Thursday, July 31, 2008
United Arab Emirates based Indian-owned firm among top nanotech awardees
A small United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company owned by an Indian, that produces raw materials for the paint industry, is among this year's list of winners of a top nano technology award given by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Gold Valley Chemical Company (GVCC), based in the emirate of Ajman in the UAE, figures among the 50 winners of the 2008 Nano 50 awards announced this month by Nanotech Briefs, the digital publication forum of NASA.
GVCC has been selected for developing a product that incorporates nano technology in its design and operation, "with significant current or near-term commercial applications".
According to GVCC president Adolph Dias, the product that his company has developed White gold - significantly enhances the quality of titanium dioxide, a major chemical used in the paint industry.
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Gold Valley Chemical Company (GVCC), based in the emirate of Ajman in the UAE, figures among the 50 winners of the 2008 Nano 50 awards announced this month by Nanotech Briefs, the digital publication forum of NASA.
GVCC has been selected for developing a product that incorporates nano technology in its design and operation, "with significant current or near-term commercial applications".
According to GVCC president Adolph Dias, the product that his company has developed White gold - significantly enhances the quality of titanium dioxide, a major chemical used in the paint industry.
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Labels: company, emirate if Ajman, Gold Valley Chemical Company, Nano technology, Nanotech Briefs, NASA, UAE, white Gold, winners
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Democrats Barack Obama calls for better India-Pakistan ties
U .S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on July 22 that the U.S.-led war against militants in Afghanistan might be made easier if the United States worked to improve trust between India and Pakistan.
Obama, who is on a foreign fact-finding trip and visited Afghanistan over the weekend, described Afghanistan as the central front in the war against terrorism and said the situation there was "perilous and urgent".
Trying to reduce tensions between traditional rivals India and Pakistan could help, he said.
"A lot of what drives, it appears, motivations on the Pakistan side of the border, still has to do with their concerns and suspicions about India," Obama told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.
"We haven't had a conversation between the Indians and the Pakistanis that has been sustained and meaningful about how they can arrive at a more sensible arrangement between the two countries that could relieve some of the pressure and help us go after ... some of these forces along the border regions."
Relations between India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, have become strained again despite an ongoing peace process.
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Obama, who is on a foreign fact-finding trip and visited Afghanistan over the weekend, described Afghanistan as the central front in the war against terrorism and said the situation there was "perilous and urgent".
Trying to reduce tensions between traditional rivals India and Pakistan could help, he said.
"A lot of what drives, it appears, motivations on the Pakistan side of the border, still has to do with their concerns and suspicions about India," Obama told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.
"We haven't had a conversation between the Indians and the Pakistanis that has been sustained and meaningful about how they can arrive at a more sensible arrangement between the two countries that could relieve some of the pressure and help us go after ... some of these forces along the border regions."
Relations between India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, have become strained again despite an ongoing peace process.
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Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, calls, concerns, india, militants, pakistan, peace, traditional rivals, United states, Washington
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Bloomberg and Gates commit $500 m: invest in India
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced a combined investment of $500 million to India and other developing countries on July 23, to help governments implement proven policies to help control tobacco use. There are more than 1 billion smokers in the world today (more than 1 in 4 adults), and tobacco kills more people than any other single agent.
"Unless urgent action is taken, as many as one billion people this century-more than two thirds in the developing world-could die from tobacco-caused illnesses," said a July 23 release from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bloomberg's Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which was established in 2005 and includes a $125 million commitment, will be extended with a new $250 million, four-year commitment.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will invest $125 million over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative.
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"Unless urgent action is taken, as many as one billion people this century-more than two thirds in the developing world-could die from tobacco-caused illnesses," said a July 23 release from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bloomberg's Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which was established in 2005 and includes a $125 million commitment, will be extended with a new $250 million, four-year commitment.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will invest $125 million over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative.
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Labels: Bill Gates, control, india, investment, Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft, New York Mayor, smokers, tobacco
Monday, July 28, 2008
Internal Revenue Service increases mileage rates through December 31, 2008
The Internal Revenue Service today announced an increase in the optional standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2008.
Taxpayers may use the optional standard rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
The rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008.
This is an increase of eight (8) cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008, as set forth in Rev. Proc. 2007-70.
In recognition of recent gasoline price increases, the IRS made this special adjustment for the final months of 2008.
The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.
"Rising gas prices are having a major impact on individual Americans. Given the increase in prices, the IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the real cost of operating an automobile," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
"We want the reimbursement rate to be fair to taxpayers." .
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Taxpayers may use the optional standard rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
The rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008.
This is an increase of eight (8) cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008, as set forth in Rev. Proc. 2007-70.
In recognition of recent gasoline price increases, the IRS made this special adjustment for the final months of 2008.
The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.
"Rising gas prices are having a major impact on individual Americans. Given the increase in prices, the IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the real cost of operating an automobile," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
"We want the reimbursement rate to be fair to taxpayers." .
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Labels: automobile, bussiness, charitable, gasoline price, impact. Americans, IRS, medical, mileage rates, reimbursement, taxpayers
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Victory Vote clears way for nuclear deal with United States
The Indian government survived a crucial vote of confidence on July 22, clearing the way for the contentious nuclear energy deal with the United States, after a debate peppered with dramatic allegations of backroom lobbying and bribery.
The vote concluded a bitter nine-month battle in support of the deal by the now-beleaguered coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The agreement, which would give India access to the world market for nuclear fuel and technology, must now be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs the trade of nuclear materials. The U.S. Congress would then vote on the accord.
"This vote gives a clear message to the world that India's head and heart are sound and India is prepared to take its rightful place in the comity of nations," said a beaming Singh, whose supporters burst firecrackers and beat celebratory drums in the streets of New Delhi. "I have always said the deal was important and now we know it."
