Saturday, 17 February 2007
London, Feb 16 (IANS) Nearly 5,000 Indian doctors have so far returned home after failing to find suitable employment in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) that forced them to live with rats, cockroaches and scrounge for free meals in temples and gurdwaras.
The figure of 5,000 returning to India since April 2006 is approximate, and the actual figure could be more. The doctors had passed the requisite tests for employment in the NHS, but failed to find jobs due to changes in immigration rules and a larger pool of available doctors from within Britain and the European Union.
Many more face the prospect of returning home after the Feb 9 high court ruling that disallowed a judicial review of the changes made in April 2006. All attention is now focussed on the ongoing recruitment process for 21,000 NHS jobs starting August 2007, according to leaders of the Indian medical community here.
The current recruitment is part of a new system called Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) that came into effect this year. From Jan 22 to Feb 4 more than 30,000 doctors applied for the 21,000 available jobs in various specialities - and 10,000-12,000 applicants of them are said to be Indians.
Shortlisting of candidates for the jobs is expected to be completed by Feb 24 and interviews will take place in the first week of March.
Leaders of the Indian medical community are working to ensure that the Indian applicants are not adversely affected in the recruitment process by the Feb 9 ruling of the high court. Those who are not selected in this round will also face the prospect of returning home.
Lakshman Raman, vice-chair (policy) of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), told IANS that if the new rules issued in April 2006 were applied, there would be practically two shortlists for the NHS posts - one of British and EU citizens and another pile of Indian and other overseas doctors.
'The second list would only be considered for jobs that are not filled using doctors in the first list. Since BAPIO went to court and the verdict was announced on Feb 9 we believe so far the new rules have not been applied.
'After the verdict, BAPIO has written to the Department of Health (DoH), asking that they continue to hold the new rules in abeyance as we are going to appeal and we hope they will agree to this request.
'We will need to apply for a stay order only if the DoH does not agree to hold the new rules in abeyance while awaiting the appeal. They are still considering their options and will get back to us on this.'
The BAPIO legal team is working on the appeal petition that can be filed within three weeks of the Feb 9 ruling. Raman said that BAPIO had decided to file the appeal before March 2 and had launched another fund-raising drive among Indian doctors to meet legal costs.
Raman added: 'We are collecting funds for the appeal process and the initial response from our members and the wider doctor and Indian community has been encouraging. We understand that the judiciary understands the importance of this and will process it expeditiously.
'Since the MMC process only comes into force for jobs starting August 2007, the implications for doctors will be only from August 2007. Doctors who are currently in jobs will be able to continue till August 2007 when if their current job has got over and if they have not managed to get another job they may have to consider returning home.
'We fear that if the new rules are applied there may be many thousands of doctors unable to find a job from August 2007.'
Raman added that a major reason for the large number of unemployed Indian doctors in Britain is the increased frequency of holding the mandatory qualifying test called the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test.
Every overseas doctor needs to pass this test before being registered for possible employment. Earlier this test used to be held twice or thrice a year. Now it is held twice or thrice a week. The success rate is also higher with the result that there are now more doctors who have cleared the test.
According to official figures, nearly 1,000 passed the test in 1998, but the number sprung to 6,666 in 2005. One part of the PLAB test is held in centres in India while another is held in London.
So high was the unemployment among Indian doctors who had passed the PLAB tests but were unable to find unemployment that one of them, Surinder Sareen, wrote a clinical account in the British Medical Journal of the condition such doctors found themselves in.
Calling it PPUD (Post PLAB Unemployment Doctor) Syndrome, Sareen detailed a series of ailments such doctors suffered from, including depression, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hallucinations, somnambulism, omniphagia, dissociative fugue and muskoskeletal deformities.
Sareen wrote: 'In an effort to keep up an old medical tradition, I report a new syndrome, prevalent in the age group 25-35, but some cases are seen in the early 40s. Both sexes are equally affected. It is endemic in east London, but sporadic cases can be seen all over Britain. It is mostly found in immigrants from the Indian subcontinent.'
His treatment for the PPUD Syndrome: 'Love and a healing touch. Patients should be encouraged to go back to their home country, as in Britain even local graduates find it difficult to get a job and nobody is bothered about someone with PPUD syndrome.'
Showing posts with label NRIs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NRIs. Show all posts
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Keralite origin, Rachel Paulose Confirmed as U.S. Attorney for Minn. District
By RICHARD SPRINGER
India-West Staff Reporter
In the wee hours of the morning as the final session of the 109th Congress concluded Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate took one final action - confirming the first South Asian woman ever named a U.S. Attorney heading a federal district in the United States.
Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose is the 40th U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota and the first Asian American ever named to that post.
She becomes the federal government's chief law enforcement officer in Minnesota, with responsibility over all federal agencies, federal indictments and cases, and accountability for the Justice Department's federal prosecutors and support staff in Minnesota.
Nominated to the position by President George W. Bush, Paulose told India-West Jan. 9 that she and her family were up till nearly 3 a.m. Dec. 9 watching C-SPAN waiting to see if she would be confirmed before the sunset of the 109th Congress.
"It was the last item on the agenda and I felt so fortunate that by a unanimous vote it passed," she said.
The U.S. Attorney's position is Paulose's fourth time working with the U.S. Department of Justice.
She previously was senior counsel to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, special counsel for health care fraud, and special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Paulose also was an assistant attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota from 1999-2002.
In a statement, she thanked Bush for giving her the opportunity and added she appreciated "the confidence placed in me by the United States Senate and my home-state senators: Senator Norm Coleman, a steadfast supporter; and Senator Mark Dayton, both of whom worked hard for my confirmation."
She explained in an interview that it was Coleman, as Minnesota's senior Republican in a GOP-majority Congress, who initially submitted her name as one of a handful of potential candidates for the post, which requires conformation by the U.S. Senate.
After background checks by the FBI ("I think this was my sixth"), the Justice Department selected her and forwarded the nomination to Congress.
She needed the support of Dayton, a Democrat who had decided not to run for reelection. Both U.S. senators gave their support and had "nice things" to say about her in the press.
Asked about her party affiliation, she said she is a registered Republican and has worked for GOP candidates, but said the appointment was a "decision based on politics."
She cited her work background and her lack of involvement in big-donor contributing and fundraising. "The (U.S. Attorney post) is a non-partisan office," she pointed out.
Paulose is the daughter of Lucy Paulose, president and chief executive officer of Home Electronic Specialists, and Joseph Paulose, an administrator with the Hopkins school systems in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan.
Her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Sara Kunjummen, immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala in the 1960s, and raised their family in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents, both deceased, also lived in Kerala.
Paulose told India-West that her father came to the U.S. from Kerala when she was about 10 days old and she followed him a few months later. While she grew up in Ohio, she frequently visited her grandparents in Minnesota and moved permanently to the state when she was about 17 years old.
In 1994, Paulose received a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota, where she was a Truman Scholar and chair of the student representatives to the university's Board of Regents. She received a law degree from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow.
Paulose began her legal career in 1997 as a law clerk for Chief Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas.
While she was a federal prosecutor, she prosecuted cases related to violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes and civil rights enforcement. She also worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General's Honors Program from 1998-1999.
From 2002-2005, Paulose worked in private practice for law firms including Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., focusing on business and health care litigation. W&C defended such high-profile clients as Oliver North and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.
She has served on the boards of the Yale Law School Fund, the Federal Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and the Trust for Public Land.
Paulose told India-West that family issues, primarily illnesses involving some members of her family, led to her move back to the Minneapolis area.
She said the U.S. Attorney's office will focus on six areas: terrorism; economic crime, including fraud and public corruption; Internet crimes against children; gun and gang violence; drug trafficking; and civil rights, including human trafficking, immigration violations, and identity theft fraud.
Paulose jumped at the chance to expound on these priorities - mentioning that the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office has two terrorism case pending, indicted three Minnesota city council members on corruption charges, and vigorously pursued a case of Internet pharmacy fraud totaling about $20 million in illegal sales. The defrauder faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Paulose pledges to keep the heat on child pornographers who, she said, are becoming "more graphic, more heinous and frankly appalling." She also emphasized her office's increasingly tough sentencing requests for weapons' offenses, with violent crime on the increase in the urban areas of Minnesota.
"We must protect all citizens, young and old, from the violence that threatens our way of life," she said in a statement. "We must hold everyone, particularly public officials, accountable for their actions. And we must ensure the civil rights of all people."
While she has already been informally sworn into office, Paulose plans a formal investiture ceremony in March. She is looking for a large enough location to accommodate "all of my relatives who are coming (to Minneapolis) from all over the United States."
India-West Staff Reporter
In the wee hours of the morning as the final session of the 109th Congress concluded Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate took one final action - confirming the first South Asian woman ever named a U.S. Attorney heading a federal district in the United States.
Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose is the 40th U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota and the first Asian American ever named to that post.
She becomes the federal government's chief law enforcement officer in Minnesota, with responsibility over all federal agencies, federal indictments and cases, and accountability for the Justice Department's federal prosecutors and support staff in Minnesota.
