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SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN PIO APPOINTED CHAIR OF PANEL OF JUDGES FOR ONE OF COUNTRY'S PRESTIGIOUS LITERARY AWARDS 

Awarded her PhD in 2011 for her work focusing on the struggle for basic services in post-apartheid SA, Ms Prishani Naidoo has a long history in activism, beginning in the early '90s, when she joined the ANC. Now a writer, researcher and lecturer in the sociology department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Naidoo is the co-editor of the New South African Review. She is also the author of a number of academic and popular essays on a wide range of issues. Before joining Wits, Naidoo co-founded the research collective Research and Education in Development.

The Alan Paton Award is prestigious sought-after South African literary award that been conferred annually since 1989 for meritorious works of non-fiction. Sponsored by the Johannesburg weekly the Sunday Times, recipients represent the cream of contemporary South African writers who produce works that are judged to demonstrate: compassion; elegance of writing; illumination of truthfulness, especially those forms of it which are new, delicate, unfashionable and fly in the face of power; and, intellectual and moral integrity.

This year's Award saw 42 titles competing for the R75 000 prize, her co-judges were Peter Harris and Ben Williams.

WONDER KID RITANKAR DAS FELICITATED AT INDIAN EMBASSY IN THE US

India-born wonder kid Ritankar Das became the youngest graduate topper of the University of California in more than a century. He has been felicitated by the Indian Embassy here for his outstanding academic achievements.

Indian Ambassador to US Nirupama Rao felicitated 18 years old Das, who has taken just three years to complete his studies with a double major in bioengineering and chemical biology and a minor in creative writing from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kolkata-born Das is the first student from the College of Chemistry in 58 years, and the first ever from the Department of Bioengineering, to earn the honor, which includes a USD 2,500 scholarship.

Das, who now heads to Oxford University to pursue a master's degree in biomedical engineering with a fully funded Whitaker Fellowship, has founded 'See Your Future', a student-run non-profit that presents scientific content to middle and high school students through in-class demonstrations, videos, interactive activities and games.

At Berkeley, Das helped manage a USD 1.7 billion budget as an academic senator, founded the Berkeley Chemical Review research journal, designed a chemistry DeCal course and was a graduate student instructor.

SOUTH AFRICAN 6 YEAR OLD GOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHESS FESTIVAL, BRIGHTWATER COMMONS

Vedant Kumar, a Grade R learner at Stepping Stones Pre-Primary School in Sandton, Gauteng Province, managed to reach this level.

Vedant has displayed an exceptional memory from an early age.  At age 4,  he managed to recite the names of the capital cities of 217 countries in a flash - a fact thru which this PIO child genius became a world accomplishment on the Record Setter website as a result of this amazing feat.

Vedant only recently developed a passion for chess and has been receiving coaching from a chess master, Musatwe. In January 2013 Vedant joined the Gauteng West Chess Club and presently he usually participates in Under 10 tournaments.  This tournament involved over 14 players of all ages, and Vedant managed to win all his matches having come first due mainly to his exceptional self-confidence and outstanding ability at then game.

INDIAN ORIGIN AUSTRALIAN APPOINTED ENVOY TO ISRAEL

Devanand Sharma, popularly known as Dave Sharma is Australia's new envoy to Israel. The 37-year-old Australian diplomat has made history by becoming the country's youngest ambassador after he was appointed as Canberra's envoy to Israel. He is only the second Australian-Indian to be appointed ambassador, the other being Peter Varghese who was Australia's Ambassador to India.

Sharma, who was born in Vancouver and moved to Sydney in 1979, said he wants to change how Australians think of the Middle Eastern country. "When Australians think of Israel, they think of conflict in the Middle East. But I want to broaden the understanding of what Israel is to a country like Australia," he said.

Sharma has earlier served in the Australian diplomatic offices as counselor at the Australian embassy in Washington, third secretary at the Australian high commission in Port Moresby and as senior civilian adviser with the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville. He was also an adviser to foreign minister Alexander Downer from 2004 to 2006.

The Indian-origin diplomat is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and was most recently assistant secretary in the Africa branch, and previously, acting first assistant secretary, international division in the department of prime minister and cabinet.

Sharma will be accompanied to Israel by his wife Rachel and their three daughters.

ZUBIN MEHTA TO BE HONORED WITH TAGORE AWARD

Zubin Mehta, Indian-Parsi conductor of western classical music, will be felicitated with the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony.

