Salman Khan is currently busy with the shooting of dabangg 2. He speaks about his former girlfriend Katrina Kaif. He says its a fantastic feeling to work with Katrina, after a long hiatus. Sallu and Kats will be seen together in their upcoming film, Ek Tha Tiger. This will be their first film together after their break up. The couple’s reel life bonding is does excite their fans. However, they are not in love again. The duo share pure friendship.

One in five overweight Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease. A study published online in the International Journal of Obesity says the nutritional and lifestyle choices of overweight adults might be dam-aging their kidneys. These choices include the use of diets and diet pills. The survey found that on an average, obese Americans with kidney disease consume protein much above the recommended levels prescribed by the National Kidney Foundation. Weight loss methods involving high-protein diets and weight loss pills are not suitable for people with kidney disease, as they further damage the kidney.

The South Asian Professional Network for Health Awareness (SAPNA) launched it’s Action Plan to Advance the Health of South Asian Canadians on February 21, 2012 at the MaRS Centre in Toronto, ON. This Action Plan was developed through the SAPNA Institute for Policy & Research – a Canadian not-for-profit think-tank focused on raising awareness and informing policy/decision-making to advance South Asian health.“We’re here to launch the first output from the SAPNA Institute for Policy and Re-search which has resulted from the bringing together of stakeholders from government, industry, health-care and  community groups to help us identify key issues and barriers to healthy living within the South Asian com-munity,” said Dr. Rav Kumar, President of SAPNA. According to the report, South Asians represent the largest and fastest-growing visible minority group in Canada and are three to five times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than the general population. Of all expatriate ethnic groups, South Asians have the highest rates of death and illness from diabetes-related cardiovascular disease. An important feature of the night also included a cheque presentation by SAPNA to the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “SAPNA’s contribution to the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation will help implement programs for South Asian Canadians. Pro-grams that will create new tools and resources to educate South Asian Canadians on their risks and actions for healthy living,” said Dr. Rav Kumar.

Canada India Foundation has triggered off planning activities for its Annual Award Gala with a Press Conference to announce Allstream Centre as the venue of the Gala and renowned author and speaker, Deepak Chopra, as the recipient of the CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award. Ajit Someshwar, past National Convener and Chair of this year’s Gala, recollected the origins of the Award and the conversation between him and the Award’s primary donor, Vasu Chanchlani, who committed an endowment of $1 million for the fund, complemented by monetary commitments from several CIF Charter Members. “Apart from the obvious individual accomplishments, the main criteria for the Award recipient would be that he/she makes the global Indian diaspora proud”, he said. Deepak Chopra will be the fourth recipient of the Global Indian Award, after Sam Pitroda, Tulsi Tanti and Ratan Tata. A strong proponent of alternative medicine, he is one of the world’s most respected speakers and writers on human empowerment and has been recognized as one of the 100 Heroes and Icons of the century. As with previous Award recipients, Mr. Chopra will receive a trophy, on display at the Press Conference and custom designed for CIF, along with a cheque for $50,000, payable to a charitable institution of his choice. Honorable Harinder Takhar, Ontario’s Minister for Government Ser-vices and Mrs. Preeti Saran, Consul General of India in Toronto headed the list of distinguished guests who attended the Press Conference. In addition to CIF Charter members, some of the other prominent attendees included Satish Thakkar, President of Indo-Canada Camber of Commerce, Douglas Goold, Director, Asia Pacific Foundation Canada and Vinod Munshi, President of the IIT Alumni Association. The event was covered by CP24 and Omni Television as well as a number of Indo-Canadian print media. Individual and group tickets for the CIF Award Gala can be purchased online at the CIF website www.canadain-dia.org.

