MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS

Pravasi 

Bharatiya 

CONNECTING INDIA WITH ITS DIASPORA 

July 2007 Volume 2 Issue No. 7 

A SPACE-AGE IDOL 

MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS

Overview 

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs 

Ministry of 

Overseas Indian Affairs 

www.moia.gov.in 

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs proposes to set up an Overseas 

Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) that emigrant/potential emigrant 

workers can approach for information, advice or guidance on issues 

relating to their problems. The Centre is proposed to be established 

through outsourcing the service. The Centre will include a ‘helpline’ and 

will be modular in nature starting with a toll free number and an 

interactive website. Other interface facilities will be added in course of 

time. The helpline will be located in Delhi. Top firms with a good track 

record of setting up and operating and with experience in establishing 

and operating call centres may apply. Their response must be 

received on or before 12.00 noon on 13 August 2007. Interested 

parties may download the Request for Proposal (RFP) from 

www.moia.gov.in. 

When Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams landed on 

the Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 22 after a 

195-day space odyssey, millions of Indians heaved a sigh of 

relief and then rejoiced. Daughter of Indian origin physician 

Dr. Deepak Pandya and Slovenian American Bonnie Pandya, 41-year-old 

Williams proclaims her Indian heritage with pride. 

Hence, when she was selected for the historic NASA mission last year, 

pride lit up every Indian’s face. In this issue’s cover story, we profile the the 

space odyssey of Sunita Williams from an Indian perspective. Yet another 

story of a member of the Indian diaspora making history and how! 

This issue also features an interview with a Kenyan of Indian origin, Neera 

Kapur-Dromson, who, through a book, traces her heritage from the river 

Tana in Kenya to the Jhelum, an area from where her father’s ancestors 

hailed. 

One of the most enigmatic personalities of the Indian diaspora has been 

mathematician Srinivas Ramanujam. A wizard with figures, Ramanujam 

shot to fame in the world of mathematics during the course of a short stint 

as an overseas Indian during the early part of the 20th century. In our 

series on famous overseas Indians, this time we profile this genius who died 

young at 32. 

A creation of the 21st century, the state of Chhattisgarh is on the fastforward 

mode to attract investment. The state has taken several progressive 

steps making it an investment haven both for domestic and foreign 

investors. In our series on investing in India, we profile this east Indian state. 

Our series on profiles of the Indian diaspora continues with a look at the 

Indo-Fijian community. Like those in the Caribbean, Indian origin people 

in Fiji are mostly descendants of Indians who migrated to the Pacific island 

nation in the 19th and early 20th century to work in the colonial sugarcane 

plantations. Like the Indo-Trinidadians, Indo-Guyanese and the Indo- 

Surinamese, they too faced a lot of challenges in settling down in their new 

home before successfully foraying into other professions. In this issue, we 

look at the Indians living in Fiji, who comprise around 38 percent of the 

country’s total population of 800,000. 

Another very interesting feature is about a group of Indian women in rural 

Uttar Pradesh who are bringing out a newspaper independently. Their 

courageous venture has even fetched them a major media award. We look 

at what it takes to bring out a newspaper called Khabar Lahariyan. 

This apart, you will get to read all other regular sections of the magazine. 

Enjoy! 

— Editorial Team, 

Pravasi Bharatiya 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA JULY 2007 3

CONTENTS 

DIASPORA IN FIJI 34 

The Pacific island nation has been home to a large Indian 

diaspora for more than a century now. Many of them 

have gone on to make a name for themselves in various 

fields. 

IN MEMORIAM 18 

India-born British MP Piara Singh 

Khabra, 82, passed away following 

complications in London. 

SPACE AGE IDOL 10 

Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams made history 

when she spent 195 days in space, during which she 

participated in the Boston Marathon and interacted with 

school students in New Delhi. 

DIASPORA 

NEWS 

A review of various news 

related to the Indian 

diaspora across the world in 

the month gone by. 

26 

FEATURE 

40 

A group of women in 

rural Uttar Pradesh 

are independently 

bringing out a 

newspaper. 

BOLLYWOOD 

38 

Over 20,000 fans witnessed the 

grand opening of a star-studded 

extravaganza in Yorkshire, to 

honour Bollywood personalities 

for their performances in the last 

year. 

FAMOUS PRAVASIS 20 

A profile of Srinivasa Ramanujan, 

regarded as one of the greatest 

mathematical minds in recent 

history, made substantial 

contributions in the areas of 

mathematical analysis and number 

theory. 

CHHATTISGARH 

INVESTMENT 

A new mining policy for the 

state seeks to attract an FDI of 

$2 billion annually and 

generate additional 

employment for 500,000 

people in the next five years. 

22 

PROFILE . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

BOOK REVIEW . . . . . . . . 46 

TRAVEL 42 

Spread over 521 sq km, the Jim 

Corbett National Park on the 

foothills of the Kumaon Himalayas 

is the country’s oldest national park.

News 

Fund for overseas Indian workers mooted 

If the Ministry of Overseas 

Indian Affairs has its way, 

Indian workers abroad may 

soon have a welfare fund with 

a sizeable contribution from the country’s 

insurance companies. 

The fund will be utilised for training 

workers for overseas jobs, providing 

humanitarian aid when they are in 

trouble at their work places and for 

helping them to resettle on their 

return. 

According to official sources, a note 

on creating a corpus for the NRI 

workers welfare fund, “which may be 

funded initially by the Government”, 

has been prepared for the Cabinet’s 

consideration. 

The Ministry has proposed that an 

initial amount of Rs.1.50 billion could 

be allocated in 2007-08 and this could 

be reviewed “as per requirement”. 

Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs 

Vayalar Ravi is believed to have proposed 

that major insurance companies 

could be roped in to contribute to the 

welfare fund, to which even NRI 

workers also could chip in with a small 

amount — either as a one-time payment 

or an annual one. 

“It is estimated that every year about 

600,000 workers — semi skilled and 

unskilled workers — travel to the Gulf 

region in search of job opportunities. 

Under the current regulations, each 

such worker is charged Rs.200 for an 

emigration clearance stamp on their 

passports,” a Ministry official said. 

“We have proposed that this fee be 

enhanced to Rs.300, of which Rs.100 

will be the workers’ contribution 

towards the welfare fund,” he added. 

The Ministry has recommended 

that a trust manage the fund. There 

could also be an advisory committee 

chaired by the minister, with five central 

government nominees and an 

unspecified number of ministers from 

the states as its members. 

A bureaucrat could head the executive 

authority for the fund, with its 

members being four secretaries from 

the states, a nominee of the finance 

minister and nominees of industrial 

houses and insurance companies, the 

proposal says. 

The fund would be used for paying 

the government’s contribution 

towards a sustenance allowance for 

NRI workers in need and for subsidising 

their rehabilitation on their 

return home. 

“We are planning to implement the 

scheme through the banks,” the official 

said. “The objective of the fund 

will not only be to train these workers 

and upgrade their skills but also to 

equip them for leading a dignified life 

on their return. 

“Therefore, during training, they 

would be eligible for a fixed stipend as 

decided by the trust,” the official 

added. 

“The welfare fund is meant to build 

confidence among the workers — 

who have made large foreign exchange 

remittances — and to signal to them 

that they will be looked after while 

they are abroad and also when they 

return to their homeland,” the official 

explained. 

The proposal will have to be 

approved by ministries of external 

affairs, finance, and labour and law, 

besides the Planning Commission. 

There are around five million 

Indian workers in the Middle East and 

they contribute around 50 percent of 

the total annual remittances of $25 billion 

sent by overseas Indians. 

The remittances from overseas 

Indian workers — most of whom are 

based in the Gulf — is significantly 

higher than those of other nationalities. 

— Liz Mathew in New Delhi 

Mira Nair takes up cause of AIDS in India 

Indian American film director Mira Nair has joined 

India’s top directors in a project to show short films 

on the impact of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency 

Syndrome (AIDS) ahead of screenings of Bollywood 

blockbusters at cinemas. 

Nair said she got the idea of such a collaboration to help 

raise awareness about AIDS from the Bill and Melinda 

Gates Foundation which is funding the project, according 

to USINFO, a US government website. 

A foundation representative contacted Nair and presented 

“the startling statistic that if we don’t control what’s 

happening in India in terms of the lack of awareness and 

stigma and other things associated with the Human 

Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)”, the magnitude of India’s 

AIDS epidemic could equal that of Africa in a few years. 

The director, who now lives in Uganda, knows the 

problem firsthand. Figures of a 2006 UN study show that 

72 percent of the 2.6 million global AIDS deaths was in 

sub-Saharan Africa wreaking untold socio-economic devastation 

in the region. 

She wants to use the “immense power” of Indian cinema 

to “wake people up about AIDS”. She calls the project 

AIDS Jaago, or “awake” in Hindi. 

“I proposed that I would get together the most cuttingedge, 

commercial, populist film directors from different 

regions of India, who would each use iconic movie stars 

recognised in our country, and who would each make a 

dramatic tale of 15 minutes in length,” she said. 

Nair assigned one AIDS topic to each director, “and 

then they had the freedom to do what they needed to do”, 

she said. 

The directors she has chosen are Vishal Bhardwaj, 

Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar. 

— Arun Kumar in Washington 

On the third anniversary 

of the UPA government 

in power, Prime 

Minister Manmohan 

Singh released the ‘Report to the 

People 2004-07’. The annual report, 

the third such since the UPA government 

came to power in May 2006, is 

an attempt at bringing accountability 

to governance. 

Following are the excerpts from the 

report that concerns the Ministry of 

Overseas Indian Affairs: 

OVERSEAS CITIZENSHIP 

The scheme for Overseas 

Citizenship of India (OCI) has been 

extended to cover all overseas Indians 

who emigrated after January 26, 1950. 

Overseas citizens have been granted 

parity with NRIs (non-resident 

Indians) in respect of facilities in economic, 

financial and educational 

fields, with some exceptions, besides 

lifelong multi-purpose multi-entry 

visa and exemption from registration 

with local authorities. Till 2006, over 

78,000 online applications had been 

filed and over 36,000 overseas citizenship 

registration certificates had 

been granted. 

VOTING FOR NRIs 

A bill has been introduced in 

Parliament to permit Indian citizens 

outside India who are absent in their 

ordinary place of residence to get 

themselves registered in the electoral 

rolls of the constituency of their ordinary 

place of residence. 

SOCIAL SECURITY 

A Social Security Agreement has 

been entered into with Belgium, 

exempting overseas Indians on shortterm 

contracts of up to five years from 

payment of social security contributions 

and providing for export of social 

security benefits for those on longterm 

contract, after they relocate to 

India on retirement. The Government 

has initiated the process for entering 

into similar agreements with other 

countries like The Netherlands, 

Sweden and France. 

The Government has entered into a 

bilateral MoU (memorandum of 

understanding) on manpower with 

the United Arab Emirates on a wide 

News 

Report to the People ’06-07 on overseas Indians 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the release of the ‘Report to the People 

2006-07’ in New Delhi. 

range of issues concerning the protection 

and welfare of overseas Indian 

workers, including non-payment or 

delay in payment of wages, harsh 

working and living conditions, substitution 

of contracts, retention of 

passports, cheating by intermediaries 

and physical abuse among others. 

Conclusion of a similar MoU with 

Kuwait has been approved, which 

would facilitate recruitment of manpower, 

prohibit changes in terms and 

conditions of employment contracts 

to the detriment of workers, lay down 

the procedure for authentication for 

employment contract place responsibility 

on employers to arrange the 

work permits, and protect workers 

who are otherwise not covered under 

local labour laws. More such MoUs 

are expected with other Gulf countries, 

including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia 

and Oman, as well as with Malaysia. 

NRI/PIO UNIVERSITY 

The UPA Government has 

approved a policy frame for setting up 

a university for children of NRIs and 

PIOs (persons of Indian origin). ■ 

6 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA JULY 2007 


News 

Global alumni bat for Bengal college 

The Bengal Engineering 

and Science University 

(BESU) in Shibpur, near 

Kolkata, is all set to 

undergo a transformation which will 

make it at a par with world class institutions, 

thanks to the initiative of its 

global alumni association. 

The Global Alumni Association of 

Bengal Engineering and Science 

University (GAABESU) is making 

efforts to ensure that BESU bags the 

India Institute of Engineering Science 

and Technology (IIEST) and the 

Institute of National Importance 

(INI) status in the near future. 

“GAABESU has decided to develop 

an alumni scholarship fund of Rs. 

500,000 and another of Rs. 100,000 for 

the admission of economically weaker 

students. We have seen that many 

students, despite scoring good marks, 

could not continue their education for 

lack of financial support. Many of 

them can’t even get admission. 

“We took this decision keeping their 

interests in mind,” A. Ghoshal, 

founder president of GAABESU, told 

Pravasi Bharatiya on the sidelines of a 

conference on June 7. 

Apart from building a recreation 

hall this year, there is a proposal to 

develop a world-class auditorium 

inside the campus, he said. 

“The second proposal is still in a fluid 

stage as it requires huge funding,” 

he said, adding that it would require 

over Rs.100 million to construct a 

2,000-seat auditorium. 

The association will also institute an 

emergency fund for helping BESU 

students in case of a crisis. 

Worldwide internet connectivity 

will be developed to establish an integrated 

network with all global alumni, 

which, in turn, will also help 

BESU collaborate with different universities 

abroad, Ghoshal added. 

BESU, established in 1856, is currently 

celebrating its 150th anniversary. 

“GAABESU would bring all former 

graduates and teachers of the 150- 

year-old technical institution under 

one umbrella,” he added. 

“With the contribution of our global 

alumni, we have initiated helpingin-distress 

programmes for BESU 

students here. 

“Once it gets the centre of excellence 

status it would stop the increasing 

brain drain from West Bengal,” 

Ghoshal said. 

■ 

Indo-Mauritian dance troupe enthralls India 

Rasika Dance Academy, an 

Indo-Mauritian dance academy, 

recently concluded a 

successful four-city tour of India. 

Led by noted Indo-Mauritian 

choreographer Raveeta Salick 

Peetumbur, the troupe rendered a 

series of Bharat Natyam, Kathak and 

Indian folk dance performances in 

New Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh and 

Lucknow in June. 

The trip was organised by the 


(MOIA) in collaboration with Indian 

Council for Cultural Relations 

(ICCR). 

■ 

Rasika Dance Academy artistes performing in New Delhi. 

In response to increasing 

instances of exploitation, India 

is contemplating a ban on 

housemaids going to work in 

countries with which it does not have 

a labour welfare pact. 

According to a new proposal from 

the Ministry of Overseas Indian 

Affairs (MOIA), a ban would force the 

countries to come to the negotiating 

table for a welfare agreement. 

“The Ministry is considering a ban 

on the emigration of Indian women 

who have an emigration clearance 

required (ECR) passport to a country 

that refuses to negotiate a bilateral 

memorandum of understanding 

(MoU),” said an official source in the 

Ministry. 

“The ban could be lifted if the 

country returns to the negotiating 

table,” the official added. 

India has already signed similar 

MoUs with the United Arab Emirates 

(UAE), Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan and 

is negotiating agreements with 

Malaysia, Oman, Yemen and Bahrain. 

It is believed that more than 200,000 

Indian women are working as HSWs 

(household service workers) in the 

Gulf region itself. The number of 

Indian housemaids has sharply 

increased in the last few years — from 

about 5,000 women, mostly from 

Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, in 2004 

to 15,000 in 2005. 

According to the source, Minister 

for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar 

Ravi has already discussed the matter 

with a ministerial sub-committee and 

at an inter-ministerial meeting convened 

specially to discuss the issue. 

Officials pointed out that Saudi 

Arabia has not begun the negotiation 

process at the government level. 

“The Minister (Ravi) is of the view 

that women household workers cannot 

be protected in a country that is 

disinclined to sign the MoU for bilateral 

cooperation. 

“He has already suggested a total 

ban on women workers to such countries,” 

the official, who spoke on condition 

of anonymity, told Pravasi 

Bharatiya. 

The Ministry has also suggested that 

a minimum wage be fixed and no 

woman be allowed to emigrate if the 

contractual wage was below the minimum 

wage. 

“We have also proposed that every 

foreign employer directly recruiting 

News 

Ban on maids to countries without pacts likely 

Targeting non-resident Indian 

(NRI) buyers, Indian real 

estate major Unitech has 

announced its latest venture of a multi-million-dollar 

residential complex 

of luxury villas and penthouses in 

Noida, a suburb of Delhi. 

For this project Unitech has 

acquired 347 acres of land for about 

Rs.17 billion ($420 million) in May 

2006. The cost of construction will be 

about Rs. 60 billion, according to 

company officials. 

“This is the biggest ever land deal 

in India by any real estate developer. 

The new project — Unitech Grande 

— is meant for the high-end luxurious 

segment as there is a growing need 

for such type of residential complexes 

in India,” Sanjay Chandra, Unitech 

managing director, said at a press conference 

in New Delhi on July 6. 

“The economy is booming and 

with the arrival of global luxurious 

brands in India, the demand for an 

upscale lifestyle is gradually emerging,” 

he added. 

