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Playing
for peace Victims of
1984 |
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Heaven
on earth
Obama
versus Romney
Caged
existence
London
latitude CANADA
calling
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Victims of 1984
This
day, 28 years ago, thousands of innocent people were killed. We don’t know the exact number because there is no definitive count of those who died in the violence that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister. Various agencies give different figures about the number of the dead. What remains undisputed is that only a few people have been punished for the deaths. Most of the high-profile political leaders did not only go unpunished, their political careers also remained untouched, indeed some even flourished. There are still a number of people who claim that they did not receive the compensation that had been promised to them. They still demand that those guilty of murder and other crimes be punished. They want closure of a wound that has been gaping for all too long. True, a number of steps were taken to help the survivors, but most of them were initiated by voluntary organisations that sprang up soon after the horrific events. Help from the government was tardy and inadequate. Even now there are cases in which people who say they are victims have had to take recourse to judicial intervention to make a moribund bureaucracy take notice of their woes. The victims of 1984 deserve the assistance that the government had announced, and in this case the delay is criminal. Closure is necessary for any person, or a people to move forward. As various eminent citizens have demanded, the perpetrators of violence should also be brought to justice. The period of 28 years is far too long for the matter to be in a limbo. Perhaps the Supreme Court can intervene by monitoring a special investigation team that could be set up for this purpose. Even as the nation and the Sikh community has moved on, those who lost their near and dear ones in 1984 will continue to feel the pain of their loss unless they see justice being done.
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Heaven on earth
Food
is the core element of cultural identity for any community. And for places of tourism potential, ethnic food is an important ingredient to attract tourists. Bereft of feni, Goa would lose much of its charm. And a visit to Jaipur without tasting Rajasthani cuisine at Chokhi Dhani would be incomplete. If Kashmir offers a paradise-on-earth kind of visual delight for the eyes, sheer mention of its cuisine can make one’s mouth salivate. Even those who never set foot on the beautiful valley are familiar with rogan josh and dum aloo — a gourmet’s delight. In this context, the Centre’s plan to train 130 local young men and women in the hospitality industry from Gurez as part of 3500 youngsters to be trained under the Hunar Se Rozgar Tak scheme will go a long way in offering the young choices to lead a meaningful life in a region that witnessed violence for a long stretch of time. In countries and states where tourism has grown to become a major source of income, qualified chefs have played an important role. As such, major Kashmiri cuisine called Wazwan traditionally lays emphasis on vasta waz, that means the head chef, who prepares the unique cuisine of 36 courses with the assistance of a court of wazas, or chefs. Though, this culinary art is learnt through heredity and is rarely passed on to outside blood relations. The young who will get trained in this rich tradition of cooking, which is sacred as an art, will also get trained to become tourist facilitators to aid the hospitality industry in the state. True freedom cannot be spelt without economic freedom, and peace in its true sense should spell the ability to make choices. With the opening of fresh avenues of livelihood for the Kashmiri youth, it is assumed that life in the valley will return to the days of leisurely sipping of saffron-mixed kahwah and noon
chai.
