Immigration Fraud

City couple booked for duping youth

Patiala, July 31
The city police has registered a case pertaining to cheating and conspiracy against a city-based travel agent husband-wife duo for duping a local resident of money to the tune of lakhs on the pretext of sending him abroad. While the Tripuri police has registered a case against the accused couple, it is yet to make arrests.

The police said the accused had been identified as Raspal Singh and his wife, Hardeep Kaur, who had allegedly duped a resident of Tripuri, Chirag Malhotra, of Rs 2,40,000 for sending him abroad. “However when the couple failed to send the victim abroad, he demanded his money back, following which accused started avoiding him,” said the police.
“While an FIR has been registered, the couple is on the run and yet to be arrested,” said the Tripuri police.

Liberia honours Jalandhar man

Chandigarh, July 31
India’s Honorary Consul General to Liberia, West Africa, Upjit Singh Sachdeva has been conferred with the “Knight Grand Commander”, Liberia’s highest award during 164th Independence day celebration. He belongs to Jalandhar.

Sachdeva has become the first Indian in African history to have been awarded the highest award by a sitting Liberian president since Liberia declared her Independence 164 years ago on July 26, 1847.

The award according to sources was presented to him by President of the Republic of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for his outstanding contribution to the cause of the socio-economic development, recovery and reconstruction of Liberia after the civil war that ravaged the entire nation.
Earlier, he was honoured with the Parvasi Bhartiya Award by President Pratibha Patil for enhancing India's image globally during 3-day-long Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, in January this year. Sachdeva was born in Jalandhar and graduated from the Guru Nanak Dev University in 1982. He migrated to Liberia and started his career in 1987. He was appointed as Honorary Counsel General of India in 1998. He formed his own company Jeety Trading Corporation, which rapidly transformed into a mega building material, which has been catering to the construction and household needs of entire Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Punjab to be covered under road safety project being run by the UNO

Mohali, July 31
All districts of Punjab would be covered under the Road Safety Project (RS -10) being run by the United Nations Organisation, said Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, here on Friday. While addressing the participants at a high-level review meeting of the project, the Principal Secretary said presently Jalandhar had been identified for the implementation of this project on a pilot basis. Once the first phase ends in December, the project would be extended to the whole of Punjab.
He said the project had been initiated by the United Nations in collaboration with several international agencies. The project was being implemented in 10 different countries, including India. Two states, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, were selected for this project.
He said the objective of the project was to strengthen the road safety mechanism and curtail roadside trauma cases by effective traffic management as well as improved infrastructure.
He said Punjab had achieved some success in tackling road trauma cases, but much more was still to be done. He lauded the role of ‘Dial-108 Emergency Response Services’ in handling road accidents. He, however, emphasised upon modern gadgets and equipment like speed radar and alcometer and assured that funds would not be any constraint in this regard.
The three trauma centres set up at Amritsar, Pathankot and Jalandhar were functioning well and another such centre would be set up at Khanna, he added.
ADGP (traffic) RP Singh emphasised on awareness about traffic rules and change in the mindset of people towards traffic norms. He said eight lakh challans for different traffic violations were issued during the past one year. The help of new technology like GPS system was being taken to curtail traffic violations and the aim was to reduce roadside trauma cases by half in the near future.
Dr Ashok Nayyar, Director of Health & Family Welfare-cum-Nodal Officer RS-10 Project, said that out of the various factors resulting in road traffic injuries, drunken driving and over speeding were identified for a detailed study.
The enforcement of the project would begin from August and the results would start emerging by the end of this year. He disclosed that the UNO had declared the 2011-20 decade as Global Road Safety Decade. He impressed upon the media to play a more proactive role in creating further awareness on road safety.

HDFC Bank told to compensate complainant

Chandigarh, July 31
The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed HDFC Bank Ltd to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation to Parvesh Gupta, a resident of Sector 51.
Earlier, Gupta had filed a complaint in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, which had directed the respondent to refund the foreclosure charges of Rs 10,113, along with a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the complainant, for the harassment caused to him due to loss of documents, as well as Rs 2,500 as cost of litigation.
However, feeling aggrieved over the meagre compensation awarded by the district forum, Gupta moved the State Commission.
The counsel for the complainant submitted that respondents had not handed over original allotment letter or a certified copy to his client. He further submitted that the complainant had to suffer a lot of physical harassment, mental agony and inconvenience, for a number of years, on account of loss of his original allotment letter, which was submitted by him, before Centurion Bank, which was later merged with HDFC Bank Ltd. He further submitted that it was the duty of the respondents to handover either the original document or the certified/duplicate copy to his client.
On the other hand, the counsel for the respondents, argued that the respondents tried to get a duplicate allotment letter prepared from the Chandigarh Housing Board, but the relevant file was found to have been lost. He said, in case, the complainant produced the original receipts, regarding the payments made by him, to the Housing Board, his file could be traced and revived, and duplicate allotment letter would be supplied to him. He further submitted that the compensation of Rs 10,000 awarded by the District Forum was fair and reasonable.
While enhancing the compensation to Rs 25,00,0 State Commission president Justice Sham Sunder and Member Neena Sandhu observed that it was due to the negligence on the part of the opposite parties that the original allotment letter, which was deposited by the complainant was lost. The complainant had to furnish another security, by way of pledging his LIC policy of Rs 2,00,000 with the respondents, for no fault of his. One can well imagine the condition of a person, whose original allotment letter regarding the allotment of house, was lost by the opposite party, on account of the acts of the respondents.

