Building Bridges Beyond Boundaries

VOL. 14 ISSUE NO. 13 07 - 13 AprIL 2022 $1 ASIANErAONLINE.COM NEW YOrK EDITION

The world's largest cargo plane, the Ukrainian-made

Antonov-225 Mriya, was burnt in a Russian attack on Hostomel airport near Kyiv, Ukrainian state arms manufacture Ukroboronprom said on Apr 3.

Mriya means dream in Ukrainian. An-225 Mriya was 84 meters long, with a wingspan of 88.4 meters, the longest of any plane, with a cruise speed of 800 Km/h and a payload capacity of 250000 kg. It holds the record for the largest single-item payload (of 189979.9 kg) carried. The An-225 was easily the heaviest plane in the world and the only one with six turbofan engines.

Antonov-225 Mriya, the world's largest cargo plane

Destroyed An-225: Via Twitter

2 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COMTheSouthAsianTimes.info August 21-27, 2021I ND IA DAY SPEC IAL

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 3TOp NEwS

Obama heralds US health care law at White HouseFormer US president

Barack Obama returned to the White House on Tues-

day for the first time since leav-ing office in 2017 to laud his landmark healthcare law, ACA or "Obamacare", and provide critical backing for President Joe Biden.

Obama passed the Afforda-ble Care Act (ACA) in 2010, and sign-ups under the law have increased under Biden’s ten-ure, and more generous taxpay-er subsidies have cut costs for enrollees, albeit temporarily.

The measure Biden unveiled on Apr 5 is aimed at fixing an element of the ACA known as the "family glitch" that left fami-ly members of those with access to affordable employer-provided health plans ineligible for cer-tain subsidies.

People tripped up by the fami-ly glitch are dependents of work-ers who have an offer of employ-er coverage that the government interprets as being affordable. As a rule, people with affordable employer coverage are not eligi-

ble for taxpayer-subsidized ACA plans.

"It's a common issue. 85 mil-lion Americans who can't get financial help to get cover-age under the Affordable Care Act," Biden said. "We're going to change that."

The White House estimates 200,000 uninsured people will be able to receive coverage and cut costs for 1 million more. "Over 31 million people now health insurance through the Afforda-ble Care Act. Four out of five Americans can find quality cov-erage. For under $10 a month," Biden said. "The bottom line is this: the Affordable Care Act is stronger now than has ever been today."

Obama opened by joking-ly referring to Biden as “vice president”. “It’s good to be back in the White House. It’s been a while,” Obama said after he was introduced by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Obama said he and Biden accomplished “a lot” in their eight years as stewards of the

country, but “nothing made me prouder than providing bet-ter health care and more pro-tections to millions of people across this country".

“The ACA was an example of why you run for office in the first place,” Obama said, call-ing it the “high point of my time here".

In addition to delivering remarks, the two were expect-ed to have lunch together, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. "They are real friends, not

just Washington friends," Psa-ki said.

There are more fundamen-tal issues for the two presidents to consider as well, both poli-cy-wise and politically.

Unless Democrats in Con-gress finally coalesce around a version of Biden’s social legis-lation, his enhanced financial assistance for millions purchas-ing ACA plans will expire at the end of this year.

A return to higher premiums would likely trigger an increase

in the number of uninsured peo-ple, a political embarrassment for Democrats committed to expanding coverage.

The Biden legislation, which passed the House but sputtered in the Senate, also includes a mechanism for providing cov-erage to as many as 4 million uninsured low-income adults in states that have refused the health law’s Medicaid expan-sion. It would deliver on Biden’s campaign promise to build on existing government programs to move the US closer to cover-age for all.

Obama remains a popular fig-ure within the Democratic par-ty, while a recent Gallup poll showed Biden's approval rat-ing sits at just 42% amid rising inflation, Russia's invasion in Ukraine and the ongoing corona-virus pandemic. His low approv-al means Democrats are likely to lose one or both chambers of Congress in the midterms, deliv-ering a devastating blow to Bid-en's agenda. (With inputs from Agencies)

Ready to support India in diversifying its energy imports: White House

Jen Psaki said US "does not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy"

The United States is ready to support India in diversifying its energy imports, the White

House said on Wednesday, reiterat-ing its desire that New Delhi does not purchase oil from Russia amid Ameri-can sanctions on Moscow for invading Ukraine.

In a daily news conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “We do not think India should accel-erate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities even as, obviously, those decisions are made by individual countries.”

“And (the US is) also making clear

that we stand ready to support India as in any efforts to diversify its imports and serve as a reliable supplier even as they're only importing about 1 to 2% of their oil from Russia,” she said in response to a question.

Earlier, last week, US Deputy Nation-al Security Advisor Daleep Singh was in New Delhi to discuss the Russian sanc-tions with Indian officials.

“We have a range of ways to commu-nicate and engage. And obviously, send-ing our Deputy National Security Advi-sor is an example of that. But clearly, our preference would be to have a confirmed ambassador,” she said.

The nomination of the US Ambassa-dor to India, Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, is pending in the US Senate as he does not have enough votes for his confirmation.

“Our preference is always to have a confirmed ambassador on the ground. It's an incredibly important diplomat-ic position. We also engage with coun-tries through a range of channels. And obviously, our deputy National Security Advisor was just in India recently in the last few weeks, conveying clearly what the consequences of violating sanctions would be and what the mechanisms are,” Psaki said.

US President Joe Biden has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes as evi-

dence emerges of the killing of civilians in Bucha, a town near the capital Kyiv, alleg-edly committed by Russian forces.

"This guy is brutal," Biden said on Apr 4 of the Russian leader, adding that he believes Putin "is a war criminal".

Biden's intervention follows the publica-

The UN General Assembly vot-ed on April 7 to suspend Russia

from the world organisation's lead-ing human rights body over allega-tions of horrific rights violations by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, which the United States and Ukraine have called tantamount to war crimes.

UN General Assembly suspends Russia from Human Rights Council

See page 6 & 7 for more on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Biden calls for Putin to face war crimes trial after Bucha killings

tion of new satellite photos by the earth observation company Maxar, which show bodies lining Bucha's streets dur-ing its occupation by Russian forces.

Russia claims that no civilians suf-fered under the Russian occupation of Bucha and says footage and photos from the city were staged. But the tim-ing of these satellite images appears to disprove the idea that the bodies only

appeared after Russian soldiers left.US officials say they are supporting a

team of international prosecutors head-ing to Bucha to collect evidence.

The Ukrainian government has start-ed a war crimes investigation after it said the bodies of 410 civilians had been found in areas around Kyiv. Some were discov-ered in mass graves while others had their hands tied and had apparently been shot at close range.

"You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal," Biden said. "You saw what happened in Bucha - he is a war criminal... but we have to gather all the detail so this can have a war crimes trial."

Biden said the Bucha discovery was "outrageous" and said that it was impor-tant Putin was "held accountable" for atrocities committed by his military in Ukraine. The US state department said it had credible reports of rape, torture and summary executions carried out by Rus-sian forces as part of what it described as a "broader, troubling campaign" by Mos-cow.

At the request of Ukraine, the interna-tional prosecutors will support the pros-ecutor general of Ukraine's war crimes unit.

The Pentagon said it was "fairly obvi-ous" that Russia had been behind the atrocities in Bucha, but that more inves-tigation was needed to ascertain which units were responsible.

4 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are in the throes of political and economic crises. The one in Pakistan is the result of the path it chose. While the political leadership in India

nurtured democracy by empowering the commoner, feudal politicians of Pakistan never made an attempt. With Ameri-ca looking for a pliant state in the region, where Soviet Union and China were friends, CIA’s penetration of Pakistan army saw it capturing power. Even when elections were held, the Generals never vacated the seat of power in Islamabad.

Imran Khan’s folly was his bid to leave the trodden path and create a foreign policy where politicians would stop being puppets of America, China and the Generals who rep-resent them. He wanted to use the region’s geopolitics to get the best for Pakistan. However, the unseen powers have struck. They easily won over legislators of Khan’s party and allies as the pandemic induced economic crisis had made Khan’s government unpopular.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has seen nepotism and cor-ruption for half a century. If it was the Bandaranaykes once, it is the Gotabayas now. There was hope when Julius Jaye-wardene was in charge. However, he squandered the chance of making Lanka a prosperous nation by creating a convo-luted Constitution to concentrate all powers in the presiden-cy and allowing Sinhalese to lord over minority Tamils. The ethnic war left the economy vulnerable. With its mismanage-ment during the pandemic, the nation needs a bailout now. Those who work continuously to discredit Jawaharlal Nehru would do well to remember that India’s visionary leadership after Independence has helped it remain a democracy with an independent foreign policy despite recent political and economic bungling.

Crises in india’sneighborhood

Chairman: Mr. Jagadeesan V. Poola

Co-Chair: Mrs. Kanchana Poola

Publisher: Mr. Kamlesh C. Mehta

President & Ceo: Mr. Ginsmon Zacharia

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TAlkiNg pOiNT

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi sur-vived the biggest scare of

his political career when Qasim Khan Suri, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly — the Pakistan Parliament — reject-ed the no confidence motion against Khan’s government, declaring it “unconstitutional”.

Suri, who chaired the Nation-al Assembly's session after the Opposition moved a no-confi-dence motion against the Speak-er Asad Qaiser, said the motion was against Article 5 of the Con-stitution which basically states that "Loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen" and that "Obedience to the Consti-tution and law is the 'inviola-ble' obligation of every citizen

Week-long political drama in Pakistanwherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan."

Opposition leader Bilaw-al Bhutto Zardari said they will move the country's Supreme Court against the Suri's "block-ing decision". The opposition not only 'installed' their own Speak-er, Ayay Sadiq but also 'named' a new PM, Shehbaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistan PM, Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan President Arif Alvi dissolved the Assembly on the advice of Khan, who, soon after the motion's failure, addressed the nation and called for fresh elections, which will be held within three months. Taking suo motu cognisance of the assem-bly's dissolution, the Pakistan

Supreme Court has refused to suspend the Deputy Speaker's ruling and asked all state institu-tions to "refrain from taking any illegal step or exploiting the sit-uation."

Khan also sacked Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, the gover-nor of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan army appeared to distance itself from the country's political develop-ments, with the army spokesper-son saying they had "absolute-ly...no role in it." This comes just a day after Pakistan army chief General Qamar Bajwa voiced his opinion that disputes with India should be settled through talks and that "Russia's invasion of Ukraine was very unfortunate".

On Saturday, Khan openly held the US responsible for the

“foreign conspiracy” to over-throw his government. “Ok, I’m taking the name of US, the con-spiracy has been hatched with the help of America to remove me,” Khan had said while addressing the participants of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf par-liamentary party in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Khan has pro-posed former chief justice Gulzar Ahmed as caretaker PM and will continue to hold office till he is appointed. The announcement came after Pres-ident Alvi sent letters to Khan and leader of opposition Sheh-baz Sharif seeking suggestions for the appointment of a caretak-er PM. The Constitution empow-ers the president to appoint a caretaker PM in consultation with the PM and the LoP. Jus-tice Ahmed, who retired in Feb,

made headlines multiple times due to his strong verdicts and comments against governments and bureaucrats. He was part of a five-judge bench that disquali-fied former premier Nawaz Sha-rif in the Panama Papers case.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on April 7 struck down Suri's controversial move to dis-miss a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan, in a major blow to the cricket-er-turned politician who is now likely to face a no-trust vote in Parliament after the ruling. In a unanimous verdict, the five-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial also declared dissolution of the parliament as unconstitutional. The court ordered the speaker to call the session of the assembly on April 9 at 10am to organize the no-con-fidence vote.

Khan, Moscow allege US interference in Pak politics

Pakistan Prime Minis-ter Imran Khan on Sun-day named senior US dip-

lomat Donald Lu, who deals with South Asia in the US State Department, as the person who was allegedly involved in the "foreign conspiracy" to top-ple his government through a no-confidence vote tabled by the Opposition.

Pakistan's Opposition leaders have ridiculed Khan's allegation, and the US has dismissed it.

Meanwhile, Moscow has upped the ante against its arch-rival, the United States, alleging that the latter has made "another attempt of shameless interference" in the internal

affairs of Pakistan, adding that it sought to punish a "disobe-dient" Imran Khan. Citing Pa-kistani media reports, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that "a high-ranking American official

sharply condemned the bal-anced reaction of the Pakistani leadership to the events in Ukraine and made it clear that partnerships with the United States are possible only if Imran Khan is removed from power".

“Ok, I’m taking the name of US, the conspiracy has been hatched with the help of America to remove me,” Khan had said while addressing the participants of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary party in Islamabad

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 5TAlkiNg pOiNT

TheSouthAsianTimes.info January 15-21, 2022

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Power struggle, political instability in Sri LankaAs if the severe econom-

ic crisis was not enough, Sri Lanka is now staring

at political instability as Presi-dent Gotabaya Rajapaksa's rul-ing coalition lost its majority in the 225-member parliament on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka is currently expe-riencing its worst economic cri-sis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts the public have been suffering for weeks. Demonstra-tions calling for Rajapaksa’s resignation have spread across the South Asian nation.

At least 41 lawmakers from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) walked out of the alliance even as the President said he would not resign and was ready to hand over government to whoever proves 113 seat majority.

The group of lawmakers called for the appointment of an interim government, warning that a failure to do so would lead to violence and anarchy, as dem-onstrators continued to demand the resignation of President Rajapaksa over the country's worst economic crisis in decades. This comes after the newly-ap-pointed finance minister Ali Sab-ry resigned amid massive pub-lic protest over shortages of food

and fuel and prolonged power cuts in the island nation. Sabry was to hold talks with Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) offi-cials later this month to find a solution to the present econom-ic crisis.

The main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has 54 seats. While the ruling coa-lition held sway over nearly 150 seats, the exit of dozens has left it relying on independent law-makers. On Monday, all 26 minis-ters in the Rajapaksa cabinet had quit following widespread public unrest and demand for the Presi-dent's resignation.

The next possible move is seen as the appointment of a new prime minister replacing the president's elder brother, Mahin-da Rajapaksa, or snap parliamen-tary elections way ahead of the 2025 schedule.

Late on Tuesday, President Rajapaksa revoked the Emer-gency orders as the evolving sit-uation makes it difficult for the island nation to seek bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. In an extraordi-nary gazette, Rajapaksa said, "I, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, hereby revoke the gazette with effect from midnight on 05 April 2022".

Sri Lanka’s president had declared a state of emergency giving sweeping powers to secu-rity forces on Apr 1, a day after hundreds tried to storm his house in anger over an unprec-edented economic crisis. The tough laws allow the military to arrest and imprison suspects for long periods without trial.

Defying curfew orders, law-makers from Sri Lanka's prin-cipal opposition party SJB had staged an anti-government pro-test in Colombo on Sunday against President Rajapaksa's move to impose a state of emer-gency.

The police arrested 664 per-sons in the country's Western Province for violating the cur-few, the Colombo Page newspa-per reported. The government had blocked social media plat-forms after effecting a 36-hour curfew ahead of a planned anti-government rally. The ban was lifted later in the day. The services of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TokTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, Tel-egram and Facebook Messen-ger were restored after 15 hours, according to an official.

Rajapaksa has defended his government's actions, saying the

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Photo courtesy: tamilguardian.com)

foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven where the island's tour-ism revenue and inward remit-tances waning.

Meanwhile, Colombo has temporarily shut down its embassies in Norway, Iraq and Australia – a development that may have been triggered by the country's economic crisis. The IMF is monitoring the politi-cal and economic developments in Sri Lanka "very closely". The Indian High Commissioner to the island nation said ongoing line of credit to Colombo has touched $1.5 billion and that relief consignments will con-tinue.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essen-tials in short supply and long hours of power cuts the public have been suffering for weeks

6 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM UkrAiNE

Ukraine has accused Mos-cow of war crimes and genocide after bodies

of civilians were discovered in Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv. Bucha has seen fierce fighting during the past few weeks and had been under Russian occupa-tion for about a month until it was retaken this week.

Ukrainian forces have bur-ied hundreds of people in a mass grave in a commuter town outside Ukraine’s capi-tal, Kyiv, after retaking control of the area from Russian troops, according to an official.

“In Bucha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves,” Mayor Anatoly Fedo-

ruk told the AFP news agency by phone on Saturday.

He said the heavily destroyed town’s streets are littered with corpses. “All these people were shot, killed, in the back of the head,” Fedoruk said.

Western nations have voiced horror at the images, with some calling for more sanctions against Russia and others back-ing a war crimes inquiry by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

UN Secretary-General Anto-nio Guterres said he was “deep-ly shocked” by images of dead civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. An independent inves-tigation that “leads to effective accountability” is essential, he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the images com-ing out of Bucha were “a punch to the gut” and promised to help Ukraine document “war crimes”

being committed by the Russian troops.

Russia said the images are staged by Kyiv officials, even though satellite images have shown the civilians were killed when Russians were in control of Bucha.

In detailed broadcasts to mil-lions of viewers, correspondents and hosts of Russian state TV channels said Tuesday that some photo and video evidence of the killings were fake while others showed that Ukrainians were responsible for the bloodshed.

But high-resolution satel-lite images show some of the dead bodies have been lying on the residential streets of Bucha since early March, days after the Russian occupation began. On April 2, a video taken from a moving car was posted online by a Ukrainian lawyer show-ing those same bodies still scat-tered along Yablonska Street in

Unbearable civilian killings in Ukraine’s Bucha

Phot

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rs

Bucha. The Associated Press independently matched the loca-tion bodies in the satellite imag-es of Bucha from commercial provider Maxar Technology to separate videos from the scene. Other Western media had simi-lar reports.

Yet Russian officials and state-media have continued to promote their own narrative. Across social media, a chorus of more than a dozen official Russian Twitter and Telegram accounts, as well as state-backed media Facebook pages, repeat-ed the Kremlin line that imag-es and video of the dead were staged or a hoax. The claims were made in English, Spanish and Arabic in accounts run by Russian officials or from Rus-sian-backed news outlets Sput-nik and RT. The Spanish-lan-guage RT en Español has sent more than a dozen posts to its 18 million followers.

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The US announced more sanctions on Russia fol-lowing new revelations

of atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine, including images of bodies of civilians scattered on the streets of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv.

