Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Dalit leader Kumari Mayawati has found a place among the Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women in the World giving jitters to Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi. According to the Forbes list released on 28^th Aug. 2008, Mayawati is ranked 59^th just behind Queen Elizabeth of UK.

In the running to be prime minister, from her perch as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. In 1995, at 39, she was the youngest politician elected to the post and was also the first Dalit (India’s lowest, “untouchable” caste) to head a state government. Commands a large following and goes simply by Mayawati. In 2007 she shrewdly built an alliance with Brahmins, and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which she heads, has started to increase its national presence. Some say she could trail-blaze again as India’s first Dalit prime minister. — Kate Macmillan of the Forbes says in citation for Mayawati.

Sonia Gandhi has slipped to number 21 while Pepsi Co CEO,  Indra Nooyi is on number 3 on the list headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of India’s most powerful political party, the Indian National Congress Party, has by now assumed the role of elder stateswoman. Although she remains firmly at the head of the country’s ruling party, a rising star, known by the single name Mayawati, is challenging Gandhi’s position as the country’s most powerful woman. Mayawati has aligned herself with the nationalist Hindu BJP party and joined its members in vociferously opposing Gandhi’s party’s historic agreement with the U.S. on nuclear cooperation. — Heidi Brown

However, Nooyi still heads the list of businesswomen. Forbes says: At No. 3, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo is the highest-ranked woman in business as she expands the food and beverage giant internationally to counter a decline in Americans’ preference for soda and chips

Another inclusion on the list is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw  Chairman and Managing Director of the Biocan three positions behind Queen of Jordan Rania Al-Abdallah. Kiran has just scaped in to be ranked 99.

According to Forbes media release: Our annual ranking of the most powerful women in the world measures “power” as a composite of public profile–calculated using press mentions–and financial heft. The economic component of the ranking considers job title and past career accomplishments, as well as the amount of money the woman controls.
A chief executive “controls” the revenue of her business, for instance, while a head of state gets the country’s gross domestic product. The raw numbers are modified to allow comparisons across financial realms.
For the third year running Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, is the world’s most powerful woman. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (overall rank: 28) is the woman with the highest public profile, resulting from the intense media scrutiny of her failed presidential bid.

The list that comprises 54 businesswomen and 23 politicians, with the rest being media execs and personalities and non-profit leaders. A third are newcomers to the rankings; this reflects not only new top positions for women, such as Starcom MediaVest’s Laura Desmond (No. 55) and Enterprise’s Pamela Nicholson (No. 93), but also the increasingly global reach of this list, with more women from outside the U.S. rising to worldwide prominence.

Just under half the women ranked this year are based outside of the U.S. Top countries represented include the U.K. (five women), China (four), France, India and the Netherlands (three apiece). Morocco has its first ranked woman this year: Hynd Bouhia (No. 29), director-general of the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

Candidates for our list are globally recognized women at the top of their fields: chief executives and their highest-ranked lieutenants, elected officials, nonprofit leaders. They don’t have to be rich, but they do have to wield significant influence. This year, an architect, a war correspondent and several foundation executives all won spots on the list.

We measure power as a composite of public profile–calculated using press mentions–and financial heft. This year, for instance, the woman with the highest public profile is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, No. 28, who garnered intense media scrutiny for her failed U.S. presidential bid.

The economic component of the ranking considers job title and past career accomplishments, as well as the amount of money a woman controls. A chief executive gets the revenue of her business, for example, while a Nobel winner receives her prize money and a U.N. agency head receives her organization’s budget. We modify the raw dollar figures to allow comparisons among the different financial realms so that the corporate revenue that an executive controls, for instance, is on the same footing as a country’s gross domestic product, ascribed to prime ministers.

Around 300 overseas students, including Indians, were put into detention centres in Sydney and Melbourne in the past three years after found breaching Australian immigration laws.

According to a report in ‘The Australian’, it was revealed that in the last three years 299 overseas students were put into the detention centre in Sydney or Melbourne of which most were deported.

University, TAFE and secondary school students from 24 countries were detained and majority of them hailed from India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Of the detainees, 207 were held for overstaying their visas, 30 for attendance breaches, 14 for failing their courses, seven for not starting their courses, four for withdrawing from their courses, one for a work breach and 36 for other reasons, the report said.

