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India condemns vandalism of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela’s statues in Seychelles

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Victoria : The Indian mission in Seychelles has condemned the vandalism of the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela located at the Peace Park in the capital city of Victoria.
“The High Commission of India condemns the mindless act of vandalism of statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela located at the Peace Park in Victoria,” the Indian mission said in a statement on January 6.
The statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at Peace Park, Victoria in June, 2022, according to the Indian mission.
The statue was placed next to one of Sir James Macham, the founding President of Seychelles, and Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader who served as the first president of South Africa.

The Indian mission said Mahatma Gandhi’s message of humanity and peaceful struggle against colonialism is universally relevant and has inspired non-violent struggle worldwide.
“His statue at the Peace Park is also symbolic of the historic, warm and cordial ties between India and Seychelles,” the statement added.
The High Commission thanked the Seychelles authorities for their action and expressed hope that the perpetrators would be apprehended expeditiously.
There have been other incidents of vandalism of Bapu’s statue in other parts of the world. In August last year, a handcrafted statue of Mahatma Gandhi was destroyed by six men in New York City. Before that in February 2022, Gandhi’s life-sized statue at Union Square near Manhattan was vandalised.
Both acts were strongly condemned by the Indian mission, triggering shock and disappointment among the Indian-American community. (ANI)

India launches national green hydrogen mission

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NEW DELHI — India will launch the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) for which a budget of 197.44 billion Indian rupees (2.38 billion U.S. dollars) has been allocated, the government said on Wednesday.

The mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilization and export of green hydrogen. It encompasses the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Program (SIGHT), for which 174.90 billion Indian rupees (2.11 billion U.S. dollars) has been earmarked out of the total outlay.

The NGHM was approved at a meeting of the cabinet of ministers chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It will lead to the development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (million metric tons) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country, creation of over 600,000 jobs, cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports of over 1 trillion Indian rupees (12 billion U.S. dollars), and abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions, said a statement issued by the government.

It added that the mission will have wide ranging benefits, like creation of export opportunities for green hydrogen and its derivatives, decarbonization of industrial, mobility and energy sectors, reduction in dependence on imported fossil fuels and feedstock, development of indigenous manufacturing capabilities, creation of employment opportunities, and development of cutting-edge technologies.

Under the SIGHT program, two distinct financial incentive mechanisms targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of green hydrogen will be provided.

The mission will also support pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production pathways. Regions capable of supporting large scale production or utilization of hydrogen will be identified and developed as green hydrogen hubs. (Xinhua)

Sri Lankan election commission ready for local elections

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COLOMBO — Sri Lankan’s Election Commission said on Wednesday that applications for postal voting from eligible voters for the 2023 local elections would be accepted on Jan. 5-23.

Chairman of the Election Commission Nimal Punchihewa told reporters that nominations from candidates contesting the local government elections would be accepted on Jan. 18-21.

Accepting election deposits from candidates would begin on Jan. 4 and continue until Jan. 20, he said.

Polls will be held in 340 local government bodies and 14,000 polling centers will be established for the voting, according to the election commission chief.

A petition was filed earlier to the Supreme Court by a retired military official seeking an order suspending the elections over Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. The date of the upcoming elections has not yet been announced.(Xinhua)

Cities look for new ways to survive heatwaves

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James Goldie
Cities across Southeast Asia are turning to cooler rooftops, green spaces and other innovative solutions in the face of record heatwaves over 2022

As the year closes, 2022 is expected to be the equal fourth warmest year on record, despite natural climate drivers like La Niña dragging global temperatures down.

With over 15,000 dead from heat this year in Europe alone, cities are now grappling with an uncomfortable truth: hotter and longer heatwaves are now a fact of life.

“Extreme heat takes more lives in Australia than any other natural hazard,” Lauren Rickards from RMIT and Nigel Tapper from Monash University say. “Because of the high level of urbanization, most of those deaths are in cities.”

Cities aren’t entirely at the mercy of the climate, though. Evidence shows that a variety of urban planning interventions can not only reduce the impact of extreme heat but benefit cities in other ways.
Switch air conditioning for fans

Air conditioning, the weapon of choice in developed nations, is getting complicated. “In face of urban warming, air conditioning remains almost the standard response in more developed nations, whatever the weather,” says Wanyu Shih, a researcher from the Ming-Chuan University.

Air conditioners and fans today account “for nearly 20 percent of the total electricity used in buildings around the world,” according to a report by the International Energy Agency. But that figure is set to explode in the coming decades as more people in India, China and Indonesia are able to buy air conditioners.

One way to contain that energy use is to focus on making air conditioners more efficient. But fans could replace air conditioning up to 19 out of 20 hot days in the countries where cooling is needed most.
Replace roofs to protect homes

Homes in developed nations might decide between fans and air conditioning in a heatwave, but for many people they aren’t even options.

Hot metal roofing amplifies heatwaves in slums, and residents escape by spending more time outside. They also take more baths and showers, placing further stress on drinking water supplies.

