• Karnataka Assembly dissolved
• India vows to protect Muslim author in exile
• Indian-American muslim leaders condemn UP serial blasts
• MNDF soldiers training in India

• British-Indian wins discrimination case over accent
• Kamalesh Sharma is new C'wealth Secy Gen
• Gordon Brown praises India's culture

Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been dissolved, ending the political uncertainty in the state. A notification issued by President Pratibha Patil dissolving the House was received by the Raj Bhavan here on Wednesday night. Governor Rameshwar Thakur's three advisers -- P P Prabhu, S Krishnakumar and P K H Tharakan -- are expected to assume charge on Thursday, Raj Bhavan sources said.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, November 29, 2007

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A British call centre worker of Indian origin has won a racial discrimination claim against his employer after being sent home early from a work trip to Delhi, as his accent "wasn't English enough". Chetankumar Meshram from Northampton has been awarded a compensation of £ 5,000 after his employer Talk Talk was found guilty of racial discrimination for sending him back to Britain just three weeks into a two-month post, at the telecoms firm's India office, The Times reported here on Wednesday. "I was called into a meeting with my boss, who told me I was to be replaced with a better English speaker. I know I speak with an accent but my job out there's to give technical advice, not to give expertise on how to communicate. It was an embarrassing and humiliating experience," Meshram said. The 27-year-old, who was born in India but moved to Britain in 2005, brought his claim in January with the help of the Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council. Last week, the Bedford Employment Tribunal found that he had suffered both direct and indirect discrimination and awarded him the compensation for hurt feelings and expenses incurred during his trip to India. "I hope that this ruling will encourage people to select employees to carry out work based on their skills and knowledge regardless of what country they live or work in," Meshram was quoted as saying. According to Christopher Fray of the Equality Council, who represented Meshram at the tribunal: "He is an extremely friendly, intelligent and efficient worker. It is sad that he has had to endure humiliation because he has an Indian accent."

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, November 29, 2007

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India said on Wednesday it would continue to host and protect a controversial Bangladeshi Muslim woman writer who has fled from city to city since her radical Islamist critics stoked violence last week. The fate of Taslima Nasreen, who had been in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata since 2003, has become a hot political issue for New Delhi with the Hindu nationalist opposition accusing the government of pandering to Muslim minorities by trying to get her out of the country. But Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that historically, India had never refused shelter to those who had sought the country's protection. "This civilisational heritage, which is now government policy, will continue, and India will provide shelter to Ms. Nasreen," he told parliament. "While guests are in India, the union and state governments provide them protection," he said. "This will also apply in Ms. Taslima Nasreen's case." Authorities rushed award-winning Nasreen, who criticises the use of religion as an oppressive force, from her home in Kolkata last week after protests against her by Muslim groups led to riots, forcing the army to be called in. The riots appeared to be the culmination of years of simmering anger at Nasreen. Some radical Muslims hate Nasreen for saying Islam and other religions oppress women, and Indian clerics had issued a "death warrant" against her in August. After the riots, police moved her to a hotel in the western state of Rajasthan and then she was quickly sent to Delhi at the weekend under police protection.

Bundled away
She spent a few days at a state guest house before being bundled away to a secret security facility as New Delhi feared protests by Muslim groups in the capital. Nasreen has told Indian TV channels that she wants to return to Kolkata, but with the communist government there seen as not keen to further anger Muslims, that possibility seems remote. Her visa is due to expire in February and New Delhi will have to decide whether to extend it. Wednesday's assurance that it would continue sheltering Nasreen came with a warning. "Those who have been granted shelter here have always undertaken to eschew political activities in India or any actions which may harm India's relations with friendly countries," Mukherjee said. "It is also expected that the guests will refrain from activities and expressions that may hurt the sentiments of our people," he said, an apparent reference to the outspoken Nasreen. Nasreen fled Bangladesh for the first time in 1994 when a court said she had "deliberately and maliciously" hurt Muslims' religious feelings with her Bengali-language novel "Lajja", or "Shame", which is about riots between Muslims and Hindus. Several of her books have been banned in India and Bangladesh. The European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in 1994.