Describing the Bucha mur-ders as a "crude and cyni-cal provocation by the Kyiv regime", US President Joe Bid-en said on Wednesday: "There's nothing less happening than major war crimes." "Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators account-able," Biden added.

The US sanctions announced

More sanctions on Russia after Bucha atrocities

The US has imposed sanc-tions against Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin's inner

circle, including his daughters. The list also includes the family of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and major banks.

The US said that Putin's daugh-ters, Katerina Vladimirovna Tik-honova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, were being put under sanctions "for being the adult chil-dren of Putin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked".

Russia has alleged that two Ukrainian military helicopters flew across

the border and bombed a fuel depot in the eastern city of Belgorod, in what would be, if confirmed, the first known air raid by Ukraine’s forc-es on Russian soil since Mos-cow invaded its neighbor in late Feb.

Video images of the pur-ported attack posted online on Apr 1 showed what looked like

Putin's daughters targeted by US sanctions

The announcement described Tikhonova as "a tech executive whose work supports the GoR [Rus-sian government] and defense indus-try". Her sister, Vorontsova, it went on, "leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dol-lars from the Kremlin toward genet-ics research and are personally over-seen by Putin".

Asked why the US was targeting Putin's daughters, a senior Biden administration official said the US thought they could be in control of some of their father's assets.

"We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family mem-bers that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world," the official said. "We believe that many of Putin's assets are hid-den with family members, and that's why we're targeting them."

by the White House include: economic measures to ban new investment in Russia; severe financial sanctions on Russia's largest private bank, Alfa Bank, and its largest financial insti-tution, Sberbank; sanctions on critical major state-owned enter-prises; sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members.

Meanwhile the UK has announced further sanctions against eight oligarchs and Rus-sian banks, including the coun-try's largest, Sberbank, and Credit Bank of Moscow.

The European Union is also debating cutting off Russian

coal imports as concern over alleged war crimes increases. Some European member states, including Germany, are heavi-ly reliant on Russian energy and had been reluctant to directly target the sector.

However, in a first, the Euro-pean Commission proposed a potential ban on imports of Rus-sian coal on Tuesday, which must be agreed by all 27 mem-bers. Europe buys around $4.4bn worth of coal from Moscow every year.

Sentiment appeared to change after evidence of Rus-sian war crimes emerged, with French President Emmanuel

Macron joining calls for a ban on coal earlier this week.

The ban was suggested ahead

of a range of sanctions set to be announced in coordination with the US and other G7 nations.

Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova

Russia alleges Ukrainian helicopters struck Belgorod fuel depot

several missiles being fired from low altitude, followed by an explosion that sparked a huge fire. It was not possi-ble to independently verify the images.

Kremlin spokesman Dmi-try Peskov told reporters the alleged strike in Belgorod, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border with Ukraine, did not create comfortable con-ditions to continue peace talks.

Ukraine’s top security offi-cial denied that Ukraine car-ried out the alleged attack. Speaking on national televi-sion on Friday, Security Coun-cil Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said: “For some reason they say that we did it, but accord-ing to our information this does not correspond to reality.”

Meanwhile, Russian mis-siles struck Ukraine's south-ern port city of Odesa, with

Moscow claiming to have destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facili-ties used by Ukrainian mili-tary. The Ukrainian interior ministry spokesperson added that several Russian missiles also hit the country's Black Sea port of Mykolaiv even as efforts to evacuate people from the besieged city of Mariupol continued.

Even as the two countries are likely to resume their peace talks, Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medin-sky said that the talks hadn't yet reached a stage to warrant a face to face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian coun-terpart, Volodymyr Zelen-skyy. Medinsky said that "the draft agreement is not ready for submission to a meeting at the top."

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 7UkrAiNE

Ukrainian President Volody-myr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that the Bucha mas-

sacre is “only one” of many war crimes that the Russian troops have committed across the cities of the east European country.

In his first speech to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) since the Russian invasion, Zelen-skyy highlighted alleged atroc-ities by Moscow's troops. Show-ing a gruesome video of what appeared to be dead Ukrainians, he launched a blistering attack at the UN on Apr 5 asking it to "act immediately" or "dissolve your-self altogether".

However, the Russian rep-resentative to the UNSC reject-

ed accusations of war crimes by the country's troops in Bucha, arguing there are "fla-grant inconsistencies in events shown by Ukrainian and West-ern media". Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, has veto power and can block any resolutions on the Ukraine issue. On Feb 25, a day after President Vladimir Putin ordered "special military oper-ations" against Ukraine, Mos-cow blocked a draft resolution intended to prevent the Russian military offensive against the neighboring country.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly reached out to the international community seeking military aid

to fight the Russian aggression. Previously on March 16, he virtu-ally addressed the US Congress during which he had invoked 9/11 terror attacks on America, pleading for military assistance.

On Tuesday, India's envoy to the UN, T S Tirumurti, also expressed concern over reports of civilian killings in Bucha and called for an independent probe. "India continues to remain deep-ly concerned at the worsening situation and reiterates its call for an immediate cessation of violence and end to hostilities. We've emphasised right from the beginning of the conflict the need to pursue the path of diplo-macy and dialogue," he said.

Act soon or dissolve yourself, Zelenskyy tells UNSC

The Indian government told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that it sup-

ports the call for an “independ-ent investigation” into the civil-ian killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. Countering crit-icism on the BJP government’s stand, External Affairs Minis-ter S Jaishankar said India is “strongly against” the conflict, and “if it has chosen a side, it is a side of peace, and for an immediate end to violence”.

Replying to the discussion on the situation in Ukraine, Jais-hankar said: “We are strongly against the conflict, we believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives. In this day and age, dialogue and diplo-macy are the right answers to any disputes”.

Stating that India was “deep-ly disturbed” by the Bucha kill-ings, he said: “We strongly con-demn the killings that have taken place there. This is an extremely serious matter and we support the call for an inde-pendent investigation.”

Jaishankar also said that attributing political colour to India’s actions vis-a-vis the Ukraine situation was unfortu-nate. One should bear in mind

that the contemporary global order has been built on the UN Charter, on respect for interna-tional law and for the sovereign-ty and territorial integrity of all states, he said. “If India has cho-sen a side, it is a side of peace, and it is for an immediate end to violence. This is our principled stand and has consistently guid-ed our position in international forums and debates, including in the UN,” Jaishankar said.

“We encourage talks between Ukraine and Russia, includ-ing at the level of their presi-dents. Prime Minister (Naren-dra Modi) himself has spoken to them both in this regard. This was precisely the message that was conveyed to Russian For-eign Minister Sergey Lavrov when he was in Delhi. If India can be of any assistance in this matter, we would be glad to con-tribute,” he said.

He said that since the start, the signal from Ukrainian authorities was that the situ-ation was “manageable” and under control. That put Indian students in a quandary about leaving the country. “We were in constant touch with Ukraini-an authorities and even univer-sities. We were very frustrated with some of the universities,”

he said. Addressing concerns raised

by the Opposition about the future of the students who had returned from Ukraine, Jais-hankar said India was in talks with Poland, Romania, Kazakh-stan and Hungary for comple-tion of their medical education.

On the Opposition’s criti-cism that the government sent Union ministers to gain politi-cal mileage out of the situation, Jaishankar said their presence helped the evacuation process. “Had the four ministers not gone to countries neighbour-ing Ukraine, India would not have got the same level of coop-eration from those countries. In fact, the ministers worked as a team,” he said. Asserting that India has never undertak-en such a largescale evacuation effort in the past, Jaishankar said its actions inspired other countries.

He said the conflict had a bearing on the present world order. “The world order keeps changing, that’s why G-7 became G-20. Global order is changing due to Covid, Afghanistan. The only way to protect ourselves is to reduce our dependency on foreign countries and be aatma nirbhar (self-reliant),” he said.

India has chosen side of peace, Jaishankar says in Lok Sabha

In BrIef

Ukraine braces for assault in east

Germany intercepts Russian talk of civilian killings

Ukraine says Mariupol defense holding on

Thousands of people fled eastern Ukraine, brac-ing for an intensified

Russian assault, as the coun-try’s political leaders appealed to Nato for more firepower.

The killings of civilians in Bucha are intensifying pres-sure on the military alliance as its foreign ministers met for a second day, European diplomats weighed a ban on Russian coal, and the Unit-

ed Nations General Assembly will take a vote Thursday on expelling Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

Germany’s foreign intel-ligence service claims to have intercept-

ed radio communications in which Russian soldiers dis-cuss indiscriminate killings in Ukraine, the Washington Times reported on Apr 7. In two separate communications,

Ukrainian and Russian officials gave conflict-ing statements Thurs-

day about the status of Mari-upol, the hard-hit port city in southeastern Ukraine that has been under a Russian siege for weeks.

Alexei Arestovich, an advis-er to Ukraine’s president, said in a news briefing that while Russia has “renewed its offen-sive against Mariupol,” Ukrain-ian forces “are holding on, however difficult it is for them there.”

Meanwhile, Eduard Basur-in, a spokesman for the self-de-clared, pro-Moscow Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed that Ukrainian forces have

Russian soldiers described how they question soldiers as well as civilians, and proceed to shoot them, according to an intelligence official familiar with the findings who, like oth-ers, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the mat-ter’s sensitivity.

been cleared out of the center of the city. He said the fight-ing there is mostly over but that pockets of resistance remain in and around Mariupol. Brit-ain’s Defense Ministry said ear-ly Wednesday that “heavy fight-ing and Russian airstrikes have continued in the encircled city of Mariupol.” It said 160,000 res-idents remain mostly without “light, communication, medi-cine, heat or water.”

More than 100,000 people need to be evacuated from the city. Efforts to evacuate civil-ians have stalled: The Interna-tional Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday it failed for five days to reach Mariupol to escort evacuation vehicles.

8 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM

Judge John Michalski (courtesy: Buffalo News)

TriSTATE

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has praised Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi for trying to broker peace between the United States and Russia on Ukraine and hoped that his efforts would be helpful in restoring peace in the region.

Modi conveyed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey on Apr 1 that India stands ready to contribute in any way to the peace efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and called for early cessation of violence in that country. Lavrov was on a two-day visit to India that ended on Apr 1.

"Well, I think that right now he (Modi) is trying to broker a peace between Russia and Amer-

Congresswoman Maloney praises Modi’s strategy on US-Russia on Ukraine

ica with Ukraine. I think that's a very positive goal to have. We (India and US) have strong economic ties, we have strong peace ties, and we have strong similar values, I would say we have the same form of govern-ment," Maloney told PTI in an interview.

Maloney, 76, who chairs the powerful House Oversight Com-mittee and has been elected to the US House of Representatives since 1993, is one of the senior most Democratic lawmakers in Congress.

The Congresswoman from New York has been a friend of India and Indian Americans both inside and outside the Congress. She had attended the historic Howdy Modi event in

Houston in Sept 2019, which Prime Minister Modi addressed jointly with then US President Donald Trump.

Maloney said that the impor-tant thing is that Modi is trying for peace. "One thing is true that if you don't try it, you'll never succeed. You have to keep on try-ing. For the sake of the world, I hope that anyone working for peace between Ukraine, Russia and the world is helpful in mak-ing that happen," she said.

Maloney said that the prime minister is "trying to bring ideas and ways to get a com-promise" to bring peace to the world. "This is a very dangerous time, because we can't afford a third World War. We're nuclear powers. We can't afford it. We Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

have to make an agreement and the suffering of the people is just too much. ... loss of life, bru-tal destruction. I am personally very proud of President Biden," she said.

"He brought our allies and Asia and our allies in Europe together very swiftly in a uni-fied front for democracy and to protect the people of Ukraine against a brutal invasion that we're still working to try to stop," she said.

She has been one of the key architects of the Diwali Stamp and is now focused on passage of two of her legislations: One to declare Diwali as a federal holiday and other to give the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal to Mahatma Gandhi.

A veteran New York state judge killed himself less than two weeks after

his home was raided by investi-gators, according to one of his attorneys.

John Michalski, an acting jus-tice on the Erie County Supreme Court, died by suicide on Apr 5 at his Amherst home, where fed-eral and state law enforcement officers had executed a search warrant 12 days earlier, the Buf-falo News reported. He was 61.

Michalski, who was appointed to the New York Court of Claims, and as an acting Supreme Court

justice in 2006, had been eyed by investigators for years, but no criminal charges were ever filed against him. The feds had been probing his friendship with Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of a strip club in Cheektowaga and a for-mer client. Gerace was charged with several felonies, including drug and sex trafficking, as well as bribing a federal agent. Gerace denies the allegations, according to the Buffalo News.

Their friendship dates back two decades, attorney Anthony Lana, who was also representing the judge, told the Buffalo News.

The judge’s death came a little over a year after he was struck by a slow-moving freight train in Depew, in what was believed to be a suicide attempt. He suffered a serious leg inju-ry, but survived. FBI agents con-tinued probing Michalski’s con-nection to Gerace following the train incident — and were seek-ing evidence of tax crimes dur-ing the Mar 24 raid at his home, two government sources told the Buffalo News.

Michalski’s caseload was transferred one day after the raid and no cases were to be

New York judge commits suicide after agents raid his homeassigned to him “until further notice,” according to the State Office of Courts Administra-tion. He had returned to the bench in Jan after taking leave following the train incident.

The judge was also the sub-ject of an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office connected to possible corrup-tion, one source familiar with the matter told the New York Times. No charges had been filed against him in the inquiry, the newspaper reported.

Michalski is survived by his wife and four children.

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that $62.4 million is available to support county-level

efforts to strengthen emergency commu-nications and interoperability infrastruc-ture utilized by local first responders. Through the 2022 Statewide Interopera-ble Communications Targeted Grant Pro-gram, individual counties and New York City can apply for funding to improve infrastructure, address communica-tions deficiencies, implement national interoperability channels, and enhance

regional connectivity between coun-ties and systems. Interoperability gives first responders the ability to seamlessly share information and data in real time during an emergency.

"When our firefighters, police officers, EMTs and paramedics respond to a cri-sis, they need a communications struc-ture that allows them to communicate and coordinate effectively and efficient-ly," Governor Hochul said on Apr 6. "This funding builds on our previous efforts to modernize our public safety communi-cations systems and will bolster effective emergency communications capabilities and infrastructure across the State."

The 2022 SICG targeted program is a non-competitive grant program designed to improve the status of land mobile radio interoperability for New York's pub-lic safety agencies. Funding is distribut-ed to eligible applicants (counties) that have insufficient coverage or insufficient infrastructure on national interopera-bility channels. The maximum availa-ble award to each recipient is $6 million, with only one application being accepted per county.

$62.4mn to strengthen NY’s emergency communications

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced $34 million in feder-al funding awards for over 1,000

homes to become more energy efficient and climate friendly. Awarded through the state’s Weatherization Stimulus Pro-gram, the funding will support electrifi-cation and electrification-ready upgrades that will lower energy costs and improve health outcomes for income-eligible rent-ers and homeowners.

“New York’s nation-leading clean ener-gy goals require that we reduce harm-ful building emissions across all com-

munities,” Governor Hochul said on Apr 6. “Our comprehensive decarbonization strategy includes resources to ensure low- and moderate-income New Yorkers are not left behind in the transition.”

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated additional funding to states to support heat and energy conservation programs for low-income households, including the federally-funded Weather-ization Assistance Program. Adminis-tered by New York State Homes and Com-munity Renewal, the Weatherization Assistance Program helps reduce ener-gy costs for income-eligible homeown-ers and renters by providing free servic-es that help conserve energy and improve safety and health standards.

The $34 million made available for the Weatherization Stimulus Program is intended to reach households that other-wise would not be eligible for deep de-car-bonization assistance. Additionally, a por-tion of the funds will be used to train and enhance existing sub-grantees capacity to deliver these services in the future, sup-porting the Governor’s goals of investing in and developing New York State’s work-force for climate-friendly activities.

$34mn awards to improve energy efficiency for over 1,000 NY homes

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 9NEw YOrk CiTY

Times Square became the venue for a historic breaking-of-the-fast ritual

on the first day of Ramadan, as hundreds of Muslims gathered to pray at the iconic site.

1,500 meals were served to those fasting in what is a first recitation of the Taraweeh prayer for Ramadan at the Crossroads of the World, according to a CBS news report on Apr 3.

One of the organizers, known by the initials SQ, ral-lied the crowd. “For Muslims, it’s not just about fasting so that we understand how those who are food insecure feel,” SQ was quoted as saying by CBS. “We actually are doing this so that we can become closer and more contemplate our creator, our lord, Allah,” he added.

“The Quran is a divine rev-elation. It’s the final revelation that was given to the prophet Muhammad, who was a mes-

Historic start to Ramadan at Times Square

Hundreds gathered at Times Square on the evening of Apr 2.

(Photo courtesy: Facebook)

senger in a series of messengers, just like Jesus, just like Moses,” SQ was quoted as saying. “We are all united and connected together. People need to stop trying to dis-unite the Christians and the Mus-lims and the Jews and everyone. That needs to stop,” he said.

The sunrise at Apr 2 morn-ing marked the start of Ramadan which will end on May 1. Over this 30-day observance, Muslims recite the Quran daily to finish the holy book by end of the peri-od.

On Apr 1, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wished Muslim communities in the Unit-ed States and around the world Ramadan Kareem. “For so many around the globe, including fel-low Americans all across the country, this sacred month is a time for reflection and spiritual growth. Communities come together to practice forgiveness and resilience, to show compas-sion and generosity of spirit to

those in need, of giving, and to celebrate the many blessings of life with loved ones,” the Bidens said in a statement.

“This year, the simple act of breaking the fast will be an even more poignant reminder of the joys of health, family, and com-munity,” the President said, in reference to the pandemic. “And we will continue to hold in our hearts all those families grieving a lost loved one who are facing an empty chair at the table,” he said.

“Let us honor the simple yet profound truth that all people are equal in dignity and rights. That’s why the United States will continue to speak out for human rights everywhere–including for Uyghurs in China, Rohingya in Burma, and other Muslim com-munities all over the world,” the President said.

A 70-year-old Sikh man was attacked during his early morning walk in Queens

in New York City, reported ABC7 New York on Apr 4.