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If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be. — Yogi Berra
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Obama versus Romney
Just
a month back it had seemed as if the US President, Barack Obama, would have a smooth sailing for a second term at the White House. He was leading in the polls, the Democrats had succeeded in panting his opponent, Mitt Romney, as a gaffe-prone bumbler out of touch with ordinary Americans and the economy was showing signs of recovery. And then something rather unexpected happened. The first Presidential debate turned out to be a turning point. Obama, widely considered a great orator, failed to connect with the people. His passive performance proved disastrous as Romney came out all guns blazing and changed the course of the election campaign. Romney emerged as a smart, confident politician who was able to provide credible answers and the contrast with President Obama was categorical. Those who were tuning into the election campaign for the first time seriously had no difficulty in envisioning a Romney Presidency. Since then it has been all downhill for Barack Obama. He has lost his lead in opinion polls and the race has tightened to a point where panic has set in the Democratic Party. The second Presidential debate last week did not much help Obama as it was widely seen as a draw between the two candidates. It was in this context that the final debate on foreign policy held last week assumed great significance. It was the last chance for Obama to mark a contrast with his opponent at a national level. It was also an opportunity to showcase his major successes in the realm of foreign policy such as the killing of Osama bin Laden. For Romney it was important to underline his credentials as a potential commander-in-chief. And for the rest of the world, the debate was keenly awaited to figure out how a Romney Presidency would be different from an Obama one. But the debate turned out to be a non-debate. It turned out that there was a lot of common ground between the two candidates and the actual differences were relatively minor. The main charge that Obama hurled against his opponent was that Romney lacked any vision to lead the nation. His Republican challenger tried to underline that Obama’s foreign policy has been timid and ineffective at a time of growing turmoil around the world. And interestingly though the focus of the third debate was ostensibly on foreign policy, the two candidates tried to repeatedly bring the discussion back to domestic policy issues with an eye on the American electorate. Though the topics discussed during the debate ranged from the war in Afghanistan and the rise of China to the uprisings in the Middle East, the most vociferous differences came out on the issue of Iran and Israel. Romney alleged that Obama’s policies have moved Tehran “four years closer” to its goal of having a nuclear weapons capability and now, argued Romney, “there are some 10,000 centrifuges spinning uranium, preparing to create a nuclear threat to the United States and for the world”. He tried to reach out to the Jewish voters by arguing that Obama’s “apology tour” of Muslim countries during his first year in office led to a signalling of American weakness. Obama responded by underlining his commitment to the security of Israel. “ If Israel is attacked, America will stand with Israel,” declared Obama. Among the other areas of dispute between the two sides were how best to help Syrian rebels topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as civil war gathers momentum threatening the entire region, pursuing the Middle East peace process and confronting China over its trade policies. The two candidates were on the same page on Pakistan with both viewing a nuclear-armed failing Pakistan with dread. On the whole Romney did not offer a significantly different view of the US in world affairs. Foreign policy traditionally offers an advantage for incumbent Presidents, so Romney’s strategy was to distinguish himself from Obama by turning the debate on foreign policy into one about domestic issues. At a broader level, what the foreign policy debate revealed is that foreign policies of major powers have a trajectory of their own which are not really affected by the exigencies of domestic politics. One has to just look at Obama’s pronouncements as a candidate and his foreign policy four years later. At the beginning of his term, New Delhi had concerns about Obama’s rhetoric about the non-proliferation regime, his pro-China tilt, and his suggestions that the success of US endeavours in Afghanistan depended on greater American activism with regard to Kashmir. Yet the US-India relationship under Obama gained momentum and the initiatives of the George W. Bush Administration vis-a-vis India continued. In fact, Obama went further than any US President declaring American support for India’s candidacy as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Engagement with India was pursued with a new vigour with Washington asking India for a more robust role in East and Southeast Asia. Most significantly on Afghanistan, Washington now views India as part of the solution at a time when the source of real problem is widely considered to be in Pakistan. Mitt Romney’s position on India-related issues also remains positive and his foreign policy advisors view India’s role in the emerging global and regional balance of power as favourable to Indian interests. As a consequence, there is unlikely to be any significant change in America’s India policy post-2013. Given the scale of economic problems facing the US, India is not going to be a very high priority for some time, but there is little likelihood of a downgrade in India’s importance. Given this reality, there is something very unseemly about the Indian media’s outcry that India was not mentioned during the debate. The very fact that it was not mentioned shows that US-India ties have become so mature that there is hardly any need to publicly talk about the differences. India as an increasingly important player in world politics should have the confidence to deal with the US as an equal and not take umbrage at non-issues. The focus of the election campaign in the US will now shift to battleground states where the two candidates will slug it out for the next few days till November 6. The election remains a cliff-hanger but there is nothing really for India to worry
about. The writer teaches at King’s College, London.
