Nomination for presidential poll filed

New Delhi, June 28,2012: The race to elect India’s 13th president formally began Thursday with both UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee and his rival Purno Sangma filing their nominations for the July 19 contest. The result will be out July 22. While Mukherjee sought the “blessing of god and cooperation of all” to get elected, Sangma termed his candidature “a victory of tribal unity.” Both Mukherjee and Sangma said they will start their campaign Saturday, and expressed the hope that the mercurial Mamata Banerjee would rally on their side. While opposed to Mukherjee, Banerjee has still not supported Sangma. “I only wish at this time that we have the blessing of god and cooperation of all at this juncture,” Mukherjee told reporters. He thanked the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Shiv Sena for their support. “I was fortunate, honoured and humbled to be nominated by UPA. The nomination was endorsed by a large number of political parties. I seek support of all those, including Trinamool, who have not yet decided,” Mukherjee said. He clarified that it was the 14th presidential election to elect the 13th president of the country as the first president, Rajendra Prasad, was elected twice to the country’s highest office. The nominations became an opportunity for the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the opposition to show their strength. Mukherjee was accompanied by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Ajit Singh, Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Indian Union Muslim League’s E. Ahmed and senior DMK leaders. Supporting Sangma, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and party leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were present during his nomination. “Today is a victory of tribal unity, that a tribal is filing his nomination for the post of president,” Sangma said ahead of submitting his papers. Sangma clarified he was a candidate sponsored by the Tribal Forum of India, nominated by the chief ministers of Odisha and Tamil Nadu and backed by BJP and other NDA allies. “I am very happy to get the support of such political parties — from tribal to that of northeast. It is insignificant where I am coming from,” said Sangma after filing his nomination. Sangma lamented that the Congress did not welcome the candidature of a tribal for the post of president despite the community having stood by the party. “We wanted to express that tribals in India have all along stood by the Congress. We had expected Congress would welcome our request. However, the Congress did not come out in support of tribals,” he said. “We sought an appointment to meet Congress president (Sonia Gandhi). We were asked to wait in the Central Hall (of parliament) consecutively for three days. But we could not get an appointment.” Before filing his nomination, Sangma added a bit of colour to his campaign by joining a group of tribal dancers who performed at the Constitution Club and played the drums to express their happiness. Rajya Sabha secretary general V.K. Agnihotri is the returning officer for the July 19 presidential poll, in which the UPA nominee appears to have an edge over Sangma.

Shed fear, invest in Afghan opportunity: India

New Delhi, June 28,2012: India Thursday unveiled its vision of promoting economic rejuvenation and stability of Afghanistan by asking companies from the region to invest in that country in the spirit of solidarity, despite the risks, and called for CEOs to replace generals to lead the country’s reconstruction. “We need to offer a narrative of opportunity to counter the anxiety of withdrawal, uncertainty, instability and foreign interference,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the first regional conclave organised in India to encourage private sector investment in Afghanistan. “India will continue to pursue its vision to stabilize Afghanistan through trade and investment and regional cooperation,” he said while jointly inaugurating the conclave with his Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul. “We invite international investors and regional countries to join in this vision for Afghanistan individually or in partnership with others,” he said. Afghanistan robustly backed this approach. “I believe greater investments results in increased economic national activities in any country including, but not limited to, additional revenues, job creation, income generation opportunities which in turn leads to increased prosperity and service delivery,” said Rassoul. Over 80 Afghan companies, 130 Indian companies and 70 international companies from 33 countries, including Pakistan, China, Iran and the Gulf countries, participated in the summit. The Afghan delegation included five senior ministers, including Rassoul, Commerce and Industry Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani and Agriculture Minister Mohd. Asef Rahimi. The recommendations of the day-long investment conclave will be submitted as a framework at the Tokyo Conference July 8 where international donors will pledge funds for Afghanistan after international troops leave the violence-torn country in 2014. The key recommendations of the summit included providing the private sector investment protection and risk mitigation, providing incentives for investing in Afghanistan, and the creation of an international fund for SMEs. The conclave identified key sectors for investment in Afghanistan that included natural resources, manufacturing, infrastructure, agriculture, IT and telecommunications. Acknowledging the security concerns of businesses about risks of investment in Afghanistan in the run-up to the phased withdrawal of international troops by 2014, Krishna exhorted the companies from the region to act in solidarity, saying if companies invest together and in numbers, they will all benefit from the collective security of venturing together. “Investments can provide that hope for employment, training and opportunity for the future. We encourage our industries to venture into Afghanistan in numbers together with Afghan partners,” he said. “We feel that foreign investment and domestic private sector development, both small and large scale, can play that role. Let the grey suits of company executives take the place of olive green or desert brown fatigues of soldiers; and chief executive officers, the place of (military) generals,” he said. “They can also play a larger stabilizing role,” he added.
Noting that the military withdrawal should not result in a political or security vacuum that will be filled by extremists once again, the Indian minister said there should be “something productive” in its place. “This vision requires international support in the form of institutional finance and foreign investment,” he said, recognising the presence of representatives from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions at the day-long event. Dispelling security fears, senior ministers from Afghanistan assured Indian investors a business-friendly environment and said there are 17 key sectors, including mines, cement, steel and agriculture, in which they can invest and reap good returns. “Please don’t write off Afghanistan. We are willing to pay personal attention to facilitate your investment in our country,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady here. “We allow 100 percent foreign ownership of enterprises, easy repatriation of profits, treat foreign investors identical to domestic ones, and we allow accelerated depreciation,” said Ahady. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma described Afghanistan as a country close to India’s heart and said Indian companies will be offering cutting-edge technologies and expertise for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He also announced that he would soon lead an Indian business delegation to Afghanistan, in a bid to enhance economic engagements between the two countries. “The visit will happen soon. Officials of the two countries will work out the dates,” Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan here.

