India Defies Housing Price Rise Among 60 Countries Surveyed By IMF

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Economy 0

While most economic indicators deteriorated in 2020, house prices largely defied the pandemic in over 57 of the 60 countries surveyed by the International Monetary Fund. India, Philippines and the UAE bucked the housing bite reported in the IMF Global House Price Index released Monday. Three quarters saw increases in house prices in 2020. The trend has largely continued in countries with more recent data.

The increases in house prices relative to incomes makes housing unaffordable to many segments of the population, as highlighted in the Fund’s recent study of housing affordability in Europe. The post-pandemic working arrangements could also exacerbate inequality concerns as high-earners in tele-workable jobs bid for larger homes, making homes less affordable for less affluent residents, IMF researchers said.

The surge in house prices has also had an impact on headline inflation in some countries and could contribute to more persistent inflationary pressures. IMF research indicates that low interest rates contributed to the boom in house prices, as did policy support provided by governments and workers’ greater need to be able to work from home.

In many countries, including the US, online searches for homes reached record levels. The American home-sales market has been on a historic rally during the pandemic and well into the current Fall season. Along with these demand factors, house prices also increased as supply chain disruptions raised the costs of several inputs into the construction process.

While fundamentals of demand and supply can account for much of the buoyancy of housing markets during the pandemic, policymakers are nonetheless keeping a close watch on developments in this sector. Over a decade ago, a turnaround in house prices marked the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. However, the twin booms in household credit and house prices in many countries before that crisis-and many previous housing crashes-appear less prevalent today.

Hence, in a plausible scenario, a rise in interest rates, a withdrawal of policy support as economies start to recover, and a restoration of the timely supply of building materials, could lead to some normalization in house prices, the researchers said.

AAHOA Applauds Lifting of Travel Restrictions with Canada and Mexico

October 25, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterTourism, Travel 0

America’s hoteliers applauded the Biden administration’s announcement that it will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals from Canada and Mexico to enter the United States starting in early November after a 19-month freeze. For air travel, the policy would require travelers to be fully vaccinated and to test negative for the virus. No testing will be required to enter the country by land or sea, as long as travelers meet the vaccination requirements.

AAHOA is working with the administration to promote vaccine awareness in the hospitality industry and called for new measures to restart international travel safely earlier this year. “This is a big win for our Members, families, business, and tourism industries, especially those living in Texas and in the states bordering Canada,” said AAHOA President & CEO Ken Greene. “Cross-border operations were halted at the start of the pandemic, and AAHOA pressed the administration on the financial toll the travel ban took on small businesses.”

Travel industry studies estimate that international travel spending in the U.S. fell 76% year-over-year compared to 34% for domestic travel in 2020. “Lifting the COVID-19 restrictions on foreign travelers from Mexico and Canada is a significant step in the right direction and signals yet another phase of recovery for the hotel industry,” said AAHOA Chair Vinay Patel. “This decision from the Biden Administration will help return two significant sources of travel and tourism to the U.S., visitors who have historically visited by the tens of millions annually.”

AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the nation, with Member-owned properties representing a significant part of the U.S. economy. AAHOA’s 20,000 members own 60% of the hotels in the United States and are responsible for 1.7% of the nation’s GDP. More than one million employees work at AAHOA member-owned hotels, earning $47 billion annually, and member-owned hotels support 4.2 million U.S. jobs across all sectors of the hospitality industry. AAHOA’s mission is to advance and protect the business interests of hotel owners through advocacy, industry leadership, professional development, member benefits, and community engagement.

Focus On China, US At UN Climate Change Conference

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterEnvironment, Global 0

For two weeks in early November, the nations of the world will gather in Glasgow, Scotland, to negotiate updates to the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, the landmark agreement in which more than 190 countries pledged to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

With temperatures rising and extreme weather occurring across the globe, all eyes at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be on China, the leading producer of greenhouse gases, and the United States, the largest emitter both historically and on a per capita basis.

Keeping an eye on the results of the conference will be Phillip Stalley, the endowed professor of environmental diplomacy in DePaul University’s Grace School of Applied Diplomacy. Stalley’s research centers on building diplomatic bridges in environmental policy across the globe, with a special focus on China’s evolving approach to environmental diplomacy. He’s the author of “Foreign Firms, Investment, and Environmental Regulation in the People’s Republic of China.”

In this Q&A, Stalley discusses the upcoming climate conference and the roles of the U.S. and China.

With recent studies affirming the dire climate situation, what do you anticipate the U.S. and China — the two largest climate polluters — will say at the Glasgow conference?

A recent report by Chatham House estimates that, even if countries implement their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the original Paris Agreement, we still have a less than 5% chance of keeping global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, which is the stated goal of Paris. Without stronger action, the fires, floods and other extreme weather we have all witnessed recently will be a lot worse.

The key question for Glasgow and beyond is whether China and the U.S. can be convinced to offer more ambitious climate targets in their NDCs. For instance, China currently has its “30-60” pledge, which refers to its twin goals of peaking emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Neither is consistent with the 2 degree target. The hope is that China, either in Glasgow or in the not too distant future, will move forward its peak dates and offer a specific cap for its total energy-related CO2 emissions, rather than just a peak year.

On the U.S. side, some of the biggest questions involve implementation and finance. President Joe Biden has pledged to slash U.S. emissions in half by 2030, but given Republican opposition, can he pass the domestic legislation necessary to achieve that goal? In terms of finance, Biden recently announced he will work with Congress to provide $11.4 billion to aid developing countries fighting climate change. If the U.S. wants other countries to do more, it will need to prove it can contribute more to the $100 billion climate finance goal agreed to in Paris.

Will other countries be willing to listen to a new U.S. administration talk about the need for climate action now when the U.S. only a few years ago left the Paris Climate Accord?

It is certainly true that the U.S.’s uneven track record undermines its credibility in international negotiations and inhibits its ability to influence other countries. U.S. diplomats will struggle in Glasgow if Biden cannot get the infrastructure and budget bills through Congress, both of which provide extensive funding for programs to combat climate change.

It’s worth noting, however, that U.S. state and municipal governments also play an important role in climate change diplomacy. After former President Donald Trump announced America’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord, governors from roughly two dozen states formed the U.S. Climate Alliance, pledging to abide by the Paris targets. Additionally, despite the Trump administration’s public stance against climate regulations, more coal power was retired during his four years than were in former President Barack Obama’s second term.

Are there other types of non-traditional diplomacy and advocacy that could help persuade the U.S. and China to take action around climate change?

There are many opportunities for non-traditional diplomacy to exert influence on both countries’ approach to climate change. This is evident, for instance, in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent announcement that China will stop supporting coal power projects overseas. The reasons for this decision are complex and include commercial considerations, but part of the explanation is that Beijing was facing a great deal of pressure, from not only foreign governments, but also activists, experts and NGOs across the world. Beijing’s decision represents a victory for all the diplomats and activists who have been fighting for years to stop the funding of overseas coal.

APPLE Showcases Women Techies Of Indian Origin On World Stage

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterTechnology, Women 0

It was Indian-origin women techies’ turn to take the centre-stage as Apple unveiled its next line-up of products, including an all-powerful MacBook Pro with new M1 chips, next-generation AirPods and other products and services.

After Apple CEO Tim Cook set the tone late on Monday, Susmita Dutta who is engineering program manager for SoC (system-on-chip) for audio products, introduced the next-generation AirPods, featuring spatial audio, industry-leading sound, longer battery life and an all-new design during the ‘Unleashed’ event at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Dutta joined Apple nearly four years ago as system test design lead, before being elevated as audio engineering program manager. She earlier worked at GE Healthcare for more than seven years as lead system designer (ABUS Ultrasound) in California.

A Madras University graduate in engineering, Dutta now has more than 16 years of system and hardware engineering experience, specifically in systems engineering methodology, test design and mass production of low and high-volume products.

After next-gen AirPods was the turn of new and all-powerful MacBook Pro with next-gen M1 chips, and Shruti Haldea from the Mac team joined the stage with top company executives, taking the audience through the machine meant for developers, filmmakers, creators and innovators.

Working at Apple for more than 12 years, Haldea joined the tech giant as global supply manager and became product line manager for Pro Mac in 2019. An MBA from Harvard Business School, she introduced the world to game-changing MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max that deliver extraordinary performance and battery life, and features the world’s best notebook display.

The new MacBook Pro features a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, a wide range of ports for advanced connectivity, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and the best audio system in a notebook. Combined with macOS Monterey, which is engineered down to its core to take full advantage of M1 Pro and M1 Max, the user experience is simply unrivaled for developers, photographers, filmmakers, 3D artists, scientists and music producers.

In April 2021, Apple’s ‘Spring Loaded’ event saw Navpreet Kaloty, a dashing Sikh, who mesmerized the audience with his iMac presentation. A Bachelor of Applied Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo in the US, Kaloty looks after Mac architecture as an engineering program manager at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. He interned for some time with the product management team for operational excellence at electric car maker Tesla.

Pope Francis Calls For Greater Female Leadership Ahead Of G-20 Summit

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterReligion, Women 0

(RNS) — In a message read by his secretary of state to a women’s advocacy group meeting ahead of the G-20 summit, Pope Francis called for greater female leadership in world affairs on Monday (Oct. 18), telling the Women’s Forum G-20 that “our world needs the collaboration of women, their leadership and their abilities, as well as their intuition and their dedication.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, read the pontiff’s message by video to a special two-day gathering in Milan of the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society, founded by Publicis public relations to highlight women’s voices in government and diplomacy. The forum is taking place days before the summit in Rome of the heads of state of the world’s largest economies. Before the event, Francis is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time since his election.

The Catholic Church has a complicated track record on the question of women’s participation and leadership. While there is no shortage of strong female figures in the church, some lament the lack of women’s involvement in decision-making in an institution that doesn’t allow them to become priests, bishops, cardinals or popes. In the message, Francis quoted his predecessor St. John Paul II, who in 1995 wrote a letter to women, “Mulieris Dignitatem,” that was interpreted by many as a manifesto for further female inclusion in the church. (John Paul II was also responsible for answering with a definitive “no” the question of female ordination.)

Francis opened two commissions, one in 2016 and another in 2020, to study the possibility of allowing women to become deacons — clergy who can preach but cannot perform the sacraments. Since becoming pope, he has appointed more than a dozen women to positions of influence and leadership in the Vatican. In early October, the pope launched a two-year synodal process, in which the faithful will be called to discuss, debate and express their views on the most pressing issues facing the Catholic Church. When the world’s Catholic bishops convene in Rome in 2023 to vote on the issues raised in the process, only one woman, Sister Nathalie Becquart, whom Pope Francis appointed as undersecretary to the synod of bishops, will be allowed to vote.

The message Parolin read quoted some of Francis’ earlier speeches praising “the irreplaceable contribution of women in building a world that can be a home for all” and their ability to be “concrete and know how to weave life’s threads with quiet patience.” It is with this constant weaving, it said, that women promote a sense of “selflessness” that is capable of looking beyond the myopic approach solely centered on immediate profit. The contribution of women is essential “in the efforts for the care of our common home.”

While the pope noted men’s and women’s “respective characteristics,” his message said both sexes are “called to embrace their common vocation to be active builders of society.” The pope’s speech ended with an emphatic appeal calling for the education of every girl in the world: “I would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate a strong encouragement that every girl and young woman in every country may have access to quality education so that each of them may flourish, expand their own potential and talents, and dedicate themselves to the development and progress of cohesive societies.”

Facebook Fined $4.79 Million For Favoring Foreigners Over U.S. Citizens

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterImmigration, Media 0

In a case that turns on its head the common perception of foreigners suffering employment bias in the U.S., Facebook is to pay a fine of $4.75 million for discriminating in favor of foreign workers on H-1B visas – largely used by companies employing Indian workers – and against American citizens and permanent residents, according to the Justice Department.

The department said Oct. 19 that Facebook, headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., will also pay up to $9.75 million to the workers it had discriminated against under a settlement it made with it and the Labor Department, reported IANS. “This settlement is an important step forward and means that U.S. workers will have a fair chance to learn about and apply for Facebook’s job opportunities,” Labor Department’s Indian American Solicitor Seema Nanda said.

The Justice Department said that the fine and the backpay were the largest “that the Division ever has recovered in the 35-year history of the INA’s (Immigration and Naturalization Act) anti-discrimination provision.” The voluntary settlement by Facebook closes the case launched in December by the Justice Department in the final days of former President Donald Trump’s administration.

The department had charged Facebook with routinely reserving jobs for H-1B visa holders, using recruiting methods designed to deter U.S. workers from applying for certain positions, and hiring only temporary visa holders in 2018 and 2019. The foreign workers were hired under the permanent labor certification program (PERM) that would make them eligible for permanent resident status or green cards, the Department said.

“Companies cannot set aside certain positions for temporary visa holders because of their citizenship or immigration status. This settlement reflects the Civil Rights Division’s commitment to holding employers accountable and eradicating discriminatory employment practices,” said Kristen Clarke, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General.

The division is under the purview of Indian American Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

Facebook said that although it strongly believed that it met the federal government standards for the PERM program, “We’ve reached agreements to end the ongoing litigation and move forward with our PERM program, which is an important part of our overall immigration program.”

About 65 percent of all H-1B visa holders are from India and are a staple of Silicon Valley, widely used by software programmers and other employees of major U.S. technology companies.

The Justice Department said that Facebook had made it difficult for U.S. citizens and others with the right to work here by requiring them to apply only by mail for those positions while the foreigners were allowed to apply electronically.

Under the settlements, Facebook, whose PERM program was audited by the Labor Department this year, will also be required to advertise jobs more widely, accept electronic resumes and applications from all, and train its employees in anti-discrimination rules.

Associated Press adds from Washington: The department’s civil rights division said the social network giant “routinely refused” to recruit, consider or hire U.S. workers, a group that includes U.S. citizens and nationals, people granted asylum, refugees and lawful permanent residents, for positions it had reserved for temporary visa holders.

Critics of the practice contend that the foreign nationals will work for lower wages than U.S. citizens. The tech companies maintain that’s not the case, that they turn to foreign nationals because they have trouble finding qualified programmers and other engineers who are U.S. citizens.

“In principle, Facebook is doing a good thing by applying for green cards for its workers, but it has also learned how to game the system to avoid hiring U.S. tech workers,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “Facebook started lobbying to change the system more to its liking starting back in 2013 when the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate was being negotiated.”

As Australia Expects Boom In Tourism, Qantas Moves Up Flights

October 25, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterTourism, Travel 0

Qantas Airways has brought forward its plans to restart international travel from Sydney as Prime Minister Scott Morrison predicted tourists would be welcomed back to Australia this year. Vaccinated Australian permanent residents and citizens will be free to travel through Sydney from Nov. 1 without the need for hotel quarantine on their return.

Two weeks ago, Morrison said Australians, skilled migrants and students would be given priority over foreign travelers in coming to Sydney. He predicted tourists would return in 2022 or later. But while tourists would retain their low priority, Morrison now expects they will return this year. “That is very possible and very achievable before the end of the year,” Morrison said.

Sydney-based Qantas announced services to Thailand, Singapore, South Africa and Fiji had been brought forward by weeks or months. A new service to New Delhi would begin in December, the first to India in almost a decade. The 22,000 staff employed by Qantas and its budget subsidiary Jetstar would return to work in December, six months earlier than planned.

The changes are being driven by New South Wales’ rapid uptake of vaccines. By Friday, 83% of the population aged 16 and older was fully vaccinated and almost 93% had at least one dose of a vaccine. Only the national capital Canberra has a higher proportion of the population vaccinated.

Australia had one the lowest vaccination rates of any wealthy country due to supply problems and public distrust of locally manufactured AstraZeneca. It now has one of the highest due in part to supply deals done with Britain, Poland and Singapore.

Melbourne, Australia’s most populous city after Sydney, came out of 77 days of lockdown on Friday after Victoria state reached a benchmark of 70% of the target population fully vaccinated. Pandemic restrictions were eased despite Victoria recording its deadliest day of the delta variant outbreak with 16 COVID-19 deaths. There were also 2,189 new infections detected in the latest 24 hours.

“Victorians, it’s fair to say, have done a quite amazing thing. So many people going and getting vaccinated so quickly,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. “We’ve always said that lockdowns were a function of not having the vaccine that we needed but if we got vaccinated, we’d have so many more options,” he added.

Sydney, where the delta outbreak began in June, came out of lockdown last week after reaching the same 70% vaccination benchmark. New South Wales reported five COVID-19 deaths on Friday and 345 new infections.

Catholicism Growing Everywhere Except In Europe

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Religion 0

(RNS) — A Vatican census released ahead of World Mission Day reveals growing numbers of Catholics in what Pope Francis often refers to as “the global peripheries,” even as the number of believers continues to diminish in Europe.

The number of Catholics in the world grew by more than 15 million from 2018 to 2019, according to a census by the Vatican news agency Fides published on Thursday (Oct. 21). “The increase applies to all continents, except Europe,” which saw the number of Catholic faithful decrease by almost 300,000, the survey found.

The data was released ahead of the 95th World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on Sunday in dioceses around the globe following the one-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the census, conducted annually among Catholic faithful, Catholics represented 17.7% of the global population in 2019. As Catholicism gained followers in Africa, the Americas and Asia, the church’s numbers waned in Europe, the historic basin of Catholicism that is now increasingly becoming a mission territory.

While the number of Catholic priests has grown overall, Europe has seen a consistent decrease in clergy, where the number of faithful per priest grew to more than 3,245-to-1. For the seventh year in a row, the number of religious brothers and sisters has declined everywhere, with Africa as the only exception. Religious sisters experienced the sharpest decline, losing 11,562 members.

Seminarians studying to become priests also shrunk globally, especially in minor seminaries for people between 11 and 18 years old. Bishops diminished by 13, now totaling 5,364 globally.

While clergy members experienced a steep fall worldwide, the number of lay missionaries grew significantly, especially in the Americas and Africa, with only a small decrease in Asia. Catechists saw their numbers reduced by 2,590, with the Americas and Europe registering the highest drops.

The Fides data accounts for all Catholics until Dec. 31, 2019. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent church closures and deaths, experts at a Vatican news conference on Thursday admitted the numbers may have changed substantially during 2020.

Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, addressed the challenges of putting together all the data, especially during the pandemic. While admitting “the de-Christianization is evident,” Dal Toso added that beneath the surface there are new and lively Christian communities that are thriving, even in Europe.

“I think it will be necessary to implement courses for Christian formation” to help the faithful better understand Catholicism, he said.

In a message shown at the news conference and written in January, Pope Francis said “the pandemic has brought to the fore and amplified the pain, the solitude, the poverty and the injustices experienced by so many people. It has unmasked our false sense of security and revealed the brokenness and polarization quietly growing in our midst.”

The most frail and vulnerable took the brunt of the pandemic, the pope said, as the world witnesses a “growing negativity that stifles hope.” Despite these challenges, Francis said “the call to mission is not a thing of the past,” and the world needs missionaries willing “to go forth to the peripheries of our world as messengers and agents of compassion.”

Speaking at the news conference, Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines encouraged the faithful to become “missionaries fueled by compassion and hope.” Mentioning his experience living in Asia, where Catholics represent a minority of the population, the cardinal warned that “if we keep the faith to ourselves, we will become weak, and if we keep the faith to a small group, it might become an elite group.” Instead, he continued, Christians and missionaries are called “to reach all the nations, the geographical and existential spaces.”

Tagle has headed the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of People since 2019 and holds several important positions at the Vatican that have led many observers to consider the cardinal “papabile,” meaning a possible candidate to be elected pope at the next conclave.

U.S. Bishops Silent On Moral Issue Of Climate Change

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterEnvironment, Religion 0

Newswise — According to a new study by professors and an alumna from Creighton University, the vast majority of U.S. Catholic bishops were silent about climate change around Pope Francis’s 2015 ecological encyclical Laudato Si’. The study also found bishops were denialist and biased about climate change in ways that correlate with conservative political identity/ideology.

The study, “U.S. Catholic bishops’ silence and denialism on climate change,” was published Oct. 19, in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters. The authors examined more than 12,000 columns published from June 2014 to June 2019 by bishops in official publications for 171 of the 178 U.S. Catholic dioceses (representing 96% of all U.S. dioceses). Among the study’s findings:

Less than 1% of columns in the study (0.8%, or 93 columns out of 12,077) mentioned “climate change,” “global warming,” or variations.

Less than 1% of columns in the study (0.46%, or 56 columns out of 12,077) described climate change as something that is real or currently happening.

Less than 1% of columns in the study (0.24%, or 29 columns out of 12,077) discussed climate change as something that is urgent.

74% of the 201 bishops in the study did not once mention climate change.

69% of the 171 dioceses studied did not publish a bishop’s column that mentioned climate change.

The study was conducted by Sabrina Danielsen, MA, PhD, an assistant professor of sociology; Daniel R. DiLeo, PhD, a Catholic theologian, associate professor, and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program; and Emily E. Burke, BS, a 2021 undergraduate and current doctoral student in the joint Sociology and Community & Environmental Sociology Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“The research shows U.S. Catholic bishops’ diocesan communications largely ignored Catholic teachings on climate change,” says Danielsen. “This is surprising given the climate crisis we’re in and indicates that the top U.S. Catholic leaders have not capitalized on the spark of Laudato Si’.”

When bishops did address climate change, they often downplayed parts of Laudato Si’ that conflict with a conservative political identity/ideology. The encyclical repeatedly calls for public policies to address climate change, while U.S. political conservatives often oppose climate policies. Among the 93 bishops’ columns that do mention climate change, only 14 columns (15%) reference climate change politics.

“Our data suggest that as individuals, U.S. bishops failed their duty to teach the fullness of Catholic faith that includes Church teaching on climate change,” says DiLeo. “Our findings also raise questions about whether U.S. bishops will support Vatican advocacy at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference in November. The U.S. Catholic Church has tremendous potential to shape climate policy, but this requires bishops’ commitment to justice as essential to the Church’s mission.”

The bishops also disproportionately prioritized social issues that correspond to conservative political identity/ideology. Laudato Si’ mentions climate change 24 times and mentions abortion once, but bishop columns addressed them with equal frequency when discussing the encyclical. Among the 211 columns that reference Laudato Si’, 59 mention climate change and 59 mention abortion or pro-life.

“Climate change is a deep concern for so many young people because it threatens every aspect of our future,” says Burke. “As a young Catholic, I want leaders who understand these hopes and anxieties and are willing to faithfully embrace Church climate change teaching.”

Sukriti And Prakriti Kakkar Light Up Iconic Times Square Billboard In New York

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterEntertainment, Women, Youth 0

Singing sisters Sukriti Kakkar and Prakriti Kakkar have rendered absolute magic to many melodies turning them into dreamy affairs with their ethereal voices. And now, the twins have made it to the famed New York Times Square billboard. The appearance comes as a part of an initiative that supports equity for women in music on the global canvas.

The two took to Instagram to share the news with their fans. They captioned the post, “YA GIRLS MADE IT TO A BILLBOARD IN TimesSquare ???? This day will always be remembered. #SuPraInNY ?? Thank you @spotify and @spotifyindia for making this possible! Big love to our @vyrloriginals fam and @bandbaaja ????”

Sukriti and Prakriti’s rendezvous with international acclaim happened earlier this year when the sisters collaborated with global musical sensation Dua Lipa. Their track, the Hindi remix version of ‘Levitating’ with Dua Lipa turned out to be an absolute blockbuster and topped the charts for several months.

Continuing the streak of international fame, the singing twins featured on the most coveted billboard. They featured alongside names such as Vladivojna La Chia, Maria Jose Llergo making them the only Indians to be a part of this list which comes across as a huge honour not just to both of them but also for the country and the Indian music fraternity.

Talking to IANS, an extremely elated Sukriti said, “There are dreams that one always sets out with, especially at the start of our careers. The Times Square billboard was surely always a part of that dream for us and seeing it come to life, it is a surreal moment for us.”

She adds that the fact they got featured on the billboard for an important cause is what makes it all the more special. “Apart from pinching ourselves, and actually seeing the image of us on the billboard, the fact that it is for a cause that is to encourage equity for women in music globally, makes it even more special”, she added.

For Prakriti, it’s about making a difference through their voice both literally and metaphorically, as she says, “Representation of women in music, locally as well as globally has reached an all new platform of equity. Women deserve to be paid as much as men, given the same treatment as male singers and this association was just to empower that.”

“It has made it to the most viewed billboard in the world, Times Square and we are so proud to be a part of this. As Indian artistes, and also as young women, it is important for one to always believe in equity in order to see it becoming our reality,” Prakriti concluded.

80,000-180,000 Health Workers Killed By Covid

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Covid has severely affected healthcare staff and may have killed between 80,000 and 180,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Healthcare workers must be prioritized for vaccines, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, and he criticised unfairness in the distribution of jabs. The deaths occurred between January 2020 and May of this year. Earlier, another senior WHO official warned a lack of jabs could see the pandemic continue well into next year. There are an estimated 135 million healthcare workers globally.

“Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five healthcare workers globally are fully vaccinated,” Dr Tedros said. “But of course, that average masks huge differences across regions and economic groupings.” Fewer than one in 10 healthcare workers were fully vaccinated in Africa, he said, compared with eight in 10 in high-income countries. A failure to provide poorer countries with enough vaccines was highlighted earlier by Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior leader at the WHO, who said it meant the Covid crisis could “easily drag on deep into 2022”.

Less than 5% of Africa’s population have been vaccinated, compared with 40% on most other continents. The vast majority of Covid vaccines overall have been used in high-income or upper middle-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6% of doses administered globally.

The original idea behind Covax, the UN-backed global programme to distribute vaccines fairly, was that all countries would be able to acquire vaccines from its pool, including wealthy ones, writes BBC Global Affairs correspondent Naomi Grimley.

But most G7 countries decided to hold back once they started making their own one-to-one deals with pharmaceutical companies. Dr Aylward appealed to wealthy countries to give up their places in the queue for vaccines so that pharmaceutical companies can prioritise the lowest-income countries instead.

He said wealthy countries needed to “stocktake” where they were with their donation commitments made at summits such as the G7 meeting in St Ives this summer. “I can tell you we’re not on track,” he said. “We really need to speed it up or you know what? This pandemic is going to go on for a year longer than it needs to.”

The People’s Vaccine – an alliance of charities – has released new figures suggesting just one in seven of the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries are actually reaching their destinations in poorer countries. The alliance, which includes Oxfam and UNAids, also criticised Canada and the UK for procuring vaccines for their own populations via Covax.

Biden Delays Release Of JFK Assassination Files

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterNation USA 0

The White House said on October 22^nd that it would delay the release of long-classified documents related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. President Joe Biden wrote in a statement that the remaining files “shall be withheld from full public disclosure” until December 15 next year — nearly 60 years after Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas in 1963.

In 2017, former president Donald Trump released several thousand secret files on the assassination, but withheld others on national security grounds. The White House said the national archivist needs more time for a review into that redaction, which was slowed by the pandemic.

Biden also said the delay was “necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations” and that this “outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.”

The assassination of the 46-year-old president was a “profound national tragedy” that “continues to resonate in American history and in the memories of so many Americans who were alive on that terrible day,” the statement said.

A 10-month investigation led by then-Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine who had lived in the Soviet Union, acted alone when he fired on Kennedy’s motorcade.

But the Commission’s investigation was criticized for being incomplete, with a Congressional committee later concluding that Kennedy was “probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.”

U.S. law requires that all government records on the assassination be disclosed “to enable the public to become fully informed.” The National Archives has released thousands of documents to the public as part of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, informally known as the JFK Act. The files are accessible online.

“Temporary continued postponement is necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure,” the president said.

Biden said some documents will be released on Dec. 15 of this year, but not earlier “out of respect for the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination,” which took place Nov. 22, 1963. The remaining documents will undergo an “intensive 1-year review” and be released by Dec. 15, 2022.

Under the 1992 John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, all assassination records should have been publicly disclosed within 25 years – or by October 2017 – but postponements were allowed in instances that national security concerns outweighed the public interest in disclosure. The National Archives notes about 88 percent of the records have been released since the late 1990s.

Earlier this month, some members of Congress wrote to Biden urging him to fully release all of the JFK files, including 520 documents that remain withheld from the public and 15,834 documents that were previously released but are partially or mostly redacted. The letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo of California, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Sara Jacobs of California, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

“Democracy requires that decisions made by the government be open to public scrutiny,” the lawmakers wrote. “Yet excessive secrecy surrounding President Kennedy’s assassination continues to inspire doubt in the minds of the American public and has a profound impact on the people’s trust in their government.”

Changes In Sex And Intimacy Among Single Indians In Covid Times

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterLifestyle, Youth 0

The pandemic and lockdown restrictions have changed dating for single Indians and shaped the way single people in India are approaching sex and intimacy. In its Intimacy in a Pandemic Report, Bumble, the women-first dating app and social networking platform, shows how partner priorities are also seeing a seismic shift.

There’s an increased openness towards sexual exploration among the dating app’s users globally right now as per the recent global survey conducted within the app. India had the highest percentage of Bumble users (34 per cent) who respond that they are more open to exploration when it comes to sex compared to the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

The app’s recent nationwide survey showed 65 per cent of single Indians claim the pandemic has changed their approach to sex and intimacy. More than one in three (37 per cent) people surveyed claim they are being more open to sharing their boundaries and desires with someone they are dating right now. About one in three (33 per cent) people have ‘locked down’ and started living with someone they met on a dating app since the second wave hit India in March 2021.

The new research and insights about the state of sex and intimacy for daters in India show:

Confidence levels are at an all-time high

The past year has been a time of reflection for singles to think about what they are looking for in a relationship. This time ultimately gave people an opportunity to define their relationship priorities and the confidence to take control of their dating lives.

Nearly half of Indians surveyed on Bumble (47 per cent) are feeling more confident about what they want and need from a sexual partner, and we’re also seeing an increased openness to sexual experimentation.

Over half of the users (60 per cent) surveyed in India indicated that they were looking to be more sexually active following ease in lockdown restrictions.

Compatibility is a top priority

The app’s latest research shows that daters are prioritizing compatibility now more than ever as people start dating IRL with increased confidence in what they are truly looking for in a sexual partner. People are also expressing an increased openness to communicating their boundaries and desires when it comes to sexual health and preferences.

More than one in three (37 per cent) people surveyed claim they are being more open to sharing their boundaries and desires with someone they are dating right now.

Over a quarter of Bumble users surveyed in India (26 per cent) indicated that they are planning to express their sexuality differently now compared to a year ago.

Bumble’s latest data indicates that there’s been a shift in the way people are approaching sex and intimacy in India with over half (51 per cent) of those surveyed responding that they are doing something different when it comes to sex and intimacy this year.

“We’re seeing a trend of single people in India being more intentional when it comes to dating, with over half of daters surveyed indicating that they are focused on trying to find a partner that’s right for them. In fact, 13 per cent of our Bumble community in India responded that they’ve added more steps to screen potential partners. People are more intentional now when they interact with potential partners and focused on compatibility. We are excited to see how the Bumble community expresses their newfound confidence in their dating journeys as restrictions ease across the country,” shares Samarpita Samaddar, Communications Director, Bumble India.

U.S. Passport Renewals Are Taking Months

October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterImmigration, Travel 0

Last spring, Tera Wages was looking forward to a mid-July trip to Casa Chameleon Hotel in Costa Rica when a friend happened to mention the U.S. passport renewal process, which has been suffering delays during the pandemic. Wages panicked, realizing she hadn’t checked the expiration date on her own passport. “You could have sucked the air out of the room in that moment,” she says.

Sure enough, both Wages’s and her partner’s passports had expired during the pandemic. Wages immediately sent them off to USPS, four weeks before they were set to depart—exactly the time the U.S. Department of State said passport renewals were estimated to take back in the spring. But mere days prior to scheduled travel, the Alabama-based couple was still passport-less, despite herculean efforts to secure an in-person agency appointment through a case worker assigned to them by Congressman Mo Brooks’s office.

“Ultimately we realized our case worker was not able to make anything happen,” Wages says. “We’d spent hours refreshing the page to get appointments, and nothing was becoming available. We decided there was no way [we could still go on the trip].”

Situations like Wages’s are common right now, with many Americans being forced to cancel international trips due to expired passports, and a long and frustrating renewal process. Though travel agents have always recommended giving the government a few months to process a U.S. passport renewal, the timeline is now much more complicated. Processing times are currently up to three times longer for both routine and expedited passport renewal services compared to before the pandemic.

Due to a huge influx of requests as the world reopens, travelers who need to renew (either in person or via mail) will have to allow extra time to do so. The best advice? Check your passport expiration date now—whether you have a trip planned or are just dreaming of one—and don’t forget many international destinations require your passport to be valid for six months from your planned return date to the United States.

We tapped travel experts to answer common questions about U.S. passport renewal right now. Read on for the advice, including what to do if you have an upcoming trip.

How long are passport renewals taking right now?

“We’ve seen varying timelines, but generally the passport renewal process can take anywhere from four to 18 weeks via mail, with in-person meetings even harder to come by,” says John Spence, USA president for luxury tour operator Scott Dunn. The government’s passport renewal website says travelers should be prepared to wait up to 18 weeks from the day their mailed-in passport reaches a processing facility.

Any travelers who can provide proof of necessary urgent travel, such as life-or-death emergencies, or can show that their trip is within 72 hours, though, are given the chance to score an in-person appointment, Spence says. “However, we wouldn’t count on this unless it’s a last resort,” he adds.

If you are able to get an in-person appointment at one of the government’s 26 passport agencies or centers in the country, a passport agent will review your application and potentially issue a passport on the spot, if you’re eligible for one. Or, the agent may ask you to return at a specific time to receive it, depending on the agency, their workload, and the date of anticipated travel.

Appointments at these centers have been so scarce, however, and in such high demand, that some who’ve been able to secure one have taken to selling them illegally to other travelers. Wages says that in researching how to get appointments online in their attempt to continue with their Costa Rica trip, they discovered users on Reddit who would post appointments for sale—starting around $200—as soon as someone canceled or more spots opened up.

In a briefing on July 14, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services Rachel Arndt addressed the situation, condemning this behavior. “We are aware of the issues and we are working to prevent them,” she said. “The Department of State does not charge a fee to solely book an emergency appointment at one of our agencies or centers, so if anyone receives a request for payment for scheduling a U.S. passport appointment, that should be considered fraudulent.”

As a result, on July 21 the Department of State temporarily disabled the online appointment booking system for urgent travel service. No timeframe was specified as to when online booking for appointments will open back up. In the meantime, you must call to make an appointment (though Traveler editors have been unable to get through in recent days, with the call dropping off after the initial menu).