The police said that the attack on Nirmal Singh was unprovoked, and left him with a broken nose and other bruis-es. It is being treated as a hate crime and an investigation is taking place actively, but no arrests have been made so far.

Singh, in his native language Punjabi, spoke to Eyewitness News of ABC7 New York, say-ing that he was punched from behind when he was out on his morning walk on Sunday around 7 am in Richmond Hill, a commercial neighborhood in New York City.

The South Asian communi-ty in New York is outraged and concerned for the safety of the Indian diaspora in the area.

Nirmal Singh had been in the United States for only two weeks when the attack happened.

70-year-old Sikh man attacked in NY during morning walk

Nirmal Singh

Amazon workers in New York, led by a former employee, have forced the

technology giant to recognize a trade union in the US for the first time. Workers at a New York warehouse voted 55% in favor of joining the Amazon Labor Union.

The group is led by former Amazon worker Chris Smalls, who made his name protesting against safety conditions at the retail giant during the pandemic. Amazon fired Smalls in 2020 after his protest, citing quarantine vio-lations.

Smalls' victory marks a major defeat for Amazon, which had fiercely fought against unioniza-tion.

However, in Alabama, where Amazon was facing a sepa-rate union drive, the company appeared to have fended off activ-ists in a tight contest in which

challenged ballots could yet overturn that result.

Together, the two elections mark a milestone for activists, who have long decried labor practices at Amazon, the coun-try's second largest employer.

Smalls emerged from the vote count looking tired but jubi-

lant, and popped open a bottle of champagne he was handed by supporters. "We did whatev-er it took to connect with these workers," he told the crowd, recounting an against-the-odds campaign that started with "two tables, two chairs and a tent" and relied on an online fundrais-

Amazon workers in NY win battle to form first US unioner for money. "I hope that every-body's paying attention now because a lot of people doubt-ed us."

In a statement, Amazon said it was disappointed by the loss in New York and that it was evaluating how to pro-ceed. It also accused regulators of improperly influencing the vote. "We believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees," the company said. "We're evaluat-ing our options, including filing objections based on the inappro-priate and undue influence by the [National Labor Relations Board]".

Amazon employs more than one million people in the US and it has extraordinary influence on work practices - even outside its doors, making this victory significant.Amazon Labor Union leader Christian Smalls celebrates the landmark win

Aranyani, an Indian luxu-ry handbag brand from India was launched on

Apr 6 in New York at the Consu-late General of India in the pres-ence of officials from the New York City, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and members

Indian luxury handbag brand Aranyani launched in New Yorkof New York’s fashion industry and society.

The event was part of the efforts to take Indian products to the global stage and a step in the direction of Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s mission of ‘vocal for local’ and local-global

campaign.A product

of Sai Laksh-mi Industries from India, Aranyani col-lection had been inspired by the roy-al Rajasthani palaces along with the old-est mountain range in India

– Aravalli. The products were showcased in the Consulate General of India.

Haresh Mirpuri, founder and Chairperson of Sai Laksh-mi Industries, said that they are the first ones to use 24 carats gold on the leather bags. “The essence of Aranyani is the god-dess of the forest, the life force that sustains our planet earth. Aranyani is very special as we are the first one in the world to come out with a 24k gold used over the leather bag,” the ANI quoted Mirpuri as saying.

He said, “The Aranyani bags are made in India but use the best material from all over the world. We are today displaying our bags to the buyers and also sellers in the US with the help of

the Consulate General of India.” Randhir Jaiswal, Consul Gen-

eral of India in New York, said that it will be a major success in the US. “We are indeed truly delighted to launch Aranyani a world-class luxury product from India. Aranyani means princess of forest and hence, as the name suggests it combines the best of the traditional world with the modern, one of the best of craftsmanship from India with new-age design and fashion. This is going to be a huge suc-cess in the US.”

He also said, “It is not just a product but an idea that shows and reflects today’s India, eco-nomic landscape, our energy and our enterprise.”

(Source: ANI)

10 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM TriSTATE COMMUNiTY

Flushing, NY’s Bowne St co-named Ganesha Temple StFlushing, New York’s

Bowne Street was co-named Ganesha Temple

Street on Apr 2. The Ganesha temple is located in Flushing in the Queens borough of New York City and has been a land-mark of the borough for over 45 years.

The temple, spreading over more than half a block on Bowne Street, is famous for its annual Ganesha Utsav and Ratha Yatra, its daily nighttime ‘aaratis’ and the delicious food from its canteen.

Saturday’s unveiling ceremo-ny began with the image of Lord Ganesha taken around the tem-ple in a ceremonial procession. It was attended by New York City’s elected officials which included Council member San-dra Ung (District 20), Queens

Borough President Donovan Richards, Senator John Liu, India’s Consul General Randhir Jaiswal, Deputy Commissioner for Travel, Investment and Inno-

vation at the Mayor’s Office Dil-ip Chauhan.

Dr. Uma Mysorekar, Presi-dent, Board of Trustees of the Hindu Temple Society thanked

all those who were instrumental in making the dream of co-nam-ing the street come true. She thanked all the elected officials for their continued support and hailed the temple for providing positive energy and being a wel-coming place for all.

Council Member Ung called Flushing a multi ethnic commu-nity where Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, Mus-lim mosque could be found with-in blocks of each other, with the Ganesha Temple as an impor-tant contributor to the neigh-borhood. Borough President Richards called the day histor-ic, adding that the co-naming would make sure to preserve the history of the contributors to the neighborhood and would act as a guide to harmonious liv-

ing in the midst of hate crimes which had sprung up in Queens which is home to people from 190 countries using 200 languag-es.

Deputy Commissioner Chau-han called Flushing a true melt-ing pot, with the temple acting as a landmark which attracts visitors from all over the world. Senator John Liu said the co-naming of the street was rep-resentative of the goodwill the temple had generated among its devotees and among the great-er community around it. Oth-er officials, including ex Coun-cil Member Peter Coo, praised the temple’s contribution to the civic life. Consul General Jaiswal congratulated the tem-ple for being a seat of culture and impacting the general com-munity.

indian Consulate nY celebrates baisakhi

Yash Paul Soi, 83, of West Windsor, New Jer-sey, passed away peacefully on April 2, sur-rounded by his loving family. A profession-

al engineer, he received his B.S. from Utah State University and M.S. in Management and Industrial Engineering from Columbia University.

During his life, he had a long history of involve-ment in the community and shared his love of Indi-an culture with others. After launching one of the first New York Indian radio programs in 1969, with interviews that included Saint Mother Teresa and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Yash produced con-certs featuring famous Indian artists including Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi.

Yash was one of the founding members of the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), the larg-est non-profit organization servicing the Indian communities of New York, New Jersey, and Con-necticut. He was elected President in 1999 and 2008 and was instrumental in organizing the Annual New York India Day Parade, which continues today. On November 23, 2002, he was presented the "Out-standing Community Service Award" in recogni-tion for his dedicated and continuous service to the community, by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. On September 15, 2002, the "Share and Care Founda-tion" honored Yash for "dedication and generosi-ty towards services to the community.” On July 30, 2008, he received a Congressional honor from the

A vigorous Bhangra performance at the Apr 2, 2022, Baisakhi celebrations at the Indian Consulate in New York (Photo: Indian Consulate)

Indian Consulate in New York held a celebration on Apr 2 to mark Baisakhi which falls on April 14

and is observed by many regions of India as New Year.

The celebrations also recognized the start of Navratri, the nine-day Hindu festival. It also came on the eve of the start of the 30-day Muslim festi-val of Ramadan.

India’s Consul General in New York Randhir Jaiswal offered auspi-cious wishes to the Sikh community and others for their different festivals including Cheti Chand by Sindhis, Ugadi in Andhra, Karnataka and Tel-angana, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra,

as well as others in Manipur and else-where.

“When we celebrate festivals and fairs of India, we are celebrating the diversity of India,” Jaiswal said in his speech and noted that diversi-ty was the strength of the commu-nity He also noted that several land-mark events during India’s freedom struggle began on Vaisakhi. This year it was even more important to draw those connections as it is the 75th year of India’s independence, Jaiswal said. He stressed the need for people to pre-serve, promote, nourish and nurture the diversity, and make it the basis of unity and in helping each other.

US House of Representatives in the 110 US Congress First Session, which became a permanent record in the “Congressional Record”. On August 13, 2008, he was honored by New York City Council at City Hall. He was presented the “City Council Citation” for his exemplary service which is truly “the life blood of the community and the City”.

His involvement in international efforts was rec-ognized in 2011 when President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana awarded him the Highest Civilian Hon-or of the Republic of Guyana for his earlier work from 1989 to 1992 to restore democracy through free and fair elections. Most recently in 2014, Yash was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his “contribution to the community and the United States.”

At home, he showed the same enthusiasm for life, and deeply loved his family and friends. He often shared his talent for cooking and would tell stories about his many adventures and experiences in life over a meal or a cup of his unique blend of chai. He lived a profound and prolific life, touching countless others with his loving spirit, driven by a deep faith and a heart for helping people.

Yash is survived by his wife of 50 years, Dorothy, and two sons Raja and Sunil.

Funeral prayers and last rites were held at Frank-lin Memorial Park in North Brunswick, NJ, on Wednesday, April 6.

Veteran community leader Yash Paul Soi passes away

Yash Paul Soi(July 18, 1938 - April 2, 2022)

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 11NATiONAl COMMUNiTY

Fox bites Congressman Ami Bera at the Capitol in Washington

Democrat Congressman Ami Bera, an Indian American, was bitten by

a fox on Monday evening while walking to the Capitol for votes. Bera, a medical doctor, is under-going a series of four rabies

shots as precaution.Bera said he felt something

lunge at him from behind as he walked near one of the Senate office buildings. He turned and used his umbrella to fend off what he thought would be a small

dog. Bera said the encounter last-ed about 15 seconds. A bystander yelled to alert others and the fox fled as US Capitol Police officers ran up on the scene.

Meanwhile, the House Ser-geant at Arms told lawmakers and their staffs Tuesday after-noon that there had been mul-tiple recent fox encounters and that the animals should not be approached. The warning noted that there are possibly several fox dens on the Capitol grounds and that animal control person-nel would be seeking to trap and locate any that they find. The Capitol Police also tweeted pic-tures of one fox safely captured in a cage.

Ami Bera; A fox captured in Capitol (Photo courtesy: twitter/ US Capitol Police)

asian american arts alliance announces residency program

The Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and The Museum of Contempo-

rary Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) has announced the Bandung 2022 Residency, a new residen-cy program intended to fos-ter understanding between the Asian American/Pacific Island-er (AAPI) and Black communi-ties.

The Bandung 2022 Residen-cy, meant for New York City, was announced on Mar 28. It is open to NYC-based artists, educators, change makers, organizers 18 years of age or older. According to the website, it’s a chance to create a dynamic safe place for a varied group of changemak-ers engaged in social justice dia-logue, restorative healing, loca-tion-based cultural activities, and growing community narra-tives.

It is “inspired by recent events that have deeply impact-ed these communities,” as well as the Stop Asian Hate and Black Lives Matter movements, a press release from A4 said.

The 3-month residency pro-gram plans to combine facili-tated learning exchanges with self-facilitated cohort meetings. Selected residents will receive a $1,500 honorarium for participa-tion and additional support for project realization.

Applications for the residen-cy opened on Mar 28, with a sub-mission deadline of Apr 17.

The Bandung 2022 Residency is named for the first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference, which took place in 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The groundbreaking summit brought together lead-ers from 29 newly independent Asian and African states emerg-ing from colonial rule, with the aim of ending racial discrimina-tion and ensuring collaboration and a peaceful coexistence.

This program is presented by A4 and MoCADA, and made possible through the New York City Council’s AAPI Communi-ty Support Initiative, the Ford Foundation, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. (aaartsalliance.org)

Rohit Wad, Mayur Kamat get senior roles at Binance

Indian Americans Rohit Wad and Mayur Kamat have been recently appointed to sen-

ior roles in Binance, one of the world's largest crypto trading platforms.

Wad was named the com-pany's new Chief Technology Officer, and Kamat was named as the head of the product team.

Before joining Binance, Wad worked on early Microsoft pro-jects like Excel and Sharepoint. He also worked for Facebook and Google. Kamat was the for-mer Product Manager at Google.

"Like social collaboration, every single person has had the need to pay someone, record some transaction, prove own-

ership of a digital or physical asset, or send money to their family. So far, these activities have endured arcane and inef-ficient constraints," Wad was quoted as saying in a blog on Binance's website.

"While we are still in the ear-ly days, there are already tech-nologies that could dramatical-ly simplify these inefficiencies. Web3 is exciting and I am super excited to join Binance to lead the global tech team," he added.

On asked to comment about working with Wad (again), Kamat said, "Excited to be work-ing with Rohit again. Rohit started Bing at Microsoft when I was there as an intern. Then we had a chance to work together at Google briefly. At my last start-up, we were pitching our prod-uct to Skype, and Rohit (who ran Skype then) was a great mentor. Super excited to work with him daily now," as quoted by Finance Magnates.

Suneetha Vaitheswaran named University Data Officer at Princeton

Suneetha Vaitheswaran, a data analytics expert, has been named Princeton Uni-

versity’s first University Data Officer. She started her new role on Feb 28, according to a press release from the Ivy League uni-versity.

Vaitheswaran is a senior leader in analytics strategy, sys-tems consulting and data gov-ernance, and in her new posi-tion, she will be responsible for supporting the effective use of administrative data at Prince-ton, reporting to Jay Dominick, vice president for information technology and chief informa-tion officer, and Provost Debo-rah Prentice.

“Suneetha comes to us with an impressive career in high-er education leading important data initiatives. I look forward to working with her in developing

Princeton’s future data infra-structure,” Dominick is quoted saying in the press release.

At Princeton, Vaitheswaran will work closely with Prince-ton’s data managers, analysts, and IT professionals and will be a key player in establishing and sustaining a campus-wide data governance infrastructure.

“There’s an interesting piv-

Bhaveen Jani appointed to NJ State Supreme Court Committee

Bhaveen Jani, an attor-ney and shareholder with Stark & Stark, was recent-

ly appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to its Com-mittee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.

Born and brought up in New Jersey, Jani was appointed to a three-year term which began on Jan 1 this year and will end on Dec 31, 2024.

He was selected to be a mem-ber of this committee through his active service with vari-ous professional organizations, including the New Jersey State Bar Association, the South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey, the New Jersey Asso-ciation for Justice, the Ameri-can Association for Justice, the Hunterdon County Bar Asso-ciation, and the Mercer Coun-ty Bar Association, the Jan. 22, 2022, press release from Start & Stark said.

“I am honored to have just been appointed to an impor-tant Supreme Court Committee

Bhaveen Jani (Photo: Linkedin @bhaveen)

where I will be able to protect the people in New Jersey and the legal profession from the unauthorized practice of law,” Bhaveen is quoted saying in the press release. “Great responsi-bility comes with being an attor-ney, especially for our clients and the community, and this committee will work to protect those we serve.”

The Supreme Court Commit-tee on the Unauthorized Prac-tice of Law is comprised of 21 attorneys and four lay members of the state.

ot point happening at Princeton, which makes this position very exciting,” Vaitheswaran said in the press release.

Vaitheswaran, principal of Suneetha LLC since 2019, has held leadership roles focusing on higher education for most of her career. She was executive director of analytics and busi-ness information solutions at the University of Chicago from 2016 to 2018, and before that had served as director of busi-ness information services at the university for more than eight years. At Northwestern Univer-sity, Vaitheswaran worked for more than a decade, as a pro-ject manager from 1993 to 2004, and then as assistant direc-tor of data warehousing from 2004 to 2007. Early in her career, Vaitheswaran, worked as a sys-tems engineer and semiconduc-tor engineer at IBM. She earned her bachelor of science in chem-ical engineering from North-western University.

Mayur Kamat and Rohit Wad

Suneetha Vaitheswaran (Photo courtesy: princeton.edu)

12 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM NATiONAl COMMUNiTY

Delhi Committee of Chicago Sister Cities holds Holi celebrations

Thousands of Chicagoans gathered on Mar 19 to celebrate the Festival of

Colors, Holi, dancing to Indi-an music, and enjoying cultur-al programs and food. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was also present at the event.

The celebration was the last of three events in the Global Connections series at Navy Pier presented by ComEd, which pre-viously hosted events celebrat-ing the Chinese New Year and International Carnivale.

According to organizers, this is the “first time a large metro-politan city in the United States, Chicago, celebrated the Indian festival of Holi.” They estimate more than 2,000 people were at the joyful festival that included color throwing.

“The Delhi Committee of Chicago Sister Cities is thrilled to partner with Navy Pier for this event so that Chicagoans

and visitors can participate in the celebration of Holi, a hol-iday that marks new life and energy,” Smita N. Shah, chair-man of the Delhi Committee of Chicago Sister Cities Interna-tional, is quoted saying in the press release. “How fitting that we can celebrate this one of a kind event on our beautiful lake-front, with Mayor Lightfoot, in the City blessed by Swami Vivekananda,” she added. Shah is also Director on the Navy Pier Board of Directors, and CEO of SPAAN Tech, Inc.

Also in attendance were Con-sul General of India in Chica-go Amit Kumar, Indian commu-nity leader Niranjan S. Shah, Pratima Shah, and ABC 7 News reporter, Ravi Baichwal.

Baichwal welcomed attendees and served as the master of cer-emonies.

“Chicago is a global city, and this partnership is a perfect

example of that,” noted May-or Lightfoot. She also thanked Shah for her commitment to the citizens of Chicago, leadership of the Delhi Committee, and for her appointment by President Biden to the President’s Advisory Com-mission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, the press release said.

Chicago Sister Cities Inter-national, an initiative of World Business Chicago, advances Chi-cago as a global city and pro-motes peace through mutu-al respect, understanding, and cooperation through citizen diplomacy – one individual, one community at a time – for the benefit of Chicago and its sister cities.

Organizers say Delhi’s posi-tion as a sister city to Chicago demonstrates the strong relation-ship between India and the city as well as the cultural impor-tance of the established Indi-

an American community to the Chicagoland community.

