 |
More flights to tackle rush of Indian expats |
Air-India and Indian are planning to run additional flights for Indian expatriates opting to come back to the country under the three-month amnesty scheme announced by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government.
Senior officials of both the airlines said that discussions were on with Indian consulate officials regarding additional flights and fare concessions.
Earlier this month, the UAE, in a bid to curb the blatant violation of labour norms, had given three months to all immigrant workers and their employers to regularise their work permits or face heavy penalties. “We had meetings with Indian consulate officials. Our calculation says the crowd would come in from September. At present, the condition is normal. But if they come, we will adjust them in our scheduled flights,” said Abhay Pathak, regional manager of Indian.
Jayshree Ramachandran, regional manager, Air India, said: “Right now there are no amnesty-seekers coming in. After July, there would be plenty of capacity on the flights. We are discussing a possible decrease in fares and will take a decision by the end of this month. If we see a big rush, we have to think about additional flights.”
|
|
|
|
Bill Clinton says India becoming more important to world
|
Former US President Bill Clinton who gave the keynote address at the 16th biennial conference of the Telugu Association of North America, said outsourcing to India was a focus, but added insourcing was also significant, referring to Indians settled in the US who contribute to the economy.
Clinton cited the example of an AIDS medicine whose prices US manufacturers were compelled to reduce because of competition from Indian pharma companies.
At the conference, representing 250,000 Telugus in the US and Canada, were former Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, as well as Vikram Akula founder chief of SKS Microfinance, K.I. Varaprasad Reddy, MD of Shantha Biotech, and Ramachandra Naidu Galla, chairman of Amararaja Batteries.
|
|
|
|
Silicon Valley NRI techies heading back to booming India
|
Over 60,000 Indians have been reported as returning to India from the US’ Silicon Valley in the past five years. India’s booming economy and burgeoning info tech sector is reported as the main attraction for the returning emigrants who are looking for a piece of the ‘home made’ pie.
Investment capital to India from Silicon Valley is also said to have grown with a number of US firms opening up in Mumbai.
Reports state that Indians founded 15 percent of all Silicon Valley start ups as well as the fact that 53 percent of the science and engineering workforce there were foreign born with Indians leading the specialised work force.
Intel (India) president Frank B Jones said it was becoming more and more difficult to find the required skills among graduates in India and so companies like Intel had moved to attract skilled NRIs settled in the US. He said that about 10% of Intel’s work force had come back to India through that programme.
Dutt Kalluri, who left India to work for a Canadian software company, says, “If you want to be in the latest trends, you have to be in India.” Kalluri heads data warehousing and business intelligence at the information-technology division of L&T, India’s largest construction and engineering company. “Technology development happens in India. Technology consumption happens in the US,” he said.
|
|
|
|
Punjabi Sports Festival organised in Chicago
|
More than 2,000 people turned up for the Punjabi Sports Festival 2007 organised by the Punjabi Cultural Society on July 14 at Birchwood Park in Palatine, and Sunday, July 15 at Warren Park, in Chicago.
People of Punjabi origin from India and Pakistan, including many local community members, relished watching the sports tournament which showcased various events, including kabaddi, bhangra aerobics and warrior workout yoga. Other big draws were the basketball, volleyball and soccer tournaments. Teams from New York, Canada, Wisconsin and Indiana participated.
US Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins and Indian Consul General in Chicago Ashok Kumar Attri inaugurated the Punjabi Sports Festival in Chicago. This was the 13th time in a row that Mayor Mullins’ had inaugurated this annual sports festival. The formal inauguration of the sports festival was facilitated by PCS President Bhinder Singh Pamma, Sunny Kular, Mohinderjit Singh Saini and Rajinder Singh Mago after a Sikh prayer and American national anthem rendered by Navraaz Kaur Basati.
|
|
|
|
 |
Shiva temple being built in Hawaii |
Half a dozen artisans from south India are working with hand carved granite from India, building the Iraivan Temple in Wailua, Hawaii, keeping to the precise design of temple builders of a thousand years ago.