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Caged existence For
our Dasehra vacations, we went to Gir Wildlife Reserve in Gujarat, the only remaining habitat of the Asiatic lion in the world. We didn’t sight any lions in their natural abode. Our bad luck. So, as a consolation, we went to Devaliya, a few km away, to “sight” some lions roaming in a much smaller fenced area. The big cats kept there looked quite old and sick, well over their breeding age, probably had been driven out of their pride by the younger lot and spending their remaining years here. A poor compensation for the real thing! It was nothing compared to the exhilarating experience of looking straight into the eyes of a young Royal Bengal tiger at Corbett National Park a few years back. He crossed our kaccha path, stopped to stare at us, regally posed for us for quite a few seconds and coolly went his way. That breathtaking image of the young male with his fiery orange coat glistening in the sun created quite an aura which stayed with us for many days to come. So did the sight of two young siblings frolicking in a river a few metres away at Ranthambore. We watched them for almost half an hour — awestruck. Nothing can beat those moments. And definitely not these caged wild animals in a zoo. What is thrilling about peering at a diseased tiger with its lustreless coat wallowing in its faeces and urine in a stinking cage, a near-comatose crocodile in a stagnant pool of algae, a snake lying in a stupor in a glass box or an animal as magnificent as an elephant chained to a tree stump? How does it excite a person to tease caged monkeys with peanuts or watch graceful storks fluttering their wings in vain in a small enclosure instead of going on their long flights? When I took my young son to a zoo last, it looked like their mating season. The tigers were fornicating in their enclosure as were the bears — it being the natural instinct of any living being to procreate for the survival of its species. But will their act bear fruit? Will it bring forth any offspring? I don’t think so because the chances of survival of wild animals born in captivity are dismally low. For, having been removed from their natural environs to their present caged existence, eating cold-storage meat provided by zoo officials instead of hunting for their food and partaking fresh meat of their “kill” in the jungle, easily falling prey to diseases just doesn’t help their cause. So, isn’t it a shame to confine these beautiful wild animals to small artificial spaces for our momentary
pleasure?
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London latitude Shyam Bhatia
The
39-year-old founder and Director of the UK Sikh Directory, Navdeep Singh Bansal, is the brain behind the annual Sikh Awards that held its third gala function in London at the end of October. Kenya-origin Bansal is the son of a police officer who was assigned to the Kenyan Rift Valley city of Nakuru until he came to the UK more than 40 years ago. The family traces its origins to Mahandpur village near Ludhiana. Bansal says his idea of compiling a directory of prominent Sikhs started when he was working for a Jewish estate agent in London and came across the Jewish Directory. Soon he discovered there were Hindu, Muslim, Polish, Russian directories but nothing for the Sikhs. His latest project, ‘The Sikh 100’, has taken 18 months to compile and lists the 100 most powerful and influential Sikhs in the world. The list is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bansal hopes to present the list to him in person when he visits Delhi some time in November. Meanwhile, the annual Sikh Awards continues to go from strength to strength. Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal was this year’s surprise winner of the Special Recognition Award for his role in setting up a multi-million dollar refinery in Punjab. Sponsors of the awards, which recognise outstanding Sikhs from across the world, include Uber Kuchen, Passat Kreuzfahrten, Sahara Homes, Madhus, Pink Turban, DVK Group, Sony Entertainment, Harpal Photography, Punjab National Bank and Jaguar. This year’s gala evening marked the culmination of a year-long search for the very best individuals in the world, illustrating the confidence and determination of the Sikhs, as well as their potential to inspire a new generation. It was the legendary Fauja Singh, who proved how, even at the great age of 101, he possessed the sheer passion and conviction to carry a London 2012 Olympic torch for the UK and humanity alike. Fauja Singh was awarded The Life Achievement Award in 2010. This year’s winners included Punjab educationist Sant Baba Iqbal Singh, Pingalwara movement activist Inderjit Kaur, British MP Paul Singh Uppal, former Canadian MP Gurmant Singh Grewal, Guru Gobind Singh College lecturer Jagir Singh, Kenya-origin philanthropist and businessman Rajinder Singh Baryan and DataWind Ltd CEO Suneet Singh Tuli. Sukhinder Singh from the US won the Business Woman award. Guruka Singh from the US won the Sikhs in Media Award, Gurpreet Singh from India won the Sikhs in Entertainment Award, Surinder Singh Khandari from Dubai won the Sikhs in Seva Award. The Sikhs in Sport Award was given to Ms Rashpal Kaur from India. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a message, “I very much recognise that the Sikh community has played an important role in shaping British society though its service to business, the armed forces, the professions and other fields, and I would like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations and best wishes to all the award winners”. NRI planning hospital in