A four-member jury led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and comprising Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Gopalkrishna Gandhi unanimously selected Mehta to be the second recipient of the Tagore Award 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony.

The award was instituted by the government of India during the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The award carries an amount of Rs 1 crore, a citation in a scroll and a plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft or handloom item.

Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta. His father was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.

INDO-CANADIAN ACHIEVERS HONORED

The Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) honored 11 outstanding Indo-Canadian achievers at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Among those honored were Deepak Chopra, president of Canada Post, Raj Kothari, managing partner for Toronto for PriceWaterhouse Cooper, and young achiever Bilaal Rajan.

Deepak who was honored as the 'Corporate Executive of the Year' said the award "is truly a tribute to numerous unsung heroes who helped shape my thinking along the way". Terming Canada Post as one of the crown jewels of this North American country's economic infrastructure, Chopra helped sharpen the focus on physical delivery as well as digital delivery networks.

Raj was honored as 'Male Professional of the Year'. He has always been focused on how he can make a difference - first in the profession and second in the community".

Rajan, 16 who was honored as the 'Young Achiever of the Year', is a motivational speaker and the UNICEF's children ambassador. An environmental and social activist, he was only four years old when in 2001, the Indian state of Gujarat was devastated by an earthquake. He then raised funds to help the victims by selling oranges.

Others who were honored at the event are Sarabjit Hans as 'Female Entrepreneur of the Year', Sujay Shah as 'Male Entrepreneur of the Year', Sadhna Joshi as 'Female Professional of the Year', Sapna Shah as 'Young Achiever of the Year', Nilesh Bansal as 'Technology Achiever of the Year', Chandrasekhar Sankurathri as 'Humanitarian of the Year', and Jananath Wani for 'Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement'.

The ICCC is one of the largest membership-based national business organizations in Canada with over 1,500 members representing all sections of the nation's economy.

BRITISH NRI HOTELIER GETS 'PRIDE OF INDIA' AWARD IN UK ISRAEL

NRI hotelier Joginder Sangar has been conferred with the prestigious "Pride of India" award for his outstanding contributions towards promoting art and culture of India in the UK. Sangar, the CEO and Chairman of a Group of Hotels in Central London and West London, was conferred with the "Pride of India" award for 2012 by India International Foundation.

Britain's transport minister Stephen Hammond, MP presented the award in the presence of leading dignitaries like Lord Swraj Paul and SS Siddhu, minister (coordination) in the Indian high commission. Receiving the award, Sangar who played a key role in building the new Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan centre here, said Indian culture is appreciated all over the world and "we must not only preserve them but also try to promote them."

NRI solicitor Hari Singh, founder chairman of HSLaw Solicitors and Notary received the award in the field of judiciary/law while Deepak Kuntawala, founder of DVK, a global commodity trading and finance Boutique Company enhancing interests in private equity, wealth management and fund management was chosen for the award for his achievement in the field of Business.

Other recipients were Kamel Hothi, Head of Nice Markets at Lloyds TSB responsible for Asian Strategy; Deepak Khazanchi, pioneer of modern Bhangra (Art and Culture); Sonal Minocha, dean, University of Bedfordshire Business School, (Achievements in Education) and Natasha Mudhar (Achievement in Media). Winners also include Amarjit Sethi (Medicine); Seema Malhotra (Legislature); Professor Tejinder Singh Virdee (Science); Mahima Pandey (Social Services); Rajiv Ouseph (Sports) and East End Foods plc (Indian Business House of the Year 2012).

Rami Ranger, chairman of the Sun Mark ltd was declared the outstanding businessman for winning the Queen's Award for the fifth year in succession. Dinesh Shonchhatra, a leading Mortgage broker received the President's Award.

FORBES HONORS TOP 100 INDIAN LEADERS IN UAE

Guests of honor at the event were Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, MK Lokesh, ambassador of India to the UAE, and Nasser bin Aqeel Al-Tayyar, president of Arab Publisher House, the publishers of Forbes Middle East.

Keynote speaker Tharoor said: "Given the historical links between the Middle East and India, and this region's own unique location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe, it gives me great pride to celebrate the remarkable contribution of Indians to the economic resurgence of the Middle East."

Starting out with numerous companies and individuals meriting consideration, the final list comprises 100 top names. A total of 75 business owners/founders are featured in the list. Those from the retail sector dominated, accounting for approximately 28 percent overall. Close behind were the industrial and real estate sectors, with 19 percent and 9 percent, respectively. As for India's leading C-level executives, a total of 25 skilled individuals made it onto the list: 20 chief executive officers and five chief financial officers.