Senior psychology professor of University of Sydney Christopher Lennings said overseas students could be easily overwhelmed by conditions in Australia, leaving them vulnerable to breaches of migration law.

“People’s English is not as good, they get overwhelmed, have financial problems or illness. They get depressed and fail their studies, and next thing they know they are on a roller coaster and have lost control of their lives,” he said adding “The trauma period is within a few to 10 days, especially if they don’t know how long they would be incarcerated for.”

Students who have their visas cancelled — often for working more than 20 hours a week, for attending less than 80 per cent of scheduled contact hours, for unsatisfactory academic results, for completing a course early, deferring study or transferring to another provider — become unlawful non-citizens.

Once located, they are usually detained pending removal from Australia, granted a bridging visa or made to arrange their own departure. The report further said that a former Bangladeshi university student was detained for almost three years and one of the 27 Chinese nationals was detained for 371 days.

Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers said while illegal residency should be dealt with by deportation, these processes “should minimise the need for detention and ensure a proper allowance for associated refugee claims”.

National Liaison Committee President for the country’s 250,000 international students, Eric Pang, said it was “shocking to know that it’s such a big export industry for Australia, where students are treated as cash cows, yet others are receiving such harsh treatment in detention … If they overstay they should be deported.”

Student detainee advocate Milchaela Rost said she was appalled by the figures and Australia was the only country in the world to detain some full-fee-paying international students.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans recently announced that mandatory detention for over stayers and unlawful non-citizens would only apply in certain circumstances, such as where a person presents a risk to the community, or where there is repeated non-compliance.

The Australian Indian Film Festival (AIFF) is now in its sixth year and has become one of the Indian film indusries most prestigious events worldwide, says M G Distribution media release. This year’s festival begin at Cinema Paris on Friday 29th Aug. 2008

Every year our festival grows grander and richer with the support of our Advisory Board members being Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Mr. Sanjev Kohli, Ms. Simi Garewal, Ms. Natalie Miller, Mr. Amit Khanna and Festival Patron Mr. Yash Chopra who are amongst the most influential people in the Indian film industry.

“We are thrilled to launch this year’s festival with the inspirational story of Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par, produced and directed by Aamir Khan- one of India’s most acclaimed actors.

This year we will present our most diverse programme of films in the history of the festival. With the support of the Directorate of Film Festivals, Minister of I & B, New Delhi, we showcasea selection of films from one of the world’s finest filmmakers Mr. Satyajit Ray. In addition we present a series of the most superb regional films never before screened in Australia plus the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of the past year, indeed making this year’s programme a very well rounded true mirror of Indian cinema, ” the release said.

The regional films include:

AMI, IYASIN AR AMAR MADHUBALA (The Voyeurs)- Bengali

DHARM – Hindi

KADA BELADINGALU- Kannada

RATHRI MAZHA- Malayalam

TINGYA- Marathi

Ganesh Visarjan 2008 at SVT
Dear Friends & Devotees of SVT :  We cordially invite you with friends & families to participate in Ganesh Visarjan 2008, the Biggest Celebration of the Year on Sunday 7thSept, 2008 at SVT, Helensburgh

Highlights of the Festival
8am-2pm: Sri Ganesh Pooja Maha Ganapathy Moola Mantra Trisathi Homam, Abhishekam, Deeparadhana etc. followed by Procession at 2pm.
2pm-3pm: Free Bus to Stanwell Beach. Visarjan at the Sea 3pm
Chant Ganpathy Bappa Morya with Drums/Trumpets etc. for final Immersion.
 
10am-2pm: Simultaneous Outdoor Cultural Programs at Temple!
Dancers, Bhajan Groups, Singers and Speakers; Children’s Activities – Colouring Competition, Ganesa Making & Pooja!
 
Food, Glorious Food!
10am-5pm: Famous Community Kitchen with variety of hot fresh foods served!
 
Bus Services to Temple (Return Ticket only $10)
Departs from Homebush (Rochester St) at 8.30am, then Strathfield (Opp. Station on Plaza side) at 8.45am.  Kindly book with Tharmapalan Ph: 9649 4507.
Also, frequent public bus services from Helensburgh Railway Station to & from temple! Free charter buses run to & from Temple & beach for Visarjan + Lots of Free Car Parking!

