ADVERTISEMENT PERIODICAL Friday, March 19, 2010 Vol. XL No.25 www.rediff.com (Nasdaq: REDF) $1 International Weekly Newspaper Chicago/Dallas Los Angeles NY/NJ/CT New York Toronto PERIODICAL INDEX Letters to the Editor..........................................A2 People...................................................................A4 Immigration.....................................................A30 Business............................................................A24 Community.......................................................A34 Magazine..........................................................M1 Sports................................................................A32 Pages: 52+24=76 Friday, March 19, 2010 Vol. XL No.25 www.rediff.com (Nasdaq: REDF) NEW YORK EDITION $1 International Weekly Newspaper Chicago/Dallas Los Angeles NY/NJ/CT New York Toronto Winners All SUMAN GUHA MOZUMDER The India Abroad Person of the Year awards honor the community's star achievers To subscribe 1-8877-IINDIA-AABROAD (1-877-463-4222) www.indiaabroad.com/subscribe ADVERTISEMENT The International Weekly Newspaper founded in 1970. Member, Audit Bureau of Circulation A225 India Abroad March 19, 2010 INDIA ABROAD (ISSN 0046 8932) is published every Friday by India Abroad LETTERS Publications, Inc. 42 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004. Annual subscription in United States: $32. Canada $26. India $32 INTERNATIONAL: By Regular Mail: South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia & Middle East: $90. By Airmail: South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia & Middle Condemn the killing of Sikhs in Pakistan East: $210 Periodical postage paid, New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: INDIA ABROAD, 42 Broadway 18th floor, New York, NY 10004 We, the members of the Indian Copyright (c) 2006, India Abroad Publications, Inc. Muslims Association in Sou- Ajit Balakrishnan thern California, strongly con- Chairman and Publisher demn the brutal killing of two Nikhil Lakshman innocent Sikhs, Jaspal Singh Editor-in-Chief and Mahan Singh, of Pakis- Rajeev Bhambri tan’s minority community Chief Operating Officer-US Media under the pretext of a jajiya tax Vasanth Sastry by ignorant and misguided Financial Controller people in Pakistan’s North THE EDITORIAL TEAM West Frontier Province. These Aziz Haniffa, Editor Arthur J Pais, Editor, Features murderers do not belong to Ajit Jain, Managing Editor, Canada Suman Guha Mozumder, Associate Managing Editor, US the civilized society we live in. George Joseph, P Rajendran, Deputy Managing Editors The people who did this bar- Dominic Xavier Creative Head Uttam Ghosh, Joint Creative Head baric killing in the name of Sumit Bhattacharya, Assistant Managing Editor, Newsgathering, India religion are actually harming Sanjay Sawant, Satish Bodas, Deputy Creative Directors Paresh Gandhi, Chief Photographer the good name of their religion Parimal Mehta, System Manager by totally misrepresenting a Production (New York): Dharmesh Chotalia, Production Supervisor. Harish Kathrani, David Richter peaceful religion that has CONTACT EDITORIAL always promoted communal Call: 212-929-1727 harmony, kindness and mutu- Fax: 212-727-9730 E-mail: [email protected] al respect. Cold-blooded murder of THE BUSINESS TEAM DISPLAY ADVERTISING innocent civilians is a crime MUNISH SHARMA / REUTERS CONTACT THE DISPLAY ADVERTISING TEAM against humanity. No religious Protesters burn an effigy depicting the Taliban during a protest in Amritsar, Punjab, February 23 Toll free: 1-866-702-1950 Fax: 212-627-9503 tenet justifies such brutal E-mail:[email protected] behavior in the name of reli- Geeta Singh Sales Executive gion. We share the grief and sorrow of the families of the Pakistani people in general and the government in particu- Jitender Sharma Associate Sales Manager deceased and share their pain. lar should also condemn this crime in strong words and We ask the Pakistan government to adequately compen- express their sorrow and sympathy with the families of the CLASSIFIEDS WANT TO INSERT A CLASSIFIED/MATRIMONIAL AD? sate these families for their loss and make the utmost effort victims in the Pakistani/Indian newspapers to help promote Call: 1-800-822-3532 to protect the minority communities. harmony among all the people. Fax: 212-691-0873 E-mail: [email protected] Pakistan must catch these culprits and punish them to the Maqbool Kadri and Ganibhai Shaikh Shahnaz Sheikh Classified Manager fullest extent of the law, to set an example so that this type Indian Muslims Association, Sujatha Jilla Classified Assistant Manager Jim Gallentine Classified Representative of crime against the minorities is not repeated. We think the Norwalk, California CHICAGO BRANCH TEAM Sunita Easwaran Advertising media consultant Toll Free: 