Reva Seth is a success story many modern women aspire to be. Married and the mother of two young kids, Seth, instead of let-ting marriage and mother-hood come in the way of her career, turned these two milestones of her life into advantages. Acclaimed for her debut non-fiction book, First Comes Marriage, Seth is now in the process of writing more books while also fulfilling other professional commitments. She spoke to Generation Next about this and more. Professionally speaking, Reva Seth has donned diverse hats—as a lawyer, communications professional, author and community consultant. In all of these, the constant, she feels, has been looking for the right fit for herself. “ Like many people I grew up with the advice that I should get a profession, which I did but then realized that practicing law was not actually what I wanted to do,” she says. As she worked her way through different roles and projects, she realized that she wanted her career to comprise of a model of various projects, entrepreneurial ventures. Seth’s book, First Comes Marriage, published by Simon and Schuster received appreciation for its refreshing approach on the institution of marriage. The book dispels myths about arranged marriages, common across many South Asian societies. The inspiration to write the book came to her from looking at her parents’ relationship, Seth informs. “My parents had an arranged marriage, they met twice be-fore they got married and my mom came to Canada to join my dad who was a graduate student at UofT.  Their marriage was something I was always really curious about – were they happy?  Actually in love?  Since I didn’t want to ask them these questions, I started interviewing other women about their arranged marriage experiences.  Eventually I spoke with over 300 women about their arranged marriage and it became the basis for my book,” she says. 

While she doesn’t directly advocate arranged marriages, Seth feels there are lessons in such alliances that women, especially in the Western world can learn from. “From a personal and political level – I see a lot of flaws with arranged marriages,” she says, adding, “I disagree with the focus on marrying someone from the same culture and religion and I can’t imagine any South Asian parents pushing their son to let them introduce him to a nice boy they know!  I strongly support same sex marriages so this is a huge flaw in the arranged marriage model for me.” While interviewing her subjects for the book, did Seth hear stories of love happening after marriage, as is perceived to be the case with arranged marriages? “Well, based on my inter-views it certainly seems like it happens, she says. “It might not be the way many of us think of love, but the couples I spoke with were certainly in love in their own way – which I respect.  I think it comes from two people being open to building a life and family together and the result of sharing those experiences.”    Seth also feels the need to deglamorize some of the ideas projected by films—Bollywood or Hollywood—regarding relationships. The idea of finding a soul mate puts enormous pressure on partners to live up to the image of being the “right one”.  “Similarly, there’s the idea that if your partner really loves you, they should just know what you want or how you’re feeling…these ideas are examples of how popular culture often sets us up to be disappointed by our real life relationships by giving us in-credibly unrealistic expectations,” she says. Motherhood came to Seth in the most unexpected of ways. “I got pregnant unexpectedly – three days after our wedding, I realized I was three months pregnant and so was really worried about how this would impact the new career that I’d just launched,” she recalls.

That was when she started scouring stories of post baby success, which led to her current project, The Mom-Shift. It’s an online media campaign, based on “show-casing and profiling women who achieved greater career success after having their kids and so counter to usual negative story we hear about kids being a hurdle to career success.” The first set of profiles and advice based on their experiences will launch on International Women’s Day (March 8) this year and, and the stories will be part of Seth’s second book, due in 2013. She is still collecting stories and anyone interested in sharing their experience can contact her at: www.themom-shift.com or on Twitter: @Reva-Seth.  

What advice does she have for new mothers who might find it difficult to resume their careers? She says, “From my own experience, I can say that one of the biggest lessons is to think long term – the immediate few weeks and months after having a baby can be so overwhelming that the idea of picking up your career can seem like too much – but things do settle down!” Her findings from the MomShift project revealed that there is no right way to resume one’s post-baby career and family. “…it’s about finding and following what works for your goals and your family,” she feels.  As the mother of two, Seth has clear ideas about how she wants her sons to grow up. While she was growing up, she saw mothers around her perpetuating a double standard by “expecting one level or type of behavior from their daughters and then being far more lax when it came to their sons.” Seth doesn’t want to raise her sons with that kind of sexual double standard with regard to women. “There’s no way my boys are going to be adding to the problem!” she says.

Seth is the founder-director of the Center for Career Innovation (CCI), “an initiative focused on shifting how individuals, business, government and other organizations understand and inter-act with the changing nature of career paths and models.” The MomShift is its current project, while this spring; CCI will launch another project for aiding freelance writers succeed. Reva Seth certainly has her hands full and can be expected to change some more commonly prevailing perceptions with her next book and future projects.