Aimed primarily at NRIs, the complex 

will have its own golf course, a 

fitness centre, eight signature towers 

and four gateway towers which will 

house the penthouses. 

Each tower will have a range of 

apartments, including duplex and 

penthouses, overlooking the Greg 

Norman Signature Golf Course. 

In another first in urban Indian 

architecture of residential complexes, 

an Indian woman emigrant must 

deposit a security of $2,500 in the 

form of a bank guarantee at the respective 

Indian mission. The employment 

contract should be between the worker 

and employer, not with the agent. 

“To check malpractices wherein 

insurance policies are cancelled or 

one-time premiums refunded after 

the emigration formalities, we want 

insurance companies to give an undertaking 

that they will not cancel any 

policy except with prior written permission 

of Protector General of 

Emigrants (PGE),” the official added. 

In order to check the increasing cases 

of exploitation at workplaces — 

household jobs fall under the informal 

sector and do not have the protection 

of labour laws in the respective 

countries — the Ministry has 

already banned the emigration of 

HSWs below 30 years of age. 

“However, the reported cases are 

still on the rise. The very nature of 

their jobs makes the household workers 

prone to long hours, erratic work 

schedules, verbal assaults, besides 

physical and sexual abuses,” the official 

pointed out. 


Indian real estate major targets NRI buyers 

there will be personal plunge pools in 

select apartments. The complex is also 

expected to house schools, hospitals 

and shopping outlets. 

The size of the apartments will be 

between 2,200 sq ft and 5,500 sq ft. 

The total project will be built in four 

phases over a span of seven years. 

During the first phase, over 670 

units will be built within three years 

and three months. The complex will 

have a total of 5,300 units, officials said. 

“We have already sold over 25 percent 

of the 670 units that will be ready 

in the first phase of construction, out 

of which 10 units have been sold to 

NRIs. As the project gets ready, we 

will eventually start targeting the corporates,” 

Chandra said. ■ 

8 



Cover Story 

India gets a new 

SPACE-AGE IDOL 

In the course of her 195-day space 

odyssey, during which she set a new 

record for space walking, 

participated in the Boston Marathon 

and interacted with school students 

in New Delhi, Indian American 

astronaut Sunita Williams became an 

inspirational icon looked up to by a 

billion Indians. A report. 

“We really 

have 

the most 

beautiful 

planet in 

our solar system. None other can sustain 

life like we know it. None other 

has blue water and white clouds covering 

colourful landmasses filled with 

thriving, beautiful, living things like 

human beings. We are lucky, and to 

quote a great movie, we are a privileged 

planet. I do hope there are other 

wonderful planets living and thriving 

out there, but ours is special because it 

is ours and ours to take care of. We 

really can’t take that too lightly.” 

That was Indian American Sunita 

Williams writing in one of her space 

station journals in the course of her 

195-day space odyssey during which 

she set a new women’s space walking 

record, ran the Boston Marathon and 

carried out a series of experiments that 

will help mankind in the long run. 

And finally, on June 22, the 41-yearold 

Indian American, dubbed by many 

as the “true Miss Universe”, touched 

down on the most beautiful planet in 

the solar system aboard the space shuttle 

Atlantis at 7:49 p.m. 

There was silence in the cockpit as 

US Commander Rick Sturckow and 

pilot Lee Archambault completed the 

final moves to bring the shuttle — 

which functions as a glider in its landing 

phase — safely back to earth. 

Atlantis landed at the Edwards Air 

Force Base in California after completing 

a 9.3 million-km journey. The 

space shuttle had to pass up three 

landing windows on June 21 and 22 

due to bad weather in Florida, the preferred 

landing place. 

The seven astronauts walked 

around the shuttle to inspect it for 

damage after the landing and then 

retired from public view. Sunita was 

transported away to allow her time to 

readjust to the effects of gravity. 

Though well short of the 438-day 

world record set by Russian cosmonaut 

Valeri Polyakov in 1994 and 

1995, Sunita’s journey, lasting 194 

days, 18 hours and 58 minutes, is the 

10 



Cover Story 

NASA studying work of ‘Queen of CFE’ 

US space agency 

NASA scientists plan 

to spend the next 12 

to 18 months analysing the 

results of experiments conducted 

by Indian American 

astronaut Sunita Williams 

during her record 195-day 

stay in space. 

The study of a group of 

experiments she dubbed 

“lava lamp” will help engineers 

design more efficient 

fluid management systems, 

such as fuel tanks, cooling 

systems and water recycling 

systems, for future space 

missions, NASA said. 

“I call it the ‘lava lamp’ 

experiment because some of 

the fluid is pink, and we hang 

out watching it with video and 

pictures,” Williams wrote in her mission log at the International 

Space Station. “If only we had a black light.” 

While these capillary flow experiments (CFEs) are mesmerising, 

they actually have nothing to do with lava or lamps. They are 

a suite of three experiments designed to investigate how fluid 

flows in microgravity. 

On earth, fluid management systems rely on gravity. In a car, 

for instance, a pipe runs from the bottom of the fuel tank to the 

engine. Gravity positions the fuel at the bottom of the tank, and the 

fuel pump forces it through the pipe and up to the engine. 

But in space, where gravity is virtually absent, fluids aren’t so 

predictable. Propellants float around inside tanks and water drops 

bounce about recycling systems. This makes designing fluid management 

systems for spacecraft a difficult endeavour. 

“It’s been a challenge since the 1950s,” said project scientist 

Bob Green of NASA’s Glenn Research Centre. “Once you're in 

orbit, there’s always an uncertainty about where the fluid is in the 

tank. As the tank drains and less fluid is left inside, it sometimes 

becomes a bigger problem.” 

To compensate, engineers have developed devices called 

vanes and screens. Vanes are grooves designed to guide fluid 

through a tank, and screens filter out bubbles. Both devices use 

capillary forces to position the fluid, or create “capillary flow”. 

This scientific term describes the way the surface of a fluid 

responds when it comes in contact with a solid. Capillary flow 

occurs when the adhesive forces between the solid and the fluid 

are different than the cohesive forces within the fluid. 

“A classic example of capillary flow is when you stick a tiny 

tube in a beaker of water,” Green said. “The water will rise into 

Sunita Williams performs the capillary flow experiment on the International Space Station. 

the tube due to capillary action.” The same effect causes porous 

materials, like paper towels and soil, to absorb water. 

On earth, the force of gravity typically overwhelms the capillary 

force, reducing the fluid rise to millimetres. But in space, where 

the force of gravity is nearly zero, capillaries such as vanes and 

screens carry fluids much higher. Scientists still have a lot to learn 

about the phenomenon in order to use it to its full potential. 

In fact, spacecraft have always flown with extra fuel, because 

some of it remains in the tank unaffected by the capillary devices. 

The pink fluid that reminded Williams of a lava lamp is actually 

silicone oil floating inside a plexiglas container. The experiments 

comprise six such containers, each simulating shapes and 

conditions commonly found in fluid management systems for 

space. 

During her long stay aboard the station, Sunita Williams worked 

with the CFEs more than twice as many times as any other astronaut, 

earning herself a regal title from the team. 

“Suni has operated the experiments nine times,” said NASA 

Glenn project engineer Chuck Bunnell. “That’s why we call her 

the Queen of CFE.” 

During operations, the team of scientists and engineers 

watched the astronauts conduct the experiments on a live video 

feed from NASA Glenn’s Telescience Support Centre. As they 

watched the fluid flow, they made changes to the procedures in 

real time by sending feedback to payload communications. 

“The operations are the fun part,” said Bunnell. “They’re the 

culmination, like when you finally reach the peak of the mountain 

you’ve been climbing.” 


longest space flight by a woman. On 

June 16, she surpassed US astronaut 

Shannon Lucid’s 188-day four-hour 

mark set on a mission to the Russian 

Mir space station in 1996. 

On her very first space journey, 

Sunita with four excursions spread 

over 29 hours and 17 minutes also 

topped Kathy Thornton’s 21-hour 

record to become the world’s most 

experienced woman space walker. 

“My hat’s off to the team that really 

pulled off an awesome mission,” 

said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s 

associate administrator for space operations 

at a post-landing press conference. 

The challenges posed during the 

Atlantis mission are invaluable learning 

experiences that will help the 

agency prepare for future exploration, 

he said. 

“Welcome back! Congratulations 

on a great mission!” astronaut Tony 

Antonelli radioed Atlantis commander 

Frederick Sturckow from Mission 

Control in Houston as the spaceship’s 

parachute billowed out in the thin 

desert air. 

After the space shuttle landed at 

Edwards Air Force Base, Sunita’s family 

members were seen dancing in joy 

and hugging each other. 

“I just want to hug her. Job well 

done,” said an emotional Deepak 

Pandya, Sunita’s father. 

Sunita’s family and the world at 

large had prayed for her safe return as 

the first Indian American astronaut 

Kalpana Chawla had perished with six 

other astronauts in the 2003 Columbia 

disaster. 

Sunita’s space journey began on 

December 9 last year atop space shuttle 

Discovery. The Atlantis blasted off 

June 8 to fetch Williams and install 

new solar power panels aboard the 

International Space Station. American 

astronaut Clayton Anderson replaced 

her as the new flight engineer on the 

station. 

Atlantis’s was the 118th shuttle mission 

and the 21st mission to visit the 

space station. The next mission is slated 

to launch in August. 

Sunita Williams flashes the thumbs up sign as she runs the Boston Marathon 

on a space station treadmill. 

NASA intends to end the ageing 

shuttle programme in 2010, when it 

finishes work on the ISS. 

In India, there was a collective sigh 

of relief, followed by rejoicing when 

news of the Atlantis landing came in. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 

joined millions of Indians in congratulating 

Sunita on her safe and successful 

return to earth. 

“The Prime Minister is pleased to 

note that Sunita Williams came back 

safely after a successful space mission. 

He has wished her good health,” 

Information & Broadcasting Minister 

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters 

in New Delhi. 

“The Prime Minister, on his personal 

behalf and on behalf of the 

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) 

government, has congratulated 

Sunita,” Dasmunsi told reporters in 

Parliament. 

Across India, many people had been 

praying for her after Atlantis failed to 

land on June 21 and 22 due to bad 

weather. 

“It is a great relief. She is a hero and 

we welcome her back on earth,” said a 

jubilant Rahul Samant, a Jaipur resident. 

“I was monitoring television and the 

12 



Cover Story 

NASA website till she landed. I was a 

little frustrated when her first attempt 

to land could not materialise. But 

finally god listened to our prayers,” 

said Sandip Rawat of New Delhi. 

Sunita joined NASA as a navy 

experimental test pilot and flew helicopters 

in the 1991 Gulf war. 

In a pre-flight NASA interview she 

had said that her Indian heritage is a 

source of pride for her and others. 

“I am half Indian,” she had said 

proudly. 

When she took off on the space 

shuttle Discovery for her six-month 

sojourn in space, she carried with her 

a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small 

idol of Lord Ganesha and a letter written 

by her Indian-born father Deepak 

Pandya, besides some samosas in a 

special container. 

In India, she was the only subject of 

discussion for the last three days of her 

sojourn in space at the Tagore Bal 

Niketan School in Karnal, Haryana. 

Students of the school, which was 

deceased Indian American astronaut 

Kalpana Chawla’s alma mater, had 

offered special prayers for Sunita’s safe 

return. 

“We were closely watching the 

developments since Thursday (June 

21) night. After Sunita’s landing was 

deferred by a day, we conducted a special 

prayer for her,” said Rajan Lamba, 

the school principal. 

“It is great to hear that she has landed 

safely. My students and I were very 

emotional about the whole expedition 

and are a relieved lot today,” Lamba 

added. 

Students of Meerut University and 

schools in Ahmedabad — where her 

father hails from — and Jalandhar also 

celebrated Sunita’s return. People also 

prayed for “sister Sunita” in Bhopal. 

Indian students thrilled to talk to Sunita Williams 

To the students gathered in India for a 

live chat with Indian American astronaut 

Sunita Williams, it was extremely 

exciting to view her as she spoke from her 

zero-gravity home among the stars, her 

hair flying upwards and necklace floating 

loosely, a scientific fact they had only read 

about in books before. 

It was equally thrilling to be able to see 

and speak to three astronauts at the same 

platform — Sunita and fellow astronaut 

Michael Lopez-Algeria, both in the 

International Space Station (ISS) orbiting 

more than 400 km above Earth — and 

India’s first cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, 

who was present at the American Center in 

new Delhi where the event was held on the 

night of January 10. 

There were nearly 60 students, some 

from far off Kolkata, Patiala and 

Chandigarh, who had come to interact with 

the astronauts. 

“I am very happy. We saw space live. I 

just cannot explain the experience,” said 

Mayank Gureja, a student of Amity 

International School in New Delhi. 

“We could not have asked for more. We 

saw three astronauts on one platform. 

While Rakesh Sharma was present actually 

among us, the other two were present 

virtually through the satellite communication,” 

added Gureja, his eyes shining with 

excitement. 

Sunita interacted with the Indian students 

and mediapersons for 10 minutes, 

answering their queries through a satellite 

phone connected at the American Center. 

Leela, a student of Vivek High School, 

Chandigarh, was happy to be present. 

“Though I could not ask any question, I was 

happy to see three astronauts,” she said. 

“We had read about zero gravity in 

books, but today we saw it,” she said after 

watching Sunita. 

Yogeshwar Singh, a teacher at Vivek 

High School, said their coming from 

Chandigarh had proved to be fruitful as 

they managed to see as well as interact 

with the astronauts. 

The students said a polite “Thank you” 

at the end of every question they asked 

and were very attentive. 

Sunita, who was attired in a sky-blue 

half-sleeve shirt and grey shorts, smiled 

before answering the first question asked 

by a student from Patiala. 

Abhishek Aggarwal, the Patiala student, 

had a query on future settlements in space 

and the growing terror threat on earth. 

Sunita, who is a graduate of the US Naval 

Academy, in her answer said: “Thanks, it’s 

an important point. Space has no borders. 

Here every one works together. I wish I 

could share this with you.” 

The enthusiastic students, most of 

whom were part of the Asian regional 

Space Settlement Design Competition, 

asked questions ranging from what she did 

with the samosas she had taken along with 

her, what it feels like to be in space and 

can she speak in Hindi But many questions 

went unanswered as Sunita went off 

line 10 minutes after she began her chat. 

She received applause for her statement, 

“India is a colourful country”. 

Students asked Rakesh Sharma, who 

went up in space in 1984, how it felt to view 

another group of astronauts in space. 

To a question on what his most valuable 

memory was during his space mission, 

Sharma said: “My first view of India from 

space was most amazing.” 

The former astronaut also said he would 

be the happiest person to see a manned 

mission to moon by Indian scientists in the 

near future. “India is capable of doing it and 

I would be the happiest person.” ■ 

“ 

I have the opportunity to look at India a number of 

times from the spacecraft, and it looks beautiful. 

It’s a colourful country, with greenery and red 

mountains. Just great. 

It was on February 5 that Sunita 

became the world’s most experienced 

woman walker in space with a sevenhour 

11-minute stroll with 

International Space Station 

Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria. 

Venturing out at 7.08 p.m. India 

time on February 4 on the second of 

an unprecedented three space walks 

in nine days, the duo returned to their 

home in space through Quest airlock 

at 2.19 a.m. India time on February 5. 

Logging 22 hours, 36 minutes outside 

the space station, including her 

first seven-hour 31-minute walk on 

December 16 and the second seven 

hour 55-minute walk on February 4, 

Sunita topped Kathy Thornton’s 21- 

hour space walking record. 

A professor at the University of 

Virginia since 1996, Thornton flew on 

four space shuttle missions, including 

the first Hubble Space Telescope service 

mission. During 12 years as an 

astronaut, she travelled more than 16 

million miles and logged more than 

975 hours in space, another record for 

women. 

Then, on February 8, with a sixhour, 

40-minute stroll, Sunita 

achieved yet another milestone — the 

first woman in history to have logged 

a record 29 hours and 17 minutes in 

four space walks. 

Venturing out of her home in space 

with Commander Mike Lopez- 

Alegria at 6:54 p.m. India time on 

February 8, Williams came back to the 

International Space Station at 1:36 

a.m. India time on February 9 after 

completing the last of an unprecedented 

three space walks in nine days. 

Apart from setting personal landmarks, 

flight engineer Sunita and 

Lopez-Alegria in their February 8 walk 

packed up two large blankets and covers 

no longer needed to keep gear 

warm and then jettisoned them into 

space. 

“You did an excellent 

job,” space walk coordinator 

Chris Looper at 

Mission Control told the 

space duo as they completed 

the most intense 

work the US space agency 

NASA has attempted 

on the station without a 

shuttle crew present. 

“It’s a beautiful day,” 

said Sunita as she floated 

out of the station’s hatch. 

Their main job was 

removing and discarding 

sun shields no longer 

needed to keep equipment 

warm. NASA had 

changed the station’s orientation 

to the sun and the 

“ 

shrouds could have caused heat to 

build up and damage the systems. 

