CHANDIGARH (TIP): Capt Amarinder Singh was on March 16 sworn-in, at a simple ceremony, as the Punjab chief minister for the second time with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu also taking the oath. Earlier, he had led the Congress government from 2002 to 2007.
Navjot Sidhu, the cricketer-turned politician, was second among the list of nine ministers to be sworn in. Brahm Mohindra was sworn in as cabinet minister right after Amarinder.
Two ministers of State — both women — were sworn in at the ceremony attended among others by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The ceremony was held at the Raj Bhawan here and the oath was administered by governor VP Singh Badnore.
Sporting a black sleeveless jacket adorned with army medals, Amarinder took the oath in English.
Besides Sidhu those sworn in were Manpreet Singh Badal, estranged nephew of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi.
Two women MLAs Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge).
The Council of Ministers has representation from different castes, regions and religious faiths.
While Mohindra, the senior-most minister after Amarinder, is a Hindu face in the cabinet hailing from the CM’s home district Patiala, the rest of the cabinet ministers are Sikhs which include Charanjit Singh Channi and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, both from the Dalit community.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Hours before it was to take effect, President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban was put on hold March 15 by a federal judge in Hawaii after hearing arguments that the executive order discriminates on the basis of nationality.
District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii issued a temporary restraining order followed by District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland. Both judges attacked the executive order in part by analyzing intent. They found Trump’s actions were based on the motive of targeting Muslims, and they reached their conclusions by examining the record of what he and others connected to him had said. Both judges cited Trump’s statements about Muslims during the presidential campaign as part of their rulings.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) released a statement after U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu issued a nationwide stay temporarily preventing the Trump Administration’s travel ban from going into effect:
“Hawaiʻi is a place where people with different ideas, backgrounds, religions, and ethnicities feel welcomed and respected. It’s only right that our Attorney General Doug Chin represent those values in working to stop this blanket travel ban from going into effect. This travel ban is bad policy, plain and simple.”
The Justice Department said it will defend the new travel ban. “The Department of Justice strongly disagrees with the federal district court’s ruling, which is flawed both in reasoning and in scope. The President’s Executive Order falls squarely within his lawful authority in seeking to protect our Nation’s security, and the Department will continue to defend this Executive Order in the courts,” DOJ said in a statement.
The Indo American Press Club (IAPC) held the inauguration of its new Executive Committee on March 4 here in the presence of community leaders and officials. Mr H.R. Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia who was conferred with Padma Shri this year, was warmly felicitated at the gala event at Antun’s by Minar.
Professor Indrajit S Saluja, editor-publisher of The Indian Panorama, was sworn in as the new President, taking over from Parveen Chopra, Managing Editor of The South Asian Times and The Asian Era. Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos administered the oath of office to the new IAPC office-bearers including George Eapen (General Secretary) and Biju Chacko (Treasurer).
HR Shah is felicitated on conferment on him of Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards of India. Seen in the picture are IAPC officials, community leaders and County officials. Photo/ nayaface.com
Prof Saluja, in his acceptance speech, talked about the power of the media which can make a President, as well as bring down a presidency. Referring to the cover headline of the souvenir distributed on the occasion, he said he believes that “The bedrock of democracy is journalism. And the bedrock of journalism is facts. And facts alone.”
Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos administers oath of office to new Board of Directors led by Chairman Babu and Executive committee members, led by President Prof. Indrajit s Saluja Photo/Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia
Ginsmon Zacharia, founder Chairman of IPAC who has interests in print and TV, stepped down after shepherding the organization for three years. The new Chairman Dr. Babu Stephen publishes two community newspapers from the Washington DC area: Express India and India This Week, and is the CEO of DC Healthcare Inc, and president of SM Reality LLC.
George Maragos honors Jehangir Khattak with a citation from Nassau County
Deputy Consul General Mr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra honors Ms Vandana Sharma with a plaque
George Maragos honors Mr. Mohapatra with a citation from Nassau County
Joining in IAPC honoring Mr HR Shah for his Padma Shri were Deputy Consul General of India Manoj Mohapatra, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and many community leaders. Dr Dattatreyudu Nori introduced Mr Shah, his longtime friend.
Mr Shah, in his speech, dwelt on his initial struggles in media but said he did not give up. Under him, TV Asia is today the largest TV network for the Indian community in America. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government for conferring on him one of the highest civilian awards of India. He lauded Prof. Saluja for felicitating him because it was media people honoring a mediaman. He also announced that TV Asia will be launching in India soon.
Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media, while felicitating Mr. Shah, praised him as a man of vision and action who made it to the top with grit and determination.
Both Dr Parikh and Dr Nori are previous recipients of Padma Shri.
Comptroller Maragos underscored the role of media in a democracy and lauded Indian American media for doing a great job to promote interests of the community and serving the great American nation in the best fashion. He also revealed his intention to run for the office of Nassau County Executive.
The New IAPC leadership with George Maragos
In his keynote address, Jehangir Khattak, Co-Director, Center for Community and Ethnic Media, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, spoke about how he has been fighting for more government dollars for the ethnic media, including desi media.
Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, Deputy Consul General, New York, rushed from an engagement in Boston to preside over the event.
Deputy Consul General of India Manoj Kumar Mohapatra launches the book “Medicine, Myth, and History-India’s Legacy” authored by Dr. VK Raju and Dr. Leela Raju
A book, ‘Musings on Medicine, Myth, and History – India’s Legacy’, by Dr. VK Raju and his daughter, Dr. Leela Raju was launched on the occasion. Through his Eye Foundation of America, Dr Raju is dedicated to eradicating childhood blindness in India and elsewhere.
Kalpita Chakote presents a captivating dance performance
Other dignitaries who graced the occasion included Vandana Sharma, Air India’s Regional Manager (Americas), Dr Ajay Lodha, AAPI National President, Dr. V. Chakote, AAPI President, Gobind Munjal, new President of AIA-NY chapter, Indu Jaiswal, Chairperson IAF, Bina Sabapathy, President, IALI, Arish Sahani, President, Intellectuals Forum, HAB Bank’s Sr. Vice President Rizwan Qureshi, Srujal Parikh Executive Vice President of FIA, Dr Bhupi Patel, Dilip Chauhan, Advisor to Comptroller Maragos, Rajiv Bhambri, CEO of India Abroad, Karan Beri, CEO of Opinio Media, TJ Anand, President of Lions Club, Mohinder Taneja, a former Director with Nassau County, Jay Jasbir Singh, publisher of Hum Hindustani, Shomik Chaudhary, a former COO with News India Group, were among the gathering. Many media fraternity which included representatives from TV Asia, Jus Punjabi, PTC TV, Desi Talk, News India, India Abroad, Hum Hindustani, The South Asian Times, The Indian Panorama, and Malyalam media were present.
The scintillating Bhangra
The roaster of entertainment included a skit by New Jersey street theater group, Prayas. Kalpita Chakote presented a classical dance, and Bhangra group Soormay, of St. John’s College students, gave an electrifying bhangra performance.
IAPC, with six active chapters in the US and Canada, has organized three successful annual international media conferences in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut over the past three years. A highlight of the conference last year was a presidential debate with representatives from Democratic and Republican sides.
Ms Sangeet Sharma was the charming master of ceremonies.