City colleges have no provision for parking

Chandigarh, July 31
With the new academic session beginning in city colleges, swanky cars parked haphazardly outside the campus are giving the authorities jitters.
An exponential increase in the number of cars being brought to colleges by students, who are barely out of school, and a dearth of space for student cars has aggravated the menace.
At the peak college hours, traffic jams on roads leading to DAV College, Sector 10, or Sector 32, where GGDSD College, St Anne’s Convent School, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Regional Institute of English (RIE) and State Institute of Education are located, are a common sight.“Parking menace outside colleges is on an all time high. With the UT administration failing to tide over the problem, the situation is going to turn from bad to worse,” said a government college official.
Barring certain government colleges, which have provided sufficient space to students for parking their cars, it is strange how certain private colleges have been adding more units and courses without making any parking arrangements. The traffic police, on the other hand, said the problem can be solved by creating more awareness among students about car-pooling.
“The parking crunch has always persisted. We have also written to colleges to make a list of students possessing vehicles. There is not much that the colleges can do with the limited infrastructure. However, the emphases must be on creating awareness among students on car-pooling. The traffic police, at its own level has launched awareness campaigns in colleges and will continue to do so in future,” said Vijay Kumar, DSP (traffic), UT.
Incidentally, despite traffic awareness drives being carried out in various schools and colleges, car-pooling in not being campaigned actively by the authorities of private or government colleges.

Illegal PG accommodation in Chandigarh Part-II

Admn should have rules in place 

Chandigarh and its satellite towns have become an educational hub, where students stay during the course of their studies. Besides educational institutions, there are information technology companies, which employ a large number of executives. But unfortunately, educational institutions, including Panjab University and colleges, have insufficient space to accommodate all students in hostels.
This has led to the need for paying guest (PG) accommodation. To supplement their income, several house owners are renting out their accommodation to paying guests. However, a number of these house owners tend to fleece students by charging exorbitantly. Apparently, they are not paying the charges due to the administration.

The administration needs to get in place certain rules and be strict on the ground. There should be rules on registration with the administration, commercial electricity and water charges and other miscellaneous needs, owners being liable for law and order problem on their premises, reporting of credentials of tenants to the police by house owners, lists of all occupants being displayed at a prominent place and regular police visits.

SK Khosla, Chandigarh

Night shelters

Since Chandigarh is an educational hub, with scores of academic and professional colleges, there are thousands of students who come from outside cities and states for studying here. So, they need some sort of accommodation. Not all students get the facilities of hostels as these are in limited number. Rents are too high. Thus, students seek PG facilities, which are also lower.
There are some greedy people who offer PG accommodation at higher rates to these helpless students. The raid one one such building at Sector 35 the other day shows how unscrupulous persons violate all building laws to accommodate five students per room to amass money. This is really an act to be condemned by all. But the students have no alternative.
The UT administration should keep this aspect in mind and build some ‘raen baseras’ (night shelters) or construct hostles for such students at nominal rates so that students coming from outside do not suffer for want of accommodation. Simply challaning owners who offer PG facilities to students in the city is not the final solution.
RK Kapoor, Chandigarh

Register with MC

There are very simple ways to deal with the present PG problem in Chandigarh. With the kind of incomes generated from the concept, PG accommodation owners should own up some responsibilities too. All PG accommodation should be registered with the MC on payment of a an annual fee of Rs 24,000 per year. The MC should also earn as PG accommodation owners are charging upto Rs 4,000 per month per person.
The next step should be informing the police station of the sector with details of every PG, with credentials. This will help in tackling the social security problem in the city. Last but not least, it is better for the administration to use this situation to its advantage and provide more working men’s and women’s hostels.
Prashant S Kumar, Chandigarh

Plan more hostels

Chandigarh has emerged a major hub of educational, commercial and IT activities. This growth needs supporting infrastructure, particularly in the field of accommodation, for which Chandigarh does not have adequate space. The concept of PG accommodation has had an impact, not merely in Chandigarh, but also in adjoining towns of Mohali and Panchkula.
The government needs to plan for providing more hostels and accommodation for students at the earliest. Unlicensed accommodation should not be allowed at any cost and the administration needs to set more examples, like the recent sealing of a house at Sector 35.
SS Arora, Mohali

Owners in a spin

The Chandigarh administration has taken the right decision to seal PG accommodation in the city. The accommodation is given to students and working women. Thousands of paying guests are staying in the city without registration. One of the main conditions for registration of PG accommodation in residential areas should be that there is no building bylaw violations in the premises after grant of completion certificate.
The PG accommodation owners advertise their accommodation in newspapers, with contact numbers. Students have to face a number of difficulties, such as water problems, overcrowding and high charges per bed. Owners should be penalised for violating building bylaws.

Owners are now caught in a web over providing details on their property to the authorities. They have breached building bylaws, constructed rooms and made big business. The authorities should make enquiries for running PG accommodation in residential premises. There is an immediate need to check the practice of the outsiders being charged huge amounts.

ML Garg, Chandigarh

open house response'

The Chandigarh administration sealed a paying guest accommodation at Sector 35 past week. At least 40 paying guests were crowded in eight rooms on upper floors. While getting accommodation in the city has become an ordeal for outsiders, particularly students, paying guest accommodation owners are minting money by overcrowding their residential quarters. Write to openhouse@tribunemail.com about the problems faced in getting accommodation in the city and alternative solutions for providing residential quarters for the burgeoning population of students and professionals from outside the city.

Co-ordination blues in Mohali

Mohali, July 31
Due to lack of co-ordination between the district administration, the police and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), the business of unregistered paying guest (PG) accommodation is thriving here.
The police and the GMADA estate office work in isolation while checking PG accommodation here. As a result, efforts by the estate officer to seek an undertaking from operators of 126 illegal PG houses to shut their activity or get it registered has failed to make an impact.
Explaining the flaw, sources said the police were carrying out the verification of occupants in PG accommodation, but failed to check the number of PGs.
As a result, the estate officer has no clue about the number of persons staying as PGs and had to rely on rent deed agreements produced by landlords.
In many cases, landlords make rent deed agreements to camouflage their illegal activity. Police officials stated that GMADA should write to the police to seek information.
In the past, the estate office had found 126 unregistered PGs. “To physically verify undertakings given by property owners, we are carrying out a survey of the town again,” said GMADA estate officer Balbir Singh.

