Gunman kills mother, 26 others in USA school, commits suicide

A Un Known man killed his mother at their home and then opened fire Friday inside an elementary school, massacring 26 people, including 20 children, as youngsters cowered in fear to the sound of gunshots reverberating through the building and screams echoing over the intercom. The 20-year-old killer, carrying at least two handguns, committed suicide at the school, bringing the death toll to 28, authorities said. The rampage, coming less than two weeks before Christmas, was America's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre that claimed 33 lives in 2007. "Our hearts are broken today," a tearful President Barack Obama, struggling to maintain his composure, said at the White House. He called for "meaningful action" to prevent such shootings, saying, "As a country, we have been through this too many times." Motive unknown Police shed no light on the motive for the attack. The gunman, Adam Lanza, was believed to suffer from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss it. Panicked parents looking for their children raced to Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, a prosperous New England community of about 27,000 people 60 miles northeast of New York City. Police told youngsters at the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school to close their eyes as they were led from the building so that they wouldn't see the blood and broken glass. Schoolchildren — some crying, others looking frightened — were escorted through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other's shoulders.

US election results

Capping a long and bitter race for the White House, Americans cast their votes on Tuesday. Stay with TOI Live Blog as we bring you latest results.

Sandy Claims AP Woman's Life

Hurricane Sandy claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman from the city, who was pursuing master’s in New York, on Tuesday morning. The victim was identified as Vishwaja Muppa, 21, from Jubilee Hills. Vishwaja was pursuing Masters in Biology at Stony Brook University in New York State. The mishap occurred in the wee hours of Tuesday at the intersection of Routes 347 and 112 in Port Jefferson Station, Long Island, New York, when the Toyota Highlander carrying Vishwaja and her three friends collided with Suffolk County Police officer Rene Garcia’s car. Vishwaja died on the spot , while her three friends, who also suffered critical injuries, are undergoing treatment at a local hospital. According to a Suffolk police spokesperson, the traffic light at the road intersection, where the mishap had occurred, was not functioning at the time of the crash. Police suspect that the Sandy hurricane might be the reason for the defunct traffic signal, which led to the accident. According to Vishwaja’s family friend Uma from Banjara Hills, her father M Narendar Reddy, a private contractor, and mother Jyothy stay in New Jersey. “Only her grandfather Dr Manohar Reddy, stays at MLA Colony on Road Number 10, Banjara Hills. We are shocked to hear the news. We came to know that the final rites will be performed in the US,” Uma added.

Storm Sandy makes landfall: Ten dead, Manhattan flooded, New York plunges into darkness

A record storm surge from super-storm Sandy sent floodwaters pouring into Lower Manhattan on Monday night as parts of New York City were plunged into darkness by widespread power outages. The East River and the Hudson River flooded subway and car tunnels, and several feet of seawater swamped into Battery Park at the foot of Lower Manhattan, with waters rising and rain showing no sign of abating. "Lower Manhattan is being covered by seawater. I am not exaggerating. Sea water is rushing into the Battery Tunnel," said Howard Glaser, director of operations for the New York state government. The Battery Tunnel is a road tunnel linking the south end of Manhattan, New York's financial center, to Long Island under the East River. Cars could be seen afloat in several Manhattan streets, and the facade of a six-story building collapsed. At least one New Yorker was killed when a tree fell on his house, and there were reports of several more casualties. Local broadcaster WNBC said some houses on Staten Island were "flooded up to their attics" while the New York police department sought boats to conduct rescue missions there and on Brooklyn's Coney Island. At least ten killed Two people were killed Monday when the high winds of megastorm Sandy toppled a tree onto a vehicle in New Jersey, an official from the local emergency management office said. The storm has killed at least ten people in the United States since it crashed into the eastern seaboard, bringing hurricane-force winds and torrential rains to one of the most highly populated areas of the country. (With inputs form PTI)