Nominated to the position by President George W. Bush, Paulose told India-West Jan. 9 that she and her family were up till nearly 3 a.m. Dec. 9 watching C-SPAN waiting to see if she would be confirmed before the sunset of the 109th Congress.
"It was the last item on the agenda and I felt so fortunate that by a unanimous vote it passed," she said.
The U.S. Attorney's position is Paulose's fourth time working with the U.S. Department of Justice.
She previously was senior counsel to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, special counsel for health care fraud, and special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Paulose also was an assistant attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota from 1999-2002.
In a statement, she thanked Bush for giving her the opportunity and added she appreciated "the confidence placed in me by the United States Senate and my home-state senators: Senator Norm Coleman, a steadfast supporter; and Senator Mark Dayton, both of whom worked hard for my confirmation."
She explained in an interview that it was Coleman, as Minnesota's senior Republican in a GOP-majority Congress, who initially submitted her name as one of a handful of potential candidates for the post, which requires conformation by the U.S. Senate.
After background checks by the FBI ("I think this was my sixth"), the Justice Department selected her and forwarded the nomination to Congress.
She needed the support of Dayton, a Democrat who had decided not to run for reelection. Both U.S. senators gave their support and had "nice things" to say about her in the press.
Asked about her party affiliation, she said she is a registered Republican and has worked for GOP candidates, but said the appointment was a "decision based on politics."
She cited her work background and her lack of involvement in big-donor contributing and fundraising. "The (U.S. Attorney post) is a non-partisan office," she pointed out.
Paulose is the daughter of Lucy Paulose, president and chief executive officer of Home Electronic Specialists, and Joseph Paulose, an administrator with the Hopkins school systems in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan.
Her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Sara Kunjummen, immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala in the 1960s, and raised their family in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents, both deceased, also lived in Kerala.
Paulose told India-West that her father came to the U.S. from Kerala when she was about 10 days old and she followed him a few months later. While she grew up in Ohio, she frequently visited her grandparents in Minnesota and moved permanently to the state when she was about 17 years old.
In 1994, Paulose received a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota, where she was a Truman Scholar and chair of the student representatives to the university's Board of Regents. She received a law degree from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow.
Paulose began her legal career in 1997 as a law clerk for Chief Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas.
While she was a federal prosecutor, she prosecuted cases related to violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes and civil rights enforcement. She also worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General's Honors Program from 1998-1999.
From 2002-2005, Paulose worked in private practice for law firms including Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., focusing on business and health care litigation. W&C defended such high-profile clients as Oliver North and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.
She has served on the boards of the Yale Law School Fund, the Federal Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and the Trust for Public Land.
Paulose told India-West that family issues, primarily illnesses involving some members of her family, led to her move back to the Minneapolis area.
She said the U.S. Attorney's office will focus on six areas: terrorism; economic crime, including fraud and public corruption; Internet crimes against children; gun and gang violence; drug trafficking; and civil rights, including human trafficking, immigration violations, and identity theft fraud.
Paulose jumped at the chance to expound on these priorities - mentioning that the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office has two terrorism case pending, indicted three Minnesota city council members on corruption charges, and vigorously pursued a case of Internet pharmacy fraud totaling about $20 million in illegal sales. The defrauder faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Paulose pledges to keep the heat on child pornographers who, she said, are becoming "more graphic, more heinous and frankly appalling." She also emphasized her office's increasingly tough sentencing requests for weapons' offenses, with violent crime on the increase in the urban areas of Minnesota.
"We must protect all citizens, young and old, from the violence that threatens our way of life," she said in a statement. "We must hold everyone, particularly public officials, accountable for their actions. And we must ensure the civil rights of all people."
While she has already been informally sworn into office, Paulose plans a formal investiture ceremony in March. She is looking for a large enough location to accommodate "all of my relatives who are coming (to Minneapolis) from all over the United States."
Friday, December 15, 2006
NRI in Britain like coconuts: brown outside, white inside
By Kul Bhushan
NRIs settled in Britain are sometimes called 'Coconuts' by some of their own social commentators. Brown from outside, 'Coconuts' are Indians who are white inside thus implying their 'Britishness' in their language, habits and thinking. Of course, tag is open to a lot of criticism but it does make a point: 'Coconuts' are Indians who have adopted the British way of life all the way and have joined the mainstream of their country's flow.
Most younger generations of NRIs were born in Britain or in other countries, educated and started to work there and so are totally 'British', American or like their compatriots where they live - in their speech, accent, dress, manners and behaviour. Some do stand out due to their religious symbols such as the turban, a beard or the veil. A full-scale controversy on Muslim women wearing a veil in public and at work has generated a stormy debate and court cases. Now Britain wants all newcomers who want to live in Britain to take a 'Britishness' test from next April.
UK Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: 'It is essential that migrants wishing to live in the UK permanently recognise that there are responsibilities that go with this. Having a good rasp of English is essential in order for them to play a full role in society and properly integrate into our communities.'
The decision came after the Home Office published research by the Centre for Migration Policy and Society at Oxford showing that the degree of public anxiety over immigration is closely linked to jobs and incomes rather than colour. When jobs are scarce, then the poor black and white groups resent newcomers. So it's not about colour but money.
NRIs in Britain have opposed this test but the British government now insists on it. It boils down melting with the majority of the population.
'The British ruled India for 200 years, did they learn Hindustani after they landed here?' argues Avinash Kaushik, who has lived abroad for over 45 years. 'Even without knowing English language or learning about Britishness, NRIs in Britain have worked hard, paid their taxes and contributed to the economy. So what is the need for this test?'
NRIs follow their own religions - mostly Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam. This means not only taking part in religious practices but also taking part in most social interactions -- that happens entirely with their own community. Thus they have little time or opportunity to move into or with the mainstream. NRIs have been accused of 'keeping aloof' in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East - not just in developed countries. But in the West, the younger generation that has grown up with the majority of the population makes friends easily, mixes with them and even marries them.
The US and many other developed countries have similar tests before granting citizenship but there are no such tests for NRIs in the Middle East, Africa and other countries.
Now - after the terror attacks - Britain has woken up to put into place some measures to integrate immigrants after allowing them in without any language test for over half a century. This has resulted in both educated and uneducated men and women from the subcontinent arriving in Britain without speaking English - and they immediately went to live in areas with a majority of their communities and never bothered to learn the language properly or make an effort to know about how most British people lived.
Now the newcomers will have to answer 24 multiple-choice questions and get at least 18 right. More than 180,000 people each year seek to settle in Britain, and they must pass this test. They can sit the test as many times as they need to - but for a fee. People over 65 will be exempt, and those with poor English can take a 'skills for life' and language course rather than taking the test.
A booklet 'Life in the UK' covers the material of the test but doubts have been raised if many - if not most - Britons can pass such a test. For example, why did large numbers of Jewish people come to Britain during 1880-1910? When did women first get the vote? How long was Britain at war during the Second World War? The answers are: To escape violence they faced at home, 1918, and six years. Then there are lifestyle questions like what would you do if you spill someone's pint of beer in the pub? Answer: Saying 'Sorry' is not enough; buy him/her another pint.
The US prides itself as 'a melting pot' of peoples and cultures while Britain promotes it 'multi-culturalism'. But the European nations have no such phrase to describe their immigrant peoples. So how about the label 'coconut'?
(A media consultant to a UN Agency, Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi and can be contacted at: kulbhushan2038@gmail.com)
NRIs settled in Britain are sometimes called 'Coconuts' by some of their own social commentators. Brown from outside, 'Coconuts' are Indians who are white inside thus implying their 'Britishness' in their language, habits and thinking. Of course, tag is open to a lot of criticism but it does make a point: 'Coconuts' are Indians who have adopted the British way of life all the way and have joined the mainstream of their country's flow.
Most younger generations of NRIs were born in Britain or in other countries, educated and started to work there and so are totally 'British', American or like their compatriots where they live - in their speech, accent, dress, manners and behaviour. Some do stand out due to their religious symbols such as the turban, a beard or the veil. A full-scale controversy on Muslim women wearing a veil in public and at work has generated a stormy debate and court cases. Now Britain wants all newcomers who want to live in Britain to take a 'Britishness' test from next April.
UK Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: 'It is essential that migrants wishing to live in the UK permanently recognise that there are responsibilities that go with this. Having a good rasp of English is essential in order for them to play a full role in society and properly integrate into our communities.'
The decision came after the Home Office published research by the Centre for Migration Policy and Society at Oxford showing that the degree of public anxiety over immigration is closely linked to jobs and incomes rather than colour. When jobs are scarce, then the poor black and white groups resent newcomers. So it's not about colour but money.
NRIs in Britain have opposed this test but the British government now insists on it. It boils down melting with the majority of the population.
'The British ruled India for 200 years, did they learn Hindustani after they landed here?' argues Avinash Kaushik, who has lived abroad for over 45 years. 'Even without knowing English language or learning about Britishness, NRIs in Britain have worked hard, paid their taxes and contributed to the economy. So what is the need for this test?'
NRIs follow their own religions - mostly Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam. This means not only taking part in religious practices but also taking part in most social interactions -- that happens entirely with their own community. Thus they have little time or opportunity to move into or with the mainstream. NRIs have been accused of 'keeping aloof' in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East - not just in developed countries. But in the West, the younger generation that has grown up with the majority of the population makes friends easily, mixes with them and even marries them.