The 7^th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention would be held at the Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai on 07-09 January 2009. 

 In this regard, a website<http://pbdindia.org/> http:pbdindia.org/ was launched by the Hon’ble Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Shri Vayalar Ravi on the 21^st August 2008.  The process of on-line registration of delegates has also started with the launch of the website. For details of the pregrame please visit the above mentioned site.

India won their first-ever bilateral ODI series in Sri Lanka. Dhoni’s luck at the toss continued as he won his fourth on the trot, and it was an important one too.

Beyond that it was hard work and smart cricket that won India the game by 46 runs to give them an unbeatable 3-1 lead with one match to play. The margin of victory could have been bigger had the middle  and lower order batsmen showed some common sense. All they needed was just taking singles and the total would have gone past 280. 

At one stage when Jayasurya was blazing with the bat it seemed the total of 258 was too small. With his departure the complexion of the game changed. In an intelligent move, Dhoni introduced Bhajji who immediately removed the threatening Jayasurya (60 off 50 balls). Thereafter, cool Dhoni kept on mounting pressure on the Lankans with tactful  bowling and fielding changes. India overcame a late charge by Thusara when he holed to Suresh Raina in deep mid wicket to be the last man out.    

India played to the perfect script for ODIs in Sri Lanka, following the basic principle of putting runs on the board and then bringing the spinners into the game as the pitch began to take turn. Gautam Gambhir protected his wicket well, and with Virat Kohli playing a few shots, India got off to a strong start. Sri Lanka made their first breakthrough with the score on 44 when Gambhir attempted to accelerate and slashed one to point.

Yuvraj Singh, a shaky starter at the best of times, lasted only six balls before becoming Chaminda Vaas’s 400th ODI wicket. At 51 for 2, India were wobbling and were in danger of squandering a solid start.

President Musharraf is one of the greatest leaders of Pakistan. He has worked selflessly for the greater good of the country, says Mahbina Waheed, 36, BUSINESSWOMAN, Lahore.

He brought us prosperity and because of him women like me have been able to run businesses, travel anywhere and wear anything. All charges against him are baseless and false.

It is a sad day that unelected party heads like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are running a personal vendetta against him to further their personal goals. It is with tears that we bid him goodbye.

Our future is uncertain and scary. Without him we will fear for our safety because the politicians who have been in power for the past few months do not inspire any confidence when it comes to our security.

They do not care about the real issues facing ordinary Pakistanis, such as our daily power supply. All they care is about themselves.

We need to think rationally and ask if Asif Zardari and the Sharif brothers give a damn about this country.

Unfortunately you cannot change your leaders but we do hope they can learn from past mistakes.

Farrukh Taj, 35, Office Worker, Islamabad; Musharraf is a great Pakistani. He really is a hero. I don’t think Pakistan will be able to find anybody like him for centuries to come!

He may have committed some mistakes, but overall he was very good for Pakistan, much better than our politicians.

These politicians who are now in power have been tested before and they have never offered any vision; they only looked after themselves.

All they do is criticise Musharraf without offering any solid policies of their own for the welfare of the Pakistani people. Musharraf was a visionary, he worked for peace, for the economic development of Pakistan and against terrorism.

I would very much like him back as our President.

Qazi Nazir,28, Abbotabad: When Musharraf came to power the country was in a mess. He opened up the economy for foreign investment, encouraged industrialisation and freed the media.

But Pakistan is facing many problems at the moment because of him and the economy is declining day-by-day because of his wrong policies.

Personally he has been an honest man but his association with Pakistan Muslim League (Q) tarnished his image. I do hope the other parties – the PPP and PML (N) – will work for the betterment of the country.

I also believe that now that Mr Musharraf has resigned the ruling parties should not impeach him.

Now the rule of law, which was absent under Musharraf, will be restored and the judges he sacked will be reinstated.

I am confident that the present government will work harder for the people which will be evident in the next few months.

Muhammad Waseem Elahi, 46, Lawyer, Gujaranwala: Pervez Musharraf has no ground left to stand. He came to power on false pretexts and remained a powerful man in so many capacities but he could not deliver on his promises.

