Re: [Assam] [assam] India to brcome third largest aviation market
Dear Friends: This news is from the Economic Times (03 04 2012) -bhuban RELATED ARTICLES India will continue to woo foreign investments: Montek Singh Ahluwalia Airline staff ready to switch sectors without jump in salary; look to tourism, BPO for openings Less than 5% tourists find visa-on-arrival hassle-free: Survey SpiceJet applies to DGFT for direct import of jet fuel Positive on private sector banks, bearish on aviation: Geojit BNP Paribas NEW DELHI: India is likely to become the third largest aviation market in the world from its current position as traffic volumes grow exponentially, a top official said Tuesday. "The growth of civil aviation is likely to push India from ninth to third position in the world in terms of volume of traffic, necessitating a very strong security system," said Gurjot Singh Malhi, commissioner of security (Civil Aviation), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). He was speaking at an event marking the silver jubilee of the bureau where a commemorative special cover was also issued by the Department of Posts. "The bureau has endeavoured to help equip stake-holders responsible for the aviation security in the country with cutting edge technology, skill enhancement of security personnel, training in use of advanced technology and acquisition of security equipment," he said. According to Malhi, the BCAS had identified key focus areas which included identification of dangerous objects, difficulties in differentiating between harmful and harmless organic objects and detection of liquid aerosol gel to ensure civil aviation security. The Economic Survey presented in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee March 15 said that the civil aviation sector had grown at 18.5 percent in the last seven years. The survey said domestic passenger traffic handled at Indian airports increased by 19.4 percent to 108.1 million during January-November, 2011 from 90.5 million in the corresponding period of previous year. "International passenger traffic and cargo handled at Indian airports grew by 7.7 percent during January-November 2011 and was placed at 33.6 million passengers and 1.4 metric million tonnes of cargo," the survey said. ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] Indian victims of domestic violence in UK to get aid
Dear Friends: This news is from the Times of India (04 04 2012). From time to time I too hear of Assamese women being victims of their NRI husband's cruelty.But seldom do we get to read about them in the press. -bhuban LONDON: Britain has changed immigration rules to ensure that migrant-spouses from India and other non-EU countries who become victims of domestic violence here are given access to public funds to help them escape abuse. Every year, many spouses holding Indian citizenship arrive in the UK to join their married partners, who are mostly British citizens of Indian-origin. Some of them face domestic violence soon after, and face considerable hardship to escape the situation and maintain themselves. Campaign group Southall Black Sisters and 26 other women's and human rights groups have hailed the change in rules as a victory. Until now, such foreign nationals did not have recourse to public funds. The Home Office announced that the new scheme targeted at such victims will assist foreign national spouses and partners who are victims of domestic violence. It provides victims, who would otherwise be destitute or have no access to public funds, with an avenue to escape abuse and access vital support services. The scheme, announced by Immigration minister Damian Green, follows a successful pilot scheme, the Sojourner Project, which helped 1,522 individuals. The government estimates that each year this scheme will help 500 people to escape from abusive relationships across the UK. Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "Domestic violence is a terrible crime affecting people of all ages and backgrounds and this government is determined to tackle it. No one should be forced to stay in an abusive relationship and this scheme helps victims in genuine need escape violence and harm and seek the support they deserve." ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] A Childhood Passage to Israel for Baghdadi Jews of India
