AirAsia X appoints Dato’ Bernard Francis as Commercial Director

Dato’ Bernard Francis brings nearly 14 years of aviation industry experience to AirAsia X!

SEPANG, 6 May 2014- AirAsia X Berhad, the leading low-cost, long-haul carrier announced the appointment of Dato’ Bernard Francis as the new Commercial Director of AirAsia X.

Dato’ Bernard Francis brings with him nearly 14 years of experience in aviation industry with revenue management and sales & marketing expertise. Prior to AirAsia X Berhad, Dato’ Bernard was the Commercial Director for Indonesia AirAsia. Under his leadership,  Indonesia AirAsia posted a revenue of IDR4,360.13 billion (up 18% y-o-y), a 136% increase in operating profit of IDR352.89 billion, which led to a commendable 129% increase in profit after tax of IDR142.12 billion for the year ended 2012.

Throughout his experience, he has held the positions of Executive Vice President Network & Revenue Management and Executive Vice President Global Sales & Marketing, Malaysia Airlines, Regional Director Network & Revenue Management & Sales, AirAsia Berhad and Investment Analyst with YTL Corporation Berhad. 

Dato’ Bernard holds an MBA of International Business from Universiti Malaya and B.A Hons from National University of Malaysia.

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Modi the Phenomenal the voice of the nation.

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Mode spoke with complete emotion running high and showed the Indian leadership that there is an absolute grace in common man becoming the national leaders his utterances has proved that Indian leadership has not decayed but is in galvanizing mood.His taking up the elite leadership with his emotional outburst and giving reflexive update to the jibes and political rebuttal Modi at his state of artistic eloquence with pinch of graceful worded robe has made Modi the Phenomenal  the voice of the nation of  billion.Political parties leaders across India finds the emergence of Great thinker, Great action to follow and therefore is likely to be attacked politically by his counterparts from all direction as is the psychic of the nation to pull the strings down of the right person. 

#Modi #BJP pic.twitter.com/mSrNAkKZ1f

 

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Challenges of Leadership Seminar from 27th – 31st August 2014

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27-31st August, Taj Deccan, Hyderabad

In the trajectory of life, we rarely pause to reflect on what we are creating of our lives and what we would like to be different. For more than 60 years, the Aspen Leadership Seminars have challenged leaders in every field to think more critically about the “good society” and our leadership roles in it. Ananta Centre is delighted to announce the Challenges of Leadership Seminar from 27th – 31st August 2014 at Taj Deccan, Hyderabad. This will build on the Aspen tradition with a curriculum that is specifically designed for India and its leadership challenges. This seminar plans to convene a diverse group of approximately 22 leaders for a lively, intensive roundtable discussion led by skilled moderators. This Seminar will be led by James Abraham, Managing Director and CEO SunBorne Energy and co-moderated by Govindraj Ethiraj Co-Founder, Ping Digital Broadcast and IndiaSpend and Sudha Iyer, Chairperson and Managing Director of Srijana Group of Companies, all of whom have been trained in the Aspen style of moderating. Further details are provided in the attached brochure.  We do hope that you consider nominating high potential individuals from your organisation to participate in this unique seminar. Please complete and return the Nomination Formattached. Best regards Kiran ​

Please note Aspen Institute India has now evolved into: Kiran Pasricha | Executive Director  & CEO Thapar House, First Floor, 124, Janpath, New Delhi 110001, India | Webpage: http://www.anantacentre.in

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Release of first issue of Woodpecker monthly Newsletter.

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Dear Mr Sagar,

Hope you are doing good

We have just released the first issue of  Woodpecker monthly Newsletter. Please find attached a copy.

I look forward to receive your comments.

With Best Regards

narender yadav

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Phase 9: Lok Sabha Elections 2014 Analysis of Criminal Background

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Phase 9: Lok Sabha Elections 2014

Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Candidates

National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 601 candidates out of 606candidates who are contesting in the Phase 9 of Lok Sabha 2014 Elections. The rest of the candidates were not analysed due to unclear/incomplete affidavits uploaded on the ECI website at the time of making of this report. Detailed report in English attached with this report.