Authorities in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are trialing a program to replace these hot roofs in the slums with cooler alternatives, lowering indoor temperatures by 2–5 degrees Celsius.
Cool cities down with plants

Cities are reaching for another solution beyond the home: plants. Although high-rise ‘sky gardens’ dominate public attention, parks and gardens at ground level also play a massive role in cooling cities.

It takes more than planting a few trees to protect cities, though. Green spaces can’t protect us from extreme heat unless they are resilient to heat themselves, and they need to be sited carefully to have the right effect.

“The trees left to protect the hotter cities of the future will depend on the planning actions we make today,” said Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez and Sally Power of Western Sydney University.
Take advantage of other green space benefits

Climate change is a famously wicked problem beset with cascading failures, but the solutions can also help us in unexpected ways.

Focusing on plants has reduced crime and supported local crafts in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, while Danish researchers have found access to green space improves kids’ mental health later in life.

But green space needs to be within a short walk in order for people to use and benefit from it, cautioned Kristine Engemann, a researcher at Aarhus University. “Sometimes we’re not so good at doing the things that are actually good for us.”

The co-benefits of green space aren’t just limited to social benefits: they can also help to protect us from other aspects of climate change.

China’s sponge cities, built from porous materials, combat flood risk and urban heat at the same time.

Describing one of these sponge cities, Bao-Jie He of Chongqing University said, “Zhuhai has constructed more than 115 square kilometers of sponge city infrastructure since 2016… The green-blue infrastructure development has been no impediment to the city’s continued growth.”

Options like these are attractive to cities looking to protect residents and take ownership of climate change adaptation. But they only work for so long, Elspeth Oppermann from Ludwid-Maximilians University and Jamie Cross from the University of Edinburgh report.

​​”The shade of a tree, appropriate use of fans, or improved ventilation of homes only works as long as outdoor conditions remain survivable. This might not be the case in many regions by 2050.”

For many cities, the race to keep cities cool will come as the world attempts to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.

Basmati rice: the new authenticity rules aiming to remove sub-standard varieties from the market

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 Katherine Steele, Bangor University

Basmati is the most popular speciality rice in the UK, adding extra flavour and subtlety to everything from curries to pilafs to kedgerees. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s basmati is produced in India, and the UK buys 3% of it – plus substantial amounts from the second-largest producer, Pakistan. 

All has not been well with this delicious staple, however. A huge number of newly cultivated varieties have been permitted in the UK and EU since 2017, and some have turned out to be sub-standard, lacking the unique popcorn-like fragrance that helps to make this rice so sought after. 

New rules are being introduced at the beginning of 2023 that aim to take these lesser varieties of basmati off the market. So will this solve the problem?

Basmati and the code of practice

Basmati rice has been cultivated for thousands of years in the fertile alluvial plains between the Indus and Ganges rivers. To qualify as basmati, grains must meet certain standards related to things like fragrance, grain length and width, as well as cooked texture. They must also have a mid-range level of amylose, a part of the starch in rice. 

Fraudsters nevertheless became notorious for cutting basmati with lesser rice grains, drawn by the fact that it is up to 50% more expensive per kilo. Several decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for imported basmati to be more than 50% impure. 

To get around this problem, the UK Rice Associationintroduced a code of practice in 2005. Also followed across the EU, the code specified that basmati could be no more than 7% impure, as well as introducing a list of 15 permitted varieties: nine traditional ones that could be imported duty free and a further six that were modern cultivars. We at Bangor University devised the system of DNA fingerprinting that is used to enforce the code and has sometimes led to prosecutions for infringements.

The system worked well until 2017, when the code was updated to add 25 new modern cultivars. This followed an explosion in new breeding in the 2000s and 2010s to address the problem that traditional basmati varieties are tall, low-yielding plants which fall over if they are fed with too much fertiliser. Breeders overcame this by using crossing and selection to add the so-called “green revolution” semi-dwarfing gene, which is also bred into most other modern rice varieties. 

India and Pakistan had successfully persuaded the UK and EU that these 25 new varieties were as high in quality as the existing 16, but several years later we were able to show that this wasn’t entirely right. 

By developing alternative DNA markers for fingerprinting, we showed that six of the new varieties – five from India and one from Pakistan – had not been properly bred for fragrance. Some did not even contain the version of the BADH2 gene that makes basmati fragrance possible in the first place. Although India and Pakistan have rigorous systems for testing rice quality, they don’t necessarily do the gene testing that would have picked up the problem. 

The future

The Rice Association has responded to this discovery by publishing a new code of practice that removes the six varieties from the permitted list. Coming into force on January 1, the code also adds five new varieties that do pass muster. As a result, consumers should once again be able to buy basmati rice in the knowledge that it is of the highest possible quality. 

But this isn’t the end of the story. For one thing, the 7% impurity rule remains. I have long argued that the Rice Association should adopt the same 1% rule that applies in many products – non-GM foods, for example. There’s no real reason for the basmati exception, and it is also arguably easier to enforce a 1% rule because of the way that DNA testing works.