US airlines cancel flights, hotels book up before hurricane

Hurricane Sandy will likely cause financial headaches for US airlines that canceled more than 7,000 flights to and from the Northeast corridor on Sunday. Hotels in the region were busy handling cancellations for guests who could not get to destinations in the Northeast, extending stays for guests who could not leave town, and booking rooms for people who left their homes. Airlines started cancelling flights in the US northeast region on Sunday evening as cities from Washington DC to Boston braced for floods and high winds from the hurricane, which was expected to make landfall in the next few days. According to Flightaware.com, more than 7,100 flights had been canceled by 9 p.m. on Sunday due to Sandy Airlines waived fees for people who have to change travel plans because of the grounded flights. In New York City, the timing of flight cancellations like US Airways, was determined by the city's decision to start shutting down its mass transit systems at 7 p.m. as passengers would have no way to get to and from the airport. U.S. Airways said it would likely have to cancel close to 2,000 flights because of the storm, starting at 7pm on Sunday. The airline said it expects to resume flights on Tuesday, but noted that flooding and the storm's duration could cause additional delays. The airline also said it would move planes from the hurricane zone to try to avoid damage. Repositioning those planes after the weather clears could cause additional delays. Transportation consultant George Hamlin estimated that Sandy could cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. "It's a disruption in terms of extra costs," Hamlin said. On top of lost flight revenue, airlines will likely have to pay their crew extra if they are stranded away from their home base. "If you cancel a day or two's flights, it may take some people days to get to where they want to go," he said. American Airlines said it would stop its Northeast flights at 9pm on Sunday night. This involved 140 cancellations on Sunday and pre-cancellation of another 1,431 flights from Monday to Wednesday. JetBlue Airways Corp said it canceled more than a 1,000 flights through Wednesday morning. Delta Airlines Inc said it canceled 180 flights Sunday and that it expects canceled flights Monday to be in the hundreds. Reuters was not able to obtain estimates for flight cancellations for United Continental Holdings Inc. Meanwhile the reservation desks at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, which operates hotels such as Westin, Sheraton and Marriott International Inc hotel groups said they had a busy day. "I've had a lot of calls about New York properties today, a lot of people who are cancelling, a lot of people who come here because we have generators," a Starwood reservations employee said. "People are really just frightened of the storm ... they're frightened of water levels and they're frightened of losing power and they want to be somewhere where they're safe," the employee said. A reservations worker for Marriott said her work day had been "really crazy" with all the calls for cancellations and last-minute reservations, including calls from corporations booking blocks of rooms for their employees. Corporate spokespeople for Starwood and Marriott were not immediately available for comment Sunday.

US simplifies visa processing system

Seeking to simplify its visa processing system, the US embassy announced a slew of new measures to standardize procedures, including fee payment and scheduling of appointments which will now be facilitated through a new website.

Minister counselor for consular affairs, Julia Stanley, announced at a press conference that beginning September 26, US visa applicants will be able to pay application fees via electronic fund transfer (EFT) or with their mobile phones. They can also pay in cash at more than 1,800 Axis Bank branches.

For the first time, applicants can schedule their appointments online or by phone by contacting a call centre whose representatives will answer queries in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Telugu.

"It is our goal to make our visa process as efficient as possible to meet the increased demand for US visas worldwide... we are offering appointments by phone for the first time. The new global appointment schedule will offer group and expedited appointments," Stanley said.

She added that the major difference from the current system was that first-time applicants will need to schedule two appointments -- one for fingerprint collection at an offsite facilitation centre and one for consular interview at the embassy or consulate.

Responding to questions about the safety of documents as more than one location was involved in the processing, she said the US has always accorded "highest possible security" on visa issues and would keep all documents "very safely".

In March, the US mission in India introduced the interview waiver programme (IWP) that allows applicants who meet certain criteria to be considered for waivers of personal interviews. "Under the IWP and our new processing system, an increasing number of applicants will be able to complete all visa requirements without having to visit a US embassy or consulate at all," Stanley said.

Help Needed: Untimely Death of a Telugu Person in Florida

North America Telugu Society (NATS) regrets to inform you that a Telugu person living in Fort Myers Florida, Badrinath Eluru (Srikanth), expired due to heart attack around 4:30am on July 14th. He is 36 years old survived by a wife and two daughters aged 7 and 2. He is a native of Hyderabad and his wife, Sireesha is from Miryalaguda.

The Family approached NATS Helpline seeking assistance to send the body to India. Upon the family request, NATS is sending this information to solicit donations.

Please click the below link to donate.
https://natsworld.org/new/donate.php and choose MR. Badrinath Eluru in causes.

or mail the check to

North America Telugu Society
P. O. Box 810096
Boca Raton, FL 33481-0096

NATS being a 501(c)3 organization, all donations are 100% tax deductible.
 