Be responsive to expat’s needs, Krishna tells Indian missions

New Delhi, June 27,2012: Ahead of his outreach visit to Central Asia in the first week of July, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Wednesday said he had asked embassies and consulates to be “responsive” and “proactive” in mitigating problems of expatriates living around the world. Krishna will be meeting heads of Indian missions in the region next week. Over the last few months, he has held such interactions on a regional basis in Singapore, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Madrid and Havana. “In the meetings (with heads of Indian missions) that I have been having in various regions of the world, what we have done is to try analyse the various issues and problems of Indian expatriates in the respective countries, and how they look at the global developments of the region,” Krishna said. “The feedback that I have got so far is that this has served an important and useful purpose of the ambassadors in that region trying to share their perceptions, views and experience with their colleagues and their counterparts,” Krishna said. Based on the interaction, the ministry of external affairs will prepare an assessment and provide the needed inputs. Krishna said the message he had been persistently providing to the heads of missions is to “treat our own people well”. Giving examples of racial attacks against Indians in Australia a couple of years ago, Krishna said the Indian missions in Sydney and Melbourne had begun walk-in meetings with officers for Indians on Fridays. “With that, the problems of Indians in Australia has been substantially solved, if not eliminated. “So, in many other nations, particularly where we have a large expatriate population making substantial remittances to India, it is all the more reason why our embassies and consulates should be more responsive and proactive in terms of mitigating their problems.” “Particularly in the Gulf region, when they are in distress, their issues need to be taken up and resolved. This has helped quite a bit in addressing the Indians’ concerns abroad,” he added.

Trinidad’s Indian-origin ex-PM freed of corruption charges

Port of Spain, June 28,2012: Basdeo Panday, Trinidad and Tobago’s first Indian-origin prime minister, has been acquitted of charges of failing to declare his assets in a London bank. Panday was facing three charges under the Integrity in Public Life Act 1987, for failing to declare assets amounting to approximately $250,000 held at the National Westminister Bank of Wimbledon Hill Road, London, for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999. In April 2006, Panday spent five days at the maximum security prison here before being granted bail on the basis of ill health. Magistrate Marcia Murray of the Integrity Commission, in giving her decision in favour of Panday, said the commission had failed to advise the president of Trinidad and Tobago to appoint a tribunal to enquire into Panday’s declarations. “Mr. Panday was not given the opportunity to which he was entitled to be heard by a properly constituted tribunal. The referral of Mr. Panday’s declarations to the Director of Public Persecutions was therefore ill-conceived, and it matters not that the Director of Public Persecutions found that there was sufficient evidence to lay the charges,” Murray said. “In the court’s view, failing to accord Mr. Panday due process under the act amounts to misconduct on the part of the Commission,” Murray said. Because of the case, Panday’s political career came into question even within his own party, the United National Congress. In January 2010, he lost the leadership battle to Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who later became prime minister in May that year. Panday has since then been out of frontline politics, but with the court matter now out of his way, may take a chance to come back in the political arena. The former prime minister has been in active politics since 1966. He earlier led the powerful All Trinidad Sugar and Factories Workers’ Union which eventually propelled him to politics. Panday became the first prime minister of Indian origin in 1995 and remained in power until 2001. His forefathers hail from Uttar Pradesh. They came to the Caribbean between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations. Around 44 percent of the country’s population of 1.3 million people are of Indian origin.