Note that the above measure only applies to the 26 passport agencies in the country, and not the many passport acceptance centers—found in libraries, post offices, and local government offices—which continue to take online appointments. Wait times at passport acceptance centers are aligned with mail-in timelines, meaning the process can take up to 18 weeks once you’ve had your appointment and your passport has reached the federal government. Find a passport acceptance center near you here.

What to do if you need a passport, fast

If not being able to renew your passport could mean cancellation of a major trip, it makes sense you might consider extreme measures to score an appointment—even if that means paying for one. However, Spence says he’d never recommend illegally purchasing an appointment. “Although it’s tedious, we always advise going through the official application and renewal process through your local passport agency,” he says.

One creative way to potentially move quickly through the official channels? Contact your local representative, including the office of your U.S. senator or congressional representative, and ask for help getting an appointment, says Bahar Schmidt, founder and CEO of high-end travel resale marketplace Eluxit. She says that a client set to travel to Mexico realized last minute that their passport was expired. With travel in two days and no luck booking an appointment with the Department of State, they contacted their government representative and were able to get assistance—and continue with their planned trip, fresh passport in hand.

“I would probably recommend that route,” Schmidt says.”Reaching out to anyone who may [be able to] help in a crisis is worth a try.” Every district is different, so you’ll need to do some research to find the right person to call; more than likely, though, it will be your U.S. congressional representative who might be able to help in the eleventh hour. That said, it’s not a guarantee that lawmakers in either the House or Senate will be able to assist in a timely manner, as Wages experienced with her caseworker.

Of course, if you’re in panic mode and willing to throw money at the problem, there are always third-party passport services you can pay to handle your renewal. Throughout the summer, many passport application and renewal services—some of which traditionally advertise 24-hour turnarounds—have posted notices to customers that they cannot guarantee rapid renewals, though some are advertising wait times shorter than the government’s. RushMyPassport is a service Traveler staffers have used for a guaranteed 4-week return time, for $189. Another, GenVisa, says they will be able to offer passport renewals within 7 to 10 business days beginning in early August for $370.

What about the government’s expedited service?

During COVID, the government temporarily suspended expedited passport processing for customers applying at acceptance facilities or renewing passports via mail. However, expedited service resumed in September 2020. You can pay an additional $60 to receive your passport renewal faster; however, the turnaround time is also delayed and may take up to 12 weeks.

What should I expect if I renew by mail?

Mailing your passport without knowing when it may be returned is daunting. But within seven to 10 business days of mailing it, you should be able to track your application status through this page. Enter your last name, date of birth, last four digits of your social security number, and a security code.

Always take a photo of your passport before sending it in for renewal, says Spence. “If your passport happens to get lost in the mail, you at least have a copy to refer to, and this will save you additional time and effort to renew it.”

If the worst happens and you can’t get a passport in time, you can always book a domestic trip instead. Wages, who is still passport-less, ended up booking a weekend getaway to The Goodtime Hotel in Miami Beach with her husband. Though she says the experience was a “10 out of 10,” it was still a consolation to the international vacation they didn’t get to take. Still, Wages acknowledges it could have been worse. “We’re fortunate our [travel] was not an emergency and that we have the privilege to be able to reschedule and plan again,” she says. “But for people who don’t have that ability, it would be really tough.”

India Slips To 101st Spot In Global Hunger Index 2021

October 20, 2021October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Nation India 0

India slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries and is behind neighbors Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In 2020, India was ranked 94th out of 107 countries.

The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organization Welt Hunger Hilfe, termed the level of hunger in India “alarming”. India’s GHI score has also decelerated — from 38.8 in 2000 to the range of 28.8 – 27.5 between 2012 and 2021.

The GHI score is calculated on four indicators — undernourishment; child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who low weight for their height); child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age) and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).

The share of wasting among children in India rose from 17.1% between 1998-2002 to 17.3% between 2016-2020, according to the report. “People have been severely hit by COVID-19 and by pandemic related restrictions in India, the country with highest child wasting rate worldwide,” the report said.

However, India has shown improvement in other indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food, the report said.

A total of only 15 countries — Papua New Guinea (102), Afghanistan (103), Nigeria (103), Congo (105), Mozambique (106), Sierra Leone (106), Timor-Leste (108), Haiti (109), Liberia (110), Madagascar (111), Democratic Republic of Congo (112), Chad (113), Central African Republic (114), Yemen (115) and Somalia (116) — fared worse than India this year.

A total of 18 countries, including China, Kuwait and Brazil, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five, the GHI website that tracks hunger and malnutrition across countries reported last week.

According to the report, the share of wasting among children in India rose from 17.1 per cent between 1998-2002 to 17.3 per cent between 2016-2020, “People have been severely hit by COVID-19 and by pandemic related restrictions in India, the country with highest child wasting rate worldwide,” the report said.

Neighboring countries like Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92), which are still ahead of India at feeding its citizens, are also in the ‘alarming’ hunger category.

However, India has shown improvement in indicators like the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food, the report said.

Stating that the fight against hunger is dangerously off track, the report said based on the current GHI projections, the world as a whole — and 47 countries in particular — will fail to achieve even a low level of hunger by 2030.

“Although GHI scores show that global hunger has been on the decline since 2000, progress is slowing. While the GHI score for the world fell 4.7 points, from 25.1 to 20.4, between 2006 and 2012, it has fallen just 2.5 points since 2012. After decades of decline, the global prevalence of undernourishment — one of the four indicators used to calculate GHI scores — is increasing. This shift may be a harbinger of reversals in other measures of hunger,” the report said.

Food security is under assault on multiple fronts, the report said, adding that worsening conflict, weather extremes associated with global climate change, and the economic and health challenges associated with Covid-19 are all driving hunger.

“Inequality — between regions, countries, districts, and communities — is pervasive and, (if) left unchecked, will keep the world from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) mandate to “leave no one behind,” it said.

India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation remained in double-digits for the sixth consecutive month in September, though at 10.66% it was lower than 11.39% in August.

Food inflation contracted 4.69% in September compared with a 1.29% fall a month ago, while that of manufactured products rose to 11.41% from 11.39% in August.

The sharp contraction in food prices was mainly due to easing vegetable prices though price of pulses continued to spike at 9.42%. Retail inflation in September also slowed to a five-month low of 4.4% due to moderating food prices.

Fuel’s a concern

The inflation in the fuel and power basket was 24.91% in September, against 26.09% in the previous month. The rise in crude petroleum and natural gas prices was 43.92% in September over 40.03% in the previous month.

Fuel is likely to keep pinching in the days ahead. After two days of lull, petrol and diesel prices were again hiked by 35 paise per litre on Thursday, sending retail pump prices to their highest ever level across the country. This is the 13th time that petrol price has been hiked in two weeks while diesel rates have gone up 16 times in three weeks.

Shortages, High Prices Likely During Holiday Season

October 20, 2021October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Economy 0

Newswise — Despite President Biden’s announcement of round-the-clock operations at key West Coast ports and expanded operations by the likes of Walmart and UPS – plus pledging further federal government efforts — to alleviate the U.S. supply chain backlog, Maryland Smith supply chain expert Martin Dresner says federal government involvement will be most effective long term — through infrastructure spending.

“The President is proposing making better use of our current infrastructure by increasing working hours and spreading business more evenly throughout the day,” says Dresner, professor and chair of the logistics, business and public policy department at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

“Although this may help at the margin, there is only limited warehouse, rail and trucking capacity,” he adds. “It is difficult to expand this capacity in the short run. Although the backlogs will eventually work their way out of the system, this may take some time. It is unlikely that the backlogs will be alleviated by the holiday season.”

Dresner, also an associate editor for the Journal of Business Logistics, points to the complexity of the current supply chain problems. Significantly, the pandemic “created increased demand for products shipped from Asia that arrive via container at major U.S. ports, putting pressure on shipping, port, truck and rail capacity.”

In the meantime, work rules designed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus and some port shutdowns reduced the throughput of the shipping industry — especially in Asia, he says. “This was coupled with a decline in the workforce as people retired and quit lower-paying jobs, including transportation and warehousing positions. And, finally, government policies pumped considerable cash into the economy increasing consumer spending, thereby further increasing demand for consumer goods.”

Regarding the federal government’s role in solving the crisis, Biden this week said, “If federal support is needed, I’ll direct all appropriate action, and if the private sector doesn’t step up, we’re going to call them out and ask them to act.”

But Dresner, in response, says such federal support is best channeled through infrastructure spending: “The Biden Administration has plans to spend on infrastructure. In the long run, better infrastructure should improve the functionality of supply chains.”

In the short run, “the Administration should leave it to businesses to work out the backlogs, he adds. “Prices are already adjusting and these prices will cause adjustments in consumer demand. And higher interest rates, should they be forthcoming, will also curtail consumer demand.” However, Dresner cautions that the Biden Administration and the Fed “need to tread a fine line.”

“If interest rates are too low and too much money is pumped into the economy, consumer demand could stoke inflation,” he says. “If rates are hiked too quickly and government spending is curtailed, then we could get pushed into a recession.”

Floods In Kerala Devastate Life, Properties

October 20, 2021October 25, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Environment 0

After heavy rains triggered a series of landslides in Kerala, residents of the particularly hard-hit areas of Kottayam and Idukki districts are reeling under the devastation. A large number of people residing in some of the affected villages have been displaced from their homes and forced to relocate to rehabilitation camps. So far, the death toll has reached 27, PTI reported.

Torrential rain has battered the coastal state of Kerala last week, causing rivers to swell and flooding roads that left vehicles submerged in muddy waters, with some houses reduced to rubble.

State Revenue Minister K Rajan said the rescue workers have recovered 15 bodies from the debris of the landslides on Saturday. “The rescue workers have recovered 15 bodies till now. This includes 12 bodies from Koottickal in Kottayam, one body from Peerumedu and two which were recovered yesterday from Kanjar in Idukki district,” PTI quoted Rajan as saying.

Rescue efforts have continued since Saturday, with the Indian army, navy and air force assisting. The National Disaster Response Force has deployed 11 teams across south and central parts of Kerala.

At least 27 people have been killed after heavy rain triggered floods and landslides in southern India. Thirteen people were killed in a landslide in the Kottayam district, according to state officials. Nine bodies have also been recovered from the site of another landslide in the district of Idduki, officials said, adding that two people are still unaccounted for. Three fishermen in the Malappuram district also remain missing.

Five children are among the dead. There are fears the death toll could rise further as many people are missing. Several houses were washed away and people became trapped in the district of Kottayam in Kerala state.

Military helicopters are being used to fly in supplies and personnel to areas where people are trapped, officials said. Thousands of people have been evacuated and 184 relief camps have been set up across the state, where over 8,000 people are being provided food, bedding and clothing.

The government has also announced financial aid for those who have lost houses and crops. It has decided to leave the decision of whether various dams in the state should be opened to an expert committee.

In 2018, some 400 people died when heavy rains flooded the state. There was controversy over the fact that dams were opened without any warning to people living in low-lying areas. Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the committee will decide which dams need to be opened.

“District collectors will be notified hours before opening the dams so that local people have enough time to evacuate,” his office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, India’s meteorological department has predicted heavy, isolated rainfall in the state for up to four more days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Sunday that he had spoken to Mr Vijayan about the situation. “It is sad that many people have died due to the heavy rains and landslides in Kerala. My condolences to the bereaved families,” Mr Modi wrote.

Officials from Alleppey city told BBC Hindi that the situation in the city was worrying. Alleppey has a network of canals and lagoons and it is vulnerable to flooding.

Meanwhile, several tragic stories are coming out from the affected districts.

A family of six – including a 75-year-old grandmother and three children – were confirmed dead after their home in Kottayam was swept away, news agency PTI reported.

Fishing boats are being used to evacuate survivors trapped in Kollam and other coastal towns, as sections of road have been swept away and trees uprooted. It is not uncommon for heavy rainfall to cause flooding and landslides in Kerala, where wetlands and lakes that once acted as natural safeguards against floods have disappeared because of increasing urbanisation and construction.

The 2018 floods were the worst in Kerala in a century, and displaced more than one million people. An assessment carried out by the federal government that same year found that the state, which has 44 rivers flowing through it, was among the 10 most vulnerable in India to flooding

IAPC Expresses Grief & Condolences At the Passing Away Of Easo Jacob

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterMedia, Profile 0

“Indo American Press Club is shocked and wants to extend our heartfelt condolences on the sudden passing away Easo Jacob, an active member of the Indo-American Press Club Advisory Board and the first President of the Houston Chapter of IAPC. The death of Easo Jacob, the Vice-Chairman of the International Media Conference held in Houston in 2019, is a great loss to IAPC and the media fraternity of Indian Americans,” said Dr. Joseph M. Chalil, Chairmaan of IAPC here.

Easo Jacob had served as a Director Board Member of IAPC, as a National Executive Vice President, Vice Chair of IAPC international Media Conference in 2019 and as the President of IAPC Houston Chapter.

“Easo’s contributions to the media world and to IAPC has been enormous. He was instrumental in organizing a Seminar on Risk Management for Journalists, several journalism workshops, and the Presidential Election Debate only a few which showed Easo Jacob’s unparalleled ability to organize successful events. The untimely death of Easo Jacob is a great loss for the media world,” said IAPC president Dr. S.S Lal.

IAPC Founding Chairman Ginsmon Zachariah said, “The death of Easo Jacob, who had been with the organization since its inception, has shocked everyone at IAPC and the media woirld, in addition to the larger communtiy. The contributions of Easo Jacob for the growth of IAPC cannot be overlooked. Also, I have come to know of his professionalism in the media world, while I was working with him during his tenure as the Resident Editor of Asian Era and Managing Editor of Aksharam Magazine.” As per Mr. Zachariah, his sudden death is a huge loss to IAPC, the Indian American media and the Malayalee community in North America.

“Easo Jacob’s death is an irreparable loss to IAPC,” Dr. Matthew Joyce, Vice Chair of IAPC BOD said. Mathewkutty Easo and Regie Phillip, other members of the IAPC leadership recall that Easo Jacob had become closely associated with IAPC and its members during his tenure as the vice chairman of the media conference in Houston in 2019. They lauded his leadership, commitment and journalistic skills. Through Malayala Manorajyam, a news magazine launched in 1988 in Houston, Easo contributed to the media industry and the larger Malayelee community.

Kottayam Vazhoor Chungathil Parampil family member Easo Jacob, who has been in the US for 37 years, had completed his postgraduate degree from SB College, Changanassery and was an alumnus of CMS College, Kottayam and NSS College, Vazhoor. Easo died on Friday, October 15^th due to health related issues.

FDA Recommends Moderna Covid-19 Booster Shot

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health, Science 0

A 19-member committee has voted unanimously in favor of advising the FDA to recommend booster shots for people who have previously been vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. It’s now up to the FDA to make a final decision, which the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will then consider shortly in coming up with the final recommendation for who should get the Moderna booster.

The COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna is the second to get the greenlight from a panel of experts assigned to advise the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Moderna follows Pfizer-BioNTech, which, in September, received FDA authorization for its booster. The CDC followed up with a booster recommendation for anyone over 65 years old who received their last Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dose at least six months earlier; and anyone aged 18 to 64 who is more vulnerable to complications of COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions or because they work in a higher risk setting including a hospital, grocery store or school.

The advisory committee unanimously voted in support of a booster of the Moderna vaccine; however, in a discussion following the vote members raised concerns about whether the data the committee and FDA have been reviewing so far are adequate to justify boosters for the wider population. Several committee members voiced their support of a booster dose for vulnerable populations, including those over age 65 and people with compromised immune systems, who are at greater risk of developing severe COVID-19 and its complications, but noted the dearth of data supporting the benefit among younger people, even those in jobs that might put them at risk of exposure.

Still, the members voted to recommend the Moderna shot for a population that mirrors that currently eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech booster. (The same FDA committee had voted against recommending the Pfizer-BioNTech booster for these groups, but CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky decided to include them so those who find themselves in high-risk settings have the option of getting an additional dose.)

Moderna booster dose would give younger people who mount adequate immune responses after the initial shots any extra protection. Indeed, FDA scientists presenting to the committee emphasized that the immunity from the original two doses remains strong enough to protect most people from getting sick enough to need hospitalization, or from dying of COVID-19.

Dr. Patrick Moore, another committee member and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said he voted in favor of the booster “more from a gut feeling rather than based on really, truly serious data. The data itself is not strong, but [is] certainly going in the direction that is supportive of this vote.”

U.S. To Allow Vaccinated International Travelers From Nov. 8th

October 20, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterTourism, Travel 0

After a nearly 19-month pause, the U.S. has announced that fully vaccinated international travelers will be able to enter the country as of November 8. This follows a Wednesday announcement from the White House, saying the U.S. would open its land borders and ferry ports of entry from Canada and Mexico for non-essential purposes—but only to those who have completed their approved vaccination doses.

That means travelers looking to enter the country, whether it’s to reunite with family and friends or as a tourist, will be able to do so again for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The policy will start November 8, “in alignment with the new international air travel system,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, referring to the newly announced date given by the White House for when all international plane passengers coming into the U.S. will need to be vaccinated.

The reopening of the Canadian and Mexican land borders will happen in two steps. First, international travelers with non-essential business will be able to enter starting November 8 by showing documentation that they are fully inoculated with an approved vaccine, while those who haven’t been vaccinated still won’t be able to enter the country for non-essential reasons. Then, in the second phase starting in January 2022, even those who do have essential travel purposes—like students, truckers, and health care workers—will also need to have proof of full vaccination to cross the borders.

“These new vaccination requirements deploy the best tool we have in our arsenal to keep people safe and prevent the spread of [COVID-19] and will create a consistent, stringent protocol for all foreign nationals traveling into the United States whether by land or air,” a senior administration official told reporters, according to CNN.

While international travelers coming in by plane will also need to show a negative COVID test in addition to being fully vaccinated, those crossing the borders by land will only need proof of vaccination, The New York Times explained. Any of the vaccines that have been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization will be accepted, including Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, and Sinopharm. The procedure for those who received doses of different vaccines —which was commonplace in Canada—is still being determined, according to the Associated Press.

Since both the northern and southern borders were sealed off in March 2020, the timeline for reopening had been continually pushed back, most recently in 30-day increments, with the latest one in effect until October 21. But the reciprocal policy hadn’t been the same, as Canada reopened to American travelers August 9, while Mexico never shut down its border.

The reopening news is being lauded by the travel industry, with many expecting the relaxed restrictions to rev up leisure tourism. “U.S. Travel has long called for the safe reopening of our borders, and we welcome the Biden administration’s announcement of a set date to welcome back vaccinated international travelers,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement on Friday. In a previous statement, Dow noted that the closed borders have meant losses of about $700 million per month to the U.S. economy, totaling an estimated $250 billion in lost export income and likely more than a million lost jobs in the U.S.

The news is especially welcome at border cities, where restrictions have had a serious impact on their bottom line for the last 19 months. “Cross-border travel creates significant economic activity in our border communities and benefits our broader economy,” Mayorkas said. “We are pleased to be taking steps to resume regular travel in a safe and sustainable manner.”

Those steps have been slowly coming, as news of the November welcoming of vaccinated air passengers first was limited to those in the U.K. and European Union, but started to become more general as a White House senior administration official said in September, “We’ll be moving to a consistent requirement for all international air travelers coming to the United States,” explaining that “strict protocols” would be put into place in early November “requiring that adult foreign nationals traveling here be fully vaccinated.”

As of now, vaccination requirements for domestic travel aren’t on the books, though they have been talked about. President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN Sunday: “It’s always discussable, we always wind up discussing it, but right now I don’t see that immediately.”

Aryan Khan Commits To “Work For Poor, Shun Wrong Path”

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema, Youth 0

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan assured NCB officials during counseling that he would work for the welfare of the poor and never do anything that would besmirch his name in the future, an official said last week.

Aryan (23) is currently lodged in Arthur Road prison in Mumbai after he was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau following alleged drug seizure from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2.

During counselling by officials including NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede and social workers, Aryan said after his release, he will work for “social and financial uplift of the poor and downtrodden” and never do anything which could bring him publicity for the wrong reasons, said an agency official.

An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case related to the seizure of drugs following a raid at a party on the Cordelia cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 2.

After the arrest, Aryan along with seven other accused including two women arrested by the NCB underwent a counseling session. “Aryan was on the call for 10 minutes with his parents, and a jail official was present with him during the call,” said the official.

There are a total of 3,200 prisoners in the Arthur Road jail. As per the guidelines of the jail amid the pandemic, people are not allowed to visit the inmates. They can only speak to them over the phone. Inmates are allowed 10 minutes to talk to their family members. The jail has a total of 11 phones. The family members of prisoners who have a video call facility are given 10 minutes on video call otherwise a voice call is dialled.

During a hearing in the Court, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) counsel ASG Anil Singh opposed Aryan’s bail and said, “Argument is, they are kids. One of the considerations for granting bail. I don’t agree with this. Sir, they are our future generation. The entire country will be depending on them. This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Gautam Buddha. We have to stop this drug abuse. We have been taking this matter very seriously. We are looking into the chain, into the transaction.”

The NCB, in the court, said all countries should take drug abuse very seriously as it is affecting society and the world. “Our department working day and night to find a solution to drug abuse. We are dealing with it in a very serious manner. My officers were attacked, beaten, in a different matter. They put their lives in danger and they have been working. This has been affecting the entire society, particularly to youngsters who are college students,” the NCB counsel said.

Design Thinking And User Experience Design For Innovation Highlighted At ASEI’s Design Summit

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Technology 0

The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) convened a Design Summit with several academics, authors, speakers and practitioners covering innovation in Design from multiple perspectives on October 9th, 2021.

After a brief introduction to the organization by ASEI executive council member Vatsala Upadhyay, and a tribute to design maestro Steve Jobs marking the 10th anniversary of his passing, ASEI President Piyush Malik shared his forward-thinking views on Design based on his field experiences and learnings working with nimble Silicon Valley startups as well as fortune 500 corporations around the globe. These opening remarks centered around the importance of Design as a discipline and Design Thinking methodologies adapted from IDEO, Stanford’s d.school and IBM’s enterprise design thinking approach a.k.a IBM Garage, which is an end-to-end model for accelerating digital transformation.

The keynote speaker Prof Sanjay Gupta who is the founder and Vice Chancellor of World University of Design (WUD) shared his vision illustrating the difference between User Interface (UI) and User Experience Design (UXD). He also spoke about applications of emerging concepts such as AR/VR (augmented reality /virtual reality) and innovation in design in his talk titled “Importance of design for engineers” based on his many decades of multidisciplinary design experience across Engineering, Architecture, Fashion and Academics.

Engaging Dr Gupta in a fireside chat following this address, Piyush shared some industry trends based on analyst reports and they discussed the impact of design on creator economy with NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens), Blockchain, AR/VR, etc. Dr Gupta acknowledged the ASEI community and shared the impact WUD has had in its nascent life since inception and cited the importance of partnerships with industry bodies including Assocham, CII and now ASEI to expand its sphere of influence.

Dolly Parikh, Founder and CEO of Aloki Labs, a boutique design studio in California traced her inspiration to the 1977 film “Power Of 10” and shared learnings from her UX Strategy and Design career across companies such as Apple, Verisign, Expedia, Intuit, Medallia, Aviso, Automation Anywhere, InfoStretch, ARM and MindTickle.

UX Architect Noah Iliinsky, a popular speaker and author of 2 O’Reilly books on visualization enthralled the audience with his data storytelling approach and emphasized the 4 pillars of effective design viz. purpose, content, structure and formatting. His versatile technique can be applied to not only data visualization but all forms of communications. The illustrations of data in tables versus charts and graphs and when to choose pie versus line versus bar graphs were eye opening.

In the next section of the Design Summit focusing on career guidance, Sabira Gupta who is a Software engineer turned Principal UX Designer at Informatica shared her tips for those transitioning into Design careers. She showcased formatting as well as language do‘s and don’ts to inspire the budding designers aspiring for new opportunities amongst the audience.

Veteran designer Ches Wadja spoke on “Intuition, humility and collaboration in service of design innovation”. Sharing personal stories from his time at Expedia as the design head to being the first designer when LinkedIn was a year old startup, Ches mesmerised the attendees with the captivating story of power of being open to ideas and how being agile and scrapy enabled his seemingly small effort to show marked improvement in Linkedin’s adoption by the masses.The legendary designer also happened to be the first designer at Youtube (which was later acquired by Google) and his designed logo is still used by the company after all these years. It was indeed a pleasure to watch his serene and calm persona field questions from the audience after the newly minted designer Shrinal Patel showcased her portfolio and sought feedback from experienced professionals Sabira and Ches to critique as well as give suggestions for improving candidate portfolio presentations.

Shrinali then moderated the brief panel discussion with speakers after which Surbhi Kaul acknowledged all volunteers and proposed the vote of thanks to the speakers. Surbhi, a Vice President at Juniper Networks was a speaker at ASEI’s 33rd National Convention and is an ASEI Life Member who serves on the Silicon Valley chapter board. She also gave a “heads-up” & call for volunteers as well as next year’s board member nominations across all 5 professional chapters.

The moderated Q&A session then “graduated” to social audio Clubhouse room “Engineering Tales”, where the event continued with a few of the Design summit speakers. It included more non-ASEI members too, all of whom were given a chance to interact with speakers of this Summit. John Rodriges moderated the session, sharing his experiences as a UX designer with Citigroup and past jobs. The quality of conversations there once again proved the value of this topic and popularity of design as a discipline amongst techies as well as non -technical folks.

The Design Summit showed the attendees the depth of Design experience and thought leadership amongst ASEI community members and gave a glimpse of the richness of its collaborations with national and international professional bodies.

As is evident from recent activities and newsletters, ASEI has had an action packed 2021 so far with a large number of educational and networking opportunities and new programmes such as MentorConnect, UniversityConnect and Youth Programs to serve its members’ interests and inspire the next generation of engineers and technologists amongst the diaspora.

The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) is a not-for-profit organization that provides a platform for networking, career advancement, community service, mentoring and technology exchange for professionals, students and businesses in the United States and abroad. Members are guided by several objectives, including the creation of an open, inclusive, and transparent organization; providing positive role models, awarding scholarships, and remaining socially responsible. ASEI was founded in 1983 in Detroit, Michigan by a handful of visionaries. Today, the organization has active professional chapters in Michigan, Southern California, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Washington, DC and more student chapters in universities across the US. For more information, or to join this professional body, visit: www.aseiusa.org

T20 World Cup Group To Be Held In Middle East

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterSports 0

The seventh edition of the ICC T20 Men’s T20 World Cup is finally upon us and it will take place in UAE and Oman in a total of 4 venues — Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

The World Cup is being co-hosted by Oman and UAE after original hosts India were forced to take the ICC event to the Middle East due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The seventh World Cup begins with a double-header at the 3,000-seat venue outside Muscat.

The group stage of the tournament begins on Sunday with Papua New Guinea taking on Oman in the 3.30 PM IST slot while Bangladesh takes on Scotland in the 7.30 PM IST slot.

From October 23, the Super 12 round will start, and this will end on November 8. The knock-out round of the T20 World Cup 2021 will start on November 10 and the final of the tournament is set to take place on November 14.

The top two teams in each group of the Super12 stage progress to the semi-finals, with the final set to be played in Dubai on 14 November. India kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on October 24.

The eight teams in the first round of qualifying are chasing four places in the Super 12 round-robin stage.

England, Australia, South Africa, defending champions West Indies, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan will be waiting with all matches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

The top four then progress to the semi-finals before the final in Dubai on 14 November.

There is plenty at stake. A place in the next round guarantees a spot in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

There is also a financial incentive. Teams exiting at the first hurdle take home a modest $40,000.

The eventual champions pocket a $1.6 million winner’s CASH PRIZE.

For the first time in T20 World Cup history, DRS has been made available. Like is the case with T20Is, each team will have a maximum of two unsuccessful reviews per innings.

Here’s all you need to know about the group stage matches:

Schedule:

Oman vs Papua New Guinea– Sunday, October 17 – 3.30 PM

Bangladesh vs Scotland – Sunday, October 17 – 7.30 PM

Ireland vs Netherlands – Monday, October 18 – 3.30 PM

Sri Lanka vs Namibia – Monday, October 18 – 7.30 PM

Scotland vs Papua New Guinea – Tuesday, October 19 – 3.30 PM

Bangladesh vs Oman – Tuesday, October 19 – 7.30 PM

Namibia vs Netherlands – Wednesday, October 20 – 3.30 PM

Sri Lanka vs Ireland – Wednesday, October 20 – 7.30 PM

Bangladesh vs Papua New Guinea – Thursday, October 21 – 3.30 PM

Oman vs Scotland – Thursday, October 21 – 7.30 PM

Namibia vs Ireland – Friday, October 22 – 3.30 PM

Sri Lanka vs Netherlands – Friday, October 22 – 7.30 PM

Pakistan have won their last 10 Twenty20 internationals in the UAE and captain Babar Azam claimed Saturday that run will give his men the edge over India next weekend. “Definitely we have played a lot of cricket in the UAE,” Babar said Saturday when asked about his team’s dismal 0-5 record against India in T20 World Cup clashes. “These conditions suit us and we know how to play here.”

ATA’s Grand Bathukamma Celebrations Held in Chicago

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

American Telugu Association (ATA), a burgeoning Telugu non-profit organization catering to the interests of Telugu people across North America, organized its flagship event ATA Dussehra & Bathukamma Sambaraalu with much pomp and fervor on Saturday, October 9th, 2021 at Sri Venkateswara Swamy (Balaji) Temple in Aurora IL.

Bathukamma is a floral festival celebrated during Navratri time and is predominantly celebrated in the Telangana State of India. Bathukamma is a beautiful flower stack, arranged with different unique seasonal flowers arrangement. Women and little girls offer prayers to goddess Gauramma for good health, wealth and prosperity to their families.

Bathukamma event took off to a grand start with a strong contingent of 350 local community members taking part in the festivities. Illinois 11th District Congressman Bill Foster was the Guest of Honor for the event and amidst Vedic renditions kickstarted the festivities with the ceremonial lamp lighting ceremony. Congressman Foster appreciated the outstanding contributions of Telugus across all walks of life to the American society as doctors, engineers businessmen, etc. Congressman Congratulated the audience for keeping the Indian Traditions, festivals and values alive in the US and was curious about the significance of the festival. According to the Congressman, it was estimated that around 1 Million Telugu native language speakers/Indian Americans are currently living in the United States. Saree-clad Indian Women and little girls dressed in ethnic attire danced to the folk songs late into the evening.

A special kolatam dance performance spearheaded by Saritha Reddy Nandyala mesmerized the audiences. The special attraction of the evening was the percussion instruments performance by Maharashtra Rudra Garjana and Chicago Chenda group playing traditional drums (dhols). Drone cameras were used to capture the aarathi and Nimajjan activities. Specialty snacks from Telangana and sumptuous Indian delicacies were served. President Bhuvanesh Boojala, President-elect Madhu Bommineni wished that the people in both the Telugu states a safe and happy Dussera & Bathukamma. Bathukamma Event Coordination, planning and execution were conducted under the leadership of Board of Trustee Dr Meher Medavaram and Sainath Reddy Boyapalli Board of Trustee & Treasurer ATA. Maheedhar Reddy Muskula (ATA Office Coordinator) assisted the event. Regional Coordinators Venkatram Reddy Ravi, Venkateswara Ramireddy and Suchitra Reddy oversaw the event proceedings with support from Chalma Reddy Bandaru, Venkat Thudi, Mahipal Reddy Vancha, Bhanu Swargam, Narasimha Chittaluri, Karunakar Doddam, Amar Nettam, Laxmi Boyapalli, Ramana Abbaraju, Satish Yellamilli, Jagan Bukkaraju, Vishwanath Chitra, Hari Raini & Bheem Reddy. ATA Chicago Team congratulated the support of volunteers, local organizations, friends and family members for their never-ending support to ATA. ATA Media chair Bhanu Swargam praised the relentless media support to ATA.

Bathukamma pre-event and making of the floral stacks was coordinated by Suchitra Reddy, Padma Muskula, Deepthi Vancha, Vaishali Ravi, Tulasi RV Reddy, Harathi Thudi, Aparna Kollu, Lavanya Gundu, Nandini Bukkaraju, Deepika Namasani, Swathi Rao, Asha Tuluva Supritha Kesavarapu, Prasuna Reddy Voruganti, Sudha Kunduru, Anitha Koppara, Asha Reddy Pasham, Malleshwari Peddamallu & Saritha Challa. Raffle ticket winners, Best Bathukamma winners, etc were awarded prizes.

HinduPACT Condemns Pakistan’s Rejection of Forced Conversion Bill

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterReligion 0

Pakistan’s decision to reject a bill that would have banned forced conversions to Islam is the latest blow to the Islamic Republic’s religious minority population. This exasperates the need to ensure the country becomes secular and HinduPACT is calling on the international community to unify and ensure this comes to fruition.

The fragility of the democratic process, that is still non-existent in Pakistan, is on full display with this latest failure to protect the most vulnerable members of Pakistan’s society, especially Christians, Hindus and other minorities in Sindh and Punjab.

“Democracy in Pakistan is weak and even in that system there is no willingness to help the country’s religious minorities,” said HinduPACT Executive Director Utsav Chakrabarti. “True democracy cannot take place unless Pakistan becomes a secular State and it is incumbent on the international community to make sure Pakistan becomes a secular State.”

“The rejection of a bill that expressly prohibits forced conversions of religious minorities, and even more important, criminalizes the forced conversion of underage non-Muslim girls in Pakistan is truly tragic, but for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interreligious Harmony to term a bill that aims to protect the basic rights of minority citizens as non-Islamic is clear evidence of how systemic the religious intolerance is in the Pakistani establishment,” said Rakhi Israni, who leads HinduPACT’s CHINGARI, a project that deals with this issue.

The bill, which was signed by nearly 40 human rights groups and included signatures by known human rights activists like Irfan Mufti, Mohammad Tahseen, Peter Jacob, Rubina Jamil, and Syeda Ghulam Fatima, among others, was rejected by Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee. It sought to make 18 years the minimum legal age for conversion.

For Pakistan’s Minister of Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri to suggest that there should be no age limit for conversion is egregious. And for him to reason that a potential law meant to protect minority rights would “create further problems” for them and would make them “more vulnerable” is counterintuitive.