Sincerely,
NATS Helpline Team

Note: All excess funds will be saved for similar unfortunate needs in the future.
About North America Telugu Society
North America Telugu Society (NATS) is a service oriented, non-profit organization for the Telugus in North America.  The primary objective of NATS is to address the needs and concerns that affect the everyday lives of Telugu people across North America.

www.natsworld.org

US police follow leads to nab Hyderabad student's killers

US police are trying to enhance the security video and following all leads to find the killers of an Indian student from Hyderabad gunned down in an apparent robbery in Connecticut.

Arun Kumar Narote, 26, a software engineering student at Stratford University, was working as a part-time store clerk at Norman’s Grocery and Deli in Bridgeport when he was gunned down by unidentified assailants Monday night.

The department “is working diligently to find the persons responsible for this most recent homicide”, Bridgeport’s acting police chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. was quoted as saying Wednesday by Stamford Advocate.

“Our department has done an enviable job of solving homicides to date, and I am confident in our ability to bring the responsible parties to justice,” Gaudett added.

A former University of Bridgeport student, Narote was just trying to earn money as he worked toward a master of science degree in software engineering at Stratford University, Virginia.

“He was living here with friends and working in the small grocery store to earn money for school,” Police Captain James Viadero was cited as saying.

According to Viadero, Narote was working behind a plexiglass enclosure when two men, wearing hooded sweatshirts, entered the store.

He said while one of the men pointed a handgun at the victim through an opening in the enclosure, the second man squeezed through the slot onto Narote’s side. The man then grabbed the cash register and headed out of the enclosure through the door.

“At that point, the other man shot the victim. From what we can see on the surveillance video in the store, the victim had not offered any resistance,” Viadero said.

He said they are attempting to enhance the video to try to identify the suspects.

Neighbours said the shooting took place sometime about 9.30 p.m. Monday and that police remained at the scene until about 3 a.m. Tuesday collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. By daybreak Tuesday, the store was shuttered, with no sign of activity inside.

According to the Advocate, state records indicate that the store is owned by Usman Malik and Awais Malik, who were granted a beer permit in December 2007 by the state Department of Liquor Control.

The neighbourhood has a mix of Vietnamese, Korean, Hispanic, black and white residents.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

source:greatandhra

Arun Kumar Narote Shot dead in Bridgeport, CT

Arun Kumar Narote, 26 yrs, M.S student at Stratford University, VA was shot dead on July 12th at a grocery store in Bridgeport, CT. Arun Kumar a native of Hyderabad joined M S (Software Engineering) in Stratford University after graduating with B.Tech from Indra Reddy Memorial Engineering College in Hyderabad. Arun is supposed to graduate with MS in couple of months. Arun Kumar lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut who attends Stratford University in weekends has been working part time jobs in Cambridge, CT to support his educational expenses.

As per preliminary police reports, on Monday, July 12th around 9:30 PM, two masked men walked in to "Norman Grocery Store" in Bridgeport, CT where Arun Kumar was working as a store clerk, robbed the cash and shot him in the head though there was no resistance found. Police are still investigating the case for further details.

Arun Kumar is survived by parents Dhondiba Rao ( a retired Teacher), mother Sakhuntala and elder brothers Avinash, Amar and elder sister. The whole family of Arun Kumar who live in Karwan area in Hyderabad was in deep shock after hearing this sad news, called Prasad Thotakura, TANA Executive Vice President and requested TANA to help send the body to Hyderabad as soon as possible.

Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA Secretary, Rao Yalamanchili, President of Telugu Association of Connecticut, Revanh, Karthik friends of Arun Kumar and scores of TANA Team Square volunteers are helping in this case.

"This is a very unfortunate incident though Arun Kumar was working from a Bullet proof cabin, one of the thieves jumped in to the cabin through a gap, robbed the cash and shot him in the head though he was not resisting and willing to give away the whole cash register. We can understand the financial stress that these students face to support their education and living expenses but certainly these types of places to be avoided and shouldn't put their lives at risk" said Prasad Thotakura, who is working with the Cambridge Police Department, Indian Consulate Office and Funeral Home to expedite the process.

