Celebration and Remembrance - Indian Ambassador requests Indian community to observe 2 minutes silence for lives lost in recent floods in Sudan and Northern India amidst celebrations of 66th anniversary of Indian Independence Day

Last Thursday, on 15^th August ’13, India celebrated the 66^th Anniversary of its Independence Day. The Indian community in Sudan assembled in the morning at India House in Khartoum, the official residence of the Ambassador of India to Sudan. His Excellency Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma unfurled the Indian national flag and the national anthem was sung. He then extended his warm welcome to the Indian community on the special occasion and read out the highlights of the President of India’s message to the nation. The message started with homage to Mahatma Gandhi who shaped the liberation of the nation.The Ambassador then requested the community to observe two minutes silence in remembrance of the lives lost in recent floods both in Sudan and Uttarakhand in India. This was followed by a cultural programme in which children and ladies sang patriotic songs to commemorate India’s Independence.

Kerala Cultural Activity Centre (KCA) has been organizing this annual event for the Indian community in Khartoum for the last twelve years. The aim of the event is to celebrate Eid and Onam together which is attended by more than 1000 people from the Indian community residing in Khartoum, Omdurman, Bahri and the peripheries.

The core members of KCA are from Kerala, the tiniest state in the Southern tip of India. People from Kerala are very enterprising and comprise the majority of Indian expat community in the Gulf and neighbouring countries. Onam is a harvesting festival celebrated in Kerala and is symbolized by the home coming of King Mahabali. These festivities of Kerala are recreated by KCA in this grand yearly get-together of the community at St.Francis School in Khartoum. This year it was held on Saturday 10^th August in order to celebrate Eid at the same time.

The Eid & Onam Fest has become popular because KCA has not restricted the event to people from Kerala only but opened it to all Indians irrespective of their region. Thus the variety entertainment programme  staged at this festival truly represents the diversity of India. New talents are discovered every year amongst children, mothers and men who perform dances, sing regional songs and recite poems. The festivities are concluded with a traditional and sumptuous vegetarian meal.  

An additional feature this year was the cooking competition which was held in the morning. There were eight contestants who cooked wonderful dishes. This competition was sponsored by Petrola LPG gas the new name for Gapco.

It is worth mentioning that the Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma and his wife Mrs.Gunjan Verma encouraged the community with their active presence during the cooking competition in the day and at the cultural programme in the evening.

Sudan Bids Farewell to ONGC Chief Dr.Anil Bhandari

The river Nile in Sudan is pronounced as An neel. It sounds similar to Anil. This perhaps is one reason which brought Anil Bhandari to Sudan on 6^th July 2011 as Country Manager and Executive Director of ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL). OVL is India’s largest international oil and gas exploration and production company.

Dr.Anil Bhandari’s contribution in Sudan in these two years has been exemplary. During his tenure as country manager, the GNPOC operating company accreted highest ever reserves of 93.33 MMSTB and initiated Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil Recovery (IOR/EOR) program in Heglig and Bamboo fields of Sudan. This key highlight of his achievement involved delicate handling of sensitive situation in partitioned Sudan regime while preserving the ONGC/OVL interests intact. 

The Corporate Responsibility Programs in the last 2 years organized by Dr.Bhandari were much appreciated because it benefited the needy people of Sudan in the peripheries of Khartoum. Health Clinics are running in its operational areas. Free Diabetic and medical camps in different hospitals & Medical centers were organized in Khartoum. These camps provided free consultation, and medicines to thousands of under privileged patients. In the area of Education 5000 school kits have been distributed to children in different schools in Khartoum State and West Kordofan. Some schools have been supported with Black Boards and other teaching aids. Assistance was also provided in form of class room tables-chairs and civil repairs of school buildings. The  company also supported the  students at Khartoum  University – Faculty of Mathematics, Science with Licenses for  IT  Library, which  allows  them  to  access  thousand  of  latest IT books.  OVL together with Sudan Football Association has distributed 10,000 footballs to various sports clubs & schools in the different parts of Sudan State. OVL provided assistance in planting, ploughing, seeding and technical services for cultivating sorghum food grain in 6,000 acres of land to cover large segment of community in the Unity and Kordofan states (Debap/ Nama).  Over 11,000 poor family members have benefited in getting   sorghum food grains. OVL along with International Volunteers Women’s Group (IVWG) together funded and built the Branch No.3 of Al Amal Institution for Deaf & Dumb in Omdurman and also completed the building of the classrooms in this school. ONGC also provided the furniture to these class rooms.

Dr. Anil Bhandari is an eminently proficient geologist. His core competence spans the entire spectrum of Exploratory and Developmental aspects of the Indian oil industry. Dr. Bhandari’s scholastic achievements include a number of well-regarded scientific publications (including books), invited lectures and plenary and distinct accolades for his geo-scientific research. His remarkable contributions in the field of Geology brought him national recognition through coveted National Mineral Award-2002 of the Government of India, followed by Prof. S.N Bhalla Gold medal in 2009 by the Paleontological Society of India. Besides contributing to the practical and theoretical landscape of the oil industry, Dr. Bhandari has been propelling career and leadership development at various levels of ONGC Ltd. for past fifteen years. 

As ONGC’s team leader, he lead negotiations with South Sudan Government on Transitional Agreement on ONGC’s operating blocks in Sudan. This includes his prominent role in African Union Negotiations at Addis Ababa between Sudan and South Sudan on oil tariff—a topic that has attracted world attention. 

It is time for us to bid him farewell because he has been promoted as Director- Explorations and will be based at the ONGC headquarters in New Delhi. His selection came out of 15 prominent contenders for the high profile post.