True democracy is defined by a nation’s ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens. Until Pakistan becomes a secular state, the fate of its non-Muslim minority population continues to hang in the balances. For media inquiries, contact adelle.nazarian@hindupact.org

M. Night Shyamalan’s Next Thriller Is “Knock At The Cabin”

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Renowned Indian American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie, produced by Universal Pictures, “Knock at the Cabin” is planned to be released on Feb. 3, 2023.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, “Knock at the Cabin” continues the prolific partnership between Universal and Shyamalan. Universal partnered with the Indian American filmmaker’s last four films, “Old” (2021), “Glass” (2019), “Split” (2017) and “The Visit” (2015).

In August, the director teased fans about the upcoming release, posting a picture on his Twitter handle showing off an unlabeled binder that allegedly held the script. “The next one. On third draft. Super tight. Under a 100 pages,” he tweeted at that time. Shyamalan’s most recent offering, “Old,” earned $90.1 million at the global box office amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

After fumbling with his move towards bigger blockbusters with the likes of The Last Airbender and After Earth, Shyamalan has seemingly returned to the smaller, more intimate movies of his earlier output, and this is something that the director is clearly enjoying. “I’m loving this approach from The Visit on where they’re minimal, contained, I own them, we take big tonal risks and try to hit that note of absurd-but-grounded, that dark humor moment and deal with some complicated things and not necessarily take the audience where they’re comfortable, both during or even at the end,” Shyamalan shared back in 2019.

Old continued this trend, and follows a small group of people who discover an idyllic cove filled with rock pools and sandy shore, encircled by green, densely vegetated cliffs. Unfortunately, the picturesque spot is not what it appears to be, and suddenly everybody starts growing older every half hour, reducing their entire lives into a single day. While Old received mixed reviews from critics, it’s hard not to be curious about what Shyamalan plans to do next.

Knock at the Cabin will be the second movie in M. Night Shyamalan’s two-movie deal with Universal Pictures, the first being Old. The filmmaker has teased that the movies could be connected in some way, and while they may not be straight-forward sequels, there could be something continual in their themes, particularly the exploration of time.

“I just had two movie ideas I felt very strongly about,” Shyamalan revealed. “For me, there are ideas and they’re in journals sometimes and they don’t quite have the meat yet or whatever that thing is that makes it so I’m ready to commit two years of my life to making this-to writing and directing this-some of those ideas don’t have that yet. They have to gestate a little bit. But there were two ideas where right away I was thinking about making them. And, interesting enough, there might be a third thing that came to me that might end up going in between these two. So there might be three.” Well, what do you think Knock at the Cabin will be about?

Sitharaman Meets With U.S. Businesses In New York

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Money 0

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s meetings with U.S. businesses and institutions continued at a feverish pitch, including talks with two key investors asking them to broaden their world view and look at India for investment. As part of this, Sitharaman on Oct. 16 met Scott Sleyster, executive Vice president and chief operating officer of Prudential Financial, and Philip Vassiliou, chief investment officer of Legatum, in New York.

Her discussions with Sleyster revolved around the reforms towards capital bond market, investor charter and other initiatives. The robust structural growth and continued interest of the company to invest in India formed part of the discussion with Vassiliou. Earlier during the day, Sitharaman addressed global business leaders and investors at a Roundtable organized by USISPForum and Ficci India in New York.

“With the current reset in the global supply chain and clear headed and committed leadership in India, I see opportunities galore in India for all investors and industry stakeholders,” she said at the Roundtable.

The finance minister also met Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi.

Fraser talked about the strength of India’s economic recovery and how India will increasingly become an important destination of investment for multinational corporations looking to grow their operations.

Sitharaman also held one-to-one meetings with Raj Subramanyam, Indian American CEO of FedEx; Ajay Banga, executive chairman, and Meibach Michael, CEO at Mastercard; and Arvind Krishna, chairman and chief executive officer at IBM.

The discussions revolved around getting more investment into India.

All the business leaders talked about the positive impact India’s reforms, in particular the PLI schemes, will have on labor-intensive sectors in the country. IBM indicated its interest in India in the areas of hybrid cloud, automation, 5G, cybersecurity, data, and AI.

The recently launched initiative of the National Infrastructure Master Plan, GatiShakti and India having the third largest start-up ecosystem and unicorn base formed part of discussion with Subramanyam.

CDC’s Data On COVID-19 Cases Shows Deaths By Vaccine Type

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Science 0

Unvaccinated people are about six times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and 11 times more likely to die from the illness compared to people who are vaccinated, though there are slight differences in risk based on vaccine type, according to newly released CDC data.

The CDC published data Oct. 15 that breaks down the rate of COVID-19 cases and deaths by vaccination status and vaccine type. The rates are based on data from 16 public health departments — representing about 30 percent of the U.S. population — and cover April through the end of August.

Five notes:

1. Overall, unvaccinated people had the highest COVID-19 case and death rates.

2. The COVID-19 case and death rates were slightly higher among Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients, followed by Pfizer recipients and then Moderna.

3. As of Aug. 15, there were about 737 cases per 100,000 population among unvaccinated people — the highest rate during the period for which data was collected.

4. The case rates as of Aug. 15 for J&J recipients were about 172 cases per 100,000, followed by about 136 cases per 100,000 among Pfizer recipients, and 86 cases per 100,000 among Moderna recipients.

5. The death rates as of Aug. 15 were nearly 13 per 100,000 among unvaccinated people, 3 per 100,000 for J&J recipients, about 1.4 per 100,000 for people who got Pfizer’s shot, and 0.69 per 100,000 for Moderna recipients.

Patients Prefer In Person Over Telehealth Visits To Doctors

October 20, 2021October 21, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

New Yorker Charlie Freyre’s sinuses had been bothering him for weeks last winter, during a COVID-19 surge in the city. It was before vaccines became widely available.

“I was just trying to stay in my apartment as much as possible,” Freyre says, so checking in with his doctor via an online appointment “just seemed like a more convenient option. And you know, it was very straightforward and very easy.”

The $20 copay was well worth it for the 26-year-old ad salesman, whose girlfriend also routinely relies on telehealth to see her nutritionist. “It’s a very easy way to get an expert opinion without having to necessarily leave your apartment,” fill out forms or spend idle time in waiting rooms, Freyre says. “We all know what going to the doctor can be like.”But now, Freyre has a sore knee — and he’s not content to to visit his doctor by phone or Zoom. “That’s something that I will 100% want handled in person.”

Freyre’s telehealth experience is fairly typical. Telehealth is continuing to have its breakout moment — transforming the way we receive routine medical care during the pandemic, when visiting medical centers has carried with it the risk of coronavirus infection. Yet even today, with that infection risk easing for those who have been vaccinated, many patients nevertheless prefer that doctors, nurses and other health workers be able to examine and talk to them in person.

That’s one finding from a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard that surveyed patients in August and September. Around 42% of respondents said someone in their household had used telehealth. Of those, 82% reported satisfaction, yet nearly two-thirds — 64% — would have preferred to see their nurse or doctor in person.

In-person visits can be more thorough

“I think people just really like that face-to-face visit,” says Rebekah Bernard, a Fort Myer, Fla., family physician, and a board member of Physicians for Patient Protection, which advocates for better patient care. Bernard, who runs a concierge medical practice that charges patients a flat monthly fee for services, says she started offering telehealth options to her patients five years ago, long before COVID-19 hit U.S. shores. Back then, not one of her patients used it. That changed during the pandemic, when patients told her having the telehealth option allayed their worries about getting safe access to health care.

That sort of shift in acceptance and how it’s used may have big implications for telehealth’s role in the U.S. in the future. It’s use by various physical and mental health specialties grew tremendously in 2020, as federal and state governments and insurance companies adopted emergency COVID-19 measures, relaxing restrictions on coverage, privacy controls and professional licensing, for example. Now, some of those rules regarding telehealth appointments are being reinstated.

Bernard, the physician in Florida, says the last year has also shown her the limits and downsides of telehealth: “You may be missing that opportunity to be talking with the doctor who’s going to say, ‘Hey, by the way, I see you haven’t had your mammogram or you haven’t had your pap [smear].’ ”

Both she and most patients prefer in-person visits, because it is both more personal, thorough and ultimately, she says, better for the patients’ health.

A lifeline in rural areas

But when and where such visits aren’t available, she says, telehealth can be critical. “What’s going to be important is offering patients options and finding out what makes the most sense in a certain area,” she says. “I’m sure in rural areas or places where, for example, they don’t have a lot of specialists like psychiatrists, we really need to make sure we have access to telehealth for those patients.”

Myriad telehealth companies are already investing to make that happen.

New York City-based TytoCare, helps medical centers and doctors gather data on patients remotely by distributing devices that can sensitively measure patients’ oxygen levels or take images of the inside of their throat, for example. David Bardan, a vice president at TytoCare, says that data is then transmitted to doctors, who use it diagnose medical problems.

Nursing homes in rural areas, for example, are heavy users of the service, he says. “This is way more convenient than having to potentially air-transport or even having to drive long distances, in many cases, to access those specialists,” he says. That’s the sort of circumstance where telehealth excels, Barden says — and he believes those applications of telehealth will endure.

Anthony Fauci Oks Mix And Match Covid-19 Vaccines For Booster Dose

October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Science 0

Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said American drug regulator will consider whether those who have been inoculated with one dose of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine should be administered an mRNA-based vaccine, like Moderna or Pfizer as a booster shot to help induce a higher number of antibodies.

“If you boost people who have originally received J&J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J&J,” Fauci told reporters during a television interview.

Fauci’s comment comes after a second dose of the J&J vaccine was recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 18 years and above as a booster shot. FDA also recommended a third dose of the Modern vaccine as a booster shot to high-risk adults.

Both Pfizer-BioNTech SE and Moderna vaccines are based on mRNA technology while the J&J shot uses adenovirus like India’s Covishield. Experts opine that mix-and-match of vaccines if sanctioned will give individuals greater flexibility in deciding which booster shot they should opt for to help battle waning immunity against the virus.

The infectious disease expert had said towards the end of September that efficacy data on the pairing of vaccines will be available in the first two weeks of October, months after the National Institutes of Health started a mix-and-match trial of Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J shots on roughly 150 adults on June 1. All the participants were given a booster shot of a different vaccine three to four months after completing their first vaccine regimen.

Fauci also said individuals will have the freedom to choose which booster shot they would like to go for. “I believe there’s going to be a degree of flexibility of what a person who got the J&J originally can do, either with J&J or with the mix-and-match from other products,” he said.

Mixing and Matching Covid Vaccine Is Effective

October 18, 2021October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Science 0

More COVID-19 boosters are likely on the horizon: Last week, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended a half-dose of Moderna’s vaccine for those over 65, as well as younger adults with certain health conditions and those who work in high-risk settings.

Subsequently, the committee unanimously voted to recommend boosters for Janssen/Johnson & Johnson recipients who are 18 or older, at least two months after their first dose. The FDA, which previously green-lit Pfizer boosters, is expected to follow both of the committee’s recommendations.

But when it comes to booster shots, one big question lingers: should people be mixing and matching by getting an extra dose of a vaccine other than the one they initially received?

A highly anticipated study of “mixing and matching” Covid-19 vaccines found the approach to be safe and effective, although the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were found to spark stronger immune system responses than Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. “Mixing and matching” refers to giving a booster dose of a vaccine different from the vaccine type that was used for the initial vaccination series.

According to the findings from the study by the National Institutes of Health, which was released last week, but has yet to be peer reviewed, participants who received a booster of a different vaccine than the one they originally got experienced antibody increases similar to or higher than those who received another dose of the same vaccine they were previously given.

The study found that people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine produced stronger antibody levels after they got booster shots made by Moderna or Pfizer, compared to boosters from Johnson & Johnson. Those who were originally vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and received either company’s booster shot produced similarly strong immune responses, the researchers found.

Mixing and matching could help the booster rollout in the U.S., since people could receive whatever vaccine their pharmacy had on hand, rather than seeking out the shot they were originally given. As Alice writes, “The findings are encouraging because they suggest that it’s safe for providers to mix and match doses when it comes to boosters. … The ability to get any of the three vaccines will ensure that more people will get the additional shot.” However, at least for now, the FDA and CDC aren’t even considering whether to approve mixing and matching.

Pope Francis Welcomes US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi At The Vatican Biden To Meet The Pontiff on October 29th

October 13, 2021October 18, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Religion, Women 0

Pope Francis granted a private audience in the Vatican to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Saturday, October 9^th during her recent visit to Italy.

It has been reported that President Biden will meet with Francis on October 29th. While serving as the U.S. Vice President, Biden had met with Pope Francis for the first time in September 2015, when the pope visited the United States to attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

The following year, on April 29, 2016, Biden went to the Vatican for a summit on regenerative medicine, where he praised Pope Francis and advocated for a global push to cure cancer. Biden had opened his speech at the Vatican by recalling how, while visiting the United States the previous September, Pope Francis had comforted him after the loss of his eldest son Beau, who passed away the previous summer at the age of 46 from brain cancer.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Rome for a gathering of legislative leaders of G20 countries ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Summit in Scotland later this month. “It was a spiritual, personal and official honor to have an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis this morning,” the speaker said in a statement.

Francis’ private meeting with Pelosi, a Catholic and a defender of abortion rights, came as American Catholic bishops consider how to press the church’s teaching against abortion while the country’s second Catholic president, Joe Biden, heads an avowedly pro-choice Democratic administration

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But Francis has cautioned the American bishops — who have debated whether to deny Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians — not to move too quickly and has repeatedly signaled he does not want the Eucharist to become a political weapon. Flying home from his papal visit to central Europe on Sept. 15, he noted that he has never denied the Eucharist to anyone and that bishops risk becoming embroiled in “political problems” when they don’t act “like shepherds.”

The issue, which dominated the bishops’ national meeting in June, was spurred in part by criticism of pro-choice Catholic leaders by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who has advocated denying Communion to pro-choice elected officials based in his archdiocese — which would include Pelosi. On Sept. 29, after a bill aimed at overcoming a Texas law severely restricting abortion passed the House, Cordileone asked Catholics to pray for a “conversion of heart” for Pelosi and other Democratic representatives.

The speaker, in her statement on the meeting, emphasized the pontiff’s support for measures to combat climate change. “His Holiness’s encyclical Laudato Si’ is a powerful challenge to the global community to act decisively on the climate crisis with special attention to the most vulnerable communities.” She went on to praise “the immense moral clarity and urgency that His Holiness continues to bring to the climate crisis.”

Pelosi also met with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a department created by Francis five years ago to oversee the church’s efforts on issues such as migrants, prisoners, the unemployed and other marginalized people, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, slavery and torture. The meetings came as President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate former lawmaker and anti-abortion Democrat Joseph Donnelly to serve as his Vatican ambassador.

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Thursday, October 7^th with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Mario Draghi, who paid tribute to her “calm, determined” leadership even during difficult years for Europe and the common currency. Merkel herself has called this her farewell bilateral trip to Italy as chancellor, and her unusually long 45-minute papal audience and glowing tribute from Draghi indicated her Roman counterparts wanted to pay their respects, too. Merkel and her outgoing government will stay in office on a caretaker basis until a new administration is in place, a process that could take weeks or months.

Acclaimed Indian Actor, Nedumudi Venu Passes Away At 73

October 13, 2021October 18, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema, Profile 0

Nedumudi Venu, rated as one of the most talented actors in Indian cinema, died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on Monday. He was 73. Having recovered from Covid-19, Venu had been in a critical condition for some time due to liver-related ailments.

After initially being admitted to the hospital on October 5th with tiredness and weakness, he was transferred to intensive care on Saturday, a spokesman for the private facility where he was treated told the media. The doctor treating Venu told the media that he died of kidney-related issues and sepsis. Liaison officer Praveen Jojo of KIMS Health in Thiruvananthapuram, said Venu had breathed his last on Monday, October 11th.

Born in 1948 in Nedumudi in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, Venu began his career as a theatre artiste with famous dramatist Kavalam Narayana Panicker’s experimental theatre group. He entered films in 1978 with G. Aravindan’s Thambu.

Nedumudi Venu won three National Film Awards, and six Kerala State Film Awards for his performances. Venu was known for his roles in “His Highness Abdullah,” “Bharatham” and “Margam,” among others. His most memorable performance that established Venu as a talent in Malayalam cinema was in Thakara in which he played the role of a village carpenter. Some of his best films included Aravam, Vidaparayum Munpe, Kallan Pavithran, Chamaram, Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, Chithram, Thenmavin Kombath, Margam and Arimpara. Ente Mazha directed by Subrahmanyam was his last film.

In his film career spanning over four decades, Venu acted in over 500 movies in Tamil and Malayalam as hero, villain and character actor. According to film scholar N. Balagopal, Venu was one of the few actors in Indian cinema who excelled both as stylized actor and realistic actor, which in Indian theatre tradition is called Natya Dharmi and Lokadharmi, respectively.

Over the decades, Nedumudi Venu shone as an actor who could deliver powerful performances. His talent at handling serious and comedic roles with equal aplomb was admired in the industry. He turned screenwriter for films like Kattathe Kilikkoodu, Theertham, Sruthi, Ambada Njane, Oru Katha Oru Nunnakkatha, Savidham and Angane Oru Avadhikkalathu. The actor also helmed a film titled Pooram. Besides acting, Venu was also adept at playing the mridangam.

Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran took to Twitter to mourn the demise of Nedumudi Venu. Sharing a photo of the veteran artiste, Prithviraj wrote, “Farewell Venu uncle! Your body of work and your expertise over the craft will forever be research material for generations to come! Rest in peace legend! NedumudiVenu.”

Filmmaker Sangeeth Sivan also expressed grief at the news. His post read, “Absolutely shattered to know that NedumudiVenu is no more! One of our finest actors. Such a huge loss to Malayalam cinema. He leaves behind an impressive & varied filmography & will live in our hearts forever. OmShanti.”

India’s Economy To Grow By 8.3%, Making It 2nd Fastest Growing-Major Economy

October 13, 2021October 18, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Economy, Global 0

India’s economy is expected to grow by 8.3 per cent this fiscal year, according to the World Bank, making it the second-fastest-growing major economy. The Bank’s Regional Economic Update released on Thursday said that after the “deadly second wave” of Covid-19 in India “the pace of vaccination, which is increasing, will determine economic prospects this year and beyond”. “The trajectory of the pandemic will cloud the outlook in the near-term until herd immunity is achieved,” it cautioned.

According to the Update issued ahead of the Bank’s annual meeting next week, India’ gross domestic product (GDP) — which shrank by 7.3 per cent (that is, a minus 7.3 per cent) under the onslaught of the pandemic last fiscal year — is expected to record the 8.3 per cent growth this fiscal year, which will moderate to 7.5 per cent next year and 6.5 per cent in 2023-24. Of the major economies, China is ahead with its economy expected to grow by 8.5 per cent during the current calendar year after the Bank revised it upwards from the 8.1 per cent projection in April.

China’s growth rate is projected to come down to 5.4 per cent next year and 5.3 per cent in 2023. Last year, it grew by 2.3 per cent. For the entire South Asia region, the Bank’s Update estimates the GDP growth to be 7.1 per cent this year and the next. Maldives’ tiny economy of $3.8 billion, which had the steepest fall of 33.6 per cent last calendar year is expected to recover and record a growth of 22.3 per cent this year. Next year it is expected come down to 11 per cent and 12 per cent in 2023.

Bangladesh, which recorded a growth of 5 per cent last fiscal year, is expected to grow by 6.4 per cent this year and 6.9 per cent the next.

Pakistan’s economy that grew by 3.5 last fiscal year, is expected to grow by 3.4 per cent this year and 4 per cent next year.

For Sri Lanka, the Bank expects a growth of 3.3 per cent this calendar year compared to a shrinkage of 3.6 per cent last year and to grow by 2.1per cent next year and 2.2 per cent the following year.

Bhutan, which had a negative growth of 1.2 per cent the last fiscal year, is expected to reach 3.6 per cent this fiscal year and 4.3 per cent the next.

Nepal’s growth is expected to rebound from last fiscal year’s 1.8 per cent to 3.9 per cent this fiscal year and 4.7 per cent the next.

The Bank said, “The Covid-19 pandemic led India’s economy into a deep contraction in FY21(fiscal year 2020-21) despite well-crafted fiscal and monetary policy support.”

It said that growth recovered in the second half of the last fiscal year “driven primarily by investment and supported by aunlocking’ of the economy and targeted fiscal, monetary and regulatory measures. Manufacturing and construction growth recovered steadily.”

Although significantly more lives were lost during the second wave of the epidemic this year in India, compared to the first wave in 2020, “economic disruption was limited since restrictions were localised,” with the GDP growing by 20.1 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the first quarter of 2020-21, the Update said. It attributed the spurt to “a significant base effect” (that is, coming off a very big fall in the compared quarter), “strong export growth and limited damage to domestic demand.”

Looking ahead, the Bank’s Update said that “successful implementation of agriculture and labour reforms would boost medium-term growth” while cautioning that “weakened household and firm balance sheets may constrain it.” “The Production-Linked Incentives scheme to boost manufacturing, and a planned increase in public investment, should support domestic demand,” it said.

The extent of recovery during the current fiscal year “will depend on how quickly household incomes recover and activity in the informal sector and smaller firms normalises.” Among the risks, it listed “worsening of financial sector stress, higher-than-expected inflation constraining monetary-policy support, and a slowdown in vaccination.”

Taking stock of the pandemic’s effects, the Bank said, “The toll of the crisis has not been equal, and the recovery so far is uneven,leaving behind the most vulnerable sections of the society – low-skilled, women, self-employed and small firms.” But it said that the Indian government has taken steps to strengthen social safety nets and ease structural supply constraints through agricultural and labour reforms deal with the inequality.

It said that the government continued investing in health programs “have started to address the weaknesses in health infrastructure and social safety nets (especially in the urban areas and the informal sector) exposed by the pandemic.” (IANS

Dr. Mathai Mammen Honored By India Community Center At Annual Gala

October 13, 2021October 18, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Profile 0

Dr. Mathai Mammen, global head of Research and Development for the Janssen Pharmaceuticals wing of Johnson & Johnson, has been honored with the India Community Center’s annual Inspire award for his work in developing the single shot J&J Covid-19 vaccine, at the organization’s annual banquet Oct. 2.

ICC’s 18th annual gala was held virtually for the second time, in keeping with Covid-19 safety protocols, which discourage gatherings of large groups indoors. A friendly-but-competitive live auction, followed by a lively pledge drive, quickly raised more than $257,000 to support the community center, a second home to many Indian American seniors and youth. “J&J, BioNTech, and Moderna had never created vaccines before. But everyone saw the public health crisis that was happening — as 10,000 people died each day — and wanted to help,” said Mammen, who was interviewed at the gala by Divya Ganesan, a Stanford University freshman, and co-founder of Real Talk Ed.

“To think of making a vaccine in such a short time was unthinkable. This would typically be a seven-year process,” said Mammen, noting that 600 people at J&J mobilized on a 24-hour/seven days a week schedule to develop a vaccine. “We broke all our normal processes,” said the Indian American. “We had invested in good science that we put into play.” “The journey was unlike anything we had ever seen. For 14 months, no one ever took a day off. I don’t think the world recognizes what it took to make this vaccine,” said Mammen.

Dr. Mammen’s mission is to work with the best research and development professionals in the world to make meaningful medicines that impact the lives of patients, their families and communities. Prior to joining Janssen in June 2017, Dr. Mammen was Senior Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories, responsible for research in the areas of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Renal Diseases, Oncology/Immuno-Oncology and Immunology. Jointly with his team, he initiated numerous new programs and progressed eight into early clinical development. He also nucleated a new discovery site in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Prior to Merck, Dr. Mammen led R&D at Theravance, a company he co-founded in 1997 based on his work at Harvard University. Under his leadership, the Theravance team of 200 scientists nominated 31 development candidates in 17 years, created three approved products (Breo®, Anoro®, Vibativ®), two additional assets that have successfully completed Phase 3 studies and a pipeline containing 11 further development-stage compounds in 2016. In 2014, he and the Theravance Leadership Team separated Theravance into two publicly traded companies: Innoviva (INVA) and Theravance Biopharma (TBPH).

Dr. Mammen has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and patents and serves on various boards and advisory committees. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (HST program) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry, working with George Whitesides. He received his BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Kajol and Revathy Collaborate For Film, The Last Hurrah

October 13, 2021October 20, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema, Profile, Women 0

Famed Bollywood veteran actress Kajol is collaborating with actress-turned-director Revathy for her upcoming new film, The Last Hurrah. Taking to Instgaram on Thursday, the My Name Is Khan actress shared the exciting news with her fans and posted an adorable click with the 2 States actress.

Calling it an inspiring story, Kajol, 47, captioned the picture as, “So happy to announce my next film with the super awesome Revathi directing me.. called ‘The Last Hurrah’. A heartwarming story that made me instantly say YES! Can I hear a “Yipppeee” please.

Described as a big moment for the Bollywood world, the two extraordinary talents collaborating to create something remarkable has created much enthusiasm among millions of their fans worldwide. Both have created milestones with their work in the Indian film industry and this dream team is going to create an inspiring story with their upcoming film, “The Last Hurrah.”

Inspired by a true story and real characters, “The Last Hurrah” tells a tale of an exemplary mother, Sujata, who battled the most challenging situations one can face with a smile. The film is currently in pre-production and will soon go on floors.Talking about her first collaboration with Kajol and choosing this story for her, Revathy shares, “Sujata’s journey is extremely close to my heart. It’s not only relatable but also inspiring. When Suuraj, Shraddha and I were discussing this film, Kajol was the first person who came to mind. Her soft yet energetic eyes and her beautiful smile will make you believe that anything is possible and that is exactly how Sujata is. I am very excited for this collaboration and to be working with Kajol for this heartening story.”

Elated to come together with Revathy, Kajol adds, “When I heard the story of “The Last Hurrah,” I could instantly connect with Sujata and I thought her journey was incredibly inspiring. I think it’s a beautiful journey and it deserves to be shared with everyone. And to have Revathy direct me for this story gives me more strength to play Sujata and showcase her strengths.”

Bringing together the dynamic new duo, Revathy and Kajol, producers Suuraj Singh and Shraddha Agrawal say, “We think it is a coup for us to be able to get these two powerhouses. With Revathy’s nuanced direction and Kajol’s outstanding performance, we are sure that this film is going to touch many hearts.”

Produced under the banner of Blive Productions and Take 23 Studios, the film is written by Sammeer Arora.

Astronaut Raja Chari Led Crew-3 Mission To Launch On Oct 31

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterScience, Technology 0

Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari is in the thick of training for a mission to space launching at the end of October. Chari, for whom it will be the first space flight, will be the Commander of the SpaceX Crew 3 flight which is scheduled to take off for the International Space Station for a long stay in space, NASA announced in a press release Sept. 14, 2021. The crew will complete a six-month science mission aboard the microgravity laboratory in low-Earth orbit.

The Crew-3 mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This will be the third time that SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a long duration mission.

The Crew-3 mission will launch NASA astronauts Raja Chari, mission commander, Tom Marshburn, pilot, and Kayla Barron, mission specialist, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, also a mission specialist in microgravity.

The four astronauts will hitch a ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket strapped into the Dragon capsule from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four-member crew will be on a long-duration mission in space.

Nasa said that the Crew-3 astronauts plan to arrive at the station to overlap with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who flew to the station as part of the agency’s Crew-2 mission in April 2021. The earliest targeted launch date is Sunday, Oct. 31, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said.

Chari was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class and reported for duty in August 2017. An Iowa native, Chari graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1999 with bachelor’s degrees in astronautically engineering and engineering science.

He earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He also logged more than 2,500 hours of flight time in the F-35, F-15, F-16, and F-18, according to the profile provided by NASA.

Hindu Heritage Month Goes Into US Congressional Record

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture, Religion 0

Illinois Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has submitted a statement in the House of Representatives Sept. 30, 2021, on recognizing October as Hindu Heritage Month. The statement is now part of the U.S. Congressional Record, the official daily record of proceedings in Congress. (His statement can be found in the Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 172 of Oct. 1.)

Rep. Krishnamoorthi, said he joins the many Hindu faithful in the United States in recognizing October as Hindu Heritage Month. Several Hindu organizations in the U.S., including Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), have declared October as Hindu Heritage Month, and several states including New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Minnesota, Virginia and Massachusetts have proclaimed October as Hindu Heritage Month, according to the website hindumonth.org, as have several cities like Dallas, TX, and La Palma, CA.

The Congressman, who represents the 8th Congressional District in Illinois, said his constituency “is home to many followers of this uniquely pluralistic religion, and I wish to celebrate the Hindu community’s valuable contributions to my district and to our state and country.”

“I believe this acknowledgment is especially timely, given the disturbing rise of prejudice and racism in the country,” the Congressman said, “including Hinduphobia as manifested in hateful speech and violent acts perpetrated against Indian-Americans and Hindu houses of worship.”

Noting how Hinduism dates back millennia and may have ‘profoundly’ influenced both ancient and modern cultures, Krishnamoorthi said “It’s message of religious tolerance, non-violence, and the universality of the human experience was introduced to this country in 1893 by Swami Vivekanand in his landmark address at the World Parliament of Religions,” in Chicago.

Vivekananda’s spiritual influence on Mahatma Gandhi was profound, the Congressman said, and Gandhi “inspired the important work of one of our nation’s most revered leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr., to advance the cause of civil rights in the United States.”

Rep. Krishnamoorthi went on to say, “The Hindu faithful in our country include physicians, lawyers, scientists, economists, philosophers, artists, academics, business leaders, government officials – and Members of Congress,” who are inspired by Vivekananda’s call to service and respect for all religions and people.

“Madame Speaker, I know all Americans of goodwill share these beliefs, and today I would like to celebrate the work of the Hindu faithful in building bridges of understanding between all Americans, fo their important contributions to our economy and our cultural and civil life, and for the part they play in creating our wonderful and distinctively diverse American experience,” Krishnamoorthi said.

On Sept. 5, 2021, the ‘Hindu Heritage Month’ which has an eponymous organization (hindumonth.org) announced, “Today, Dharma-based organizations including those of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain traditions from around the world, are pleased to announce the addition of another major festival, indeed an entire month of festivals,in October as the Hindu Heritage Month.”

It goes on to say, “Hindus represent one of the newest and the fastest growing immigrant communities in the United States and Canada. Backed by a rock-solid family structure and love for education, they are fully integrated into every aspect of their adopted society, enriching it with not only outstanding professional contributions but also rich cultural heritage. From the elegant ethnic wear to delicious food to festivals like Holi and Diwali, their diverse and rich culture has impressed all in the Western world.” Various Indian organizations of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain traditions announced Oct. 3 that the month of October has been designated as “Hindu Heritage Month.”

Thee celebration of Hindu Heritage Month will be a showcase for the diversity that is so fundamental to Hindu civilization, said a press release, adding that each participating organization will decide the manner as well as the schedule of their events. Celebrations can take many forms: cultural programs, fashion shows, webinars, multi-day conferences, walkathons and more. Some events may be conducted in-person but the majority will be virtual, given the Covid-19 situation.

Mission Bindi and the Hindu Student Council are the first organizations to announce their first event for Hindu Heritage Month. They will be observing “World Bindi Day” on the first day of Navratri, Oct. 7, 2021. Dr. Jai Bansal, Indian American vice president of the World Hindu Council of America, and one of the organizers of the event, noted that with second and third generations now making their mark in their adopted lands, the time has come for the Hindu community to talk about its rich cultural heritage and important role in making the multitude of contributions to every aspect of the fabric of the adopted lands.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Work Important In Fight For Press Freedom, Says Colleague

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterGlobal, Media 0

When Max Pensky hosted courageous Philippine journalist Maria Ressa for a talk as part of Binghamton University’s Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), little did he know that he would wake up the next day to find out that Ressa had just been named the latest Nobel Prize winner.

“In recognizing Maria, the Nobel committee now sees that anti-democratic leaders who want to muzzle press freedom don’t just use the old tools – arrests, detention, death threats, closing media outlets,” said Pensky. “Now they depend on social media, too. Maria’s courageous work in the Philippines calls out strongman Rodrigo Duterte and Facebook for using fake news, troll armies, and online harassment, combined with “old school” government intimidation, in a new, toxic mix. Maria’s award is for letting the world know how this actually works in her own country, and warning us that we all have to face it if we want press freedom of our own.”

“This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is important and timely. Freedom of the media is now, as stated by the President of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen, challenged all over the world. The committee highlights this by choosing two particularly significant examples in very dissimilar situations, both developing in authoritarian directions. The prize hopefully strengthens the possibilities of the two journalists and their colleagues to continue to work according to the high editorial standards they have set for themselves and that genuine news coverage requires.

From a peace perspective, accurate and reliable news coverage is central for assessing the dangers of war, civil war, and repression, as well as for peace negotiations and making the right decisions. In a world full of fabricated news, it is particularly important to protect independent reporting.

This year’s prize expands on Nobel’s idea of giving the prize to efforts contributing to “fraternity among nations.” Media now has a different significance than in 1901 when the first prize was awarded. Correct, autonomous reporting is always central for peace and security within and among nations.”

AAHOA Members Own 60 Percent Of Hotel Properties In US

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Tourism 0

AAHOA, the nation’s largest hotel owners association, announced the state-by-state economic impact results of the study conducted this year in partnership with Oxford Economics, an international leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis.

The initial report, unveiled at the 2021 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show in Dallas, Texas, revealed that the association’s nearly 20,000 hoteliers own 34,260 hotel properties, which account for 60 percent of the hotels in the United States. These properties have 3.1 million guestrooms and account for 2.2 million direct-impact jobs. The state-level reports highlight key data points such as the annual economic impact that AAHOA Member-owned properties have in each state, labor and job impacts, guest spending, member purchases from other businesses, annual capital investments, and much more.

“The state-level economic impact reports show just how significant the contributions of the hospitality industry and, specifically, AAHOA Members are to their local economies. These reports are instrumental to our state and local advocacy efforts as we work with elected officials to speed up the economic recovery,” AAHOA President & CEO Ken Greene said.

“Our members are one of the best resources for policymakers when it comes to understanding issues facing hoteliers, franchisees, and small business owners. We are here to help our lawmakers create good public policy that will make it less challenging for businesses along the road to recovery and help get people back into the workforce with good-paying jobs and career trajectories.” The state-by-state reports and the comprehensive economic impact study are now available through a new portal on the AAHOA website.

“AAHOA Members own 60 percent of hotel properties in the country, but when you dial down into specific states, the numbers are even more impressive,” AAHOA Chair Vinay Patel said. “For example, AAHOA Members own nearly 90 percent of all hotel properties in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. That represents hundreds of thousands of direct-impact jobs and billions of dollars in wages, tax revenues, and GDP contributions. Being able to quantify that economic impact for lawmakers, brands, vendors, and journalists will open up all new avenues for us to educate and engage.”

AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the world. The nearly 20,000 AAHOA members own 60 percent of the hotels in the United States. AAHOA Members are responsible for 1.7 percent of the nation’s GDP. With billions of dollars in property assets and over one million employees, AAHOA members are core economic contributors in communities across the United States.

Prof. Samit Shah Receives Naratil Pioneer Award For Leading Way To Improved Heart Disease Diagnosis In Women

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterProfile, Science 0

Yale School of Medicine assistant professor of clinical medicine Dr. Samit Shah is at the front lines in improving the diagnosis of heart disease in women, thanks to receiving the Wendy U. and Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award.

Women come to a hospital Emergency Department or doctor’s office complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, lightheadedness, jaw pain, or other symptoms considered concerning for a heart problem. The women might undergo standard testing to see if they have a critical cholesterol blockage in their arteries, the hallmark of obstructive coronary artery disease.

But only 50 percent of women presenting with these symptoms show a blockage after cardiac catheterization — a procedure in which a long, thin tube is inserted through the blood vessels to the heart — and an angiogram — an x-ray of the blood vessels taken to show the blood supply to the heart muscle. If a blockage is not detected, they are often sent home without additional testing or a clear diagnosis.

“Women are suffering because of this,” said Shah, an interventional cardiologist at Yale School of Medicine. “If we tell patients they have no blockages, but don’t do further testing, they will have ongoing symptoms and probably end up in the ER again. If we take the extra steps that we are now learning to take, we can make accurate diagnoses and help patients better manage their disease.”

With this year’s Wendy U. and Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award from Women’s Health Research at Yale, Dr. Shah is leading a team to demonstrate the effectiveness of validated, but not widely administered procedures for the many women who have reduced blood flow to the heart without blocked arteries or cholesterol build-up often associated with heart disease.

The tests are designed to detect conditions that elude the standard angiogram. One condition, known as microvascular disease, involves the smaller blood vessels that branch off the larger blood vessels to supply blood and the oxygen it carries to the heart. These smaller vessels control the amount of blood flow to the heart and can increase flow by up to four times when needed to meet increased demand while exercising.

In coronary microvascular disease — associated with high blood pressure and possibly caused by disease to the blood vessels themselves or damage from a prior heart attack — the smaller blood vessels do not open up when required, preventing the heart from receiving the blood it needs. To a patient this could feel the same way a blockage might.

A second condition, known as coronary vasospasm, causes blood vessels to clamp down when they should open up, possibly triggered by cold air, smoking, or stress. To the patient this also feels like a heart attack but involves no blockage and cannot be detected by a standard angiogram or stress test.

Dr. Shah’s team is studying 100 women over two years who get referred for coronary angiography to Yale New Haven Hospital and comparing outcomes for patients who receive the standard care with those undergoing the cutting-edge tests to detect coronary microvascular disease or vasospasm. His goal is to show the value of the new tests, already covered by insurance, so they become the standard of care for patients — mostly women — who have reduced blood flow to the heart but no obstruction.

In addition, the researchers are using structured interviews to compare the patients’ experiences, including their perception of their illness, ability to control symptoms, quality of life, lifestyle modification, and medication changes.

“We see patients coming back with the same symptoms, and we do not know what the toll is on them when they are left without answers,” Shah said. “If we can change that experience, characterize it, and give women a diagnosis, we can avoid future invasive procedures and help them to better manage their health.”

The researchers are also constructing a registry of data and procedural practice to share with other institutions, building on WHRY-funded work begun by Dr. Erica Spatz to guide future research and treatment for heart disease so that it more accurately represents the biology and experiences of women. If we can give women a diagnosis, we can avoid future invasive procedures and help them to better manage their health.

People with microvascular disease benefit from different medications than patients with coronary vasospasm, and sometimes when you mix them together, people do worse, Shah said. By demonstrating the effectiveness of these additional tests, he hopes to better target medical therapies to meet patients’ needs. “One female patient said to me, ‘I’m 55 years old and active,’” Shah said. “‘Why am I on the same medication as my dad who had a quadruple bypass?’”

Current medical practice does not have the answer to her question, but Shah expects his study to help change that. “Beyond saving lives, getting re-admitted for the same problem is a burden on the patient and the system,” he said. “We can do better.”

Indian American-Founded Schoolhouse.World Offers For Free Tutoring

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterEducation 0

The Indiana Department of Education has announced a new partnership with Schoolhouse.world to support students in grades eight through 12 with free tutoring for SAT preparation, math courses and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

“All students learn differently, and many need some level of extra support at different points in time,” said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education. “This partnership provides access to personalized tutoring 24/7 at the click of a mouse. As we work to recover from significant learning impacts due to COVID-19, particularly in mathematics, this partnership with Schoolhouse.world will provide Hoosier students — no matter where they are or the needs they face — access to additional learning support.”

Schoolhouse.world was launched in early 2020 by Sal Khan, also founder of Khan Academy, in response to COVID-19 learning disruptions. The nonprofit connects students with live, small-group tutoring through Zoom at no cost. Tutoring currently focuses on SAT reading, writing and math, with a math focus on pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus and statistics. Support is also available for AP courses including AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics and AP Computer Science.

“We are excited to partner with the Indiana Department of Education to provide free tutoring to students across Indiana,” said Drew Bent, chief operating officer of Schoolhouse.world. “No matter where you are in the state, or what resources you may have, we want to help you receive the support that you need.”

“All students learn differently, and many need some level of extra support at different points in time,” said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education in a press release. “This partnership provides access to personalized tutoring 24/7 at the click of a mouse. As we work to recover from significant learning impacts due to COVID-19, particularly in mathematics, this partnership with Schoolhouse.world will provide Hoosier students – no matter where they are or the needs they face – access to additional learning support.”

In addition to resources through Schoolhouse.world, Khan Academy and College Board offer free SAT practice resources. This free resource comes as all Indiana high school juniors prepare to take the SAT this spring. Students can visit Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy – a personalized online program that helps students practice for the SAT with thousands of sample questions, instant feedback, video lessons and full-length practice tests. Nationwide, more than 10 million students have signed up for free SAT practice through Khan Academy.

To learn more about these learning resources, and to sign up for a tutoring session, visit www.schoolhouse.world or www.khanacademy.org.

Finally Heeding To Protest Worldwide, Ashish Mishra Sent To 3-Day Police Custody

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterNation India 0

India’s Union Minister’s son Ashish Mishra, accused of running over farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri triggering violence that claimed eight lives earlier this month, was sent to police custody for three days on Monday, October 11th

Ashish Mishra, was arrested last week after nearly 12 hours of questioning in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri, Chinta Ram remanded Ashish to three-day police custody after the prosecution sought a 14-day remand noting that the accused had not yet cooperated in the matter and had been unable to satisfactorily answer queries about his location at the time of the crime.

Ashish is named as a prime accused in one of the two FIRs in the case, which says he was seated on the left front seat of a Mahindra Thar, which was the first of the three SUVs that mowed down protesters in the area on October 3. The FIR also says that Ashish was carrying a gun and escaped into the fields firing shots. It adds that Ashish was accompanied by 15-20 persons and rammed into protesting farmers under a “planned conspiracy.”

Although Ashish and his father Ajay Mishra have claimed to be absent from the crime scene, the former has been unable to prove his whereabouts at the time of the crime that killed eight people—five of them allegedly mowed down by the SUVs and the rest allegedly lynched to death by angry agitators.

Ashish was named in an FIR following allegations that he was in one of the vehicles in the convoy that mowed down four farmers at the anti-farm law protest site in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, where they were protesting UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit on October 3. Meanwhile, BJP sources have stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a final call on MoS Ajay Mishra’s resignation once the police probe is completed. Senior party leaders have pointed out that the Union Minister has denied his son’s involvement in the incident and that the police have not found any evidence against him.

Reliance Acquires Norway-based REC Group For $771 Million

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Environment 0

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Sunday acquired Norwegian-headquartered solar module maker REC Solar Holdings (REC Group) for an enterprise value of $771 million (around Rs 5,800 crore) from China National Bluestar. REC Group is a leading international solar energy company for pioneering innovations. It is known for its high-efficiency, long-life solar cells and panels for clean and affordable solar power.

“Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL), a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, has acquired REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group) from China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd., for an enterprise value of $771 million,” RIL said in a statement. Speaking about the acquisition, RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said, “I am immensely pleased with our acquisition of REC because it will help Reliance tap the unlimited and year-long power of Soorya Dev, the Sun God, that India is fortunate to be blessed with.”

RIL said that REC has more than 1,300 employees globally and they will become proud members of the Reliance Family after the successful completion of the transaction and become an integral part of the team that is driving one of the world’s most ambitious mission to drive green energy transition.

In the company’s annual general meeting earlier this year, Reliance Industries chairman had announced the company’s mega plan to invest Rs 75,000 crore in the next three years to set up four renewable energy gigafactories in Jamnagar, Gujarat. As a part of the plan, the oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate has already started developing Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. “It will be amongst the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world…,” Ambani had said while revealing RIL’s green energy plan.

The complex will cover entire spectrum of renewable energy with four gigafactories —— an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory, an advanced energy storage battery factory, an electrolyser factory for the production of green hydrogen and a fuel-cell factory. Talking about why green hydrogen is important for the planet, Mukesh Ambani had, at the International Climate Summit 2021, said, “Green Hydrogen is zero-carbon energy. It is the best and cleanest source of energy, which can play a fundamental role in the world’s decarbonisation plans.”

Norway’s REC Group has an annual solar panel production capacity of 1.8 gigawatts (GW). Incorporated in 1996, REC Group is one of the biggest player in the market. It has installed around 10GW capacity globally till now. The Norway company has regional hubs in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. By 2030, Reliance Industries plans to develop capacity to generate at least 100 gigawatts of electricity from renewable sources, which can be converted into carbon-free green hydrogen, Mukesh Ambani had earlier said.

TiECON East Hosts a Successful In-Person Business Conference

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Technology 0

TiECON East, the largest entrepreneurial conference in New England, broke the COVID-19 pandemic spell in Boston and successfully held a day-long in-person conference, which attracted over 50 speakers and was attended by about 400 people.

TiECON East, which is organized by TiE Boston, was be held in-person on Oct. 1 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA. All attendees were required to be fully vaccinated and to fully adher to the CDC health guidelines. Major sponsors of the conference included Amazon, Microsoft, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Arent Fox, Converge, Sittercity, Innospark, Thread Research, Progress and Embark.

“Holding an in-person TiECON 2021 was challenging due to COVID-19, but many thanks to our sponsors, speaker, attendees and volunteers who made this conference a huge success,” said Sanjay Jain, Co-Chair of TiECON East. “We were sold out one day prior due to our speakers line-up and safety protocol.” Kiran Uppuluri, Chair of TiECON East and Founder and CEO of verteXD, said the success of the conference was the result of six months of immense work by the team and a labor of love.

“We applied our proven SCE Framework (Copyright verteXD) outline that takes a Human-centered design approach to the conference, and seeing it come to life felt great,” said Ms. Uppuluri. “We squarely focused the design on the customer facing the new reality – i.e. the Post-Pandemic world.” She said the outcome was: a sold out conference, fantastic sponsors, a wrapped audience for the entire day, and a series of “aha” moments hearing from 55 thought leaders and innovation experts presenting never before seen or heard content. “Safety was paramount and we thank all our attendees for adhering to the policies we put in place,” said Ms. Uppuluri.

Anu Chitrapu, President of TiEBoston, the organizer of TiECON East 2021, said the conference was hugely successful. Prasad is Senior Vice President and Head Scientist at Amazon Alexa, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) service that powers Amazon’s family of Echo products, Amazon Fire TV, and third-party products. He leads research and development (R&D) in AI technologies aimed at making interaction with Alexa a magical experience for customers.

Shetty is Co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks. Spun out of MIT, Ginkgo’s mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Started in a Cambridge, MA, apartment, Ms. Shetty has helped to grow the company to over 500 people. Ginkgo’s cell programming platform is enabling the growth of biotechnology across diverse markets, from food to agriculture to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo is also actively supporting a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including community testing, epidemiological tracing, vaccine manufacturing and therapeutics discovery.

“Safety was paramount in the conference. Only 100% vaccinated people were allowed to attend. In fact, we had to decline some attendees and speakers who could not comply with this requirement,” said Ms. Chitrapu. “Our swag bag had a pack of 5 Anti-Viral masks so attendees could change their masks as needed and individual hand sanitizer bottles. It was this attention to safety that gave our attendees confidence.”

Thomas Jefferson’s Quran To Be Displayed At Dubai Expo

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Religion 0

A copy of the Quran once owned by former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson will be displayed in the Unites States’ pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020, the world’s fair currently underway in the United Arab Emirates after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The historic English-language Quran, translated with a preface by George Sale, has never traveled outside the United States since it arrived in what was then colonial America. The two-volume set was printed in London in 1764.

According to the Library of Congress, Jefferson’s Quran will be the “first object on display after guests emerge from a sound and light experience that showcases the U.S. founding principles, particularly its innovations. Jefferson and the Quran are the first example of those goals.” The pavilion will also feature a SpaceX rocket and rock taken from the Moon during a NASA mission.

Holy Quran … which has been in the possession of one of the founding Fathers of the United States, is being displayed to the world as a symbol of America’s respect for religious plurality,” said Anila Ali, the founder of the American Muslim & Multifaith Empowerment Council, who will be traveling to Dubai as part of an interfaith delegation.

The Dubai Expo 2020 is the latest world’s fair of “the works of industry of all nations” that began in London in 1851 and has taken place at varying intervals ever since. More than 192 countries have pavilions at this year’s event, which began on October 1 under strict COVID-19 protocols. More than 25 million visitors from around the world are set to visit the event.

Though the event will run until next March, Jefferson’s Quran will only be on display for the first three months of the Expo. According to the Library of Congress, the stay is “unusual,” as its holdings are normally only loaned to museums or other cultural institutions. The Library of Congress speculates that Jefferson, due to his large holdings of enslaved Africans and their descendants, “may well have had firsthand experience with members of the faith.”

Yet, Jefferson, as the United States’ first secretary of state as well as its third president, was also interested in the Muslim world for geopolitical reasons. The Kingdom of the Morocco was the first country to recognize American independence in 1777. During the First Barbary War in 1805, Jefferson entertained a Tunisian envoy at the White House during Ramadan. The dinner was held at sunset to accommodate the religious needs of Jefferson’s Muslim guest. When Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison became the first Muslim to be elected to Congress in 2006, he chose to be sworn into office using Jefferson’s copy of the Quran.

The theme of the USA Pavilion at the Dubai 2020 Expo will be “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of the Future,” a take on Jefferson’s phrase from the Declaration of Independence championing “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” itself Jefferson’s improvement on philosopher John Locke’s “life, liberty and property.”

Pope Francis Retains High Marks Among US Catholics

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterProfile, Religion 0

A new survey finds that Pope Francis retains high levels of support among U.S. Catholics across the board, and most church members either aren’t aware of or have no opinion about recent controversial changes the pope has made to rules about the Latin Mass. But researchers pointed to persistent partisan divides in how the U.S. faithful view the pontiff, another signal Catholicism is not immune to domestic polarization trends.

According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center last month (Sept. 20-26), the vast majority of Catholics (83%) hold a favorable view of Francis, compared with just 14% who view him unfavorably. Those views are virtually unchanged since March, when 82% viewed the pope favorably. In fact, Francis’ current favorability rating among Catholics is almost identical to when Pew first polled on the subject in March 2013 (84%), although, researchers were careful to note, Pew shifted to an online surveying method in 2020 — a departure from their accustomed telephone calls.

Americans overall rate Francis somewhat lower, though still favorably: 60% view him favorably, down slightly from 64% earlier this year. Around a quarter of the country — 28% — views him unfavorably, and 11% did not respond to the question. No recent change in share of U.S. Catholics who view Pope Francis favorably. Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center

There are partisan differences, however. While 71% of Catholic Republicans view Francis favorably, Catholic Democrats are 20 percentage points more likely to say the same. Catholic Republicans are also far more likely to say the pope is “too liberal” (49%) than are Democrats (16%). In addition, GOP Catholics are more likely to cast Francis as “naive” (34%) than Catholic Democrats (16%).

There are also slight differences regarding how Catholics view the health of the pontiff, who recently underwent surgery. Most Democrats (57%) say the pope is “in good physical health,” whereas fewer than half of Republicans (45%) say the same.

And when asked about Francis’ recent decision to reverse a move by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, and reimpose restrictions on Mass conducted in Latin, Republican Catholics were more likely to say they disagreed with the shift (20%) than Democrats in the faith (6%). Two-thirds of U.S. Catholics have heard ‘nothing at all’ about pope’s new restrictions on traditional Latin Mass. Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center

But among Catholics overall, a sizable majority (65%) said they had not even heard about the restrictions, and an additional 14% said they had no opinion on the matter. Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly were the only subgroup where a majority had heard about the issue: 29% said they disapproved, 11% said they approved, and 17% had no opinion. The poll had a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points overall, and 4.3 percentage points for Catholic respondents.

India To Lift Ban On Tourists

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterImmigration, Travel 0

In a move aimed at boosting the economy through tourism, the government has decided to lift the Covid barrier for international travelers by resuming the grant of tourist visas. The Ministry of Affairs will start granting fresh tourist visas to foreigners coming to India from November 15. For those coming on chartered flights, visas would be granted starting October 15.

The move comes a year and a half after grant of tourist visas was suspended in the wake of Covid pandemic. The ministry said in a statement that the decision was taken following consultations with stakeholders like the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Tourism and state governments.

“MHA had been receiving representations from several State Governments as well as various stakeholders in the tourism sector to start Tourist Visas also, to allow foreign tourists to come to India. After deliberations we have decided to ease travel restrictions,” a senior Home Ministry official said. The official said states have been asked to follow Covid protocols laid down by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the tourists, the carriers bringing them into the country and other stakeholders must also stick to the guidelines.

Grant of all visas to foreigners had been suspended in the wake of the pandemic last year. After considering the evolving situation, the government had allowed foreigners to avail any kind of visa other than tourist visa for entry and stay in India. India has said the country’s Covid-19 graph was plateauing even though about 20,000 fresh cases were being reported every day. It said the challenge of Covid-19 was not over yet and warned people not to let their guard down during the festive season

New Travel Rules In UK From October 11. What Changes For Indians?

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterImmigration, Travel 0

Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic remain on the red list of the UK. Apart from India, vaccinated travelers from Brazil, Hong Kong, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey are now exempt from quarantine.

The United Kingdom is easing its travel restrictions starting from October 11 allowing travellers from more countries to enter the UK. Indians were already allowed to travel to the UK but what changes from October 11 is that those who are vaccinated with both doses of Covishield will not require to undergo 10-day mandatory quarantine in the UK.

Here is all you need to know:

If you are fully vaccinated then before travelling to the UK, you will have to book and pay for a day 2 Covid-19 test which is to be taken after your arrival. The passengers will also have to complete a passenger locator form 48 hours before arriving in England.

You will be considered fully vaccinated if you had taken the second dose of the vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in Englan. The day you had your final dose does not count as one of the 14 days, the government advisory said.

The UK government has accepted Covishield and India’s vaccine certificate. “India will be added to this list of countries and territories with approved proof of vaccination 4am Monday 11 October. If you arrive in England before that date you must follow the rules for people who are not fully vaccinated. If you arrive after that, you can use a vaccine certificate to prove your vaccination status,” the UK advisory said.

Only 7 countries on UK red list now In the latest revision of the travel rules, UK now has only seven countries on the red list which means people from these countries can’t travel to the UK. Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic remain on the red list.

Apart from India, vaccinated travellers from Brazil, Hong Kong, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey will be treated the same as returning fully-vaccinated UK residents so long as they have not visited a red-list country in the 10 days before arriving in England, it said.

Mukesh Ambani Tops 2021 Forbes List Of India’s Richest

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Economy, Profile 0

A soaring stock market propelled the combined wealth of members of the 2021 Forbes list of India’s 100 Richest to a record US$775 billion, after adding $257 billion — a 50 per cent rise — in the past 12 months.

In this bumper year, more than 80 per cent of the listees saw their fortunes increase, with 61 adding $1 billion or more. At the top of the list is Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person since 2008, with a net worth of $92.7 billion. Ambani recently outlined plans to pivot into renewable energy with a $10 billion investment by his Reliance Industries. Close to a fifth of the increase in the collective wealth of India’s 100 richest came from infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani, who ranks No. 2 for the third year in a row. Adani, who is the biggest gainer in both percentage and dollar terms, nearly tripled his fortune to $74.8 billion from $25.2 billion previously, as shares of all his listed companies soared.

At No. 3 with $31 billion is Shiv Nadar, founder of software giant HCL Technologies, who saw a $10.6 billion boost in his net worth from the country’s buoyant tech sector. Retailing magnate Radhakishan Damani retained the fourth spot with his net worth nearly doubling to $29.4 billion from $15.4 billion, as his supermarket chain Avenue Supermarts opened 22 new stores in the fiscal year ending March.

India has administered over 870 million Covid-19 vaccine shots to date, thanks partly to Serum Institute of India, founded by vaccine billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, who moves into the top five with a net worth of $19 billion. His privately held company makes Covishield under license from AstraZeneca and has other Covid-19 vaccines under development. India’s recovery from a deadly second wave of Covid-19, which broke out earlier this year, restored investor confidence in the world’s sixth-largest economy.

There are six newcomers on this year’s list, with half of them from the booming chemicals sector. They include Ashok Boob (No. 93, $2.3 billion) whose Clean Science and Technology listed in July; Deepak Mehta (No. 97, $2.05 billion) of Deepak Nitrite and Yogesh Kothari (No. 100, $1.94 billion) of Alkyl Amines Chemicals. Arvind Lal (No. 87, $2.55 billion), the executive chairman of diagnostics chain Dr Lal PathLabs, also debuted on the list after a pandemic-induced surge in testing caused shares of his company to double in the past year.

The country’s IPO rush returned property magnate and politician Mangal Prabhat Lodha (No. 42, $4.5 billion) to the ranks, following the April listing of his Macrotech Developers. Among the four other returnees is Prathap Reddy (No. 88, $2.53 billion), whose listed hospital chain Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has been testing and treating Covid-19 patients.

Eleven listees from last year dropped off, given the increased cut-off for gaining entry to this year’s list. The minimum amount required to make this year’s list was $1.94 billion, up from $1.33 billion last year. Naazneen Karmali, Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “This year’s list reflects India’s resilience and can-do spirit even as Covid-19 extracted a heavy toll on both lives and livelihoods. Hopes of a V-shaped recovery fueled a stock market rally that propelled the fortunes of India’s wealthiest to new heights. With the minimum net worth to make the ranks approaching $2 billion, the top 100 club is getting more exclusive.”

World’s 1st Malaria Vaccine Approved

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Science 0

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it has recommended widespread use of the world’s first malaria vaccine called RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) for children in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the WHO, the vaccine is the result of 30 years of research and development by British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in partnership with the international non-profit organization Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and with a network of research centers in Africa.

The WHO said on Wednesday its recommendation is based on results from more than 2.3 million doses of the vaccine that have been administered to more than 800,000 children in pilot countries Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the WHO, more than two-thirds of children in the three countries who were not sleeping under a bednet were benefiting from the vaccine, bringing about a 30 percent drop in severe malaria, even when introduced in areas where insecticide-treated nets were widely used and there was good access to diagnosis and treatment.

The vaccine has a favorable safety profile, the WHO said, with no negative impact on the uptake of bednets, other childhood vaccinations, or health seeking behavior for febrile illness. “It’s safe, it significantly reduces life-threatening severe malaria, and we estimate it to be highly cost-effective,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.

According to the WHO, “the vaccine should be provided in a schedule of four doses in children from five months of age for the reduction of malaria disease and burden.” Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable.

The WHO’s records show that malaria remains a primary cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 260,000 African children under the age of five die from the disease annually. “This long-awaited malaria vaccine is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control,” said Tedros. “This vaccine is a gift to the world, but its value will be felt most in Africa, because that’s where the burden of malaria is greatest.” (IANS)

4 Persons of Indian Origin Win 2022 New Horizons ‘Oscars of Science’ Prize in Physics

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterEducation, Science 0

Indian Americans Vedika Khemani, assistant professor of physics at Stanford University, and Mansi Kasliwal, California Institute of Technology Astronomy Professor, have each been named recipients of the New Horizons in Physics prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. The prize is nicknamed the “Oscars of Science.” The Breakthrough Prize Foundation’s sponsors include Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; Russian-Israeli entrepreneurs and venture capitalists Yuri and Julia Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of the personal genomics company 23andMe.

Two Indian researchers from the University of Cambridge in England also won this year’s prize. Sir Shankar Balasubramanian, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, was honored with the Life Sciences prize for developing next generation sequencing technologies, which allowed for immediate identification and characterization of the Covid-19 virus, rapid development of vaccines, and real-time monitoring of new genetic variants.

“Before their inventions, re-sequencing a full human genome could take many months and cost millions of dollars; today, it can be done within a day at the cost of around $600. This resulted in a revolution in biology, enabling the revelation of unsuspected genetic diversity with major implications from cell and microbiome biology to ecology, forensics and personalized medicine,” noted the Breakthrough Prize Foundation in a press statement. Balasubramaniam was knighted in 2017.

Suchitra Sebastian, a condensed matter physicist at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, received a New Horizons Prize in Physics for her work with “high precision electronic and magnetic measurements that have profoundly changed our understanding of high temperature superconductors and unconventional insulators,” according to a press release. According to a press release issued by Stanford, time crystals, like all crystals, are structurally arranged in a repeating pattern. But, while standard crystals – like diamonds or salt – have an arrangement that repeats in space, time crystals repeat across time forever. Importantly, they do so without any input of energy, like a clock that runs forever without batteries.

Khemani’s work offered a theoretical formulation for the first-time crystals, as well as a blueprint for their experimental creation. But she emphasized that time crystals are only one of the exciting potential outcomes of out-of-equilibrium quantum physics, which is still a nascent field, noted Stanford. The researcher described her work as creating a “checklist” of what actually makes a time crystal a time crystal, and the measurements needed to experimentally establish its existence, both under ideal and realistic conditions.

Khemani sees great promise in these types of quantum experiments for physics. “While many of these efforts are broadly motivated by the quest to build quantum computers – which may only be achievable in the distant future, if at all – these devices are also, and immediately, useful when viewed as experimental platforms for probing new non-equilibrium regimes in many-body physics,” she said, in a press release issued by Stanford. “None of the world is in equilibrium; just look out your window, right? We’re starting to see into these vastly larger spaces of how quantum systems evolve through experiments,” said Khemani, who is on the faculty in the School of Humanities and Sciences and a member of Q-Farm, Stanford’s broad interdisciplinary initiative in quantum science and engineering. “I’m very excited to see what kinds of new physics these new regimes will bring. Time crystals are one example of something new we could get, but I think it’s just the beginning,” she said.

Do You Know The Number Of Nuclear Weapons In US Stockpile?

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterScience, Technology 0

In a reversal from the Trump administration, the State Department revealed the number of nuclear weapons in the US stockpile for the first time in four years on Tuesday. The US has 3,750 nuclear warheads in its stockpile and 2,000 are waiting to be dismantled, according to a release from the State Department, which emphasized the importance of transparency.

The release of the “Transparency in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile” fact sheet comes as the Biden administration is conducting a review of its nuclear weapons policy and capabilities ahead of a 2022 meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference, where the US and other nuclear powers who are party to the Treaty will review each signatory’s disarmament commitments. “Increasing the transparency of states’ nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and non-deployed, and strategic and non-strategic,” the State Department said.

Arms control experts welcomed the announcement. “The Biden administration’s decision to declassify updated information on the number of nuclear warheads in the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal is a welcome step that reverses an unwise decision by the Trump administration to classify this information,” the Arms Control Association said in a statement Wednesday. “It also puts pressure on other nuclear armed states that maintain excessive secrecy about their arsenals.”

The ACA noted that “progress toward serious nuclear weapons stockpile reductions have stalled in recent years, and some states, particularly China and Russia, appear to be increasing the size and/or diversity of their arsenals.” Daryl Kimball, the ACA’s executive director, told CNN that Wednesday’s announcement could put pressure on Russia and China to be more forthcoming about their stockpiles. The Biden administration hopes to pursue further talks with Moscow to reach new agreements that supersede the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START. “To do that we need the Russians to be a little bit more transparent than they are,” Kimball said.

The Chinese also “need to provide some basic information, which they have as a matter of their own policies through the decades, not provided.” ‘Strong, credible deterrent’ “So what the Biden administration is trying to do here is lead by example,” Kimball said, “put some pressure on the other major nuclear armed countries to be more forthcoming about the nuclear weapons they have.”

During the 2020 presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden said that the US doesn’t need new nuclear weapons and that his “administration will work to maintain a strong, credible deterrent while reducing our reliance and excessive expenditure on nuclear weapons.”

After Biden’s first budget request, however, critics rapped the President for proposing to continue all parts of the spending plans left by the Trump administration, including “the controversial additions made by President Trump to the Obama-era program, such as additional, more usable lower-yield nuclear capabilities,” the ACA said.

The ACA called Biden’s budget request inconsistent with his “stated desire to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. policy and seek new risk reduction and arms control arrangements with Russia and perhaps China.” In Tuesday’s release, the State Department said there are 3,750 nuclear warheads in the US nuclear stockpile as of September 2020, an 88 percent decrease from its maximum number of 31,255 in 1967, according to the department.

The US also dismantled 11,683 nuclear warheads from 1994 to 2020, including 711 nuclear warheads since September 30, 2017. Two thousand nuclear warheads are retired and waiting to be dismantled, the department also said. In 2010, the Obama administration revealed the US had 5,113 nuclear warheads in the stockpile as of September 30, 2009. According to data released in 2015, the US had 4,717 nuclear warheads in the stockpile as of September 2014.

Book Illustrates The Turbulent Connection Between Religion And Terrorism

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Education, Religion 0

A recently divorced doctor looking for seclusion relocates to an isolated house on a riverbank. The following summer, dead bodies start turning up in the river, on the roads, in trains and on city crossings. Everybody calls it the ‘Punjab Problem’, as if it was a stubborn crossword puzzle. The doctor is kidnapped and nearly killed, once by terrorists for helping the police and once by the police for helping the terrorists.

A young Dalit girl, with the dream of becoming a dancer in her eyes, and her soul mate Bheem leave their caste-ridden existence behind and relocate to Bombay. They have learnt the hard way that the preaching of oneness by their religion does not work in the real world. Drawing its title, “Two and a half Rivers” (Niyogi Books), from the historicity of the Partition which has left in its wake only half the rivers to India from the land of the five rivers, Anirudh Kala’s novel offers a poignant commentary on the turbulent connection between religion and terrorism.

Reflecting on the telling of this story, Kala said: “Since I was writing about Punjab militancy, the worst large-scale violence perpetrated on the people of Punjab since the Partition of India, I felt a sense of responsibility. I, along with friends, neighbours and many others, including my patients, lived through that dark decade and a half. The other main narrative of the novel is that of caste – one more unpleasant fact about Punjab that people outside know little of. What I attempted to write was truth in essence, but fiction in details.”

Anirudh Kala is a Ludhiana-based psychiatrist whose experience shows in how he sketches out his characters and their personality traits. This is his second book as a fiction writer, the first being “The Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition and Madness” (2018).

His focus is always to educate people about mental health and mental illness, focussing on eradicating stigma, labels, and prejudice. Besides his professional passions, Kala also likes reading Urdu poetry, hiking, and listening to Indian semi-classical music.

Ranking Healthfulness Of Foods From First To Worst

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Lifestyle 0

New nutrient profiling system, most comprehensive and science-based to date, clears up confusion to benefit consumers, policymakers

Newswise — A scientific team at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts has developed a new tool to help consumers, food companies, restaurants, and cafeterias choose and produce healthier foods and officials to make sound public nutrition policy. Food Compass is a new nutrient profiling system, developed over three years, that incorporates cutting-edge science on how different characteristics of foods positively or negatively impact health. Important novel features of the system, reported Oct. 14 in Nature Food, include: Equally considering healthful vs. harmful factors in foods (many existing systems focus on harmful factors);

Incorporating cutting-edge science on nutrients, food ingredients, processing characteristics, phytochemicals, and additives (existing systems focus largely on just a few nutrients); and Objectively scoring all foods, beverages, and even mixed dishes and meals using one consistent score (existing systems subjectively group and score foods differently). “Once you get beyond ‘eat your veggies, avoid soda,’ the public is pretty confused about how to identify healthier choices in the grocery store, cafeteria, and restaurant,” said the study’s lead and corresponding author, Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School. “Consumers, policy makers, and even industry are looking for simple tools to guide everyone toward healthier choices.”

The new Food Compass system was developed and then tested using a detailed national database of 8,032 foods and beverages consumed by Americans. It scores 54 different characteristics across nine domains representing different health-relevant aspects of foods, drinks, and mixed meals, providing for one of the most comprehensive nutrient profiling systems in the world. The characteristics and domains were selected based on nutritional attributes linked to major chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and cancer, as well as to risk of undernutrition, especially for mothers, young children, and the elderly. Food Compass was designed so that additional attributes and scoring could evolve based on future evidence in such areas as gastrointestinal health, immune function, brain health, bone health, and physical and mental performance; as well as considerations of sustainability.

Potential uses of Food Compass include:

Encouraging the food industry to develop healthier foods and reformulate the ingredients in popular processed foods and snacks;

Providing food purchasing incentives for employees through worksite wellness, health care, and nutrition assistance programs;

Supplying the science for local and national policies such as package labeling, taxation, warning labels, and restrictions on marketing to children;

Enabling restaurants and school, business, and hospital cafeterias to present healthier food options; Informing agricultural trade policy; and, Guiding institutional and individual investors on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investment decisions.

Each food, beverage, or mixed dish receives a final Food Compass score ranging from 1 (least healthy) to 100 (most healthy). The researchers identified 70 or more as a reasonable score for foods or beverages that should be encouraged. Foods and beverages scoring 31-69 should be consumed in moderation. Anything scoring 30 or lower should be consumed minimally.

Across major food categories, the average Food Compass score was 43.2.

The lowest scoring category was snacks and sweet desserts (average score 16.4).

The highest scoring categories were vegetables (average score 69.1), fruits (average score 73.9, with nearly all raw fruits receiving a score of 100), and legumes, nuts, and seeds (average score 78.6).

Among beverages, the average score ranged from 27.6 for sugar-sweetened sodas and energy drinks to 67 for 100% fruit or vegetable juices.

