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South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How Indian cuisine in Hong Kong is growing way past chicken tikka and samosas
They may make up just 0.6 per cent of Hong Kong's total population but the Indian community have been an integral part of the city's multicultural tapestry since its early colonial era and have left a significant mark on the local dining scene. Advertisement The first significant wave of Indian migrants arrived in the 1840s, when the British brought Punjabi soldiers, traders and clerks to the fledgling colony. Many worked as policemen, merchants or civil servants, forming the backbone of early Hong Kong society. By the late 19th century, influential Parsee and Sindhi trading families started to establish thriving businesses in textiles, shipping and finance. The Sikh community, meanwhile, became synonymous with security, with turbaned officers serving in the Hong Kong Police Force for generations. The local Indian community continued to play a significant role in the city's commercial and cultural landscape. Many were involved in trade, jewellery, textiles and tailoring. By the late 20th century, the community was still relatively small but tightly knit, centred on shared cultural traditions, places of worship and businesses. 14:30 How Indian cuisine travelled to Hong Kong and evolved to please local palates How Indian cuisine travelled to Hong Kong and evolved to please local palates Various waves of migration over the years meant people from all over India came to the city. Rajeev Bhasin, owner of Gaylord Indian Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, which opened in 1972, says that most Hong Kong-based Indians who came to the restaurant in its early days were from the areas of Sindh and Punjab that were split following the partition of India in 1947, which divided British India into two independent states.
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Indian High Commission upholds decision banning critic Sapna Samant from returning home
Dr Sapna Samant was warned in January her Overseas Citizen of India status could be revoked, but she was allowed a written appeal. Photo: Supplied An Indian New Zealander has been stripped of her automatic right to return to her home country, being told she has tried to "fuel disharmony" among the community. GP and filmmaker Dr Sapna Samant was warned in January her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status could be revoked, but she was allowed a written appeal. The decision has now been upheld by the Indian High Commission in Wellington. It has not replied to RNZ requests for comment. "It has been brought to the notice of the government of India that [Samant] has reportedly involved herself in activities that are inimicable to the sovereignty and integrity of India and the interests of the general public," the High Commission's letter said. It named her Twitter account, YouTube Channel, and a broadcast on radio station 95bFM. "Contents used by the foreigner on the said platforms can cause disharmony among various members and sections of the diaspora and Indian society. "She has been active in anti-India activities, and is often found carrying out anti-India propaganda. She has been issuing posts/tweets extensively, calling India an 'authoritarian country' and a 'majoritarian terrorist regime'. She has been trying to fuel disharmony among various members and sections of the Indian of the India community." The Commission's decision did not mention one of the more controversial grounds given in January for rescinding her OCI - her involvement with the Green Party, or specifically, her presence on its website. She stood as a candidate in the 2023 elections. It said her appeal was "bereft of plausible explanation" and had not clarified or submitted facts which denied her role in the activities it had named. The Indian government has cancelled more than 100 OCI cards over the last decade, but hers is believed to be the first in New Zealand. The OCI is a status given to Indians who become New Zealand citizens, allowing them to keep certain birthrights - including travelling to India. Samant said the appeal's outcome was not unexpected but was still disappointing, as she had held onto a little hope of a change of heart. "It still makes me sad that we have to reach such a stage where India has fallen from being this vibrant democracy where arguing is a national trait," she said. "And all kinds of perspectives were perfectly valid, because we all knew that we all loved India, and we want this country to to flourish. "India is an authoritarian regime country at this point. It's an electoral autocracy, so you have elections in the name of democracy, but your representatives are actually not about democracy." It meant she could not visit India unless the Government changed, and she worried about Indians at home and overseas being 'silenced' by the government's approach, she said. Supporters of Indian PM Narendra Modi deny the administration is a threat to an inclusive society. Samant said she had been hoping to take her foster son to India this year, and that she had received 'solidarity' from activist colleagues and friends. "Nothing lasts forever. And I have great faith that I will visit my ancestral temple one day, which is on the west coast of India in a little village. I'm not sad that I can't ever go or I won't ever go, but I am sad in the moment. But I also know that there's a bigger cause. I'm not trying to make myself into a martyr, but it's a collective force." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
How immigration is about to explode after Anthony Albanese's election win - after claims emerged it helped Labor triumph at the election
