Who Drafted and How ‘Indian’ is the Indian Constitution

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26 January 2022 1:06 PM

Indian origin people in Australia Day Awards: Image Source: Supplied

The Governor-General of Australia, Gen. David Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE, has announced Honours to 1040 Australians.

This includes awards in the Order of Australia (General and Military Divisions), meritorious awards and recognition for distinguished and conspicuous service in the Australian Defence Force.

Among the awardees are two Indian-origin people:

Mr Deepak-Raj GUPTA – Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division – Mr Gupta is Patron of Canberra India Council and He was also a Labor member for Yerrabi in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from July 2019 to October 2020. He has been awarded for service to the community of Canberra.

Deepak Raj Gupta told The Australia Today, I was pleasantly surprised to see my name on the list.

“It’s a great honour, and I dedicate my success to Indian Australian Community.”

Born in a middle-class family, Deepak landed in Australia with just 150 dollars in his pocket. He washed cars, worked in restaurants to sustain his studies. He initially studied in Government Senior Secondary School and Graduated from DAV College in the Indian city of Chandigarh.

In Australia, He has worked as an Executive Officer in the Defence Department. He was also the President of the Australia-India Business Council (AIBC) for 10 years and was also a member of the AIBC National Executive Board of Directors.

Mr Gupta made headlines when he became the first Indian origin MLA from the Labor Party in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Parliament.

Mr Gupta says he would have loved to see more Indian Australians on the Award list this year. Just imagine, be it transport, hospitality or healthcare Indian Australians have been on the frontline serving the community in difficult times of pandemic.

“We Indian Australians have to unite to get our due recognition, all political persuasions are using us as vote banks without giving that seat on the table.”

“However, I am very confident about the next generation of Indian Australians, which has started to make its mark in all walks of Australian society.”

Professor Prithvipall Singh BHATHAL – Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia – Prof. Bhathal is a Consultant Histopathologist. He has been awarded for significant service to pathology, education and mentoring, and to medical research.

A graduate of the University of Adelaide, Professor Bhathal trained in histopathology at the Royal Melbourne, Royal Children’s and Alfred Hospitals. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Pathology and followed this with appointments as senior lecturer in Pathology at the University of Queensland and Reader in Pathology at the University of Melbourne.

From 1978 to 1999 he was Professor/Director of Anatomical Pathology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In addition to his role as Histopathologist at Melbourne Pathology, he continues to teach and research part-time in the Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, where he is an Honorary Professorial Fellow.

Professor Bhathal has an international reputation in hepatic and gastrointestinal pathology and was presented the Distinguished Pathologist Award of the International Academy of Pathology in June 2007, and the Distinguished Research Prize of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia in October 2007. He was awarded the Distinguished Pathologist Award of the Australasian Gastrointestinal Pathology Society in October 2019 and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGAF) in February 2021.

The Governor-General is continuing to reach out to organisations in Australia and to the general community to increase diversity in nominations.

Image source: Gov. Gen. David Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE – Governor General.

Congratulating the awardees, Gen. Hurley said:

”Congratulations to the outstanding Australians recognised in today’s Honours List. Collectively the recipients, whose achievements span community service, science and research, industry, sport, the arts and more, represent the strength and diversity of Australia. It has been a challenging couple of years and the recipients announced today are a reminder and reflection of the richness of spirit, selflessness and good in our community.”

He added:

“To the individuals being celebrated today; thank you for your contribution to Australia and congratulations on being recognised by your peers and your nation. To all Australians, please consider nominating someone outstanding from your community for recognition in the Order of Australia. The Order belongs to each of us and we each have a part to play. The only way a person can be recognised is for someone to nominate them.”

Of the 732 awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia, the highest ever percentage (47 per cent) are for women and 45 per cent are for service to local communities.

Gen. Hurley observed:

“The fact that the list includes the highest ever percentage of women is very encouraging and I look forward to this positive trend continuing. We will continue to increase awareness and encourage nominations for people from parts of our community that have been historically underrepresented.”

In addition to the 732 recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia (7 AC, 25 AO, 155 AM and 545 OAM), today’s Honours list includes:

30 recipients of awards in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (3 AO, 16 AM and 11 OAM)
197 Meritorious awards
81 Distinguished and Conspicuous awards

This list also includes 58 Australians recognised for their contribution in support of Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These individuals, recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia, Meritorious Awards and Military Awards will also be included in an ongoing and permanent COVID-19 Honour roll.

The Indigenous Flag: “It belongs to all Australians now”

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25 January 2022 1:36 PM

The Indigenous Flag: "It belongs to all Australians now"; Image Source: Supplied

With a significant deal done by the Federal Government, the symbol of Indigenous Australia is available to all Australians freely to use.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Aboriginal Flag copyright has been transferred to the Commonwealth.

“We’ve freed the Aboriginal flag for Australians,” the Prime Minister said.

It was after long and complex negotiations that the designer of the flag agreed to transfer copyright to the Commonwealth.

The flag was created by Harold Thomas in 1970 to show case the relationship of Indigenous people with the land.

For last 52 years, anyone who wanted to use the flag had to pay a fees and seek permission.

“The Aboriginal Flag will now be managed in a similar manner to the Australian National Flag, where its use is free, but must be presented in a respectful and dignified way,”
Said PM Morrison

“All Australians can now put the Aboriginal Flag on apparel such as sports jerseys and shirts, it can be painted on sports grounds, included on websites, in paintings and other artworks, used digitally and in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay a fee.”

As part of the copyright transfer, Harold Thomas will retain his moral rights over the flag and the Commonwealth has also agreed that:

All future royalties the Commonwealth receives from Flagworld’s sale of the flag will be put towards the ongoing work of NAIDOC.

The Australian Government will provide an annual scholarship in Mr Thomas’ honour worth $100,000 for Indigenous students to further the development of Indigenous governance and leadership.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency will create an online history and education portal for the flag.
An original painting by Harold Thomas recognising the flag’s 50^th anniversary and the historic transfer of copyright will be gratefully accepted and displayed in a prominent location by the Australian Government.

Designer of the flag Harold Thomas said “I hope that this arrangement provides comfort to all Aboriginal people and Australians to use the Flag, unaltered, proudly and without restriction.”

“I am grateful that my art is appreciated by so many, and that it has come to represent something so powerful to so many.”

“The Aboriginal Flag design is my dreaming, intertwined with my wife’s family and mine, our ancestral belonging. The land, and the landscape, is indelible in my make-up; it courses through my consciousness and subconsciousness.”

“The Flag represents the timeless history of our land and our people’s time on it. It is an introspection and appreciation of who we are. It draws from the history of our ancestors, our land, and our identity and will honour these well into the future,” Mr Thomas added.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said securing the free use of the Aboriginal Flag was profoundly important for all Australians.

“The Aboriginal Flag is an enduring symbol close to the heart of Aboriginal people,” Minister Wyatt said.

“In reaching this agreement to resolve the copyright issues, all Australians can freely display and use the flag to celebrate Indigenous culture. Now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no one can take it away.”

To ensure the flags themselves are of the highest quality and continue to be manufactured in Australia, Carroll and Richardson Flagworld will remain the exclusive licensed manufacturer and provider of Aboriginal Flags and bunting. While this ongoing arrangement covers commercial production, Flagworld is not restricting individuals from making their own flag for personal use.

Mr Thomas has indicated that he intends to use $2 million to establish an Australian Aboriginal Flag Legacy not-for-profit to make periodic disbursements aligned with interests of Aboriginal Australians and the flag.

Smriti Mandhana named ICC Women’s Cricketer of 2021

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24 January 2022 8:54 PM

Smriti Mandhana named ICC Women's Cricketer of 2021; Image Source: @ICC

India opening batter Smriti Mandhana has been named as the winner of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of 2021.

In the limited-overs series against South Africa where India won just two of the eight matches at home, Mandhana played a major role in both of the wins. She made 80 not out as India chased down 158 in the second ODI that helped them level the series and scored 48 not out in the win in the final T20I.

Mandhana played a sublime inning of 78 in the first innings of the one-off Test against England that ended in a draw. She played an important knock of 49 in India’s only win in the ODI series. Her 15-ball 29 and fifty in the T20I series went in vain though as India fell short in both the matches and lost the series 2-1.

Mandhana was in good touch in the series against Australia, starting with the ODI series where she scored 86 in the second ODI. She compiled a brilliant century in the only Test (the first of her career) and was awarded the Player of the Match. She scored her second T20I fifty of the year in the final T20I, though India fell short and lost the series 2-0.

Memorable performance

Mandhana made India’s first-ever pink-ball Test even more memorable by smashing her maiden century in the longest format.

The left-hander played her natural game, to begin with, and scored a run-a-ball half-century, playing with caution under the lights.

Mandhana was caught on 80 but was given a reprieve after Ellyse Perry overstepped. She made the most of the lifeline, reaching her first Test century in style with a boundary.

Her innings finally came to an end at 127, after putting India in a strong position. The match ended in a draw, and Mandhana was declared the Player of the Match.

A remarkable journey of Dr Ashwath: From a small town in India to finding source of low-emissions biodiesel in Australia

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24 January 2022 4:35 PM

Dr Nanjappa Ashwath, an associate professor at Central Queensland University, has found an important breakthrough that can potentially end the food-versus-fuel land-use debate in the biofuel sector.

Dr Ashwath has been researching Australian plants for over 40 years and is an acknowledged expert in Central Queensland botany.

Presently, he is exploring Australian native species for biofuel (bioethanol; eg agave and biodiesel; eg beauty leaf tree) production from degraded landscapes.

Image source: *Calophyllum inophyllum* – CIFOR.

Dr Ashwath claims that the beauty leaf tree, or Calophyllum inophyllum, can be grown on marginal land in Australia.

The oils of this tree could be made into the less-profitable medicinal Tamanu oil.

He told ABC News that this tree is similar to a medium-sized mango tree or a macadamia tree with seeds and a kernel inside but with a softer shell.

“The tree produces about 10,000 fruits per tree per year, which equals to it producing up to 4,000 litres of biodiesel per hectare per year – and that’s growing up in a really marginal soil.”

Dr Ashwath who grew up in a small town in Karnataka, India was always fascinated by seeds and plants.

In fact, it was his passion for studying plants and fruits that made him quit civil engineering and join an agricultural university.

Image source: Dr Nanjappa Ashwath, Twitter

After coming to Australia, Dr Ashwath fell in love with Australian native plants and continued to research these plants.

Based on the Hindu belief system, he regards Australian plants as the “Living Gods” that can save our planet from land degradation.

This is due to the Australian plants’ ability to grow in any soil – despite drought, salinity, waterlogging and heavy metals.

Image source: Breakdown of Australia’s theoretical resource potential in petajoules per annum (PJ) Bioenergy Roadmap/ARENA.

In November 2021, the Australian federal government has outlined its commitment to bioenergy in its release of the first Bioenergy Roadmap.

According to this roadmap, by the 2030s, the biofuel sector could contribute about $10 billion in extra GDP per year with 26,200 new jobs.

Further, it will reduce emissions by about 9%, divert an extra 6% of waste from landfills, and enhance fuel security.

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor who commissioned the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to develop the roadmap, also announced $33.5 million in funding to implement it.

Dr Ashwath adds that the overall demand for biodiesel has remained low in Australia as people opt for cheap traditional petroleum diesel.

“There are many inquiries, especially in Indonesia [where] they’re establishing quite large plantations, especially in the islands where they don’t have the supply of the petroleum diesel.”

Dr Ashwath notes that in the coming years’ Australian producers looking for additional income and foreign markets would need to plant thousands of hectares with such plants to earn profit from the biofuel business.

Market Mantra: Australian shares record worse week in more than a year but why?

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24 January 2022 2:43 PM

Australia Market Down; Image Source: @CANVA

The Australian market wrapped up its worst week in more than a year, hurt by lingering concerns over US Federal Reserve tightening and weaker than expected economic data from China.

Led down by miners with Whitehaven Coal slumping after cutting its forecast for 2022 and Rio Tinto falling after Serbia revoked its lithium exploration licences the ASX 200 declined 3% last week, recording its biggest weekly fall since October 2020.

The loss in ASX was much bigger than the US market slump which saw the Dow Jones lose 0.95%, S&P 500 shedding 1.1% and Nasdaq 100 dropping 1.3% for the week.

Shares of Rio, BHP and Fortescue all lost heavily for the week with Serbia cancelling Rio Tinto’s exploration licences on environmental grounds, whereas investors in Sydney and London approved plans to scrap BHP’s dual listing on Thursday.

Western Australia cancelling plans to reopen its border on 05 February due to risks from Omicron CoVid19 variant also weighed on miners resulting in them plunging 3.8% for the week, their first weekly decline after eight straight weeks of gain.

Energy stocks which were rose for most of last week also saw heavy selling on Friday, losing 3% in their worst session since 20 December, thus giving up all gains it made during the rest of the week.

As we mentioned before the tech stocks continued to get sold heavily this week with Buy Now Pay Later stocks leading to the losses. Afterpay wrapped up its final day of trading on Wednesday, before becoming Block on Thursday. Pay-day lending outfit Before also made its debut on ASX last week, however, its stock price plummeted by more than 44% of its initial offer price on the first day itself.

With most central banks across the globe looking at interest rate hikes to counter rising inflation, the Australian investors will be waiting anxiously for next week’s RBA meeting. The meeting will be important to assess the central bank’s views on inflation.

Before that, however, this week the December quarter numbers to be released on Wednesday, a day when markets are closed due to the Australia Day holiday, will be crucial.

With most analysts tipping CPI to increase due to higher prices for food, petrol and clothing it would be important to note if it stays between the RBA comfort range of 2% to 3%. While most analysts expect the CPI to stay at about 2.5% we expect it to likely be lifted to 3.2% due to rising costs.

Overseas the US Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday and US inflation numbers n Thursday are the big things to watch for.

Gold gained for a second consecutive week as rising inflation and geopolitical risks lifted its safe-haven appeal.

With the market focus now strongly on the US Federal Reserve meeting on 25 and 26 January, there was a very clear flight to safety towards gold from a lot of traders.

Gold bulls also benefited as investors sought cover from worries about a possible extension of US sanctions or new EU measures if Russia attacks Ukraine.

With gold looking bullish in the short term we are of the view that the upside momentum of gold could be hard to maintain due to an expected interest rate rise in the US. A rate hike usually reduces the appeal of holding a non-interest bearing bullion.

Suki Cooper, an analyst from Standard Chartered Bank have forecasted yellow metal’s price to average around $1783 per ounce in 2022.

Oil prices climbed for a fifth week in a row on continued signs of robust demand and strained crude supplies.

On Wednesday, oil prices hit a new seven-year high before giving away some of the gains on Thursday and Friday. The two days of declines however were still not enough to stop oil from recording a gain of 1.6% for the week as geopolitical tensions threatened greater supply shortages.

With oil prices continuing to rise most analysts are growing steadily more bullish. Morgan Stanley has now joined Goldman Sachs Group in forecasting oil to hit $100 per barrel later this year, whereas Bank of America has reiterated that it expects oil to hit $120 a barrel by American summer.

With many of man oil futures contracts now trading into an overbought category on a technical basis, however, Citigroup Inc. cautioned that sticking to a bullish view on the black gold could be dangerous after this quarter.

Oil’s rally has also caught the eye of the White House as it poses a political risk for US President Joe Biden. The US is considering accelerating the release of strategic reserves to control oil prices. With OPEC+ nations however refusing to increase oil output most of the options for President Biden to address the oil rally would be limited and most likely short-lived.

With the market becoming increasingly concerned about slowing economic progress in a rising inflation scenario, or stagflation the Australian Dollar had a roller-coaster of a week.

The local currency gained initially to peak at 0.7276 on Thursday encouraged by some positive Australian economic data.

However, with risk sentiment turning sour the Aussie turned around to close the week unchanged just below 0.7200. The Australian currency however gained against other major currencies such as the British Pound and Euro.

Market Mantra: Representative Picture; ; Image Source: @CANVA

While Australian data did help Australia record a positive week against most major currencies we strongly believe that Australian data released these days hides the fact that the country is going towards stagflation as well.

Australia has only just started reopening after spending most of 2021 in lockdowns. As such that is why the numbers show a boom with record jobs created in November and the unemployment rate contracting to 4.2% from 4.5%.

The numbers however miss the fact that Australia took longer than most other nations to put the machine back in motion and as such, it is yet to be seen if the country will be able to sustain decent job creation and inflation within decent levels.

The Indian Rupee, on the other hand, had another week of decline as rising oil prices along with FIIs fund outflows from the equity markets further weigh down the Indian currency.

While rising crude and trade deficit has been keeping the Rupee under pressure, it is expected that an interest rate hike in the US can potentially drive away more FII money from India thus making Indian currency lose further ground in the near future.

2022 has gotten off to a rotten start for a lot of investors, especially crypto traders and even a short trading week in the US, with markets closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. day could save both stocks and crypto from falling.

Bitcoin plummeted by more than 11% last week while Ethereum dropped 17% for the week. Soaring coronavirus cases across the globe, disappointing economic data and Fed taper fears all can be blamed for the recent bearish turn.

Regulators in the UK, Spain and Singapore also suggested toughening the rules on crypto-asset promotion to inexperienced investors while the Russian Central Bank proposed a complete ban on cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin fell below $38,000 for the first time in six months.

Other coins were also in red with Ether falling below $3000 and Solana, Binance Coin and Cardano also slumping as investors offloaded risky bets in a volatile week.

Bitcoin prices are now down more than 40% from their peak in November 2021, with rumours of a crypto mining ban in Russia, the effects of the tapering program and ongoing regulatory concerns in certain nations adding further pressure.

Having said that, increased use of Bitcoin and adoption in emerging and high inflation economies provide support to digital currencies and create a confusing market picture with no direction or strong momentum in either direction.

In Agricultural products, soybean gained 3% for the week, corn rallied by 2% whereas wheat was up by more than 5% on hopes of strong demand.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting their trading journey how to trade. He can be contacted at adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinions in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

Australia wide Novavax vaccine roll-out starts on February 21, Here’ how to book

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24 January 2022 1:53 PM

Australians aged 18+ will now have access to a fourth COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid (Novavax) in the coming weeks after the Australian Government accepted advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

The recommendations from ATAGI follow Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), provisionally approving the Novavax vaccine in Australia.

ATAGI has recommended the Novavax vaccine be given in two doses, at least three weeks apart.

Australia has purchased 51 million doses of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. Samples of the Novavax vaccines are set to arrive in Australia in early February to enable TGA batch testing.

Subject to successful TGA batch testing, the Novavax vaccine will be available to be administered from the week of 21 February 2022.

“Australians will be able to access a Novavax vaccine through general practices, community pharmacies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, Commonwealth vaccination centres, and state and territory clinics.”

All primary care vaccine providers, who are currently participating in the vaccine rollout have already received an expression of interest to administer Novavax.

The vaccine is only approved by the TGA for use in a primary course of vaccination. Studies for its use as a booster dose and in paediatric patients are ongoing.
The vaccine does not have regulatory approval for these purposes at this stage.

ATAGI recommends the Novavax vaccine can be administered to pregnant and breastfeeding women.

It also advises the vaccine can be used for people who are severely immunocompromised and who are recommended to receive three doses for their primary course of vaccination.

ATAGI has noted the vaccine has been demonstrated to be highly effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in adults.

Novavax is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for use in Australia after Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), Spikevax (Moderna), and Comirnaty (Pfizer).

Australia is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world against COVID-19, with more than 48 million COVID-19 vaccines administered across the country and over 95% of Australians 16+ having received the first dose.

If you are due for your first, second or booster shot, or have kids aged 5+ book a COVID-19 vaccine today.
Find a vaccine clinic

Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas welcome a baby via surrogacy

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22 January 2022 11:14 AM

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas; Image Source: Instagram

Actor Priyanka Chopra and her husband Nick Jonas have welcomed a baby via surrogacy.

On Saturday, the couple took to their respective Instagram accounts to share the good news with their fans and followers.

“We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate. We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family. Thank you so much,” Priyanka and Nick posted.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra)

However, the couple has not revealed the baby’s gender yet.
Soon after the couple announced the news of becoming parents, social media users showered them with good wishes.

“Congratulations,” actor Lara Dutta Bhupathi commented.

“Omg. This is so special…big big congratulations. The best news,” producer Guneet Monga wrote.

Priyanka and Nick tied the knot in December 2018 after dating for a while.

Indian family frozen to death attempting to illegally cross US-Canada border

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22 January 2022 9:48 AM

border-deaths — Image source: US-Canada border.

Four individuals believed to be Indian nationals have been found frozen to death at the U.S. border in Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found the deceased, – a man, woman, teenager and baby, in a field near Emerson, Manitoba, on Wednesday.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy told media:

“I know that what I am about to share is going to be difficult for many people to hear. It is an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy.”

Ms MacLatchy said that these individuals were victims.

“[They were] left on their own, in the middle of a blizzard when the weather hovered around minus 35 C , factoring [in] the wind.”

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted his shock.

“Shocked by the report that 4 Indian nationals, including an infant have lost their lives at the Canada-US border. Have asked our Ambassadors in the US and Canada to urgently respond to the situation.”

Shocked by the report that 4 Indian nationals, including an infant have lost their lives at the Canada-US border. Have asked our Ambassadors in the US and Canada to urgently respond to the situation.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 21, 2022

A Indian consular team was travelling to Minnesota on Friday to assist in the matter.

India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Taranjit Singh Sandhu said on Twitter in reference to Mr Jaishankar’s tweet.

An unfortunate and tragic incident. We are in touch with US authorities on their ongoing investigation. A consular team from @IndiainChicago is travelling today to Minnesota to coordinate and provide any assistance required https://t.co/syyA59EoB2
— Taranjit Singh Sandhu (@SandhuTaranjitS) January 21, 2022

Another team of Indian officials was on its way to Manitoba, India’s Ambassador to Canada, Ajay Bisaria said on Twitter.

This is a grave tragedy. An Indian consular team is travelling today from @IndiainToronto to Manitoba to coordinate and help. We will work with Canadian authorities to investigate these disturbing events. @HCI_Ottawa https://t.co/qGM2ZTlPsx
— Ajay Bisaria (@Ajaybis) January 21, 2022

In a news conference, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government was working with the United States to prevent people from taking such unacceptable risks.

Mr. Trudeau said that human traffickers had taken advantage of a family’s desire to seek a better life.

“This is why we are doing all we can to discourage people from crossing the border in an irregular or illicit manner.”

While one American citizen has been arrested in connection with the case, seven other Indians were detained by police in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged a 47 year old Florida man, Steve Shand, with human smuggling.

Mr Shand, who was driving a 15-passenger van, had been arrested just south of the U.S.-Canada border on Wednesday as per the U.S. Attorney’s office.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statement said:

“… Agents encountered five additional people walking on a nearby road experiencing severe signs of hypothermia and frostbite due to exposure to the extreme cold and wind chill. Agents immediately rendered aid, called for Emergency Medical Services and began transporting two of the individuals to an area hospital.”

Amongst the five detained, one person had a backpack that belonged to fellow traveller who had been separated from him.

As per official statement, this bag contained children’s clothes and medicines, a diaper and some toys.

Two of the surviving Indians were taken to the hospital.

A man was discharged and is now back in the custody of U.S. authorities while a woman has been shifted to a hospital in St Paul, Minnesota for advanced care.

Ms MacLatchy urged people not to try the crossing:

“I do understand that for some there may be a great need to get to another country, but this is not the way. You will be risking your life and the lives of the people you care about if you try it.”

Officials are investigating a possible human smuggling operation.

ICC T20 WC 2022: India-Pakistan face off at MCG on Oct 23, Here’ link to buy tickets

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21 January 2022 4:51 PM

Excitement is building for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, following the announcement of the fixtures for the October 16 – November 13 event.

The Men in Blue will be locking horns with Pakistan in their first match of the tournament on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The world’s best cricketers from 16 international teams will clash in 45 matches as the pinnacle global event in men’s T20 cricket comes to Australia for the first time.

Matches will be played across Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, giving fans around the country the chance to see the biggest global sporting event coming to Australia in 2022.

Full fixture and links to register for tickets live now at T20WorldCup.com
2014 Champions Sri Lanka to play the opening match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 against Namibia in Geelong.
Australia to start title defence in opening match of the Super 12 against New Zealand at the SCG in a re-match of 2021 Final.
Two of world cricket’s biggest rivals, India and Pakistan, will face each other in a World Cup match at the MCG for the first time.
Like the Women’s event in 2020, the Men’s Final will be played under lights at the MCG, on Sunday 13 November 2022.

In the First Round, 2014 champions Sri Lanka and Namibia will play the opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at Kardinia Park, Geelong on Sunday 16 October. They’ll be joined by two qualifiers in Group A.

Two-time champions West Indies will also start in the First Round, joined in Group B by Scotland and two qualifiers in Hobart.

In the Super 12, hosts Australia is in Group 1 with world number one England, New Zealand, Afghanistan, plus the winner of Group A and the runner-up in Group B from the First Round. Group 2 features India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, plus the winner of Group B and runner-up in Group A from the First Round.

Hosts and defending champions, Australia will play New Zealand in the opening match of the Super 12 at the SCG on Saturday 22 October in a re-match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 Final.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 20: 2022 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup projection on the Adelaide Town on January 20, 2022 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Barnes/Getty Images for T20 World Cup)

The Black Caps will also face England at The Gabba on 1 November in a re-match of their epic semi-final encounter at the 2021 event.

Two of world cricket’s biggest rivals will go head-to-head at the MCG, with India taking on Pakistan on Sunday 23 October. It will be the first World Cup clash between the two nations at the MCG and comes before two more fierce rivals, Australia and England, meets at the venue on Friday 28 October.

The state-of-the-art Perth Stadium will host a huge Sunday double-header on Sunday 30 October with South Africa taking on India in the evening match. Earlier in the day, Pakistan will be in action against the runners-up from Group A.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 20: Light projections are displayed on the Bell Tower ahead of the 2022 Men’s Cricket World Cup on January 20, 2022 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images for T20 World Cup)

The semi-finals will be played at the SCG and Adelaide Oval on 9 and 10 November, respectively. It will be the first time the Adelaide Oval will host a World Cup semi-final.

The MCG will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Final, which will be contested under lights on 13 November 2022.

Full fixtures and ticketing information are available at t20worldcup.com.

Fans must register prior to 31 January to get the best chance of securing their seats, before tickets go on sale to the public on 7 February.

Ticket pricing remains the same as the postponed 2020 event with children’s tickets available for every First Round and Super 12 match from $5, and adult tickets available at select matches in each host city from $20.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 20: Light projections are displayed on The Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead of the 2022 Men’s Cricket World Cup on January 20, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for T20 World Cup)

International Cricket Council CEO Geoff Allardice said: ““T20 is the global growth format for cricket and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 will play a huge role in inspiring our next generation of players and fans as the world’s best players descend on Australia and showcase the very best of our sport. The release of fixtures is always a great moment in the delivery of a World Cup as fans start to get excited about opening games, head to heads and knock-out stages.

“This schedule offers so much, from the 2014 Champions Sri Lanka opening the event, to our defending champions Australia starting with a rematch of the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup Final against New Zealand and of course India taking on Pakistan at the MCG. We know that hundreds of thousands of passionate cricket fans will turn out to support every single one of the 16 teams across all seven of our host cities which is what makes it so special for the players. You only need to cast your mind back to the brilliant ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia to know that this is going to be a wonderful event for players and fans alike.”

ICC T20 World Cup Local Organising Committee CEO, Michelle Enright said; “The release of the fixtures gives fans the opportunity to start planning their T20 World Cup experience, which is now just 268 days away.”

“By having matches spread across the nation in seven host cities and making tickets accessibly priced, we are hoping as many people as possible will be able to experience the incredible atmosphere that international fans bring to global sporting events, as well as the unique, fast-paced and unpredictable nature of T20 cricket.”

“World Cups are about bringing people from all backgrounds and cultures together and we hope to safely host over 800,000 fans at Australia’s iconic cricket venues later this year.”

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 20: Light projections are displayed on a city building ahead of the 2022 Men’s Cricket World Cup on January 20, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images for T20 World Cup)

FIXTURE HIGHLIGHTS

Adelaide will see 10 different teams play Super 12 matches in a festival of cricket with India to feature on the first night at Adelaide Oval against Bangladesh on 2 November. Australia will be in action on a Friday night against local Adelaide favourite Rashid Khan and Afghanistan on 4 November.
Brisbane will host four Super 12 matches with Australia, England and New Zealand to feature on consecutive nights on October 31 and November 1 respectively.
2014 champions Sri Lanka will feature in the opening match of the event against Namibia at Kardinia Park, Geelong on 16 October 2022 in the First Round.
Hobart will see the power-hitters of West Indies play three First Round matches at Bellerive Oval, starting on 17 October 2022. Hobart will also host three Super 12 fixtures.
The state-of-the-art Perth Stadium will host five Super 12 matches with defending champions Australia to play a night match against the winners of Group A on 25 October. Perth Stadium will also be lit up on the opening night of the Super 12 with world number one England taking on Afghanistan.
On Thursday, 3 November, Pakistan takes on South Africa in a showcase of the fastest bowlers in the world in a night match at the SCG, with the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje on display.

India extends international flights ban till 28 February, Find out if Australia is affected

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21 January 2022 10:13 AM

Amid rising concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) extended the ban on commercial international passenger flights till February 28.

A circular issued by DGCA said, that the competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 23.59 hrs IST of February 28, 2022.

It further reads this restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.

However, flights under air bubble arrangement will not be affected.
India has a travel bubble arrangement with Australia. All commercial flights under this arrangement are exempted from this travel ban.

No more 72-Hour isolation requirement for International arrivals in NSW And Victoria from 21 December; Picture Source: @Qantas

All concerned authorities have been asked to acknowledge the receipt and ensure strict compliance.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020.

Earlier, on December 9, DGCA had extended the ban till January 31.

“The police will catch you”: 42,000 Rapid Antigen Tests stolen in Sydney

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20 January 2022 1:51 PM

Rapid Antigen test kits; Image Source: @CANVA

New South Wales (NSW) Police were called after man walked into the freight depot in Mascot and “took possession” of the COVID-19 tests worth more than $500,000.

At present, Australia continues to grapple with a shortage of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT).

People have reported price gouging which has been called “beyond outrageous” by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Image source: Rod Sims, the Chair of the ACCC.

Rod Sims, the Chair of the ACCC, told media that the agency has received reports of RATs costing up to $500 for two tests through online marketplaces.

He added that it is costing more than $70 per test through convenience stores, service stations and independent supermarkets.

Despite wholesale RAT costs being up to $11.45 a test, ACCC says prices for the kits are often retailing between $20-$30.

A police spokesperson told media that the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon:

“The incident was reported to police and inquiries are continuing.”

Image source: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet – Twitter.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has now warned the perpetrator.

“At a time when everyone across our state has made incredible efforts in keeping people safe, in making sacrifices, what a disgraceful act. The police will catch you.”

Discriminatory Rule: Sikh medical students forced to shave in order to pass the face mask fit test or defer the year in Victoria

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20 January 2022 9:07 AM

Image source: Elastic rubber band beard cover worn over turban and head cloth. "Under-mask beard cover (Singh Thattha technique) for donning respirator masks in COVID-19 patient care" 2020.

A medical student Mr Singh (He doesn’t want to be identified), based in Melbourne recently took to Twitter to raise an important issue regarding the use of Tight-fitting respirator face masks.

Tight-fitting respirator face masks such as N95 or filtering facepiece (FFP3) masks are essential respiratory protective equipment during aerosol-generating procedures in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) environment.

We have removed Mr Singh’s tweet as per his request.

According to Emma Andollie, an Occupational Health and Safety nurse, international standards, Australian standards and respirator manufacturers all require people to be clean-shaven when wearing a respirator.

As the function of a close-fitting respirator relies on an effective seal to the skin there should be no foreign substance or facial hair between mask and skin when testing.

International standards, Australian standards and respirator Manufacturers all required people to be clean shaven when wearing a respirator as the function of a close fitting respirator relies on an effective seal to the skin. Studies back this up. It is for your protection 1/
— WE can stop it! Covid is an OHS issue 😷💉💉💉 (@emmaandollie) January 19, 2022

However, Prof Brett Sutton who is the Victorian Chief Health Officer responding to his query clarified that “There are no pandemic orders that require you to shave or cut your beard to wear a mask.”

The rule is very clear that a medical practitioner “must meet OH&S requirements but religious exemptions also apply.”

Dear Bivek. Really sorry to hear this. There are no pandemic orders that require you to shave or cut your beard to wear a mask. You must meet OH&S requirements but religious exemptions also apply. Please see website in my CHO account and email as needed.
— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) January 19, 2022

Individuals unable to shave due to personal or religious reasons such as Sikhs are often recommended to use alternatives such as powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs).

Nitin Arora, Digital Editor of JICS, and Dr Christian Karcher, University of Melbourne, also pointed to the “use the Drager 8000 PAPR hood” and “3M Versaflo systems” by bearded medical practitioners.

Such types of equipment are also being used by some Sikh medical practitioners in the UK during the pandemic.

However, researchers note that such “alternatives are expensive, limited in supply, and cumbersome to use.”

I have at least a dozen Sikh colleagues who use the Drager 8000 PAPR hood

One is a senior consultant who bought his own

Everyone else has a hospital supplied one.
— Nitin Arora (@aroradrn) January 19, 2022

He is confident that as a medical student during such unprecedented times he has a “reasonable, safe, evidence-based solution, and there is space for equal opportunity to be upheld.”

Researchers of a scientific study conducted in 2020 note that there is “no evidence in the literature to suggest why, instead of shaving, the facial hair-factor cannot be overcome with an under-mask beard cover.”

Image source: Elastic rubber band beard cover worn over turban and head cloth. “Under-mask beard cover (*Singh Thattha* technique) for donning respirator masks in COVID-19 patient care” 2020.

*Image source: FFP3 and Stealth face masks donned with the beard undercover in place. “Under-mask beard cover (Singh Thattha technique) for donning respirator masks in COVID-19 patient care” 2020.*

They add that using the Singh Thattha technique obtains a pass rate of 25/27 (92.6%) by qualitative and 5/5 (100%) by quantitative fit test in full-bearded individuals.

The authors of this study also note that “for individuals for whom shaving is not possible, the Singh Thattha technique could offer an effective solution to safely don respirator masks.”

3M Versaflo systems; Image source: 3M Versaflo systems - Twitter. — Image: 3M Versaflo systems; Image source: 3M Versaflo systems – Twitter.

Now, the question is does Mr Singh’s predicament sound like religious discrimination or an essential feature that saves the medical practitioner from harm?

As similar stories have come forward from Queensland where male Sikh nursing students are finding it hard to gain placement unless they either cut beard for clean shaven look or defer for next year.

Image source: Facebook group post screenshot.

International students and backpackers will get $630 visa rebate, Here’ details

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19 January 2022 2:10 PM

International Students; Image Source: @CANVA

PM Scott Morrison announced his government will rebate visa application fees for international students and backpackers who come to Australia and help ease the workforce shortage.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this $630 fee rebate for international students would be covered for the next eight weeks.