Mr. Mohapatra honors Antun’s Neetoo, and a social activist Anu Jain
The money will help replace what President Trump cut when he took office
OTTAWA (TIP): On International Women’s Day, March 8, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada will contribute $650 million over the next three years to reproductive health and abortion-related services around the world, multiple outlets reported. The money will help fill a funding hole left when President Donald Trump signed the “global gag rule” on abortion, yanking funding from international health organizations that provide abortions or engage in abortion advocacy, even if they use their own funding for abortions, according to The Guardian.
Trudeau pledged the money for sex education and reproductive health programs, including money set aside for the abortion-related services Trump defunded. The goal, Trudeau said, is to give women access to resources that give them control over family planning.
“Like men, women should be able to choose when they want to start a family, how big their family should be, and who they want to start that family with,” Trudeau said in his announcement. “When women have equal power and equal weight and equal leadership influence, the kinds of decisions are better.”
The global gag rule was introduced by Ronald Reagan in 1984, and every Republican since then has signed on. Trump signed the rule when he took office, and while that move was fairly routine for a conservative leader, Trump expanded the rule to restrict all global health funding, not just family-planning funding, including for those organizations whose primary focus isn’t family planning but which may mention abortion, according to Slate. The rule has the potential to strip $9.5 billion in funding from international health organizations, including$600 million in family-planning funding. Trudeau’s announcement targets the family-planning funding Trump stripped away, providing an alternate source of money for the organizations.
By stripping family-planning funding, Trump is dealing a blow to reproductive health across the world, but since, according to Slate, he expanded the gag rule to include all health funding, even for those organizations whose focus is entirely different but which may mention abortion, he is endangering programs that do all kinds of things worldwide, including prevent HIV.
Giving money to women’s health organizations, Trudeau said, will empower women and therefore make for a better world all around.
“For far too many women and girls, unsafe abortions and lack of choices in reproductive health mean that they are either at risk, and at risk of death, or simply cannot contribute or achieve their potential through education, through involvement in their community, through a broad range of opportunities,” he said, according to CBC News. “It is important that as a world we recognize that empowering women, that respecting their rights, is fundamental to building a world in which everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. “
Exit polls find BJP ahead in UP, Goa; Cong & AAP neck-and-neck in Punjab
NEW DELHI (TIP): Anti-incumbency appears to be a factor in deciding the fate of political parties in the fray in five States of India which have gone to polls. Results are expected on Saturday, March 11. However, exit polls, as in the past, have come up with their assessment of number of seats likely to be won by each of the parties in each of the States. The Bharatiya Janata Party could emerge as the single-largest party in three of five states, including Uttar Pradesh, which voted to elect new assemblies over the past month, exit polls showed on Thursday, March 9.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party were locked in a tight race in Punjab and the country’s principal opposition party was battling with the BJP to retain power in Manipur and Uttarakhand.
The results, officially out on Saturday, March 11, will be seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, including the shock recall of 500-and 1000-rupee banknotes – a decision that opposition parties slammed as anti-poor and turned into a poll plank.
The five state polls are also billed as a virtual semi-final to the general elections in two years from now, and the results are likely to shape both upcoming presidential elections and policy formation. If the forecasts come true on March 11, the BJP-led central government could give a fresh impetus to politically unpalatable economic reforms, especially those in the labor sector.
Exit polls have frequently gone wrong in the past, including in Bihar and Delhi in 2015. Analysts say states with diverse populations and complex caste, community and religious affiliations tend to throw pollsters off.
Some of the polls predicted ranges of seats while others gave absolute numbers without mentioning any error margin.
In UP, where the BJP is seeking to regain power after 14 years, all exit polls forecast a hung assembly. Two gave the BJP a clear advantage over its nearest rival, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, while two others predicted a close fight between them.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was seen as a distant third in all four exit polls available for the 403-member house. In the event of the polls throwing a hung assembly in UP, post-poll re-alignments of political forces could not be ruled out.
In a Facebook Live conversation with BBC Hindi on Thursday, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was ambiguous about the possibility of the SP joining hands with the BSP to keep the BJP out of power.
“No one will want President’s Rule in UP and that the BJP governs the state through a remote control,” he said in a cryptic reply to a query about the possibility of a post-poll arrangement with the BSP.
The BJP was seen as surging ahead of the rivals in Goa and Uttarakhand as well.
In Punjab, all exit polls unanimously predicted a drubbing for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine. But the polls were divided on whether the Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party, which is fighting its debut assembly election in the state, will form the next government.
Two exit polls predicted a photo-finish while two others were split between the Congress and the AAP in the 117-member assembly. The halfway mark is 59.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP looked set to dislodge the Congress as four out of five exit polls gave a clear majority to the saffron party. One poll forecast a close fight in the 70-member legislature.
Three exit polls suggested that the BJP could retain power in Goa. The AAP, which ran a high-voltage campaign in its debut outing in the state, was seen as failing to have had an impact in the 40-member assembly.
But polls were split over Manipur, with one giving a majority to the BJP and the other to the ruling Congress.
NEW YORK (TIP); Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth Dhanush, famous filmmaker, UN Ambassador for Gender Equality and daughter of Super Star Rajinikanth presented a Bharathanatyam performance at the United Nations on the International Day for Women, March 8. The nattuvangam was provided by her dance guru noted Bharatanatyam dancer Meenakshi Chittaranjan. Last year the UN Woman named Aishwaryaa as Goodwill Ambassador for Gender Equality.
It was the first time a celebrity dancer from Tamil Nadu performed at the world body in the presence of diplomats and invitees. The event was organized by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations.
Aishwaryaa R Dhanush, is an Indian film director and a start up entrepreneur. She is the daughter of the Indian Superstar Rajinikanth who is one of Asia’s best known actors. She is married to Dhanushwho is today one among the most talented and successful Pan-Indian actors. She is a mother of two boys.
Aishwaryaa completed her schooling at The Ashram in Chennai. She acquired a diploma in law from Chennai.
She directed her first feature film “3” in 2011 featuring her husband Dhanush. The film was successful critically and commercially and it catapulted Aishwaryaa as a leading young director. The film was famous for the song “why this kolaveri” which became a worldwide Viral phenomenon. She was invited to several prestigious film festivals and panels post the release. Aishwaryaa’s second feature film “Vai raja Vai ” an ensemble cast venture released in 2015 was also equally successful.
Aishwaryaa is a multi-talented person. She is trained Bharatnatyam dancer, a voracious reader and writes very well. She launched her company Ten Entertainment recently, which is a digital medium to promote short film content
Aishwaryaa is keenly interested in the cause of women and has associated herself with various welfare activities. She strongly propagates the cause that every girl child in India should have the fundamental right to Education and to be independent. She is a perfect example of how an Indian woman juggles various roles. Her future plans include directing feature films and developing and extending her company Ten Entertainment in various digital media spheres.
It was not the Trump Americans have known who addressed the joint session of Congress on February 28 night, He disappointed many by being so untrumpian. It was a different Trump that night whocalled on Congress to work with him on overhauling health care, changing the tax code and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and military. Trump said that he was eager to reach across party lines and put aside “trivial fights” to help ordinary Americans.
“I am asking all citizens to embrace this renewal of the American spirit. I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big, and bold, and daring things for our country,” Trump said.
Trump also – for the first time – sketched out a new approach to immigration, suggesting that the nation adopt a “merit-based” immigration system.
“It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially.” Trump said. “Yet, in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon.” Congress should consider “switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration,” he said.
Trump said he believes real immigration reform is possible, but such a dramatic shift in immigration priorities will be certain to meet staunch Democratic resistance.