Lucknow one of the UK’s most respected NRIs and the winner of multiple awards, including Padma Bhushan, for his contribution to medicine and inter-faith practice, has new thoughts about what further contribution he can make to his country of origin. At 71, Dr Khalid Hameed is not short of admirers and supporters recall how he was appointed to the British House of Lords in 2007, awarded Padma Shri in 1992 and Padma Bhushan in 2009, and invited to be the chief guest at the Pravasi Diwas in 2010. But the indefatigable Dr Hameed, who completed his MBBS from India in 1967, is not the one to sit on his laurels. He is currently engaged in serious discussions about what kind of specialist hospital he can help set up back in his home city of Lucknow. Lord Hameed’s thinking along these lines has been encouraged by none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a personal friend, with whom he is in regular contact. Currently chief of the Alpha Hospital Group and CEO of the London International Hospital, Lord Hameed is best remembered as a former Executive Director and CEO of the famous Cromwell Hospital in West London. A progressive thinker when it comes to issues of medical practice, he is on record in the past as declaring that private hospitals in India should consider allocating subsidised or even free beds to economically weaker sections of society. He has also been cited as saying that all new factories in India should be obliged to open associated hospitals “as part of the deal”. His super speciality London International Hospital, which started operating in 2008, is the first of its kind in the UK and a world centre of excellence specialising in cancer, and diseases of the heart and brain. And there is speculation that this is exactly the kind of hospital that he is also thinking of establishing in Lucknow. Commemorating life of Pratik
Pandya a London-based NRI who died while trying to save his own son from a horrific accident has become a hero to his local community. Earlier this year, 48-year-old Pratik Pandya tried to physically block his car carrying his seven-year-old son from rolling back into his house, when he suffered stomach injuries and a deep cut in his left leg outside the family home in Isleworth, west London. The area of Isleworth, popular with well-off NRI families, borders the well-known Punjabi suburb of Southall. Local NRIs are considering ways to commemorate Pandya’s life and times. An IT consultant by training, Pandya was rushed to the nearest hospital where doctors discovered he had lost three litres of blood and suffered severe damage to his colon. He died after three operations failed to stop internal bleeding. West London deputy coroner Elizabeth Pygott described how Pandya’s wife Nikhila personally witnessed the car rolling backward with her son sitting inside. “When the vehicle started rolling, the driver’s door was open”, Pygott said. “ Her husband was half in and half out of the vehicle. She could see he was attempting to do something in order to stop the vehicle, but was looking confused and unable to know what to do to stop it.” The Urdu and Hindi language performances of Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ are some of the highlights of the South Asian Literary Festival that ends in London on November 11. Billed as a celebration of the language, culture and literary heritage of South Asia, this is the third edition of the festival that was jointly founded in 2009 by Australia-born Jon Slack, formerly of the UK’s Society of Young Publishers, and children’s books publisher Bhavit Mehta. The festival includes a half-day symposium discussion on the expulsion of 60,000 Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin and the speakers include author Giles Foden, journalist Yasmin Alibhai Brown and former Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Tarique Ghaffur. The other highlights of the festival include a discussion on a book entitled, ‘The Poetry of the Taliban’, featuring author Alex Strick van Linschoten and Timeri Murari, who wrote the celebrated novel, ‘The Taliban Cricket Club.’ In a joint comment about the festival Mehta and Slack comment, “This is a bigger, broader third edition of the Festival for 2012. There’s something here for everybody – South Asian media ethics; the Mughal empire; a tribute to the ground-breaking Urdu partition writer Manto. On top of that we’r elaunching several excellent titles at the festival and showcasing fresh writing from a host of outstanding new
voices.”
