Being separated from loved ones during Rakhi can be difficult and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) acknowledges the unique bond shared by siblings and loved ones overseas, and the importance of celebrating Rakhi on time. So they urge you to make overseas family and friends quarantine-aware to avoid delays with the arrival of your gifts.

 AQIS recognises the importance of this festival which is one of the most powerful affirmations experienced by Hindu brothers and sisters through the exchange of traditional gifts in celebration of love and togetherness. That’s why it’s committed to processing international mail in a timely manner to ensure that your special gifts are received in time.

 “The lead up to Rakhi has shown that it is common for well meaning overseas family and friends to send not only their prayers, but also quarantine risk items that can be detrimental to the Australian environment. All international mail is assessed, x-rayed or checked by detector dogs, and packages containing risk items are opened and inspected” said Ms Caroline Martin, Program Manager, AQIS International Mail Program.

 Quarantine risk items include Rakhi threads made with seeds or flowers; traditional Indian sweets made with mithai or milk products such as barfi, mysore pak, gulab jamun, rasgulla, pedas or soan-papdi; grains; and dried fruits.

 “To ensure the auspicious occasion of Rakhi is celebrated on time AQIS endeavours to keep processing delays to a minimum but this is difficult when mail contains risk items as they require further processing which leads to lengthy delays. But you can avoid these delays if you tell friends and family overseas not to send gifts containing quarantine risk items—as gifts with no risk items are processed much faster. So talk to your friends and family overseas and have your gift in time for Rakhi, which will certainly make the day much more enjoyable,” said Ms Martin.

 AQIS wishes all siblings a joyous Rakhi; a celebration of the continued tradition signifying love and good wishes, and much enjoyment of their Rakhi gifts.

 For more information :

• Visit the AQIS website www.aqis.gov.au/rakhi
  • download the brochure ‘What Can’t be Mailed to Australia?’
  • call AQIS on 1800 020 504 (free call in Australia and is in English).

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set the election date for August 21, after meeting with the Governor-General earlier this morning to request she dissolve parliament. In the press conference, Ms Gillard acknowledged she did not come to power as the elected leader.

“Today I seek a mandate from the Australian people,” she says.

Ms Gillard made the announcement in the courtyard of Parliament House in Canberra, shortly after midday, local time.

Ms Gillard said moving forward meant plans to build a  sustainable Australia, “not a big Australia”.
  
“Moving forward means making record investments in solar power and other renewable energies to help us combat climate change and protect our quality of life,” she said.

Enrol to vote

The Prime Minister said Australians will have until 8pm (AEST) on Monday to register to vote with Ms Gillard confirming writs for the election will be issued at 6pm on the same day.

Pledge to get Budget back to surplus

Ms Gillard said budget surpluses and a stronger economy would offer Australians the chance “to get a job, keep a job, learn new skills, get a better job and start your own business”.

Ms Gillard said she had been driven by a clear set of values.

“I believe in hard work … in the importance of respect and valuing other people,” she said.

“Most importantly (I belive in) the transformative power of a high-quality education.”
  
“The uncertainty is not behind us yet, and economic challenges are still very much with us and hard working Australian families who are doing it tough can attest to that,” she said.

Ms Gillard committed Labor to offsetting every dollar of new promises with spending cuts.
 
“We will make a modest set of commitments to the Australian people and we will honour those commitments,” she said.
 

Family values

Ms Gillard said she learnt those values from her parents.

“And like millions of other Australians (they) worked unbelievably hard so that their children could have opportunities that they could never have dreamed for themselves.”
 
“I believe in hard work … in the importance of respect and valuing other people,” she said.

“Most importantly (I belive in) the transformative power of a high-quality education.”
  

Border protection

The prime minister said that “moving forward” also meant stronger protection for the nation’s borders.
  
“And a strong plan, a real plan that takes away from people smugglers the product that they sell.”

Health and hospital funding

Ms Gillard noted that Labor had increased expenditure on hospitals by 50 per cent in its first term.
  
“Moving forward on health meant training 3,000 nurses and 1,300 GPs during the next three years “all the while as we expand our GP super clinics and implement our health reforms”.

Gillard attacks Coalition

Ms Gillard said the opposition’s economic approach was backward looking, citing the coalition’s stance against the stimulus package.
  