Illegal PG accommodation in Chandigarh

Fear of crackdown prompts landlords to act Ask paying guests to fill in verification forms to avoid action

Chandigarh, July 30
The fear of crackdown by the UT administration as part of their intensive campaign against landlords illegally renting out their premises to paying guests (PGs) in the city has forced them to get verification forms filled by the occupants.

Sahil Chauhan, a postgraduate student at Panjab University, who resides as a PG in Sector 15, says he has been asked to fill the verification form by his landlord.
“In fact all students residing in my PG accommodation have been asked to furnish their details at the earliest or else we will have to vacate the accommodation,” Chauhan adds.

Manipal Singh, another PG resident in Sector 22, says he has been residing in the same accommodation for the past two years. All these years, he claims, he has never been asked to fill a verification form. However, all of a sudden, his landlord has now asked him to fill out the verification form.

A landlord running a PG in Sector 34, praying anonymity, says he has distributed verification forms among his PG residents and asked them to deposit them by the first week of August.
“In the wake of the UT administration’s campaign to verify PGs in the city, most landlords offering PG accommodations in our sectors have also started asking the occupants to give their details,” says a PG owner.
“It is becoming difficult to rent a PG accommodation in the city as landlords have now begun making detailed enquiries before offering a PG. It has been almost 10 days now since I started hunting for a decent PG accommodation. But I have failed to find one,” says Rohit Singh, who works with a multi-national company.
In some sectors, landlords have decided to offer the accommodation only to families and not students.

During a recent meeting, the UT administration and the police had also decided to start a verification drive in various sectors and penalise landlords who failed to get a prior verification of their paying guests done.

Hub of students staying as PGs

Much of the city’s student community living as PGs is concentrated in Sectors 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 32, 33, 34 and 35. Apprehending crackdown, landlords in some sectors have decided to offer their accommodations only to families and not students.

Indian American groups seek relief on foreign bank accounts

IANS | Jul 30, 2011, 08.36PM IST
WASHINGTON: Several Indian American civic and professional groups have sought President Barack Obama's intervention in a joint campaign seeking relief on penalties stipulated by US tax ruleson foreign bank accounts.

The July 19 letter to Obama by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), National Federation of Indian American Association (NFIA), American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) follows a similar plea from GOPIO to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The letter expresses the community's concern that new US immigrants of Indian origin "are facing unfair and unprecedented penalties for failure to disclose and do tax filing of foreign bank accountsby August 31. Copies of the letter were also sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Geithner.

The joint letter affirmed the community's recognition of the necessity for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take needed actions and enact rules to track money flowing to terrorists, drug transaction and money laundering in safe havens outside the United States.

However, the groups urged the IRS to review and reconsider the rules towards "more practical and prudent application."

The IRS announced Feb 8 a special voluntary disclosure initiative designed to bring offshore money back into the US tax system that will be available through August.

Among other things, the Indian community has requested that stipulated 25 percent Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty on assets of law abiding citizens be eliminated and the IRS deadline for voluntary disclosure be extended to Dec 31, 2012.

The groups have also asked the government to publicise the amnesty programme in ethnic newspapers and other community media in multiple languages, as well through print, radio and television media interviews.

The growing problems with NRI Marriages: A wake-up call!

NRI Marriages gone bad: the issues with the NRI Weddings

“My daughter _____ who is an attractive girl, has done masters in English and now she is working in a bank with salary____. She is a lovable, cute and calm girl.she has great respect of our tradition and culture. Interested persons can contact us at____ Must be an Non Resident Indian (NRI) with legal and valid residence in US or Canada….”

“She has a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and is just finishing masters in Computer Science; very outgoing, friendly and caring person. She likes making friends and gets along with people easily. Looking for an NRI living in …..”

There is something fundamentally wrong with these matrimonial advertisements all over the Internet and on-line newspapers. Many of these ads are nothing more than fishing for NRIs living overseas. As you can see for yourself, the primary qualities for match-making are often overlooked. What happened to the need for decent human qualities; may be a search for compatibility, honesty or other values? These advertisements don’t seem like for a wedding but more like a business proposition: would you take our pretty/handsome daughter/son for a green card? The greed is written all over these NRI matrimonials.

Similarly, on the other hand, you can also find plenty of ads starting with ” Looking for a suitable match for a well settled NRI overseas…..” or something like that. Being an “NRI abroad” is the main quality being touted again and again. I guess, as long as people are willing to be exploited, there will be exploiters.

More and more problems are emerging with these NRI marriages. The problem is not just opportunistic NRIs, but also those who put their trust in someone whom they have barely met. The personal gains take priority over any consideration for the long term well-being of the bride/groom. We can blame the NRIs for failed wedding, but the fault lies with both sides. Actually, the blame lies more on those who get married to someone just because he/she is an NRI.
If you are lucky, you may find a decent match; yes, there are lots of success stories. However, it is too much to be left on luck alone; waging everything on blind trust and chances alone is no wisdom.

There is no wonder why the NRI weddings are getting increasingly negative press. Everywhere in the news and media, there are too many sad stories of NRI marriages gone bad everyday:

• A bride is being shunned soon after her arrival overseas
• A groom is taking a beating for one reason or another,
• A couple is looking for ways to separate or divorce as both sides are unhappy due to failed expectations.
• The bride/groom families are blaming the other side….

These are just a few typical examples. The proof of deteriorating NRI relations is right in front of us. The stories of this nature are everywhere – the newspapers, the social gatherings, the Internet. If you Google search for ‘NRI issues’, the sites related to NRI divorce are popping up on the front pages of search results. I personally tested and verified this from the local public libraries at different locations (USA), and also using Bing.com. Even the search engines seem to know what type of issues NRIs are searching for. It is sad.

