In the UK 19 November 2011

DLR, Star Lane to Stratford International 

Saturday 19 November 2011. Today no conferences or meetings. Got up at about 6 am and did my morning ‘path’ (reading) and worked till about 10.30 on my emails, blog and flickr photo account. I then took a bus to Hounslow West and from there for one stop to Hounslow Central.

I walked to the Hounslow High Street via Montague Road as I wanted to buy a 2012 diary and a new A to Z. I went to the Hounslow W H Smith as I thought I knew my way in that place and would be quick in and out. It was not to be, the shop had changed completely, neither the diaries nor the maps were anywhere near where they used to be. I was almost ready to give up (there was also no staff to help me) when I spotted the diaries and a sign pointing to the books and maps.

The next hurdle was the check out. Only one till was open and there was a long queue, but luckily while I was waiting two more tills opened. The (Asian) staff member who served me was efficient and friendly, but I do not think that being friendly is part of the company policy.

I then went by 235 bus to Isleworth, by South West trains to Clapham Junction and by Overground to Stratford (change at Willesden Junction).

On Thursday I took pictures of the Stratford High Street, Star Lane, Abbey Road and Canning Town stations on the new DLR line, now I took pictures of Stratford station platform 1 and 2, of Stratford International and West Ham station (DLR, Jubilee and C2C, there was no service on the District/Hammersmith and City lines). I met a fellow railway enthusiast and we travelled together from Stratford International to West Ham and Fenchurch Street.

From there I walked to Bank, Central Line to Ealing Common, First Great Western to Hayes & Harlington and U4 to Amrik Singh’s house.

In the evening I was in the Gurdwara from 4.45 till 6.15 pm. First I listened to a kirtan jatha of young ladies, which seems to be improving every time I hear them. They were in the 4 pm till 5 pm slot, followed by rahras and then kirtan by the Bhai Lehna Singh jatha. I am writing this on Sunday morning, tomorrow afternoon it is back to Sint-Truiden again.

DLR, Star Lane to Woolwich Arsenal or Beckton

The Tribune – More students to get visa: Uppal; Canada’s first turbaned Sikh minister visits the holy city of Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 18. The Canadian Government has introduced a “super visa” for parents and grandparents to help them reunite with their children living in Canada.

Canada’s Minister of State for Democratic Reforms Tim Uppal, after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple here, told mediapersons that he was in India on the invitation of Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal.

He would be the chief guest at the semifinals of the Kabaddi World Cup being held in Bathinda.

Talking to mediapersons, Uppal said because of visa restrictions, there was a huge backlog of applications of parents and grandparents keen to reunite with their wards.

“The Canadian Government has taken the initiative of ‘Canada 10 years Super-Visa for Parents’ to clear all such pending applications.”

He said no new applications would be entertained for the next two years till the pending applications were cleared. He expressed the possibility of long-term cooperation in tourism, medical education, industry and sports between Canada and Punjab.

Answering a question on rigid visa conditions for students as compared with Australia, the minister said the Canadian Government would from now on give visas to Indian students more than any other country .

He also indicated the possibility of a tie-up with Khalsa College, Amritsar.

Uppal was honoured with a siropa at the SGPC office.

Earlier, he was accorded a warm welcome at Sri Guru Ram Das International Airport , Amritsar,by the Youth Akali Dal president, Bikram Singh Majithia, Cabinet Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Singh Bularia, District Planning Committee chairman Veer Singh Lopoke and SAD leader Ram Singh.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111119/punjab.htm#4

The Asian Age – Maya ‘4 states’ plan moves few

Amita Verma, Age Corespondent

Lucknow, 19 November 2011. UP chief minister Mayawati’s proposal to split Uttar Pradesh into four states may have sparked off a tedious debate in the media and in political circles but it has evoked absolutely no interest in the four regions.  There has been no fireworks, no celebrations in Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Paschim Pradesh and Avadh Pradesh, in fact, there is anger welling up in Avadh Pradesh which is designed as a remnant of the other three states.

Unlike Telangana and even Uttarakhand earlier, the demand for statehood in Purvanchal and Paschim Pradesh has never been people-oriented. While the people of these states have maintained a stoic silence on the issue, it is only the political leaders in these regions who have been chasing the statehood dream. It is because of this lack of involvement of the common man that the statehood movement could never translate into a massive people’s movement.

“Purvanchal has also remained politically active, yet development deprived since decades. The people are not interested in statehood, they simply want development. The Purvanchal people are politically aware and realise that they will lose their political clout completely if Purvanchal is cut off from the rest of the state,” said Manjari Garg, a political science lecturer in the degree college in Gorakhpur. In western UP, proposed Paschim Pradesh, the demand for statehood has been raised from time to time by Rashtriya Lok Dal president Choudhury Ajit Singh.