Individuals solely involved with government entities, social and cultural organizations and professional associations have not been included on this occasion.

INDIAN AMERICAN SCIENTIST RAISES HOPE OF CREATING ARTIFICIAL HUMAN LIVER

In a big leap towards creating an artificial human liver, a scientist of Indian origin from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has for the first time managed to keep live liver cells functional outside the body. Dr Sangeeta Bhatia, a professor of health sciences and technology has identified a dozen chemical compounds that can help liver cells not only maintain their normal function while grown in a lab dish but also multiply to produce new tissue.

INNOVATIVE APPROACH BY A SOUTH AFRICAN PIO ORGANIZATION TO BUILD GUJARATI SCHOOL

The Sandton Hindu Seva Samaj showed an innovative approach to build a Gujarati school - an initiative that demonstrates determination to succeed and make things work despite all odds.

What they did was to put up pre-fabricated multipurpose classrooms (Pictured below) on their temple premises.

This project was initiated by a few parents eight years ago as they recognized a need to maintain our Gujarati language and culture. The school started of with a handful of children of various ages and one teacher and today it has grown in leaps and bounds with almost 80 children with 10 teachers attending classes on a Saturday.

As the existing facility was no longer adequate to meet the growing interest in learning Gujarati mother tongue, the Samaj took a decision to build classrooms in the Mandir premises. The best option was to use pre-fabricated structures and the cost of putting up 5 classrooms and a multi-purpose room is in the region of R600, 000. Though the Samaj has agreed with a cash flow of this project, the school still needs to raise funds.

They have made an appeal to the local community to contribute. You could get more information from Prakash Bhagwan on 082 870 7809 or e-mail Prakash@euroquip-sa.co.za or also e-mail.

vasrha.lalloo@rmb.co.za

South African University marks Bollywood centenary

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg marked the Centenary of Indian cinema with two special events - a week-long screening of five famous Indian films from different eras and a talk by academic Dilip Menon, Director of the Centre for Indian Studies, titled 'Making a Song and Dance of it: taking Bollywood seriously'.

The  event  showed how Indian cinema has developed from director Franz Osten's 'Achoot Kanya' of 1936, in which an untouchable girl and a Brahmin boy fall in love, but the strict caste system threatened to keep them apart.

Other films showed the recurrent social themes of poverty, Muslim-Hindu tensions, politics and corruption, as well as the love stories of the new generation as reflected by Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherji in 'Chalte Chalte'.

Geeta Pather, the recently-appointed Indian-origin Director of the Wits Theatre which hosted the screenings, said the celebration had been inspired by her childhood experiences of Indian cinema in Durban, which is home to three-quarters of South Africa's 1.4 million Indians.

US CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN MALONEY STEPS UP DIWALI STAMP CAMPAIGN

New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney addressed a crowd at the Indian Consulate in New York to rally support for the issuance of a commemorative Diwali stamp. She spoke before the Consul General of India to urge its members and leaders in the Indian American communities to continue supporting an effort to get the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative Diwali stamp. Ranju Batra, president of the Association of Indians in America-NY was a major catalyst in the effort to get the Diwali stamp issued.

Issuing a Diwali stamp would officially recognize the size and significance of the country's Indian American population, which comprises over three million people, and would provide the USPS with sorely needed revenue.

INDIAN AMERICAN CONGRESSMAN AMI BERA INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO ADDRESS PHYSICIAN SHORTAGE IN THE US

Congressman Ami Bera introduced bipartisan legislation to allow international doctors to remain in the United States longer than their visas initially permitted if they agree to practice in underserved areas of the country that are in dire need of more doctors.

The Association of American Medical Colleges projects there will be a shortage of 63,000 doctors by 2015 and more than 130,000 by 2025. The Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Act will help address that shortage.

"America's strength has always been built on our ability to attract the best and the brightest people from around the world to innovate and help us here in the U.S. This bill is simply common sense and, I will work to make sure it's part of any comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced in the House."

Under current law, most international physicians who are trained in the United States on J-1 visas must return to their home country for two years after their residency ends before they can apply for a new visa or a green card.

But under the Conrad 30 program, these doctors can stay in the country without returning home if they agree to practice in an underserved area for three years.