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The vote concluded a bitter nine-month battle in support of the deal by the now-beleaguered coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The agreement, which would give India access to the world market for nuclear fuel and technology, must now be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs the trade of nuclear materials. The U.S. Congress would then vote on the accord.
"This vote gives a clear message to the world that India's head and heart are sound and India is prepared to take its rightful place in the comity of nations," said a beaming Singh, whose supporters burst firecrackers and beat celebratory drums in the streets of New Delhi. "I have always said the deal was important and now we know it."
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Labels: agreement, battle, BJP, celebrations, IAEA, india, Lok Sabha, nuclear deal, Nuclear Suppliers Group, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United states, US Congress, Victory, votes
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Rare Gandhi recording found in Washington, D.C.
A rare recording of a historic speech by Mahatma Gandhi, one of the only two of him speaking in English, made a few months before his assassination has been found in Washington.
It had been lovingly preserved for 60 years by John Cosgrove, a former president of the National Press Club in the U.S. capital, who discovered the significance of the recording during a chance encounter with Rajmohan Gandhi, Mahatma's grandson and biographer.
Cosgrove's copy came from Alfred Wagg, a journalist who recorded the speech in New Delhi and produced four 78-rpm LPs that included both Gandhi's voice as well as Wagg's own commentary about the man revered as Father of the Indian Nation, the Washington Post reported July 1.
The speech made on April 2, 1947 is one of the only two occasions when he was recorded speaking in English, Rajmohan Gandhi told Cosgrove when he came to the National Press Club last April to promote the Mahatma's new biography. The other speech about religious issues was recorded in the 1930s.
Millions of people around the world think they have heard Mahatma Gandhi speaking in English - although it was actually Gandhi channelled through the voice of actor Ben Kingsley in the famous 1982 movie by Richard Attenborough.
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It had been lovingly preserved for 60 years by John Cosgrove, a former president of the National Press Club in the U.S. capital, who discovered the significance of the recording during a chance encounter with Rajmohan Gandhi, Mahatma's grandson and biographer.
Cosgrove's copy came from Alfred Wagg, a journalist who recorded the speech in New Delhi and produced four 78-rpm LPs that included both Gandhi's voice as well as Wagg's own commentary about the man revered as Father of the Indian Nation, the Washington Post reported July 1.
The speech made on April 2, 1947 is one of the only two occasions when he was recorded speaking in English, Rajmohan Gandhi told Cosgrove when he came to the National Press Club last April to promote the Mahatma's new biography. The other speech about religious issues was recorded in the 1930s.
Millions of people around the world think they have heard Mahatma Gandhi speaking in English - although it was actually Gandhi channelled through the voice of actor Ben Kingsley in the famous 1982 movie by Richard Attenborough.
To read the full article, click here..
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Labels: assassination, historic speech, John Cosgrove, journalist, Mahatma Gandhi, New Delhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, Washington
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
3 Bollywood stars featured in list of 10 cell phone celebrities
Three Bollywood stars, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Abhishek Bachchan, feature in Forbes magazine's list of 10 celebrities who are brand ambassadors for different mobile phone companies.
The three Indian actors are joined by football star David Beckham and tennis champion Maria Sharapova on the list released by the magazine.
Sharapova endorses Sony Ericsson phones and Beckham lends his name to the Motorola RAZR2 phone.
While Shah Rukh lends star power to mobile phones made by Nokia, Abhishek and Aamir endorse Motorola and Samsung phones respectively.
The Forbes report said that Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer, "does n't work with many celebrities but makes an exception for Shah Rukh, who says he has used Nokia phones for more than a decade." It added that after a popular commercial last December, the company sponsored Shah Rukh's Indian Premier League cricket team earlier this year.
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The three Indian actors are joined by football star David Beckham and tennis champion Maria Sharapova on the list released by the magazine.
Sharapova endorses Sony Ericsson phones and Beckham lends his name to the Motorola RAZR2 phone.
While Shah Rukh lends star power to mobile phones made by Nokia, Abhishek and Aamir endorse Motorola and Samsung phones respectively.
The Forbes report said that Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer, "does n't work with many celebrities but makes an exception for Shah Rukh, who says he has used Nokia phones for more than a decade." It added that after a popular commercial last December, the company sponsored Shah Rukh's Indian Premier League cricket team earlier this year.
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Labels: Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, brand ambassadors, celebrities, David Beckham, Famous Bollywood stars, Forbes magazine, mobile phone companies, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Shah Rukh Khan
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Shami Chakrabarti is among United Kingdom's top 10 powerful lawyers
Britain's foremost human rights advocate Shami Chakrabarti is among the top 10 most powerful lawyers in The Times' annual list of the Top 100 Club.This is another feather in the cap for Chakrabarti, who is already considered among the top 50 most powerful people in Britain. Knighted by the Queen for her contribution to law and human rights in 2007, she beat Tony Blair and David Cameron in a 2006 vote for Britain's most inspiring figure.
In 2005, she was on the BBC's shortlist of the 10 people who may run Britain.
A law graduate from the London School of Economics, she currently heads one of the world's best known human rights organizations, Liberty. She has recently been appointed as chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.
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Labels: advocate Shami Chakrabarti, Britain, Human rights, law degree, london, Oxford Brookes University, powerful lawyer
India's external ‘conquests' of dharma left art monuments in their wake
It may have been just an accident or it may be reflective of the unique character of Indian civilization. But it is a fact that India has never sent out military expeditions to conquer distant lands.
Since the time of Ashoka the Great (304 BC 232 BC), its conquests have been the conquests of dharma. What an image -- almost comic -- that the armies of the dharma presented to the people they set out to ‘conquer‘!.
Think of the Spanish conquistadores in their shining breastplates, plumed helmets, slit visors, gauntlets, rapiers, matchlock guns! Conquerors are expected to strike terror and awe in the breasts of the natives. Instead, the Buddhist monks must have seemed a ridiculous lot to the civilized Achaemenids of Persia, the neo-Hellenes of Gandhara, or the sophisticated Chinese of the Han times.