Sunita and Lopez-Alegria folded 

the bulky covers into two bundles, 

which on earth would have weighed 

nine kilo, and tossed them to burn up 

on reentry into the atmosphere. 

“I can throw it right at the sun,” 

Lopez-Alegria joked. 

“Pretty nice,” said Sunita, watching 

the shield float away. 

The astronauts then finished connecting 

a power cable to allow visiting 

shuttles to tap into the station’s electrical 

system and stay about three days 

longer than before. They also worked 

on a cargo holder needed for future 

missions. 

During the two previous space 

walks, they had hooked up a new 

cooling system for the $100-billion 

multinational station. 

Apart from carrying out the various 

duties assigned to her for the mission, 

Sunita, an experienced marathoner 

Sunita Williams talks to students at the International School 

of Brussels in Belgium on amateur radio from the 

International Space Station. 

also found time to take part in the 

Boston Marathon in her space station 

home. 

She circled earth almost three times 

as she participated in the prestigious 

marathon from space on April 16. She 

ran on the station treadmill at the 

speed of about six miles per hour 

while flying more than five miles each 

second. Sunita’s official completion 

time was four hours, 23 minutes and 

10 seconds as she completed the race 

at 2:24 p.m. 

This apart, she also interacted with 

people on earth via satellite videoconferencing. 

On January 10 night, she interacted 

with a group of 80 people, including 

60 students, who had gathered at 

the American Center in New Delhi. 

Reiterating the words of the first 

Indian in space, Rakesh Sharma, who 

said that India is the most beautiful 

country, Sunita said: “I have the 

opportunity to look at India a number 

of times from the spacecraft, and it 

looks beautiful. 

“It’s a colourful country, with 

greenery and red mountains. Just 

great,” she said. 

On May 13, Sunita and her two fellow 

astronauts delivered a special message 

as US President George W. Bush 

who was visiting Jamestown, Virginia, 

to honour the courageous 

settlers who braved the 

Atlantic Ocean to establish 

the first sustained English 

settlement. 

Sunita, speaking on 

behalf of Commander 

Fyodor Yurchikhin and 

Flight Engineer Oleg 

Kotov, saluted the 

Jamestown settlers saying, 

“The same courage and 

conviction that brought 

Jamestown settlers to 

America in 1607 continues 

to drive today’s 

explorers to establish the 

first human outpost on 

the Moon.” 

(All photos in this article 

including cover © NASA) 

14 



Profile 

Bridging the gap between 

TANA AND JHELUM 

Shubha Singh profiles NEERA KAPUR-DROMSON, who, in a new book, 

traces her family’s history from the river Tana in Kenya to the Jhelum. 

Where did your family 

come from A simple 

question that sparked 

off a search that travelled 

down the Tana river in Kenya, 

across the Indian Ocean and up the 

Jhelum river. The question led Neera 

Kapur-Dromson to begin a journey to 

trace her family’s history. 

As a ‘South Asian Kenyan’, Neera 

knew that she had a cultural and ethnic 

connection with the Indian subcontinent, 

but “home was Kenya, the 

“ 

land of my birth”. 

“It was the land that saw the beginnings 

of my creative birth and 

growth,” she says. 

Neera considered herself a Kenyan 

as four generations of her family have 

lived in the East African country. 

Though it was not difficult to travel 

between India and Kenya, neither her 

parents nor her grandparents had any 

sense of connection wiht India nor did 

they keep in touch with relatives in the 

ancestral village. 

India is my grandmother, Kenya is my mother. 

India and Kenya together sustained my physical 

and spiritual being; I couldn’t do without either. I 

realised that the past was not to be forgotten, 

but to be built upon. 

“ 

It was a portrait of her great grandfather, 

painted by an Italian prisoner 

of war during the Second World War 

that edged her to try and learn more 

about this intrepid ancestor and why 

he took the decision to leave his village 

home on the banks of the river 

Jhelum and travel to Mombasa. 

According to Neera, her biggest 

problem was that Indians do not write 

diaries or history. There was no written 

material available about the 

Indians’ experience in Kenya, on how 

they arrived in Kenya and the experiences 

they went through to make a living 

in the new country. The only references 

to Indians were in books of 

the colonial era, where the Indians 

were referred only as ‘coolies’. 

So she looked for elderly people to 

ask them their stories, the oral histories 

and anecdotes. But many of them 

were reluctant to talk about the old 

days – especially the difficult times 

“ 

People don’t want to talk, 

they want to keep the old 

scandals buried, others don’t 

want to be reminded 

of bad times. 

“ 

they had faced. 

“People don’t want to talk, they 

want to keep the old scandals buried, 

others don’t want to be reminded of 

bad times.” Finally, it was to her 

mother and her grandaunt she turned, 

for they understood her need to know 

and opened up to her questions. 

An Odissi dancer married to a 

French diplomat, Neera Kapur- 

Dromson felt the need to explore her 

cultural connections and heritage — 

Kenyan, Indian and now French. The 

journey of exploration took five years 

and resulted in a book titled From 

Jhelum to Tana by Penguin Books 

(2007). 

In her book, Neera writes: “India is 

my grandmother, Kenya is my mother. 

India and Kenya together sustained 

my physical and spiritual being; I 

couldn’t do without either. I realised 

that the past was not to be forgotten, 

but to be built upon.” 

Her book is not just a search for her 

personal roots and her family history; 

it is also a history of Indians in Kenya 

and its development as an East African 

territory and as an independent nation 

state ruled by its own people. 

In the 1890s, the British planned to 

open up the hinterland in East Africa 

by building a railway from Kenya to 

Uganda. The local Africans were 

unwilling workers, so the railway line 

was built by workers brought in from 

India. Indian workers cleared the jungle, 

levelled the ground and laid the 

tracks for the railway. They faced rampaging 

lions, other jungle predators, 

and a variety of diseases including the 

plague. The need for carpenters, tailors, 

washermen, cooks, masons and 

peddlers to provide services for the 

railway construction workers brought 

in more Indians. Later, traders, and 

small shopkeepers arrived to cater to 

the needs of the railway workers and 

the growing community of service 

providers. 

Many of the traders moved to 

remote areas. Indian traders travelled 

to the small villages to barter colourful 

beads and other goods for the local 

produce and transported it to the small 

towns. They set up little shops or 

dukas as they were known in the rural 

areas, helping to open up the interior 

regions to the white settlers. The railway 

was run by Indian station masters, 

linesmen, accountants and clerks. 

Later, Indian arrivals took up jobs as 

doctors and lawyers and at middle 

management levels. 

In 1898, Neera’s great grandfather, 

Kirparam boarded a dhow in Karachi 

that took him to Mombasa. He 

became a dukawala, setting up his 

small shop which eventually grew into 

one of the bigger Indian businesses 

and its owner came to be known as 

Lala Kirparam Lalchand. 

Maini and Bhera were the two villages, 

not too distant from each other, 

from where her grandparents came 

to Kenya. The two villages lie in north 

west Punjab in Pakistan. It was when 

her husband, Alain Damson was posted 

in India that Neera was able to 

make the trip to Lahore and then to 

Maini village. Neera was received with 

overwhelming hospitality in Pakistan. 

Though the dukawala acquired a 

negative image in East Africa, Indians 

were forced to stick to trading as the 

colonial authorities did not allow 

Indians to own agricultural land in the 

country. As a landless people, it was 

trade and commerce and small jobs 

that the Indian community could 

aspire to. Indians played a significant 

role in the struggle for Kenya’s independence, 

providing their printing 

presses for printing African newspapers 

and leaflets. 

There have been bad periods for the 

Indian community in Kenya. At the 

time of Kenya’s independence, a large 

number of Indians chose to move to 

Britain as did many of Neera’s uncles, 

The portrait of Lala Kirparam that inspired Neera 

Kapur-Dromson (inset) to write the book. 

aunts and cousins. The policies of 

Africanisation in the newly independent 

country put Indians at a disadvantage 

in the job sector. 

According to Neera Kapur- 

Damson, Indians were referred to as 

‘paper Kenyans’ for a long time. In 

1982, there was a coup in Kenya and 

the Indians faced the brunt of the violence 

and looting. 

There are about 85,000 people of 

Indian origin living in Kenya. The 

experiences that the Indians lived 

through in Kenya shaped them as a 

community and their culture acquired 

different nuances from their environment. 

They were influenced by the 

customs and mores of the British and 

the Africans around them. And 

though they maintain many of the old 

Indian ceremonies, rituals and festivals, 

these new influences are also discernable 

in their life styles. 

The book is an exploration and a 

celebration of the interconnection of 

the Indian and African experience in 

the past hundred years. As Neera says 

towards the end of her book: “Kenyan 

by birth, Kenyan-Asian by culture, 

French influence through marriage, I 

consider myself lucky to have had 

such diversity in my life.” ■ 

16 



In Memoriam 

INDIA-BORN BRITISH MP, KHABRA, DIES AT 82 

Piara Singh Khabra, 82, 

who was the oldest 

member of the British 

House of Commons 

after former prime minister 

Edward Heath died in 2001, 

passed away following complications 

with his liver at the 

Hammersmith Hospital in 

London. 

Khabra, a Labour MP who represented 

Ealing Southall since 

1992, died on June 19. 

Born into a Sikh family in 

India’s Punjab, Khabra attended 

Khalsa High School and Panjab 

University. But his studies were 

interrupted by the Second World 

War and he served in the Indian 

Army between 1942 and 1946. He later competed his university 

course, earning a degree in social services. He then 

joined the Communist Party of India and worked as an 

elementary teacher. 

In 1959, he moved to Britain with his wife and child. 

Khabra, not qualified for a teaching job in Britain, 

worked in factories. He requalified in 1964 and became 

an elementary teacher and then a social worker. 

He soon became a leading member of the Asian community 

in Southall. Khabra was a prominent figure of the 

Indian Workers’ Association and was active in opposition 

to the far right. 

He became a Justice of the Peace in 1977 and was elected 

as a member of Ealing Borough Council a year later. 

He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1981 but left 

the party two years later. He rejoined the Labour Party 

in 1988. 

In 1992, he became the fifth Asian to become a member 

of the British Parliament, after he was elected to the 

House of Commons from the Labour seat of Ealing 

Southall. 

He claimed to have the largest caseload of immigration 

and asylum cases of any MP and maintained good attendance 

and voting records. 

Khabra was a member of the constitutional affairs select 

committee and had a special interest in India. His parliamentary 

researcher Julian Bell told the BBC that he was 

a “remarkable servant of the people”. 

He said: “At an age when most people had long since 

retired he was still energetically tackling individual and 

constituency problems. His service and political wisdom 

will be sadly missed.” 

PIARA SINGH KHABRA 

Khabra was also a firm supporter 

of people with autism and 

Asperger’s Syndrome. He sponsored 

one of the most successful 

early day motions on autism in the 

2002 Autism Awareness Year — it 

was supported by 153 parliamentarians 

of all parties. Khabra personally 

backed the work of the 

Autism Awareness Campaign UK. 

In late 2006, Khabra announced 

that he would be standing down 

at the next UK general election. 

Prime Minister Tony Blair led 

MPs in paying tribute to Khabra 

in the House of Commons. 

“He was a tireless campaigner, 

particularly on the issues of international 

development and racial 

equality, Blair said. “He was a tremendous servant to his 

constituents. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts 

and prayers are with his family at this time.” 

The British press also paid fulsome tributes to Khabra. 

Three major newspapers — The Guardian, The Daily 

Telegraph and The Independent — published lengthy obituaries 

that detailed Khabra’s colourful and controversial 

life and times — beginning in India’s Punjab state and 

spanning decades and continents. 

The Guardian wrote: “He both assisted the transition 

of a generation of older Asian immigrants into an involvement 

in the politics of their adopted homeland, and 

encouraged active participation in Labour politics among 

those members of the younger generations born in 

Britain. 

The Independent recalled that after studying in the Khalsa 

High School in Punjab, Khabra volunteered for the Indian 

Army as an 18-year-old in 1942. He had good experiences 

of British officers and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) 

and had taken part in some of the fighting that took 

place when the Japanese armies threatened Assam. 

The newspaper’s obituary said: “He was interested in 

the negotiations for independence with the British government, 

which was a time of great excitement for the 

whole of India, in particular young people.” 

The Daily Telegraph, in its obituary, noted that Khabra 

earned a reputation for the quiet diligence with which he 

handled the largest immigration and asylum caseload of 

any MP. 

Khabra’s first wife died in 1978 and he remarried in 

1990. He leaves behind his second wife, Marian, and a 

son from his first marriage. 

■ 

Saving Mother Ganga 

The holy river Ganga has been silently dying 

over the last 25 years due to unabated 

pollution. Overseas Indians, with all their 

expertise, funds and technical knowhow, can 

help save the river, writes Kul Bhushan. 

Tens of thousands of 

Hindus come to India 

from many corners of 

the globe every year solely 

for Mother Ganga. Some come to 

submerge the ashes of their beloved 

in the holy river for salvation. In a few 

weeks, hundreds of NRIs will visit the 

river goddess to perform annual 

‘shraddhs’, or prayers for the departed 

souls of their loves ones. Most 

devout Hindus visit the river to take a 

holy dip to wash away their sins. 

But Mother Ganga has been silently 

dying for over 25 years. Today she 

is dying at the place she was born. At 

Gaumukh, the glacier is shrinking 20 

metres every year due to global warming. 

At this rate, warn geologists, the 

Ganga would be dead in a thousand 

years. On a recent visit, I saw the 

Ganga waters clear, blue and white at 

Rishikesh. Just 20 km away, at 

Haridwar, this nectar from the gods is 

muddy and red as the river gets polluted 

and lacks oxygen. 

Downstream from here onwards, 

the waters get really dirty and polluted. 

Millions bathe in it every year, cremate 

their dead on the riverbank, push 

in half-burnt corpses, bathe their animals, 

carcasses, and throw plastic bags 

with garlands and ash as offering to 

their ‘mother’. Cities, towns and villages 

on its banks dump their garbage 

and empty their sewers. Across the 

plains, the industries on its banks 

deposit huge amounts of toxic 

residues and chemical wastage while 

pesticide residues come from riverside 

farms. Gradually, its water 

becomes severely polluted and contaminated 

with bacteria. 

For almost 25 years, many attempts 

have been made by the Government 

of India, the state governments and 

NGOs to clean the Ganga but with 

limited results. Even the box office 

success of Raj Kapoor’s film Ram Teri 

Ganga Maili in 1985 and its popular 

songs failed to rescue the river. 

“In its 2,525-km flow, the Ganga 

passes through 29 cities and 70 

towns,” said Vijay Bhatkar, a noted 

Indian scientist. “It is alarming to see 

the Ganga getting polluted in its 

course, progressively more in every 

kilometre it surges through. 

Recognising the great importance of 

the Ganga, the Indian government 

launched the Ganga Action Plan in 

1985. Although there have been some 

noteworthy successes in this project, 

it is highly alarming to see that even 

after 20 years of the Ganga Action Plan 

being in force, the Ganga still remains 

polluted.” 

The Ganga Action Plan, funded by 

international donors, has achieved 

limited success with its 261 programmes 

across the entire length and 

breadth of the river. Under this plan, 

the upper regions of the Gangotri 

glacier are being reforested and the 

river is being cleaned. In February this 

year, a protest march was held to urge 

Perspective 

the president and the prime minister 

of India to form a high-powered committee 

to save the Ganga and the 

Himalayas. Nothing has been heard 

of this initiative since then. 

Clearly a new global initiative is 

urgently needed in the new century 

to save this soul of India. The NRIs 

with their networking and teamwork 

could be the saviours. The expertise, 

knowledge and experience of eminent 

NRI scientists, environmentalists, 

engineers and experts in every field 

working all over the globe are sorely 

required to provide professional 

inputs for this mammoth task. 

The powerful Hindu NRI organisations 

in the US, Britain, the Middle 

East, East Africa and the Far East can 

launch, coordinate and implement 

this project in this era of internet and 

instant response. If these NRI organisations 

can spend millions of dollars 

to construct beautiful temples across 

the globe, they can also pitch in their 

resources to save the most sacred river 

for all Hindus. 

This integrated ‘Save Ganga’ project 

can embark on cleaning the Ganga 

from its source, Gaumukh, to Ganga 

Sagar where it flows into the Bay of 

Bengal. In this challenging task, the 

professional advice and guidance from 

NRIs is crucial as they have the latest 

and the appropriate knowledge and 

solutions on how to tackle this task. 

At every NRI conference, NRI professionals 

offer their knowledge to 

serve India; here is an environment 

project that is also spiritually very precious. 

More than telling the mystical 

stories of the origins of this sacred river 

as part of their heritage to their children, 

it is better to contribute in some 

form to save the river that is in dire 

distress. 

Now Mother Ganga calls NRIs in 

desperation to save her urgently. Will 

NRIs respond 

(A media consultant to a UN Agency, 

Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad 

as a newspaper editor and has travelled to 

over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi 

and can be contacted at: 

kulbhushan2038@gmail.com.) 