The "30" refers to the number of doctors allowed per state to participate in the program. Bera and Meadows' legislation would increase the number of visas allowed per state, remove the program's expiration date, improve its functioning, and allow it to expand its scope to better meet the needs of the country.

US SENATE PASSES ANTI-INDIA IMMIGRATION BILL

The United States senate passed an immigration reform Bill that makes it harder and costlier for Indian tech firms to use H-1B workers at their US operations.

But the Bill is not law yet, and it may never become one in its present form because the House of Representatives, the other chamber of US Congress, is considering its own set of bills. And they don't tally with the senate version.

The bill has three central themes: strengthening border security, citizenship for 11 million illegal, and legal immigration revamp to expand talent pool and keep American jobs home. The third part, which seeks to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs for highly skilled foreign workers, hits Indian tech firms such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro directly.

They depend heavily on foreign workers, mostly from India. But they will find it increasingly difficult and costlier. And from 2016, they will have to maintain a 50-50 balance.

The bill also seeks to fast-track permanent residency -- Green Card -- for foreign students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math courses to keep them in the US.

This will encourage Indian students, who are the second largest component of foreign students in the US, to come to the US and stay. It will also discourage those in the US from thinking of returning home, a trend that had begun picking up recently specially for those stuck in the immigrations system.

INDIAN AMERICANS ADOPT MAHARASHTRA'S VIDARBHA WIDOWS

Subhash Ediga's first birthday last month was bereft of any lavish celebrations in Metuchen, New Jersey. Instead, the $4,000 saved on the party and gifts was donated for a noble cause - 10 widows of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region.

The boy's father, software developer Suresh Ediga said their 6-year old daughter Surina also chipped in - by emptying all the coins from her piggy bank - for the worthy cause after hearing an inspirational talk by her parents. He also sent out an appeal to his friends in the US and through his NGO, i4Farmers, and asking people to chip in - instead of buying gifts for Subhash.

The money collected goes towards rehabilitation schemes for the most deserving Vidarbha farm widows, through the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) NGO.

In February, too, Ediga and his group of friends, employed or entrepreneurs in the US, had adopted 10 widows and given them aid worth $4000 for various domestic, farming, academic or medical purposes.

Three years ago, on Surina's third birthday, the Edigas had "celebrated" by donating the party bash money - $1,000 - for a year-long mid-day meal scheme for 75 children at a school in his native village of Patancheruvu in Andhra Pradesh through an NGO, Akshaya Patra.

Ediga was inspired to work for the cause after reading about an elderly Parsi couple - Cyrus Guzder and his wife Lyla - who donated over Rs.10 lakh for the Vidarbha widows.

nhrc appoints indian-american to foster ties with community

An Indian-American has been appointed by a Republican Congressional panel to strengthen ties between the Republican Party and the community. The Indian American Executive Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) will be headed by Shalli Kumar of Chicago.

Kumar and the Indian American Executive Council will help facilitate communications between NRCC and the Indian-American community. The NRCC will seek his input regarding how to increase Republican outreach efforts in the coming elections and identify potential candidates, the media statement said.

INDIAN AMERICAN VENTURE CAPITALIST VINOD KHOSLA HOSTS DINNER FOR OBAMA

The famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and initiator of many green enterprises Vinod Khosla hosted President Obama at his Portola Valley home.

The intimate dinner with New Delhi-born Khosla, his wife Neeru, and selected guests that included three key US Senators, was part of Obama's fundraising for Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Khosla, a green guru, now a well-known figure in Washington DC circles, is obviously in with the Democratic Party. The entire Khosla family including his four children was present at the event, along with what were evidently two very big dogs. "I want to thank Vinod and Neeru and the entire family - and these beasts - for hosting us here today. These two could eat Bo in one gulp," Obama was quoted as saying amid laughter. Bo is the Presidential First Dog.

fBi's move on hate crimes against sikhs, hindus applauded

The Indian-American community has applauded the recommendation of a FBI panel to track hate crimes against Sikhs and Hindus in the US, noting that this is the first step in the right direction.

"It's a good first step to addressing and quantifying these kinds of crimes and getting to their root cause," said Dr Ami Bera, the only Indian-American Congressman in the current House of Representatives, who was one of the leading lawmakers behind such a move.

The FBI Advisory Policy Board recommended tracking hate crime against Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans, thus meeting one of the long pending demands of these minority communities, who have increasingly been targeted post 9/11 in the United States.