He could have done much more on the economy and on issues such as Kashmir. His resignation is in the best interests of Pakistan.

Now the rule of law, which was absent under Musharraf, will be restored and the judges he sacked will be reinstated.

I am confident that the present government will work harder for the people which will be evident in the next few months. — BBC News

Boxer Vijender Singh could not convert India’s third Olympic medal from bronze into silver or gold by losing his middleweight (75kg) bout here on Friday.

Vijender lost 5-8 to Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux in a closely contested semi-final at the Workers Gymnasium, but his will be the first-ever boxing medal for India.

Both the losing semi-finalists are awarded bronze.

Emilio, a two-time Pan-American Champion, was clearly the better boxer on view with his quick footwork and reach. To Vijender’s credit, he fought gallantly to carry the bout right into the fourth round, though the portents were clear that the Cuban had the edge by the end of the third round.

Vijender, who conceded a 0-2 lead in the first round, fought back brilliantly in the second round to reduce the margin to 3-4. But Emilio came back strongly in the third round and scored three points to take a big lead of 7-3.

In the fourth and last round, Vijender tried his best, but the Cuban made sure he stayed in the lead with his passive movements. A warning to the Cuban fetched the Indian two more points, but Vijender could not really launch himself and went down 5-8.

Vijender’s bronze is the third medal in what turned out to be the best Olympics for India. Last week shooter Abhinav Bindra gave the country its first ever individual gold while wrestler Sushil Kumar won the bronze Wednesday.

The rupee fell to its lowest in 17 months on Monday, hit by a weak stock market and some lumpy orders in a holiday-thinned market that was also factoring in some recent dollar strength.

The partially convertible rupee ended at 43.59/60 per dollar, recovering slightly from an intraday low of 43.70, its lowest level since March 29, 2007.

The rupee fell 1.33 per cent from Thursday’s close of 43.01/02, its biggest percentage fall in a year. It has fallen by 3.5 percent in the last five sessions and is down 9.6 percent in 2008. It rose more than 12 percent in 2007.

Markets were closed on Friday and will shut again on Tuesday for local holidays, which means many trading rooms were thinly staffed. Trade was volatile with the rupee trading a 43.05-43.70 band, and traders said there was heavy dollar buying by a large manufacturing company around 43.50 per dollar.

“This sharp fall looks like some stop-losses have got triggered and even offshore markets are pointing to a weaker rupee,” said R N Hirve, chief dealer at Central Bank of India. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 43.81/86 per dollar.

The dollar hit a six-month high against the euro on Monday, although it surrendered the gains later in the day. The euro has fallen nearly six percent against the dollar in two weeks on concerns of an economic slowdown.

Speculation the central bank may step in to stop the rupee’s fall proved unfounded. “There was some talk it may intervene around the 43.50 per dollar, but once that level broke conclusively, it fell like a stone,” said a dealer at a state-run bank.  — Courtsey Times of India

Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan shared six wickets as Sri Lanka thrashed India in the first one-day international in Dambulla.

New sensation Mendis (3-21) and fellow tweaker Muralitharan (3-37) helped bowl out the tourists for a lowly 146.

Nothing went right for India, including the loss of in-form opener Virender Sehwag to injury before the start.

Sri Lanka had no problems with their chase, racing to their target in the 35th over, losing just two wickets.

Mendis grabbed two key wickets in his opening spell when he removed hard-hitting batsmen Yuvraj Singh (the top scorer with 23) and Mahendra Dhoni, while Muralitharan made short work of India’s lower order.

With Sehwag ruled out after injuring his ankle on Sunday, Virat Kohli was drafted in to make a debut.

Left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas gave the hosts a dream start when he removed opener Gautam Gambhir with the second delivery of the match, which moved in sharply to knock back the off-stump.

Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (2-23) trapped Kohli lbw for 12 and then got rid of Suresh Raina, who hit a lazy drive straight to cover.

Yuvraj was dropped on five by Mahela Jayawardene at slip but was eventually bowled off an inside-edge attempting to defend.

The innings continued to unravel, and Jayawardene’s unbeaten 61 settled the contest.

Sri Lanka Innings – Close

Umpires: E A R de Silva, B R Doctrove

— BBC