Other events that the Del-hi Committee of Chicago start-ed are the Annual Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi Luncheon in 2014, honoring the long-stand-

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking at the March 19, 2022, Holi celebrations organized by Delhi Committee of Chicago Sister Cities, whose Chairman Smita N. Shah looks on. (Photo: courtesy organizers)

ing exchange of ideas between Mahatma Gandhi and the US, including the principles of truth and non-violence. Shah also helped secure the designation of October 2nd as Mahatma Gan-dhi Day in Chicago.

Indian-American filmmaker Smri-ti Mundhra has won the Directors Guild of America Award (DGA) for

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs for the “Shelter” episode of ‘Through Our Eyes’, on HBO Max.

Mundhra was presented the 2021 award by Pamela Adlon, creator and star of the comedy drama series ‘Bet-ter Things,’ during the 74th Annual DGA Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Mar 12.

“Last night I won a DGA Award and got to honor my dad in a room he worked his whole life to get into. His DGA card was so important to him because it meant he was ‘one of them.’ Nothing makes me more proud than keeping his legacy alive,” she tweeted.

Through Our Eyes is an inspiring journey into the lives of American fam-ilies, from the perspective of children as they navigate formidable yet all-too-com-mon challenges along with parents and

siblings. The four-part gritty docu-series captures the innocence of childhood and the strength of perseverance in the face of parental incarceration, climate dis-placement, the wounds of war, and home-lessness. Homelessness was the subject

of Mundhra’s award-winning episode ‘shelter’. Mundhra’s production company, Meralta Films, specializes in documen-tary films and non-fiction content. She is also the Executive Producer and Creator of Netflix’s original documentary series, ‘Indian Matchmaking’ presented by Sima Taparia.

The Los Angeles based filmmaker had won the Albert Maysles New Documen-tary Director Award at the 2017 Tribe-ca Film Festival for her first feature doc-umentary film ‘A Suitable Girl’, along with her co-director Sarita Khurana. In 2020, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Sub-ject for her film ‘St. Louis Superman.’

Born in Los Angeles, Mundhra was raised between Los Angeles and Mum-bai, India. Her father, Jag Mundhra was also a filmmaker. Before she was born, her parents rented a single screen in Cul-ver City, Los Angeles and became the first exhibitors of Bollywood films in the Unit-ed States.

Filmmaker Smriti Mundhra wins DGA awardMundhra obtained a BA in Eng-

lish from California State University, Northridge and Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in film at the Columbia University School of the Arts in 2010. She then moved to Mumbai to begin pro-duction on her documentary directori-al debut film, ‘A Suitable Girl,’ which pre-miered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017. In 2005, she produced ‘Waterborne’ about three sets of residents who band together after a terrorist attack against LA’s water supply. It received the Special Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festi-val.

Mundhra also produced Tanuj Cho-pra’s ‘Punching At the Sun’ which pre-miered at the 2006 Sundance Film Fes-tival. It was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the San Francisco Inter-national Asian American Film Festival. In 2018, she directed an ad campaign for Bumble’s launch in India starring Priyan-ka Chopra Jonas called ‘Equal Not Loose’.

Indian American twins from Louisville are creating pop music blending their home-

town roots and Indian heritage. Their music blends Hindi, Eng-lish and most recently Spanish in their songs.

Punjabi twins Kush and Neil Nijhawan, known as Twinjabi, are representing Louisville on an international level. The du-Pont Manual High School grads started their music career two years ago. After the success of their previous releases Teju and Nache Hindustan, the duo released their English single “A Mi Tambien” on Feb 11. The duo says “A Mi Tambien is a special song that any romantic can relate to. We sing about the girl that's been through it

Music duo Twinjabi represents Louisville on a global levelYouTube and 3M streams on major platforms such as Spotify. Their viral hits, Bombay and Desi Dons, have hit nearly 4M views alone. The group has earned placements on numer-ous Editorial Spotify Playlists such as Bridge to Bombay, Desi Hip Hop, and No Borders, including being featured on the cover for the popular Bridge To Bombay playlist (50K+ followers). In Oct 2020, Twinjabi became the first international artists to grace the cover of In-dia’s iconic Fablook Magazine. The group has a highly engaged fan base with 60K+ subscribers on YouTube, 52K+ fans on Insta-gram, 25K+ fans on Facebook, and 118K+ fans on Josh.(With inputs from radioandmusic.com)Kush (Kushy) and Neil (Neilstar) Nijhawan

all when it comes to love, but still prays to god that she will "find the one". “The melodies, lyrics, and vibe of the song is something that just all came together, and we hope this track becomes your own pop anthem," they said.

They have already estab-lished as a premier pop act in India. Viral hits such as Bombay and Brown Magic showcase the versatility and global crossover appeal of their records. The twins’ unapologetic nature and raw energy has generated a cult-like following with a limited discography.

Twinjabi has gained in-credible acclaim and exponen-tial growth with 7M views on

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 13NATiONAl COMMUNiTY

Georgia governor proclaims April 2 as Hindu New Year

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has declared Apr 2 as Hindu New Year Day in recognition of the large

Hindu community living in the state.“The Hindu New Year is commonly

associated with the onset of spring and is accompanied by customs that vary from

region to region which includes deco-rating homes with vibrant flower, eating special foods and enjoying other region-al festivities with unique colors, rituals, and music,” Kemp said in a proclamation issued last week.

“Our state is enriched immeasurably

by the contribution of Hindu Americans, a large and multifaceted population with a lush tapestry of beliefs and practices, and Hindu New Year is an important and much-anticipated event for Hindus who call Georgia home,” the Governor said.

More than two lakh Hindu Americans

live in Georgia, Kemp said adding these families have made significant contribu-tions to the collective heritage and qual-ity of life in the state and their religious traditions add to the rich cultural diversi-ty of Georgia.

US President Joe Biden has nominated two Indi-an Americans to key

administration positions. Vinay Vijay Singh, of Pennsylvania, has been nominated as Chief Financial Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Develop-ment; and Kalpana Kotagal, of Ohio, is the nominee for Com-missioner on the Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Commission. The White House sent the nom-inations to the US Senate on Apr 5.

A Certified Public Account-ant, Singh is currently senior advisor to the Administrator at the US Small Business Admin-istration (SBA), assisting agen-cy teams to deliver organization-al efficiencies to better serve our communities’ small businesses. He has 25 years of private sec-tor leadership experience with a

Biden nominates Vinay Singh, Kalpana Kotagal to key positions

deep understanding of finance, analytics and strategy.

Singh had also served in the Obama-Biden administration as a Deputy Assistant Secretary (US Field). He played a key role in leading trade and investment policy and promotion efforts to

better market conditions for US companies.

Prior to his role at SBA, Sin-gh was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer for Infrastruc-ture Practice at KPMG in India. As a senior member of the exec-utive team, he led several organ-

izational transformation pro-jects, leveraging technology to improve profitability and deci-sion-making, the White House said. As lead partner for the World Bank Group account, he supported global sustainabili-ty projects focused on solving urban and rural challenges in housing, water, energy, and eco-nomic development, it added.

Kotagal is a partner at Cohen Milstein, a member of the firm’s Civil Rights & Employment practice group, and co-chair of the firm’s Hiring and Diversity Committee.

The daughter of immigrants from India, she is co-author of the seminal legal template ‘Inclusion Rider’.

Kotagal is also a diversi-ty, equity, and inclusion expert, and represents disenfranchised people in employment and civil

rights litigation involving issues related to Title VII, Equal Pay Act, Americans with Disabil-ities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, the White House said.

Neil Makhija, executive director of Indian American Impact, nation’s leading civ-ic Indian American and South Asian organization, welcomed the nomination of Kotagal to the Equal Employment Oppor-tunity Commission. “Kotagal is an exceptionally talented litiga-tor who has been a fierce advo-cate for employment equity and civil rights. She has broken bar-riers as one of the first South Asian women to become a law partner in the plaintiffs’ bar and has been a leading voice in the national conversation on diver-sity, equity and inclusion.”

Vinay Vijay Singh, Kalpana Kotagal (Photo courtesy: linkedin)

14 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM NATiONAl COMMUNiTY

The President of India told the Indi-an community in the Netherlands to invest and be part of India’s

transformational journey. President Ram Nath Kovind, along with First Lady Sav-ita Kovind, is on a state visit to the Neth-erlands from April 4 to 7.

During the reception of the Indian Community in the Netherlands, Kovind said that India is deeply committed to strengthening its bond with the diaspora and attending to its needs.

"We have taken several initiatives under the maxim of 4Cs - Care, Connect, Celebrate and Contribute. The Overseas

safety, security, welfare and well-being of Indian citizens in all parts of the world is a priority for India.

"In every corner of the world, over the last two years, the Government has made special efforts to enable our citi-zens to return home during the worst phase of the Covid-19 pandemic by under-taking the Vande Bharat mission. Recent-ly, Operation Ganga brought back more than 22,000 Indian citizens, largely stu-dents, who were stranded in the conflict zone in Ukraine. As the Prime Minister said, humanity was at the core of Oper-ation Ganga, not the color of passport," he said.

The maiden visit of the President of India to the Netherlands marked an important milestone as India and the Netherlands celebrate 75 years of dip-lomatic relations this year. It is also the first Head of State visit from India to Netherlands in more than three decades.

“One may take an Indian out of India but not India out of an Indian. I told those entrepreneurs that they live any-where in the world but don’t forget their roots in India. While in the last hundreds of years, many Indians travelled abroad, India has always kept beating in their hearts. And proudly, they kept alive Indi-an civilizational values in whichever part of the world they settled in. I am not sur-prised that wherever the people of Indi-an origin settled, they adapted to that

place as their home and fully integrat-ed with it,” the president said, appreciat-ing the Hindustani-Surinami communi-ty “for keeping alive the cultural heritage of India and nurturing it with its own unique traditions”.

The Netherlands has the largest Indi-an origin diaspora in mainland Europe with more than 200,000 members of Hin-dustani-Surinami community and more than 60,000 Indian professionals and students. “The Indian community is the most important pillar of growing India-Netherlands bilateral relations and serves as a bridge between not just India and the Netherlands, but between India and Europe,” Kovind said.

The president said India today is full of opportunities for business, social enterprises and for cultural connections. “I invite each one of you to join us in our transformational journey. You can con-tribute with your ideas, your business models and your investment profiles.”

“I would like to conclude by saying that the Indian community abroad is our strength and pride. When I read about your achievements, when you occupy a big office or file a nomination, taking small steps towards formulating the poli-cies of your respective countries, you are playing a role in changing the geopolitics of the region. Please remember that the land of your ancestors is very proud of you,” he added.

Be part of India’s transformational journey: President Kovind in Netherlands

Citizen of India cards have been issued to give status and privileges in many are-as. Travel to India has been facilitated through the issuance of long-term visas and E-visa. To increase the participation of the diaspora youth and familiarize them with Indian youth and their Indi-an roots, we started the Know India Pro-gramme and Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children for the children of Persons of Indian Origin to join Indi-an universities for higher education. We would like you to avail these initiatives and actively participate in them," he said.

The President underlined that the

A university student from Kerala, 22-year-old Sona Biju, was stabbed by

a 23-year-old Indian man in Hyderabad Wala biryani restau-rant in London.

The accused, identified as Shriram Ambarla, was pro-duced before a magistrate on Apr 4, and was remanded in cus-tody after that. His next court appearance is scheduled for Apr 25.

The time stamp on the CCTV footage shows that the shock-ing incident occurred on the afternoon of Mar 25. The vid-eo shows Ambarla pushing Biju to the corner after which

he repeatedly stabbed while a customer and two staff mem-bers of the restaurant tried to intervene. The accused wielded the knife at them as well, after which he fled the scene.

According to a statement by the Metropolitan Police, "officers attended alongside the London Ambulance Service and found a woman in her ear-ly 20s with stab injuries. She was taken to hospital where she remains in a serious, but stable, condition."

Biju was enrolled in the Uni-versity of East London, which has stated that it is cooperat-ing with the police. The state-

ment read, "The University of East London is aware of an inci-dent on Mar 25 involving two students at the Hyderabad Wala restaurant in East Ham. We are providing support to those involved and cooperating with the Metropolitan Police, who are investigating the incident."

The police have not fig-ured out the motive behind the attack yet. They have appealed to the people in the communi-ty to anonymously contact them or the charity 'Crimestoppers', which helps people to provide anonymous information about criminal activity. (With inputs from PTI)

Indian man caught on CCTV stabbing Kerala student in London restaurant

Patriarchs of many business fami-lies living abroad and persons of Indian origin (PIO) are housing

their funds, properties, and other income generating assets in India in local trusts to escape the tag of RNOR (resident but not ordinary resident), spend more time in India, and address a lurking fear that the government could change the law in the near future to make them disclose their assets across the world.

At least 10 Indian families from the US, Africa and the UK have set up irrevoca-ble, discretionary trusts in India since the residency law was changed two years ago, a report in The Economic Times said.

and spending more than 120 days (but less than 182 days) is treated as RNOR if the person's income from assets in India is ₹15 lakh or more. Such a person has to fork out higher tax (like a resi-dent Indian) - unlike an NRI who pays a much lower tax (of 12.5% to 15%) in accordance with the respective tax treaty between India and the country where she is based. But more than the tax impact, the fear that this may be the first step towards a mandatory disclo-sure of all overseas assets has unnerved many. Currently, only resident Indians have to spell out their foreign assets in the Income Tax (I-T) return forms while

NRIs and RNORs do not have to make any such disclosure.

For the local trusts formed, the head of the family acts as the settlor of the trust, professionals are invited as trus-tees while children and grandchil-dren are named as beneficiaries of the trust. Transferring assets to trusts does not help in lowering tax as the income earned by the domestic trust is taxed at the same rate as applicable to a resident, which could be as high as 43%. However, the advantage is that since the income of ₹15 lakh (or more) is earned by the trust and not by the PIO, the person is not cate-gorized as RNOR.

Overseas Indians float local trusts to escape RNOR tagThe status of an RNOR lies in between

that of a non-resident Indian who stays more than 181 days in the country and a regular resident Indian. Under the new law, a non-resident visiting India

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 15TheSouthAsianTimes.info August 14-20, 2021

16 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM US

Ivanka Trump testifies to Capitol riot committeeFormer White House advis-

er Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former US

President Donald Trump, testi-fied for hours on Tuesday to the congressional committee inves-tigating the Jan 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Ivanka was asked for her account of her father's activi-ties as the crisis unfolded. The committee asked the 40-year-old businesswoman to appear vol-untarily, telling her it had evi-dence that she had pleaded with

her father to call off the vio-lence as his supporters stormed Congress. The questioning on Apr 5 lasted up to eight hours, US media reports. Unlike other witnesses called before the com-mittee, Ivanka never attempt-ed to invoke her right to remain silent, according to the panel's top chairman.

"She's answering questions. I mean, you know, not in a broad, chatty term, but she's answering questions," Representative Ben-nie Thompson, the panel's Dem-

ocratic chairman, said on CNN.Her appearance comes days

after her husband Jared Kush-ner, also an ex-White House adviser, met investigators.

One Democratic member of the committee described Kush-ner's testimony as "helpful" in reconstructing the events of the day. As with Kushner and the more than 800 other individ-uals called by the committee, Ivanka's testimony has taken place in private. Public hearings are expected in May.Ivanka and Donald Trump

Oklahoma lawmakers pass near-total ban on abortion

Lawmakers in Oklaho-ma have passed a bill on Apr 7 that would impose

a near-total ban on abortions in the state. The bill would crimi-nalize performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a preg-nant woman in a medical emer-gency".

Medical professionals con-victed under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.

It comes as the US Supreme Court weighs a case that could overturn abortion rights across the US later this year.

Oklahoma's House of Rep-resentatives, in which Republi-cans hold a supermajority, voted to send the bill to the governor's office by 70 votes to 14.

The state's Governor Kevin Stitt will be presented with the bill for his approval. The Repub-lican has already committed to signing into law any legislation that restricts abortion rights.

Republican Rep Jim Olsen, who authored the bill, said he was "thrilled" by its passage and said the legislation could see "many lives of babies saved".

But pro-choice groups say the bill is a devastating blow for women, noting it comes after the state became a major desti-nation for women from neigh-boring Texas seeking abortions after the passage of extremely restrictive laws in the state last year.

"Nearly half of the patients Oklahoma providers are cur-rently seeing are medical refu-

gees from Texas," a coalition of pro-choice groups said. "Now, Oklahomans could face a future where they would have no place left in their state to go to seek this basic health care."

Tamya Cox-Toure, director

of the American Civil Liber-ties Union of Oklahoma, said in a statement the bill serves as an "alarming reminder that the days of access to safe and legal abortion may be numbered, and we must continue to fight to

guarantee all people have access to the essential health care they need, including abortion".

Republican dominated leg-islatures have been passing a series of restrictive abor-tion measures in recent years, designed to set up a showdown in the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.

The court is due to rule by the end of June on a case involv-ing a Republican-backed Missis-sippi law which could see con-servative justices overturn the Roe v Wade decision that legal-ized abortion under federal law in 1973.

The ruling could cut off abor-tion services for tens of millions of women and likely see similar laws bar abortion in nearly two dozen states.

Representational Image (Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

indian americans in Florida join protest against new education law

Many Indian Americans in Florida joined the protests against the

Florida House Bill 1557, the new legislation in Florida that sup-porters call as “Parental Rights in Education Act” and critics refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Florida’s governor signed the bill into law on Mar 28. Effec-tive from July 1, it prohibits any classroom instruction on sexu-al orientation or gender identi-ty in classes from kindergarten

to third grade. It is believed that the conservative law is aimed to mobilize Republican bases ahead of this year’s polls.

"They (politicians) are ban-ning terminology, making it punitive, giving the logic that if you talk about gay or trans people, a straight child might want to become gay or trans. It’s being labelled as evil and con-tagious! I don’t believe in that,” the Quint quotes Om Nayak, an Indian American who lives in Florida.

Nayak finds the justifica-tion for the new ‘Don’t’ Say Gay’ law stigmatizing and absurd, adding, “No one wants to go through that tough journey. It is not a walk in the park!”

The Lakewood Ranch resi-dent remembers his transgen-der daughter Maya’s teenage years being difficult, “She was going through self-doubt, low self-esteem, bullying, anxiety. She wasn’t comfortable with her male role.”