The US and many other developed countries have similar tests before granting citizenship but there are no such tests for NRIs in the Middle East, Africa and other countries.
Now - after the terror attacks - Britain has woken up to put into place some measures to integrate immigrants after allowing them in without any language test for over half a century. This has resulted in both educated and uneducated men and women from the subcontinent arriving in Britain without speaking English - and they immediately went to live in areas with a majority of their communities and never bothered to learn the language properly or make an effort to know about how most British people lived.
Now the newcomers will have to answer 24 multiple-choice questions and get at least 18 right. More than 180,000 people each year seek to settle in Britain, and they must pass this test. They can sit the test as many times as they need to - but for a fee. People over 65 will be exempt, and those with poor English can take a 'skills for life' and language course rather than taking the test.
A booklet 'Life in the UK' covers the material of the test but doubts have been raised if many - if not most - Britons can pass such a test. For example, why did large numbers of Jewish people come to Britain during 1880-1910? When did women first get the vote? How long was Britain at war during the Second World War? The answers are: To escape violence they faced at home, 1918, and six years. Then there are lifestyle questions like what would you do if you spill someone's pint of beer in the pub? Answer: Saying 'Sorry' is not enough; buy him/her another pint.
The US prides itself as 'a melting pot' of peoples and cultures while Britain promotes it 'multi-culturalism'. But the European nations have no such phrase to describe their immigrant peoples. So how about the label 'coconut'?
(A media consultant to a UN Agency, Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi and can be contacted at: kulbhushan2038@gmail.com)
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
NRI remittance to India was $20 billion from Arabian Gulf Countries
- India recieved $23 billion remittance during 2005-06 from NRIS
- Non Gulf NRIs contributed only $ 3 billion
- A whopping amount of $ 20 billion was from Arabian Gulf
- Kerala recieved the huge portion
- FDIS from GCC exceeded $ 2 billion this year
- India calls for more Arab investment
New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS) India Monday reiterated its solidarity with the Arab world, home to over a four million strong Indian diaspora, and called for converting longstanding historical and civilizational ties into a vibrant economic partnership.
'We should use attitudinal ties between people to enhance trade linkages between India and the Arab world. Oil-exporting countries of the Arab world, in particular, should increase investment in India,' Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in his inaugural address at an international conference at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre on promoting India-Arab economic relations.
The two-day conference, which is being attended by ministers, diplomats, academics, business and opinion leaders from India and Arab countries, has been organised by the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum and the Institute of Objective Studies.
Underlining India's centuries old multi-faceted ties with the Arab world, Chidambaram spoke about geographical proximity, long-standing cultural and trading ties and 'unbroken relation of cordiality' between the two sides.
He, however, rued that the foreign investment from Arab countries in India are much below potential. Even rich Arab countries are not investing in India enough, he said.
To further accelerate bilateral trade and investment, the minister said that India will be signing bilateral investment protection agreement with more Arab countries and discussions are already going on for negotiating a free trade area (FTA) between the two sides.
Calling Indian workers in the Gulf countries 'an investment of human capital in the Arab world,' Chidambaram said remittances from Indians working in these countries worked out to a whopping $20 billion. In the first quarter of this year alone, remittances have exceeded $6 billion, he said.
Bilateral trade between India and the Arab world has been growing steadily and will scale new heights in the future, he said. FDI from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has exceeded $2 billion this year.
Besides the continuing cooperation in energy sector, the Arab countries supply nearly 30 per cent of India's crude oil needs, IT, infrastructure, biotechnology, nanotechnolgy, and financial services are key future areas of bilateral cooperation between India and the Arab world.
Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, lauded the rise of India on the global stage and praised the strong fundamentals of India's economy as exhibited in its high economic growth and its increasing attractiveness as a hub of investment for the world.
Alluding to Indian Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen's concept of 'development is freedom,' Ibrahim, who was the guest speaker, said that the Arab countries should take a 'closer look' at India and called for balancing economic growth with a more humane social order.
'In India and the Arab world, we have to maximise the opportunities that globalisation is creating to ensure that there is inclusive and all-round growth in our regions,' said Mohammad Manzoor Alam, president of Indo-Aran Economic Cooperation Forum.
India received the highest inbound remittance estimated at $23 billion in 2005-06, while China received $21 billion. In 2004-05, China received $20 billion and India received $18 billion.
Interestingly, India received the highest inbound remittances with only 22 million non-resident Indians, while there are about 40 million Chinese residing outside China. Western Union managing director (South Asia) Anil Kapur said this was primarily due to the social and family structure in India.
Interestingly, India received the highest inbound remittances with only 22 million non-resident Indians, while there are about 40 million Chinese residing outside China. Kapur said this was primarily due to the social and family structure in India.
“The number of Indians going abroad is increasing every year and the money coming into the country in the form of remittances is also swelling,” MoneyGram International country manager Harsh Lambah said, adding the industry is all set to witness further growth. As per an estimate, about half a million Indians migrate annually.
Kapur also said this industry needs to be more organised as it would directly add to the foreign exchange kitty. Remittances are high in all the southern states, apart from a few in the north like Punjab.
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Indians want to go to US and England : VS Naipaul
Indo-Asian News Service
Brussels, November 8, 2006
Nobel laureate VS Naipaul believes that India is heading for a cultural clash between the city-dwellers and the village population.
People in cities are turning their backs to Indian civilisation. They want green cards. They want to migrate. They want to go to England. They want to go to the US, Naipaul told media persons at the Centre For Fine Arts, Bozar, here.
"There is a fracture at this moment of great hope for India. A fracture in the country itself. It is possibly quite dangerous at the moment," and added that the consequences "could be a very radical kind of revolution - village against city".
However, at the same time, Naipaul said that India "is a very dynamic, moving culture."
Naipaul aired similar views during the reading and interview session for the general public as part of the ongoing India Festival at the Bozar Saturday evening.
During the press meeting, Naipaul held forth on various issues, reports INEP agency.
"There is no tradition of reading in India. There is no tradition of contemporary literature," he claimed. It was only in Bengal that there was a kind of renaissance and a literary culture, he said and added: "But in the rest of India until quite recently people had no idea what books were for."
Reading in India, he claimed, was limited to books on wise sayings.
According to him,
"Indians have no regard for museums"
He recalled that Rabindranath Tagore's house and university has been pillaged.
"They stole even his Nobel medal", he said.
"The idea of a museum is a Western idea. It's not an Indian idea. The idea is that these things are old, they are finished."
Naipaul asserted that at the end the British rule in India was "very good."
"They gave a lot back to India. All the institutions that now work in India were given by the British. So the British period was not that bad."
He dismissed Mahatma Gandhi's book "Indian home rule" published in 1909 as an "absurdity." He said:
"Its an absurdity. He knows nothing. He said he wrote it in two weeks. He is against everything that is modern in 1909."
Denouncing multiculturalism as a bad, destructive idea, he said: "Multiculturalism is a very much left-wing idea that gained currency about 20 years ago. It's very destructive about the people it is meant to defend."
He cited the example of Britain where he said there was a large immigrant population, "many of them bending the laws to be able to stay in England."
"They wish to do that but at the same time they don't wish to enter the culture. I think that is parasitic and awful."
He defended the caste system in India, arguing that "caste is a great internal series of friendly societies and in bad times it kept the country going. But people don't understand this. It has to be rethought and a new way of looking at it.
"In India it is having trouble at the moment because it rules politics. Foolish people think that the upper castes are oppressing the lower caste. It is the other way," he said noting that lower castes have reserved seats in education and employment.
Asked if he felt like a European, he replied: "No, not at all. One doesn't have to be one thing or the other. One can be many things at the same time."
Could he live in India?
Naipaul paused for a moment, but his wife Nadira replied:
"Yes, quite happily, if we didn't have a cat. Our cat is an English cat. It is hard for it to live in India, but we can."
Naipaul added: "If you would have asked me this question fifty years ago, I had to say 'out of the question' It would have been impossible. So things are moving and changing all the time."
Brussels, November 8, 2006
Nobel laureate VS Naipaul believes that India is heading for a cultural clash between the city-dwellers and the village population.
People in cities are turning their backs to Indian civilisation. They want green cards. They want to migrate. They want to go to England. They want to go to the US, Naipaul told media persons at the Centre For Fine Arts, Bozar, here.
"There is a fracture at this moment of great hope for India. A fracture in the country itself. It is possibly quite dangerous at the moment," and added that the consequences "could be a very radical kind of revolution - village against city".
However, at the same time, Naipaul said that India "is a very dynamic, moving culture."
Naipaul aired similar views during the reading and interview session for the general public as part of the ongoing India Festival at the Bozar Saturday evening.
During the press meeting, Naipaul held forth on various issues, reports INEP agency.
"There is no tradition of reading in India. There is no tradition of contemporary literature," he claimed. It was only in Bengal that there was a kind of renaissance and a literary culture, he said and added: "But in the rest of India until quite recently people had no idea what books were for."
Reading in India, he claimed, was limited to books on wise sayings.