Trump promised a massive renewal of American jobs, infrastructure, and the military. The president wants a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan to rebuild the nation’s roads and create millions of jobs. “Millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect,” Trump said, and “streets where mothers are safe from fear – schools where children learn in peace … are not too much to ask.”
The President also laid down clear principles for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. “Obamacare is collapsing –and we must act decisively to protect all Americans,” he said, “Action is not a choice — it is a necessity.”
The President also signaled action on another key piece of his agenda — tax reform, promising “massive” relief for the middle classes and cuts in corporate tax.
President Trump’s address has by and large received praise. While the Republicans went overboard at his address which some described as the best ever I decades, Democrats were dismissive. House democratic leader Nancy Pelosi observed that while he sounded well, his actions were contrary to what he said. It remains to be seen how sincere this president is about “cutting across the party lines” and taking all along to work for the welfare of all Americans.
Could this Russian Angle be bigger than just Sessions, or Flynn???
NEW YORK (TIP) : Russian involvement in the US presidential elections and President Donald Trump’s ties with Putin began during his campaign and is now having effect on his month-old Presidency with members of his top circle getting hit every week.
First Manafort then Flynn and now Sessions. It seems everyone from his core team met and spoke to Russian officials during his campaign (which he knows nothing about) and then lied about these interactions.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions now finds himself in the Russian seat for not disclosing at his confirmation hearing that he spoke twice last year with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak which amounts to perjury.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.
Under fire, Jeff Sessions removes himself from campaign probes
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday, March 2, that he would stay out of any probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election but maintained he did nothing wrong by failing to disclose he met last year with Russia’s ambassador.
“I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign,” Sessions told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference.
Did Jeff Sessions lie under oath?
Yes, He Did!!!Here’s why: Jeff Sessions met twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak in July and September 2016.
At the time of Sessions’ contact with Kislyak, Sessions was not only serving as a surrogate for Donald Trump but had been named chairman of the Trump campaign’s National Security Advisory Committee.
Sessions denied he had contact with Russian officials when he was asked directly during his Senate confirmation hearing to become attorney general whether he had exchanged information with Russian operatives during the election campaign.
Now-Attorney General Sessions omitted both these meetings in his testimony during his confirmation hearings.
Sessions and his Trump backers pushed back against the revelations saying that it was, essentially, a misunderstanding—Sessions conducted those meetings in his role as United States Senator, not a Trump campaign adviser, therefore he didn’t perjure himself.
“He was literally conducting himself as a United States Senator,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday. “This is what senators do in the course of conducting themselves in their jobs.”
But for now its on record that while still in the Senate, Jeff Sessions met with the Russian Ambassador at least twice—once at his Senate office in September and once at an event at the Republican National Convention in July.
(Read The transcript of Jeff Sessions’s recusal news conference, annotated)
Trump’s & White House’s Response : President Trump said earlier Thursday, March 2, he “wasn’t aware at all” of Sessions’ meetings and that the attorney general still has his “total” confidence.
Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Sessions and others on the Trump team have denied campaign officials’ communications and connections with Russian officials at least 20 times since July.
Trump and Republicans who control Congress are trying to move past early administration missteps and focus on issues important to them, including immigration, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare healthcare law.
What questions remain?
It is still unclear what Sessions discussed with Kislyak, although either side could have recorded it or taken notes.
“As long as the conversation remains unknown, people will still be suspicious of what was said, whether that’s merited or not,” said Robert Walker, a former chief counsel to Senate and House ethics committees.
Investigators need to find out about anyone involved with Trump who spoke to Russian officials before he was inaugurated. Short of that, Russia potentially could use those conversations to its advantage if it’s being denied by Trump and his administration.
So far, investigators have found information showing contacts between Trump associates and Russians, including Russians linked to the Kremlin, NBC News has reported. Some of the information came from “routine intercepts” that normally might never have been examined, the source close to the investigation says.
It’s unclear whether that is how the information about the Sessions meetings came to light, but it has become clear that the Russian ambassador was under FBI scrutiny and his communications were being monitored.
A declassified report from U.S. intelligence agencies released in January concluded just that, saying, “Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”
Russia is Laughing with eyes wide Open: The Kremlin, increasingly convinced that President Trump will not fundamentally change relations with Russia, is instead seeking to bolster its global influence by exploiting what it considers weakness in Washington, according to political advisers, diplomats, journalists and other analysts.
Russia has continued to test the United States on the military front, with fighter jets flying close to an American warship in the Black Sea this month and a Russian naval vessel steaming conspicuously in the Atlantic off the coast of Delaware.
“They think he is unstable, that he can be manipulated, that he is authoritarian and a person without a team,” Alexei A. Venediktov, the editor in chief of Echo of Moscow, a liberal radio station, said of President Trump.
KOCHI (TIP): There is no room in this country for an intolerant Indian and students in India’s universities must engage in “reasoned discussion and debate” rather than “propagate a culture of unrest”, President Pranab Mukherjee said on March 2.
“There should be no room in India for the intolerant Indian,” President Mukherjee said while delivering the 6th KS Rajamony Memorial Lecture on “India@70” today in Kerala’s Kochi district. “Those in universities must engage in reasoned discussion and debate rather than propagate a culture of unrest. It is tragic to see them caught in the vortex of violence and disquiet,” he said. Although Mukherjee did not mention the Ramjas College row, his comments came amid the Left and right-wing groups engaged in a bitter, and even violent, debate over whether free speech is unpatriotic.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH GUARANTEED TO EVERY INDIAN:
President Pranab Mukherjee asserted that freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed to every Indian by the Constitution. “There must be space for legitimate criticism and dissent,” he said.
“India has been since ancient times a bastion of free thought, speech and expression. Our society has always been characterized by the open contestation of diverse schools of thought and debate or discussion. Freedom of speech and expression is one of the most important fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the hounding of Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur for questioning the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Mukherjee said the acid test for any society is how it treats it women and children.
“I do not consider a society or state to be civilized if its citizens’ behavior towards women is uncivilized. When we brutalize a woman, we wound the soul of our civilization. The acid test of any society is its attitude towards women and children,” he said.
POLITICIANS MUST NOT TAKE PEOPLE FOR GRANTED:
Addressing India’s politicians, Mukherjee said they should not take the people for granted. “The leaders or political activists must listen to people, engage with them, learn from them and respond to their needs and concerns. Our lawmakers must never take the people for granted. They must focus on the fundamental task of law making and raising of issues of concern to the people,” he said.
Mukherjee, however, did not dismiss the virtues of patriotism. “The time has come for collective efforts to re-discover the sense of national purpose and patriotism. Sense of national purpose and patriotism alone can lift our nation on to the road of sustained progress and prosperity. The nation and the people must always come first,” he said.
Plans to bypass Immigration Courts and short-circuit ‘Due Process’
President Donald Trump, meeting with business leaders at the White House on Thursday, February 23, described his administration’s moves to deport undocumented immigrants as a “military operation,” a rhetoric that runs counter to what his administration has previously said but is in consistence with Trumps Campaign promises.
Trump has used a series of executive orders to chip away at the barriers to deportations and hire new law enforcement officials to spearhead the effort, using the Department of Homeland Security to live up to the President’s tough talk on undocumented immigration during the 2016 campaign.
On Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 two (2) guidance memos were signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly implementing the President’s Executive Orders on immigration enforcement. Although much attention has been focused on the building of the border wall, these new memos direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to escalate immigration enforcement nationwide. The memos reveal that DHS intends to take a much more “enforcement-oriented” position with regard to U.S. Immigration law.
INDIAN-AMERICANS AS PER UNOFFICIAL FIGURES ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 300,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Nearly 300,000 Indian-Americans are likely to be impacted by the Trump administration’s sweeping plans that put the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation.
The Trump administration is releasing more on its plans to crack down on illegal immigration, enforcing the executive orders President Trump issued in late January. Those orders called for increased border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
“Everybody who is here illegally is subject to removal at any time,” Spicer said. “That is consistent with every country, not just ours. If you’re in this country in an illegal manner, that obviously there’s a provision that could ensure that you be removed.”
“The Department no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an enforcement memo.
“Department personnel have full authority to arrest or apprehend an alien whom an immigration officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of the immigration laws,” it said.
According to the memo, the DHS Secretary has the authority to apply expedited removal provisions to aliens who have not been admitted or paroled into the US, who are inadmissible, and who have not been continuously physically present in the US for the two-year period immediately prior to the determination of their inadmissibility, so that such aliens are immediately removed unless the alien is an unaccompanied minor, intends to apply for asylum or has a fear of persecution or torture in their home country, or claims to have lawful immigration status.
WHAT IS IN THE IMMIGRATION MEMOS?
AN END TO LONG-STANDING PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN. DHS intends to strip many children arriving alone at our border of basic protections and to penalize their parents for seeking to reunite with their children in the United States. DHS will do this by narrowing the definition of “unaccompanied alien child” in order to limit those protections and by launching either civil or criminal enforcement against the parents.
A MASSIVE EXPANSION OF DETENTION. The memos contemplate a massive expansion of detention, including a requirement that DHS officers detain nearly everyone they apprehend at or near the border. This detention space expansion-a boon to the private prison industry-means that children, families, and other vulnerable groups seeking protection in the United States will end up detained, at great financial and human cost.
PROSECUTION PRIORITIES AND DISCRETION ARE GONE. The new memos rescind earlier policies on whom to prosecute and deport and whom to de-prioritize because they pose no threat to our communities. The new enforcement priorities are extremely broad, covering nearly all undocumented individuals in the United States. They even include individuals simply charged or suspected of having committed crimes.
CREATION OF A DEPORTATION FORCE. The memos order the hiring of 5,000 additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They direct a massive expansion of 287(g)-a provision that allows DHS to deputize State and Local law enforcement officers to perform the functions of immigration agents. The memos reinstate Secure Communities [terminating the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP)], which expand the ways in which local police collaborate with ICE.
PLANS TO BYPASS IMMIGRATION COURTS AND SHORT-CIRCUIT DUE PROCESS. The memos indicate that many people in the interior of the country – not just those at the border – could be subject to expedited removal or expedited deportation without going before an immigration law judge, the details of which DHS said will be forthcoming in a notice in the Federal Register. This expansion of “expedited removal,” will allow the government to bypass the backlogged immigration courts in order to remove or deport people rapidly and with little-to-no due process.
THE INDIAN PANORAMA URGES READERS TO CONSULT AN ATTORNEY IF THEY HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WAY THAT THE NEW U.S. IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY LAWS MAY IMPACT THEM, THEIR FAMILY, THEI FRIENDS, OR THEIR COLLEAGUES.
“No use of military force in immigration operations,” and “no, repeat, no mass deportations”: Secretary Kelly
MEXICO CITY (TIP): In a first and carefully worded rebuke senior Mexican officials have expressed “worry and irritation” about US policies during a visit by two of President Donald Trump’s top envoys, who in turn seek to cool tempers after weeks of tension between the two neighbors.
With a stern look while speaking to reporters on Thursday, February 23, after closed-door meetings with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security chief John Kelly, Videgaray said it is “a complex time” for Mexican-US relations.
“There exists among Mexicans worry and irritation about what are perceived to be policies that could be harmful for the national interest and for Mexicans here and abroad,” Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told a news conference on Thursday.
The US government this week angered Mexico by saying it was seeking to deport many illegal immigrants to Mexico if they entered the United States from there, regardless of their nationality.
The immigration guidelines are the latest point of tension between neighbors already tense over Trump’s vow to build a wall on the border and his attempts to browbeat Mexico into giving concessions on trade.
Videgaray and President Enrique Pena Nieto have been criticized at home for being too willing to engage with Trump. However, relationships between the two countries have gone downhill in the past few weeks.
Both sides on Thursday pledged further dialogue on migration, trade and security issues facing both nations.
Kelly and Tillerson were much more measured in their words than either the Mexicans or Trump, who on Thursday said a military operation was being carried out to clear “bad dudes” from the United States.
‘No mass deportations’
For their part, Kelly and Tillerson sought to cool tempers as they adopted a more measured tone than either the Mexicans or Trump, who on Thursday said a military operation was being carried out to clear “bad dudes” from the US.
Kelly said there would be “no use of military force in immigration operations,” and “no, repeat, no mass deportations”.
None of the US officials made direct references to the deportation of immigrants from third countries to Mexico, or to paying for the border wall planned by Trump, a red-flag issue for Mexico. Both sides at the Mexico City talks on Thursday pledged further dialogue on migration, trade and security issues facing both nations. Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from Mexico City, said Mexico has been criticized as “timid” in confronting issues with the US in the past, but since Trump came into office it has grown “tougher”.
“Usually, this is a quiet and cordial meeting. That’s how it has been for decades. But not under the administration of Donald Trump,” Holman said.
HICKSVILLE, NY (TIP): The Indo-American Press Club (IAPC) will inaugurate its new executive committee at a gala at Antun’s by Minar here on March 4 in the presence of media personalities and community.
Prof. Indrajit Singh Saluja, Editor-Publisher of The Indian Panorama, will take over as President from Parveen Chopra, Managing Editor of The South Asian Times. The Chief Guest, Hon. George Maragos, Comptroller of Nassau County, is set to administer the oath of office to the 2017 office-bearers, including Eapen George as General Secretary and Biju Chacko as Treasurer.
Mr H.R. Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia
A highlight of the event will be felicitating Mr H.R. Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia, on conferment of one of the highest civilian awards of India, Padma Shri.
The keynote address will be given by Jehangir Khattak, Co-Director, Center for Community and Ethnic Media, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism,
Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, Deputy Consul General, New York will presideover the function.
A book, Musings on Medicine, Myth, and History – India’s Legacy, by Dr. VK Raju and Dr. Leela Raju will be launched. The authors will be present.
The roaster of entertainment includes a skit by New Jersey street theater group, Prayog. Kalpita Chakote, who has performed at the UN and at Metropolitan Museum of Art, will present a classical dance. St. John’s College students will present Bhangra. Surya Makkar will play the dhol.
#IAPC
Under founder and chairman, Ginsmon Zacharia, IAPC has grown from strength to strength.
It has organized three successful annual international conferences in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. A highlight of the conference last year was a presidential debate with representatives from Democratic and Republican sides.Prof. Indrajit S Saluja moderated the debate.
IPAC has six active chapters in America and Canada. The Atlanta chapter celebrated India’s Republic Day this January in a big way. Last year, the Houston chapter hosted a debate and discussion on the presidential election to increase participation of the Indian community in the political process.
OLATHE, KANSAS (TIP): An Indian engineer was killed and two others injured when an American man opened fire on them after allegedly yelling “get out of my country”, with the local police calling it as a “possible hate crime”.
