Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - Feb 09 - Index

desiSPORA NEWS ABOUT THE DIASPORA FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE DESI UNIVERSE Price of intolerance
THE SUBCONTINENT
• Baby Moshe with his nanny, Sandra Samuels
In the loving arms of a nanny
Reports of baby Moshe being saved by his nanny, Sandra
Samuels, when terrorists attacked Nariman House in Mumbai
last November stuck a chord in the hearts of many. Nannies
(also called dai or ayah), are known for their devotion to their
charges. The most famous dai in Indian history of course, is
Panna Dai. A maid in the service of Rana Sanga of Chittorgarh,
she was the foster-mother of his infant son Udai Singh. When
the Rana died in 1527 in battle against Babur, Panna saved Udai
Singh from his brother Banbir who was regent and wished to kill
the crown prince. She substituted her own baby in the royal cradle
– her child was slain, but Panna escaped with the prince, ensuring
that the royal house of Mewar survived. A whole generation of
Indians has grown up under the watchful eye of the family ayah.
The modern young nanny charges by the hour. Some charge
between Rs3,000 and Rs7,000 ($75 to $175) per month,
accommodation, food and other necessities are extra. Hired through
agencies, a live-in nanny can charge between Rs. 150 to Rs 400
($3.75 - $10) per night depending on fluency in English or Hindi
and also, interestingly, caste. A brahmin nanny costs more than a
non-Brhamin one in Tamil Nadu.
Wealthy Indian families travelling abroad for the holidays take
their nanny along. Says travel professional Rajiv Khaturia, “Clients
have said they would rather cancel an overseas trip and settle for
Goa if we cannot process their maid’s visa in time!”
A report on Canadian immigration made public by Vancouver
lawyer Richard Kurland, and published recently, said Punjabi men
are taking admission in schools meant for training nannies and
applying for visas to Canada as nannies, where they are in short
supply. There are 2,000 applications pending from men in Punjab
for immigration in the nanny category, the report said. The
Canadian immigration office in Chandigarh has identified as many
as 160 training schools for nannies in Punjab.
26 Desi News February 2009
NWFP is now
Pukhtoonkhwa
Pakistan’s North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) will now be
known as Pukhtoonkhwa.
While giving the renaming the
go-ahead, president Asif Ali
Zardari said his government
would focus on dialogue, development
and deterrence to root
out extremism from the
country. Speaking at a meeting
on Pukhtoonkhwa issues, and
law and order in tribal areas,
president Zardari said the
government was committed to
a massive socio ecnomic development
program in the region,
the need for which was
increasingly being recognized by
the international community.
Amjad Islam, a teacher in a
private school in Pakistan who
himself waged a jihad against
the Soviet forces in Afghanistan,
was shot dead for not
hitching up his shalwar (trouser)
above his ankles.
His father, lawyer Ghani
Akbar, was also shot dead, and
Islam’s body hung from a pole
in a public square as a lesson
to others. The trouble began
when the militants asked Islam
to hitch his shalwar above his
ankles. Islam said he was a
former mujahid himself, knew
every-thing about Islam and
knew that nobody could be
forced to pull his shalwar above
the ankles. The argument escalated
into a scuffle and Islam
fired at the militants, killing one
and wounding two others. He
was shot dead while trying to
flee.
Bleak outlook for the Indian IT sector
India’s software sector, reeling from the fallout of the $1 billion
false accounting scandal at Satyam Computer Services, faces
further problems as US firms scale back in a troubled global
business environment. Two of India’s top IT companies – Infosys
and Wipro – have acknowledged that their revenues are under
pressure and Tata Consultancy Services saw its third-quarter net
profit rise by a lower-than-expected 1.57 per cent from a year
earlier because of the global economic slowdown. The once redhot
sector employs two million workers in India.
India’s National Defence
Academy (NDA) was recently in
the news as having been the
place where NSG commando
major Unnikrishnan, who lost
his life in the Mumbai attack,
trained.
The NDA completed 60 years
on December 15 last year. It is
located near Pune on 7000 acres
of land (see facing page). The
most imposing block is the
Sudan Block, financed by the
grateful donations of the
government of Sudan for the
help rendered by the Indian
armed forces in World War II.
More than 100,000 people take
NDA turns 60
the written exam every six
months to join the NDA. Of
these, the top 1500 are invited
for interviews and psychology
tests. Between 300 and 350
enter the academy. The Indian
army is believed to be short 24
per cent of its officer strength.
The air force and navy are also
short by 12-15 per cent. Eighty
per cent of the entire officer
cadre of the Indian armed
forces comes from NDA. Two of
the three service chiefs, three of
the four vice chiefs and all 17
army commanders are ex-NDA.
Seventeen chiefs of armed
forces have been ex-NDA. But