However, for the common people, the demand for a high court bench in Meerut is more important while Jats, the dominant population in the region, are more worried about getting into the Central OBC list.

Meanwhile, in Bundelkhand there is some public participation in the statehood movement but the majority now seems to be disagreeing with Ms Mayawati’s concept of Bundelkhand and want districts from Madhya Pradesh to be included in the proposed state.

“What is Bundelkhand without some districts from Madhya Pradesh? This is a half-baked concept and we certainly do not want this Bundelkhand,” says Rana Kumar Singh, a youth activist. Though Ms Mayawati would like to believe otherwise, wide section of people in the proposed Purva-nchal, Bundelkhand and Paschim Pradesh know that statehood is still a distant dream and the announcement is an election gimmick.

“Even if the Congress agrees to split UP, it will take not less than 5-10 years to create a state. The geographical boundaries, financial stakes, feasibility reports, cadre divisions etc. have to be worked and this is not an easy job.”

The Uttarakhand movement remained active for almost three decades before the state was created.

http://www.asianage.com/india/maya-4-states-plan-moves-few-033

Sint-Truiden, Limburg, Belgium – Levensloop 1 and 2 October 2011

Levensloop is a walk/run raising money to help cancer patients. Each team had to keep a walker or runner on the course from 4 pm on Saturday till 4 pm on Sunday. The Sikh community took part with a team of nearly sixty walkers/runners. The pictures were all taken on Sunday 2 October.

Our nice Gurdwara sevadar

Dilpreet Singh Nihang

Baban Singh Nihang

Too many baloons

To see more Sint-Truiden pictures go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/

More Belgian pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Special to The Tribune; Ranjit Singh-era gold coin fetches £10,000

Shyam Bhatia in London

A mystery buyer from India has paid more than £10,000 (Rs 8 lakh) for the gold coin from Ranjit Singh’s reign that was auctioned in the UK earlier in the week.

The buyer read of the coin’s forthcoming sale in The Tribune and immediately contacted the auctioneers, Mullock’s, in the English county town of Ludlow.

The provenance of the coin is not known, but there is speculation in the UK that it comes from the estate of the late Dr John Login, a Scottish doctor who was appointed by the East India Company as Maharaja Dalip Singh’s guardian in the mid-19th century.

As Dalip Singh’s guardian, Login had total responsibility of looking after the young Maharaja and access to all his assets. Dalip Singh, in turn, was known to be very fond of both Login and his wife and showered them with gifts of all kinds running into lakhs of rupees.

Precisely how much Login gained from Dalip Singh’s generosity is not known, but when the doctor died, Dalip Singh paid for the headstone above his grave.

Bidding for the gold coin started last Thursday at $6,500 (Rs 5.3 lakh), but soon started to go up in £500 increments.

This was because of the bidding from an Indian buyer who made his interest known via an open telephone line to the auctioneers.

Mullock’s refuse to disclose who the buyer is, but they say readers of The Tribune should be pleased that the coin has returned to its country of origin.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111119/main8.htm

BBC News – UK terror suspects ‘die’ in US drone strike in Pakistan

18 November 2011

The Foreign Office is investigating reports that two UK terror suspects died in a US drone strike in Pakistan.

Ibrahim Adam, 24, and Mohammed Azmir, 37, both from east London, are said to have been killed in Waziristan on the Afghanistan border.

Mr Adam’s father confirmed his son had been killed by a US unmanned aircraft.

A Foreign Office spokesman could not confirm the deaths but said: “We are aware of reports and are looking into them further.”

Mr Adam, from Barkingside, had been on the run from the UK authorities since absconding from a control order in May 2007.

His brother, Anthony Garcia, was jailed for life in April 2007 for his part in a fertiliser bomb plot in the UK.

Mr Adam was made subject to a control order after being stopped on the way to Syria.

British authorities said he was planning to travel to Iraq or Afghanistan for jihadist training or to fight Western forces.

Mr Azmir, a father of three, who was born in Sheffield and lived in Ilford, was made subject to a Treasury order freezing his assets in February 2010.

He is not currently on the Treasury’s list of people and organisations subject to financial sanctions.

It is believed that Mr Azmir’s brother, Abdul Jabbar, 32, was killed in an earlier American drone attack in Pakistan in September last year.

An Azmir family friend, who did not want to be named, said: “They have taken it very badly. This is the second son who has been killed in a drone strike.”

The Home Office declined to comment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15796571

In the UK 18 November 2011

Welcome to Hayes & Harlington Station
New entrance, north side

This morning I left the house at about 8 am, took a bus to the station (see above) and a train to Paddington (that was running 10 minutes late). From Paddington the Bakerloo line to Baker Street and change on the Jubilee line for London Bridge.

Left London Bridge via the Borough High Street west side exit, walked down the High Street for about 5 minutes and then turned right into Union Street, where I joined a meeting of Faiths & Beliefs in Further Education (fbfe), the organisation I worked with before leaving for Belgium.