According to him,
"Indians have no regard for museums"
He recalled that Rabindranath Tagore's house and university has been pillaged.
"They stole even his Nobel medal", he said.
"The idea of a museum is a Western idea. It's not an Indian idea. The idea is that these things are old, they are finished."
Naipaul asserted that at the end the British rule in India was "very good."
"They gave a lot back to India. All the institutions that now work in India were given by the British. So the British period was not that bad."
He dismissed Mahatma Gandhi's book "Indian home rule" published in 1909 as an "absurdity." He said:
"Its an absurdity. He knows nothing. He said he wrote it in two weeks. He is against everything that is modern in 1909."
Denouncing multiculturalism as a bad, destructive idea, he said: "Multiculturalism is a very much left-wing idea that gained currency about 20 years ago. It's very destructive about the people it is meant to defend."
He cited the example of Britain where he said there was a large immigrant population, "many of them bending the laws to be able to stay in England."
"They wish to do that but at the same time they don't wish to enter the culture. I think that is parasitic and awful."
He defended the caste system in India, arguing that "caste is a great internal series of friendly societies and in bad times it kept the country going. But people don't understand this. It has to be rethought and a new way of looking at it.
"In India it is having trouble at the moment because it rules politics. Foolish people think that the upper castes are oppressing the lower caste. It is the other way," he said noting that lower castes have reserved seats in education and employment.
Asked if he felt like a European, he replied: "No, not at all. One doesn't have to be one thing or the other. One can be many things at the same time."
Could he live in India?
Naipaul paused for a moment, but his wife Nadira replied:
"Yes, quite happily, if we didn't have a cat. Our cat is an English cat. It is hard for it to live in India, but we can."
Naipaul added: "If you would have asked me this question fifty years ago, I had to say 'out of the question' It would have been impossible. So things are moving and changing all the time."
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Indo-Canadian Sikh activist appointed citizenship judge
3 Nov, 2006 IANS
TORONTO: An Indo-Canadian has been appointed as a citizenship judge by the Canadian government.
Raminder Singh Gill, a politician and former member of Ontario's provincial parliament, is among the four citizenship judges appointed by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Monte Solberg, according to a press release.
There are 15 citizenship judges across Canada who process about 150,000 applications for citizenship each year. Gill is the only Indo-Canadian among them and the first in Ontario.
Gill is an active member of the University of Toronto chemical engineering faculty advisory board and works as an international consultant.
Born in Punjab, Gill was educated at the University of Toronto and holds a master's degree in engineering. As a chemical engineer, he has held top positions in several multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Gill is also an active spokesperson and volunteer for the Canadian Sikh community.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Indian community burgeoning in America
By ERIN TEXEIRA AP National Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
EDISON, N.J. — The train station billboards tell it all.
Local travel agents promise the best airfares from New York to Mumbai. Shagun Fashions is selling dazzling Indian saris. And DirecTV offers "the six top Indian channels direct to you."
Roughly every third person who lives Edison, a New York suburb, is of Asian Indian ancestry. Many are new immigrants who have come to work as physicians, engineers and high-tech experts and are drawn to "Little India" by convenience _ it's near the commuter train _ and familiarity.
Here they can "get their groceries and goods from home," says Aruna Rao, a mental health counselor who lives in town.
Although a steady stream of Indians have settled in the U.S. since the 1960s, immigrants positively poured into the country between 2000 and 2005 _ arriving at a higher rate than any other group.
Not only is the Indian community burgeoning, it's maturing. Increasingly, after decades of quietly establishing themselves, Indians are becoming more vocal in the American conversation _ about politics, ethnicity and many other topics.
"I've been studying the community for 20 years and in the last four or five years something different has been happening," said Madhulika Khandelwal, president of the Asian American Center at Queens College in New York. "Indian-Americans are finally out there speaking for themselves."
Roughly 2.3 million people of Indian ancestry, including immigrants and the American-born, now call the U.S. home, according to 2005 Census data. That's up from 1.7 million in 2000.
They have big communities in New Jersey, New York, California and Texas, and their average yearly household income is more than $60,000 _ 35 percent higher than the nation overall. Indian Americans, sent about $3 billion back to India in 2005, World Bank data show.
And so when Virginia Sen. George Allen was caught on video in August calling an Indian American man "macaca" _ a type of monkey and an offensive term _ the community quickly responded.
Within days after the reports emerged, Sanjay Puri, founder of the U.S. Indian Political Action Committee, and other Indian leaders in the Washington, D.C., area requested and got a lengthy meeting with Allen, Puri said. The senator publicly apologized.
If this had happened 10 years ago?
"It would have been a lot harder," Puri said. "But this is a prosperous and fast-growing community. People are beginning to understand that we are contributing politically, so that made a big difference."
Many Indian immigrants arrived in the U.S. focused almost entirely on individual success _ getting a top-notch job, making good money and pushing their children to do the same.
But things are changing. After the Sept. 11 attacks, many Indian Sikhs, who wear turbans as part of their faith, were mistaken for Muslims _ and terrorists. Hundreds were harassed or worse: In Mesa, Ariz., a Sikh gas station owner was shot and killed on Sept. 15, 2001, by a man who told police "all Arabs had to be shot."
Few knew their rights because few had been engaged politically, said Amardeep Singh, executive director of The Sikh Coalition in New York.
"We were caught with our pants down," he said. "Sept. 11 created a confrontation. We realized we now need to actively involve ourselves in the policy-making process. Otherwise policies will be made that exclude us."
The group now has two bills pending in the New York city council _ one would allow city employees to wear turbans and the other would make city officials craft plans to prevent hate crimes if another terrorist attack happened. The community recently saw three Sikhs elected to low-level offices around the city. "It's a good first step," Singh said.
The push extends beyond Sikhs, Puri said.
"The question that every Indian-American is asking lately: Is the American dream _ making a lot of money and having fancy cars _ enough?" he said. "Giving back and being active is also happening."
In New Jersey, Ready to Run, a Rutgers University-based project that helps women seek public office, will next year for the first time court Asian women, said Reema Desai, an immigration lawyer who is helping organize the outreach.
Indians also are working outside politics to influence broader society. They are overrepresented among college professors, engineers and technology workers. Between 10 percent and 12 percent of all medical school students are Indians, according to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, the biggest physicians' group in the nation after the American Medical Association.
Half of all motel rooms in the nation are owned by Indians, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.
In New York City, Basement Banghra, a popular Indian music event that blends hip-hop rhythms with Indian melodies, attracts hundreds of partygoers to Sounds of Brazil nightclub each month. It will mark its 10th anniversary next year.
There are novelists, including Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri of Brooklyn; filmmakers like Mira Nair, whose "The Namesake," based on Lahiri's novel and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is due in theaters next spring; and prime-time television stars such as Parminder Nagra on "E.R." and Naveen Andrews on "Lost."
"Many of these things are converging around the same time, so it all adds up," Khandelwal said. "It seems like every other day there's a big book or movie or high-profile accomplishment."
Increasingly, American-born Indians _ who call themselves Desis _ have the confidence to make their voices heard. "There is a clear rise of this generation," she said.
With rapid growth, the community is becoming more complex.
Layered atop the dizzying diversity of India itself _ there are dozens of languages, and distinct regional differences in culture, politics and cuisine _ are growing class differences among Indian-Americans.
About one-tenth live in poverty, and as many as 400,000 are undocumented, said Deepa Iyer, executive director of South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow in Takoma Park, Md.
"This is a community of contrasts," Iyer said. "We hear so much about this highly educated and affluent group, but we also have segments that are not fluent in English and are battling immigration problems and hate crimes."
Such topics are often discussed in New Jersey, home to 170,000 Asian Indians as of Census 2000. Many have fresh memories of gangs of anti-Indian white youth in the late 1980s in Jersey City _ then the nexus of the state's Indian community _ who called themselves Dotbusters, referring to the decorative bindi some Hindi women wear between their eyebrows. In 1987, a finance manager was beaten to death with a baseball bat while his attackers shouted "Hindu! Hindu!"
Such crimes have diminished, but they never disappeared, said Singh of The Sikh Coalition. Last year, he said, two Sikh youth suffered violent harassment in New Jersey public schools.
In Edison in recent years, there's been low-grade tension between Indians and police, residents said, and it erupted during this year's July 4 celebrations. Police were called to a heavily Indian apartment complex to disperse a crowd of nearly 800, and one Indian man said he was beaten by police, said Jerry Barca, spokesman for Edison's mayor.
When the community held a protest the next month, the man was arrested on the spot for being an illegal immigrant. He remains in federal custody.
"There's definitely tension and suspicion," said Rao, who has lived in Edison for seven years and said the problems have left some Indians disillusioned. "People feel like, 'What am I doing in this country?' A lot of it is, 'I told you so. We'll never be accepted or assimilated.'" She added that there are no Indians on Edison's school board or city council.
City officials called on state mediators to help build bridges in the community, and the advisory body includes two Indian-Americans, Barca said. "It's going to take time, but it's good because now people in Edison are talking _ as opposed to `you live over there and we live over here,'" he said.