Secondly, rice breeding is not standing still. Breeders have started focusing on making crosses to allow basmati varieties to inherit genes that will mean they need less fertiliser, resist disease so they need fewer or no pesticides, and even withstand drier growing conditions or salt-contaminated soils. 

These varieties aren’t quite ready to hit the market but are urgently needed to increase the sustainability of rice production. But if such varieties are to be sold labelled “basmati”, they too will have to be monitored to ensure they meet the same high standards that consumers expect. The same goes for varieties created by gene editing, which have not yet started emerging but probably will do over the next couple of decades. 

If we don’t maintain today’s standards, it may harm the industry – and crucially the farmers who work so hard to produce this beautiful rice in the first place. It’s an interesting case study in how cutting edge technology and the right regulation can ensure that an ancient industry remains fit for purpose in the 21st century.

From – The Conversation

Sri Lanka to establish holding company to include all SOEs

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COLOMBO — The Sri Lankan government approved a proposal to establish a holding company which includes all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are to be restructured, an official said here on Tuesday.

Government spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said the proposal was presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

This holding company will be fully owned by the Ministry of Finance and will fast-track the restructuring of SOEs, Gunawardena said.

“We know that most SOEs are making huge losses and the burden of maintaining these ultimately falls on the taxpayer. The state can’t continue to run these businesses,” he said.

Gunawardena said that in 2022 President Wickremesinghe established a state-owned enterprise restructuring unit (SOERU) to restructure SOEs and allocated funds to implement this proposal.

The SOERU has studied a number of key SOEs and has come up with some recommendations, the spokesman said(Xinhua).

Another firm shuts down in Pakistan due to import ban

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Islamabad [Pakistan] — After Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited, engineering services company KSB Pumps Company Limited also announced that the production plant would shut down due to an import ban, ARY News reported. 
KSB Pumps company announced that it will shut down its Hasanabdal production plant in Pakistan.
The Frankenthal-based multinational engineering services company, KSBP, is a subsidiary of KSB SE and Co. KGaA is a manufacturer of industrial pumps, valves, castings and related parts and after-market services, according to ARY News. 
The company, in the statement, said that this will be a temporary suspension till further notice, due to import restrictions. The company will resume operations as soon as the market situation improves and staff may be readily recalled on short notice, it read.
Earlier, an automobile company, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited, announced to shut down its production plant from January 2 to 6.

Pakistan Suzuki Motors wrote a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that the production process of cars and motorcycles will be completely shut down from January 2 to 6, according to ARY News.
According to the automobile company, the management decided the shut down due to conditional permission for the imports of the auto parts and completely knocked down (CKD) kits. The firm stated that its supply chain is affected due to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) restriction.
The company further added that the restrictions are affecting the export consignments
In December, another automobile firm, Indus Motor Company (IMC), announced to shut down its manufacturing plant for 10 days due to the ban on imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the central bank.
The Indus Motor Company, the maker of Toyota vehicles, has announced the ban on their manufacturing plant from December 20 to 30. It stated that the decision was taken after a ban on the imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), ARY News reported. (ANI)

120 journalists affected in 45 press freedom violations in a year in Nepal, report says

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Kathmandu —  In the past one year, 2022, total 45 incidents of press freedom violations occurred in Nepal, where 120 journalists were directly affected, according to a report.    


Compared to the previous year, the number of violation has declined, but the number of affected journalists increased, which the report mentioned as a worrying trend.    


Releasing an annual report on press freedom recently, a civil society organization, Freedom Forum, said among the total affected journalists, 109 are male and 11 female. It has further stated that there was little progress in addressing impunity on crimes against journalists while the hostility meted out to journalists went abated. 

“Absence of FoE and press freedom friendly law and policy, interference in media by the constitutional body, increased cyber surveillance against media persons, and flood of fake news were major trends recorded,” the report stated, adding that the year however remained an election year for the successful conduct of election at three tiers of governments.    


The Freedom Forum has categorized the press freedom violations as arrest/ detention, attack/ manhandling, obstruction/ vandalism, threat to life, and misbehavior. The number 0f obstruction and vandalism combined stand highest, 56, which is followed by attack/manhandle, 28. Similarly, 18 journalists were affected with misbehavior while 13 with threat, and five arrest and detention combined.    


The report has also brought forth some examples of intimidations as keeping in detention a journalist and right to information (RTI) activist Kailash Majhi for four days for his critical reporting about local leadership in Saptari. Digital surveillance and cybercrime against journalists has been projected as new and alarming threat to Nepali media by the report. FF writes, “

Original photos and contents published on the news portal www.ukeraa.com were deleted and replaced with irrelevant contents on December 1, while on the run up to November 20 election, senior journalist Kishor Nepal’s mobile phone was blocked and social media accounts hacked. Although the mobile phone was opened after some days, the social media accounts are blocked for long.”    