Srinivas Kunchubhotla, 32was killed ina shooting on Wednesday, February 22 night
Srinivas Kunchubhotla, 32, working at the Garmin headquarters in Olathe, was killed in the shooting on Wednesday night, while another Indian and his colleague Alok Madasani was critically injured and is battling for life at a local hospital.
One other identified as Ian Grillot was also injured in the shooting.
The accused, Adam Purinton, 51, was arrested on Thursday, February 23 morning, five hours after the incident.
“It was a tragic and senseless act of violence,” Olathe Police Chief Steven Menke told reporters.
According to local media reports, he yelled “get out of my country” at the Indians.
Purinton, a navy veteran, later reportedly told a bartender in Clinton, Missouri, where he was hiding that he killed two Middle Eastern persons, the Kansas City Star said.
The Indian Embassy has swung into action and two senior officials of the Indian Consulate in Houston have been sent to Kansas to assist the victims’ families.
“Consul Ravindra Joshi and Vice Consul Harpal Singh rushed to Kansas to assist shooting victim.
They are on their way and will reach by evening,” the consulate said in a tweet.
The accused has been charged with premeditated first-degree murder and his bond has been set at USD 2 million.
According to Garmin, Kuchubhotla and Madasani worked in the company’s aviation systems.
“We’re saddened that two Garmin associates were involved in last night’s (Wednesday night) incident, and we express our condolences to the family and friends of our co-workers involved. Garmin will have grievance counsellors on-site and available for its associates today and tomorrow,” Garmin said in a statement.
The leaks are real. But the news about them is fake. The White House is a fine-tuned machine. Russia is a ruse.
It was a 90 minute show of bravado by a super performer. Trump bullied reporters, dismissed facts and then cracked a few caustic jokes – a combination that once made the candidate irresistible cable TV fodder. Now in office, he went even further, blaming the media for all but sinking his not-yet-launched attempt to “make a deal” with Moscow.
For its stunning moments and memorable one-liners, Donald Trump’s first solo news conference as president has no rivals in recent memory. For all the trappings of the White House and traditions of the forum, his performance was one of a swaggering, blustery campaigner, armed with grievances and primed to unload on his favorite targets.
That matters, Trump said in one of his many improvisational asides, because he’d been briefed and “I can tell you … nuclear holocaust would be like no other.”
This was his and his aides’ attempt to get the boss his groove back. Trump used the event to try to claw his young administration back from the brink after a defeat in court and the forced resignation of his top national security adviser.
He taunted reporters and waved away their attempts to fact-check him in real time. He (incorrectly) touted his Electoral College total and repeatedly blasted his November opponent – somehow mentioning Hillary Clinton more than anyone else in his defense of his administration’s early days. He bragged that his White House is “a fine-tuned machine” and claimed “there has never been a presidency that has done so much in such a short period of time.”
If only the news media would give him credit. Over and over, he accused the political press of being dishonest and suggested that any negative coverage of his administration was “fake news.” He unloaded a torrent of grievances while positioning himself as the stand-in for the everyman, who, he declared, hates and distrusts reporters as much as he does.
“The press – the public doesn’t believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that. I don’t know. But they don’t believe you,” Trump charged. “But you’ve got to be at least a little bit fair, and that’s why the public sees it. They see it. They see it’s not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred.”
It was a far cry from the “buck stops here” mantra popularized by Harry Truman and other presidents who believed that the ultimate responsibility for any White House struggles lay with the president himself. Trump was eager to assign blame elsewhere, ignoring the nation’s healthy economy and relative peace when he took office to say “to be honest, I inherited a mess, a mess, at home and abroad, a mess.”
He mostly blamed the media for his woes, rebuffing suggestions that he was undermining confidence in the press or threatening the First Amendment by trying to convince the nation that “the press honestly is out of control.”
“The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people,” he said. “Tremendous disservice.”
Never before has a president stood in the White House and so publicly maligned the press or attacked reporters by name, according to presidential historians. Not even Richard Nixon in the days of Watergate.
But for Trump, it continued a defining theme and amplified his chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s decree that the media are “the opposition party.”
Trump had put claims of press prejudice at the center of his campaign in an unprecedented way and earlier this month falsely accused the media of refusing to cover terrorist attacks across the world. Though Thursday’s news conference was a messy, fact-challenged affair, it may well have been cheered by Trump supporters across the country who had packed arenas last year to jeer reporters and chant “tell the truth” at the press pen.
An Associated Press-GfK poll taken on the eve of the election revealed that 87 percent of Trump’s supporters saw the media as biased against him.
Trump retains support among Republicans, and solid majorities of Americans say he is following through on his promises and is viewed as a strong leader, according to a Gallup survey. But his overall job approval rating is much lower than those of past presidents at the same point in their administrations. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 39 percent of Americans approve of his job performance while 56 percent disapprove.
But he also made a point of complimenting a softball inquiry about the first lady as “a very nice question.” He teased CNN reporter Jim Acosta for having the same last name as his new pick for labor secretary – Alexander Acosta, whose appointment was ostensibly the reason for the news conference – and said he asked his staff to make sure the men weren’t related.
He chided a Jewish reporter wearing a kippah for asking a question about anti-Semitism. He asked an African-American reporter whether she could help set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. He displayed a rare moment of introspection when he discussed his love for kids amid his “very, very hard” decision whether to potentially deport young immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children.
But mostly it was Trump’s bravado on display, as when he incorrectly asserted that his Electoral College victory had been the largest of any president since Ronald Reagan – and then simply dismissed a reporter’s attempt to correct him.
“Well, I don’t know, I was given that information,” said Trump. “But it was a very substantial victory, do you agree with that?”
CHENNAI (TIP): The political potboiler in Tamil Nadu ended on February 16 with the swearing-in of jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala’s proxy, Edappadi K Palaniswami, as the chief minister.
A long-time confidante of former AIADMK supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Sasikala’s hopes to become the CM were dashed when the Supreme Court sent her to prison for four years in a two-decade-old corruption case, prompting her to name Palaniswami as her successor and brought two nephews into the party who were expelled by Jayalalithaa.
Palaniswami retained almost all the ministers in the O Panneerselvam government, barring the ousted chief minister as well as education minister MF Pandiarajan who have rebelled against Sasikala. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to the chief minister and his 30-member council at a function in which Sasikala’s family members took the front row, leaving no room for guesswork as to where the party leaders draw their strength from. The governor invited Palaniswami to form the government after he presented a list of 124 AIADMK lawmakers supporting him. The new chief minister will have to take a floor test in the assembly in a fortnight to prove that he enjoys support of the majority of legislators.
The AIADMK posted on its twitter handle that the trust vote will be held on Saturday.
Senior party leaders said the leadership wanted to get it done without delay – lest some of the legislators changed their mind and crossed over to the Panneerselvam camp that has vowed to fight the “wrongdoing”.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami after taking the oath of secrecy administered by governor Vidyasagar Rao during the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Chennai on February 16. Photo courtesy PTI
Until then the MLAs would remain at Golden Bay resort at Kuvathur, 80km from Chennai, where they have been staying since Sasikala corralled them there last Wednesday night to stop them from switching loyalties.
Panneerselvam backers were confident about several legislators joining their side.
“During the floor test, even if seven MLAs switch sides, the government will be in a minority. Wait and see what happens,” former education minister Pandiarajan said.
