Musician ShriLektric

NEW DELHI
(IANS) Britain-based Indian musician Shri, also known as ShriLektric, is coming here on a four-city tour, starting May 24.
The multi-intstrumentalist will perform in Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Pune.
“I am extremely excited to tour India as playing in front of a live audience gives me a high. I am sure we will rock each city,” Shri said in a statement.
Shri, who loves to play fusion with a battalion of loopers, effects and computers, will start his tour in Delhi, where he will collaborate with Gayatri Iyer (Kunal Ganjawalla’s wife) on vocals and Finix Ramdas on the violin.
Known for his acoustic, electric and computing based live performance, Shri is one of the founding members of the Asian Underground Music in Britain.
During his tour, Shri will also do a special jugalbandi on the loop-station with 16-year-old beat boxing prodigy Raj Varma from Voctronica, the country’s first vocal beat boxing orchestra.

Members of the Sikh community

Washington(IANS)

Sikh police officers in the American capital will be allowed to wear turbans, beards and other religious items while on the job.

The new uniform policy announced by Washington DC police Chief Cathy Lanier Wednesday makes it the first major metropolitan police department in the US to permit Sikhs to maintain their articles of faith.
Developed with the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the new police policy states that Sikh officers can wear turbans that are the same colour as the uniform that they would otherwise be required to wear, with the department badge that is normally on hats pinned to the front of the turban.
Male Sikh officers will also be able to wear beards that are neatly kept. Other officers are allowed to grow beards if they get a waiver from the department.
Lanier said that it is hard to find qualified police officers, so it is practical to accommodate candidates who would otherwise be fit for the job. “This is a common-sense decision,” she said.
There are no known observant Sikhs among Washington’s roughly 3,800 officers. However, the new policy was motivated in part because a Sikh who will graduate from the Police academy in August and plans to become a reserve officer, has requested the accommodation, Lanier said.
“This first of a kind guidance by one of the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies serves as a model for other agencies across the country.” said Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of SALDEF
In other parts of the country, Sikhs have had to fight for religious accommodations, he said, noting that nine years ago members of the Sikh community sued New York City to become traffic enforcement officers.
In the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, observant Sikhs can serve in the reserves but not as full-time officers.
There are about 700,000 adherents to the Sikh faith in the US, according to SALDEF

Washington,

(IANS) India-born professor Kamal Bawa has donated the entire prize money of one million Norwegian Kronor (about Rs.10 million) from the world’s first major international sustainability award to the Indian organisation he founded in 1996.
Bawa, distinguished professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is the 2012 winner of the Gunnerus Sustainability Award from the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and letters (DKNVS).
He gifted the prize money to the Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), a research institution in the areas of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Bawa is its founder and president.
The Gunnerus Sustainability Award is given for outstanding scientific work that promotes sustainable development globally, and the first award was given to Bawa for his work on biodiversity in Central America, the Western Ghats in India and the Himalayas.
At the acceptance ceremony in February, Bawa said it was unfortunate that almost all money in international assistance goes to projects rather than to strengthening institutions.
Standing by his belief that “it is institutions that transform societies”, Bawa donated the award money to ATREE.
“The gift is a fine example of philanthropy at its best. It also endorses Bawa’s commitment to a better world, and to ATREE,” said Pheroza Godrej, a member of the governing board of ATREE.
ATREE director Gladwin Joseph said: “The gift will help ATREE address important environmental challenges. ATREE was recently ranked No.9 globally, and No.1 in Asia among environmental think tanks.”
Bawa was recently elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his contribution to public discourse and public policy surrounding sustainability.