As per province, the Bagmati Province has highest number journalists affected, 44; which is followed by Madhes Province with 42. The Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces each has the number of journalists affected at 11. 

The last year recorded the least number of journalists affected in Province-1 as it witnessed only two incidents of violations. The Karnali Province and Sudurpaschim Province had the journalists affected 7 and 3 respectively, the annual report revealed.    


The report has welcomed the Janakpurdham High Court’s verdict of life imprisonment to the murder convict of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya as a positive update on long pending case of impunity. The court issued the verdict on September 21, 2022. The High Court sentenced life imprisonment to the suspended lawmaker and former Minister of State Sanjay Kumar Saha who was declared the mastermind of the murder.    


Singhaniya, the then chairman of Janakpur Today Media Group was shot dead on March 1, 2010 at a local Shiva Chowk of Janakpur city.    


Executive Chief at Freedom Forum, Taranath Dahal, observed, “The case of journalists killed and made disappeared during the conflict time could be taken to the regular court under criminal offense rather than transitional justice mechanism, but this demand went unheard this year too.”    


The issues of information disorder with spread of fake news and need of digital capacity building are stressed by the report.    


Dahal points out the need of political tolerance and CSO’s activism to ensure the journalism a safe profession and create safe free-speech environment in society. “Political will and commitment can contribute to FoE friendly media law and policy environment in the federal and provincial levels as per constitutional spirit and international standards,” he said, adding that a balanced approach of fair election and free press could make democracy functional and sustainable.  (RSS)     

Pakistan will default if it doesn’t enter IMF programme, warns Imran Khan

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IANS— Lashing out at the incumbent Pakistan governments economic policies, former Prime Minister Imran Khanhas warned that the country will default if it does not enter into a programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Khan, before coming into power in 2018, had been a severe critic of approaching the IMF and other countries for loans. In November 2015, he said: “I will prefer death over a begging bowl!”, Geo News reported.

Addressing PTI workers and supporters on Sunday via video link, Khan said: “We have no other option but to enter the IMF programme.”

He was flanked by former special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on poverty alleviation, Sania Nishtar.

Hitting hard the PML-N-led government’s economic policies, the PTI chairman said over 0.75 million Pakistanis have left the county during the past seven months.

“Industries are closing down due to the ongoing economic crisis,” he said and warned that inflation will further swell in days to come, Geo News reported.

Khan also urged the people not to leave the country in a difficult time, adding that nations fight together in hard times.

“My life is in danger but I will face (the challenges) by staying in the country,” he vowed, adding that they would fight in union against the “thieves” imposed on the country.

Greeting the entire nation for the new year, the former premier asked people to brace themselves for the difficulties coming ahead.

“Standing up is the only way out of the disaster,” Khan said.

2023 will be tough on global economy, IMF Chief warns

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WASHINGTON: For much of the global economy, 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of global growth – the United States, Europe and China – all experienced weakening activity, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.

The new year is going to be “tougher than the year we leave behind,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on the CBS Sunday morning news program “Face the Nation.”

“Why? Because the three big economies – the U.S., EU and China – are all slowing down simultaneously,” she said.

In October, the IMF cut its outlook for global economic growth in 2023, reflecting the continuing drag from the war in Ukraine as well as inflation pressures and the high interest rates engineered by central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve aimed at bringing those price pressures to heel.

Since then, China has scrapped its zero-COVID policy and embarked on a chaotic reopening of its economy, though consumers there remain wary as coronavirus cases surge. In his first public comments since the change in policy, President Xi Jinping on Saturday called in a New Year’s address for more effort and unity as China enters a “new phase.”

“For the first time in 40 years, China’s growth in 2022 is likely to be at or below global growth,” Georgieva said.

Moreover, a “bushfire” of expected COVID infections there in the months ahead are likely to further hit its economy this year and drag on both regional and global growth, said Georgieva, who traveled to China on IMF business last month.

“I was in China last week, in a bubble in a city where there is zero COVID,” she said. “But that is not going to last once people start traveling.”

“For the next couple of months, it would be tough for China, and the impact on Chinese growth would be negative, the impact on the region will be negative, the impact on global growth will be negative,” she said.

In October’s forecast, the IMF pegged Chinese gross domestic product growth last year at 3.2% — on par with the fund’s global outlook for 2022. At that time, it also saw annual growth in China accelerating in 2023 to 4.4% while global activity slowed further.

Her comments, however, suggest another cut to both the China and global growth outlooks may be in the offing later this month when the IMF typically unveils updated forecasts during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

US economy ‘most resilient’

Meanwhile, Georgieva said, the U.S. economy is standing apart and may avoid the outright contraction that is likely to afflict as much as a third of the world’s economies.

The “U.S. is most resilient,” she said, and it “may avoid recession. We see the labor market remaining quite strong.”

But that fact on its own presents a risk because it may hamper the progress the Fed needs to make in bringing U.S. inflation back to its targeted level from the highest levels in four decades touched last year. Inflation showed signs of having passed its peak as 2022 ended, but by the Fed’s preferred measure, it remains nearly three times its 2% target.