Mahatma Gandhi was not the first Indian to face the world in a loincloth. In an illuminating review of an exhibition of Chinese art in the New York Times (Nov. 2, 2007) the art critic Holland Cotter wrote: "What an outlandish sight Buddhist monks must have been when they first turned up more than a millennium ago in China, a land where only criminals - the disgraced and the dangerous - had shaved heads, wore patched-together clothes and begged for food.
"Traveling the Silk Road alone or in pairs, monks had neither homes nor families. This too must have disturbed a Confucian culture that was based on the idea that where you came from was who you were, and that the meaning of life lay in family, in placating ancestors and in producing heirs.
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Since the time of Ashoka the Great (304 BC 232 BC), its conquests have been the conquests of dharma. What an image -- almost comic -- that the armies of the dharma presented to the people they set out to ‘conquer‘!.
Think of the Spanish conquistadores in their shining breastplates, plumed helmets, slit visors, gauntlets, rapiers, matchlock guns! Conquerors are expected to strike terror and awe in the breasts of the natives. Instead, the Buddhist monks must have seemed a ridiculous lot to the civilized Achaemenids of Persia, the neo-Hellenes of Gandhara, or the sophisticated Chinese of the Han times.
Mahatma Gandhi was not the first Indian to face the world in a loincloth. In an illuminating review of an exhibition of Chinese art in the New York Times (Nov. 2, 2007) the art critic Holland Cotter wrote: "What an outlandish sight Buddhist monks must have been when they first turned up more than a millennium ago in China, a land where only criminals - the disgraced and the dangerous - had shaved heads, wore patched-together clothes and begged for food.
"Traveling the Silk Road alone or in pairs, monks had neither homes nor families. This too must have disturbed a Confucian culture that was based on the idea that where you came from was who you were, and that the meaning of life lay in family, in placating ancestors and in producing heirs.
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Labels: China, Chinese art, dharma, Han Times, india, Indian civilization, Mahatma Gandhi, monuments, New York Times, Persia, Silk Road, Spanish
Sunday, July 20, 2008
South African judge Pillay named United Nations Human Rights Commissioner
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was to name South African Judge Navanethem Pillay as the next U.N. human rights commissioner as early as July 18, according to diplomats and U.N. officials.
The daughter of a Tamil bus driver in Durban, Pillay has experienced human-rights violations.
She earned a law degree at Harvard University but was not allowed to set foot in a judge's chambers for 28 years as a lawyer under apartheid because of her South Asian origins.
In 1995, she became the first woman of color to become a judge on the South African High Court.
Pillay, born in 1941, also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to try crimes after the genocide in 1994, and presided over landmark cases in international law in which she established rape as a war crime, convicted a former head of state for atrocities committed during his rule, and prosecuted media for inciting genocide.
She has served for five years on the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Pillay may not be as outspoken as the current commissioner, Canadian Judge Louise Arbour, who often shamed governments and leaders that the secretary-general would not criticize by name.
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The daughter of a Tamil bus driver in Durban, Pillay has experienced human-rights violations.
She earned a law degree at Harvard University but was not allowed to set foot in a judge's chambers for 28 years as a lawyer under apartheid because of her South Asian origins.
In 1995, she became the first woman of color to become a judge on the South African High Court.
Pillay, born in 1941, also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to try crimes after the genocide in 1994, and presided over landmark cases in international law in which she established rape as a war crime, convicted a former head of state for atrocities committed during his rule, and prosecuted media for inciting genocide.
She has served for five years on the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Pillay may not be as outspoken as the current commissioner, Canadian Judge Louise Arbour, who often shamed governments and leaders that the secretary-general would not criticize by name.
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Labels: Durban, first woman, Harvard University, human rights commissioner, law degree, Navanethem Pillay, South Africa High Court, South african Judge, Tamil bus driver, United Nation
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Group of Eight wants broad United Nations deal to halve emissions
T he G8 rich countries said on July 8 they want to work with the nearly 200 states involved in U.N. climate change talks to adopt a goal of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The final climate communique agreed by the Group of Eight leaders at a summit in northern Japan also said mid-term goals would be needed to achieve the shared goal for 2050, but gave no numerical targets.
The statement puts the focus of fighting global warming on U.N.-led talks to create a new framework for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and papers over differences inside the G8 itself. The U.N. talks are set to conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.
The careful wording of the statement -always the most contentious part of summit negotiations -- was also unlikely to satisfy those seeking much more specific targets.
Last year, the G8 club of rich nations -Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States -- agreed merely to "seriously consider" a goal of halving global emissions by mid-century.
The European Union and Japan have been pressing for this year's summit to go beyond that, and Brussels wanted clear interim targets as well.
But U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted that Washington cannot agree to binding targets unless big polluters such as China and India rein in their emissions as well.
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The final climate communique agreed by the Group of Eight leaders at a summit in northern Japan also said mid-term goals would be needed to achieve the shared goal for 2050, but gave no numerical targets.
The statement puts the focus of fighting global warming on U.N.-led talks to create a new framework for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and papers over differences inside the G8 itself. The U.N. talks are set to conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.
The careful wording of the statement -always the most contentious part of summit negotiations -- was also unlikely to satisfy those seeking much more specific targets.
Last year, the G8 club of rich nations -Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States -- agreed merely to "seriously consider" a goal of halving global emissions by mid-century.
The European Union and Japan have been pressing for this year's summit to go beyond that, and Brussels wanted clear interim targets as well.
But U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted that Washington cannot agree to binding targets unless big polluters such as China and India rein in their emissions as well.
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Labels: Canada, emissions, France, G8, Germany, greenhouse gas, india, Italy, Japan, President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UN deal, United Nation, United states
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Largest mosque complex in Canada unveiled by the Ahmadiyyas
Prime Minister Stephen Harper jointly inaugurating Canada's largest mosque complex, the 48,000-square-foot Baitun Nur Mosque in Calgary, Alberta, on July 5, with Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, leader of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslims, praised the community for its belief in peace and brotherhood, as well as its economic success.
The relatively small Canadian Ahmadiyya community, most of whom are recent immigrants from Central and South Asia, has done well in this country. "Ahmadis are renowned for their devotion to peace, universal brotherhood and submission to the will of God - the core principles of true Islam," Harper said.
"They are also renowned for working together to serve the greater good through social, health and education initiatives, as well as mosque projects like this one.
And wherever they live in the world, Ahmadis are renowned for participating in the larger community and peacefully co-existing with people of all faiths, languages and cultures."
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The relatively small Canadian Ahmadiyya community, most of whom are recent immigrants from Central and South Asia, has done well in this country. "Ahmadis are renowned for their devotion to peace, universal brotherhood and submission to the will of God - the core principles of true Islam," Harper said.
"They are also renowned for working together to serve the greater good through social, health and education initiatives, as well as mosque projects like this one.
And wherever they live in the world, Ahmadis are renowned for participating in the larger community and peacefully co-existing with people of all faiths, languages and cultures."
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Labels: Alberta, Baitun Nur Mosque, Calgary, Canada, Canadian Ahmadiyya community, cultures, faiths, Islam, Largest mosque complex, Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Filmmaker Yash Chopra receives ‘Legion d'Honneur'
With posters of some of his blockbuster films like ‘Silsila', ‘Deewaar', ‘Lamhe' and ‘Dil To Pagal Hai' forming the backdrop, legendary Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra was conferred the ‘Legion d'Honneur', France's highest civilian award, at a ceremony in New Delhi on July 5.
"It is truly a joy to be awarding this medal to the master of Indian cinema, Yash Chopra. He has a truly universal form of art and the man is a mark of artistic distinction," French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said.
"The French government has recognized his outstanding achievement in the world of Indian cinema," he added.
The director, who has produced and directed many landmark films in his career spanning almost five decades, has joined the league of Indians like film director Satyajit Ray, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar and actor Amitabh Bachchan in being honored by the French government.
The ambassador pinned the medal on Chopra on behalf of President Nicolas Sarkozy at an official ceremony at the French embassy.
Chopra said, "I thank President Sarkozy for considering me worthy of this honor. This will be a cherished memory and will be with me forever. Fifty-six years back, I used to walk barefoot in Punjab with dreams that I will become a big man some day. But it is only one person who made my dream possible - my brother, guardian and friend B.R. Chopra.
"He brought me to Mumbai and taught me everything. And if there is someone who I am missing today, it is he. He could unfortunately not be here because he is unwell."
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"It is truly a joy to be awarding this medal to the master of Indian cinema, Yash Chopra. He has a truly universal form of art and the man is a mark of artistic distinction," French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said.
"The French government has recognized his outstanding achievement in the world of Indian cinema," he added.
The director, who has produced and directed many landmark films in his career spanning almost five decades, has joined the league of Indians like film director Satyajit Ray, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar and actor Amitabh Bachchan in being honored by the French government.
The ambassador pinned the medal on Chopra on behalf of President Nicolas Sarkozy at an official ceremony at the French embassy.
Chopra said, "I thank President Sarkozy for considering me worthy of this honor. This will be a cherished memory and will be with me forever. Fifty-six years back, I used to walk barefoot in Punjab with dreams that I will become a big man some day. But it is only one person who made my dream possible - my brother, guardian and friend B.R. Chopra.
"He brought me to Mumbai and taught me everything. And if there is someone who I am missing today, it is he. He could unfortunately not be here because he is unwell."
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Labels: achievement, Bollywood, Bollywood film, French, French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont, French government, india, Indian cinema, legendary Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra, New Delhi
Monday, July 14, 2008
Astronaut Sunita Williams receives ‘Padma Bhushan'
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has received India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan for her feat of completing the longest space flight for a woman."It is a great honor. I am elated," said Williams dressed in a purple kurta and matching pleated printed salwar as she received her award from Indian Consul General S.M. Gavai at a function in Houston on July 4.
Among this year's Republic Day honorees, she could not receive the award in person from President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.
Recounting her 195 days stay in space, she said, "Earth looks beautiful from space as there are no borders on the planet. Sometimes we think we have borders because we are male, female, of different religions or have differently colored skin. Well, you don't, they are just in your mind and they are not real.
"I could see this borderless world only after I went to space, but there are people like Mahatma Gandhi, who could visualize all this even without going to space. Gandhiji's vision of keeping people at peace together is really a cornerstone of humanity," Williams added.
Launched to the International Space Station on space shuttle Discovery on December 9, 2006 she returned to earth June 22 after 195 days in space.
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Labels: Astronaut Sunita Williams, award, Indian American astronaut, International Space Station, KalpanaChawla, Padma Bhushan, receives, space flight, space shuttle, woman
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Hindus high-earning, highly-educated immigrants:86% born outside United States
Hindus are largely a highly educated, high earning minority in this country, paralleling the economic achievements of Indian Americans. But 9 percent of them earn $30,000 or less. Most of them are married but very few marry across religious lines. They also have fewer seniors among them than either the national average or the proportion found among other faiths. This is according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Policy's latest study ‘U.S. Religious Landscape Survey' released end of June.
"The Hindu population is comprised of more immigrants than any other," Allison Pond, Research Associate at Pew Forum and one of those involved in the study, told News India Times. "In fact 86 percent of Hindus were born outside of the U.S. and most of them are from South Central Asia"
The study interviewed more than 35,000 people of which Hindus comprised 257. Asked if this was representative, Pond said Pew had actually taken a larger sample than what was in the population.
"A sample size of about 100 is the accepted industry standard to make generalizations, but we have more than double that for Hindus 257. And in order to get that many cases we did an over-sample of Buddhist and Hindus to get more than a random sample would have fetched us."