I’ve spent the better part of my career advocating for the safety and security of Canadians.  As a prosecutor, child protection lawyer, federal and provincial Attorney General, and in my cur-rent job as Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, I’ve always made it my goal to put victims first.  Over the years, it became clear to me that Canada’s laws were falling far behind the technology used by criminals. The frustration of police was plainly evident. After I entered politics, I heard the same story from law enforcement so many times that I began to wonder if the problem would ever be fixed.  Soon after my appointment as federal Justice Minister in 2006, I was introduced to the concept of “lawful access,” which dealt with the challenge of fighting online crime.  I was struck by the reality that our approach to the internet had been shaped in the era of the rotary phone. This was by no means a new concept.  My Liberal predecessor, Anne McLellan, made the first attempt at a new law in 2005.  Marlene Jennings tried again twice in the form of private members’ bills in 2007 and 2009. The government introduced similar bills twice more: once under Peter Van Loan in 2009 and once by me in 2010.

Despite the tireless efforts of people like Paul Gillespie, formerly of the Toronto Po-lice Service and now the head of the Kids Internet Safety Alliance (KINSA), and Roz Prober of Beyond Borders, none of these at-tempts became law.   Gillespie speaks with passion about the emotional toll child exploitation investigations take on frontline officers.  Each day, they are confronted by the bleak reality that tens of thousands of children are sexually abused in graphic, unimaginable ways. The reality is that police simply don’t have the tools to effectively fight these crimes.  This is true not only of child pornography but identity theft, online organized crime, and many inter-net scams and frauds. More than a decade ago, police signaled they lacked the tools to keep up with changing technology. The process of gathering information for investigations was extremely slow and cumbersome.  To-day, police are in exactly the same predicament.  In just one wrenching example reported in the Kingston Whig Standard by the Kingston Police, Detective Constable Stephanie Morgan received information via the internet that an individual might attempt suicide.  When she approached an ISP for help in locating the individual, she ran into a brick wall. Morgan said that the Internet service provider refused to give up that information because of the per-son’s privacy. “To this day, I don’t know who that person was who sent the message. I don’t know if they really were in distress or if they later committed suicide.  I think that would not have happened if this legislation was in place.”Scott Naylor, an Inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police Child Sexual Exploitation Unit recently said, “Obtaining warrants on all IP ad-dresses involved in child pornography simply wasn’t practical. It’s still like putting a cup under Niagara Falls, that’s all we’re catching.” On February 14, our Government re-introduced legislation that closely resembles the efforts of McLellan and Jennings, but with improvements to better protect the privacy of Canadians. C-30 allows police to request basic customer information to assist with investigations, but makes police more account-able through audits and ob-ligations to report to federal and provincial privacy commissioners.  We also reduced the number of basic subscriber information points that police could re-quest of service providers –the modern equivalent of phonebook information—from 11 down to six. Let me be clear: Bill C-30 creates no new powers to access the content of e-mails, web-browsing history or phone calls beyond that which already exists in Canadian law.  Some have accused me of not reading a bill I’ve been involved in shaping for over half a decade.  Ironically, when I read most media coverage of C-30, I am struck by just how poorly the bill is understood by many writers. 

The government intends to send this legislation directly to Committee for a full examination of potential amendments to update our laws while ensuring the privacy of Canadians is respected. I hope that all Canadians, and especially Members of Parliament and the media, will read, discuss, and reflect on this Bill. Vic Toews was appointed as the Minister for Public Safety in 2010.

Democratic transition is a slow and difficult process in countries like Pakistan that have experienced long years of military and authoritarian rule. As the competing interests do not have long experience of pursuing their agendas in a democratic framework, they often tend to violate the spirit, if not letter, of democracy.  They need time to learn democratic politics. There is a lot of jockeying for power and influence in the formative phase of democratic transition. This power struggle is often couched in high moral rhetoric or legal and constitutional interpretations to one’s advantage. One troubling tendency is to engage in propaganda to delegitimize democratic processes and leadership if one’s partisan agenda is not achieved. This is also done as a part of struggle to expand one’s power or influence or domain of authority.   