Put service tax on NRI remittances on hold: Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram, June 27,2012: Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put on hold the service tax on remittances by non-resident Indians (NRIs). In his letter to the prime minister Wednesday, Tharoor pointed out that the decision to impose 12.36 per cent service tax on remittances to India by NRIs with effect from July 1 has generated tremendous resentment across Kerala. “The imposition of the service tax will adversely affect millions of Keralities, especially those working in low-paid jobs in the Gulf region. This tax of Rs.1,236 for every Rs.10,000 sent home will be an unbearable burden on these ordinary people… and their dependent families at home,” he said. He called for keeping the decision in abeyance pending a more detailed examination of the “adverse implications” of the move. Tharoor argued that this was a short-sighted measure which risked diverting remittances to hawala channels and tempting otherwise law-abiding citizens to indulge in undesirable malpractices. “At a time when the country needs to attract inward remittances and investment, any measure which discourages these should not be contemplated,” he said in the letter. According to the latest study by the Centre for Development Studies, the total remittances in Kerala in 2011 was estimated at Rs.49,695 crore compared to Rs.43,288 crore in 2008. The study also revealed that the number of Kerala emigrants living abroad in 2011 was estimated at 2.28 million, up from 2.19 million in 2008.

Abu Jindal’s arrest exposes Pakistani role: US expert

Washington, June 27,2012: Noting that India’s arrest of terror suspect Abu Jindal has exposed Pakistan’s role in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, a US expert has asked Islamabad to take action against all those involved, including serving intelligence officials. Jindal’s alleged confession that “Pakistani intelligence officials were present in the control room from which he directed the attackers is explosive,” wrote Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow for South Asia at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation Tuesday. “If true, these accusations will undermine an already shaky US-Pakistan relationship and further tarnish Pakistan’s global image,” she said noting the US likely assisted India in tracking Jindal and may have even weighed in to pressure the Saudis to deport him to India. Noting that Islamabad has dragged its feet on investigating and prosecuting 26/11 suspects, Curtis said: “Pakistan must take action against any individuals involved in the Mumbai attacks, even if it means punishing serving intelligence officials.” “Doing otherwise would only hasten the country’s international isolation and slide toward pariah state status.” Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland Tuesday reiterated US support for India’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. “We obviously have long supported and called for the arrest and prosecution and conviction of all of those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, because we lost six of our own,” she said. Nuland said the US also encouraged both India and Pakistan to continue to strengthen and deepen the dialogue that they have with each other. “They’ve made good progress together in the last 18 months on economic issues, and we’re hopeful that that kind of increasing trust can be built on in other areas.”

Pakistan continues to be international migraine: Albright

 New Delhi, June 26,2012: Pakistan continues to be an “international migraine” with a host of problems like extremism, non-proliferation, poverty and a weak government, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says, adding that India can help resolve the migraine. Delivering a lecture here Monday night on “2012: A year of Political Change,” Albright, who served under president Bill Clinton, took note of improving business ties between India and Pakistan and said in a lighter vein that India can resolve the “migraine.” Albright enumerated problems of ethnic conflicts, India-Pakistan relations, the situation in Afghanistan and tensions over the South China Sea as some of the problems that the world is confronting in the 21st century. Noting that the US’ ties with Pakistan continue to be difficult, Albright said that people continued to worry about nuclear weapons of Pakistan and their safety. “Pakistan needs to learn how to deal with extremism and the issue of nuclear non-proliferation. The US is in a difficult situation to resolve this. It is central to many problems,” she said. As for US-China ties, Albright said Washington viewed Beijing as “a friend and a potential enemy”, but is trying to look for areas of synergy with the rising power, “We (the US) are friends and potential enemies,” Abright said while referring to the challenges thrown by a rising China. “We are always looking for areas of synergy. We keep looking for commonalities to make things work out,” she said. She was alluding to the blow-hot, blow-cold relations between the US and China amid speculation that the US was crafting a China containment strategy in the Asia-Pacific. “China is a rising power. We have a multi-faceted view of China,” said Albright, the first US woman secretary of state.