Desai, the immigration lawyer, has lived in New Jersey since she was 3, and said she sees many signs of positive change compared to a generation ago.
"We've made an impact in all sorts of things, and now you even have people knowing about our holidays and our culture," she said. "Things are different now. We're more visible."
Monday, July 3, 2006
Misuse and mockery of Indian Law and Judicial system using 498A against NRIs
If you are an NRI and wish to visit your friends or relatives in India, read the following article by G. Lalwani.
Indian Police and Judiciary are united to protect the corrupt practices in the system. Remember that India's subordinate courts have a backlog of over 22 million cases while the 21 high courts and the Supreme Court have 3.5 million and 32,000 pending cases (2006) There were only 13 judges for every million people!
Sunday, 02 July 2006
There are hundreds of victims of blackmail and extortion, involving NRI's and Indian diaspora in the criminal cases registered in India, without any punishment to the blackmailer.
NRI's and Indian Diaspora families are separated from their near and dear ones in India. They can not invest in India even if they want to invest in big way.
They have been prevented to visit India even for social or religious purposes for years till false cases are ended or fear of arrest without bail and jailed without committing any offence or breaking the laws of land.
Abuse of anti-dowry laws has become serious enough that the United States Department of State has published the following travel warning on its Web site, http://travel.state.gov, about "Dowry/Visa Demands" for travellers to India.
Angela Aggeler, a spokesperson for the State Department in Washington, D.C., says that "American citizens are often extremely desirable" to Indian families with marriageable daughters.Aggeler, who has lived in India, says she empathises with citizens in this predicament. "I know how complicated the law is in India," she says. Aggeler says the State Department decided to publish the travel warning after receiving information from the three U.S. embassies in India as well as from local law enforcement agencies and global agencies such as Interpol
In this case; a false Criminal Complaint was registered in India against entire US Citizens family under section 498A with the collusion and connivance of the police and law enforcing machinery.
She did not disclose in the F.I.R " that the Divorce proceedings were going on against her in US court and she had filed her response in September 2002 asking for Rs. one crore as alimony alternatively restoration of conjugal rights.
Complainant had also sought assistance of "abused women's" organisation in US in her divorce matter, but the organisation's lawyer withdrew as soon as it became clear that her case was based on Blackmail and Extortion.
She has not made any allegations ( such as made in the police complaint in India ) to the US women's organisation' or US police.This is clear evidence of manipulation, misuse and naked abuse of Indian Legal and Judicial System by the unscrupulous woman in collusion with corrupt Indian Law enforcing machinery for Extortion.
Matter is legally very simple, that the marriage was solemnised in US. They lived in US after marriage and never visited India together.The divorce was also decided according to US laws by US Court. The Indian Courts have no Jurisdiction at all is clear.
The criminal proceedings have been launched under Indian Dowry Prohibition Act, and section 498A under which the competent authority to deal with such matters is designated as "Cruelty Against Women's" Cells.Even Commissioner of Police has no authority to deal with these complaints directly."CAW" Cells have to look into the complaints and thoroughlyinvestigate and justify the prosecution of accused. "CAW" Cells after full Investigation have to hand over the case to police for the prosecution.In Mumbai, the "Maharashtra Commission for Women" (MCW) is the designated competent authority.
The Officers designated to investigate the allegations before recommending prosecution by police must not be below the r ank of deputy superintendent of police.In this matter the assistant police Inspector has abused, over-riding all the legal authorities, designated by the legislation and registered the criminal case and launched prosecution with connivance and collusion of Indian Judicial Machinery
The marriage and the divorce including the allegations in this matter are subject to US legal Jurisdiction. Nothing in this matter happened within the Jurisdiction and territory in India.
The Courts in India have no jurisdiction at all to proceed and prosecute foreign national for the offences allegedly committed by him in his own country. Indian courts are not the International Court of Justice. The conduct of law enforcing machinery in India, in this matter is most irresponsible and undesirable.
The residential property used as vacation home in India was searched without obtaining necessary search warrants from higher authorities or informing to local police jurisdiction by the said assistant Inspector of police.
Under Article 226 of Constitution of India, the Prosecution has no Jurisdiction to even investigate the alleged offences even if TRUE.
Under section 177 of criminal procedure code 1973 of India; ,No part of cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of the court where the complaint was filed and Non-bailable arrest warrants were obtained against entire family of US citizens without any investigation or evidence and arrest warrants executed.The entire proceedings have no foundation, and this is the question of law regarding lack of Jurisdiction.
Section 188 states that courts in India can not take cognisance of any offence against foreign national without "Previous approval of central government ministry of External Affairs".
There is also no evidence that any attempt is made to obtain approval or any attempt was made, to inform to higher authorities, so far as required by law. Even higher authorities in police department of government of Maharashtra were not informed about arrest of foreign nationals.
Under Section 406 of Indian Penal Code 1860 the alleged acts which took place beyond the territory of India, even if assumed to be correct does not make out the case to proceed against the accused. An FIR can only be filed in the court of concerned area to who's jurisdiction the offence has occurred.
Under Section 482 of India's Criminal Procedure Code 1973, the courts in India has no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint even if allegation there in are accepted in Toto.
Domicile is the key to matrimonial proceedings.This was held by the bench of Bombay High Court, comprising Justices S.B. Mhase and Dilip Bhosle. They held that, "Domicile is essential condition for both the bride and groom were domiciled in India at the time of their marriage being solemnised in India" They also held that, 'Even if one of the spouse is not domiciled in India at the time of alleged marriage even if assumed that marriage took place in India, the proceedings in India are bad in Law.
The obligations under Article 36 of Vienna consular Convention Treaty of which India is signatory were also not honoured after arrest and confiscation of passports of foreign nationals by the Mumbai police authorities.
None of the offences shown in the FIR registered by Indian Police were committed within the jurisdiction of the said Police Station. The FIR clearly indicates that the alleged offences took place in New York USA. The FIR does not disclose Prima-Facie offence taking place within ,the jurisdiction of India.
The case registered by the Assistant Police Inspector is a criminal conspiracy ,criminal intimidation and framing of incorrect records and writings by Public Servant. This offence is punishable under section 218, 506, 167 and 120 B Indian Penal Code.
The complainant is also liable to be prosecuted and punished under Sections 177,181, 182,191,193,195,200,211,383, 385,500 504 and 506, for filing false and fraudulent complaint for Blackmail and Extortion.
The Indian Passport in the hands of such Dangerous manipulator who dares to fool the law and Law Enforcing Machinery need to be withdrawn, Ministry of Home Affairs.
The passport need to be impounded or revoked for the offences involving MORAL TURPITUDE under section 10 (3) (c) (d).(e) (h). of Passport Act.
Misuse and Mockery of Indian law and Judiciary must be stopped and Blackmailers punished.
Regards
Gope Lalwani
gopelalwani@yahoo.co.in
Indian Police and Judiciary are united to protect the corrupt practices in the system. Remember that India's subordinate courts have a backlog of over 22 million cases while the 21 high courts and the Supreme Court have 3.5 million and 32,000 pending cases (2006) There were only 13 judges for every million people!
Sunday, 02 July 2006
There are hundreds of victims of blackmail and extortion, involving NRI's and Indian diaspora in the criminal cases registered in India, without any punishment to the blackmailer.
NRI's and Indian Diaspora families are separated from their near and dear ones in India. They can not invest in India even if they want to invest in big way.
They have been prevented to visit India even for social or religious purposes for years till false cases are ended or fear of arrest without bail and jailed without committing any offence or breaking the laws of land.
Abuse of anti-dowry laws has become serious enough that the United States Department of State has published the following travel warning on its Web site, http://travel.state.gov, about "Dowry/Visa Demands" for travellers to India.
Angela Aggeler, a spokesperson for the State Department in Washington, D.C., says that "American citizens are often extremely desirable" to Indian families with marriageable daughters.Aggeler, who has lived in India, says she empathises with citizens in this predicament. "I know how complicated the law is in India," she says. Aggeler says the State Department decided to publish the travel warning after receiving information from the three U.S. embassies in India as well as from local law enforcement agencies and global agencies such as Interpol
In this case; a false Criminal Complaint was registered in India against entire US Citizens family under section 498A with the collusion and connivance of the police and law enforcing machinery.
She did not disclose in the F.I.R " that the Divorce proceedings were going on against her in US court and she had filed her response in September 2002 asking for Rs. one crore as alimony alternatively restoration of conjugal rights.
Complainant had also sought assistance of "abused women's" organisation in US in her divorce matter, but the organisation's lawyer withdrew as soon as it became clear that her case was based on Blackmail and Extortion.
She has not made any allegations ( such as made in the police complaint in India ) to the US women's organisation' or US police.This is clear evidence of manipulation, misuse and naked abuse of Indian Legal and Judicial System by the unscrupulous woman in collusion with corrupt Indian Law enforcing machinery for Extortion.
Matter is legally very simple, that the marriage was solemnised in US. They lived in US after marriage and never visited India together.The divorce was also decided according to US laws by US Court. The Indian Courts have no Jurisdiction at all is clear.
