The Canadian Parvasi- issue 57

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The International News Weekly EDIT 04 August 10, 2018 | Toronto The w w w . canadianparv asi. c o m Publisher & CEO Associate Editor Editor (India) Online Graphic Designer Official Photographer Contact Editorial Sales Rajinder Saini Meenakshi Saini Gursheesh Kshitiz Dalal Naveen Bashir Nasir editor@canadianparvasi.com sales@canadianparvasi.com Curb Child Abuse Deoria, Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse cases highlight governance deficit Coming on the heels of the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case – which has elicited sharp comment from the Supreme Court on the culpability of the Bihar government – a women’s shelter home in Deoria, UP, has proved to be another house of horror after a 12-year-old inmate escaped and reached the police. The child indicated that girls at the shelter were being physically and sexually abused with the complicity of the manager. Further, the home was running illegally as the state’s women and child welfare department had suspended its licence in July last year after a CBI report found financial irregularities. Many of these homes are run by NGOs with political connections. As exemplified by the Muzaffarpur case, the home was run by someone who also owned a few local newspapers and used his contacts to get grants for his NGO. In Deoria it’s extraordinary that the home was allowed to function, and local police continued to send girls to it, despite its licence being suspended. All of this points to a nexus between those running such homes, police and government officials. It also exposes a glaring lack of administrative oversight that homes have become tools to obtain government grants while inmates are abused and exploited. This calls for a thorough review of the shelter home system in the country. Homes should be places where destitute children find succour in a protective environment. They ought to be linked to schools, run by trained staff and have access to qualified counsellors, doctors and educators. The unfortunate part is that provisions exist, but due to lack of proper supervision most homes have become places of despair. Hence the problem can’t be solved through enacting new laws. Implementation, administrative action and proper oversight by concerned ministries are the need of the hour. The Centre has done well by calling for a social audit of all 9,000 child shelters in the country. What we are witnessing with shelter homes is symptomatic of India’s poor governance in general. It’s not a coincidence that both Bihar and UP where the horror homes were unearthed score poorly on the administrative index. It’s time authorities did the heavy lifting, reformed internal processes and established a clear chain of administrative accountability. Otherwise, horror homes will continue to mushroom and unscrupulous elements continue to exploit children. TNN He Helped Fashion Today’s India Karunanidhi’s political journey had a positive Sanjiv.Shankaran@timesgroup.com The sight of politicians of all stripes paying homage to M Karunanidhi, draped in the tricolour, and describing him as a great son of India encapsulated the essence of his journey from a young radical to a consummate mainstream politician. Starting off in a movement which initially had an ambivalent relationship with Indian nationalism, he played an important political role in strengthening it. The context of his political journey started with the formation of South Indian Welfare Association in 1917 to combat the disproportionate presence of Brahmins in the colonial administration. Positioning itself against the dominant Congress, by 1949 it birthed the DMK which championed the causes of social justice and Tamil nationalism. Karunanidhi’s childhood, marked by impoverishment and humiliation stemming from an oppressive caste system, drew him into the Dravidian movement. A trait which helped him and his party was his gift in using Tamil. For a movement that used cinema to propagate its ideology, his talent as a writer was invaluable. Long after he won the first of his 13 consecutive assembly elections in 1957, conversations about him would inevitably touch upon his skilled use of Tamil to communicate. To gauge Karunanidhi’s impact on both Tamil Nadu and national politics, it’s necessary to unpack three intertwined aspects: social reform, administration and politics. The Dravidian movement was a mass movement which reflected the needs and aspirations of common people. As a fivetime chief minister, Karunanidhi used a combination of reservations and reallocation of government resources towards welfare measures to meet it. Following the DMK’s first government in 1967 under the leadership of CN Annadurai, there has been little space in the state for any other political ideology. For over five decades, DMK influence on his state and country and its offshoot, AIADMK, have administered the state. Neither party moved away from this basic approach even though the circumstances in which social justice can be situated have changed over time. The approach to put welfare schemes for carefully chosen sections of society at the heart of public spending, which Karunanidhi was adept at, is now the basic template across India regardless of the political party in power. Who isn’t populist? Twice did Karunanidhi governments get dismissed by the capricious use of Article 356. Given his grounding in Tamil nationalism and a dominant Centre in the early stages, he was a strong advocate of a brand of federalism which allowed states more space. Over time and with judicial interventions, India’s federalism has become a lot more state-centric. Consequently, there’s space for sub-nationalism along with a simultaneous identification with India. Creating this space has strengthened India, contrary to initial fears. Karunanidhi enjoyed a unique place in Tamil Nadu. While his main rivals MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa too enjoyed popular support, they rarely received endorsement of the intelligentsia in the manner that Karunanidhi did. It put him in an ideal place to go beyond his role as a political leader when dealing with social problems. If fighting inequities of caste was the primary motive of the Dravidian movement, Karunanidhi could have done more. Caste continues to blight everyday life in the state. Dalits have at times been subjected to nothing less than hate crimes. But a stalwart of the Dravidian movement, who was part of its early struggles, was muted in his response. The only explanation seems to be that early idealism gave way to a politician’s acute awareness of electoral arithmetic. On the political side, DMK followed the general trend in India. The family was first among equals. Anecdotal evidence of the insidious overlap between business and political interests mounted. If political parties are forced to distribute cash ahead of the elections, politicians who dominated the state are also to blame for converting the voter into a cynic. Perhaps, the underrated dimension to the policies of Karunanidhi and his political rivals is the combined impact they have had on economy and society. A look at Tamil Nadu’s trajectory shows that it has probably made the most notable improvement among states in the last three decades. So much so that when in 2013 a committee headed by Raghuram Rajan ranked states on development using a combination of economic and social parameters, Tamil Nadu came third, ahead of its economic peers Gujarat and Maharashtra. This ranking is telling because just two decades before it, the state’s poverty levels exceeded the national average. Despite the underwhelming performance in dealing with society’s fault lines and the high prevalence of dayto-day corruption, Dravidian politics produced results in areas that mattered and Karunanidhi, its longest serving chief minister, deserves credit. Karunanidhi spent over seven decades in politics and around two decades as chief minister. When he was first elected in 1957 secessionism was still on DMK’s agenda. By the time he won his last assembly election in 2016, Tamil Nadu had successfully seen through its most dangerous phase and Karunanidhi had emerged as an important player in national politics. Even as the state’s political culture worsened, economic conditions improved and it remained relatively free of communal problems. A part of the credit should go to Karunanidhi, who strove to find a balance between realpolitik and his roots in a movement bent on social emancipation. He influenced politics not just in his state but also at the national level. On balance, it was a positive influence. Source Credit: This article was first published in The Times of India. Parvasi weekly & people associated with it are not responsible for any claims made by the advertisement & do not endorse any product or service advertised in Canadian Parvasi. Please consult your lawyer before buying/hiring/contracting through the advertisement Publised in this newspaper. The Canadian Parvasi is in the business of selling space and the clains made by the advertisement are not tested/confirmed by an independent source.
The International News Weekly World 05 August 10, 2018 | Toronto Over 21,000 Indians overstayed visas in US last year, says report Agencies WASHINGTON : In the year 2017, more than 21,000 Indians who were supposed to leave the country at the end of their permissible limits overstayed their visas, as per the latest official report. While the percentage of Indians overstaying and not leaving the US after the expiry of their visas is not very high compared to some other nations, but in sheer number India ranks among the top 10 countries whose citizens come to the US legally and continue to stay illegally. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its latest annual report released on Wednesday said in 2017, more than 10.7 lakh Indians visited the United States on the popular B-1, B-2 visas, which is issued to those who come to the US for business, visit or tourism purposes. Of these, 14,204 overstayed in the country. According to the report, 1,708 of these Indians left the US later after the expiry of their visas, while there is no record of 12,498 Indians leaving the country. This could be presumed that they continue to stay in the US as an illegal immigrant. Comparatively in 2016, a little over 10 lakh Indians visited the US on B-1, B-2 visas. As many as 17,763 overstayed in the US. Of these 2,040 left the US sometime after the expiry of their visas, while 15,723 continued to stay illegally, as per the official DHS figures. In 2017, the report said, 127,435 Indian students and research scholars came to the US on F, J and M visa categories. Of these 4,400 Indians overstayed in the country. Figures indicated that 1,567 left the US later on, while 2,833 Indians are still in the US. Among other categories of non-immigrants, more than 4.5 lakh Indians were expected to leave the United Trump warns world against doing business with Iran Tehran: : U.S. President Donald Trump warned countries against doing business with Iran on Tuesday as he hailed the “most biting sanctions ever imposed”, triggering a mix of anger, fear and defiance in Tehran. “The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level,” Mr. Trump wrote in an early morning tweet. “Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less.” Within hours of the sanctions taking effect, German automaker Daimler said it was halting its business activities in Iran. A run on the rial Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement in May had already spooked investors and triggered a run on the Iranian rial long before nuclear-related sanctions went back into force. “I feel like my life is being destroyed. can’t afford to buy food, pay the rent...” said a construction worker on the streets of the capital. The sanctions reimposed on Tuesday — targeting access to U.S. banknotes and key industries such as cars and carpets — were unlikely to cause immediate economic turmoil. Iran’s markets were actually relatively buoyant, with the rial strengthening by 20% since Sunday after the government relaxed foreign exchange rules and allowed unlimited, tax-free gold and currency imports. But the second tranche on November 5 covering Iran’s vital oil sector could be far more damaging — even if several key customers such as China, India and Turkey have refused to significantly cut their purchases. In a statement on Monday before the sanctions were reimposed, Mr. Trump said: “The Iranian regime faces a choice. Either change its threatening, destabilising behaviour and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation.” ‘Open to a new deal’ “I remain open to reaching a more comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of the regime’s malign activities, including its ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorism.” But his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani dismissed the idea of talks while crippling sanctions were in effect. “If you’re an enemy and you stab the other person with a knife, and then you say you want negotiations, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” he told state television. “They want to launch psychological warfare against the Iranian nation,” Mr. Rouhani said. “Negotiations with sanctions doesn’t make sense.” States in 2017, of which 9,568 of them overstayed their visas. Among them, 2,956 left the US after the expiry of their visa term, while 6,612 are suspected to be illegally staying in the country. In its 2017 Entry/Exit Overstay Report, the DHS said there were 52,656,022 inscope nonimmigrant admissions to the US through air or sea port of entries (POEs) with expected departures occurring in the fiscal 2017; the in-scope admissions represent the vast majority of all air and sea nonimmigrant admissions. Of this number, the DHS calculated a total overstay rate of 1.33%, or 701,900 overstay events. For India it was 1.32%. The report also breaks down the overstay rates further to provide a better picture of those who remain in the US beyond their period of admission and for whom there is no identifiable evidence of a departure, an extension of period of admission, or transition to another immigration status. At the end of fiscal 2017, there were 606,926 suspected in-country overstays. The overall suspected in-country afpxy pirvfr dIaF KLusLIaF surwiKaq kro overstay rate was 1.15% of the expected departures, the DHS said. It was 1.16% for India, which is a non-visa waiver program (VWP) country. For non-VWP countries, the FY 2017 suspected in-country overstay rate is 1.91% of the 14,659,249 expected departures. For non-immigrants who entered on a student or exchange visitor visa (F, M, or J visa), the DHS has determined there were 1,662,369 students and exchange visitors scheduled to complete their program in the United States. However, 4.15% stayed beyond the authorized window for departure at the end of their program. For India, the rate was 3.4%, less than the national average. New quake rocks Indonesia, toll in previous one reaches 259 AGENCIES Jakarta: Less than a week after a massive earthquake killed 259 people on the Indonesian island of Lombok, a 5.9 magnitude tremor hit the region on Thursday, sending frightened residents onto the streets. The fresh seismic event followed the 6.9 magnitude quake on Sunday that flattened homes and stranded thousands of people on Lombok's northern coast and the nearby Gili Islands. The region has been hit by more than 350 aftershocks, the BBC reported. Officials said that the toll in the earlier tremor was expected to go higher as rescue workers were still digging through rubble and trying to get aid to survivors, the BBC reported. Indonesia's Chief Security Minister had earlier said 319 people had died, while local media reported figures as high as 347. But National Disaster Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told the BBC that only 259 deaths had been verified. The Red Cross called the Sunday incident "exceptionally destructive". Some villages were "completely collapsed", said a Red Cross official in Lombok, Christopher Rassi. The disaster agency spokesperson said over 1,400 people were hospitalized, while 270,168 were displaced. Aid has been slow to ieMsLorYNs ibjLns Puwl tfeIm jF pfrt tfeIm sLurU krnf cfhuMcy ho sfzy nfl jLrUr sMprk kro SUPER VISA INSURANCE Life Insurance Retirement Planning, Disability Insurance, Estate Planning, Critical Illness Insurance Group plans Travel Insurance RESP, RRSP, TFSA shI slfh, quhfzy aqy quhfzy pirvfr leI lfhyvMd sfbq ho skdI hY Ph:- 416-318-5400 Baljinder Sekha 203-7035 Maxwell Road, Mississauga, ON. trickle in, due to damage to roads leading to the affected areas and the relatively remote location of the island. Hundreds who survived Sunday's quake were huddled in evacuation centres. There was a shortage of food and many survivors were still traumatized, aid workers told CNN, afraid to return indoors.Endri Susanto, who runs a non-governmental organization assisting with relief efforts in Lombok, told CNN that people started screaming when Thursday's quake hit. People abandoned their vehicles and rushed out of their homes. Soon after, ambulances started whizzing by, sounding their sirens. Gursimrat Grewal Email:- info@familyprotectiongroup.ca www.familyprotectiongroup.ca
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