He strongly believes, “Schools should be safe zones where children feel empowered. Being able to freely express without fear of being outed is important when a kid is trying to figure out who they are.”

Maya, who always felt an affinity for girls’ clothes from her early years, says it took her years to resolve her conflicts and

realize that she is transgender. Now an accomplished aerospace engineer, she says that ‘Don’t Say Gay’ will further alienate already marginalized queer chil-dren.

“Earlier there was a potential to bring it up in school. There aren’t too many places kids can go to talk about this. If nothing else, visual literal representa-tion must be there for kids, who see to believe – this per-son is like me, and yes, I am like that, so it’s fine; this law strips kids of that experience,” says Maya referring to the new law referred to as ‘Don’t Say Gay’ by those who oppose it.

The Quint quoted an LGBTQ+ advocate Samir Das, who gave the example of his friend’s little kids. “One of my good friends who is gay, mar-ried his partner and adopted two kids. If everyone is asked to talk about their families on fam-ily day, their little kids won’t be allowed to – that will be trau-matic!” says the Fort Lauder-dale resident who has partici-pated in successful campaigns for over two decades, includ-ing a critical one which result-ed in US Supreme Court legaliz-

ing gay marriage. Das left India for his undergraduate studies, and stayed. “In the pre-inter-net times, the only way to be gay and find others was to get out of the country,” says the Indi-an American. He explains that it is homophobic that Florida’s legislators are equating talking about LGBTQ in schools with talking about sex.

The law’s Republican pro-ponents justify upholding par-ents’ rights to protect children from sexual content in Flori-da schools and determine when and how to introduce LGBTQ topics to their children. Before signing the law, Florida’s Gov-ernor DeSantis said at a press conference, that teaching kin-dergarten-age kids, ‘they can be whatever they want to be’ was ‘inappropriate’.

Those against the law fear that teachers being silenced will curtail rights of queer parents and children, and make it even harder to be LGBTQ in Florida’s schools. Florida’s teachers are fearful as the law includes a pro-vision allowing parents to sue schools if they feel that the law has been violated.(Source: The Quint)A Florida rally against House Bill 1557, held last month (Photo courtesy: AP)

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 17US

Six people killed in shooting in SacramentoSix people were killed in a

shooting in the center of Sacramento, California's

capital, on Sunday. No arrests have yet been made in this year's worst US mass shooting so far, close to the state Capitol build-ing.

Officials have identified all six victims. Three of the victims were men: Sergio Harris, 38, De'Vazia Turner, 29, and Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32. Three wom-en were also shot dead: Johntaya Alexander, 21, Melinda Davis, 57, and Yamile Martinez-An-drade, 21.

Police say all six victims died at the scene, when multiple shooters opened fire just after 02:00 on Sunday near the junc-tion of 10th and K Street.

An additional twelve peo-ple were wounded in the shoot-ing and taken to local hospitals. By Monday, seven had been dis-charged.

The violence was "unprec-

edented" for the city, its police chief said.

Videos posted online appear to show a brawl break out in the area - packed with restaurants and bars - in the early hours on Sunday, just before rapid gun fire sent people fleeing.

It was so far unclear wheth-er the fight led to the shooting, police say, and on Monday, offi-cials set up an online portal to ask the public to submit infor-

mation from the scene.In a statement on Sunday,

President Joe Biden decried "another" instance of gun vio-lence leaving "families forever changed. Survivors left to heal wounds both visible and invis-ible".

Firearms are involved in approximately 40,000 deaths a year in the US, including sui-cides, according to the Gun Vio-lence Archive website.

Sarah Palin announces US Congress bid

Sarah Palin has announced a run for Alaska's only seat in the US House of Repre-

sentatives, her first bid for polit-ical office in more than a decade.

"America is at a tipping point," Palin said. "As I've watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight".

Palin made history in 2008

by becoming the first woman to appear on a national Republican ticket, as John McCain's vice presidential running mate. The pair lost to Democrat Barack Obama. The 58-year-old former governor of Alaska, and fiery supporter of ex-President Don-ald Trump, joins a field of about 40 candidates hoping to suc-ceed Don Young, who died last month.

In her statement, Palin appealed to conservative vot-ers worried about illegal immi-gration and "socialist" policies enacted by the Democrats, as well as issues like high inflation and petrol prices.

After losing out to the Oba-ma-Biden ticket in 2008, Palin, a self-described "hockey mom", became one of the most recog-nizable voices of the Republican

Tea Party movement, and later starred in two reality television shows about her family.

Her brand of combative con-servatism and anti-establish-ment appeal has led many to consider her as the political pre-cursor to Donald Trump, whose successful bid to become Repub-lican president she supported in 2016.

Since Trump's 2020 elec-tion loss, Palin has repeated the former president's unfounded claims that the election was tar-nished by fraud.

In Feb this year Sarah Palin returned to the headlines when a New York City jury reject-ed her lawsuit against the New York Times newspaper, which she claimed had defamed her by linking her in an editorial arti-cle to a deadly shooting.

Sarah Palin

Guantanamo inmate sent to Algeria after almost 20 years

Guantanamo Bay inmate Sufiyan Barhoumi has been repatriated to

Algeria, US officials say, after spending nearly 20 years at the detention facility, the Reuters reported. He was captured at a safe-house in Pakistan with a top al-Qaeda member in 2002, and accused of taking part in a plan to bomb the US.

The US Department of Defense said his detention was no longer considered necessary. It said Algeria had given assur-ances that he would be treated humanely.

"The United States appreci-ates the willingness of Alge-ria, and other partners to sup-port ongoing US efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reduc-ing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guan-tanamo Bay facility," the state-ment said.

Algeria has not publicly com-mented on the issue.

With the latest release, 37 detainees remain - includ-ing 18 eligible for transfer - at Guantanamo Bay, which is part of a US naval base complex

In a statement, the depart-ment added that US authorities recommended that Barhoumi could be sent back to his native country "subject to security... assurance".

in south-eastern Cuba. Since 2002, the detention facility has been used to hold what the US describes as captured unlawful combatants during America's war on terror.

A US flag flies above a razorwire-topped fence at Guantanamo Bay (Photo courtesy: Reuters)

Avian flu outbreaks take more than 22.8mn birds in 24 states

More than 22.8 million birds have had to

be put to death in the past two months in 24 states, the Unit-ed States Department of Agriculture’s Ani-mal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported on Apr 4 about a worsen-ing avian influenza crisis in the United States.

Wild birds spread avian flu around the world, especial-ly in major flyways with their droppings. The wild ducks and geese may show no signs of the illness. Scientists, however, have tracked the virus to poultry barns, equipment, and people who work with birds, along with mice, small birds, and ground dust.

The record for avian flu in the US was set in 2014-15 when 50 million chickens and turkeys were put to death at 200 poul-try farms in 15 states. The dis-ease in 2014-15 cost the poultry industry $3 billion and required another $1 billion in federal spending.

Properly cooked poultry and eggs remain safe to eat. Birds

are removed from the food chain as soon as are positive for avi-an flu. The culling protocols are quick and aggressive.

About 3% of egg-laying chickens are impacted by the flu. Because 9 billion broilers are raised every year, industry experts do not expect this round of avian flu to have too much impact on production or prices.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion, the risk of infection among humans is low. The agency notes that those working with birds or exposed to them in the wild are at a higher risk of infection than the general public. The only human infection reported world-wide as tested positive for avi-an flu is a person working with a large number of domestically kept birds in the UK.

US jobs rise for the 15th consecutive month

US employers added 431,000 jobs in March as the American econo-

my continued to rebound from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The figures from the Labor Department marked the 15th month in a row of job gains and helped to push the unem-ployment rate down to 3.6%.

Bars, restaurants and hotels were among the businesses lead-ing the hiring last month.

The US has now regained nearly all the jobs lost since the pandemic hit.

The strong hiring last month also confirms policymakers'

views that the labor market is strong enough to handle rate ris-es.

The US central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 last month, in an effort to dampen demand and

check the rising prices. It sig-naled plans for further increases over the coming year.

Faced with the tight labor market, businesses are paying more to woo workers. The aver-age weekly wage in March was up 5.6% from a year ago, the Labor Department said. Howev-er, those gains continue to lag inflation, which hit 7.9% in Feb, a 40-year high.

The labor force participation rate - at 62.4% last month - also remains a percentage point low-er than it was in Feb 2020, a sign that more people are available to hire.

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Vinay Mohan Kwatra supersedes seniors to be foreign secretaryIndia’s ambassador to Nepal

Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been named the new foreign

secretary, a government state-ment on Monday said. Kwatra will take over from Harsh Vard-han Shringla who will retire on Apr 30.

Shringla held fort during the pandemic, followed by Ukraine crisis and challenges in the neighborhood. Kwatra’s knowl-

edge of India’s bilateral rela-tionship with the US as well as China is being seen as a reason why he superseded seniors to the post, during this tough time for India’s foreign policy.

He was posted in Beijing twice between 2003 and 2006, first as Counsellor and thereaf-ter as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India. From May 2010 till July 2013, he served

as minister (commerce) in the Embassy of India, Washing-ton DC. Between July 2013 and Oct 2015, he headed the Policy Planning & Research Division of the foreign ministry and lat-er served as the head of MEA’s Americas Division. He has also served in Tashkent.

A 1988-batch Indian For-eign Service officer, Kwatra has served as joint secretary in the

Prime Minister’s Office as joint secretary from October 2015 till Aug 2017. Prior to his diplomat-ic posting to Nepal in 2020, he was ambassador to France from Aug 2017 to Feb 2020 and was instrumental in implementing the Rafale fighter jet deal, under which India bought 36 aircraft off the shelf.

Kwatra speaks French, Hindi and English.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra (Photo courtesy: Twitter/@AmbVMKwatra)

Haridwar hate speech accused again calls for violence

Chief accused in the Haridwar hate speech case, Yati Narsing-hanand launched another commu-

nal tirade, saying that "50% of you (Hin-dus) will change your faith in the next 20 years" if India were to elect a Mus-lim Prime Minister. Narsinghanand ali-as Deepak Tyagi, who's also the head priest of Ghaziabad's Dasna Devi Temple, had made anti-Muslim remarks at a reli-gious conclave in Haridwar last year. He said that "40% of Hindus" will be killed if

India had a Muslim PM and called for all Hindu men to be armed.

Narsinghanand made the latest remarks at a 'Hindu mahapanchayat' organized in Delhi's Burari ground by an organization called Save India Founda-tion (SIF), which had also organized an event at Delhi's Jantar Mantar last year where anti-Muslim slogans were raised. SIF's founder Preet Singh had been arrested by the Delhi Police and is cur-rently out on bail, as is Narsinghanand in connection with the Haridwar case.

The Delhi Police said they never gave permission to organize the event.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, a Maharash-tra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader was arrested by the Mumbai Police for play-ing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on a loudspeaker without permission. A day earlier, MNS leader Raj Thackeray asked the state gov-ernment to remove all loudspeakers from mosques or else the party will play Hanu-man Chalisa on loudspeakers in front of mosques.

enforcement directorate working in overdrive

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seemed to be working in overdrive on Tuesday, going after promi-

nent opposition leaders in three differ-ent states across the country. On April 5, the ED attached assets of the kin of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in Maharashtra, AAP minister Satyendar Jain Delhi and in the Saradha chit fund case of West Bengal.

The ED attached eight land parcels in Alibaug and a flat in Mumbai's Dadar suburb linked to Raut and his family. The attachment is linked to a money laun-dering probe into a Rs 1,034 crore land 'scam' related to the re-development of a 'chawl' (tenement) in Mumbai. The agen-cy had questioned Raut's wife Varsha last year in connection with another mon-ey laundering case. Raut called the ED action an attack on "middle class Mara-thi manoos" (Marathi people) and assert-ed that he would not be cowed by such moves. The Rajya Sabha MP claimed he was being targeted by BJP, a former ally of Shiv Sena, as he did not support efforts to bring down the state government in Maharashtra.

The federal agency provisionally

attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of the family and companies "beneficial-ly owned and controlled" by Delhi min-ister Satyendar Jain in connection with a money laundering probe. The ED had questioned the AAP MLA in 2018. He had worked in the Central Public Works Department and later quit his job to set up an architectural consultancy firm. The money laundering case against Jain stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the CBI on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.

The ED attached assets worth Rs 35 crore in the 2013 Saradha chit fund mon-ey laundering case. The assets are in the form of vehicles, buildings, flats and bun-galows in Bishnupur, plots in districts like South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri, all in West Ben-gal. With this, the total value of attach-ment in the case touched Rs 640 crore. The Saradha group is alleged to have run a chit fund scam with operations spread in West Bengal, Assam and Odisha till 2013. It is alleged to have cheated thou-sands of depositors, promising abnor-mally high returns on investments in its illegal schemes.

Govt set to sanction 650 cr for road to Kailash Mansarovar

The Central government is set to sanction over Rs.650 crore and start paving work for the last seg-

ment of the Indo-China border connectiv-ity road that will facilitate the link to Kai-lash Mansarovar, the Economic Times reported. This link from Uttarakhand will allow vehicles to drive up to just 75 km away from the pilgrim site.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed ‘road formation’ of the entire 150 km link from Askot up to the Indo-China border.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is set to sanction funds for the paving of the last 80 km of road from Askot to the border, the report said quot-

ing unnamed sources.This 80 km road sees the altitude rise

from 6,000 feet to 17,060 feet. This route has so far been an arduous trek through a treacherous terrain. The two-lane road with paved shoulders will ease travel dif-ficulties significantly allowing even light motor vehicles to drive right up to the bor-der area that touches the Tibetan plateau.

There is also considerable movement of locals here and into Nepal which will be made easier with the road passage. The linkage to the Indo-China border is part of BRO’s ‘Hirak’ project on border con-nectivity as well as the Char Dham pro-ject under the MORTH and National High-ways Authority of India.

For Indians, US top destination for education

The US, Canada, Australia, the UK and Germany con-

tinue to be top desti-nations for education, together accounting for more than 67% of the total number of Indians studying abroad.

Around 23.9 lakh Indi-ans went to 249 plac-es abroad for education between 2017 and 2022, according to data as of Mar 20 from the ministry of exter-nal affairs.

Countries like Ukraine and Kyr-gyzstan, owing to their medical educa-tion opportunities, have seen significant migration. Ukraine (62,983) and Kyr-gyzstan (51,960) each attracted more Indi-an students than France (31,991) and were not too far from Germany (74,181).

If better qualities draw them to some countries, it is the cost in some others

and the ease of admission in a few more. Experts said multiple variables drove the push-and-pull factors that attracted Indians, including status of domestic higher educa-tion institutions.

Indians are in coun-tries in the Oceania and Polynesian islands such as Vanuatu, Tuvalu,

Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga; in the Caribbean islands, British and French island terri-tories like Saint Helena, Reunion Islands, to name a few. They are going to remote, low-ranked nations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

More than 1.1 lakh students went to countries in the neighborhood: Chi-na (58,274), Pakistan (2,181), Bangla-desh (47,686), Bhutan (152), Nepal (3,760), Myanmar (130), Afghanistan (126) and Sri Lanka (1,145).

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 19iNdiA

Highlight govt’s social welfare schemes, Modi tells BJP MPsPrime Minister Narendra Modi has

directed BJP MPs to spend the next fortnight, after the budget session

of Parliament ends, in their respective constituencies and inform people about the various welfare measures that have ensured social justice for the poor and the weaker sections.

Addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party on Apr 5, Modi said the MPs should utilise the next 15 days after the session to reach out to the people. They should go armed with facts and figures about

The MPs should also make ponds in their constituency and may also use MGNRE-GA funds for the same,” a BJP leader said quoting Modi. MPs are also expected to hold district-level meetings regularly.

BJP chief JP Nadda said the party would kick off the “social justice fort-night” programme from April 7-20, a day after the foundation day celebrations. Under this programme, BJP MPs and office-bearers will spread the word on the efforts being made to ensure social jus-tice through various schemes.

Parliament passes Criminal Procedure BillThe Criminal Procedure

(Identification) Bill, 2022, was passed by both hous-

es of the Parliament this week, in Rajya Sabha on Apr 6 and in Lok Sabha on Apr 4.

The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha by a voice vote, despite the opposition demand that it be sent to the parliamentary stand-ing or select committee for scru-tiny. The Bill enables officers to collect the biometric details of prisoners.

The Bill will protect the rights of victims and law-abid-ing citizens, said Union home minister Amit Shah responding to fears of the Opposition about human rights violations due to possible misuse of the bill. The Bill proposes to allow police to collect finger impressions, palm prints, footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scans, physical and biological

samples. It will also ensure that police and investigators remain two steps ahead of criminals, Shah said, urging the Opposi-tion to not have any apprehen-sions about the draft law.

Almost the entire opposi-tion opposed the Bill, essential-ly over fear of misuse of the law against individual citizens by police forces and other law enforcement agencies, on data collection without any law for data protection yet in the coun-try, and also in terms of "breach-ing" fundamental rights guaran-teed by the Constitution.

Congress MP Manish Tew-ari voiced concern over the broad provisions in the draft legislation that empowered a head constable of a police sta-tion or a head warden of a jail to take "measurements" of con-victs as well as those in pre-ventive detention, and to pre-

serve records. It was against the spirit of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution dealing with human rights and civil liberties, he said.

TMC member Mahua Moitra pointed out that in the absence of a data protection law, the proposed measure lacked safe-guards to ensure that the infor-

mation collected was protected well and could lead to violation of the privacy of an individual who has not been convicted.

“England, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the US have more stringent laws than this,” Shah asserted in Lok Sab-ha while reeling out the data on conviction rates in these coun-

tries and comparing them with India’s. Referring to concerns over the misuse of data collect-ed under the proposed law, Shah said the world is using databas-es and “we too will have to use it”. “The database has been in use for two-and-a-half years to solve crimes, including automo-bile thefts. Data will be stored in a protected hardware and those “who send samples (for match-ing) will be sent results and data will not be shared,” Shah said.