Courtesy: www.khaleejtimes.com, November 28, 2007

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It is a measure of Kamalesh Sharma's self-confidence that he allowed his friends to refer to him as the Commonwealth Secretary General-designate weeks before he was formally chosen for that position by the heads of government conclave in Kampala today. Choosing a Commonwealth Secretary General is not quite as secretive as electing the Pope. There is no metaphorical smoke that emerges from the Retreat where political leaders - the cardinal equivalents of the Commonwealth community - meet to agree on a new head for their secretariat. It is nevertheless a confidential process, albeit one that on this occasion was more predictable than it has been ever before. The reason for this predictability stems from the comfortable assurances that poured into Delhi from other member states of the Commonwealth and who, in the words of a Commonwealth insider, subscribe to the view that "India really is the flavour of the month and having someone from India means a lot." On the other hand, given the spectacular failure earlier this year to secure the election of Shashi Tharoor as Secretary General of the United Nations, Delhi was unlikely to stretch out its neck for another favourite son candidate for a prestigious international position without prior assurances that he would be ultimately chosen. Sharma himself was pleasantly surprised by the private statements of support he received during his three-month canvassing tour, funded by the Government of India, that took him to Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific earlier this year. "We are very conservative in offering candidates for such positions," he explained earlier, in an exclusive interview in his office in London where he has been India's High Commissioner for the past three-and-a-half years. "But there has been no Asian candidate as Secretary General and the sentiment had been building for a very long time that Asia should do it. That in a way turned out to be the case because after me there was a Malaysian candidate, but in the end Malaysia withdrew and supported India, making for a very clean Indian slate." Sharma becomes the first Indian and the first Asian in more than 40 years to be selected to the top slot. His other rivals were Maltese foreign minister Michael Frendo and a freelance Commonwealth bureaucrat of Indian origin, Mohan Kaul, chief executive of the Commonwealth Business Council. Out of the two it was always Frendo who posed the greater challenge. At 53, he was over a decade younger than Sharma and, as foreign minister, he had the advantage of face-to-face contacts with government heads entrusted with electing the new Secretary General. Kaul was never the chosen candidate of any Commonwealth government, a pre-requisite for being a serious contender for the job.

Courtesy: www.indianexpress.com, November 25, 2007

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Indian-American Muslim leaders here have condemned the near-simultaneous blasts in three cities of Uttar Pradesh, describing them as "cowardly crimes against humanity." The Muslim leaders, in a statement released on Friday, appealed to all communities to maintain harmony. Terming the bombings as terrorist acts, Shaik Ubaid, the founding president of ImanNet, a Muslim advocacy group and one of the national coordinators of Coalition Against Genocide, urged the central and state governments to conduct a speedy and transparent investigation and to punish the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law. Saeed Patel, one of the national Coordinators of Non Resident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India, expressed sympathy for the victims and the families and praised the local government's announcement that it would provide immediate financial relief to the victims. Syed Azmathullah Quadri, a leading community leader, appealed to all communities in India to strengthen communal harmony and not to let the perpetrators of terrorism succeed in increasing communal hatred. He urged the NRI community in the US to be wary of communal forces and to strengthen broad-based coalitions such as Coalition Against Genocide and Indian-American Coalition for Pluralism.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, November 24, 2007

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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the star attraction at Diwali celebrations at the House of Commons where a spokesman of Hindu Forum of Britain described him as "Govardhan" Brown and a honorary member of "our community." Addressing the packed gathering, including NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, Keith Vaz, MP, former minister and several members of his cabinet on wednesday evening, Brown praised India and its culture. The Prime Minister lauded the efforts of the Hindu Forum of Britain in helping the Indian community integrate with the British society and hoped that it would continue its role in a much bigger way. Brown said he would be going to India in January and would like to take with him the message of "success of British Hindu community to India" and share it with "Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh, who is a good friend." He also praised Keith Vaz for taking the lead in organizing the Diwali festival in the House of commons. Welcoming the Prime Minister, Ramesh Kallidai, Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain, recalled his presence at the Diwali celebrations last year where Keith Vaz had predicted that "the future is Brown" and "you will come back as the PM." "And today, nothing can make the Hindu community happier than to fulfill Keith's words. We are delighted to welcome you to this Diwali event as our Prime Minister." He said the forum has been hosting the cross-party event in the House of Commons for six years. "Our organisation's motto is simple: Proud to be British, proud to be Hindu." Addresing the Bristish Prime Minister, Kallidai said "your name 'Gordon' is very auspicious. Another meaning for the name Gordon is 'hill with meadows'. But in Sanskrit, it is name for Lord Krishna, and it also refers to a sacred hill - Govardhan. "We would therefore like to welcome you as an honorary member of our community, not as Gordon Brown, but as Govardhan Brown," he said. According to Kallidai, over 80 Parliamentarians, several Cabinet Secretaries and 200 multi-faith leaders attended the Diwali celebrations. Participants were welcomed with the traditional 'tilak' being applied to forehead and sweats. The Members Dining Hall was transformed into a mini-India with lamps, colourful rangoli patterns, sacred food displays, exhibits, Indian sweets, gifts and incense.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, November 17, 2007

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The India Ministry of Defense announced the arrival of 25 Maldives National Defense Forces soldiers for counterinsurgency training. Officials say the MNDF soldiers will participate in a four-week course in counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations while at the Indian army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, the India Ministry of Defense reported. "Low intensity conflicts are becoming global in scope," Brig. RM Painuly, commander of the training course, said in a statement. "It is widely believed that terrorism is becoming less territorially defined, global in reach and more decentralized. Indeed, terrorism has now truly become a global phenomenon. "They are no longer bound by limits of geography. Modern militancy has become a complex phenomenon. The globalized world is now matched by a globalized militant ideology. We need to tackle the menace of terrorism globally and hence joint training is a step in global war on terrorism." The CIJW School, located in Mizoram, India, is responsible for training all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces, Air Force, Navy, Para Military Forces and Central Police Organizations.

Courtesy: www.metimes.com, November 13, 2007

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