Starchy vegetables scored an average of 43.2.

The average score for beef was 24.9; for poultry, 42.67; and for seafood, 67.0.

Food Compass is the first major nutrient profiling system to use consistent scoring across diverse food groups, which is especially important for mixed dishes. For example, in the case of pizza, many other systems have separate scoring algorithms for the wheat, meat, and cheese, but not the finished product itself. Consistent scoring of diverse items can also be helpful in assessing and comparing combinations of food and beverages that could be sold and consumed together, such as an entire shopping basket, a person’s daily diet pattern, or a portfolio of foods sold by a particular company.

“With its publicly available scoring algorithm, Food Compass can provide a nuanced approach to promoting healthy food choices–helping guide consumer behavior, nutrition policy, scientific research, food industry practices, and socially based investment decisions,” said last author Renata Micha, who did this work as a faculty member at the Friedman School and is now at the University of Thessaly. Additional authors are Naglaa H. El-Abbadi, Meghan O’Hearn, Josh Marino, William A. Masters, Paul Jacques, Peilin Shi, and Jeffrey B. Blumberg of the Friedman School.

The study is part of the Food-PRICE (Policy Review and Intervention Cost-Effectiveness) project, a National Institutes of Health-funded research collaboration working to identify cost-effective nutrition strategies that can have the greatest impact on improving health outcomes in the United States. This work was supported by Danone and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01HL130735 and R01HL115189. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Please see the study for conflicts of interest.

AAPI’s Global Healthcare Summit 2022 To Be Held In Hyderabad

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The 15th annual Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) 2022, organized by the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) in collaboration with the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, will be held at the prestigious Hotel Avasa in Hyderabad, India from January 5th to 7th, 2022.

“Harnessing the power of Indian Doctors worldwide, the AAPI Global Healthcare Summit platform has evolved with the support of prominent global and Indian medical associations,” says Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, President of AAPI. “The theme for the Summit this year is, ‘Prevention Is Better Than Cure Through Technology, Telemedicine & Transformation’ and we want to coordinate and collaborate all our resources towards helping India emerge stronger and healthier.”

According to her, “Senior leaders from leading healthcare organizations such as pharmaceuticals, device and medical equipment manufacturers and major medical teaching institutions, hospitals and from the Ministries – Health, External/Overseas Affairs and regulatory bodies are collaborating with AAPI with the ultimate goal to provide access to high quality and affordable healthcare to all people of India.”

AAPI is hopeful that several international healthcare industry partners are looking for opportunities to participate at this event for greater collaboration on Research & Development and philanthropic engagements, Dr. Gotimukula added. Chronic diseases, notably diabetes, cardiovascular, hypertension, COPD, oncology, maternal and infant mortality, and emerging ones – trauma and head injury, transplant and minimally invasive robotic surgeries are only some of those that are going to be covered during this Summit. An exclusive Healthcare CEO forum brings the healthcare industry perspective, with senior Government officials, both Union and State providing the legislative wisdom. Hands-on workshops provide supervised skill transfer.

“Physicians and delegates from different parts of the world will come together, facilitating exchange of knowledge, cutting edge technology and best practices in protecting and promoting healthcare,” Dr. Udaya Shivangi, Chair of AAPI GHS USA 2021 says. “In addition to continuing the ongoing projects commenced by past AAPI leaders, GHS will have new initiatives and innovative ideas. The GHS 2022 will focus on envisioning future digital health solutions, and preventive strategies with state of the art CMEs and Symposiums with information on current and emerging issues and trends in healthcare.”While elaborating on the themes and areas that are going to be covered during the Summit, Dr. Kusum Punjabi, Chair of AAPI BOT, says, “In our efforts to realize the core mission of AAPI, which is to share the best from leading experts from around the world, to collaborate on clinical challenges, research and development, philanthropy, policy and standards formulation, the Summit in Hyderabad will have clinical tracks that are of vital to healthcare in India.”

Dr. Ravi Kolli, President-Elect of AAPI said, “Healthcare in India is one of the largest sectors, in terms of revenue and employment. India is making significant improvements in the healthcare infrastructure and is building modern medical facilities throughout India. Indian doctors have made tremendous progress in the 21st century and India is now being touted as a medical tourism hub” While elaborating the objectives of the Summit, Dr. Anjana Samadder, Vice President of AAPI, says, “This innovative Summit is aimed at advancing the accessibility, affordability and the quality of world-class healthcare to the people of India. Among other areas, the Summit will focus on prevention, diagnosis, treatment options and share ways to truly improve healthcare transcending global boundaries.”

This international health care summit is a progressive transformation from the first Indo-US Healthcare Summit launched by AAPI USA in 2007. Since then, AAPI has organized 14 Indo – US/Global Healthcare Summits and developed strategic alliances with various organizations. “It is these learning and relationships that have now enabled AAPI and participating organizations to plan ahead and prepare for an outstanding event that is expected to have over 300 very prominent and talented physicians and surgeons of Indian origin from around the world and are very passionate about serving their homeland, Mother India,” Dr. Satheesh Kathula, Secretary of AAPI, says.

According to Dr. Krishan Kumar, Treasurer of AAPI, “With the changing trends and statistics in healthcare, both in India and US, we are refocusing our mission and vision, AAPI would like to make a positive and meaningful impact on the healthcare delivery system both in the US and in India.”There are several AAPI leaders who are working very hard to make the GHS a memorable event, said Dr. Gotimukula. “Among them, I want to recognize Dr. Lokesh Edara, Chair Global Medical Education; Dr. Seema Arora, Women’s Forum; Dr. Joseph M. Chalil, Chair of CEO Forum; Dr. Soumya Neravetla, Chair of the popular Medical Jeopardy; Dr. Ayesha Singh and Dr. Shubham Anand, GAIIMS President, who are coordinating the Medical Students Research Symposium.”

“Being organized at this critical phase, GHS 2022 is aimed at exploring possibilities for greater collaboration and cooperation between the physicians and health care providers in India with those of Indian origin and major health-care providers abroad,” Dr. Gotimukula said. For more information, please visit www.aapiusa.org/ https://summit.aapiusa.org

Facebook Whistleblower Testimony Should Prompt New Oversight

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterEconomy, Media, Nation USA 0

‘I think we need regulation to protect people’s private data,’ influential Democrat says in wake of Frances Haugen revelations. Testimony in Congress this week by the whistleblower Frances Haugen should prompt action to implement meaningful oversight of Facebook and other tech giants, the influential California Democrat Adam Schiff told the Guardian in an interview to be published on Sunday.

“I think we need regulation to protect people’s private data,” the chair of the House intelligence committee said.

“I think we need to narrow the scope of the safe harbour these companies enjoy if they don’t moderate their contents and continue to amplify anger and hate. I think we need to insist on a vehicle for more transparency so we understand the data better.”

Haugen, 37, was the source for recent Wall Street Journal reporting on misinformation spread by Facebook and Instagram, the photo-sharing platform which Facebook owns. She left Facebook in May this year, but her revelations have left the tech giant facing its toughest questions since the Cambridge Analytica user privacy scandal.

At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Haugen shared internal Facebook reports and argued that the social media giant puts “astronomical profits before people”, harming children and destabilising democracy via the sharing of inaccurate and divisive content. Haugen likened the appeal of Instagram to tobacco, telling senators: “It’s just like cigarettes … teenagers don’t have good self-regulation.”

Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Haugen’s testimony might represent a “big tobacco” moment for the social media companies, a reference to oversight imposed despite testimony in Congress that their product was not harmful from executives whose companies knew that it was.

The founder and head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has resisted proposals to overhaul the US internet regulatory framework, which is widely considered to be woefully out of date. He responded to Haugen’s testimony by saying the “idea that we prioritise profit over safety and wellbeing” was “just not true”.

“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” he said. “We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content.” Schiff was speaking to mark publication of a well-received new memoir, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could.

The Democrat played prominent roles in the Russia investigation and Donald Trump’s first impeachment. He now sits on the select committee investigating the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, by Trump supporters seeking to overturn his election defeat – an effort in part fueled by misinformation on social media. In his book, Schiff writes about asking representatives of Facebook and two other tech giants, Twitter and YouTube, if their “algorithms were having the effect of balkanising the public and deepening the divisions in our society”.

Facebook’s general counsel in the 2017 hearing, Schiff writes, said: “The data on this is actually quite mixed.” “It didn’t seem very mixed to me,” Schiff says. Asked if he thought Haugen’s testimony would create enough pressure for Congress to pass new laws regulating social media companies, Schiff told the Guardian: “The answer is yes.”

However, as an experienced member of a bitterly divided and legislatively sclerotic Congress, he also cautioned against too much optimism among reform proponents. “If you bet against Congress,” Schiff said, “you win 90% of the time.”

A Cousin Of Viagra Reduces Obesity By Burning Fat

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Science 0

Newswise — Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found that a drug first developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and sickle cell disease reduces obesity and fatty liver in mice and improves their heart function — without changes in food intake or daily activity.

These findings, published online Oct. 7 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, reveal that a chemical inhibitor of the enzyme PDE9 stimulates cells to burn more fat. This occurred in male mice and in female mice whose sex hormones were reduced by removing their ovaries, thus mimicking menopause. Postmenopausal women are well known to be at increased risk for obesity around their waist as well as at risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Inhibiting PDE9 did not cause these changes in female mice that had their ovaries, so female sex hormone status was important in the study.

“Currently, there isn’t a pill that has been proven effective for treating severe obesity, yet such obesity is a global health problem that increases the risk of many other diseases,” says senior investigator David Kass, M.D., Abraham and Virginia Weiss Professor of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “What makes our findings exciting is that we found an oral medication that activates fat-burning in mice to reduce obesity and fat buildup in organs like the liver and heart that contribute to disease; this is new.”

This study follows work reported by the same laboratory in 2015 that first showed the PDE9 enzyme is present in the heart and contributes to heart disease triggered by high blood pressure. Blocking PDE9 increases the amount of a small molecule known as cyclic GMP, which in turn controls many aspects of cell function throughout the body. PDE9 is the enzyme cousin of another protein called PDE5, which also controls cyclic GMP and is blocked by drugs such as Viagra. Inhibitors of PDE9 are experimental, so there is no drug name yet.

Based on these results, the investigators suspected PDE9 inhibition might improve cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS), a constellation of common conditions including high blood pressure; high blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides; and excess body fat, particularly around the waist. CMS is considered a pandemic by medical experts and a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancers and COVID-19.

While PDE9 inhibitors remain experimental, they have been developed by several pharmaceutical companies and tested in humans for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and sickle cell. The current mouse study used a PDE9 inhibitor made by Pfizer Inc. (PF-04447943) that was first tested for Alzheimer’s disease, though eventually abandoned for this use. Between the two reported clinical trials, over 100 subjects received this drug, and it was found to be well tolerated with no serious adverse side effects. A different PDE9 inhibitor is now being tested for human heart failure.

To test the effects of a PDE9 inhibitor on obesity and cardiometabolic syndrome, the researchers put mice on a high-fat diet that led to doubling their body weight, high blood lipids and diabetes after four months. A group of female mice had their ovaries surgically removed, and most of the mice also had a pressure stress applied to the heart to better mimic cardiometabolic syndrome. The mice were then assigned to receive either the PDE9 inhibitor or a placebo by mouth over the next six to eight weeks.

In female mice without their ovaries (a model of postmenopause), the difference in median percent weight change between the drug and placebo groups was -27.5%, and in males it was -19.5%. Lean body mass was not altered in either group, nor was daily food consumption or physical activity. The PDE9 inhibitor lowered blood cholesterol and triglycerides, and reduced fat in the liver to levels found in mice fed a normal diet. The heart also improved with PDE9 inhibition, with ejection fraction (which measures the percentage of blood leaving the heart each time it contracts) relatively higher by 7%–15% and heart mass (hypertrophy) rising 70% less compared with the placebo. An increase in heart mass is evidence of abnormal heart stress. However, having this lowered by the inhibitor indicates stress on the heart was reduced.

The investigators found PDE9 inhibition produces these effects by activating a master regulator of fat metabolism known as PPARa. By stimulating PPARa, levels of genes for proteins that control fat uptake into cells and their use as fuel are broadly increased. When PPARa was blocked in cells or the whole animal, the effects from PDE9 inhibition on obesity and fat-burning were also lost. They found estrogen normally plays this role of PPARa on fat regulation in females, but when its levels fall like they do after menopause, PPARa becomes more important to regulate fat and so PDE9 inhibition has a greater effect.

“The finding that the experimental drug did not benefit female mice that had their ovaries shows that these sex hormones, particularly estrogen, had already achieved what inhibiting PDE9 does to stimulate fat-burning,” notes Sumita Mishra, the research associate who performed much of the work. “Menopause reduces sex hormone levels, and their control over fat metabolism then shifts to the protein regulated by PDE9, so the drug treatment is now effective.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of people living in the U.S. are obese; and 43% of American women over the age of 60 — long past menopause — are considered obese. Kass notes that if his lab’s findings in mice apply to people, someone weighing 250 pounds could lose about 50 pounds with an oral PDE9 inhibitor without changing eating or exercise habits.

“I’m not suggesting to be a couch potato and take a pill, but I suspect that combined with diet and exercise, the effects from PDE9 inhibition may be even greater,” says Kass. The next step would be testing in humans to see if PDE9 inhibitors produce similar effects in men and postmenopausal women. “PDE9 inhibitors are already being studied in humans, so a clinical obesity study should not be that far away,” Kass says. The other researchers involved in the study include Nandhini Sadagopan, Brittany Dunkerly-Ering, Susana Rodriguez, Dylan Sarver, Sean Murphy, Hildur Knutsdottir, Vivek Jani, Deepthi Ashok, Christian Oeing, Brian O’Rourke and G. William Wong from Johns Hopkins Medicine; Ryan Ceddia and Sheila Collins from Vanderbilt University; and John Gangoiti and Dorothy Sears from the University of California San Diego.

The Johns Hopkins University has filed a patent on behalf of investigators Kass, Mishra and a prior member of the Kass laboratory, D.I. Lee, for the use of PDE9 inhibitors to treat cardiometabolic syndrome.

Anuradha Palakurthi To Release “Durga Maa Elo Re” Bengali

October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterEntertainment, Women 0

Award-winning Indian American singer Anuradha Palakurthi “Juju” will release her first Bengali video song on Oct. 8, 2021, just before the start of the festive Durga Pooja and Diwali season. The song is produced in collaboration with Bollywood singer Mika Singh and Bappa B. Lahiri.

Here are details about the upcoming song: Durga Maa Elo Re is a Bengali dance number and the first in that language for Juju. The song is a tribute to the Goddess Durga and celebrates the joyful Dussehra season. In addition to Juju’s melodious singing, the song is a visual treat, featuring Bengali actress Tina Dutta.

Singers: Mika Singh and Anuradha Juju Palakurthi

Music: Bappa B. Lahiri

Percs: Shivmani

Featuring: Tina Dutta

Video: Ravi and Yashika in Mumbai

Video: Deepa Jacob and Jaison Jose, Cocoon Media in Boston

Director of Photography: Abhishek Basu

Lyrics: Lipi

“For many centuries Bengal blended tradition and modernity to perfection. This amalgam is in full splendor during Durga Pooja and is celebrated across the world,” said Juju, who is also the founder of Boston-based Juju Productions. “I’m excited to have sung my first Bengali song and with Mika Singh. Our dear friend Drummer Shivamani’s magic added to Bappa B. Lahiri’s composition. Bengali actress Tina Dutta acted in the Abhishek Basu’s directed song-video.”

Ms. Dutta said the song took her down memory lane of Durga Puja and the streets of Kolkata. “I’m excited as this is my first music video and it is very different. The song took me back to my own memories of Durga Puja and Kolkata and hence I was all the more excited when I heard the track,” said Ms. Dutta. “I’m glad that my first music video happens to be one in my native language and the team is fabulous. From Mika Singh, Anuradha Juju to Bappa B. Lahiri, each and every person associated with the project has a wealth of work but each of us had the hunger to do something new and different. I am really excited and looking forward to this one.”

On a personal level, Juju said that she was excited to have sung her first Bengali song.

“This song is happy, vibrant and captures the essence of Durga ‘Poojo’. I hope you all enjoy it and may the Goddess Durga bless us all this Vijayadashami.”

Juju is known for her versatility, as no genre is beyond her vocal range- be it a Film Song, Classical, Bhajan, Sufi, Ghazal, or Pop. She has sung in numerous languages and recently added Bengali to her repertoire.

The video will release on Oct. 8, 2021.

Juju Productions is a Boston-based music and video production company, where artists and singers work with Anuradha Palakurthi-Juju work to produce creative, innovative musical endeavors. It creates music that attracts global audiences, transcends national and cultural boundaries while rooted in evolving Indian traditions.

‘Pandora Papers’ Indicts At Least 380 Indians

October 7, 2021October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Global 0

A massive investigation from more than 600 journalists across the globe sheds new light into the shadowy world of offshore banking and the high-powered elites who use the system to their benefit.

The exposé, dubbed the “Pandora Papers,” shows how the world’s wealthy hide their money and assets from authorities, their creditors and the public by using a network of lawyers and financial institutions that promise secrecy. It’s built on a trove of 11.9 million records leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which in turn shared them with partner media outlets such as The Washington Post and The Guardian for help conducting the large-scale investigation.

“These are secretive, confidential documents from offshore tax havens and offshore specialists who work to help rich, powerful and sometimes criminal individuals create shell companies or trusts in a way that often helps either obscure assets or in some cases even help avoid paying taxes,” senior ICIJ reporter Will Fitzgibbon told NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered. Pandora Papers, the most voluminous leak of offshore financial records ever, reveal how individuals and businesses set up complex multi-layered trust structures for estate planning, in jurisdictions that are loosely regulated for tax purposes, but characterized by air-tight secrecy laws.

King Abdullah II, who rules Jordan, spent more than $100 million on lavish properties in the U.S. and Europe while his country fell deeper into political turmoil, The Washington Post reported. A woman suspected of being in a years-long relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin became the owner of a pricey Monaco apartment days after reportedly giving birth to his child, the paper also found.

Those are two of more than 300 current or former politicians who appear in the Pandora Papers, the journalists said. Among them are 14 sitting country leaders, including President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to reports, there are at least 380 persons of Indian nationality in the Pandora Papers. Of these, The Indian Express has so far verified and corroborated documents related to about 60 prominent individuals and companies. These will be revealed in the coming days.

In February 2020, following a dispute with three Chinese state-controlled banks, Anil Ambani told a London court that his net worth was zero. Records in the Pandora Papers investigated by The Indian Express reveal that the chairman of Reliance ADA Group and his representatives own at least 18 offshore companies. Set up between 2007 and 2010, seven of these companies have borrowed and invested at least $1.3 billion.

A financial advisor and his company were barred by SEBI from trading in the stock market for a year and fined for insider trading in Biocon Ltd shares. What the marker regulator did not know is that the same advisor is the ‘Protector’ of a trust set up by a company owned by Biocon Executive Chairperson’s husband. Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, along with members of his family, figures in the Pandora Papers as Beneficial Owners of an offshore entity in the British Virgin Islands which was liquidated in 2016. Sachin, with wife Anjali Tendulkar and father-in-law Anand Mehta are named as BOs and Directors of a BVI-based company.

Captain Satish Sharma, Congress leader, friend of the Gandhi family, and a former Union Minister who passed away in February this year, had offshore entities and properties abroad, the Pandora Papers show. At least 10 members of Sharma’s family including his wife Sterre, children and grandchildren are among the beneficiaries of a trust, the Jan Zegers Trust — a declaration Sharma never made to the Election Commission while filing poll nomination papers.

A month before fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi fled India in January 2018, his sister Purvi Modi set up a firm in the British Virgin Islands to act as a corporate protector of a trust formed through the Trident Trust Company, Singapore. Records investigated by The Indian Express show that the firm, Brookton Management Ltd, was set up in December 2017 to act as the corporate protector of The Deposit Trust. These documents of the new firm and the trust set up by Purvi are part of the Pandora Papers.

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff was the prime beneficiary of a trust set up in New Zealand by his mother-in-law, records in the Pandora Papers investigated by The Indian Express reveal. He also made “substantial contributions” to this trust, which had a Swiss bank account and owned an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands, records show. According to the memorandum concerning the trust, Shroff’s son Jai Shroff (Tiger Shroff) and daughter Krishna Shroff were the beneficiaries, besides Claudia Dutt, the mother of Shroff’s wife Ayesha

Young Climate Activists Of Indian Origin Join Hands With UN Showcasing Achievements

October 7, 2021October 13, 2021 Staff ReporterEnvironment, Youth 0

The United Nations in India launched its climate campaign ‘We The Change’, which aims to showcase climate solutions pioneered by young Indians as a celebration of India’s climate leadership on Monday last week. Through the WeTheChangeNow call to action, 17 young climate champions invited fellow young Indians to join the movement by sharing their climate action stories on the campaign website, also launched on Monday.

“The campaign – inspired by the stories of India’s young climate leaders – encourages us to adopt a more solution-based, innovative approach to fight climate change. We know solutions are already within reach to solve the present climate crisis. We hope that through the WeTheChangeNow campaign, we will inspire bolder climate action from people, communities and the national and state governments,” said UN Resident Coordinator in India, Deirdre Boyd. The campaign celebrates and curates innovative, sustainable and equitable climate solutions and actions being pioneered by young people in India. The focus is on strengthening engagement with governments and civil society for a more collaborative approach to climate action, a release said.

“We need enabling spaces for co-learning and collaboration for effective climate action. It’s inspiring to be part of a journey that allows me to meet other young people who are championing climate action and advocacy while collaborating with various policymakers and other climate stakeholders,” young climate campaigner and member of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, Archana Soreng said.

“India has shown great leadership in combating climate change through its strategic and timely climate policies. Currently, India is on track to meet its Paris Climate Agreement commitments and is likely to outperform its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in critical sectors, including renewable energy. Challenges remain, and the valuable contributions of young people in green action and recovery, can propel breakthrough innovations to protect India and the world, especially the most vulnerable, from the impact of climate change,” the release said.

“Over the course of the campaign, we will create spaces for young people, civil society, climate groups, media, and governments to collaborate through online dialogues, discussions, and face-to-face interactions,” it said. “The campaign’s 17 young climate leaders represent innovation and action across diverse sectors, including renewables, forest management, financing, climate entrepreneurship, sustainable agriculture, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, water conservation and waste management,” it added.

UN Secretary-General’s Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals, actor and producer, Dia Mirza, who has lent her support to the digital campaign, said: “We can still make a difference, restore our planet, and make peace with nature. These 17 young climate leaders, the faces of the ‘We The Change’ movement, are showing us the way ahead towards climate justice and climate action. Their stories have inspired me and I hope they inspire people everywhere to share their climate actions, big or small, using #WeTheChange now.” The Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), a Delhi-based organization that uses the judicial system to advance environmental goals and empower vulnerable populations, has won the Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel”.

It shared the award with three activists: Marthe Wandou, a gender and peace activist who has worked to prevent sexual violence against girls in the Lake Chad area of Cameroon; Russian environmental campaigner Vladimir Slivyak; and indigenous rights campaigner Freda Huson of the Wet’suwet’en people in Canada.

Founded in 2005 by lawyers Ritwick Dutta and Rahul Choudhary, LIFE’s attorneys are among India’s leading public interest lawyers. It has represented tribals in Odisha against Vedanta over its Bauxite mines in the Niyamgiri Hills, local communities against the Jindal Steels and Power’s mine in Chhattisgarh, horticulturalists opposing Lafarge’s limestone mining in Himachal Pradesh, and mango farmers in Ratnagiri against JSW’s thermal power plant, among others. (A 2013 profile of Dutta here on ET)

LIFE has helped communities fight against some of India’s most significant environmental threats: the construction of ecologically destructive projects in violation of the law, preventing deforestation and making industrial polluters pay for the damage caused to the environment and public health, the Swedish Right Livelihood Foundation, which awards the prize, said.

Fumio Kishida To Be Japan’s Next Prime Minister

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterGlobal 0

Japan’s former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, a longtime stalwart of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is all set to become the country’s next prime minister after he was elected party president on Wednesday, last week. Kishida, 64, beat the head of Japan’s COVID-19 vaccination program, 58-year-old Taro Kono, in a runoff poll among LDP lawmakers and rank-and-file party members, winning by 87 votes.

Kishida was installed as LDP leader after a deal among party power-brokers—despite what many political observers say is his lack of personal appeal and much broader public support for Kono. Kishida was supported by one of the LDP’s largest factions, but only led Kono by one vote in the first round of party voting. Yoshikazu Kato, a director of a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm Trans-Pacific Group (TPG), believes Kishida’s team was able to secure more votes with help from supporters of ultraconservative candidate Sanae Takaichi—who was vying to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Takaichi came in third and was eliminated from the race in the first round, along with moderate party executive Seiko Noda who fell to fourth. “Kishida and Takaichi, both of them, and both of their teams, have already decided if things have gone to the second round what they are going to do,” Kato tells TIME. “This is the secret to why Kishida accomplished such a big win.”

Ultimately, Kishida may have been more palatable to the LDP’s conservative elders, than Kono—who is more liberal and supports legalizing same-sex marriage and phasing out nuclear power, observers say.

Kato adds that Kishida was the first candidate to join the race to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who had bowed out from the leadership race earlier this month amid anger over his government’s COVID-19 response. “From the beginning until today, Kishida has been very consistent and confident, and very much ready for what happens next,” he says.

Since the LDP dominates the lower house of the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, Kishida is virtually guaranteed to become prime minister next month. The LDP’s new leader is also expected to secure the party another four years in power in the general elections this fall. The main opposition party—the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP)—has struggled to poll above 10%.

Tougher on China?

Observers say Japan’s incoming leader will have to address long-standing issues such as the aging population and threats brought on by China’s increasing assertiveness in the region, on top of helping the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tokyo’s diplomatic ties with Beijing have also been strained. Japanese leaders have spoken out in support of Taiwan, and criticized increased Chinese incursions into territory around islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both Japan and China.

Kishida, a nine-term member of the House of Representatives, was in charge of foreign affairs for more than four years under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving foreign minister. He had met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi several times—which Kato believes may bode better ties between the two countries.

Although he has advocated continuing dialogue with China, Japan’s top trading partner, Kishida has promised to take a harder line militarily and supports boosting Tokyo’s defense budget amid the threat posed by Beijing. However, Kato says, “Kishida is not pro-China or anti-China, but he is a person who can talk.”

Kishida advocates ‘new capitalism’

On Japan’s economy, Kishida says the country needs a “new capitalism” to help narrow a wealth gap that has grown with the COVID-19 pandemic. He has called for a major stimulus package, as well as setting aside of $90 billion to fund scientific developments and renewable energy. He has also advocated moving away from the deregulation of business that began in the early 2000s.

While the economy grew faster than expected after Suga announced he would not continue his term, its continued recovery may be slowed by the surge of coronavirus infections in July and August.

Regarded by political peers as a moderate, Kishida will have to win back the public’s support and improve the approval ratings of the government to do this. However, Kishida’s personality could make it harder for him to get his message across to the Japanese public, says Kato—especially compared with the more forthright Kono.

Kingston, of Temple University, says attending to Japan’s wealth inequality will help improve the LDP’s image, which will boost its chances of maintaining power when the general election comes in November. Kishida has to “hit the ground running,” Kingston says. “He has to deliver. He has promised these things.”

During 16 Years Of Leading Germany, Angela Merkel Made Europe More Resilient

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterGlobal, Women 0

Germany’s election on Sept. 26 ended without a clear winner, but one thing at least is certain: Angela Merkel will soon exit the political stage she has occupied for the past 16 years, kick starting much debate about her legacy for Germany, and for the world.

Comparisons with her mentor and predecessor Helmut Kohl, who led Germany through reunification, are as inevitable as they are unfair. Her critics say that, though a formidable historical figure, she has accomplished nothing that can equal the leadership of Kohl. But the demands of their eras were entirely different. To understand that is to recognize Merkel’s lasting achievement.

In 1990, a heady sense of opportunity in both West and East Germany created the public support that Helmut Kohl needed to take on one of the most ambitious and complex global governing challenges since the end of World War II. Over the Merkel era of the past 16 years, by contrast, Germans (and Europeans generally) have needed a thoughtful, flexible problem-solver to guide them through a debt emergency, a surge of migrants from the Middle East, and the deadliest global pandemic in a century. In the process, Angela Merkel helped save the European Union. That’s an accomplishment that deserves lasting respect.

Convinced that a strong and cohesive E.U. would be good for her country, the German Chancellor bridged the gaps and cut the deals, sometimes over the objections of her own finance minister, that helped Europe’s most deeply indebted countries survive the 2010-2012 sovereign debt crisis. Merkel kept her word that Germany would lead the way in coping with the 2015-2016 surge in migrants by welcoming more than one million desperate people into her country. In response to the pandemic and the need for a bold economic recovery plan, she shifted German opinion on the need for common European debt.

All of these decisions remain highly controversial. Her critics say they have fed public cynicism about the E.U. and fueled the populism that has threatened in recent years to poison its politics. But without Angela Merkel, and her willingness to take on more costs and risks so that others could take less, the E.U. might have lost much more than Britain.

Her leadership has also been good for most Germans. Some 70 percent now say they’re happy with their economic circumstances. Much of that success might have happened without her, powered by new opportunities for Germany to export to China after it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and by cheap labor provided by workers from the former Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe, which joined the E.U. just a year before Merkel became chancellor.

But Merkel’s ability to manage emergencies has helped keep Germany’s economic engine humming, and one of the results is a surge in the number of jobs across Germany, especially for women. Unemployment is now near its lowest point of the Merkel era. In addition, a balanced budget law enacted in 2009 has helped keep public debt low.

There is much more Merkel could have done, to be sure. By balancing its books, Germany has invested far less than it might have in the transition from carbon-based to renewable energy. While some credit Merkel for using Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster to transition Germany away from nuclear power, the country’s carbon emissions remain high by European standards.

Though Merkel remains popular, her party doesn’t. She leaves with an 80 percent approval rating even as her party is in historic decline. The vote share of the center-right alliance she led slid from 41.5 percent in 2013 to 33 percent in 2017. In the Sept. 26 election, the CDU-CSU fared even worse, securing just over 24 percent and finishing narrowly behind their center-left rivals the SPD. Whoever emerges as the next chancellor will be seen by most Germans as a pale shadow of her leadership.

Not only is Merkel a tough act to follow in Germany, there is no one else now in Europe who can match her tenacity and resilience either. In particular, French President Emmanuel Macron, facing a re-election campaign next year, inspires too much mistrust, including in France, to inherit Merkel’s ability to guide combative European leaders toward agreement. Fortunately, Merkel has strengthened Europe itself by showing other leaders that compromise is possible for the good of all. That makes future crises less likely – a legacy worth celebrating

Pandora Papers Expose World Leaders Of Secret Wealth

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterEconomy, Money 0

A massive leak of financial documents was published by several major news organizations on Sunday that allegedly tie world leaders to secret stores of wealth, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The dump of more than 11.9 million records, amounting to about 2.94 terabytes of data, came five years after the leak known as the “Panama Papers” exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington, D.C.-based network of reporters and media organizations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories. It did not say how the files were obtained, and Reuters could not independently verify the allegations or documents detailed by the consortium.

Jordan’s King Abdullah, a close ally of the United States, was alleged to have used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States.

DLA Piper, a London law office representing Abdullah, told the consortium of media outlets that he had “not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use.”

The Washington Post, which is part of the consortium, also reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who it said became the owner of a Monaco apartment through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2003 just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin, the newspaper said, citing Russian investigative outlet Proekt. The Post said Krivonogikh, her daughter, who is now 18, and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.

Days ahead of the Czech Republic’s Oct. 8-9 parliamentary election, the documents allegedly tied the country’s prime minister, Babis, to a secret $22 million estate in a hilltop village near Cannes, France. Speaking during a television debate on Sunday, Babis denied any wrongdoing. “The money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank,” Babis said. (Courtesy: Reuters)

Decline In White Population And Increased Diversity In America

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Nation USA 0

America’s white population is declining and aging, while the share of Latinos or Hispanics, Asians, and people who identify as two are more races is increasing. These are some of the findings in new analysis from Brookings Senior Fellow Bill Frey, who joins the Brookings Cafeteria to talk about America’s changing demographics and the implications.

Also on this episode, Tony Pipa, a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, highlights the work of local elected leaders and private sector leaders in the U.S. who are prioritizing action on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Listen to this segment also on SoundCloud.

The current growth of the population ages 65 and older, driven by the large the baby boom generation, is unprecedented in U.S. history. As they have passed through each major stage of life, baby boomers (between ages 55 and 73 in 2019) have brought both challenges and opportunities to the economy, infrastructure, and institutions.

These key findings from the report were updated in June 2019 with the latest available data.

Demographic Shifts

The number of Americans ages 65 and older is projected to nearly double from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million by 2060, and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population will rise from 16 percent to 23 percent.¹

The older population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Between 2018 and 2060 the share of the older population that is non-Hispanic white is projected to drop from 77 percent to 55 percent.²

Despite the increased diversity in the older adult population, the more rapidly changing racial/ethnic composition of the population under age 18 relative to those ages 65 and older has created a diversity gap between generations.

Older adults are working longer. By 2018, 24 percent of men and about 16 percent of women ages 65 and older were in the labor force. These levels are projected to rise further by 2026, to 26 percent for men and 18 percent for women.³

Many parts of the country—especially counties in the rural Midwest—are aging in place because disproportionate shares of young people have moved elsewhere.

Positive Developments

Education levels are increasing. Among people ages 65 and older in 1965, only 5 percent had completed a bachelor’s degree or more. By 2018, this share had risen to 29 percent.⁴

Average U.S. life expectancy increased from 68 years in 1950 to 78.6 years in 2017, in large part due to the reduction in mortality at older ages.⁵

The gender gap in life expectancy is narrowing. In 1990, a seven-year gap in life expectancy existed between men and women. By 2017, this gap had narrowed to five years (76.1 years versus 81.1 years).⁶

The poverty rate for Americans ages 65 and older has dropped sharply during the past 50 years, from nearly 30 percent in 1966 to 9 percent today.⁷

Challenges

Obesity rates among adults ages 60 and older have been increasing, standing at about 41 percent in 2015-2016.⁸

Wide economic disparities are evident across different population subgroups. Among adults ages 65 and older, 17 percent of Latinos and 19 percent of African Americans lived in poverty in 2017—more than twice the rate among older non-Hispanic whites (7 percent).⁹

More older adults are divorced compared with previous generations. The share of divorced women ages 65 and older increased from 3 percent in 1980 to 14 percent in 2018, and for men from 4 percent to 11 percent during the same period.¹⁰

Over one-fourth (26 percent) of women ages 65 to 74 lived alone in 2018. This share jumped to 39 percent among women ages 75 to 84, and to 55 percent among women ages 85 and older.¹¹

The aging of the baby boom generation could fuel more than a 50 percent increase in the number of Americans ages 65 and older requiring nursing home care, to about 1.9 million in 2030 from 1.2 million in 2017.¹²

Demand for elder care will also be driven by a steep rise in the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease, which could more than double by 2050 to 13.8 million, from 5.8 million today.¹³

The large share of older adults also means that Social Security and Medicare expenditures will increase from a combined 8.7 percent of gross domestic product today to 11.8 percent by 2050.¹⁴

Policymakers can improve the outlook for the future by reducing current gaps in education, employment, and earnings among younger workers.