Rajat Kumar Gupta, former Goldman Sachs board member, leaves a Manhattan court

a Chennai native convicted of hate crime.
The trial of IIT and Harvard educated Rajat Gupta, 63, will begin in US District Court Southern District of New York next Monday with jury selection.
Former McKinsey head Gupta has been accused of passing confidential information he received as board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor and Gamble to one time billionaire hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.
Rajaratnam, a Sri Lankan native, is currently serving 11 years in prison on insider trading charges.
Gupta has denied any wrongdoing and his fate will be decided by the trial, which will be closely watched by the media as well as corporate America.
The former Goldman Sachs director is one of the most high profile Wall Street executives to be charged with securities fraud by Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, India-born Preet Bharara.
The same day, nearly 40 miles from the Manhattan court, about the same time Gupta’s trial will begin, former Rutgers university student Dharun Ravi will head to New Jersey where Judge Glenn Berman in the New Brunswick court will hand him his sentence on bias intimidation and invasion of privacy charges.
Ravi, 20, faces up to 10 years in prison and possible deportation to India when he is sentenced on Monday.
Ravi was found guilty after a three week trial in March of invading the privacy of his roommate Tyler Clementi by watching his sexual encounter with another man on a webcam in September 2010.
Days later, Clementi had committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington bridge. The case generated a heated nationwide debate on cyber bullying and treatment of young gays and lesbians. As the date of sentencing closes in, Ravi’s lawyers are seeking probation and not a prison term for him, arguing through character letters by his family and friends submitted in court that he is not a “hatemongering evil” person who despises gays but is a friendly and caring young man.
Prosecutors however are demanding that Ravi be sentenced to prison as he “shows no remorse” for the criminal acts he committed. The Indian-American community has been putting its support behind Ravi, organising rallies and launching petition campaigns seeking that Ravi not be sentenced to prison nor be
deported.
First Assistant Prosecutor Julia McClure said in a 14-page memorandum submitted in court last week that the state is not asking the court to sentence Ravi to the maximum 10 year prison term or to consecutive sentences.
Instead he should be given a period of imprisonment which is in proportion to the multiple crimes he committed and for
which he was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by the jury in March, McClure said.
In Gupta’s case, prosecutors are expected to depend heavily on secretly recorded telephone conversations between
him and Rajaratnam as well as the Galleon hedge fund founder’s conversations with other people.
Prosecutors are seeking to present at least 26 wiretap conversations which they say will help further their claim
that Gupta and Rajaratnam are co-conspirators in the insider trading crime.
Gupta’s lawyer Gary Naftalis, who has said at pretrial hearings that the wrong man is on trial, is on the other hand pushing to get those wiretaps excluded from the trial, including some in which Rajaratnam is heard talking about getting inside stock tips from someone at Goldman. Gupta is not named in the talks.
Prosecutors say Rajaratnam is referring to Gupta in those calls and have filed a motion that referred to those wiretaps
as being invaluable to their case. ”The importance of this evidence cannot be overstated,” prosecutors Reed Brodsky and Richard
Tarlowe said of several wiretaps in the court filing. Naftalis said those conversations are nothing but third hand information passed on by a felon. Another wiretap conversation Naftalis wants removed is a July 29, 2008 call which is the “only recorded substantive phone conversation” between Gupta and Rajaratnam but which he said “neither included a tip of material, nonpublic
information nor led to any trading by Rajaratnam.”
During the 24-minute call, a transcript of which has been submitted in court, Rajaratnam asks Gupta whether he had
“heard anything” about a “rumour” that Goldman Sachs is looking to buy a commercial bank.
Gupta replied, “Yeah. This was a big discussion at the board meeting.”
Gupta’s defence has said the phone conversations are ”extremely prejudicial” and irrelevant to charges of conspiracy and securities fraud faced by Gupta. US District Judge Jed Rakoff, overseeing Gupta’s trial, is expected to rule this week whether the wiretaps will be admissible during trial.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal

congratulated the hard working farmers of the state for scripting a new chapter in the history of state agriculture by surpassing its earlier all-time high record of Wheat procurement of 112 lakh tones by crossing a new projected target of 120 lakh tonnes.
Lauding the farmers of the state for maintaining the unsurpassed position of Punjab in food Production, the Chief Minister said that the resilient farmers of the state have really done proud to the state by once again proving their mettle through contributing a record production of food grains in the Central pool.
Badal said that the record production of wheat crop in the state despite odds faced by the farmers due to the exorbitant hike in input costs of the Agriculture and the vagaries of weather spoke volumes of their unbounded sincerity, dedication and commitment to make the country self reliant in food production.
The Chief Minister also patted the officers of the State Agricultural department along with the Agri-experts in the state for making concerted efforts to achieve this rare feat. Badal also complimented the stupendous efforts by the officers and the entire staff of procurement agencies of the state to ensure hassle free, prompt and smooth procurement operations despite the inclement weather at the very start of the arrival of wheat in the Mandis.