The Panneerselvam camp requested the election commission to nullify the election of Sasikala as the AIADMK general secretary, alleging that the process violated the party constitution.
“Freeing the party from the control of Sasikala is the larger battle and this is a step in that direction,” said Rajya Sabha member V Maitreyan, who went to poll panel with the request in New Delhi.
The 61-year-old Sasikala – a long-time confidante of former AIADMK supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa – had been anointed as the late leader’s successor by the ruling party and was due to be sworn in last week.
But she was pulled into a bruising power struggle by Panneerselvam, who alleged he was forced to resign. Since then, he has been backed by several MPs and MLAs who have switched sides but a majority of the party lawmakers is said to be behind Sasikala.
Her hopes were dashed when the Supreme Court sent her to prison for four years in a two-decade-old corruption case, prompting her to name Palaniswami as her successor and brought two nephews into the party who were expelled by Jayalalithaa.
The conviction disqualifies her from holding a public office and contesting elections for the next 10 years. She is now lodged in Bengaluru central jail as prisoner number 9324, but political analysts said she would wield the remote control with a proxy heading the government.
Panneerselvam, also known as OPS, vowed to free the state from the clutches of Sasikala and her family.
“We will defeat them in the assembly,” he told his supporters outside his home in Chennai. But for now, the initiative appears lost in the rebel camp. Sasikala supporter and senior minister OS Manian was confident that the government would complete its term, a little more than four years to the next assembly elections. “Most of the MLAs with OPS will return to us. You wait and see,” he said, hinting that the cabinet would be expanded after trust vote.
The lawmakers would prefer to complete their term, rather than going for fresh elections without their charismatic leader, Jayalalithaa, and with the burden of an ugly power spat. The fear of facing the ballot will bind the AIADMK legislators, political analysts said.
WASHINGTON (TIP): The US and Russian militaries agreed to “enhance communications” after a meeting between their top commanders in Azerbaijan today (February16), the Pentagon said. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford and his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov discussed military relations between the two countries as well as security in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere during their meeting in the capital Baku.
The two sides “have undertaken efforts to improve operational safety of military activities in order to decrease the prospects for crisis and avoid the risk of unintended incidents,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “The leaders further agreed to enhance communications on such stabilizing measures.”
The United States and Russia already maintain a permanent military communications line over their air operations in Syria to avoid incidents between their aircraft. The last face-to-face meeting between the two highest US and Russian military officers took place in January 2014 between Gerasimov and Dunford’s predecessor Martin Dempsey. The Baku meeting comes amid widespread speculation about the future of US-Russian relations following US President Donald Trump’s election.
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Ministry of External Affairs is all set to get a new public face with its current spokesperson Vikas Swarup headed to Canada as the High Commissioner.
Gopal Baglay, Joint Secretary in charge of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan Division in the ministry, is likely to succeed Swarup. Baglay earlier served as Deputy High Commissioner in Pakistan and as Director in MEA’s External Publicity Division.
Swarup, a 1986-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, had replaced Syed Akbaruddin as the MEA spokesperson in 2015. He shot to fame when his novel Q&A was made into a Hollywood movie, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, which won eight Oscars. He is expected to take up his new assignment shortly.
BAGHDAD (TIP): A car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday, February 16, in southern Baghdad, killing at least 51 people and wounding 55, security and medical sources said, in the deadliest such attack in Iraq this year, says a Reuters report. Islamic State, which is on the defensive after losing control of eastern Mosul to a US-backed Iraqi military offensive, claimed responsibility for the bombing in an online statement.
As it cedes territory captured in a 2014 offensive across northern and western Iraq, the ultra-hardline group has stepped up insurgent strikes on government areas, particularly in Baghdad. Security sources said the vehicle which blew up on Thursday was parked in a crowded street full of garages and used car dealers, in Hayy al-Shurta, a Shi’ite district in the southwest of the city.
The death toll could climb further as many of the wounded are in critical condition, a doctor said.
The bombing is the second to hit car markets this week, suggesting the group has found it easier to leave vehicles laden with explosives in places where hundreds of other vehicles are parked. (Reuters)
A US federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump travel ban. Twice bitten but not shy Trump took to his favorite Twitter to express his reaction: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
A defiant Trump tweets: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
In a major setback for President Donald Trump administration’s first major attempt to carry out its anti-terrorism agenda, a federal appeals court on February 9 refused to reinstate Trump’s executive order barring travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the U.S. On January 27,Trump bannedcitizens of seven Muslim-majority countries hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US for at least the next 90 days by executive order. It sparked chaos at airports and protests worldwide as at least 60,000 visas were voided, including those held by doctors, engineers and students who were caught outside the U.S. visiting relatives abroad.
U.S. District Judge James L. Robart issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the order last week after concluding that a challenge by the states of Washington and Minnesota was likely to succeed. The Seattle-based judge, appointed by President George W. Bush, also concluded that halting the ban – at least for a while – would cause no undue harm to the country.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Judge James L. Robart’s earlier restraining order on the new policy should remain in effect while the judge further examines its legality. The three judges, two Democratic appointees and a Republican, unanimously said the administration had not shown an urgent need to have the order go into effect immediately. The judges on the Ninth Circuit panel were Judge Michelle T. Friedland, appointed by President Barack Obama; Judge William C. Canby Jr., appointed by President Jimmy Carter; and Judge Richard R. Clifton, appointed by President George W. Bush.
“No one is above the law, not even the president,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who brought the lawsuit against the executive order along with the state of Minnesota, said in a statement. “The president should withdraw this flawed, rushed and dangerous Executive Order, which caused chaos across the country.”
The ruling was the first from an appeals court on the travel ban, and it was focused on the narrow question of whether it should be blocked while courts consider its lawfulness. The decision is likely to be quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
That court remains short-handed and could deadlock. A 4-to-4 tie in the Supreme Court would leave the appeals court’s ruling in place. If the Supreme Court decides not to review the 9th Circuit decision or can’t muster a majority vote, the ruling from the San Francisco court will remain in place while the Seattle judge further examines its legality.
But Trump was defiant in response to the ruling against his travel ban.
Minutes after the ruling was issued Thursday night, Trump tweeted a message in all caps: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the many plaintiffs around the nation who have sued the administration over the travel ban, said this was just the first step.
Former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee accused the court of protecting terrorists.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is opposed to the ban, greeted the ruling with a sigh of relief.
NEW DELHI (TIP): Punjab and Goa, which reported high voter turnout for assembly elections on February 4, could be looking at a change, an analysis of past poll data reveals. In around 80% of the state assembly polls whenever voting percentage has been higher than the previous election, there has been a change in the government, election commission data for the last 20 years reveal. The probability of change is even higher when women voters outnumber men.
Also Read Related Story: PUNJAB RECORDS 77.37% VOTER TURNOUT & Goa notches record 83% turnout
Punjab reported 77.37% polling, a shade lower than 78.57% in the 2012 election. Goa turnout was 82.23% against 81.73% the last time. In both the states, more women turned up at polling booths than men.
High voting, a recent phenomenon, has led to change in governments in most states though there are exceptions. Voters in Punjab took everyone by surprise in 2012 when they returned SAD-BJP to power, a first for the state where Akalis and Congress took turns to rule the state.
Last year, Mamata Banerjee was given a second successive term by voters in West Bengal. When she ended the Left’s three decades of rule in 2011, it was a new voting record for the state. Sheila Dikshit returned as the chief minister of Delhi with a higher majority in 2003.