“This is … a mixed blessing because if the labor market is very strong, the Fed may have to keep interest rates tighter for longer to bring inflation down,” Georgieva said.

Last year, in the most aggressive policy tightening since the early 1980s, the Fed lifted its benchmark policy rate from near zero in March to the current range of 4.25% to 4.50%, and Fed officials last month projected it will breach the 5% mark in 2023, a level not seen since 2007.

Indeed, the U.S. job market will be a central focus for Fed officials who would like to see demand for labor slacken to help undercut price pressures.

The first week of the new year brings a raft of key data on the employment front, including Friday’s monthly nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show the U.S. economy minted another 200,000 jobs in December and the jobless rate remained at 3.7% – near the lowest since the 1960s.

(VOA/Reuters)

Nepali hospitality entrepreneur, Mahanta Shrestha, awarded OBE 

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London — Mr. Mahanta Bahadur Shrestha, 72,  from Nepalese British community has been awarded OBE for his contribution to the community in the London Borough of Ealing and to the Nepalese community (London, Greater London). Mr Shrestha, a well-known entrepreneur and social worker,  is Nepal Tourism Board’s Honorary Representative to the UK. 

Founding President of  the NRNA UK and Director of the Khukuri Beer UK Ltd., Shrestha  is also founder of popular Nepali restaurant, Monty’s, at the Ealing Broadway. 

“I feel honoured to receive this award from HM The King in the New Year’s Honors’ List,” said Shrestha adding, “I see this as a recognition of the thriving Nepali/Gurkha community in the UK.”

Chairman of the Pasa Pucha Guthi UK Trustees, Mr Shrestha is a member of the London Chamber of Commerce and a Trustee of the Southall Ram Mandir. Living in the UK for more than four decades, Mr Shrestha is a former President of the Ealing Chamber of Commerce.
See : Asians on New Year Honours List 2023

Asians on New Year Honours List 2023

Posted on by SAT News Desk

London — The New Year Honours List 2023 marks the incredible public service of individuals from across the UK.

Recipients in the New Year Honours List have been awarded for their outstanding contributions across all parts of the UK for their work on areas including sustained public service, youth engagement and community work.

Such recipients include 100-year-old Peter Offord Davies from Macclesfield, who has been awarded a BEM for his work as a reading volunteer at Dean Valley Community Primary School in Bollington, Macclesfield.

Pamela Goldsmith from West Sussex is also being awarded an BEM, for raising more than £1.5 million for Macmillan in 20 years of volunteering. Jade Clarke, who represented the United Kingdom at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and glassblower John Reyntiens, who is most well-known for the bespoke stained-glass window at the North End of Westminster Hall which was gifted to Her Majesty the Queen for her 2012 Diamond Jubilee, receive MBEs.

Jawahir Roble, from London, and who grew up playing football in war-torn Mogadishu, has also been awarded an MBE for services to football, after becoming the first black, female, Muslim, hijab-wearing referee in the UK.

Following her commitment to help children and families fleeing Ukraine, Cambridgeshire resident Louenna Hood has been awarded a British Empire Medal. Her voluntary work has seen more than £170,000 raised to help people fleeing the war-torn country and she has helped to organise the delivery of five container loads of essentials directly to people in need.

Asrar Ul-Haq DL was one of the first Asian police officers in Greater Manchester Police and spent his career in policing building a positive relationship between marginalised communities and law enforcement. His work bringing together people from different faiths and backgrounds for a common good has earned him an OBE.

Jim Jones, who is also a police officer in Greater Manchester, has also been recognised with a BEM for his work to improve the way police forces work with military veterans. His close work with the veterans community has seen veterans encouraged to consider jobs within the police force and his approach has been followed by many other police forces across the country.

Key members of the England Lionesses football team are also honoured after their outstanding performance in the summer. Squad captain Leah Williamson receives an OBE, while star player Lucy Bronze, golden boot Beth Mead, and England women’s top international goal scorer Ellen White are all awarded MBEs.

A CBE has been awarded to Pat Jennings, for his football and charity service in Northern Ireland. MBEs go to Scotland’s football captain Andy Robertson for his work with young people and to Chris Kamara for his charity and anti-racism work.

At DBE there is an award for Virginia McKenna, for her work in wildlife conservation and amongst the knighthoods is an award for Robin Millar, for his work in music and disabilities and Grayson Perry for services to the arts.

There is a significant breadth of service recognised across the entirety of the UK. Recipients include MBEs for Gee Walker, founder and patron of the Anthony Walker Foundation; Charles Banks, Chair of the NorthWest Users Group and Secretary, Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association; and Judith Backus, the Founder of Hidden Help, a charity helping disadvantaged people in Cornwall.