18 



Famous Pravasis 

THE MAN WHO SAW INFINITY 

Giving all other subjects the go-by, while in college, to concentrate 

solely on mathematics, SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN strode the world of 

numbers in the early 20th century like a colossus.Here is a profile of 

the genius who died at the age of 32. 

Numbers, the popular 

CBS crime series, 

shows professor 

Charlie Epps use 

algorithms to help FBI trace criminals. 

Epps, an expert in applied 

mathematics, solves tough cases 

with ease. According to one 

of its producers, the show 

was inspired by a true 

‘Charlie Epps’, an obscure 

clerk from Madras, whose 

casual jottings continue to 

surprise the world of 

mathematics to this day. 

That was Srinivasa 

Ramanujan — the man 

who saw infinity. 

In 1913, Godfrey 

Harold Hardy was 36 

years of age and an established 

mathematician. He 

belonged to the field of pure 

mathematics. He was already 

a Fellow of the Royal Society 

and was with Cambridge 

University. His name appeared 

not only in every mathematical 

journal of the time but also in the 

Journal of Medicine. He had propounded 

the ‘Hardy-Wienberg Law’, which 

states, “dominant traits would not take 

over and recessive traits would not die 

out”. Hardy’s future was secure and 

life fixed. Then with one letter from 

India, by Srinivasa Ramanujan, it all 

changed. 

“Sir, I beg to introduce myself as a 

clerk in the Accounts Department... I 

have no university education... I have 

not trodden through the conventional 

regular course... but I am striking 

out a new path myself. I have made 

special investigation... and the results... 

are termed as startling by local mathematicians.” 

And then he had rattled off some of 

his results. Hardy had never seen anything 

of this kind. It is then as Hardy 

would say later: “The romantic incident 

of my life began.” 

Ramanujan, born on December 22, 

1887, was a child prodigy. No one 

including his teachers understood 

him. One day when he was in class 3, 

his teacher was explaining, a number 

divided by itself is one. You distribute 

3 mangoes amongst 3 persons, each 

will get one. Ramanujan asked, “Is 

zero divided by zero also one If no 

mangoes are distributed among any 

one, will still each get one” He was 

talking about the ‘Indeterminate’ 

— something which even today 

is not very well understood by 

anyone in school years. 

While he was still in 

school, he discovered that 

trigonometric functions, 

instead of being related to 

the ratio of the sides of a 

right angle triangle, are an 

expression of a series. 

The mathematical world 

had discovered it 150 

years ago. He did not 

know. He discovered it 

himself. 

Unlike common belief, 

Ramanujan had stood first 

in the district in his primary 

examinations and had passed 

school with flying colours. It 

was only in college that he left 

all subjects except mathematics. 

He breathed and dreamt of nothing 

but mathematics. It was this, which 

led to his failure. He could not pass 

his college examinations. 

Hardy recommended a scholarship 

for Ramanujan in India after he 

refused to go to England. The Madras 

University debated on whether it 

should be given or not. It was 

opposed. It could only be given to 

someone with the master’s degree. At 

that time, Ramanujan did not even 

have a bachelor’s degree. It was only 

the persuasive arguments of Chief 

Justice P. R. Sundaram Aiyar, the then 

vice-chancellor, that carried the day. 

He said: “The preamble of the act 

establishing the university showed the 

prime object was to promote research. 

And Ramanujan had proven ability for 

the same.” 

It was only then that the university 

awarded the scholarship in 1913 and, 

in 1914, Hardy brought Ramanujan 

to Trinity College, Cambridge, to 

begin an extraordinary collaboration. 

Setting this up was not an easy matter. 

Ramanujan was an orthodox 

Brahmin and so was a strict vegetarian. 

His religion should have prevented 

him from travelling but this difficulty 

was overcome, partly by the 

work of E.H. Neville, who was a colleague 

of Hardy’s at Trinity College, 

and who met Ramanujan while lecturing 

in India. 

Right from the start, Ramanujan’s 

collaboration with Hardy led to 

important results. Hardy was, however, 

unsure how to approach the 

problem of Ramanujan’s lack of formal 

education. Hardy took help of a 

colleague, J. E. Littlewood. Littlewood 

was amazed by the mathematical 

genius of Ramanujan. “That it was 

extremely difficult because every time 

some matter, which it was thought 

that Ramanujan needed to know, was 

mentioned, Ramanujan’s response 

was an avalanche of original ideas 

which made it almost impossible for 

Littlewood to persist in his original 

intention,” Hardy wrote in a book. 

On March 16, 1916, Ramanujan 

graduated from Cambridge with a 

Bachelor of Science by Research (the 

degree was called a Ph.D. from 1920). 

Ramanujan’s dissertation was on highly 

composite numbers and consisted 

of seven of his papers published in 

England. 

Ramanujan fell seriously ill in 1917 

“ 

and his doctors feared that he would 

die. He did improve a little by 

September but spent most of his time 

in various nursing homes. 

No article about Ramanujan can be 

complete without that incident about 

the taxi number. Ramanujan was 

admitted in a hospital in London. 

Hardy would visit him there on weekends. 

On one of his visits Hardy 

noticed the taxi number 1729. On 

reaching the hospital he mused that it 

was a dull number and being a multiple 

of 13 (13x133) may be a bad omen. 

Pat came the reply from Ramanujan: 

“No, it is a very interesting number. 

It is the smallest number which can 

be expressed as the sum of two cubes 

in two different ways. 1729 is equal to 

123 +13 and 103+93.” 

On February 18, 1918, Ramanujan 

was elected a fellow of the Cambridge 

Philosophical Society and then three 

days later, was conferred the greatest 

honour that he would receive — his 

name appeared on the list for election 

I have no university education... I have not trodden 

through the conventional regular course... but I am 

striking out a new path myself. I have made special 

investigation... and the results... are termed as 

startling by local mathematicians.” 

Bishop’s Hall in Cambridge, England, where Ramanujam lived from 1915 

to 1917. 

“ 

as a fellow of the Royal Society of 

London. He had been proposed by an 

impressive list of mathematicians, 

namely Hardy, P.A. MacMahon, J.H. 

Grace, Joseph Larmor, T.J.I’A. 

Bromwich, E.W. Hobson, H.F. Baker, 

J.E. Littlewood, J.W. Nicholson, 

D.A.B. Young, E.T. Whittaker, A.R. 

Forsyth and A.N. Whitehead. His 

election as a fellow of the Royal 

Society was confirmed on May 2, 

1918. Then on October 10, 1918, he 

was elected a Fellow of Trinity 

College Cambridge — the fellowship 

would run for six years. 

Ramanujan left for India on 

February 27, 1919 and arrived on 

March 13. His health was very poor 

and despite medical treatment, he died 

the following year. 

Hardy was once asked, what was his 

greatest discovery. “Ramanujan”, he 

firmly answered. At another time he 

said, “I did not invent him. Like other 

great men he invented himself.” 

At the end of his life when Hardy 

would give an explanation for irrelevance 

of pure mathematicians to a 

common man’s need in A 

Mathematician’s Apology, a classic and 

still remembered for its mesmerising 

hold on readers, he would console 

himself: “I have done one thing... (that 

pompous people) have never done... 

(It) is to have collaborated with... 

Ramanujan on something like equal 

terms.” 

■ 

20 



Investing in India 

CHHATTISGARH 

calling 

Larger in area than Tamil 

Nadu but with a lower 

population density, 

Chhattisgarh is an ideal 

investment destination. 

Here is a look. 

Born on November 1, 

2000, Chhattisgarh, a 21st 

century state and larger 

than Tamil Nadu, is just 

the right size with a low population 

density. Good governance is top priority 

and the nascent state is on the fast 

track. There is both policy and political 

stability, government is small and 

the state is in excellent fiscal health. 

Recently, a group of ministers 

(GoM) cleared the new mining policy 

that seeks to attract foreign direct 

investment of $2 billion annually. 

Besides, the policy will be able to generate 

additional employment for 

500,000 people in the next five years, 

says Minister of State for Mines T. 

Subbarami Reddy. 

With all major minerals including 

diamond found in abundance, 

Chhattisgarh glitters as the richest state 

in mineral resources. Besides, there 

are mega steel, aluminium and cement 

industries. And this land of opportunities 

contributes substantially to the 

brain bank of the country. Several 

hundred students from the state qualify 

for admissions in prestigious academic 

institutions every year. 

Bhilai, the knowledge capital of the 

state, sends over 50 students to the 

elite Indian Institutes of Technology 

every year. To bring better education 

to the state, the government has 

brought into force a unique Private 

Universities Act to attract investments 

in quality education. 

Chhattisgarh’s large power surplus 

is attracting power-intensive industries, 

and the state is poised to become 

the power hub of the nation. Its central 

location helps easy power transmission 

to any part of the country. 

The state supplies power to Delhi, 

Gujarat and Karnataka, among others. 

A perfect destination for investments, 

Chhattisgarh ranks high in 

terms of good industrial relations and 

labour productivity. In fact, there has 

been no labour unrest in either Bhilai 

or Korba, the power capital, for several 

decades. 

About 12 percent of India’s forests 

are in Chhattisgarh while a whopping 

44 percent of the state’s land is under 

forest cover. Acclaimed as one of the 

richest bio-diversity habitats, the green 

state of Chhattisgarh has the densest 

forests in India, rich wildlife, and 

above all, over 200 non-timber forest 

products with tremendous potential 

for value addition. 

The city of Bhilai with its modern 

and cosmopolitan lifestyle is just 30 

km from Raipur, the state capital. A 

new world-class capital city is to come 

up near Raipur’s airport. Raipur is at 

the centre of the rail and road routes 

between Mumbai and Kolkata, and is 

well connected to Delhi and Chennai. 

Bilaspur’s Railway Division is the 

most profitable railway operation in 

the country, contributing nearly 17 

percent of the total revenue of the 

Indian Railways. 

One-third of Chhattisgarh’s population 

comprises tribes, mostly in the 

thickly forested areas in the north and 

south. The central plains of 

Chhattisgarh are known as the ‘Rice 

Bowl’ of central India. Female literacy 

has doubled in the last decade while 

male literacy is higher than India’s 

average. Gender ratio is next only to 

that of Kerala. 

Bastar, the land of natural resources, 

is known the world over for its unique 

and distinctive tribal heritage. 

All of Chhattisgarh has many virgin, 

unexplored tourism destinations. 

But the state’s biggest asset is its 20.8 

million people. The people are friendly, 

open, warm and 

“ 

industrious. 

Chhattisgarh has an enviable record 

of social harmony and maintenance of 

public order. Upholding the rule of 

law seems to be an integral part of the 

government. 

Unburdened by governance legacies, 

Chhattisgarh has focused only on 

critical areas of law and order, education, 

health, environment, social safety 

nets, fiscal reforms and e-governance. 

The state has become an 

enabler and facilitator for the creative 

energies of its people. The government 

keeps out of all activities that can 

be done more efficiently by the private 

sector. There are no more than 

six public sector units, that too in critical 

areas of social concern. 

To eliminate red tape and procedural 

hassles in securing clearances, a 

Unburdened by governance legacies, Chhattisgarh 

has focused only on critical areas of law and order, 

education, health, environment, social safety nets, 

fiscal reforms and e-governance. The state has 

become an enabler and facilitator for the creative 

energies of its people. The government keeps out of 

all activities that can be done more efficiently by 

the private sector. There are no more than six 

public sector units, that too in critical areas 

of social concern. 

The Bhilai steel plant is India’s most profitable steel facility. 

“ 

special law has been enacted — the 

Chhattisgarh Investment Promotion 

Act, 2002. This lays down statutory 

time limits for all clearances, to be given 

by a single Point-of-Investor 

Contact. Facilitation services for the 

investor and time-bound approvals are 

thus guaranteed by law in 

Chhattisgarh. 

‘Chhattisgarh 2010’, the state’s 

vision document, lays out the five key 

actions of the State over the next 10 

years and lays special stress on enhancing 

human capital. In order to translate 

the vision into reality, six-monthly 

milestones have been prescribed; 

and the State is well on its way towards 

realising its vision — the fast track 

state. 

The state cabinet meets every 

Tuesday and decisions are made 

quickly. All government functionaries 

are easily accessible and the chief 

minister has an hour-long Jan 

Darshan every morning where he 

meets people with no prior appointment. 

Decentralised governance has been 

firmly established in Chhattisgarh. 

Strong local governments in both 

urban and rural areas are halfway into 

their second term after elections under 

the 73rd and 74th amendments in 

1994 and 1999. Most social sector programmes 

are run by Gram Panchayats 

and urban bodies. 

The state secretariat has an organic 

linkage with the local governments 

22 



Investing in India 

in urban and rural areas, as well as district 

officials. Quick reflexes and a lean 

bureaucracy ensure a hassle-free environment 

in government offices. Small 

government is reflected at all levels. 

Fiscally prudent policies have 

ensured that there has been no overdraft 

from the Reserve Bank of India. 

The state government has maintained 

a cap of 40 percent on all establishment 

expenditure. 

E-governance in Chhattisgarh is 

oriented towards ensuring people's 

access to government. This makes the 

government even more responsive 

and transparent. People can access a 

video-conference based Public 

Grievance Redress System to interact 

with the chief minister and other 

functionaries. CHOiCE 

(Chhattisgarh Online information for 

Citizen Empowerment) is a statewide 

e-governance project, being implemented 

by the focal agency for information 

technology, CHiPS 

(Chhattisgarh infotech Promotion 

Society) headed by the chief minister. 

Chhattisgarh has one of the foremost 

industrial areas of the country in 

Bhilai that houses numerous ancillary 

industries around the country’s most 

profitable steel plant in the public sector. 

There is a similar concentration 

of industries in Korba, with power 

plants of the National Thermal Power 

Corporation, the Chhattisgarh State 

Electricity Board and the aluminium 

company Balco. 

The state’s sufficient and quality 

power system means there are no 

power cuts; in fact, continuous process 

industries are increasingly relocating 

to Chattisgarh. 

The highly productive labour force 

and peaceful law and order have 

helped catalyse this process. The State 

Investment Promotion Board is 

bound by law to issue time-bound 

approvals. The Chhattisgarh State 

Industrial Development Corporation 

(CSIDC) has developed major industrial 

growth centres in Urla and Siltara 

(Raipur), Borai (Durg), Sirgitti 

(Bilaspur) and Anjani (Pendra Road) 

and proposes to set up four large 

This April 30, 2005 photograph shows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 

inaugurating the Chhattisgarh State Institute of Rural Development in 

Raipur. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh is also seen. 

industrial areas in Raipur, Bilaspur, 

Raigarh and Durg/Rajnandgaon. 

The thrust sectors in Chhattisgarh’s 

new industrial policy include large, 

core-sector industries, which would 

typically develop their own satellite 

townships. The state encourages private 

sector investment in new industrial 

sectors. A successful private 

industrial park has already come up in 

Raigarh. 

Private corporates and estates are 

also allowed to install captive power 

plants to generate and distribute power 

directly within the estate, without 

restriction. 

The Industrial Growth Centre in 

Urla, near Raipur city, is spread over 

334 hectares. It has 45 km of asphalted 

roads, a water supply system and 

dedicated power substations. It has 

around 414 large and medium scale 

industries (LMI) besides a host of 

small-scale industries. Over Rs. 4.25 

billion has been invested in Urla, 

which provides employment to 11,259 

people. It has all civic amenities. 

The Siltara Growth Centre is 13 km 

from Raipur on National Highway 

200. It has an area of 1,291 hectares. 

Future projects include sponge iron 

units, ferro alloy units, and cookinggas 

bottling plant. The infrastructure 

here includes 40 km of internal roads, 

besides other amenities. It has 48 

industrial units with an investment of 

Rs. 7.16 billion providing employment 

to 2,772 persons. 

The Borai Industrial Area in Durg 

district, built on a build-operate-transfer 

basis, is a pioneering example of 

private-public partnership in industrial 

water supply in India. The growth 

centre sprawls over 437 hectares. It has 

45 industrial units with an investment 

of Rs. 1.37 billion providing employment 

to 1,505 persons. 

The Industrial Growth Centre in 

Sirgitti is spread over 338 hectares. It 

has around 202 LMI and small scale 

units. An investment of Rs. 3.51 billion 

provides employment to 3,035 

people. 

Bilaspur, being a railway zone and 

the headquarters of South Eastern 

Coalfields, has many ancillary units in 

the area. 

Apart from CSIDC’s industrial 

areas, a private industrial estate has 

been developed by a private corporate 

in Raigarh district. 

Strategically located in central India, 

Chhattisgarh’s large surplus of power 

can be easily transmitted without loss 

to any of India’s four grids. 

Chhattisgarh is in the chronically 

deficit Western Grid, and is linked to 

the Southern and Northern Grids. A 

special high-tension line is being laid 

between Raipur and Rourkela, in the 

Eastern Grid. With its ‘Power Hub’ 

strategy, the state will continue to 

remain power surplus well beyond 

foreseeable future. Not surprisingly, 

it would be the preferred destination 

for all power intensive industries. 