Covid Claims 700,000 Lives, While Cases Begin To Fall

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The United States reached its latest heartbreaking pandemic milestone, eclipsing 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 just as the surge from the delta variant is starting to slow down and give overwhelmed hospitals some relief, reports here suggest. It took 3 ½ months for the U.S. to go from 600,000 to 700,000 deaths, driven by the Delta variant’s rampant spread through unvaccinated Americans. The latest milestone is deeply frustrating to public health leaders and medical professionals on the front lines because vaccines have been available to all eligible Americans for nearly six months and the shots overwhelmingly protect against hospitalizations and death. An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, providing kindling for the variant.

Health experts say the fourth wave of the pandemic has peaked overall in the U.S., particularly in the Deep South, where hospitals were stretched to the limit weeks ago. But many Northern states are still struggling with rising cases, and what’s ahead for winter is far less clear. Unknowns include how flu season may strain already depleted hospital staffs and whether those who have refused to get vaccinated will change their minds.

An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, providing kindling for the highly contagious delta variant. “If you’re not vaccinated or have protection from natural infection, this virus will find you,” warned Mike Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are on the downswing at about 112,000 per day on average, a drop of about one-third over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

Deaths, too, appear to be declining, averaging about 1,900 a day versus more than 2,000 about a week ago. The easing of the summer surge has been attributed to more mask wearing and more people getting vaccinated. The decrease in case numbers could also be due to the virus having burned through susceptible people and running out of fuel in some places.

In another promising development, Merck said its experimental pill for people sick with COVID-19 reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half. If it wins authorization from regulators, it will be the first pill for treating COVID-19 — and an important, easy-to-use new weapon in the arsenal against the pandemic.

All treatments now authorized in the U.S. against the coronavirus require an IV or injection.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease specialist, warned on Friday that some may see the encouraging trends as a reason to remain unvaccinated. “It’s good news we’re starting to see the curves” coming down, he said. “That is not an excuse to walk away from the issue of needing to get vaccinated.”

Covid Symptoms Last Longer Than Previously Thought

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health, Science 0

One in three people infected with the coronavirus has had Covid-like symptoms persist or recur for three to six months after diagnosis, a new study says, suggesting the so-called “long Covid” is afflicting more people than previously thought.

The study, led by University of Oxford scientists, used anonymized data from millions of electronic health records, primarily in the United States, to compare 273,618 patients with Covid-19 with 114,449 patients with influenza. The researchers looked at such symptoms as chest/throat pain, abnormal breathing, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, depression, headaches, cognitive dysfunction and muscle pain over a period of time.

It found that about 36% of Covid patients still reported disease symptoms three and six months after diagnosis. Most previous studies estimated the so-called long-haul Covid to afflict 10% to 30% of patients. The researchers also found that of those who had long COVID three to six months after diagnosis, roughly 40% had no record of such symptoms in the prior three months.

There was a higher incidence of long-Covid features in the elderly, in more severely affected patients, and in women, the study notes. But long-Covid features were also recorded in children and young adults, and in more than half of non-hospitalised patients, confirming that they occur even in young people and those who had a relatively mild illness.

They say: “The results confirm that a significant proportion of people, of all ages, can be affected by a range of symptoms and difficulties in the six months after Covid-19 infection,” said Dr. Max Taquet, who led the analysis at the University of Oxford. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Medicine

A Phase 3 safety and efficacy trial, conducted in the US, Chile and Peru, of AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 Covid-19 vaccine — which is available as Covishield in India — said the vaccine “was safe, with low incidences of serious and medically attended adverse events and adverse events of special interest” demonstrating an “overall estimated vaccine efficacy was 74.0%.”

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted on more than 32,000 participants and found that in the age group of 65 years and above, the “estimated vaccine efficacy was 83.5%.”

The study, conducted between August 28, 2020 and January 15, 2021, reported that “119 serious adverse events occurred among 101 participants (0.5%)” who were administered the vaccine. In addition, “a total of 7 adverse events leading to death occurred in 7 participants in the AZD1222 group and 9 adverse events leading to 7 deaths occurred in the placebo group.”

However, the study does not attribute any of the deaths “to be related to the vaccine or placebo” and adds that while there were no deaths due to Covid-19 in the group administered the vaccine, there were two deaths due to the pandemic in the group that was given a placebo.

While it has been a long wait for AstraZeneca to get approval for use in the US, the company had in July said that rather than seeking emergency use authorisation, it would go in for a full approval from the USFDA. It is also exploring the possibility of supplying booster doses to people administered its own vaccine as well as those who have been administered either Pfizer-BioNTech’s or Moderna’s vaccine

Travel In India Returns To Near Normal

October 7, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterTourism, Travel 0

India’s taking off! Domestic air travel demand was on a steady rise globally until August when concerns over the Delta variant of the coronavirus reversed the trend in countries such as China, US, Japan, Australia and Brazil. However, in India, buoyed by vaccination drives and a drop in Covid cases, domestic traffic demand has continued its steady month-on-month climb since June, per recent data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global airlines’ trade body.

In India, the climb recommenced in June after a huge drop in April-May during the second Covid wave, which made India’s domestic air travel demand take the deepest plunge worldwide. Domestic air travel demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres: number of kilometres flown by all passengers) was the lowest in May. It fell 71% as compared to the pre-Covid month of May 2019, showed IATA data. Only Japan with a 68.5% drop in demand as compared to May 2019 came close. But India caught up in August: its domestic travel demand rose to almost half of that in pre-Covid August 2019. It had been down 60% in July.

In August, domestic passenger traffic at Mumbai airport touched 1.4 million, which is what the airport had handled in March, the month air travel demand began its sharp drop due to the second wave, showed Airports Authority of India data.

In April, domestic passenger traffic at Mumbai was down to 0.9 million and in May, fell further to 0.4 million, before the trend reversed in June and domestic traffic increased to 0.6 million. Similarly, Delhi airport’s domestic passenger traffic had peaked in March with 2.9 million passengers and the airport inched close to that number in August with 2.6 million.

India, UAE Working On Speedy Normalization Of Air Services

October 7, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterBusiness, Tourism, Travel 0

India and the UAE will aim to ensure speedy normalization of air transport operations between the two countries. Accordingly, the need for normalisation of air transportation, was discussed at the ninth meeting of the ‘UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments’ held in Dubai on Saturday.

“Given the importance of air transport in facilitating bilateral ties and people-to-people connections, both sides agreed that their respective civil aviation authorities should continue to work together on a priority basis, for their mutual benefit, to ensure the speedy normalisation of air transport operations between the two countries,” the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said .

Saturday’s meeting was co-chaired by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles.

The Joint Task Force was established in 2013 as a key forum for promoting economic ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India, which were further strengthened by the signing of the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement’ between the two countries in January 2017. Besides, the meeting reviewed the progress of ongoing discussions for the ‘India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement’. “In this regard, both sides appreciated the efforts made to expedite discussions towards a well-balanced agreement that will considerably deepen bilateral economic ties and benefit the economies of both countries.”

According to the statement, participants also considered the ongoing efforts to amend the UAE and India’s longstanding ‘Bilateral Investment Treaty’ and noted the importance of concluding the negotiation process as soon as possible. “At the meeting, discussions were also held on exploring mutually beneficial methods and incentives to facilitate further investment from UAE sovereign investment entities in key priority sectors in India. The positive steps made by the Indian government in this context were noted and both sides agreed to continue to focus on ways of providing tax incentives to certain UAE sovereign investment entities.”

“The importance of active involvement from the UAE Special Desk within Invest India, the National Investment Promotion Agency of India, in expediting the resolution of both legacy issues and current difficulties experienced by UAE companies and banks in India was discussed.” (IANS)

India Orders 10-Day Quarantine For Visitors From UK

October 7, 2021November 8, 2022 Staff ReporterTourism, Travel 0

In a massive diplomatic response to the Boris Johnson administration’s vaccine racism, India has mandated that British nationals arriving in India from UK will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after the arrival, sources said.

From October 4, irrespective of their vaccination status, all UK nationals landing in India, will have to undertake a pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PCR test within 72 hours before travel, Covid test on arrival at the airport, and a final test 8 days after arrival. The move is being seen as retaliation against the UK government’s decision to impose a similar quarantine for Indian travelers vaccinated with Covishield, which is a WHO approved vaccine.

The new rules, issued by the health ministry, makes it mandatory for all travellers from the UK to submit a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test report, not older than 72 hours before date of departure. Not only that, it makes a Covid-19 test mandatory on arrival at the airport and 8 days after arrival, at the expense of the traveler.

The new rules mandate that while Indians returning home as well as NRIs and PIOs can quarantine at their homes, those who have no place to stay will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense, which could prove to be an expensive affair. It’s similar to the policy travelers from India need to follow when visiting other countries.

India’s action comes even as both countries have been in talks, with New Delhi impressing upon the British authorities to recognize India’s vaccine certification — which is still pending more than 10 days after the culmination of technical discussions held to resolve the matter. Earlier, the UK had refused to recognize Covishield as an approved vaccine, despite it being biologically similar to AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria.

According to an initial travel advisory by the Boris Johnson government, people travelling to the UK from India and a few other countries will be considered ‘unvaccinated’ even if they are fully vaccinated. The primary advisory also did not recognise Covishield, which is a formulation of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. After criticism, the Serum Institute of India produced a vaccine was recognised by the Uk. However, Indians are still made to undergo mandatory quarantine upon their arrival irrespective of their vaccination status.

India’s response to UK’s Vaccine rules: Key Highlights

New regulations will come into force on October 4
All British citizens will have to take the pre-departure COVID test within 72 hours before travel
COVID-19 test on arrival at the airport
RT-PCR test on the day of arrival
Mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after arrival in India
RT-PCR test 8 days after arrival

Kerala’s Travel Restrictions

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that the state will have new mandatory quarantine stipulations for international travelers from Monday, on the basis of Union Health Ministry guidelines.

Travellers from UK will have to undergo ten-day quarantine at home or destination address, according to the new guidelines. Passengers from South Africa, Brazil, and Europe will have to undergo a seven-day quarantine mandatorily on arrival.

The Minister, in a statement, said that all international travellers irrespective of their vaccination status will have to take RT-PCR tests on reaching the airports in the state.

Travelers from other countries will have to undergo self-monitoring for 14 days if they test negative in RT- PCR test. Samples of passengers from countries like Botswana, the UK, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, European nations, of the Middle East, Bangladesh, China, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe will be sent for virus mutation tests.

The Centre had ordered 10-day mandatory quarantine for passengers arriving from the UK, after it imposed such quarantine measure for Indian visitors.

George also said that three RT- PCR tests are required for an international passenger to the state – One prior to 72 hours of the journey, the second on arrival at an airport in the state, and the third eight days after arriving in the state.

SRK’s Son Among 10 Held As NCB Busts Rave Party On Cruise Ship Near Mumbai

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema 0

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has detained around 10 people after it raided a ‘rave party’ being held on a luxury passenger cruise ship travelling from Mumbai to Goa and has brought in Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, for questioning in connection with the case.

According to News 18, Shah Rukh’s son Aryan Khan was detained from the ship and is currently being questioned by the NCB at its Mumbai office. Reports say his phone has been seized and is being studied. NCB’s Sameer Wankhede told the media that Aryan Khan has not been arrested or booked under any charges, and that he has only been brought in for questioning. Visuals have emerged on social media where he can be seen at the NCB office, where the other eight people have also been taken.

An NCB team led by zonal director Sameer Wankhede went under the guise of regular passengers and the agency said 8-10 people who were consuming drugs have been held. The NCB officials claimed that a few days ago, they had received information about the rave party that was being organized on the passenger cruise ship which was to leave for Goa on Saturday evening.

The Narcotics Control Bureau on Saturday carried out a raid and busted a rave party on a cruise ship mid-sea off the Mumbai coast. At the time of going to the press, the raid was still underway and the NCB officials were in the process of registering a FIR under NDPS act. The sources in the department revealed that around 10 persons including the son of a Bollywood actor were detained for allegedly being part of the rave party.

The NCB officials claimed that a few days ago, they had received information about the rave party that was being organized in the passenger cruise ship which was to leave for Goa on Saturday evening. The NCB personnel accordingly booked tickets and boarded the cruise ship disguised as passengers. “As soon as the cruise left Mumbai coast and reached mid-sea, few passengers started consuming drugs after which the NCB officials then started their operation and caught them red handed,” said a source. Cocaine and other synthetics drugs have been found in their possession which were subsequently seized during the raid, said officials

The captain of the ship was instructed to take the cruise to the international cruise terminal at Ballard Pier in south Mumbai. Zonal director of NCB, Sameer Wankhede and his team took all the detainees along with their luggage to the NCB office in south Mumbai. While searches were still being carried out inside the passenger cruise ship. “The procedure of seizing drugs in the presence of eye witnesses is still going on,” said an official.

The detainees will be soon sent for medical examination to a nearby government hospital, said NCB officials as that will help them to ascertain whether they had consumed drugs. “The report will also act as a crucial piece of evidence,” said a source. Also heavy deployment of policemen from the Mumbai police force was witnessed in and around the terminal. It is also revealed that several people who had come to Mumbai from another state to travel in the ship were not allowed to board sighting a reason that their server was not working. Also it has come to light that the event organizers had overbooked due to which they refused entry to many people.

Samosas Dipped In Chocolate And Strawberry Go Viral

October 7, 2021October 28, 2022 Staff ReporterCulture, Food 0

Fusion food and culinary experiments continue to trend on social media. However, some experiments tend to baffle people, who are confused as to how the dish ever came into existence. In one such example, social media users were left bewildered after a video of ‘chocolate and strawberry samosas’ surfaced on the Internet. The 18-second video clip, which shows the savory snack being dipped in chocolate and strawberry, has divided people, with many saying that fusion food combinations had been taken too far now.

Industrialist Harsh Goenka shared the video on his Twitter account, captioning it as “Seeing the lollipop idli circulating in social media was ok, but this one,” ending his post with emojis of horrified faces. The idli popsicles that went viral recently did have several takers, but that can’t be said for the latest fusion food fad to hit the internet. Social media users across the spectrum were left befuddled after watching a viral video that shows samosas dipped in sugary chocolate and strawberry and netizens have reacted to the odd fusion with a mix of cringe and confusion.

Putting his shock into words, industrialist Harsh Goenka tweeted the video with the caption, “Seeing the lollipop idli circulating in social media was ok, but this one.” The video has garnered over 24k views so far. The last one shown is a desi samosa with tandoori paneer stuffing. Clearly not pleased by these attempts at fusion, many took to social media to air their opinions. One user even wrote, “What no cheese? Is this even a legit street food.” The video has garnered over 25,000 views till date. Many social media users were left horrified by the food item, saying that such fusion food items should be banned by law.

Many also said that their hunger vanished on seeing his monstrous combination. However, some people were pleased by the image, calling it “payback” for the viral image of popsicle idlis that was circulating on the Internet a few days ago. Some users also wrote that chocolate samosas were a common feature in the Delhi-NCR region, as several restaurants dedicated to just samosas have sprung up in the area, which also serve varieties such as the ones shown in the video.

This is not the only bizarre food combination that has been doing the rounds of the Internet lately. Recently, the image of popsicle idlis that were being served at a restaurant in Bengaluru divided social media users. While some called the dish innovative, others were less pleased. Even Congress MP Shashi Tharoor waded into the debate, admitting the concept was “absurd but practical”.

Navatman’s First Feature Film, The Mahabharat To Be Released In November

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema, Entertainment 0

Navatman, the critically acclaimed NYC-based cultural hub for classical Indian dance and music, is bringing The Mahabharata to film in the first-ever retelling that is driven by young, immigrant artists hailing from across the United States. Through a stunning blend of classical Indian music and dance, and years of extensive academic research into the epic, Navatman’s Mahabharata proves why the Mahabharata matters in 2021.

Mahabharata, the largest epic in the world, by producer Navatman, Inc. Navatman, best known for its live theater productions, will be venturing into film for their first feature film – at 2 hours and 10 minutes – on the Mahabharata. Combining traditional Indian arts with film, this feature is part movie, including spoken word to help audiences understand the story, part dance and music using mudras and hand gestures in place of props and music and character storytelling methods from dance to help create emotional understanding of these stories.
This film includes many “firsts” – the first feature film told from the narrative of Indian classical dance and music traditions, first American/Indian diaspora film interpretation of the Mahabharata, a first feature film of the Mahabharata written solely by female scriptwriters, and a feature film that switches gender roles as actors and actresses. It is a story that is driven by sounds and images that are not an attempt to assimilate, but a story driven to help create cultural understanding for the next generation of Indians.

As quoted by Sahasra Sambamoorthi, the Artistic Director of Navatman’s Mahabharata – “It is our work to create space in a world that does not acknowledge the Mahabharata as a great piece of literature, a reclamation of a text by those whose heritage revolves around it.” The film will premiere at a gala event slated to be held at the SVA theater in Manhattan, NYC, on the evening of Nov 6. While this is an exclusive, invite-only event, the general public can access the film online on Navatman’s video rental app. Tickets are currently priced at $49.99 and the video can be rented for 2 days to be watched anytime, anywhere before it expires.

This two-hour feature film abides by the principles of theater in some ways, like actors playing multiple characters and music, movement & using mudras (hand gestures) to tell the story. It also includes lines for female characters, an addition to the critical edition of the Mahabharata (a compilation of hundreds of texts) where women are often seen but do not have a voice. “Our version allows us to work within gender norms differently – while very traditional to see Indian artists play male and female roles on the stage, putting this into a film version of the Mahabharata puts a twist on who gets to play what roles in this world, and allows a space for arts organizations like ours to tell stories in a novel format. Yes, the pandemic forced us to explore digital means of doing our work – we started rehearsing for a stage production and then had to change gears to be on-camera – but I am glad that it did. Our Indian dance & music based film is going to be epic!”.

In other ways, it is a feature film with its 4K video shots and surround sound, powerful film editing and meaningful sets across New York and New Jersey. “It’s an incredible feat to have captured a massive story like the Mahabharata like we have. Our artists are not film actors, not theater actors, but professionally trained dancers & musicians who are great at their craft. I can proudly say that Navatman self produced and created this opportunity using its own resources, a feat that will allow dancers and musicians around the world to embolden their cultural and artistic heritage,” says co-founder of Navatman.Sridhar Shanmugam Navatman is a performing arts organization that empowers the individual to nurture his or her personal evolution through interactions with the Indian classical arts. Founded with an eye towards creating a home for the Indian classical performing arts in NYC, Navatman is best known for their Manhattan based and online classes, critically acclaimed productions, dynamic dance company, stellar music ensemble, and Drive East – a week long collaborative festival celebrating their mission. Broadcast on: www.navatmanvideobroadcasting.uscreen.io
Tickets: $75 early release, $50 December release; Info/purchase: www.navatman.org/mahabharata; Email: mahabharata@navatman.org; Phone: 732.580.2093

India’s Digital Health ID And You

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Technology 0

The newly launched Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will involve a unique health ID for every citizen. How will it help you get treatment at hospitals across the country, and how can you register?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), saying it has the “potential of bringing a revolutionary change in India’s healthcare facilities”. The flagship digital initiative involves the creation of not just a unique health ID for ever

What is the unique health ID, and how does one get it?

If a person wants to be part of the ABDM, she must create a health ID, which is a randomly generated 14-digit number. The ID will be broadly used for three purposes: unique identification, authentication, and threading of the beneficiary’s health records, only with their informed consent, across multiple systems and stakeholders.

One can get a health ID by self-registration on the portal or by downloading the ABMD Health Records app on one’s mobile. Additionally, one can also request the creation of a health ID at a participating health facility, which may include government or private hospitals, community health centres, and wellness centres of the government across India.

he beneficiary will also have to set up a Personal Health Records (PHR) address for consent management, and for future sharing of health records. It is a simple self-declared username, which the beneficiary is required to sign into a Health Information Exchange and Consent Manager (HIE-CM). Each health ID will require linkage to a consent manager to enable sharing of health records data.

An HIE-CM is an application that enables sharing and linking of personal health records for a user. At present, one can use the health ID to sign up on the HIE-CM; the National Health Authority (NHA), however, says multiple consent managers are likely to be available for patients to choose from in the near future.

urrently, ABDM supports health ID creation via mobile or Aadhaar. The official website states that ABDM will soon roll out features that will support health ID creation with a PAN card or a driving licence. For health ID creation through mobile or Aadhaar, the beneficiary will be asked to share details on name, year of birth, gender, address, mobile number/Aadhaar.

Is Aadhaar mandatory?

No, it is voluntary. One can use one’s mobile number for registration, without Aadhaar.

Can I use my Aadhaar number if it is not linked to my mobile number?

If the beneficiary chooses the option of using her Aadhaar number, an OTP will be sent to the mobile number linked to the Aadhaar. However, if she has not linked it to her mobile, the beneficiary has to visit the nearest facility and opt for biometric authentication using Aadhaar number. After successful authentication, she will get her health ID at the participating facility.

Are personal health records secure?

The NHA says ABDM does not store any of the beneficiary health records. The records are stored with healthcare information providers as per their “retention policies”, and are “shared” over the ABDM network “with encryption mechanisms” only after the beneficiary express consent.

Can I delete my health ID and exit the platform?

Yes, the NHA says ABDM, supports such a feature. Two options are available: a user can permanently delete or temporarily deactivate her health ID.

On deletion, the unique health ID will be permanently deleted, along with all demographic details. The beneficiary will not be able to retrieve any information tagged to that health ID in the future, and will never be able to access ABDM applications or any health records over the ABDM network with the deleted ID.

On deactivation, the beneficiary will lose access to all ABDM applications only for the period of deactivation. Until she reactivates her health ID, she will not be able to share the ID at any health facility or share health records over the ABDM network.

Google Doodle Honors Sivaji Ganesan On 93rd Birth Anniversary

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCinema, Media, Profile 0

Sivaji Ganesan needs no introduction. The innumerable characters he made memorable on screen gave him a permanent place in the hearts of millions of movie-goers, and he still lives there, 20 years after he passed away on July 21, 2001, at the age of 73.

On Friday, October 1, to celebrate his 93rd birth anniversary, the legendary actor, who was also a recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the country’s highest award for cinema, has been honored by Google with a Google Doodle.

Doodle, illustrated by Bangalore, India-based guest artist Noopur Rajesh Choksi, celebrated the 93rd birthday of Sivaji Ganesan, one of India’s first method actors and widely considered among the nation’s most influential actors of all time.

On this day in 1928, Sivaji Ganesan was born as Ganesamoorthy in Villupuram, a town in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, India. At a young age of 7, he left home and joined a theater group, where he started playing child and female roles then lead roles. In December 1945, Ganesan made a name for himself–literally–with his theatrical portrayal of 17th-century Indian King Shivaji. This regal stage name stuck and Ganesan carried the crown as “Sivaji” as he conquered the world of acting.

He made his on-screen debut in the 1952 film “Parasakthi,” the first of his over 300 films spanning a nearly five-decade cinematic career. Renowned for his expressive voice and diverse performances in Tamil-language cinema, Ganesan quickly ascended to international fame. His best-known blockbusters include the trendsetting 1961 film “Pasamalar,” an emotional, family story considered one of Tamil cinema’s crowning achievements, and the 1964 film “Navarthri,” Ganesan’s 100th film in which he portrayed a record-breaking, nine different roles.

Ganesan’s big break in acting came when he was portraying the Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in the play ‘Sivaji Kanda Samrajyam’, written and directed by the late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and doyen of Dravidian politics, C.N. Annadurai.

The name Sivaji became iconic and Ganesan retained the name throughout his extraordinarily brilliant acting carrier. The big break for the legendary actor came with the Tamil film, ‘Parasakthi’, directed by Krisnan-Panju and written by M. Karunanidhi, DMK leader and late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Critics have listed several movies as his best, but Sivaji Ganesan himself rated his performance as V.O. Chidambaram in and as ‘Kappalottiya Thamizhan’ as his most memorable one.

Sivaji Ganesan was remembered for his extraordinary flair for dialogue delivery. He pioneered an exquisite style, diction, tone and tenor. His style of dialogue delivery helped him play such mythological and historical characters as Lord Shiva in (‘Thiruvilaiyaadal’), the great Chola emperor in and as ‘Raja Raja Cholan’, the Vaishnavite saint (and one of the 12 Alvars revered in southern India), Periyalvar, in ‘Thirumal Perumal’, and the seventh-century Shaivite saint Appar in ‘Thiruvarutchelvar’.

The legend was addressed as ‘Nadigar Thilagam’ (literally translated as ‘the pride of actors’) for his all-around acting performance, but ironically, Sivaji did not receive any National Award, except for a Special Jury Mention for a cameo appearance in the Kamal Haasan-starrer ‘Thevar Magan’ released in 1992. Predictably, the legend rejected the award.

Sivaji Ganesan was unsuccessful in politics, unlike his compatriot M.G. Ramachandran, fondly referred to as MGR, who became Chief Minister and one of the most popular leaders of the state. The legend was engaged in politics as a Dravida Kazhagam activist and later as a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), but he crossed over to the Congress in the late 1950s.

He joined hands with the Congress (O) led by another Tamil leader K. Kamaraj, after the Congress split in 1969 and later aligned himself with Indira Gandhi after the passing away of Kamaraj. Eventually, Sivaji Ganesan left the Congress and floated his own ‘Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani in 1989, but had to face a crushing defeat at the electoral hustings.

In 1960, Ganesan made history as the first Indian performer to win Best Actor at an international film festival for his historical movie “Veerapandiya Kattabomman,” one of his biggest blockbusters with people remembering the dialogues from the movie even today. Other distinguished accolades came near the end of his career. In 1995, France awarded him its highest decoration, Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor.

The Indian government in 1997 honored him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which is India’s highest award in the field of cinema. Today, his legacy is carried on for international audiences through the performances of the many contemporary Indian acting greats who cite Ganesan as a major inspiration. Lights, camera, happy birthday, Sivaji Ganesan!

Disney Cancels Broadway Performance of ‘Aladdin’ Due to COVID Cases

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Disney’s “Aladdin” has once again canceled performances of the Broadway musical due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases, with the show announcing additional cases just one night after it reopened. The curtain finally rose at the hit show Tuesday after 18 months in the dark due to the pandemic, but Wednesday’s performance was canceled after members of the company tested positive. The show resumed Thursday before the new cases Friday.

In a tweet posted by the production, they wrote, “Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected with the company of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre. Because the wellness and safety of our guests, casts, and crew are our top priority, tonight’s performance, Wednesday, September 29th, is canceled.” “We will continue to provide support to the affected Aladdin company members as they recover,” the tweet added. Producer Disney Theatrical Productions will be announcing the status of future performances. As per The Hollywood Reporter, this marks the first Broadway cancellation due to COVID-19 since shows resumed. Theaters began reopening there this summer, and larger musicals including “Chicago” and “Hamilton” returned earlier this month.

All performances will be canceled for roughly the next two weeks. “Although negative PCR testing allowed us to move safely forward with last night’s performance of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre, additional breakthrough COVID-19 cases were detected within the company today,” the production said in a statment. “Because the wellness and safety of our guests, cast, and crew remain our top priority, we feel the prudent decision is to cancel performances starting tonight, Friday, October 1st through Sunday, October 10th. Our next planned performance is Tuesday, October 12th at 7pm.”

The reopened “Aladdin,” based on the hit 1992 Disney animated film and featuring songs by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, stars two new leads – Michael Maliakel, making his Broadway debut as the title character, and Shoba Narayan as Jasmine – as well as Michael James Scott as Genie and Jonathan Freeman as Jafar.

The show also features principal cast members Milo Alosi, Zach Bencal and Brad Weinstock, JC Montgomery and Don Darryl Rivera as Iago, as well as numerous ensemble performers. According to Deadline, in addition to the cast, others present at the Sept. 28 reopening performance were Menken and Beguelin, director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw, and guest Kristin Chenoweth.

The stage production opened on Broadway to critical acclaim at the New Amsterdam Theatre in March 2014. According to an earlier media report, Maliakel recently toured the country in the 25th anniversary production of “The Phantom of the Opera.” His previous credits include “NYC: Anything Can Happen,” “The Songs of Maury Yeston,” Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding” at Berkeley Rep and the CBS shows, “Bull” and “FBI.”

Narayan made her Broadway debut with “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” at the time becoming the first South Asian female in a principal role on Broadway in over a decade. She previously starred as Eliza in “Hamilton” (national tour) and as Nessarose in “Wicked” (Broadway). Her TV/film credits include “Growing Up Smith,” “Quantico,” “Halal in the Family,” “Gossip Girl” and “Mistress America.”

She is a prize-winning Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher, having performed throughout the U.S. and India. On the first day of rehearsal Aug. 23, Narayan took to Instagram to share that she was struggling to find the right words to capture what this moment feels like. “Sometimes words just can’t do justice to emotions,” she wrote. “…I am so unbelievably grateful I get to do what I love most. I am grateful I get to be in the room where it happens, with the most brilliantly talented community of individuals, creating art that makes people feel deeply and think critically…Jasmine, I’m all yours girl.”

Nita Patel Elected President of IEEE Computer Society

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterProfile, Technology, Women 0

Nita Patel, P.E, senior director at the Engineering Lead Design Center-Farmington at Otis, an IEEE Foundation director, and a mentor for several IEEE Women in Engineering summits, has been elected president of The IEEE Computer Society for 2023. The Indian American engineer is active with multiple IEEE CS committees, the IEEE Industry Engagement Committee, several IEEE Women in Engineering committees, and the IEEE New Hampshire executive committee, according to a press release. She will serve as the 2023 IEEE CS president for a one-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023. The president oversees IEEE CS programs and operations.

Patel garnered 3,277 votes, compared with 1,791 votes cast for Dimitrios Serpanos, who is a professor at the University of Patras and the president of the Computer Technology Institute, Greece, added the release. Patel leads a critical part of Otis’ global engineering development, providing a wide range of new product capabilities in connected, smart, IoT-based platforms. She was previously with L3Harris where she was senior director, engineering, and led multi-disciplinary, embedded-software design teams in innovative research and new product development, for which she was recognized for significant technical contributions as 2014 L3 Engineer of the Year and 2011 New Hampshire Engineer of the Year.

Patel has served as 1st vice president of the Computer Society, served a three-year term on the Computer Society Board of Governors, founded and led the first five years of the IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference, served as Women in Engineering International Chair for which she received the 2014 Larry K Wilson Transnational Award for distinguished contributions to IEEE global activities, served on the Eta Kappa Nu Board of Governors and was IEEE-USA VP of Communications and Public Awareness, according to the release.

Outside of IEEE, she is an active leader within Toastmasters International and the United States Chess Federation. Patel received her MS degree in computer engineering, BS in electrical engineering and BS in mathematics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Patel noted in her campaign statement that she plans to focus on the following: Nurturing membership growth through conferences, standards and services; Providing access to critical technology to our members through leading publications, continuing education, and energized Technical Communities; Optimizing chapter activities worldwide to expand and strengthen communities within the Computer Society by sharing best practices, by encouraging opportunities to get involved and by developing future leaders; and Increasing volunteer impact by evaluating our tools, processes, and services to make them as simple, relevant and accessible as possible, by developing student and early-career professionals and by expanding the inclusiveness of our volunteer teams.

In other news, Saurabh Bagchi of Purdue University was elected a member of the Board of Governors. The IEEE Computer Society is the world’s home for computer science, engineering, and technology, it said. A global leader in providing access to computer science research, analysis, and information, the IEEE Computer Society offers a comprehensive array of unmatched products, services, and opportunities for individuals at all stages of their professional careers. Known as the premier organization that empowers the people who drive technology, the IEEE Computer Society offers international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, a unique digital library, and training programs.

Over 1,000 Indians Have Net Worth of Rs 1,000 Crore

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Money 0

India has achieved the milestone of having over 1,000 individuals with net worth of Rs 1,000 crore, said Hurun India. Accordingly, the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 revealed that 1,007 individuals across 119 cities have a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore. The report cited that cumulative wealth was up 51 percent, while average wealth increased by 25 percent. Besides, it showed that 894 individuals saw their wealth increase or stay the same, of which 229 are new faces, while 113 saw their wealth drop and there were 51 dropouts.

Currently, India has 237 billionaires, up 58 compared to last year. “While ‘Chemicals’ and ‘Software’ sectors added the greatest number of new entrants to the list, Pharma is still at number one and has contributed 130 entrants to the list. The youngest in the list is aged 23, three years younger than the youngest last year.” Furthermore, the list report pointed out that Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani continued to be the richest man in India for the 10th consecutive year with a wealth of Rs 718,000 crore.

“With INR 505,900 crore, Gautam Adani & family moved up two places to the second spot in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021.” The Adani group has a combined market capitalization of Rs 9 lakh crore, except Adani Power, all listed companies are valued at more than a lakh crore. “Gautam Adani is the only Indian to build not one, but five Rs 1 lakh crore companies,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and chief researcher, Hurun India. In addition, Shiv Nadar of HCL retained the third rank, as HCL’s limited exposure to Covid affected segments such as travel, retail and hospitality resulted in a 67 percent increase in his wealth to Rs 236,600 crore.

For the 12 months that ended in December 2020, HCL became only the third Indian IT company to break through the $10 billion revenue mark. With 255 individuals Mumbai tops the list of richest Indians followed by New Delhi (167), Bengaluru (85). Hyderabad retained the fourth position. Chennai overtook Ahmedabad at the fifth place.

Under BJP Regime, India’s External Debt Rises To $571 Billion

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterEconomy, Nation India 0

India’s external debt for the quarter ended June 2021 increased on a year-on-year as well as on sequential basis, official data showed last week. The external debt during the period under review rose to $571.3 billion from $555.2 billion reported for the quarter ended June 2020.