He said there are 150,000 international students and 23,500 backpackers with visas and his message were clear – “come on down”.

“We want you to come to Australia and enjoy a holiday here … move all the way around the country,”
Mr Morrison said.

“We’ve relaxed the 20-hour rule when it comes to student visas and that they can be working more than 20 hours. I want to stress, though, when it comes to working holidaymakers, that we haven’t changed any of the rules around the regional requirements. That’s very important because we still need people working in those regional areas.”

“At the same time, join our workforce and help us in our agricultural sector, in our hospitality sector, and so many of the other parts of the economy that rely on that labour.”

“For backpackers, it will be 12 weeks, 12 weeks from today. If they turn up within the next 12 weeks, they will get their visa application fee rebated by the Department of Home Affairs. Anyone who applies for one and turns up within the next 12 weeks, will also have their visa application fee rebated.”

Regarding international students, Mr Morrison said he was encouraging them to be back for the start of the university year as a “thank you for choosing Australia”.

“But we also want them to come here and to be filling some of these critical workforce shortages, particularly those who are working and being trained in health care, aged care, those types of sectors, that will be incredibly helpful,” he said.

The government will also give $3 million to Tourism Australia for a marketing campaign targeting backpackers and students.

NSW and Victoria cuts booster interval to three months

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19 January 2022 1:32 PM

COVID Vaccination Centre; Image Source: @CANVA

NSW and Victoria’s residents can now get their COVID-19 booster shot sooner, with both the governments shortening the interval from the second dose down to three months at state hubs.

Victoria recorded 20,769 new COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths on Wednesday, 10,726 from PCR tests and 10,043 from rapid antigen tests.

Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews said public health teams recommended the wait time between COVID-19 second dose and booster be reduced from four months to three “effective immediately”.

“The total number of people eligible increases substantially by two million Victorians and it will help us get more people third-dose boosted quicker than would otherwise be the case,”
explained Mr Andrews.

Meanwhile, 20 Australian Defence Force personnel will arrive in Victoria on Thursday, to help with driving ambulances and freeing up paramedics.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the extra support on Wednesday after Mr Andrews requested assistance.

There are also 12 Australian Public Service workers helping Victorian authorities to take triple zero calls, due to rising demand.

It comes as a “code brown” declaration for Victoria’s hospital system that came into effect at midday on Wednesday.

There are 1173 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, an increase of 21 on Tuesday’s figures, of which 125 are in ICU and 42 on ventilation.

Walk-up vaccinations will be available and are encouraged at a number of state-run centres, including:

• Royal Exhibition Building (walk-up access available 8:00am to 8:00pm daily during the blitz)

• Latrobe University Bundoora (walk-up 8:00am to 8:00pm)

• Sandown Racecourse (walk-up 9:00am to 6:30pm Saturday and Sunday)

• Dandenong Plaza (walk-up 9:00am to 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday)

• Frankston’s Bayside Centre (walk-up 9:30am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday)

• Sunshine Hospital (walk-up 8:00am to 8:00pm)

• Bendigo Vaccination Hub (walk-up 9:00am to 8:00pm)

• Ballarat Mercure (walk-up 8:30am to 3:00pm Sunday)

Authorities are expecting hospital admissions from the current Omicron wave to skyrocket in the coming weeks, prompting the code brown alert to ensure hospitals can postpone or defer less urgent care.

New South Wales

The four-month interval was to drop to three months on January 31, in line with federal government rules for GPs and pharmacies.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said, “As we are clearly seeing boosters are key to keeping yourself, your friends and your family safe.”

The state’s clinics can provide 250,000 shots a week but delivered about 180,000 last week.

“It’s awful for us to see our bookings in our clinics go begging,” NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said.

Triple-dosed adults now sit at 27.8 per cent, despite more than half of adults being eligible.

Some 300,000 people are currently isolating with COVID-19, while another 550,000 have been infected in the past four weeks.

Adults can proceed with their booster schedule four to six weeks after being infected with COVID-19, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

Vaccine body ATAGI is currently working through official guidance.

It comes as the deaths of 20 men and 12 women were reported on Wednesday, including three aged in their 40s and 18 people aged over 80.

One in four deaths were of unvaccinated people, while only five people had had a booster.

“No matter where you are in NSW or indeed Australia, you are vulnerable,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.

The number of COVID-19 hospital patients rose 13 to 2863, with ICU numbers up eight to 217.

The health minister said half of those in ICU were unvaccinated.

Unvaccinated people make up only five per cent of the NSW adult population, and 18 per cent of the total population.

Infections appear to have stabilised, with 32,297 new cases including 12,450 from rapid antigen tests.

It’s the fourth straight day under 35,000.

The NSW Labor opposition wants schools turned into vaccination hubs, a plan to ensure schools remain operational when teachers get sick, and advice for families in multiple languages.

NSW and Victoria are due to present a united schooling plan to the national cabinet on Thursday.

Swift Horses Sharp Swords: A story of valour, ruthless conspiracies and epic catastrophes

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19 January 2022 12:17 PM

“Swift Horses Sharp swords: Medieval battles which shook India” by Amit Agarwal; Image Source: Supplied

By Amit Agarwal:

It gives me immense pleasure to state that my book on Indian medieval history titled “Swift Horses Sharp swords: Medieval battles which shook India” has been received well in the market.

Though the book tells the story of the roots and trail of the invasions into India in the early medieval era starting from the 8^th century till the 14^th century, it starts with the Indus Valley civilization of ancient India and discusses the glory and progressiveness of the Hindu civilization.

The book, thus, can be loosely divided into three discrete parts. The first part has chapters on the rise of Hinduism and Buddhism and how India had tremendous influence over the Silk Road and South-East Asia. A full chapter was devoted to the history of holy Swastika. This section is included to show the meteoric rise of India in ancient times and create a striking contrast to show the decline and savagery in the medieval era.

Second section deals with the Arabic and Turkish invaders from the 7^th century till the 12^th century and why Indian kings and warriors were defeated. It begins with the first Islamic conquest by Arabs and ends with Mohammed Ghori’s invasion, resulting in the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate which remained in power for four centuries.

The underlying factors and conditions of the crushing defeats are examined in detail. The crucial mistake which the Hindu kings committed was not to have a forward policy under which they would have taken battles to the enemy’s lands, across the Khyber Pass. Instead, they kept on allowing the invaders to come to the Indian plains of Punjab and Sindh where the Turkish cavalry had the maximum efficiency.

Otherwise, there was no dearth of individual bravery on the part of Indian warriors and there is hardly an instance where a Hindu king fled from the battlefield. They continued to display great heroism and posed resolute resistance. The strategy and tactics on the battlefield remain our Achilles’ heel, even to this day. The book also has a full-fledged chapter on Kashmir which tells its complete but abridged hair-raising history.

The third part primarily deals with the overall analysis and interesting anecdotes. One chapter delineates the penchant of the invaders to create pyramids of human heads with horrific details. Another chapter dealt with how geometric mean came to be used to count the number of dead. It also examines the use of horses and elephants on the battlefield.

Elephants, especially, were costly to maintain and often proved to be a liability on the battlefield. Still, they remained the status symbol of the Indian kings and even in the 16^th century, Vijayanagara kings employed them in the battle of Tallikota, much to the delight of Islamic sultans.

Even though India was the richest country of that era, it somehow failed to invest in military technology. It draws a significant lesson here that weakness in defence would outdo all the progress in arts, architecture and business.

A lesson that even today holds true. On the other hand, Turks, despite being poor, remained invested in new technology and invented sturdy Chainmail armour, solid tree saddle and metallic stirrup. They were the first ones in the world to use packaged dried meat that just had to be boiled and added with salt and it was ready to eat. Turks could even fire 6 arrows per minute accurately while on the galloping horse. Their horses were sturdy and the best in the world who could cover 100 km per day which enabled them to come from Ghazni in Afghanistan to Panipat in Northern India in just 10 days. They had just one rule that there was no rule on the battlefield or outside. They employed every trick in the book to win at any cost.

The book has an epic sweep of the horrific events, which changed the trajectory of the history of India forever, and introduced it to a strange alien religion whose brutality the country had never experienced before.

It also deals with the certain weaknesses of Hindu society and pin-points “Dharmayudda” and “Caste system” as the other major reasons for the defeat at the hands of the invaders. It also has some unique topics like temple economy, ethnic fractionalisation and Buddhist connections to the Silk Road.

The book contains the stories of the unsung heroes like Bappa Rawal, Jaipal, Suheldev, Pulkeshin and Nayaka Devi among others who won the day at critical moments and stopped a complete annihilation of Bharat; and sadly, about whom very few know.

There are sad tales of how, over the years, Hindus have been conditioned to revere the brutal Islamic warriors as great Sufis, saints, and secular Kings, despite them killing and raping millions of Hindus because of their fanaticism and intolerance. I have been particularly honest to not shy away from the brutality that was unleashed during the invaders’ rule in medieval India.

I have also brought interesting anecdotes, ruthless conspiracies and epic catastrophes of the era while presenting not just a linear view of history but an integrated look with sociological and strategic observations. I incorporated an engaging style, crisp and sharp walking through the history and relating the historical events with contemporary knowledge of game theory, chaos and scatter/randomness, without compromising on the historical accuracy.

The content is from authentic sources, narrated seamlessly to keep the readers’ interest alive till the very end. Numerous illustrations, whether they be maps, data and charts, were also included to give it a well-defined look.

This is a history book with a difference to tell what went wrong with Indian warriors to lose battle after battle for centuries and what were the strengths due to which we escaped being annihilated. What important lessons can be drawn which are still relevant?

It is well known that in the last two millennia, 46 out of 48 thriving civilizations like Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman bit the dust due to rampant invasions. Ours is one of the remaining two, yet still not immune to incessant pressures to undermine it. The book is hence a sincere attempt to reclaim our rich civilization, lest we end up in the museums.

The book has garnered 92 verified reviews on Amazon with healthy 4.4 ratings. The book is available on Amazon at the following link:

I sincerely request everyone to give the book a good look and a gentle read.

8 must-have items if you test positive for COVID-19

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19 January 2022 9:56 AM

With the rapid surge in Omicron cases, Australians should be prepared in case they test positive for COVID-19.

If you have symptoms you should visit your nearest testing clinic as soon as possible.

Many people who contract COVID will experience mild symptoms and feel better in 3-4 days. While a small portion of people may feel quite unwell for 7-14 days.

Here’s a list of severe symptoms that need urgent medical attention:

difficulty breathing
an oxygen level of less than 92% when tested with a pulse oximeter
blue lips or face
pain or pressure in the chest
cold and clammy, or pale and mottled, skin
fainting or collapsing
being confused
becoming difficult to wake up
little or no urine output
coughing up blood.

If you have no symptoms you should take a rapid antigen test at home.

If you test positive for COVID-19 you must immediately isolate and make a list of close contacts.

Someone is a close contact if they:

live in the same house as someone who tests positive
spent 4 hours or longer with someone in a home, or health or aged care environment
are determined as one by your state or territory health department.

Isolation means staying at home.

Do not attend work or school, visit public areas, or travel on public transport, in taxis or ride-share services.
You should stay separated from other people in your house. Stay in a separate, well-ventilated room away from other people.
If you have an appointment you cannot miss – such as a visit to a doctor, family violence service or police – you must tell them that you have COVID-19.

While in isolation, try to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water and eat well.

Here is a list of items to include in your COVID-19 ready kit:

paracetamol or ibuprofen
electrolyte powder or solution
disposable gloves for handling dishes may provide an extra layer of protection
tissues
masks
cleaning products
Rapid Antigen Kits‍
a list of key helplines and resources – such as the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080, mental health services, and your states or territory’s helplines.

According to the Australian government, being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces your risk of severe illness, hospitalisation and death.

Learn more at: https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/testing-positive

New changes about re-entering and further stay for 485 Visa holders announced, Here’ details

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18 January 2022 8:39 PM

Indian Passport and Australian Visa; Image Source: @CANVA

To support the pandemic recovery in critical roles the Australian Government has announced a range of changes for temporary workers and international students.

Temporary Graduate Visa Flexibility

Federal Government will make changes to allow entry of current and former Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa holders from 18 February 2022, to allow them to re-enter Australia and apply for a further stay.

Visas will be extended for graduates who were outside of Australia at any time between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021, while they held a valid Temporary Graduate visa.

The extension will take effect on 18 February 2022 and visa holders will be notified directly by the Department of Home Affairs of the extension of their visa and may arrive after this occurs, from 18 February onwards.

These changes support the return to Australia of temporary graduates as soon as possible, ahead of further planned changes on 1 July 2022 that will provide a further visa extension option to former graduates.

International Student Arrival Numbers

Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke in a statement reported the arrival of more than 43,000 International Students since the Government announced that fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can enter Australia, including Skilled and Student cohorts, as well as Humanitarian, Working Holiday Maker and certain family visa holders.

There are currently more than 150,000 International Student visa holders overseas who have been supported to continue their Australian studies, and the reopening of our borders to them sends a clear signal that Australia remains a top study destination.

Skilled Regional Provisional Visa Flexibility

Australian Government will extend by 3 years Skilled Regional Provisional (subclass 489, 491 and 494) visas where the visa holder was impacted by COVID-19 international travel restrictions. This will assist around 10,000 skilled regional workers.

This will provide sufficient additional time for all current and former Skilled Regional Provisional visa holders to make travel arrangements to start or resume living and working in regional Australia.

Skilled Workers and Working Holiday Maker Arrival Numbers

Additionally, more than 8,000 Skilled workers have arrived in Australia, and 22,000 Working Holiday Maker visas have been granted since November 2021. Demand for Working Holiday visas has been particularly strong.

Australia has also welcomed around 60,000 family members of Australians visiting since the Government’s announced changes in November 2021.

Did Australia’s life expectancy increase since 2020?

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18 January 2022 4:17 PM

New research from the Australian National University (ANU) has revealed that the collective life expectancy of Australians has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

This study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, compares relative life expectancy across countries before and after the onset of the pandemic.

BAPS Temple, attracts hundreds to stop COVID misinformation & get vaccinated in a pop-up clinic; Picture Source: Supplied — BAPS Temple attracts hundreds to stop COVID misinformation & get vaccinated in a pop-up clinic; Picture Source: Supplied

ANU researchers’ study found that the average life expectancy for Australians increased between 2019 and 2020 by 0.7 years for females and males.

According to the researchers, this is the largest increase observed in Australia since the 1990s.

The researchers attributed this rise to Australia’s strict response to COVID-19.

The study’s co-author Prof. Vladimir Canudas-Romo notes:

“During the 1918 Spanish flu, attempts were made to close borders. Yet, once ports opened, the lack of a vaccination meant the virus spread with fatal effects. With modern-day vaccines, Australia has been able to escape this deadly fate.”

The nations with the next highest increases were Denmark and Norway.

Both nations recorded an increase of 0.1 and 0.2 years for females and males respectively.

On the other hand, the USA showed a decrease with the average life expectancy being reduced by -1.7 and -2.2 years for females and males respectively.

Victoria Covid19 Testing site; Picture Source: Twitter Vic Health

Prof. Tim Driscoll, the University of Sydney, told ABC that the findings of the new study were interesting.

However, he added that the findings were not indicative of the broader wellbeing (mental and physical) despite showing that there were some benefits to lockdowns in Australia.

“From what I’ve seen, I don’t think there’s good evidence that that happened, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been issues and challenges with the mental health of people who’ve been locked down and isolated.”

The debate raises an ultimate question that is the battle between life expectancy and quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hindu Legal Helpline launched to support victims of Domestic Violence, Civil/Criminal disputes and Hinduphobia

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Application for Membership of the Australian Hindu Association.

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18 January 2022 1:12 PM

Australian Hindu Association launches Hindu Legal Helpline; Image Source: Supplied

Australian Hindu community has launched a unique Hindu Legal Helpline to support growing needs of diverse Hindu community migrated from India, Nepal, SriLanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Fiji, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia and other countries.

This helpline comes into reality with a partnership between Opal Legal and the Australian Hindu Association, a newly formed body to educate, advocate and campaign issues related to Hindu community in Australia.

In a widely attended virtual program Principal of Opal Legal, Namrata Singh announced the launch of Hindu Legal Helpline.

Namrata told The Australia Today, “Persons in need of urgent legal advice can now phone the Helpline on its dedicated number, send us a text message or email with their legal questions.”

“We aim to respond to all requests immediately or within a matter of hours,”
explained Ms Namrata.

“I urge AHA members & Hindu organisations to widely publicise this very worthy initiative.”

Namrata said beside domestic violence and family disputes some examples of the situations in which Hindu Australians can seek help are;

1- Being evicted from home
2- Being dismissed from employment
3- Being served with a legal demand (eg, bankruptcy notice)
4- Being arrested by police; Police searching your home
5- Real Estate dispute
6- Custody issues during divorce proceedings
(these are the common issues clients ring lawyers about).

Australian Hindu Association President Amendra Singh told The Australia Today, “We want to provide localised Hindu Legal Helpline in most capital cities and towns which have significant Hindu population.

“We would like to request legal professionals to contact Australian Hindu Association on the given phone number incase they would like to be part of Hindu Legal Helpline on a pro-bono basis,”
said Mr Singh

At the launch program of Australian Hindu Association (AHA) Deputy Lord Mayor of Parramatta City Council, Councillor Sameer Pandey expressed the importance of digital and social media to communicate the aspirations of Hindu Australians into the future.

The AHA digital platform suite including website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to interact with it’s members and wider community.

Councillor Suman Saha of Sydney’s Cumberland City Council is a proud Bangladeshi Hindu.
He told The Australia Today, “We should have a say in the policy-making of our community than only we will have a say in the policy making of our country.”

“I stress every Hindu in Australia to please participate in the social issues which will define the future of coming generations in Australia,”
said Mr Saha.

AHA Secretary Bharti Kundal said one of the most important pillars of this Hindu Advocacy group is to provide a platform to Hindu women to discussed their issues and find an appropriate scalable solution.

Australian Hindu Association, Secretary, Bharti Kundal

Hindu Women have highest participation in workforce however they are most neglected lot when it comes to representation in decision making bodies of Not for profit or State/Federal Government Boards.

“We are here to change this situation by advocacy and awareness campaigns. Our aim is to establish a range of Hindu women leaders in multiple sectors as voice of Australian Hindu community,”
explained Ms Kundal.

Vice President of AHA Yogesh Khattar told The Australia Today, “There is a lot of misinformation spread about Hindus and Hinduism, some of it is deliberate attempt by foreign players via their local front organisations.”

Australian Hindu Association, Vice- President, Yogesh Khattar

“One of the important work of Australian Hindu Association will be to expose these divisive forces and their agenda.”

Mr Khattar says, “Anyone who want to be member of Australian Hindu Association can fill this form.

Market Mantra: Australian shares decline on US Fed taper woes

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17 January 2022 11:11 AM

The Australian market snapped a positive three-week rise last week with tech and software stocks leading the losses as US Federal Reserve officials solidified expectations that the US interest rate could rise as soon as March, leaving markets braced for tighter monetary conditions.

It is becoming clearer by the minute that global central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and our own Reserve bank of Australia, are finally waking up and getting ready to try and control inflation by limiting bond purchases and raising interest rates. As such traders are getting jumpy about holding stocks.

There are also real-world negative business effects that are now starting to come through as a result of the latest round of COVID-19 infections and isolations. Qantas recently confirmed that it has scaled back flight operations by a third due to lack of demand. Crumbling supply chains have resulted in empty supermarket shelves resulting in consumer staples stocks falling every day for the week.

When the interest rates rise the tech stocks which usually rely on easy money are first to fall. The Australian tech sector was no different, declining 4% for the week. It was the Buy Now Pay Later stocks however which led the route. Sharp falls in Square Inc stocks in US trade and a negative report from Mcquarrie on BNPL meant shares in Afterpay, Zip, Openpay and Splitit as well as software supplier Xero had massive drops.

The banks and financials which usually benefit from rising interest rates were also unable to stem the rot this week and ended 1.2% lower for the week, after six consecutive weekly gains. Both Commonwealth and Westpac fell more than 1% while Pendal shares were down more than 16%.

Market-Mantra-Stocks; Picture Source: @CANVA

Traders in Australia will be waiting nervously to see if Australian bond purchases will be cut when the RBA board reconvenes on Feb 1 after Jerome Powell left no room for doubt that he will tackle inflation hard after the US CPI for December came in at an annualised rate of 7%, the highest for almost 40 years.

With interest rates hikes expected soon we expect the tech sectors to continue to struggle in the near future, with more pains for holders of Buy Now Pay Later stocks. The financial sector may take their cues from the US in the short term, however, they may be heading into a headwind with traders waiting for RBA meeting at the beginning of February where we are expected to hear more on the speed of interest rate hikes in Australia.

Looking ahead to this week, traders will be waiting keenly for Australian unemployment figures for December. In November, Australia created a massive 366,000 + jobs. However given December was a tougher month than expected with more viral outbreaks across Australia, we wouldn’t be surprised if job numbers decline for the month.

Consumer confidence numbers, housing starts, payroll jobs and wages, skilled job vacancies and business turnover will also come out during this week. Investors will also be looking keenly at Chinese economic growth figures and figures on retail sales, production and investment.

Gold prices firmed strongly last week, supported by a retreating US Dollar. The Fed remarks on Friday however resulted in the yellow metal giving away some of the weekly gains. However, despite the declining gold still had its best week since 12 November.

The US Dollar fell to its lowest in more than two months last week while US 10-year Treasury deals also recorded their first weekly decline in four weeks. This helped the non-yielding yellow metal.

The bullion is usually considered as an inflation hedge, however, it benefits strongly from US Dollar weakness as that makes it cheaper for holders of other currencies.

Failure to breach the December peaks around 1830-1835 levels and Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance on Friday however then led to the decline in gold to close the week around the US $1818/ounce.

The big test for the precious metal would be to see if it cracks the $1830 level. This has proved to be a tough nut to crack for gold traders. If gold bulls do not find the strength to break through $1830, then the price could continue to remain range-bound between $1800 and $1830 as we have seen in the last few days.

Oil recorded a fourth consecutive week of gains, recording their longest winning streak since October. A weaker US Dollar and supply constraints boosted oil prices last week. A weaker US Dollar makes commodities more affordable for holders of other currencies. Hence, as US Dollar recorded its largest weekly fall in more than a year the crude prices rallied higher.

oil price going up; Picture Source: @Canva

Analysts also warned that the recent Russia Ukraine conflict could be a seismic event for the energy market and may result in supply disruptions, thus sending oil prices higher. Russia is not only a major oil producer but with more European nations racing towards getting off fossil fuels the dependence on Russia as the major source of energy for Europe has increased manifold.

On Friday Russia began moving tanks and other military equipment westward towards Ukraine from its Far East bases. Also on Friday, an alleged cyberattack from Russia left a number of Ukrainian government websites unavailable. The emerging crisis between Russia and Ukraine raises political risk premium and directly affects the natural gas prices.

A possibility of an armed conflict also have wide geopolitical ramifications and boost oil premiums.

While oil prices look set to head towards US $100/barrel a potential release of crude from China’s strategic reserves and a weekly rise in the number of active US oil drilling rigs may spoil the party in the short term for the oil bulls.

As such we expect oil to take a breather around current levels before starting the climb again.

With US Dollar recording its largest fall in multiple months the Australian Dollar was a big beneficiary rallying to 0.7313, a fresh two-month high. However hawkish comments from Fed, particularly on Friday night undermined demand for the local currency against the greenback thus resulting in the Aussie trimming its gains to settle around the 0.7240 price zone.

Australian-Dollar; Picture Source: @CANVA

The US continues to record inflation at toxic levels and with traders feeling that the US Federal Reserve is not being able to respond in a proper timed manner to the rising inflation the US currency got dumped heavily last week. The dollar however recovered some ground on Friday night after Fed Governor Lael Brainard became the latest and most senior US central banker to signal that interest rates will rise in March to combat inflation.

With US government bond yields, however, recording a decline for the week it seems the recovery in the greenback could be limited and positive macroeconomic figures from Australia last week could mean that the local currency may continue in its strong position.

The upcoming week however will be crucial for Australian currency as China, Australia’s largest trade partner will publish its December retail sales and industrial production and Q4 GDP figures.

Technically speaking the Australian Dollar tried to go above the 100 SMA, however, the sellers defended the levels strongly thus indicating that bears might still be in control for the AUD/USD pair.

While the falling US Dollar boosted the commodity prices which helped Australian commodity miners and in turn the local currency, the rising commodity prices especially oil meant the Indian Rupee continued to remain pressured against all currencies.

India is one of the largest oil importers and gains in the Rupee remains limited when oil prices go up. A widening trade deficit, lesser IPO’s and the prospect of a US rate hike are expected to subdue the INR in the coming weeks.

India’s trade deficit increased to a record $21.7 billion for December 2021. The trade deficit in India was $15.72 Billion during the same period in 2020 and $12.47 billion in December 2019.

India has also seen a surge in FII outflow in recent weeks and a rate hike in the US could further drive away FIIs from investment in India and other emerging markets.

The Indian Rupee is now the worst-performing currency in the Asian basket as India grapples with a surging trade deficit and inflation. However, USD/INR pair faces strong resistance between 74.40 and 74.70 regions.

In digital currencies Bitcoin after dropping 20% in the last two weeks turned the tide by getting above $43,100, up by 3% in the last 7 days.

Bitcoin started 2022 on a weak note and briefly dropped below US$40,000 for the first time since September last year. However, it quickly found support around these levels and reclaimed the key $42,000 level, a level that gives confidence to other altcoins.

With news from the crypto world continuing to be positive globally many top altcoins such as Polygon, Terra (Luna), Polkadot and Dogecoin gained more than 15% during the week.

In Agricultural products, soybean and corn futures recorded weekly declines on forecasts of rains in drought-hit South American growing regions. Wheat also recorded its third consecutive week of declines as the supply outlook improves.

Weather forecasts have shown parched areas of Argentina, the world’s top exporter of soy and the second-largest producer of corn may receive significant rainfall this week thus boosting chances of a better than previously expected crop.

For the wheat market, the International Grains Council raised its forecast for 2022 global production, partly driven by a strong outlook of the crop in Australia.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey how to trade. He can be contacted at adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinions in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

Woman ran to neighbour to save her daughter after being stabbed by husband, sadly both died

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14 January 2022 7:50 PM

Representative Image Domestic Violence; Image Source: @CANVA

An Indian Australian woman and her daughter were stabbed in Melbourne.

Melbourne’s northern suburb resident Mr X* (name can’t be published due to court order), allegedly appeared on Thursday evening armed with a knife at his wife Mrs X’s home.

He allegedly stabbed his 39-year-old wife Mrs X* (name can’t be published due to court order) and his six-year-old daughter Ms T*.

Neighbours called emergency services at about 7:50 pm.

Family friends told The Australia Today, ” Mr X* got addicted to drugs after coming into close contact with a local bikie gang.”

He broke his relationship with a close circle of friends who tried to take him to the rehabilitation process.

A friend who does not want to be named told The Australia Today, “Mr X* called me at 7:10 pm yesterday.”

“He was very upset and was complaining about being ignored by everyone including friends and family. It seemed to me that he was under drug influence.”

Victoria Police believe Mr X* followed his wife while she tried to get to safety.

Detective Inspector in charge Dean Thomas said in a statement that Mr X* injured himself when Police approached him.

Mrs X* died tragically at the scene, while daughter Ms T* was taken to hospital in critical condition. The little girl passed away Friday morning.

Mr X* was also taken to hospital in critical condition as he injured himself when police arrived.

In the hospital, he is under guard and Police detectives are waiting to speak to him.

Speaking at a news conference Friday morning, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said “It is believed that the 39-year-old victim ran from her house to a neighbour’s house for help, and the perpetrator chased her.”

“He’s known to the police.”

Did the system fail Indian Australian Woman?

The Australia Today can confirm that emergency services attended the address at 12:50 p.m. Thursday, just 7 hours before Mr X* allegedly stabbed his wife Mrs X* and daughter Ms T*.

Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said, “We believe a person at the address has been assessed at the time and emergency services have been released.”

Indian Australian community leaders are working to support. Mrs X*’s parents have been contacted and visa applications have been made for coming to Australia.

“It’s very difficult, she’s going through an absolutely horrible, traumatic incident.”

The Indian Australian community is devastated by the incident and calls on members to seek help if they are feeling any issue that makes them stressed.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Family and domestic violence support:

1800 Respect national helpline:
1800 737 732
Women’s Crisis Line:
1800 811 811
Men’s Referral Service:
1300 766 491
Lifeline (24-hour crisis line):
131 114

Eyeing on Free trade agreement with Australia, India’s Reliance Industries bets big on Hydrogen power

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14 January 2022 4:04 PM

The Hydrogen Power projects; Image source: CANVA

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said on Thursday it will invest almost A$100 billion in renewable energy power plant and other projects in Gujarat.

The proposed projects will create 1 million direct and indirect employment opportunities in the state. Mukesh Ambani-led company signed an MoU with the Government of Gujarat for the investment proposal as part of Investment Promotion Activity for Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2022 which Australia was also a participant.

RIL proposes to invest A$100 billion in the Indian state of Gujarat over the span of 10 to 15 years to set up 100 GW Renewable Energy Power Plant and Green Hydrogen Eco-System development, RIL said in a statement.

“RIL will develop an eco-system for assisting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and encourage entrepreneurs to embrace new technologies and innovations leading to captive use of Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen,”
it said.

Australia’s Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor while signing Australian Clean Hydrogen Trade Program (ACHTP) agreement with Japan said “The Morrison Government is positioning Australia to become the international clean hydrogen supplier of choice and are investing to make this reality.”

“Australia is a world leader in clean energy and our high quality resources have long been in strong demand from our international partners,”
Mr Taylor said.

Earlier Mr Ambani said in September 2021 at the International Climate Summit that while the world is making efforts to make green hydrogen the most affordable fuel option by bringing down its cost to initially under $2 per kg, India can set an “aggressive target” for breaching the $ 1 mark.

“Efforts are on globally to make green hydrogen the most affordable fuel option by bringing down its cost to initially under $ 2 per kg. Let me assure you all that Reliance will aggressively pursue this target and achieve it well before the turn of this decade,”
He added.

RIL’s initiatives for decarbonisation and creating a green ecosystem emanate from the vision of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In consultation with Government of Gujarat, RIL has started the process of scouting land for 100 GW renewable energy power project in Kutch, Banaskantha and Dholera. The company has requested for 4.5 lakh acres of land in Kutch.

RIL will invest another Rs 60,000 crore in setting up New Energy Manufacturing-Integrated Renewable Manufacturing: 1) Solar PV Module (manufacture of Polysilicon, wafer, cell & module); 2) Electrolyzer; 3) Energy-storage Battery; 4) Fuel Cells.

Further Rs 25,000 crore investments will be made by RIL in existing projects and new ventures over next 3 to 5 years.

RIL has also proposed to invest Rs 7,500 crore over 3 to 5 years for Jio Network up-gradation to 5G and another Rs 3,000 crore over 5 years in Reliance Retail.

New Permissions and Restrictions for Workers including International Students

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14 January 2022 1:37 PM

Reprentative picture of Student worker; Picture Source: @CANVA

As Omicron case numbers continue to increase in Australia and globally. The National Cabinet agreed to the final arrangements for the Rapid Antigen Testing Concessional Access Program.

Through the program,
1- Eligible Commonwealth concession card holders will be permitted to receive a maximum of ten free tests in a three month period with a maximum of five tests in any one month through participating community pharmacies.
2- Eligibility will include people with a Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card, Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold, White or Orange Card, Health Care Card, Low Income Health Card.

Community pharmacies will be reimbursed a set amount for the unit cost of the Rapid Antigen Tests (which will be $10 plus GST per test initially, with ongoing review of unit prices).

For each supply transaction processed for an eligible person under this program (minimum of 2 tests and maximum of 5 tests per transaction), an Administration Handling and Infrastructure (AHI) fee of $4.30 per transaction will be reimbursed to the pharmacy, consistent with current AHI arrangements under the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement. Community Pharmacies will be responsible for sourcing supply for the program as they do for non-subsided rapid antigen tests.

The program to provide free Rapid Antigen Tests for concession card holders will become available through community pharmacies from 24 January 2022.

The individual pharmacies will commence participation in the program as supply continues to become available in late January and early February 2022.

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms and close contacts should attend a state clinic for free testing and not go to a pharmacy to receive a free test.

Reprentative Picture: Australian Worker; Picture Source @CANVA

Essential Workers – Close Contact Furlough Arrangements by Sector and Workforce

Worker absenteeism due to symptomatic COVID-19 illness, identified asymptomatic infection and the required isolation of close contacts is impacting on critical supply sectors and supply chains across all states and territories.

Current arrangements could see 10 per cent of Australia’s workforce including many workers in critical supply sectors withdrawn from the workforce. The potential impact of school closures on workforce absenteeism relating to caring responsibilities could see a further 5 per cent of Australia’s workforce withdrawn from the workforce.

The medical advice is that Omicron continues to show greater infectivity than the Delta variant, but with much less severity in terms of hospitalisations, ICU and ventilated patients.

Each state and territory will implement these changes to close contact arrangements for essential workers under respective state and territory public health orders and equivalent arrangements.

Changes will be made as soon as possible, where they have not already been made under state and territory public health arrangements, to include essential workers in:

· All transport, freight, logistics and service stations

Changes will be made shortly, where they have not already been made under state and territory public health arrangements, to include:

· Health, welfare, care and support (including production and provision of medical, pharmaceutical and health supplies),

· Emergency services, safety, law enforcement, justice and correctional services,

· Energy, resources and water, and waste management,

· Food, beverage, and other critical goods (including farming, production, and provision but not including hospitality),

· Education and childcare; and

· Telecommunications, data, broadcasting and media.

A full list of sectors is attached.

National Cabinet agreed to further consider expanding these sectors to priority 2 cohorts, pending further health advice.

National Cabinet further endorsed the AHPPC Permissions and Restrictions for workers in health care and aged care settings to ensure close contact essential workers in these sectors are able to return to safely work and ensure continuity of care and effective operations.

National Framework for Managing COVID-19 in Schools and Early Childhood Education and Care

The Framework is based on six National Guiding Principles:

1. ECEC services and schools are essential and should be the first to open and the last to close wherever possible in outbreak situations, with face-to-face learning prioritised*;

2. Baseline public health measures continue to apply;

3. No vulnerable child or child of an essential worker is turned away;

4. Responses to be proportionate and health risk-based;

5. Equip ECEC services and schools to respond on the basis of public health advice and with support from public health authorities where required;

6. Wellbeing of children and education staff to be supported.

All Governments will come back to National Cabinet next week to set out the practical implementation of this Framework so that families can plan with certainty. This will include detailed operational plans, such as mask wearing and surveillance rapid antigen testing, including for teachers.

The Queensland and South Australian Governments have delayed the start to their school years by two weeks due to the forecast peaks of the virus in those states. These schools will still be open for the children of essential workers during this period.

National Cabinet reaffirmed the National Plan to Transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response and continue work to suppress the virus under Phase C of the National Plan – seeking to minimise serious illness, hospitalisation and fatalities as a result of COVID-19 with baseline restrictions.

