America for graduate school. My education enabled me to pursue opportunities in private industry and academia, and now to serve as Oregon State’s president.” Murthy assumes leadership of Oregon State at a time of great momentum within Oregon’s largest university that has seen OSU set records in enrollment, research and philanthropy.

    In October this year OSU and OSU Foundation launched a major fundraising and engagement campaign that aims to raise US$1.75 billion to support a range of priority initiatives. Donors have already committed more than US$1 billion to the campaign with US$460 million earmarked for student support, including scholarships, fellowships and experiential learning funds and US$500 million for faculty positions and academic program support.

    The University has also announced a US$200 million research and education center that will harness one of the United States’ most powerful supercomputers and team-based research in artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics to solve global challenges in areas such as climate science, oceanography, sustainability and water resources.

    The center will be named the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex following a gift of US USD 50 million to the OSU Foundation from Jen-Hsun Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, and his wife Lori, both of whom are OSU graduates.

    “The Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex at Oregon State University will be much more than a building. It will serve as a university-wide promise and as a hub for advancing groundbreaking solutions for the betterment of humanity, the environment and the economy,” said Murthy.

    The center will employ a NVIDIA supercomputer to support faculty in addressing highly complex and challenging computational problems. The OSU supercomputer – powered by next-generation NVIDIA CPUs, GPUs and networking – is expected to be among the world’s fastest university supercomputers, powerful enough to train the largest AI models and perform complex digital twin simulations.

    “AI is the most transformative technology of our time,” said Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang. “To harness this force, engineering students need access to a supercomputer, a time machine, to accelerate their research. This new AI supercomputer will enable OSU students and researchers to make very important advances in climate science, oceanography, materials science, robotics, and other fields.” An INTO survey released earlier this year revealed that computer science has emerged as the second most preferred subject for Indian students looking to study abroad after engineering. In total, 12% of both millennial and Gen Z students say they are interested in computer science – second only to engineering (18 per cent) and ahead of business studies (11 per cent).

    “The cutting-edge research center will further consolidate Oregon State University’s position as one of the most preferred destinations for frontier areas of science and technology among international students,” said Olivia Streatfield, CEO of INTO University Partnerships – OSU’s partner for international student recruitment.

    “From India to China, Indonesia to Saudi Arabia, we are seeing a huge interest for OSU among some of the world’s most talented young people who want to be part of the learning and research that can shape the future of our world,” said Streatfield.

    Prior to taking the leadership role at OSU, Murthy served as the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

    Murthy received a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Washington State University and a Bachelor of Technology degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

    Murthy is married to Sanjay Mathur, an aerospace engineer.

    As one of only three land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the nation, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today’s most pressing issues. Our more than 35,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county.

    Oregon State receives more research funding than all the state’s comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, marine research center in Newport, OSU Portland Center and award-winning Ecampus, we excel at shaping today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.

    INTO University Partnerships is an independent organization committed to expanding higher education and career opportunities for students across the globe.

    We believe in the power of education to transform lives. We believe that the movement of students leads to the movement of ideas, which in turn creates better and more successful societies.

    We connect students seeking quality international education with leading universities worldwide aspiring to widen their global reach and impact. Achieving the best learning experience and career prospects for students is central to our mission. Since our inception in 2005, INTO has pioneered innovation in international education and created groundbreaking partnerships with 30 universities in the US, UK and Australia. We have so far helped more than 130,000 students from 190 countries realize their dream of achieving a degree from a world-class university. We also equip students to get a head start in building a career. We do this by offering exceptional academic and employability skills programs. We are active in over 120 countries and provide unrivalled personalized service to international students with more than 1,500 experienced staff worldwide and a global network of 2,000 recruitment partners.

