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On the Republic Day of India, even as Indian and Australian flags go up, two Indian students were allegedly assaulted by a group of people in Melbourne. Eight persons, described as being of Asian appearance, have been arrested after several hours of the incident and were being questioned, police said in a statement.

The 18-year-old Indian man suffered wound on his left ear from a sharp edged weapon, police said.  A 22-year-old student was also punched to the ground and suffered minor abrasions. The accused had allegedly made comments to the duo before one of the students was pushed to the ground and kicked just two days ago in central Melbourne.

A couple of days ago, I had stated in my blog that Australian Government should wake up to the situation and address the truth that the attacks on Indians there, are racially motivated and act accordingly but to no avail. Read the rest of this entry »

Melbourne.  Despite various assurances given by the Australian government, the attacks on Indians go on unabated. Two more Indian youth, including a taxi driver, have been attacked which takes the total to seven attacks in a week. A 25 year old youth was attacked and looted in the Macgregor area of South Brisbane while talking on a phone and his purse was snatched.

Students or taxi drivers of Indian origin have found themselves being targeted in both Melbourne and Sydney, sparking allegations of widespread racism in Australian society and a failure by the law enforcement authorities to act.

Australian envoy to India Peter Varghese admits that the continuing attacks on Indian nationals in his country have the “potential to impact on the broader relationship” between the two sides. Read the rest of this entry »

Why did IPL have to snub Pakistan cricket players is still not clear. The Government is non-committal and has a different version or is probably hiding behind the garb of visa-issue and/or something like that. The question is why were the names of Pakistan players included in the list of players to be auctioned – in the first place?

Shahid Afridi

Cricketers from Pakistan had participated in the first edition of IPL in 2008. Why not now? A sports-cum-political comedy of sorts has occured, which is becoming more interesting than the matches themselves.

“ The participation or absence of Pakistani cricketers in a commercial event of the nature of IPL is, thus, a matter not within the purview of the Government”, says the government.

WOW!  Well said – buddy. Non-inclusion of players like Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir   from the cash-rich tournament  is not understood as they both are crowd pullers and watching them is within the justified demands of the spectators. Afridi burns the stadium with the wilt of his willow and Tanveer can make many a heads roll with his balls. He is the highest wicket taker in the first IPL tourney. Read the rest of this entry »

As many as 200,000 people have died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti and three-quarters of the capital, Port-au-Prince, will need to be rebuilt.

Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told media that “We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies. We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number.”  Some 40,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves, said Secretary of State for Public Safety Aramick Louis.

Haiti Presidential Palace

If the casualty figures turn out to be accurate, the 7.0 magnitude quake that hit impoverished Haiti on Tuesday would be one of the 10 deadliest earthquakes ever recorded.

Three days after it struck, gangs of robbers had begun preying on survivors living in makeshift camps on sidewalks and streets strewn with rubble and decomposing bodies, as quake aftershocks rippled through the hilly neighborhoods.

Looters have broken into UN food ware-houses in Haiti’s capital. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW DELHI -   A Gurudwara was allegedly torched by arsonists in Melbourne, placing further strain on diplomatic relations already damaged by a series of racial attacks on Indian students. This  has been termed as an ‘attack on religion’.

A fire suspected of being set with Molotov cocktails inside a Sikh temple under construction in a Melbourne suburb has caused outrage in India.

Someone using an accelerant started the fire that caused major damage at Nanaksar Taath Temple in Cranbourne.

Australian police today said the blaze in a gurudwara here was a “deliberate” act and  an outraged Sikh community called the incident “race-related” and “an attack on Indians”. Detective Senior Constable Paul Stow, in charge of the investigation, said police believed the arson to be a “deliberately lit fire.”    Read the rest of this entry »

The racial attacks on Indians have gone on un-abated with reports  of another Indian being attacked yesterday in Sydney. A 28 year old man had been badly beaten by a group of Australian boys and girls at the Coogee Beach in Sydney. No one else present on the beach came to his rescue. The victim then called the police who arrived at least 40 minutes after the incident took place. The victim had been living in Australia for the past 11 years and was a permanent resident there. 

He had complained of pain in his back, neck and head and was taken to the Hospital for an internal medical check up and X-rays. He said he believed that this attack was unprovoked and  racial in nature.  Read the rest of this entry »

A 29-year-old  man of Indian origin was set ablaze by a group of four attackers here on Saturday, a week after a student from the country was stabbed to death amid a slew of assaults on the community in Australia. The man, who suffered 15 per cent burns including on his arms, chest and face, was admitted to ‘The Alfred’ hospital after he was attacked in Melbourne’s Essendon area.

As per local news reports one Jaspreet Singh and his wife left a dinner party in Essendon, and drove to their nearby home in Grice Crescent. He dropped his wife at home and had gone to park his car when he was attacked. Police said that as he was getting out of the car, four men attacked him and poured an unknown fluid on him. One of the men then ignited the fluid with a lighter before all the attackers fled. The victim, who is now in a stable condition in the hospital, ran from the car while peeling off his clothes, ‘The Age’ reported. Read the rest of this entry »

A 21-year-old Indian youth with permanent residency in Australia was fatally stabbed in the abdomen by unidentified assailants in Melbourne on Sunday while on his way to work, the first death in a series of vicious attacks on the members of Indian community.

Nitin Garg was stabbed to death in Melbourne on Saturday. As per TV news reports, he was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital where he  died later.

He was a part time employee in Hungry Jack’s restaurant.  Garg, had migrated from Punjab and was attacked in a park while he was walking towards the restaurant.

He staggered for nearly 300 meters into the restaurant on the corner of Somerville Road and Geelong Road, West Footscray, about 10 pm local time last night and pleaded for help before collapsing. Read the rest of this entry »

Year 2009 has just passed into history, and it is a matter of pride that we have had a wonderful year, full of achievements, some minor hiccups here and there notwithstanding.

Year 2009 brought laurels to India when its star music performers were honored with Oscars Awards.

The Indian cricket team too, reached the pinnacle of achieving the top spot in ICC rankings as the number one cricket playing nation in the world.

Our President Mrs Pratibha Patil,  flew in the Sukhoi fighter jet and became the first lady, while being the Head of any country, to have done so. Read the rest of this entry »

The handsome, young, flamboyant,energetic, courteous, intelligent, N.D.Tiwari had an ignominious exit from the Raj Bhawan of Hyderabad. These accolades are much less than he actually deserved.

Tiwari had the distinction of being the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on four occasions and earlier he also had a stint as a legislature of the UP Assembly.The State of Uttar Pradesh had, for decades been the stronghold of the Congress Party.

N.D.TEWARI

Unfortunately, as a fall-out of this, the President, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, cancelled her tour to the Andhra State.

It had become absolutely difficult for Tiwari to face the first women President of India, and also Ms Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Congress Party. Read the rest of this entry »