To date over 45 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia, including 346,349 in the previous 24 hours. This was the third highest daily vaccination total on record with record numbers of 254,112, boosters and 55,570 5 to 11 year old vaccinations.

Almost 95 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 99 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99 per cent of over 70 year olds.

More than 92.3 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated including more than 97.3 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.

Over 4.3 million booster doses have been administered. Australia has sufficient supplies of boosters, with 24 million mRNA booster doses in stock in Australia. Yesterday over 242,000 boosters were administered across Australia. Over 48 per cent of those eligible for boosters have had a booster and almost 42 per cent of Australians aged 70 years of age and over have had a booster in the last 9 weeks since the booster program commenced.

Vaccinations for 5 to 11 year olds commenced on Monday 10 January. In only three days over 140,000 vaccinations have been administered to 5-11 years olds accounting for 6.2% of all 5-11 year olds.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 1,195,158 confirmed cases in Australia and, sadly, 2,522 people have died. Australia’s case and fatality rate continues to be the second lowest in the OECD. Globally there have been over 315.4 million cases and sadly over 5.5 million deaths, with 2,265,922 new cases and 6,606 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The Omicron variant continues to surge in many countries around the world. The latest advice is the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, but significantly less severe than the Delta variant.

National Cabinet agreed that priority access to the public provision of Rapid Antigen Testing is for health and aged care settings as well as people who are symptomatic, close contacts as well as vulnerable populations, such as remote Indigenous communities.

The guidance for close contacts was updated on 30 December 2021, with close contacts defined as household contacts of confirmed cases.

Hindu Council stands with Australian Jews against discriminatory and hate filled campaign of BDS

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14 January 2022 10:33 AM

Hindu Council of Australia and Jewish Board of Deputies; Image source: Supplied

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The world is full of conflict. Whether it is in Afghanistan where every woman seems to be in trouble or it is Bangladesh where religious minorities seem to be in trouble.

The Middle East has multiple, long-standing conflicts which have been simmering and sometimes boiling over, for centuries.

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Australia is a vehemently anti-Israel organization which rejects the very idea of Israel as a State in which the Jewish people, after centuries of dispossession and persecution, once again control their own lives and future. And now some BDS leaders are trying to bring that conflict here.

Some Greens leaders have joined together with BDS Australia in an attempt to deprive the Australian people of our diverse arts and culture through its world-famous Sydney Festival. This is contrary to the Greens own core values of social justice and peace-building. The Greens, who are supposed to make the earth and Australia more liveable for our great grandchildren seem to be spending too much of their good intentions on overseas conflicts.

Some Greens Party leaders have, in the past, tried to spread Hinduphobia in Australia using NSW state Parliament privileges. Although their effort has been refuted by all walks of political life in the Parliament, it has created a fear among peace loving Australian Hindus. While non-violence is a core value of the Greens, they have not spoken against Hindu girls being kidnapped in Pakistan, Hindus & Sikhs being targeted by religious fanatics in Afghanistan and killings of minority Kashmiri Pandit Hindus in Kashmir. There is a long list of such atrocities that any one professing non-violence would condemn. Greens leader seems to be cherry picking as if only some overseas incidents deserve all their attention while others can be ignored.

Very Un-Australian.

The world is not a peaceful place for many of its inhabitants. But Australia stands out as a place of peace and harmony. Australians have compassion for those suffering and fighting with each other overseas in their homelands. Thanks to the strength of public opinion among Australian citizens, these external conflicts have not been allowed to be imported into our multicultural and tolerant home here in NSW.

BDS Australia have, like many of us, taken sides in one such conflict. The endorsement of the anti- Israel boycott by the internationally-proscribed terrorist group Hamas highlights the sinister nature of the BDS campaign.

Please do not hurt our Multi-Cultural Australia

Please do not deprive Australians of the Arts and Culture that the world (including in its not so stable regions) has to offer. Please do not boycott the Sydney Festival and force cancellations of Arts performances. Let us work to solve the conflicts of the world but PLEASE, do not bring these conflicts home. Please do not divide our multicultural Australia.

We stand against these boycotts and commend the Sydney Festival for its stance against them.

By: Surinder Jain, Hindu Council of Australia.

Australia to “push through” amidst rising number of Omicron cases

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12 January 2022 2:34 PM

COVID Testing; Picture Source: Twitter @VicGov

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is facing pressure for his handling of the Omicron wave in an election year.

He has committed to “push through” the outbreak as he plans to ease isolation rules for asymptomatic workers in key sectors.

PM Morrison told a media briefing in Canberra:

“Omicron is a gear change and we have to push through. You’ve got two choices here: you can push through or you can lock down. We are for pushing through.”

COVID-19 infections are at near record levels especially caused by the Omicron variant.

Australia has reported about 1.1 million cases since the pandemic began.

Recently, Ambulance Union’s Olga Bartasek told media that they were forced to declare a code red in Victoria.

“Certainly, code red is only ever reserved for … things like thunderstorm asthma or the bush fires.”

However, this time it was was due to the the high number of call requests than ambulances available.

Ambulance Victoria is experiencing an extremely high demand for ambulances in the metropolitan region. It is likely there will be a delay in an ambulance reaching you. If it’s not an emergency, please call NURSE-ON-CALL (1300 60 60 24). pic.twitter.com/68La4H3wwg
— Ambulance Victoria (@AmbulanceVic) January 10, 2022

Victoria’ Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said that it showed the “unprecedented challenges” the health system faced in the wake of the pandemic.

“Code red circumstances do happen from time to time both as a consequence of the pandemic but indeed other events, either natural disasters or other events that are going on in the community at that given time.”

The premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, told a media briefing:

“There is significant pressure in our health system.”

He added that about 4,000 hospital and 400 ambulance staff in the state were isolating due to virus protocols.

More than 4,000 people are in hospital with COVID-19 and the number of patients in ICU are also slowly on the rise.

Sanya Arora and Priyanka Selvam crowned Miss-Mrs India Australia 2021

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11 January 2022 11:54 AM

Sanya Arora, a 22-year-old dermal therapist from Melbourne, has been announced as the Miss India Australia 2021.

Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Miss India Australia winner and the 10 finalists were selected via an online auditions and interview process.

Sanya was born in Pune, Maharashtra, and her family moved to Australia when she was 10 years old.

Image Source: Miss India Australia 2021.

She is very passionate about her Indian culture and loves contemporary Indian dance.

Sanya is multilingual can speak fluently English, Hindi, Punjabi and Marathi.

The group training sessions were conducted by Raj Suri, who is a well-known Indian-Australian photographer, talent mentor and founder of media firm Karigar Australia.

Raj Suri, Founder, Miss-India-Australia; Image source: Supplied

He says:

“I wan to empower Indian Australian women with self belief, cultural expression, and individuality so that they become the role models for the next generation.”

In the same event, the Mrs India Australia 2021 title was given to Priyanka M. Selvam.

Priyanka is a 38-year-old YouTuber, who lives in Ballard, Victoria.

She moved to Australia from Ernakulam, Kerela.

“My motivation to audition for Mrs India Australia 2021 was my Dad’s words he always use to remind me and my sister that never fear to try anything in life because you don’t know what the world have to offer you.”

Priyanka was also awarded Mrs Social Impact title for her fight against depression and motivating Indian-Australian women through her channel “Beauty bugs TV”.

Miss & Mrs India Australia 2021 finalists; Image source: Miss India Australia 2021

The Miss India Australia 2021 titles announced are as follows:

SANYA ARORA – Miss India Australia 2021 and Miss Photogenic 2021
MANMEET Gulati– Miss India Australia International Student & Popular Choice 2021
SANAH Aslam- Miss India Australia Social Impact 2021
ALISHA Mathew – Miss India Australia Best Talent (Classical Dance) 2021
VANSHIKA Puri – Miss India Australia Professional 2021
PRIYANKA M Selvam – Mrs India Australia 2021 and Mrs Social Impact 2021
NEERU A Krishnakumar (NSW) – Mrs India Australia Photogenic 2021
SAVINDER (Smiley) Kaur – Mrs India Australia Best Catwalk 2021
JYOTHSNA Suraj – Mrs India Australia Best Talent (Singing) 2021
DEBLINA Sarkar – Mrs India Australia Beautiful Face 2021

Miss India Australia 2021 will officially represent Australia in the 30th Miss India Australia Worldwide 2021 in Mumbai, India in 2022.

This would be subject to COVID-19 restrictions at the time.

Victoria issues new pandemic restrictions and vaccination mandate, Here’ details

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10 January 2022 1:33 PM

Melbourne lockdown; Picture Source: Facebook

Government of Victoria has issued a new pandemic order under which workers in key sectors who are already required to be fully vaccinated must get their third dose before being permitted to work onsite.

This will apply to healthcare, aged care, disability, emergency services, correctional facility, quarantine accommodation and food distribution workers. Workplaces must sight and record proof of vaccination.

This order comes into place at 11:59pm Wednesday 12 January.

Workers eligible for a third dose on or before Wednesday 12 January will have until Saturday 12 February to get their vital third dose. Workers not yet eligible for a third dose will be required to get it within three months and two weeks of the deadline to receive their second mandatory dose.

This means residential aged care workers must receive their third dose by 1 March, and health care workers by 29 March. Disability, quarantine accommodation, correctional facilities, emergency services, and food distribution workers will need to receive their third dose by 12 March.

Food distribution workers includes manufacturing, warehousing and transport (freight/port) workers involved in food distribution.

Retail supermarket staff are not included in the mandate.

Victorians in these priority cohorts were among the first required to have their first and second dose vaccination during 2021. The mandatory vaccination requirement will not apply to workers who have a valid medical exemption.

The New Restrictions:

To reduce the risks of the virus spreading, indoor dance floors within hospitality and entertainment venues must close from 11:59pm 12 January. Venues can still operate and there are no changes to the density settings currently in place.

Indoor dance floors at weddings will be permitted, but wedding hosts and guests should still consider the risks of dance floors and choose to locate them outdoors if possible.

Minister for Health Martin Foley said, “Victoria is open and the community is encouraged to support businesses in a COVIDSafe way. Closing indoor dance floors is a simple but important step – we know they pose an extraordinary risk of mass transmission.”

The strong recommendations that people work from home if they are able and that patrons in hospitality and entertainment venues opt for seated service will continue. It is recommended that people visiting these venues who can access Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) should use them before attending.

In addition, further visitor restrictions will be applied to hospitals and aged care settings – reflecting the vulnerable nature of patients and residents in these facilities.

Residents at aged care centres will continue to be permitted up to five visitors per day, but visitors must return a negative RAT result before entering. If no RATs are available at the facility, residents will be permitted no more than two visitors.

Visitors in hospitals must have received two doses of the vaccine or must return a negative RAT result before entering. Adult visitors who are not fully vaccinated must wear an N95 mask during their visit. Standard face masks continue to be mandated for children aged 8 and above.

While test requirements upon arrival remain unchanged, fully vaccinated international arrivals will no longer need to get a second PCR or RAT five to seven days after their arrival. This change is in line with the decision of National Cabinet last week and recognises the high levels of COVID-19 transmission currently in the community.

Workers in the manufacturing, distribution or packaging of food and beverages including retail supermarket workers may be exempted from close contact isolation requirements in order to attend work from 11.59pm Wednesday 12 January, if it is necessary for continuity of operations and other options have been exhausted.

To mitigate risks, exempted workers must be asymptomatic, undertake daily RATs for 5 days and return a negative result prior to attending work. They can’t enter shared break areas, and employers are asked to facilitate solo break time.

In addition, face coverings must be worn, using N95/P2 respirators if possible. Both the worker and workplace must consent to the worker’s return.

This new close contact isolation exemption for asymptomatic food distribution workers is similar to the arrangements already in place for critical healthcare workers.

Information on updated COVIDSafe settings and third dose vaccination requirements will be published at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au when the orders come into effect at 11:59pm Wednesday 12 January.

Market Mantra: Welcome to Australian market roller-coaster of 2022

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10 January 2022 1:09 PM

Australian shares swung wildly last week from reaching four month highs to plunging most in 16 months and then rebounding on Friday to close 0.1% higher for the week.

2022 started on a mixed note for Australian investors with energy stocks soaring on increasing oil prices while technology stocks tanking amid increasing Omicron cases.

The market opened the week on a positive note, however after the minutes of US Federal Reserve signalled an earlier than expected rate hike it resulted in Australian shares posting their biggest drop since September 2020. The technology shares which usually rely on cheap and easy money were hardest hit.

The buy now pay later companies such as Afterpay and Zip led the declines with many analysts believing that an interest rate rise would reduce the present value of tech companies expected future profits.

Shares in James Hardie also declined after the company sacked its Chief Executive Officer for work related interactions and breach of conduct.

The markets, however rebounded to recover some of the losses on Friday as financial stocks led the gain. Propelled by the Big Four the financial stocks jumped by 2.2% on Friday, recording their biggest intraday jump since October last year.

Even though the rise on Friday may have calmed some of investor concerns, rising Omicron cases and prospects of earlier than expected rate rise remain a worry for investors.

The week also brought some good news for private health insurers. With NSW and Victoria both now suspending elective surgery to combat with rising Omicron cases the shares in Medibank, NIB Holdings, QBE, SUN and Insurance Australia Group all galloped.

Moving ahead we feel as the health system remains under pressure the governments will need to bring in more restriction which should further help insurance companies.

Looking forward, investors will be keeping an eye out on national spending data. There is a concern that national spending in Australia has declined to lockdown levels with people in Sydney and Melbourne dragging the national spending as surging coronavirus cases keep them from going out.

With US Central Bank bracing for a hike in interest rate it lessened gold’s appeal as a non-yielding asset. The yellow metal declined 2% for the week, their biggest weekly drop since November 26 as US 10-year Treasury yields reached their highest levels since Mach 2021.

The precious metal is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increases the holding cost for the non-yielding bullion.

Looking forward while it has been a bearish week for the gold the support around 1780 seem to be holding. A break of 1780 will open up risk of bullion tumbling to 1750s in the coming weeks. Whereas if the bulls manage to hold the support they may push prices of the precious metal back towards $1830/ounce.

We feel in the near and longer term markets will continue to pencil in a Fed balance sheet runoff, which should continue to push real rates higher and weigh on gold prices. For spot gold’s losses to accelerate the US Dollar is the key and would need to rise further from its current levels.

If the US Dollar starts kicking higher this week, that combined with higher real yields could be a big bearish risk for gold.

Oil prices recorded a third consecutive week of gains as the market tightened due to supply constraints across OPEC+ members following civil unrest. Kazakhstan’s largest oil producer reduced output following protests in the country, while production in Libya has also been hampered following militia unrest.

The OPEC+ alliance stuck with a scheduled increase of 400,000 barrels a day for February, however given declined output in Libya and Kazakhstan and Russia also failing to boost output last month it is highly unlikely that the group will meet that threshold.

Oil has rallied in past weeks as markets have largely dismissed Omicron as a mild strain and just a temporary aberration and now the supply interruptions from Libya and Kazakhstan have just added to oil bullishness.

A deep freeze in Canada and northern parts of USA have also disrupted oil flows last week.

We expect the bullish pattern in oil to continue over the coming weeks with US Crude Oil set to test key resistance levels at $80 per barrel.

Moving on to currency markets, the Australian dollar drifted lower against the US dollar as the US Fed Reserve signalled an earlier than expected interest rate rise.

With Australian macro calendar remaining empty during last week the news from US drove the currency pair. The FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday night shook the world markets and the Australian currency by hinting that conditions of a rate hike could be met relatively soon, supporting speculation of a hike in March.

The Fed members also began discussing reduction of their bond holdings in the upcoming months. US policymakers have tried to cool down inflation related concerns throughout most of 2021 and the FOMC minutes on Wednesday further indicated that they are far more concerned than what they actually say and that they are ready to take more aggressive measures to bring things back under control.

The Reserve Bank of Australia in contrast is in opposite extreme to the US Central Bank. The RBA insist that a rate hike is unlikely, at least till 2024and that it is only a matter of time that inflation will return to acceptable levels.

Such imbalances between central banks would favour a slide in the Aussie against the greenback in the mid-term.

The Indian Rupee also declined against the rising greenback with concerns over the rising Omicron variant and firm crude oil prices weighed on the Indian currency. The foreign institutional investors also continue to be net sellers in the Indian capital market.

In digital currencies Bitccoil and cryptocurrency prices continue their sell-off with BTC briefly bottoming just below US $41,000.

This is Bitcoin’s worst weekly drop since November. The rest of cryptocurrency market also gave in to the selling sentiment with Ethereum, Binance coin, Solana, Cardano, Shibu all sinking.

There are two main reasons why the cryptocurrency prices are going south. First a possibility of an interest rate hike at the next Fed meeting in March. Rate hikes don’t bode well for non-yielding BTC.

The price action for digital currencies also indicate that they behave more like a tech stock than safe-haven assets and an interest rate hike usually hits the tech stocks hardest.

Secondly, unrest in Kazakhstan, which became world’s second biggest mining hub after China’s crypto crackdown. The civil unrest in Kazakhstan last week brought 18% of the global crypto mining facility to a grinding halt.

According to Antoni Trenchev, founder of crypto lending platform Nexo, if the Bitcoin price breaks below $40,000 it could get ugly with the number one digital currency possibly tumbling to September lows of $30,000.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey on how to trade. He can be contacted on adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinion in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

ICC announces new playing conditions for T20I, fielding side to suffer for slow over-rate

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8 January 2022 9:15 AM

India T20 Captain Rohit Sharma; Picture Source: @BCCI

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced changes to T20I playing conditions that will come into effect with the upcoming one-off match between West Indies and Ireland at the Sabina Park.

An in-match penalty for slow over rates in men’s and women’s Twenty20 Internationals comes into effect this month, with the updated playing conditions also providing for an optional drinks interval midway through the innings in bilateral T20 international cricket.

The over rate regulations are captured in clause 13.8 of the playing conditions (here), which stipulate that a fielding side must be in a position to bowl the first ball of the final over of the innings by the scheduled or rescheduled time for the end of the innings. If they are not in such a position, one fewer fielder will be permitted outside of the 30-yard circle for the remaining overs of the innings.

The change was recommended by the ICC Cricket Committee, which regularly discusses ways to improve the pace of play in all formats, after considering reports on the effectiveness of a similar regulation that was included in the playing conditions for the Hundred competition conducted by the ECB.

The in-match penalties are in addition to the sanctions for the slow over-rate outlined in Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel.

In another change, an optional drinks break of two minutes and thirty seconds may be taken at the mid-point of each innings subject to agreement between Members at the start of each series.

The first men’s match to be played under the new playing conditions will be the one-off tie between the West Indies and Ireland at the Sabina Park in Jamaica on January 16 while the first T20I of the three-match series between South Africa and the West Indies in Centurion on 18 January will be the first women’s match played under the new playing conditions.

India announces ‘New rules’ including seven day quarantine for all international arrivals, Here’ details

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7 January 2022 11:39 PM

Amid a surge in the COVID-19 cases, the Indian government on Friday announced a seven-day mandatory home quarantine for all international arrivals in the country.

All travellers will undergo home quarantine for 7 days and shall undertake RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India

The Revised Guidelines will come into effect from 11th January 2022 (00.01 Hrs IST)

Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said all travellers from specified countries at risk will at first, submit a sample for the post-arrival COVID-19 test at the point of arrival (self-paid). Such travellers will be required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.

Planning for Travel

All travellers should
1. Submit complete and factual information in self-declaration form on the online AirSuvidha portal before the scheduled travel, including last 14 days travel details.
2. Upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report*. The test should have been conducted within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey.
3. Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.
They should also give an undertaking on the portal or otherwise to Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, through concerned airlines before they are allowed to undertake the journey that they would abide by the decision of the appropriate government authority to undergo home/institutional quarantine/ self-health monitoring, as warranted.
Continuing with the earlier approach, travellers from certain specified Countries (based on epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in those Countries) are identified for additional follow up. These include need for additional measures as detailed in para (xviii) below. The listing of such specified Countries is a dynamic exercise based on evolving situation of COVID-19 across the world and will be made available on the websites of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, (mohfw.gov.in) and the link of the same will be available at website of Ministry of External Affairs and Air Suvidha Portal.
All travellers who need to undertake testing on arrival, should preferably pre-book the test online on Air Suvidha Portal, to facilitate timely testing.

Before Boarding

Passengers originating or transiting from at-risk countries shall be informed by the airlines that they will undergo post arrival testing, quarantine if tested negative, stringent isolation protocols if tested positive etc. as mentioned in para (xviii).
Do’s and Don’ts shall be provided along with ticket to the travellers by the airlines/agencies concerned.
Airlines to allow boarding by only those passengers who have filled in all the information in the Self Declaration Form on the Air Suvidha portal and uploaded the negative RT-PCR test report.
At the time of boarding the flight, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening.
All passengers shall be advised to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

During Travel

In-flight announcement about COVID-19 including precautionary measures to be followed shall be made at airports and in flights and during transit.
During in-flight crew shall ensure that COVID appropriate behaviour is followed at all times.
If any passenger reports symptoms of COVID-19 during flight, he/she shall be isolated as perprotocol.
Proper in-flight announcements should be made by the airlines regarding the testingrequirements and people who need to undergo such testing to avoid any congestion at the arrival airports.

On arrival

De-boarding should be done ensuring physical distancing.
Thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the airport. The self-declaration form filled online shall be shown to the airport health staff.
The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to medical facility as per health protocol. If tested positive, their contacts shall be identified and managed as per laid down protocol#.
Travellers from specified Countries at risk [as mentioned in para (iii) and (iv) above] will follow the protocol as detailed below:
- Submission of sample for post-arrival COVID-19 test* at the point of arrival (self-paid).Such travellers will be required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.
- If tested negative they will follow, home quarantine for 7 days and shall undertake RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India*.
- Travellers shall also be required to upload results of repeat RT-PCR test for COVID-19 done on 8th day on Air Suvidha portal (to be monitored by the respective States/UTs).
- If negative, they will further self-monitor their health for next 7 days.
- However, if such travellers are tested positive, their samples should be further sent for genomic testing at INSACOG laboratory network.
- They shall be managed at isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing mentioned in para (xvii).
- The contacts of such positive case should be kept under home quarantine monitored strictly by the concerned State Government as per laid down protocol.

Travellers from Countries excluding those referred as of risk, will follow the protocol as below:
1. A sub-section (2% of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.
2. These 2% of such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries).
3. Laboratories shall prioritise testing of samples from such travellers.
4. All travellers (including those 2% who were selected for random testing on arrival and were found negative) will undergo home quarantine for 7 days and shall undertake RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India*.
5. Travellers shall also be required to upload results of repeat RT-PCR test for COVID-19done on 8th day on Air Suvidha portal (to be monitored by the respective States/UTs).
6. If negative, they will further self-monitor their health for next 7 days.
7. However, if such travellers are tested positive, their samples should be further sent for genomic testing at INSACOG laboratory network.
8. They shall be managed at isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing mentioned in para (xvii).
If travellers under home quarantine or self-health monitoring, develop signs and symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 on re-testing, they will immediately self- isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call National helpline number (1075)/ State Helpline Number.

International travellers arriving at seaports/land ports

International travellers arriving through seaports/land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol as above, except that facility for online registration is not available for such passengers currently.
Such travellers shall submit the self-declaration form to the concerned authorities of Government of India at seaports/land ports on arrival.

“They shall be managed at isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing mentioned. The contacts of such positive case should be kept under home quarantine monitored strictly by the concerned State Government as per laid down protocol,” it added.

Travellers from countries excluding those from at-risk countries will follow the ministry’s guidelines as well. At first, a sub-section (two per cent of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival. These two per cent of such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries). Further, laboratories shall prioritise testing of samples from such travellers.

International travellers arriving through seaports/land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol as above, except that facility for online registration is not available for such passengers currently. Such travellers shall submit the self-declaration form to the concerned authorities of the Government of India at seaports/land ports on arrival.

Children under five years of age are exempted from both pre and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they shall undergo testing and treated as per laid down protocol.

As per the Health ministry, the global trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to decline with certain regional variations. The need to monitor the continuously changing nature of the virus and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) must still remain in focus. The existing guidelines for international arrivals in India have been formulated taking a risk-based approach.

Thousands of places for Child vaccinations in Victorian State Hubs, Booking starts today at 1 pm

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5 January 2022 2:19 PM

Child getting Vaccinated; Picture Source: @CANVA

State-run vaccination sites across Victoria will start taking bookings for children aged 5 to 11 years to receive their vaccination on 10 January 2022.

From 1pm today, parents and guardians can book at one of the 18 state-run vaccination centres offering child vaccinations online or through the coronavirus hotline.

Online bookings will require a unique email address, which can be the child’s address or another one belonging to a parent or guardian.

Parents and guardians of children between 5 and 11 are recommended to book in their child’s first dose in the lead up to the program commencing 10 January.

Eight flagship vaccination centres are being transformed into an Australian-themed ‘forest of protection’ which will feature fun imagery of native Australian animals, as well as entertainers, activities and show bags designed to help make the vaccination experience positive for children and their families.

The forest-themed sites will be located at:

1- Melton Vaccination Hub (indoor and drive-through),
2- Campbellfield Ford Complex,
3- Cranbourne Turf Club,
4- Sandown Racecourse,
5- Frankston Community Vaccination Hub,
6- Geelong’s Former Ford Factory,
7- Shepparton Showgrounds
8- Traralgon Racecourse.

Children who get vaccinated at one of the eight flagship sites will receive a showbag with goodies that can help with distraction, including a colouring-in book by First Nations artist Emma Bamblett, coloured pencils, stickers and fidget spinners.

The decoration has been developed with children and parents, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Acting Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan said, “By getting your child vaccinated, you are providing them with direct protection against COVID-19 and reducing the risk of transmission to loved ones and in schools.”

“We want to create a vaccination experience that is positive for the whole family – the forest themed hubs have been designed to provide a welcoming and accessible experience for children of all backgrounds and abilities.”
She added.

Children will also be able to place a leaf with their name on it on the ‘eucalyptus vaccination tree’ that grows with every child vaccinated, with parents also able to add a leaf after receiving their third dose.

The state-run sites have been designed to cater for children who need additional support during their vaccination process such as a visual distraction, virtual reality headsets and the Buzzy Bees ice pack.

The child-friendly vaccination hubs also provide low-sensory booths and are able to cater for specific needs.

In addition, parents and guardians are encouraged to also check for paediatric vaccination appointments at their local GPs and pharmacies across Victoria.

An immunisation plan has been developed by the Department of Health and The Royal Children’s Hospital as a resource for guardians to help decide where and how to book based on their child’s needs.

The paediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces COVID-19 risks for children and has the additional benefit of reducing risks of transmission to older contacts.

For more information and to book your children’s first dose – visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccine. Bookings can also be made via the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398 or via your local pharmacy or GP.

Air India announces three additional flights every week from Melbourne/Sydney

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22 December 2021 3:34 PM

Direct Flights between India And WA; Picture Source: @AirIndia

Air India will operate additional flights between Delhi-Melbourne-Delhi and Delhi-Sydney-Delhi sectors from January to March 2022.

Melbourne-Delhi flight will be every Sunday from 2nd January to 27 March 2022.

Additional flights on the Delhi-Sydney-Delhi sector will be every Monday/Tuesday from 3rd January to 22nd March 2022.

Right now Air India is operating flights on Delhi- Sydney-Delhi sector with a thrice-a-week service.

With the additional services Delhi-Sydney will have five days a week flights as the demand surge for holiday makers.

Bookings for the tickets will be open through AI Website, Booking Offices, Call Centre & Authorised Travel Agents.

Air India spokesperson told The Australia Today, “Passengers should read the guidelines carefully before travelling & conform to all eligibility criteria. Air India will accept no liability in this regard.”

It is mandatory for anyone intending to travel to India to pre-book RT-PCR test through Air Suvidha portal if arriving from “AT RISK” countries or visited “AT RISK” countries in the last 14 days.

“AT RISK” countries are subject to change, latest updates available on http://mohfw.gov.in.

Sruthy Sithara becomes first Indian to win Miss Trans Global 2021

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21 December 2021 10:16 AM

Sruthy works as a project assistant at the Kerala government’s Social Justice Department.

2021 Miss Trans Global title was conferred to India’s 25-year-old Sruthy Sithara.

Sruthy Sithara became the first Indian to win a pageant that celebrates trans activism across the world.https://t.co/V1XBpwD2TS
— Miss Trans Global (@MissTransGlobal) December 10, 2021

Sruthy, who is a model-artist from from Kerala, was one of the four transgender persons to have been given a government job.

Sruthy works as a project assistant at the Kerala government’s Social Justice Department.

Image source: Sruthy Sithara – Miss Trans Global 2021 Facebook.

Sruthy took to Instagram to share the news:

“Miss Trans Global 2021👑 This smile means a lot for me💛 for my community for my country🇮🇳 for the transglobal organization 🤝 for all those who are oppressed &marginalized💪 Here’s I am, Sruthy Sithara, Miss Trans Global 2021 Title Winner👑 Thank you so much all who behind this successful journey🙏🇮🇳”.

Sruthy was congratulated by Kerala’s Minster of Higher Education Dr R Bindu via Twitter:

Keralite Sruthy Sithara has been selected as Miss Trans Global 2021, a title she achieved after a long fight against prejudices galore and the narrow mindset of our society. A matter of immense pride for Kerala. Congratulations Sruthy… pic.twitter.com/tJThRAHBJy
— Dr R Bindu (@rbinducpm) December 2, 2021

The titles were conferred in an online event due to the pandemic. The physical event was originally planned to be held in London.

Sruthy was followed by contestants from Philippines and Canada as the first and second runner up at the pageant.

WATCH VIDEO: MISS TRANS GLOBAL 2021 OFFICIAL GRAND FINAL

Australian cricketer winning hearts in India with his Bollywood videos

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20 December 2021 12:20 PM

Australian cricketer David Warner has gained huge popularity as a Tiktok star in South India.

In 2020, Warner tweeted: “Me and Kane Williamson will be doing Tiktok videos during quarantine”.

Soon, Warner started posting videos that show him grooving with his wife and daughters.

He can also be seen lip-syncing popular Bollywood and Telugu songs.

Recently, Warner o posted a hilarious morphed video of Allu Arjun with the caption: “Caption this!! #actor #who #lovethis.”

To this post, Indian cricketer Virat Kohli commented: “Mate are you ok?”

Warner cheekily replied: “@virat.kohli a little sore but I know you mean in my head, never alrigt.”

In another video, Warner appears along with Katrina Kaif in a morphed video of Hrithik Roshan: “😂😂 love getting sent these. Thoughts on this one?? @ha_ve_faith_inme #funny #dance #bollywood“

In another, Warner teased Shikhar Dhawan using a morphed video of Ranveer Singh from Bajirao Mastani: “My next task 😂😂 @shikhardofficial may have me covered doing this dance. #dance #who #amazing“

What do you have to say about David Warner’s love for Indian films and Tiktok skills?

Market Mantra: Omicron concerns dragging Australian shares to red

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20 December 2021 10:59 AM

Australian shares recorded its biggest weekly loss in three weeks as concerns surrounding the spread of the Omicron variant and policy tightening by Central Banks in US and Europe triggered volatility across global equity markets.

Adding to uncertainty, Pfizer said on Friday the pandemic could extend through next year. European countries geared up for further travel and social restrictions and a study warned that the rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant was five times more likely to reinfect people than the Delta strain.

While energy and gold miners were positive influences on the market the technology companies were a dead weight. The US regulators holding a probe into buy now pay later companies pushed Afterpay, Zip and other BNPL companies down.

On the other end of the spectrum gold miners posted strong gains for the week with North Star Resources jumping 5.6%, Evolution Mining adding 4.2%, Newcrest Mining rising 3.7% and Regis Resources firming by 3.5%. The gold price has benefitted on recurring inflation worries and increasingly hawkish commentary from global central banks last week.

Image source: Big Four OZ banks - Wikipedia. — Image source: Big Four OZ banks – Wikipedia.

Looking ahead the rising cases of Omicron and lockdown in European nations is expected to push Australian shares further in the red with energy and iron miners likely to drag on reduced economic activity.

Moving ahead there are a few releases to watch out for in the lead up to Christmas with the Reserve Bank Board minutes to be released on Tuesday, weekly payroll jobs and wages on Wednesday and private sector credit on Thursday.

While the equities market recorded loss last week gold recorded its first positive week in five and rallied past the key $1800 level as worries about surge in Omicron cases and hot inflation drove investors to safe haven assets.

With growth expected to slow into next quarter and shares market correcting off their highs on Omicron rise it seems investors are panicking out of equities into safe haven assets like gold.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday signalled three interest rate hikes in 2022. Typically the announcement should have weighed on gold prices as higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding yellow metal.

The bullion however marched higher because most analysts and traders have already factored in interest rate rise prospects before the announcement.

With the outlook for 2022 remaining clouded we expect the gold prices to continue trading up in the short term with support at US $1785 and resistance at US $1820 per ounce.

Oil prices were down for last week as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears that new restrictions may hit fuel demand.

There are concerns about COVID that won’t go away and the perception that could weigh on demand is putting pressure on the market.

Petrol bowser filling car; Image Source: @CANVA

The number of new Omicron cases has been doubling every two days in Denmark, South Africa and England. Netherlands entered into full national lockdown on Saturday. In US, the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led some companies to pause plans to get workers back into offices.

As such with increased Omicron threats to demand we could see further consolidation in US Crude prices around $70 in the coming sessions as we learn more about Omicron, what restrictions it will bring and how OPEC+ nations react to it.

Moving on to currency markets, the Australian dollar went back and forth throughout the week as traders were not sure where we are going in the near term. That being said the local currency eventually settled down against the US Dollar as markets start showing signs of hesitation.

Australian dollar is highly correlated to risk appetite and commodities. On the other hand the greenback is considered to be a safety currency. Hence it makes more sense with markets running towards the US dollar when there are more concerns in the market.

Looking at the charts it seems that he 0.70 level is extremely important and should continue to offer support over the longer term. If it were to break however, then the local currency is likely to drop significantly towards the 0.68 level.

On the other hand a break above the top of last week can open the possibility of a move towards 0.7 and then even 0.74 level.

The Indian Rupee too continued to fall against the US Dollar closing at 76.08 on Friday as foreign fund outflows continue amid uncertain global cues post the central bank’s policy outcome and rising coronavirus cases.

In digital currencies world Bitcoin continues its struggle to get past US $50,000 mark. The digital currency has had a dull December so far with price continuing to range trade between $46,000 and $50,000.

The digital currency market seems to be in consolidation phase with BTC struggling to reclaim the key $52,000 level that will reconfirm start of a new bullish cycle. On weekly basis BTC has dropped 3% for the week at the time of writing the report.

Avalanche, Terra, Polygon and Solana however gained more than 5% in the last week. The news from the crypto world though continued to lean towards optimism with Tokyo’s biggest finserve firm, SBI group, now allowing Japanese investors to purchase cryptocurrencies via its newly launched crypto-asset fund and Myanmar’s parallel government declaring the use of Tether as official currency. The US SEC has also delayed the decision on Bitcoin ETFs in the US to early February.

