Lyvita Gomes 52, died in the US after going on a 15-day hunger strike to protest her arrest for ignoring a jury duty call and a judge's demand for an explanation. She also resisted arrest and was charged with a misdemeanor for it. She died from dehydration and malnutrition.

Her brother Oydsteven Gomes, who is a media professional in Mumbai will not attend her funeral in Illinois as he is caring for their ailing 94 year old father who has not yet been told of Lyvita's death.

Gomes is shocked that a simple case of ignoring a summons, culminated in such a tragic result and asks why authorities did not contact her family or provide medical care, wondering if they would have done the same to an American. He shrugs off speculation by some foreign news reports that she may have suffered from a mental ailment, pointing out her career is proof of a strong-minded career woman. She moved to the US in 2000.

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A US NRI woman age 21 who was staying at the five star Jaypee Vasant Continental Hotel went to the hotel spa with her mother.

She was taken to a separate room because she was exhausted and had a bad headache. The therapist then massaged what she thinks were certain nerves so she would sleep. She says when she awoke the salon employee Sanjay was molesting her.

She complained to the management and was not pleased with the reactions of the hotel general manager, who was slow to meet with her and was callous in his dealings.

The management fired the masseur, and said they blamed the spa, an outsourced company.

The woman then reported the incident to the Women and Child development Minister Kiran Walia and the police who arrested Sanjay.

He denied the molestation charge and the case is to go to court.

The victim has now left for the US where she is studying.

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Rabita Sarker 31, of New Jersey, pregnant with her first child, was on a train to New York when she thought she was experiencing false labour pains. Her baby had other ideas though, and she went into real labour.

Passengers helped her panicking husband deliver the baby boy they nicknamed 'Jhatpat' (Immediate/fast).

Sarker was later admitted to a New York hospital.

Sarker and her husband Aditiya Saurabh 30, were in fact on their way to the hospital for a medical check-up when Jhatpat decided to make an appearance.

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During 2010-2011 campuses in Germany attracted over 24% more students than in the previous year, making countries like Germany an increasingly popular destination for higher education.

Students seem more interested in Germany because of that country's adoption of a bill to launch the EU 'Blue Card', a work and residence permit for international graduates, that allows them unrestricted access to the job market without the need for a Federal Employment Agency's permission that was earlier required to get a resident permit.

Various factors including stringent visa regulations, lack of employment opportunities and social threats in traditionally popular destinations have affected the trend. Germany is the most popular of the European destinations due to international degree programmes taught in the English medium, tuition fee waivers, career opportunities and social security. Financial reasons are also a major factor.

During the period 2010-2011, 5038 Indian students chose Germany.

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NRIs know they must deal with complicated income tax issues, but wealth tax obligations are equally important and necessary.

If one is an NRI with net wealth from assets in India aggregating over Rs.30 lakhs in a financial year, one may be liable to pay wealth tax, but then again there are ways to get the benefit of some exemptions.

To start with 'assets' are defined as urban land, residential or commercial property, jewellery, bullion, and other products made of gold or other precious metals, cars, aircraft, yachts or cash in hand in excess of Rs.50,000 located in India. This would place you under the purview of Wealth Tax. One is still the legal owner if these assets were bought or if they were transferred to a close relative.

On the other hand if one holds any of these assets as stock-in-trade they are not considered wealth taxable assets.

Net wealth is described as the aggregate of all one's assets minus loans taken to buy the assets. The outstanding value of the loans will be reduced from the value of the property when arriving at net wealth.

Assets are valued in many different ways by Assessing Officers or Valuation Officers, which in itself is a complicated and tedious process and one is well advised to consult a professional or CA for help.

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