Replying to the debate on the Bill in Rajya Sabha on Apr 6, Shah said that while fram-ing rules the government would ensure that the new law would not violate privacy and human rights of individuals. He said that the bill was aimed at increasing the conviction rate. The Rajya Sabha later passed the bill by a voice vote without amendments.

the number of people who have benefit-ed from the various welfare schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala, Swachch Bharat, as well as the number of people who have received Covid-19 vaccines.

The prime minister said the aim of the government was to deliver these schemes to the last man in the queue. The MPs should also share highlights of the budget with the masses.

“The PM recalled that people of west India still remember Lakha Banjara as he made wells in the region for the poor.

boris Johnson to visit india

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning a visit to India towards the end of this

month with a focus on strengthening bilateral ties against the backdrop of the ongoing India-UK Free Trade Agreement negotiations, according to various media reports. His trip got deferred twice last year due to Cov-id-19.

The two sides are exploring ide-as to give shape to the Indo-Pacific partnership as well as defense part-nership, with transfer of technology and possibilities of joint production, even as the UK attempts to address legacy issues including extradition of Indian fugitives Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, besides presence of Pa kistan-backed Sikh extremists and anti-India lobby in the country.

The legacy issues as well as future prospects for the defense partnership were discussed threadbare at last week’s foreign ministers’ meet, said officials. The visit of foreign secre-tary Liz Truss helped to prepare for Johnson’s visit, they said.

At last week’s meeting, the two ministers agreed to resolve lega-

cy issues and deepen defense and security cooperation, including in defense co-development and co-pro-duction, and enhance capacities to address growing threats in the cyber, space and maritime domains.

India welcomed the UK’s inter-est in participating in its national defense manufacturing initiatives through Make in India and Aatman-irbhar Bharat.

SC to hear plea on secretive electoral bonds

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea challenging the laws that allowed funding of political

parties through electoral bonds, with Chief Justice of India Justice N V Ramana saying that “if it was not for Covid etc., then I would have heard all of this.”

The case dates back to 2017 when an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms filed a public interest litigation on the alleged issue of corruption and subversion of democracy through illicit and foreign funding of polit-ical parties and lack of transparency in the accounts of all political parties.

On Apr 5, it alleged "that a Calcutta based company has paid Rs 40 crore through elec-toral bonds to stop excise rate", which, it add-ed, was "distorting democracy." Incidentally, the finance ministry informed the Parliament on the same day that political parties had col-lectively redeemed electoral bonds worth Rs 9,188 crore since they were introduced in 2018.

Similar to a promissory note or a bearer bond, an electoral bond can be bought by an individual who's a citizen of India or an enti-ty or corporation that's established in India. Introduced through the Finance Act 2017, it was passed as a money bill, which means it did not require the Rajya Sabha's nod. Only those political parties which are registered under Section 29A of the Representation of

the People Act, 1951 and which secured at least 1% of votes polled in the last general election to the Lok Sabha or the State Legisla-tive Assembly, are eligible to receive elector-al bonds, that too via a bank account with an authorized bank.

A ruling against the law enabling elector-al bonds could seriously jeopardize the fund-ing of political parties as the money that flows from corporate houses to political par-ties is chiefly through these bonds. In fact, in 2019-20, 70.52% of BJP's total income, 46.59% of INC income and 69.92% of TMC's total income was through electoral bonds.

20 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 21iNTErNATiONAl

Colombia to extradite drug kingpin Otoniel to USColombia's Supreme Court

has approved the extradi-tion of Dairo Antonio Úsu-

ga, the leader of the country's largest gang to the US. Better known as Otoniel, he led the Gulf Clan cartel and is wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges. Otoniel was captured by Colom-bian forces in October, ending a seven-year manhunt.

The court's decision, announced on Twitter, ends attempts by Otoniel's lawyers to halt his extradition. Colombia's Justice Minister Wilson Ruiz had

pledged to extradite Otoniel to the US after his capture last year, and Justice Department officials in Washington made a formal request in November.

"Extradition awaits all those who commit international crimes," Defence Minister Diego Molano said at the time.

But the drug kingpin's lawyers had argued that Otoniel should have been included in a special tribunal where participants in Colombia's six-decade internal conflict between government forc-es and Revolutionary Armed Forc-

es of Colombia (Farc) rebels can receive alternative sentences for confessing their participation.His legal team claimed the 50-year-old was willing to reveal some details of collaboration between central government officials and illegal armed groups in exchange for pre-venting his extradition.

Prior to his capture, Otoniel was Colombia's most wanted man and government had offered a $800,000 (£582,000) reward for infor-mation about his whereabouts, while the US placed a $5m bounty on his head.Otoniel after his capture (Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty defends non-dom tax status

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's wife, Akshata Murty, has revealed she

has non-domiciled status for UK tax purposes. The status means Murty legally does not have to pay UK tax on income she earns outside Britain.

The story, reported in the Independent, comes on the day the National Insurance rise came into force in the UK. The government says the increase will raise £39bn ($51bn) which can be spent on health and social care. Labour party said it was "staggering" Sunak's family "may have been benefitting from tax reduction schemes". The party's shadow Treasury min-

ister Tulip Siddiq called on the chancellor to "urgently explain how much he and his family have saved on their own tax bill at the same time he was putting taxes up for millions of working families".

Murty's spokeswoman said she pays all the tax that is legal-ly required in the UK, the BBC reported. Responding to the report, Murty's spokeswoman confirmed that "according to British law, Ms Murty is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax pur-poses. "She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income," she said.

Murty, who is a fashion designer, was born in India in

month of more than $650mn. She also has interests in several companies in the UK.

Murty's spokeswoman said: "Akshata Murty is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parent's home. India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously."

It is understood that Sunak made the Cabinet Office aware of his wife's tax status as part of his declaration of interests when he first became a minis-ter in 2018. The Treasury was also made aware of the fact in case there were any conflicts of interest. (With inputs from BBC report)

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty

1980 and holds an Indian pass-port. She married Sunak in 2009. Her father is billionaire NR Narayana Murty, who founded

the IT services company Infosys. Murty is reported to own a little under 1% of the shares of Info-sys with a value estimated last

Ethiopia war: Ethnic cleansing documented in western Tigray

Tigrayans are being target-ed in a campaign of eth-nic cleansing in part of

Ethiopia's conflict-hit northern Tigray region, a joint investiga-tion by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

The report accuses officials and security forces from neigh-bouring Amhara of commit-ting war crimes and crimes against humanity in western Tigray - allegations dismissed by Amhara's regional government.

The western part of Tigray has been largely inaccessible to journalists and aid agencies since the war in Tigray erupted in Nov 2020 - and all lines of com-munication have been blocked.

It is an area where land and boundary disputes between neighbouring regions and ethnic groups have long caused tensions and resentments.

The conflict - which followed a fallout between Prime Minis-ter Abiy Ahmed's government and Tigray's dominant polit-ical party - has provided an opportunity to settle old scores. After the war began, Amhara's

ber 2021, is based on interviews with 423 people, mainly survi-vors of alleged abuses, and satel-lite images. Amnesty and HRW say the evidence collected over a year shows that western Tigray has been the site of some of the worst atrocities committed dur-ing the 16-month war - and has been largely ignored.

In the first days of the offen-sive, one of the first large-scale massacres was in Mai Kadra on Nov 9. It involved both sides and left around 229 of the town's residents - both Amhara and Tigrayan - dead. Afterwards the report says Tigrayans were targeted in revenge attacks by Amhara security forces, their property was pillaged and occu-pied. Once in control of west-ern Tigray, the new authorities banned the speaking of Tigrin-ya and put in place policies to push Tigrayans out, distributing

Pope Francis apologises for 'pain and shame' of Canada residential schools

Pope Francis has apologised to a Canadian indigenous delegation for the Catho-

lic Church's role in the country's residential school system.

The schools, operated for more than a century, were run as part of government policy to

A Tigray People's Liberation Front fighter poses in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia, on June 30, 2021 (Photo courtesy: AFP)

leaflets with a 24-hour or 72-hour ultimatum to leave or be killed. The report also details how Tigrayan livestock, crops and homes were targeted and how security forces have tortured and deprived people of food.

The two rights groups say that hundreds of Tigrayans remain unlawfully detained and have called for their immediate release. The war, still continu-ing, has forced millions of peo-ple to flee their homes - and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.

During the conflict both sides have been accused of atroci-ties. In particular, Ethiopian and Eritrean forces were accused of carrying out massacres in Tigray's holy city of Aksum and using widespread sexual vio-lence, while Tigrayan forces face accusations of war crimes when they invaded Amhara last year.

forces, along with their allies in the Ethiopian army, quick-ly moved in, took control and a new administration was set up in western Tigray. The 207-page report, covering events between November 2020 and Decem-

assimilate indigenous children and destroy their cultures. The Roman Catholic Church operated up to 70% of residential schools.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and indigenous lead-ers welcomed the Pope's apology, calling it a step forward.

Echoing other indigenous leaders gathered on Friday, Dene Nation National Chief Gerald Antoine called the papal apology "long overdue", saying it was a day "that will be lifted up in his-tory". Chief Antoine and his fel-low leaders also said it will be

important that a formal apology be made in Canada, one of the 94 "calls to action" released in 2015 stemming from the landmark Truth and Reconciliation Com-mission (TRC), which looked into the legacy of residential schools.

The Pope on Apr 1 confirmed

he would make a trip to Cana-da later this year to meet indige-nous communities and to assist with reconciliation efforts.

In his apology, Pope Fran-cis said the residential schools caused him "pain and shame" and asked for God's forgiveness.

22 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM BUSiNESS & ECONOMY

India's biggest corporate merger to create second largest companyIndia's largest private lend-

er HDFC Bank on Monday agreed to take over its parent,

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) in a deal valued at about $40 billion. This will be the biggest merger in the history of corporate India, and the biggest merger in the global banking M&A space since 2007. The two companies are leaders in their segment: while HDFC Bank is India's largest private sector bank, HDFC is the largest mortgage lender.

The proposed entity will have a combined asset base of around Rs 18 lakh crore. The merger is expected to be completed by the second or third quarter of FY24, subject to regulatory approvals.

Making the announcement, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh said it is a 'merger of equals', which will also benefit the econo-

my as a larger balance sheet and capital base will allow greater flow of credit into various sec-tors.

HDFC Bank and HDFC will merge to create the second larg-est company by market value, with the combined entity worth over Rs 14 lakh crore, second

only to Reliance Industries' Rs 18.01 lakh crore ($ 237 billion). HDFC Bank, at nearly $122 bil-lion incidentally has a higher market value than Citigroup, valued at $103.6 billion.

The deal will have a share merger ratio of 42 shares of HDFC Bank for every 25 shares

of HDFC, which will own 41% of the bank in the merged enti-ty. Post-merger, all the subsidi-aries and associate companies of HDFC will be owned by HDFC Bank.

While HDFC has total assets of over Rs 6.23 lakh crore, HDFC Bank has assets of more than Rs 19.38 lakh crore, as of December 31, 2021.

The merged entity, which will be headed by HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan, will have foreign ownership of between 65% and 67%, with a further scope of increasing it by anoth-er 8%.

Post-merger HDFC Bank will be twice the size of ICICI Bank, which is the third-largest bank now. S&P Ratings said the pro-posed merger will likely result in significant market share gains for HDFC Bank, given HDFC is

the largest mortgage lender. It will raise HDFC Bank's loans by 42% to around Rs 18 lakh crore, and increase the market share to about 15%, from 11% now.

This is the second reverse merger in the banking sector after ICICI Ltd did a similar amalgamation with its banking arm ICICI Bank in Oct 2001.

The news of the merger was cheered by the stock markets, with a rally. While HDFC shares rose 20% before cooling off to end the day with a gain of 9.3%, at Rs 2,678.90, shares of HDFC Bank settled with a gain of near-ly 10%, at Rs 1,656.45 on the BSE. The duo in fact powered the Sen-sex past the 60,000 mark, with a gain of 2.25%, to end the day at 60,611.74 points while the NSE Nifty vaulted past the 18,000 mark with a 2.17% gain to end the day at 18,053.40 points.

Net worth of wealthy slips, Musk world’s richest person: Forbes

Elon Musk, the found-er and chief executive of Tesla has topped the

Forbes’ 2022 World Billionaires List. The combined net worth of the world’s richest people slipped 3% to $12.7 trillion over the past year, from a record $13.1tn in 2021, driven by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Covid-19 pandemic and volatile stock markets.

“In all, 329 people fell off the billionaires list this year – the most since the 2009 financial cri-sis,” Forbes said on Tuesday.

There are 2,668 billionaires in the world, down from an all-time high of 2,755 last year, it said in the annual report, which used stock prices and exchange rates from Mar 11 to calculate the net worth of the world’s richest peo-ple.

Musk topped the Forbes list for the first time with a net worth of $219 billion. In contrast to the Forbes' list, the Bloomb-erg Billionaires Index named Musk the world’s richest person at the end of 2021 with a person-al fortune of $273.5bn.

Musk added $68bn to his net

worth over the past year after a 33% jump in the share price of his electric vehicle maker, Tesla, Forbes said.

Amazon founder Jeff Bez-os fell to number two for the first time in four years “due to a 3% drop in Amazon stock and increased charitable giving, which wiped $6bn from his net worth”, it said.

French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, who add-ed $8bn to his fortune over the past year, remains the world’s third-richest person. Rounding out the top five are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett with per-

sonal fortunes of $129bn and $118bn, respectively.

There were 236 newcomers added to the billionaire ranks this year, including pop star Rihanna, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and ven-ture capitalist Josh Kushner.

The US is home to the most billionaires on the planet with 735, 11 more than in 2021, Forbes said. China is second with 607 billionaires, followed by India (166), Germany (134) and Rus-sia (83). India's Mukesh Ambani remains Asia’s wealthiest per-son and the 10th richest in the world with a fortune of $90.7bn.

Twitter appoints biggest stakeholder Musk as director

Twitter inducted Tesla CEO Elon Musk on its board of directors after

emerging as the biggest single shareholder in the microblog-ging platform on Monday.

The billionaire, who owns more than 73.4 million shares in the social media platform val-ued at about $3bn, will “serve as

a Class II director with a term expiring at the company’s 2024 annual meeting of stockhold-ers”, Twitter said in a US Secu-rities and Exchange Commis-sion filing on Tuesday.

The world’s richest man disclosed on Apr 4 that he had bought a 9.2% stake in microblogging site Twitter,

making him the single larg-est shareholder in the compa-ny. Musk has been CEO of Tesla since 2008, making him the long-est serving head of a major car company.

According to reports, Musk on becoming board member has suggested that Twitter intro-duce an ‘edit’ button on its plat-

form. Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and is very active on the site, in late March questioned free speech on Twit-ter and whether the platform is undermining democracy.

His Twitter stock purchase comes as Musk is locked into

a bitter dispute with US secu-rities regulators over his abil-ity to post on Twitter. Musk's lawyer has contended in court motions that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is infringing on the Tesla CEO's First Amendment rights.

Seven Indian Americans charged in $1 mn insider trading ring

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged three Indian

American software engineers along with four family members and friends in an insider trading scheme to allegedly make more than $1 million in illegal profits.

Employed at a San Francis-co-based cloud computing com-munications company Twil-io Inc, three friends Hari Sure, Lokesh Lagudu and Chotu Pulagam had access to various databases relevant to the com-pany’s reporting of revenue, according to the SEC complaint.

measures taken in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and conclud-ed in a joint chat that Twilio’s stock price would “rise for sure.”

Despite receiving a company policy that prohibited them from insider trading, Sure, Lagudu and Chotu Pulagam knowing-ly tipped off four of their family and close friends – Dileep Kamu-jula, Sai Nekkalapudi, Abhishek Dharmapurikar and Chetan Pulagam.

Their brokerage accounts were used to trade Twilio options and stock in advance of its May 6, 2020 earnings announcement

SEC alleged that around Mar 2020, they learned through the databases that Twilio’s custom-ers had increased their usage of the company’s products and services in response to health

while in possession of the confi-dential information concerning customer usage. According to the complaint, the scheme gen-erated more than $1 million in illegal trading profits.

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 23SpOrTS

CriCket Golf

Vinod Rai’s book details Kohli-Kumble rift Tennis great Barty wins local golf title

Vinod Rai in his book, Not Just a Nightwatchman — My Innings in the BCCI,

has detailed the events during his tenure as the head of the Supreme Court-appointed Com-mittee of Administrators (CoA) that ran Indian cricket for near-ly three years since 2017.

Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), sheds light on the ugly feud between former skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Anil Kumble with the former complaining to BCCI that the players felt intimidated by disciplinarian Kumble.

The relationship between Kohli and Kumble has been one of the most talked-about chap-ters in Indian cricket's recent history. Despite the team's good show in the West Indies and also in the Champions Trophy in England, Kumble's untime-ly resignation as the head coach of Team India citing an "unten-able relationship" with then captain Kohli, shook the crick-eting world. “In my conversa-tions with the captain and team

management, it was conveyed that Kumble was too much of a disciplinarian and hence the team members were not too hap-py with him," writes Rai in his book.

The former IAS officer also goes on to add that Kohli men-tioned about young players being "intimated" by Kumble, still India's highest wicket-taker in both Tests and ODIs.

"I had spoken to Virat Kohli on the issue and he did mention that the younger members of the team felt intimidated by the way he worked with them,” Rai added.

Kumble, who had taken over as India's head coach in 2016, decided to step down from the position after the 2017 Champi-ons Trophy, in which India lost to Pakistan in the final.

Rai wrote that the legendary leg-spinner was "upset about the manner in which the entire epi-sode was handled."

“We had long conversa-tions with Kumble after he had returned from the UK. He was

obviously upset about the man-ner in which the entire episode had panned out. He felt he had been unfairly treated and a cap-tain or team should not be giv-en so much importance. It was the duty of the coach to bring discipline and professionalism into the team and as a senior, his views should have been respect-ed by the players,” Rai wrote.

After Kumble's resignation, Ravi Shastri took over as the head coach and was in the posi-tion till the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Rai’s also writes about the intrigue surrounding the national women’s team dur-ing the 2018 T20 World Cup and the spat between coach Ramesh Powar and Mithali Raj.