     

  • Indian-origin Aruna Anand to lead Continental Automotive North America

    Indian-origin Aruna Anand to lead Continental Automotive North America

    MICHIGAN (TIP): Indian-origin Aruna Anand, a 25-year veteran of automotive industry has been named the new President and CEO of leading technology company Continental’s Automotive group sector in North America, effective Dec 1. She will also retain her current role as Head of the Architecture and Networking business area for the North American region of Continental Automotive, Auburn Hills, Michigan based company announced Nov 21.

    In this role, Anand is responsible for all global architecture and networking business activities that support customers based out of North America. “It is an honor to be selected as Automotive President and CEO for North America,” said Anand, an Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from Anna University, Chennai, India and a master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Oakland University. “I look forward to leading our talented team toward a bright future and providing our customers with leading technological solutions.”

    “Aruna brings an outstanding combination of experience and talent to the President and CEO Automotive North America position,” said Nikolai Setzer, CEO, Continental AG. She is a respected leader and is a technical expert in many areas that are the focus of our future growth. Aruna’s dedication to our customers and our employees will help guide the success of Continental in the important North American market.”

    Since joining the company in 1997, Anand has held numerous leadership positions across the different business areas of the Continental Automotive group sector. She was Head of Software for Gasoline Engine and Transmissions Systems for the Electronic Controls business unit within the company’s then Powertrain division.

    She also led the Wireless Product Group Engineering within the Connected Car Networking business unit of Continental’s Vehicle Networking and Information business area. Prior to being named as the head of Architecture and Networking, Anand was responsible for leading Continental Engineering Services, an independently operating business unit that offers comprehensive engineering services. In 2020, she was recognized by Automotive News as one of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive industry. In 2018, Anand was honored with the prestigious Automotive News Rising Star award. She was also recently recognized at the Women of Color Awards Gala and received the Professional Achievement in Industry award.

     

  • Indian American-led company gets USD 5 million to develop ‘zero-pressure’ tires for US Army

    Indian American-led company gets USD 5 million to develop ‘zero-pressure’ tires for US Army

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): An Indian American-led company has received USD 5 million in funding to develop and manufacture path-breaking ‘zero-pressure’ tires for the US Army, it said in a statement.

    The Ohio-based American Engineering Group (AEG), headed by Kerala-born Abraham Pannikottu, has developed an innovative carbon fiber pressure zero tire technology, which the Pentagon now wants it to manufacture for its armed forces, the company said on Friday, November 25. The first pressure zero tire will be delivered in 2023, AEG founder and CEO Pannikottu said. AEG said it has received the award for the Department of Defense project to manufacture carbon fiber tires that will continue to run even after being shredded by roadside bombs or gunfire.

    Though military vehicle tires are now equipped with run-flat inserts, the DOD wants to upgrade to a zero-pressure tires as it can carry heavier loads and help move soldiers quickly out of harm’s way.

    The new AEG Zero Pressure Tire will withstand a minimum speed of 50 mph for 300 miles once it’s punctured, the statement said. Though military vehicles outfitted with “run-flat” tires are supposed to travel at least at 30 mph for 30 miles (the minimum DOD requirement), field performance of current run-flat tires hit by roadside bombs were reported to be much lower, it said. According to AEG, the Pressure Zero Tire has been around for a long time, with major drawbacks such as bumpy rides and overheating. The company said its prototype dissipates heat and has the tire flexibility and strength to support the heavy military pick-up weight while providing a relatively smooth ride, it asserted. “Defense vehicle weight requirements are increased so much that the current tires cannot support the load and the DOD wants to create a tire that extends the mobility of the vehicle as well as the survivability and maintainability, that is where AEG’s new zero pressure tire comes to rescue,” the company’s president and community leader Dr. Thomas Abraham said. AEG has a patent and a trademark for the Zero Pressure Tire technology, the statement added.

     

  • Indian American owned Tandon School of Engineering gifted $1 billion investment by NYU

    Indian American owned Tandon School of Engineering gifted $1 billion investment by NYU

    NEW YORK (TIP): : New York University will invest $1 billion over 20 years to improve the ranking of its Tandon School of Engineering, named after Indian American philanthropists Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon.