Indian-American engineer-physicist named US varsity VC

Washington, June 19,2012:  Mitra Dutta, a distinguished Indian-American engineer-physicist, who has studied at Guwahati and Delhi universities, has been named vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.Dutta, a former senior executive with the US Army Research Office, has served as interim vice chancellor at one of America’s leading research universities since January, overseeing a research enterprise with annual expenditures of more than $340 million.Announcing her appointment, Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares said: “Dr. Dutta’s outstanding performance as interim vice chancellor and her distinguished record as a researcher, administrator and teacher make her the ideal choice to take on this vital role.”In accepting the position, Dutta said, “It’s a privilege to serve in this position and work with so many excellent researchers across our campus. We want to provide the best environment possible for our faculty to carry on their important work.”The vice chancellor is responsible for the enhancement of excellence in research throughout the campus, and assuring academic integrity in research endeavours and compliance with federal, state and local regulations pertaining to research, including protection of human participants in research trials.
Dutta joined Illinois University in 2001 to head the newly formed department of electrical and computer engineering.A longtime senior researcher and director with the Army laboratories who supervised $310 million in grants to universities, she is past recipient of the Society of Women Engineers’ Achievement Award, the organization’s highest honour. Dutta has authored about 300 journal publications and book chapters and co-authored or co-edited seven books. She has 30 patents and several more in application status.Since joining Illinois University, she has been principal or co-principal investigator on about 20 grants totalling more than $7.5 million.Dutta received a BSc from Gauhati University, an MSc in physics from the University of Delhi, and a master’s and doctorate in physics from the University of Cincinnati.

Jindal calls Obama ‘most liberal, most incompetent’

 
Washington, June 9,2012: Louisiana’s Indian American governor Bobby Jindal, frequently mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate, has called President Barack Obama “the most liberal, most incompetent president in the White House since Jimmy Carter,” “The Obama administration is at the nexus of liberalism and incompetence and together that’s a deadly combination,” said Republican Jindal in a scathing critique of Obama at the Chicago Conservative Political Action Conference Friday. Jindal, who has not yet campaigned with likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said the private sector is like a foreign country to Obama and his administration was “lurching” America toward European-style socialism. “I suspect that many in the Obama administration really don’t believe in private enterprise. At best they see business as something to be endured so that that it can provide tax money for government programmes,” said Jindal. Responding to Obama’s statement that the private sector was doing fine, he added: “Mr. President, I’ve got a message for you: The private sector is not doing well when 23 million Americans are unemployed and underemployed in this great country. “This president, the private sector is so foreign to him he might need a passport to actually go visit and he might need a translator to help him talk to folks in the private sector.” Jindal gave a standard expression of disinterest when asked about his name coming up as a possible vice presidential candidate. “I’ve got the job that I want,” he told reporters after his speech.

A British school where pupils speak 31 languages

London, June 9,2012: A primary school in Britain has its own quality of “unity in diversity”. Its pupils speak 31 different languages including Bangla and Sylheti forms of Bengali, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi besides English and several other European tongues. The English Martyrs’ Catholic School in Birmingham has 414 pupils, the Daily Mail reported. Children attending the school who speak English as their first language are in a tiny minority. The other languages include Afrikaans, Arabic — Iraqi, Lingala, Sudanese and Yemeni forms, Czech, Dutch, Gaelic, Gurmukhi, Hindko, Jamaican Patois, Kachi, Mirpuri, Nepalese, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese, Swiss French and Yoruba. Mirpuri and Hindko are both from Pakistan. Despite the challenges facing teachers, the diversity appears to have improved results at the school. School head Evelyn Harper attributes high exam scores to the value many of the pupils’ home cultures place on learning. Last year, 91 percent of pupils achieved the benchmark level four or above in English, and 89 percent in maths. The school sometimes uses translators, as well as a “buddy” system where new students are paired with one already at the school who has the same mother-tongue and can help them start picking up English words. Figures obtained by the Birmingham Mail revealed that more than 120 languages are spoken across the city’s schools. Despite being a Catholic school, the majority of pupils at English Martyrs hail are from a Pakistani background. Latest government figures show that pupils who speak English as their first language are now in the minority at more than a quarter of Birmingham schools. Records from the Department for Education showed a majority of students at 117 of the city’s 430 primary and secondary schools listed a different language as their mother tongue. The English Martyrs school recently celebrated its centenary. It was a mainly Irish Catholic background in the 1950s and 60s. Around 11 percent of students are currently Catholic.