Failing to provide the stimulus would have sent the economy downwards into a spiral of lower incomes, lost jobs and reduced services.

“That is the spiral they would have recommended for this country but the wrong thing for Australians. It would have taken us backwards,” she said.

Ms Gillard accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of remaining committed to Work Choices, no matter what words he sought to use as camouflage.

“In terms of the words he seeks to disguise his intent with, we have heard all of that before,” he said.

“Their gaze is fixed in the rear-view mirror, rather than on the road ahead,” she said.

Ms Gillard said Mr.. Abbott thought improving education and health meant cutting their funding.

“He’s now calling for that same backwards-looking approach to other services that hard-working Australians need,” she said.

“Instead of creating GP super clinics, he would eliminate them, instead of expanding trades training centres, he would end them, instead of providing computers to children in schools – he would see none of that.”
 

Meeting with the GG

She arrived in the nation’s capital earlier this morning, after spending the night in her Victorian electorate of Lalor.

It was an early start for Ms Gillard, who left her home in Melbourne about 7am (AEST) on Saturday morning before a 10.40am meeting with Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Yarralumla.

She emerged from Government House after half an hour then returned to Parliament House to prepare for a midday press conference.

Abbott fires first shots

Despite the focus being on Ms Gillard’s movements on Saturday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott fired the first shots of the campaign in Brisbane.

Mr.. Abbott formally axed coalition support for its old Work Choices policy during an address to the Liberal National Party conference.

“If there was one policy on which the coalition lost the last election, it was workplace relations,” Mr.. Abbott told the conference.

“On workplace relations policy, the coalition trashed its own brand and has to re-establish trust.

“Trust will only be restored by demonstrating, over time, that the coalition again has the steady hands in which people’s job security and pay and conditions can once more safely rest.”

The surprise move will be a blow for Labor, which has been using industrial relations as a key weapon against the coalition.

Mr.. Abbott confidently jogged into the Hilton Hotel ballroom to a standing ovation and delivered a pre-election attack on the government.

“We are ready to govern,” he said.

He said the past three weeks had been “chao

The Indian rupee will have its own symbol, a mix of the Devanagri ‘Ra’ and Roman ‘R’, to become the fifth currency in the world to have a distinct identity. The new symbol, designed by IIT post-graduate D Uday Kumar was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The rupee will join the elite club of US dollar, British pound-sterling Euro and Japanese yen to have its own symbol.

The symbol will be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Kumar’s entry was chosen from among 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakhs.

She said the government will try that the symbol is adopted within six months in the country and globally within 18 to 24 months.

The symbol will feature on computer key boards and softwares so that it can be printed and displayed in electronic and print, she said.

Soni said it would also help in distinguishing the Indian currency from rupee or rupiah of countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia

UNSW Indian Cultural Association awards – 2010

UNSW Indian Cultural Association is introducing awards in 3 following categories to be awarded

on a very special occasion on September 1, 2010.

1. Best UNSW International Indian Student academic achievement award

2. Best visionary article award- Article about India

3. Best visionary article award – Indian students contributions to India and Australia

1. Best UNSW International Indian Student academic achievement award

Kindly submit your nomination to info@ica.unsw.edu.au

2. Best visionary article award – Article about India

This award is open to following UNSW members: Indian students-International /

Indian origin and Indian staff / Indian origin staff

The article should be your own creation that shall cover some of the following aspects

in 1500 to 2000 words with a maximum of 2 pictures in word document file:

Indian freedom movement and freedom fighters,

Indian culture – brief bhagavat gita, bible, quron, festivals of India,

Rising Indian cinema, cricket(games), people’s interest, politics,

21st century India and its scientific and technology developments,

Your vision for future India

It can be your personal or group submission, kindly quote all the references at the end of the article

3. Best visionary article award – Indian students contributions to India and Australia

This award is open only to UNSW Indian international students / Indian origin students

The article should be your own creation that shall cover some of the following aspects

in 1500 to 2000 words with a maximum of 2 pictures in a word document file:

Young India, Indian students, nurturing the young talent,

Indian students experience in Australia and India,

Your vision to contributing to India and Australia

It can be your personal or group submission, kindly quote all the references at the end of the article

Last date for submission: August 09, 2010

Submission address: info@ica.unsw.edu.au,

Copy to s.bandyopadhyay@unsw.edu.au, obu.iitm@gmail.com

For further details: www.ica.unsw.edu.au

Close on the heels of a bomb threat, an explosion occurred at the Copper Tiffin Indian restaurant in the Cleveland St. in Surry Hills with four people being lucky to be alive after a resultant fire in a suspected arson attack overnight.