“Invariably the enthusiasm at polling booths is for a change,” said Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which has been monitoring voting patterns of assembly elections for the last 20 years.
Kumar said understanding voting pattern was a complex issue and could vary from state to state in a big country like India, as elections also have caste and community dimensions. “But what we observe from analyzing long-term data is that if people are satisfied with the incumbent government, they normally may not come out in large numbers,” he said.
In the last 20 years, India has seen voters’ enthusiasm rise. Higher turnouts can primarily be attributed to three factors -weeding out of bogus names from poll rolls, the election commission’s efforts to encourage voting and bring polling stations closer to voters’ homes and adequate security. The number of polling stations has more than doubled in the last two decades. All polling booths now have a central election observer to ensure free and fair polling.
At least 10% of the names on polls rolls were found to be bogus or duplicate and were struck off, EC has said. “The ECI has worked a lot on this and it is showing results,” former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi said. These factors have helped build voter’s confidence. In around 160 assembly polls, including those for union territories, held since 1990, higher voter turnout was reported in about 122 elections, leading to change in the government in about 79.4% cases. Moreover, data also show that it is getting increasingly difficult for the ruling parties to retain power when compared to early years of Independence.
MINEOLA, NY (TIP): A Newsday report published February 9, said a federal judge in Central Islip on Wednesday, February 8, set Jan. 15, 2018, as the start of the corruption trial of Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto.
U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrack set the date as Mangano and Venditto, along with Mangano’s wife, Linda, who is also charged with a crime, all appeared in federal court for a status hearing on their case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine M. Mirabile said the government has already turned over 10,000 pages of discovery to the defendants and intends to hand over 10,000 more pages.
The judge set April 5 as the next court date.
Outside court Mangano said the case has not affected his ability to govern.
Mirabile and fellow federal prosecutors declined to comment after the court appearances. Mangano’s lawyer, Kevin Keating of Garden City, has refuted the allegations that the county executive was involved in a scheme to get a Long Island restaurateur county contracts. “We are pleased the court has set a trial date,” he said Wednesday. “My client is innocent and we will have an opportunity to clear his name.”
Linda Mangano’s attorney, John Carman of Garden City, said, “I agree with my colleague’s remarks.”
Venditto’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo of Manhattan, declined to comment.
Mangano and Venditto were arrested in October and charged with receiving “bribes and kickbacks” from a businessman who also gave Mangano’s wife a lucrative no-show job, federal authorities said.
The federal corruption charges center on a relationship involving Mangano, Venditto and a person identified only as a co-conspirator in the 13-count indictment, but whom sources identified as restaurateur Harendra Singh.
Republicans Mangano, 54, of Bethpage, and Venditto, 67, of North Massapequa, are charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, fraud and obstruction of justice.
Mangano’s wife, Linda, 54, is charged with obstruction and making false statements. Prosecutors contend she received more than$450,000 from the no-show job from April 2010, months after her husband took office, to August 2014.
One of her phony jobs was to serve as a “food taster,” prosecutors said.
Authorities accuse Edward Mangano and Venditto of scheming to award Singh contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide food services to county agencies and secure multimillion-dollar loan guarantees for his businesses.
In exchange, Mangano and Venditto received gifts from the co-conspirator, including “hotel and travel expenses, limousine services, free meals and other gifts,” according to the indictment.
Among the gifts Mangano received were a massage chair worth $3,600, an ergonomic office chair worth $3,300, a Panerai Luminor watch worth $7,300, and installation of hardwood flooring in his bedroom, authorities said.
In return for helping the businessman, Venditto got use of a private room at a restaurant, free chauffeur service for himself and his family, and discounted fundraisers at a restaurant, according to the indictment.
The restaurants are not identified in the indictment, but sources said the fundraisers were held at Woodlands at the Town of Oyster Bay golf course, previously operated by Singh, and the private room was at Singh’s now-defunct restaurant in Bethpage, H.R. Singletons.
If convicted of the top count, Edward Mangano, Linda Mangano and Venditto face up to 20 years in prison. The charges resulted from an investigation by federal prosecutors, and FBI and IRS agents.
At their arraignments at federal court in Central Islip in October, all three pleaded not guilty through their attorneys and were each released on $500,000 bond.
US President Donald Trump is yet to unroll the “America First” doctrine. But worryingly for India, Democrats are competing with him in imposing restrictions on low-cost foreign IT workers.
The US House of Representatives has taken up a Bill for reforming H1B visas.
Indians account for one lakh such visas every year, besides another 1.25 lakh that are renewed. The sponsor of the Bill is a veteran Democrat representing the Silicon Valley, indicating that the notion of Indian “cyber-coolies” is widespread.
Officially, the Indian Government has withheld comment because similar Bills in the past have sunk into oblivion. But deep inside there must be considerable concern. The failure to create jobs inside India is being compounded by the inability to defend jobs for Indians abroad.
The Trump administration has no plans to come out with an executive order on H-1B visas, Shalabh Kumar “Shally”, a prominent Indian-American donor and supporter of the US President claimed.
Currently, the US President is beyond the call of reason. In due course, he will appreciate that trade in services with India is not a one-way street. If India raked in $19 billion from the US last year, the corresponding figure was $12 billion. This is set to increase because of $28 billion US investment in this sector. Trump will also not be unaware that India’s $25 billion annual trade surplus in goods with the US may shrink. His predecessor has set the stage for increased US involvement in India’s infrastructure sector and energy supplies, both fossil and solar based.
If those are not enough reasons to go slow on clamping down on H1B visas, three of Trump’s Cabinet picks were CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, the very section that has benefited the most from low-cost IT labor from India. Would they not be counselling their President against such a move? On the world stage, the US needs India because of its tensions with Pakistan and China and close ties with Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. The Obama days will not return anytime soon when India’s trade surplus and work visas had doubled. While fighting to retain the quota of H1B visas, India will also have to take a call on how long its corporates will make money on the back of modestly paid techies?
LONDON (TIP): British Parliament overwhelmingly supported a Bill, February 9, empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to start crucial negotiations by March 31 on leaving the European Union, bringing Brexit a step closer. May said she would trigger formal divorce talks by March-end.
The draft legislation of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was approved by 494 votes to 122 by the House of Commons after its final debate.
The Bill allows Prime Minister May to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to begin a two-year period of negotiations for the UK’s new deal as a non-member of the European Union (EU) by 2019.
Now that the Bill had passed the Commons, it will be debated in the House of Lords after it returns from recess on February 20, where it is expected to be given the final nod.
Earlier, the Commons debated the last set of amendments to the Bill, including on key principles for the negotiation process, before the Bill went on to its third and final reading for the vote.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had instructed his MPs to vote in favor of the Bill whether any amendments are made or not. However, he faced a second round of rebellion after over 49 MPs had defied the whip at the last vote earlier this month.
Some 52 Labour MPs rebelled in vote today, including Shadow business secretary Clive Lewis who resigned shortly beforehand. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who missed last week’s initial vote on the Bill, backed it this time. She told the BBC she had “a lot of misgivings about the idea of a Tory Brexit” and predicted the UK would “come to regret it”, but added: “I’m a loyal member of the shadow cabinet and I’m loyal to Jeremy Corbyn.”
May herself faced a rebellion of her MPs, but she managed to minimize the Tory rebellion by promising a Commons vote on Brexit before it is finalized.