Immigration is likely to remain at high levels following Anthony Albanese 's landslide election win - amid warnings large numbers of Indian and Chinese migrants will give Labor a permanent voting bloc. Labor promised to ease immigration before the last election but in the year to March, 437,440 migrants came to Australia on a permanent and long-term basis. This was significantly higher than Treasury's March Budget forecast of 335,000 for 2024-25, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics data casting doubt on Labor's promise to reduce it to 260,000 during the upcoming financial year. MacroBusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen said the high concentration of Chinese and Indian voters was likely to keep giving Labor a solid, long-term voting bloc, helping it to keep having safe seats in Sydney and Melbourne. 'If we're getting so much migration from one or two countries - India followed by China - you risk creating voting blocs,' he told Daily Mail Australia. This could lead to new minor parties based on ethnicity being created, that preferenced Labor, forcing it to adopt their policy demands, with international students already allowed to bring a spouse to Australia. 'If this keeps going on in the next 10 years, we'll have a situation where it could be like London,' he said. 'We'll start getting voting blocs form where they might actually form an Indian political party that lobbies for interests that are favourable to Indians, whether it's more parental visas ... they'll create voting blocs and lobby groups that lobby for their interests but not necessarily in the greater interests of Australia. 'If we're we're supposed to support this multiculturalism and diversity and all this other stuff, you don't go about that by importing most of your people from one or two countries, you should be spreading the load.' During the past decade, the number of Australian residents born in Indian has more than doubled from 411,240 to 916,330, making it second now only to England. The number of Chinese-born residents has surged from 466,510 to 700,120, putting it in third place ahead of New Zealand. The Labor-held seat of Parramatta went from being marginal to ultra-safe with an 8.9 per cent swing to the ALP, giving it 62.6 per cent of the two-party vote. But in the Parramatta city booth, Labor had 70.2 per cent of the vote after preferences. It catered to voters at Harris Park, a short walk away, where 45.4 per cent of residents were born in India. 'The Indian diaspora in Australia overwhelmingly votes Labor over the Coalition,' Mr van Onselen said. Within this same electorate, the Epping polling booth, a former Liberal stronghold, delivered Labor 75.7 per cent of the vote after preferences. In this suburb, 40.4 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry and 19.7 per cent of them were born in China. 'Unfortunately, Labor is incentivised to maintain this,' Mr van Onselen said. Labor enjoyed a massive 9.34 per cent swing to it in Bennelong on Sydney's lower north shore, turning it from an ultra marginal electorate, with no ALP buffer, into a safe seat in a traditional Liberal heartland. The Lane Cove booth, another former Liberal stronghold, gave Labor a massive 68 per cent of the two-party vote and in this suburb, 14 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry, more than double the national average of 5.5 per cent. The Chinese vote is also high in seats Labor won off the Liberal Party. Labor candidate Zhi Soon won Banks in south-west Sydney with a five per cent swing to him. Within this electorate, the ALP won Hurstville with 60 per cent of the two-party vote in a suburb where 47 per cent of residents have Chinese ancestry. In Melbourne, Labor candidate Gabrielle Ng won the eastern suburbs seat of Menzies off the Liberal Party with a small 0.67 per cent swing. But in the Box Hill polling booth, there was a bigger 2.85 per cent swing in a suburb where 39 per cent of residents have Chinese ancestry. Mr van Onselen said high immigration, including a large number of students on bridging visas hoping to stay longer in Australia, had created longer-term political advantages for one side of politics. It only takes three years to become a citizen with voting rights after being a permanent resident. High immigration was likened to a political gerrymander where a political party manipulates electorates to stay in power. 'It's a longer-term gerrymander - this is why they're incentivising the big Australia policy because they're basically sandbagging their supporter base for the long term,' he said.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Did high immigration WIN Anthony Albanese the election? Shocking claim emerges that Labor is 'importing future voters'
An economist has linked Australia's population growth with a surge in support for Labor and described how the party is 'importing future voters' with its high immigration policy. Australia hit a net overseas migration record of 528,000 in 2022-23, followed by 435,000 in 2023-24. The Albanese government has forecast the rate for 2024-2025 to fall to 260,000 and then 225,000 the year after, although budget figures have consistently underestimated net migration numbers in the past. The largest source of permanent migrants to Australia in 2023-24 was India, followed by China, the Philippines and Nepal. Leith van Onselen, who is chief economist at MacroBusiness and previously worked at the Australian Treasury, has argued that the growing Indian community in Australia is a boon for Anthony Albanese. Asked if there was any evidence that population growth had led to more support for the Labor government, Leith van Onselen told 2GB's Luke Grant, 'unfortunately there is'. 'There was a post-2022 election survey done by Carnegie and Dowman, and that showed that 58 per cent of the Indian community voted for Labor versus 34 per cent for the Coalition,' Mr van Onselen said. 'And the Indian community is now our largest immigration source. 'It seems that that community votes overwhelmingly for Labor.' After this month's election, social media was flooded with videos of Indian students and migration agents 'celebrating wildly Labor's election victory, because they know that the Albanese government's a bit of a soft touch on immigration'. 'And obviously with Labor being re-elected, it lessens the chance of immigration cuts, it means more international students. So that community was obviously celebrating,' Mr van Onselen said. 'Labor is incentivised to maintain a high immigration policy because it's effectively importing future voters.' He said it showed the Coalition had 'shot themselves in the foot' because much of the immigration to Australia over the past 20 years had happened under Coalition governments. 'They effectively imported a whole bunch of people who were then more likely to vote for Labor... They probably did it inadvertently.' Peter Dutton made a series of policy backflips on immigration during the Coalition's failed election campaign. Eventually, he vowed to cut net migration by 100,000 people to 160,000, based on the Albanese government's forecast of 260,000. Mr van Onselen said monthly arrivals and departures data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed migration was trending up again. About 188,000 permanent and long-term arrivals landed in Australia in the first quarter of 2025, he said. 'It looked like migration was coming down at the end of last year - it now looks like it's picked back up again. 'The whole housing equation in Australia just does not add up. We're fire-hosing in more and more people every year, we never have been able to build enough homes, and the government seems to wonder why we have this perpetual crisis. 'And it's primarily been driven by the federal government.'