Police are investigating possible links to the bomb threat and last night’s explosion and fire..

Two people were seen running from the restaurant just after 11.30 pm as fire engulfed the building, witnesses told police.

Police claim that fire preceded the explosion that showered Cleveland Street with glass and debris. One witness said the shop front was missing.

Four occupants of a unit above the restaurant escaped. One person was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital with smoke inhalation, while another was treated by paramedics.

Shop fronts next to the damaged building have had their signage partially melted and paint blackened.

A nearby restaurant owner, who did not want to be named, said he heard a “loud explosion, like a bomb” just after 11.30pm.

The man said the explosion caused glass and signs to cover the road. He said the building was quick to catch fire.

“Then I see people climbing out of a window, about four. [It was] very lucky,” he said.

The witness said police had been at the same site “about two weeks ago” and cleared out several restaurants along the Cleveland Street strip, possibly because of a bomb threat.

A NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said more than 20 firefighters fought the blaze and had it under control after about 30 minutes.

He said the blaze was suspicious but could not speculate yet on what caused the explosion.

By Ashok Kumar

 In a democracy, it is hard to believe that a government could think of any draconian law that turns a blind eye towards the future of hundreds and thousands of students who want to benefit the country with their skills they acquired by studying and working in this country.

The Immigration and Citizenship Minister, Mr. Chris Evans has sent the Migration Amendment Bill 2010, popularly known as Visa Capping Bill to the Senate for approval and that is more or less certain to win the approval if the elections are not held early. The approved amendment will have a retrospective effect. With the new powers the Minister attains, he will ask thousands of potential migrants to leave after accepting their applications and granting them the bridging visa, or in other words assuring them of a settlement in Australia. Continue Reading

NEW DELHI: After honouring Kapil Dev with honorary post of Lt. Colonel in the Territorial Army, star cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is likely to be honoured by the Indian Air Force by conferring on him an honorary Group Captain’s post. A proposal has been sent to the Defence Ministry for approval, report agencies.

“IAF has proposed to honour Sachin Tendulkar by granting him the honorary rank of Group Captain. We have sent the proposal to the Defence Ministry and they are considering it,” an IAF official said.

Once the Ministry clears it, the file will go to the Prime Minister’s Office and then to the President, the supreme commander of the armed forces, for approval, report againcies.

In 2008, India’s World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev had received the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Territorial Army.

Tendulkar is arguably the best batsman in the history of cricket, having amassed some 31,000-plus runs in Test and ODI cricket with a staggering 93 international centuries under his belt.

The 37-year-old is hailed as perhaps the most complete batsman in the history of the game with no real chink in armour. He not only the highest run-getter in both Test and ODI versions of the game but also the only player to have scored a double century in a One-Day International.

One of India’s most decorated sportspersons, Tendulkar has won the country’s highest sports honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna — and the Padma Vibhushan award.

The IAF had earlier conferred the honorary rank of air commodore on industrialist and aviation enthusiast Vijaypat Singhania.

A second Australian teenager was charged on Friday over the murder of Indian student Nitin Garg, a day after another teenager was arrested in the same case, reports AFP.

Police said “A 16-year-old male from Yarraville has been charged with accessory to murder and has been bailed to appear at a Children’s Court at a date to be set,” police said.

Earlier, on Thursday 17 June, a 15-year-old boy was charged with the murderof Nitin Garg and produced in a children’s court in Melbourne, media reports said. Both the  boys, could not be identified for legal reasons. The murder accused 15 year old, replied “okay” after the magistrate outlined the schedule of dates for his case. He clutched a sheet of paper in the docks and was remanded in custody to reappear in October.

The boy’s parents sat in the front row of the court. He did not attempt to communicate with them. His mother clutched a tissue in her right hand, which she held to her face during his appearance.

Although the boys’ arrest comes more than five months after the incident, it has to seen what punishment they get, if convicted, as according to the Australian laws a minor and can only be cautioned.  