The criminal proceedings have been launched under Indian Dowry Prohibition Act, and section 498A under which the competent authority to deal with such matters is designated as "Cruelty Against Women's" Cells.Even Commissioner of Police has no authority to deal with these complaints directly."CAW" Cells have to look into the complaints and thoroughlyinvestigate and justify the prosecution of accused. "CAW" Cells after full Investigation have to hand over the case to police for the prosecution.In Mumbai, the "Maharashtra Commission for Women" (MCW) is the designated competent authority.
The Officers designated to investigate the allegations before recommending prosecution by police must not be below the r ank of deputy superintendent of police.In this matter the assistant police Inspector has abused, over-riding all the legal authorities, designated by the legislation and registered the criminal case and launched prosecution with connivance and collusion of Indian Judicial Machinery
The marriage and the divorce including the allegations in this matter are subject to US legal Jurisdiction. Nothing in this matter happened within the Jurisdiction and territory in India.
The Courts in India have no jurisdiction at all to proceed and prosecute foreign national for the offences allegedly committed by him in his own country. Indian courts are not the International Court of Justice. The conduct of law enforcing machinery in India, in this matter is most irresponsible and undesirable.
The residential property used as vacation home in India was searched without obtaining necessary search warrants from higher authorities or informing to local police jurisdiction by the said assistant Inspector of police.
Under Article 226 of Constitution of India, the Prosecution has no Jurisdiction to even investigate the alleged offences even if TRUE.
Under section 177 of criminal procedure code 1973 of India; ,No part of cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of the court where the complaint was filed and Non-bailable arrest warrants were obtained against entire family of US citizens without any investigation or evidence and arrest warrants executed.The entire proceedings have no foundation, and this is the question of law regarding lack of Jurisdiction.
Section 188 states that courts in India can not take cognisance of any offence against foreign national without "Previous approval of central government ministry of External Affairs".
There is also no evidence that any attempt is made to obtain approval or any attempt was made, to inform to higher authorities, so far as required by law. Even higher authorities in police department of government of Maharashtra were not informed about arrest of foreign nationals.
Under Section 406 of Indian Penal Code 1860 the alleged acts which took place beyond the territory of India, even if assumed to be correct does not make out the case to proceed against the accused. An FIR can only be filed in the court of concerned area to who's jurisdiction the offence has occurred.
Under Section 482 of India's Criminal Procedure Code 1973, the courts in India has no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint even if allegation there in are accepted in Toto.
Domicile is the key to matrimonial proceedings.This was held by the bench of Bombay High Court, comprising Justices S.B. Mhase and Dilip Bhosle. They held that, "Domicile is essential condition for both the bride and groom were domiciled in India at the time of their marriage being solemnised in India" They also held that, 'Even if one of the spouse is not domiciled in India at the time of alleged marriage even if assumed that marriage took place in India, the proceedings in India are bad in Law.
The obligations under Article 36 of Vienna consular Convention Treaty of which India is signatory were also not honoured after arrest and confiscation of passports of foreign nationals by the Mumbai police authorities.
None of the offences shown in the FIR registered by Indian Police were committed within the jurisdiction of the said Police Station. The FIR clearly indicates that the alleged offences took place in New York USA. The FIR does not disclose Prima-Facie offence taking place within ,the jurisdiction of India.
The case registered by the Assistant Police Inspector is a criminal conspiracy ,criminal intimidation and framing of incorrect records and writings by Public Servant. This offence is punishable under section 218, 506, 167 and 120 B Indian Penal Code.
The complainant is also liable to be prosecuted and punished under Sections 177,181, 182,191,193,195,200,211,383, 385,500 504 and 506, for filing false and fraudulent complaint for Blackmail and Extortion.
The Indian Passport in the hands of such Dangerous manipulator who dares to fool the law and Law Enforcing Machinery need to be withdrawn, Ministry of Home Affairs.
The passport need to be impounded or revoked for the offences involving MORAL TURPITUDE under section 10 (3) (c) (d).(e) (h). of Passport Act.
Misuse and Mockery of Indian law and Judiciary must be stopped and Blackmailers punished.
Regards
Gope Lalwani
gopelalwani@yahoo.co.in
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Mr C.V. Devan Nair and the Malayalis
M.G.G. Pillai,
Sunday, 11 June 2006
CHENGARA VEETIL DEVAN NAIR, or C.V. Devan Nair, is dead. Not where he was born – in Malacca, Malaysia; not in the land of his adoption, Singapore whose president he became; but in exile in Canada, hounded to the end by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, then prime minister but now two steps higher as minister mentor, whose colleague he was and who had him elected as President. He was born in 1923, and died in December 2005. He was, of course, a Malayali, a clan Mr Lee was, and is, afraid of, and who gave him his biggest trouble in his march to be Prime lMinister. He regarded them more dangerous than snakes, and did not look upon them kindly. Mr Devan Nair was weaned into Mr Lee's People's Action Party, from the pro-communist Anti-British League, and later, so Mr Lee's supporters said, he sold his friends to be firmly entrenched with Mr Lee. Mr Nair never wrote his memoirs, so we will never know the truth of this. He was an active writer since 1954, but wrote less and less after he was removed as President in 1993. In 1999, he attracted a libel suit from Mr Lee for what he wrote in Canada, but which was thrown out after his counter-claim. He married a Tamil, who died before he did, had four sons and five daughters.
Why he resigned as President is shrouded in mystery. Mr Lee said he resigned to be treated for alcoholism. Mr Nair said he resigned because of political conflicts with Mr Lee, and asked to resign, failing which Mr Lee said he would be removed by a motion in parliament. Mr Nair said his bizarre behaviour was officially induced: he was given drugs that made him act irrationally. At the time of his resignation, he is said to have grabbed the breasts of a Sarawak state minister's wife, when he was on an official visit. The minister's wife later told me the incident was true, but anyone who would would have who otherwise would have fallen into the pool, and was shocked to find the incident treated as an indecent aberaration. Mr Lee wanted him out, and his reason was as good as any! No one questioned his version, or asked Mr Nair for his. In Singapore. Then as today, what he says goes. Mr Lee, who is of the same age as Mr Nair, is minister mentor of Singapore, two steps higher than the Prime Minister. And so Mr Nair became a non-person. There was a humiliating condition to his pension, that he had to get a certificate from a competent authority that he was not an alcoholic before he got it. He rejected it, rightly. The only pension he got was from the Malaysian parliament, where was elected to in 1964, when Singapore was part of Malaysia. He remained in Malaysia after Singapore was ejected in 1965.
He was the son of I.V.K. Nair, from Palghat, who had come to Malaysia in 1910, and was brought to the then Federated Malay States. He appointed agents later in all districts. That is how Inspector P.C. Joseph. from Alwaye, and my father, from Thalavady, came to Malaysia. It was to Inspector Joseph's house in Johore Bahru I was taken after I was born at the General Hospital in Johore Bahru in 1939. James Puthucheary, who joined the Indian National Army in his twenties, was in detention with Mr Nair, when his father in 1956 died. He was among the small band of Malayalis who provided the PAP with the left intellectual framework, for which they were exiled in old age. Mr Puthucheary studied law, died a rich corporate lawyer in Malaysia, believed to the end he had failed. He said to me he would title his autobiography, which he never wrote mainly because of the stroke that ravaged his last days, "The Autobiography of a Failure." He was banned for almost 25 years from the island, lifted after his friend's wife died in Singapore, he wanted to attend the funeral, and just before he did. As an aside, I was put on restricted entry into Singapore in 1971, and permanently banned in 1991. But as I told an Italian journalist, who put the quote in his book, "I have already done my shopping."
But Singapore cannot escape from Malayalis. The republic has put a statue for a Nair, who came to Singapore in 1819 as cook to Sir Stamford Raffles, the island's 'founder'. The history of modern Singapore is peppered with Malayalis. Some were exiled to Kerala, whence they came, but many are in Singapore, out of politics, but gather whenever a like minded spirit passes away. Today, if the modern Indian plays a prominent role, he is usually not a Malayali. But it has to live with many whom it detained in the past. The PAP had all the seats in Parliament until 1981, when Mr Nair vacated his Anson seat to become president. His successor is Mr J.B. Jayeratnam, a lawyer who is facing bankruptcy by the PAP and is reduced these days to selling his law books to escape bankruptcy.
In Malaysia, those expelled from Singapore did provide the intellectual framework for much of its policies, although some had occasion to regret what they did. The former prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, in his eighties and had a heart attack around Christmas last year, is the grandson of a Malayali policeman from Travancore who became head of security to the sultan of Kedah. Many others though came here to earn a living, fought for Indian independence, and returned to serve the Indian government on independence. Among those were N. Raghavan, a lawyer who became India's ambassador to Argentina. Dr N.K. Nair practiced medicine in Penang, fought for Indian independence, married a German, and remained in Malaysia. His son died as a UN representtive in Thailand. But they are a minority in Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, they are looked down upon officially. In Malaysia, they are look down upon by the Tamils, who represent the Indians in power. They cannot join the Malaysian Indian Congress, unless they forget Malayalam and adopt Tamil. But in either territory, they cannot be ignored. Once in a blue moon, someone like C.V. Devan Nair would arise to make their presence felt.