Britain sees no need for a second Scottish independence referendum and the devolved Scottish government should focus on improving the economy and tacking domestic issues rather than flirting with secession, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
An opinion poll published on Wednesday, February 8, showed support for Scottish independence rose after Prime Minister Theresa May proposed making a clean break with the European Union, stoking speculation that Scotland could demand another secession vote.
NEW DELHI (TIP): In a pre-election Budget aimed at softening the demonetization blow, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1 halved the basic income tax rate to 5 per cent and lowered the rate for small companies, while boosting spending on rural employment, agriculture and infrastructure.
HIGHLIGHTS
● I-T halved to 5% for assessees in Rs 2.5-Rs 5 lakh slab
● Rs 12,500 relief for taxpayers in other categories
● 10% surcharge on income between Rs 50 lakh-1 cr
● Rs 1 lakh cr Rail Safety Fund for network upgrade
● Highest-ever Rs 48,000-cr grant for MGNREGA
● FIPB shut; FDI norms to be further eased
● 5% corporate tax cut for small firms
● No cash deals above Rs 3 lakh
Jaitley presented a merged railway and general Budget after advancing the dates by a month that provides a record outlay of Rs 3,96,135 crore for infrastructure schemes, besides a capital expenditure of Rs 1.3 lakh crore on railways and Rs 64,000 crore on highways.
The FM perhaps was asked to build on the political gains of demonetization, and that is why sections hurt by it were targeted for incentives. Small and medium enterprises got a tax cut and taxpayers were rewarded – though not to the extent expected. And much against expectation again, the Budget lacked the surprise factor.
The Budget seeks to provide a record Rs 10 lakh crore in loans to farmers, boost funds for rural employment guarantee program, bring one crore households out of poverty and promised to build one crore houses by 2019 for the homeless ahead of the crucial elections in five states.
In view of the fact that the proposed GST is expected to be rolled out soon, he left indirect taxes largely untouched.
While the tax rate for income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh has been lowered to 5 per cent, a 10 per cent surcharge has been slapped on income between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore. The 15 per cent surcharge on income above Rs 1 crore will continue.
The tax liability of all persons below Rs 5 lakh would be reduced to either zero (with rebate) or 50 per cent of the existing liability. In order not to have duplication of benefit, the existing benefit of rebate available to them is being reduced to Rs 2,500 available only to assessees up to income of Rs 3.5 lakh.
While the taxation liability of people with income up to Rs 5 lakh is being reduced to half, all other categories of taxpayers in the subsequent slabs will also get a uniform benefit of Rs 12,500 per person.
In the case of senior citizens above 60 years, there will be no tax up to Rs 3 lakh, while the exemption will be up to Rs 5 lakh in case of citizens above 80. Both the categories will attract a tax of 20 per cent on income between Rs 5-10 lakh and 30 per cent for income above Rs 10 lakh.
FISCAL DEFICIT DOWN TO 3.2% FROM 3.5%
Moving ahead with the fiscal consolidation path, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has pegged the fiscal deficit for 2017-18 at 3.2 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent expected in the current financial year. Addressing the media, he said the Budget estimate for fiscal deficit was 3.5 per cent for 2016-17 and revised estimate is also 3.5 per and it will be achieved. Fiscal deficit is the difference between revenue receipts plus non-debt capital receipts (NDCR) and total expenditure. This indicates the total borrowing requirements of the government from all sources. Fiscal deficit of 3.2 per cent in absolute terms for the next fiscal comes out to be Rs 5,46,532 crore.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING GETS INFRA STATUS
Aiming to boost real estate sector, the government announced infrastructure status to affordable housing for encouraging investment and offered tax sops to developers sitting on completed but unsold homes. The allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin has also been raised.
INCENTIVES TO BOOST INVESTMENT IN NPS
In a bid to boost NPS, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed higher tax rebate for investment in flagship social security programs and allowed tax relief on partial withdrawal of up to 25 per cent of the contribution.
NOW, TAX EXEMPTION TO CM, LG RELIEF FUNDS
The government announced extension of tax exemption on contributions to Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund. At present, there is tax exemption on funds given to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Jaitley said Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) and Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund (LGRF) are of the same nature as the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund at the level of state or the union territory. “Therefore, it is proposed to amend the said clause to provide the benefit of exemption to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund,” he said. This amendment to I-T Act will take effect retrospectively from April 1, 1998.
“The Union Budget for 2017-18 is in line with the BJP’s changed political stance of wooing the poor and shedding its “suit-boot-ki-sarkar” image. The Modi government has changed track and turned to the side where the numbers are -the poor, farmers and the middle class – which makes sense electorally. This is what every party tries to do – look credible on welfare and capture the constituency of the deprived. Congress and BJP budgets frequently look similar. How to deliver the dole is the real challenge and the switchover to a technology-based foolproof system is being unnecessarily delayed”, commented a newspaper.
WASHINGTON (TIP): On February 1, the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Victory Fund held a press conference with Members of Congress and Indian American leaders at the National Press Club to condemn the Trump administration’s immigration executive orders. On behalf of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community representing a diversity of faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds, speakers stood together in opposing these discriminatory executive orders.
“As the most senior Indian American Member of Congress, I believe that Donald Trump’s executive order does not reflect who we are as Americans,” said Rep. Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-7). “The actions of the Republican Hindu Coalition today do not reflect the breadth and diversity of the Indian American community, or our diaspora. Prior to 1965, it was very difficult for people of Indian origin to immigrate to the United States, and this order takes us backwards toward that dark time. That’s why I’m fighting back, and today sponsored the SOLVe Act to repeal this discriminatory executive order.”
“I was elected to help unify our country. This executive order from President Trump is an assault on our Constitution; it hurts working families; and it only serves to divide Americans, not unify them,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-8). “It is no longer time to agonize but to organize. It is time to do everything we can to oppose this executive order.”
“It is unthinkable that this country, which welcomed me when I arrived at 16 years old, would so boldly, defiantly and barbarically turn its back on immigrants and refugees,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-7). “Let us be clear that President Trump came into office by demonizing and ‘otherizing’ immigrants and refugees. While we had hoped that perhaps he would move from being a divisive candidate to being a unifying President, he is failing us. I call on our communities to condemn and resist these executive orders.”
“The temporary ban in the executive order is not constitutional,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17). “We cannot allow policies to exist that are not consistent with our founding ideals and values. I swore in on the Constitution, and will always stand up for Constitutional principles.”
“This executive order does not make us safer; it imposes the most severe of burdens on the most vulnerable among us,” said Nisha Desai Biswal, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. “To single out people because of their nationality or their faith is unethical. It goes against our responsibilities from the Geneva Conventions and poses an unjust, un-American and what we believe to be an unconstitutional ban on immigrants and refugees.”
“I believe this executive order will not only be ineffective, it will be counterproductive,” said Manpreet Singh Anand, former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. “National security cooperation, partnership and building trust with other countries in our efforts. This executive order will not achieve its intended policy outcomes. By not including interagency government professionals, the order was horribly executed and will end up being unlawful as well as alienate our partners. Executive orders like this one will be counterproductive to the very national security goals that it purports to achieve.”
“We cannot allow ourselves to be divided by this un-American executive order. It is a stain on our history, just like slavery, internment and denial or voting rights,” said Shekar Narasimhan, chair of the AAPI Victory Fund. “Americans confronted and overcame these challenges and we will do the same here. We unite and call on our Members of Congress to deny President Trump the funds to carry out these unlawful executive orders.”
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