US courts act in New York Hindu temple row

New York, June 9,2012: A US court has told a Long Island pharmacist to stay away from the elderly president of a Kali temple here after allegations of embezzlement led to an attack on the latter. The court has issued a temporary order of protection against pharmacist Suman Saha following his alleged assault on the president of New York Kali Mandir Hindu Temple, The 72-year-old Nayak is a left-leg amputee. According to court documents, Saha was arraigned in Nassau county criminal court Monday before Judge Douglas LeRose where the temporary order of protection was issued. The order prohibits Saha from having any contact with Nayak and requires him to return June 14 to Nassau County district court in front of Judge Sharon Gianelli. Nayak alleged he was physically attacked May 13 in a locked room by Saha and several fellow officials of the temple. This was allegedly done to cover up Nayak’s discovery of inappropriate financial dealings by the temple’s previous president, Kumar Sankar Mandal. Nayak said in a statement: “I have spent the early part of my tenure as president of New York Kali Mandir trying to clarify our financial position and ensure a successful and secure resource for our Hindu community. “It is shocking and disheartening that members of our religious community would not only misappropriate the funds of our temple, but then resort to thuggery and violence in order to try to cover it up. “This is a sad time for our community, but I urge members to come together in peace and harmony and demonstrate that these behaviours are not demonstrative of our beliefs and culture and will not be tolerated by our community.”

Rajat Gupta’s alleged tips were publicly known: Defence

 
New York, June 9,2012: Lawyers of Rajat Gupta, former Indian American director of Goldman Sachs Group, have questioned the prosecution charge that he leaked secret tips to convicted hedge billionaire Raj Rajaratnam by suggesting the alleged information was publicly known. Cross examined Friday by defence lawyer Gary Naftalis at Gupta’s trial on insider trading charges in Manhattan federal court, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein acknowledged that senior firm executives had briefed outside analysts in July 2008 on the likelihood that Goldman Sachs would acquire a bank. “Items that your senior management disclosed to analysts are no longer confidential?” Naftalis asked. “Yes,” Blankfein responded. Questioning an allegation that Gupta leaked tips on Oct 23, 2008, about Goldman Sachs’s unprecedented losses after learning of them at a meeting that afternoon, Naftalis confronted Blankfein with a news iten published that morning disclosing Goldman’s plans, as-yet unannounced, to cut 10 percent of its staff. Blankfein acknowledged that board members had probably been briefed about losses as early as Oct 13, but didn’t recall the news story or the voice mail he distributed to the firm’s 32,500 employees after the report came out. In court, Naftalis had Blankfein read part of the transcript of the voice mail, including the sentence, “We regret that many of you heard of this decision from news accounts.” US prosecutors rested their insider-trading case against Gupta Friday following 13 days of testimony from 20 witnesses. Galleon hedge fund co-founder Rajaratnam was convicted of insider trading last year and is serving an 11-year prison sentence.

Two Indian-Americans indicted for defrauding hundreds in US

 
WASHINGTON,June 8,2012: Two Indian-Americans in California have been indicted on charges of defrauding hundreds of home owners and other customers along with mail and wire fraud and international money laundering. Sharanjit Kaur, 36, and Baljit Singh, 47, both of Fresno in California now faces sentencing of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. The indictment alleges that between July 2010 and June 2011, Kaur and Singh owned and operated several companies based in Fresno for the sole purpose of defrauding hundreds of customers throughout the US. Kaur and Singh touted to potential customers that their businesses,Consumer Financial Services, Consumer Credit Repair and Client Financial Services, could provide debt consolidation services. They also falsely promised that they could renegotiate debts with creditors and mortgage lenders, obtain low-interest loans for customers, assist in avoiding lawsuits, lower car payments, replace high-interest credit cards with low-interest ones, and correct errors in credit reports. Kaur and Singh used a call center in India whose employees would call customers using aliases such as ‘Neil McKenzie’ or ‘Anthony Jones’, the Justice Department said. The indictment alleges that after luring customers into using these purported services, Kaur, Singh and their agents instructed customers to send in monthly payments of USD 500 or more. Even though they collected regular payments from customers, the defendants did not contact creditors on behalf of customers, it alleges. “Nor were customers informed that the defendants were not in fact providing the promised debt renegotiation services. To mislead customers as to the status of their debts, the defendants sent fake letters from creditors indicating that the customers’ loan modifications had been approved,” it said. “When customers would contact the defendants’ companies about late-payment or default notices they had received from their creditors, the defendants and their agents would either hang up on customers or request that customers continue to make service payments to the defendants,” the Justice Department statement said. Customers sent over $400,000 in payments to the defendants.
According to the indictment, Kaur and Singh used the funds received from customers for their own benefit. Kaur and Singh also wired a portion of the funds to an individual in Kolkata.