Jayaram Komati, TANA President expressed his deepest condolences on behalf of TANA to Narote family and appreciated TANA Team Square volunteers for their immediate action to help the family.

Several Indians pack bags, head home from Australia

Australian authorities have been promising action to curb the continuing attacks on international students and communities. But Indian students aren't waiting. Several are packing their bags and heading home for good. That's despite incurring a loss ranging from Rs 12-20 lakh per student.

"There are no statistics available. But several Indian students are either leaving or have left and are not coming back. The primary reasons are lack of safe living conditions and absence of job security," says Gautam Gupta, secretary, Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA). Over 150,000 Indian students are studying in Australia today.

Gupta talks of a couple who came to Australia in June 2009 to study and left within three months in October 2009 after the husband got beaten up at Carnegie station, Melbourne. "They said, "We didn't come here to be beaten up. What wrong have we done to be treated like this?" says Gupta.

Sejal Shah (name changed on request), 26, is another such student. She was confident of a secure future when she went to Melbourne early 2008. She hadn't dreamt that 18 months later in November 2009 —- six months short of completing her course —- she'd be returning without a degree in hand.

"Even if I got an Australian qualification, I wasn't sure of a getting a job anymore," says the student of business and finance from Melbourne's La Trobe University. The tension was palpable, only five out of the current batch of 150 students had landed jobs. She chucked the residency dream: as per Australian law, a degree would have ensured her residency. But insecurity and sense of threat to Indians further pushed her to return, says the Gujarat resident. Parental concern saw to it that Ambala's Avinash Minocha returned within a year of his two-year accounting course. He came to India on vacation in December but parents told him to stay put at home.

Indian students targeted in Oz: Victoria police chief

Victoria's top cop on Wednesday said crime against Indians was a problem which was noticed by police two years ago.
Indians are overrepresented in robbery statistics and there is a racist element to some attacks, chief commissioner Simon Overland said, according to media reports here.

"There is no question, regardless of the motives, Indian students have to a degree been targeted in robberies and that is not okay," he said.

"We recognised this problem a long time before it hit the public."

We have known for two years that there has been this issue and we have been working away, at a number of levels around engaging with students, trying to make them understand the risks and how they keep themselves safe."

Overland said police had detailed data on attacks involving Indians and said that while Indians were over represented when it came to robberies, the same could not be said for assaults.

About 50 per cent of assaults on Indians occurred in their workplace, mostly involving taxi drivers and convenience store clerks, he said.

Overland said some of the attacks were racist. "I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is racist elements to these attacks," he said adding regardless of who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone.

Indian youth set on fire in Melbourne

A 29-year-old Indian-origin man was set ablaze by a group of four attackers on Saturday, a week after a student from the country was stabbed to death amid a slew of assaults on the community in Australia.

The man, who suffered 15 per cent burns including on his arms, chest and face, was admitted to 'The Alfred' hospital after he was attacked shortly before 2 am local time (0730 HRS IST) in Melbourne's Essendon area.

The man, who was not identified, and his wife left a dinner party in Essendon, in the city's northwest, between 1.30 am and 2 am and drove to their nearby home in Grice Crescent. He dropped his wife at home and had gone to park his car when he was attacked, local media reported.

Police said that as he was getting out of the car, four men attacked him, pushing him back against the vehicle and pouring an unknown fluid on him. One of the men then ignited the fluid with a lighter before all the attackers fled.

The victim, who is now in a stable condition in the hospital, ran from the car while peeling off his clothes, 'The Age' reported.

The attack comes a week after the stabbing death of 21-year-old Indian graduate Nitin Garg in a Yarraville park while he was on his way to his part-time job in a restaurant.

The body of another Indian youth, 25-year-old Ranjodh Singh, was found beside Wilga Road in Willbriggie in the neighbouring state of New South Wales on December 29. The incident was reported earlier this week.

A police spokeswoman said investigators do not yet know any motive or circumstances surrounding today's Essendon attack.

"They don't believe it was racially motivated at this stage," she said.

The ABC reported that the man is of Indian origin but said police do not know whether he is an Australian citizen.

The incident is being investigated by the arson and explosives squad.

Police appealed for public assistance to locate the victim's clothes, which he shed as he fled the scene.