Mr Garg, 21, was allegedly stabbed as he walked through Cruickshank Park, in West Footscray, on his way to work at a Hungry Jack’s restaurant.

The bloodied 21-year-old staggered 300 metres into the fast food outlet, at the corner of Somerville and Geelong roads, about 9.30pm on January 2.

The wounded man, from Newport, had a police escort in an ambulance as they ferried him to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, however he died a short time later.

His death followed a series of attacks on Indian students last year, and triggered angry protests in India over the safety of students in Australia.

At a media conference yesterday, Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards, of the Homicide Squad, said police did not believe race was a factor in the murder.

“Our inquiries, at this stage, we don’t believe it was racially motivated,” he said, however he would not reveal what police believed the motive was.

He said Mr. Garg’s family, in the Punjab region of north-west India, had been notified of the arrest.

“Victoria Police at all levels are engaging with the Indian community and other communities to assure them that Australia is a great place to live and it is usually a safe place to live,” Detective Edwards said.

“The point I do want to get across [is that] Victoria Police are trying to get knives off the street and this may be one of those occasions where people can learn a lesson why they shouldn’t be armed with knives.”

Detective Inspector Edwards said the murder weapon had not been found.

The murder is not believed to be gang-related, he said, and the investigation was still ongoing.

“Other people will be spoken to as to their knowledge and their involvement in the incident,” he said.

With Megan Levy

 The Rudd Government has no intention of putting a limit on the number of international student visas issued each year, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans said today.

Senator Evans said there was no basis for the concerns being expressed by education providers about the possible impact of proposed legislation which would allow the Government to cap and cease certain visa sub classes.

“I want to assure the university sector and all providers of quality education that Australia will continue to welcome students from across the globe to study in our country,” he said.

“The proposed legislation is designed to provide flexibility in the management of the general skilled migration program and to ensure we are able to get the balance right when it comes to targeting the skilled workers we need.

“The legislation, which was introduced into Parliament last month, will allow the Government to control the numbers of visas issued in certain occupations if necessary but will not have any impact on students wishing to come to Australia to study.”

Senator Evans said since February the Government had introduced a number of changes, including launching a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL), designed to ensure the skilled migration program targeted the occupations the Australian economy needs.

As a result of these changes, the Government has put in place generous transitional arrangements to assist international students adjust to changes to the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program.

“International students who were in Australia prior to February 8, 2010 and hold a vocational, higher education or postgraduate student visa are able to apply either for permanent residence if their occupation is on the new SOL, or a temporary skilled graduate visa on completion of their studies,” Senator Evans said.

A skilled graduate visa allows former students to spend 18 months in Australia to acquire work experience and seek sponsorship from an employer willing to sponsor them into a job using those skills. This transitional arrangement will run through to the end of 2012.

“We want to attract skilled migrants of the highest calibre but the changes we have announced in no way affect international students coming to Australia to study and then return home,” he said.

“The Rudd Government values the contribution made by the international education sector and welcomes its feedback on the proposed legislation.”

A local court on Monday sentenced eight former Union Carbide of India Ltd (UCIL) executives to two years’ imprisonment for the criminal negligence that led to the Bhopal gas disaster of December 1984. But two hours after the sentencing, the convicts were freed on bail on personal bonds of Rs 25,000 each. The court also fined them Rs 1 lakh each and UCIL Rs 5 lakh, report agencies with inputs from BBC News.

The tragedy claimed more than 15,000 lives and affected the health of 500,000 when nearly 40 tonnes of a poisonous gas emitted from the now defunct Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2-3, 1984.

There was tension on the court premises, where prohibitory orders were imposed, as Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan M Tiwari announced the verdict.
 
The convicts include the top brass of UCIL in 1984: the then chairman Keshub Mahindra, Vijay Gokhle, SP Raichoudhary, Kishor Kamdar, J Mukund, KV Shetty and SI Qureshi. Another person convicted, RB Rai Choudhary, has passed on.

US-based Union Carbide on Monday said it was not subject to the jurisdiction of the Bhopal court and that none of its officials was involved in the operation of the plant. “Union Carbide and its officials were not part of this case since the charges were divided long ago into a separate case,” a company statement said.

