India-Bangladesh hub generates regional growth 17/05/2016 5:25 pm Urja Patel Silent change is change that rarely invites popular attention, but it is change, nevertheless. For long years, the eastern reaches of the Indian subcontinent were written off as backward and not to be compared with more prosperous areas of the west and south. The new hub of development is the emergent India-Bangladesh partnership, whose commercial impact is now felt in neighbouring Bhutan and, who knows, sooner rather than later, may extend to Myanmar and Thailand. Let us first put flesh on the bones. Ceat Tyres is setting up a plant in Bangladesh designed to take advantage of borders without tariffs for its exports. The Hiranandani Group is planning a floating LNG terminal along the coast that will cater to the demand across countries for gas through a cross-border pipeline. Arrangement are in place for greater traffic between India and Bangladesh. A bus service links Agartala in Tripura to Dhaka; there are bus and train services linking Kolkata and Dhaka; while transit routes through Bangladesh to India’s North Eastern States for Indian goods and services is work in progress. All this has been achieved circumventing the impediments of SARRC, the preposterously labeled South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. With Pakistan a member and China seeking associate membership, the venture was doomed from birth.
Now even God wants Brexit 17/05/2016 5:27 pm Urja Patel I write to you after hearing Angelina Jolie speaking at the BBC about EU migration and before my speaking at the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna next month about Migration and this got me thinking if there is a religious case for Brexit.
BBC’s output ‘too Christian’ says head of religion and ethics 17/05/2016 5:17 pm Urja Patel An internal review has found the BBC's religious output is "too Christian" and recommended an increase its Muslim, Hindu and Sikh programming.
Leader of Brent Council denies claims he hid Kilburn councillor’s death to halt a by-election 17/05/2016 5:19 pm Urja Patel The leader of Brent Council has sent out an email denying claims that he kept the death of a Kilburn councillor secret to avoid a by-election.