Hindus are pretty evenly distributed regionally except in the Midwest where only 13 percent of them choose to live (Table 1). The highest proportion (32 percent) lives in the South, followed by the Northeast (29 percent) and the West (26 percent).
Compared to people of other faiths, Hindus (5 percent) along with Muslims (5 percent) and Buddhists (7 percent) have the lowest percentage of people above 65 (Table 3). Hindus have by far the highest percentage (58 percent) of those 3049. The national average for this age group is 36 percent.
There is a dramatic difference between the numbers of males (61percent) and females (39 percent) among Hindus not paralleled in any of the other faiths (Table 5). In a majority of the other faiths women out number men.
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"The Hindu population is comprised of more immigrants than any other," Allison Pond, Research Associate at Pew Forum and one of those involved in the study, told News India Times. "In fact 86 percent of Hindus were born outside of the U.S. and most of them are from South Central Asia"
The study interviewed more than 35,000 people of which Hindus comprised 257. Asked if this was representative, Pond said Pew had actually taken a larger sample than what was in the population.
"A sample size of about 100 is the accepted industry standard to make generalizations, but we have more than double that for Hindus 257. And in order to get that many cases we did an over-sample of Buddhist and Hindus to get more than a random sample would have fetched us."
Hindus are pretty evenly distributed regionally except in the Midwest where only 13 percent of them choose to live (Table 1). The highest proportion (32 percent) lives in the South, followed by the Northeast (29 percent) and the West (26 percent).
Compared to people of other faiths, Hindus (5 percent) along with Muslims (5 percent) and Buddhists (7 percent) have the lowest percentage of people above 65 (Table 3). Hindus have by far the highest percentage (58 percent) of those 3049. The national average for this age group is 36 percent.
There is a dramatic difference between the numbers of males (61percent) and females (39 percent) among Hindus not paralleled in any of the other faiths (Table 5). In a majority of the other faiths women out number men.
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Labels: achievements, earning, economic, faiths, highly educated, hindus, immigrants, Indian Americans, inter religious marriage, United states
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Healing spinal injury with dance therapy: ‘Amazing' !
Come Friday and the corridors of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in Delhi fill up with music. Peep into one of the rooms and you see a lot of happy faces, dancing away on wheelchairs.
In what is possibly the first of its kind in India, a medical care center has introduced dance therapy as a healing tool for its patients.
"The benefits of dance therapy - both psychologically and physically - are not unknown in India. But it is for the first time that it has been introduced in a health care center under medical supervision. Needless to say the results have been amazing," Deepti Aggarwal, head of the lifestyle management department of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), told IANS.
Explaining the benefits of dance therapy which was introduced in the center four months ago, Aggarwal said that dance does not just help one strengthen the muscles but also boosts the confidence of patients and lifts their mood.
"In a spinal cord injury case, a person's physical and mental balance is destroyed. To ask such a person to dance might seem insensitive, but what we are promoting - wheelchair dance - not only acts like a physiotherapy session but also boosts the person's confidence level," she said.
According to Aggarwal, there are two kinds of spinal injuries - paraplegia, when the lower limbs of a person are paralyzed, and quadriplegia, when the upper as well as lower limbs are affected.
"Hand movements for a person suffering from quadriplegia can be painful and finger movements are restricted. But they can move their shoulders and their elbows. Therefore in the first step, the patient learns to propel his wheelchair and move their bodies rhythmically.
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In what is possibly the first of its kind in India, a medical care center has introduced dance therapy as a healing tool for its patients.
"The benefits of dance therapy - both psychologically and physically - are not unknown in India. But it is for the first time that it has been introduced in a health care center under medical supervision. Needless to say the results have been amazing," Deepti Aggarwal, head of the lifestyle management department of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), told IANS.
Explaining the benefits of dance therapy which was introduced in the center four months ago, Aggarwal said that dance does not just help one strengthen the muscles but also boosts the confidence of patients and lifts their mood.
"In a spinal cord injury case, a person's physical and mental balance is destroyed. To ask such a person to dance might seem insensitive, but what we are promoting - wheelchair dance - not only acts like a physiotherapy session but also boosts the person's confidence level," she said.
According to Aggarwal, there are two kinds of spinal injuries - paraplegia, when the lower limbs of a person are paralyzed, and quadriplegia, when the upper as well as lower limbs are affected.
"Hand movements for a person suffering from quadriplegia can be painful and finger movements are restricted. But they can move their shoulders and their elbows. Therefore in the first step, the patient learns to propel his wheelchair and move their bodies rhythmically.
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Labels: dance therapy, delhi, healing, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, patients, psychologically, spinal injury
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Focus on renewable energy for sustainable development
India on June 30 unveiled national plan to deal with the threat of global warming, focusing on renewable energy for sustainable development while refusing to commit to any emission targets that risk slowing economic growth.
The National Action Plan identified harnessing renewable energy, such as solar power, and energy efficiency as central to India's fight against global warming and said a climate change fund would be set up to research "green" technologies.
The national policy reflected India's current stand on climate change and would not please rich western countries asking for more commitment from one of the world's top polluters, experts said.
"Our vision is to make India's economic development energy efficient," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on releasing the national plan. "Our people have a right to economic and social development and to discard the ignominy of widespread poverty."
In spite of its pledge to clean technology, coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -accounting for about 60 percent of generation -with the government planning to add some 70,000 megawatts in the next five years.
In a report released this month, Goldman Sachs said climate change could deplete India's cultivable land area and productivity, reduce labor productivity and increase the threat of toxic and chemical waste in the environment."
Although such dire prognostications are premature, urbanization, industrialization and ongoing global climate change will take a heavy toll on India's environment, if not managed better," it said.
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The National Action Plan identified harnessing renewable energy, such as solar power, and energy efficiency as central to India's fight against global warming and said a climate change fund would be set up to research "green" technologies.