In a recent interview after his selection for the top post, Dr.Bhandari said Oil security of nation is the main concern to ONGC. OVL has set the target to achieve 20 MMT of Oil and Oil Equivalent Gas by 2018 and 60 MMT by 2030.To achieve this target he would focus on balance portfolio by acquiring producing assets and developed assets in focus areas. About the long term goals, Bhandari said “We are an E&P company and should focus on exploration assets that can produce in the next seven or eight years. OVL should buy good conventional exploration assets at nascent stage without paying too much of a premium to hit OVL’s target to produce 60m tones of oil equivalent by 2030”

People in Sudan particularly the Indian community will miss both Dr.Anil Bhandari and his wife Mrs. Anju Bhandari. Both were very social and Mrs.Anju Bhandari has been an excellent hostess and organizer of community functions.

We wish that they visit Khartoum in future both for oil explorations and simply to drink the water of An neel.

Sports Beyond Boundaries

Hatim Mohamed Elfatih was a Kung Fu champion in Khartoum. He was also a certified coach. His father decided to send Hatim and his three brothers to India for studies. After settling down with his studies in New Delhi for a Bachelor’s degree of Computer Applications (BCA), he could not stay away from Martial Arts for too long. He found out about a Korean coach for Taekwondo and started practicing the new variant of martial art. Within six months his skill was noticed by his master and he was selected to participate in the Chuncheon Open International Taekwondo Championship in Korea. As expected by his coach, he won the first place in the Yellow Belt category. Interestingly, he was considered as a participant from India. When this writer asked Hatim how it felt to represent India being a Sudanese, he replied that he was very happy and proud to represent India. He thanks India for having been given the opportunity to participate in an International Martial  Arts Competition. This is a real illustration of Sports Beyond Boundaries.

Eritrean Health Minister in Khartoum

This was not her first visit to Sudan. Amina Nurhussein has made many trips to Khartoum as Minister of Health of Eritrea. She spoke of the ‘unquestioned’ close and friendly relations between the two neighbouring countries - Sudan and Eritrea. Her visit this time to Khartoum was to further strengthen the bilateral relations particularly in the health sector. She met her counterparts in Khartoum. She said that opening the doors for pharmaceuticals from Sudan to Eritrea would be mutually beneficial. Presently there is only one pharmaceutical manufacturer in Eritrea, a joint venture with Jordan, which provides only 30% of their domestic needs. The balance is imported. She is seen in this picture with Dr.Tarig Mohy Eldin Algemiabi Chairman & CEO of a leading pharmaceutical company in Sudan.

One Window Service Provider for Education in India

Whenever an unknown Sudanese youth smiles at me in the streets of Khartoum and greets me in Hindi language, I know for sure that he has studied in India. More than 30,000 Sudanese have studied in India. At this given point of time there are around 4000 students from Sudan studying in India.

India’s higher education is the third largest in the world next to China and United States. The system is enriched through 350 plus Universities and 17,000 colleges supported by specialized technical institutions in various disciplines.

India's world famous Engineering and Information Technology Universities offer a wide range of courses in engineering, medicine, agriculture, management, humanities and social sciences, fine arts, science, bio-technology, bio-informatics, space technology etc.

Under a special programme called Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA), up to 15% of the seats are available to foreign students. Educational Consultants India Ltd. (EdCIL), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is the coordinating agency for foreign students.

EdCIL (India) Limited has a wide service spectrum:

Institutional Development –EdCIL undertakes projects on turnkey basis ranging from Schools, Polytechnics, Technical Institutions and Universities.

Procurement-As a part of integrated Institutional Development, EdCIL assists various Educational Institutions in procurement of educational aids ranging from school kits to hi-tech laboratory equipments.

Placement & Secondment – EdCIL is the nodal agency of Government of India towards promotion of Indian Education abroad and is the ‘Single Window Service Provider’ for the placement of Foreign Students, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) for higher education in its associated institutions. EdCIL also undertakes Secondment service via recruitment of Indian Faculty and experts in various International Institutions in developing countries.

 Technical Assistance – EdCIL offers turnkey consultancy in establishment of Educational Institutions in India and abroad. Ranges of services include Preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), Preparation of Detailed Feasibility Reports, Institutional Planning, Educational Planning & Administration, Curriculum Development, Training Need Assessment and Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects.

Technical Support Services- EdCIl provides programme and management support during implementation of various schemes of Government of India and International Funding Agencies.

Testing- EdCIL extends value addition support to various Government and Private agencies towards recruitment of teachers, professionals, staff, etc, through conducting written tests and interviews.

 There was an Exhibition on Education held recently at Friendship Hall in Khartoum. EdCIL had a stall which received an overwhelming response from Sudanese students and parents. For those who could not attend please log into www.edcilindia.com or write to placement@edcil.co.in

When The Two Commandants Met

Commandant of the National Defence Academy (NDA) of India, Air Marshal K.S.Gill made a two day visit to Sudan. He visited the Sudan Military College, Joint Military Staff College & Higher Military Academy, and Karary University and met senior Military Officers of Sudan. Air Marshal Gill was very impressed with the infrastructure he saw during his visit. He thanked Maj.Gen.Yahya Mohamed Kher Ahmed the Commandant of Sudanese Military College for his hospitality. He also thanked Brig.Gammar Defence Attaché of Sudan in India who had met him at NDA and invited him to Sudan. Air Marshal Gill was accompanied by Colonel Girish Kalia Defence Attaché of India in Cairo; Mr. Subhash P. Gupta, Second Secretary of the Embassy of India, Khartoum and Maj.Bora of the Indian Army.

Interestingly the magnificent administrative building in NDA is named Sudan Block in honour of the sacrifices of Indian soldiers in the liberation of Sudan in the East Arican Campaign during World War II. It was inaugurated by then Ambassador of Sudan to India, Rahmatullah Abdulla, on 30 May 1959.