Indian-American Rajiv Shah takes over as USAID chief

An adventurous 36-year old Indian-American who navigated glaciers and volcanoes before taking to developmental work was thrown into the political cauldron in Washington DC on Thursday in what is purportedly the highest federal government position occupied by a person of Indian origin in the US.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who should know a thing or two about Beltway politics, warned Rajiv Shah about the pitfalls in Washington DC even as she swore him in as the Obama administration’s USAID chief, a high profile and lately controversial job that involves overseeing disbursal of a nearly $ 40 billion US foreign aid program.

Killed Indian student's family feel let down by Govt

An Indian student Nitin Garg, 21, was stabbed to death by unidentified assailants on Saturday night in Australia.

Garg, an accounting graduate who migrated from Punjab to work part-time at a fast food joint in Melbourne, was attacked on his way to work. He died in hospital, tragically a few days after his birthday.

Garg's friends and family in Australia feel let down by the Indian High Commission and they say no one has reached out to them even as External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said that Indian will be forced to act.

"If the attacks don't stop, Government of India will be pushed to take other measures," said Krishna.

Garg's friends in Australia now say that they will be forced to defend themselves if no measure by the authorities are taken.

"They punched him and when he fell down they kicked him in the stomach," said victim's friend.

"If we are to live in Australia we have to protect ourselves by ourselves. No one is going to protect us," he added.

However, police insist the recent attack wasn't racially motivated.

Tourism Australia in its latest project has said that the spate of racial attacks on Indian students will result in fewer Indians coming to study in Australia this year.

The fall in numbers, will cost Australia 70 million dollars in revenue.

Oz condemns killing of Indian student

A day after the brutal killing of the Indian student in Melbourne hit the headlines, Australia has condemned the fatal attack.

Buzz up!
"I obviously unreservedly condemn this attack," said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.


"This is a nation that welcomes international students. We want to make them welcome, this is a welcoming and accepting country," Gillard said, raising concern over how these attacks are severely damaging the country's multi-million dollar foreign student sector.

On Saturday, Jan 2, 21-year-old Nitin Garg, hailing from the Indian state of Punjab, was stabbed to death.

Describing the murder as 'vicious', the police said that the motive behind the act was unknown.

India expressed shock as the incident came to light on Sunday, Jan 3. The External Affairs Minister SM Krishna warned Australia of serious 'bearing' on the bilateral ties if the attacks against Indians down under doesn't stop.

"The brutal attack on the Indian student is strongly condemnable. I call on the Australian authorities to speedily bring to book persons responsible for the crime," Mr Krishna said.

Sikh youth brutally assaulted in US

A Sikh student was ‘racially abused’ and brutally assaulted after being thrown into a swimming pool in West Texas, the Sikh Coalition,an advocacy group for the community in the United States, said.

Four men assaulted the unnamed graduate Sikh student, who works as a part-time pizza delivery person, the advocacy group said. According to a media release of the Sikh Coalition, the four men intercepted the youth while he was on his way to deliver pizzas to a home. “They grabbed the Sikh youth and threw him into a swimming pool”.

“The four attackers surrounded the pool, kicking him in the head and body. Every time he tried to escape, they would stomp or hit him. For 20 minutes, he swam for his life trying to escape,” the release alleged. “I was terrified that I would die that night,” the victim said. “No one should have to endure something like this just because of their religion, ethnicity or appearance,” he was quoted as saying by the Coalition.

The youth, who had to go to a hospital for the treatment, “is still emotionally scarred because his attackers have been roaming free”. It alleged that police “failed to respond adequately”.

“It is clear from the attackers’ references to ‘Osama bin Laden’ and ‘Go back to Afghanistan’ and the fact that they kicked off his turban” meant they “targeted not only him as an individual, but his Sikh identity”, the Coalition alleged.

IIT alumnus Vikram Buddhi convicted in US

IIT alumnus Vikram Buddhi was today sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and an additional three years of supervised release by a US court for posting hate messages in 2006 against former president George Bush and calling for bombings of American infrastructure.

Indiana court district judge James Moody said the supervised release would be monitored by a probation officer.

Buddhi was arrested in 2006 after being convicted of making threats to Bush, the then Vice President Dick Cheney and their wives, and calling for bombings of US infrastructure.