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
New mothers embracing Ayurvedic remedies
Ayurveda is a traditional form of Indian medicine based on herbs and massage. Photo: An increasing number of women in New Zealand's Indian community are embracing ayurvedic massages as part of their postnatal recovery, blending traditional cultural practices with modern motherhood. Ayurveda is a traditional form of Indian medicine based on herbs and massage. While the wholistic medical system has been practised for many years in India, it is now seeing a resurgence in use among migrant families in New Zealand. "It is a complete, wholistic approach to well-being," said Ajit Singh, an Ayurvedic doctor who has been practising in New Zealand for more than 30 years. Singh said Ayurveda focused on identifying the root cause of an issue - physical, mental or emotional - rather than treating symptoms in isolation. "Our main focus is to identify the causes of the problem than masking the symptoms," he said. He said many people did not fully understand the depth and authenticity of Ayurvedic practices. Last year, Medsafe issued a warning after several cases of lead poisoning were reported in Auckland and Bay of Plenty linked to the use of certain Ayurvedic remedies. Singh acknowledged the safety concerns but said not all products contained harmful substances. "Not every Ayurvedic medicine contains heavy metals, but that issue is definitely important and needs to be addressed," he said. Ajit Singh has been practicing Ayurveda in New Zealand for more than 30 years. Photo: Supplied Singh said Ayurvedic medicine included a range of treatment levels, and some products should only be used under the supervision of a trained practitioner. "Unfortunately, due to a lack of specific regulations, people often buy these medicines online or bring them from India. This has become quite common," he said. "The problem arises when people choose substandard brands. The prices vary greatly. Strangely, people are willing to buy the most expensive alcohol or wine, but when it comes to medicine they look for the cheapest options, which leads to issues," he said. He advised consumers to find medicine that had been certified by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates therapeutic products in Australasia. "The problem is people still buy from Indian grocery shops or online stores where regulation is lacking," Singh said. "That's something I hope will change, though I'm not sure when." He said rigorous training was required to become a qualified Ayurvedic doctor in India. "In India, you need to [study for] six years in a university and practise in an Ayurvedic hospital for a year as an intern before you start practising," he said. Singh said Ayurveda placed significant emphasis on women's health, especially during and after pregnancy. "Forty days after giving birth, a woman's body needs strength and Ayurveda has a specific diet that gives nourishment which helps rebuild her body and at the same time to the little one too," he said. He said Ayurvedic postnatal massages are designed to alleviate body pain and aid recovery after childbirth. Anju Philips, who gave birth a few years ago, received Ayurvedic treatment at a clinic in Hamilton. "I went for a short treatment and the massages actually helped me relieve neck pain and muscle pain after my pregnancy and childbirth," she said. "It's a common practice back in India and most of us are aware of its benefits," she said. Anjana Aravind, who had a baby last year, took postnatal treatments while visiting India. "I had an opportunity to visit India and used that time to get some postnatal care," she said. "It is said to rejuvenate our body after childbirth, and I had [received] massages and other treatments for five days." She said treatments typically varied depending on whether a woman had experienced a normal birth or a caesarean section. Ayurvedic postnatal massages are designed to alleviate body pain and aid recovery after childbirth. Photo: 123rf Nina Mitchell said she hadn't considered an Ayurvedic massage until a friend gave her a voucher as a gift. "The massage was so much more than I expected," she said. "It wasn't just a physical treatment, it was a moment of true care for my body and mind." Mitchell said the aches she experienced from caring for her baby eased and she began sleeping better. Rachel Dunlop also gave the treatment a go. "I had a couple of massages during my pregnancy and even postbirth," she said. "I felt grounded and rejuvenated." Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora does not have specific guidelines relating to Ayurvedic treatments in postnatal care. "We understand traditions and practices from a woman's culture will have an influence and impact on her childbirth experience," said Laura Aileone, national chief midwife at Health NZ. "Maternity providers in Aotearoa are expected to demonstrate cultural safety and competency as part of their core professional competencies," she said. "This includes acknowledging and respecting culturally specific treatment, while ensuring safety and alignment with evidence-based practice." A Medsafe spokesperson said Ayurvedic products fell under the Medicines Act 1981 if they claimed a therapeutic purpose or contained certain ingredients that were believed to have a therapeutic purpose. "Medsafe does not directly regulate Ayurvedic practitioners or their practices," the spokesperson said. "If a product is considered unsafe and concerns are raised with Medsafe, then we can look into these and undertake regulatory actions if it falls within the scope of the Medicines Act." Medsafe published reports around concerns on products such as Ayurvedic medicines on its website to keep the public and health practitioners informed, the spokesperson said.