The national policy reflected India's current stand on climate change and would not please rich western countries asking for more commitment from one of the world's top polluters, experts said.
"Our vision is to make India's economic development energy efficient," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on releasing the national plan. "Our people have a right to economic and social development and to discard the ignominy of widespread poverty."
In spite of its pledge to clean technology, coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -accounting for about 60 percent of generation -with the government planning to add some 70,000 megawatts in the next five years.
In a report released this month, Goldman Sachs said climate change could deplete India's cultivable land area and productivity, reduce labor productivity and increase the threat of toxic and chemical waste in the environment."
Although such dire prognostications are premature, urbanization, industrialization and ongoing global climate change will take a heavy toll on India's environment, if not managed better," it said.
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Labels: chemical waste, climate change, environment, global warming, india, industrialization, National Action Plan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reduce, renewable energy, solar power
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Yoga project opens luxury cruise vista in Asia-Pacific
Shanti Devi, a 70-year-old Indian housewife, feels her life has changed on her first foreign trip - a luxury cruise on the South China sea combining tourism with yoga.
She says yoga guru Ramdev's easy breathing exercises have restored her energy and she is equally thankful to Star Cruises, which has made the ‘Yoga on Sea' project possible.
After spending an entire day shopping in this boomtown - San ya City means 'twilight' - Shanti Devi heads for a gala dinner on Superstar Virgo, one of the world's biggest luxury liners cruising off the Chinese coast.
The yoga and Vedic lifestyle cruise on board the Superstar Virgo has been organized by the Hardwar Patanjali Yogpeeth (co-founded by Ramdev) and the Kolkata-based Vishwa Jagriti Mission.
For Star Cruises, it is one of the biggest ‘special interest cruises' with a group of 1,062 people from different countries on board for the Indian yoga tour.
"We have been developing the special interest cruise segment for the past three years. The first benefit of our efforts was seen last year when more than 260 people boarded Superstar Virgo for a seven-day spiritual discourse. ‘Yoga on Sea' is a feather in our cap," Sumit Banerji, senior marketing and sales manager in charge of northern and eastern India and Nepal, Star Cruises, told IANS.
Star Cruises, is building its brand in India. Its target audience is the family segment in the tier two and the tier three Indian cities, which are witnessing an economic boom post-globalization and more foreign travel.
According to Star Cruises officials, one of the major components of their new ‘special interest tourism projects' is health and spiritual cruises like the ongoing five-day ‘Yoga on Sea'.
Star Cruises, set up in September 1993 to make the Asia-Pacific coast an international cruise destination, has seen exponential growth in two core segments in India - the family holiday sector and Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) tourism - since last year.
"We are trying to grow as a leading brand in the family segment, without removing our focus from business travel. The special interest cruises fall under the family segment which has always been our priority in India," Banerji said.
An estimate by the Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) says nearly eight million Indians travel abroad every year and outbound travel from India has been growing at 10.15 percent every year since 2001.
International tour operators put the outbound tourism boom to rapid economic growth, competitive pricing, new airports in urban heartlands, air liberalization which facilitates connectivity, and the rise of the Indian middle class.
To read the full article. click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
She says yoga guru Ramdev's easy breathing exercises have restored her energy and she is equally thankful to Star Cruises, which has made the ‘Yoga on Sea' project possible.
After spending an entire day shopping in this boomtown - San ya City means 'twilight' - Shanti Devi heads for a gala dinner on Superstar Virgo, one of the world's biggest luxury liners cruising off the Chinese coast.
The yoga and Vedic lifestyle cruise on board the Superstar Virgo has been organized by the Hardwar Patanjali Yogpeeth (co-founded by Ramdev) and the Kolkata-based Vishwa Jagriti Mission.
For Star Cruises, it is one of the biggest ‘special interest cruises' with a group of 1,062 people from different countries on board for the Indian yoga tour.
"We have been developing the special interest cruise segment for the past three years. The first benefit of our efforts was seen last year when more than 260 people boarded Superstar Virgo for a seven-day spiritual discourse. ‘Yoga on Sea' is a feather in our cap," Sumit Banerji, senior marketing and sales manager in charge of northern and eastern India and Nepal, Star Cruises, told IANS.
Star Cruises, is building its brand in India. Its target audience is the family segment in the tier two and the tier three Indian cities, which are witnessing an economic boom post-globalization and more foreign travel.
According to Star Cruises officials, one of the major components of their new ‘special interest tourism projects' is health and spiritual cruises like the ongoing five-day ‘Yoga on Sea'.
Star Cruises, set up in September 1993 to make the Asia-Pacific coast an international cruise destination, has seen exponential growth in two core segments in India - the family holiday sector and Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) tourism - since last year.
"We are trying to grow as a leading brand in the family segment, without removing our focus from business travel. The special interest cruises fall under the family segment which has always been our priority in India," Banerji said.
An estimate by the Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) says nearly eight million Indians travel abroad every year and outbound travel from India has been growing at 10.15 percent every year since 2001.
International tour operators put the outbound tourism boom to rapid economic growth, competitive pricing, new airports in urban heartlands, air liberalization which facilitates connectivity, and the rise of the Indian middle class.
To read the full article. click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: Asia-Pacific coast, PATA, san ya city, Shanti Devi, South China sea, Star Cruises, tourism, Yoga, Yoga Guru Ramdev
Monday, July 7, 2008
Police clash with thousands of Kashmiri protestors, angry at transfer of land
Thousands of Muslim protesters angry at transfer of land to a Hindu shrine trust in Kashmir rioted with police and shut down the region for the eighth day on June 30, even after authorities said the decision would be revoked.
In some of the biggest protests since a separatist revolt broke out in 1989, Kashmiris protested the transfer of about 100 acres to a Hindu trust to erect temporary shelters for thousands of Hindu pilgrims annually trekking to a mountain shrine.