It is quite common in Pakistan to invoke abstract democratic theories and principles to delegitimize democratic institutions and processes. There is a tendency to trash democracy because it does not meet the ideal and text-book criterion. Other argument is that there is no use of democracy if it does not solve the problems of the common people.  There is no answer to the question as to what is the guarantee of solution of the problems of people in a non-democratic and military-dominated sys-tem.  If nothing works for questioning the legitimacy of elected rulers or democratic arrangements, Islamic principle or some precedent from Islamic history is invoked to argue that the existing arrangements should be done away with.    

An independent judiciary is needed for a democratic political order but this is not the only requirement. It is important that different state institutions like the executive, the parliament, the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the military perform their assigned tasks within the limits of law and constitution and respect each other’s autonomy and role. Any at-tempt by one institution to overwhelm others causes institutional imbalance and adversely affects democracy and civilian order.  Another important principle of democracy is the primacy of elected institutions over non-elected institutions, al-though the elected institutions and office holders have to function in accordance with the constitution. We are experiencing a steady attempt by the Supreme Court and the High Courts to expand their domain of action through judicial activism. Though judicial activism is a well-recognized principle for public service and welfare issues but the use of judicial activism and the suo motu power by the Supreme Court and, at times, by the High Courts, since 2009 has generated a debate in the legal and political circles about the extent to which the superior judiciary can interfere in the domains of other institutions. If we make a list of issues taken up by the superior judiciary since 2009, judicial activism can be described as unprecedented, covering a wide range of issues relating mainly to governance.

Even if a purely legal approach is adopted to examine judicial activism, one cannot help pointing out that the issues taken up by the superior judiciary have political implications in Pakistan’s polarized political context.  Most politically active circles get information about court proceedings through the press and TV news channels that highlight the comments made by the judges sitting on the bench.  A large number of comments as published in the media can be described as politically loaded. These comments are used by the opposition parties and the media to embarrass the federal government. 

Sensing tension between the superior judiciary and the PPP-led federal government, the opposition parties have endeavored to turn the judiciary into an arena of contestation with the PPP. They have gone to court on a number of purely political issues that should have been settled through political interaction or through the parliament.

The most interesting case is a petition filed in the Supreme Court by someone on the basis of a speculative report that the PM might remove the army chief and director general of the ISI. The prayer of the petitioner is to stop the PM from doing that.  The Supreme Court wants the prime minister to give a written undertaking for not removing these top army officers.   Now, the Supreme Court has taken up the cases of the missing persons and Asghar Khan/s petition of 1996 concerning the ISI funding. One wonders if the Supreme Court would treat the Army and the ISI the way it treats the civilian leaders.                          

The Supreme Court is constitutionally and legally right to take up the contempt of court issues and even convict the PM. However, its political fallout will be negative for democracy and civilian primacy. In the political domain the Supreme Court may not succeed.  The ruling coalition at the federal level will stay intact and it can elect a new prime minister. In this way the present political order will continue.  What if the new prime minister refuses to write the letter? Will the Supreme Court start another contempt case against another prime minister?                         

In case of increased tension between the elected executive and non-elected Supreme Court the opposition parties are expected to oppose the federal government. This will set the stage for political confrontation and economic turmoil.

The popularity of Brampton’s transit system keeps growing with each passing year. Compared to 2010, there was an 18 per cent increase in ridership in 2011. To ad-dress the growing demand, City of Brampton is taking fresh measures. These include expanding the fleet of buses and opening of new transit terminals. Sue Connor, Executive Di-rector of Brampton Transit told Generation Next how a grassroots campaign helped make the transit service popular with Bramptonians. “…When we launched the Zum service, we had an extensive marketing campaign, which was grassroots and talked about the benefits of using public transport. People seemed really receptive to trying that as a new alternative. I think they saw the convenience we were providing with some of our destinations…all that has helped make people more aware. We were able to give people detailed information, answer their questions, and for the most part, people were really excited to hear, for example with our very first Zum line, going to York University—such a big destination that the community really embraced it in terms of service,” she said. Census figures from Statistics Canada show that Brampton’s population grew by 21 per cent from 2006 to 2011. During the same time, Brampton Transit’s ridership grew by 61 per cent – nearly three times the population growth. Ms. Connor attributed the increase in rider-ship to both population growth and new residents who come to live in the city of Brampton. Züm Steeles Avenue service is scheduled to launch in fall 2012. This will included the opening of a new transit terminal at the northwest corner of Steeles Avenue and Main Street. The new terminal promises to improve connections between routes, and provide enhanced passenger-related amenities. Funded by all three levels of government, Brampton Transit will add twenty 60-foot buses to its fleet in 2012. “In terms of jobs it means we will be hiring 56 new staff,” said Ms. Connor. The buses should in service by the coming summer season.