I met some old friends and new ones, and some interesting issues were discussed, so I was happy that I had come. Those that knew me from before would all be happy to have me back, the only problem is to find some funds to pay me a bit of money with …..

Whatever happens with fbfe, even if it and for instance the Slough Equality Council have to close shop altogether due to lack of funds, I think there would still be a much better chance for me to earn some money to top up my Dutch pension in the UK than in Belgium.

After the meeting we had lunch together (special no eggs, no meat, no poultry no fish rolls reserved for me) and I went back on the Jubilee Line. Changed at Green Park for the Piccadilly line and at Hammersmith for the District Line to Ealing Broadway. The First Great Western train from there to Hayes was on time and I joined my UK family.

In the evening to the Park Avenue Gurdwara for rahras and kirtan by the excellent jatah of Bhai Lehna Singh, then back to Hayes and I ‘retired’ to ‘my’ room at about 9.30 pm.

The Tribune – Nominations to the SGPC; SAD may stick to old guard

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 17. With the first meeting of the newly elected SGPC members expected to take place any time now, various names have started doing the rounds for nomination to the mini-parliament of Sikhs.

The SGPC House has a total of 191 members, of which 170 are elected members. There are 15 nominated members, out of which five are from Punjab and 10 from other states. Apart from these, the jathedars of all five Takhts and the head granthi of Harmandar Sahib, Amritsar, are also the members of the House. Though there has been a lull in the SGPC ever since the poll results came out around a couple of months back, but with speculation rife about the possibility of the first meeting of the new SGPC House in early December the race for the nominations is set to gain momentum in the coming days.

Various names like the former SGPC Chief Kirpal Singh Badungar, Raghujeet Singh Virk, Karnail Singh Panjoli and Gurinder Singh Bawa are doing the rounds for nominations to the SGPC. Panjoli was elected to the SGPC from Fatehgarh Sahib in the last elections. However, the Fatehgarh Sahib seat went to the Sant Samaj when the SAD forged an alliance with it for the SGPC polls. Now, the SAD may accommodate Panjoli by nominating him to the House. Virk had been a nominated member on the previous two occasions (1996 and 2004) and had also held the post of senior vice-president in the last House (2004 to 2011). Similarly, Badungar too had been nominated to the SGPC in 1996 and 2004. He had also been the SGPC president between 2001 and 2003. He had also been the SAD secretary in the past. Gurinder Singh Bawa, from Mumbai was nominated to the SGPC House last time as well.

The former SGPC executive member Harbans Singh Manjpur, who was defeated from Hoshiarpur in the last SGPC elections in 2004, is also likely to be nominated as are Bhupinder Singh (Anand), Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, and Harinderpal Singh all of who were nominated from New Delhi last time.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111118/punjab.htm#6

The Hindu – ‘Will address grievances, but within our law’

Bali (Indonesia), November 18, 2011. Asserting that there were “no irritants” in India and the U.S. working together, Dr. Singh said India had already “gone some way to respond to the concerns of American companies” with the nuclear liability law. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama met here on Friday and declared their intention to push the Indo-U.S. cooperation both at bilateral and at multilateral forums.

Dr. Singh and Mr. Obama, who met here on the sidelines of ASEAN and East Asia Summits, talked about strengthening the bonds of strategic ties put in place during the U.S. President’s visit to India in November last year.

Recalling the Mr. Obama’s “historic visit” to India, Dr. Singh said, “in the last one year, we have made progress in every direction, strengthening our bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, higher education, clean energy and defence.”

“I am very happy to report to you that today there are no irritants whatsoever in our working together in multiplicity of areas both bilaterally and on global issues,” Dr. Singh said. “We have strengthened in many ways the path set out during the historic visit, whether it is civil nuclear cooperation, whether it is humanitarian relief, in disaster management, or maritime security, all the issues which unite us in our quest for a world free from war,” he added.

In his opening remarks, the U.S. president refereed to his “extraordinary” trip to India during which the two sides strengthened the bonds of friendship, commercial links and security cooperation.

“We continue to make progress on a wide range of issues. The bonds between our two countries are not just at the leadership level but also at personal levels,” said Mr. Obama.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for us to continue to explore how we can work together,” Mr. Obama said, identifying some of the issues as maritime security, non-proliferation and terrorism.

Among the issues discussed was the implementation of civil nuclear deal against the backdrop of apprehensions among American companies over the liability aspect.

“We have gone some way to respond to the concerns of American companies,” Dr. Singh on notification of nuclear liability law. “Within the four corners of the law, we are ready to address any specific grievances,” he added.

Ahead of the meeting, India had asserted that its domestic laws with regard to nuclear liability and compensation will have to prevail and any contention otherwise would not be realistic after the Fukushima incident. (PTI)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2638487.ece?homepage=true