In agricultural products, soybean rallied to a three week high on signs of US tightening US vegetable oil supplies and fresh export demand.

Wheat and Corn also rose for the week supported by strong weekly export sales and dry conditions in the US Plains after powerful wind storms raked the region.

The traders are assessing the impact of Wednesday’s storms in the US plains on winter wheat production.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey on how to trade. He can be contacted on adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinion in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

Indian-origin techie who hired people to slap him for using Facebook builds a shocking device

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18 December 2021 10:44 AM

Image source: Maneesh Sethi and Kara - YouTube.

In 2012, US-based Indian-origin techie and blogger Maneesh Sethi went on to Craigslist to hire a woman who will slap him every time he used Facebook.

Image source: https://hackthesystem.com/

The key idea behind this strategy was to be less socially networked and more capitalistically productive.

Sethi wrote on his blog:

“It was the perfect location for an experiment on doubling productivity. How could I leverage Craigslist to improve my efficiency? To me, the answer was obvious: I hired a girl on Craigslist to slap me in the face everytime I used Facebook.”

Using a little app called RescueTime, Sethi measured that he was spending too much time, almost six hours a day, on Facebook and Reddit.

“Nothing makes me more embarrassed than seeing the amount of hours I spend wasted on Reddit and Facebook chat.”

This meant that Sethi was only 38% productive and wasted 19 hours of his time per week.

“I figured, ‘This is stupid, why am I wasting this time doing nothing? When I have a boss, or someone of authority watching me, I always get my work done. How can I simulate the authority figure?’”

Soon, Sethi hired Kara on Craigslist out of the 20 people who responded to his posting.

He discovered that his pain-for-gain method worked as his average productivity that was around 35-40% skyrocketed to 98% in Kara’s presence.

“But not only did my productivity skyrocket—the quality of the work I did skyrocketed as well. …. She also helped me push through an application for a secret project that I applied to—an application that won, out of hundreds of applicants.”

And, no he has no fetish to be slapped by strangers especially women as he recently tweeted.

Well that person was me, and you're not wrong, but unfortunately this isn't my fetish :/
— Maneesh Sethi (@maneesh) November 10, 2021

Sethi summed-up the major reasons for hiring someone on Craigslist to watch improve his productivity and quality of work:

Someone else, besides me, knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish that day.
Kara pushed me through the cheese monster.
I finally had someone to bounce ideas off of.
The Slap Challenge added a playful, silly element to working.
Having another pair of eyes to go over my content drastically improved the quality of my work.

As Sethi’s story once again became viral on social media, he tweeted: “This was the foundation for a company I built, @pavlok“

Oh hey, I'm the guy in the picture! This was the foundation for a company I built, @pavlok , which zaps customers (with electric shock) for sleeping in or wasting time on facebook. Nice.
— Maneesh Sethi (@maneesh) November 10, 2021

The story that began with just an idea and an experiment now has more than 100k users.

It was just an idea and experiment. After this, I thought I should make another viral post where I made a dog shock collar zap me for using FB.

But I realized — there are a million wearables that track, but this one actually changed.

So I invented it.175,0000 users have it now
— Maneesh Sethi (@maneesh) November 10, 2021

The successful result of Sethi’s social experiment was the invention of his shocking product, Pavlok.

Ivan Pavlov and his staff demonstrating condition reflex phenomenon with a dog.

The name of the device, Pavlok, is a play on the classical conditioning experiment performed on his dog by scientist Ivan Pavlov.

This new wristband device looks like a FitBit but is meant to curb poor behaviour with old conditioning techniques using an electrical charge that is “nice to mildly unpleasant.”

According to the company website, Pavlok is the only wearable device that helps people snap out of automatic habit loops and take control of their behaviour.

It uses SNAP (Sensory Neural Automatic Processing) technology to help change habits for good.

“Pavlok’s Snap is a patent-pending stimulus that causes your brain to snap out of autopilot and become present and aware. The Snap is adjustable, safe, and can be used for almost every habit loop.”

Users set the habit that they wish to quit using the accompanying app.

The device automatically delivers a vibration or electrical zap when the person indulges in a set bad habit.

Sethi is the founder of a web design company “StandardDesign” and CEO of Pavlok that he founded in 2014 after raising $283,827 in a spectacularly successful IndieGoGo campaign.

He also appeared on Shark Tank seeking investment of $500,000 in exchange for an extraordinary 3.14 percent stake in Pavlok.

Sethi has also authored two books Game Programming for Teens and Hack the System.

Today, Sethi’s business is growing and he has developed tools to help such as a productivity extension for Google Chrome as well as an online course that teaches “unwanted habits.”

No more 72-Hour isolation requirement for International arrivals in NSW and Victoria from 21 December

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17 December 2021 9:20 PM

International travellers and aircrew arriving in Melbourne and Sydney will no longer need to isolate for 72 hours.

This comes after Victoria and New South Wales have agreed to introduce consistent COVID-19 requirements for people arriving from overseas.

From the beginning of Tuesday, 21 December all fully vaccinated international travellers and flight crew arriving in NSW and Victoria will be required to get a PCR test within 24 hours after arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Under existing arrangements they are also required to produce a negative pre-departure test, within three days of boarding their flight.

As the 72-hour isolation period is no longer required, and those arrivals and aircrew already in isolation may leave once they receive a negative PCR test.

Indian Australians at Airport, Picture Source: @CANVA

Testing requirements

a- NSW arrivals must also comply with the NSW Health Guidelines for Recent Fully Vaccinated Arrivals.

After arriving in NSW, passengers must have a COVID-19 nose and throat PCR test:

Within 24 hours of arriving in NSW
On or after day 6 after arriving in NSW.

A test on day 12 after arriving in NSW is strongly recommended.

b- Arrivals in Victoria must also get a PCR test between days five and seven after arrival.

Any passengers arriving from overseas into NSW and Victoria aged 18 years and over who are not considered fully vaccinated must still go directly into 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine.

With both states achieving high double vaccination rates and rapidly rolling out booster vaccination programs, the introduction of new streamlined arrivals processes will simplify and clarify the process for travellers, airlines and airports.

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said the removal of the isolation requirement would make the process easier for international travellers and help keep flight crew in the air.

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet; Picture Source: Twitter @Dom_Perrottet

“We know it has been a challenging time for international travel with new rules and the emergence of the Omicron variant, but this announcement is about simplifying the process and making sure Australia’s two biggest cities have a consistent approach,”
Mr Perrottet said.

“This decision has been made with safety remaining the top priority, which is why all arrivals must return a negative PCR test before they can exit isolation and have an additional test following that,” added Mr Perrottet

Victoria’s Minister for Health Martin Foley made the decision to change the requirements for international travellers arriving in Victoria.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said the change would make it easier for international travellers arriving back in Victoria and New South Wales, while ensuring the community is protected as we learn to live with COVID-19 and new variants.

“With more than 92 per cent of Victorians 12 years and older double-vaccinated, Victorians have given themselves the strongest chance of living safely with coronavirus and enjoying more freedoms this festive season, while we continue to monitor the Omicron variant,”
Mr Merlino said.

Health-Minister-Martin-Foley; picture Source: Supplied

Those eligible for a booster five months after their second shot and are urged to book an appointment as soon as possible – especially those at higher risk of contracting coronavirus, such as healthcare workers.

From 10 January 2022, children five to 11 years old will also be eligible for vaccination.

The NSW Government has increased penalties for non-compliance with the isolation, testing and quarantine requirements remain, with individuals facing fines up to $5,000 and $10,000 for corporations.

Two Indian-origin cricketers in Australia’s U19 World Cup squad

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17 December 2021 8:59 AM

Nivethan Radhakrishnan, H Bawaja - Image source: Tasmanian Tigers, Vic Premier Cricket

Australia has confirmed their squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022 in the Caribbean.

The squad includes Harkirat Bajwa, Aidan Cahill, Cooper Connolly, Joshua Garner, Isaac Higgins, Campbell Kellaway, Corey Miller, Jack Nisbet, Nivethan Radhakrishnan, William Salzmann, Lachlan Shaw, Jackson Sinfield, Tobias Snell, Tom Whitney, and Teague Wyllie.

While, Liam Blackford, Liam Doddrell, Joel Davies, Sam Rahaley, and Aubrey Stockdale have been picked up as reserves.

Nivethan Radhakrishnan, who moved to Sydney from India in 2013, is the only known ambidextrous cricketer in Australia.

The 19-year-old has also spent time in the Indian Premier League as a net bowler for Delhi Capitals, coached by Australian legend Ricky Ponting.

Huge congrats to Nivethan Radhakrishnan who this morning has been named to represent Australia at the @icc Under 19 World Cup 2022! 🇦🇺🏏#WeAreTigers

READ: https://t.co/D5NJBYjjrz pic.twitter.com/yY5auiBG6k
— TasmanianTigers (@TasmanianTigers) December 14, 2021

17-year-old Harkirat Bajwa has also been picked as an underage player who will still be eligible for selection for the 2024 tournament.

Congratulations to Harkirat Bajwa, Joshua Garner, Campbell Kellaway (pictured) and Liam Blackford (reserve) on being selected in the Australian Squad for the Male ICC U19 World Cup.

The tournament will be held in the West Indies early next year.#vicsdoitbetter pic.twitter.com/C3yXPzZPIX
— Victorian Cricket Team (@VicStateCricket) December 14, 2021

Coached by Anthony Clark, Australia has been drawn alongside hosts West Indies, Scotland and Sri Lanka in Group D of the pool stage.

“Our squad includes players of all disciplines with experience in domestic cricket environments, and many have produced eye-catching performances across a variety of strong competitions this season. The Under-19 World Cup provides players with an exceptional development opportunity and we look forward to seeing them represent their country with distinction.”

The 15-player squad will assemble in Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test for January’s World Cup in the West Indies.

Australian Squad for ICC U19 World Cup

Harkirat Bajwa (VIC – Melbourne CC)
Aidan Cahill (NSW – Newcastle City CC)
Cooper Connolly (WA – Scarborough CC)
Joshua Garner (VIC – Geelong CC)
Isaac Higgins (SA – Glenelg CC)
Campbell Kellaway (VIC – Melbourne CC)
Corey Miller (NSW – Northern District CC)
Jack Nisbet (NSW – Sydney CC)
Nivethan Radhakrishnan (TAS – Hawkesbury DCC/Kingborough DCC)
William Salzmann (NSW – Campbelltown-Camden DCC)
Lachlan Shaw (NSW – Northern Districts CC)
Jackson Sinfield (QLD – Redlands CC)
Tobias Snell (QLD – Toombul CC)
Tom Whitney (QLD – Western Suburbs CC)
Teague Wyllie (WA – Rockingham-Mandurah CC)

Reserves

Liam Blackford (VIC – Geelong CC)
Liam Doddrell (NSW – St Clair CC)
Joel Davies (NSW – Manly Warringah DCA)
Sam Rahaley (SA – Kensington)
Aubrey Stockdale (QLD – Toombul CC)

ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Groupings

Group A – Bangladesh, England, Canada, United Arab Emirates
Group B – India, Ireland, South Africa, Uganda
Group C – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe
Group D – Australia, Scotland, Sri Lanka, West Indies

Australia’s ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Group Matches

Jan 14: West Indies v Australia, Guyana National Stadium
Jan 17: Australia v Sri Lanka, Conaree Cricket Center
Jan 19: Australia v Scotland, Conaree Cricket Center

Indian-origin Leena Nair appointed global CEO of fashion house Chanel

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16 December 2021 12:40 PM

Leena Nair; Image source: Leena Nair - Twitter.

French fashion house Chanel has named 52-yaer-old Indian-origin Leena Nair as its next global CEO.

Leena was previously an executive at Unilever (ULVR.L) where her career spanned 30 years.

She is a British national, born in India, who moved to London in 2013 as its global senior vice-president for leadership and organisation development.

She was later elevated in 2016 and became Unilever’s first female and youngest ever CHRO.

Leena studied in Holy Cross Convent school in Kolhapur and did her electronics engineering at Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli, Maharashtra.

She is a gold medallist from XLRI and is credited for several HR interventions, including ‘Career by Choice’, a programme which allows women who have fallen off the career ladder to re-join the workforce.

She said in a Linkedin and Twitter post:

I am humbled and honoured to be appointed the Global Chief Executive Officer of @CHANEL, an iconic and admired company.
— Leena Nair (@LeenaNairHR) December 14, 2021

“I am humbled and honoured to be appointed the global chief executive officer of Chanel, an iconic and admired company. I am so inspired by what Chanel stands for. It is a company that believes in the freedom of creation, in cultivating human potential and in acting to have a positive impact in the world. I am grateful for my long career at Unilever, a place that has been my home for 30 years. It has given me so many opportunities to learn, grow and contribute to a truly purpose-driven organisation. I will always be a proud advocate of Unilever and its ambition to make sustainable living commonplace.”

Chanel was founded in 1910 by fashion legend Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel as a hat boutique on rue Cambon in Paris.

Chanel said in a statement that Leena would join at the end of January and be based in London.

It added that the new appointments would ensure its “long-term success as a private company.”

Alan Jope, Unilever CEO, said in a statement:

“Leena has been a pioneer throughout her career at Unilever, but no more so than in her role as CHRO, where she has been a driving force on our equity, diversity and inclusion agenda, on the transformation of our leadership development, and on our preparedness for the future of work. She has played a critical role in building our purpose-led, future-fit organisation, which is now the employer of choice in over 50 countries globally.”

Leena also serves as a non-executive board member at BT (BT.L) and has previously served as non-executive director of the British government’s business, energy and industrial strategy department.

She joins the list of Indian-origin CEO’s who deal with a multi-ethnic workforce and business spread across the world.

Should Australia make Maths compulsory for year 11 and 12?

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16 December 2021 9:10 AM

Social_media_image_4_class — Image source: ACER.

In 2020, as per Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) survey, Australia was among top ten countries in maths and science.

14,950 Australian students (years 4 and 8) from 571 Australian schools participated in this survey.

The primary underlying factor behind poor achievement was the difference in socioeconomic background of school students.

This caused an imbalance in opportunities and resources available to these students.

Keeping in mind the low enrolment rates, New South Wales (NSW) even wished to make maths compulsory in years 11 and 12.

The country’s largest education system wanted to reverse the slide in maths enrolments and bring in much needed maths-teaching reforms in the state.

Image source: International comparison: key countries: Mean score, comparable countries vs Australia, 2019 – ACER.

Now, a public paper issued by the Actuaries Institute seek policymakers to step-in and change the way maths is delivered for better outcomes.

It aims to make public policy recommendations that will lead to more students studying maths, and at higher levels in Australia.

“Making mathematics more relevant and interesting may also uncover students with the ability and interest to study mathematics, giving a wider cohort the confidence and ability to choose a wider range of degrees at university.”

According to this paper, titled “Mastering Mathematics for Australia’s Future,” Australian students’ aspirations and their awareness of the value of STEM skills and the breadth of STEM careers is declining.

Image source: Actuaries Institute – website.

Actuaries Institute Chief Executive Elayne Grace says that Australian actuaries depend on the
development of deep maths skills to work across a very broad range of industries.

“The bedrock of those skills is taught in school, and then university.”

The paper notes that Australian students do not understand how maths is relevant to every-day life. Martin Mulcare, who developed the policy paper, says:

“Effective maths education is vital for young Australians to help them confidently apply maths to everyday tasks and to create high level capabilities that support the growth of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) industries in Australia.”

Actuaries work in risk assessment in sectors that include insurance, superannuation, climate change and data analytics. Jefferson Gibbs, the Actuaries Institute President, says:

“Proficiency in maths opens doors to many careers. Having maths skills creates opportunities that are otherwise closed off. These skills are important not just for Australia’s rankings, in terms of education and workforce standards, but also for opportunities that open up for individuals.”

The paper states only 20.5% of Year 12 students currently choose to study intermediate maths and only 10.1% study maths at a higher level, rates that have declined from 23.3% and 11.6%, respectively, in 2008.

Further, only 7% girls study higher level maths, and there are stark differences between maths and numeracy rates between city and regional kids.

The paper suggests that policymakers should make a concerted effort to get more girls enrolled in maths to stave off a potential shortage of STEM workers in Australia.

“Males are more than one-and-a-half times more likely to study higher level maths than females. This contributes to the underrepresentation in mathematics-intensive STEM careers, which exacerbates gender wage inequality.”

Image source: Prof. Asha Rao – RMIT University.

Prof. Asha Rao, who is Associate Dean (Mathematical Sciences) at RMIT University and an inductee in the 2021 Victorian Honour Roll of Women, agrees with the recommendation.

“As the Actuaries Institute says, when a girl does maths, her career options expand massively. Mathematics is the foundation and language of the universe. Whether it is building a better smartphone or giving the best treatment for cancer, an understanding maths is essential.”

She further adds that her message for the girls is:

“Do the highest maths you can. You never know when you will use it. It will be there when you need it.”

It also suggests that every Australian school leaver should be able to demonstrate a minimum standard of numeracy.

The paper observes that state’s education system should be accountable for delivering that outcome with a range of suitable courses.

Elayne Grace adds that continued learning should be encouraged at Australian schools:

“We need to ensure the way maths is taught encourages continued learning and enjoyment. And students who take on harder subjects at school, like higher level maths, should be rewarded by universities for doing so.”

The paper is based on existing evidence-based research and acknowledges that innovation and technology will increasingly drive Australia’s economy as it moves away from current commodity-based industries.

Key recommendations made in the paper include:

Compulsory mathematics or numeracy courses for all students to school completion.
STEM industries to support the mathematics curriculum.
Advanced training for mathematics educators.
Appropriate mathematics prerequisites for STEM-based university degrees.
University admissions to reward students undertaking higher-level mathematics.
Promote greater female participation in higher mathematics.

Australia announces new changes to international travel arrangements, Here’ details

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15 December 2021 3:00 PM

International Traveller; Picture Source: @CANVA

World Health organisation says new COVID-19 Omicron variant has now been reported in at least 77 countries.

In line with other countries including the United Kingdom, the border measures under the Biosecurity Act 2015 restricting travellers who have been in the 8 Southern African countries from entering Australia has now ended.

Australian Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly says, “Given the global spread of Omicron, international border bans are no longer a proportionate or effective means to contain the spread of Omicron.”

At this stage there are no direct flights from Southern Africa to Australia and only Australian citizens, permanent residents, immediate family members, parents and eligible visa holders are able to enter Australia.

From today onwards Australia is also reopening to vaccinated travellers from Japan and Republic of Korea.

“We are also opening up to international skilled and student cohorts, humanitarian, working holiday makers and provisional family visa holders,”
said Prof Kelly

All arrivals to Australia require a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test (nose and throat) within three days of travel and by law must complete Australian traveller declaration forms declaring their vaccination status and confirming that they are aware of state and territory public health requirements.

Prof Kelly claims, “Australia is well placed to deal with COVID-19 and its emerging challenges like the Omicron variant. Our high COVID-19 vaccination rates and boosters have put us in a very good place.”

“We are one of the first countries to roll out population-wide boosters. We are well prepared. Australia’s health system and processes built to manage this virus can be relied on to keep us safe.”

Australia has officially confirmed 109 cases of Omicron in few states. Globally, this number is more than 13,000. Early data indicates that Omicron is more transmissible, however research is underway to understand if this is due to the variant itself or other factors.

Indian international student achieves dream job in Australia after near-fatal accident

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15 December 2021 1:15 PM

Anjali Krishnaa Warrier; Image source: Anjali Warrier - UQ.

23-year old girl from Bangalore, India, Anjali Krishnaa Warrier, came to Australia to fulfil her dream of becoming a vet.

However, a devastating car crash that happened in a remote area of Queenstown in New Zealand left Anjali with two broken vertebrae, a fractured pelvis, a severed artery and a traumatic brain injury.

This accident happened on the last day of an internship in 2016 and forced Anjali to put her studies on hold for two years at the University of Queensland (UQ).

During the period of recovery, Anjali just dreamt of completing her studies and graduating as a veterinarian.

Anjali, who grew up in the company of animals, says she knew from an early age that she wanted to be a vet.

“I’m so grateful that I always knew that I wanted to be a vet, because after my accident, I knew my ambitions and it was so much easier to work towards that goal.”

The inspiration to be a vet was to follow in the footsteps of a treasured family friend, lovingly called ‘uncle’.

“We lived in my grandparent’s house in India when I was a child, and my ‘uncle’ had a veterinary practice underneath and as long as I remember I was coming home to a vet clinic, so it’s always been my dream.”

Anjali spent two weeks in an induced coma and 34 days in intensive care, waking up two months later in a Melbourne hospital.

*Image source: Anjali Krishnaa Warrier with family – UQ.*

More than a year of intense rehabilitation and despite having to learn how to walk again and enduring prolonged memory loss, Anjali was determined to fight for her dream.

“My uncle the vet was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 when I was back in full time study in third year – and that hit me hard. The one thing I had always wanted was for him to be there at my graduation because he had always been my inspiration. That’s when I decided that I was going to graduate in 2021.”

Anjali returned home to complete her rehabilitation regime and in 2019 rejoined the course. She adds:

“I knew it would be hard because my memory in 2019 was pathetic and I couldn’t remember things from the day before. But I told myself I am going to work hard because this is what I want, and this is meant to be.”

She set herself goals, visualised her success and kept a daily countdown to the 2021 graduation ceremony.

*Image source: Anjali Krishnaa Warrier – UQ.*

Anjali feels grateful for the widespread support she received from family and friends in the past five years.

“God’s grace, support from my parents and brother, my extended family, friends, well-wishers, UQ and staff at the School of Veterinary Science are the reasons I am where I am today. I’ve learned so much in the past five years, and when I think of the person I am today – I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the accident.”

Anjali has graduated in veterinary science and will start her new career as a vet on January 10, 2022.

India’s upGrad to buy Australian Global Study Partners for $16 million

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15 December 2021 8:00 AM

India’s leading edtech player upGrad has announced that it will acquire Australia’s Global Study Partners (GSP).

GSP, founded in 2015, is the largest study abroad company with its headquarter in Sydney.

Image source: Elaine Starkey – GSP – Twitter.

GSP founder and chief executive Elaine Starkey believes that this deal with upGrad can expect significant growth in quality student enrolments.

GSP has a network of over 600 institutions in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the US, and over 1,300 recruitment partners.

These partners include education and migration agents, test preparation centres, alumni associations,schools, etc.

Image source: Ram Gorlamandala, Founder and CEO at Tat Capita – LinkedIn.

Ram Gorlamandala, Founder and CEO at Tat Capital, congratulated both upGrad and GSP on this deal:

“This acquisition further validates Tat Capital’s vision around #Australia & India markets & is delighted to have been part of the Global Study Partners journey over the last 5 years in many ways.”

upGrad, started in 2015, is now a pioneer in the online education revolution in India.

It offers more than 100 courses in collaboration with top-notch global/local universities like Deakin Business School (Australia), Duke CE (US), Michigan State University (US), Liverpool Business School (UK), IIT Madras (India), IIM Kozhikode (India) and others, has empowered over 10 lakh registered learners over 50 countries across the world.

upGrad has been growing through acquisitions and has earmarked USD 250 million for this purpose.

It has entered into an acquisition agreement to buy 100 per cent of GSP for AUD 16 million with a commitment of a further AUD 10 million in future.

It is promoted by Ronnie Screwvala and this acquisition marks its foray into the study abroad space.

Chairman and co-founder Screwvala said in a statement:

“As an integrated edtech leader, we span the entire gamut of a learner’s need from the age of 18-50, and in that, study abroad is a key growth initiative for us – not just out of India, which is one of the two largest markets but also for our learners internationally.”

Australia is one of the biggest destination markets for Indian students.

upGrad expects growth to accelerate further, and sees the number of students opting for overseas higher education doubling to approximately 1.8 million by 2024.

It said 8 million students would be spending as much as $85 billion in online overseas higher education, as online courses become more accessible amid the pandemic-led restrictions.

“Our multicultural communities have played a vital role in our national success:” PM Scott Morrison

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14 December 2021 3:21 PM

PM Scott Morrison; Picture Source: Supplied

2021 has been an extraordinary year.

Australians have been challenged in many ways, but we’ve also risen to those challenges.

We are a strong and resilient people, and if you ask Australians to stand up, take action and play their part, they will – and they have.

I thank all Australians for doing their bit – the nurses, doctors, mental health professionals, retail staff, cleaners, truck drivers, farmers, teachers and public servants.

What we have achieved together – saving more than 30,000 lives, supporting over 3 million Australians through JobKeeper, and getting 1 million Australians back into work – it’s something every Australian can be proud to share.

To date over 20 million Australians have had a vaccination, and over 18 million have had two.

I want to thank our multicultural communities for rolling up their sleeves to get the jab because, under the National Plan, that means we can open safely and we can remain safely open as we go into 2022. It means those jobs come back, the businesses come back and the livelihoods come back.

Our multicultural communities have played a vital role in our national success.

I know it’s been difficult for so many to be separated from family and friends, and not be able to celebrate traditions and religious ceremonies as you normally would.

But you’ve stayed the course.

You’ve done whatever it takes to keep each other safe.

You’ve kept going, stayed strong and helped keep our nation together.

That’s why Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world.

A place where we all buy in and draw strength from our shared values – such as mutual respect and individual responsibility.

Your efforts have helped the country that we all love and care about respond so magnificently to this pandemic.

I can’t thank you enough.

This is why our country can open safely and stay safely open.

As we reclaim our lives and reunite with each other again, we can put 2021 in the rear-vision mirror and move forward to 2022 with confidence.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a bright and happy summer, and a hopeful new year.

The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Prime Minister of Australia

Are International Student fees on rise at Australian Universities? Find out why

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14 December 2021 9:21 AM

A new book entitled Australia’s Universities: Can They Reform? claims that Australia’s universities would do well if they capped overseas student enrolments at 2010 levels.

This would make them “small, healthier and more stable institutions.”

The books author, Dr Salvatore Babones is an American political sociologist and and higher education commentator.

He is presently working as an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Image source: Dr Salvatore Babones – Wikipedia.

Dr Babones’ research is related to macro-level structure of the world economy, with a particular focus on China’s global economic integration.

This new book is a follow-up to his 2019 CIS paper titled “The China Student Boom and the Risks It Poses to Australian Universities”.

Here, he argued that Australia’s universities were taking a multi-million dollar gamble with taxpayer money to increase revenue and pursue an international growth strategy.

“As long as their bets on the international student market pay off, the universities’ gamble will look like a success. If their bets go sour, Australian taxpayers may be called on to pick up the tab.”

In his new book, Dr Babones highlights how Australia’s top universities are busy recycling international student fees into international rankings success.

According to Dr Babones, all this is done without relaising the hardships it imposes on domestic students who are pushed into larger classes often taught by less-qualified instructors. He told AFR:

“I had bought into the narrative that international students were highly remunerative for Australian universities. But when I started adding up the amount of revenue that Australian universities generate on the basis of their domestic student enrolments, a different picture emerges.”

He compared per-student revenue for domestic and international students, only to find that overseas students contributed just $500 more.

For example, per-domestic student funding at Australian National University (ANU) is calculated at $69,563, $45,080 at the University of NSW (UNSW) and $42,727 at The University of Melbourne. The average, according to Dr Babones, is $29,000.

While, international students at those universities pay, on average, $39,750 at ANU, $40,740 at UNSW and $38,171 at Melbourne, he estimates. The average revenue per international student is $29,500.

As per the above calculation, Australian universities are losing money on international students by earning less revenue per student for educating international students than they receive for educating domestic students.

Dr Babones has included government research funding in his calculation of the revenue from domestic students, many experts active in the higher education sector feel that this should be considered separately.

He argues that research funding should be included in this calculation as students are being taught by people who are also research active at universities.

Dr Babones proposes that universities which are under-charging international students, should increase their fees to match the money spent by Australian governments on educating domestic students. He told SMH:

“I think at a minimum there should be a floor placed on international student fees, they should have a minimum tuition equal to the average amount paid on behalf of domestic students. They should be paying at least the same. They are at some universities. But at many universities they are paying much less. International students are not carrying the full cost of their education.”

Phil Honeywood, the chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), told SMH that international students’ tuition fees were an average of about three times those of a domestic student.

WATCH VIDEO: Australia’s Universities: Can They Reform? – With Salvatore Babones

India-Australia travel bubble established, Here’ details

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13 December 2021 7:35 PM

International student at Airport; Picture Source: CANVA

India has established an air bubble with Australia. The Indian and Australian carriers may carry the passengers on their flights being operated between India and Australia.

Indian Ministry of civil aviations says, “Transport Bubbles” or “Air Travel Arrangements” are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This travel bubble is reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits.”

A. Inbound flights into India:

a. Indian nationals or nationals of Nepal or Bhutan in Australia and New Zealand;

b. All Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders and PIO cardholders holding passports of any country; and

c. All foreign nationals holding a valid Indian visa as per extant guidelines.

Indian Australians at airport, Picture Source: Gaura Travels

B. Outbound flights from India:

a. Nationals/residents of Australia, and foreign nationals with valid visa who are eligible to enter Australia/New Zealand;

b. Any Indian national or national of Nepal or Bhutan destined for Australia/ New Zealand and holding a valid visa of the destination country. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian/Nepalese/Bhutanese nationals to enter the destination country before issue of ticket/boarding pass to the Indian/Nepalese/Bhutanese passenger; and

c. Seamen of foreign nationalities and Seamen holding Indian passports would be allowed subject to clearance from the Ministry of Shipping.

Visa holders and International students permitted to enter Australia from 15 December: PM Morrison

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13 December 2021 6:18 PM

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison; Picture Source: The Australia Today

International Students Skilled workers and working holiday makers will be allowed to enter Australia from Wednesday 15th December 2021.

Howver, only fully vaccinated international travellers will be able to enter Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement after the consultation with Chief Medical officer of Australia.

All arrivals to Australia also require a negative PCR test and to complete Australian traveller declaration forms detailing their vaccination status and confirming requirements to comply with state and territory public health requirements.

Under state public health requirements, New South Wales and Victoria have already initiated testing and 72 hours of isolation requirements for Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family members entering the country.

In other states, 14 days of managed quarantine is required, and traveller cap arrangements are in place.

“Chak de Phatte India”: Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu crowned Miss Universe 2021

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13 December 2021 5:11 PM

Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu; Image source: Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu - Twitter.

21-year-old Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu has been crowned Miss Universe 2021 in an event hosted this year in southern Israel.

Mazal Tov! बधाई हो! 🎉

Congratulations @HarnaazKaur for winning the #MissUniverse! We couldn't be more proud that #India won the crown in #Israel!👑#MissUniverse2021 #HarnaazSandhu pic.twitter.com/oAKwW1KnAS
— Israel in India (@IsraelinIndia) December 13, 2021

Harnaaz is a model hailing from Chandigarh, where she finished her schooling and college.

She is now pursuing her master’s degree in public administration as well.

She has been active in the fashion industry and has even starred in films like Yaara Diyan Poo Baran and Bai Ji Kuttange.

Final questions are here! The first to go is India. #MISSUNIVERSE

The 70th MISS UNIVERSE Competition is airing LIVE around the world from Eilat, Israel on @foxtv pic.twitter.com/xpPLfORQXA
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) December 13, 2021

Hranaaz was crowned by her predecessor Andrea Meza of Mexico, who won the pageant in 2020.

In her speech, Harnaaz urged young people to “know that you are unique and that’s what makes you beautiful, stop comparing yourself to others.”

“I believed in myself, and that’s why I’m standing here today.”

This year’s beauty pageant was held in the beautiful city of Eilat and was hosted by comedian Steve Harvey.

Eighty women from around the world competed for the crown.

Nadia Ferreira of Paraguay and Lalela Mswane of South Africa were the first and second runners-up.

FINAL STATEMENT: India. #MISSUNIVERSE

The 70th MISS UNIVERSE Competition is airing LIVE around the world from Eilat, Israel on @foxtv pic.twitter.com/wwyMhsAyvd
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) December 13, 2021

Steve was criticised online for asking Harnaaz: “I hear you do some pretty good animal impersonations, let’s hear your best one.”

Harnaaz looked surprised but demonstrated her skills.

“Oh my god, Steve, I was not expecting to do this on the world stage. I have to do this, I have no other option. Brace yourselves, everyone.”

Harnaaz even took the opportunity to spread a message on climate change.

“This is the time to take action and talk less. Prevent and protect is better than repent and repair.”

After her win was announced, Harnaaz celebrated with other contestants on stage and shouted: “Chak de Phatte India.”

The new Miss Universe is…India!!!! #MISSUNIVERSE pic.twitter.com/DTiOKzTHl4
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) December 13, 2021

Harnaaz’s win is a historic one for India as she brings home the title 21 years after Lara Dutta Bhupathi won it in the year 2000. She is also the third Indian woman to be crowned Miss Universe.

Prof. Neeli Bendapudi becomes first Indian-origin female President of Penn State University

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13 December 2021 10:35 AM

Image source: Prof. Bendapudi - Penn State.

Indian-origin marketing professor Neeli Bendapudi, currently president at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, has been unanimously named Penn State University’s next president by the Penn State Board of Trustees.

Image source: Matt Schuyler, chair of the Board of Trustees – Penn State.

Matt Schuyler, chair of the Board of Trustees said in a statement:

“We are proud to welcome Dr. Bendapudi to Penn State. She is a dynamic and innovative leader who has dedicated nearly her entire professional life to higher education and is prepared to help our University advance in the ways we support students, create new knowledge and serve society.”

She will begin her appointment as Penn State’s 19th president in spring 2022.

Image source: Prof. Neeli Bendapudi – Penn Sttae.

Prof. Bendapudi will make history as the first woman and person of colour to serve as the university’s president.

She was born in Visakhapatnam and came to the US in 1986 for higher studies. Today, she is a recognised as a leader in higher education specialising in marketing and consumer behaviour.

She has nearly 30-year career in academia and has also served in a variety of administrative roles over the years, including as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas, and founding director of the Initiative for Managing Services at Ohio State University.

Prof. Bendapudi has dedicated her career to student success, fostering inclusivity, and creating opportunities for students, faculty and staff to thrive.

She said in a statement:

“Penn State is a world-class university, and I couldn’t be prouder and more excited to join this vibrant community of outstanding students, faculty, staff and alumni throughout the commonwealth and beyond.”

She added:

“Thank you to the Penn State community and Board of Trustees. I am grateful for this opportunity and will make it my mission to help Penn State reach new heights across each of our campuses.”

Prof. Bendapudi will succeed President Eric J. Barron, who will retire after serving Penn State for more than 30 years in various roles, including most recently as president since 2014.

WATCH VIDEO: Meet Penn State’s 19th President: Neeli Bendapudi

Market Mantra: Australian shares rise on easing Omicron woes despite Evergrande default

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13 December 2021 10:18 AM

Australian shares managed to record its first weekly gain in five weeks despite a slump in technology and energy stocks as investors take solace in easing concerns over the economic impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The weekly rise in equities however still points more towards markets taking a refreshing pause after the carnage caused by fear of the Omicron variant rather than turning towards a new bullish rally.