Phase 9
S.No.	State	No. of Candidates Constesting	No. of Candidates analysed	Constituencies	No. of Candidates with Criminal Cases	% of Candidates with Criminal Cases	No. of Crorepati Candidates	% of Crorepati Candidates	Date of Poll
1	Bihar	90	89	6	30	34%	37	42%	12thMay, 2014
2	Uttar Pradesh	328	325	18	63	19%	93	29%
3	West Bengal	188	187	17	26	14%	41	22%
Total		606	601	41	119	20%	171	28%

​Criminal Background

• Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 601 candidates analysed, 119 (20%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves

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• Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 92 (15%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
• Candidates with cases related to murder: 11 candidates have declared cases related to murder.
• Candidates with cases related to Attempt to Murder: 25 candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder.
• Candidates with cases related to Crimes against Women: 7 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women. Manoj Kumar ofSuheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party from Domariyaganj Constituency, Uttar Pradesh and Dhananjay Singh an Independent candidate from Jaunpur constituency, Uttar Pradesh have each declared a case of rape (IPC Section-376). 3 candidates have declared a case related to assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354), 1 candidate with case related to husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A) and 2 candidates with cases related to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (IPC Section-509). A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to crimes against women.
• Candidates with cases related to causing Communal Disharmony: 4 candidates have declared cases related to causing communal disharmony. These cases relate to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A), Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class (IPC Section-295) and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC Section-295A) A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to communal disharmony.
• Candidates with cases related to Robbery and Dacoity: 9 candidates have declared cases related to robbery and dacoity. 7 candidates have declared cases related to dacoity (IPC Section-395). 2 candidates have declared cases related to robbery (IPC Section-392) and 5 candidates have declared cases related to robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt (IPC Section-397)*A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to robbery and dacoity.
• Candidates with cases related to Kidnapping: 4 candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section-364). 1 candidate has declared a case related to kidnapping (IPC Section-363) and 1 candidate has a case related to kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc. (IPC Section-366). A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to kidnapping.​

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• Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: 12 (32%) out of 37 candidates from INC, 14 (36%) out of 39 candidates from BJP, 4 (16%) out of 25 candidates from AAP, 12 (30%) out of 40 candidates fielded by BSP and 17 (11%) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
• Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 8 (22%) out of 37 candidates from INC, 11 (28%) out of 39 candidates from BJP, 3 (12%) out of 25 candidates from AAP, 10 (25%) out of 40 candidates fielded by BSP and 11 (7%) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

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• Red Alert Constituencies: 21 constituencies have at least 3 candidates with declared criminal cases. Vaishali constituency, Bihar has the highest number of contesting candidates i.e. 10 with criminal cases against them.

Financial Background

• Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 601 candidates analysed, 171 (28%) are crorepatis.
• Party-wise Crorepati Candidates: 18 (49%) out of 37 candidates in INC, 23 (59%) out of 39 candidates in BJP, 12 (48%) out of 25 candidates inAAP, 18 (45%) out of 40 candidates in BSP and 20 (13%) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

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• Average Assets: The average assets per candidate contesting in the 9th phase of Lok Sabha 2014 elections is Rs.8.50 crores.
• Party-wise Average Assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 37 INC candidates is Rs 2.79 crores, 39 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs.2.81 crores, 25 AAP candidates have average assets worth of Rs.1.82 crores and 40 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs. 7.20 crores.
• Party-wise Asset Rank: 20 (54%) out of 37 INC candidates occupy the top three highest assets positions amongst all the contesting candidates in their respective constituencies. Similarly, 17 (44%) out of 39 BJP candidates, 14 (35%) out of 40 BSP candidates and 8 (32%) out of 25 AAPcandidates occupy the top three highest assets positions in their constituency.