Korba in Chhattisgarh is really the 

‘Power Capital’ of India. NTPC’s 

Super Thermal Power Plant in Korba 

works at 90 percent Plant Load Factor 

(PLF) while the plants of the 

Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board 

CHHATTISGARH: STATE FACTS 

Capital: Raipur 

Area: 135,1912 sq km 

Population: 20,833,803 sq km 

Population density: 154 per sq km 

(CSEB) are also highly efficient. 

There are huge coal reserves in the 

vicinity, offering cheap pithead power 

generation opportunities. Besides, 

there is enough water from the state’s 

largest reservoir of Hasdeo Bango. 

About 84 percent of India’s coal lies in 

Chhattisgarh and two other states. 

With a 12 percent share of India’s 

forests, Chhattisgarh’s three national 

parks and 11 wildlife sanctuaries and 

national parks are a major attraction. 

It has several virgin attractions in protected 

areas such as Kanger Valley 

National Park, Barnawapara, Sitanadi, 

Udanti and Achanakmar Sanctuaries. 

The endangered wild buffalo (bubalis 

bubalis) and the even more endangered 

hill myna (graculis religiosa peninsularis) 

are the ‘State Animal’ and ‘State Bird’ 

respectively. The state has taken several 

steps for their preservation. 

Natural attractions are being promoted 

with local participation in 

building herbal gardens and health 

resorts. The mystique of aboriginal 

tribal ethno-medicine which predates 

even ayurveda has been preserved and 

practised over the millenia. Mainpat 

(Surguja), Keshkal valley (Kanker), 

Chaiturgarh (Bilaspur), Bagicha 

(Jashpur), Kutumbsar Caves, Kailash 

Caves, Tirathgarh Falls, Chitrakot 

Falls (Bastar) are all exhilarating destinations 

being promoted for nature 

and wildlife tourism. 

Chhattisgarh has identified and is 

developing ethnic villages while the 

private sector is being involved in 

maintenance and professional management 

of important heritage sites 

and monuments. Bhoramdeo, Rajim, 

Sirpur, Tala, Malhar and 

Sheorinarayan are prime sites for heritage 

tourism. Festivals like Dusshera 

at Bastar, Madai at Dantewada and 

Narainpur, Bhoramdeo, Raut Nacha, 

Chakradhar Samaroh and Rajim are 

being marketed for global exposure. 

“Focusing on eco-tourism and ethno-tourism, 

and facilitating private 

sector initiatives, we will promote a 

scientific approach towards planning, 

management and development of sustainable 

tourism products and activities 

in the region,” says Rakesh 

Chaturvedi, managing director, 

Chhattisgarh Tourism Board. 

Entrepreneurs find the state peaceful 

and potent for carrying out their 

business, according to a 

Confederation of Indian Industry 

(CII) survey. However, the survey 

which was conducted across five 

major cities of Chhattisgarh and 

included companies ranging from 

small, medium-scale to large groups 

and business houses comprising many 

companies, employing hundreds of 

Sex ratio: 989 females per 1,000 males 

Main language: Hindi 

Governor: E.S.L. Narasimhan 

Chief Minister: Raman Singh 

people says the Naxal problem needs 

attention in some regions. The 

Chhattisgarh Assembly recently held 

a closed-door meeting to discuss the 

problem, where legislators rose above 

party lines and freely discussed the 

issue. 

With progressive policies and proper 

utilisation of the large reserves of 

mineral resources, Chhattisgarh 

would continue to witness high industrial 

growth, feels the majority in 

Chhattisgarh, according to the CII 

survey. 

■ 

24 



australia 

Diaspora News 

Indian students big biz for Australia 

A group of Indian students at Macquarie University in Australia. 

The growing influx of fullfee 

paying Indian students 

is reaping rich dividends 

for Australia. 

India is now the second largest source 

of overseas students and a significant 

contributor to Australia’s international 

education market, which is worth 

A$9.8 billion to the national economy. 

In the last one year, as many as 

40,010 Indian students have enrolled 

in Australian educational institutions 

— 55 percent growth from the previous 

year — according to Australian 

Education International (AEI). 

At an international forum on 

Australia-India relations held at 

Sydney University, Indian High 

Commissioner to Australia Prabhat 

Shukla said: “India has world class 

international institutions, but Indians 

will continue to look abroad for further 

studies because the demand outstrips 

supply.” 

A strong case has been put forth to 

establish an Indian centre of learning 

at the university that would encompass 

Indian languages, art, culture and 

history. 

“We need more two-way exchange 

of students, joint research collaborations 

and blended degrees,” noted 

Neville Roach, chairman of the 

Australia-India Business Council. 

In March, Prime Minister John 

Howard announced a new $25-million 

bilateral research programme 

with India. Whether it is higher studies 

or tertiary education, Australia has 

drawn a large number of Indian students, 

looking away from the traditional 

educational destinations of the 

US and Britain. 

Surprisingly, 54 percent of students 

chose educational institutions in the 

Victoria state and its capital 

Melbourne. Approximately one in five 

of the international students studying 

in Melbourne and Victoria are from 

India. 

While business studies remained the 

most popular course for higher education, 

the number undertaking nursing 

has also expanded significantly. 

Hi-tech fields such as computing and 

engineering, however, are becoming 

less popular. 

India is the main market contributing 

to the overall increase in the vocational 

education and training (VET) 

sector, according to AEI, in the past 

year. In Victoria’s VET sector, enrolments 

have nearly trebled from 3,059 

in 2006 to almost 9,000 in 2007. 

Nearly 1,000 students are undertaking 

programmes in land and 

marine resources. 

The two-year diploma in horticulture 

is becoming a niche course for 

Indian students. Ramandeep Singh 

had studied mechanical engineering 

in Mehr Chand Polytechnic in Punjab 

and came to Melbourne to pursue 

advanced technology in mechanical 

engineering but was lured into horticulture 

by his cousin. 

“After the chaos of machinery, 

plants are a calming influence,” 

Ramandeep said, adding that he would 

like to start trading in gardening tools 

after completing the course. 

In Victoria, an increasing number 

of Indians are opting for courses in 

hospitality and services, which 

includes cookery and hairdressing too. 

The number of Indian students in this 

field has shot up to 5,391 in 2007 from 

2,086 in 2006, even though the twoyear 

course doesn’t come cheap at 

A$24,000. 

In 2005-06, a total of 14,027 skilled 

visas were granted to Indian citizens. 

Of these, some 2,934 visas went to 

former overseas students in Australia. 

So is education an easy path to 

migration 

“It is clear that Victoria is attracting 

a significant number of migrants from 

India, and that many are coming 

under the skilled migration programme. 

I don’t think education is an 

easy path to migration,” said Jacinta 

Allan, Victoria’s Minister for Skills, 

Education Services and Employment. 

“Students who enroll in our courses 

need to complete assessment 

requirements, irrespective of what 

their eventual intentions are. If, after 

they have successfully completed their 

course, they choose to apply for permanent 

residency, and they have the 

skills that enable us to meet an area of 

skills shortage, that’s good for everyone,” 

Allan remarked. 

— Neena Bhandari in Sydney 

australia 

2007 Top Invention Prize for Kuldip Sidhu 

India-born Australian Kuldip Sidhu has won the 

‘2007 Top Invention Prize’ for his work on stem 

cell research that, he says, is of “great relevance for 

India”. 

The prize is awarded by BioMed North Limited, a notfor-profit 

agency for the management and commercialisation 

of intellectual property generated within the state 

of New South Wales (NSW). 

Sidhu, an associate professor at the University of New 

South Wales, has produced a human embryonic 

stem cell line without the use of any animal 

product. The breakthrough eliminates the risk 

of animal-to-human contamination in potential 

stem cell therapy treatments. 

The line is called Endeavour-1. “This is the 

first such line produced in Australia and only the 

second one in the world, which does not use animals 

in any way,” says Sidhu. 

Kuldip Sidhu 

Australia now has 235,000 

people of Indian ancestry 

People of Indian ancestry in 

Australia now number 

235,000, according to the 

2006 census figures released by the 

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

The number of people born in 

India and living in Australia grew 

from 77,600 in 1996 to 147,100, and 

the Indian origin population strength 

moved from No.11 on the 1996 list 

to No.6 in 2006, according to the new 

figures released on June 27. 

The Australian census is administered 

by the ABS every five years. The 

most recent census was conducted on 

August 8, 2006. 

According to the new figures, the 

total population of Australia now 

stands at over 20.7 million. 

The proportion of people born 

overseas has remained stable at 22 percent 

over the past three censuses. 

In terms of language, Mandarin and 

Hindi experienced the greatest proportional 

growth of all languages, 

more than doubling since 1996. 

The new data also showed particular 

growth in non-Christian faiths. 

Hinduism more than doubled since 

1996 to 148,000; Buddhism shot up 

109 percent to 419,000; and Islam was 

up 69 percent to 340,000. According 

to The Australian, the nation’s ethnic 

make-up is changing, with a growing 

number of Australians born in China, 

India and South Africa. ■ 

Human embryonic stem cell lines are derived from specialised 

cells. These cells come from embryos donated by 

infertile couples that have agreed to let their excess embryos 

be used in stem cell research. 

Sidhu says: “These lines could eventually lead to safer 

treatments for conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, 

spinal cord injury and even breast cancer.” 

Hailing from Moga in Ferozepur district, Sidhu completed 

his doctorate from Punjab Agricultural University 

in Ludhiana. He did his post-doctoral work in reproductive 

physiology, working on humans and variety of mammal 

species, at Washington University, St Louis, in the US. 

“I returned to India, armed with my knowledge of new 

technology and went on to win the Young Scientist Award 

for facilitating the development of assisted reproductive 

technologies given by the Indian National Science 

Academy,” Sidhu says. “My study looked at molecules present 

on the surface of egg and sperm to prevent fertilisation.” 

He migrated to Sydney in 1995. 

“I joined Macquarie University as chief scientist in reproduction 

physiology of marsupials. We developed 

a system of in-vitro fertilisation for brush-tailed 

possums for the first time. It was a double whammy: 

on one hand it could regulate reproduction 

in mammals such as kangaroos — which have 

far exceed their sustainable numbers — and on 

the other, it could facilitate reproduction in 

threatened species such as wombats.” 

Sidhu’s innovations are now protected by international 

patents (IPs). He says: “We have the licence to use 

100 embryos to make six lines. We will endeavour to take 

the IPs to the next level — commercialisation — with the 

primary aim of better care for patients. 

“My research has great relevance for India, which has 

high incidence of diabetes in the population. We organise 

a training programme on stem cell biology once or twice 

a year and scientists from across the world come and train 

in my laboratory. I am looking forward to Indians participating 

in it.” 

— Neena Bhandari in Sydney 

I 

Diaspora News 

Migration assessment 

centres soon 

f you have the right skills and qualifications, 

you could make 

Australia home sooner than ever. 

The Australian government is all set 

to ease out the evaluation of the skilled 

migrant workers by setting up assessments 

centres in India and other 

countries. 

Electricians, cable jointers, power 

line persons, plumbers, motor 

mechanics, refrigerator and air conditioner 

mechanics, carpenters, joiners 

and bricklayers from India, Sri Lanka, 

South Africa, Britain and the 

Philippines will benefit from the service. 

A consortium led by Vetassess 

(Vocational Education Training and 

Assessment Services) will assess trade 

skills of interested migrants in these 

countries. 

■ 

26 



itain 

Diaspora News 

Indian-origin economist in key UK post 

Britain’s new Prime Minister 

Gordon Brown has appointed 

Shriti Vadera, an Indian-origin 

economist, as junior international 

development minister, which will 

involve dealing with issues related to India. 

Vadera’s appointment as the 

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in 

the Department of International 

Development is all the more significant 

since she is outside the political spectrum. 

She is the first Asian to be made a minister 

since Keith Vaz, who was minister for 

Europe from 1999-2001. 

Vadera, who was a central figure in the Treasury presided 

over by Brown, was poised for a key role in 10, Downing 

Street, due to her proximity with Brown. She has advised 

him on various international issues, including Africa. 

On her appointment, Vadera said: “I am proud of 

DFID’s (Department for International Development) 

track record and international leadership in the battle 

against poverty around the world. I am looking forward to 

working with Douglas Alexander (Secretary) to carry on 

the government’s mission to help lift millions of people 

out of poverty.” 

Born in Uganda, her family moved in the 1970s first to 

India and then to England, where she studied politics, philosophy 

and economics at Somerville College, Oxford. 

Indian-origin legal aid 

barrister highest paid 

in Britain 

A little-known 

lawyer of Indian 

origin has emerged as 

the highest paid legal 

aid barrister in Britain, 

earning £1,116,000 in 2005-06. 

Balbir Singh, 48, head of Equity 

Chambers, Birmingham, tops the list 

of 10 highest paid legal aid barristers 

released by Britain’s Ministry of 

Justice on June 25. 

Born in Walsall in the West 

Midlands, Singh went to Walsall 

grammar school and college and then 

took a law degree from Coventry 

Polytechnic. He was called to the bar 

when he was 26 and his areas of practice 

today cover crime, corporate fraud 

and civil liberties. 

■ 

Shriti Vadera 

Anew monthly magazine targeting 

the large number of 

professionals with origins in 

India and elsewhere in Asia working 

in Britain has been launched from 

Manchester. 

Called Asian Lite, the magazine is 

edited and published by Anasudhin 

Azeez, a senior journalist of Indian 

origin who has worked for Khaleej 

Times, Gulf Today and The Indian 

Express. 

The 32-page full colour monthly 

has a cover price of 70 pence but it 

will initially be distributed free for the 

first six months to over 20,000 Asian 

professionals across the UK. The editorial 

office is based in Manchester. 

Azeez told Pravasi Bharatiya: “Asians 

She has held key financial and economic 

positions in London's financial district. 

Vadera spent 14 years at investment bank 

UBS Warburg, where her duties included 

advising the governments of developing 

countries on a range of issues such as debt 

restructuring. 

She was a Trustee of Oxfam between 

2000 and 2005. For the last eight years, she 

has been an adviser to Gordon Brown, and 

a member of his Council of Economic 

Advisers. 

She developed Brown’s initiative on 

Education for All, launched last year with Nelson Mandela. 

She was also behind International Finance Facility for 

Immunisation, the innovative scheme developed with the 

Gates Foundation to raise $4 billion through bond sales to 

immunise 500 million children against preventable diseases.Vadera 

is seen as a key figure behind-the-scenes who 

has the full confidence of Brown. She has been the main 

point of contact between the Treasury and the City, 

London’s financial district. Vadera is part of a brains trust 

that Brown has assiduously built over the past decade. 

Many members of this fiercely loyal team were picked 

before they turned 30. 

Besides Vadera, other members of the team include Ed 

Balls, Ed Miliband and Damian MacBride. 

— Prasun Sonwalkar in London 

New magazine for Asian 

pros in UK launched 

are really doing well in some of the 

major sectors in the British economy. 

Asian-owned businesses in the UK 

have a turnover of about £60 billion a 

year. The new generation is doing 

well academically. 

“There are more professionals in 

the Indian community than other sections 

of the British society. He added 

that the publication’s links with professional 

associations in Britain will 

“prove to be our backbone.” 

Azees said that among the leading 

lights associated with the magazine 

are Minister for Overseas Indian 

Affairs Vayalar Ravi (as a columnist), 

Bikram Vohra (as consulting editor), 

Rahul Singh (columnist), as well as 

other British Asian columnists. ■ 

britain 

Christopher Alan Bayly, 

an India expert at the 

University of 

Cambridge, has been 

knighted along with noted India-born 

writer Salman Rushdie and several 

Asians honoured in the Queen’s 

birthday honours list. 

Bayly is the Vere Harmsworth professor 

of Imperial and Naval History 

at the University of Cambridge. He 

has been knighted for services to history, 

but many in the Indian subcontinent 

will welcome the news in view 

of his association and expertise in the 

region. 

Bayly has penned several authoritative 

academic books on various aspects 

of life and times in the Indian subcontinent. 

These include the noted book, 

Empire and Information: Intelligence gathering 

and social communication in India 

1780-1870, published in 1996. 

Bayly’s other books include The 

Local Roots of Indian Politics: Allahabad 

1880-1920, published in 1975; Rulers, 

Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian 

Society in the Age of British Expansion, 

1780-1870, published in 1983; The 

Birth of the Modern World:Global 

Connections and Comparisons 1780-1914 

published in 2004. 

The son of a successful businessman, 

Rushdie was born into a Muslim 

family in Mumbai in 1947. He was 

educated in Britain at Rugby School 

and studied history at Cambridge 

University. 

Midnight’s Children won him the 

prestigious Booker Prize in 1981 and 

the Booker of Bookers in 1993 after 

being judged the best novel to have 

won the prize during its 25-year history. 

The honour of the ‘Commanders 

of the Order of the British Empire’ 

has been bestowed on Christiane 

Amanpour, CNN’s chief international 

correspondent, for services to 

journalism. 

Others include Shami Chakrabarti, 

the 38-year-old director of civil rights 

organisation Liberty, for services to 

human rights; Mayur Keshavji 

Lakhani, chair of the Royal College of 

General Practitioner, for services to 

medicine. 