The rise in Australian shares was however more impressive compared to the rest of the World given news that Chinese property group Evergrande has finally defaulted on its debts. The news immediately refreshed fears about the economic environment in China, Australia’s largest trading partner.

The fears on Chinese economy resulted in energy stocks going south on reduced expected demand. The export dependant healthcare also took a hit on China worries with CSL falling more than 2%.

Technology stocks were also down for the week taking cues from sell off in US markets with Buy Now Pay Later companies such as Afterpay and Zip leading the declines.

It was a fantastic week however for Gina Rinehart backed Vulcan Energy which rose close to 20% for the week on announcement of an off-take agreement of its zero-carbon lithium with auto giant Volkswagen.

Looking ahead this week the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook due this week will show what kind of a debt all the Federal spending during the COVID-19 pandemic has added up to.

Most analysts currently are betting at a Budget deficit of $106 billion for the year 2021/22. We believe however that given Victoria, despite a healthy land tax and stamp duty revenue announced a deficit of $19.5billion dollars, this figure would be much higher.

At the very least, we’ll all be paying plenty of taxes for the years to come just to meet the interest on those Budget deficits.

Other data that will keep investors interested will be the job vacancies numbers, consumer confidence, RBA board meeting minutes and jobs and wages numbers.

Internationally, Chinese retail, investment and production figures will keep traders on the tenterhooks. These numbers are expected to shed light on how much is China’s economy slowing in the wake of Evergrande’s solvency issues.

In regards to gold, the yellow metal recorded its fourth consecutive weekly decline as investors continue to exercise caution amid Omicron worries.

Gold continues to trade amid $1770-$1810 range with investors worried about a hawkish Fed pivot and at the same time still uncertain around the Omicron variant, which could delay the interest rate rise.

According to Wang Tao, Reuters technical analyst, after the inflation numbers in US calming the gold investors Spot Gold looks set to retest resistance at $1789, a break above which could lead to a gain in precious metal prices all the way to $1805.

Oil prices posted their biggest weekly gains since late August, after markets were buoyed by easing concerns of global economic impact of the Omicron variant and rising fuel demand.

The Brent and US Crude both recorded a gain of about 8% for the week, their first weekly gain in seven, even after a brief decline on Thursday amid concerns surrounding China’s economy following default by Evergrande.

The oil traders are feeling more bullish with the black gold recovering half of its losses suffered since the Omicron outbreak on November 25.

Keeping a lid on oil gains was however news of faltering domestic air traffic in China, due to tighter travel restrictions and weaker consumer confidence due to repeated small outbreaks. Default by China’s troubled property groups Evergrande and Kaisa have also raised some concerns about future oil demand.

Looking ahead while we are bullish on oil and feel the worst may be over for oil prices we still feel there is some residual risk to oil demand in the very near future.

In regards to the currency markets, the Australian Dollar made a nice comeback last week recovering from a fresh 2021 low of 0.6992 to end at around 0.7170 against the US Dollar.

The local currency rallied against the greenback alongside Wall Street which posted substantial gains last week. The spread of Omicron variant of COVID-19 ha been weighing on markets due to the uncertainty of how transmissible it is and the impact on human health compared to other mutations.

The markets however got a boost last week on early indications pointing towards a highly transmissible strain that may not lead to as many hospitalisations as other strains. While this perspective is yet to be verified it did not stop the investors in going back into risk on sentiment, which favours the Australian currency.

The investors were so buoyed by easing Omicron concerns that they even looked past Evergrande’s default news and continued to boost the Aussie against other major currencies.

Looking ahead for the Australian dollar the unemployment data on Thursday and business and consumer confidence numbers early in the week will be setting the tone for rest of the week.

The week however was not so good for the Indian Rupee which continued to decline against major currencies. The Rupee reached a new 18-month low against the US Dollar on Central Bank divergence. The US Federal Reserve is keen to tighten monetary policy, whereas the RBI is showing no signs of raising interest rates any time soon.

In addition consistent foreign fund outflows from India and rising inflation have accelerated the decline in Indian currency.

Moving onto digital currency markets, the traders in crypto markets are currently not in a happy space with Bitcoin posting its fourth consecutive weekly loss with even positive equity markets failing to unwind the negative sentiment that has gripped the digital assets market recently.

Bitcoin, the largest digital currency continues to test US$50,000 mark since tumbling 21% on 04 December. This is an important level and failure to secure it will most likely continue to spook investors. On the downside $47,300 mark provides immediate support, a breach of which could boost selling pressures.

Bitcoin has lost almost 30% in value since reaching its peak of US $69,000 on 10 November.

With no signs of relief in sight for the digital assets the other coins too got sold during the week. Ethereum struggled to gain pace against the US Dollar $4250 zone and got pushed down to $4040 mark at the time of writing this report.

With risk-off mood in crypto market linked to selling bias surrounding Ethereum, as per some of the analysts, the downside correction in crypto assets may be extended if Ethereum does not start a new upward trend above $4250 soon.

In agricultural products, wheat posted second consecutive weekly decline on improved world supply outlook after US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasted larger than expected global production.

The USDA raised its global wheat ending stocks by a greater than anticipated 2.38 million tonnes on a stronger production outlook for Australia and Canada.

A high demand from importing countries for corn and soybeans however helped them rally with corn rising 1% for the week and soybean posting a weekly gain of 0.4%.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey on how to trade. He can be contacted on adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinion in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

COVID and Ganga deaths: Dirty politics of Vulture media exposed by scientific report

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10 December 2021 8:38 PM

Ganga river bank, India; Image Source: Wikipedia.

A new study by scientists of Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR) has found that there was no presence of Coronavirus in any water sample collected during the second wave of COVID-19 from Ganga river locations in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The 120-page study, accessed by the The New Indian, claims that water samples were collected from the 13 locations of Ganga river.

These locations included Kannauj, Unnao, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Buxar, Hamirpur, Ghazipur, Ballia, Patna, Saran, and Bhojpur.

These samples were analysed by CSIR and IITR for the same RT-PCR testing as done on humans for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The report concluded:

“Of total of 132 samples (378 sample triplicates/ 1134 technical triplicates) analyzed, none of the sample was found positive for presence of SARS CoV-2 virus.”

According to Aarti Tikoo, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The New Indian, this study assumes significance as it comes after several Western media outlets and Indian journalists had attributed the deaths in UP and Bihar near Ganga river due to COVID-19.

Remember Western media attributing deaths on the banks of the Ganga across Varanasi to Covid? Now an exhaustive study by IITR reveals no Covid found in any water samples tested over a period of 3 months. Vulture politics by fake media EXPOSED by @rohanduaT02 @TheNewIndian_in: https://t.co/EXkYRUTEPU
— Aarti Tikoo (@AartiTikoo) December 8, 2021

The reporting by Western media had triggered outrage as India’s opposition parties had accused UP’s Yogi government of hiding COVID-related deaths.

S K Barik, director, CSIR-IITR told the New Indian:

“It’s now very clear that there was no COVID virus present in the Ganga river. Our report is based on adequate number of sample size as well as rigorous scientific procedure. … the result is that there was no Coronavirus in the water at all.”

The sampling by the CSIR-IITR was done in May and then again June this year and all the samples tested negative.

Now, a key question that arises is whether some Indian and international journalists tried to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to defame India and create disturbance within the country.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told The New Indian:

“The attempt over dead bodies and showing corpses and filming them was to create fear psychosis and defame the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh as the state is going for 2022 polls?”

While Surendra Rajput, Congress national spokesperson, disagreed with the study conducted by scientists.

“The incidents were widely reported and covered by several. Those living by the Ganga too had faced problems.”

The study agrees that disposal of bodies near Ganga took place but it cannot be said that all those people died of COVID as there is no evidence to support this claim purported by international media.

The investigation concluded that in each sampling sites the overall water quality was not affected.

“The analysis report also shows that SARS- CoV-2 was not detected in any of the sites. Thus, it can be concluded that disposal of bodies did not largely affect the water quality of river Ganga though few of the parameters deviated from the standard norms which may be due to other anthropogenic activities.”

Prof. Anand Ranganathan, scientist at the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine at Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), told The New Indian that he wishes UP government had conducted COVID-19 testing for dead bodies.

“the study exposes the entire propaganda run by several in the country and outside to hinder India’s ability to counter Coronavirus and challenge by indigenous vaccination programme.”

The study has been authored by IITR’s Dr Preeti Chaturvedi, senior scientist, environment toxicology; Dr Aditya Bhushan Pant, senior principal scientist, and DR K C Khulbe, chief scientist.

This has now been forwarded to National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti and other Centre bodies.

Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal ties knot with actress Katrina Kaif in dreamy wedding ceremony

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10 December 2021 9:32 AM

Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal ties the knot with actress Katrina Kaif, at Six Senses Fort Barwara, in Sawai Madhopur; Picture Source: Instagram Katrina Kaif

Hold your breath, the first official pictures of Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif’s dreamy regal wedding are finally out and we can’t take our eyes off the newly married bride and groom.

After tying the knot in an intimate ceremony held at Six Senses Fort Bawara, Rajasthan on Thursday, the couple shared captivating pictures from their dreamy nuptial rites. The snaps beautifully capture the different cultures and religions coming together for the union of the star couple in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

In the pictures, Katrina can be seen wearing a gorgeous red Sabyasachi lehenga whose border was adorned with broad golden gota. She chose a royal Rajputana style jewellery inclusive of an elegant Rani Haar, mattha patti, huge nath, heavy earrings, royal bangles, rings and Punjabi style kalira. She tied her hair in a bun adorned by traditional floral gajra.

Her prince charming, Vicky also looked dapper in a gold Achkan, a sherwani, a traditional turban adorned with heavy kalgi, and a pearl-green necklace.
While the first picture is captured from the garland ceremony, the second shows the couple taking ‘pheras’. The third and fourth candid pictures see the duo embracing each other.

The newlyweds wrote the same caption for the post that read, “Only love and gratitude in our hearts for everything that brought us to this moment. Seeking all your love and blessings as we begin this new journey together.”

The post garnered more than one million likes within a few minutes of being posted. Several celebrities including Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh, Malaika Arora, Harrdy Sandhu and Tiger Shroff among others poured in congratulatory messages for the stars in the comments section.
As per close sources, the couple took the ‘seven pheras’ on Thursday afternoon in the presence of their families and friends.

The pre-wedding festivities kick-started on December 7 with mehendi, followed by big fat Punjabi Sangeet Night on December 8.

Kabir Khan, Angad Bedi, Mini Mathur, Neha Dhupia, Gurdas Maan, Sharvari Wagh, and Vijay Krishna Acharya among many others from the film industry were a part of Vicky and Katrina’s wedding festivities.

The couple will reportedly host a reception in Mumbai for their Bollywood friends.

Ashes, 1st Test, Day 2: Head, Warner help Australia extend lead to 196

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9 December 2021 9:06 PM

Travis Head played a remarkable innings of 112; Picture Source: @ICC

Travis Head and David Warner played knocks of 112 and 94 respectively as Australia extended its lead to 196 against England on Day 2 of the ongoing first Ashes Test here at the Gabba, Brisbane on Thursday.

At stumps, Australia’s score read 343/7 with the hosts extending their lead to 196 runs. Head (112*) and Mitchell Starc (10*) are currently unbeaten at the crease.

David Warner after the end of the day said that Travis Head played a remarkable innings to take his side to a comfortable position.

Warner himself got among the runs as he scored 94 as Australia extended its lead to 196 in the ongoing Test.

“They did bowl well, didn’t they? They hit the target on a short of a length. What an entertaining innings from Travis Head. It has to be up there for him personally, that’s the Travis Head we know. He backed himself and backed his areas and walks off with 112 to his name,”
said Warner after the close of play on Day 2.

“At the end of the day, you think this could be your last game and you try to give it everything. Keep it simple and give it everything. I left very well today, I have worked on that especially at the Gabba. When you are out of runs, you deserve some luck and I got it,” he added.

Resuming the third and final session at 193/3, Australia lost back-to-back wickets of David Warner (94) and Cameron Green (0) and were reduced to 195/5.

Warner and Green were dismissed by Ollie Robinson.

Alex Carey and Travis Head then got together at the crease and the duo put on 41 runs for the sixth wicket, however, this stand was cut short by Chris Woakes as he dismissed Carey (12) in the 65th over.

Pat Cummins also departed after playing a 12-run knock but Head played a counter-attacking inning and he went on to bring up his century, further consolidating Australia’s position in the match.

Brief Scores: England 147; Australia 343/7 (Travis Head 112*, David Warner 94; Ollie Robinson 3-48).

Indian-origin Anil Menon among ten astronauts selected for moon mission by NASA

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9 December 2021 7:28 PM

Indian-origin Anil Menon among 10 astronauts selected for moon mission by NASA; Picture Source: @NASA

Indian origin physician Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel at the US Air Force, has been selected by NASA along with nine others to be astronauts for future missions, the American space agency has announced.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduced the members of the 2021 astronaut class, the first new class in four years, at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston recently.

“Today we welcome 10 new explorers, 10 members of the Artemis generation, NASA’s 2021 astronaut candidate class,” Nelson said.

“Alone, each candidate has ‘the right stuff,’ but together they represent the creed of our country: E pluribus unum – out of many, one.”

The astronauts will report for duty at Johnson in January 2022 to begin two years of training. Astronauts will be trained into five major categories: operating and maintaining the International Space Station’s complex systems, training for spacewalks, developing complex robotics skills, safely operating a T-38 training jet, and Russian language skills.

Astronaut Candidate Class of 2021. Photo Date: December 3, 2021. Location: JSC Mall. Photographer: Robert Markowitz

Upon completion, they could be assigned to missions that involve performing research aboard the space station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies, as well as deep space missions to destinations including the Moon on NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

Anil Menon, 45, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company’s first humans to space during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building a medical organization to support the human system during future missions.

He has also served NASA as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions taking astronauts to the International Space Station.

Menon is an actively practising emergency medicine physician with fellowship training in wilderness and aerospace medicine. As a physician, he was a first responder during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and the 2011 Reno Air Show accident.

In the Air Force, Menon supported the 45th Space Wing as a flight surgeon and the 173rd Fighter Wing, where he logged over 100 sorties in the F-15 fighter jet and transported over 100 patients as part of the critical care air transport team.

“Each of you has amazing backgrounds,” Pam Melroy, former NASA astronaut and NASA’s deputy administrator, said to the team of 10 astronauts. “You bring diversity in so many forms to our astronaut corps and you stepped up to one of the highest and most exciting forms of public service.”

Applicants included U.S. citizens from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. For the first time ever, NASA required candidates to hold a master’s degree in a STEM field and used an online assessment tool.

Author: SURABHI GUPTA

Indian students interest in Australian universities ‘worsened,’ says report

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9 December 2021 2:58 PM

International students; Image source: Study Adelaide

The Australian Strategy for Higher Education 2021–30 has recommended diversification of international student intake.

Many academics have also been calling for a diversification of migration away from China towards other countries.

India that makes up 21 per cent of international student entries into Australia has emerged as a potentially important source of students in the future.

However, Lowy Institutes’ recent study of Indian sentiment towards education showcases a decline in Australia.

The institute conducted a study that used AI-powered strategic market research techniques to measure public sentiment towards societal trends. They used a large English language data pool of all open-access Internet sources from India.

The aim was to find out what the Indians think about education in Australia and other key competitor countries to whom take up education services – the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

According to the survey, “Indian interest in Australia as an education destination has worsened significantly since November 2020.”

Image source: Emotional response by Indian English speakers to education in Australia in August 2021 – Lowy Institute.

The Indian students sentiment shifted significantly towards dominant and strong negative, including emotions of strong dislike and anger and a reduction in expectation towards Australia as a destination for education.

“This signals that demand for Australia has undeniably waned, presenting a clear and present risk to the recovery of the Indian international student market in the coming year.”

The survey attribute this downturn in sentiment to:

the ban on Indian Australian arrivals in late April 2021;
a deep concern about Australians declining educational performance generally;
concern about Australian education system including educational inequality between public and private, regional, remote and urban and policy and funding issues; and
concern about wage theft that students believe has worsened since Covid-19.

As per the survey and reasons given for decline, it clearly shows that Indian international students are aware consumers of information about Australia.

It is a well-known fact that Indian students choose to study in Australia as they are highly interested in the nation as a migration destination.

“India is now our biggest source of migrants and their presence has contributed to Australia becoming the most successful multicultural nation on earth.” – PM @ScottMorrisonMP in a message congratulating people of #India on its 74th Independence Day. #IndependenceDayIndia pic.twitter.com/m4AsmSGnSR
— Barry O’Farrell AO (@AusHCIndia) August 15, 2020

So, these findings should be of concern to government officials, policy-makers, and senior management of universities who wish to retain the source of highly diversified and skilled migrants flow to Australia.

CEO of mortgage company fires over 900 employees on Zoom call

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7 December 2021 11:41 AM

Image source: Better.com CEO Vishal Garg - Wikipedia.

A CEO of a US-based home-ownership company fired more than 900 employees via Zoom.

This was almost 9 per cent of the company’s workforce.

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, 43 yo, cited market efficiency, performance, and productivity as the reasons behind the move.

“This is the second time in my career I’m doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried,” Mr. Garg said on the call.

“I come to you with not great news. The market has changed, as you know, and we have to move with it in order to survive so that hopefully, we can continue to thrive and deliver on our mission.”

Garg added:

“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”

He then told the employees could expect an email from the Human Resource detailing benefits and severance package.

This announcement was reportedly filmed by an employee and has since gone viral on social media.

.@betterdotcom’s CEO @vishalgarg_ lays off ~900 employees right before the holidays and ahead of the company’s public market debut.

The firm also got a $750 million cash infusion from its backers THIS WEEK, which include @SoftBank. pic.twitter.com/F8EfSkCRF6
— Bucky with the Good Arm (@benjancewicz) December 3, 2021

In a blog later, Garg lashed out at his employees for being ‘idle’.

“You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while clocking 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system? …They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills.”

Later, in a statement to CNN, Kevin Ryan, CFO said, “Having to conduct layoffs is gut-wrenching, especially this time of year. However, a fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving home-ownership market.”

Many people have termed this announcement as uncompassionate, cold and blunt.

Two current employees have even told Fortune that Garg was renowned for being ‘erratic’.

Better.com is expected to have $1 billion on its balance sheet and is set to go public with a $7.7 billion valuation after backing from Softbank.

Mathematician Nikhil Srivastava selected for inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize

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7 December 2021 10:42 AM

Prof. Nikhil Srivastava -Image source: UC-B

Indian-origin mathematician Prof. Nikhil Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, has been jointly selected for the inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize by American Mathematical Society (AMS).

The Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory is awarded for notable work in Operator Theory published during the preceding six years.

Prof. Srivastava will receive the prize along with Prof. Adam Marcus and Prof. Daniel Spielman.

AMS said in a statement:

“Together, these ideas provided a powerful toolkit with many applications, notably in the trio’s breakthrough paper “Interlacing families II: mixed characteristic polynomials and the Kadison–Singer problem” (Annals of Mathematics, 2015), which solves the famous “paving problem” in operator theory, formulated by Richard Kadison and Isadore Singer in 1959.”

The award recognises their highly original work that introduced and developed methods for understanding the characteristic polynomial of matrices.

In a joint statement, the three awardees said:

“Our involvement was the final chapter of an amazing story we hope will inspire similar solutions to difficult problems in the future.”

Prof. Srivastava double-majored in Mathematics and Computer Science and minored in English at Union College.

He later received his PhD in computer science at Yale in 2010, advised by Dan Spielman.

After postdocs at the Institute for Advanced Study, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, and Princeton University, he moved to Microsoft Research India in 2012, where Prof. Srivastava stayed until 2014 before coming to Berkeley.

Prof. Srivastava has also won the George Polya Prize in 2014 and the Held prize in 2021.

The prize will be presented on January 5, 2022 at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Seattle.

This is described as “the largest mathematics gathering in the world.”

Ind vs NZ, 2nd Test: Agarwal, Jayant Yadav shine as India register biggest ever win

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6 December 2021 6:04 PM

Ind vs NZ, 2nd Test: India register biggest ever win; Picture Source: @Canva

Mayank Agarwal’s heroics with the bat and Jayant Yadav’s four-wicket haul in the second innings helped India defeat New Zealand by 372 runs in the second Test of the two-match series here at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.

With this win, India sealed the two-match series 1-0 and now Virat Kohli’s side will head to South Africa for three Tests and three ODIs, beginning December 26.

However, the second Test will be remembered for Ajaz Patel’s ten-wicket haul in the first innings which made him just the third bowler in the history of the game after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble to achieve the feat.

Indian bowling great R Ashwin said the New Zealand spinner used the seam well and bowled in the right places to dismantle the Indian batting lineup.

“It was a wonderful performance by Ajaz. It doesn’t spin all the time in Wankhede, and he used the seam and put the ball in the right places, and there was a bit of destiny involved in his 10-for too,”
Ashwin told host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation.

CHAMPIONS 👏👏

This is #TeamIndia's 14th consecutive Test series win at home.#INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/FtKIKVCzt8
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2021

The Player of the match Indian batter Mayank Agrawal said It feels good to be back among the runs and this knock is special for me.

I didn’t change anything from Kanpur, I just had the mental discipline and determination. The technique isn’t going to be the best all the time, it won’t guarantee runs, but the will to fight is key,”
said Mayank.

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid said that the youngsters performing is a good sign for his side and it will help the Virat Kohli-led outfit become much stronger.

Resuming Day 4 at 140/5, overnight batters Rachin Ravindra (18) and Henry Nicholls managed to add just 22 more runs to the total before the former was scalped by Jayant Yadav and the visitors were starring down the barrel, still needing 378 runs for the win with just four wickets in hand.

In his very next over, Jayant Yadav had Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee dismissed for a duck and it seemed like that the hosts would wrap up the victory before the lunch break on Day 4.

The final two wickets also fell in quick succession and in the end, New Zealand was bowled out for 167, handing the hosts a 372-run win.

Brief Scores: India 325 and 276/7d; New Zealand 62 and 167 (Daryl Mitchell 60, Henry Nicholls; Jayant Yadav 4-49).

Queensland opens doors for travellers, Here’ all rules you need to know

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6 December 2021 4:59 PM

Queensland opens doors just before Christmas; Picture Sourcce: @CANVA

Queensland borders will re-open to domestic travellers from 1 am, Monday, December 13.

As of 1 am, Monday, December 13:

Travellers from interstate can arrive by road or air
They must be fully vaccinated
They must provide a negative COVID test in the previous 72 hours
No quarantine is required for the fully vaccinated

International arrivals must be fully vaccinated and return a negative COVID test within 72 hours of departure
They will be required to get a test on arrival
They must go into home or hotel quarantine for 14 days

There are two important changes:

Travellers no longer have to wait two weeks to be considered fully vaccinated. One is enough
All travellers from hotspots must get a test on Day Five after their arrival

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said nominating a time and a date provides certainty for everyone.

“It is clear we will reach our target of 80% fully vaccinated much sooner although exactly when is difficult to predict.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk; Picture Source: Supplied

She said Queensland will be open to business four days earlier than previously announced 17 December. It will provide travellers and businesses with certainty to make their plans.

Vaccinated border zone residents will be able to move freely across the border without the need for a PCR test.

Border passes will be required and they will be valid for 14 days.

Unvaccinated residents will be restricted to travel for the limited reasons that exist now.

“We will live with COVID – but on our terms,”
the Premier said.

Minister for Health Yvette D’Ath said it was a matter of when, not if, the virus began circulating more widely in Queensland.

“We know COVID is coming, we know cases numbers will rise, but we can be as protected as possible by being fully vaccinated.

Find out more about the changes to Queensland's border restrictions at 80% double vaccinated 👇https://t.co/72R0cGDeGJ
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) December 6, 2021

“Please make it a priority to protect yourself. The vaccine is safe, effective and free.

“We’ve always said as soon as we reach the 80 per cent target, we will open up Queensland’s borders to reunite families this festive season.

“By announcing a fixed time for the easing to come into effect we can help those families plan.”

From December 17 only fully vaccinated people will be permitted to enter pubs, clubs, cinemas, festivals and theme parks and visit vulnerable settings such as hospitals and aged care accommodation.

Indian-origin Jim Varghese AM appointed Chancellor of Torrens University Australia

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6 December 2021 12:06 PM

Jim Varghese AM - Image source: Facebook - Torrens University.

Jim Varghese AM has been appointed as the Chancellor of Torrens University Australia.

In a media release the university said:

“We are delighted to share with you news of our new Chancellor. Mr Jim Varghese AM will succeed Mr Michael Mann AO, as Chancellor of Torrens University.
We are thankful for Michael’s contribution over the years and Jim is the perfect individual to continue this legacy forward. We look forward to welcoming Jim in January 2022.”

Mr. Varghese will take over from Mr. Michael Mann AO who served as the Chancellor from 2012 to 2021.

Retiring Chancellor Michael Mann AO said he was very pleased with the Board’s decision.

“On behalf of the University Board, I am delighted to announce Mr Varghese as the University’s new chancellor. Jim is a highly effective, respected, and successful leader in both the private sector and public institutions.
His reputation in the Higher Education sector is impeccable, with a commitment to the highest standards of governance, transparency, equity, and stakeholder management.”

Jim Varghese had a distinguished career in the Australian Public Service. He was the Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries in Queensland after having also been Director-General of Education.

Mr. Varghese’s family came to Australia in the 1960s, and he strongly believes education is a core family value.

“I believe education is a fundamental human right, and I also believe that innovation is crucial to ensure greater access to education.
Torrens University balances both considerations and also manages to run a highly successful business.”

In a LinkedIn post, Mr. Varghese said:

“It is a great privilege to accept the position of Chancellor of Torrens University. I look forward to the opportunity to work with and enhance this innovative for-profit university.”

Torrens University President and CEO Linda Brown said on the announcement.

“Jim Varghese is the perfect individual to continue this legacy forward.”

Torrens University is Australia’s international university and vocational registered training organisation.

It began teaching in 2014 in its headquarters building in the Torrens Building in Adelaide city center.

It offers vocational and higher education undergraduate, graduate, higher degree by research and specialised degree programs in a wide range of academic disciplines.

Robert S. Silberman, Chairman of the Board of Strategic Education Inc., said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Jim to Torrens University. Jim has an impeccable record in both the public service in Australia, in commercial enterprise, and he also has a strong track record working globally.
His deep background in education, and his commitment to ensuring greater access to education for all, means he is the ideal choice of Chancellor.”

Mr. Varghese is also the National Chair of Australia India Business Council (AIBC) and will assume his new role at Torrens University from 1 January 2022.

Market Mantra: Down, down, down! Omicron worries dominate Australian shares

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6 December 2021 9:49 AM

Reserve Bank Of Australia; Picture Source: @CANVA

Australian shares recorded their fourth consecutive weekly fall as worries of the possible economic impact of the new Omicron coronavirus variant weighed heavily on investor sentiment.

The ASX 200 fell 0.5% for the week as Australia recorded its first community transmission of the Omicron variant. Even though the government continues to hold steady on the plan to reopen the economy and hope arising from news that the new variant may be milder than previous strains it was not enough to calm the investors.

We believe going forward the markets are going to remain jittery until more information about how contagious the Omicron strain is and how effective current vaccines are against the new variant is made available.

With science expected to take another couple of weeks to provide answers on the new strain, the markets are expected to be extremely volatile with investors also assessing if the concerns surrounding the new strain will also hamper the Sata rally which usually starts during the second week of December.

Not all was bad for Australian shares though as all Big Four banks advanced as investors moved towards defensive stocks. A rebound in iron ore prices also helped heave miners BHP, RIO, and FMG record solid gains.

With iron ore and gold again rising during the US session on Friday night, we expect the Australian market to open in positive on Monday with iron and gold miners doing the heavy lifting. However, we would be extremely cautious to trade or buy any new stocks till there is more clarity surrounding the new variant.

Looking forward to this Tuesday will be Reserve Bank of Australia’s final meeting for the year. While it is largely expected the RBA will make no changes to its monetary policy, the traders will be looking forward to RBA’s commentary surrounding bond yields and purchases as that would be pivotal for interest rates.

Traders will also be looking keenly at Australian jobs and wage figures, job advertisements, household spending intentions, and property prices. All data that is released this week.

In regards to gold, the bullion recorded its third consecutive weekly fall as investors remained unsure of a clear direction for the yellow metal. Many analysts believe that Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments to contain inflationary trends, and uncertainty surrounding the new Omicron variant has kept most investors on the edge and not allowed them to take a price direction.

While Powell’s comments that pandemic-era asset purchases could end sooner than previously anticipated dents gold’s appeal, the fears surrounding economic recovery due to the Omicron variant boost the appeal for the precious metal. As such we expect the price to hold support during the $1770 to $1780 levels for the time being. Having said that we also expect the price to stay below $1800/ounce, thus giving an indication that the suppressed price levels will continue in the short term till there is more clarity on the Omicron.

Oil posted a sixth straight week of declines, the longest streak of weekly declines since 2018 as the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus threatened the outlook for energy demand.

The decline in oil accelerated after the OPEC+ meeting on Thursday where the oil-producing nations agreed to roll over the current production policy to raise overall output by 400,000 barrels per day in January.

The move caught the traders by surprise and resulted in a big oil sell-off. However, it seems the traders realised after the initial sell-off that if OPEC was raising production then they must not be afraid of the Omicron variant and also must not be too concerned that oil prices could fall any further. Thus providing some support to oil prices.

However, we feel that there will be worries surrounding the near-term demand in face of the new variant and it is expected to continue to weigh on markets as traders eye prospects for economic activity and oil demand.

Moving onto currency markets. The Australian Dollar has continued to set new lows against the US Dollar, closing at its lowest levels since July 2020 as the risk-sensitive currency continues to get battered by the emerging Omicron strain.

For a nation that is still recovering from lockdowns earlier this year triggered by the Delta variant, the new strain has once again posed a risk if strict lockdowns ensue. While the nation’s first few cases of the new variant have been detected, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly noted that there is no indication that the new strain is more deadly than other strains. Still, AUD has continued to decline along with global equities.

Technically speaking the Aussie is reaching towards the 0.70 level against the greenback. The 0.70 level is a large, round, psychologically significant number and the market will be paying strong attention to that. Previously this number has provided strong support to the local currency. However, given the uncertainty in global markets if we were to take a shot we would be shorting the AUD/USD pair and look towards targets at 0.6800 level.

The Omicron worries also hit the Indian market with the US Dollar rising above the 75.00 mark against the Rupee amid growing worries over the new COVID strain. A decline in oil prices though helped the Indian currency in gaining some ground against other risk currencies such as the Aussie Dollar and Kiwi Dollar.

Moving forward we believe that with risk sentiment on the back foot as well a continued foreign fund outflows the Rupee will remain subdued for the coming week. We also believe that the currency market is likely to remain turbulent over the next couple of weeks.

With traders in risk-off mode, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were all smashed as investors looked for safer assets. On Friday alone the cryptocurrencies lost $500 billion in value with investors jittery over the impact of Covid 19’s Omicron variant.

Comments from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler about cryptocurrency regulation further accelerated the decline with Bitcoin falling below the US $50,000 mark and Ethereum falling to below $3,700.

At the time of writing the report though the crypto market was trying to recover the lost ground on Friday and Saturday with Bitcoin testing the $50,000 mark and Ethereum recovering to $4200 after falling to $3500.

Last week we suggested that at this stage it would be best to sit on the sidelines and see how the market shapes up in the following days and if the correction will most likely worsen or we will get a recovery in the crypto space.

This week our suggestion remains unchanged as we expect the extreme swings in crypto space till the situation surrounding Omicron stabilises.

In agricultural products, wheat recorded its largest weekly drop in three months on record Australian crop.

Wheat prices have soared in recent weeks as the possibility of even more Russian export restrictions fuelled fears of tight wheat supplies.

The global supply worries were eased however after Australia’s chief commodity adviser, ABARES revised its official estimate for the 2021/22 crop to a record 34.4 million tonnes.

A stabilising US crop also helped reduce the price of other food grains with soybean declining 0.2% for the week and corn losing nearly 2% for the week.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey how to trade. He can be contacted at adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinions in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

Ind vs NZ, 2ND Test: Kiwis bowled out at 62 after Ajaz’s historic 10-wicket haul

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5 December 2021 12:08 PM

Ajaz's historic 10-wicket haul; Picture Source: @BLACKCAPS

It was a wicket galore at the Wankhede Stadium on Day 2 as India and New Zealand bowlers scalped 16 wickets in total after which hosts find themselves on the top of the ongoing second Test here at Mumbai.

After the end of Day 2 play, India’s score in the second innings read 69/0 with Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara unbeaten on the field with innings of 38* and 29* respectively. Hosts now lead Kiwis by 332.

Starting the day, the stars were perfectly aligned for the Mumbai-born spinner, Ajaz Patel as he scripted history by becoming only the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to bag all 10 wickets in an innings.

“Quite a special occasion for me and not just me but my family. Unfortunately for me, they’re not here because of COVID. Honestly, it’s surreal and to be able to do that in my career is pretty special. The stars have aligned for me to do it in Mumbai,”
Ajaz told host broadcaster Star Sports.

“I’m in very illustrious company with Kumble sir as well. Obviously, not a great start for us, but we have a few boys in the shed and put on some runs,” he added.

Incredible achievement as Ajaz Patel picks up all 10 wickets in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test.

He becomes the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to achieve this feat.#INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/5iOsMVEuWq
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 4, 2021

He became the third bowler in the history of the game to scalp all 10 wickets in a Test inning. Earlier, Australia’s Jim Laker was the first cricketer to scalp 10 wickets in a Test innings in 1956 and that was followed by India’s Anil Kumble in 1999 against Pakistan.

His historic effort overshadowed the heroic 150-run knock of Mayank Agarwal as India was bowled out for 325.

But there was more in store for bowlers as India then fought back and crushed Kiwi’s batters resistance in no time.

New Zealand was bowled out for 62 in the third session as this was the lowest total by any team against India in Test matches.

It was also the lowest total by any team in India.

For hosts, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj were the picks among the bowlers as the duo scalped three and four wickets respectively. Resuming the final session at 38/6, visitors had nowhere to hide as Indian bowlers clawed further deep and bowled them out after 29 overs in their first innings.

Then starting their second innings, India stood firm as Agarwal and Pujara frustrated the Kiwi bowlers to the full extent.

Brief Scores: India 325, 69/0 (Mayank Agarwal 38*, Cheteshwar Pujara 29*; Ajaz Patel 0/35) vs New Zealand 62.

TGA approves Pfizer’s COVID vaccine for 5-11-year-old kids in Australia, Here’ details

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5 December 2021 8:51 AM

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd COVID-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY, for use in individuals 5 years and older.

Australian Government will start rolling out the Pfizer vaccine to 5 to 11-year-olds from 10 January 2022.

The Government expects to receive ATAGI’s recommendations on how to incorporate this safe and effective vaccine into Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program over the coming weeks.

Subject to advise from ATAGI, vaccinating the approximately 2.3 million children aged 5 to 11 in Australia will build on the rapid uptake of vaccination among children aged 12 to 15. In just eleven weeks, more than 76.6% of this group have had at least one dose of vaccine, with 67.5% having completed their two-dose course of vaccination.