The 38-year-old Phd student of Purdue University, convicted in 2007, had fired his lawyer yesterday when his sentencing hearing began. He represented himself in the court and said "the trial was unfair. I am not the kind of person the government is trying to portray".

After the sentence, Buddhi wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, spoke for a little while with his former lawyer. He was then taken into custody and led out of the courtroom. Buddhi has a right to appeal against the judgement in a Chicago court within 10 days.

Since Buddhi was representing himself, the notice of appeal can be filed through the court or by his previous lawyer Arlington Foley, whom he had fired but remained his stand-by counsel.

"Every person has a right to appeal. The court has asked me to ensure that (the notice of appeal) is filed," Foley told reporters after the sentencing.

Another Indian student attacked in Australia

In yet another attack on Indian students in Australia, a 23-year-old youth was stabbed in the chest by unidentified assailants here on Wednesday, police said.

The student, who was also a cabbie, was attacked and left to bleed on a Brunswick West street, police said.

The victim parked his taxi outside his girlfriend's home on Collier Crescent in the wee hours and rang her to bring his dinner outside when someone approached his vehicle, The Age reported.

His girlfriend heard the driver scream out over the phone as he was attacked, police officer Greg Johnson was quoted as saying by the paper.

The woman ran outside and found her boyfriend lying outside the car, bleeding with a single stab wound to the chest. Police do not believe the attack was racially motivated or an attempted robbery as the man still had cash in his pocket and his mobile phone, the paper said.

Investigators are examining whether another car was involved. The taxi has damage to the rear of the vehicle and bits of a broken front headlight were found near the scene.

"That is certainly one of the lines of inquiry we'll be looking along, that it could be a road rage incident," Johnson said.

NRI NEWS, NRI,

Home from Dubai for Eid, workers axed over SMS

When Sajid took leave to come home for Eid last week, he had thought he would spend a few days quiet days with his wife and two children
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before returning to his job in Dubai. But the festival holiday has quickly turned into a nightmare for Sajid. He and dozens of other workers from Meerut who were employed in various tile production units in Dubai, have been informed through SMSes that they were being sacked.

``It was early morning when I received a text message from my office, Al-Hamid, telling me that I need not bother returning to Dubai. My contract has been discontinued and my work permit stands terminated. It said my dues will be sent through post and my belongings will be duly returned,'' said Sajid.

The workers say at least 64 of them, all working in meltdown-hit Dubai, have been received pinks slips through text messages. Most of them live in areas like Shalimar Garden, Gokalpur, Shahpeer Gate and Zaida Farms in the city, and worked in tile-making units of various construction companies.

``We have been working in Dubai beyond all scheduled hours. We have not even taken our salaries for the past four months as we wanted to save money to get our families to UAE. Our dreams lie shattered today,'' said a weeping Noor Mohammad who stays at Zaidi Farms.

The workers say the text messages ^ received by workers in several other UP towns, including Bulandshahr, as well ^ were all the more shocking as they came after several Indian ministers including the finance minister claimed that the financial meltdown in Dubai it would not affect Indian workers too much. ``The ministers have been only talking about those from south India working in Dubai. A good 30% of the young workforce in our localities has gone to the Middle-East in the past two years. Many of my friends are still stuck in Dubai. We do not know whether they will even be paid. Our government must intervene and bring them back,'' said Asif from Zaidi Farms.

These are tense times even for those who haven't got the sack. ``I still have my job. My office has not sent any SMS. But I'm worried as I have not been able to contact them. I am thinking of forgetting about going back to Dubai and instead going to Delhi to find a job,'' said Javed from Zaidi Colony.

According to official estimates, in 2008, India got $43.5 billion as remittances from those working in the UAE.

A total of 3.4 lakh new workers got jobs in that country in 2008.

Sources in the Meerut administration said that they were closely watching the situation. ``We are aware of the people who work in Dubai. We are sympathetic to their problems. We will be talking to the relevant central government departments once we know about the extent of the crisis,'' said a senior Meerut zone officer.
However, these words were of little comfort for Javed, a sacked worker from Gokalpur locality of Meerut.

``I want my salary. I wish the government will ensure that we get paid for the countless hours we toiled in Dubai,'' he said.