Canada was once a nation known for championing environmental values on a global scale.  Just like the image of the country’s lush trees, verdurous landscape and tall snow covered mountains has been replaced by tar sands and coal mines, similarly, over the years, Canada’s environmental values seem to have been displaced as well.  Aiming to revive these values is a nationwide youth-led initiative called We Canada. It strives to mobilize Canadians to take action for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Earth Summit 2012. The conference will be held from June 20-22, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This Earth Summit 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary of the first UN Conference on Environment and Development, where a plan of action for sustainable development was formulated in a document called Agenda 21. Representatives from countries all over the world will gather in Rio de Janeiro to evaluate new environmental concerns, assess the disparities in implementation and negotiate renewal of commitment. With the purpose of increasing Canadians participation, We Canada has organized a nation-wide tour aptly titled, ‘Dialogues and Public Action for Earth Summit 2012.’  As part of the tour, We Canada volunteers visit high-schools and universities across the country to engage in sustainability discussions with the public and to gather their suggestions, which will eventually be compiled in a report for Canadian officials to take to the summit. Victoria Wee, the Youth Engagement Director at We Canada remarked on the fact that during the previous Earth Summits, government consultation with civil society had been very minimal across Canada, and she found that the desire for people to be included in discussion has been a pervasive sentiment on the tour thus far.  The two main issues on the Earth Summit 2012 agenda are the promotion of green economy and elimination of poverty. Sustainable development recognizes the integration and interdependence of economic, environmental and social needs.  The rigid pursuit of one of these aspects while disregarding the importance of the other two is globally unsustainable. Given the traditional financial model where the sole focus has been only on economic gains, other aspects like ecological and social impact of business operations have been overlooked. By encouraging investment in green efficient technologies, supporting green business and by becoming conscious as consumers, the basis of a green economy can be established.  Victoria Wee mentioned that “system thinking is important and stakeholders from all types of organizations must be engaged.”  We Canada champions three key policy recommendations. “We need to measure what matters and go beyond GDP, which serves as a narrow economic measure. It excludes non-monetary transactions and is not representative of ecological and social welfare.”  Other proposals brought forth include, “getting the price right which means eliminating the subsidies provided to the fossil fuel industry. Also, Canada should strive towards making trade fair as it is beneficial to local communities.” A commitment to fair trade would ensure a public procurement policy that takes into consideration global environmental and societal concerns.  These recommendations are proposed to specifically address the key issues on the Earth Summit agenda. Given the recent trajectory of Canadian government’s environmental leadership, with withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and intense backing of Keystone XL Pipeline, the expectations of the extent of Canadian involvement at the Earth Summit may be low, however grassroots movements like We Canada that encourage public participation provide hope and optimism. Victoria Wee stated, “I still believe in a Canada that is a leader.” I couldn’t agree more!  Such an initiative looks to revive and reestablish Canada’s environmental values across the nation by exercising the democratic process, collaborating with the public and hearing their ideas and opinions. We Canada will be coming to Toronto on March 1st and 5th 2012.  As a participant in the Dialogues and Public Action event one can expect to become part of the process, learn about Canada’s position and legacy at previous conferences, and discuss with others about their vision of Canada’s representation at the Earth Summit.