The use of this vaccine in children aged 5-11 years should be given in two doses at least 3 weeks apart.

The study demonstrated effectiveness by showing that the immune response to the vaccine in children was similar to that seen in older age groups.

“Clinical trials also showed that the safety profile in children is similar to that seen in adults with the observed side effects being mild.”

However, a lower dose (10 micrograms) will be given to children aged 5-11 years, compared to that used for individuals 12 years of age and older (30 micrograms).

To deliver the smaller dose, a different orange-capped vial will be used to vaccinate children. It will be clearly differentiated from the product currently used to vaccinate those 12 years and older.

It is expected the vaccines would initially be made available through General Practices Aboriginal Health Services, community pharmacies, and state and territory clinics.

In making this regulatory decision, the TGA carefully considered data from clinical trials conducted in the United States, Finland, Poland, and Spain which included participants 5 to 11 years of age.

“The most frequent adverse events seen in clinical trials in children aged 5-11 years were injection site pain, fatigue, headache, injection site redness and swelling, muscle pain, and chills.”

Provisional approval of this vaccine is valid for two years and means it can now be legally supplied in Australia.

The approval is subject to certain strict conditions, such as the requirement for Pfizer to continue providing information to the TGA on longer-term efficacy and safety from ongoing clinical trials and post-market assessment.

Australians can be confident that the TGA’s review process of this vaccine was rigorous and of the highest standard. The decision to provisionally approve the vaccine was also informed by expert advice from the Advisory Committee on Vaccines (ACV), an independent committee with expertise in scientific, medical, and clinical fields including consumer representation.

The Government has an agreement in place with Pfizer to receive a sufficient supply of the pediatric vaccine for the entire population of children aged 5 to 11 in Australia.

The first shipment of children’s doses is due to arrive in Australia by early January 2022 and will undergo the same rigorous batch testing processes in the TGA laboratories as other batches of COVID-19 vaccines.

The TGA is also currently evaluating an application from Moderna for its COVID-19 vaccine to be used in Australia for children aged 6 to 11 and the Government already has supply deals in place to make it available should it be approved by the TGA and recommended by ATAGI.

However, TGA will publish the Australian Public Assessment Report for this decision in the coming days.

From IGA’s filling boy to City Councillor: A story of hard work and resilience of Indian migrant Keyur Kamdar

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4 December 2021 4:43 PM

Councillor Keyur Kamdar, Ranford Ward, City of Armdale: Picture Source: Supplied

I am Keyur Kamdar, one of Australia’s millions of migrants who come to this lucky land with not much in their pockets but a lot of dreams in their hearts and resilience in their minds.

Recently, I have been elected Councillor for ‘Ranford ward’ of the City of Armdale in Perth, Western Australia.

However, I am not a politician, I am a community member of this beautiful place Armdale that I call home and want to positively contribute to it.

My Australian story started in the year 2007 when I landed at Perth airport with my wife who was pursuing her Master of Finance and Banking with Edith Cowen University.

Like most international student families despite having a couple of years of experience in our respective work areas we started from the very bottom of the Australian workforce.

Still remember those days when I used to work as IGA’s filling job in the early mornings, a Fuel station operator on weekends, and a warehouse account administrator three days a week just to survive. It used to be 5 am to 8 am at IGA, a couple of hours sleep, and warehouse job from 12-6 pm on weekdays and Fuel station on weekends.

Believe me, those struggles shaped me as a person and changed my views about success.

With some local experience, things got a little better after three years and I found myself in Telstra call center which gave me a proper experience of working in a big team and Australian workplace policies and procedures.

By now my wife graduated and started working in a Bank.
That evening when she showed me the email of her appointment in the Bank we both cried and laughed at the same time, recalled each and every instance of not doing things that we wanted to do but couldn’t do because of limited resources.

Both of us promised ourselves we will help and support anyone who we can like a lot of people not only of Indian origin but from different backgrounds told us they are there right behind us if we need.

My Indian work experience paid off as I was appointed Trade officer at Perth Consulate General of India, where my job was to liaison between Western Australian trade agency and Government of India bodies. I worked at Perth Council for two years 2012- 14 but then trader inside wanted to desperately come out.

I started my construction hardware supply business with the name “Steelco Exim.” It was a boom time for Indian Australian Diaspora so I ventured into Bollywood Movie distribution and Event management. Every weekend seemed like a big Bollywood party, just happy days.

But, life just teaches you when you think, you know all.

The downturn came and it really hit hard in Perth’s real estate market. I took a decision to close ‘Steelco Exim,” and joined Service Australia as a consultant.

Throughout the pandemic, I worked at Center link, listening to hundreds of stories from people whose lives were turned upside down because of a sudden loss of jobs and lockdowns. I am telling you this because at times we don’t realise the importance of what we have. Our family, our friends, and their smiling faces should be our priority no matter what.

Oh, I forgot to tell. I and my wife became the proud owner of a house. The Australian dream house, we built this property in Ranford ward of the City of Armdale. It’s a newly developed area with a lot of residents from CALD communities.

In the last six-year or so I have joined a few community organisations as a volunteer. We work towards the social and cultural understanding and acceptance of CALD communities in Perth. With Cancer Council, I raise awareness and help improve the participation of multicultural communities.

However, One of the most satisfying is supporting vulnerable people with food and sometimes shelter. Young international students lost jobs and were not getting any government supports at the peak of the COVID pandemic. I participated in the Jain community and Hindu council’s efforts to look after hundreds of international students with fee support and rent support.

I didn’t do this because I am that kindhearted great man, No I learned it from people who helped me. On top of my list are Nitin Koriya and his family who helped and supported my journey in Australia. I would even say, I am here because of him.

You can congratulate me, I have joined a new job with a top ‘Bank’ in September 2021 as the market is somehow limping back to some normality.

My orientation and training were almost three weeks, used to get really late while coming back home because I wanted to familiarise myself with all the necessary tools. But there is a reason I am telling you this.

After just one week of my induction process, a late evening I was paying my council rate and stumbled on the council election page, where a lot of people had written about their dissatisfaction with the current councillor.

And you know what next day was second last day for nomination for council election and no one had filed to stand in front of the incumbent councillor which we were unhappy with.

Well, I telephoned a few friends and local community members, everyone had a reason for not committing their time. It was 11 pm and I went to sleep thinking let me ask my wife about it and then decide.

She leaves early for work so that morning I made her favourite Indian tea with ginger and asked What if I commit myself to council election. She looked at me and said you don’t have to make tea to ask this question. I was like oh god it’s not going to be good, but her reply, “I will look after family affairs you file nomination” gave me the strength to do what I am doing right now.

Last day for nomination, new job, and training process in full-swing, can’t call sick or take leave, what do I do?

I called the returning officer on my way to work, explained to him my situation. He understood and was kind enough to allow me to file my nomination after work.

The office closes at 5 pm so he called me at home, that’s how I filed my nomination after hours.
Whatever you say this is possible because of people like my returning officer who do everything to give a fair go to each Australian without judging their background.

Now another struggle was how will I do my campaign because I had no idea about it. And remember my training was still for two more weeks, so I could only get back home by 6:30 pm.

Started my door-to-door campaign with handwritten – photocopied pamphlets. The weather was really cruel most evenings it was raining and I was standing in my umbrella in someone’s front yard.

We designed and wrote our policies around better council management and High council rate send it for print but surprise surprise, none of the campaign material had my name written on it. But thank god, a friend who is an IT engineer stood the whole night with our printer and got everything the next morning.

We didn’t know that an actual council campaign can be so nasty and vicious. My campaign markee and posters started disappearing overnight. My campaign members started getting abused and targeted. When it went over the nose we complained to the council and returning officer.

I think Ranford ward was watching everything and decided to vote for a fair and honest campaign.

Results were overwhelming as I received 60% of the total votes cast in the election and defeated a candidate who was a councillor for the last two decades.

“When I went to him to shake hands after the results were announced, he simply called me “**********”.

He shouted at me saying, “I will see what you do in four years.”
My answer to him is,

I will fulfil the expectations of better maintenance, bring more amenities like library and recreation centre and work to freeze the council rates.

I won the election fair and square, people of Ranford Ward trusted me and now I will do my part with honesty and humility.

NOTE: Presented as told by Councillor Keyur Kamdar

Indian grandma recreates scenes from Hindu epics by giving makeover to Barbie dolls

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4 December 2021 10:31 AM

Image source: Shakuntala by S. Devaki - Instagram.

76-year-old S. Devaki from the Indian state of Kerala has been recreating Hindu epics and mythological stories using old Barbie dolls.

Image source: S. Devaki – The Better India.

Abhay, an architect based in Kerala, describes his mother to The Better India as a “voracious reader.” He adds it is the reading that has inspired her to recreate the sacred themes into beautiful scenes.

Image source: Chandalabhikshuki and Upagupta by S. Devaki – Instagram.

S. Devaki is a BSc graduate in Chemistry who chose to be a homemaker.

“While the children were growing up, there wasn’t much time on hand so everything was put on hold.”

She adds that as a parent, her sole aim and focus was her two children. However, by the time her children were married, S. Devaki couldn’t return to work and dedicated her time to her grandchildren.

“Now that the grandchildren are also grown up I realised that I had entered my retirement phase, and that was when I started looking for things to do. Somehow, my childhood came back to me and I recollected all the handiwork I would do and decided to try my hands at it again.”

As lockdown started in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, S. Devaki had the much-needed free time.

“The lockdown was a boon in one way because no one could step out for anything and that meant that I could pace myself and do things at leisure without having to worry about anyone else’s schedule.”

On seeing her younger granddaughters’ Barbie dolls lying around the house, she got an idea.

“I did not pick up the doll with the intention of doing this, it just happened.”

Image source: Brides of Kerala by S. Devaki – Instagram.

S. Devaki’s first project was the ‘Brides of Kerala’ in which she has used three Barbie dolls to depict three different communities in Kerala.

“I used material that was lying around at home to make their sarees and jewellery. I did not have to spend anything additional on putting their looks together.”

Image source: Hamsa Damayanti by S. DEvaki – Instagram.

Next, she depicted the ‘Hamsa Damayanti’ scene from the famous painting by Raja Ravi Varma and created a Chandalabhikshuki doll that is part of the poem written by Kumaran Asan.

“I enjoy thinking about the story behind each doll I make. It takes me back to all the literary work I have grown up reading.”

S. Devaki has tp work really hard on small detail such as creating Indian jewelry, sari, hair, etc.

“SINCE ALL THE BARBIE DOLLS HAVE GOLDEN HAIR, I HAD TO ENSURE THAT I PAINTED IT BLACK.”

She has so far made sixteen dolls with Indian makeover and also intends to sell them in the future.

Here she is reciting the line 'ramacha vishari…' from Kumaranasan's Karuna. That's her new recreation, Vasavadatta and her friend with the fan pic.twitter.com/1Z8GxRmwe4
— Cris (@cristweets) November 7, 2021

Is Pakistan-born Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi indulging in hate-mongering against Australian Hindus?

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3 December 2021 3:58 PM

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi; Picture Source: Screenshot Paliamentry Debate

Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi made a ‘disgusting statement‘ in the Federal Senate on the pretext of criticising the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ‘good friendship’ with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

The Pakistan-born Senator Faruqi first ranted about PM Morrison’s cordial working relationship with the then US President Donald Trump and then called Indian PM Modi a far-right leader.

Ignoring all the evidence to the contrary Ms. Faruqi called a democratically elected Indian government an authoritarian administration on the basis of hearsay and unsubstantiated allegations.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi was born in Lahore, Pakistan which was recently in news for atrocities on religious minorities. Incidents of destroying Hindu temples and kidnapping underage Sikh, Christian, and Hindu girls occur on a regular basis in Pakistan. However, Senator Faruqi finds it of no interest to mention in her speech.

She is not the first Australian Green Party leader to indulge in blatant targeting of the Hindu community in Australia. Early this year, NSW’s Green MLC David Shoebridge made Hinduphobia a trademark of the Greens party. He was even asked by the NSW Parliament to apologise to the Australian Hindu community.
The Australia Today reported it to you. (Read the complete report); Greens MLC David Shoebridge should apologise for Hinduphobia, says NSW Senate.

Senator Faruqi attacked Indian Hindu Diaspora in disguise and named it Indian nationalism. She further tried to paint her Hinduphobia as being critical of Indian PM Modi.”

Ms. Sarah Gates is an Australian academic and yoga practitioner.
She says, Everything Faruqi claims as hate speech, the Greens and their ‘consultants’ have said of Australian Hindus aside from the word vermin, which is implied of Kashmiri Hindus whose ethnic cleansing the Greens refuse to recognise and by the repetition of ethnic cleansing slurs like ‘from the river to the sea’.

In the Senate today, I urged members of the Government and the PM to condemn far-right nationalist politics and call out the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. pic.twitter.com/keo5NS9GPj
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) December 1, 2021

Ravi Singh Dhankar a Hindu activist in Sydney told The Australia Today, “Mehreen Faruqi is part of that elaborate Greens plan which attacks Hindus and Jews for resisting their historical persecution.”

“Greens party and its Mehreen Faruqi like leaders are fuelling hatred towards people who try to raise voice against persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, Pakistan, Bangladesh and anywhere else in the world,”
added Mr Singh

Last month in Sydney, Hindu community members’ business was targeted for standing against the banned terrorist organisation “Babber Khalsa” which was sending threatening letters to Hindu community members.

Follow The Australia Today on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

In her speech Ms. Faruqi mentioned, incidents in Sydney that happened late last year and early this year.

“This year, there have been several publicly-reported incidents of violence and altercation between groups, including an attack on four young Sikh men in Harris Park, Sydney, at the height of domestic protests in India over Modi’s farming laws,” said Faruqi.

Sarah Gates told The Australia Today, “What happened in Sydney has no place in Australian society however Senator Mehreen Faruqi purposely chose to tell the half-truth.”

“Three Sikh youths and one Hindu youth faced court for street fights, however, Mehreen Faruqi is doxing whole Hindu community for that incident,” She said.

“If this is not blatant Hinduphobia what is?”

While expressing her concerns over Green Senator Mehreen Faruqi’s hateful politics, Ms. Gates said the attacks on Hindu Diaspora on streets and targeting of their businesses is a direct result of the divisive and hateful politics of Greens.

“Unfortunately, academics and journalists in Australia who criticise anti-Hindu sentiment coming from Green-backed organisations have paid a high price of relentless trolling, political lobbying against them, and mass-mediated defamation.”

Sarah urged the Australian Federal Government to track organisations which take inspiration, funding, and guidance from overseas-based establishments to spread hate towards Hindus”.

“I, therefore, welcome the Australian Governments’ new cyberbullying laws and call on the Government to criminalise cyberbullying, to extend the power to compel identity to website content and foreign accounts, and to provide pathways for prosecution by the state in the same way as any other form of assault.”

“I call on the members of the Labor and Liberal Party including state and federal governments and the Prime Minister to act decisively against Greens Party’s divisive and hate-filled agenda,” Ms. Sarah concluded.

Indian-origin Prof. Madhu Bhaskaran to co-lead ‘Women in STEMM Australia’

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3 December 2021 10:35 AM

Women in STEMM Australia has appointed Prof. Madhu Bhaskaran and Sarah Chapman to replace outgoing co-chair and co-founder, Michelle Gallaher.

The organisation was founded in 2014. It shares wide-ranging information relevant to women and underrepresented groups in STEMM.

Further, it amplifies STEMM associations and social enterprises whose values and goals are aligned and also shines a light on the gaps in the sector, including in policy and best practice.

A statement by Women in STEMM Australia said:

“Together, the new leadership team wants to create a broader, more inclusive network for a diverse range of underrepresented students and professionals in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health and medicine across all professional sectors.”

Prof. Bhaskaran, who leads the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT University in Melbourne, is a globally recognised engineer and applied research leader. She is also the Associate Dean for Higher Degrees by Research at the School of Engineering.

She is a staunch advocate for women in science and a highly committed advocate of diversity, inclusion, and allyship in STEMM.

Image source: Prof. Madhu Bhaskaran – RMIT.

Prof. Bhaskaran is also co-founder of the Women Researchers’ Network at RMIT University and has served on the Executive then Board of Directors with Women in STEMM Australia since 2015.

On her appointment as co-chair, she said:

“It is an honour to take on this role alongside Sarah and I am excited to see how we can bring our multi-sector experience to this organisation’s leadership.
Diversity and inclusion conversations and measures have come a long way since Women in STEMM Australia was first established and I am very proud to have this opportunity to take the organisation forward with a clear lens of intersectionality.”

Prof. Bhaskaran has served for years on the Women in STEMM Australia board and has received numerous awards for her innovative research, industry collaborations, and leadership.

These include the Batterham Medal from the Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering, the Frederick White Prize from the Australian Academy of Science, and the Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher.

In 2020, Prof. Bhaskaran also won the ‘40 Under 40: Most Influential Asian-Australian Award’ in the Science & Medicine category.

Sarah Chapman is Head of Department at the Department of Education and Training at Townsville State High School (Queensland). She graduated from the James Cook University (JCU) with a Bachelor of Science (Honours Class 1) in 1999 and a Bachelor of Education in 2004.

Sarah has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics project which aims to develop specific skills and an interest in science in middle school students.

Sarah Chapman said,

“I am humbled to continue on the Women in STEMM Australia legacy founded by two very inspirational women, Marguerite and Michelle.”

“This organisation will continue to connect women across the nation and provide a platform of influence, allyship, and advocacy. I am moved to have the opportunity to co-lead with Madhu and bring more depth of focus on underrepresented groups within the STEMM ecosystem,” she added.

Outgoing co-chair Michelle Gallaher said,

“I am delighted to reflect and celebrate the achievements of our diverse community at this important moment, and to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders.”

The act of passing the leadership on recognises and models the importance of relinquishing a seat to make way for new voices and ideas. An action that we need to see more of in the STEMM community.”

What is hindering the rise of the Indian-origin CEO in Australia?

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2 December 2021 5:08 PM

Representative picture of Australian Board Room; Source: @CANVA

Parag Agrawal who has just been appointed as the new CEO of Twitter is part of a growing list of Indian-origin CEOs heading tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, and Vimeo.

Tesla’s Elon Musk summed up Parag’s rise, along with other Indian-origin CEOs, in his tweet: “USA benefits greatly from Indian talent!”

USA benefits greatly from Indian talent!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2021

37 years old Parag, a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University, is the youngest person to run a company in the S&P 500. He will receive an annual salary of $US1 million and a stock award worth $US12.5 million.

However, in Australia, CEOs coming from a culturally diverse background are a rare species. This is despite the fact that India is one of the largest sources of permanent migrants who are largely professionally successful and well respected in Australia.

The Australia Today has covered the rise of Indian-origin CEO’s in Australia.

Indian-Australian CEO's making their mark

This list includes Stockland’s Tarun Gupta, Orica’s Sanjeev Gandhi, Link’s Vivek Bhatia, Pact’s Sanjay Dayal, and Newcrest’s Sandeep Biswas.

The 2021 Board Diversity Index, by Watermark Search International and Governance Institute of Australia, found that ninety per cent of directors were of Anglo-Celtic or European background.

“The Australian boardroom is still very much the product of our Anglo and European heritages.”

This is the result of the hangover of the White Australia Policy.

However, the report adds that the scene is changing.

“There is some evidence that Asian representation is growing but there remains a substantial opportunity to better reflect the importance of the Asian market and the changing complexion of Australia’s population.”

Image source: Sheba Nandkeolyar – MultiConnexions Group.

In a LinkedIn post, Sheba Nandkeolyar, founder of MultiConnexions Group and past national chair of the Australia India Business Council (AIBC), observes that this lack of diversity is a result of non-recognition of India’s prestigious educational institutions.

“Fantastic news. I hope the IIMs and IITs get recognised here too. 20 years ago when I came to Australia they had no idea about these institutions.”

Image source: Diversity Council of Australia chair Ming Long – YouTube.

Diversity Council of Australia chair Ming Long told ABC that even the migrants who studied in Australia often hit the glass or bamboo ceiling in their corporate career.

“They graduate through Australia, work in corporate Australia, but then hit a ceiling and cannot get past it.”

It is specially hard for women from diversed backgrou to make their mark and build up experience in a boardroom.

A report entitled “Women CEOs in America 2021” presented by the Women Business Collaborative has shown that 8.2% Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

So, the obvious question to ponder is: Why aren’t there more women CEOs from diverse backgrounds in Australia?

Imagse source: *Ted Baillieu* – Wikipedia.

Today, the world over the Indian-origin CEOs are a shining example of Indian migrants’ resilience and adaptability.

In Australia, as former Victorian Premier and the Chair of the Australian Heritage Council Ted Baillieu observes they will inevitably rise to the top if given a chance.

“The Indian Diaspora here are well tuned to education and to commerce. You put the two together and inevitably the cream will rise to the top.”

Given the rise of India and its Diaspora, it would be an understatement to say that Australia too will benefit greatly from its Indian talent.

New laws introduced to identify bullying and harassing anonymous online trolls, but are they enough

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2 December 2021 12:59 PM

In a new social media crackdown, the Australian government plans to introduce new laws that will unmask anonymous online trolls.

The Morrison government will hand Australian courts the power to order tech giants to identify perpetrators or risk bearing the cost of defamation payouts themselves.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told media:

“They have that responsibility. They have created this world. They have created the space, and they need to make it safe, and if they won’t, we will make them laws such as this, and I will campaign for these all around the world as I have done on so many other occasions with Australia taking the lead.”

He added that there is no place for “cowardice” in Australia.

“Free speech is not being allowed to cowardly hide in your basement and sledge … and harass people anonymously and seek to destroy their lives.”

Image source: Michaelia Cash – Liberal Party.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash told the media that if the legislation passes, online trolls will not be allowed to hide behind anonymous accounts.

“We will also put in place another mechanism for people who are subject to defamatory comments. They will be able to apply to the Federal Court of Australia for an end user discloser order.”

Under the new Australian laws, people who believe they have been defamed online will also be able to get court orders forcing social media giants to reveal who is responsible for the posts.

Twitter and Facebook will now need to create a complaints scheme that will allow victims of trolling to know if the comments were made in Australia.

If found so, the victim will be able to obtain the contact details of the troll, with their consent.

If consent is not given by the poster then the victim can get a new form of the court order.

This new order, “End-user Information Disclosure Order”, will allow a social media company to unmask trolls without consent.

Indian-Australian Spelling Bee Champion Theekshitha Karthik, felicitated by PM Morrison

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2 December 2021 9:22 AM

Image source: Theekshitha Karthik with PM Morrison - Facebook.

2021’s best Australian young spellers met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Parliament House.

The following champions were given their awards for winning the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee in June 2021.

· Arielle Wong from Donvale Christian College, VIC (Year 3/4 category)

· Theekshitha Karthik from Haileybury College, VIC (Year 5/6 category)

· Evan Luc-Tran from The McDonald College, NSW (Year 7/8 category)

The Prime Minister said in a statement:

“I want to thank all students who had a go this year and challenged their spelling skills, and special congratulations to Arielle, Theekshitha and Evan on their achievements.”

He added:

“No matter what you want to be when you grow up, spelling and reading are foundation skills that will stay with you for life, and are important to your wellbeing, future learning and success.”

The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is a national spelling competition for school children from Years 3 to 8.

It aims to promote and encourage students’ oral and written literacy and spelling skills.

All participants had 15 minutes to spell 30 words, with the winners determined by the accuracy and speed of submitting their answers online.

Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge said almost 21,000 students from 490 schools across the country participated in this year’s Spelling Bee.

“Congratulations to every student who took part this year, and I encourage families, teachers and young people to talk to their local school about taking part again in 2022.”

The 2022 Prime Minister’s National Spelling Bee will be hosted by News Corp’s Kids News on the kidsnews.com.au website.

The free competition will be held digitally, with no physical competition elements.

It will run in Term 3, 2022, and registrations are planned to open on Monday, 25 July 2022.

Migrants on employee-sponsored visas exploited in Australia, reveals survey

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1 December 2021 5:24 PM

Melbourne-based Migrant Workers Centre’s report that surveyed 700 migrants has found that migrants who are on employer-sponsored visas are often exploited and suffer from very high levels of stress.

The findings published in Lives in Limbo: The Experiences of Migrant Workers Navigating Australia’s Unsettling Migration System that draws upon over fifty in-depth interviews “reveal a broken migration system that sets workers up for exploitation and perpetual uncertainty.”

Matt Kunkel, CEO of Migrant Workers Centre, said in a statement:

“The nation’s migration program has structurally brewed a population of precarious workers.
Strengthening pathways to permanent residency will provide social and economic benefits to all workers in Australia.”

According to this report, sixty-five per cent of temporary visa holders in Australia have experienced underpayment.

Further, one in four surveyed said that they have been exploited in the workplace.

It also found that ninety-one per cent of those who were underpaid, were on temporary visas with no pathway to permanent residency in Australia.

The report notes that on average, it takes workers 5.1 years to acquire PR with the longest wait time being 13 years.

“The Government constantly changes the rules of the game to create a perpetually temporary class of workers who are keeping our economy going, but with limited workplace protections and social safety nets.”

The report observes that despite Australia relying on overseas workers from unskilled backpackers to highly trained doctors and IT workers, the visa system often left workers with a high level of uncertainty, stress, and open to exploitation.

It points to loopholes in visa programs such as employer-sponsored visas which leave workers vulnerable to exploitative bosses and visa scams, and often tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Matt Kunkel adds:

“Workers on temporary visas experience workplace exploitation because the system creates barriers to reporting industrial wrongdoing.
Visas expire before lengthy court processes can be completed, or the loss of employment can lead to the disruption of many years of settlement.”

He suggests a complete overhaul of the present visa system to minimise the exploitation of migrant workers.

“We need an overhaul of the visa system so workers’ lives don’t rest solely in the hands of a single employer, and all long-term migrants have an opportunity for permanent residency.”

Due to fears about the Omicron COVID variant, the Australian government has once again delayed its plan to allow skilled workers back into the country.

In a statement, the Australian government said that the decision to pause the reopening of the borders was made on the basis of medical advice.

“The National Security Committee has taken the necessary and temporary decision to pause the next step to safely reopen Australia to international skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family visa holders from December 1 until December 15.”

International students and skilled migrants who had booked their flights and accommodation have lost significant amounts of money as a result of the delay.

Here are the steps WHO recommends individuals take against Omicron COVID-19

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1 December 2021 11:15 AM

Recently, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE), WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron.

It is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible compared to other variants, including Delta.

Researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron.

According to the WHO, it is also not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta.

WHO is working with technical partners to understand the potential impact of this variant on our existing countermeasures, including vaccines.

As Omicron has been designated a Variant of Concern, there are several actions WHO recommends countries to undertake:

enhancing surveillance and sequencing of cases;
sharing genome sequences on publicly available databases, such as GISAID;
reporting initial cases or clusters to WHO; and
performing field investigations and laboratory assessments to better understand if Omicron has different transmission or disease characteristics, or impacts effectiveness of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics or public health and social measures.

For the common people, WHO recommends that the most effective steps individuals can take to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus is:

to keep a physical distance of at least 1 metre from others;
wear a well-fitting mask;
open windows to improve ventilation;
avoid poorly ventilated or crowded spaces;
keep hands clean;
cough or sneeze into a bent elbow or tissue; and
get vaccinated when it’s their turn.

WHO reports that its preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron.

Countries, such as Australia and India, are continuing to implement the effective public health measures to reduce COVID-19 circulation overall.

Vaccine for 5-11 years old will be available within days, Here’ what we know

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1 December 2021 9:20 AM

The National Cabinet was told that the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation are in late-stage consideration regarding when Pfizer can be rolled out to 5 to 11-year-olds.

A highly placed official in the Federal government has told The Australia Today, Vaccine for the 5 to the 11-year-old cohort is most likely to be available much before the Christmas holidays.

Besides, Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues to expand. To date over 39.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia, including 95,247 in the previous 24 hours. In the previous 7 days, more than 604,000 vaccines have been administered in Australia.

The Health ministry data shows more than 92.4 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 97.4 per cent of over 50-year-olds and more than 99.9 per cent of over 70-year-olds.

More than 87 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated including more than 93.7 per cent of over 50-year-olds and more than 97.3 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 210,239 confirmed cases in Australia and sadly 2,006 people have died. More than 47.8 million tests have been undertaken, with over 1 million tests reported in the past 7 days.

National Cabinet was told that Australia has sufficient supplies of booster shots available, with contracts in place for 85 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 15 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly says at this stage it is known that the Omicron strain has a high number of mutations, particularly within its spike protein.

However, early data indicates Omicron may be more transmissible when compared with previous variants of the virus which causes COVID-19. At this stage, there is insufficient evidence that vaccines and treatments are less effective against Omicron than other variants and no evidence at this stage that Omicron is a more severe disease.

‘Story of my team’: Indian Cricketing legend Kapil Dev on Bollywood thriller ’83’ trailer, watch in

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30 November 2021 6:36 PM

Official Poster of movie 83; Picture Source: Instagram by @RanveerSingh

Former India captain Kapil Dev could not be more proud of the makers of ’83’ who have the hard task of portraying India’s World Cup in 1983 on the silver screen.

Sharing the trailer of ’83’ starring Ranveer Singh, Kapil Dev wrote on Instagram: “The story of my team.” Helmed by director Kabir Khan, ’83’ revolves around India’s historical 1983 Cricket World Cup win.

The movie features Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev, captain of the World Cup-winning team. Interestingly, Deepika Padukone will be seen playing Romi, Kapil Dev’s wife in ’83’, which will hit the big screen on December 24.

Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiiva, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Chirag Patil, Dinker Sharma, Nishant Dahiya, Sahil Khattar, Ammy Virk, Addinath Kothare, Dhairya Karwa, R Badree and Pankaj Tripathi are also a part of the film.

It was on June 25, 1983, when India lifted their first-ever cricket World Cup title, defeating West Indies in the finals by 43 runs at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. It is now 38 years to India’s triumph in the tournament.

The World Cup-winning team was led by all-rounder Kapil Dev. India’s World Cup final playing XI included Sunil Gavaskar, K Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, SM Patil, Kapil Dev (c), Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Syed Kirmani, and Balwinder Sandhu.

After the win, cricket got a fillip in India, elevating the sport to religion for fans with every child wanting to become a cricketer.

Are you travelling to India, Here’ revised guidelines for International travellers amid Omicron fears

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30 November 2021 10:55 AM

Indian Government has issued revised guidelines to be followed by international travellers in the country amid the rising global outbreak of Omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus.

These guidelines will come into effect from December 1.

Here are the fresh rules for international travellers as per the Indian Health ministry guidelines.

When you are planning to travel:

a. Submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled
travel, including the last 14 days travel details.

b. Upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report*. This test should have been conducted
within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey.

c. Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to the authenticity of the
report and will be liable for criminal prosecution if found otherwise.

When you are boarding the flight:

1- Airlines to allow boarding by only those passengers who have filled in the Self Declaration
Form on the Air Suvidha portal, uploaded the negative RT-PCR test report.

2- Only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after the thermal screening.

3- All passengers shall download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

When you arrive at an Indian Airport:

1- De-boarding should be done ensuring physical distancing.
2- Thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the airport. The self-declaration form filled online shall be shown to the airport health staff.
3- The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility as per health protocol. If tested positive, their contacts shall be
identified and managed as per laid down protocol.

Protocols for Travellers from specified Countries at risk:

List of Countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing (Countries at-risk).
This list is current on 29th November 2021

Countries in Europe including The United Kingdom
South Africa
Brazil
Bangladesh
Botswana
China
Mauritius
New Zealand
Zimbabwe
Singapore
Hong Kong
Israel

A- Submission of sample for post-arrival COVID-19 test* at the point of arrival (self-paid). Such travellers will be required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.

B- If tested negative they will follow, home quarantine for 7 days. Re-test on the 8th day of arrival in India* and if negative, further self-monitor of their health for next 7 days.

C- If such travellers are tested positive, their samples should be sent for genomic testing at the INSACOG laboratory network.

1- They shall be managed at a separate isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing.

2- The contacts of such positive cases should be kept under institutional quarantine or at home quarantine monitored strictly by the concerned State Government as per laid down protocol.

Protocols for Travellers from Countries excluding those Countries at risk:

They will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 days’ post-arrival.

A sub-section (5% of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.

a. The 5% of such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines
(preferably from different countries).
b. Such travellers shall be escorted by the concerned airlines/MoCA to the testing area on
arrival.
c. The cost of testing of such travellers shall be borne by MoCA.
d. Laboratories shall prioritise testing of samples from such travellers.
e. If such travellers are tested positive, they shall be managed as per laid down standard
protocol and samples would be further sent for genomic testing.

If travellers under home quarantine or self-health monitoring, develop signs and symptoms
suggestive of COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 on re-testing, they need to immediately self-isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call National helpline number (1075)/ State Helpline Number.

The existing guidelines have been revised in view of reporting of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, named Omicron (B.1.1.529), which has been now classified as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organization, the Health Ministry said.

Parag Agrawal takes over as CEO of Twitter, replacing Jack Dorsey

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30 November 2021 8:04 AM

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has decided to step down as CEO of the company.

Indian-American Dr Parag Agrawal, presently Twitter’s CTO, will take over the helm, the company said Monday.

Dorsey said in a statement,

“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders.”

Dorsey, 45 yo, was serving as both the CEO of Twitter and Square, his digital payments company.

He will remain a member of the board until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of stockholders.

Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support 💙 https://t.co/eNatG1dqH6 pic.twitter.com/liJmTbpYs1
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) November 29, 2021

Agrawal has been with Twitter for more than a decade and had been in charge of strategies involving artificial intelligence and machine learning.

He earned an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. Later, he held research internships at AT&T, Microsoft, and Yahoo before joining Twitter.

Agrawal said in his note to Dorsey:

“The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today’s news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it’s a signal that the work we do here matters.”

Dorsey said in an email he published on Twitter that Agrawal has been his choice to lead the company “for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs.”

Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Palo Alto Networks, and now Twitter run by CEOs who grew up in India. Wonderful to watch the amazing success of Indians in the technology world and a good reminder of the opportunity America offers to immigrants. 🇮🇳🇺🇸 (Congrats, @paraga!)
— Patrick Collison (@patrickc) November 29, 2021

Dorsey, who co-founded the social media giant in 2006, served as CEO until 2008 before being pushed out of the role. He returned to lead Twitter in 2015 after former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, tweeted his congratulations to Agrawal.

Wishing you the very best ahead @jack, and congrats @paraga and @btaylor – excited for Twitter's future!
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) November 29, 2021

With his appointment as CEO of Twitter, Agrawal has joined fellow Indian-origin techies at the helm of Google (Sundar Pichai), Microsoft (Satya Nadella), IBM (Arvind Krishna), VMWare (Raghu Raghuram), and Adobe (Shantanu Narayen).

Visa holders and International students need to wait till 15 December as Federal government Pauses return

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29 November 2021 8:41 PM

The Federal government has taken a decision to pause to reopen Australia to international students and skilled migrant cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holidaymakers, and provisional family visa holders from 1 December until 15 December.