The altercation became talk of the town because it involved GTA’s two extraordinary personalities – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Daniel Dale, a senior and highly awarded journalist of Toronto Star, one of the oldest newspapers.

Conflicting versions

After the incident, Ford accused Toronto Star of harassment and alleged that its reporter stood on pair of cinder blocks located little beyond fence in the backyard of his house, peeping in and snapping photos of his house. The mayor said, he had no idea as to why the reporter was taking snap of his backyard when the piece of land journalist was investigating was on the other side of his home.

Reporter Dale denied saying that Mayor’s statement wasn’t fully correct or honest. He had done nothing wrong and was on public land and didn’t come within 10 feet of the mayor’s property. He never peered over his fence, never stood on cinder blocks, did not go on the Mayor’s property, and he never spied on the Ford family as apprehended by him.

How that happened?

As per media reports, that evening Mayor’s neighbor informed him “there is somebody in your backyard, taking pictures,” At this Mayor Ford, instead of calling police for help, stormed out himself to see who was there and to catch hold of the intruder, who violated privacy of his family.

An agitated Ford soon caught Toronto Star reporter Dale standing little away from fence of his backyard. As per Mayor, he didn’t realize it was a Star reporter until the man turned around. Asking Dale what he was doing there, told him to hand over his smart phone and recorder and get out. The Star reporter became unnerved, as per Ford, dropped his phone and recorder down on his feet and ran away saying, “You can have it, just don’t hit me. At that I didn’t hit him, I didn’t touch him. Ford said.”

Differing with Ford’s version, the Star reporter said the mayor rushed at him with his “fist cocked,” while he was standing on public property to find out the tract of land Mayor Ford and his wife Renata wanted to buy from TRCA (Toronto and Region Conservation Authority) to erect a fence for the “security of their children.”

Dale said, he also wanted to find out if the land in question was really vacant, as the Mayor had described in a letter, or if it had mature trees on it, as the TRCA asserted. In later case, public intervention was obvious to arrive at a final decision about sale of land to Ford family. That besides, the reporter wanted to inspect the existing fence, since the Mayor wanted to install an enhanced one to keep his children safer. As per Dale, he was just taking snaps of “the trees and the fencing.”

But Dale became scary after he found Mayor Ford approaching him with intention to hit and became panicky after Ford cornered him ‘like a rat’ preventing him to escape. Portraying his state of mind at that time, Dale later said, “I’m not at all ashamed to say that I was scared after Mayor had cornered me and I saw him suddenly running at me with his fist in punching position, refusing to listen to my pleading explanation.

Under such frightening situation after throwing both of his gadgets down there, Dale ran away as fast as his feet carried him to his car parking lot wherefrom he immediately drove away.

Where both went wrong

Both Ford and Dale, hovering around there at dusky hours, seem to have erred while performing their respective roles — the Mayor ensuring security of his family and Dale looking around the piece of public land that the former wanted to purchase.

As said, after receiving neighbor’s information, Rob Ford opted to confront the intruder himself than to call 911.

His behavior has raised a million dollar question — should fellow Torontonians emulate their Mayor’s paradigm while dealing with similar situations in their lives? The answer was big NO.

Even his brother, councilor Doug Ford, said, the mayor, should not have personally confronted Dale. It’s far safer, in these situations, simply to call police and have them look into the matter. After all, that’s what they’re paid to do. True, Mayor Ford’s handling of the matter was faulty and no sane person would ever support that, even his brother didn’t endorse his conduct.

The next important question that came to mind was about Dale’s covert movements made around the backyard of Mayor’s residence during dusk. Was Dale’s action justified under code of ‘Freedom of Press’ or not, was the question needed little closer scrutiny.

