Growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina, in the early 70s, Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley belonged to the only Indian-American family in the small town with a population of approximately 3,000.

Now, Haley, whose parents Ajit and Raj Randhawa left Amritsar in search of the American dream, is on the brink of becoming the most important Indian-American in her state and some political pundits breathlessly predict the Republican Party's likely vice-presidential nominee in 2012.

Haley easily won the Republican Party nomination for the gubernatorial race on Tuesday night. With nearly all precincts reporting, she led Representative Gresham Barrett, a four-term Congressman, 65 per cent to 35 percent in the party's primary. She will face Democrat Vincent Sheheen in November. Her victory is expected to be a formality in the predominantly conservative state. If elected, she would be the first Indian-American female governor and the first ever female governor of South Carolina. The first governor, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, is the governor of Louisiana and also a Republican.

"This is really a great night because South Carolina just showed the rest of the country what we’re made of,” an exuberant Haley said in a victory speech to supporters in Columbia, South Carolina.

Racial slurs began to fly against Haley as she steadily became a serious contender for the nomination.

State Sen. Jake Knotts, a fellow Republican, called Haley a “raghead” in a derogatory swipe at her Sikh heritage. He also questioned whether she was a true Christian. A lobbyist and blogger, both, claimed to have had affairs with the 38-year-old mother of two.

According to the Washington Post, "Fundamentalist Christians compose a large slice of the Republican base, particularly in the South.”

It said Haley raised a Sikh and Jindal raised a Hindu, “converted to Christianity at relatively young ages. Judging from the effort by some Haley detractors who questioned her faith, it is not clear whether these voters would have looked as kindly on her if she were still a practicing Sikh.”

Facing a barrage of questions about her religious beliefs, Haley, who was baptised in the Methodist church in her 20s, insisted she was a good Christian.

Her campaign website, in a section titled "Truth in Facts,” fine-tuned its message over the last few months to underscore her Christian credentials. In April, in response to the question "Is Nikki a Christian?" the website said: "Nikki is a Christian.” In her words: “I believe in the power and grace of Almighty. I know, and have truly experienced, that with Him all things are possible. I have looked to Him for leadership throughout my career and will continue to do so as governor.”

This month, the website posted a modified message. It said: "In Nikki’s words: My faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to Him for guidance in every decision I make. God has blessed my family in many ways and my faith in the Lord gives me great strength daily. Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ everyday.”

Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of “God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World,” wrote in a blog on CNN, “I don’t know what Haley is thinking when she gets down to pray, but it seems she has felt pressurised in recent years to stand up for her Christian faith over her Sikh heritage... when Haley was running for the state legislature in 2004, she described herself as attending both Methodist and Sikh services. Her website now emphasises her 'faith in Christ.”

Why would she do that, Prothero asked, and then answered his own question: "Because apparently Haley isn’t the only voter in South Carolina who thinks (as Knotts put it), “we need a good Christian to be our governor”.

"Some day, Indian-Americans will not feel that they need to convert from Hinduism to Christianity (as did Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal) or from Sikhism to Christianity (like Haley) if they want to run for high office. Some day, they will not feel any need to change their names - Jindal's given first name is Piyush; Haley's is Nimrata - in order to get elected. Unfortunately, that day has not yet come," Prothero said.

Haley's spokesman insists she still attends Sikh services once or twice a year out of respect for her family.

“Like many, she honours her mother and father and has great respect for their faith and the way she was raised,” Haley's spokesman Tim Pearson told CBN.

Others, more prominent political candidates, have had to prove their Christian credentials. In his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama, bent backwards to refute allegations that he was a Muslim. Obama, too, is a Christian.

Growing up in South Carolina, Haley was often made aware of the fact that she and her family were different. In recent months, her campaign scolded reporters for using Haley's full name -Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley. Her own website notes that Haley "has always gone by Nikki”.