Let us hope and wish that the Indian community wakes up and pays attention to this issue of increasingly failing NRI marriages. It is very important that every future NRI bride/groom and their families do the due diligence before committing to NRI weddings.
Even if we are not involved directly, we can still make a difference by exposing the issue. Someone else will benefit from it.It is about time to tell everybody; warn them about the smoke, so the fire can be controlled.

In the end, as you know, very few actions start from the pureness of love. In fact, most of our actions are triggered by one of the two reasons- fear or greed. In case of NRI Weddings, let us consider fear BEFORE greed.

Share your suggestions or comments about this social issue impacting at home as well as overseas. You can start a conversation below, and others can join in. It takes at least two to start a chain.

UAE to implement new work permit rules to eases ‘sponsor’ grip on foreign workers

June 30, 2011

The United Arab Emirates has eased its tough rules for foreign workers who want to change employer, loosening the controversial “sponsor” system in force in the Arab states of the Gulf.

“An employee with an expired contract can obtain a new work permit and shift to another employer” without having to wait six months and have his sponsor’s consent, the labour ministry said.

The new regulation takes effect in January and will “replace the current formalities of transfer of sponsorship for expatriate workers,” it said in a statement carried by the Emirati state news agency WAM.

It said the measure applies only if the two parties in a labour contract have “ended their work relationship cordially” and the employee has “worked with his employer for at least two years.”

However, if the employer “fails to honour his legal or contractual obligations” or if the contract is proven to have been prematurely terminated” by the employer, the worker will have the right to change jobs.

The sponsorship system practised in the Gulf’s oil-rich Arab states which employ millions of foreigners, mostly Asians, has been heavily criticised by human rights organisations, which liken it to modern-day slavery.

Seen as the cause of most abuses, the system requires foreign workers to have “sponsors,” usually local nationals, who can keep their passports and deny them the right to change jobs.

Bahrain was the first to abolish the sponsorship system in August 2009, while Kuwait said it will follow suit in February.

The International Labour Organisation in early October urged Gulf countries to protect millions of migrant workers by reforming the sponsor system and introducing a minimum wage.

The ILO suggested a monthly minimum of 60 dinars (215 dollars) for Kuwait, and it also called for foreign workers to be allowed to form representative organisations to seek redress for rights violations.

Immigration regulations in Kuwait allow for criminal charges against workers who leave their jobs, while in Saudi Arabia and Qatar workers must have their employers? permission to secure exit visas to leave the country.

The ILO estimates 15 million migrant workers live in the six Arab states of the Gulf, making up about 40 percent of the total population.

Foreigners form a majority of the population in all six countries, except for Saudi Arabia, and more than 90 percent in the Emirates and Qatar, according to the ILO.

Punjabi woman killed in Canada, husband held

Surrey, July 29
In a suspected case of honour killing, an Indian-origin woman working with a newspaper was butchered with a meat cleaver allegedly by her husband on the outskirts of Vancouver. The police has identified the victim as Ravinder Kaur Bhangu, 24, who worked with the weekly ‘Sach Di Awaaz’ in Surrey, the Vancouver Sun reported.
She was killed by her husband Sunny Bhangu yesterday, journalist Sukhminder Cheema said, quoting a witness. “He came to the newspaper office and pulled out a meat cleaver..., then he stabbed her with the meat cleaver,” said Cheema. She died on the spot. Sunny (26) was arrested from the crime site. Cheema said reportedly he made no effort to flee. Cheema said Sunny Bhangu met his wife in India and brought her to Canada less than three years ago. They had “some misunderstandings and differences,” and Ravinder moved out of their home in April. Cheema described Ravinder as “pretty, nice, soft-spoken and a very calm girl.”
The couple belonged to a village near Rajpura, said sources. Ravinder had moved in with her aunt about three months ago, her friends told the Vancouver Sun. “You can say that it was honour killing," said Cheema.
"So far nobody has heard that she had a boyfriend, or anything like that. Maybe he was angry because she left him," he added. Cheema is a British Columbia-based staff reporter for Punjabi Jagran in India. He said she started working at the newspaper last November. She worked from Tuesday to Thursday at the Punjabi weekly in Newton and taught Punjabi folk dance at a local community centre on Fridays. “This has shocked the whole community,” he said.

Indo-Canadian Woman killed in Surrey stabbing

SURREY - Police aren't saying if the fatal stabbing of a woman at Surrey's Sach di Awaaz newspaper in Newton this morning was random or targeted.
Surrey RCMP arrested a man at the scene of the crime, in the 8100-block of 128th Street, after receiving an emergency 911 call at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
"He's refusing to provide his identification. He's not providing us with much information," said Sgt. Jennifer Pound, spokeswoman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. The suspect is expected to appear in Surrey provincial court Friday morning.
"He will be attending court with charges of homicide."
Police haven't released names but newspaper reports are identifying the deceased as Ravinder Bhangu, an administrative assistant at the weekly English/Punjabi newspaper.
Pound said a man was injured while trying to help the woman. "He reacted on instinct, I'm guessing."
"He sustained minimal injuries - I believe he had some cuts and scratches. He did receive stitches," Pound said. He has since been released from hospital.
The deceased suffered multiple stab wounds.
Pound wouldn't say if a weapon was recovered from scene.
-- with files from the Vancouver Sun

Meet the countries with AAA ratings

Countries with the best debt ratings

There are only 17 nations that have a stamp of approval when it comes to how much they owe.

Annalyn Censky, On Friday July 29, 2011, 7:55 am EDT

Amid the contentious debt ceiling debate, the United States is at risk of being booted out of a prestigious group of countries that boast a spotless credit rating.

Only 17 countries in the world -- currently including the U.S. -- hold the highly coveted triple-A rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's. (S&P rates an additional three countries as triple-A, that aren't featured on Moody's list).