Newcomers to Canada often face a contradictory scenario—on the one hand are the excitement of a new place, laced with expectations and promise; on the other, the stress and uncertainty associated with finding one’s feet and settling down. Fortunately, there are a number of organizations that help them cope with their challenges. Next-Steps Employment Centers, operated by the Toronto District School Board are part of the sup-port networks that exist for new Canadians. Jobseekers across Toronto, Mississauga and York region can avail of the services offered by these centers in seven different locations. Generation Next had the opportunity to talk to Cristina Gradia, Project Administrator for the Scarborough Rouge Next-Steps Employment Centre. Excerpts from the conversation: GN: How exactly do you help with employment search? CG: We are funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. We have been mandated to pro-vide a full range of employment services. These include service planning and coordination, which involve one-on-one interaction with our employment advisor. Anybody who is looking for work and is legally entitled to work in Canada can come in. The other part of our service is we also have an Employment Resource Centre—it’s self-service where you could come in and use our computers, fax, photocopier, printer, look at the job board. We also have a directory—an online directory, we have books and resources on resume writing, networking, interview skills etc. We also do little workshops on a daily basis—that includes resume writing, cover letter writing…we also do career-planning workshops. The other part of our services is called Job Development Services—we connect with employers to search job opportunities for our clients. We also offer financial assistance…It’s a great incentive to give someone an opportunity, maybe somebody who is a grad out of school without much experience, to somebody who’s new to Canada without much work experience to somebody who’s a stay-at-home mom who hasn’t worked for a number of years.GN: How big do you think is the language issue with regard to new Canadians? A lot of them have already passed the IELTS test be-fore becoming Canadian citizens. How important do you think it is for them to get acquainted with the language? CG: Depending on the type of work they’re looking for, it is very important. One of the things our employment ad-visor does is to make recommendation or assessment for English upgrading through classes. We also do referrals to programs like language training programs, which are sector specific for some-body’s field.GN: What steps can fresh graduates take to increase their chances of employment even as the wait to get a job?  CG: They can come here and see an advisor. The work-shops can help them create a resume. If they don’t have much experience, we can highlight the skills they acquired while they were in school and also work with the job developers. GN: But what about those graduates who might not come to your organization? CG: I think it’s really important to network in their industry—joining associations, network with their teachers and professors. If there’s an organization you’re interested to work in, make contact with someone who is in a position that they are aspiring to be in. Most people are actually willing to answer questions about what they do. We have people job-shadow some of our staff to see what a staff’s typical day was like, to get a realistic view. GN: What are some of the major employment concerns of the South Asian community? CG: A lot of South Asians we see are newcomers. (Their challenges are) lack of Canadian work experience and getting their credentials recognized. We actually have client support, financial sup-port to help them have their credentials assessed. We can assist them with it, make a referral and also help pay for it. GN: How big do you think is the foreign credential recognition issue? CG: If they are planning to continue employment in their industry, it is very important. A lot of employers aren’t aware what the diplomas and degrees…GN: What do you think of the emphasis on Canadian experience for newcomers?  In fields like IT, one needs standardized skills. So how important is the Canadian experience? CG: I personally think we don’t undervalue their experience outside Canada, but a lot of employers are unaware of what those skills have been…it’s important for them to learn how things happen in Canada, how to apply those skills they acquired back home in a Canadian setting. GN: But is Canadian experience that critical to a person’s final level of productivity? CG: Not productivity. I think a lot of newcomers need assistance with communication, with their understanding of the Canadian lingo. GN: Do you help with that? CG: Yes, we do. We can definitely assist with providing some directions. We have a financial incentive pro-gram—through Employment Ontario, we can offer employers up to $8,000 incentive to offset the cost of wages for a period of time, usually the training period. For example, we had an employer who thought one of our newcomer clients with great skills who met their criteria. However, since he hadn’t worked in Canada, the employer wasn’t sure. We said, what if we offer you a training incentive for the client? So for the first six weeks of employment, we pay about five dollars of their wage? Will you be willing to take on the client, train them…at the end of the six weeks, if you are satisfied with the client’s performance, you can hire them. The incentive depends on what the actual wage is going to be and on the challenges the client faces. We have a formula we work on for offering the incentive.