They said the move was a conspiracy to change the demography of mainly Hindu India's only Muslim-majority state.
A week of protests, in which four people were shot dead by police, led the state government to say the land move would be revoked. But protesters say they would not stop until they saw the written order.
"I appeal to people to continue peaceful protests till government revokes the order," Kashmir's senior hard line separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani said before leading a protest in downtown Srinagar.
Shops, businesses, schools and government offices remained closed across the Kashmir valley, police said.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has not given a time frame for revoking the decision.
But Hindus in Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir where Hindus are in a majority, protested the government's "back down" and carried out a strike.
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In some of the biggest protests since a separatist revolt broke out in 1989, Kashmiris protested the transfer of about 100 acres to a Hindu trust to erect temporary shelters for thousands of Hindu pilgrims annually trekking to a mountain shrine.
They said the move was a conspiracy to change the demography of mainly Hindu India's only Muslim-majority state.
A week of protests, in which four people were shot dead by police, led the state government to say the land move would be revoked. But protesters say they would not stop until they saw the written order.
"I appeal to people to continue peaceful protests till government revokes the order," Kashmir's senior hard line separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani said before leading a protest in downtown Srinagar.
Shops, businesses, schools and government offices remained closed across the Kashmir valley, police said.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has not given a time frame for revoking the decision.
But Hindus in Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir where Hindus are in a majority, protested the government's "back down" and carried out a strike.
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Labels: angry, clash, Ghulam Nabi Azad, government, Hindu shrine trust, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri protestors, majority, people, pilgrims, Police, Srinagar, transfer of land
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Shilpa Shetty receives Britain's 2008 Global Diversity award
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and racing driver Lewis Hamilton and have been awarded Britain's Global Diversity award for 2008 for their contribution to the diversity agenda.Shetty became famous in Britain last year after she was subjected to alleged bullying and racism in the television reality show ‘Celebrity Big Brother'. Her treatment - by some other participants in the popular show - became the subject of a heated row in India.
However, she was universally praised by British commentators for showing restraint.
Hamilton was also subjected to racial abuse. On February 4 this year, he was racially abused by spectators during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) warned the Spanish authorities about such behavior and announced it would launch a 'Race Against Racism' campaign.
The awards were presented on July 1 night at an event attended by British Foreign Minister David Miliband MP and Culture Minister Andy Burnham among others.
The event was hosted by the Next Steps Foundation, an organization established 10 years ago by MPs Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz to encourage diversity in both the public and private sectors.
The evening also highlighted the European Year of Inter cultural Dialogue that invites European nations to celebrate diversity in Europe.
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Labels: Bollywood actress, Britain, Britain's Global Diversity award, campaign, Celebrity Big Brother, Euroean Year, Europe, FIA, Lewis Hamilton, Race, Racism, reality show, Shilpa Shetty, Spain
Friday, July 4, 2008
Shyam Bhatia's book says Bhutto gave nuclear secrets to North Korea
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, on a state visit to North Korea in 1993, smuggled in critical data on uranium enrichment - a route to making a nuclear weapon - to help facilitate a missile deal with Pyongyang, according to a new book by a journalist who knew the slain politician well.The assertion is based on conversations that the author, Shyam Bhatia, had with Bhutto in 2003, in which she said she would tell him a secret "so significant that I had to promise never to reveal it, at least not during her lifetime," Bhatia writes in ‘Goodbye, Shahzadi,' which was published in India in May.
Bhutto was slain in December while campaigning to win back the prime minister's post.
The account, if verified, could advance the timeline for North Korea's interest in uranium enrichment. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a research organization on nuclear weapons programs, said the assertion "makes sense," because there were signs of "funny procurements" in the late 1980s by North Korea that suggested a nascent effort to assemble an uranium enrichment project.
Pakistan - and, in particular, a nuclear smuggling ring run by Pakistani metallurgist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was instrumental in develop ing a Pakistani nuclear bomb - has long been suspected as a source of expertise for North Korea, but such high-level government involvement always has been denied.
In 2002, after observing a series of suspect North Korean purchases, the Bush administration accused Pyongyang of having a clandestine program to produce highly enriched uranium - a charge that helped sink a Clinton-era deal that had frozen North Korea's plutonium-based reactor. North Korea insists that it had no such program, though it recently agreed to "acknowledge" U.S. concerns as part of an agreement to disable its nuclear reactor.
Nadeem Kiani, spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy, denounced Bhatia's account as "an absurd and baseless claim," adding, "It has no iota of truth and not even worth commenting."
Bhatia is a London-based investigative reporter who has written four other books, including one of the earliest accounts of India's nuclear program. Bhatia said he first met Bhutto at Oxford University in 1974 and kept contact with her until just weeks before she was killed.
George Perkovich, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, knows Bhatia and cited his book in Perkovich's own study of the Indian program. "He is very smart, a serious guy, and the work he did on the Indian nuclear program has held up really well," Perkovich said.
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Labels: author, Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Goodbye, North Korea, nuclear weapon, Oxford University, pakistan, Shahzadi, Shyam Bhatia, Uranium
Rakhi Sawant - ‘Kashmera Shah made me famous by playing my role'
Bollywood's celebrated item girl Rakhi Sawant loves publicity of all kinds - positive or negative. And she doesn't mind even if it comes from her rival Kashmera Shah."Whether she loves me or hates me, she has made me famous by playing my role," Sawant told IANS on telephone from Mumbai.
Shah apparently played an item girl named Rakhi who aspires to become an actress in a musical called ‘City of Dreams' held in Mumbai recently.
But the ‘Jungle' girl maintained that her role had no resemblance to Sawant.
Sawant, however, asserts that it was undoubtedly a character inspired by her life.
"Kashmera definitely played Rakhi Sawant's role in that play. It was entirely based on me," said Sawant, who has just won a reality dance contest, ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa'.