Note: The following graph analyses the number of candidates fielded by political parties who have declared either the highest total assets in their constituency (among the candidates analysed for the constituency), or the second highest or the third highest.

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• High Asset Candidates*: 25 candidates have declared more than Rs.10 crores worth of assets. The top three candidates with highest assets are given below:

S.No.	Name	State	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Shamali Das	West Bengal	Jadavpur and Kolkata Dakshin	IND	20,00,00,60,000 2000 Crore+	Y
2	Sri Praksh Jha	Bihar	Paschim Champaran	JD(U)	92,54,80,118 92 Crore+	Y
3	Shah Alam Alias Guddu Jamali	Uttar Pradesh	Azamgarh	BSP	70,29,18,903 70 Crore+	Y

*Total Assets includes income of self, spouse and dependents.

• Candidate with Zero Assets: Sougata Ghosh an Independent candidate from Diamond Harbour constituency, West Bengal has declared that he has zero assets.
• Low Asset Candidates: A total of 36 candidates have declared assets less than Rs. 50 thousand (excluding candidates who have declared zero assets). The three candidates with lowest assets are as follows:

S.No.	Name	State	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Manik Chandra Mondal	West Bengal	Tamluk	IUML	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
2	Sukla Bhuimali	West Bengal	Barasat	CPI(ML) Red Star	1,300 1 Thou+	N
3	Sharmistha Choudhury	West Bengal	Barrackpur	CPI(ML) Red star	4,942 4 Thou+	Y

• Candidates with High Liabilities: A total of 21 candidates have declared liabilities of more than Rs. 1 crore. Out of these 21 candidates, 4 have declared liabilities of Rs. 7 crore and above. These candidates are as given below;

S.No.	Name	State	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets(Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Sri Praksh Jha	Bihar	Paschim Champaran	JD(U)	92,54,80,118 92 Crore+	55,22,93,138 55 Crore+	Y
2	Subhash Pandey	Uttar Pradesh	Jaunpur	BSP	37,85,54,105 37 Crore+	21,38,85,564 21 Crore+	Y
3	Mukhtar Ansari	Uttar Pradesh	Ghosi	Qaumi Ekta Dal	18,62,02,878 18 Crore+	8,01,74,200 8 Crore+	Y
4	Kashinath	Uttar Pradesh	Maharajganj	BSP	33,75,17,506 33 Crore+	7,42,76,452 7 Crore+	Y

• Crorepati Candidates with no PAN: 5 candidates with total assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore have declared no PAN details.
• Candidates with High Income*: 12 candidates have declared total annual income of more than Rs. 1 crore. The top three candidates with highest declared annual income are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	State	Total Assets	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent)	Self income shown by candidate in ITR
1	Dr Shameem Abidi	Peace Party	Ghosi	Uttar Pradesh	4,30,61,2004 Crore+	2012-2013	4,30,61,2004 Crore+	2,00,65,6702 Crore+
2	Deepak Adhikari (Dev)	AITC	Ghatal	West Bengal	15,24,47,15915 Crore+	2013-2014	3,23,03,5373 Crore+	3,23,03,5373 Crore+
3	Niyaj Ahmad	BSP	Deoria	Uttar Pradesh	3,63,06,0053 Crore+	2013-2014	2,80,55,6102 Crore+	1,87,50,9201 Crore+

*Total income includes income of self, spouse and dependents

• Candidates who have not declared Income Tax Details*: 317 (53%) candidates out of 601 analyzed have not declared income tax details.*Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns
• Candidates with High Assets who have not declared Income Tax Details: 24 candidates with assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore, have not declared Income Tax Details.

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¹Age of 5 candidates are unknown. Ravikant Yadav an Independent candidate from Jaunpur constituency has declared his age to be 21 years.