Chakravarti, 38, has been a persistent 

critic of Britain’s stringent antiterrorist 

laws. 

Married with one son, she was educated 

at the London School of 

Economics and has been director of 

Liberty — since 2001. 

“I feel a bit weird about it, but it is 

an award for Liberty. It sends a signal 

that dissent is not disloyal but is a positive 

duty,” she was quoted as saying 

by the Independent newspaper. 

Also awarded the OBE are: 

Rashmita Shukla, regional director, 

Public Health, Department of Health, 

in Warwickshire; Azim Surani, 

Marshall-Walton professor of 

Physiology and Reproduction, 

University of Cambridge, for services 

to biology. 

The title of the ‘Officers of the 

Order of the British Empire’ has been 

bestowed on the following: Raj 

Kumar Aggarwal, for services to the 

pharmaceutical industry and to the 

Asian community in Wales; and 

Parvin Ali, founder director, Forum 

for Advocacy, Training and 

Information in a Multicultural Area, 

for services to diversity, in 

Leicesterhsire. 

Also awarded are: Ramesh 

Govindalal Gandhi, for services to 

the community in Lancashire; Ashok 

Ghose, chair, Asian People with 

Disabilities Alliance, for services to 

disabled people in London; 

Jasminder Grewal, head teacher, 

North Primary School, Southall, 

London, for services to education; 

Daniel Yameen Prakash Khan, chief 

executive and principal, Grimsby 

Institute of Further and Higher 

Education, for services to further 

education. 

Others awarded the title of ‘Officers 

Diaspora News 

Several Asians on Queen’s B’day list 

of the Order of the British Empire’ are 

Professor Srinivasan Raghunathan, for 

services to aerospace engineering 

research and to education in Northern 

Ireland; 

Rajadurai 

Sithamparanadarajah, principal 

inspector, Health and Safety 

Executive, Department for Work and 

Pensions, in Hightown, Merseyside; 

Waseem Yaqub, lately UK manager, 

Islamic Relief, for charitable services 

in Birmingham. 

The title of the ‘Members of the 

Order of the British Empire’ has been 

awarded to Jamil Akhtar, acting chief 

executive, Kirklees Racial Equality 

Council, for services to the community 

in Huddersfield; Sanjay Anand, 

restaurateur and entrepreneur, for services 

to the hospitality industry; 

Mohammed Aslam, for services to 

community relations in Walsall, West 

Midlands. 

Others awarded include Zulekha 

Dala, for services to the community 

in Lancashire; Santosh Dass, team 

leader, Better Regulation, Department 

of Health, Hounslow, Middlesex; 

Mrudula Desai, administrative officer, 

Disability and Carers Service, 

Department for Work and Pensions, 

Wembley, Middlesex. 

The title was also bestowed on 

Vinod Desai, chief executive, South 

Asian Arts, for services to the arts; 

Ravindra Pragji Govindia, for services 

to the community in Wandsworth, 

London; Sudershan Kumari 

Mohindra, for services to community 

relations in Nottingham; 

Satyanarayan Sarkar, estates operations 

manager, Guy’s and St Thomas’s 

NHS Foundation Trust, for services 

to the National Health Service 

(NHS), Croydon, Surrey. 

The other two awardees are: Devi 

Dayal Sharma Trustee, Dickie Bird 

Foundation, for services to the community 

in Bradford; and Jaswant, Sira, 

nurse at the Birmingham Children's 

Hospital NHS Trust, for services to 

healthcare. 

■ 

28 



Diaspora News 

Diaspora News 

europe canada 

HAMILTON TEMPLE STARTS INDIAN LANGUAGE COURSES 

NRI youth want to connect 

to grandparents 

The desire to speak to 

grandparents and relatives 

in India who cannot 

speak English has 

prompted many second generation 

Indo-Canadian children to learn 

Indian languages. 

An increasing desire to learn Hindi 

among Indo-Canadian children has 

prompted a Hindu temple in 

Hamilton to start a language and culture 

course. 

“It’s a language, culture and history 

lesson,” said Santosh Sharma, the 

Hindi language instructor at the temple. 

Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali classes 

are also being offered at local schools 

in Hamilton, which has approximately 

24,000 South Asians, the 

Hamilton Spectator reported. 

“The first generation is busy adjusting 

to a new place, the second generation 

gets interested in identity,” 

explained Darnell, professor of 

anthropology at the University of 

Western Ontario. 

For many, it is the only way to 

interact with grandparents and relatives 

in India who do not speak 

English. 

“Grandparents help kids stay in 

touch with their roots,” said Nisha 

Taneja, whose two daughters have 

been learning Hindi for two years. 

“Since they’ve started learning 

Hindi, my daughters have fallen head 

over heels in love with Bollywood 

movies,” Nisha said. 

Giving an economic twist to the 

social trend, Darnell said: “Language 

classes also mean more opportunities. 

Being bilingual is marvellous. There 

are definitely more opportunities.” ■ 

Indo-Canadian gets 

Ontario community 

service award 

An Indo-Canadian is among the 

nine people awarded the 2007 

Civic Awards by the city of 

Peterborough, Ontario. 

Dr. Ramesh C. Makhija was selected 

for the award, which was given to 

him on June 5, for his fundraising 

efforts in support of the victims of the 

December 2004 tsunami that hit 

southeast and south Asia. 

More than 275,000 people were 

killed in the 9.1 magnitude earthquake 

in the Indian Ocean that triggered 

tsunamis. Makhija is an active member 

of the local Indo-Canada 

Association of the Kawarthas, a large 

recreational region of the area since 

1967, and served as director of the 

Kawartha skill development committee 

for 10 years. He was also director 

of the Peterborough Theatre Guild in 

2003-04 and of the Peterborough 

Green-Up in 2006. 

■ 

Indian-origin woman, 20, in Swiss poll fray 

Cynthia Malarvady 

Cynthia Malarvady is just 20. 

But this spunky Indian-origin 

woman wants to enter the 

Swiss parliament and is campaigning 

intensely as a candidate of the 

Green Party for the October 21 polls. 

If elected, Malarvady, a first generation 

immigrant in Switzerland from Kerala, will 

be a member of the 200-seat Nationalrat 

(National Assembly), the main chamber of 

Swiss parliament, akin to India’s Lok Sabha. 

The Green Party works for sustainable 

development, environmental protection and human rights. 

A bank employee by profession, Malarvady has been an 

elected member of the Solothourn Municipality for the 

last two years. It was her love for environmental issues and 

concern for foreign origin people in Switzerland that 

dragged her into politics. 

“Politics was actually not really my favourite topic, but 

I saw how the foreign people in Switzerland suffered due 

to the kind of politics we have here,” Malarvady said in an 

e-mail interview. 

She is an advocate of organic farming. “I think an enduring 

agriculture is just not possible without genetically modified 

organisms. In my opinion this is almost 

a philosophical theme and I think these 

plants and organisms are (by nature) as ethically 

protected as the human being.” 

Malarvady is very clear about her priorities 

in her political career. 

“First of all I think the genetic moratorium 

is expiring in four years. For me it’s 

absolutely important that we can extend this 

date until we know more about genetic 

mutations. Risks and dangers are yet 

unknown.” 

In 2005, Switzerland banned genetically modified organisms 

in agriculture for five years and backed organic farming. 

Born to P.T. Rajan and Annamma from Kerala’s 

Alappuzha district, Malarvady’s links with India have been 

confined to Kerala so far. She visits her ancestral home 

once in two or three years. 

“I love to eat Indian food, especially what my mother 

cooks. I also watch Indian movies and wear Indian dresses 

and jewellery. But unfortunately, all I know about India 

is just Kerala state!” she confesses. 


malaysia gulf 

UAE amnesty scheme for foreign workers 

The United Arab Emirates 

(UAE) government has 

given three months to all 

expatriate workers and 

their employers to adjust to new 

labour laws or face heavy penalties. 

The decision was taken at a cabinet 

meeting that Shaikh Mohammad Bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President 

and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler 

of Dubai, chaired on June 3. 

It was also decided to take measures 

in the next couple of months to tighten 

the implementation of new labour 

laws and curb the menace of employers 

hiring illegal workers and blatantly 

violating labour norms of the country. 

The cabinet warned employers of 

severe legal action if they were found 

to be employing illegal workers in 

their farms or in their homes. 

The labour ministry was instructed 

Atuition centre set up in 

Malaysia 25 years ago to 

help Indian students from 

the lower income groups 

to perform better academically today 

boasts of having over 100 centres 

across the country. 

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this 

year, the Sri Murugan Centre (SMC) 

claims to have helped in educating 

about 250,000 students, some of 

whom have returned as tutors to repay 

the debt they owe to the centre. 

The centre’s director and founder, 

academician M. Thambirajah, said he 

was compelled to provide a centre for 

the financially challenged Indian students 

to help them secure a better 

future in Malaysia. 

However, it was not a smooth sailing 

for Thambirajah when he started 

with only four centres at Klang, 

Petaling Jaya, Seremban and Sentul in 

1982, with just 40 students. 

Thambirajah said he never thought 

his effort would come this far. 

“Every religion speaks of discipline 

to inform all private companies that 

salaries and wages of their staff should 

be paid through banks with effect 

from January 1 next year. 

Following the UAE government’s 

announcement, the Indian mission in 

Dubai has made arrangements by setting 

set up special counters where 

Indians can submit documents related 

to their work permits. These started 

functioning from June 11. 

The consulate has also set up a special 

phone line for Indian nationals 

who want any clarification. 

According to a statement issue by 

the Indian mission in Dubai, taking 

advantage of the new amnesty scheme, 

8,793 expatriate Indians had filed 

applications for emergency certificates 

at the mission. Over 5,000 applications 

were received from Sharjah and over 

3,000 from Dubai itself. 

The Indian mission would begin 

and that is what I make them follow. 

We bring discipline and education 

together,” Thambirajah told the New 

Straits Times. 

“I had no long-term plan then... we 

worked on a year-to-year basis,” he 

said. 

Interestingly, today approximately 

90 percent of the tutors are former 

students of the centre. 

issuing emergency certificates in a 

phased manner from July 1, according 

to the statement. Those who had 

applied for their emergency certificates 

before the amnesty was announced 

could collect them from the consulate 

on July 1. 

All those who applied to the various 

collection centres on June 11 have 

been told to collect their emergency 

Certificates from the Indian High 

School in Dubai on July 1. Those who 

applied on June 12 could collect their 

certificates on July 2 and so on. 

The mission also requested all 

applicants to check the dates on the 

receipt and report to the Indian High 

School in Dubai or the Indian 

Association office in Sharjah on the 

date indicated on their receipt. 

There are around 1.4 million expatriate 

Indians in Dubai, many of them 

employed as contract workers. ■ 

Helping Indian students in Malaysia settle in life 

Students at a Sri Murugan Centre. 

Suraindran, co-director of the centre, 

said: “Mobilising the tutors are 

never a problem for us, though initially 

it was difficult to find dedicated 

teachers.” 

G. Ganesan, a former student of the 

SMC, now teaches history at one of 

the centres. “SMC had helped me a 

lot. I think it is only fair that I give back 

what was given to me,” he said. ■ 

30 



Diaspora News 

Diaspora News 

united states 

New networking portal 

for Indian Americans 

An Indian American music 

composer has become an 

inspiration for a whole new 

generation of American composers 

by being ranked among the top 15 

women composers in the US. 

Asha Srinivasan, 26, a doctoral student 

at the University of Maryland, 

performed over the June 2-3 weekend 

at the Celebration of Women 

Composers at the Notable Women Festival in New York, 

organised by Orchestra of St. Luke’s, America’s foremost 

chamber orchestra, which has gained critical acclaim for 

vibrant music making. 

Srinivasan’s composition, ‘The River Near Savathi’, 

was commissioned after she beat 66 other American composers 

between the ages of 20 and 30 in a competition 

held in December 2006. 

With the honour, Asha has made it to the ranks of the 

top 15 women composers in America, reported Indolink, 

an ethnic magazine. 

An Indian American has 

created a new social networking 

and community 

website specifically 

designed for the large Indian population 

in the US. 

Palani Velusamy, creator of myindianplace.com, 

realised that the Indian 

community in the US, which is mostly 

highly educated and affluent, did 

not really have a central meeting place 

totally devoted to their culture. 

“Despite the fact that there is a large 

Indian community in the US, there 

are not a lot of sites that are dedicated 

to the Indian community. After visiting 

MySpace.com, it occurred to me 

that a site specialising in various ethnic 

groups might be really beneficial,” he 

said. 

Visitors can create profiles, share 

pictures, socialise, and keep abreast of 

news that is important to the Indian 

community, a press release said. 

“It is so great that someone has created 

this kind of site for Indians,” said 

Rakesh Ahuja, a member. “I mean, 

just knowing that the majority of people 

that you are going to be meeting 

on the myindianplace.com site are 

going to be familiar with my culture 

means a lot to me. It is really cool and 

I really like it. It is my hope that word 

spreads quickly about this site and that 

Indians here in this country all use it,” 

he said. 

The motto on the website is: Be 

Indian. Be Proud. 

“As a culture, Indians who have 

grown up in the states are a unique 

people,” said Palani. 

“We love America, and most of us 

really enjoy the way of life here. 

However, most of us also want to 

keep our ties with some of the old 

ways and certainly want to meet other 

Indians in order to socialise. In 

some areas of the country, that can be 

very difficult if the Indian community 

is not all that large,” he said. ■ 

Indian American 

caucus launched 

in Edison 

Anew caucus has been formed to 

bring New Jersey’s Indian 

American community closer to the 

local political process and address the 

growing needs of the people. 

Called the Indo-American Caucus 

of the Edison Democratic 

Organisation, the caucus would try to 

address Indian American issues, 

according to Satish Poondi, its 

founder and co-chair. The caucus, 

which was launched early June, would 

give the community a voice in local 

politics and help them understand 

how public policies are created and 

function, Edison Sentinel reported. 

“I believe that the caucus is going to 

function as a way of bridging any gaps 

that are there between the Indian 

American community and the greater 

Edison community,” Poondi said. 

“The caucus would act as a bonding 

agent between the Indian community 

and the larger Edison political community,” 

he said. 

■ 

Asha Srinivasan among top US women composers 

Asha was born in Utah and raised 

in India as well as the US. Her musical 

compositions are greatly influenced 

by south Indian Carnatic 

music. 

“I work a lot with what I call 

scales, it’s probably more proper to 

call them modes. It has to do with 

Carnatic music. I don’t know it very 

well, so my sets may not necessarily 

be exact. But that has definitely influenced me. It’s my 

way of having a pitch system,” Asha said. 

Asha is currently pursuing a DMA (Doctorate in 

Musical Arts) in composition at the University of 

Maryland, where she is also an electronic music teaching 

assistant. In 2006, Asha won an award at the Walsum 

Competition for her string quartet ‘Kalpitha’ and the second 

prize in the Prix d’Ete Competition for her flute and 

computer piece ‘Alone, Dancing’, which was performed 

at SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the 

US) 2005. 

■ 

united states 

Renu Khator ‘Outstanding American by Choice’ 

One of the first Indian 

Americans to become 

a provost at a comprehensive 

research university 

in the United States, Renu 

Khator has been recognised as an 

Outstanding American by Choice. 

An initiative of the US Citizenship 

and Immigration Services, the programme 

recognises naturalised citizens 

who have made significant contributions 

to both their community 

and their adopted country. 

The first female provost of 

University of South Florida, Khator 

is the second woman of Indian origin 

to receive the honour after PepsiCo 

chairman-elect and CEO Indra K. 

Nooyi who was recognised in April. 

India born Khator received her 

undergraduate degree in liberal arts 

from Kanpur University. Coming to 

the United States at the age of 18, she 

An Indian 

American woman 

candidate for 

New Jersey state 

Senate has become the first 

person to qualify in the state’s 

Fair and Clean Elections pilot 

programme, a system of government 

financing of political 

campaigns in the US. 

Seema Singh 

Seema Singh, who is a Democratic 

candidate from the 14th District constituency, 

said on June 13 that she filed 

400 contributions at $10 each to 

become a qualified candidate in the 

pilot programme, according to a press 

release. 

Under the Clean Elections programme, 

candidates hoping to receive 

public financing must collect a certain 

number of small “qualifying contributions” 

(often as little as $5) from 

registered voters. In return, they are 

paid a flat sum by the government to 

New Jersey NRI qualifies for 

Clean Elections programme 

run their campaigns and agree 

not to raise money from private 

sources. 

Once the New Jersey 

Elections Law Enforcement 

Commission certifies all 400 

contributions, Singh will 

receive a $46,000 grant from 

the state to fund her campaign 

for the elections, due in November. 

“This programme has allowed me 

as a first-time candidate the opportunity 

to enter the race with a level playing 

field,” Seema Singh said. 

The 45-year-old immigrated to 

New Jersey in 1984 and went to 

Rutgers University and Seton Hall 

Law School. 

She practised international law with 

a focus on Indian and Asian communities. 