800-514.8183 (Illinois) Call: 773-338-1118 treated badly in Bangladesh as seen in the media. CIRCULATION Face facts, India CONTACT THE CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Reservations have not worked. Call: 212-645-2369 I have rarely seen such maturity of judgment and penman- In Afghanistan, the newly elected government has reserved Fax: 212-627-9503 E-mail: [email protected] ship as Anu Balaji, a mere 19-year-old, showed. India Abroad 27 percent of all seats for women, and yet women are mis- Subscription toll free number: 1-877-INDIA-ABROAD (1-877-463- must be commended for publishing his letter (March 12). treated — as seen on television and in the media. Again, reser- 4222) Anjali S Maniam Associate Vice-President, Marketing & Special Events His observation that Indians by and large engage in denial vations have not worked. THE INDIA BUSINESS TEAM while defending India’s many faults as a society and nation is In India when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, Nikita Pai, Deputy Chief Manager. Call: 91-22-24449144, extension 320 absolutely accurate. To defend India, we do rationalize our women were still mistreated. Gandhi herself was ultimately THE INDIA EDITORIAL TEAM problems. This is wrong. Let us confront the problems, among killed by her male bodyguards. In Pakistan, the woman prime Saisuresh Sivaswamy, Editorial Director them, over-population, pollution, poverty (failure to distribute minister Benazir Bhutto was killed by men. During Bhutto’s Sheela Bhatt, Editorial Director, News Ivan Crasto, Editor, Sports. Shishir Bhate, Editor, News & Business. wealth, now that wealth is being created thanks to the new reign as prime minister, women did not get a better deal in Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, Editor, Features economic policies initiated by recent governments), huge pol- Pakistan. Shobha Warrier Contributing Managing Editor Prithviraj Hegde, Associate Managing Editor, News. lution, poor public hygiene, poor work ethic and low efficien- In the US, where there are no quotas for woman and no Nandita Malik, Associate Managing Editor, Business Savera R Someshwar, Archana Masih, Syed Firdaus Ashraf, Deputy Managing cy overall. All this topped by arrogant complacency and many reservations for women in Congress, women are doing better Editors other faults too numerous to mention in a short letter. and enjoy more privileges than other nations. Rajesh Karkera, Joint Creative Head Onkar Singh, Indrani Mitra Roy, Ronjita Kulkarni, Assistant Managing Editors Confronting the problems and subjecting ourselves to mer- Therefore quotas for women or appointment of a female Seema Pant Deputy Chief Features Editor ciless but honest criticism will help us deal with our problems. prime minister, too, means little to nothing. N V Reuben, Art Director Uday Kuckian Joint Art Director What is more, a consensus could be arrived. India is behaving foolishly with its system of quotas and Prasanna D Zore, Vikash Nanjappa, Senior Associate Editors We can attain parity with the world’s best. Our great heroes reservations. The way to improve India is via education on A Ganesh Nadar, Contributing Senior Associate Editor Georgina Umdor, Deputy Entertainment Editor have shown how we can even surpass them in some notable morals, where both male and female children are taught to Harish Kotian, Krishna Kumar P, Patcy Nair Chief Correspondents cases. But what we have not done is attain success as a nation. respect each other. Men have to be educated to treat women Vipin Vijayan, Rajaneesh R, Associate Editors Sanaya Dalal, Senior Features Editor Until we do so, our official quest for a United Nations Security respectfully and women have to be taught that reverse dis- Sanchari Bhattacharya, Senior Assistant Editor Matthew Schneeberger, Principal Correspondent Council seat looks ludicrous. crimination and abuse of female-friendly laws to hurt inno- Nithya Ramani, Correspondent Sauri P Bhattacharya cent men is equally bad. Aslam Hunani, Mahipal Soni, Chief Operations Managers (Editorial) Ashish Narsale, Operations Manager (Editorial) Plano, Texas In politics, the pendulum in India swings from one extreme to another, instead of finding a decent solution to gender India Abroad Publications, Inc A subsidiary of Rediff.com India Ltd. inequalities. There is no system of checks and balances and Women’s bill means nothing many people abuse the laws made by foolish politicians and Ajit Balakrishnan Chairman and Chief Executive Officer which favor the so-called weaker gender. India is therefore a chaotic democracy. EDITORIAL & CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Now 33 percent of all seats in India’s Parliament might be 42 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004 reserved for women. Sundip Mundkur MAIN OFFICE: