Asian Lite News Archive

Category: INDIAN NEWS

  • India slips on World Happiness Index

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    Indians are fast losing on the happiness front, says the UN World Happiness Report 2015, adding that the country has significantly lost six places in the well-being rankings of 158 countries since the last report that two years ago. India is placed at 117th position with a score of 4.565 on scale of zero to…

  • Boost Indian Navy’s combat power: US think tank

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    With the US and India agreeing to explore the joint development of India’s next-generation aircraft carrier, a leading think tank has suggested US offer India latest technology to help increase Indian Navy’s combat power. “While the Indian Navy has already begun design work, wide-ranging cooperation with the United States has enormous potential,” Ashley J. Tellis,…

  • Indian seafood exports to the EU on the rise

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     Indian seafood exports to the European Union (EU) have been steadily growing from $227 million in 2000-01 to $805 million in 2011-12 and is expected to reach $1.06 billion in 2014-15 , according to Leena Nair, chairperson of Marine Products Export Development Authority of India (MPEDA). Speaking at a luncheon event organised by the MPEDA…

  •  UNI HONOURS SINGH TWINS

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    The Singh Twins after being conferred with their Honorary Doctorates of Fine Art, outside Chester Cathedral…writes Asian Lite, UK’s No 1 newspaper for British Asians Acclaimed British artists, The Singh Twins, whose work as young art students was dismissed by their tutors as “backward, outdated and having no place in modern art” because it was…

  • Lopa Wins Queen’s Honour

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    Lopa Patel MBE has become the First Asian woman to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion Digital Entrepreneur and STEM evangelist, Lopa Patel MBE, was named as one of the latest recipients of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, becoming the first Asian woman to receive the award. She is also the first Asian woman to be…

  • Britain is Orange Too

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    Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha joined thousands celebrating Vaisakhi celebrations at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. The prime minister said Britain  isn’t just red, white and blue – it’s orange too   Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha joined thousands celebrating Vaisakhi celebrations at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. Cameron…

  • The Growing threat of BLUKIP

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    Mr Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the Liberal Democrats,  says the threat of a Labour/SNP alliance has been well covered in the media. But the threat of a Conservative government held hostage by Nigel Farage and his friends on the angry right wing of the Conservative Party is just as real Liberal Democrats will…

  • Kalyan withdraws ‘racist’ ad

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    Kalyan Jewellers withdraw ‘racist’ ad featuring Aishwarya Jewellery brand Kalyan Jewellers on Thursday announced its decision to withdraw its Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer advertisement, which a group of activists has labelled as “insidiously racist”. “This creative was intended to present royalty, timeless beauty and elegance. If we have, inadvertently, hurt the sentiments of any individual or…

  • Farmer’s suicide upsets a nation

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi  said he was “deeply shattered” by the suicide of a farmer at an AAP rally here, and added that efforts were on to improve farmers’ lives. “Gajendra’s death has saddened the nation,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement, referring to the Rajasthan farmer who hanged himself from a tree…

  • Indian scientists develop new drug for Parkinson’s

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    Indian researchers have developed a new therapy that has been found to reverse Parkinson’s-like symptoms in rats and the researchers believe that the findings could one day lead to a new therapy for human patients. The researchers found that infusing the chemical dopamine into the brain can relieve symptoms in animal models of the disease.…

  • Wendell Rodrick’s creation heads to NY

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    Indian fashion designer Wendell Rodricks’ 30 metre net panels, built on a silver lycra swimsuit, has made its way to a New York museum. Valerie Steele, director and author at the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, and curators Ariele Elia and Elizabeth Way picked out Rodricks’ gown constructed on a swimsuit, to…

  • Indian space science benefiting common man

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      Former ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan has said India is the “role model” in the world in harnessing space research and explorations for the benefit of the common man. “The vision of Vikram Sarabhai, our founder, was that this high technology (space science) should be beneficial for the people of this country, for the governance…

  • Rahul spar in parliament over net neutrality

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      Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi  accused the government of floating a “trial balloon” on net neutrality even as Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his regime was in favour of free and fair access to the World Wide Web. In his second intervention in the Lok Sabha since his return from a…

  • Intelligence breakdowns behind Mumbai attacks: Report

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    By Arun Kumar  Citing what it called “hidden intelligence breakdowns” behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, a new investigative report has described Mumbai “as a tragic case study in the strengths and limitations of high-tech surveillance”. An analysis of documents leaked by Edward Snowden contradicted the US government’s claims that the National Security Agency had…

  • India urges for political settlement in Middle East

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    By Arul Louis  To bring peace to the Middle East, India has called for political dialogue to find solutions to the hostilities wracking the region while urging strong action against extremist groups whose deadly violence “strikes at our common humanity.” In a Security Council debate on the Middle East, Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerji touched…

  • Headley joined LeT “full time” after 9/11

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    By Arun Kumar   A Pakistani-American key plotter of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks has revealed that he decided to join Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) “full time” following the 9/11 attacks in the US. Born Daood Gilani in the US to an American mother and a Pakistani father, David Coleman Headley makes the disclosure…

  • Salman case verdict on May 6

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    Mumbai Sessions Court Additional Sessions Judge D. W. Deshpande will pronounce the verdict on May 6 in the 13-year-old case of an accident involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan, in which one person was killed and four were injured. The announcement was made here on Tuesday, a day after the prosecution, led by special public prosecutor…

  • Suit-boot government has failed: Rahul

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    A combative Rahul Gandhi here  mounted his second successive attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi since returning from leave of absence, accusing his “suit boot” and “acche din” government of working for corporates and forgetting farmers. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, however, rubbished the Congress vice-president’s allegations, reminding him that it was due to…

  • India’s space journey after Aryabhata

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    Venkatachari Jagannathan writes about India’s long and exciting journey into space and beyond in UK’s  top Asian newspaper.  India’s first satellite – Aryabhata – was launched successfully by a Russian rocket on an April day 40 years ago, taking the country on an exciting space odyssey as far as the Moon and the Mars. The year…

  • Holiday homes squeezing affordable housing in Goa

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    By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar   Affordable, need-based housing is fast shrinking in Goa even as the state is being positioned as a luxury destination for the rich and an “ideal” market for investment-oriented second homes. Top architects in the state claim that excessive speculative housing, which effectively means future housing prices driving a current demand for housing,…

  • Modi look for a productive budget session

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi  hoped that the second half of the budget session of parliament would be “as productive and successful as the previous one”. Modi told reporters that “some unprecedented decisions” were made after many years in a parliament session. The first half of the budget session “was successful because of the cooperation from…

  • World watching India’s contribution to climate change

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    India is being “closely watched” for its intended contribution towards the global response to climate change, US ambassadir Richard Verma said . “India’s size, economic growth projections and already significant greenhouse gas emissions means there is tremendous interest around the world” on its proposed contribution to mitigating climate change, Verma said at a CII event…

  • Govt must not be a tax bully

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    By Venkatachari Jagannathan  Even as the central government has decided to review the new norms to file income tax returns barely three days after it was notified, due to widespread angst, experts termed the original proposal nothing but “tax terrorism” unleashed on honest tax payers. “This is real tax terrorism. This does not target corrupt…

  • Rahul back in the driving seat

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      Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeking to return “debt of industrialists” and vowed to fight for farmers’ interests and against the “weakened” land bill in his first public rally after returning from a 56-day leave of absence. The BJP hit back, wondering how many times the Congress will launch…

  • India Ignores World Heritage Sites

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    Agra’s monuments victims of ASI’s callous neglect …writes Brij Khandelwal to mark World Heritage Day   It’s becoming increasingly clear that only professional managers can preserve this Taj city’s heritage, experts say. The parliamentary committee on environment, headed by former union minister Ashwini Kumar (Congress), after spot visits and interactions with stakeholders last week, expressed concern over the poor…

  • How to build and protect your brand image?

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    Amit Dasgupta provides the expert tips to build and protect your brand image Who am I? The question lies at the very heart of human enquiry. On a basic level, it refers to identity. In other words, it seeks to answer what we do and what we stand for. I could be seen, for instance, as…

  • Nile Beckons You

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    Egypt seeks bigger share of India’s tourist pie…writes Rahul Vaishnavi   Vegetarian food, attractive holiday packages and, above all, advertising the country through Bollywood and regional cinema are all part of an elaborate game plan chalked out by Egypt’s tourism ministry, recovering from declining footfalls due to political unrest of the last few years, to woo the…

  • Tributes to a Romantic Hero

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    Vikas Datta on  Percy Bysshe Shelley – Maverick freedom fighter and poet of romance Disproving Percy Bysshe Shelley’s description of poets as “unacknowledged legislators of the world”, he combined his illustrious poetic career with membership of the Constituent Assembly that drafted free India’s constitution. This responsibility followed a four-decade stint as an outspoken, unbending freedom fighter across the…

  • India & Social Progress Index

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    India ranks 101th in the Social Progress Index among 133 countries, lower than even Nepal. Saeed Naqvi analyses the plight of the new world power  The embarrassing news that India ranks 101th in the Social Progress Index among 133 countries, lower than even Nepal, may well be the right occasion to narrow the focus on states which…

  • AAP’s self-annihilation

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    Is fate on Modi’s side as AAP leaders attack each other over petty isssues…writes Amulya Ganguli  The Aam Admi Party’s (AAP’s) suicidal tendencies are bound to help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) more than any other party because the saffron outfit is politically better placed to exploit them. If the AAP hadn’t been driven by competitive egos, it might…

  • Operation ‘Rahat’ ends

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    INS Tarkash that participated in Operation Rahat, returned to a hero’s welcome at Mumbai harbor here, while two passenger ships with the last batch of Indians evacuated from Yemen reached Kochi, an official said. It was preceded by the return of another ship, INS Mumbai, which returned here last Friday, with the two ships helping…

  • Smriti denies appointing RSS-affiliated people

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    Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani  denied that she was appointing people with personal, political and ideological affiliation to the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) in her ministry. “Do people have no right to job merely because they hold a right-wing opinion? Should a person be denied an appointment because he is holding a certain personal political…

  • With Love from Obama to Ajmer

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    By Quaid Najmi   The 803rd Urs (annual feast) celebrations of the revered saint Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty of Ajmer,  will be momentous affair this year – thanks to US President Barack Obama. A red coloured, richly embroidered ‘chadar’ (holy cloth) will be offered on Obama’s behalf at the mausoleum of the Garib Nawaz on…

  • Has Rahul shot himself in the foot?

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    By Amulya Ganguli Unlike the Biblical tale of a prodigal son, the return of a foot-loose family member may not be a cause of great joy to his relatives. In Rahul Gandhi’s case, it can be a source of embarrassment and misgivings. The embarrassment is likely to be caused by speculation about where the not-so-young…

  • Modi heads home

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    Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed home after ending his three-nation tour, with the final day spent in the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, visiting a temple and a gurudwara and attending an official dinner hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In his final tweets before emplaning for India, Modi said: “I leave Canada…

  • Ex-employee sues TCS for discrimination

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    A former employee of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has accused India’s leading IT services company of discriminating against American workers and favouring “South Asians” in hiring and promotion. In a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, Steven Heldt claimed that 95 percent of the 14,000 people TCS employs in the US are South Asian…

  • SC extends Jaya’s bail

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    The Supreme Court  extended the bail of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and others till the Karnataka High Court disposed of their appeal against her conviction and sentencing in a disproportionate assets case by the special court. The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu also extended till May 12 the…