Dear Friends: A nice story of Jewish migration from today's NY Times (03 04 2012).I hope the Jews from Mizoram too settled peacefully in Israel by this time. Any information? -bhuban April 3, 2012, 8:03 AM A Childhood Passage to Israel for Baghdadi Jews of India By DEBRA KAMIN Shaul Sapir Shaul Sapir with his sister Rachel Sapir in Bombay, 1953. Shaul Sapir, a professor of historical geography at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, knows a thing or two about his field. At age 8, seeking out a Hebrew chewing gum he had seen in an advertisement, Mr. Sapir went to his father and insisted he be allowed to move to Israel. Despite the fact that the Sapir family was living a comfortable life in Mumbai, his parents, Mumbai-born descendants of Jews who had migrated from Baghdad several generations earlier, agreed. India was newly independent, and the Sapirs, like many within the Jewish community of the city, formerly known as Bombay, were concerned that a post-British India might become an unwelcome place for Jews. So Mr. Sapir and his older sister, at the boy’s bidding, were sent to live with an aunt. “They were used to it,” Mr. Sapir says of his request to make “aliyah,” the term Jews use for immigrating to Israel. “They had sent me to a boarding school, so what was it to send me to Israel?” Debra Kamin Shaul Sapir, professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Mr. Sapir’s childhood passage to Israel was part of a flood of immigration by Baghdadi Jews – Indian Jews who, like his family, had moved to the subcontinent from Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries, as well as Iran, in late 1800s – to the newly minted Jewish state in the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Sapir and his sister, under the watchful eye of their aunt, learned Hebrew, enrolled in Israeli schools and grew up as Israelis. His sister now lives in the southern city of Eilat while Mr. Sapir, after a stint as a paratrooper in the Israeli Army and many years of academic work, happily instructs his students on the movement of peoples across time and space. The elder Sapirs joined their children seven years later. They, too, were far from alone. At their height, the Baghdadi Jews of India, who had flourished dually in Kolkata and Mumbai, numbered close to 7,000. Three large synagogues still stand in Kolkata, previously referred to as Calcutta. Yet there are hardly enough Jews to form a 10-person “minyan,” the minimum number of worshippers Jewish law requires for certain ceremonies. “Once upon a time there used to be a rich community in Calcutta,” says Isaac Ashkenazy, the director of public relations for the Indian Jewish Heritage Center in Israel and himself a Kolkata-born Baghdadi Jew. Mr. Ashkenazy came to Israel considerably late – in the 1970s, at age 22 – and believes his community’s migration was based more on fear than fact. “I think it was more paranoia than anything else. Because the Indian community in general is a very tolerant civilization,” he says. Economic factors also played a role. Many Baghdadi Jews had flourishing businesses in colonial India, and with the departure of the British came the rise of communism. The Baghdadi Jews of India, whose grandparents and great-grandparents came to the country as traders and passed significant empires of wealth and enterprise onto their grandchildren, were now looking for new opportunities. To Mr. Ashkenazy, the trajectory of India’s Baghdadi Jews is a story as old as Judaism itself. “Jewish people, all our culture, our religion is very tribal. It’s very hierarchical. It comes from father to son, and that’s why my fatherhood is India, and my motherhood is Israel,” he says. Debra Kamin is a journalist living in Tel Aviv. She is the Tel Aviv stringer for Variety and a freelancer for The New York Times and a few other publications. You can read more of her work at www.debrakamin.com , or follow her on Twitter @debra_kamin. ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] US offers $10 million for Pakistani militant
Dear Friends: This is today's news (03 04 2012) from the NY Times. The US are really making genuine efforts to find the culprits who carried out the attacks in Mumbai in 2008. I believe there is at least someone who knows and willing to earn this reward without the fear of any retribution. as US will give protection. This will be an act beneficial to Pakistan itself as terrorism has become a daily ritual in that part of the world. -bhuban U.S. Offers $10 Million Reward for Pakistani Militant By DECLAN WALSH Published: April 3, 2012 Enlarge This ImageISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United States has announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Hafiz Saeed, a Pakistani militant leader accused of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks, who in recent months has emerged at the vanguard of a prominent anti-American political-lobbying interest. Anjum Naveed/Associated Press Hafiz Saeed has been accused of orchestrating attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans. » Wendy Sherman, the United States under secretary of state for political affairs, announced the reward for Mr. Saeed, described as the leader of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, during a visit to India on Monday. She also announced $2 million for information leading to the capture of Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, Mr. Saeed’s brother-in-law. The reward was welcomed by Ms. Sherman’s Indian hosts, who have long