Nizam's £34 Million Case Again Making Headlines

Background :

>> (In 1948) ...  the richest man in the world deposited £1m in a London account. It's been there ever since, and today it could be worth ...m. But no one can lay a finger on it. Luke Harding on a tale of sex, greed, international politics - and the NatWest bank [A prince's ransom, The Guardian]

>> "The origins of the Hyderabad Funds Case, dating back to September 1948, related to the transfer of over £1 million sterling from the account of the government of the Nizam of Hyderabad to Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, the then High Commissioner of Pakistan in London.

The transfer was made by the Nizam's finance minister without the ruler's approval. The transfer instructions were irregular as the finance minister had no power to do so.

The Nizam's subsequent instructions to re-transfer the funds were not complied with, leading to arbitration in the British courts.

The matter also went up to the House of Lords. It held that the legal title to the money vested in the Pakistan government, which was not asserting a beneficiary title to the fund." [source]

Latest:

• The international row over £30million left in NatWest bank (London, UK) account by an eccentric maharajah, dailymail.co.uk  Jan 27 2014
• Solicitor general advice government to intervene as Pakistan claims Nizam's GBP 34 mn funds  The Economic Times 24 Jan, 2014, Ajmer Singh
•  Indian government to intervene, as Pakistan claims Nizam of Hyderabad's GBP 34 mn  Economic Times 24 Jan, 2014
• India, Pak revisit history, lock horns over Nizam wealth fund southasiamonitor.org Jan 24, 2014


News archive -- Hyderabad Funds Case + The Glory, Granger & Wealth of Hyderabad Nizam:
• The Nizams of Hyderabad: An Epic Tale of Wealth, Loss and Reconciliation,  saffronart.com December 4, 2012  by amyqinglin 
• Hopes of early settlement to row over Nizam’s funds, thehindu.com July 19, 2012 
• Taj Falaknuma Palace: A New Experience of Palatial Splendor forbes.com 10/17/2012
• Why wealth of Hyderabad Nizam's heirs depends on Pakistan, Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: July 20, 2012 
• Nizam's funds: Six decade Indo-Pak stalemate nearing end? Apr 11, 2008
  Economic Times
• Precious collection of Nizam's jewels lies buried in a bank vault intoday.in, Amarnath K. Menon April 30, 1988 
• A simple leisure visit to an out of bound retreat (Nizam's Residency House, aka Rashtrapati Nilayam)
• Penny pinching ruler of Hyderabad...  The Milwaukee Journal - Sep 23, 1948

Hyderabadi Website of the Month: hyderabadassociationusa.com

Layout: Great header at the top, as the tagline says “Humara Shaher Humare log”. The template is great. Simple but decent. There are no ads or huge banners that normally divert the motif/content. You do see a somewhat large picture of the members, I might make it a little smaller.

Content: Good stuff 'Bringing Hyderabad Community Together'. Better in its coverage, than many others. It’s obviously not a personal site, so going with the social media developments, there should be a few more comments/voices of like minded (other than the board).

Strength: 'Safar Tasveer ke saath' is in its unique contribution. The site although local in its origin, but can become global in its outreach. Most Hyderabadi sites by NRI's are not so comprehensive. Gallery section is duplicating the front page. Few pages are blank now (including advertise, matrimonials), that need to be populated to give better look and feel. The page Membership (which means members of the Association), needs to go with About US. So also, Follow us on, needs to be live, to Assn's own pages in respective sites.

Weakness: "true Hyderabadi spirit and culture in a professional and well organized way" To meet its own stated goal, the site requires depiction of composite Hyderabad (not only Islam/Muslim) in every perspective, be it membership, coverage of the site or approach.

Technical stuff: Audio must be placed in a visible place, and the user given control to play if required. At present the audio is set to run (auto mode), works in Firefox, but does not show up nor auto-play in Internet Explorer. The background audio must also include Hyderabadi dholak ke, Golconda's Sound-and-light (dialogues), etc. Chrome has not issues, it's OK. The visuals can be google maps, and other historic sites.

Suggestions: One should a) have more Hyderabadi audios, videos, and visuals. b) Submit the site to google, and add links to a Facebook page, Twitter that would definitely help reaching the others. c) This site needs to be linked by other sites of like-minded folks (on the web and social media). and d) you can take a look at the multimedia and other gadgets at http://hyderabadiz.blogspot.ca/

Other Hyderabadi NRI relevant sites:

• http://www.hyderabad.co.uk/
• hyderabadassociationksa.com

• NRI's Now In Hyderabad Association

• HAWMA | Hyderabad Association of Washington

• Hyderabadis from Chicago : The Profile Engine

• orkut - Hyderabadis at IIT Chicago

• http://www.naseeb.com

• American Hyderabadi Association - YouTube

• Hyderabadi in Chicago - YouTube

• Charminar Connection Blog

• Hyderabadi Legends Toronto - YouTube

• Toronto-Hyderabadi Association [T.H.A] - Facebook

•  Twin-cities Expatriates Association of Hyderabad and Secunderabad

Hyderabad’s to-do list for the year 2014

Serish Nanisetti, TNN

•  Climb the Golconda fort
•  Go to a museum
• Visit the Ramzan market ... Much More... continue reading

74th Numaish‬ begins in ‎Hyderabad‬, but with political colors

Just when talks were on for a grand-scale diamond jubilee celebrations of the Numaish for 2015, there was friction between politicos at the launch of the All India Industrial Exhibition : Source: Deccan Chronicle --

Just when talks were on for a grand-scale diamond jubilee celebrations of the Numaish for 2015, there was friction between politicos at the launch of the All India Industrial Exhibition. The president of the Exhibition Society, K. Jana Reddy, gave the meeting a miss. It is usually the Chief Minister who inaugurates the exhibition every year. continue reading this news