The youngest recipient in the List is 18-year-old Dara Seamus McAnulty who receives a BEM for his environmental work and for his work with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Asians in the New Year Honours List

Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

Professor Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta – Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Cambridge. For services to Economics and to the Natural Environment (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Professor Robina Shahnaz Shah – Director, Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience. For services to Patient Care (Stockport, Greater Manchester)

Knights Bachelor

Knighthoods

Dr Mayur Keshavji Lakhani – Chair, Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and General Practitioner, Highgate Medical Centre, Loughborough. For services to General Practice (Rothley, Leicestershire)

Ivan Manuel Menezes – Chief Executive Officer, Diageo PLC. For services to Business and to Equality (London, Greater London)

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Nadra Ahmed – Executive Chair, National Care Association. For services to Social Care (West Malling, Kent)

Professor Vengalil Krishna Kumar Chatterjee – Professor of Endocrinology, University of Cambridge. For services to People with Endocrine Disorders (London, Greater London)

Dr Ramesh Dulichandbhai Mehta – President, British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. For services to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Bedford, Bedfordshire)

Nageshwara Dwarampudi Reddy – Portfolio Director, Labour Market and Plan for Jobs, Department for Work and Pensions. For Public Service (Lytham St Anne’s, Lancashire)

Dr Gurdial Singh Sanghera – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc. For services to the Technology Sector (Oxford, Oxfordshire)

Jatinder Kumar Sharma – Principal, Walsall College. For services to Further Education (Perton, Staffordshire)

Jasvir Singh – Chair, City Sikhs. For services to Charity, to Faith Communities and to Social Cohesion (London, Greater London)

Professor Keshav Singhal – For services to Medicine and to the community in Wales (Wenvoe, South Glamorgan)

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Usman ALI Lately – Chair, Black Workers’ Committee, Scottish Trades Union Congress. For services to Equality and Cohesion in Scotland (Thornliebank, Renfrewshire)

Rashid Begum – Lately Acting Deputy Director, Home Office. For Public Service (Chelmsford, Essex)

Professor Nishi Chaturvedi – Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Director, Lifelong Health and Ageing Unit, University College London. For services to Medical Research (London, Greater London)

Professor Peter Ghazal – Sêr Cymru II Professor of Systems Medicine, Cardiff University. For services to Systems Immunology (Cardiff, South Glamorgan)

Ravinder Gill – Founder, College of Accountancy Ltd. For services to Higher Education (Weybridge, Surrey)

Puneet Gupta – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, PG Paper. For services to Business, to Charity and to the community in Scotland (Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire)

Mouhssin Ismail – Lately Principal, Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre, London Borough of Newham. For services to Education (London, Greater London)

Saika Jabeen – Assistant Chief Officer, Nottinghamshire Probation Service. For Public Service (Littleover, Derbyshire)

Sharon Kaur Jandu – Director, Yorkshire Asian Business Association. For services to International Trade (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Dr Harren Jhoti – Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Astex Pharmaceuticals. For services to Cancer Research and to Drug Discovery (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

Dr Krishna Rohan Kandiah – Founder, The Sanctuary Foundation. For services to Refugee Integration (Henley, Oxfordshire)

Fukhera (Frank) Khalid – Managing Director, Elbrook Cash and Carry. For services to Business, to Charity and to the community in North London (Great Warley, Essex)

Professor Kantilal Vardichand Mardia – Senior Research Professor, Leeds University. For services to Statistical Science (Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire)

Hitan Mehta – Executive Director, British Asian Trust. For services to the British Asian Community (Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire)

Gotz Mohindra – Senior Volunteer, Conservative Party. For Political Service (London, Greater London)

Sheikh Aliur Rahman – Chief Executive Officer, London Tea Exchange. For services to the Tea Industry and to Young People (London, Greater London)

Riaz Shah – Founder and Chair of Trustees, One Degree Academy. For services to Education (Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire)

Professor Sunil Shaunak – Emeritus Professor of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London. For services to Infectious Diseases and Drug Discovery (Hertford, Hertfordshire)

Mahanta Bahadur Shrestha – Philanthropist. For services to the community in the London Borough of Ealing and to the Nepalese community (London, Greater London)

Asrar Ul-Haq – For services to the community in Greater Manchester (Rochdale, Greater Manchester)

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Mesba Ahmed – Founder and Chief Executive, London Tigers Charity. For services to the community in London (London, Greater London)

Syed Samad Ali – Lately Teacher, Thornhill Academy, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. For services to Education (Sunderland, Tyne and Wear)

Dr Minal BAKHAI (Minal JAYAKUMAR) – General Practitioner and Director, Primary Care Transformation, NHS England. For services to General Practice, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Nipa Devendra Doshi – Product and Furniture Designer. For services to Design (London, Greater London)

Saleem Fazal – Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Freehold LGBT+ CIC. For services to Inclusion in the Property Industry (London, Greater London)

Professor Nihal Trevor Gurusinghe – For Charitable Services (Preston, Lancashire)

Shadim Hussain – Chief Executive, My Foster Family. For services to Equality and to the Foster Care System (Bradford, West Yorkshire)