May be in his anxiety to present story more vividly, Dale thought of locating the piece of public land that Mayor wanted to purchase and take its snaps along. But Toronto Star reporter seemingly failed to do his home work properly because a map provided by the TRCA shows that the tract of land Ford wanted to acquire was besides his house and not behind where Dale was caught standing by the Mayor.
Later, Dale confirmed that he wasn’t entirely clear which parcel of land the Mayor wanted to buy and that was the part of the reason he was in the area of latter’s home.

In the end

Present incident, likely to be forgotten soon, has raised some fundamental questions ranging from Mayor’s security to freedom of press in Toronto.

In this connection, it is relevant to refer to the views of Councilor Doug Ford, Mayor Rob Ford’s brother, who emphatically maintained that his younger brother should have security. “Rob thinks he’s just the average guy and says, ‘I don’t need security.’
Had Ford approved of security arrangements around his premises, that as Mayor of Toronto he needed, the present episode would never occur the way it did. And Dale would have visited premises as journalist with permission to put substance into his story of Mayor Ford’s conflict of interest — the fundamental issue that has been eclipsed by the unfortunate happening.

Next day (that happened to be World Press Freedom Day) addressing media, Ford declared that he would not speak to members of the press if Dale was present. Reacting sharply against the posture Mayor took against reporter Dale, the GTA media termed ban on him as an attempt to muzzle the press that is apparently unprecedented in Toronto politics.

It is, however, hoped that the heat and dust this intimidating incidence raised settle down soon and all engaged in vital public assignments perform their jobs well and avoid such embarrassing interactions that raised many eyebrows in Toronto and elsewhere.

Back when this immigration consultant and his staff in Mumbai convinced me and thousands of others to pack up and move, I recall the very compelling reasoning that was put forward.

Would-be immigrants to Canada were shown a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings from around India that ominously warned of everything ranging from civil war, to genocide of minorities and not to mention the bleak economic outlook for the country. Another scrapbook was all about the sunny forecast and projected growth in Canada. It was painted as this land of milk and honey, it was, for those immigration consultants, many of them were unscrupulous enough to persuade perfectly happy families to sell everything and move to Canada only to lose not just their savings, but hope as well.

Personal experience

Thousands of immigrants would not have made the decision to move to Canada had they been presented with an accurate picture regarding employment prospects. If I knew then what I knew in the months following my arrival in Canada back in 2000, I would’ve come to Canada… as a tourist like so many of my friends, who stayed back and travel to a different world destination every year.

I was particularly struck by my immigration consultant, who despaired over the fact he’d have to lay off half his staff. No doubt, he will let them read all about Canada’s thriving economy and the lucrative jobs out there. He and his staff were masters of spin.
Immigrants, like myself, were reassured that there were good jobs for the taking once I survived the initial period of struggle and a series of bad jobs. The struggle was a sort of rite of passage for every successful immigrant. Although I didn’t personally struggle financially and found employment in an unrelated field, I paid a professional price by having to sacrifice a career that required my core competence.

A dilemma!

I met highly educated immigrants, who worked at warehouses and factories only so they could put food on the table and pay the rent. Going back was not an option after they sold off everything and uprooted themselves. They had to give themselves more time as the good immigration consultant advised. And that in itself was a trap, because the longer you languish at the dead end jobs, your spirit dies, you stagnate professionally and then going back is definitely not an option because you’ve lost that competitive edge and seniority back home. So you stick it out for the ‘sake of the kids’.

The tragedy is that most immigrants, like holocaust survivors, don’t like to talk about the price they paid for coming to Canada. Sure, most end up finding some kind of employment. Disappointment hardens many dreams and hungry immigrants are an employer’s delight!

Exploitation abound

I have a relative, who runs a business that employs 25 people in Scarborough, all of them recent immigrants. He avoids employing native-born Canadians because they will insist on proper wages, benefits, day’s off and other rights. His hires are grateful merely to have jobs. Many immigrants have been forced to take jobs paying minimum wages in order to get that harrowing ‘Canadian experience’.