“Furthermore, Union Carbide  and its officials are not subject to the jurisdiction of Indian court since they did not have any involvement in the operation of the plant, which was  owned and operated by UCIL,” the statement read.

The convicts have the option to move the sessions court and subsequently the higher courts against the verdict. Three other accused in the case — one and two corporate entities — were declared  absconding: the  then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation (worldwide) Warren Anderson, Union Carbide Corporation and Union Carbide (eastern) Hong Kong.

The case began in December 1987 after the CBI filed a chargesheet in court. Since then, 20 CJMs heard the case. There were 256 hearings in all.

The hearings were suspended briefly after the Supreme Court ratified an out-of-court settlement between Union Carbide Corporation and the Indian government in 1989. By the terms of the agreement, the company got immunity from all civil and criminal liabilities relating to the gas disaster.

Proceedings resumed in 1991 after the Supreme Court restored criminal charges against the company and its officials in response to a petition by two NGOs — Bhopal Gas  Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan and Bhopal Gas Peedit Sagharsh Sahyog Samiti.
 
However, a  Supreme  Court  Bench  in 1996 diluted the charges against the accused from culpable homicide to criminal negligence.

Reactions

The convictions have been heavily criticised by campaigners.

Amnesty International described the two-year sentences for eight people as “too little, too late”.

The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant – the world’s worst industrial accident.

The eight Indians, all former plant employees, were convicted of “death by negligence”.

One was convicted posthumously. The others are expected to appeal.

Nityanand Jayaraman, of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal campaign group, told the BBC the punishment imposed on Union Carbide was wholly inadequate.

“I share the Bhopalis’ sense of outrage and betrayal,” he said.

“I feel that it portends ill for the country that industrialists and corporations are being told that they can actually get away with murder, and today’s verdict is essentially that – a signal that [after] the world’s worst industrial disaster, the people who were accused of that are just being let off with a rap on the knuckles.”

Satinath Sarangi, an activist also campaigning on behalf of Bhopal victims, told the BBC that justice would not be done until US executives from Union Carbide at the time of the incident – including the company’s former head, Warren Anderson – were brought to India to face justice.

“This is not the justice that we have been waiting for, because the principal accused – Warren Anderson, Union Carbide corporation USA – are not here,” he said.

“The charges that have been [laid] on the Indian accused have essentially been the charges that you would put for a traffic accident. This is indeed a very sad day for us.”

Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal on 3 December 1984.

Official figures show at least 3,000 people died at the time and as many as 15,000 have died since.

Campaigners put the death toll as high as 25,000 and say the horrific effects of the gas continue to this day.

‘Unacceptable’

Amnesty International also called on the Indian and US governments to take legal action against US executives of Union Carbide.

“These are historic convictions, but it is too little, too late,” said Audrey Gaughran, an Amnesty director.

Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Women’s Workers group, told the AFP news agency that “justice will be done in Bhopal only if individuals and corporations responsible are punished in an exemplary manner”.

Although Warren Anderson was named as an accused and later declared an “absconder” by the court, he was not mentioned in Monday’s verdict.

The eight convicted on Monday were Keshub Mahindra, the chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL); VP Gokhale, managing director; Kishore Kamdar, vice-president; J Mukund, works manager; SP Chowdhury, production manager; KV Shetty, plant superintendent; SI Qureshi, production assistant. All of them are Indians.

The seven former employees, some of whom are now in their 70s, were also ordered to pay fines of 100,000 Indian rupees (£1,467; $2,125) apiece.

The site of the former pesticide plant is now abandoned.

It was taken over by the state government of Madhya Pradesh in 1998, but environmentalists say poison is still found there.

Campaigners say Bhopal has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiency, as well as cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

Twenty years ago Union Carbide paid $470m (£282m) in compensation to the Indian government.

Dow Chemicals, which bought the company in 1999, says this settlement resolved all existing and future claims against the company.

Bhopal residents describe the impact of the disaster and give their reaction to the sentencing.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Two years prison sentence after 25 years is too little too late.

People in Bhopal have been waiting for justice for too long, but they are also waiting for concrete action to help those still suffering.

We still don’t have proper medical facilities and those affected have to go to private hospitals and pay for their treatment.

The compensation still hasn’t reached the right people and there are many who are desperately in need. Most of the people who registered for compensation were adults – those under 18 were not allowed to register.