Sarah Johal – Strategic Leader, Regional Adoption Agencies. For services to Adoption and Fostering (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Inderpaul Singh Johar – Co-Founder, Dark Matters Laboratories. For services to Architecture (London, Greater London)

Dr Atiya Kamal – Health Psychologist and Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University. For services to Health Psychology during Covid-19 (Burton on Trent, Staffordshire)
Mohammed Wakkas Khan – Founder, Young Interfaith. For services to Charity, to Young People and to Interfaith Relations (Whalley Range, Greater Manchester)

Dr Shaid Mahmood – Chair of Governors, Leeds City College Group. For services to Further Education in Leeds (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Jaspal Singh Mann – Director, Simply Shred and Recycle Ltd. For services to the Environment (Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands)

Syed Khaja Mohi Moinuddin – Customs Cooperation Agreements Lead, HM Revenue and Customs. For Public Service (Westcliff on Sea, Essex)

Professor Dr Syed Naseem Naqvi – President, British Blockchain Association. For services to Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (Blackpool, Lancashire)

Bhavena Patel – Senior Relationship Manager, Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education. For services to Further Education (Coventry, West Midlands)

Veejaykumar Chimanlal Patel – Founder, Business 2 Business UK Limited. For services to Employment and Training (Leicester, Leicestershire)

Professor Prashant Pillai – Director, Cyber Quarter and Associate Dean, University of Wolverhampton. For services to Cyber Security and to Education (Solihull, West Midlands)

Aneeta Prem – Founder and President, Freedom Charity. For Charitable Service (Norwich, Norfolk)

Dr Mohammed Qasim – Lecturer and Welfare Officer, Gower College, Swansea. For services to Academic Research and to Young People (Swansea, West Glamorgan)

Abdul Aziz Qazi – Imam and Founder, Jamia Islamia Ghousia Trust. For services to the community in Luton (Luton, Bedfordshire)

Zebina Ratansi – Director of Nursing, Whipps Cross University Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. For services to Nursing Leadership (London, Greater London)

Dr Jyotiben Shah – Macmillan Consultant Urological Surgeon, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. For services to Medicine (Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire)

Keranjeet Kaur Virdee – Chief Executive and Artistic Director, South Asian Arts UK. For services to the Arts, particularly South Asian Music and Dance (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire

Nura Omar Aabe – Founder, Autism Independence. For services to People with Autism (Bristol, City of Bristol)

Shah Sheikh Shepali Begum – Lately Outreach and Impacts Manager, Commonwealth Games Legacy Team. For services to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Dr Wirinder Kumar Amar Nath Bhatiani – Lately Chair, NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group. For services to Health and to Diversity in Greater Manchester (Birchanger, Essex)

Ziana Ayesha Butt – For services to Netball and to Diversity (London, Greater London)

Zakaria Arif Dada – For services to the community in the London Borough of Merton during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Reena Gudka – Senior Executive Officer, Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities. For services to Civil Servants Affected by Eating Disorders (London, Greater London)

Javaid Iqbal – Foster Carer, Birmingham Children’s Trust. For services to Fostering (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Samina Qasim Iqbal – Foster Carer, Birmingham Children’s Trust. For services to Fostering (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Dr Sayyada Mawji – For services to Healthcare during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Neil Shonchhatra – For services to the Covid-19 Response (London, Greater London)

Amarjit Singh Soora For services to the community in Ilford, London Borough of Redbridge (London, Greater London)

Jagraj Singh Sran – For services to Charitable Fundraising and to the community in Cranford, London Borough of Hounslow (Middle Green, Buckinghamshire)

ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE

Masood AHMED – President, Center for Global Development. For services to International Development.

Dr Mohamed IBRAHIM – Founder, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. For services to Charity and to Philanthropy.

The Rt Hon Alok SHARMA MP – President, the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). For services to tackling Climate Change.

OVERSEAS AND INTERNATIONAL LIST

ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Sonashah SHIVDASANI – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Soneva; and Founder, Six Senses. For services to Tourism, to Sustainability and to Charity.

MBE

Vineet BHATIA – Chef. For services to UK Cuisine, to Hospitality and to International Trade.

Faraz KHAN – Founder and Director, Social, Entrepreneurship and Equity Development –SEED-Ventures. For services to UK/Pakistan relations.

KING’S AMBULANCE SERVICE MEDAL

ENGLAND AND WALES

Salman DESAI – Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Transformation, North West Ambulance Service

Human trafficking by using Tiktok

Posted on by SAT News Desk

By Govinda Sharma : A popular social site TikTok has been found to be misused for human trafficking lately. 

Especially adolescent girls have been found at risk as they reached into contact with unrecognised people through Tiktok in Nepal. 

A team of Maiti Nepal in Nepalgunj has sent back six girls to their families that were heading towards India through the Jamunah checkpoint with the people who were introduced via Tiktok.

According to the Coordinator of the Maiti Nepal, Nepalgunj, Keshab Koirala, families have submitted applications to search for those 12 girls who left their homes with their friends who were connected via Tiktok by claiming they are at risk of human trafficking, The Rising Nepal Reports.