²Barkha Kinnar from Deoria constituency, Uttar Pradesh and Baseer Kinnar from Varanasi constituency, Uttar Pradesh have declared that they are from the third gender

​Regards,

Media and Journalist Helpline  +91 80103 94248 Email: adr@adrindia.org

Mr Anil VermaHead National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms 011 4165 4200, +91 88264 79910 adr@adrIndia.org, anilverma@adrindia.org

Prof Jagdeep ChhokarIIM Ahmedabad (Retd.) Founder Member, National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms +91 99996 20944 jchhokar@gmail.com

Prof Trilochan SastryIIM Bangalore Founder Member, National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms +91 94483 53285 trilochans@iimb.ernet.in

​

–

Association for Democratic Reforms

“Kiwanis Centre”, 4th Floor,

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(Near Rockland Hospital)

New Delhi-110 016

M: +91 8010394248

T: +91 11 41654200/01/02/03

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A citizens protest at Assam Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi on May 7th at 3 pm

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NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’;S MOVEMENTS

National Office : 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi – 110 014 . Phone : 011 2437 4535 | 9818905316

E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com | Web : www.napm-india.org

New Delhi, May 5 : The spectre of ethnic conflict has raised its ugly head again in Kokrajhar and Baksa districts. The indiscriminate firing on May 1-2 by armed Bodo militants, allegedly by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (S), has left 31 dead (all Muslims except one), including 11 children, more than 20 injured and 31 missing. In addition, thousands have been forced to seek refuge away from their villages in camps in Baksa district. NDFB (S) has been blamed for the attacks, however, it is also alleged that the recent attack has happened in the wake of Muslims supposedly having not voted for the Bodo People’;s Front (BPF) candidate, Chandan Brahma. BPF is in alliance with Congress and part of ruling combine in Assam. The results of the General Elections are not out yet but the allegation that Bengali Speaking Muslims have mostly voted for Naba Saraniya, a former ULFA commander, backed by the Sanmilita Janagostiya Aikkyamancha (SJA), an amalgamation of at least 20 ethnic and linguistic groups in the region has led to this attack.

NAPM strongly condemns this inhuman attack on women, men and children and the failure of the Assam government in protecting the lives of the minorities. The incidents like this keep repeating with impunity but even then the failure of administration in maintaining peace and security is palpable.  In 2012 too, more than 100 people, mostly, Muslims were killed and nearly 4 lakh were displaced and were forced to live in relief camps for long.

The region has been witness to conflict for nearly three decades now in the name of creation of an exclusive homeland for Bodos. The violent ethnic conflicts in 90s led to creation of Bodoland Territorial. Council (BTC ) in 2003 with jurisdiction over Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) constituting 70% of non-Bodo population composed of Koch-Rajbansis, Asamiya Hindus, Asamiya Muslims, Rabhas, Na-Asamiyas Muslims, Bengali, adivasis and Nepalis. The BTAD consists of four contiguous districts Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang. The conflict earlier tragetted Santhalis, Bengali Hindus and Muslims but over the years various ethnic groups have raised their own armed groups too. Bengali speaking Muslims, however continue to face the ire and discrimination since they are all alleged to be Bangladeshis and have become a common target across Assam. The bogey of Bangladeshis taking over jobs and outnumbering not only Bodos but Hindus and other ethnic groups in Assam has been played by political parties and ethnic groups at various points, most recently by Mr. Narendra Modi in his rallies there.

NAPM believes that the aspirations for autonomy of ethnic groups need to be respected and political solutions for such demands be found but then it can’;t be done at the cost of the rights of other ethnic groups as is being done here. It is time the BTAD was reimagined with an eye towards resolving the conflict once and for all. This has become necessary since, the current round attacks, mainly seen as poll revenge, is nothing but to continue the political and economic hegemony of tiny elite class within Bodos and pitch poor Bodos against the non-Bodos. It is this nexus of Bodo political elite with the ruling dispensation in Assam which needs to be broken, since the genuine aspirations of people in the region has been hijacked.

We demand immediate action against the culprits, relief to families of dead, injured and displaced. NAPM demands that a Commission of Enquiry must be instituted and role of BPF MLAs be examined in inciting the violence. We also urge that political parties and groups maintain clam and not incite further tension by raising the  bogey of Bangaldeshi immigrants in an already polarised electoral atmosphere. 