A number of employers have and continue to take advantage of vulnerable newcomers, who lack the choices. One newcomer said he would rather work for a white employer for minimum wage than be exploited, underpaid and overworked by employers from his own community. And of course, the established ‘friends’ from the newcomers’ hometown have no sympathy for his or her struggles having gone through worse in earlier times.

These were some of the thoughts that came to mind as I read and heard of the plight of immigration lawyers and consultants. Newcomer settlement agencies that thrived in an era when helpless immigrants, ill-equipped to survive in this economy, begged assistance are also nervous with the changes. Naturally, there is much money to be made in human misery.

Thriving on clients’ haplessness!

But those in the immigration business have nothing to worry about. They pedaled hope to immigrants, made piles of cash, bought second homes in Canada which they rented out to their clients, thus milking them twice. One immigration consultant I know bought property in India from one of his clients in Canada in a distress sale and arranged for the funds to reach him. Thanks to booming property prices in India, the consultant is sitting on a piece of land worth crores, while his client in Canada works two jobs to make ends meet.
There will always be a need for honest immigration consultants and lawyers — the emphasis though is on HONEST.

More next week!

Akal Takhat 1984

Chandigarh
Taking up a plea filed by a Mohali resident, whose brother Gurcharan Singh Rishi had died due to injuries suffered during 1984 sikh riots, Punjab and Haryana high court has put the Union as well as the Punjab government on notice seeking their response on the issue. Gurcharan Singh was burnt by a mob in November 1984 and died after remaining on bed for 25 years. His brother is demanding compensation for treating it a case of death and not injuries.
Petitioner has sought directions to pay ex-gratia payment of Rs 7 lakh, according to the rehabilitation package announced by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in January 2006 to the legal heirs of Gurcharan Singh, son of Nath Singh, who was brother of the petitioner and who was burnt by a mob on November 1, 1984, in New Delhi.
Counsel for the petitioner Navkiran Singh said that Justice Nanavati, who was inquiring the incidents of violence against the Sikh community, ordered reinvestigation by CBI in certain cases relating to member parliament (MP) and Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, as it was found that on certain occasions that he was heading the mob.
“As a consequence of said reinvestigation on March 11, 2008, CBI visited the petitioner’s home in Mohali and recorded statement of Gurcharan Singh (brother of petitioner). At that time, he was completely bed-ridden and gave his statement while on the bed,” the counsel added. It was added that the family was not paid compensation, not even for his death. The case would come up for hearing on August 7.

Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Chandigarh

MPs from Punjab, belonging to Congress and Akali Dal, were at loggerheads with each other in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday over the issue of storage of grains. While Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal lambasted the Centre for not doing enough, Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa blamed the “callous attitude” of the state agency, Pungrain, in delaying projects approved by the Centre.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Harsimrat Badal said that this year, Punjab farmers have produced a record crop of 120 lakh tones, but there was no arrangement by the Union government to store this crop. It was a matter of regret that the whole country was facing grain storage crisis, but no parliamentary committee has taken notice of this, she said. Parliamentarians should come to Punjab and see how grain was rotting in open godowns, she said, adding that, in some godowns, grains have rotten so much that it could not be used even as animal feed.
However, Congress MP from Gurdaspur, P S Bajwa, blamed Pungrain’s miserable failure for the wastage of grains. “Under PEG-2008 scheme, Pungrain, which was nominated by Punjab government as the nodal agency, floated tenders for creation of a total storage capacity of 51.25 lakh tonnes. Private entrepreneurs were offered Rs 5 per quintal per month for bare space,” he said.
“I am given to understand that private entrepreneurs have already constructed godowns with a storage capacity of 12.5 lakh tonnes and Punjab need not spend even a single penny from its kitty. However, despite setting up the godowns as per the specifications approved by FCI, private entrepreneurs were waiting impatiently as to when the callous Pungrain authorities would hand over these godowns to FCI for storing foodgrains that are lying in the open,” said Bajwa.
Blaming the state agencies for being “unmindful of the growing damage and mounting losses,” Bajwa said they are selling damaged paddy at Rs 620 — while they had spent Rs 950 per quintal at the time of procurement — to distilleries to be processed for branded alcohol. As a result, most distilleries have now shifted to grain-based alcohol from the conventional malt processing.