On a sequential basis, at end-June 2021, the external debt recorded an increase of $1.6 billion over $569.7 billion reported for end-March 2021 period. “The external debt to GDP ratio declined to 20.2 per cent at end-June 2021 from 21.1 per cent at end-March 2021,” the RBI said in a statement.

“Valuation gain due to the appreciation of the US dollar vis-a-vis Indian rupee was placed at $1.7 billion. Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by $3.3 billion instead of $1.6 billion at end-June 2021 over end-March 2021.”

According to the RBI, commercial borrowings remained the largest component of external debt, with a share of 37.4 per cent, followed by non-resident deposits at 24.8 per cent, and short-term trade credit 17.4 per cent. “At end-June 2021, long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) was placed at $468.8 billion, recording an increase of $0.2 billion over its level at end-March 2021.” (IANS)

Marriott International Expands In South Asia

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Tourism 0

On the heels of the 16th Hotel Investment Conference — South Asia (HICSA 2021), Marriott International, announced it has signed 22 new hotel agreements in South Asia — comprising India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal — in the past 18 months, expecting to add more than 2,700 rooms to its fast-growing portfolio. It is currently the hotel chain with the largest number of rooms in the South Asia region and expects to continue its solid growth with these new signings.

“In a highly unpredictable year, these signings are a testament to Marriott International’s resilience and agility in driving strong growth within a hospitality landscape that continues to evolve,” commented Rajeev Menon — President Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China), Marriott International. “It is a sign of confidence from our owners and franchisees who have been an integral part of our growth journey. We are grateful for their continued support and trust in the power of our brands as we continue to welcome back travellers.”

“These signings reinforce our commitment to South Asia as a high potential region where we continue to grow and engage with an expanding customer base by introducing more of Marriott’s brands and unique experiences in exciting destinations,” emphasized Kiran Andicot — Regional Vice President Development, South Asia, Marriott International. “We look forward to the opening of these new hotels in the future and to exploring future development opportunities throughout the region.”

Owner Desire for Luxury Brands

More than a third of the newly signed projects in South Asia in the last 18 months include hotels and resorts in the luxury tier, comprised of brands such as JW Marriott and W Hotels. This reflects travellers’ growing demand for bespoke and superb amenities and services. Travellers can anticipate the debut of the W Hotels brand in Jaipur with W Jaipur in 2024. Once opened, the hotel expects to disrupt the norms of traditional luxury with its iconic service, infectious energy, and innovative experiences. Rooted in holistic well-being, JW Marriott properties offer a haven designed to allow guests to focus on feeling whole — present in mind, nourished in body, and revitalized in spirit.

Expecting to debut across several distinctive locations within South Asia over the next five years, travelers can look forward to JW Marriott Ranthambore Resort & Spa located at one of India’s most prominent wildlife sanctuaries, The Ranthambore National Park; JW Marriott Chennai ECR Resort & Spa on India’s beautiful southern coastline; JW Marriott Agra Resort & Spa in the land of the Taj Mahal; and the debut of the JW Marriott brand in Goa and Shimla — two of India’s most famous resort destinations — with JW Marriott Goa and JW Marriott Shimla Resort & Spa.

JW Marriott Hotel Bhutan, Thimphu, is expected to mark the debut of the JW Marriott brand in Bhutan, is anticipated to open in 2025 and offer curated experiences that celebrate the peaceful spirit of the land.

Maldives anticipates its second JW Marriott hotel in 2025, when the JW Marriott Resort & Spa, Embhoodhoo Finolhu — South Male Atoll featuring 80 pool villas is expected to open. The signing follows the newly opened The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, strengthening Marriott’s footprint on the famed leisure destination. (IANS)

Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary Celebrates His Legacy

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy organization dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, participated yesterday in events across the nation marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, including celebrations in Dallas and Chicago. The birth anniversary, commonly referred to as Gandhi Jayanti, is a homage to the life and legacy of one of modern history’s most iconic human rights defenders.

The celebrations saw participation by hundreds of people, and included food and other festivities. In Dallas, around 200 attendees listened to speeches by IAMC National executives, chapter leaders, youth volunteers, as well as from the Mayor of the City of Kennedale, Brian Johnson. The Dallas event included performances of patriotic songs on India as well as poems honoring Mahatma Gandhi. IAMC chapter president Yusuf Dadani also introduced the IAMC Dallas team to the community.

“[Today’s celebration] was an excellent outdoor event on a beautiful day that pulled the community together,” said Noor Baig, Vice President of IAMC Dallas. “We had a great turnout with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”

“As we [gather] here today, we have to be vigilant,” said Mayor Johnson, referring to the rise of nationalistic movements in Europe, the United States, and India. “What authoritarian governments tend to do is take people that are different and make them the enemy. They make them the outsiders. And we have to unite – if we stay silent, then this is going to continue to grow.”

Throughout his life, Gandhi consistently advocated for Hindu-Muslim unity and the preservation of a pluralistic and secular India. By contrast, the Hindutva movement seeks to transform India, a constitutionally secular state, into an ethno-religious “Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation).” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself been a member of the RSS since the age of eight, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is an affiliate subsidiary of the RSS.

Syed Ali, President of IAMC stated in his remarks, “Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence are synonymous. During India’s struggle for independence from British rule, Gandhi taught the world how to stand up for one’s rights and achieve victory over a formidable enemy without resorting to violence.” He also reiterated that in India today, “the values that Gandhi stood for – namely, peace, pluralism, social justice, and equality for all citizens – are being undermined and threatened by an ideology that was responsible for his assassination and one that is aiming to subvert India’s constitution.”

Less than six months after India’s Independence, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a fanatic Hindu nationalist and a staunch supporter of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who believed that Gandhi’s efforts to bring peace between Hindus and Muslims were detrimental to the goals of Hindutva, the supremacist ideology that is driving much of the religious persecution and mass violence against minorities in India. Modi has paid the usual perfunctory tribute to Gandhi. In a telling sign of how far India has gone down the path of fascism, it was Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse who was trending on Twitter.

IAMC has reaffirmed its commitment to the values Gandhi upheld and laid down his life for: the values of peace, pluralism, justice, equality, and unity among all Indians.

Pope Francis Condemns Greed And The Ruthless Pursuit Of Profit

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Religion 0

Pope Francis condemned greed and the ruthless pursuit of profit in a message sent to a Vatican conference on poverty Sunday (Oct. 3), offering his spiritual take on economic issues to a group of economists and faith leaders that included prominent U.S. activist the Rev. William Barber II.

“We can be very attached to money, possess many things, but in the end we will not take them with us,” the pope wrote, according to a Spanish-language version of his written message. “I always remember what my grandmother taught me: ‘The shroud has no pockets.’”

Francis sent the remarks to those assembled at the Vatican for the two-day conference on “Caritas, Social Friendship, and the End of Poverty,” organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

In his message, the pope railed against global economic inequality between countries and within national borders, saying the ultimate effect “has a negative economic, political, cultural and even spiritual impact.” In order to counter such trends, he invoked the biblical declaration “blessed are the poor in spirit,” explaining the true “spirit of poverty” should lead believers to use wealth and resources for “the common good, social justice and the care and protection of our common home.”

“The possessors of goods must use them in a spirit of poverty, reserving the best part for the guest, the sick, the poor, the old, the helpless, the excluded; who are the face, so often forgotten, of Jesus, who we look for when we seek the common good,” Francis wrote. “The development of a society is measured by the ability to urgently help the sufferer.”

The Bishop of Rome concluded by calling for a global movement to “limit all those activities and institutions that, by their own inclination, tend only to profit, especially those Saint John Paul II called ‘structures of sin.’”

Francis’ message was well-received by Barber, a prominent activist who co-chairs the faith-led Poor People’s Campaign and has challenged Republican and Democratic lawmakers to do more to address poverty in the U.S.

The Rev. William Barber II, standing, addresses the poverty conference titled “Caritas, Social Friendship, and the End of Poverty,” organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino

Barber referenced the pope — particularly his 2020 encyclical “Fratelli tutti” — in his own address to the conference on Monday. Barber’s speech, which was titled “Coalition-building and bridging religious communities for poverty mitigation,” also alluded to the pontiff’s namesake St. Francis, whose Catholic feast day coincided with Barber’s speech.

“As Francis once walked this land proclaiming good news to the poor, the poor and rejected of my country march and sit-in today to declare the good news that a moral economy is possible in our time,” Barber said, according to his prepared remarks.

Poor People’s Campaign activists have spent years protesting in support of legislation they argue would help poor and low-wealth families but intensified their efforts in 2021. The group staged a series of demonstrations in Texas, Arizona, Washington, D.C. and other locations throughout the summer. They aimed to put pressure on Democratic lawmakers to pass a slate of liberal-leaning proposals pertaining to voting rights and raising the federal minimum wage, among other issues. One peaceful protest outside the U.S. Capitol resulted in hundreds of arrests, including Barber and civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In a separate interview with Religion News Service, Barber said Vatican conference attendees were aware of pushback from the Poor People’s Campaign and others against Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two Democratic lawmakers currently blocking many liberal economic proposals.

He said: “People are looking at the actions of Sinema and Manchin and thinking, ‘What in the world?’” In his speech, Barber also appeared to echo Francis’ call for a global movement to end poverty.

“The church must have a prophetic moral outcry and must help foster another way of seeing the world,” said the Disciples of Christ minister. “A movement with poor and low-wealth people, moral religious servant leaders, and academic social advocates must push a penetrating moral imagination.”

Barber said his plans for a mass poverty-focused march in Washington, D.C. next June sparked a burst of excitement among conference attendees, whom he cited as repeatedly referring to the current state of global poverty as sinful. After mentioning the march in his speech, Barber said participants from other parts of the world expressed interest in organizing similar events in their countries.

The conference attendees also plan to release a letter addressed to the G20 summit scheduled to take place in Rome at the end of October.

“What’s good about being at a world table is while I may have been from the United States, what we find is that around the world poor people face some of the same obstacles, the same challenges, the same kind of regressive political actions,” he told RNS. “Which is why there’s such a need for low wealth people around the world to have solidarity, to have a movement and, if you will, a worldwide Poor People’s Campaign.”

Barber was invited to the Vatican by economist and conference co-host Jeffrey Sachs, whom the activist described as a “great supporter” of the Poor People’s Campaign. Sachs has heaped praise on the movement in recent months, describing as “the Lord’s work” a poverty-focused U.S. House of Representatives resolution the campaign helped introduce with lawmakers in May.

The North Carolina pastor tweeted a picture of himself alongside Sachs on Sunday under the caption: “As the church celebrates the Feast of St. Francis, I’m grateful to be at the Vatican with my brother Jeffrey Sachs to talk about the prophetic role of religious leaders in God’s work to end poverty.”

Sachs, who serves as director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, has been a recurring speaker at Vatican events under Francis, especially at the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, where he has led discussions on climate change and sustainability. While long popular in many liberal circles, his vocal concerns about overpopulation — combined with his warnings of the “absolutely dangerous” repercussions of a Trump re-election — have made him a controversial figure among conservative Catholics.

Sachs, a onetime U.N. climate adviser, was also present when Sen. Bernie Sanders met with the pope while running for president in 2016.

In addition to Barber’s efforts to convince members of Congress to embrace an anti-poverty agenda (particularly Manchin, himself a Catholic), last week the faith-led activist and other Poor People’s Campaign officials publicly requested a meeting on the subject with another prominent Catholic Democrat: President Joe Biden.

It remains to be seen whether Biden, who has endorsed the Poor People’s Campaign in the past, will take the meeting with Barber, who preached at the president’s inaugural prayer service. But even if Biden passes, he may not be able to avoid discussion of faith and poverty this month: he is rumored to be planning a meeting at the end of October with Pope Francis.

Deepti Navaratna To Perform At Parliament Of World’s Religions

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCulture, Religion, Women 0

Deepti Navaratna, a former Boston resident and now the current Regional Director of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, has been invited to perform at the prestigious Parliament of the World’s Religions scheduled to be held on Oct 18.

She is a trained Carnatic singer from Bengaluru who is set to become the first female artist from India bestowed with the honour of performing at an event at the Parliament of the World’s Religions. She will be staging aspects of her concert “The Dialogues with the Divine” — a specially curated musical experience that amalgamates sacred music from various faiths.

Navaratna, trained as a neuro-scientist, came up with the concept of this concert to explore the similarity of the cognitive effect of sacred music on a varied audience. She wanted to explore the idea of introducing unfamiliar religious identities to an uninformed audience while basing it on common denominators of prayers and mindfulness.

“The Dialogues with the Divine” project was created for the greater goal of cultural diplomacy. It will combine sacred music from seven major religions across the world with sacred text to create this experience,” she says.

“It will include the following — The Yin Factor: Shakti — Shekinah (Hinduism- Judaism), Praying for Transcendence: Piyut and Prarthana — (Judaism-Hinduism), Unforming Godliness: Shabad and Kriti (Sikhism-Hinduism), Unboxing the Heart: Heart Sutra and Chant (Buddhism and Christianity), Inner Guru: Antaratama and Assisi – (Christianity and Hinduism), Zikr and Zen — (Sufi Islam and Shinto faith),” Navaratna added.

All sacred music from around the world has the power to rewire the human brain towards universal love chemically and structurally. Instead of shying away from sacred texts and music, they are being used to encourage and negotiate better inter-cultural understanding among inter-religious identities. It showcases the commons of our relations with a higher power, she says.

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference will be conducted virtually this year. Navaratna and her artists will be telecasting their performance from Bengaluru.

Navaratna has travelled to multiple places for her concert and the experience has been unparalleled for the audience. The scheduled programme is an amalgamation of cultures — five Hindu children will sing a Yiddish song in a Jewish temple accompanied by the south Indian drum and north Indian Sarod.

An African American gospel singer wrapped in a sari teaches ‘Amazing Grace’ to more than 20 Hindu men and women. A Jewish cantor and a Hindu singer are accompanied by a violinist from Libya and a drummer from Palestine as they sing in Sanskrit which is part of the concert. (IANS)

Houston Post Office Named for Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal

October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Elected officials, law enforcement officers, and Houston community members gathered to honor fallen Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal with a post office naming ceremony on October 5th.

Per a bill introduced by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX); passed with bipartisan support, including that of Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX); and signed into law on December 21, 2020, the post office located at 315 Addicks Howell Road will henceforth be named the Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office Building. The Sikh Coalition was deeply honored to assist in drafting the legislation that named this post office in Deputy Dhaliwal’s honor; in the weeks following his murder, we worked to mobilize community members across the country to call on Congress for this and other initiatives to honor his memory.

“Since my son was taken from our family in a senseless act of violence, we have received an outpouring of support and love from the greater Houston community,” said Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, the late Deputy Dhaliwal’s father. “We are so grateful and so honored that Sandeep is being memorialized in this way–forever becoming a part of the city that he served faithfully in and out of uniform.”

At today’s naming ceremony, local law enforcement officers, elected officials, and community members–including Sikh Coalition board member Manpreet K. Singh–gathered to pay tribute to Deputy Dhaliwal’s memory. We thank our colleagues at the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund for assisting Congresswoman Fletcher’s office in organizing today’s event.

“It has been an honor to lead the effort to honor the life and contributions of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal by naming this post office in his memory,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. “Deputy Dhaliwal represented the very best of our community: he worked for equality, connection, and community through his life of service to others. The Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office now stands as a testament to his remarkable and selfless service, and I thank our partners at the Sikh Coalition for helping us build a bipartisan coalition to honor Deputy Dhaliwal and his trailblazing contributions to American life.”

As a reminder, Deputy Dhaliwal was killed during a traffic stop in northwest Houston, Texas on September 27, 2019. He originally joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in 2009; in 2015, he secured a historic, first-of-its-kind accommodation to wear his Sikh articles of faith while serving in uniform. Deputy Dhaliwal was widely regarded for breaking barriers for Sikhs and other religious minorities.

Modi Returns To India, As 4 Million-Strong Diaspora’s Importance Comes To Fore

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Nation India, Nation USA 0

The importance of the Indian diaspora has come to the fore in India-US relations with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden highlighting this factor as part of the strengthening relationship between the world’s largest and oldest democracies.

President Biden during his bilateral meeting with PM Modi mentioned that “there are more than 4 million Indian-Americans who are participating in the journey of progress of America.” PM Modi responded by saying: “As I look at the importance of this decade and the role that is going to be played by this talent of Indian-Americans, I find that this people-to-people talent will play a greater role and Indian talent will be a co-partner in this relationship and I see that your contribution is going to be very important in this.”

The diaspora factor was also very evident at PM Modi’s meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris. He told Harris “between India and the US, we have very vibrant and strong people-to-people connections, you know that all too well,” referring to her Indian roots. “More than 4 million people of Indian origin; the Indian community is a bridge between our two countries, a bridge of friendship and their contribution to the economies and societies of both our countries is indeed very praiseworthy,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

With Indian-Americans playing a crucial role in the technology sector it was only natural that at least two of the five top CEO’s that PM Modi held a one-on-one meeting with in Washington, were Indian-Americans. His meeting with Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation, focused on strengthening the defence technology sector in India. Lall appreciated the recent policy changes to accelerate defence and emerging technology manufacturing in India. The company makes state-of-art drones which is a technology that India urgently requires to counter the growing threat from China in this field.

The discussion with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen centred around the software technology company’s ongoing collaboration and future investment plans in India. Discussions also focused on India’s flagship programme Digital India, and use of emerging technologies in sectors like health, education and R&D. India with its huge market and skilled manpower offers an alternative investment destination for US tech giants at a time when they are decoupling from an increasingly aggressive Communist China and looking to set up alternative supply chains.

In this backdrop, the Prime Minister met Cristiano Amon, CEO of leading computer chip maker Qualcomm to present the investment opportunities in India’s telecommunications and electronics sector. This included the recently launched Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing as well as developments in the semiconductor supply chain in India. Strategies for building the local innovation ecosystem in India were also discussed.

Similarly, he took up the issues of cutting-edge solar equipment with the CEO of renewable energy major First Solar. (IANS)

Modi Visit To US Leads To “A New Chapter In The History Of US-Indian Ties”

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterNation India, Nation USA 0

“I think that the relationship between India and the United States, the largest democracies in the world, is destined to be stronger, closer and tighter, and I think it can benefit the whole world,” President Joe Biden said at the Oval Office about the face-to-face bilateral meeting between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held on Sept. 24, 2021. “And, I think that’s begun to come to pass and today we’re launching a new chapter in the history of US-Indian ties and taking on some of the toughest challenges we face together, starting with a shared commitment to ending the Covid pandemic,” the President asserted.

Modi echoed the sentiments. “Today’s bilateral summit is important. We are meeting at the start of the third decade of this century,” said Prime Minister Modi. “Your leadership will certainly play an important role in how this decade is shaped. The seeds have been sown for an even stronger friendship between India and USA,” he added. “The Prime Minister and I are going to be talking today about what more we can do to fight Covid-19, take on the climate challenges that the world face(s), and ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific, including with our own Quad partners,” President Biden detailed.

“Of course our partnership is more than just what we do. It’s about who we are. It’s rooted in our shared responsibility to uphold democratic values, our joint commitment to diversity, and it’s about family ties, including 4 million Indian-Americans who make the United States stronger every single day,” President Biden said, a statement certain to gladden the hearts of the community. Modi extolled the 4 million-strong Indian-American talent and its contribution to the U.S. economy, and said such People-to-people exchanges would continue to grow. “I thank you for the warm welcome accorded to me and my delegation. Earlier, we had an opportunity to hold discussions and at that time you had laid out the vision for India-US bilateral relations. Today, you are taking initiatives to implement your vision for India-US relations,” Modi said.

Biden also mentioned Gandhi Jayanti which will be celebrated Oct. 2 to recognize Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. “As the world celebrates Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday next week, we’re all reminded that his message of nonviolence, respect, tolerance matters today maybe more than it ever has,” said Biden. In his comments, Modi, responding to President Biden’s reference to Oct. 2 birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, emphasized the philosophy of ‘Trusteeship” of the planet that Gandhi espoused.

The U.S.-India relationship was crucial for the two countries and the world, during this decade, to implement this principle of Trusteeship, Modi said, While President Biden has spoken with Prime Minister Modi on the phone a number of times and has been in virtual summits, this was their first in-person meeting. They both attended the virtual summit of The Quad on March 12, 2021, and the Leaders Summit on Climate Change on April 22. Top Biden administration officials have been visiting India regularly – Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd to New Delhi from March 19-21; Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry to New Delhi- April 6 to 8 and again September 11 to 14; and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to New Delhi July 27-28.

Others who made the trek to New Delhi include Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger from August 31 to September 1; and CIA Director Bill Burns after U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan. Visits of senior Indian officials to the U.S. over the past few months have included External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Washington DC from May 26 to 29; and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Washington DC from September 1 to 3.

Thanking the President for a “warm welcome, the Indian leader harked back to past interactions, “I recall our interactions in 2014 and 2016. That time you had shared your vision for ties between India and USA. I am glad to see you are working to realize this vision,” Modi said. He said he is confident that together the two countries could tackle the problems besetting the world. Modi predicted that the cooperation between the two countries would be ‘transformative’ for the world.

The seeds have been sown for Indo-U.S. cooperation, Modi noted. The tradition, the democratic values that both countries are committed to, and the importance of these traditions will only increase further, Modi predicted. Technology, he said, would be the driving force in today’s world – technology for the service of humanity. And in that context, trade would play a big part. U.S.-India trade, Modi said, was complimentary, with each country having things that the other country needs.

Prime Minister Modi Meets With Vice President Kamala Harris

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterNation India, Nation USA, Women 0

In what can be considered a historic moment, American Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Indian-American in the history of this country to occupy that position, held a one-on-one meeting Sept. 23, 2021, with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was visiting the United States for bilateral, multilateral and United Nations General Assembly meetings from Sept. 22-25.

Harris praised India for stepping forward to help other countries with vaccines at the outset of the pandemic. Prime Minister Modi praised the leadership of the new administration in overcoming challenges besetting the country.

“India, of course, is a very important partner to the United States. Throughout our history, our nations have worked together, have stood together to make our world a safer and stronger world,” Harris said in her opening remarks at the White House meeting. “Early in the pandemic, India was a vital source of vaccines for other countries. When India experienced a surge of COVID in the country, the United States was very proud to support India in its need and responsibility to vaccinate its people,” the Vice President said.

The bilateral discussions between the two delegations, were “substantive” and lasted more than an hour, Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla said at a press briefing later on. Subjects discussed ranged from Covid-19, climate change, terrorism, education exchange, technology cooperation, space and cyber technologies in particular. In the context of terrorism, Shringla said, Vice President Harris recognized the terror elements operating from Pakistan. She noted that both U.S. and India had been the victims of terrorism for decades, and urged Pakistan to restrain terror elements active within its borders.

Modi’s comments lauded the work of the new administration. “President Biden and yourself, you took up the leadership of the United States in a very challenging atmosphere and challenging times, but within a very short period of time, you have had many achievements to your credit, whether that be COVID, climate, or the Quad. On all these issues, the United States has taken very important initiatives,” said Modi.
Harris welcomed India resuming vaccine exports, and expressed admiration for the 1 million a day vaccines being administered in that country. On the issue of the climate crisis, she said, “I know that India and you take this issue quite seriously. The President and I believe very strongly that the United States working together with India can have not only a profound impact on the people of our respective nations, but on the world itself,” Harris said.

And as it relates to the Indo-Pacific, “the United States, like India, feels very strongly about the pride of being a member of the Indo-Pacific, but also the fragility and the importance and strength as well of those relationships, including maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she said.

Neither leader mentioned China by name although it is concern over that Asian giant’s potential ambitions in the Indian and Pacific oceans that has led to The Quad coming together.

Harris also addressed the issue of human rights, saying, “it is imperative that we defend democratic principles and institutions within our respective countries and around the world and that we maintain what we must do to strengthen democracies at home. And it is incumbent on our nations to, of course, protect democracies in the best interest of the people of our countries,” she said.

The two leaders also dwelt on the personal connection that Harris has to India where her mother immigrated to the U.S. and where the Vice President’s extended family lives. “I know from personal experience and from my family of the commitment of the Indian people to democracy and to freedom and to the work that may be done and can be done to imagine and then actually achieve our vision for democratic principles and institutions,” Harris said.

Modi recalled their past telephone conversation when the Biden administration came into office in January this year. “We had a detailed discussion at that time. And the way you spoke to me so warmly and so naturally, I will always remember that. Thank you so much,” said Modi, adding that it felt “like a family, the sense of kinship and so warmly you extended a helping hand, the words that you chose when you spoke to me… I will always remember that…”

“Between India and the U.S., there are very vibrant and strong people-to-people connections that we have. You know that all too well. More than 4 million people of Indian origin, the Indian community is a bridge between our two countries — a bridge of friendship. And their contribution to the economies and societies of both our countries is indeed very praiseworthy,” Modi said, and her election to the high office was “such an important and historic event.”

“I am completely confident that under President Biden and your leadership, our bilateral relationship will touch new heights,” Modi asserted, adding that people in India were waiting to welcome Harris, extending her a special invited to visit India.

The Quad Is “A Force For Global Good” Says Modi

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterGlobal 0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders from US, Australia and Japan attended the first in-person summit of Quad leaders and said that the four democracies would act as a “force for global good” and ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific as well as the entire world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his counterparts from the US, Australia and Japan on September 24 attended the first in-person summit of Quad leaders hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden and said that he firmly believed that the grouping of four democracies would act as a “force for global good” and ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific as well as the entire world.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the U.S. and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amidst China’s growing military presence in the strategic region.

Prime Minister Modi, in his speech called it a ‘historic meeting: promising that The Quad was going to be a “force for global good,” and will work for peace and stability. He recalled the four countries came together the first time after the major Tsunami destroyed so many coastlines in the Indo-Pacific, and now it is coming together as Covid is threatening the world, and “we have come together for humanitarian reasons.”

Opening the summit, Mr. Biden said the four democracies have come together to take on common challenges from COVID-19 to climate. “This group has democratic partners who share world views and have common vision for the future,” he said. “We know how to get things done and are up to the challenge,” he added. In a short and crisp opening address, Prime Minister Modi said that he was confident that “our participation in Quad will ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific as well as the entire world”.

The four countries have common democratic values, Modi said, and have decided to take a positive approach on issues ranging from supply chain to Covid-19. ‘The Quad’ as it is referred to, was scheduled to touch upon a variety of subjects like 5G technology, climate change, critical infrastructure, supply chains and regional security. Afghanistan as well as North Korea’s ballistic missile launches were also expected to be important subjects of discussion. Senior Biden officials over the days leading up to the Quad summit, have been trying hard to word the message from the The Quad saying it “stands for something and not against something; it is not targeting any one country.”

The officials have also emphasized that The Quad does not have a military or security dimension to it. But its history says otherwise. Initiated in 2007 by then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or The Quad aimed to achieve the goal of peace and security in the region. However, the same year, the Quad nations, joined by Singapore took part in naval exercises, but then broke up when Australia withdrew from formal discussions in 2008. President Donald Trump revived The Quad in 2017. The group held its first foreign ministerial meeting in New York on September 26, 2019.

President Biden has now elevated the partnership from a ministerial level engagement to a summit, with a virtual meeting taking place March 12, 2021, where the four leaders discussed COVID-19, climate change, and security challenges like North Korea. After the first meeting, the Quad announced the launch of three senior-level working groups: the Quad Vaccine Experts Group, the Quad Climate Working Group and the Quad Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group.

According to officials, the Sept. 24 meeting of the The Quad would result in new initiatives on space; sharing information on illegal fishing and on issues associated with maritime domain awareness; taking steps to help monitor climate change and promote a variety of issues associated with estuaries and fisheries; a “robust” cybersecurity effort which is already underway with the State Department but which will be enhanced to the leader level; taking steps to bolster critical infrastructure resilience against cyber threats; and advancing a very high-level group on specific capabilities and technologies.

Japan’s business publication Nikkei reported last week that a draft of the Quad summit joint statement would “agree to work toward creating a safe supply chain for semiconductors.” Speaking at the UN on Tuesday, Biden has said that the Quad would be elevated to meet challenges in emerging technologies, among others. India’s goals of inviting hi-tech manufacturing mesh with the US and the Quad plans. Other critical issues like vaccine deliverables and health cooperation, green shipping, and infrastructure are also part of The Quad’s cooperation agenda.

Senate Republicans Block Bill, Possibly Shutting Down US Economy

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy 0

The US Senate voted 48-50 to begin the debate on the measure the House already passed, which wasn’t enough to overcome a Republican filibuster, requiring 60 votes

Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed bill to suspend the debt limit and avert a government shutdown from advancing in the Senate on Monday, September 27, 2021. The move comes after Republicans had insisted that Democrats act alone to address the debt limit and leaves Congress without a clear plan to keep the government open with the threat of a potential shutdown looming by the end of the week.

Government funding is set to expire on September 30, and the stopgap bill the House approved last week would extend funding and keep the government open through December 3. In addition, the measure includes a debt limit suspension through December 16, 2022. The clock is ticking to address the debt limit and Congress may only have until mid-October to act before the federal government can no longer pay its bills.

The Senate voted on a procedural motion to advance the legislation, which needed 60 votes to succeed. Since Democrats control only 50 seats in the chamber, they would have needed 10 Senate Republicans to vote in favor.

The Senate voted 48-50 to begin debate on the measure the House already passed, which wasn’t enough to overcome a Republican filibuster. The bill would have extended government funding to Dec. 3 and suspended the debt limit until Dec. 16, 2022. The measure also would have provided $28.6 billion for disaster assistance and $6.3 billion for Afghan refugees.

But 60 votes were needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Republicans have insisted that Democrats deal with the debt limit on their own to avoid supporting the broader taxing and spending priorities of Democrats. But Democrats argue both parties should support raising the debt limit, as happened three times during the Trump administration, because a default could spark a worldwide economic crisis.

“It’s an unhinged position to take,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “There is no scenario in God’s green earth where it should be worth risking millions of jobs, trillions in household wealth, people’s Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits and another recession just to score short-term, meaningless political points.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Democrats should separate the government funding extension from the debt limit – and then raise the debt limit themselves.

“Democrats want to use this temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism,” McConnell said. “Republicans aren’t rooting for a shutdown or debt limit breach.”

Democrats must now find another way to keep the government operating and the country borrowing. Without a funding extension, the federal government will shut down Friday. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projected the country will reach its limit on borrowing in mid-October.

Democrats do have options to raise the debt limit on their own to prevent the US from defaulting on its debts, but they argue that the vote should be a bipartisan shared responsibility.

Schumer criticized Republicans ahead of the vote, saying, “After today there will be no doubt about which party in this chamber is working to solve the problems that face our country, and which party is accelerating us towards unnecessary, avoidable disaster.”

House starts debate on bipartisan infrastructure bill

The House began an hour of debate Monday on an infrastructure bill, but isn’t expected to vote until Thursday as lawmakers haggle over the rest of President Joe Biden’s agenda. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes $550 billion in new funding, has already been approved by a bipartisan majority in the Senate.

A group of nine moderate Democrats negotiated for a vote by Monday in exchange for their support for a $3.5 trillion framework for Biden’s social welfare priorities. The deadline slipped to what moderates said would be “no later than Thursday,” when federal highway legislation expires.

In Meeting With CEOs, Modi Urges Investment in India

September 29, 2021October 7, 2021 Staff ReporterBusiness, Economy 0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday commenced his visit in Washington D.C. with meetings with the top brass of the multinational companies based in the United States, hard-selling his government’s initiatives to draw more foreign investments to revive the Covid-hit economy of India, including the recently launched Production Linked Incentive scheme.

On the first leg of his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sept. 23 met leading American CEOs here, including Indian American executives. He held one-on-one meetings with the CEOs of semiconductor and wireless technology manufacturer Qualcomm, software major Adobe, renewable energy firm First Solar, arms manufacturer General Atomics and investment management company Blackstone.

India has great potential for attracting investments and manufacturing under the various programs introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as companies try to diversify their global footprints, according to hi-tech CEOs who met him. “Because of the necessity to diversify and build a very resilient supply chain for semiconductors, we believe India could be an important destination for manufacturing,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told reporters in Washington after his meeting with Prime Minister Modi on Thursday.

Prime Minister Modi’s “approach to drive economic growth in making India, a destination for investment for investment has been very successful,” said the CEO of the $150 billion company that is a leader in the manufacture of chips used in everything from cameras to aircraft and a pioneer in 5G technology. The high level of optimism for India comes as the US and several other countries rethink their supply chains and their manufacturing bases, while also keeping an eye on China, which is set on trying to get a stranglehold on future technologies with strategic goals.

First Solar’s CEO Mark Widmar said that what Prime Minister Modi has done to “create a really strong balance between industrial policy as well as trade policy” makes it an ideal opportunity for companies like First Solar to establish manufacturing in India. “His commitment to ensuring domestic capabilities and ensuring his long term climate goals and objectives with focus on energy independence and security”, Widmar said is an alignment that “couldn’t be better for companies that are looking to manufacture in India. And I think the enablement of an environment that is pro-business, this is more opportunity for us to be successful to help India achieve its climate goals.”

First Solar is one of the world’s largest developer and financier of photovoltaic solar power systems connected to grids. The “very laudable policy prescriptions and reforms” introduced by Prime Minister Modi “will certainly catalyse a lot of interest and investments in India,” Vivek Lal, the CEO of General Atomics, said in the series of video interviews posted on twitter by the Ministry of External Affairs. “Many of my colleagues at US companies see India as a very promising destination,” he said.

He said that the reforms in both India and the US have created a “win-win” situation and both countries can benefit from their collaboration. General Atomics is a defence and technology company and a leader in the development and manufacture of drones. Shantanu Narayen, the CEO of Adobe, said he was “a huge supporter, and fan of what the Prime Minister’s doing” to improve the business and investment climate in India. He said the ecosystem for startups in India is “awesome”.

“As Indian Americans, I mean, what could be more inspiring or a matter of pride than seeing what the Prime Minister is doing to really encourage startups, to really encourage investment in India,” he said. “What’s really inspiring, is that these Indian startups are actually having as their growth the entire world,” he said. “So their aspirations are not restricted to India, they’re actually thinking about how they conquer the world.”

Adobe is the maker of ubiquitous document software and the leader in multi-media solutions.

Prime Minister Modi met with Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of the investment company, Blackstone.

A tweet from the Prime Minister’s Office said that “giving greater momentum to investments in India,” they discussed “various investment opportunities in India, including those arising due to the National Infrastructure Pipeline and National Monetisation Pipeline.” (The two programmes provide for privatisation with time limits for some national resources or government enterprises.)