"But even if it wasn't Kashmera, somebody else would have surely played the role," Sawant added.
Asked if she would ever play a role based on Shah's life, she remarked, "No, never! I would never play any such role."
She added, "Kashmera is such a girl that you befriend her and then she would backstab you.
She never talks anything positive. I associate only negativity with her."
Sawant's remarks are a continuation of the war of words between the two Bollywood item girls.
Shah had recently said of Sawant, "I love to hate her and I hate to love her."
Sawant and Shah's rivalry goes back to Sony TV's reality show ‘Big Boss', where the two were participants. They started off as good pals but their relations soured during the show. The duo accused each other of maligning their image to gain sympathy votes.
Their relationship only worsened during reality dance show ‘Nach Baliye 3', in which they even took personal potshots at each other.
Rivalry apart, Sawant is currently basking in the happiness of finally winning ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa'.
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Labels: Big Boss, Bollywood, Bollywood Item girl, famous, Kashmera Shah, mumbai, Nach Baliye 3, publicity, Rakhi Sawant, reality dance contest, Sony TV's reality show, Yeh Hai Jalwa
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Anil Ambani group close to deal with Spielberg's studio
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is close to clinching a deal with the Steven Spielberg-founded Hollywood studio Dream Works to invest $500-600 million towards equity, a leading business paper has said.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the cash from the Indian group would allow Spielberg and his associates to end their existing pact with Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom's Sumner Redstone.
The agreement is expected to result in a new company that will make six-seven movies every year and give Ambani a foothold in Hollywood, which his group is strongly seeking, the paper reported.
"I would not like to comment on this," an official with Reliance's entertainment division told IANS from Mumbai, when asked about the reported talks.
Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment had announced in Cannes last month it would make a major foray into Hollywood and fund production houses run by actors like Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and George Clooney.
This marked the biggest foray of an Indian entity in Hollywood's motion picture industry.
Thirty films are likely to emanate from Reliance's co-financing and 10 will go into production, company officials had said.
Rajesh Sawhney, president of Reliance Big Entertainment, is leading the group's Hollywood foray. He was chief operating officer at Times Internet Ltd, part of the Times of India group.
The Anil Ambani group, with interests in telecom, financial services, media and entertainment, is expected to get a large stake in the new company once the deal with Spielberg and associates is finalized.
DreamWorks, which made action films like ‘Blades of Glory' last year and ‘Dreamgirls' in 2006, would seek another $500 million in debt elsewhere to give its new venture enough operating money to make half a dozen films a year.
To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
The Wall Street Journal reported that the cash from the Indian group would allow Spielberg and his associates to end their existing pact with Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom's Sumner Redstone.
The agreement is expected to result in a new company that will make six-seven movies every year and give Ambani a foothold in Hollywood, which his group is strongly seeking, the paper reported.
"I would not like to comment on this," an official with Reliance's entertainment division told IANS from Mumbai, when asked about the reported talks.
Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment had announced in Cannes last month it would make a major foray into Hollywood and fund production houses run by actors like Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and George Clooney.
This marked the biggest foray of an Indian entity in Hollywood's motion picture industry.
Thirty films are likely to emanate from Reliance's co-financing and 10 will go into production, company officials had said.
Rajesh Sawhney, president of Reliance Big Entertainment, is leading the group's Hollywood foray. He was chief operating officer at Times Internet Ltd, part of the Times of India group.
The Anil Ambani group, with interests in telecom, financial services, media and entertainment, is expected to get a large stake in the new company once the deal with Spielberg and associates is finalized.
DreamWorks, which made action films like ‘Blades of Glory' last year and ‘Dreamgirls' in 2006, would seek another $500 million in debt elsewhere to give its new venture enough operating money to make half a dozen films a year.
To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: Anil Ambani, Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood studio Dream Works, invest, mumbai, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Reliance Big Entertainment, Steven Speilberg, telecom, Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Hindu American Foundation says the film is ‘Vulgar but not Hinduphobic'
Bowing to continued pressure from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) demanding a pre-screening of the film, ‘The Love Guru', Paramount Pictures requested the Foundation to view the film just hours before its release on June 19 night.More than two dozen members of the local Hindu community gathered at a movie theater in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, along with Foundation leaders to take in a screening of the film and then met to fill out a special survey and offer comments and criticisms.
HAF agreed to view the film, even at the eleventh hour. The film depicts Mike Myers as the Guru Pitka, an American raised in India to missionary parents, who establishes an ashram in California seeking fortune as a self-help expert.
The story follows the character as he seeks fame in bringing together a hockey player and his estranged wife.
The film is portrayed as a satirical spoof of self-help coaches, but the film's main character is clearly inspired by Hindu spiritual leaders from India gleaned from the attire and mannerisms of Myers' character.
"The film in the opinion of many of our attendees, too often tasteless in its puerile choice of humor," said Aseem Shukla, member of the Foundation's Board of Directors.
"Very few of the Hindus viewing the film, however, found it overtly anti-Hindu or meanspirited, indeed no Hindu or Sanskrit terms beyond guru or ashram are ever used in the film.
But given the costumes and overall concept of the film, Paramount would have done well to issue a disclaimer in the opening sequence that the characters and events are not based on Hindu spiritual masters.
Viewers filling out the survey were unanimous in their opinion that popular media's coverage of Hinduism does not accurately reflect the belief systems and practices of Hindus, and most agreed that the film will be widely seen as a satire of a Hindu character--though this is never overtly stated in the film.
But the majority of respondents denied that the average American viewer of the film will assume that the teachings of the Myers character are based on precepts of Hinduism. "This film was so over-the-top as a satire, that it could not be mistaken with real Hindu traditions," said Shyam Shivramakrishnan, a University of Minnesota doctoral student and HAF member attending the screening.
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Labels: ashram, California, criticism, Hindu community, Hindu American Foundation, hollywood movie, Mike Myers, The Love Guru
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