Dubai debacle likely to hit workers, remittances

Despite the brave front put up by Indian government, the debt crisis that has enveloped Dubai World threatens to hit the struggling Indian
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overseas labour market that is largely dependent on short-term Middle East job contracts. The latest crisis comes at a time when official estimates have admitted that unemployment rates have spiralled to 30% in the Middle East in the last one year.

Industry sources say unemployment figures could be higher than the official estimates and that remittances to India - $43.5 billion in 2007-2008 - are certain to be much lower this year in the wake of the continuing recession in the region. The Dubai World's debt just adds to the bad news.

UAE is the favourite destination for a maximum number of overseas Indian workers - 3.4 lakh people went to the country in 2008 - but the number has been fast declining as Indian workers are unable to get new contracts or extensions in the country that's in the grip of recession.

It's well known that when Dubai sneezes, south India, especially Kerala, catches more than just a cold. Last September, when Lehman Brothers collapsed triggering the great recession, the arrivals at Chennai, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram airports wore a grim look. The news of Dubai World's inability to repay the $59 billion debt has triggered similar fears among the relatives of immigrants back home.

However, the minister for Overseas Indian Affairs tried to allay such fears. ``There were some concerns during the beginning of the slowdown an year ago, but now we are not expecting any exodus (return) of Indians and India will not be affected by Dubai's debts,'' Vayalar Ravi told TOI on telephone.

OIA secretary K Mohandas added that large scale retrenchment was unlikely even though labour movement to UAE had come down. ``There are some countries like Saudi Arabia where labour movement has increased,'' he said adding, however, that the increase was negligible.

However, the government of Kerala, where overseas remittances contribute 20% of the state GDP,
does not sound too optimistic. ``We do not yet know the magnitude of the crisis. On the face of it, the problem looks serious. Now we will have to wait and see its impact on other sectors, and whether there will be a credit freeze,'' Kerala finance minister T M Thomas Isaac told TOI.

``If it (Dubai debt crisis) affects the real estate sector, we have enough reasons to be worried. Only after the (Id) holidays are over in the Gulf, we will come to know more,'' Isaac said.

Over 5 lakh Indians have returned from Dubai since September 2008, of which two lakh are Malayalees. Almost 60% of these people are technical or non-technical skills professionals. ``Over 50 lakh Indians work in the Middle East of which 20 lakh are from Kerala. We do not expect large number of returnees now,'' K V Mohankumar, CEO of Kerala NRI group, Non Resident Keralites' Affairs (Norka).

According to Norka, 10 lakh Malayalees live and work in Dubai, along with 4 lakh people from Andhra Pradesh and and 4.5 lakh Tamils.

The situation in the past year has prompted the OIA ministry to introduce a welfare fund for emigrants in distress. Services like a toll-free helpline, a counselling facility and a facility to extend contingency based legal, medical and emergency relief assistance are on the anvil to provide a safety net to a large and vulnerable work force in the region.

The minister has also announced setting up of an Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC) in the region and a ``Return and Resettlement Fund'' that will provide for a contribution-based scheme to incentivize the return and resettlement of overseas workers. Details of the proposal are being worked out.

However, bankers here are not losing sleep over the Dubai World crisis, yet. ``The original impact of the Dubai crisis has already happened. I do not see any further impact coming in,'' said Venugopalan M, managing director & CEO, Federal Bank. ``I don't see any further reduction in remittances as well.''

The news of Dubai rescheduling its debts fails to surprise some. Jinu Rani George, a senior official with a builder group that has considerable interests in Dubai, said it was expected. ``We are in Dubai for 27 years now. But from November 2008, when recession fears began, we have not been getting any money from the government or municipality. So we put a freeze on all our projects. Now, we do high volume business mostly in Abu Dhabi.''

She said groups like Nakheel, a subsidiary of Dubai World, and Dubai Properties, a unit of Dubai Holding, had sacked almost 80% of their employees.

During the last 10 months a number of Indian professionals have moved from Dubai to the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi not just in search of high-paying jobs but also job stability.

``We knew things were shaky in Dubai. Its diminishing spending power brought projects to a standstill. The only option was to move to Abu Dhabi and luckily we found employment here,'' said Biju Haridas, a management professional in Abu Dhabi.

``The emirate of Abu Dhabi will bail out Dubai with conditions, but those conditions will never be made public,'' said an Indian diplomat in UAE.