The $8 million temple dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva is the first all stone temple outside India designed by an Indian architect.
Construction began in 1990 and could take 10 more years because of the magnitude of the structure and the skill needed to build it from the tons of stone shipped from India. It will be surmounted by a gold gilt carved cuppola.
The temple is the vision of former Californian ballet dancer Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami who founded the Kauai Aadheenam monastery in 1970 when he embraced monasticism in the late 1940s.
The monastery is now home to 22 monks, many of whom are converts, who follow the strict rules of celibacy but have modern conveniences such as cell phones, digital cameras, podcasts and computers to publish their magazine, even as they involve themselves in community activities.
|
|
|
 |
‘Sops planned for Keralite
diaspora’ |
Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that the state government is working out a slew of programmes for the welfare of non-resident Keralites (NRKs).
“We are going to start a centre soon which would source funds from NRKs for productive purposes. An emergency fund has been set up that would help in bringing back NRKs who had met with accidents,” Achuthanandan told the state assembly. He said efforts have already begun to educate those Keralites who are proceeding to West Asia for jobs.
“Through these efforts we will also ensure those who go abroad for employment do not fall into the traps of fraudulent recruiting agencies,” said the CM. According to reports, out of 2 million Keralites who are working abroad, nearly 90 per cent work in countries in West Asia.
Achuthanandan said a special welfare scheme would be set up soon to launch a pension scheme for the
NRKs.
|
|
 |
Flamboyant Bhojpuri drama debuts in Sydney |
The unique flamboyance of Bhojpuri drama has made its debut on the Sydney stage in Australia with a 20-member troupe from the city performing there.
The group led by well-known Bhojpuri film and drama personality Dineshlal Yadav Nirhua performed before a sold-out show.
The group is on a 20-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and other nations to promote the language and the Bhojpuri ethos. “The three-hour shows are purely commercial ventures meant only for entertainment and the promotion of Bhojpuri language,” the group’s spokesman in Mumbai Ashok Bhatia said.
“The shows are ticketed,” he said adding, “we seem to have got all sold out for the entire tour. “This is the first time we have taken to the stage in this manner. Earlier, mainly movies were sent out... This time we are concentrating on live performances.” The performances include dance and music and colourfully represent Bhojpuri culture, he said.
In all 11 shows have been planned in five countries by the artists who have already 500 shows to their credit in India. Nirhua has so far starred in “Chalat Musafir Moh Liye” and “Ho Gayela Pyaar Odhaniya Waili Se” among six others movies. Four more films are awaiting release including “Shriman Driver Baboo” which is expected to hit the screens next month. “It is a matter of great pride that following our success in India we are able to take the process forward internationally,” Nirhua said before leaving for Sydney.
|
|
|
Brit parties face test in UK’s Little India by election
|
A parliamentary by-election from Southall, Britain’s ‘Little India’ for decades, has turned into a high profile prestige battle.
Virendra Sharma of the Labour party is fighting Conservative candidate Surinderpal Singh (‘Tony’) Lit for a seat which fell vacant following the death of Labour MP P.S. Khabra. But the actual contest is between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition leader David Cameron. It is the first by-poll being fought after Brown took over, and both top Labour and Conservative leaders are going from house to house to garner votes.
Lord Swraj Paul has been campaigning and so is Keith Vaz, Labour MP from Leicester. Cameron has himself visited the constituency, as have his leading lieutenants Andrew Lansley and George Osborne.
But Cameron has already suffered a major embarrassment. Tony Lit, very popular locally, scion of the millionaire owner of Sunrise Radio, the biggest Asian radio network in Britain, had initially been regarded as a great choice. All too soon it emerged that he had for long been a Labour supporter, and only a fortnight before his nomination had been photographed at a fund raising event with Tony Blair!
Politics, India-style, is on full display here. There have been reports of attempts to divide the Hindus and the Sikhs. Six councillors, all Labour members, announced they were defecting to the Conservatives and would support Tony Lit! But a few days later, one of them cried foul and claimed her signature on the letter which said all six were defecting, had been faked!
|
|
|
|
|
|