    The investment, announced by NYU President Andrew Hamilton, is also aimed at raising the profile of New York City as a technology hub.

    A news release issued by the university said it has already acquired a 350,000 square foot building adjacent to Tandon School. “The purchase of the new facility will help support an ongoing $1 billion investment in Tandon to significantly advance engineering at NYU by recruiting 40 new full-time tenure track faculty, fueling groundbreaking research, and growing and modernizing its Downtown Brooklyn campus,” the release said. “The funding will fuel basic and applied research in key interdisciplinary areas of global import—secure wireless ecosystems and supply chains, health engineering, sustainable engineering, and data science to improve the human condition.”

    “Continuing the stunning upward trajectory! So, thrilling!” Chandrika Tandon, who, along with her husband, Ranjan, donated $100 million to the school in 2015, tweeted Wednesday. The philanthropist was present at an event where the announcement was made.

    “Problems don’t require an engineering solution, they require a multidisciplinary solution,” she was quoted as saying by the official Twitter handle of NYU Tandon.

    The media reported that the “investment includes $600 million that was already slated” for the school and “an additional $400 million in new funds.”

    The paper wrote that the 10-story 3 MetroTech Center building was purchased in September.

    The $100 million donated by the Tandons was used to improve lab and recruit academics specialized in the areas of robotics, health and data science.

    “We feel privileged to be able to participate in the transformation that is happening at NYU and at the School of Engineering,” Chandrika Tandon said while announcing the gift in 2015. “As a trustee of NYU, I have had a front row seat to the energy and excitement of the Global Network University and the scale of possibility it presents.”

    It was reported that the investment improved the position of Tandon School in the U.S. News and World Report ranking from 82 in 2006 to 33 this year. Tandon, a Grammy-nominated artist, is a big proponent of technology. “Sitting with the with some of the greatest minds in in the engineering school, the potential of what is happening in technology, whether it’s in the space of wearables, whether it’s in the space of what is going to happen in in the fields of health, and the field of … urban informatics, what’s going to happen is mind-boggling,” she said in an interview streamed last year on DesiMax. “So, technology is not something that is just sort of on the sidelines that one can sort of look at and say, ”Oh, you know I’m an artist.” The field of the arts has transformed, the field of health is transformed, and we ain’t seen nothing yet. You know it’s just beginning.”

     

  • ‘We deserved it’: German fans react after early FIFA World Cup exit

    ‘We deserved it’: German fans react after early FIFA World Cup exit

    Doha (TIP)- In a quickly-emptying east Berlin bar, Eric Warncke is “disappointed” by Germany’s shock exit from the World Cup, but says he already suspected it might happen. After a surprise 2-1 loss in the opening game to Japan, the team left themselves a hill to climb to make it through to the knockout round in Qatar. A tense 1-1 draw against Spain gave them hope of qualification, but the Spaniards’ own defeat at the hands of the Japanese Thursday sealed the Germans’ fate despite a turbulent 4-2 win over Costa Rica.

    “Nobody expected Japan to beat Spain, but in the end we were knocked out deservedly,” Warncke, 27, says.

    To his mind, there are “too few characters, too few leaders” in Hansi Flick’s squad compared with the previous sides. Germany used to pride itself on being a “tournament team”, which always had a chance of winning World Cups. “Individually they are all good players, but it’s not a team,” he says, lamenting the disappearance of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, who lifted the trophy in 2014.

    Like him, his friend Rico Wagner, 23, summed up the feeling: “Disappointed, but we also deserved it”. After a rollercoaster game in which Germany first seemed to be going through, then did not and finally could not do enough despite a late push, the fans in the bar showed their frustration. Even before the TV commentator confirmed Japan’s win and Germany’s exit, crying “this is a debacle, this is a disaster,” some fans grabbed their coats and headed for the door. The full-time whistle, when it came, was met with angry shouts. Germany should have made it “to the quarter finals, definitely”, says Levent Lanzke, 41. “On paper it was possible, but Japan turned up. Costa Rica, too,” he said with a shrug. “Put it this way, I don’t begrudge Japan,” he said.