Government sources say it is a temporary decision and will ensure Australia can gather the information needed to better understand the Omicron variant, including the efficacy of the vaccine, the range of illness, including if it may generate more mild symptoms and the level of transmission.

Australia’s borders are already closed to travellers except for fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family, as well as fully vaccinated green lane travellers from New Zealand and Singapore and limited exemptions.

All arrivals to Australia also require a negative PCR test and to complete Australian traveller declaration forms detailing their vaccination status and confirming requirements to comply with state and territory public health requirements.

On Saturday, the Australian Government announced the following measures:

1. Effective immediately, anyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident of Australia, or their immediate family including parents of citizens, and who have been in African countries where the Omicron variant has been detected and spread – within the past 14 days – will not be able to enter Australia.
The countries are- South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and Mozambique.

2. Australian citizens and permanent residents, immediate family members including parents arriving from these countries will need to go into immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days subject to jurisdictional arrangements.

3. Anyone who has already arrived in Australia and who has been in any of the eight countries within the past 14 days must immediately isolate themselves and get tested for COVID-19 and follow jurisdictional quarantine requirements which will include quarantine for 14 days from the time of departure from southern Africa.

4. These restrictions also apply to people, for instance, international students and skilled migrants, arriving from the safe travel zones established with New Zealand and Singapore who have been in any of the eight countries within the past 14 days.

There are no flights planned from these countries.

The reopening to travellers from Japan and the Republic of Korea will also be paused until 15 December.

These measures will also be continued until 15 December.

Seychelles has been removed from the list of countries of concern.

Australian Border Force retains the discretion to allow people in who are already in transit to enter, but these people will be subject to state-based isolation requirements.

Under state public health requirements, New South Wales and Victoria have already initiated testing and 72 hours of isolation requirements for Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family members entering the country.

In other states, 14 days of managed quarantine is required, and traveller cap arrangements are in place.

The Australian Government’s quarantine facility at Howard Springs in Darwin is available to support returning Australians each fortnight as required.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called a meeting of the National Cabinet tomorrow to further discuss the Omicron variant and Australia’s response.

Australia has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 92.3 per cent having had a first dose and 86.8 per cent of our eligible population now double vaccinated, and Australia has one of the only whole of population booster programs being delivered, with around 415,000 Australians having received their booster.

Australia’s response to Omicron COVID-19; State-wise details inside

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29 November 2021 5:06 PM

Indian Australians at Airport, PictureSource: Twitter @RameshDutta

Here are the statewide details of the response to the new Omicron COVID-19 variant of concern.

Victoria (VIC) rules;

1- All travellers arriving in Victoria who have visited South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique in the past 14 days are required to undertake 14 days’ hotel quarantine.

2- Fully Vaccinated travellers from other countries after arriving in VIC travellers are required to quarantine at home for any other private accommodation, including hotels, for 72 hours upon arrival. You cannot transit through Victoria during this period.

3- Travellers must get a Covid test within 24hrs and if negative they are still required to quarantine for 72 hours after the arrival.

4- Travellers are also required to get a PCR test between day 5 & 7.

New South Wales (NSW) rules:

1- Travellers arriving into NSW who have visited South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique in the past 14 days are required to undertake 14 days’ hotel quarantine.

2- Fully Vaccinated travellers from other countries after arriving in NSW are required to quarantine at home or a place where you can self isolate in NSW by the most direct route for 72 hours upon arrival.

3- Travellers must get a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and on or after Day 6. Travellers cannot transit from SYD to another domestic flight.

4- Travellers can transit by road beyond Sydney to another NSW region to self-isolate and test.

Queensland (QLD) rules:

1- No changes, currently all overseas travellers are required to hotel quarantine for 14 days. Once QLD hit 80% (from 17 Dec or earlier) 14-day quarantine is still required, some fully vaccinated travellers may be eligible for home quarantine otherwise hotel quarantine will be required.

South Australia (SA) rules:

1- Fully vaccinated overseas travellers are required to quarantine for 14 days (changed from 7), be tested on arrival, days 6 & 13. Unvaccinated require an exemption to get into the state.

Western Australia (WA) rules:

1- No changes, fully vaccinated overseas travellers are required to hotel quarantine for 14 days, to be tested on arrival, day 5, 13, 17 & 21.

Northern Territory (NT) rules:

1- No changes, fully vaccinated overseas travellers are required to quarantine for 14 days in a supervised facility. Unvaccinated require an exemption to get into the state.

We are continuing to monitor the individual state’s new rules and will send through updates as they come through.

Is digital gaming the next frontier in Australia-India relationships?

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29 November 2021 12:17 PM

The Perth USAsia Centre is inviting interested people for a virtual discussion on digital gaming as the next frontier in the Australia-India relationship.

The Centre’s next session is entitled ‘Beyond Delhi series: Digital Gaming as the Next Frontier in the Australia-India Relationship.’

#Digital #gaming opportunities is an emerging sector for 🇦🇺 – 🇮🇳collaboration. #India is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing entertainment industries and technological advancements are increasingly attracting mainstream consumers.

Register at: https://t.co/76EcFFwlVm pic.twitter.com/8iHXQzVKZ5
— Austrade India (@AustradeIndia) November 25, 2021

In fact, the Government of India’s ‘Australian Economic Strategy’ has identified digital gaming opportunities with Bengaluru as an emerging sector for Indian-Australian collaboration.

In India, Bengaluru is often described as India’s Silicon Valley and Mumbai has the world’s largest and fastest-growing entertainment industries that attract mainstream consumers.

While Australia’s gaming industry is advanced with its own licensed content, India is enjoying investments from Alibaba and Tencent.

The proposed webinar will explore how Australia and India can benefit from shared experiences, technology, investment, and partnerships.

The proposed speakers include:

Biren Ghose, Country Head, Technicolor India
Jens Schroeder, Director of Member and Industry Relations, Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA)
Sonia Arakkal, Policy Fellow, Perth USAsia Centre (moderator)

The Centre located at the University of Western Australia is a non-partisan, not-for-profit institution strengthening relationships and strategic thinking between Australia, the Indo-Pacific, and the USA.

It is a leading think tank focusing on geopolitical issues, policy development, and building a strategic affairs community across government, business and academia.

Market Mantra: Is it start of downturn due to new virus variant as Australian shares record sharp fall

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29 November 2021 9:27 AM

A worrying new and possibly vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant unnerved the investors and sent Australian shares tumbling for a third week in a row.

Despite better than expected retail sales data, the Australian shares recorded their worst session in two months on Friday with all major sectors tumbling.

With investors seriously concerned about the new virus and possible lockdowns in the near future, every sector was sold on Friday with only 14 stocks recording a rise. The energy stocks, travel sector, and bank shares were all hit as with fears of lockdowns there are also concerns economic activity will reduce.

With investors currently in shoot first and asking questions later until more is known about the new variant, the investors are also nervous about whether we will even get a Christmas rally.

The futures for Australia are down 104 points or 1.4% for Monday open and set to continue with the decline. The projected drop on Monday after Friday’s decline will mark Australia’s biggest fall in two consecutive sessions in more than 18 months.

Market Mantra: Down turn; Picture Source: @CANVA — Market Mantra: Downturn; Picture Source: @CANVA

The fall in future prices for Australian shares very strongly indicates that the investors are unclear about the implications of longer-term implications of the Omicron variant on Australian markets. With signs that the new strain is spreading and questions over its resistance to vaccines it is highly likely that it will continue to weigh in on market sentiment till we get further clarity on the new virus variant.

According to Ryan Detrick, chief marketing strategist for LPL Financial “Investors are selling in front of bad news. The economic recovery has been quite impressive and the one thing that could knock it over completely would be a more dangerous variant.”

Many analysts believe that should the new strain trigger the reimposition of mass social restrictions it could truly derail the economic recovery. With the delta wave fresh in minds of investors it is likely that the sell-down will continue.

Looking forward to this week the investors will be looking forward to the GDP data on Wednesday. We believe though that with Sydney and Melbourne being in lockdown for the most part of the third quarter the GDP numbers will likely be negative and may push the market further South.

It will also be a fairly busy week overseas with US non-farm payrolls, employment and unemployment figures, manufacturing figures, new car sales, and home sales all coming out this week.

The resurgent concerns over the spread of a new variant of coronavirus sent traders scrambling to safe haven. As such the appeal of gold as safe haven drove traders towards the safety of the yellow metal.

The new variant from South Africa possibly evades immune responses and has resulted in travel bans by Britain, European Union, and Australia from the African nation. Markets are scared the new variant will impact the economy more strongly than the Delta strain and this has spurred demand for the safe bullion.

The rise on Friday though was still not enough to save gold from recording the worst weekly decline for gold since August 6 on increased expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at a faster pace.

However, the new virus-driven economic uncertainty is expected to slow down Fed Reserve’s plan to normalize the monetary policy thus boosting appeal for gold.

Oil prices posted a fifth consecutive weekly drop last week and recorded their largest single-day April 2020 on Friday as the resurgence of lockdown fears due to the new coronavirus variant added to concerns that the supply surplus could grow due to a demand slowdown just as supply increases.

Although WHO said that further investigation is needed to determine if the new variant is more resistant to the vaccines it was enough for traders to sell oil on the concern of a decrease in travel and potential new lockdowns, both of which could hit demand.

With most European nations and Australia now limiting travel from several nations affected by the new variant the oil prices may continue to fall as the last thing the oil complex would need is another threat to the air travel recovery.

Oil traders this week will be keeping a keen eye on the OPEC+ meeting on Thursday. The OPEC+ nations will decide whether it will continue with its plan to add 400,000 barrels a day to production quotas in January 2022. Many analysts believe that the new virus and release of oil from reserves by the US, India, and China could result in OPEC+ nations suspending its output hike.

In regards to the local currency, the Australian Dollar continued to slump for a fourth consecutive week amid coronavirus-led risk aversion which is in full swing.

Traders ignored an upbeat retail sales data as fresh coronavirus woes from Africa and Eurozone kept sentiments sour.

The Australian Dollar continues to look extremely bearish against most currencies as traders react to the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which is seen as a risk-off event. As long as the negative impact of the new variant remains in the market traders will be much more comfortable holding the safer currencies such as the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, and Swiss Franc as opposed to the risk currency such as the Australian Dollar.

Technically speaking the commodity currency against the greenback has broken below the 200-week MA and the momentum is strongly bearish. The market looks set to test support at 0.70 level and if the bears capture it then the Aussie dollar is looking towards 0.68 level against the USD over the longer term.

At this stage, any rally in the local currency will be an opportunity to sell further and should be treated as such. However, keep in mind this is based on current risk sentiment in the market. Any positive news in regards to the new variant can quickly change the risk appetite of the market and send the Aussie back up.

The markets around the world were shaken by news regarding new coronavirus derivatives. The Indian Rupee was no different. With news of the new mutation, investors fled from riskier currencies resulting in the Rupee recording its worst week since October 8^th.

With people concerned that the new variant might cause even more economic destruction the Indian shares plunged pushing the currency further lower with the market expecting RBI to get more cautious due to uncertainty.

In the world of cryptocurrencies, the crypto market followed world markets lower with Bitcoin hovering around two-month lows at the US $54,000.

On Monday the digital currency opened at $57K. It then rallied to $59K and by Thursday was looking prime to take over the US $60 K.

However, with a new coronavirus variant emerging the bears rediscovered their mojo and sent BTC tumbling to US$54K.

With uncertainty in the air following renewed lockdown worries and the proposed ban of cryptocurrencies in India, the next couple of weeks will be crucial for cryptocurrencies.

The Altcoins also took a major blow however some of them managed to hold their ground. BNB was up about 10%, CRO 41% for the week and AVAX recorded 10% weekly gains. The metaverse coins also continued to be a rage last week with both Sandbox and Decentraland (MANA) recording strong rallies.

However, at this stage, we think it would be best to sit on the sidelines and see how the market shapes up in the following days and if the correction will most likely worsen or we will get a recovery in the crypto space.

In agricultural products, wheat and corn continued to rally as export sales for both beat record expectations.

The corn exports from the US to Mexico and Canada were up 58% from the previous week while the wheat imports for Japan and Nigeria were up 42% from the week before.

The wheat imports from importing nations have now been up 70% from the prior 4-week average.

The price of soybean however declined for the week as the new COVID variant weighed on world markets. With authorities in European Union, Britain, India, and Australia announcing stricter border control as scientists scramble to find more information about the new variant the demand for oilseed commodities took a hit.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting their trading journey how to trade. He can be contacted at adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinions in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

‘Sacred India Gallery’ located in Australia gets Indian PM Modi’s praise

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28 November 2021 9:11 PM

In his recent ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the role played by Sacred India Gallery in connecting Australia with India. He said:

“An Australian lady visited Vrindavan and was smitten by the beauty & divinity of Vrindavan-the land of Kanha, that she carried this beautiful with her to her homeland & now promotes the teachings of Vrindavan in Australia.
Vrindavan attracts people from all around the world. No one can fathom the bliss of Vrindavan, its infinite.”

The Sacred India Gallery is situated in the Swan Valley region of Western Australia and opened to the general public in 2012.

In Mann Ki Baat today, Prime Minister @NarendraModi lauded the role played by Sacred India Gallery in connecting Australia with India! #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/010QXarca2
— India in Australia (@HCICanberra) November 28, 2021

For the last 9 years, visitors have been enriched by the one-hour guided tour of the Gallery.

This tour has breathtaking installations and the incredible miniature work of resident artist Jagattarini Dasi.

WATCH VIDEO: A Remarkable Journey to Sacred India!

Jagattarini Dasi joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in 1970 and lived in Vrindavan for 13 years.

Here she was enamoured by India’s people, traditions, food, and art.

“In her spare time, she regularly journeyed by local transport to significant holy places throughout the outlying Braja District.”

She returned to Australia in 1996 and started creating exquisite miniature scale dioramas.

Jagattarini Mataji continues to draw her artistic inspiration from Vraja Dhama.

She has been working with a variety of mediums producing miniature three-dimensional diorama exhibits, depicting Krishna’s nectarean Vrindavan pastimes.

“She is establishing these dioramas within a project known as Gopinatha Dharma, which is meant to attract souls to the glories of Sri Vrindavan Dhama.”

These can be seen in the gallery that has some intricate displays consisting of traditional Indian carvings and original miniatures that capture the sights, sounds, and mystical atmosphere of spiritual India.

PM Modi said the amazing effort of Jagattarini “indeed shows us the power of Krishna Bhakti” and “I wish her all the best in this work.”

This was the 83rd edition of his PM Modi’s monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ address.

WATCH VIDEO: PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat with the Nation, November 2021

Indian High Commissioner in Australia Manpreet Vohra said, “It is wonderful to see the cultural and spiritual sites and atmosphere of India so beautifully recreated in The Sacred India Gallery near Perth.”

“I thank Jagat Tarini Ji and her team of volunteers for creating this unique experience of Indian sacred places for the learning and enjoyment of our Australian friends.
It is testimony to the historical ties and flourishing cross-cultural influences between India and Australia,”
added Mr Vohra.

The detailed reference to The Sacred India Gallery and the work of John Lang, made by Prime Minister Modi in his Mann Ki Baat today, is a mark of the appreciation and gratitude felt by all Indians.

Indian-origin Nanotech pioneer Prof. Jagadish appointed as President of Australian Academy of Science

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26 November 2021 10:07 AM

Nanotech pioneer Prof. Jagadish appointed as President of Australian Academy of Science: Picture Source: Supplied

Indian-Australian Physicist and Nanotechnology Pioneer Prof. Chennupati Jagadish has been appointed as the President of the prestigious Australian Academy of Science (AAS).

Prof. Jagadish who studied by the light of a kerosene lamp up until grade seven went on to receive a B.Sc. degree from Nagarjuna University in 1977, M.Sc (Tech) degree from Andhra University in 1980, and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delhi in 1982 and 1986, respectively.

He moved to Australia in 1990 and became an Australian citizen in 1995. Here, he established a major research program in the field of optoelectronics and nanotechnology.

We are proud to announce that the next President of the Australian Academy of Science will be Distinguished Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC FAA FTSE, elected by his peers. Read more:https://t.co/eaB4iultxr pic.twitter.com/OuN7IPBEZ1
— Australian Academy of Science (@Science_Academy) November 24, 2021

Great to see the appointment of Indian-Australian Physicist & Nanotechnology Pioneer Chennupati Jagadish as President of the prestigious Australian Academy of Science. Prof.Jagadish did his studies & Ph.D from India. A proud moment4 🇮🇳science @DDNewslive @IndianDiplomacy @WIONews pic.twitter.com/KhUISBoHsT
— KARTHIGEYAN SUBRAMANYAN (@pskarthigeyan) November 25, 2021

Prof. Jagadish is currently a Distinguished Professor and Head of the Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

He was first elected to the AAS in 2005 and is acknowledged as a world leader in the research field of semiconductor optoelectronics.

Image source: Prof. Jagadish with His Excellency Sir Peter Cosgrove – Facebook.

In 2016, Prof. Jagadish was awarded the Companion of Order of Australia medal by His Excellency Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia.

He is also the winner of the 2000 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc (USA) (IEEE) Third Millennium Medal, 2017 Welker Award from ISCS, 2017 IUMRS Somiya Award, 2018 AVS Nanotechnology Recognition Award, and the 2019 Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal from Australian Academy of Science and Global Leadership Award from the President of University of South Florida.

We are proud to announce that the next President of the Australian Academy of Science will be Distinguished Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC FAA FTSE (@NanoJagadish), elected by his peers. pic.twitter.com/82c4wMrm8t
— Australian Academy of Science (@Science_Academy) November 24, 2021

Prof. C. Jagadish has published more than 980+ research papers (700+ journal papers), holds 6 US patents, co-authored a book, co-edited 15 books, guest-edited 20 special issues of journals, and edited 12 conference proceedings.

His achievements have been predicated on a deep understanding of the underlying solid-state physics including defects and diffusion processing.

He also holds honorary positions at IIT Hyderabad, National Taiwan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu; University of Tokyo, Anna University, Mangalore University, ICT Mumbai, Hefei University of Technology, Taoyuan University of Technology, Nanjing University, and Oxford University.

I am humbled and grateful for this honour to serve Australian Science and the Academy. Thanks to @ourANU and @Science_Academy https://t.co/jIavfHm60c
— Chennupati Jagadish (@NanoJagadish) November 25, 2021

‘Proud of you’: Ricky Ponting reacts as Shreyas Iyer becomes India’s 303rd Test cricketer

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26 November 2021 9:26 AM

Shreyas Iyer becomes India's 303rd Test cricketer; Picture Source: @BCCI

Former Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting AO is proud of Shreyas Iyer as the batter made his Test debut for India against New Zealand in Kanpur.

26-year-old Shreyas Iyer became India’s 303rd Test cricketer, receiving his maiden Test cap from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.

This Test cap has come after 4592 first-class runs in 54 matches at an average of 52.18.

Image source: Ricky Ponting with Shreyas Iyer – Facebook.

Shreyas Iyer registered half-century as India dominated Day 1 of the ongoing first Test on Thursday. At stumps on Day 1, India’s score read 258/4 with Iyer (75*) and Jadeja (50*) currently unbeaten at the crease.

Resuming third and final session at 154/4, Iyer and Jadeja began from where they left off and the right-handed Iyer brought up his half-century in the 68th over of the innings. Iyer and Jadeja ensured that India do not lose any more wickets before the close of play on Day 1.

Ricky Ponting, who is also the head coach of the Delhi Capitals, posted a heart-warming message for the batter on Twitter.

Having seen all the work you've put in over the last few years, very well deserved and only the beginning for you mate. Proud of you @ShreyasIyer15. https://t.co/Tnb3xZNXhX
— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) November 25, 2021

Ricky Ponting, a three-time World Cup-winning captain, has worked closely with Shreyas Iyer at Delhi Capitals to deliver a stellar show in IPL 2020.

After IPL 2021, Shreyas Iyer was selected for India’s main squad to play in the three-match T20Is series against New Zealand.

FIFTY!@ShreyasIyer15 brings up his maiden Test 50 on his debut game 👏👏

Live – https://t.co/WRsJCUhS2d #INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/oH3WHHtAo1
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 25, 2021

Shreyas Iyer scored 5 and 25 in the first and third T20Is and did not get a chance to bat in the second game as India wrapped up the series 3-0 to inflict a whitewash on the BlackCaps.

It hasn’t been an easy year for Shreyas Iyer. He missed a lot of action due to a shoulder injury sustained against England.

Shreyas Iyer made his ODI debut back in 2017, played 54 limited-overs matches.

Time machine, Ramayan and The Queen of Jaz gang Vaishnavi Anantha

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25 November 2021 6:53 PM

Time machine, Ramayan and The Queen of Jaz gang Vaishnavi Anantha; Picture Source: Supplied

Vaishnavi Anantha, a 9^th grader from Hyderabad, is only 14 years old. However, unlike most kids her age, she is already a published author.

She is writing a four-book series on a very fascinating theme with two of her books The Jaz Gang: A Dangerous Escapade and The Jaz Gang & the Mystic Warrior already being published. Her upcoming book and the third instalment in the series are The Jaz Gang & The Mystery of the Secret Chamber.

Let’s meet this extremely talented young author to know more about her books and why she chose to write on the theme that she did which is almost impossible to guess from the title of her books.

Australia Today: Tell us about your books and what is the theme?

Vaishnavi: The JAZ Gang is a four-book series, and the theme revolves around three teenagers who discover a time machine and decide to visit the Ramayana era particularly Mithila because they wish to prove that Ramayana wasn’t a mythical story as claimed by several western historians. They choose Mithila because a lot is written and said about Lord Rama but there are lesser-known facts about Devi Sita.

Ramayana has been explored several times in various forms, so, I’ve included a lot of adventure, thrill and have tried to come up with some totally different aspects of Ramayana to keep the readers hooked while giving away subtle messages about our rich culture.

Australia Today: When did you first come across the Ramayana and what impression did it leave on you?
Vaishnavi: When I was a young girl, every night I would request my grandma to tell a story and she would narrate the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. So, back then I would just listen to those stories, enjoy them, and fall asleep. But in the last few years, my mom would always tell me about Ramayana. She would tell that Ramayana is not just about Lord Rama defeating Ravana. It’s not about him being worshipped as God. It’s much more than that.

Ramayana teaches us about sacrifice, discipline, love, family, and other deeper aspects of life. My mom would tell that Lord Rama was a normal human being like us who became extraordinary and achieved impossible feats in his life because of the principles he followed. So, Ramayana is about imbibing Lord Ram and Devi Sita’s qualities and trying to bring about a positive change in our lives.

But in the same breath, I used to hear many westerners claim that the greatest Indian epics are nothing but mere ‘mythology.’ So, I would ask my mom that if we Indians have faith in Ramayana and Mahabharata then how can the western world not believe us? On what basis are they denying the fact that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata could have existed? As an answer to my question, mom would say that maybe it’s because Lord Rama achieved something we cannot even think of, they seized to believe us.

I feel that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata existed. Recently only NASA discovered a nearly 30-mile-long bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka and they named it ‘the Adam’s bridge.’ But coincidently, in Ramayana too, when Lord Rama had to cross the Indian ocean to rescue his wife who was being held captive in Lanka, he had built a bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka with the help of his army and that very bridge is what we Indians calls ‘the Rama Setu.’ So, there is much such evidence that proves that Ramayana and Mahabharata were real and not just some ‘myth’. I believe in those stories. I strongly feel that they existed and that they were an exceptionally advanced civilisation that dominated the world thousands of years ago.

Australia Today: How did you think about writing a book mixing the ancient and the futuristic?

Vaishnavi: Initially, it all began because I felt that kids and teens like me know truly little about our rich past. While we’re interested in knowing more about Greek or Roman mythology, we find it boring to know about our own culture.

Another reason I feel we are not interested in knowing more about our culture is because of our history textbooks. Though they highlight the achievements of our invaders, I feel, little is written about the accomplishments of the Indian rulers, saints, or freedom fighters. Today, we all know about the Taj Mahal and the complete history behind it but though some of us would have heard about the famous temples, I reckon that not many would know about its history or who built it and why?

Thus, I thought about mixing the ancient and the futuristic, so that, I could share with my fellow readers about our rich Indian culture and history in a manner which they would enjoy reading.

Australia Today: Are your friends or schoolmates aware of Ramayana or Mahabharata?

Vaishnavi: I feel we know very little about Ramayana or the Mahabharata these days. Though our grandparents or parents still enjoy reading or watching these epics, I feel that somehow the western influence has dramatically increased amongst kids like me, and we are losing interest in knowing anything about the great Indian epics. Though we may watch serials based on these for fun, we are failing to understand the very essence of these epics. All we know is that Lord Rama killed Ravana, and the Pandavas defeated the Kauravas.

Today, if we’re asked anything about Greek or Roman mythology, we can answer at lightning speed, thanks to books like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson but the scenario is completely different when it comes to learning or finding out more about our very own culture.

Australia Today: Do you wish to convey a message through this book or do you write it only for the reader’s enjoyment?

Vaishnavi: I definitely wish to convey a message through this series, and I’ve shared it in the author’s note of my 2^nd book.

So, through my books, I want to tell my fellow readers that India was and is much more than just a ‘land of thousand deities.’ We weren’t superstitious or illogical. In fact, we were quite the opposite. Though most of the things we do might sound meaningless, the reality is that every single belief or ritual of ours has some hidden scientific reason which we are unaware of, the reason being that the information was wrongly interpreted over the years. A simple example could be: a superstition in India is that we must not go near the Peepal tree at night as evil spirits reside there. But the scientific reasoning which restricts us from going near the Peepal tree is that they release large amounts of carbon dioxide in the night!

We must feel proud of our nation and not feel ashamed or embarrassed about it. India was home to one of the oldest empires in the world. We gave rise to one of the most sophisticated civilisations. Not only that but we were also the world’s richest country, a.k.a. the superpower for nearly thousands of years!

In recent times, I read articles that said that we should stop dwelling in our past and look towards our future. I’d like to differ on this, as I believe, it’s our past that shapes our thought process and future. So, it is time we try to know more about our rich past and heritage and do whatever we can to take it forward.

Australia Today: Did you always plan it to be a four-part series?

Vaishnavi: Well, frankly speaking, never in my wildest dreams I would have ever thought that someday I would become an author. I had never imagined that I would write a novel that would go on to become a four-part series. All I was bothered about was asking my mom (who was the one who suggested and encouraged me to write a book) ‘how can I write a book?’

But when I was halfway through, I thoroughly started enjoying the entire process of writing. With my mom’s encouragement, constant guidance, and God’s enlightenment I could extend my story and convert it into a gripping, four-part series.

Australia Today: Now tell us how you came about this name?

Vaishnavi: Well, coming up with the title name was definitely not an easy task. I and my mom would discuss a lot and rack our brains on it. Initially, I would end up with unique or rather bizarre titles, many of which would not even make much sense to the storyline. But suddenly one day just out of the blue, I got this fascinating name ‘The JAZ Gang’ based on the initials of the protagonists of my book (Jay, Archie & Zenisha).

Australia Today: Were you at all worried as to how you will make time to write this book or that was never a challenge?

Vaishnavi: The journey of writing was definitely a challenge, and it was not at all easy juggling between studies and book writing, but I was lucky as my parents have always given more importance to extracurricular activities and not just studies and right from an early age, they inculcated in me the habit of time-management.

I decided to home school, of course with the support of my parents, during the outbreak of corona, and that’s when I stumbled upon writing. So, I guess, the corona was a boon for me. So, I always prepare a timetable and plan my day in a manner that allows me to spare time for book writing along with enjoying all other extracurricular activities and studies.

Australia Today: Is this book a children’s book or is it for everyone?

Vaishnavi: At first, it began as a children’s book, but as I continued to write, several elements were added, making my book suitable for all ages. So, whether a teen or an adult, I feel everyone will enjoy reading it as it has the gripping elements of fantasy, adventure, values, and history. It’s a book that parents can read along with their younger kids and enjoy.

Australia Today: Which are your top 3 favourite books and who is your favourite author and why?

Vaishnavi: I’m sure quite a lot of people would be shocked to know that I started reading books at the age of 12 only. Before that, I literally used to despise reading books. It’s only since the last one and a half years that I began enjoying book-reading. It’s hard to choose the top 3 as I have enjoyed reading most of whatever I’ve read in this short span, but still, if I had to choose then they would be The Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, and Three Thousand Stiches by Sudha Murty.

Coming to the second part of the question, in the fiction genre, one of my favourite authors is Carolyn Keene because Nancy Drew’s books were the first novels that I began reading. Her novels are very gripping, short yet fast-paced.

In the non-fiction genre, my favourite author is Sudha Murty because whatever she writes, it comes from her heart. I can connect with her books as all her stories are to the point, simple, and very touching.

Apart from being an author, Vaishnavi is also a YouTuber and recently got a black belt in Teakwood. She enjoys travelling to historical places. Vaishnavi also likes to draw, swim, play badminton, read books, and experiment with new things on the computer.

Big changes for 485 visa and international student visa holders returning to Australia, Here’ details

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25 November 2021 11:13 AM

International Student on Australian Visa; Picture Source: @CANVA

The Federal Government will introduce changes to visa settings that will provide much-needed flexibility for international students as they set to return to Australia.

The new settings will extend measures to protect the post-study work rights of international students as well as extend the temporary graduate visa from two to three years for masters by coursework graduates.

Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge said the announcement would accelerate the COVID-19 recovery process for the 2022 academic year.

“This will help ensure the rapid return of international students,”
Minister Tudge said.

“It provides clear incentives for institutions and students and ensures students are not disadvantaged from being prevented from coming to Australia earlier.

“The extension of the Innovation Grants will help English language providers who have been hit particularly hard by COVID.”

While the latest data (as of August 2021) shows international student enrolments are down 17 per cent overall compared to August 2019, the ELICOS sector has experienced the greatest decline in enrolments at 71 per cent for that same period.

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services Alex Hawke said changes to visa settings for the international education sector gave students some much-needed reprieve as Australia’s borders were set to reopen.

“The changes are targeted to not only support international students but are also a crucial component of our economic recovery and will help us retain and attract skilled workers.”
Mr Hawke added.

This is how new visa settings will look:

Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa holders who have been unable to travel to Australia as a result of COVID-19 international border restrictions will be able to apply for a replacement visa. This will allow current and former Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa holders whose visas expired on or after 1 February 2020 to re-apply for a new subclass 485 visa of the same duration as their original visa.
Additionally, the Federal Government will increase the length of stay on the Temporary Graduate visa from two to three years for Masters by coursework graduates, matching that of Masters by research graduates.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector graduates will also receive a two year Temporary Graduate visa.
The new visa settings will also extend existing measures for students and temporary graduates to recognise time spent offshore studying online to count towards qualifying for a temporary graduate visa.

Federal Government will also introduce further targeted measures to support the international education sector to roar back, as international borders reopen.

More than $37 million will be available to support those international education providers most affected by COVID-19. Extended regulatory fee waivers and additional grants are elements of this.

The package includes:

$27.8 million in regulatory fee relief for the duration of 2022, including certain fees for Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) registrations, and the Tuition Protection Service (TPS) Levy.
Extension of the current FEE-HELP loan fee exemption until 31 December 2022, benefiting around 30,000 undergraduate higher education students studying at institutes of higher education and public universities.
An additional $9.4 million to extend the Innovation Development Fund, delivering further short-term targeted support to private English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) providers to diversify their education offerings into online and offshore delivery.

Australia lists ‘Hezbollah’, neo-Nazi outfit ‘The Base’ as terrorist organisations

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24 November 2021 4:33 PM

Australia lists 'Hezbollah', neo-Nazi outfit 'The Base' as terrorist organisations: Picture Source: Twitter @ANI

Federal Government has listed the Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah and neo-Nazi organisation The Base as terrorist organisations.

The designations make it a criminal offence to be a member of The Base or Hezbollah. Anyone guilty of terrorist organisation offences, including being a member, recruiting, receiving training or acquiring funds for a terrorist organisation can face imprisonment for up to 25 years.

Hezbollah is based in Lebanon and functions as a Shia Islamist political party and a militant group, which has formed alliances with Iran and Syria.

Security experts have warned Hezbollah’s international network is expanding in size and influence, but prefers covert operations rather than direct conflict, reported ABC News.

Until now Australia has only listed the group’s External Security Organisation (ESO) on the terrorist list, exempting its military and political wings. Adding the entirety of Hezbollah to the list – including the political wing that has government representation – may complicate aid flowing to Lebanon, which is beset by a political and economic crisis.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Hezbollah was providing support to other terrorist organisations in the region, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

The Morrison Government intends to list the entirety of Hizballah and racist neo-Nazi group The Base as terrorist organisations under the criminal code. I will continue to take strong action to keep Australians safe from terrorism. pic.twitter.com/P1BW59WKzp
— Karen Andrews MP (@karenandrewsmp) November 24, 2021

Last year, Hezbollah vowed revenge for a US drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Solemaini.

The Federal government’s bipartisan committee on intelligence and security has also recommended the entirety of Palestinian group Hamas be listed as a terror organisation.

Further, Minister Andrews described the white supremacist group The Base as “a violent, racist and neo-Nazi organisation” known to be planning attacks in several nations.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Senator James Paterson has welcomed the announcement by the Morrison government to list the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, as well as the neo-Nazi organisation The Base.

The decision acts upon the unanimous bipartisan recommendation of the PJCIS in its report in June that the existing listing of Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation be expanded to cover all of Hezbollah.

Senator Paterson said,

“This decision sends the strong message that Australia has zero-tolerance for terrorism and stands shoulder to shoulder with like-minded partners around the world who also list Hezbollah in its entirety. Australians will be safer thanks to this decision by the Morrison government.”

Earlier this year, the ABC report revealed The Base was actively targeting men as young as 17 for recruitment in Australia.

The Base group was formed in 2018 and has sought to establish terrorist cells in several nations in an attempt to establish a fascist, white ethno-state.

In the United States, several men linked to the group were being prosecuted for offences including conspiracy to murder. The far-right group was already designated a terrorist organisation in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Indian-Australian Trailblazer Mathematician Prof. Asha Rao Inducted to Victorian Honour Roll of Women

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24 November 2021 11:31 AM

Indian-Australian professor and former Interim Director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI), Prof. Asha Rao has been inducted into the 2021 Victorian Honour Roll of Women in the Trailblazer category.

She is passionate about mathematics and gender issues that stymie the progress of women and girls in STEM careers.

As the founding chair of Women in Maths, Prof. Rao has put in place several initiatives to improve gender equity within the mathematical sciences in Australia.

The Victorian Honour Roll of Women celebrates the outstanding contributions made by women from all walks of life.

Inductees in the Victorian Honour Roll of Women are selected by an independent assessment panel consisting of community representatives.

A shortlist of candidates is sent to the Minister for Women for her consideration and selection.

Image source: Victorian Government’s Minister for Women, Gabrielle Williams – Parliament of Victoria.

The Victorian Government’s Minister for Women, Gabrielle Williams, said that the 2021 Victorian Honour Roll of Women inductees recognise women from all walks of life who have made outstanding contributions to the Victorian community.