Her big break came in 2002 when 

she became the first Indian to hold a 

New Jersey cabinet position. ■ 

earned her master’s degree and doctorate 

from Purdue University in 

political science and public administration 

with particular training in environmental 

policy. 

She has published five books, 

numerous book chapters, and journal 

articles in leading national and international 

journals. Her areas of specialisation 

include water policy and the 

impact of globalisation on the environment. 

Khator has participated in more 

than 50 workshops and conferences 

around the globe in the areas of her 

professional interests and serves on a 

number of important boards. 

Khator was appointed to her current 

position at the University of 

South Florida in 2003 after serving for 

three years as dean of the College of 

Arts and Sciences and three years as 

director of the Environmental Science 

and Policy Programme. 

The University of South Florida, 

established in 1956, is the ninth largest 

university in the US. With a budget 

of over $1.6 billion, the university 

offers 200 degree programmes to 

more than 44,000 students on its four 

campuses. 


Ramesh Gangolli gets 

Spirit of Liberty award 

An 

Indian 

American 

has been chosen 

for this year’s 

Spirit of Liberty 

award for his contribution 

to his 

community. 

Ramesh Gangolli, 

72, who migrated to the US in 1963 

and whose career is focussed on mathematics, 

will be honoured on July 4 in 

Seattle. 

Gangolli is being honoured for 

turning an unnamed event — mini 

concerts mostly featuring musicians 

from India — into a respected concert 

series that has since 1981 staged more 

than 300 events of music and dance. 

Seattle’s Ethnic Heritage Council 

gives away the Spirit of Liberty award 

every year to individuals who have 

made significant contributions to his 

or her ethnic heritage and community 

and whose work has benefited the 

larger community. 

■ 

32 



The Indian Diaspora 

The Pacific island nation of Fiji has been home to a large Indian 

diaspora for over a century now. Many of them have gone on to make 

a name for themselves in various fields, not only in Fiji, but in other 

countries too. Shubha Singh profiles the Indo-Fijians. 

Indo-Fijians form a vibrant 

community in Fiji and is an 

integral part of the social, economic 

and political life in the 

islands, and unlike many other communities 

of Indian origin across the 

world, it is one that has retained its 

strong cultural and religious underpinnings. 

Indians have lived in Fiji Islands for 

over 128 years and have been thecountry’s 

engine of economic development. 

Today, Indo-Fijians comprise 38 

percent of the country’s total population 

of 800,000. 

The Indian presence in Fiji can be 

seen in the sugarcane farms amidst the 

rolling hills, the Gujarati shops, the 

bus and taxi owners, the garment factories, 

the tourist resort and factory 

workers, the Hindu temples, the Sikh 

gurdwaras and the green domes of the 

mosques nestling behind the coconut 

palms. 

Indians in Fiji are farmers, teachers, 

senior bureaucrats, politicians and 

ministers, businessmen, artists and 

well established professionals. Fiji had 

its first Prime Minister of Indian origin 

when Fiji Labour Party leader, 

Mahendra Chaudhry was elected 

Prime Minister in 1999 with an overwhelming 

majority in the House of 

Representatives. 

A hardworking and dynamic community, 

Indians from Fiji have done 

well in life wherever they have gone. 

Top international golfer Vijay Singh 

was born in Lautoka town and learnt 

to play golf as a caddy at the golf 

courses around Nadi town. 

The present Governor-General of 

New Zealand, who fulfills the role of 

head of state as the representative of 

Queen Elizabeth II, Anand Satyanand, 

is the son of second generation Fiji 

Indians. Satyanand’s father, Dr M. 

Satyanand, was born in Fiji and went 

to New Zealand on a government 

scholarship to train as a doctor. Anand 

Satyanand was born in New Zealand 

and has had a distinguished career as 

judge before being appointed 

Governor-General. 

Over the years, many Indians from 

Fiji have moved to countries across 

the Pacific Ocean in search of greater 

opportunities; they have gone to 

Australia, New Zealand, Canada and 

the United States of America for better 

work prospects. 

Ever since Australia and New 

Zealand introduced the points system 

for immigration visas, it is not just the 

well-educated young Indian man or 

woman, but even skilled workers like 

plumbers, electricians and carpenters 

who are in high demand in these 

countries. 

In cities like Sydney, Melbourne, 

Auckland, Hamilton, Vancouver and 

Toronto, one can come across many 

Indians who proudly refer to themselves 

as ‘Fiji Indian’. The majority of 

the Indo-Fijians are descendants of 

Indians who came to the sunny islands 

in the South Pacific as indentured 

workers in the last decades of the 19th 

century. Fiji became a British colony 

when the ruling chief ceded the 

islands to the British monarch in 1874. 

Within five years, Indian workers were 

brought to Fiji to meet the colony’s 

labour requirements. 

Under the colonial administration, 

the indigenous Fijians lived their selfcontained, 

communal lifestyle in tribal 

villages ruled by their own tribal 

chiefs. It was the Indians who provided 

the work force for Fiji, later taking 

up different kinds of jobs and setting 

up shops and small businesses. 

Indians now control a major part 

of the medium and small enterprises 

in the country. 

The first ship carrying Indian 

indentured workers to Fiji, the 

Leonidas, arrived off Suva on May 14, 

1879, with 463 Indian immigrants on 

board. The indentured workers were 

put to work on the sugarcane plantations 

and by the time the indenture 

system came to an end in 1920, about 

60,000 indentured workers had 

arrived in the islands. 

Perhaps the greatest sportsperson to emerge from the Indo-Fijians, Vijay 

Singh is a superstar in the world of golf. 

34 



The Indian Diaspora 

A group of Indo-Fijian schoolchildren walking home through sugarcane plantations in Viti Levu, Fiji. 

They came to be known as 

‘Girmitiyas’ — a word derived from 

the term ‘agreement’ (pronounced 

girmit by the Indians) which was the 

labour contract that they signed that 

tied them to five years of labour on the 

plantation to which they were 

assigned. After completion of their 

contract, the Indian workers were 

encouraged to lease small bits of land 

to grow sugarcane for the sugar mills. 

“ 

Unlike other British colonies such 

as Trinidad and Mauritius, Indians 

could not buy land in Fiji. Aside from 

government owned land, all land 

(about 80 percent) was owned by the 

Fijian tribes and could not be sold by 

law. Almost half the Indian workers 

stayed on in Fiji after their indenture 

contracts were over and found different 

ways to make a living. 

In the early 20th century, several 

The Indians who came to Fiji were initially from 

areas where Hindi, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, 

Khariboli, Brajbhasha and Maithili were spoken 

while later migration from the southern ports 

brought Telugu and Tamil speakers to the 

plantations. The need to communicate with each 

other led to the development of a common language 

— Fiji Baat — which incorporated features from 

different dialects and languages of India and 

evolved its own grammar and syntax. 

“ 

thousand fare paying passengers 

arrived from India — these were 

mainly Gujaratis and Sikhs, who came 

and set up shop as traders or found 

other work for themselves. 

The long weeks of travel on the sailing 

ships to Fiji, living in the close 

confines of the ship and eating from a 

communal kitchen, broke down the 

caste barriers among the Indian immigrants. 

In the ‘coolie lines’ or barracks 

of the plantations, the workers lived 

in close proximity which led to a more 

homogeneous Indian society. 

The indenture period was a time of 

great hardship for the Indians, who 

turned to education as the means to 

take their children out of the life of 

hard physical labour. As there were no 

schools for Indian children, individual 

Indians pooled together resources 

to set up schools for the Indian community. 

Indian religious and social organisations, 

such as the Arya Pratinidhi 

Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, Fiji 

Muslim League, Sanatan Dharam 

Sabha, Fiji Gujarati Society and Tamil 

Samagam began setting up the schools 

for Indian children. 

The Indo-Fijians are proud to have 

retained their culture and religion and 

Indian festivals are celebrated with traditional 

rituals. Young Indian boys and 

girls learn Indian classical and folk 

dance and music. Any visitor to Fiji is 

struck by the fluent Hindi spoken by 

the Indo-Fijians. Many among the 

younger generation of Indo-Fijians do 

not read or write Indian languages but 

almost all Indians in Fiji speak Fiji 

Hindi or ‘Fiji Baat’ as it is known. 

The Indians who came to Fiji were 

initially from areas where Hindi, 

Urdu, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Khariboli, 

Brajbhasha and Maithili were spoken 

while later migration from the southern 

ports brought Telegu and Tamil 

speakers to the plantations. The need 

to communicate with each other led 

to the development of a common language 

— Fiji Baat — which incorporated 

features from different dialects 

and languages of India and evolved its 

own grammar and syntax. 

English is the official language in 

Fiji, but Hindi is the first language 

taught in primary schools for Indo- 

A Hindu temple in the Fijian countryside. 

In 1999, Mahendra Chaudhry 

became the first Indo-Fijian to 

become Prime Minister of the 

Pacific island nation. 

Fijians, while ethnic Fijian children 

learn Fijian. Later in the higher classes, 

all children switch to English. 

Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Telegu are 

taught in the schools run by Indian 

organizations. Fiji has two Hindi radio 

stations as well as a couple of Hindi 

magazines. 

Indigenous Fijian students also 

attend the schools run by Indo-Fijian 

organisations as they are better run 

schools, with the result that there are 

a sizeable number of Fijians who 

speak or understand Fiji Hindi. A 

popular television programme has 

fusion music and dance, combining 

Indian and indigenous Fijian music, 

rhythm and dance. 

Indian films and pop music is popular 

among the indigenous Fijians as 

well, and an ethnic Fijian surprised the 

audience by emerging as the runnerup 

in the Indian music talent hunt 

contest held in 2006. 

Fiji’s population comprises indigenous 

Fijians who form 54 per cent of 

the population. Indo-Fijians comprise 

38 percent of the population while the 

rest are Europeans, Chinese and other 

Pacific Islanders. 

The 1997 Constitution has a 71- 

member House of Representatives. It 

has 23 seats that are reserved for ethnic 

Fijians, 19 seats reserved for 

Indians, three for the general category, 

which includes Europeans, 

Chinese and other communities, and 

one seat for Rotuma, an island dependency 

of Fiji. 

There are in addition, 25 open seats: 

these are unreserved seats open to all 

ethnic groups. Each voter gets two ballot 

papers for casting two votes, one 

in the communal category and one in 

the open category when the elector 

can vote for a candidate of any ethnic 

origin. 

Fiji’s constitution is aimed at a distribution 

of power between the different 

ethnic groups in the country 

and is meant to ensure the special 

position of the Fijians in the political 

arena as the original inhabitants of the 

land. 

It also means that to be elected as 

Prime Minister, any political leader 

will require wider support rather than 

just from his own community. 

However, ultra-nationalist indigenous 

Fijian leaders have long propagated the 

view that political power should 

remain in the hands of the indigenous 

Fijians, especially as the Indians dominate 

the economic sector. 

This view has led to periods of 

political and racial turmoil when two 

governments were overthrown 

through armed coups in 1987 and 

2000 on the charge of being Indian 

dominated governments. 

In December 2006, the armed 

forces took over again, but this time 

the coup was the result of bitter differences 

between the elected prime 

minister and the military commander. 

The relationship between the different 

ethnic groups living in Fiji is 

one of general harmony. However, 

political parties tend to be dominated 

by one or the other ethnic group and 

it is in the political arena that sharp differences 

emerge between the two 

main communities — the ethnic 

Fijians and the Indo-Fijians. But in 

their daily lives, both indigenous 

Fijians and Indo-Fijians contribute to 

the tourist image of Fiji as a land of 

sun, sand and smiles. 

(Shubha Singh can be contacted at 

shubyat@gmail.com. Photo of Hindu 

temple in this page © Encyclopaedia of 

Indian Diaspora.) 

36 



Bollywood 

Over 20,000 fans witnessed 

the grand 

opening of a star-studded 

extravaganza in 

Yorkshire, to honour Bollywood personalities 

for their performances in the 

last year. 

The elaborate set decoration, mega 

decibel music and presence of top 

names of the Indian film industry — 

Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, 

Aishwarya, Yash Chopra, Shilpa 

Shetty, the Deols, Hrithik Roshan and 

Preity Zinta — made the event a spectacle 

for the audience. 

Speaking at the awards ceremony, 

Amitabh praised Yorkshire for its hospitality 

and added that last year was 

eventful for the Indian film industry 

as not only did it taste major achievements 

but also new genres of filmmaking 

were experimented with. He 

reiterated that Bollywood now had a 

global platform. 

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s runaway 

blockbuster Rang De Basanti 

pipped Lage Raho Munnabhai to win 

the Best Film award at the star-studded 

ceremony that showcased the 

extravaganza, glitz and glamour of the 

Indian film industry. 

The Best Editor’s award went to 

P.S. Bharti for Rang De Basanti, Best 

Make-up award was bagged by J.A. 

James for Dhoom:2 and Anaita Shroff 

Adajania won the Best Costume 

award for her brilliant innovations 

with outfits in Dhoom:2. 

Versatile singer Sunidhi Chauhan 

received the Best Female Singer award 

for her runaway hit song ‘Beedi Jalaile’ 

from the film Omkara, Bollywood’s 

Star-struck 

Yorkshire 

celebrates as 

Bollywood 

honours 

talent 

adaptation of William Shakespeare’s 

Othello. Meanwhile, Shaan bagged the 

Best Male Singer award for ‘Chand 

Sifarish’ from the film Fanaa. 

The Best Lyricist award went to 

Prasoon Joshi for penning the song 

‘Chand Sifarish’ for Fanaa while A.R. 

Rahman has won the Best Music 

award for his soulful melodies in Rang 

De Basanti. 

Boman Irani and svelte Lara Dutta 

hosted this year’s IIFA awards, which 

brought top names of the Indian celluloid 

to the island. 

IIFA decided to roll out a ‘Green 

Carpet’ this year, instead of a ‘Red 

Carpet’ welcome to celebrities, as it 

has taken up environmental issues in 

a bid to save the planet. The grand 

finale was showcased to around 500 

million people across the world. ■ 

IIFA is my first bonafide Indian award, says Deepa Mehta 

Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta said she felt like being a part of the Indian 

film fraternity after receiving the award for the brightest Indian director abroad 

at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Yorkshire. 

"This was my first award from home, the first bonafide Indian award. And I’m very 

happy ,” Mehta said. The director added that the IIFA win made her lose her discomfort 

about Bollywood. 

“I felt a part of the fraternity. I felt like an Indian director.” 

The introduction to Mehta’s award was read out by Karan Johar, thereby putting an 

end to the speculation about the young director blatantly favouring Mira Nair over 

Mehta by promoting The Namesake. 

“Karan and I have absolutely no problems,” said Mehta. 

■ 

Surprises galore as Shilpa turned 32 

It rained surprises for Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty 

as she turned 32, making it one of her most memorable 

birthdays. First, her prayers healed her 

overnight from a three-day muscular pain and then 

the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) secretly 

organised a birthday party for her, a major attraction in 

Britain after her reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother win. 

Tony Blair 

makes 

movie 

debut 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair made his movie 

debut with a short film, directed by Indian filmmaker 

Shekhar Kapur, to promote climate change 

awareness. 

The movie, titled Global Cool, also stars actress Sienna 

Miller. Blair plays a “carbon crusader” in the film, which 

was premiered at the International Indian Film Academy 

(IIFA) awards ceremony. The 54-year-old Labour Party 

leader said: “I’ve been preparing for this role for the last 

10 years. It was great to be part of Global Cool. But remember, 

I was only one of a billion people saving the planet in 

this movie — and they are all stars.” 

■ 

“I was having these muscle spasms for the last three 

days. So I was rehearsing for my performance with 

Shiamak Davar while undergoing physiotherapy,” she 

said. 

“I thought, man what a way to bring in your birthday! 

When I went to sleep I prayed that the pain go away 

on my birthday.” 

What made Shilpa’s birthday all the more special was 

the ovation she got at the International Indian Film 

Academy (IIFA) function. 

“I was on stage with all these people when suddenly 

everyone in the auditorium burst into ‘Happy Birthday’ 

at midnight. It was embarrassing — but also very touching,” 

she said. 

“After this utterly unexpected ushering-in of my 

birthday, I went back to my hotel room where Dad and 

Mom had a cake for me to cut. To me 40,000 people 

singing in the auditorium was as precious as cutting the 

cake with my parents.” 

Shilpa said she missed her sister Shamita during her 

birthday. 

Birthday thoughts from the birthday girl: “It’s been 

a tumultuous year for me. I never expected all these things 

to happen to me after Big Brother. But they did. I just want 

my coming year to be as eventful, if possible.” 

About her performance on stage at the IIFA, Shilpa 

chuckles: “I’m dancing to all the songs that I wish I had 

done on film. You could say this is my gift to myself.” ■ 

Dharam fed 

up with Sholay 

dialogue 

V 

eteran 

Bollywood 

actor Dharmendra is fed up of his most 

memorable dialogue from the blockbuster Sholay: 

“Kuttey, kameene, main tera khoon pee jaoonga.” Now 

he refuses to repeat it despite requests. 

