Krithika Rajkumar, Marjana Chowdhury and Shivali Patel have been selected to be among the 16 who will be competing for the title of America’s Miss World 2017.
Rajkumar, 25, of Ohio, triumphed in the multimedia round while placing fourth in the ‘beauty with a purpose’ competition. She received a double-major bachelor of arts degree in political science and psychology and is currently pursuing a law degree from Case Western Reserve University. Rajkumar, who aspires to become a civil rights attorney, will graduate with her juris doctorate in May 2018.
Chowdhury’s ‘beauty with a purpose’ project of ‘The Young Women’s Leadership Network’s Collegebound Initiative’ landed her the third spot in the competition. Chowdhury, 23, received her bachelor of arts from Columbia University. She currently works as a legal analyst at BlackRock, Inc., an investment management company. She is also the lead coordinator with the Robin Head Foundation, New York’s largest poverty fighting organization.
Twenty-year-old Patel of North Carolina, who was the first runner-up at the 2016 edition of the pageant, was ranked third in the ‘top model’ round of the competition. She is currently obtaining her a double-major degree in psychology and communication with a minor in biology at North Carolina State University. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine.
Eat beef in your country and then come to India, says tourism minister
Newly sworn-in Union tourism minister K J Alphons has an advice for foreigners visiting the country: Eat beef in your own countries and then come to India. Asked whether cow vigilantism and restrictions on beef consumption in several states had affected India’s hospitality sector, the minister said on Thursday: “They [foreigner tourists] can eat beef in their country and come to India.”
He was speaking on the sidelines of the 33rd annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators in Odisha’s capital city. Alphons’s comment comes just days after he purportedly said people in Keralawould continue to eat beef. “As Goa chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, has said that beef will be consumed in the state. Similarly, it will be consumed in Kerala,” the former bureaucrat was quoted as saying after taking charge as tourism minister.
When asked about his earlier comment, Alphons said: “It’s a cock-and-bull story. I am not the food minister to decide on it.” Talking about the tourism sector, Alphons said his ministry had sought innovative ideas to promote tourism across India. “We are getting people to come and give us ideas and within a month we will have a plan for action soon,” the minister said.