[This appeared in the inaugural edition this week of Thejas, a Malayalam daily in Calicut, Kerala]
http://www.mggpillai.com/article.php3?sid=2216
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Indian-origin woman is Opposition leader in Trinidad
Thursday, 27 April 2006
Port of Spain (Trinidad), April 26 (PTI): A woman of Indian origin has become the first woman Leader of Opposition in the Trinidad and Tobago parliament.
Kamla Persad Bissessar, a former Attorney General, was appointed Tuesday by the country's President George Maxwell Richards following incumbent Basdeo Panday's incarceration.
The President has also declared Panday's Couva North constituency seat vacant. According to the country's law, Panday automatically vacated his post after his conviction.
Meanwhile, his lawyers tried to get Panday released on bail, but the High Court has requested more documents and the hearing will now resume today.
Panday, a former Prime Minister and chairman of the Opposition United National Congress, was on Monday sentenced to six years in jail on three counts for failing to declare his assets in a London bank account.
He was ordered to serve two years in jail for each charge but the sentences will run concurrently, which means Panday will effectively serve two years in prison.
Panday will also be paying fines of USD 10,000 and has been asked to reimburse USD 250,000 to the state.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, said he was sorry to learn of the ruling against his predecessor, but asserted that it sent a clear warning to politicians that none of them were above the law.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
US Judge reimposes 97-month term on Lakireddy Bali Reddy
Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Reddy sought reduction of sentence for illegally bringing girls and women into U.S.
By Josh Richman, insidebayarea.com
OAKLAND — A federal judge resentenced a Berkeley businessman Monday to the 97-month prison term he had drawn in 2001 for bringing girls and women from India to the Bay Area for cheap labor and sexual favors.
Despite statements in court Monday from five of Lakireddy Bali Reddy's seven living victims that they supported an earlier release, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken said the two other victims' unrebutted testimony of extreme emotional distress from Reddy's crimes was sufficient basis for her to reimpose the sentence term.
Reddy, 69, is in the federal prison at Lompoc; his projected release date, unchanged by Monday's hearing, remains April 2, 2008.
He and his son, Vijay Lakireddy, first were indicted in 2000, accused of having had an Indian man pose as the father of two sisters to bring them into the country on fraudulent temporary work visas. The elder sister died in November 1999 of carbon monoxide poisoning after a heater in her Berkeley apartment malfunctioned.
Prosecutors said these girls and others brought here by similar means were used by Reddy as workers at his and his family's businesses, and for his own sexual gratification.
Reddy pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of importing minors for immoral sexual purposes and one count each of tax fraud and conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.
Defense attorneys Cristina Arguedas and Ted Cassman in recent years had convinced Wilken to reexamine his sentence — imposed by Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong, who since has recused herself from the case for unknown reasons — due to problems that came to light soon after his 2001 plea bargain. Several victims claimed Telegu-speaking interpreter Uma Rao of Berkeley had urged them to exaggerate or embellish their testimony, or had misrepresented their testimony in translation.
At issue was whether victims' statements to a probation officer for a preresentencing report were reliable and detailed enough. The defense argued for a maximum of 78 months.
"Judge Armstrong was reading lies" when she relied on the probation report to demand a tough sentence for Reddy, Arguedas said Monday, adding Rao's damage to the case "is something that affected everything that happened here. ... She should be prosecuted for what she did."
Eight victims figured in the case. One is the person who died in 1999; five of the others were in court to describe the case's impact on them. Some praised Reddy's role in bringing them to the United States and some actually urged his early release; none objected to reducing his sentence.
But Wilken said she was convinced to stick by the same 97-month term by the earlier testimony of two victims who've stuck by their original accounts, and who weren't present in court Monday. Reddy long since has paid the $2 million in restitution imposed with his original sentence.
Vijay Lakireddy pleaded guilty in 2002 to one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison, which he has served. Prasad Lakireddy pleaded guilty in 2003 to one count of conspiracy to employ unauthorized aliens and was sentenced to one year of home detention, a $20,000 fine and 300 hours of community service.
Reddy's brother and sister-in-law, Jayaprakash and Annapurna Lakireddy, each pleaded guilty to one count of immigration fraud in 2001; he was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison and was released last June, while she served six months of home detention and paid a $2,000 fine. Venkateswara Vemireddy, who'd posed as the girls' father, was given probation and deported to India.
Judgements can be read from
http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/media/lbreddy.html
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
S African Indian minister resigns after sex scandal
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
DURBAN: South African Indian provincial government minister Narend Singh, who led several initiatives to improve ties with India, has resigned after newspapers splashed pictures of him in a sex romp at a hotel with the wife of a prominent local businessman.
A steamy DVD of a tryst between Singh and Roseanne Narandas, a boutique owner and wife of well-known jeweller Bob Narandas, has been circulating for weeks now.
Earlier this week, Singh was adamant that it was a personal matter and that he would not step down as minister of arts, culture and tourism in KwaZulu-Natal province, where he has also served a term as education minister.
But late Tuesday Singh announced his departure from politics at a tearful meeting at his palatial home south of here, in what was also a show of support from his wife of 30 years, Manitha, daughter Keshika Singh, son-in-law Raveen Behari and son Shikar.
Although the provincial premier, S'bu Ndebele, had given Singh 10 days leave of absence while police investigate the motives behind the distribution of the DVD at schools and in private home post boxes, Singh announced his resignation but said he would remain a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) led by Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Singh said he found it "sad" that such a personal and private thing had become a "part of the public domain, in a way that is highly destructive and embarrassing".
Singh said he had resigned because of the huge strain on his family, which he said had been totally supportive.
"While serving the community is close to my heart, I am not prepared to sacrifice the pride and dignity of my family at the altar of blackmail and political backstabbing," Singh said.
Police are investigating alleged blackmail attempts after Singh was told that the DVD would be distributed publicly if he did not withdraw from a provincial and local government election that was held across South Africa March 1 this year.
Singh, who has visited India a number of times, has always been a firm supporter of mutual cooperation between the two countries. A devout Hindu, Singh has also visited a number of Hindu shrines in India, and said he had received support from the head of the Divine Life Society in South Africa, Swami Sahajananda, during his crisis
Roseanne Narandas earlier rejected suggestions that she may have been instrumental in orchestrating the DVD after the national weekly Sunday Times printed extracts from the DVD with a report that Narandas had allegedly steered Singh towards the hidden camera.
Narandas, who also claimed that her husband and family were supporting her, said she would not do anything deliberately that would embarrass her family, which is also a prominent one here.
Although Singh claimed he had been forced to resign because his private life had been made public, supporters of the Moral Regeneration Campaign in South Africa have welcomed his move, saying as a minister of state, he had a duty to set an example.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1459106.cms
http://www.thepost.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1&fArticleId=3168771
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Ethnic Indian Woman could be Malaysia's First Astronaut
Kuala Lumpur, Mar 15: An ethnic Indian woman was on Tuesday named among four candidates short listed to become Malaysia's first astronaut and travel to the International Space Station next year.
S Vanajah Siva Subramaniam, 35, will travel along with three Malay men to the Russian Space Agency in Moscow soon to undergo medical and technical tests that will establish which of them will take part in the scientific expedition on board the International Space Station in 2007.
The three men are Malaysia Airlines pilot Mohammed Faiz Kamaluddin, 34; army dentist Faiz Khaleed, 26; and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a 34-year-old hospital medical officer.
The four were chosen from more than 11,000 candidates who had submitted their applications in a process that started in 2003.
Vanajah is an engineer by profession. She was the only woman to be short-listed. All the three men are from the dominant Malay community, while Vanajah belongs to the ethnic Indian community, which comprises 8 per cent of Malaysia’s 26-million-strong population.
The two-week round in Russia will test the candidates neurological fitness and ability to adapt to a weightless environment. Two candidates will be chosen out of the three and the two will undergo 18 months of training at the Russian Space Agency.
Later only one will get to spend 10 days in a planned scientific expedition aboard the International Space Station in October 2007.
Malaysia’s space programme is likely to cost around 25 million dollars.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
British grooms fly out with dowry, but without the bride
Monday, 13 March 2006
The Times
NEW DELHI: Hundreds of British Asian men have been accused of abandoning new brides in India after securing lucrative dowry payments.
Police in India are investigating more than a thousand allegations from young women who claim that they have been lured into arranged marriages with the promise of a new life in Britain. Once dowries of up to £9,000 have been paid, the men abandon them, it is claimed.
The men, in some instances, return to India to marry a number of times, but the women’s lives are left in ruins in a society where divorce is still frowned upon.
“It’s a common sight: young girls with their parents, clutching their marriage papers and weeping. We have thousands of abandoned wives,” Parminder Kaur, chairwoman of the National Commission for Women in the Punjab, said.
Poorva Sharma, 24, from the village of Surajpur, Punjab, believed that her parents had found her a perfect partner in Rakesh Gupta, 35, a businessman from Coventry. They married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in India in July 2002 and lived together in India for a fortnight before he returned to Britain.
According to Ms Sharma’s solicitor, her father paid £5,625 to Gupta as a dowry payment: the now illegal deal, still widely practised, whereby a groom is paid for entering a marriage. The family was later asked for more money, it was alleged.