We also call upon all progressive forces to join the citizens protest at Assam Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi on May 7th at 3 pm and demand justice for those killed.

Medha Patkar, Prafulla Samantara,  Gabriele Dietrich,  Sister 

Celia,  Sudhir Vombatkere, Arundhati Dhuru, P Chennaiah, Kamayani Swami, Mahendra Yadav, Mukta Srivastava, Rajendra Ravi, Saraswati Kavula, B S Rawat, Vimal Bhai, Madhuresh Kumar, Seela Manaswinee, Suniti S R, Suhas Kolhekar

  

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National Alliance of People’s MovementsNational Office : 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014
Phone : 011 26241167 / 24354737 Mobile : 09818905316
Web : www.napm-india.org

Facebook : www.facebook.com/NAPMindia

Twitter : @napmindia

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‘Redefining India’s Energy Security: Rethinking paradigms’

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 Nehru Memorial Museum and Library

cordially invites you to a Public Lecture

(in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series)

at 3.00 pm on Thursday, 8^th May, 2014

in the Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building

on

‘Redefining India’s Energy Security:

Rethinking paradigms’

by

Ms. Sudha Mahalingam,

Former Senior Fellow,

Abstract:

Access to abundant, clean and affordable energy sources is a paramount concern for developing countries striving to raise the quality of life for their citizens. For India, with its billion plus population and low per capita income, balancing climate change concerns with an energy intensive growth paradigm constitutes a formidable energy security challenge. India’s chosen growth paradigm is hugely import-intensive in as much as it relies heavily on hydrocarbons in which the country is deficient. Exploding private transport and the growing share of road-based freight movement continue to aggravate reliance on imported crude. Promise of abundant natural gas supplies from recent domestic offshore discoveries has floundered on geological and pricing problems, leaving gas infrastructure stranded and rendering gas-based industries unviable.  Electricity generation continues to be the most polluting industrial activity, reliant as it is, on India’s dirty coal.  Yet, more than half of India’s rural households do not have electric connectivity and even those that do, get supply only for a few hours a day. Coal still supplies more than half of total commercial energy, and more than eighty percent of India’s electricity generation. Natural gas, the relatively cleaner fossil fuel accounts for a little over 10 per cent of India’s power generation capacity but generates insignificant quantities of power owing to shortage of domestic gas. Transnational gas pipelines which could have increased the share of gas in India’s energy basket, remain elusive, hostage as much to politics as economics. Big dams have become controversial thanks to mishandled resettlement and rehabilitation efforts. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar still need considerable subsidy support to render them affordable. With an aspirational population clamouring for a better life style and rapidly gaining the wherewithal to pay for it, Indian policy makers do face a formidable challenge in planning a transition to a clean growth paradigm. A fundamental rethink on the way in which we view development coupled with quantum leaps in accessible technologies that will make the transition possible, are the need of the moment. Against this backdrop, how do we redefine energy security? How do we rethink our growth paradigm, aligning it with our resource endowments and constraints, yet meet the aspirations of our energy-starved people? Do we, as a nation, have the vision and the fortitude to make course corrections in our growth trajectory?

Speaker:

Ms. Sudha Mahalingam is an energy economist with over thirty years of professional experience. Currently she is visiting fellow at Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She is also a member of Scientific Advisory Board at Delft University, The Netherlands. She has been a guest faculty at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie that trains India’s senior civil servants, at NIAS, Bengaluru, Indian Police Academy, Hyderabad, National Defence Academy, New Delhi etc. In 2012, she completed five years as Member of India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board.  In her capacity as an energy expert, she was also Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board. Prior to her current assignment, she held the prestigious Senior Fellowship at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India.  In 2007, she was awarded the first K. Subrahmanyam award for excellence in strategic studies by IDSA, India’s leading strategic studies think-tank.