A journalist from South Africa, covering the IIFA 

awards, begged the actor to deliver the line at a media session, 

but much to the disappointment of the audience, 

Dharmendra refused: “I am fed up with this sentence. I 

have said so many other dialogues — why don’t you talk 

about them” 

However he had something else to say: “Main khoon 

nahin peeta; main mohabbat peeta hun!” 

■ 

38 



Feature 

PRIDE OF 

PRESS 

A group of women in 

rural Uttar Pradesh are 

making a name for 

themselves by 

independently bringing 

out a newspaper. 

Arpana finds out. 

With their grit and 

drive, they could be 

making headlines. 

But this group of 

women from Uttar Pradesh write 

them instead in their fortnightly newspaper 

Khabar Lahariya that goes to 200 

villages and represents the best in journalistic 

courage and ethics. 

Meera, Shanti, Kavita, Mithilesh... 

from the Chitrakoot and Banda districts 

in the heart of India’s most populous 

state are award-winning journalists, 

whose newspaper in the 

Bundeli language has broken stories, 

pinned down the administration on a 

variety of issues and presented a societal 

mirror on gender, health and other 

issues. 

But they are also women who have 

stepped out of their homes and sheltered 

existence to earn a living through 

an abiding commitment towards 

everyday truths — bettering their life 

and that of of others around them. 

The behind-the-headlines story of 

the eight-page newspaper brought out 

by the group of Dalit women and the 

behindthe-scenes 

look 

at their lives has been 

effectively captured in the short 

film Taza Khabar: Hot Off The Press by 

Delhi-based filmmaker Bishakha 

Dutta. 

The 30-minute film, which was 

shown in New Delhi recently, focuses 

as much on the team as on the 

newspaper, which over five years has 

built a circulation of 2,800 and sells at 

Rs.2 a copy. 

The camera follows closely as the 

reporters go newsgathering, edit and 

visualise pages, do the illustrations, 

market their product — and, of 

course, manage their homes too. 

Their careers redefining their relationship 

with their families and with 

society, the group of doughty, articulate 

journalists go from village to village, 

mostly on foot, looking for news 

on the functioning of the panchayats, 

bureaucracy, schools, hospitals in the 

region and crime. 

As most journalists, 

mainstream or 

otherwise know, getting 

information is not 

a cakewalk. 

“We face problems. 

Sometimes we are threatened 

for telling the truth or exposing 

the truth,” said Meera, the editor of 

Khabar Lahariya, literally a ceaseless 

wave of news. 

“For example, when we exposed 

officials in a meeting for not providing 

proper medical facilities in a 

remote village where eight people had 

died of tuberculosis, the authorities 

were not so happy with us,” she 

added. 

According to Shanti, Khabar 

Lahariya has changed her life. 

“Like many other Dalit women, I 

was facing all kinds of hardship... from 

a financial crunch to physical abuse 

from my husband. I used to work as a 

housemaid. I couldn’t read or write. 

“But since I started working here, I 

have got new confidence. I have learnt 

to read and write and am financially 

“ 

Like many other Dalit women, I was facing all kinds 

of hardship... from a financial crunch to physical 

abuse from my husband. I used to work as a 

housemaid. I couldn’t read or write. But since I 

started working here, I have got new confidence. I 

have learnt to read and write and am financially 

independent too. 

independent too,” said Shanti, who 

has left her husband and lives separately 

with her five children. 

There are other profiles in courage. 

Another reporter, Kavita, who is 

editor of the recently launched Banda 

edition of the newspaper, has a similar 

story to tell. She also left her husband 

because he didn’t take proper 

care of her and is now living on her 

own. 

Like other journalists elsewhere, 

these women have undergone extensive 

training too. 

Said Meera, who is also pursuing a 

degree in political science: “We were 

trained before being put on the job. 

We are capable of doing everything 

except computer work and working 

on the pagemaker. We also want to do 

it but there isn’t any institute which 

provides training on the pagemaker.” 

In the last five years, the newspaper 

has made quite a name and people 

come to the women to volunteer 

information and also to advertise. 

In March 2004, the women behind 

Khabar Lahariya received the prestigious 

Chameli Devi Jain award from 

the Media Foundation for outstanding 

mediapersons.“After we won the 

award, my family members became 

more supportive. We give breaking 

news. Our news makes impact. One 

of the managers who used to cheat 

while distributing pension to the widows 

was sacked after we published 

reports against him,” said Shanti. 

Though the reporters themselves 

market the paper, they have employed 

other agents too — copies are now 

available at small shops and tea stalls 

in block headquarters and in remote 

villages. 

The funds come from Nirantar, a 

Delhi-based organisation that works 

largely on the issue of gender and education, 

which has been instrumental 

in conceptualising the newspaper. It 

supports the process by providing regular 

editorial and production support, 

training the reporters and providing 

financial assistance. 

“Nirantar is currently working 

towards making Khabar Lahariya an 

independent unit. We are also running 

a training programme in Rajasthan to 

launch same kind of newspaper 

there,” said Shalini Joshi of Nirantar. 

“The name of the newspaper is 

going to be different in Rajasthan,” she 

added. The Rajasthan edition should 

add another stimulating chapter to this 

saga of courage and determination. ■ 

A member of the Khabar Lahariya team on a newsgathering mission in rural Uttar Pradesh. 

“ 

40 



Travel 

CORBETT 

WILDERNESS, MAGIC AND MORE 

You will need more than luck on your side if 

you get to spot a tiger in the Jim Corbett 

National Park given the dwindling 

population of the king of the jungle. Even if 

you don’t, you will come away from the 

place refreshed and yearning to return 

again and again. 

Text: Radhika V. Pix: Gaurav Schimar 

An eight-hour long journey 

from Delhi (three hours 

of which were spent fretting 

and fuming amid 

chaos, diesel fumes and animals, albeit 

of a different variety at Gajraula) 

brought us within the vicinity of perhaps 

the most well known tiger sanctuary 

in the country — the Jim 

Corbett National Park. 

But that would have to wait. 

Having started in the wee hours of 

the morning and suffered endless traffic 

snarls, all we wanted was a nice hot 

shower and a few hours of sleep. 

Well! We got all that and much 

more at the ‘Corbett Hideaway’, one 

of the most popular resorts in the area. 

Located in Garjia village, in the 

Kumaon district of Uttaranchal, and 

spread over 13 sprawling acres on the 

banks of the river Kosi, the Corbett 

Hideaway boasts of beautiful and 

impeccably maintained cottages situated 

amidst lush green surroundings 

that are a prelude to what one may 

expect at the national park itself. The 

rooms are luxuriously comfortable, 

the staff most courteous and the service 

definitely above par. 

Each suite opens out into a small 

private porch which looks out into a 

patch of greenery you can call your 

own. Narrow pebbled pathways, dotted 

with waist high lamps at regular 

intervals on either side crisscross the 

entire resort and add to the ambience. 

But the real magic makers at the resort 

choose to reveal themselves in true 

glory only at night, when these 

numerous lamps come alive to softly 

shed their warm glow on the contiguous 

flora and illuminate the pathways 

in the darkness of the enveloping 

silence, broken only by the tête-àtête 

between grasshoppers and crickets 

and the twinkling fireflies. You are 

transported into another world and for 

all you know, you could be in fairyland! 

Eating options abound, since the 

resort caters to all palates. The buffet 

at the resort’s restaurant, ‘The 

Gurney’, is an excellent option in 

terms of quality and variety. The cir- 

42 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA JUNE 2007 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA JUNE 2007 43

Travel 

cular ‘Jim’s Grill’, with its thatched 

roof, soft lighting and open seating, is 

another must try. The food is simply 

scrumptious and will leave you wanting 

for more. The resort also has a well 

stocked ‘Tusker Bar’. The teetotalers 

need not worry as ‘Jim’s Coffee Shop’ 

comes adeptly to the rescue. 

With our basic needs of food, sleep 

and hot shower out of the way, we 

decided to take a sojourn at the banks 

of the adjoining river. The cool breeze 

and swift waters of the river, which was 

swollen due to the rains, were mesmerising 

and we couldn’t get enough 

of seeing fish which for some reason 

had decided to host an acrobatic performance 

for us every five minutes by 

catapulting out of the water and plonking 

back into the water. 

An exhilarating ‘song-on-request’ 

performance by a very talented inhouse 

activities-in-charge-cumsinger-cum-guitarist, 

Deep, saw us 

through the evening and a better part 

of the night as well. In fact, the 

enchantment Deep cast on us broke 

only when the rumbles in our respective 

stomachs were loud enough to be 

The Garija Temple on the edge of 

the national park. 

heard by our neighbours and we had 

to perforce drag ourselves away from 

the fascinating show. 

Post dinner, we decided to try our 

luck and venture out on our own 

impromptu midnight safari in the 

hope of spotting that elusive species 

— the tiger. I think it’ll suffice to say 

that we saw lots of spotted deer! The 

Deer-spotting during a night drive. 

timing ensured that we stuck to the 

main road that bordered the Corbett 

on one side. Bathed in the light of a 

full moon, the forest was as mysterious 

as it was mesmerising and we 

realised that all was not lost — a predawn 

safari arranged for the morrow 

still held some promise! 

At 5 a.m., the rush of cold morning 

air vanquished what little sleep we 

were still trying to catch up with in the 

jeep. And lo behold! Armed with cameras 

and binoculars we were on our 

way to Corbett’. Located at the 

foothills of the Himalayas, the Jim 

Corbett National Park was originally 

established in 1936 as the Hailey 

National Park and is famous for its 

wild population of tigers, leopards and 

elephants. Corbett’s varied topography 

supports a variety of vegetation, 

making it an ideal habitat for the tiger 

and its prey. Incidentally, this was 

India’s first national park to be brought 

under ‘Project Tiger’. 

Once a popular hunting ground of 

the British, this 201-square-mile park 

was named in honour of the late Jim 

Corbett, the legendary hunter-naturalist-turned-author 

who spent most 

of his years in this area and contributed 

to the setting up of this park. 

Our journey to the national park 

saw us cross quite a few rainwater 

streams which cut across the roads and 

As the safari starts... 

before we knew it concrete roads had 

given way to narrow muddy tracks 

and dense, lush green jungle. Due to 

the rains, the forest itself looked like 

somebody had taken immense pains 

to scrub each speck of dirt off every 

leaf and the trees were positively glowing 

with energy. We spotted a variety 

of birds like the woodpeckers hornbills 

and parakeets, deer, langurs as 

well as fresh tiger pug marks. But alas, 

Lady Luck chose not to favour us as 

the tiger remained ever elusive. 

Our disappointment was not lost on 

our guide who tried to pacify us by 

explaining that since our safari covered 

an area of only 100 sq km of the 

Corbett’s 1,300 sq km, the chances of 

spotting a tiger were remote. The 

absence of a tiger was served a stark 

reminder of the dwindling tiger population 

in India. In these jungles thousands 

of tigers roamed just a century 

ago. Now the population has been 

reduced to a mere 140. 

We spent some more time in the 

jungle hoping to spot the elusive beast. 

But then the dwindling population of 

the King of the Jungle ensured that we 

were not going to get lucky. 

Disappointed, yet refreshed, we 

CORBETT: QUICK FACTS 

State: Uttarakhand 

Distance: 270 km from Delhi 

Route: Delhi-Moradabad-Ramnagar- 

Corbett 

Time (by road): Anywhere between five 

and eight hours depending on traffic conditions. 

headed back for a sumptuous breakfast 

and a dip in another one of the 

resort’s treats — the pool. Afternoon 

and evening activities included a visit 

to the resort’s spa as well as its table 

tennis court. The initiated also have 

The Corbett Hideaway 

the option of playing badminton on 

one of the resort’s sprawling lawns. 

As dusk blended into the night, as 

the magic makers shed their soft warm 

glow on the dark silhouettes of the silvery 

trees and as the fireflies decided to 

come out of hiding to divulge their 

twinkling secrets, we, the ordinary 

mortals decided to celebrate these last 

few hours with a small get-together 

on the porch, in candlelight. And 

every soul on that porch knew that, 

wherever it went, a part of this 

moment would go with it to remind 

it that ‘Magic’ is for real and that it was 

once a part of some of it. ■ 

44 



Book Review 

IT HAPPENED IN INDIA 

Author: Kishore Biyani with 

Dipayan Baishya 

Publisher: Rupa & Co. 

Price: Rs. 99 

What’s in an Indian shopper’s mind 

In IT Happened in India, the man behind India’s 

biggest retail chain eloquently paints a picture of an 

India which boasts of a billion plus customers, 

hungry for brands but ar affordable rates, writes 

Nayanima Basu. 

IT Happened In India is set in the 

backdrop of an India that is growing 

like never before, an India that 

is gradually emerging as the cynosure 

of leading global investors and an India 

which boasts of a billion plus consumers, 

hungry for brands but at affordable rates. 

In this book, Biyani, the 46-year-old 

managing director of Pantaloon Retail 

(India), has very eloquently painted the picture 

of the modern India that, according to 

a report by global consultancy firm 

McKinsey, is soon going to surpass 

Germany as the world’s fifth biggest consumer 

market by 2015. 

While sharing his experiences in establishing 

Big Bazaar, Pantaloon’s flagship 

store, as the shopper’s preferred place for 

shopping, Biyani has very deftly portrayed 

the mind of an average middle class buyer 

for whom shopping is more than just an 

outing; it’s about getting the right thing at 

the right price. 

It’s this understanding about him that 

has made most readers relate to themselves 

About Kishore Biyani 

Born in a 

middle 

class 

trading family, 

Kishore Biyani started his 

career selling stonewash fabric 

to small shops in Mumbai. 

Years later, with the launch of 

Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food 

Bazaar, Central and many 

more retail formats, he redefined 

the retailing business in 

India. Incidentally, Kishore 

Biyani’s objective is to capture 

every rupee in the wallet of 

every Indian consumer, wherever 

they are — an investment 

banker living in a South 

Mumbai locality or a farmer in 

Sangli. As large business 

houses enter the retail space, 

Kishore Biyani is not just concentrating 

on retail but aiming 

to capture the entire Indian 

consumption space. From 

building shopping malls, developing 

consumer brands to selling 

insurance, he is getting into 

every business where a customer 

spends her money. 

Now known as the ‘Rajah of 

Retail’, Kishore Biyani was featured 

among the fifty most 

powerful people in the country 

as those who have, may be for once, been 

part of the meandering queues that wait 

outside the Big Bazaar stores to eagerly avail 

themselves of the “ek ke sath ek free” (buy 

one get one free) offers. 

The book also serves as a splendid guidebook 

for budding entrepreneurs who are 

aspiring to gain a foothold in the retail 

industry, often regarded as the ‘sunrise 

industry’ by experts and economists. 

Biyani’s maiden book comes out as a very 

honest and transparent biography as he 

describes how he failed to prove his abilities 

in filmmaking even though he had a commendable 

star cast and an equally good rapport 

with the who’s who of the glittering 

film industry. 

But that experience has made him 

understand and better identify his abilities 

and inabilities. 

According to some estimates, the Indian 

retail sector would grow into the size of a 

$427-billion industry from the current 

$328 billion, with organised retail growing 

as much as 22 percent. 

■ 

by India Today magazine. In 

2006, he was awarded the 

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of 

the Year (Services) and the 

CNBC India Leadership 

Award’s ‘First Generation 

Entrepreneur of the Year’. In 

2007, Pantaloon Retail was 

awarded the International 

Retailer of the Year by the 

world’s largest retail trade 

association, the US-based 

National Retail Federation. It 

was also awarded the 

Emerging Market Retailer of 

the Year at the World Retail 

Congress held at Barcelona. 

Making investment in India easier for overseas Indians. 

Ministry of Overseas 

Indian Affairs 

For details contact: 

Harish Kerpal 

Chief Executive Officer - OIFC & 

Director, CII 

249-F, Sector 18, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV 

Gurgaon - 122 015, Haryana, INDIA 

Tel: +91-124-4014060-67 / 4014071 

Fax: +91-124-4014070 

Email: harish.kerpal@ciionline.org 

Website: www.oifc.in 

Confederation of 

Indian Industries 

46 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA JULY 2007

Mughal Emperor Akbar built the royal city at Fatehpur Sikri, situated 26 

miles west of Agra. The buildings at Fatehpur Sikri blend both Islamic and 

Hindu elements in their architectural style. Popular legend has it that 

since Akbar was without an heir for a long time, he made a pilgrimage to 

the renowned Sufi saint, Salim Chisti, to seek his blessings. When a son 

— later to be known as Jahangir — was born to him, Akbar built the new 

capital to mark his birth. The Panch Mahal, or Palace of Five Storeys, and 

the Buland Darwaza, a massive gate which provides the entrance to the 

complex, number among the finest specimens of Mughal architecture. 


www.moia.gov.in 

www.overseasindian.in 

Disclaimer: Pravasi Bharatiya gathers its content from diverse sources and the views expressed in interviews 

and articles published do not necessarily represent the views of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. 

(Designed and produced by IANS [www.ians.in] on behalf of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs)

MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?