                    Source: AFP

  • 48,500-year-old zombie virus revived by scientists in Russia

    48,500-year-old zombie virus revived by scientists in Russia

    French scientists have revived a 48,500-year-old “zombie virus” buried under a frozen lake in Russia. According to New York Post, the French scientists have sparked fears of yet another pandemic after the revival of the zombie virus. The New York Post has quoted a viral study which is yet to be peer-reviewed. “The situation would be much more disastrous in the case of plant, animal, or human diseases caused by the revival of an ancient unknown virus,” reads the study. According to the preliminary report, global warming is irrevocably thawing enormous swathes of permafrost — permanently frozen ground that covers a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. This has had the unsettling effect of “releasing organic materials frozen for up to a million years” – possibly deadly germs included.

    “Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistorical times,” the researchers write.

    According to the New York Post, scientists have, perhaps strangely, revived some of these so-called “zombie viruses” from the Siberian permafrost in order to investigate the awakening critters.

    The oldest, Pandoravirus yedoma, was 48,500-year-old, a record age for a frozen virus returning to a form where it may infect other creatures. This breaks the previous record of a 30,000-year-old virus identified in Siberia by the same scientists in 2013.

    The new strain is one of 13 viruses described in the study, each with its own genome, according to Science Alert.

    While the Pandoravirus was discovered at the bottom of a lake in Yukechi Alas, Yakutia, Russia, others have been discovered everywhere from mammoth fur to Siberian wolf intestines.

    Scientists discovered that all of the “zombie viruses” have the potential to be infectious and hence pose a “health danger” after researching the live cultures. They believe that coivd-style pandemics will become more common in the future as melting permafrost releases long-dormant viruses like a microbial Captain America, as per New York Post.

    “It is therefore legitimate to ponder the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation by the thawing of ancient permafrost layers,” they write.             Source: ANI

  • New single-dose drug 95% effective against sleeping sickness in adults: Study

    New single-dose drug 95% effective against sleeping sickness in adults: Study

  • How women can reduce risk of hip fracture

    Increasing their intake of protein and drinking regular cups of tea or coffee is a way women could reduce their risk of suffering a hip fracture, according to new research. Food scientists at the University of Leeds in the UK have found that for women, a 25g a day increase in protein was associated with, on average, a 14% reduction in their risk of hip fracture. In a surprise twist, they also discovered that every additional cup of tea or coffee they drank was linked with a 4% reduction in risk.

    Writing in the journal Clinical Nutrition, the researchers noted that the protective benefits were greater for women who were underweight, with a 25g/day increase in protein reducing their risk by 45%. The protein could come in any form: meat, dairy or eggs; and for people on a plant-based diet, from beans, nuts or legumes. Three to four eggs would provide around 25g of protein as would a steak or piece of salmon. 100g of tofu would provide about 17g of protein. Just over 3% of the women in the study group experienced a hip fracture.

    The investigation – Foods, nutrients and hip fracture risk: A prospective study of middle-aged women — is based on a large observational analysis of more than 26,000 women.

    As an observational study, the researchers were able to identify associations between factors in diet and health. They could not single out direct cause and effect.

    James Webster, a doctoral researcher in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at Leeds who led the study, said: “Across the world, the costs to individuals and societies caused by hip fracture are enormous.

    “Hip fracture can often lead to other chronic illnesses, loss of independence, and premature death. In the UK, the annual cost to the NHS is between £2 to £3 billion.