It also acknowledges the many ways in which women have made a lasting impact on the state of Victoria.

“Each year, the Victorian Honour Roll of Women recognises women who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and excellence in their field of expertise, interest, endeavour, or through their commitment to the community.”

Since 2001, over 700 women have been recognised for their incredible efforts in Victoria, Australia and beyond.

Inductees to the Honour Roll are recognised for their achievements in a broad range of fields.

These fields include science, arts, environment, law, social justice, family violence prevention, research, health, media, and education.

“They each represent the courage and determination of women across Victoria using their unique skills, experiences and insights to forge a brighter path for all women.”

Prof. Rao is a mathematician by training and applying algebraic techniques to a wide variety of problems.

These problems range from designing better codes for communication to detecting money laundering and describing human interactions in the physical space.

Her research has led to closed and open meetings on cybersecurity as well as to observe the United Nations intergovernmental meetings on cybercrime.

As a cybersecurity expert, Prof. Rao appears regularly on audiovisual and print media and has won RMIT Media star awards.

She started her academic career as a casual tutor at RMIT in 1992, rising through the ranks to become a professor. Prof. Rao is currently the Associate Dean of Mathematical Sciences at RMIT University.

Have suggestions for ‘Australia-India Free Trade Agreement’ tell DFAT to make them count

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23 November 2021 3:17 PM

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is inviting submissions from interested individuals, businesses, and other interested stakeholders on the potential opportunities and impacts of an Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), or Free Trade Agreement.

“We welcome renewed submissions from interested parties that provided submissions for earlier CECA negotiations, or provided related submissions during the negotiations for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).”

As per the DFAT website, these submissions can address interests in a possible interim agreement which will pave the way for a full CECA.

“Individuals, organisations and groups that make submissions will be registered as stakeholders by the Department for further consultation and follow up as appropriate.”

In 2020, Australia and India trade exceeded $24 billion thus making India Australia’s 7th largest trading partner.

PM Scott Morrison and Indian PM Narendra Modi in Chat: Picture Source: @PIB

Australian and Indian stakeholders are invited to consider and comment on the commercial, economic, regional, and other impacts that could be expected to arise from a future interim agreement, as well as from a full CECA.

“In your submission, you may wish to focus on specific market access challenges and other issues of importance in doing business with India. Especially helpful would be information on tariff and non-tariff barriers to goods trade, barriers and other issues affecting services trade, and barriers to investment.”

Due to COVID-19 and its impact worldwide, circumstances have changed since earlier rounds of talks.

DFAT says that stakeholders may wish to update or re-submit their earlier submissions and hence they have re-opened the submissions for the following issues:

goods market access (tariffs and quotas)
rule of origin (including associated procedures)
non-tariff barriers to trade in goods (including technical barriers and customs issues)
cross-border trade in services
financial services
investment, including investor-state dispute settlement
government procurement
intellectual property, including geographical indications
barriers to trade in emerging and innovative industries e.g, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, IT incubators
movement of persons
competition policy
sustainable development

The information provided through these submissions will assist the Australian Government in determining the nation’s key priorities for CECA.

In addition, it will also lead to a possible interim agreement as a pathway to a full CECA.

We want to hear📢from you. What are some of the challenges you face in trading with India?

Last year 🇮🇳🇦🇺 trade exceeded $24B, making India our 7th largest trading partner.

Send your 📧on the CECA or Free Trade Agreement via: https://t.co/erzhYExTFC pic.twitter.com/vKy5r7VVzb
— DFAT Trade Talk (@DFAT_TradeTalk) November 23, 2021

These submissions may take several forms — from a short email to a more comprehensive analytical paper.

These can be confidential as well as public as DFAT may publish the suggestions on its website unless the author specifically requests that the submission, or part thereof, be handled in confidence.

If you are interested in making a submission, kindly lodge one via email: indiafta@dfat.gov.au

To see Australia-India FTA submissions from earlier negotiations, see https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/negotiations/aifta/submissions/australia-india-fta-submissions/australia-india-fta-submissions-earlier-negotiations.

Indian-Australian tea company named amongst Top 50 Food & Beverages startups

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23 November 2021 12:02 PM

Australian Tea Company; Image Source: Supplied

In recent years, the food & beverages industry in Australia has grown. This is recognised as high growth and profit sector due to its huge potential for value addition.

After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. While many consumers are seeking tea products for diverse functions such as energy-boosting and anti-inflammatory to slimming and relaxing benefits.

With the increase in Australia’s multicultural population, no wonder an Indian-Australian tea startup has earned the place in the Top 50 food & beverage market.

Mr. Pradeep Dubey, based in Perth, is the co-founder of DeWine and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Tea Company (ATC).

“We are quite excited. After these challenging two years, ATC is all set to bounce back in early next year with the first flush (harvest) of tea.”

Image source: Pradeep Dubey , Chief Executive Officer – ATC.

Pradeep is an alumnus of Annamalai University, RMIT, and Curtin University. He is passionate about working with entrepreneurs from different migrant communities living in Australia.

Pradeep started ATC in 2017 as a vertically integrated and multi-channel tea company.

ATC uses e-commerce to bring tea straight to the cup, right from the source, cutting across several trade layers.

According to Pradeep, this business model keeps intact the freshness and antioxidant characters of the tea.

“We procure our teas directly from the growers, with our sourcing centres located in the tea growing regions in India including Darjeeling, Assam, and in Nepal.
With our production/packaging facility located in India (New Delhi NCR), we can assure the quality, freshness of the teas.”

In addition to this accolade, Pradeep has also won the International Achievers’ Award 2021 for his achievements in international business engagement and relationship building, between Australia and India.

You will also be amazed to taste our fusion combinations of tea leaves.
Visit https://t.co/DQHK51xozs #specialtytea #wellnesstrends #authenticflavor #tealovers #blacktea #chamomiletea #freshtealeaves #healthyyou #greentea #whitetea #teaestates #teaplantation pic.twitter.com/nPjnaUDDJH
— ATC (@australianteaco) August 9, 2019

In his Linkedin post, Pradeep thanked people who have been part of his journey:

“I consider this as recognition for me and my team for our exemplary #teamwork. More to come and we will be audacious and united always … #Team ATC!! Kris Christine, Team ATC India!! Australian Tea Company.”

Selected from over 5000 nominations, this prestigious award is presented by the Indian Achievers’ Forum.

On the question of what does future hold for Australia-India relations via tea, Pradeep feels that the Australian tea market has evolved dramatically in the past few years in line with consumers’ changing behaviour.

“Today, tea drinkers are more interested in high-quality products that give them specific health benefits, which have driven demand for healthy green, functional botanical tea and herbal blends.”

He adds that right now ATC has around sixteen types of tea products.

Pradeep plans to grow it with the support of tea lovers in Australia. He says:

“IN ADDITION, THE PERCEPTION OF TEA HAS ALSO CHANGED. CONVENTIONAL TEA DRINKERS PERCEIVE TEA AS A REFRESHING, RELAXING AND ENERGY DRINK. TEA IS A PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIFE. WHEREAS YOUNGER CONSUMERS PERCEIVE IT AS A SENSUAL AND WELLNESS DRINK. THEY ARE INTERESTED IN INNOVATIVE FLAVOUR COMBINATIONS, AS WELL AS IN AUTHENTICITY AND THE STORY BEHIND CERTAIN BRANDS. NATURAL, EARTHY FLAVOURS SUCH AS GINGER, MATCHA, TURMERIC AND CUMIN ARE IN HIGHER DEMAND.”

For the future, keeping in mind the range and flavours of tea that India offers, the ATC is planning to organise tea education tours bringing both countries closer.

Qantas starts direct flights between Melbourne and Delhi on 22 December

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22 November 2021 4:21 PM

Qantas Aircraft; Picture Source: @QANTAS

Qantas has announced it will launch a brand-new international route from Melbourne to Delhi on 22 December 2021.

This flight will be connecting Victoria to the Indian capital on a Qantas-operated flight for the first time in the airline’s history.

The new Melbourne-Delhi flight will operate four times a week, year-round. Same-day connections will also be available from Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra.

Flights from Melbourne to Delhi will initially operate via Adelaide, while flights from Delhi to Melbourne will operate nonstop.

This follows the recent announcement of flights from Sydney to Delhi, which start next month. When this route went on sale, Qantas saw the fastest booking surge for flights leaving Australia since the airline announced its international restart plans in August.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the relaunch of international flights from Victoria will pave the way for long-awaited reunions with loved ones, as well as help the state retain its position as one of Australia’s premier destinations for global travellers.

“Victorians have done it tougher than most over the past two years and we think many will see the restart of Qantas international flights as another important step towards life getting back to normal,”
Mr Joyce said.

“The restart of our international flights is only possible because of the way Victorians and Australians more broadly have rolled up their sleeves to get the jab.”

Qantas will also relaunch flights from Melbourne-London on 27 November 2021 and Melbourne-Los Angeles on 19 December 2021.

While the international travel experience will largely be the same as pre- COVID, some things will look and feel a little different, particularly in the short term.

Qantas has rolled out a range of new initiatives including a customised digital travel guide designed to help passengers navigate travel requirements before they leave home.

The launch of international flights coincides with the opening of the Qantas First Lounge at Melbourne International Airport.

While normally reserved for Platinum Frequent Flyers, Qantas will extend an invitation to customers travelling in Business, Gold Frequent Flyers and Qantas Club members to visit the First Lounge until the neighbouring Business Lounge reopens.

Customers will be offered a hybrid dining experience designed by Neil Perry featuring some of the most popular menu items from both the First and Business lounges, such as salt and pepper squid with green chilli dipping sauce, Neil’s pork and veal lasagna and the signature pavlova, as well as fine wines and barista coffee.

For a limited time, the menu will also feature chicken satays and vegetable samosas to celebrate the restart of Singapore flights and the new Melbourne-Delhi flights.

All passengers on Qantas international flights are required to be fully vaccinated, unless they are under 12 years old, are 12-17-year-olds travelling to Australia with their family or guardian or have an exemption.

Initial international flights are limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and parents in line with Federal Government requirements. It’s expected this will be extended to other travellers in the coming months.

Australia ready to welcome back fully-vaccinated Visa Holders including International Students, Here’ details

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22 November 2021 1:05 PM

From 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders including skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holidaymakers, and provisional family visa holders, can come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption.

Under these arrangements, travellers must:

· Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

· Hold a valid visa for one of the eligible visa subclasses

· Provide proof of their vaccination status

· Present a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of departure.

Travelers to Australia must comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel.

Fully vaccinated International students and Visa holders will be able to come to Australia from 1 December 2021: @ScottMorrisonMP @AlanTudgeMP @JasonWood_MP @DrAmitSarwal @Lisa_Singh @GroupOfEight @dryadusingh @VohraManpreet @AusHCIndia @shebatweets @DipenRughani pic.twitter.com/AdPhHRpWyw
— The Australia Today (@TheAustoday) November 22, 2021

The return of skilled workers and international students to Australia will further cement Australia’s economic recovery, providing valuable workers to economic needs and supporting the important education sector.

From 1 December 2021, Australia will also welcome back fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and the Republic of Korea. Under these arrangements, citizens of Japan and the Republic of Korea who hold a valid Australian visa will be able to travel from their home country quarantine-free to participating states and territories, without needing to seek a travel exemption.

We are opening borders to international students on 1 December. This is good for those students, good for the unis and good for our economy.
— Alan Tudge (@AlanTudgeMP) November 22, 2021

Under these arrangements, travellers must:

· Depart from their home country

· Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by the TGA

· Hold a valid Australian visa

· Provide proof of their vaccination status

· Present a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within three days of departure.

Today’s announcement follows earlier changes that have seen people welcoming home fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents, and immediate family members since 1 November, and follows the commencement of the Singapore safe travel zone yesterday.

Market Mantra: Australian shares at loss as miners and big banks sink

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22 November 2021 11:33 AM

Market Mantra representative picture via @CANVA

Australian shares marked a second straight weekly drop as a revised takeover bid for Crown resorts was unable to counter the slump in big banks and miners.

The Big Four banks led the decline on the share index for the week after Commonwealth Bank of Australia flagged margin pressures on Wednesday. Even though CBA did recover some of the lost ground on Friday, climbing by 1.3% after announcing its latest foray into cryptocurrency space and buying a stake in its crypto trading partner – Gemini, it was not enough to lift the financials for the week. Overall the financials recorded a decline of 3.6% for the week, it’s worse since October 2020.

According to Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine grou:

“At a time when the fierce competition in the key home loan market is hurting the banks margins substantially, one can expect the financial sector to remain under pressure for quite some time.”

Usually a hike in interest rates help ease such margin pressures. The Reserve Bank, however, has made it clear that it is in no hurry to raise interest rates. As such an interest rate hike in the coming months seem highly unlikely.

The miners were also down 1.5% for the week as iron ore prices sank to an 18-month low last week on worries that weak demand for the steel-making ingredient in China, the world’s largest steel producer, will continue to persist beyond 2021.

However, it was a week where the troubled casino group Crown Resorts grabbed the headlines as it soared 17.1% to climb most in almost eight months after Blackstone group made a 6.2 billion takeover for the group. Investors in CWN have been doing it tough lately as the Royal Commission into the operations of the troubled casino found serious wrongdoings on a fairly widespread scale. As such confirmation of a higher offer from Blackstone will come as music to their ears. At the time of closing of trade on Friday, the shares in Crown casino were trading at $11.54, which is still below the offer price of $12.50.

Moving forward the traders will be monitoring the situation in Europe where the old CoVid-19 spooked the markets once again. On Friday night Austria became the first nation in Western Europe to reimpose a complete National lockdown again as coronavirus cases continue to rise. The German Health Minister Jens Span also said that the situation in Germany was so grave that the lockdown couldn’t be ruled out.

The news resulted in an immediate sell down of stocks in European and American sessions as investors fretted about renewed lockdowns. Banks and travel companies in Europe and US sessions bore the brunt of losses as investors worried about reduced economic activity if case numbers are to rise further and other nations go into lockdown again.

Since Friday night the focus has been changed from inflation back to CoVid-19. This week we believe news regarding CoVid-19 lockdowns in Europe will remain the headline and most of the trades in the market will be driven by COVID.

The resurgent concerns about COVID-19 and looming lockdowns in Europe rattled the world markets on Friday night and pushed the investors towards safe havens. Gold was no different and edged higher for the week as rising inflationary pressures and renewed coronavirus restrictions in Europe clouded the growth outlook and boosted the appeal for the yellow metal as a safe haven.

According to Edward Meir, an analyst with ED&F Man Capital Markets:

“Gold has started focusing much more closely on the inflation picture and discounted the impact of stronger dollar and rising interest rates. There’s still a lot more monetary and fiscal stimulus in the pipeline that should keep the inflation fairly elevated and keep gold prices in turn high.”

The Gold prices, however, did take a bit of a tumble on Friday night after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller called for early tapering of economic support to help chart a tighter monetary policy.

Fed speak has been a big catalyst for gold movements and as such gold traders will need to see what happens over the next couple of weeks before having any strong convictions in regards to what the Fed will do regarding interest rates.

Oil prices posted a fourth consecutive weekly drop last week and sank to a six-week low as new COVID lockdowns sparked demand concerns.

It was the first time since March 2020 that oil prices declined for four weeks in a row with US Crude Oil declining 4% alone on Friday on lockdown worries. Lockdowns sap demand for petroleum products as people are not moving around and businesses are closed. As such if the lockdown measures spread to the rest of Europe or even to nations outside Europe, it could tip the oil market into oversupply.

While the oil market remains in a good position with OPEC+ countries limiting the increase in supply, the lockdowns however will remain a risk for oil prices, especially if other nations decide to follow Austria’s lead.

In regards to the local currency, the Australian Dollar declined for a third week in a row as COVID risk aversion resurfaced with rising cases and lockdowns in Europe. Austria instituted a full national lockdown and Germany is contemplating a return to restrictions as rising coronavirus cases defy high vaccination rates in both countries.

The US dollar also gained strength against most other currencies including the Aussie as a potential rate divergence surfaced with the US Federal Reserve moving towards an early rate rise in 2022 and the Reserve Bank of Australia expecting no rate rise till 2024.

Looking forward the fundamental and technical outlook both do not favor AUD. While US Governor Lowe’s prediction of an earlier than expected rate rise weighs on the Aussie against the USD, weak demand from China and risk-off sentiment due to the coronavirus situation in Europe all impact Aussie negatively.

Technically speaking AUD/USD is resting on weak support and it looks like the 2021 low of 0.7130 from August would come into play. The MACD cross of the signal line below remains the dominant technical condition. The RSI has also moved lower, but not entered the oversold territory yet, thus suggesting there are more losses for the local currency ahead.

The Indian Rupee also came under pressure due to a surging US Dollar. However, it rose against the Australian Dollar as the INR showed a bit more resilience on the news that the Indian government expects the economy to grow by 105% in the current fiscal year as the economy rebounds from the pandemic.

The traders in Indian currency will now turn their focus to RBI which is expected to announce India’s foreign reserves this week. The traders will also be cautious amidst rising coronavirus cases in Europe and the economic impact of new restrictions.

In the world of cryptocurrencies, the crypto market stumbled and stabilised as Bitcoin’s Taproot network update went live last week.

Bitcoin went into a meltdown last week reaching a monthly low of US $56,000 on Thursday. It has since recovered some of the lost ground to be trading around $58,500 at the time of writing the report, recording an 8% weekly decline.

In a report from Coin Market Cap, the crypto market capitalisation stood at the US $2.6 Trillion last week. Both BTC and Ethereum despite the recent declines have gained twofold and sixfold respectively this year.

In terms of money inflows, despite an 8% decline in prices last week money continues to flow into Bitcoin. Capital inflow into Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $9 billion this year, with $151 million inflowing into Bitcoin last week, its thirteenth consecutive week of inflows.

The latest price swings follow plans by the Biden administration report proposing new legislation to regulate stable coins. The infrastructure bill signed by US President-elect includes provisions that firm up tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges, which has big implications for crypto investors.

In positive news for the cryptocurrencies however Indian Government, which for long has opposed digital currencies is reportedly planning to introduce a new legal framework around crypto by early next year with classifications on usage, treatment of crypto as well as income tax and GST implications to be detailed.

In agricultural products, wheat prices continue to rally near multi-year highs as rumours of fresh sales of French wheat to China reinforced expectations of tight wheat supplies in major exporting areas.

A tender of 130,000 tonnes of animal feed wheat issued by the Philippines and International Grains Council cutting its forecast for 2021/22 wheat production further helped wheat prices.

The prices of soybean and corn however fell after a strong harvest season in the US. The demand for soybean, however, remains strong from ethanol producers and it is expected any decline is only temporary as with wheat in tight supplies, there is plenty of support for future grain prices.

Author: Ateev Dang is a trader and trading coach by profession. He runs his own business called Glow trades Pty Ltd where he teaches anyone who is interested in starting on their trading journey how to trade. He can be contacted at adang@glowtrades.com.au.

Disclaimer:

The writers’ opinions in the above article are their own and do not constitute any financial advice whatsoever. Nothing published by The Australia Today constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content publication be relied upon for providing any investment activities.

We strongly recommend that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a financial advisor or qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.

Know ‘Historiography’ before you judge post-colonial Indian History

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22 November 2021 11:15 AM

History and how to understand it; Picture Source: @CANAVA

Before studying Indian historiography, one has to know the meaning of the term ‘historiography’ that comes from history + iography (field of study) or history of history or study of historical perspectives.

The readers need to be aware of the past in the present to make it better for the future, where history plays a prominent role, and historiography reflects methods of historians in the construction of history by using specific sources, methodology, and theoretical perspectives.

Thus it refers to ‘investigation of historical methodology’ and ‘body of scholarly debate about the past.

E. H. Carr stated, “Historiography is a progressive science, in the sense that it seeks to provide constantly expanding and deepening insights into a course of events which is itself progressive. This is what I should mean by saying that we need a constructive outlook over the past”.

The old historiographical interpretations are not discarded but instead included and superseded by the new historiography to understand the event with new techniques and sources presented by reinterpretation by old or new historians.

If we take an example of Indian history, it is usually categorised into three periods ancient, medieval and modern, each having its own historiography. These periodizations have also been challenged by future historians.

Historiography is divided based on the subject matter to give details of historical voices of that subject, these historical voices come together to formulate schools of historiography e.g. in the Indian context is studied in the historiography of Cambridge, Nationalist, Marxist, Subaltern and many more schools of thoughts. Different schools of thoughts have historians who agree with each other and present a similar approach in their methodology.

What is Historiography?

In simple terms, the historiography of a theme comprehensively includes the previous and present historians’ interpretation of a certain issue. For example the historiography of ancient, medieval, and modern historiography identified by the historians based on sources available at the time and space.

General the term is explained as “the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches.”

Historiography identifies the prominent thinkers and explains the structure of scholarly debate on a certain topic. Thus it is meant to convey the scholarship of other historians rather than interpretation of the subject on its own.

This is ‘history of historical writing’, as “When you study ‘historiography’ you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians” (Furay & Salevouris, 1988). This includes the manner in which historians have defined or written about history; historians different approaches, theories, and methods to interpret and write the history.

Overall, this is the studying the changes that emerged in the interpretations of those events as perceived by the narratives of different historians. Therefore, it can be stated, historiography is not a past in itself but the study of historical interpretation of the past over specified events.

Usually, historiography may serve as an introduction to a research paper, that highlights the major papers and books that are written on the specific theme or field of study. It also identifies the academics that were more successful in justifying their argument in the debate. This equips the researcher to understand the past interpretations and present their analysis to the current historiography. It helps to comprehend the value of historical works.

E.H. Carr (1964) wrote, “The facts of history never come to us ‘pure’ since they do not and cannot exist in a pure form: they are always refracted through the mind of the recorder. It follows that when we take up a work of history, our first concern should not be with the facts which it contains but with the historian who wrote it.”

The interpretations of the past arguments over an event put forward by the historians are studied in historiography. It explains how historical events are reinterpreted by historians across history. The objective historiography justifies the past ‘facts’ and places them in the wider context or narrative.

Conclusion

Historiography is important to understand what is known about the past and how historians have attempted to comprehend it; it explains the changing interpretations of those events by the different historians.

Every scholar studying any history initially examines the historiography of the theme to develop understandings of what are historical arguments about that period, event or subject. Thus, it becomes pivotal to understand historiography to put forward own interpretation that will contribute to the existing literature.

Author: Dr Sakul Kundra, A.HOD Department of Social Science, College of Humanities and Education, Fiji National University.

Dr Sakul Kundra; Picture Source: Supplied

Disclaimer: The views expressed are his own and not of The Australia Today or his employer. For comments or suggestions, email. dr.sakulkundra@gmail.com

RMB Café in court for underpaying International students

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21 November 2021 1:40 PM

Legal action against the operators of a café on Degraves Street in Melbourne’s central business district has been commenced by The Fair Work Ombudsman.

Facing court is Aisha & Umma Enterprises Pty Ltd, which trades as RMB Café.

Fair Work Inspector issued a Compliance Notice to the company in June 2020 after forming a belief that 13 workers, engaged variously as food and beverage attendants and cooks, had not been paid all entitlements owed under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010 for work performed between May 2017 and August 2019.

The workers included five International student visa holders.

“The inspector formed a belief that the employees were underpaid minimum wages for ordinary hours, weekend penalty rates, and public holiday rates.”

The FWO alleges that the company, without reasonable excuse, failed to comply with the Compliance Notice, which required the back-payment of the workers’ outstanding entitlements in full. The Compliance Notice required a total payment of $36,479.26 to the employees.

Aisha & Umma has paid a total of $4,701.42 to date.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the regulator would continue to enforce workplace laws and take businesses to court where lawful requests are not complied with.

“Where employers do not comply, we will take appropriate action to protect employees. A court can order a business to pay penalties in addition to back-paying workers.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman does not tolerate the exploitation of any worker, including migrants who can be vulnerable due to factors such as limited English or little understanding of their rights under Australian law. All workers in Australia have the same rights, regardless of citizenship or visa status.

Ombudsman spokesperson said, “We prioritise matters that involve migrant workers, who we know can be vulnerable to exploitation.”

In 2020–21, Ombudsman secured $2,082,051 in court-ordered penalties in matters involving migrant workers and recovered $824,443 in unpaid wages.

One important point for migrant workers to remember is that Fair Work Ombudsman has an agreement with the Department of Home Affairs, called the Assurance Protocol, where visa holders can ask for our help without fear of their visa being cancelled for breaches of their work-related visa conditions. Information and conditions are available on their webpage for visa holder workers.

Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free assistance,”
Ms. Parker said.

The FWO is seeking a penalty against Aisha & Umma Enterprises Pty Ltd. The company faces a penalty of up to $33,300.

The regulator is also seeking an order for the company to comply with the Compliance Notice, which includes rectifying any underpayments in full, plus interest and superannuation.

A directions hearing is listed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne on 11 November 2021.

Note:
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Small businesses can find targeted resources at the Small Business Showcase.

No Quarantine For Fully-Vaccinated International Students in Victoria

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20 November 2021 1:55 PM

Indian International Students; Picture Source: @amitabhk87

International students arriving in Melbourne under the Government’s Student Arrivals Plan do not have to quarantine, provided they can demonstrate that they meet vaccination conditions.

Victoria’s Minister for Trade Martin Pakula said that the ‘arrival plan’ has been updated to reflect standard entry requirements for fully-vaccinated international travellers, including international students, in place since 1 November.

International arrivals will need to demonstrate their vaccination status with a vaccine registered or recognised by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. Arrivals must also comply with all relevant Commonwealth entry requirements, including visas and travel exemptions.

Minister Pakula added, “The amazing vaccination effort of Victorians means fully-vaccinated international arrivals, including students enrolled at our universities and colleges, will not have to serve a period of hotel quarantine.”

“International students add to the cultural richness and diversity of our state. They are valuable members of our community and we look forward to welcoming them back soon.”

In order to enter Victoria without quarantine, international arrivals must comply with the Victorian Government’s testing requirements, including testing negative to COVID-19 within 72 hours of their departure.

The International Student Arrivals Plan was endorsed by the Commonwealth Government last month, with the first group of international students planning to arrive in December.

#LetUsBackToAus @ScottMorrisonMP @DanielAndrewsMP @DrSJaishankar @ServicesGovAU @Smartraveller @ausgov
This is voice of Indian international students against this discrimination and fake priority given to international students pic.twitter.com/weFN4rsLO5
— Baldeep Singh (@Baldeep35803282) November 11, 2021

Under the Plan, priority has been given to students who need to return to Victoria to do practical work, including research, health, and medical students.

The Plan provides for the safe return to study in Victoria for international students, and a pipeline for continued arrivals through 2022. Around 49,000 international students enrolled with Victorian education providers remain offshore due to border closures while about 70,000 are currently in Victoria.

International education is a critical services export and jobs provider for Victoria, contributing a peak of $13.7 billion to the state’s economy and supporting around 79,000 Victorian jobs prior to the pandemic.

To remain connected to offshore students, the Victorian Government has established Study Melbourne Hubs in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and Ho Chi Minh City, and virtually in India and Latin America.

The hubs provide offshore international students with support and study facilities and promote Victoria as a study destination.

More information about the Plan is available at coronavirus.vic.gov.au/international-student-arrivals-plan.

Indian-origin scientist awarded top science prize worth $1-million

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20 November 2021 9:37 AM

Prof. Sajeev John, a 64-year-old professor, and Canada Research Chair in Optical Sciences at the University of Toronto has been awarded Canada’s top science prize.

He was named this year’s recipient of the $1-million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal.

This is the highest honour given out by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and is awarded annually for “sustained excellence” and “overall influence” of research conducted in Canada.

NSERC said in a statement:

“Thanks to his discoveries, it may be possible to process information optically rather than electronically, enabling a supercomputing technology more stable and scalable than quantum computers.”

Prof. John has developed a way to confine and control light which is similar to the way electrons are controlled in electronics.

The technique is now being used for non-invasive laser surgeries and the development of a thin solar cell “coating” for buildings, cars, and even clothing.

Prof. John told CBC that the phone call from NSERC president Alejandro Adem, informing him he had won, took him by surprise.

“The Herzberg Canada Gold Medal will be very useful in attracting other aspiring young scientists to work on my team and be a part of this effort.
So quite a lot of it is going to be used to, you know, to bring in good PhD students, postdocs, visiting scientists — people that can work on the project.”

Indian High Commission in Canada tweeted its congratulatory message celebrating this win.

A proud moment for the people of Indian heritage in 🇨🇦.
Congratulations to #physicist Dr. Sajeev John on being awarded the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal.
In 2007, Dr. John was awarded the C.V. Raman Chair Professorship of the Government of India.https://t.co/2SwvRxMHFt pic.twitter.com/mall79qkZ8
— India in Canada (@HCI_Ottawa) November 18, 2021

Professor Leah Cowen, University of Toronto’s associate vice-president of research, congratulating Prof. John said:

“From his ground-breaking work on confining and harnessing the flow of photons to his leadership in exploring applications for his research in optical micro-chips, optical communications and information processing, laser technologies, solar energy-harvesting and clinical medicine – his impact has been remarkable.”

Prof. John was born in India and grew up in Ottawa. His current research focus is on climate change.

“The area that I’m most excited about right now is in using the concept of trapping light to trap light from the sun.”

He is also an officer of the Order of Canada, a Canada Council Killam Prize for Natural Sciences, and a Citation Laureate celebrating “Nobel-class” scientists.

WATCH VIDEO: Sajeev John: Photonic crystals increase solar efficiency

“Let’s start afresh,”: Indian PM Modi announces to repeal all three farm laws

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19 November 2021 4:33 PM

In a major move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws.

In his televised address, PM Modi said, “Today I want to tell everyone that we have decided to repeal all three farm laws.”

Farmers have been protesting the government’s three farm laws since had passed the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.

The three farm laws are–

1- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act provides for setting up a mechanism allowing the farmers to sell their farm produce outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs). Any license-holder trader can buy the produce from the farmers at mutually agreed prices. This trade of farm produces will be free of mandi tax imposed by the state governments.

Addressing the nation. https://t.co/daWYidw609
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 19, 2021

2- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act allows farmers to do contract farming and market their produces freely.

3-The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act.

What I am doing is for the welfare of the nation assures PM Modi

Prime Minister said,

“Whatever I did, I did for farmers. What I am doing, is for the country. With your blessings, I never left out anything in my hard work. Today I assure you that I will now work even harder, so that your dreams, nation’s dreams can be realised.”

Urging farmers to return to their homes and “let’s start afresh”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the constitutional measures to repeal the laws will begin in the Winter session of Parliament which is likely to commence from November 29.

Social media erupted with mixed reactions from farmers to social experts.

Repeal of farm laws is surrender of our children’s future in face of extortionists who wanted to humiliate the will of popular govt https://t.co/T0h71NYE6t
We learnt nothing from 80s. Will give fillip to Khalistanis, other anti-national forces.
Not reforms more road blocks ahead.
— Sikhs for Enlightenment Values Association (SEVA) (@SikhsSeva) November 19, 2021

“We have decided to repeal all three farm laws, will begin the procedure at the Parliament session that begins this month. I urge farmers to return home to their families and let’s start afresh,”
said PM Modi.

Modi brought #FarmLaws Masterstroke. Modi repealed #FarmLaws Masterstroke. Everyone else in the country decide whether you want to do front stroke or back stroke but please don’t die of a heart stroke. Live today, fight another day.
— Savio Rodrigues 🇮🇳 (@PrinceArihan) November 19, 2021

Prime Minister said farmers’ welfare and agriculture development is the top priority of the government.

“When the country gave us the opportunity to serve as Pradhan Sevaks in 2014, we gave top priority to agricultural development and farmer welfare. Many people are unaware of the truth that 80 percent are small-scale farmers who have less than 2 hectares of land and are over 10 crores in population. This piece of land is their survival,”
he said.

Big win for the Opposition and the protesting farmers. #FarmersProtest #Farmlawsrepealed
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) November 19, 2021

I come from an India where supposedly educated ppl celebrate repeal of laws that would've liberalized farming economy, enabled farmers to sell anywhere, reduced food prices. Just like CAA/NRC nobody bothered to actually read what its about. Modi ka hai toh galat hi hoga #farmlaws
— Ahmed Shariff (@TheAhmedShariff) November 19, 2021

“To overcome the challenges of the small farmers of the country, we worked all-round on seeds, insurance, markets, and savings. Along with good quality seeds, the government also connected the farmers with facilities like neem coated urea, soil health card, and micro-irrigation. Many steps were also taken for the farmers to get the right price for their produce in return for their hard work. The country strengthened its rural market infrastructure,” Prime Minister stated.

“We worked to provide farmers with seeds at reasonable rates and facilities like micro-irrigation, 22 crore soil health cards. Such factors have contributed to increased agriculture production. We strengthened Fasal Bima Yojana, brought more farmers under it,” PM Modi said.

Tim Paine steps down as Australia’s Test captain, after a sexting scandal

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19 November 2021 3:49 PM

Tim Paine, Former Australian Test Captain: Picture Source: @CricketAu

Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has stepped down as the captain of the side ahead of the much-awaited Ashes opener after allegations emerged of improper conduct in 2017.

At a press conference at Blundstone Arena on Friday where Paine read out a prepared statement, the 36-year-old conceded a private text exchange between him and a former colleague, now made public, was unbecoming of his role.

While he did not breach Cricket Australia’s code of conduct, a fact confirmed by a CA media release on Friday, Paine decided he would step down from the captaincy.

“It’s an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket,”
said Paine.

“As background on my decision, nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague. At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in.

“That investigation and a Cricket Tasmania HR investigation at the same time found that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct.

“Although exonerated, I deeply regretted this incident at the time, and still do today. I spoke to my wife and family at the time and am enormously grateful for their forgiveness and support.

“We thought this incident was behind us and that I could focus entirely on the team, as I have done for the last three or four years.

“However, I recently became aware that this private text exchange was going to become public. On reflection, my actions in 2017 do not meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain, or the wider community.

“I’m deeply sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused to my wife, my family, and to the other party. I’m sorry for any damage that this does to the reputation of our sport.

“And I believe that it is the right decision for me to stand down as captain, effective immediately. I do not want this to become an unwelcome disruption to the team ahead of what is a huge Ashes series.”

England and Australia will lock horns in the five-match Ashes, beginning December 8 at the Gabba, Brisbane. Cricket Australia on Friday informed about Paine’s decision to leave captaincy “immediately”.

Cricket Australia in a statement said the Board has accepted Paine’s resignation and will now accelerate the process of identifying and appointing a new Test captain.

“Tim felt it was in the best interests of his family and Australian cricket to take this decision to step down as captain,”
CA Chair Richard Freudenstein said in a statement.

“The Board has accepted Tim’s resignation and will now work through a process with the National Selection Panel of identifying and appointing a new captain.

“While the Board acknowledges an investigation cleared Tim of any breach of the code of conduct regarding this matter some years ago, we respect his decision.

“CA does not condone this type of language or behavior,” the statement concluded.

Alok Kulkarni wins 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award in Engineering from Monash University

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