pressed Pakistan to imprison or extradite Mr. Saeed. A spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs said it was a “strong signal” to Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose attacks are often directed at Indians, and evidence of growing security cooperation between the United States and India. The Mumbai attacks killed 166 people, including six Americans. But the gesture toward India is likely to further strain relations with Pakistan, which are currently being renegotiated following a border clash last November in which American warplanes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. And it met with a contemptuous reception among Mr. Saeed’s supporters, one of whom described the reward as an “April fool’s joke” and ridiculed the notion that Mr. Saeed was a hunted man. “Hafiz Saeed and his aides are not fugitives,” said Hafiz Muhammad Masood, the central information secretary of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a religious charity that serves as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and that lists Mr. Saeed as its founder and leader. “They are not living a secret life. They are living in Pakistan as free members of society.” The Rewards for Justice program, which is administered by the State Department, has paid out $100 million to 70 informants who helped track down criminals since 1984. But the case of Mr. Saeed, a 61-year-old former engineering professor, it is unusual because his whereabouts are not a mystery. Unlike other figures at the top of the list, like the Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who carries a $25 million reward, or the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, who carries a $10 million bounty, Mr. Saeed lives openly in Lahore and travels freely. He has given numerous interviews, some on prime-time television, and addressed large crowds of supporters. In recent months, he has flitted between cities across the country to attend rallies organized by the Defense of Pakistan Council, a right-wing lobbying group that includes banned jihadist groups, religious parties and conservative politicians. The group’s aim is to influence politicians who are currently debating the future of Pakistan’s relationship with Washington in Parliament, and to prevent the reopening of NATO supply lines that have been closed since November. The Defense of Pakistan Council rallies have alarmed Western diplomats and many Pakistanis, with their anti-American rhetoric and the presence of heavily armed jihadi fighters. The ease with which the group operates has stoked media suspicions that it enjoys tacit support from the military, possibly as a means of pressuring Washington. “Pakistan is facing very severe threats from both sides — India is one side, American and NATO forces are on the other and the agenda of both is Pakistan,” Mr. Saeed told The Financial Times at a rally in Rawalpindi last January. “We want to send a message to them that the defense of Pakistan is uppermost in our minds.” In many ways, Mr. Saeed embodies Pakistan’s struggle to rein in homegrown Islamist militants. The former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, banned Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002 but it quickly re-emerged under the guise of its charity wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Attempts to prosecute Mr. Saeed for his alleged role in various attacks have failed, as have efforts to restrict his movements through house arrest. He has been subject to United Nations sanctions since 2008. But the greatest problem lies in his ambiguous relationship with the military’s powerful intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. The
Re: [Assam] [assam] Urdu declared an official language of West Bengal
Well Said! Sushanta kar On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 7:14 PM, wrote: > > Dear Mr Roychoudhury > > > It also looks to me like a ploy preparatory to the next rounds of general > elections. Well, Ms Mamata Banerjee is an astute politician > > > Yes, as Indians we know very well the history of our languages in India. > We guard our language like a worker bee guarding its hive from predators. > It is an integral part of our culture. > > > Urdu is already one of the Constitutional languages of India; it is rich > in history and culture; it is modern and is spoken by a great many people > of India spread over the entire subcontinent. The knowledge of another > language is an additional qualification and anybody can make a living out > of it.One can even aspire to become a Professor of the subject. > > > Very recently I posted a few emails: one of that mail was headed Are > bilinguals cleverer than the monolinguals? Another email dealt with > the trilinguals (the wording of the subject headings may be a little > different from mine in those mails. > > > A friend of mine here, an Assamese lady, works as interpreter in the > Sylheti