Germany, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are among those with the undisputed stamp of approval -- so is the Isle of Man, a country off Ireland's east coast, and Singapore (both of which are too small to see on our CNNMoney map above.)

Now, S&P and Moody's are questioning the United States' membership in this exclusive club.

The triple-A rating enables nations to borrow funds at a low cost, because their governments are considered stable and their bonds safe.

The U.S. for example, has seen its dollar become the world's No. 1 reserve currency because its bonds are held in such high regard by investors. They're backed by the "full faith and credit of the U.S. government" -- which until now, has never seriously been called into question.

Already, just the threat of a possible downgrade has taken a toll.

Prior to November 2007, the United States boasted some of the safest bonds in the world. That started to gradually change with the recession, and now the country's creditworthiness continues to be questioned amid the debt ceiling debates.

Investors can discern the "risk" associated with a country's debt, by looking at the cost to insure against a possible default -- through a financial instrument called a credit default swap. In the case of the U.S., that cost surged on Thursday to its highest level since 2009.

Debt ceiling fight: What a downgrade would mean

By that measure, U.S. bonds are no longer in the clear lead as a safe bet, compared to other triple-A rated countries.

By looking at the prices of 5-year credit default swaps, Norway's debt ranks the safest, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands and Australia.

Canada, Singapore and Germany also have safer bonds than the United States.

If lawmakers don't come through with a deal to raise the debt ceiling and lower the long term deficit, the U.S. could soon join the ranks of the lower-level, double-A rated countries like China, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and even Kuwait.

Where Canada ranks

Bond rating agency Moody's Investor Services is maintaining Canada's debt rating at triple-A, the highest possible.

The firm said Thursday the AAA rating was warranted, citing among other things, the country's "high degree of economic resiliency" and deficit-cutting efforts by the federal and provincial governments.

It based its assumption about resiliency on Canada's "high per capita income, the large scale of the economy and its diversity, including natural resource industries and a competitive manufacturing sector, as well as a well-developed and well-regulated financial market."

Moody's said there are risks posed by Canada's housing market — where many mortgages are insured by the federal Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — and Quebec's sovereignty issues, but it rated those as low.

Moody's considered a major downturn of the housing market unlikely and, even in an extreme case, Ottawa's extra costs would be relatively small.

Similarly, Quebec's sovereignty movement doesn't seem to pose a significant risk since the issue doesn't appear high on the political agenda.

Some market watchers have warned that the U.S. is in danger of losing its triple-A rating, especially if the current debt ceiling talks fail to make a significant dent in the deficit.

Norway a country deeply divided on immigration

Norway, like Canada a country blessed with considerable wealth and a reputation for tolerance and generosity, is expected to continue struggling in un-Canadian fashion over immigration issues despite the massive show of solidarity after last week's mass murder.

Statistics indicate roughly one in three Norwegians are uneasy about the country's experience with rapid immigration growth. Close to one in four voters (23 per cent) in 2009 made the populist Progress Party, which is deeply critical of the Labour government's immigration policy, the country's second most popular party.

The emotional outpouring this week of solidarity and widespread disgust with the actions of admitted mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who warns of "Muslim colonization" of Norway and Western Europe, can't mask these divisions.

"In the protest against this heinous crime we are united, but of course this unity hides a variety of opinion," said Oslo University College professor Lars Gule, a frequent commentator on multiculturalism issues.

He predicted that public debate will go "back to normal" this autumn when local elections take place.

"People will say of course that 'Breivik was a monster and I have nothing to do with him and his ideas, but there are too many Muslims, we cannot let them ruin our country.' "

In Canada any mainstream politician would be committing career suicide by adopting the position of people like Progress MPs Kent Andersen and Christian Tybring-Gjedde, who in 2010 wrote in a major newspaper a scathing critique of the ruling Labour Party's liberal policies on immigration and multiculturalism.

"What is the goal? To stab our own culture in the back?" they wrote.

Tybring-Gjedde has been particularly provocative, comparing the hijab to Ku Klux Klan outfits and proposing that Muslim students wear stars of David for one day each year as part of a program to discourage anti-Semitism.

So why the tensions in a tolerant, wealthy country where foreign-born residents make up about 10 per cent of the population, or half Canada's?

Canadian attitudes towards immigrants are more positive than those of other western countries, as noted in the annual German Marshall Fund poll released in February.

But the Canada-Norway analysis suggests that the different attitudes in Canada and Norway are driven less by political culture and more by hard policy choices by Canadian governments.

Vebjorn Aalandslid, a Statistics Norway analyst who has been seconded to work at the European Union's Eurostat agency in Luxembourg, lived in Canada for six months in 2008 while working out of Statistics Canada offices studying the two countries.

The study was commissioned because Canada is viewed by Norway and other European countries as a "model" in terms of its ability to integrate newcomers, he said.

The report, looking at statistics up to 2006, found numerous sharp differences in approach:

- Economic migrants to Canada, who are selected for their skills and ability to adapt to the Canadian economy, "massively outnumber" refugees by a five-to-one ratio. In Norway, for every economic migrant there were 1.5 refugees arriving in the country claiming they were fleeing persecution.

- The Canadian immigration system, which assesses points to applicants based on such assets as education and language, ensures greater adaptability. More than half of migrants to Canada from Africa and Asia have some form of post-secondary education, whereas less than one-quarter of Africans and Asians arriving in Norway have higher education.

- Canada also benefits because both economic migrants and refugees arrive with some knowledge of English or French. In Norway, it is presumed that very few, if any, migrants arrive as Norwegian-speakers.

"It's clear Canada has better results than the U.S. or almost any European Union country," Aalandslid said.

"The difference is that historically in Norway we have had a different model. We have attracted more and more family migrants and refugees, whereas in Canada it has been more and more labour migrants, which could influence the public perception of migrants."