  • Moody’s pegs India growth at 7.5%

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    A week after it revised its outlook on India to positive from stable, international credit rating major Moody’s pegged India’s growth at 7.5 percent for 2015. “India’s economy is on a cyclical upswing. Forward looking indicators suggest domestic demand is gathering momentum,” said Faraz Syed, associate economist, Moody’s Analytics. According to the ratings agency, low…

  • Rahul’s meeting with farmers “deferred”

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    Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s multiple meetings with farmer leaders have been “deferred” till April 18, a party leader said . Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the meetings were rescheduled because “we wanted to give enough travel time” to farmers coming from far and wide for the Kisaan Mazdoor rally at Ramlila Ground here on Sunday.…

  • India assures a modern tax regime

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    Arun Kumar    India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured foreign investors that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working on a more modern tax regime as part of ongoing reforms to increase investment and reduce regulations to realise double-digit growth. “In order to realise double-digit growth we need to undertake a number of…

  • Modi Projecting a self-confident India

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    By Ranjana Narayan    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-nation tour was marked by several high points – the surprise announcement on purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in France, clinching a five-year uranium supply deal with Canada, pushing the Make in India initiative in Germany, assuring all of the ease of doing business in India, not…

  • Obama calls Modi ‘reformer-in-chief’

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      US President Barack Obama  said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unleashed “India’s true economic potential” and called him his country’s “reformer-in-chief”. In an article in the influential Time magazine titled “India’s reformer-in-chief”, Obama said that as a boy, Modi helped his father sell tea to support their family. “Today, he’s the leader of…

  • Target double digit growth: Jaitley

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    To reap the dividend of India’s “major demographic shift”, the country has to target a double digit growth rate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said . “India is on the brink of a major demographic shift, with the proportion of working-age population between 15 and 59 years likely to increase from 58 percent in 2001 to…

  • Saina back to world No1

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    India’s Saina Nehwal has regained the women’s singles World No.1 spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday. The Hyderabadi became No.1 for the first time exactly two weeks back. She dropped to No.2 position last week but once again overtook China’s reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui to retake the top…

  • The Bandit Queen” to premier in New York

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    “Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen”, a multi-media chamber opera by Shirish Korde, a Uganda born composer of Indian descent, is set for its world premier shows in New York City on June 26-27. With a libretto by playwright Anusree Roy and directed by Tom Diamond, the full-length, semi-staged shows will be performed at the Alvin…

  • Canada return Khajuraho sculpture

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    An 800-year-old Khajuraho sandstone sculpture of a scantily clad woman holding a parrot will return to India after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper  handed it over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sculpture dates back to the 12th century. It was returned in accordance with the 1970 Unesco Convention, tweeted India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson…

  • Rahul is back

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    Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has returned to the national capital after nearly two months’ absence, officials said. “He (Rahul Gandhi) is back,” an official at his office said. He added that an official confirmation would soon be released. The Congress vice president has been on a leave of absence since parliament’s budget session began…

  • India successfully test fires ballistic missile

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    India  successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile, with a range of over 3,000 km, from a base in Odisha, an official said. The surface-to-surface missile was fired from a launch complex at the Inner Wheeler Island off the coast of Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from here. “It was a user trial.…

  • Modi show rocks Canada

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    By Gurmukh Singh   Just as the organizers had advertised, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public interaction with the Indian diaspora at Ricoh Coliseum here on Wednesday had all the trappings of a rockstar concert as Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh, Shiamak Davar troupe and other groups set the tone for the evening. The nearly 10,000-strong audience interrupted…

  • London to host Indian Property Show

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    Olympia London to showcase the most stunning properties from India on 26th April 2015 from 11am till 8pm UK@’s prestigious event venue Olympia London (Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX) will showcase the most stunning properties from India on and 26th April 2015 from 11am till 8pm. The Indian Property Show is bringing a unique showcase of Indian properties to London. The two-day show…