language. Funnily enough Sylheti is sort of officially recognised > language in the United Kingdom. Non-Sylheti speaking Bengalese are > debarred from certain Community-related positions under the Boroughs. > > > During my perambulations in Delhi, some forty years ago, I found that > official records in a Police station were kept in Urdu. It was usual to find > a free Urdu newspaper in the small restaurants for the customers to read. > Once I met an Editor of a Hindi fortnightly journal who was not able to > read or write Hindi. The Bengalese living in a number of cities in Uttar > Pradesh, do not know Bengali well. > > > Whether we like it or not, we in India live in a multilingual, > multicultural society. I would not like to predict the political future of > the North-East India > right now. > > > -bhuban > > > > > > > > > ___ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > -- Sushanta Kar সুশান্ত কর তিনসুকিয়া, আসাম আমার ব্লগগুলি: http://sushantakar40.blogspot.com http://ishankonerkahini.blogspot.com http://ishankonerkotha.blogspot.com আমার সম্পাদিত 'প্রজ্ঞান' http://pragyan06now.blogspot.com http://sites.google.com/site/pragyan06now "স্বাজাত্যের অহমিকার থেকে মুক্তি দানের শিক্ষাই, আজকের দিনের প্রধান শিক্ষা" রবীন্দ্রনাথ ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] Urdu declared an official language of West Bengal
Dear Mr Roychoudhury It also looks to me like a ploy preparatory to the next rounds of general elections. Well, Ms Mamata Banerjee is an astute politician Yes, as Indians we know very well the history of our languages in India. We guard our language like a worker bee guarding its hive from predators. It is an integral part of our culture. Urdu is already one of the Constitutional languages of India; it is rich in history and culture; it is modern and is spoken by a great many people of India spread over the entire subcontinent. The knowledge of another language is an additional qualification and anybody can make a living out of it.One can even aspire to become a Professor of the subject. Very recently I posted a few emails: one of that mail was headed Are bilinguals cleverer than the monolinguals? Another email dealt with the trilinguals (the wording of the subject headings may be a little different from mine in those mails. A friend of mine here, an Assamese lady, works as interpreter in the Sylheti language. Funnily enough Sylheti is sort of officially recognised language in the United Kingdom. Non-Sylheti speaking Bengalese are debarred from certain Community-related positions under the Boroughs. During my perambulations in Delhi, some forty years ago, I found that official records in a Police station were kept in Urdu. It was usual to find a free Urdu newspaper in the small restaurants for the customers to read. Once I met an Editor of a Hindi fortnightly journal who was not able to read or write Hindi. The Bengalese living in a number of cities in Uttar Pradesh, do not know Bengali well. Whether we like it or not, we in India live in a multilingual, multicultural society. I would not like to predict the political future of the North-East India right now. -bhuban ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] President of Hungary quits in Plagiarism scandal
Dear Friends: I would have missed this interesting article had I not received a print copy of today's International Herald Tribune (03 04 2012). It has been published in many papers worldwide. As the Tribune article is long, I have found a short version of the same and copy it below. If you're interested, you can follow up Google for the longer version. Hungary: President Quits In Plagiarism Scandal Written by: VOA April 2, 2012 Hungary’s President Pal Schmitt has resigned after being stripped of his doctorate over plagiarism. Mr. Schmitt, who was elected to his largely ceremonial office in 2010, said he was stepping down because, in his words, “my personal issue divides my beloved nation rather than unites it.” Last week, Budapest’s Semmelweis University revoked his 1992 doctorate after finding that much of his thesis about the modern Olympic Games had been copied from works of other authors. Mr. Schmitt won gold medals for fencing at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] At 60, catching up after a late start
Dear Friend; Blazing after a late start. Kathy Martin discovered in her late 40s that she was not merely a good runner, but a great one. Now 60, she has the muscle tone of athletes half her age and consistently sets both U.S. and international records. It is from the Global Edition of the New York Times (April3, 2012). www.nytimes.com/.../runner-kathy-martin-60-is-speeding-through-re. I read this article in the Global Edition of the New York Times (April 3, 2012). It is long but Google has it Ah! The Americans!. -bhuban ___ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
Re: [Assam] [assam] Cricket's JuggernautReturns to Action