After years of pressure from civil rights groups and lawmakers, the FBI Advisory Policy Board recommended tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans. To date, the FBI has not collected and tracked hate crimes against these communities - despite serious hate crimes perpetrated against the community members.

"Law-enforcement agencies will now be better able to track and assess trends in hate crimes against these communities and, most importantly, provide better protection," said Samir Kalra, HAF director and senior human rights fellow. HAF had submitted comments to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, specifically focusing on the importance of creating an anti-Hindu hate crime category and its significance for tracking hate crimes against Hindu American institutions and individuals.

According to Sikh Coalition surveys, approximately 10 per cent of Sikhs in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area alone have experienced physical violence or property damage because of their religion.

AMUL TO MAKE PANEER AND GHEE AT NRI'S DAIRY PLANT IN NEW JERSEY

The large Gujarati and South Asian community settled on the US East Coast will soon be able to savor 'The Taste of India.' Amul is gearing up to start a dairy plant in Waterloo village in upstate New York, about 550 km from New Jersey.

The Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited, better known as Amul Dairy, has signed a tripartite agreement to start the plant that will initially manufacture paneer and ghee. Amul will utilize an existing dairy plant owned by New Jersey-based NRI Piyush Patel for manufacturing.

"New York is a milk surplus state and with this arrangement we will be able to produce and supply Amul products in the US as well as Canada, and export it to Europe," said Patel, owner of Summit Milk Products.

Amul will initially manufacture three tonnes of paneer and five tonnes of ghee per day for which another plant is being exported from India.

NRIs IN UAE TO OPEN TWO COLLEGES IN KERALA; OFFER SCHOLARSHIPS TO NEEDY STUDENTS

An educational trust formed in 2000 with contributions from more than a thousand non-resident Indians, mainly from the UAE, is setting up two new engineering colleges which will offer scholarships to needy and meritorious students.

P K Ashokan, Chairman, Vidya International Charitable Trust (VICT), a collaborative effort of overseas Keralites in the Gulf, said an engineering and technical college under the trust will open at Kilimanoor near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

Many self-financing engineering and medical colleges in Kerala charge huge sums of money as capitation fees from students, especially NRI students. VICT is using half of the income generated from its existing engineering college to give scholarships to the meritorious and needy students.

The Kilimanoor campus will offer engineering courses in four streams and admit about 240 students. It will offer courses in mechanical, civil, electronics and electrical and electronics and communication engineering.

Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Thalakottukara in Trichur was the first institute formed under the trust in 2003 on 23 hectares of land. Currently 840 students enroll every year in the academy for seven undergraduate and four post graduate courses.

The trust also plans to start short term courses using the available infrastructure of the engineering colleges to train people for technical jobs in India or abroad, especially to the Middle East.

new uk visa law to hit india-uk trade ties

Home secretary Theresa May's new plan to demand upfront cash bonds, reportedly set at around £3,000 for visitors from "high risk" countries including India has dealt a body blow to UK government's declared attempts to create a special relationship with India and increase bilateral trade ties.

Reacting to the proposal, Anwar Hasan, head of the Tata UK and co-chair of the CII-India Business Forum, which represents the hundreds of Indian companies operating in the UK said: "We urge the British government to act with great caution, and to ensure that no new measures affect the exchanges between our countries, particularly business and education, which are so strongly in our mutual interest. As in every other area of public policy, business needs fair rules of the game."

Coming as this does recently after Prime Minister David Cameron's much publicized visit to woo Indian business to come to Britain, the move seems somewhat counter-productive.

UK's home office sent ET May's statement said: "This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming brightest and the best to UK."

What the business community is worried about is that this statement does not distinguish between tourist, business, or student visas.

SINGAPORE NRI TO LAUNCH NEW BANK IN LONDON

A Singapore-based NRI is launching a bank in London to provide latest services to its customers in the UK.

"We are launching the Smart Global Bank in London tomorrow because London is global hub and a global city where most of the thinking is going on," BK Modi, founder-chairman of Spice Global.

DIRECTORY OF INDIAN BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS LAUNCHED IN UAE

The first edition of a comprehensive directory that could serve as a one-stop reference guide on Indian entrepreneurs and professionals in the UAE has been published.

The manual 'Indian Businessmen and Professionals Manual', compiled by India Trade and Exhibition Centre Middle East (ITEC ME) was released by Indian Ambassador to the UAE, M K Lokesh. The IBPM project will have far reaching impact in future on the business and professions run by Indians in UAE.