    “Diet is a factor that people can modify to protect themselves by maintaining healthy bones and muscles. This study is one of the first to investigate relationships between food and nutrient intakes and risk of hip fracture, with hip fractures accurately identified through hospital records. “The results highlight which aspects of diet may be useful tools in reducing hip fracture risk in women, with evidence of links between higher protein, tea and coffee intakes and a reduced risk.” Proteins are the basic building blocks of life and are needed to keep cells, tissues and muscles working properly as well as contributing to bone health. The recommended protein intake in the UK is 0.8g per kilogram of bodyweight per day, a limit some nutritional experts believe is too low. As the study revealed, people who had a higher protein consumption had a reduction in the risk of hip fracture. However, intakes of protein which are very high — where intake is greater than 2 to 3g of protein/kg body weight/day — can have negative health effects. The study was not able to explore these very high protein intake levels.     Source: ANI

  • Chicken 65

    Chicken 65

    Ingredients

    400 gms Boneless Chicken cut into small pieces, 1 Egg, 2 1/2 tblsp Cornflour, 1 tblsp Rice Flour, 1/2 cup thick Curd (Dahi), 1 1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste, 1 1/2 tsp Red Chilly Powder, 1/4 tsp Black Pepper Powder, 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder, 1/2 tblsp Lemon Juice, 1 Sprig Curry Leaves, 2 – 3 cloves Garlc chopped Finely, 2 – 3 Green chillies Slit lengthwise, 1 tblsp finely chopped Coriander leaves, Salt To Taste, Oil for frying, 1 pinch Tandoori Color (Or Orange Color), Few sliced thin onions, Few lemon wedges, Chopped green coriander.

    Method

    –              Take a bowl mix together ginger garlic paste, red chilly powder, black pepper powder, lemon juice, color, salt, coriander powder and whisked thick curd. Now add the chicken pieces. Cook the bowl and marinate them for 2 – 3 hours in a refrigerator.

    –              Before start frying to the marinated chicken pieces add a beaten egg and then cornflour and rice flour. Mix well so that all the chicken pieces are well coated with the flours. Make sure no lumps are formed. Heat oil in a kadai. Once it becomes hot drop the chicken pieces one by one in the oil and fry them till golden crisp. Do not put too many pieces but fry them in small batches so that all pieces are cooked evenly. Keep turning with a slotted spoon once in a while. Take them out on a paper towel and keep aside. In a separate pan heat 1 tblsp of oil. When it is hot add the curry leaves and chopped garlic. Once the garlic gets slightly golden brown add the slit green chillies.

    –              To this add the tomato ketchup and add the fried chicken pieces. Mix well.

    –              Dish out the pieces in a serving platter and garnish with thin sliced onions and lemon wedges and coriander leaves.

  • Period myths you need to set straight

    Period myths you need to set straight

    All women have to suffer the agony of menstruation but much more incessant is the dark cloud of cultural nuances that hammer us down.  Poor thing is that the infiltrators of this half-believed, half-cooked knowledge are women themselves and we have no option but to comply with these myths about periods. So, here’s looking into the hell that is made of those five days of our everyday living.

    We’re always on ‘that time of the month’

    First of all, it’s important to understand that a woman’s menstrual cycle is not the same as her period. The actual time that a woman bleeds is known as menstruation, but her menstrual cycle is the entire time from one period starting to the next. Although it’s widely circulated that a woman’s menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, that’s only an average number. Some women’s cycles are much longer, from 29 to 35 days, while others can be shorter. Situations like travel, weight fluctuation, emotions, and medication can all affect when a woman’s period occurs, too. So, comments about how women are “always on their time of the month” aren’t appreciated.

    Pain of a period is ‘just like’ anything you’ve experienced

    The pain we get during a period is real. We’re not talking about headaches or bumping into sharp corners. Some of us have to take off work and curl up in bed, hoping the pinching cramps will subside because it’s that bad. This condition even has a medical name: dysmenorrhea. In fact, around 20 percent of womenTrusted Source have dysmenorrhea that’s severe enough to interfere with their daily activities. This condition affects our ability to concentrate, makes us more anxious, and can make us downright unpleasant. It’s also not anything you’ve experienced before.