“Mithali had expressed her deep anguish at how she had been treated by the coach. She felt that more than her being benched in the semi-final game, it was the way in which she was being treated by the coach that distressed her…She (Mithali), however, made it clear that she had nothing against Harman-preet, the T20 captain. Powar, on the other hand, wrote a long report, the bulk of which was devoted to the difficulty he was facing in handling Mithali. He maintained that it was due to her poor strike rate that the team management had decid-ed to drop her for the semi-fi-nal game and retain the winning combination of the last match,” the Indian Express published extracts from Rai’s book.

tristate

Matches to watch this week

The New York Red Bulls host CF Montréal at the Red Bull Arena this weekend. The Red Bulls have had a better start to the season, with only a single loss so far, and with fairly similar form to Philadelphia Union. The Red Bulls are expected to see the game through.

New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox (MLB/ April 8, Friday)The New York Yankees host the Boston Red Sox at the Yankee Sta-dium this Friday. The classic clash of rivals serves as the first game of the season for both sides. Both sides had a fairly similar run out in spring training, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

New York Knicks vs Toronto Raptors (NBA/ April 10, Sunday)The New York Knicks face the difficult task of hosting the Toronto Raptors at the Madison Square Gar-den this weekend. Both teams have fairly similar form as of late, but the vast difference between the two teams’ positions in the table should be enough to make the Raptors favorites.

New York Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes (NHL/ April 12, Tuesday)The New York Rangers will host the Carolina Hurricanes next week in what will undoubtedly serve as a pivotal match for the acquisition of the 1st-place spot in the Metro-politan Division. The Rangers have been more consistent in their recent form, and could potentially get the upper hand over the Hurricanes with a victory.

Brooklyn Nets vs Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA/ April 8, Friday)The Brooklyn Nets will host to the Cleveland Cavaliers this Friday. Both teams occupy the 7th and 8th spots in the Eastern Conference respectively, but the Cavaliers have been in worse form, giving the Nets hope for the fixture.

New York Red Bulls vs CF Montréal (MLS / April 9, Saturday)

Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli (Photo courtesy: PTI)

Australia won the Women's World Cup for a record seventh time with a 71-run win over England.

Wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy scored a sensational 170 off 138 balls that powered Aus-tralia to a massive 356 for five. Defending cham-pions England ended with 285 in 43.4 overs.

Healy's 170 is now the highest-ever individu-al score in a World Cup final across men's and women's cricket. Adam Gilchrist (149, 2007),

Australia wins 7th Women's World Cup

Natalie Sciver (148 in this game), Ricky Ponting (140, 2003) and Viv Richards (138, 1979) are behind Healy in the elite list.

Healy was named 'Player of the Tournament' by the ICC. The 32-year-old averaged 56.55 with the bat and also contribut-ed eight dismissals (four catch-es and four stumpings) as keeper.

Australia's 356 was the high-est team total in a World Cup final in women's cricket and second highest behind the Aus-tralian men's team's effort of 359 for two against India in 2003.

This was Australia's sixth win in seven World Cup finals, making Meg Lanning's unit one of the greatest teams of all time. Australia had won their first trophy on points back in 1973.

IPL Points Table April 6, 2022

Ashleigh Barty of Austral-ia has won a local golf competition, just weeks

after abruptly retiring from pro-fessional tennis. Barty stunned the tennis community late last month after she announced her sudden retirement from the sport. While announcing her retirement, Barty had said that it was time for her to "chase oth-er dreams" in life.

The 2022 Australian Open champion surprised every-one by winning the ladies' golf championship at the Brookwa-ter Golf and Country Club near Brisbane, Queensland. Barty took home a meagre $30 prize. This is Barty's first victory in a golf tournament at any level.C

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Now or never, if world is to stave off climate disaster: IPCC reportThere must be "rapid, deep and

immediate" cuts in carbon diox-ide (CO2) emissions, says the lat-

est report by the Intergovernmental Pan-el on Climate Change (IPCC). The report unveils a plan that its authors believe can limit the root causes of dangerous cli-mate change.

After a contentious approval session where scientists and government officials went through the report line by line, the key UN body has now published its guid-ance on what the world can do to avoid an extremely dangerous future.

Even if all the policies to cut carbon that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world will still warm by 3.2C this century.

This finding has drawn the ire of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. "Some government and business leaders are saying one thing - but doing anoth-er. Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic."

That sort of temperature rise would see our planet hit by "unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms, and wide-spread water shortages". To avoid that fate, the world must keep the rise in tem-peratures at or under 1.5C this century, say researchers. The good news is that this latest IPCC summary shows that it can be done, in what Guterres calls a "via-ble and financially sound manner".

But keeping temperatures down will require massive changes to energy pro-

duction, industry, transport, our con-sumption patterns and the way we treat nature. To stay under 1.5C, according to the IPCC, means that carbon emissions from everything that we do, buy, use or eat must peak by 2025, and tumble rap-idly after that, reaching net-zero by the middle of this century. To put it in con-text, the amount of CO2 that the world has emitted in the last decade is the same amount that's left to us to stay under this key temperature threshold. "I think the report tells us that we've reached the now-or-never point of limiting warming to 1.5C," said IPCC lead author Heleen De Coninck, who's Professor of Socio-Tech-nical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology.

The next few years are critical, say the researchers, because if emissions aren't curbed by 2030, it will make it nigh on impossible to limit warming later this century. Key to that in the short term will be how we generate energy. Luckily, solar panel and wind turbines have never been cheaper, having fallen in cost by around 85% over the past decade. "It's game over for the fossil fuels that are fueling both wars and climate chaos," said Kai-sa Kosonen from Greenpeace, who was an observer at the IPCC approval session. "There's no room for any new fossil fuel developments, and the coal and gas plants we already have need to close early."

"Having the right policies, infrastruc-ture and technology in place to enable

changes to our lifestyles and behaviour can result in a 40-70% reduction in green-house gas emissions by 2050. This offers significant untapped potential," said IPCC Co-chair Priyadarshi Shukla. "The evidence also shows that these lifestyle changes can improve our health and well-being." In practice, this means govern-ments doing more to encourage walking and healthy eating, and putting in place the infrastructure for far more electric vehicles.

One of the most contentious aspects of the report concerns the removal of car-bon dioxide from the atmosphere. This can be done in a number of different ways, including through planting trees and making changes to farming prac-tices. But the report finds that to keep warming from going over the danger-ous 1.5C threshold, we will need more

than new forests. Keeping temperatures down will require machines to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere. This is very contentious as the technology is new and currently very expensive.

The Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group III report, as the document is known, was approved by 195 member-governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that started on Mar 21. It is the third instal-ment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed this year.

Though the report was expected to be ready late last week, negotiations between scientists and governments over the report extended well into Sunday, as officials from major emerging economies insisted that the report acknowledge their developmental needs.

IPCC lists individuals’ role in limiting global warming

The Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change (IPCC) report has, for the first time, spoken about indi-

viduals' roles in limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius and dedicated a brief reference on "what can every person do" through different actions, including put-ting political pressure on the system, to reach a common goal. It, among various suggestions, asked rich consumers to lim-it their consumption.

Emphasizing on individuals' desired action, the report released in Geneva on Monday underlined that people can be educated through knowledge transfer, so that they can act in different roles, and in each role, everyone can contribute to lim-

it global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius."Role models can set examples to oth-

ers. Professionals (such as engineers, teachers and researchers) can change professional standards consistent with decarburization; and urban planners and architects can design physical infrastruc-tures to facilitate low-carbon mobility and energy use by making walking and cycling safe for children," the report said.

For rich individuals, the report said, consumers, especially if one belongs to the top 10% of the world population in terms of income, can limit consumption, especially in mobility, and explore a good life "consistent with sustainable con-sumption".

India’s energy sector needs major revamp: IPCC

Limiting global warming will require major transitions in the energy sector and this will mean

drastically reducing fossil fuel use, wide-spread electrification, improved ener-gy efficiency, and the use of alternative fuels, a consortium of scientists part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a statement on Monday.

An aspect of the report, of particu-lar relevance to India, is that there is no place for new coal plants. The panel finds that all coal-fired power plants, without the technology to capture and store car-bon (CCS), need to be shuttered by 2050 if the world aspired to limit global tempera-ture rise to 1.5c.

The report essentially calls for a rev-olution in how we produce energy and power our world. For the temperature of the planet, the IPCC believes that coal should finally be retired for good.

"I think that's a very strong message, no new coal power plants. Otherwise, you're really risking 1.5C," said Prof Jan

Christoph Minx, from the University of Leeds, and an IPCC co-ordinating lead author. "I think the big message coming from here is we need to end the age of fos-sil fuel. And we don't only need to end it, but we need to end it very quickly."

According to the Central Electricity Authority, India has about 211 GW of oper-ational coal-fired power plants — rough-ly 10% of global capacity. As per Global Energy Monitor data, another 31 GW was being constructed and about 24 GW in var-ious pre-construction phases. None of the existing under construction coal-fired power plants in India have CCS facilities.

India has committed to net-zero year, or when it would cease to be a net carbon dioxide emitter, of 2070 and has defined a pathway to transition to renewable ener-gy sources but also insisted on its right to coal use given its developmental needs as well underlining that the historical responsibility of climate change from fos-sil fuel rested with the developed coun-tries, who needed to shoulder much of the mitigating burden.

ENvirONMENT

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26 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM ENTErTAiNMENT

Grammy goes to Olivia Rodrigo, Silk Sonic, Jon BatisteOlivia Rodrigo, Silk Son-

ic and jazz musician Jon Batiste have shared the

top honors at the 64th Grammy Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Apr 3.

Batiste's uplifting soul record We Are won album of the year, while Rodrigo won best new artist and best pop album. Silk Sonic's soul throwback anthem Leave The Door Open took home both the record and song of the year prizes.

The night was dominated by Batiste, who leads the band on 'The Late Show with Ste-phen Colbert', with five Gram-mys out of the 11 nominations he was contending in. Batiste took home the Grammy for the

Best Album of the Year, for his jazz album, 'We Are', which was inspired by the Black Lives Mat-ter movement.

He also won in the Best American Roots Performance, Best American Roots Song, Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and the Best Music Video categories.

Silk Sonic is a joint project between Bruno Mars and rap-per/drummer Anderson Paak.

Their sumptuous ballad Leave The Door Open is steeped in the 70s soul sounds of acts like The Chi-Lites and Earth, Wind & Fire, delivered with a knowing wink to modern sensi-bilities.

Olivia Rodrigo, who was rec-ognized for a stellar debut year, also picked up best pop solo per-formance and best pop album.

The 19-year-old dedicated the win to her parents, saying the award was "for you guys and because of you guys". "When I was nine years old, I told my mom I was going to be an Olym-

pic gymnast, even though I could barely do a cartwheel," she recalled. "The next week, when I told her I was gonna win a Grammy, she was very sup-portive, even though I'm sure she thought it was just a lit-tle kid pipe dream… I want to thank my mom and my dad for being equally as proud of me for winning a Grammy as they were when I learned how to do a back walkover."

There were also three awards for Foo Fighters, a little more than a week after drummer Tay-lor Hawkins was found dead in his Colombia hotel room at the age of 50. Presenter Jimmy Jam accepted the prizes in the band's absence, "with prayers to their loved ones".

Olivia Rodrigo, Silk Sonic, Jon Batiste

Falguni Shah wins Grammy for the Best Children’s Music Album

Indian American Falguni Shah won her first Grammy award for her album 'A Col-

ourful World' in the Best Chil-dren's Album category.

The Mumbai-born and long-time New York resident singer looked gorgeous in a tradition-al red and golden ensemble at the Grammy function. She took to Instagram and shared the joy-ous news with a heartfelt note.

“I have no words to describe today’s magic. What an honour to perform for the opening num-ber of the GRAMMY Premier Ceremony, and then take home a statue on behalf of all the incredible people who worked on A Colorful World,” she wrote in the caption.

“We are humbled and thank the Recording Academy for this tremendous recognition. THANK YOU,” she added as she shared a set of photos from the awards night. This was the sec-ond nomination for Shah, who

sings under the stage name Falu, having been nominated in the same category in 2018. Shah is the second Indian-origin wom-an to be nominated twice, after Asha Bhosle, and is also the first such to win a Grammy.

The singer has also collabo-rated with AR Rahman previ-ously. Currently, she sings and writes for her band.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter on Tues-day morning and congratulated Shah for winning the Grammy award. “Congratulations to Fal-guni Shah on winning the award for the Best Children’s Music Album at the Grammys. Wish-ing her the very best for her future endeavours," Prime Min-ister tweeted.

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Ricky Kej quotes Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam In Grammy speech

Bengaluru-based music composer Ricky Kej won the Grammy for his

album 'Divine Tales' in collabo-ration with rock legend Stewart Copeland in the Best New Age Album category.

It's the second win for US-born Kej, who took home the Grammy in the same catego-ry in 2015 as well, for his album, 'Winds of Samsara'.

Soon after his album was declared the winner, the musi-cian along with Copeland stepped on the stage to lift the trophy and greeted the audience with a Namaste. Kej made it a point to touch the feet of his fel-low winner while thanking him for the support. “I just want to thank Stewart for joining me on this beautiful musical journey. I mean I grew up with his music, grew up with his posters on my wall, and today I have won a Grammy along with him. It's absolutely amazing.” Copeland is the drummer of the iconic British band, The Police.

Kej in his acceptance speech revealed that his album Divine Tides is all about ‘co-exist-ence'. “In India, we have a say-

ing as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which means that the world is one family. And when we think that the world is one family, the only thing that comes to our mind is living in peace within the human species. But we have to go further in that and we have to live with peace with all the entities that live on this plan-et, whether it is the wildlife, the forest, the elements of nature which as the water we drink, the air we breathe, the land we walk on and Divine Tides is all about co-existence,” he said.

Kej, who has over 100 awards in over 20 countries across the globe, has been awarded United Nations Global Humanitarian Artist and is also an active envi-ronmentalist.

Kej and Copeland pose for a photo after their Grammy win (Photo courtesy: Instagram/rickykej)

Joseph Patel's summer of soul wins grammy best Music Film

Just a week after tak-ing home an Oscar, Indi-an-American produc-

er Joseph Patel’s ‘Summer of Soul’ has now bagged a Gram-my in the Best Music Film cat-egory. The film, which revolves around the 1969 Harlem Cul-tural Festival, won the Gram-my over ‘Bo Burnham: Inside’, ‘American Utopia’, ‘Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles’, and ‘Music, Mon-ey, Madness… Jimi Hendrix in Maui’.

The documentary, Summer Of Soul, is directed by Ahmir Thompson who is known by his stage name Questlove. Patel

backed the movie along with producers Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein.

Patel and Questlove arrived at the stage with co-produc-ers David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent to receive the coveted award.

The documentary centers on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festi-val, restoring 50-year-old foot-age and audio of performances from Stevie Wonder, The Sta-ples Singers, The 5th Dimen-sion, and many more. The film premiered at Sundane Film Fes-tival last year, wherein it mint-ed the Grand Jury and the Audi-ence Award. The movie earned

the Academy Award a week ago in the 'Documentary Feature' category.

In his speech at Oscars 2022, Patel mentioned, "This will please my mother. I am the first Patel ever to win an Oscar. So I'm very proud of that". The producer added, "But I think it's remarkable that two South-Asians won an Oscar tonight. Riz Ahmed earlier today became the ninth South Asian to ever win an Academy Award, I became the tenth." He also shared a picture of the tro-phy on scoial media with a cap-tion, "First Patel to ever win an Oscar."

Parent’s pride: AR Rahman attended the Grammy event on Apr 3, with his son Ameen. Rahman took to his Twitter handle

and shared glimpses of the star-studded night.

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 27ENTErTAiNMENT

Text and PixPrastuti Designs

The festive season in thepost‑pandemic era hasbrought in new hopes and

optimism. After almost two yearspeople have now gradually startedto organize festive gatheringswhich spread cheer.

Festivity and traditional clothinggo hand in hand. The saree is thefavorite choice for Indian women,specially during the festivity as itshowcases elegance and grandeurof every woman.

Owing to the high demand,there is a wide variety of sareeoptions available in the market,starting from chiffon, silk to geor‑gette, kanjivaram, and more. Everystate in India has a different sareestyle, however, in the currenttimes with the ever‑expanding

intercultural connect, women havenow begun to create their ownstyles and trends.

Here are the 5 trendiest tradi‑tional saree styles for this festiveseason:

Kanjivaram SareesThe grandeur of Kanjivaram

sarees is well‑known. Weaversfrom Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu,design these sarees. Dip the silkthreads in melted gold and silverto include the gold in the designs.Kanchipuram's weavers are con‑sidered to be descendants of thesage Markanda (the master weav‑er of Gods). A Kanjivaram saree isyour finest pick for any festiveevent.

Ikat SareesFor Ikat sarees, the warp and

weft are tie‑dyed before weaving.During the tie‑dye process, theknots in the beautifully wovensaree are tied into the fabric.Odisha (Sambalpur) is where thesesarees are manufactured with out‑standing workmanship.

Bandhani Sarees'Bandhan' means tying a knot.

The fabric of these sarees is tied ina particular way before dyeing thefabric which gives them thedesired design. Bandhani sareesare popular in Gujarat andRajasthan as they make the mostauthentic Bandhani. Bright colorsin the Bandhani print makes it anapt choice for festivities.

Gara sareeA traditional Parsi Gara's time‑

less charm is unmistakable. The

Gara sari, which is embroideredwith photorealistic perfection, isunique among the country's vastarray of crafts. The magnificentstyle, which is mostly worn by theParsi community for weddingsand special celebrations, shouldnot be kept hidden away for spe‑cial occasions.

Petit Point embroideryPetit point embroidery is a type

of canvas embroidery that is com‑

parable to cross‑stitch embroiderybut finer due to its smaller scale.At normal viewing distance, thesquareness and regularity of theoutlines of the forms representedare less visible. The stitch is indiagonal or horizontal rows acrossthe intersection of the canvasthreads and is also known as petitpoint or tent stitch. This beautifuland intricate pattern on sarees iswhat adds to the grace in yourfestive look.

5 Saree Styles for the Festive Season

45November 6-12, 2021TheSouthAsianTimes.info FASH ION

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN LEAD

Spices bought in South Asian countries can contain lead, which can cause learning and behavior problems in children, miscarriage in pregnant women, and infertility.