Beijing, June 23
China is likely to go ahead with its decision to “finance” the construction of two 650 MW nuclear power plants in Pakistan disregarding the concerns raised by India and the United States.

It is expected to announce its decision at the Nuclear Security Group meeting being held in New Zealand tomorrow.

“China will likely go ahead with financing the construction of two nuclear reactors in Pakistan despite concerns from other countries,” state-run China Daily today quoted Chinese experts as saying.

“China is expected to announce its plans to build the reactors in Pakistan’s Punjab province at the 46-member NSG meeting in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the United States, with heavy lobbying from India, is reportedly raising doubts over the legitimacy of the deal,” it said in its report.

The report in the official daily is regarded as a sort of an official announcement as Chinese Foreign Ministry so far has declined to say anything directly concerning China’s plans to build new reactors in Pakistan. It only said that its cooperation with Islamabad concerning the civil nuclear is for peaceful purposes and being carried under the safeguards and supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA).

The write up in the daily comes after the recently concluded visit of Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during which Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie announced that “China would join hands with Pakistan to bring military relations to a new high”.

China’s plans to build two nuclear reactors came to light when state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced in April this year that it will export nuclear power reactors to Pakistan in a $2.375-billion agreement.

This is in addition to two nuclear reactors built by China at Chashma in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, defended China’s plans to build new reactors saying that China has been helping Pakistan with reactors earlier.

The US last week asked China to clarify the details of the deal, but stopped short of publicly opposing it, the daily said in its report.

According to Indian officials, though New Delhi has not criticised the deal in public its concerns in this regard have been conveyed to Chinese leaders. — PTI 

Washington, June 23 
US President Barack Obama today removed Gen Stanley McChrystal as his top commander in Afghanistan over his highly critical remarks about senior administration officials, saying that he did not live up to the standards for a command-level officer. Making an announcement at the Rose Garden of the White House, Obama said McChrystal would be replaced by Gen David Petraeus who had successfully led the multi-national forces headed by the US in Iraq war. Petraeus currently is Commander of the US Central Command.

He said he was accepting the resignation of McChrystal with regret, adding that: “This is in the best interest of the US national security”.

“Today, I accepted General Stanley McChrystal's resignation as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. I did so with considerable regret but also with certainty that it is the right thing for our mission in Afghanistan, for our military, and for our country,” Obama said.

Obama emphasised that this was a change in person and not a change in policy, as General Petraeus has been involved in the Afghan policy since the beginning of his administration. "McChrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully. I've got great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform," Obama added.

Seeking increased participation of youth in decision making, Minister of State for Youth and Sports Affair Pratik Patil today said the ministry has come out with an ambitious Rs 100-crore project of developing a multi-lingual website.

Patil was addressing the delegation of 88 Indian youths who are on a visit to China under youth exchange programme being held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affair.

While calling upon the youngsters to actively participate in the government policies, he said: “The website will give youth a platform to convey their ideas and suggestions to us. It is a strong way of connecting the youth with the government. Every youngster visiting the site will upload his or her details, which will then form a large database. This database is being created for the companies, which are experiencing dearth of industry-oriented students,” he added.

This Rs 100-crore integrated software may also witness active participation of the private partners, but up to the level of project initiation only. Patil added that the ministry plans to carve this project in such a way that minimum government manpower was deployed for its upkeep and maintenance.

Besides uploading their details and information, the youth visiting website can also post their suggestions or mail their problems directly to the concerned ministry.

“For this, a detailed plan has been presented to the Prime Minister’s Office. Only after his office gives nod to the project, we will be able to move ahead,” he added.

While there is no deadline for initiation of this project, Patil expects to commission it before the end of his tenure.

Urging youngsters to vote for the cause of democracy and government, Patil agreed that role of Indian youth should be extended beyond forming crowds or raising slogans at gatherings. “It’s high time we wake up to the fact of being one of the nations with highest young population.

Unless and until we do not involve youngsters in decision making procedure, we cannot even think of development” he opined.