About his meeting with Modi, Amon said, “We talked about incredible opportunity to advance the industry not only domestically in India but Indian as an exporter of technology as we think about the digital transformation.”

“Very pleased with the conversations and we’re very, very happy with everything we’re doing together with India,” he added. Narayen said that the key topic was “continued investment in innovation, because he certainly believes that technology is the way to help move things forward.”

They also “talked about artificial intelligence and what might happen with artificial intelligence, we talked about creativity, the importance of creativity and how media, the ever-changing nature of video,” he said.

About his company’s plans, he said, “India is a big area of investment for us. Adobe has three growth initiatives: Everything around creativity, document productivity and powering digital businesses, and artificial intelligence is going to change how all those three solutions are delivered. So we intend to continue to invest heavily in it.”

Widmar said, “One of the things we want to do in India is not only to be there to support the domestic market, but we want to be a technology leader in leveraging capabilities that India can provide. And then also compete on a global platform and to participate in export into international markets.” He said that India’s goal of producing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 was of global significance in dealing with climate change and “we would want to be part of this.”

Multiple Protests Held As Modi Speaks At UN

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Nation India 0

Several separate protests were held outside the UN on Saturday, September 25^th as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the United Nations General Assembly. The groups were separated from each other in enclosures put up with police barriers, advocating different causes.

While observers said it was “shameful” that President Biden failed to publicly address widespread persecution of religious minorities in India when he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday, more than 100 members of interfaith and human rights groups spoke out as Modi addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Speakers condemned the egregious human rights violations and murders of religious minorities in India under a government that openly supports Hindu supremacy.

The rally was sponsored by 21 organizations under the banner of Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, including Ambedkar International Center, Ambedkar King Study Circle, Black Lives Matter, Coalition Against Fascism in India, Dalit Solidarity Forum, New York City Democratic Socialists’ Racial Justice Working Group, Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America, Hindus for Human Rights, Indian American Muslim Council, India Civil Watch International, International Commission for Dalit Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, MICAH Faith Institute, Muslim Community Network, National Coalition against Caste Discrimination in the USA, NY Sikh Council, New York State Council of Churches, SALAM, Students Against Hindutva Ideology, and Voices Against Fascism in India.

Another group comprising of 100 Khalistan supporters waving yellow flags and carrying portraits of Simranjit Singh Mann, the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), came in support of the Khalistan movement. The organizers of the other protests disowned the Khalistanis and said they were not associated with them, pointing to the barriers separating them from that group.

Another protest was organized by a local gurdwara in support of the farmers’ agitation in India focused solely on the agriculturists’ issues. They stationed themselves far from the Khalistanis and an organizer said that they did not have anything to do with that protest and distinguished themselves with green turbans.

The Hindus for Human Rights (HHR) organized yet another protest that was sandwiched between the Congress and Khalistani protests. An organizer said that they were not associating themselves with the Khalistanis and their enclosed barrier next to that group’s was assigned by the police.

HHR protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and other laws and regulations, as well as what they called human rights violations and detention of activists in India.

They were joined by a representative of the New York State Council of Churches, a protestant organization that also lists the World Council of Churches among its members. Its executive director, Peter Cook, a protestant pastor who said he had been deported from India, asserted that his organization opposed the CAA even though it gave citizenship rights to Christians fleeing persecution, because it “pits Christians against Muslims”.

The Khalistani protesters, who were not allowed by the police to demonstrate outside India’s mission to the UN, drove past it in cars flying their flags and raising slogans. Supporters of Kashmiri separatists and Pakistanis, who held protests in the previous years, were not seen this time.

“As religious people, we have a responsibility to build an inclusive multi racial democracy. So when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu comes to New York in the name of perverting my religious tradition, Judaism, it is a way of creating religious oppression, and it is important for me to stand here. And when Indian Prime Minister Modi comes here, we organize in solidarity to demand that we build a world not on theocratic or fascist principles,” said Brad Lander, New York City Councilmember and comptroller elect.

Hindu Pandit Sanjai Doobay said: “As Hindus, we salute the light, ‘Shubham Karoti Kalyanam.’ As Muslims, ‘Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.’ And the Christian Bible says God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ If we are together, our light will always be brighter. We will pray for that light, for that peace. Mr. Modi, your Hindutva is not my Hinduism. You are not Hindu. A Hindu is a brother or sister of Humanity.”

“As Christians, we grieve for many Hindus who watch their faith being co-opted and distorted by nationalist government using Hinduism to oppress people of other faiths,” declared Rev. Peter Cook, New York State Council of Churches. “In Jesus’ name, I condemn the government of any country which uses the dominant faith of its people to destroy democracy and deny the freedom and human rights of religious minorities. In this spirit, we call on the Modi government to stop distorting Hinduism to give tacit approval to the burning and desecration of churches, mosques and temples.”

The Indian Overseas Congress, USA, an advocacy organization that promotes democracy, human rights, and equal justice together with its supporters and friends, held a protest rally in front of the United Nations, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was delivering his address to the General Assembly.

“Although we have no issues with a Prime Minister of India visiting the U.S. or the U.N. and promoting better bi-lateral relations or promoting world peace, it is imperative to let him know at the same time that we do not approve of his misgovernance in dealing with COVID epidemic or undermining the democratic institutions,” said George Abraham, Vice-Chairman of the IOCUSA. “If there is to be genuine economic progress and social development in India, political tranquility and social harmony is a prerequisite without which there would be very little hope for the future. Let us, at the minimum, raise our voices, no matter how feeble it may be, because one day our next generation might ask where you have been when India took a turn towards authoritarianism and fascism,” Abraham added.

“I am glad to state that IOCUSA stands firmly behind India’s farmers who have been denied their rightful voice and concerns to be heard by the Modi government which has pushed a set of bills through the parliament for the benefit of the crony capitalists and to the detriment of our farmers” Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian, President of the IOCUSA said. “We want Modi to know that the NRI voice will continue to be raised in support of their protest unless and until he resolves these issues,” Mr. Gilzian added.

Secretary General Harbachan Singh referring to the plight of the farmers suggested that a Prime Minister should not abuse his power or shirk his responsibility and torture peaceful farmers protesting for their legitimate concerns by not heeding to their concerns.” It is claimed that this is perhaps the largest and the longest peaceful protest rally in the history of the world.

The protesters carried slogans and chanted examples to point out the failures of the Modi government, e.g. “Anti-Narendra Modi isn’t anti-national,” “We are all Indians. Stop discrimination based on religion, caste and language”, “Protect India’s constitution”, “IOCUSA supports democracy, freedom, and human rights”,” IOCUSA supports India’s farmers”, “IOCUSA -proud supporter of pluralistic India” and so forth.

Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian, President of the IOCUSA, Mr. Harbachen Singh, Secretary-General, Mr. George Abraham, Vice-Chairman, Mr. John Thomas, Ms. Sophia Sharma, General Secretary, Vice-President, Ms. Leela Maret, President, Kerala Chapter, Mr. Amar Singh Gulshan and President, Haryana Chapter were among those who took part in the protest.

‘Some Wanted Me Dead:’ Pope Acknowledges Right-Wing Critics

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterProfile, Religion 0

Pope Francis has acknowledged his increasingly vocal conservative critics, saying their “nasty comments” were the work of the devil and adding that “some wanted me dead” after his recent intestinal surgery.

Francis made the comments during a Sept. 12 private meeting with Slovakian Jesuits soon after he arrived in the Slovak capital of Bratislava during his just-finished visit. A transcript of the encounter was published by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, which often provides after-the-fact accounts of Francis’ closed-door meetings with his fellow Jesuits when he’s on the road.

When a Jesuit in Slovakia asked Pope Francis “How are you?,”the pope stunned them with his answer: “Still alive, even though some people wanted me to die. There were even meetings between prelates who thought the pope’s condition was more serious than the official version. They were preparing for the conclave,” Pope Francis said.

Francis showed his dark sense of humor throughout the encounter, particularly when a priest asked him how he was feeling. The Sept. 12-15 Hungary-Slovakia trip was Francis’ first international outing since undergoing surgery in July to remove a 33-centimeter (13-inch) chunk of his large intestine.

“Still alive,” Francis quipped. “Even though some wanted me dead. I know there were even meetings among priests who thought the pope was in worse shape than what was being said. They were preparing the conclave.”

“Patience! Thank God I’m well,” he added.

The comment was a reflection of the intense interest in the pope’s health, and the speculation about what would happen if he were to fail, that always accompanies a pontiff but is perhaps more acute with a pope who has attracted vocal opposition from part of the church. After his 10-day hospital stay, Italian media began speculating that Francis might resign and pointed out the need for norms to regulate a second retired pope. Francis has previously said resigning “didn’t even cross my mind.”

Francis was also asked about how he deals with divisions and with people who view him with suspicion. It was a reference to Catholic conservatives who have long criticized Francis’ critiques of capitalism and his focus on the environment and migrants.

Their criticism turned to outrage after Francis in July cracked down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass. Francis reversed Emeritus Benedict XVI and re-imposed restrictions on celebrating the old rite, saying the move was necessary because the Latin Mass had become a source of division in the church and been exploited on ideological grounds.

In his response, Francis referred to the Latin Mass outcry and noted that there was a “big Catholic television station that continually speaks poorly about the pope.” He didn’t name it but it could have been a reference to the EWTN media conglomerate, which has been critical of the papacy and in particular Francis’ new restrictions on the old Latin Mass.

“I personally might merit attacks and insults because I’m a sinner, but the church doesn’t deserve this; it’s the work of the devil,” he said. “Yes there are priests even who make nasty comments about me. Sometimes I lose my patience, especially when they make judgments without entering into a real dialogue. You can’t do anything with that.” But Francis said his reaction is to just preach. “I just go forward without entering into their world of ideas and fantasies,” he said.

Pope Francis remarked, “There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope.” He said: “I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.”

While Francis did not name the “large Catholic television channel” in his answer, his remark “I have also said this to some of them” offers a clue as to which station he was referring to. America, a news magazine has learned from three different Vatican officials, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, that the pope touched on this same topic on his flight from Rome to Baghdad on March 5, when he greeted each of the journalists on the flight.

Pope Francis told the Slovak Jesuits, it is not only a Catholic television channel that speaks badly about him. “There are also clerics who make nasty comments about me,” he said. “I sometimes lose patience, especially when they make judgments without entering into a real dialogue. I can’t do anything there. However, I go on without entering their world of ideas and fantasies. I don’t want to enter it, and that’s why I prefer to preach.”

Francis added, “Some people accuse me of not talking about holiness. They say I always talk about social issues and that I’m a Communist. Yet I wrote an entire apostolic exhortation on holiness, ‘Gaudete et Exsultate.’”

Another Jesuit who had lived in both Slovakia and Switzerland told the pope that he had experienced “pastoral creativity” while the church was repressed under Communist rule in Slovakia, but that more recently he had seen “that many people want to go back or seek certainties in the past…. What vision of church can we follow?”

Pope Francis responded: “Life scares us…. Freedom scares us. In a world that is so conditioned by addictions and virtual experiences, it frightens us to be free.” He cited a passage from “The Grand Inquisitor” scene from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, in which the inquisitor approaches Christ and “reproaches Jesus for having given us freedom: a bit of bread would have been enough and nothing more.”

Ken Greene Named As President & CEO Of AAHOA

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterProfile, Tourism 0

Following a unanimous vote by the AAHOA Board of Directors, Ken Greene is the new President & CEO. Greene has been serving in that role on an interim basis since June. “AAHOA has been a part of my life for years, so when the opportunity came up to become Interim President and CEO, it was an easy decision to make,” said AAHOA President & CEO Ken Greene. “These last few months have exceeded my expectations, and I’m looking forward to continuing to build relationships with our Officers, Board, Members, and Industry Partners.”

During his interim period, Greene oversaw the association’s return to in-person events with the 2021 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show in Dallas, Texas. The convention, which drew more than 6,000 attendees, was the first such event in the city since the start of the pandemic.

“As a former brand executive in the hospitality industry, Ken has significant experience working with AAHOA Members and a solid understanding of what hoteliers need,” said AAHOA Chair Vinay Patel. “He knows what drives our Members and how our association can assist them as the industry recovers.”

Prior to joining AAHOA, Ken served as a global leader of many iconic hotel brands, including President, Americas for Radisson Hotel Group, President & CEO for Delta Hotels and Resorts, and in various roles at Cendant Corporation, Wyndham Worldwide, and many of its divisions. Ken also recently founded Greenehouse Consulting, which focuses on acquisitions, management, and advisory services to the hospitality industry.

“I want to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has called, texted, and posted on social media, etc. Your well wishes and congratulations mean so much to me, and I am excited to be dropping the interim title to officially become President & CEO of AAHOA,” Greene said in a message.

“AAHOA is such an amazing association for owners and that is a huge part of why I am so thrilled to become President & CEO. I’ve worked with AAHOA Members for much of my career and knowing how much AAHOA does for hoteliers and the industry, I am truly honored to accept this position and help lead the organization into the future. We are Team AAHOA, and we have so much more to accomplish together,” Greene added.

Center-Left Parties Defeat Merkel’s Party In German Elections

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterGlobal 0

Germany’s center-left Social Democrats won the biggest share of the vote in a national election Sunday, narrowly beating outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘s center-right Union bloc in a closely fought race that will determine who succeeds the long-time leader at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy. Media reports here suggested, Germany is embarking on a potentially lengthy search for its next government after the center-left Social Democrats narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc in an election that failed to set a clear direction.

SPD leader Olaf Scholz said he had a clear mandate to form a government, while his conservative rival Armin Laschet remains determined to fight on. The Social Democrats’ candidate Olaf Scholz, the outgoing vice chancellor and finance minister who pulled his party out of a years-long slump, said the outcome was “a very clear mandate to ensure now that we put together a good, pragmatic government for Germany.”

The two parties have governed together for years. But Mr Scholz says it is time for a new coalition with the Greens and liberals. Preliminary results gave his party a narrow election win over the conservatives who suffered their worst-ever performance. Despite getting its worst-ever result in a federal contest, the Union bloc said it too would reach out to smaller parties to discuss forming a government, while Merkel stays on in a caretaker role until a successor is sworn in.

Election officials said early Monday that a count of all 299 constituencies showed the Social Democrats received 25.9% of the vote, ahead of 24.1% for the Union bloc. No winning party in a German national election had previously taken less than 31% of the vote. Armin Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state who outmaneuvered a more popular rival to secure the nomination of Merkel’s Union bloc, had struggled to motivate the party’s base and suffered a series of missteps. “Of course, this is a loss of votes that isn’t pretty,” Laschet said of results that looked set to undercut by some measure the Union’s previous worst showing of 31% in 1949. But he added that with Merkel departing after 16 years in power, “no one had an incumbent bonus in this election.”

Laschet told supporters that “we will do everything we can to form a government under the Union’s leadership, because Germany now needs a coalition for the future that modernizes our country.” Both Laschet and Scholz will be courting the same two parties: the environmentalist Greens, who were third with 14.8%; and the pro-business Free Democrats, who took 11.5% of the vote. The Greens traditionally lean toward the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats toward the Union, but neither ruled out going the other way.

The other option was a repeat of the outgoing “grand coalition” of the Union and Social Democrats that has run Germany for 12 of Merkel’s 16 years in power, but there was little obvious appetite for that after years of government squabbling. “Everyone thinks that … this ‘grand coalition’ isn’t promising for the future, regardless of who is No. 1 and No. 2,” Laschet said. “We need a real new beginning.” The Free Democrats’ leader, Christian Lindner, appeared keen to govern, suggesting that his party and the Greens should make the first move. “About 75% of Germans didn’t vote for the next chancellor’s party,” Lindner said in a post-election debate with all parties’ leaders on public broadcaster ZDF. “So it might be advisable … that the Greens and Free Democrats first speak to each other to structure everything that follows.”

Baerbock insisted that “the climate crisis … is the leading issue of the next government, and that is for us the basis for any talks … even if we aren’t totally satisfied with our result.” Due to Germany’s complicated electoral system, a full breakdown of the result by seats in parliament was still pending. Germany’s leading parties have significant differences when it comes to taxation and tackling climate change. Foreign policy didn’t feature much in the campaign, although the Greens favor a tougher stance toward China and Russia.

Whichever parties form the next German government, the Free Democrats’ Lindner said it was “good news” that it would have a majority with centrist parties. “All of those in Europe and beyond who were worried about Germany’s stability can now see: Germany will be stable in any case,” he said. In two regional elections also held Sunday, the Social Democrats looked set to defend the post of Berlin mayor that they have held for two decades. The party was also on course for a strong win in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania. For the first time since 1949, the Danish minority party SSW was set to win a seat in parliament, officials said. Likely coalitions in Germany will either see the SPD or CDU/CSU forming a government with the Green Party, which took 14.8% of the votes, or the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), with 11.5%.

The party had campaigned on a message of stability for the country after Merkel, seen as a steady pair of hands over the past nearly 16 years, steps down. But it is now coming to terms with what it itself called a bitter night of losses. Merkel’s own seat in northeast Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has flipped to the Social Democrats after the outgoing chancellor held it for 31 years. Merkel, who over 16 years cemented her position as one of the world’s most successful political leaders, will stay in job until a coalition deal is negotiated — and that could take months. After Merkel’s election win in September 2017, it took more than five months for a government to be formed.

Merkel, who has won plaudits for steering Germany through several major crises, won’t be an easy leader to follow. Her successor will have to oversee the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which Germany so far has weathered relatively well thanks to large rescue programs.

Pfizer Is Set To Ask For Approval For Covid-19 Vaccine For Kids

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterHealth, Youth 0

Pfizer/BioNTech plans to ask for authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine for some children under 12 soon, bringing the US one step closer to offering protection to a population that has grown particularly vulnerable as the fall season gets underway. “It is a question of days, not weeks,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News Sunday about when the company will submit data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for consideration. Currently, Covid-19 vaccines are only approved for children 12 and older, which has stirred concern among health experts as cases in children increase, school years begin and the more transmissible Delta variant spreads.

Nearly 26% of all Covid-19 cases nationwide are reported in children, according to recent data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. And an average of 266 children were hospitalized with Covid-19 every day last week, according to Sunday’s data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Once the data from Pfizer/BioNTech is in, it will have to go through two committees, one for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and one for the CDC, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Johnathan Reiner said Sunday. If the data comes in this week, it would likely be in committee by the end of October, he added. And there is a lot of data for them to look at, he said. “This is a vaccine for children, so getting the dose right — in terms of efficacy and side effects — is crucial,” Reiner said.

But even when a vaccine becomes available, a difficult task lies ahead in getting children vaccinated. Less than half of US adolescents are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. In response, officials need to do a better job educating the public about the importance of vaccination for the health of their children and their families as a whole, Reiner said. “If you want kids in school, the best way to keep them in school is to keep them from getting Covid,” he said.

Until vaccines are approved for younger children, the CDC has recommended mask wearing for students, teachers and visitors in schools from kindergarten through grade 12, along with improved ventilation, physical distancing and testing on a screening basis. “We know how to keep them safe,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CBS Sunday. “When we don’t use the proper mitigation, they’re more likely to have outbreaks.” Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said he encourages parents to vaccinate their children when they can.

“This is a dangerous pathogen,” Gottlieb told CNN. “I wouldn’t be so cavalier about this virus, we know that this virus has long-term consequences in a lot of people who contract it, including children.” Current surge likely to die down by Thanksgiving, Gottlieb says Gottlieb predicted Sunday the current surge of coronavirus spread is likely to worsen across parts of the country and then die down by Thanksgiving. “I think you’ll see a wave of infection sweep across the Northeast as kids go back to school, the weather turns cold and people move indoors,” Gottlieb told CNN’s Pamela Brown.

The virus won’t be gone, Gottlieb said, but hopefully it will reach more manageable levels — which he estimates to be about 20,000 cases per day. According to the CDC, the current seven-day average for new cases in the US is more than 114,000 new cases a day. The decline in cases will likely come from most people attaining immunity to the virus, Gottlieb said. “Some people will get a vaccination; some will challenge their immunity by no choice but getting the infection,” Gottlieb explained. “People who choose to go unvaccinated, they’re going to be vulnerable to getting infected through this Delta wave.”

As the US moves into flu season, Gottlieb said the demand for tests will pick up as people and their doctors try to determine if their flu-like symptoms are due to Covid-19 or influenza. “That’s why it’s so important to get diagnostic tests into the hands of consumers and doctors’ offices as well, things like where people can test in the home will make a difference between telling between Covid and other respiratory infections, especially as the flu picks up,” Gottlieb said.

But even if Covid-19 cases do come down by Thanksgiving, health experts are bracing for a difficult winter ahead. It isn’t clear yet what this year’s flu season has in store, but it could add additional stress to an already pressed health care system. “Flu is still a killer, not as much as Covid-19, but between 12,000 and 50,000 Americans lose their lives every year from flu,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Last year’s flu numbers were low, which health expert say could mean that upcoming seasons may be worse, as there has been little accumulation of immunity. “We’re in for a whopper of a flu season at some point,” Gottlieb said Sunday. Recommending booster for frontline workers a ‘scientific close call,’ CDC director says On Friday, Walensky recommended a booster dose for adults at occupational risk of infection — in addition to those with underlying conditions and those over 65 — a decision she said was a “scientific close call.” “And because of that close call, and because of all of the evidence we reviewed at the FDA and the CDC, I thought it was appropriate for those people to be eligible for boosters,” Walensky told CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday.

“So who are those people? People who live and work in high-risk settings. That includes people in homeless shelters, people in group homes, people in prisons. But, also, importantly, are people who work with vulnerable communities, so our health care workers, our teachers, our grocery workers, our public transportation employees,” Walensky said. Although the CDC’s vaccine advisers voted against recommending booster doses for people at high risk of infection because of their work or living conditions, Walensky went with the FDA’s authorization including those people.

The recommendation is not currently intended for the wider population, but there’s little fear of causing dangerous side effects from adding that third dose, Walensky said. “We have an extraordinary amount of safety data,” she said.

Ananya Birla Announces Debut Album, ‘Bombay Basement’

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterEntertainment, Women 0

Singer-songwriter Ananya Birla announced her debut album ‘Bombay Basement’. Ahead of the full release of the album, Ananya released the music video of the lead track ‘When I’m Alone’ on Tuesday night. The video also marks her maiden innings as a music video director Recently Ananya teamed up with AR Rahman for the official Cheer4India song of the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics, ‘Hindustani Way’.

Elaborating on how the album shaped up, Ananya informed, “Bombay Basement’ was borne out of a jam session in the basement of my Bombay residence, with a couple of friends. I had a lot I wanted to write about and share and it all just kind of clicked.” Including the lead track, there are six songs in the album – ‘Give Me Up’, ‘Deny Me’, ‘Do It Anyway’, ‘Tu Hi Mera Ghar’ and ‘Old Me’. “The range of the songs take you through multiple shared emotions but through the lens of my individual experiences.”

The entire album which was conjured up during the pandemic, hints at themes such as self-love, racial discrimination and toxic relationships in a nonconformist manner. Weaving in influences of breakbeat, pop, jazz, blues and R&B, the catalogue of radio-ready jams showcases Ananya’s sonic evolution whilst attempting to break free from the confines of language and genre.

“Over the last few months, I’ve witnessed a number of life-altering experiences that nudged me to retrospect on the experiences that have shaped me. Life is a series of transactions, some that occur to shape you and some that teach you how change is the only constant,” she expressed.

Elaborating further, what the other music videos from the album have in store, she said, “In the accompanying music videos I’ve tried to lend a more personalized touch and give my fans a slightly unrestricted access into my personal space. I’m excited to see what my fans think of it.” The self-taught santoor and guitar player has been propelled from low-key gigs around London to performing at some of Asia’s biggest music events including Global Citizen, Oktoberfest and Sunburn, and opening for artists like Wiz Khalifa and Coldplay.

Her songs, ‘Let There Be Love’ and its remix version, ‘Day Goes By’ with Jamaican-American Sean Kingston, was well-received around the world. The other hit songs to her credit are ‘Hold On’, ‘Meant To Be’, ‘Circles’, ‘Livin’ the Life’ (remixed by Afrojack), ‘Better’. Her first EP ‘Fingerprint’ with UMG and Island Records, included the single ‘Blackout’ featuring Nigerian hip-hop singers Vector and WurlD. ‘Bombay Basement’, will be released on her YouTube channel and across all major streaming platforms every week throughout October 2021.(IANS)

Sundaram Tagore Gallery Presents Ghiora Aharoni

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterArt, Culture 0

Sundaram Tagore Gallery is presenting a sculpture, photography and installations by Israeli-born American artist Ghiora Aharoni. The New York-based artist examines complex dualities—from the intersection of religion and science, to the intertwined relationships among seemingly disparate cultures. The Ghau Series is on view at Sundaram Tagore Madison Avenue, at 82nd Street, in New York City through October 2.

Aharoni’s work is also on view at The Textile Museum in Washington D.C. through April 2022. The exhibition, which explores the metaphysical relationship between text and textiles, is part of a year-long collaboration with the museum, along with a research residency, academic seminars, public programs and another exhibition later this year. Ghiora Aharoni’s sculptural media installation Make Me a Temple Within (The Ghau Series) comprises a collection of vintage portable Buddhist shrines—or ghaus—retrofitted with small video screens.
Born in Rehovot, Israel, in 1969, Aharoni grew up in a home full of diverse cultures and languages. He was introduced to the central texts of Jewish mysticism at an early age, which he incorporates into his work in abstract and literal ways. He often merges sacred texts of different faiths with traditional objects, such as vintage glass beakers and nineteenth-century Torah finials. By combining these texts and cultural artifacts and imbuing them with new meaning, Aharoni invites us to expand our perceptions of how cultures, religions and genders are interwoven.

Aharoni has exhibited his work widely, including at the Rubin Museum, New York, the Jewish Museum Vienna, the Museum of Contemporary Art, London and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum (formerly The Victoria & Albert Museum), Mumbai. His work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan Library & Museum, Centre Pompidou in Paris and Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art, among others.

Replacing the traditional glass meant to encase a sacred object, the screen displays a video montage the artist created of Buddhist monks prostrating as they circumambulate pilgrimage sites. The video is interwoven with ambient sound and other devotional rituals. It plays in a continuous loop, echoing the peaceful, meditative quality of the circumambulation. The series title was inspired by a phrase in the Hebrew Bible: “Make me a temple so I will dwell inside you.” Rather than suggesting a physical structure, it is an invocation to manifest spiritual energy within oneself.

“The series celebrates the intimate relationship between the individual and the divine in public devotional rituals, where the realms of the personal and the public unite in a transcendent spiritual energy,” Aharoni says. Aharoni’s work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, The Vatican Library, Centre Pompidou in Paris and Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art, among others. His work has been widely exhibited, including at the Rubin Museum, New York, the Jewish Museum Vienna and the Museum of Contemporary Art, London.

Human Footprints Thought To Be Oldest In North America Discovered

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterEnvironment, Science 0

New scientific research conducted by archaeologists has uncovered what they believe are the oldest known human footprints in North America. Research done at the White Sands national park in New Mexico discovered the ancient footprints, with researchers estimating that the tracks were between 21,000 and 23,000 years old, reported Science.

The prints were buried in layers of soil in the national park, with scientists from the US Geological Survey analyzing seeds embedded in the tracks to calculate the age of the fossils. Researchers also determined that the dozen footprints found belonged to a variety of people, mostly children and teenagers. Previously, scientists had widely assumed that the earliest appearance of humans in the Americas was 11,000 to 13,000 years ago because of stone spears found throughout North America and associated with what is known as the Clovis culture.

“The evidence is very convincing and extremely exciting,” says Tom Higham, an archaeological scientist and radiocarbon-dating expert at the University of Vienna to Nature. “I am convinced that these footprints genuinely are of the age claimed.” The new research was conducted by experts from White Sands national park, the National Park Service, US Geological Survey, Bournemouth University, University of Arizona and Cornell University.

“The paper makes a very compelling case that these footprints are not only human, but they’re older than 20,000 years,” said Spencer Lucas, a palaeontologist at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque to Nature. “That’s a gamechanger.”

Sikh Coalition Advocates To End Religious Discrimination In Workplaces

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The Sikh Coalition, while sharing the story of a client, 1st Lieutenant (1stLt) Sukhbir Singh Toor, an active duty officer in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) who is fighting to continue his military service while keeping his Sikh articles of faith, has advocated to end discrimination at work place. 1stLt Toor is currently facing an inadequate and incomplete religious accommodation that forces him to choose between his turban and beard or his career.

1stLt Toor’s case is the latest pivotal development in our 12-year campaign to combat employment discrimination by our nation’s largest employer, the Department of Defense. Building off the historic policy victories in the U.S. Army and Air Force, we continue working to ensure that Sikhs can maintain their articles of faith in every branch of the military in our efforts to further protect religious rights in all American workplaces. If the USMC grants 1stLt Toor a full accommodation, it would be the first–to our knowledge–for an active duty Sikh Marine to maintain their articles of faith.

“For more than three years, I have proven my commitment to excelling in the U.S. Marine Corps and defending my country,” said 1stLt Toor. “Now, with the direct support of the Sikh Coalition, I am seeking a full and complete religious accommodation that will allow my turban and beard so that I can stay true to my faith while continuing my career of service.”

1stLt Toor has served with distinction in the USMC since October 2017. As a younger man, he thought he had no choice but to compromise his articles of faith in order to serve his country as a Marine, due to the branch’s track record of denying these types of religious accommodations; thus, he made the extremely difficult decision to shave his beard and cut his hair, but committed to return to his articles of faith at the earliest opportunity. In March of this year, he applied for an accommodation in the hopes that his excellent service would help bolster his request. After several rounds of appeals, in August, the Department of the Navy granted a limited accommodation which imposed unacceptable restrictions on 1stLt Toor’s religious rights–including that he would be forced to shave his beard when deployed. Accordingly, we are now considering our final options before litigation.

“It is disappointing that the Marine Corps only wants to allow 1stLt Toor to practice his faith in ways and at times that are convenient to them; they would rather derail his promising career than acknowledge his right to practice Sikhi.” said Giselle Klapper, Sikh Coalition Senior Staff Attorney. “In 2016, we successfully took the U.S. Army to court over the right to maintain one’s articles of faith while serving in the military, and we’re prepared to do the same with the USMC now: No Sikh, in any workplace, should be forced to make a false choice between maintaining their articles of faith and excelling in their chosen profession.”

In addition to representing 1stLt Toor and facilitating the New York Times story, the Sikh Coalition is advocating for his accommodation through other channels. We are currently in touch with the White House, various legislative offices in the House of Representatives and Senate, and leadership at the Department of Defense to push for this case to be addressed outside of the courtroom.

To date, the Sikh Coalition, our pro bono counsel at Winston & Strawn LLP and McDermott Will & Emery, and our litigation partners the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty have helped more than 30 Sikhs in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force (USAF) secure their accommodations; in addition to 1stLt Toor, we are also assisting other USMC clients as they apply for religious accommodations. We also recognize the important work of the American Civil Liberties Union, BakerHostetler, and the Sikh American Veterans Alliance on this campaign. For more than a decade, advocacy and legal action has ensured that nearly 100 Sikhs total are able to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces with distinction and with their articles of faith; the service of these individuals is proof positive that religious identity does not impede a career in the U.S. military. If you or someone you know needs assistance securing a uniform or grooming accommodation for any employer, contact our legal team for free aid.

In the meantime, we and our partners continue to work towards branch-by-branch policy improvements similar to those already achieved in the Army in 2017 and the USAF in 2020, including continued development of the U.S. Navy’s regulations and proactive change for the USMC, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Space Force. If you have questions about our work on this issue, be sure to read our community FAQ; our goal remains to end religious employment discrimination across the country, including in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Nisha Foundation Honors Doctors, Warriors Against Covid

September 29, 2021 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Nisha Foundation organized a salutation evening with for doctors and frontline workers in the presence of Faggan Singh Kulstey, the Union Steel Minster of State, and various monks from the DALAI LAMA’s organization, sisters and brothers from Brahmakumaris, Dr Roger Gopalu (Ambassador of Trinidad), Dr. Sandeep Marwah, CEO Film City Noida, Diplomats and 35 awardees doctors, nurses, managing staff and social workers.

The Governor of Sikkim, Ganga Prasad, praised the foundation initiative and congratulated all the awardees. He launched the stickers, “I Salute Doctors”, in the presence of all the dignitaries. He said Nisha foundation is working towards a wonderful mission for betterment of society. Kulstey said Nisha foundation initiative is great and he applaud this program and appreciated Nisha foundation for working in 173 countries in association of world Organization of peace for child education, sports and salutation evening in name of frontliners During his speech he said it’s important to do this kind of programs to uplift human consciousness and he expressed his concern for farmers.

This program objective was to facilitate the awards to 20 Doctors and 10 Frontline Workers. Few of the honorees are Dr. Raja Marimuthu Chairperson of Covid in Chennai, Nurse Sita Ghimirey from AIMS, Dr. Vinay Bhasin – AIIMS, Dr. Mosin Ali, Nurse Monika Dhankar.

Nisha Foundation Chairperson Priyanka Kothari, an accomplished former Bollywood actress who has worked in various movies in Indian film industry. While travelling for her movie shoots to different rural areas, she felt that there is huge need to support and uplift unprivileged people in many aspects, sports, women empowerment and she left film industry and dedicated herself to the service of humanity. she is an actress turned philanthropist, Motivational speaker, and an accomplished yoga teacher. Her NGO supports other NGO’s as well to uplift and support child education, woman empowerment, sports, and other activities.

She is working in 173 countries with association of OMPP. She is Secretory general of world Organization of peace (Asia). Also, Nisha Foundation recently honored with Citation from Eric Adam who is a President of the Borough of Brooklyn, New York USA, for work to support “BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO” and spreading peace and compassion to humanity.

She believes “our life’s journey is all about uplifting human consciousness and help each other to reach our maximum potential indeed that’s our destiny, Said we have learnt from this pandemic time that “life is too short and there is no time of hate” We must spread love compassion peace to humanity and expressed gratitude for each and every frontline workers with standing ovation she said this award ceremony not only for awardee list rather it’s for those unknown volunteers and helpers who served during pandemic.

Kothari Started Her speech with Sanskrit shloka and welcome all the Guest and Audience, furthermore she explained about the foundation objections and goals & she also Remembered the President and Co-founder of Nisha foundation Late Shri Bhasker Prakash Ji whom we lost in this Pandemic with having teary eyes Priyanka Ji bravely continued her speech.

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