Ms Sharma’s dreams were shattered when she applied for permission to join her husband in Coventry and the British High Commission refused, because it said that Gupta had already married other Indian women.
“They told me he had been married a number of times, and they were suspicious of why I would want to go out there. I felt like dying. My life had ended before it had begun,” Ms Sharma said.
It emerged that Gupta was unemployed and had previously married two other women in the Punjab, according to court documents. One of them, Vandana Gupta, allegedly married Mr Gupta in July 1995 in Ludhiana. She left him in January 1996 after her parents repeatedly received demands for a dowry payment, she said. After parting, she discovered that she was pregnant.
She said that her husband obtained an ex parte divorce without informing her and had failed to pay maintenance for their son.
Following a complaint from Sharma, Gupta was arrested in March 2003 for dowry harassment but left India before the case came to court. Police documents show that he is now a “proclaimed offender” in India after skipping bail.
Rajinder Singh Rathi, Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Punjab, said: “We hope to get him through Interpol.”
The Times tracked down Mr Gupta to a terraced house that he owns in Coventry. He said that he had married only once in India — to Ms Sharma — and that he had been subjected to threats and blackmail from her family. “She was not a good wife,” he said. He added that he had never married Ms Gupta.
Gupta appears to have failed to tell his solicitors that he was wanted by Indian police. When The Times sent the law firm Heer Manak a police document proving this, the senior partner, Kulwant Manak, said that he was surprised to see it.
Social workers who help the Punjab’s abandoned women said that grooms exploited the overpowering desire of some Indians to go abroad. Britain, Canada and America still hold an allure for some in India as countries where jobs and good salaries are guaranteed.
Punjab police said that there had been a 40 per cent rise in the number of fraudulent marriages in the past three years. The authorities have issued a booklet warning parents to check the background of prospective grooms abroad.
In some cases software engineers have turned out to be welders, while doctors were waiters, social workers said.
Satnam Chana, a social worker in Jalandhar, Punjab, said that parents were often too eager to marry off their daughters quickly. “We tell parents that we can ask people in the UK to check a groom’s background but we’ve had only two requests in two years. They just hope blindly that it will be all right,” she said.
The motivations of British Asian men vary. Most, according to the authorities, are hoping for dowry payments. Others, however, are second-generation British Asians forced into marriages in India by their parents.
Many of the rejected women, convinced that their lives are over, become suicidal. Left in limbo, in a society obsessed with marriage, they are neither married in the real sense nor free to remarry.
Legal action against missing British grooms is difficult. An Indian family court can send a summons to a British Asian man but it can easily be ignored.
The extradition treaty between Britain and India does not cover matrimonial crimes, according to legal experts. The British High Commission in Delhi said that officials were examining ways of closing this legal loophole. There is, at least, a growing awareness of the problem in India. Ms Sharma said that her sister married last month — to a local man. “I didn’t want her to suffer the way I have. I’m rotting here, with no future. I just want my husband to rot in jail too,” she said.
Friday, March 3, 2006
How much India is there in US?
Thursday, 02 March 2006
New Delhi, February 27: Home away from home, how much of India is there is the US? A survey of telephone directory of Plainfield area, which is roughly as small as a Taluka in India, found 780 Patels, 200 Shahs, 134 Singhs, 50 Guptas, and a large number of Sharma, Rao, Reddy, Joshi and Kulkarni.
Another survey of telephone directory of San Jose in California found 280 Patels, 159 Gupta's, 115 Rao, 100 Singh besides a large number of Joshi, Reddy, Agarwal, Patil....
What more, there are 28 Indian periodicals in USA in English, four in Gujarati, three in Hindi, an equal number of Punjabi and one Konkani. "This shows the high magnitude of Indian impact in USA," says a new book "how to see, know and understand America" by Dr A V Saoji, G D Munshi and Dr Sanjay V Deshpande.
"In the year 2002, of the entire total 1063732 immigrants to USA from all the countries, as many as 66864 were from India. According to the US census, the overall growth rate for Bharatians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 per cent. The average growth rate for the whole of USA was only 7.6 per cent," say the authors.
Indians comprise 16.4 per cent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in USA, Bharatians were 1007 thousands. Their percentage was 3.5 per cent," says the book.
"From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the percent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by more than 100 times. A vast majority of them are waiting for green card and could not get themselves included in the census.... If included the percentage would come to about five per cent," it says.
"Indian Americans are economically most successful group in the United States," writes Swati A Dandekar, said state representative in the state of Iowa.
The book, as the authors say, is a must for all those immigrating to the US. Besides giving geographical details of the country, it also gives tips to immigrants on obtaining visa, about the currency, stay and even places of visit. However, it notes that lack of mobility is the only troublesome factor for visitors to USA"... Public buses are few. There are no railway locals that can be compared to that of Mumbai. Taxis are there but not freely available on road. Parking is a problem beyond imagination."
"If you want to enjoy America, you must have four 'C' - car driving, computer, cell phone and credit card," it says. "It is better to undertake insurance cover in India, before starting the journey rather than having it after reaching," it advises.
On things peculiar to USA, it says "there are many things which are not odd, but still are peculiar to USA... The Americans don'T mix solids and liquids, so eating Dal with Roti or Dal with rice is not seen."
"There is no system of putting name plates on houses in America... So unless you know the number of house you want to visit, it is impossible to trace that house."
On odds in USA, it says "contract system of jobs, bankruptcy and liquidation." (about the book: How To See Know And Understand America: by Dr A V Saoji, G D Munshi and Dr Sanjay V Deshpande; published by Sukhad Publications; price Rs 150, pages 160)
Thursday, February 9, 2006
British Sikhs and Hindus seek open-air cremations
Thursday, 09 February 2006
LONDON - Britain’s Hindus and Sikhs want the right to stage open-air cremations on funeral pyres so their dead can take an unimpeded path to reincarnation. “Without these essential last rites, the soul languishes in restless torment,” said Davender Ghai of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, a charity that is seeking to overturn a 75-year-old ban.
They are offended by the use of gas-powered crematorium furnaces and fearful that the ashes could be inadvertently mixed with others. Arguing that the law unfairly penalises followers of both religions, the charity has asked permission from local authorities in the northern English city of Newcastle to cremate their dead in the open air.
If the council refuses, they plan to take their case to the High Court in London and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary. Up to 70 percent of people who die in Britain every year are cremated. Ghai said that at present many Hindus and Sikhs “take the ashes to the river Ganges because they think the last rites are not proper here because of gas-fuelled crematoriums.
“I am not blaming the funeral directors. They do their best but ashes should not be mixed,” he told Reuters. More than 550,000 Hindus and an estimated 320,000 Sikhs live in Britain where open-air cremations have been banned since 1930 amid environmental concerns over mercury emissions.
“This is the first time we have asked for anything. I am just praying and hoping,” Ghai said.
Andrew Bogan, legal adviser to the charity’s 2,000 members, said it was sad and poignant that having made their home in Britain, they should have to go continents away to find peace for their dead.
Explaining the sensitivities, he said: “Reincarnation is the fundamental tenet of the Hindu religion and the point of death and the ceremony and disposal to a large degree determines transmigration of the soul and its next embodiment. “Under no circumstances must there be any intermingling of the ashes. Modern crematoriums have up to 12 services a day so guaranteeing this is just not possible. For Hindus that is catastrophic.” A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said of the proposal: ”Until we have had time to examine the legal, environmental and financial implications involved, we are not in a position to comment.” But Bogan said he was he was confident of victory, concluding, “We are gathering signatures for a petition but we don’t want to bang the door down yet and start jumping on the desk.”
Friday, April 22, 2005
America, a choice for creative Indians : Dinesh Dsouza
Dinesh Dsouza, a US Thinker of Indian diaspora, , questions the reverse thinking habit of our Desi nationals:
"In general, America is the only country in the world that extends full membership to outsiders. The typical American could come to India,live for 40 years, and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see him that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."
"America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other country, including the countries of Europe. America is the only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only in America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer, become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for people to ascend from modest circumstances to success."
The Indian diaspora is today the third largest Asian community in the US, is upwardly mobile and is on its way to becoming a political force in that country.
Indian Americans totalled about 1.7 million in the US according to the 2000 census, their numbers having gone up by an incredible 106 percent since 1990. It grew at a rate of 7.6 percent annually in the last 10 years.
In the process, Indian Americans replaced Japanese Americans as the third largest Asian community in the US after the Chinese (2.7 million) and Filipinos (1.9).
The migration was fuelled by the technology boom in the 90s when Indian techies made their way to the US in large numbers. The number of H1-B visas issued to India jumped from 2,697 in 1990 to 15,228 in 1995 and to 55,047 in 2000.
The number of Indians getting Green Cards every year has also more than doubled since 1999 . And Green Cards are one step away from citizenship which gives full voting rights.
Indian Americans were much above the median on a score of indices. Sixty-four percent of them were college educated as against the national average of 27 percent. The average median family income for the Indian American community was estimated at $70,000, against the average family income of $50,000.
38 percent of all physicians in the US were of Indian origin, as were 10 percent of all medical practitioners.
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