“Most people use Tiktok these days but by misusing technology risk oriented accidents have also been reported.” Coordinator Koirala said, “We have found more risk in those events where left homes with the person who developed relation through Tiktok.”

Maiti Nepal rescued a total of 529 people who were on risk-oriented travel from the Jamunah checkpoint in 2022. 

India’s exports of agricultural, processed food products rise by 16 percent

Posted on by SAT News Desk

NEW DELHI — India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 16 percent in the first eight months (April-November) of the current financial year 2022-23, in comparison to the corresponding period of the last financial year, said the federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

The overall exports of agricultural and processed food products rose to 17.43 billion U.S. dollars during April-November from 15.07 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier, data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics showed.

Thus the country has achieved nearly 74 percent of its total exports target for the fiscal year 2022-23 in the first eight months.

“For the year 2022-23, an export target of 23.56 billion U.S. dollars was fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket,” said the data. (Xinhua)

India’s battle against inflation to continue amid global uncertainties

Posted on by SAT News Desk

PTI , New Delhi — After remaining above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level of 6 per cent for most part of this year, retail inflation is slowly easing, and efforts are likely to continue to further reduce it in the coming months amid global uncertainties.

High prices of crude and edible oils, pulses and vegetables were among the main factors behind the high inflation during the year. This trend came against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in February and disrupted the global supply chain and pushed higher prices of many commodities.

Since May, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked the short-term lending rate (repo) by 2.25 percentage points, taking it to a nearly three-year high of 6.25 per cent.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation crossed the RBI’s comfort level of 6 per cent in January itself and thereafter it remained elevated for nine months before slipping to 5.88 per cent in October.

An RBI paper on ‘Anatomy of Inflation’s Ascent in India’ said, “The initial inflationary pressure was delivered by successive supply shocks but as their impact waned, a revenge rebound in spending and especially a swing from goods to contact-intensive services is generalising price pressures and making them persistent”.

Recently, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said uncertainties surrounding the inflation trajectory are sizable, given the geopolitical tensions, global financial market volatility, pending pass-through of input costs to domestic output prices and weather-related disruptions.

“Core inflation (CPI excluding food and fuel) is exhibiting persistence around 6 per cent for the past few months. Hence, there is no room for complacency and the battle against inflation is not over. This necessitates a constant vigil on prices,” he said earlier this month.

During the year, inflation was a major challenge for regulators across the world, including in the US, the UK and Europe, mainly as commodity prices spiked due to supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The conflict came at a time when the global economy was slowly recovering after being severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first time since the introduction of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2016, the RBI submitted a report to the government explaining why it failed to keep inflation within the targeted upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters since January.

On the wholesale front, things were no better with inflation remaining in double digits till September before nosediving to 5.85 per cent in November.

The RBI has projected headline inflation averaging at 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal.

In the December quarter, it expects retail inflation to be at 6.6 per cent and decline to 5.9 per cent in the March quarter.

According to rating firm Icra, inflation is likely to ease over the next 12 months on a brisk winter crop sowing, good water levels in the reservoirs alongside the moderation in commodity prices.

“We project the year-on-year inflation for December 2022 at 5.9-6.1 per cent, which would result in an average CPI inflation for Q3 FY2023 of nearly 6.2 per cent, well below the estimate pegged by MPC for the quarter (+6.6 per cent).

“Thereafter, we estimate the average CPI inflation to ease to 5.8-5.9 per cent in Q4 FY2023, before declining to 5.2 per cent in Q1 FY2024, similar to the average we are projecting for FY2024,” Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at Icra, said.

She also said that the MPC’s decision on the repo rate in February 2023 is likely to be highly data-dependent, taking a cue from the domestic inflation-growth dynamics, including the contours of the Union Budget for FY24.

Nepal’s 3rd international airport to begin operation from 1st of January

Posted on by SAT News Desk

POKHARA: Nepal is planning to inaugurate the Pokhara International Airport on the first day of the English New Year, January 1, 2023.

According to Pokhara International Airport Civil Aviation Office, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, top leaders of various political parties, industrialists and tourism professionals will participate in the opening ceremony.

All preparations for the opening of the airport have reached the final stage.

The opening ceremony will be special with the participation of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, the Provincial Government, Pokhara Metropolitan City, Pokhara Tourism Council and other tourism organizations, it said.

According to the Civil Aviation Office of Pokhara International Airport, on the opening day of the airport, the crew and passengers of the aircraft landing at the airport from the first flight in the morning will be welcomed with garlands.

The government has recently started the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa .

Construction work of the airport estimated to cost Rs 22 billion started in July 2017.

Earlier, an aircraft of Aero Thai Company had conducted mechanical test flights (calibration flights) at the PRIA from November 21 to 28.

As Pokhara is one of the most beautiful cities in Nepal and is considered a tourism hub. Tourism entrepreneurs and businesses have hoped the airport will be instrumental in economically developing the city.