Indian firm didn’t own plane that crashed in Nigeria

Accra, June 6,2012: An aircraft in Nigeria that crashed killing 193 people is not Indian owned, an airline official said. Dana Air, owners of the Boeing 803 carrier that crashed June 3 in Lagos, Nigeria is not an Indian company and the only connection with India is its managing director, Jacky Hathiramani, group communications manager Dana group Tony Usidamen told IANS over phone. “Dana Group is wholly owned registered company in Nigeria with Nigerians as directors but, we have a managing director Jacky Hathiramani who is Indian,” Usidamen added.

Usidamen could not immediately confirm the number of years that Mahendra Singh Rathore, the co-pilot on the flight who lost his life, had spent with the company. A company statement had said: “The first officer had flown 1,100 flight hours, 800 of which (were) on the MD83 aircraft.” On June 3, the aircraft crashed on a flight from Abuja to Lagos, killing all 146 passengers and seven crew members and another 40 on the ground. The company said: “The aircraft had totalled over 60,000 flight hours…. Its last 400-hourly check was May 30, 2012 while the statutory annual maintenance is not until Sept 2012.” Aviation Minister Stella Oduah told reporters Tuesday that the airline has been suspended indefinitely for operational safety reasons pending the outcome of investigations into the crash. Dana Airlines Limited (Dana Air) is a member of Dana Group of Companies Plc. The airline began commercial flight operations Nov 10, 2008 and has grown to become one of Nigeria’s leading airlines, operating daily flights to Abuja, Calabar, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Uyo. The airline currently has 5 Boeing MD83 aircrafts in its fleet. Dana Air is part of the Dana Group which started operations in Nigeria in the 1980s. In addition to pharmaceuticals, the group diversified into bulk import of industrial chemicals, commodities, polyethylenes, automobiles, and electronics.

19 NRIs honoured with Light of India awards

New York, June6,2012: Columbia University professor and economist Jagdish Bhagwati and noted author Amitav Ghosh are among 19 persons winning the Light of India awards recognizing excellence and the exemplary achievement of Indians living abroad. Winners for the awards instituted by Remit2India, a Times Group online money transfers unit, were announced at the 2nd annual awards function here Saturday.
The winners: Lifetime Achievement Awards: Columbia University professor & economist, Jagdish Bhagwati, founder & CEO of Patni Computer Systems, Narendra Patni and former CEO of Vodaphone Group – Arun Sarin.
Jury and People’s Choice Awards:
Excellence in Business Leadership: Bharat Desai, founder of Syntel and Gurbaksh Chahal, internet entrepreneur and a best-selling author.
Excellence in Science & Technology: Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of the College of Engineering & the Philip & Marsha Dowd University professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail Service & Jaxtr.

Excellence in Corporate Leadership: Anshuman Jain, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank and Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer of Cisco Systems.
Excellence in Education & Academics – Deans & Presidents: Renu Khator, president of the University of Houston (both categories).
Excellence in Education & Academics- Scholars & Professors: Soumitra Dutta, Roland Berger chaired professor of business and technology and founder and academic director of e-lab and Mohanbir Sawhney, director of the Centre for Research in Technology & Innovation at Kellogg School of Management.
Excellence in Literature & Journalism: Amitav Ghosh and Indu Sunderesan, both authors.
Excellence in Arts & Entertainment: Padma Lakshmi, host of ‘Top Chef’ and Lisa Ray, actor and host of ‘Top Chef’ Canada.
Special Awards:
Amrapali Young Achievers award: Gurbaksh Chahal, chairman & CEO of RadiumOne.
Power of Influence in Education award: Satish K. Tripathi, University of Buffalo President,
Power of Influence in Technology award: Ajay V. Bhatt, co-inventor of USB Technology.