But he said differences are narrowing as Norway moves closer to the Canadian model by trying to recruit more economic migrants while limiting refugees.

Now, Virginia varsity in immigration fraud

ANOTHER TRI-VALLEY SCARE?

Washington, July 29
Authorities in the US have raided offices of another university on the charges of fraud, this time in the suburbs of Washington, where 90 per cent of the 2,400 students are from India.
During the day-long exercise, dozens of officials from different federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI, yesterday raided offices at the University of Northern Virginia’s Annandale (UNVA) campus and took away a large number of boxes full of documents and computer hard drives from the administrative division.
Earlier in January, US authorities had raided and shut down Tri-Valley University in California on charges of massive immigration fraud.
Officials from the ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) yesterday “served the UNVA with a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) the university’s authorisation to admit foreign students,” ICE spokeswoman Cori W Bassett in a statement.
Based in Annandale, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, the university is believed to have 2,400 students of which 90 per cent are from India, with an overwhelming majority said to be from Andhra Pradesh.
The university declined to make any comment, neither did it communicate with its students and staff, except for posting a notice on its entrance informing that the university is still open, but students have the choice to move to other universities or look for other options if they want.
The university temporarily cannot accept any foreign students, reads the notice posted on the door of the offices.
UNVA students must leave the country immediately if they are unable “to continue to attend classes and maintain their active status in a manner required by federal government regulations,” the notice reads. 

Rajpura man killed in US

Rajpura, July 28
A 38-year-old Rajpura man was found murdered in his apartment at New Jersy, US, on July 17. His body was brought to India last night and was cremated in Rajpura.
Deceased Satnam Singh, of Focal Point, Rajpura, went to the US around three-and-a-half years ago along with a group of hymn singers. The elder brother of the deceased, Jagir Singh, said the body of his brother was found lying in a pool of blood along with that of another Punjabi man from Jalandhar.
“Satnam was working at a gas station for the last few months and was stabbed by some unidentified people. The reason behind his death is yet to be ascertained as police officials in the US are still to ascertain the reason behind the murders,” said Jagir.
He said the eldest brother, living in England, informed him about the incident after the gas station owner called him up on the intervening night of July 17 and 18. Satnam had been working at different gas stations for the past sometime and had been putting up in New Jersey. He was sharing accommodation with another man from Jalandhar.
Satnam is survived by his wife and a seven-year-old son, who had been staying with other family members in Rajpura. The family members said Satnam was supposed to come back on July 31 along with his brother-in-law, who too is in the US, and both had even purchased air tickets to return to India.

Canadian border a bigger threat: U.S. official

 Tue, 17 May, 2011

The U.S. border with Canada, even though it sees far fewer detentions and arrests every year, is a "more significant threat" to American security than the Mexican border, a senior Homeland Security official said Tuesday.

"In terms of the terrorist threat, it's commonly accepted that [it's] the more significant threat, because of... people who can enter Canada then and come across our bridges into the United States," Alan Bersin, head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, told a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in Washington.

Bersin was responding to questioning from Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who demanded to know why the southern U.S. border, with about 445,000 arrests and detentions annually, isn't considered far more sensitive than the northern boundary, which saw 6,000 arrests and detentions last year.

Bersin said the U.S. has to "maintain a very high security profile" on the Canadian frontier, in part because Canada and the U.S. don't share their no-fly lists and so can't keep out people deemed security threats who might travel by airplane into one country, then cross the border by land.

American politicians and officials have often expressed alarm about their northern boundary, frequently stemming from the false belief that some of the 19 men who hijacked four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, entered the United States from Canada. In February, several senators decried the findings of a government report that determined that less than one per cent of the U.S.-Canada border had reached an "acceptable level of security."

Senators at Tuesday's hearing also asked what efforts are afoot to stem drug smuggling between Canada and the U.S.

The Customs and Border Protection chief replied that the latest step in cross-border policing will see Canada send 22 radar feeds to his agency's centre in California that tracks non-commercial aircraft, with the goal of cracking down on narcotics smuggling by small planes flying low over the border to escape detection.

In other testimony, Bersin said U.S. officials are working with theCanada Border Services Agency to permit pre-trip immigration clearance for train travellers from Montreal to New York.

Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, both Democrats whose states see significant tourism from Canada, had expressed frustration at delays on the Montreal to New York City line, with customs and immigration checks at the border stalling trains by up to two hours on their way south.

"Can we count on you to speed up the trains between Canada and New York?" Schumer asked.

Bersin said one complication on rail company Amtrak's route is that it stops south of Montreal before hitting the border, making it difficult to properly pre-clear all passengers. His agency already does pre-screening at Vancouver's train station for Seattle-bound trips, but those trains don't stop elsewhere in B.C.'s Lower Mainland before crossing into Washington state.

A year on, P’kula cops fail to crack email accounts of slain NRI

Davinder  found hanging from a tree in Morni hills on March 24, 2010

Panchkula, July 25
It’s been over a year and yet the self-proclaimed high-tech Panchkula police has failed to even crack the three email accounts of a slain non-resident Indian (NRI) residing in Australia, which could have led to crucial clues in his murder case.
Soon after Davinder Singh, the 30-year-old NRI, was killed in Morni hills last year, his brother had tipped off the Panchkula police saying that the cracking of the deceased’s email accounts could help detect the identity of the murderer.
Davinder was found hanging from a tree in Morni on March 24, 2010. The police had recovered an abandoned Maruti car (HR-70-A-2370) near the spot. Davinder's family members had, however, claimed that the NRI was murdered.
On September 20, 2010, six months after the incident, the Panchkula police closed the case after the viscera report, prepared by the Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhuban, ascribed the cause of the death to hanging. Earlier, on July 23, 2010, police had received the chemical examination report of a cold drink bottle and a condom recovered from the spot, which was not linked to the case.
Rejecting the report, sceptical family members moved an application before top officials of the Haryana police, following which an Inspector-General of the Haryana Police eventually directed the Panchkula police to register a murder case in the matter.
On directions from senior officers, the Panchkula police on December 2, 2010, re-opened the file and converted it into a murder case. Subsequently, a fresh FIR against unknown persons was lodged under Section 302 of the IPC.
But all through the investigations so far, the Panchkula police has not bothered to crack Davinder’s three email accounts that were provided by the deceased’s brother.
When contacted, Panchkula SP Maneesh Chaudhary said they had lodged an FIR and started investigations. “But in our investigation, we did not find anything which can say that it is a case of murder,” he said.
Chaudhary, however, admitted that they were yet to crack Davinder’s three email accounts. Giving a vague reason behind the delay in cracking the mail accounts, he said it was not easy to crack someone’s mail accounts.

Timeline March 24, 2010: Body was found hanging from a tree in Morni July 23: Chemical examination report received, which was negative September 18: Forensic report showed the cause of death to be suicide September 20: Panchkula police decided to close the case December 2: Cops converted it into a case of murder on the directions of senior officers

Online FIR System The Panchkula police is planning to introduce online FIR system from next year. It is also going to start e-challaning in the district and will also introduce hi-tech security system by installing 67 CCTV cameras at various locations in Panchkula. When the Panchkula police is going this much tech-savvy, it is difficult to believe that it failed to crack three mail accounts for the last one year.

Complaint by NRI brought her in touch with property dealer

Mohali, July 25
It was the investigation into a complaint by a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Nirmala Brar, regarding the forging of ownership documents of her three-kanal plot in Kansal village that brought the Punjab Police Deputy Superintending of Police (DSP) Raka Gira in contact with the alleged fraudster in the case Krishan Malhotra.

It was on the complaint of the Mullanpur-based property dealer, Krishan Malhotra that the DSP was yesterday caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh at her Sector 15 residence in Chandigarh. The DSP had reportedly assured the property dealer that she would bail him out in the cheating case. Sources in the police said in November last year, the NRI cell of the Punjab Government had forwarded the complaint by the NRI woman to the Mohali SSP for inquiry. Initially, the complaint was marked to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (City-II) but due to jurisdictional issue, the case was referred to the DSP (City-I) Raka Ghira on December 16, 2010. Since then, the case was pending with her.

When the NRI’s complaint landed with the Mohali police in December last year, a FIR was registered in the same case against four persons Harpal, Manjit, Veerpal and Jagdish Ram on May 14, 2011, at the Kurali Police Station. Since it was a case of cheating and forgery, the investigation in the case was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mohali Police. The Investigating Officer Pritam Singh, during the course of the probe, started proceedings to make Krishan Malhotra another accused in the cheating case. 

While the property dealer was negotiating with the DSP, her reader Manmohan Singh and gunman Gurmail Singh to help him wriggle out of the investigation, the EOW had already found that he was involved in forging the documents of the ownership of the three-kanal plot. A senior police official claimed that the DSP struck a deal with the property dealer while being aware about the outcome of the case being probed by the EOW. Sources said the DSP enjoyed the patronage of a senior police officer close to the SAD. 

THERE ARE FIVE CASES AGAINST HIM

Sources in Mohali police said there were five FIRs registered against the property dealer for allegedly forging land documents on Majri area. Separate cases had been registered against him on the basis of complaints made by the landowners. The property dealer had, however, petitioned to the police that he had been falsely implicated in the cases. 

 UT police registers two FIRs against woman cop

Chandigarh, July 25
Following the recovery of arms and a huge haul of liquor from the Sector 15 residence of DSP Raka Gira during the CBI raid yesterday, the UT police has registered two cases under the Arms Act and the Excise Act against her in the Sector 11 police station.
The ammunition, which was recovered from Gira’s house, included 1,237 cartridges, a revolver 32 S&W (Made in Germany) and a double-barrel gun made in West Germany. Besides, a total of 43 live cartridges of.32 bore, 22 empty cartridges of .32 bore, 14 S&W live cartridges (small), another 18 (.22 bore) live cartridges, a total of 114 .38 bore live cartridges , 76 AK-47 live cartridges, another 114 (7.62 SLR) live cartridges, two 7.72 sniper live cartridges, five Carbine Cal 30 live cartridges and a total of 831 (12 bore) live cartridges.
Police sources said the ammunition was kept in a store-room and when Gira was questioned in this connection by the CBI officials, she replied she was not aware about the exact number of cartridges and revolvers. An FIR under the Arms Act was registered against her. During the course of investigation, Gira’s service record would also be examined, the police said. Gira would also be arrested and brought on production warrants in this case, sources said.
Besides, a total 51 bottles of liquor, comprising ‘English Wine Bottles’ were also recovered from her house. The ammunition and wine bottles have been seized by Chandigarh police and kept in the storeroom of police station, Sector 11, as case property.
Both the cases were registered on the statements of K S Rana, Inspector of CBI, Chandigarh who was part of the raiding party.

DSP in 2-day police remand; reader arrested as co-accused 

Chandigarh, July 25
The CBI today arrested Manmohan Singh, reader of DSP Raka Gira, as co-accused in the corruption case against the officer. The CBI said the reader had connived with the DSP while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from the complainant.
Not ruling out the involvement of more Mohali police officials in the case, the CBI said the investigating agency was trying to ascertain if more were involved in the nexus. Gira has been remanded to two-day police custody.
While seeking seven-day custody of the accused in the CBI court, Special Public Prosecutor Pawan Kumar Dogra claimed the agency had a recorded conversation in which the DSP could be heard as saying to a complainant that she has spoken to "others" about the deal.
"The recorded conversation hints that there were others too who were supposed to receive share from the bribe amount of Rs 1 lakh," he said.
The CBI said it was unethical on part of a senior rank officer to be found in possession of Rs 87 lakh at her residence (Sector 15, Chandigarh) and they needed to find out from where she amassed it. The agency also said that they will also question the investigating officers in the cases registered against the complainant as to whether they were hand in glove with the DSP. The agency raised this point while opposing the plea of the defence that the DSP was not investigating any case against the complainant and thus has been made part of a conspiracy. "We need to interrogate the accused to unearth these facts," added Dogra.
While opposing the plea for a police remand, the defence counsel contended that the complainant, Kishan Malhotra, himself had six FIRs registered against in various cases and, thus, could not be relied upon.