Dear Friends; This article is from the NY Times this morning (03 04 2012). This is the full version and has escaped the usual block. -bhuban RICKET Cricket's Juggernaut Returns to Action By HUW RICHARDS Published: April 2, 2012 RECOMMEND TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE We already know that the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League,cricket’s most lucrative competition, will start and finish in the same place — Chennai. Nor will anybody be too surprised if the final May 27 is a repeat of the opener Wednesday, when the Chennai Super Kings begin their pursuit of a third consecutive I.P.L. title at home against the Mumbai Indians, the titleholders of the Champions League — the global competition among Twenty20 teams. Nine teams, down from 10 last season, will play a total of 76 Twenty20 matches — sixteen apiece, on a home-and-away schedule, to decide which four will proceed to the four-match playoff stage. In the process a lot of players will become considerably wealthier — notably the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who secured a $2 million contract from Chennai in the rotisserie-style player auction on Feb. 4. By turning many of the world’s leading cricketers into millionaires, the I.P.L. has also transformed the landscape of the game globally. At the same time, though, it faces business challenges of its own. Since last season, India’s national team has fallen from its position atop the world rankings for test cricket. And television ratings for the I.P.L. in 2011 were lower than those of the previous season. “I.P.L. is a different tournament. Twenty20 is fun for fans, and India’s performance will not have an impact on the tournament” was the confident prediction last week by Rajeev Shukla, a vice president with the Board of Control for Cricket in India who took over as I.P.L. chairman last year. He attributed the lower television ratings to the bad timing, with the I.P.L. tournament taking place immediately after India won the Cricket World Cup in the 50-over format. “Last year there was cricket fatigue,” Shukla said. Still, a few incidents over the past few months have raised questions about the commercial strength of the I.P.L. One franchise, Kochi Tuskers, was expelled from the competition after failing to pay a bank guarantee last September. Another club, the Pune Warriors, seemed likely to follow in February when its owner, Sahara, an Indian conglomerate that also sponsors the Indian national team, had a temporary falling-out with the cricket board. But there are signs the tournament still is growing. One proposed deal would let another conglomerate, the Jain Group, take control of the Rajasthan Royals in a move that values the franchise at $226.5 million, more than three times the $67 million paid by the current owners when they set up the club only five years ago. With the tournament’s major sponsorship deals, notably with title sponsor DLF, up for renewal after this season, the I.P.L. needs to make a splash. It is certainly starting confidently enough, with an opening ceremony in Chennai on Tuesday featuring the singer Katy Perry and a wealth of Bollywood film royalty, notably the legendary star Amitabh Bachchan, who will take the oaths of the nine different team captains. The real test, though, will be the quality, and above all the entertainment value, of the cricket itself. Shukla made it clear that the organizers think that means high scores, saying that groundskeepers had been instructed to ensure conditions in which scores of 160 or more from a 20-over innings are the norm. It was no surprise, then, that the Bangalore Challengers worked hard during the off-season to secure the return of Chris Gayle. The flamboyant West Indian was the highest scorer in the 2011 tournament despite missing the first few weeks of the season. His string of ferocious assaults transformed his team from also-rans into the eventual runners-up, with the team losing the final against Chennai. “The expectation is high, based on what happened last year,” Gayle said last week. “But last year is history and we don’t know what the future holds. “I’m not a person to predict and say, yes, I’m going to better 600 odd runs. We’ll have to wait and see. The start is going to be crucial.” Could the South African Richard Levi be the Gayle for this year? Levi attracted no interest at the auction, but he then played the fastest ever-innings of 100 or more in a Twenty20 international, hitting no fewer than 13 sixes against New Zealand, and was snapped up by Mumbai. “You are not going to score 100 from 40 balls every time. The trick is to keep everything as simple as possible and play to your strengths,” said Levi, well aware that most eyes at Mumbai matches will be on his opening partner, Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian legend. “The crowd won’t be cheering for me, they’ll be cheering for their Little Master, but I think it is going