� Buy your spices locally. � If you use spices bought in

South Asia, ask your doctor for a blood lead test.

Call 311 or visit nyc.gov/leadfree for more information.

Bill de Blasio

Mayor

Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc

Commissioner

Zelenskyy’s special message at Grammy event

After Oscars, Grammys leaves out Lata Mangeshkar in tributes

Indian fans were disappointed to find iconic singer Lata Mangeshkar's name missing from the Grammys' In

Memoriam section.This year, the Grammys paid homage

to several artists, including musical thea-tre legend Stephen Sondheim, Foo Fight-ers drummer Taylor Hawkins, designer

Virgil Abloh and actor Betty White.Mangeshkar, one of India's most belov-

ed and prolific singers, died in Feb. Often called the "nightingale of Bollywood", she sang thousands of songs in more than 30 languages.

Both the Oscars last week and the Grammys this week left her out of the

section, which pays homage to artists who have died in the past year.

Fans were especially riled by the omis-sion from the Grammys, which calls itself "music's biggest night".

Mangeshkar wasn't the only high-pro-file name missing, though. Fans criti-cized the absence of Indian music com-

poser Bappi Lahiri, who also died in Feb.At the Oscars too, fans were surprised

to find Mangeshkar, Lahiri and Bolly-wood legend Dilip Kumar absent from the tributes.

Last month, Mangeshkar was featured in the British Academy Film and Televi-sion Awards' In Memoriam segment.

The Grammy 2022 event saw a spe-cial video message from Ukrain-ian President Volodymyr Zelen-

skyy, who asked the gathering to "support us in any way you can" and not remain silent to the acts of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The pre-recorded video message was filmed 48 hours prior to the event in a bunker in Kyiv amid ongoing Russian military operations in the country.

Zelenskyy made an appeal to support the country in any way they can but not with silence. The message served as a preface to John Legend’s performance of ‘Free’ as a part of a special tribute to Ukraine. Grammy 2022 host, Trevor Noah introduced the special performance wish-ing for hope to sweep in through music in Ukraine. “Even in the darkest times, music has the power to lift spirits and give you hope for a brighter tomorrow. There’s nobody who could use a little hope right now more than the people of Ukraine,” he said.

Zelenskyy in his video message went on to explain how war can silence the music and the sound of music should be high enough to end the war. He went on to pay tributes to the soldiers in the war calling them musicians swearing armors instead of a tux.

“Our loved ones don’t know if we will be together again. The war doesn’t let us

choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them but the music will break through anyway,” he said.

Nevertheless, he defended his free-dom in a land that is being silenced by the Russian bombs he said. He then went

on to urge the audience at the Gram-my’s to fill the silence with music, to sup-port Ukraine in any way they can but not silence, and only then peace will come, he added. He urged those listening to talk about the war. “Tell the truth about war. On your social networks. On TV. Sup-port us in any way you can. Any. But not silence,” he said. He concluded his speech by naming several Ukrainian cities say-ing, “I have dream of them living, and free. Free like you on the Grammy stage.”

His speech was followed by a perfor-mance by John Legend, accompanied by Ukrainian musicians Siuzanna Igli-dan and Mika Newton, and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk.

Earlier, Oscars’ co-host Amy Schum-er said that she had attempted to have the Ukrainian leader appear virtually.

Americans across the socio-political spectrum have expressed broad support for Ukraine by all means be it military or humanitarian assistance.

28 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM FOOd

Bright & delicious Kick off spring with these carrot recipes. Carrots contain a wealth of beta-carotene, which your body processes as vitamin a. They're also an excellent source of biotin, potassium, and vitamin K.

Halloumi, carrot & orange saladserve this halloumi, carrot, orange and watercress salad with a mustard and honey dressing for an easy lunch or starter.

• 2 large carrots, peeled• 225g block halloumi, sliced• 100g bag watercress or baby spinach

Method1. Cut the peel and pith away from the

oranges. Use a small serrated knife to segment the orange, catching any juices in a bowl, then squeeze any excess juice from the off-cut pith into the bowl as well. Add the mustard, honey, vinegar, oil and some season-ing to the bowl and mix well.

2. Using a vegetable peeler, peel carrot ribbons into the dressing bowl and toss gently. Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and cook the halloumi for a few mins until golden on both sides. Toss the watercress through the dressed carrots. Arrange the water-cress mixture on plates and top with the halloumi and oranges.

Carrot biryaniThis low-calorie vegetarian biryani cooks in just 25 minutes.

coat in all of the spices and flavors.2. Tip in the rice, peas and cashews, then

use the back of your spoon to break up any clumps of rice and combine with the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook over a high heat for 5 mins (it’s nice if a bit of rice catches on the base to give a bit of texture to the dish). Scatter over the coriander leaves, with spoonsful of yogurt; then serve straight from the pan.

Ingredients• 2 tbsp olive oil• 1 onion , sliced• 1 green chilli, chopped (deseeded if you

don’t like it very hot)• 1 garlic clove, peeled• 1 tbsp garam marsala• 1 tsp turmeric• 3 carrots , grated• 2 x 200g pouch brown basmati rice• 150g frozen peas• 50g roasted cashews• Coriander leaves and yogurt, to serve

Method1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, tip

in the onion with a big pinch of salt and fry until softened, around 5 mins, then add the chilli and crush in the garlic and cook for 1 min more. Stir in the spices with a splash of water and cook for a couple of mins before adding the carrots and stirring well to

Ingredients• 2 large oranges• 1½ tbsp wholegrain mustard• 1½ tsp honey• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar• 3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil, plus extra

for frying

Carrot pakorasbroccoli, cauliflower, green beans and cabbage also work well for this recipe

Ingredients• 3 medium carrots, coarsely

grated lengthways• 2 shallots or 1 onion, finely

sliced• 25g coriander, roughly

chopped• 1 tsp ground turmeric• 1 tsp cumin seeds• pinch of hot chilli powder

(optional)• 1 egg, beaten• 100g cornflour• sunflower oil, for deep-frying

To serve• 100g natural yogurt• 2 tbsp lime pickle (roughly

chop if it’s too chunky)• small handful of mint leaves,

roughly chopped

When the vegetables have wilted, wrap in a clean tea towel and squeeze out any excess water. Tip into a bowl along with the coriander, spices and egg, and mix well. Add the corn flour and stir until all the veg is even-ly coated in thick batter – it’s important that all the corn flour is mixed in properly.

Fill a deep, wide pan no more than two-thirds full of oil and heat to 180C, or until a cube of bread dropped in browns in 20 seconds. Working in batches, carefully lower in two spoonsful of the pakora mix at a time, spaced well apart, and fry for 2 mins on one side, then 1-2 mins more on the other side until golden and crisp. Transfer to kitchen paper using a slotted spoon to drain. Serve hot with the dip.

MethodTip the carrots and shallots

or onion into a colander set over a sink, and toss with 1 tsp sea salt. Leave to wilt for 10 mins. Meanwhile, for the dip, combine the yogurt, pickle and mint. Chill until ready to use.

Easy carrot cake serve this classic sweet treat with a cup of tea any time of the day.

Ingredients• 230ml vegetable

oil, plus extra for the tin

• 100g natural yogurt

• 4 large eggs• 1½ tsp vanilla

extract• ½ orange, zested• 265g self-rising

flour• 335g light musco-

vado sugar• 2½ tsp ground

cinnamon• ¼ fresh nutmeg, finely grated• 265g carrots (about 3), grated• 100g sultanas or raisins• 100g walnuts or pecans,

roughly chopped (optional)

For the icing• 100g slightly salted butter,

softened• 300g icing sugar• 100g soft cheese

Method1. Heat the oven to 360F. Oil

and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment. Whisk the oil, yogurt, eggs, vanilla and zest in a jug. Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a good pinch of salt in a bowl. Squeeze any lumps of sugar through your fingers, shaking the bowl a few times to bring the lumps to the surface.

2. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with the carrots, raisins and half

the nuts, if using. Mix well to combine, then divide between the tins.

3. Bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If any wet mixture clings to the skewer, return to the oven for 5 mins, then check again. Leave to cool in the tins.

4. To make the icing, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add half the soft cheese and beat again, then add the rest (adding it bit by bit prevents the icing from splitting). Remove the cakes from the tins and sand-wich together with half the icing. Top with the remain-ing icing and scatter with the remaining walnuts. Will keep in the fridge for up to five days. Best eaten at room temperature.

Carrot & orange smoothieThis vibrant smoothie with added oats and ginger will give you vitamin C.

(All recipes adapted from & photos courtesy: BBC Good Food)

Ingredients• 2 medium carrots,

peeled and roughly chopped or grated

• 2 oranges, peeled• 2cm piece of ginger,

grated• 2 tbsp oats• 100g ice

Method1. Tip all the ingredi-

ents into a blender or smoothie maker and blitz until smooth, adding 150ml water if it’s too thick – alter the consistency to your liking.

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 29TrAvEl

Amarnath YatraFor the first time in the past

decade, around 1.8 lakh tourists visited Kashmir

this March, according to the fig-ures available with the Kashmir tourism department. The annu-al Amarnath Yatra, which was suspended for two years due to the pandemic, will also begin on June 30 for a period of 43 days. A very important center of pil-grimage in India’s Jammu & Kashmir, the Amarnath Yatra is held in the Hindu month of Shravan.

Covered with snow most of the time, the Amarnath Cave opens to pilgrims only for a short period each year. Though the route is as difficult to nego-tiate as it is exciting, every year, thousands of devotees visit Amarnath to pay homage before Lord Shiva in one of his famous Himalayan abodes. As per the Hindu religious beliefs, Amar-nath Cave Temple is also the place where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to

Parvati. The Amarnath shrine is considered to be one of the holiest shrines and is also one of the 51 Shakti Peetha tem-ples throughout South Asia, where parts of Goddess Sati are believed to have fallen after she burnt her body.

Amarnath Yatra is organ-ized by the government and the Shree Amarnath Shrine Board. Other than this, many agencies are there that provide necessary facilities like ponies, power sup-ply, telecommunication facili-ties, etc.

Food supply and resting tents are also set up on the way and are available for free to the pil-grims. Helicopter services from base camp to Panjtarni are also provided by various private agencies. The temple, located at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft, is about 141 km from Srina-gar and can be reached through Pahalgam town.

The trail from Pahalgam to Chandanwari runs along the

Lidder River with scenic views all around. The road from Pahal-gam to Chandanwari is on fair-ly flat terrain and can be under-taken by local transport as well. From Chandanwari onwards the track becomes much steep-er, and is accessible on foot or by pony. In recent times the Bal-tal route via Sonamarg has also become very popular because of its short distance track (although very steep) to the Holy Cave of Shri Amarnathji.

Amarnath Yatra 2022, set to start on June 30, will mark its end on Aug 11. Registration is expected to start from April 11. A person is not allowed to reg-ister for Amarnath Yatra if he/

she is under 13 years or above 75 years of age. Women with over 6-weeks pregnancy are also not allowed to register.

Devotees planning to visit the Amarnath shrine will first have to register themselves for the yatra. Following successful reg-istration, travelers will be pro-vided Yatra Permits, the offi-cial requirement for visiting the Amarnath Cave. To obtain the permit, one also needs to submit prescribed Compulsory Health Certificate and four passport sized photographs. The specif-ic day on which a pilgrim is reg-istered to undertake the Yatra will be printed on the Yatra Per-mit Form.

For more details on Amar-nath Yatra, visit https://www.jammu.com/shri-amar-nath-yatra/

Online registration can be done at the official website https://jksasb.nic.in/

Shiva Lingam is formed naturally of ice in the month of Shravan at the Holy Cave

30 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM NATUrE & wildliFE

Flamingo that fled Kansas zoo 17 years ago spotted alive

Flamingo No. 492 aka Pink Floyd, one of two flamin-gos that escaped from a

Kansas zoo during a storm 17 years ago has been spotted on the coast of Texas, wildlife offi-cials said.

Texas Parks and Wildlife announced via Facebook that it was spotted wading into Cox Bay near Port Lavaca, about 120 miles southwest of Houston, earlier this month.

"Looks like Pink Floyd has returned from the 'dark side of the moon'! Spotted at Rhodes Point in Cox Bay near Port Lava-ca by David Foreman on March 10," Coastal Fisheries - Texas Parks and Wildlife wrote along-side video of the fugitive flamin-go living its best life.

"Pink Floyd is a local Texas flamingo that escaped a Kansas zoo in 2005 and has been seen

on the Texas coast for several years."

Officials were able to make out the bird’s leg band on the video shot March 10 by Fore-man. Named for the number on

its yellow leg band, No. 492 has been spotted several times in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Tex-as, sometimes with other wild flamingos. Officials said it had been a year or two since the bird

was last seen in Texas. The escaped flamingos, born

in Africa, arrived at the Kan-sas zoo in 2004 with 39 other fla-mingos. The two took advantage of strong storm winds and bust-ed out of Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, on June 27, 2005.

Employees had not yet clipped the birds’ wings to pre-vent them from flying, which facilitated their escape. It is pre-sumed that the escapees were separated in the storm and the other flamingo, No 347, was nev-er seen again.

Zoo officials have never made plans to recapture No. 492, despite the sightings, say-ing there is no easy way to do so without disturbing other wild-life. The five-foot-tall pink fla-mingo is in its early 20s today. Experts say flamingos can live

into their 40s in the wild. Flamingos, known for their

distinctive pink feathers and long legs and necks, are not found in the United States except for a few sightings in South Florida. However, it seems that Pink Floyd has managed to find a suitable environment in Texas. Floyd’s new home has plenty of perks that might inter-est a flamingo, including warm temperatures, plentiful food and shallow wetlands. All that’s missing is companionship. It did manage to find a friend, at least for a while. A Caribbean flamingo, which may have been carried to the area on the winds of a tropical storm, appears to have befriended Pink Floyd in 2006, though they haven’t been seen in each other’s company since 2013, the New York Times reported.

Fatal tiger-human conflict continues in India

India has lost 126 tigers last year and 39 tigers so far this year, while the country lost 108 human lives to tiger

attacks between 2019 and 2021. Expansion of human settlements into tiger habitats and their killing for illegal trade poses a constant threat to the survival of tigers.

39 tigers were reported dead across the country in the last four months, accord-ing to a report by the National Tiger Con-servation Authority's (NTCA). Madhya Pradesh, like in the previous years, led with 14 tiger deaths, followed by Mahar-ashtra with 10, while Karnataka was at third place with 6 tiger deaths.

Nearly 60 tiger deaths of the 303 between 2018 and 2020 were caused by poaching, the authority said. Tigers are poached for their fur, teeth and bones which are smuggled to China for tradi-tional medicines.

Meanwhile, a total of 108 people died in the country due to tiger attacks between 2019 and 2021, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Apr 4.

Replying to a question on the issue in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that the number of human deaths due to tiger attacks has come down in two years, with

Of the 14 tigers reported dead in Madhya Pradesh, four died between Apr 1 and 4. According to NTCA report, 10 had lost their lives within the earmarked area of tiger reserves, while four were reported dead outside the area. Three tigers were reported dead in Pench Tiger Reserve, two each in Bandhavgarh, San-jay Tiger Reserve, Kanha Tiger Reserve and one in Satpura Tiger Reserve. The remaining four big cats were report-ed dead outside the wildlife habitat are-as. The NTCA report also suggests that of the 14, six were female and three male, while the identity of five remained unknown.

At least 126 tigers died last year, accord-ing to the NTCA, the highest in many years. Some of the deaths were blamed on poachers and others were attributed to accidents and natural causes.

14 persons dying in 2021 compared to 50 in 2019.

Maharashtra led the grim count, with 56 deaths occurring in the state in the last three years, of which 26 deaths occurred in 2019, followed by 25 in 2020 and five in 2021.

Uttar Pradesh had the second highest casualties with 17 deaths, of which eight occurred in 2019, four in 2020 and five in 2021. Last year also saw three deaths due to tiger attacks in Bihar and one in Uttarakhand.

According to Choubey, the Nation-al Tiger Conservation Authority has devised three standard operating proce-dures to minimize man-animal conflict, which involve dispersing tigers over a larger area, managing livestock kills for them and relocating tigers to areas where their density is low.

Bird populations in Panama rainforest in severe decline, study finds

Bird populations in a Central Amer-ican tropical rainforest are suf-fering severe declines, with like-

ly factors including climate breakdown and habitat loss, a new study by scientists from the University of Illinois found.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the majority of sampled species had declined in abundance, many of them severely. There are very few long-term studies on population trends for tropical birds, and the report provides insights into how species are coping with habitat loss and the climate crisis.

Scientists tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Pana-ma to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to 2020.

Twice a year over four decades, the authors deployed mist nets in multiple study sites, identifying and banding thou-sands of birds. Next, the authors mod-elled populations and estimated changes in the abundance of 57 species.

Of the declining species sampled, 35 out of 40 lost more than 50% of their initial abundance. Only two species increased in numbers. The declines

extended across different bird families and were generally independent of eco-logical traits such as body mass, foraging type, or the species’ initial abundance.

Many species including bluejays, yel-low warblers and field sparrows are now laying their first eggs 25 days earlier than they were 100 years ago, the research found.

The scientists said human activity was likely to be driving the drops in numbers, with changing rainfall patterns, increas-ing temperatures and deforestation caus-ing stress to bird populations.

Another factor in the decline could be the indirect impact of the climate emer-gency. The insects the birds feed on are sensitive to changing temperature and rainfall, and droughts as well as irregular rainfall can affect the seasonal availabili-ty of fruit and nectar. There are also con-cerns the change in climate could be ben-efiting parasites that weaken the birds.

The scientists said the losses were “alarming”, with a range of species affected. According to the authors, establishing declines and identifying the underlying ecological mechanisms should be a conservation priority.

The red-capped manakin, the most abundant fruit-eating bird sampled and an important seed disperser, is among the affected species. (Photo courtesy: ebird.org)

ASiANErAONliNE.COM 07 - 13 April 2022 The AsiAn erA 31

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32 The AsiAn erA 07 - 13 April 2022 ASiANErAONliNE.COM