How to marry an NRI, safely

Prompted by the increasing incidents of girls who marry non-resident Indians being ill-treated, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India has drawn up guidelines for people who want their daughters married abroad.
The ministry has sent a booklet -- Information Booklet on Marriages to Overseas Indians -- to state governments asking for feedback.
The booklet, which will soon be widely distributed, contains precautionary measures Indian families need to take when a marriage proposal arrives from an NRI.
The booklet says a high number of NRI marriages end up a disaster for the women.
Some typical instances, cited by the booklet:

• The woman marries an NRI who abandons her even before she is taken to the country where her husband lives. After a short honeymoon, he leaves India, promising to send a ticket soon. Most likely, the woman is pregnant when he leaves. So, both she and the child are abandoned. He never calls or writes and never returns.
• The woman arrives in the foreign country, only to realise her husband will not show up.
• The woman travels to the foreign country but returns within a year. Either she is sent back, or forced to flee. She is not allowed to take her child(ren) along. In many cases, the child(ren) is/are forcibly taken away from her.
• The woman travels to the foreign country, only to be assaulted and abused, mentally and physically, malnourished, confined and ill-treated.
• The woman learns later that the NRI had given false information -- on any or all of the following: His job, immigration status, earning, property, marital status and other material particulars -- to con her into marriage.
• The woman or her parents are held to ransom for payment of huge sums of money as dowry, both before and after the marriage.
• The woman learns later that the man she had married was already married in the other country to another woman, whom he continues to live with.
• The woman's husband obtains a divorce from her in the foreign country, without her knowledge.
  The woman is abandoned in the foreign country with absolutely no support or means of sustenance or escape and without even a visa to stay on in that country.
• The woman goes to court for maintenance or divorce but repeatedly encounters legal obstacles related to jurisdiction of courts, service of notices or orders, or enforcement of orders.
• The woman is coaxed into travelling to the foreign country and gets married there. She later discovers that Indian courts have even more limited jurisdiction there.
• What precautions can a girl or her parents take to avoid such trauma?

The ministry booklet offers help:

• Do not finalise marriages long distance -- on phone or through e-mail.
• Do not blindly trust any bureau, agent, tout or middleman.
• Do not ever agree to forge papers or enter into any fake transactions for any reason or on any pretext.
• Do not fall for any migration schemes, or promises for a green card, through marriage.
• Do not finalise matters in secrecy -- publicising the match among family and friends could help you get vital information which you may not be able to collect otherwise.
• Do not agree to have only a registered marriage or to getting the marriage solemnised at a far off place.
• Do not agree to the wedding being held in the foreign country.
• Check the groom's following documents: Visa, passport, voter or alien registration card, social security number, tax returns for the last three years, bank account papers and property papers.

Contact:

• The Indian embassy in the foreign country (The booklet provides contact details).
• The groom-to-be's employer.
• Local Indian associations and networks of Indian citizens.
• Friends and relatives in that country.

Insist on the following:

• Registration of the marriage, along with a social ceremony.
• Doing all the paperwork for the issuance of the visa and other required formalities at your end and not at his. Keep all the original papers with yourself.
• An affidavit from the man stating his marital status.

Some other tips the booklet provides:

• Have regular and meaningful communication with the man and his family over a period of time.
• Make sure the bride and the groom meet personally and interact freely and frankly in a comfortable atmosphere -- as many times as they feel necessary -- so that they can make up their minds.
• Rely on your gut feel and communicate this if you sense anything is amiss or wrong.
• Publicise the marriage and have a social marriage ceremony.
• Arrange for a bank account for the woman in the foreign country so that she can withdraw money in an emergency.
• There are a number of other dos and don'ts listed in the booklet, which the ministry wants every family that wants its daughter to marry an NRI to follow.

Officials at the ministry, who finalised the booklet, say the government also plans to amend existing laws to make registration of all marriages involving Indian brides and NRI grooms compulsory. 

Canada seeks India's help in checking illegal migration

New Delhi, Sep 7,2010 : Canada's Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney Tuesday met Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and sought India's cooperation to curb illegal migration by sharing information on "unscrupulous fraudsters" involved in the racket.

"Mr. Ravi and I had a good discussion on the challenges faced by both the countries due to immigration fraud. We can curb this by sharing information on fraud agents. There are unscrupulous fraudsters who fake documents and cheat both the governments as well as innocent applicants," Kenney told reporters after the meet.

"Mr Ravi intends to come forward with measures to put a check on the issue and we appreciate his approach," he said, adding that Canada "benefits" from the "large and growing" migration from India.

Ravi said that illegal migration has to be checked with full cooperation of the states.

"The ministry will organise seminars in identified districts of various states to keep applicants informed of fraudsters," he said, adding the immigration authority bill to be introduced in the next session of parliament, along with e-governance and e-migration plans, will help to check these issues.

"We operate in a difficult situation so we do reject genuine applications too but we try and approve as many genuine applications as possible," he said, assuring of "strong action against those involved in human smuggling and illegal migration".

Kenney is on a three-day visit to India and as Punjab and Haryana are the states with maximum number of migrants to Canada, he will visit Chandigarh Thursday, the last day of his trip to India. (IANS)