    It’s OK to dismiss our feelings when we’re on our period

    There’s a very real physical change in a woman’s body during this time. In the days leading up to a woman’s period beginning — when she’s “PMSing” — her levels of estrogen plummet, while her levels of progesterone sharply increase. Estrogen is linked to serotonin, the “happy hormone,” and progesterone is linked to the part of the brain associated with fear, anxiety, and depression. The effects of hormones on mood are complicated, and while progesterone may depress some emotions, it has a mood-balancing effect. It may be tempting to write off seemingly drastic changes in moods as “just hormones,” but mood changes caused by hormones are still real. It may happen on a more monthly basis for us, but it doesn’t invalidate our feelings.

    Hormones define women

    Speaking of hormones, women have been accused of being “hormonal” for a long time. Some men have even equated our feelings to hysteria, as if it’s an illness, to explain female behavior, but news flash: Everyone has hormones, and nobody likes them to be messed with. Even men.

    Just take a look at this study on male contraception, which was discontinued because participants couldn’t handle contraception’s side effects of acne, injection pain, and emotional disorders.

  • Tips to enhance your winter skin care routine

    With all the good things that winter brings, it also brings along a few unwanted things. Chapped lips, dry skin, acne, and other skin conditions. To combat and prevent these from occurring, you must establish a good skincare routine or at least build the habit of regularly looking after your skin. There are many common mistakes that most people make when it comes to taking care of their skin in the winter season and we are here to help you cuties out with everything that you should actually be doing. In short – A comprehensive winter skincare guide!

    How to Take Care of Your Skin in the Winter?

    Below we’ve listed down all the things that entail good skincare habits to follow. Use them as a checklist and prioritize the ones that are most relevant to your daily lifestyle.

    Sunscreen in Winter?

    Yes, you do need sunscreen in the winter as well. This is a very common mistake that people make. Just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean the harmful UV rays from the sun aren’t able to reach you. If you’re exposed to the sun regularly, go out or even stay indoors, then sunscreen is a must. We recommend picking the right sunscreen for your skin type that UV protects, nourishes while also fight signs of ageing.

    Lip Balms

    Well, cuties, if you want that soft and supple lips, then lip balms are a must especially with the cold winter air that strips away your lips of their moisture. You definitely don’t want to be going around with flaky chapped lips. Make sure you always carry a lip balm with you wherever you go. Check out our yummy vegan lip balms which will help you retain the moisture of your lips and safeguard them from harsh winter conditions.

    Face Oil for Moisturization

    Sometimes, using just a moisturizer may not be enough. Your skin needs an extra boost during the winter season. Face oils are thicker in nature and have a higher viscosity. This allows for better moisture retention. The Grape Seed & Sea Buckthorn Glow-Restore Face Oils Blend can help you do just that. With 10 natural oils, this blend will help restore your natural glow and keep your face moisturized even in cold dry conditions.

    Gentle Exfoliation

    Even if you’re not sweating much or being exposed to too much pollution, minute dirt particles will still settle onto your face. So yes, exfoliation in the winter is necessary. And since skin dries up quite a lot in this season, when you wash your face, make sure you use a cleanser and face wash that are gentle. A strong formulation might cause more damage than good.

    Hyaluronic Acid Serum

    The name might sound like it’s some weird chemical picked up from the chemistry lab, but to keep it simple, it’s basically a magic serum to keep your skin soft, supple & hydrated. 2% Hyaluronic Acid in a molecular weight ratio of 65:35 (low:high), gives your skin the right balance of deep action and surface hydration. This means that in winter it will not only nourishes the outer layer of the skin but goes deep within to hydrate from the inside.        Source: Plumgoodness.com