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CANADA calling
As
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper undertakes his second visit to India in three years from Nov 3-9, the question is: Will Canada and India finally sign the much talked-about nuclear deal that will open the gates for the Canadian nuclear industry to sell uranium and technology to India? Further, will the two countries also clinch the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) which they have been negotiating for years? No official from either side is willing to say anything about these agreements. ``We have worked out a few things which could be announced in New Delhi,'' is all that a member of the Canadian government would say when asked about possibilities of the two deals being inked during Harper's India visit. Alleging that New Delhi had used its supplied nuclear technology (CANDU reactors) to conduct Pokhran-I in 1974, Canada had slapped a nuclear ban on India. Barring large-scale immigration from India all these years, Canada-India relations remained frozen for years. In 2008, when the US reversed its nuclear policy vis-a-vis India, Canada followed suit. In the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008, Ottawa backed New Delhi to allow it access to nuclear technology and fuel. Canada was basically altering its policy following in the footsteps of the US. The Canadian government is under pressure as its nuclear industry is eyeing business worth billion of dollars through sale of uranium and nuclear technology to India. One has to wait till the two prime ministers shake hands and sit in New Delhi. Khalsa Heritage Complex The Canadian Prime Minister is visiting India after just three years. "This shows that the Canadian government is eager to take business relations with India to a higher level. This visit is an opportunity to seek clarifications from India about rules and regulations surrounding institutional investment as India starts a new wave of reforms. We are interested in Indian real estate as India is a developer's dream because of its demographics, migration from rural to urban areas, and the breakdown of extended family to the nucleus,'' says Bob Dhillon, Canada's biggest Indian landlord, who is in the Prime Minister's delegation to India. Curiously, the Golden Temple is not on the itinerary of the Canadian Prime Minister this time. Instead, he will visit the Khalsa Heritage Complex at Anandpur Sahib during his trip to Chandigarh. This will make Harper the first foreign head of government to visit the complex which was inaugurated just a year ago. Two Sikh ministers - Tim Uppal (minister of state for democratic reform) and Bal Gosal (minister of state for sports) -- will accompany the Prime Minister to India. Punjabi's distinction The latest Census of Population says that Punjabi is among 10 immigrant languages spoken most at home in Canada. Over 4,60,000 people returned Punjabi as their mother tongue in the 2011 census. But if speakers of Chinese languages - Cantonese, Mandarin and Chinese (not otherwise specified) - are taken together, they relegate Punjabi to the second spot. In Vancouver and surrounding cities, 17.7 percent people who spoke immigrant languages reported Punjabi as their language.The percentage of Punjabi speakers in the Toronto area was eight percent. But if one takes into account Punjabi speakers in the huge Pakistani community that returns Urdu as their mother tongue, the number of Punjabi speakers would easily touch the million-mark in this country of 34 million people. ``The jump from the sixth most spoken language in 2006 to this level in Canada has given all of us an excellent reason to celebrate. To rise to this level out of 200 languages being spoken in Canada is a great honour for our mother tongue. These census results have shown that Canada is not only a truly multicultural but also a commendable multilingual country,'' said Vancouver-based Balwant Sanghera who is the president of the Punjabi Language Education Association of Canada (PLEA Canada) that has been promoting the Punjabi language in schools, colleges and universities for the past 20 years
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The Sikh Directory, more like a Who’s Who of Sikh businesses, first came out in 2006. Five years later the concept of an annual Sikh Awards function evolved from the idea of an annual get-together of the 2,000 Sikh businesses featured in the Sikh Directory. “I got amazing feedback on the back of the Sikh Directory. Then I started getting nominations from all over the world”, Bansal explains.
